WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 519 - Adam Ferrara

Episode Date: July 30, 2014

Comedian and actor Adam Ferrara is enjoying his gig as host of the car show Top Gear, which is surprising because he's never been good at fixing cars. But he tells Marc there's one major reason it's the perfect job for him. Adam and Marc also share their memories of horrible road gigs and the Boston comedians that welcomed Adam into the fold. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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home to innovators, dreamers, disruptors, and problem solvers. The city's visionaries are turning heads around the globe across all sectors each and every day. They embody Calgary's DNA. A city that's innovative, inclusive, and creative. And they're helping put Calgary and our innovation ecosystem on the map as a place where people come to solve some of the world's greatest challenges. Calgary's on the right path forward. Take a closer look at Calgary calgary economic development.com. Lock the gate. All right, let's do this.

How are you? What the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fucking ears? What the fuck Knicks? What the fucksters? What the fucking ucks? What the fucking ucks?

Let's start there. Thank you, Canada. Thank you, Montreal Just for Laughs Festival. Thank you. I'm Mark Maron. This is WTF. You know the show. Okay?

I was just in Canada last weekend for the Just for Laughs. I've been up there many times. I was trying to think how many times I've been up into that just for last festival a lot of times 93 94 i went up there as a correspondent for comedy central for my show short attention span theater and i couldn't have been more embarrassed to be up there as the guy holding the mic interviewing other comics it was humiliating to me i do remember that much i do remember wearing clothing that wasn't mine because i was on a tv show walking around sticking my mic into the faces of established comics because i was that guy i was the guy with the mic who did the thing there's nothing more

embarrassing or more humiliating when you're a comedian and that's the gig you got hey i'm the guy with the mic talking to people who are doing real things. What do you do? I'm the guy with the mic. I'm holding the mic with the thing on it that says Comedy Central. Are you a comic? That question doesn't even come up. You're just that guy.

The guy with the mic. So it's a long way from there now. I'll tell you that. I've been out there several times. I did several galas over the last few years. I never think it's enough about me, but that's normal. Every comic in the world been up there several times i did uh several galas over the last few years i never think it's enough about me but that's normal every comic in the world is up there saw a lot of old friends but i do want to thank all the people for coming out to the solo show we did good man a lot of wtf people out of what the fucking ux came out uh it was a very interesting show

i uh had this kid adam newman open for He did a few minutes, forgot one of his jokes, went into a tailspin, but pulled it out. Then I got up there and people were chatty, not heckle chatty, but sort of like, I guess he's talking to me. It doesn't matter. There's 400 and some odd people in the room chatty. It's just me and him and me and Mark. And I'm going to ask him about his relationships. I'm going to ask him about how's it going.

We're going to chime in some guy with a weird laugh. It was a very bizarre time, but I invite bizarre. I do not mind bizarre times on stage because then it's interesting for everybody. Today on the show, Adam Ferrara, you may know him from Rescue Me. You may know him from Nurse Jackie, and he's also on the American version of Top Gear. But I've known him for years as a stand-up comic, and he's a pretty good guy. Good guy, funny guy, very efficient comedian. I've really known him a long time.

I used to have a problem with him because I thought he was too fucking cute. But, you know, we all get old. We all get locked in. We all get deep in the groove. This is the life we're trying to hang on. Hope you're doing all right. Glad you got a gig scene. You know what I'm talking about?

So I'll be talking to Adam Ferrara in just a minute. But let's talk about Montreal Comedy Festival a bit. It was great to see some of my old friends. But the first morning we were there, we did the new show, Opie and Jim. That's Opie Sands Anthony. Just Opie and Jim live in Montreal. I get down there at nine o'clock and who's on the couch judy gold bill burr bob kelly david tell nick the palo and ari shafir we're all sitting there that's like a ton of comics

and for some reason we were all just idiots couldn Couldn't get our words out. Couldn't get a laugh. Couldn't get any traction going. It was pretty stunning. Oh, and Jim Jeffries, who was like horrendously hungover, which I think is an ongoing state for him. But we just couldn't get it going. It was kind of hilarious. It was great to see Nick DiPaolo, too. I love seeing that guy. It's like going to Montreal is like a high school reunion.

to Montreal is like, uh, it's like a high school reunion. Um, but because of the industry, you get the feeling like, um, how come there are more teachers here than students? And why, why do we still act like we're in school when we're around them? Even though we're 25 years into this, a lot of industry, everybody's, everyone's getting real shit face. So if you're, if you're diligent and you hang in you can usually get some honesty out of people that are not capable of that generally but we're all sitting there couldn't get a laugh there on opium gym show and it was kind of it was very funny that we we just couldn't get any traction going because there was a live audience there and then pete holmes shows up and i gotta say i initiated a bit of a pile on uh so someone

had to be thrown to the wolves in order to get some laughs and and that was pete and pete you know whether he knows it or not is just a mark for that man he's just volunteering that he's like welcome all come inside me pete will take any kind of attention so uh so that it worked out well it didn't you know it wasn't that much bullying just a just a bit just a bit and i i gotta admit it's a little fun to bully pete after the radio show atel who i've known you know half my fucking life was like you want to get something to eat i'm like yeah let's go he says you want to get some uh we want to get coffee you want to get some breakfast you want to go to the deli and we're like well maybe we'll go to the smoked meat place let's go to schwartz's it's 10 30 in the morning i don't even know if they're open but we walked for like 45 minutes and you know atel is uh i

consider a very close friend and he's obviously one of the best comedians in the world and i've known him since it feels like we were kids, but I don't ever really get to talk to him. Like if I see him in New York, it's always like, what? Yes. All right.

Why? And you know, it's five minutes interaction. You know, anytime I see him in New York, it's a five minutes in passing, uh, very intense.

And then he moves on. So now here we are locked in for about an hour and a half. We got to walk 45 minutes one way. We're going to have something to eat and walk 45 minutes back. It's a lot of Attell time. And I loved it. No one makes me laugh more than Dave Attell. And we get to, we walk to Schwartz's. Now Schwartz's is not fundamentally a deli.

They have smoked meat. They're known for smoked meat, which I believe is the same piece of meat as the, it's a brisket. So that's what they make corned beef out of. That's what they make pastrami out of. But it's not either. It's somewhere in the middle. It's thick cut.

It's slightly spiced. It's prepared a different way. I think it's cured and then it sits for a week or something and then they cook it. But it's unique. It's unique Jew food from Canada, from Montreal. And Dave and I are Jews. We're slowly becoming old Jews. I think Dave might have been ahead of me on that.

Maybe not. But Dave's used to regular American delis. And I know in my mind that this is not really a deli. They've got smoked meat and coleslaw and pickles, and that's it. And you don't really order anything else. So we go in there, and he's trying to be healthy. This is a historical event that I'm describing you. By the way, I'm not setting you up for a disappointment here.

This is Canadian history that I'm about to tell you. Canadian history. Do you hear me? Are you listening to me? There should be a plaque. So Dave and I are both trying to be healthy, but I've given in. I'm like, I'm here i'm gonna eat and like i regret that now because i'll sit down here in my underwear with a little more of me than i anticipated i tried to i was trying to get healthy that lasted a couple weeks i'm just

tired of me it doesn't matter let's get back so me and tell we have a nice conversation we catch up we talk about our families our lives the business girlfriends this sex whatever we do the thing we have the conversation that men have how you been doing let's get it covered all right we good good so then we're sitting at the deli and Dave's like yeah yeah can I get some soup do you have any soup did no he's like can I do a half and half like a half turkey and a half the smoked meat. Because they don't have eggs. Dave wanted eggs. No eggs. Just smoked meat. That's it.

Basically, that's what you get there. The other stuff is just there just in case somebody doesn't understand what's happening. And this guy who said he'd been working there 33 years says, you don't want to get the turkey. And Dave's like, but I don't want to eat all that. It's like 11 in the morning. I mean, what am I going to do? I don't want to do that to myself. Can I get a half and half? And he's like, you don't want to eat all that it's like 11 in the morning I mean what am I going to do I want to you know I don't want to do that to myself can I get a half and half and he's like

you just get the smoked meat that's what we do here we do smoked meat and he explained how the meat was made which I paraphrased earlier and uh and Dave's like I don't know and I'm like look why don't you get a turkey I'll get a smoked meat and we'll split them up and I didn't even want the turkey I was just I was in I'm ready to eat the whole fucking smoked meat sandwich. So we have this conversation. We don't know what's going to happen. We get some pickles. We get some coleslaw. And then the guy brings out, brings Dave a sandwich.

He brings me a smoked meat sandwich. I'm right, but he brings Dave a half smoked meat, half turkey. But he told us that the turkey was just processed turkey. Nothing special about it. They don't make it there or nothing. That's why he was steering Dave away from it. But he made the sandwich anyways. He made half a smoked meat sandwich and half a turkey sandwich.

And he looked at Dave and he said, this is the first time that this has ever happened in the history of Schwartz's. And that's an 84-year history. That sandwich has never been served. It's never been done. There's never been a half and half. There's never been a half turkey, half smoked meat sandwich. And I saw it. It was made for David Tell. This is Canadian

history. This is a moment in Canadian history that I witnessed and then David Tell experienced. We were both there. Something should have been recorded, but in the first time in Schwartz's 80-some-odd year of history, because of David Tell, a a half-and-half sandwich was served.

And I don't think that's nothing. All right? We did it. Me and Dave, primarily on his will, changed the game. We changed it. I'm not saying it's a precedent. I'm not saying you should go into Schwartz's or I don't know why you would. But I'm saying that a precedent has been set.

History has been made. A half turkey, half smoked meat sandwich has been served at Schwartz's in Montreal. All right. So I was there for three days. It felt like a month. I was exhausted. And what did I learn? I learned that the audiences for me

who came out specifically to see me were better than the general audiences that I performed for up there. But you know what? Quite honestly, I got quippy and judgmental. Canadians are a polite bunch. They're a good audience. They're attentive.

They're even more polite than Americans when they're drunk, which is an amazing indication. See what the sort of peace of mind that comes from knowing that when shit gets bad, you can just go into a doctor. You see what that does to people? It makes them polite.

Makes them less frightened. Think about it. Thank God I have insurance. All right, we're going to talk to Adam Ferrara now. Is that okay? It's great. Had a nice conversation about dads and dudes. Different kind of dude than I am.

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Take a closer look how at calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com. It's a night for the whole family. Take a closer look how at cal 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. Let's do it. Well, I mean, but you're a guitar guy, obviously. I mean, we got right into what guitar guys do. Amateur guitar guys. Yeah. As soon as you walk in, you pick it up. we got right into what guitar guys do. Amateur guitar guys. Yeah.

Oh, is that guitar? You pick it up. Yeah, right. Let me show you what I can do. I know the beginning of this song. Yeah, yeah. I know this one lick. I can get to this part until Clapton goes off. Yeah.

I don't, but that's the weird thing about my guitar, because I don't, I never learned all the songs all the way through. I just like to play my own leads. Yeah. But I never like disciplined myself to sort of of work out the riffs of any song that wasn't like da-na-na-na-na-na-na or simple. Well, it was different now because when we did it, you had to slow the record down and listen to it.

But were you meticulous like that? No. The ADD then, I had it then. You do? Oh, it's bad. But how old are you? Four years difference than me? You're my brother's age.

You're 48? 48, yeah. I'm 50. So it's the same time. Yeah. But it's bad. But you're how old are you? Four years difference than me? You're my brother's age. You're 48? 48, yeah. I'm 50. So it's the same time. But it's the same thing. We didn't have the, well, the patience, but I don't think we'd ever have the patience, but we didn't have the technology. Now you can go on YouTube.

I know, but there were guys back when we were kids that could figure that shit out. Hated those bands. Me too. Did you play in bands? I did. I wasn't really. It was garage, three chord stuff. Oh, you didn't play out?

Yeah, we played out in college. How many songs did you have when you played out? Eight. And you played two of them again at the end? And one of them's always born to be wild? For the new people. Yeah, but those people just joining the party. You showed up.

Here's some more George Thurgood because we can play it. Yeah. You play slide? No, no. We always mess that up. I figured out because I was trying to play slide and I figured out how to raise my bridge because I kept hitting the frets. But it's funny to me that you grew up like when you say Anthony Cumia from Opie and Anthony

that you grew up with him. Sometimes I think that his anger is beyond anything I can understand. And I would try to, like he must have been sort of just a pretty sweet kid at some point, huh? We all were. I mean, what happened to us? What happened? I mean, we were nice.

Yeah. Because we didn't have anything. Yeah. We had the little apartment that he had, had holes in the sheetrock. The landlord would come by. When you guys were like

moved to New York or what are you talking about? No, when he was there in Long Island when we grew up, when he was still knocking tin and I was working in a defense company.

What's knocking tin mean? Duck work. Oh, really? That's what he did? Yeah. Him and his brother, Joe. Yeah. And I worked at a fence company.

You did? Yeah. What, in high school? High school, yeah. We kind of met and his brother, Joe. Yeah. And I worked at a fence company. You did? Yeah. What, in high school? High school, yeah. We kind of met like junior high, high. We say grew up together, but it was that era. He's a little bit older than me. Yeah.

So it was kind of like junior high, high school. We met each other and started hanging out. But we had no money, no nothing. The landlord would come. He had an apartment. Yeah. And we would hide in the wall. But you were already not living at home?

No, I was living at home, but I would go over to the apartment. That was the honeycomb hideout. Oh, okay. It was the wall. But you were already not living at home? No, I was living at home, but I would go over to the apartment. That was the honeycomb hideout. It was the shack. Right, right. And a sense of humor was a coveted thing because we didn't have anything else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's- Just sit around and bust balls?

Just bust balls and laugh and watch TV. Right. We used to rent Bugs Bunny cartoons and freeze the frames and stuff and just start riffing on the pictures. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just this, that, our formative years. Well, where did you grow up? What part of Long Island?

Long Island. But what part? Huntington, Long Island. And that was Italian? Yeah, Italian Jewish. Yeah. So it was very much, my family would fix their houses and their family would represent us when things went wrong, you know, but it was right on that border.

And it was like a big Italian family? Yeah. Well, depending on who makes parole. Yes. But it's a big, a lot of people really my house was you know the cool thing about my house it was the place in the neighborhood people would hang out yeah and my brother family too yeah my father's family would come over my mother's family so there's a lot of people that has since gone now I miss that part of the East Coast like when I go because when I'm I'm from Jersey

originally my family is. But my grandmother's house was sort of a hub for people coming around. And that would be a whole day. It's like people would come around to eat things. Lunch at 2 o'clock. Some people would watch TV. Some people would be outside with the kids, whatever. Football playing, games on, people sleeping on the couch.

Do people still do that shit? It's something I do remember fondly from my childhood. I don't experience now as an adult that much anymore. anymore it's weird because we kind of got off that track somehow i i think because we moved away yeah but your brother's still around my brother still keeps it going like when i get home i kind of collect everybody up and say come on we're gonna meet this restaurant because my mom's not cooking anymore you know i meet this restaurant i bring everybody together and we laugh and yeah yeah they're kids so i try to do that when i go how many brothers and sisters?

Two. I've got two brothers. Oh, that's it. Three of you. Yeah, it's three of us. But that whole thing at the house, like after my house Thanksgiving, it looked like Jonestown. Just bodies laying all over the freaking place.

But what did your dad do? He did kitchens and bathrooms. He would design and build kitchens and bathrooms. He was very mechanical. But like in the city and stuff or just around town? No, he would do it. He was with, it was a plumbing company. My grandfather, Joseph O. Ferrara and Sons.

Yeah. In Queens, where I was born in Queens. And him and my uncle Lou went into that business. And my father moved out to Long Island and made it more of like custom kitchens, custom bathrooms. So he would do the custom work, then he'd bring his brother in. Oh, they split at that point. Oh, they did? Yeah.

But no, but who would do the plumbing? He would do all of it? Oh, he would do all of it, then he would hire guys to do it. He was more of a designer, more of an artist that way. He had that mechanical ability. But he was a good plumber? Yeah. Let's be honest.

I know it. How hard could it be? Shit don't go uphill. No, I... You've solved the mystery, Mark. No, but sometimes pipes are tricky pipes are tricky you know they bend sometimes yeah but you're like getting them sealed properly and getting them to fit and torch and everything well yeah because like sometimes like that's the weird thing about the guts of a house is like you know it should be simple

yeah but as soon as you sit down and try to do it you know it's sort of like but why why is this still leaking a little bit because you don't have that thing yeah that to do it, you know, it's sort of like, but why is this still leaking a little bit? Because you don't have that thing. Yeah. That one thing that makes you know how to stop that, whatever the fuck that is. I learned how to clean the pipe and then you got to sweat the joint.

But you got to wrap that. The solder flux with the torch and everything. Yeah, I was terrible at it. That's when I realized. And my father realized too. But there's some sort of tape you put in and join like a run. Yeah, the Teflon tape.

Teflon tape on a threaded one. That's my, I didn't torch anything. But I had a guy come in and fucking remount my toilet. And I thought, you know, just because I was there watching him, that I felt like I had done it myself. And I was proud. I was like, oh, let's get back to the truck. But I loved that guy.

I mean, I call him for anything now. Like, even though, like, out here, that job, like, I once talked about it on stage in North Carolina, about what I had done. Like, apparently, the mount. Like, I didn't realize that the toilet just sits over a hole yeah and that there's a mount and then there's a wax seal you had a seal on something had gone you know the seal had eroded and you know whatever and everything was

quoted so you had to take the toilet off and then re-seat it yeah put the put a new mount in a new sealant and all that shit and it cost me like $900 oh yeah yeah but that's not that's LA price you got a shit yeah I it cost me like $900. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but that's not, that's LA prices. You got to shit. Yeah. You know? It's like, and you don't want it

coming down the floor. Yeah. Yeah. They said, look, I got him by the ass. Yeah. Is this your father's jokes? No.

This is just. But I didn't have that. See, that's, and that's the thing, but that craftsmanship and that attention to detail and watching my father do that stuff. But the ability to repair too.

To repair and to design and to make it work and make it fit. Yeah. And I was always, I was always enamored with that ability and I didn't have it. And I really felt less then because I don't. But was there a time where he was like taking you through the sort of the whatever the saying is? Do you want you to do that? He wanted us to be happy, but he was the thing that my father wanted us to be better than him. He always said, he goes, hey, I'm not your friend.

I'm your father. Right. Because my job is to give you a better life than I had. And I'm not breaking my ass if you're not going to pay attention. What does that mean? You're out if you don't appreciate me? Yeah, let's pick this. There was no question in my house who was, I remember once I said, Pop, we don't think

this is fair. Fair? Let me explain something to you. You live in a dictatorship. I'm the dictator. The minute you feel you have a vote as to what goes on in this house, just sit down until that feeling goes away. Did he say that? Exactly.

And I went, you know, I went up to my brothers. I go, all right, you know the coup d'etat? It's over. We can't take over. That's it. We're done. There's no possibility as long as that guy's in the house. You know what he used to do?

He would let us do what we had to do, but it was very, I would go out like on a school night. I had to be home at like nine o'clock, whatever it was. Right. And he went to work in the dark and came home in the dark. He was always working. What, in the morning?

Early, early? Yeah. Yeah. So I remember him saying, are you going to go out and do what you got to do? Fine. I'm setting my alarm for 9 p.m. You better turn it off before I do. And I had to come home and make sure the alarm, not waking him up, make sure the alarm was off

and reset for him to get up in the morning because- That was his game? That was his game. One night I didn't- What was your mother doing? What?

My mother was like, she's not going to get in the way. Whatever he says. Whatever your father says, I don't want, can someone help me clean this? Yeah. It was always no one helped clean.

Yeah, yeah. So one night I didn't get home in time, I actually blacked out the house. I threw the fuse because I had to stop the clock from going off. Oh, really? Yes. Was he a good guy or an angry guy? No.

He was a good guy that was just overwhelmed. He was a really good guy, my dad. Three brothers. And how'd they turn out? Great. Be overwhelmed with everything? Overwhelmed with the survival, the financial survival, and just the, he had a temper. There was no question that he was in charge, and he was, and he had a temper, and he would

yell a lot. Yeah. He had a look, too. Yeah. I have a line in my act that he had, my father would give you the look, not only did you know you were in trouble, but all the plants would die. Yeah. All around you.

Yeah. It's like he gave me that look at the beach once and the tide went out i mean it was just yeah he was a formidable yeah yeah powerful man yeah and when he yelled the earth shook and then you could see him feel bad about it because he was a powerful guy he never he had great empathy my father he was right he was a great uh great humanitarian he believed people he goes hey people up he goes, hey, people fuck up. He goes, you're going to fuck up.

I'm going to fuck up. He goes, you're going to fuck up worse than me. Right. Only because you're younger than me. Yeah, yeah. I've already known that I'm not going to fuck up

that way again. Right. That's a good lesson. So, I understand, but I'm not going to do it, but I know where you're at. But I'm going to fuck up

with different shit. Yeah. So, get past you fucking up and forgive others for fucking up. That's a true thing, man. Is that,

because that's sort of like the idea of the notion of sin, you know, like in Catholicism or anything else. The idea of sin is not there to make us be perfect people. It's there for us to calibrate our morality. Do you know what I mean? It's not like we're not. The sins aren't something that we can eradicate. You just know that they're bad. Yeah.

And then when it happens, it's like, oh, that can get pretty bad. And if you keep doing it, not learning from the sin. My father always said that. That's why they invented hell, is because of that. This guy keeps doing it. Listen. He doesn't. He keeps doing it.

Yeah, he's not. What are we going to do? We give him a lot of shots. Yeah. I guess he wants to live down there. How long can I do this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. When is enough?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When is enough? Yeah, yeah, yeah. When is this guy going to just give it a rest? He's going to hurt himself and end up in hell. But were you brought up with that, Kathleen? Yeah, I was brought up with the idea of do unto others. Again, my father, he didn't like herd mentalities, my dad, and he looked at religion and everything. Oh, good.

But he was very funny because he pretty much said, look, you've been baptized. Yeah. You've made your confirmation. You made your first communion. Yeah. We're Catholics. All your paperwork is done.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right? You want to go to church? Fine. You can go. Sundays, I won't be there. Because if God's everywhere Sunday, God and I are going to watch football.

Right. Go in peace. Yeah. That was it. But he knew that he had done his responsibility. He did his due diligence the ones that you can't

that you have to do look they say this is what you gotta do you gotta do it to get into a sacred gated community right that's right

but the Sunday thing is negotiable if you did the other stuff I got shit to do yeah you got baptized you did the thing so you're in it's on you

I made my confirmation it was during the week you make your first I don't even know what that week. You make your first communion. I don't even know what that shit is. Do you? Oh, the first communion is when he eats the cracker? Yeah, the body of Christ.

There you go. Right. But your confirmation is like your bar mitzvah. Right. But first communion. Except I'm not like you got a trust fund. Oh, I wish I got a trust fund. I got a few bucks.

I might have a few Israel bonds I haven't cashed for $25 that matured in 1977. That's my tree. Yeah, yeah. I got a few trees, but those get planted before. But the communion thing is something, the first communion is the first time you take the sacrament, right? Yeah. And what age does that happen?

You go to, I'm going to say sixth grade and I'm probably wrong. So you don't eat the body of Christ before that? Not supposed to. Okay, okay. So that's a thing. I think the baptism is a thing? Baptism is a thing? First communion is a thing? Confirmation.

Confirmation. That's your paperwork. That's the three things. And you did all that. We need proof of insurance, license registration, whatever. And that you know who Jesus is. Yeah. You got the idea.

Yeah. You know that you're not supposed to fuck up. He's dead, your fault. He's dead. And for you, he died. For you, as an example. All right. So that didn't And for you, he died. For you, as an example. All right, so that didn't stick.

Well, it didn't. It was, my father didn't like the whole kind of. What about your mother? Your mother must have some voice. My mother had the saints, and now she's still got the saints and the figurines. She's a convenient Catholic, my mom. Like, when we wanted to sell a house, there's a thing called St. Joseph. You bury St. Joseph in your yard, and it's supposed to bring buyers to the house. But we didn't know you had to bury him upside down.

So you buried him right side up? I didn't bury him. I came home. What, did you buy the statue, you mean? Yeah. Oh, they sell them. Yeah, no, I know. Oh, sure.

So she buried the St. Joseph? My father was digging the hole. I go, what are you doing? He's like, your mother. I got to bury this little man in this little hole. Because your mother wants to sell the house. Nice Catholic family. My son, I'll sell it to Jews, Muslims, Martians. this little man in this little hole because your mother wants to sell the house nice catholic family son i'll sell to jews muslims martians if you're pre-approved this is the house for you

he didn't care he didn't care so he goes to bed my mother goes she does something one of her girlfriends you know those pain in the ass older lady like i just don't understand carl can't get a job carl's drinking rum at 7 3030 in the morning. It's not the economy. Yeah, yeah. Says, well, did you bury him upside down? Yeah. And my mother panics.

Yeah. She's like, she can't even watch Wheel of Fortune anymore because she just, it's a W! Just screaming. Yeah, yeah.

So she comes rushing home, wakes up my father, did you bury him upside down? And they're out in the middle of the night trying to find it because she's afraid that if he's facing East,

terrorists will show up. That wasn't fucking. But that was one of those moments your father could have said, yeah, I did. I did. Yeah. I guess he didn't think of it. But he's out there digging a hole and spinning a thing. She must have known that he was lying.

Yeah. Because he would think like, of course, yeah, I buried it upside down. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. She's like, did you? What am I, a heathen? Okay.

I knew it. Of course I did. And who bought the house? Good Catholics? I don't. No, a, I knew it. Of course I did. And who bought the house? Good Catholics? I don't, no, a lawyer. I think a Jewish guy bought it. A lawyer bought the house. Yeah?

Yeah. So when did you start doing comedy? Because I remember you from when we were kids, kind of. Yeah. I think, but I don't remember where, how'd you start? Where you started? I started on Long Island. I started at Eastside Comedy Club.

Not Pips? No, that was Brooklyn. I started Eastside Comedy Club, Richie Minervini. that was Brooklyn. I started Eastside Comedy Club, Bertie Minervini. Pips was Sheep's Head Bay. Oh, that's right. That's right, Brooklyn. And I met you in the city,

but you were a city comic. You were like one of those intelligent city comics and I was always a little intimidated. I can't remember when the fuck we first met, though. I think we were at the Cellar. I don't remember when we first met,

but I remember one night we both had spots at the Cellar. We were right after each other on three shows on a Saturday Yeah, and we went for a we went to the Shakespeare book company and I bought Jerusalem syndrome and made you sign it Yeah, it was because I was like wow he wrote a book. Yeah, and I was like wow Yeah, I don't like it. I feel like you know it's the one the matter is smart, but you always were like You're you you're very good

always were like um you're you you're a very good uh performer and you know and you were very uh charming and you you had a lot you did a lot of long form stuff a lot of relationship stuff and you were always so chipper up there it used to drive me nuts it's like this guy's a real showman this one that fucking smile yeah yeah look at him he just he just he's just milking it oh look at him yeah yeah that's not joy he's making it up yeah i felt like i think i feel like there was another time i feel like when i lived in when did you start headlining really really like early though right yeah it was early but it was um i'm gonna say 90 i started july 13th 1988 was my first wednesday night open mic is that true That's when you started.

First time on stage. That's when you first started. First open mic start. In August of 88, I had been doing it maybe two years, and that's when I started working. Yeah, I didn't start working. I started on Long Island, and I started haunting open mics. And I got lucky. In Long Island?

Yeah. How many could there have been? There was a lot at that point, because 88, that's when everyone- The boom, huh? Well, they figured out it was cheap to produce. Where the fuck was that other one, Governor's? Governor's still there they figured out it was cheap to produce where the fuck was uh that other one governors governors still there yeah great sound system these do have they still have that good sound yeah they still let people smoke in the room no remember that oh jesus dude but they in my memory they were letting people do it after it

was a you know like a law but i remember it was like like it was definitely one of those rooms maybe not yeah but it was definitely one of those rooms where people fucking smoke oh yeah smoke the drink yeah we're not fucking around yeah and i would smoke on stage because i wanted to be like bill hicks yeah i smoked on stage all the time i set my hair on fire once you're flipping my hair up yeah i said yeah but i set my hair on fire like gene simmons spitting the fire well no it's like i used to smoke but like my hair was long so it gets sweaty and, it was like I used to smoke, but my hair was long, so it'd get sweaty, and sometimes it'd fall, so I used to do this thing where I'd put my hair back, and somehow or another, I managed to ignite it. But I smoked on stage all the time.

You don't smoke anymore, do you? No, no, I quit. Yeah? Yeah. How much did you smoke? I was a pack a day for a while. I quit for a long time, and then I quit for about three years, and then I got a job. I met Leary.

Right back to smoking again. We were all smoking. He goes on and off. Yeah, but this I got a job. I met Leary right back to smoking again. We were all smoking. He goes on and off. Yeah, this was the first show. What, the job? The job, yeah. And we were all just smoking. Lenny was smoking big cigars, and we were all smoking.

Big Lenny was smoking big cigars. Big cigars. Yeah. All right, but before all that, so you started in 1988, and then what? You do the workout on the island. Yeah. When did you start coming in? I didn't start the city because I knew the city was like, you know, I didn't want to

go in until I felt I was ready. But you weren't headlining by 89. No. No. I was headlining by, I'm going to say three years in, so let's say 90, 91. But it was like- Yeah, because I'm trying to- Remember Scarpatti rooms?

Andy Scarpatti had those rooms in Philly. Those little like- No, you and I ran in different circles because you can speak the language of someone from Philadelphia. I think that was another point of contention with me is that I was always like, I'm a bizarre, strange man. I can only speak... I can't speak the language of men.

Yeah. Well, it's the vocabulary. Yeah. Right. You used too many syllables. It was not even i don't think it was that complicated but i had a sensitivity and a weird discomfort that was like why does this guy just get it together yeah when's he gonna realize that the women you

can't you can't do anything with them usually they're a problem he's complaining about everything as he comes to the conclusion it's probably him? No. No. But that's one of the things I admired about you is the introspection and talking about the feelings and stuff. Right. Italians, we didn't, you know. You just had, you had a couple, you had like anger. Yeah.

And you're either asleep or pissed off. That was the whole thing. I remember once telling my father, I said, Pop, I'm not happy. Welcome to earth. No, he did not. Yes. Come on. There was no.

That's hilarious. he really said that yes he would say he goes you know what it is you got too much time on your hands to worry about what you don't have you really want to be happy put a bank on your back for 30 years go buy a house and a mortgage and every month when you pay it off fuck you got you again yeah see you next month isn't that interesting yeah that's fucking uh i like that advice i that's the amazing thing that i was denied by not having uh like a working class yeah a family like my grandfather was but i don't remember i was never old enough to talk to him about that kind of stuff but there's something about people who accept their lot in life that know what they're here to do they're okay with dying to

some degree as long as they're living the life that they want to live and that's that. Yeah. Make it, well, it's also, what he was doing and now when I look back

and he was defining himself. Look, I got my wife. I love her. I'm going to take care of my family. This is what I got to do. If I got time for other shit, fine.

Yeah. If I got time on my hands, I'm not going to wonder why I'm here. I know I'm here to make these people's lives better and hopefully we can go camping. That was it.

You went camping? Yeah, we went camping. You ever see Italians camp? No. My mother's hanging fucking cheese in a tree. I swear to God. Come on. I swear to God.

Salamis? Yeah, we had that. We had a boat. That makes sense. The 1971 Sea Ray, Cuddy Cabin. So your dad liked the boat? Yeah, we'd go up to Lake George with fresh water and camp on an island. Really?

And he made this little thing. So you put the boat on the trailer? On a trailer. Drove up in the van. First, we would pull it in a caddy. Yeah. In a 70 coupe, like gangsters breaking a break for it. Yeah, yeah.

This big, long Cadillac pulling a boat. Yeah. And my father made this little sink with a pump and two cabinets. He built it? Built it. Put it in the back of the boat. Yeah. It would come up out and my mother

would put it in the tent and we had a kitchen. We had running water on a fucking island. That's hilarious. Yeah, he made a pump and a wastage. So, what, did you have a tent? Yeah. We had a tent. I used to sleep in the boat because when it rained, you couldn't get near the side of the tent because the water would come in. And then I figured, these guys are idiots. This boat's a cabin. It's a hard

route. I'll sleep in the boat. So, this is a regular family thing? Yeah, every year. Two weeks at lake george that was the big event and when you water ski and shit water ski you go snorkeling you go fishing that's good great good family stuff yeah mom's trying to make ziti on a barbecue with a tin foil yes that's sweet man we went skiing yeah yeah but it was not the same like i always like boat people i i'm so i have so much anxiety like i know like i think louis bought a boat another guy i know john groff bought a boat i'm like where the do you put it when you what do you well we didn't have we didn't live by the water we trailered it it sat in the sun we dug out uh on our side lawn we just trimmed the

whole place to put the boat and my father would back the damn thing right and just sit there you cover it and you sit cover it up sit there. You cover it, and you sit. Cover it up, sit there, and we would wash it every night and take care of it. Yeah. That's the boat. And then two weeks a year, you took the boat out. Well, we'd go on Long Island, too. We would go out into the Long Island Sound.

Did you fish? Yeah. My father wasn't a really big fish guy. He wasn't a fisherman. He liked to boat. He liked to ski. He liked to drive the boat. But that's what I really liked.

So he knew how to recreate? Yeah. to ski. He liked to drive the boat, but he doesn't really like to fish. So he knew how to recreate? Yeah. All right, so you start doing comedy, and your father says what? Do, oh, best thing he ever said. Like I said before, I don't have that if-then-go-to statement mechanically. Like my father can fix anything. Cars, too, is his big thing.

It's one of the reasons I like cars is it brings me comfort, but I can't fix them. I know what shit is, but I can't do it. So it was Anthony, too. Me and Anthony would try to do something. Brakes on the car, and Anthony leaves. You were trying to fix the car? Fix my car, yeah. And Anthony couldn't do it either?

Well, he did it, but he left, and I had something else to do. He knows how to fix cars? Yeah, he's a really mechanical aunt. So aunt goes home, and I'm trying to do something. And there's, Mark, there's freaking blood and oil and skin and wrenches flying. My father's standing in the door. He's got a Lucky Strike hanging out of his mouth. That was his cigarette?

Yeah, he smoked Luckys. And he was sitting there. And I'm just frustrated. He comes over. He puts his hand on my shoulder and goes, son, you're going to have to get a job. You're going to have to work at something for the rest of your life. This ain't it. Let it go.

He just saw that you said, this ain't you're not a natural yeah yeah so i go to college i come back and what'd you study there finance i went to marist college in poughkeepsie and i think i have a degree in finance you think i think it's like i went through the motions four years four years yeah i got the degree but we so you weren't doing comedy till after college no i was last year i was in the band I was talking about guitar, I was in this terrible band. In college, the eight song band. Eight song band. Yeah.

Born to be wild twice. That was it. Yeah. And now we- But that was, but was that a real dream of yours? Did you really think that? No, but being on stage, being, it felt better than anything else I was doing. I was working at a defense company.

I was digging holes and putting up sheds and clearing stuff. In Poughkeepsie? In Long Island, but I would drive up to Poughkeepsie. For school? For school. What was that, like an hour? Hour and a half from Long Island. So you weren't living up there.

You'd have to go. No, I was in the dorm, but I came home and worked every weekend. Because, you know, first year of college, it was like, everyone drinks too much. You have friends you think you're going to have forever. I'm in a band. This is it. I'm home. Then you sober up year two. You carry an extra 15 pounds. You realize friends you think you're going to have forever. I'm in a band. This is it. I'm home. Yeah. Then you sober up year two.

You carry an extra 15 pounds. You realize that guy's a drug addict. He just wrecked my car. He owes me money. Let me get the fuck out of here. You realize that. Yeah. And you're going to go put fence posts in the car.

Yeah. So I went to work because I had money in my pocket. Yeah. You know. So I worked every weekend because I always had to work. I always needed to. Well, your dad wasn't going to give you any handouts. Yeah.

It wasn't a lot. There wasn't a stipend yeah yeah yeah so I came home and I worked and uh I finished college I told my father I want to try and be a stand-up and he took a long drag off the lucky and he just went fucking luckies I love that he smoked luckies it's crazy you're gonna do this he goes do it now he goes do it now before your life gets complicated he goes the worst feeling in the world you're going to have is you're going to wake up one morning look in the mirror there's going to be an old guy looking back at you and you never want to think if i only tried a little bit harder yeah so give it everything you got fuck i was like fuck is that great and i remember the first time because it wasn't important what it was it was your commitment and the and the do it

yeah the idea that you're going to have regrets. That's what I think. And I've come to find this out. He loved his family and he committed to do what he's doing, but he had a lot of regrets. Not that his life turned out the way it was, but he wanted to be an inventor. He wanted cars. He ran a gas station at 19. He had 40-year-old guys working for him fixing cars and stuff.

And I think my wife actually got to know him when he was dying of cancer the last three years of his life. He got to meet my wife and he told my wife stuff

I never knew about regret. It's interesting what they talk to women about, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Us, forget it.

Where was I when I needed it? He told you that? Yeah. I didn't know that. You're kidding. Yeah, that's funny. How long have you been married?

I've been married two years. We've been together about eight, maybe. Uh-huh. So all in, is it eight or ten? Mm-hmm. All right, so you start doing comedy the last year of college? Yeah, last year of college, I started doing comedy. But what was the idea there?

You know, because you seem to have leveled off a bit with you know finding your groove with the leary camp and doing the acting and then that kind of got you on the nurse jackie and stuff like that and you're always sort of acting it was always sort of the thing but i mean you were a real comic and you did your time and you you know you fucking had a good headlining set what was the the initial impetus for con doing comedy yeah the initial impetus was uh prior it For comedy? Yeah. The initial impetus was Pryor. Yeah. It was the comedy house. We were talking before about the podcast,

how we listened to it. Right. And it brings me back again to those, to listening to spoken words, listening to Richard Pryor, listening to the 2,000-year-old man, Robert Klein. Yeah, yeah.

So Klein was a guy. And Chris Rush. Well, it was more Pryor. Chris Rush. Remember Rush? Yeah. Fucking great. He's still around, isn't he? Yeah, he lives in queens

yeah i feel like i didn't know him that well but i and i didn't like you knew him from live work yeah i knew him from live and listening to the albums yeah and and and actually being able to talk to him and seek him out yeah he was around he's got he had a shaved head for a while still does yeah that doesn't come back you listen listened to his records? Yeah, I had those records. Really? Yeah. How'd you get those records? I forget. You know where I got them?

I got them, I'm going to say through Anthony had them. We were listening. That makes sense. When he was starting out on radio? Yeah. No, Anthony had them. When you were a kid? When we were kids.

Really? That was one of the guys we would listen to. Because he was a local guy. He wasn't a... He wasn't a... Yeah, he wasn't, but he was smart as hell. Oh, yeah. He did all the smart stuff all the sci-fi stuff yeah the drug stuff and it's real that's interesting you cite him as a as an influence because he's like this weird unsung hero like i you know i should seek him out i like guys like that you know i interviewed vitalia put that

how's that it was great you know i mean because it was it was like it was an almost story it's an almost yeah you was like it was an almost story Yeah, you know like it's a great story about something that almost happened like anvil Yeah, it is kind of like that Yeah, but Danny was always like, you know, like a sweet tormented guy that just couldn't you know get it You know, he's gonna. Oh, you're gonna fuck himself now. Who was you? What was what was the voice that spoke to you to made you to go, okay, I'm going to do this? Well, when I was a kid, I mean, I loved the old guys like Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles, Jackie Vernon, when I was real young.

Yeah, yeah. But I think that once I saw that first prior movie. Yeah. Live in concert. The Santa Monica concert when Patti LaBelle opened it. Yeah. He just walked up with the red shirt. Same one.

The heart attack bit. Yeah. Once I went to, it was a movie theater. I was like maybe 15. Yeah. And me and my buddy Dave, we got our driver's license at 15 in Albuquerque. We went to see a midnight movie of that movie and that changed everything. Yeah.

Because you're sitting in a fucking movie theater and people are just losing it. Boom. Losing it. I got- I've never seen anything like that. No. I had the same experience, but not in a theater, but the same show. We went to one of those houses.

My father was building a kitchen for the rich people. Yeah. So, and he'd come over the house. Yeah. So, we would go. And one of those places where you get the warning from your mother in the car. Oh, yeah. Now, your father does business with these people.

Do not embarrass us. Don't break anything. Yes. Yeah. You little animals. So, they invite you over. these people. Do not embarrass us. Don't break anything. Yes. Yeah. You little animals. So they invite you over. They're watching prior, that concert. And all the adults are in one room and the kids are playing, whatever.

The adults go for coffee. I snuck in. Yeah. Rewound the tape, push play, blew my head off. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I remember, Mark, I remember audibly saying, look what this man can do. Unbelievable. And it was-

And so light on his feet and so casual and it's so light like so light on his feet and so casual about it and the path of just the emotions yeah he's real yeah a lot of heart and that's what i think that's why i wanted to be and again i'm i'm forming these ideas now looking back but a professional comic that could perform and move people that that's yeah right and then also make these weird these like very sort of poignant points about you know relationship about struggle just humanity humanity just to give voice to that feeling because i never my father and again go back to my father he never really got to address those feelings and and give himself any release as far as dealing with emotions he just it was just survival yeah survival and uh uh almost like a tradition of

how things are done yeah honorable character yeah yeah like you know like this is the this is what I'm doing this is what I was trained to do which can lead to a lot of closed-mindedness no absolutely I mean there was a lot of stubbornness and sort of like you know we don't have time to indulge that kind of yeah but that's what's what's surprising is that he was you know, we don't have time to indulge that kind of bullshit. Yeah. But that's what's surprising is that he was, you know, so immediately sort of supportive of something that you really wanted to do without dragging you into that. Without you dragging into that mindset. Yeah, well, I think he knew that I couldn't survive in his world. I couldn't thrive in his world.

What about what your brothers end up doing? Chefs. They're both chefs. So that's that world, kind of. Kind of, yeah. Well, it's a very, I mean, brothers end up doing? Chefs. They're both chefs. So that's that world, kind of. Kind of, yeah. Well, it's a very, I mean, even the work ethic. Chefs work hard.

Oh, late nights. Well, that was the thing about our house. It was the place, but everything happened late at night because my brothers, they were off work

at like midnight. I'm coming home from a gig. We're making grilled cheese at one in the morning. Yeah. Chefs, oh man, I love chefs because it's funny

because not unlike comedy, there's something immediately satisfying about preparing food. Yeah. That like, you know chefs oh man i love chefs because they not it's funny because not unlike comedy there's something immediately satisfying about preparing food yeah that like you know you get all your chops in place and then when you're fucking like you plate that thing boom it's like a good joke yeah boom again instant gratification it is a little bit but bam airline bit yeah exactly took it took a year to put it together yeah and. And now I got it up and running. Yeah. But even when I'm writing, I hear my father's voice. Small shit. Yeah. Makes that words not right. Oh, really?

My sensitivity is to why something, like as we do this, my editing process has gotten a lot quicker. You know, it's weird because I do, I build everything on stage so it takes longer. I build it too, but do you listen? Sometimes. I have been. That's what, and again, I got that from listening to the albums and stuff. And with kids, I can listen.

I process better by listening. Well, it's weird that when you nail something that first time and you still can't figure out how to get it back and you can't explain it other than like, it just must have been that night. It was something about the inflection. It's not even the word. There was just something about the immediacy of that moment that I can't fucking recapture. And the worst is when you have it and it goes away you have jokes go away yeah well that's i usually

that's just because you you're done with it yeah also it's also the delivery you're not selling it yeah you're tired of it but even when you exhausted those places to look when something goes away there was a a buddy of mine said there was a play yeah and they and i forget the story but the the play is uh the guy would get a laugh every time he asked for the tea. And so in the play, he started asking for the tea, and the laugh went away. And the director said, you're not asking for the tea anymore. You're asking for the laugh. Oh, that's interesting.

So I tried to say, am I asking for the tea or am I asking for the laugh? Are you in it or yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I always remember that story. Well, that's sort of the difference between being in it and doing the laugh. Are you in it or you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I always remember that story. Well, that's sort of the difference between, you know, being in it and doing the job. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah. Because it's party after. Even when you're tired of bits, my job is to entertain these people. Rarely are you in it on a late show Friday. Yeah, yeah. Oh, God.

All right, so, okay, so you get in it for prior and you want to do the thing. Get in it for prior, listen to a lot of, you know, Carlin, listen to all that stuff. But you like Robert Klein, too. That makes sense. Klein and those guys.

I'm not a big Klein guy. Not a big Klein guy. Well, no, and even Carlin, I appreciated him, but he was so anal about, you know, like I could never, like I always gravitated towards the guys who were a little more raw and seemed to be kind of winging it. Well, what I got from Carlin was the structure. He was very structured. Completely.

I got that from structure. And then the San Francisco guys really got me. You know, Robin and Proops. Yeah, how'd you come in touch with- Just being a fan. How'd you find Pearl and Proops? Just as being- Through other comics.

Through other comics. But you must have been touring by that point because no one- Yeah, I was out and on the road and you'd see guys. It's like we- So early 90s. Early 90s on the road. You heard about Pearl and Proops. Yeah.

Yeah, because the first time you see Pearl, you're like, holy fuck. It's just reference after reference after reference. And just this weird maniacal pace. Did you spend time with him off stage? I've never met him. I've never met him. I never- Because you can't find his material on anything.

No, there was no YouTube then. There was other guys, you know, telling you about him. Well, there's definitely that whole, that San Francisco thing that started with Pearl and then Warren Thomas and then Proops and Robin. That core group of that style is very specific. And then Boston got me, too. That's a whole other thing. What, Gavin?

Gavin and Sweeney. And Sweeney. And Sweeney. Rogerson. Rogerson. And I got to work with Rogerson. Those Boston guys, that was survival. That was, again, that was, again, it was Lenny. Lenny Clark fills up a fucking room.

He's just, even working with him. That's where I started working was in that environment. Yeah. Nicks, you know, the Catch a Rising Star in Cambridge. But there was these two worlds there that when Catch a Rising Star in Cambridge, but there was these two worlds there that when Catch a Rising Star came in, you had Nick's in all the satellite rooms,

but that's where I started working as a comic was in New England. Right. So I would always be, I would work with all the McDonald's, the, you know, Mike McDonald, George McDonald,

Warren McDonald, the Mike is not related to George, you know, the Gavins, the, you know, Gavin, Don Gavin, and then, you know, the Gavins, Don Gavin,

and then Sweeney, sometimes Kevin Knox before he passed. You know, I was definitely, that's where my brain was filled up with how live comedy is done with those Boston guys. But the outside of survival, you know, with San Francisco and Boston, regional style.

You know, those guys, you know, they had a tone, they had Yeah, the pace was me Texas style to though sure there is yeah But like that that Boston style like between Gavin and Lenny that is some fast shit fast quick smart Yeah, yeah, and I because I stood on Long Island. It was about the perform I started with Richie Minervini was the godfather. He was the guy that owned Eastside County gave us all stage time I started with, Richie Minervini was the godfather. He was the guy that owned Eastside County. He gave us all stage time.

So it was me, Kevin James, Gary Valentine, Rock Rubin, Matt Burke and Queens, and then Rob Bartlett had an improv group I was in. Bartlett I used to hear about. I don't, what happened to that guy? He's still working for IMS, MSNBC. Did he tour with the women? He was characters in his plays and stuff.

Did he tour with like, was in their- He had the Bartletts. He had backup singers and stuff. It was great. It was like all this, It was a whole show. Yeah. So we started like that. So I didn't go into the city because I knew that it was a different animal than us.

How did you not end up in the Kevin James camp, ultimately? As far as what? On the show? Well, yeah. It looks like he carried a bunch of people. Yeah. I've done like three of those episodes. Oh, yeah.

And I was a mall cop with him. The phone rings. He's a guilty pleasure of mine. It's very funny, you know, because people don't know. I've seen him work live. I've seen him. The phone rings. He's a guilty pleasure of mine. It's very funny, you know, because people don't know. I've seen him work live. I've seen him own a fucking room. But he's got a natural gift of physical comedy. Like, he's one of those guys where, like, if he's standing still, he can get laughed. He's got that Gleason-esque gigot.

Yeah, but he can't help but be funny. That's this weird almost genetic yeah it comes out of him yeah yeah like even the bit I remember working on the greeting card bit

of him just looking for it yeah because we started together what happened was we had the same agent and none of us could fill time for a college gig

so we couldn't go on our own right so I would do whatever stand up I had he would do whatever stand up he had and then we'd do the improv games

right two man freeze tag and Who Am I? Remember when that was a thing on the road where you tour and they're like, you have to do improv games with the headliner and the opener? And you're like, yeah. I'm like, I need this. But I grew up doing that in Long Island. So me and Kevin figured out we could make some money doing this.

And this is how important comedy was to us. We heard the wide right, the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants Super Bowl, on the side of the thruway going to do a nooner at Jefferson College. Oh, those are the worst. Listening on the fucking radio. While they're eating lunch. Yeah. Oh, terrible.

But comedy was more important to us than football at that point. That doesn't immediately resonate with me, but I'm sure some people would be like, no. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't have football in my life. Books? Sure. Whatever.

Sadness? Yeah, yeah. Comedy was more important than anything. Tea and Books? Sure. Whatever. Sadness? Yeah. Comedy was more important than anything. Tea and tears? Sure. Yeah, whatever it was. I definitely did all those gigs and you never thought twice about it. No, you took them all.

But you hated going. Oh. You knew you were walking into shit. Yeah. No winning. Yeah, excuse me. Can we turn off the pop shot basketball game before I get up there? I played a bowling alley once.

I did too. Cranston, Rhode Island. Yeah. Cranston Bowl get up there? I played a bowling alley once. I did too. Cranston, Rhode Island. Yeah. Cranston Bowl. I think I've done two bowling alleys. I think there was one in Maine that you used to, but I remember the Cranston Bowl. Yeah. Yeah, because back in the day, you had the one-nighters.

You had the colleges, and we weren't big college acts, so you'd get the crap colleges, or you'd be a lower budget. Anthony Clark couldn't make it you know it was not the money was too low for anthony he didn't want to do the lunch gig yeah you have ed regime like barry katz had all of that shit yeah all that knack of shit wrapped up but there was all those one-nighters so you never knew what the fuck i yeah when colleges are the worst because you get these student activities people that tell the booker, like, yeah, yeah, we'll set up the room.

You walk in, like, chairs? Can we have chairs? Yeah. Oh, you need chairs? Yeah, microphone would be good. Yeah. Is there a light to stand under? Ridiculous.

I remember when I first started, the best gigs you got was the ones that actually said comedy club after the- Oh, yeah. Not comedy night. Yeah, you work in the steak and sword. You know, you work in this restaurant. Yeah, comedy night. Yeah, not comedy night, said comedy club after the oh yeah you're working not comedy night yeah you're working the steak and sword you know you're working this restaurant night yeah not comedy night but comedy club like oh this is the real deal now yeah thank god yeah

i yeah my whole first two years of uh of doing stand-up was those was one night it was all bars and struck to get people hotel ballrooms oh those wall joints yeah like where they they would just contract out to anybody. You know, sometimes, like, your one gig would be the last of it. Yeah. You never knew if the gigs lasted. Madam Wu's Comedy Den in Weehawken. It was a Chinese restaurant.

Well, Mikey had, Mike Clark had a few of those. You know, but, like, his have lasted. I mean, Giggles at the Tower of Pizza. That lasted. And he had to, he booked me on one of the first fucking gigs I ever did. Mike Clark did. I still know his phone number. It's weird.

I wish they could see your face. Out of all the people in the world, when you're starting out and you're calling the bookers, his, I still know his. And it's still his fucking number. It's bizarre. i didn't it wasn't even like i worked for him that much but you know i was one of the kind of guys like me that he would use i was able to cross over somehow and they would that was it there was some guys that could do the gig and some guys that couldn't do the game that was there between long island

comics was more but it was a show it was a presentation where the city comics uh was more like you know thinking and stand-up. It was observational comedy. Right. We had to fight it out. You were going into an adverse situation. You weren't going into a comedy club. You weren't protected by the idea that this is a club.

This is where people come and expect. It's an unspoken contract of behavior. Right. When you go out and do nothing, it's like you're fighting for your life. Yeah. And that's where you learn how to fight for your life. It's like these people and I couldn't have less in common. That was always my struggle.

Right. Like if I went to Long Island or any of these Boston gigs, it's like I'm walking into not enemy territory, but I'm certainly nothing that they would expect. So how am I going to bend that into something that they fucking get? They can trust you. Yeah. How am I going to do that? Especially.

And then when they're drinking, I used to call it lion tamer comedy with the whip and the chair. Oh my God, dude. Oh, but the Derby Park in Lowell, Massachusetts. In Lowell? In Lowell. Opening for Chris Chino. That was one of my first paid gigs.

Mike Clark sent me out there and it was a longstanding gig in Lowell. And it was like, you were up on this thing. I don't remember it being necessarily, it wasn't a large stage, but I remember there was you were up on this thing that what i don't remember being necessarily it wasn't a large stage but i remember there was sort of a brass you know thing around it and people right here and right here and oh my god and i do i remember driving up there with chrishino and he was already bitter so that my first experience was with the guy this sucks that's the reason i worked quite a bit because i had a car yeah oh yeah i would do like all those

connecticut john Shula gigs. If you pick up the headliner in New York, you could do it. That's right. And Patty Rossboro was a big college act, and we had the same agent. So I would drive Patty, because I was Patty Rossboro approved. Yeah. So I would drive, and I would take the hits, and yell at everybody, and settle them down. You're going to pay attention to this fucking lady.

Yeah, yeah. Be nice. Be nice. So then you became a touring headliner pretty quick though yeah i was i was very fortunate to do that and then i got a deal um when they were giving everyone's deals so i moved out to california you did yeah like 93 oh yeah early on so you're a kid still really yeah and again not knowing anything and and just coming out what was the deal for you pitched the show you got what no where'd you get they found me someone found me on mtv because we were all remember we everyone could do tv then if you had five six minutes you could do tv basic cable had a million stand-up shows yeah and it was uh i remember the

first one i think i did was it was evening the impromptu or 80 sure yeah and even the improv caroline's comedy hour stand on the spotlight Something like that. And then MTV did the Half Hour Comedy Hour, but that was HBO. MTV did the... No, Half Hour Comedy Hour was MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour. Right, I remember those. And then there was the A-List, Comedy Central had a few shows before they did the Premium Blends, a different version of it. Comedy on the Road was another one.

Oh, John Biner. I never did that one. That was like the one I didn't do. I never did that one either, but John Biner was on The Odd Couple, and I always wanted to do it. Yeah, the Road was another one. Oh, John Biner. I never did that one. I never did that one either, but John Biner was on The Odd Couple and I always wanted to do it. Yeah, Biner was the character. What do you have under leaky pipes? Puddles? Yeah. So you come out to L.A.

and you get a fucking hand in your ass? Yeah, I come out and then, you know, we're going to pair you with a writer. Why don't you help me write what you can't write? All that bullshit. That's the weirdest thing, dude. And it still works that way. It was odd because they were trying to write this show for me, but I was having

more fun on other people's shows. I was on Flying Blind. I played a nerd on that show and I did a couple episodes of Caroline in the City. So I was working as an actor and then going on the road to make stand-up. Do stand-up and coming back and have this deal just fall apart

that would roll into another deal that would fall apart. Yeah, but you had a good run of them? Yeah, we made them. I mean, everyone said- Yeah, I never made one. We made them all, but then they were all- And I got to meet these people. I got- Alex Rocco played my father.

Oh, yeah. Lainey Kazan played my mother in one of them. I just had that experience for the first time with my show, like recently. I finally got the opportunity to make something. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, Sally Kellerman and Judd Hirsch are my parents. That's great.

It's kind of wild. Fucking great. It's wild. When you get to meet these people, I walked in and met Alex Rocco. Mo Green. Mo Green. Well, that's what it was. I met him at the Sportsman Lodge.

He came down to read. He was going to read for me for the network. And I had to say, pay my respect to him. I opened up the door and I just looked at him and I said, Frank, draw a trip so everyone can play

in the house and then he comes right in, right in with the words. He goes, you know who I am? I'm Mo Gray. He did the words right there for me

with a big fucking smile on his face. I loved him from that, I mean, he was so gracious. It's amazing. So the show doesn't get picked up. It's terrible.

He calls me up and i'm depressed two days you know just just wandering around yeah phone rings hello kid it's rocco yeah i put my retirement in your hands and you fucked it up he goes don't let those bastards be in control of your happiness and hung up the phone really yeah oh that's sweet and i've never heard from him since but I had that moment. He seemed to have a lot of great moments with old Italian guys. Your father. Oh, the loons. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The old gindaloons. So what broke you? Why'd you go back? I got the job. I got the show with Leary. I auditioned for it here, and they shot in New York. So you've been living here ever since, one way or another? Yeah, I've been back and forth since 93. But you had an apartment in New York. I had an apartment here. I got rid of it. Then I went back to New York. So you've been living here ever since, one way or another? Yeah, I've been back and forth since 93.

But you had an apartment in New York. I had an apartment here. I got rid of it. Then I went back to New York. Because I knew your ex, and I knew that that thing was- Yeah. So we were living in New York, and then that show we shot. And then I went back out on the road and did a couple of other shows, and then Rescue Me

picked back up, and Dennis picked up the phone. Lenny actually picked up the phone and said I was talking to Lenny about something and Dennis had this character and I went back and did Rescue Me for four or five years for that

and then Top Gear and Nurse Jackie well it's funny because I work with Servico my guy and like it's so funny you know those guys

yeah but what's really funny is that like Servico and that whole crew really you know like if you watch that one episode that Larry's on with the dead possum under the house, where like, it's funny because it's like me and you as well, is that like, I'm not the kind of guy

that they innately understand. I'm an acquired taste. Well, yeah. There's something there. He's like a man, but he seems to have like female problems he's like a man but like he's like a woman in a way because he's complaining about you but but it was very funny to work with those guys you know and dennis too you know and and uh because like out of all the people that sort of believed in the project you know

cervical was like you know he loved the podcast like we gotta be able to do something with it and like and I'm in there I'm like I feel like I'm from a different world to you but but you know but you know it did work out because it so because I am the weird thing is is that I think it's very hard for for different types of men right to sort of integrate. Like, there's this idea that there's those kind of guys and there's these kind of guys, and they've been fighting for centuries. Yeah, yeah. The guys that are guys' guys, and then there's these other things.

They can't seem to land on it. They're not manning up. He's got a sweater. Yeah, yeah, something. But it was a great experience because I mean, you know, oddly, you know, despite all my neurotic, anxious,

you know, heady bullshit, I'm still just a dude. You know, I got all the same problems. It's the same bullshit, but it's also, it's funny. You just remove sports.

The nice, you know, there's fewer things to bond on, but the machinery is the same. The funny's there. That's the important thing. The funny's there and that's one of the things I like about the podcast

and listening to guys. First of all, I catch up with my friends who I haven't heard from in a while, but I'm open up to different funny, and Serpico can find the fucking funny. Yeah, and he's just so good at his goddamn job. It's interesting, because one of my first experiences

of really fucking tanking it was back in those days where I was trying to and it was back in those days where you know i was trying to work at regular clubs in boston being the aggravated jew guy that i am and i had a guest spot at nicks when it was big and uh leary goes on before me you know he's gonna go do 20 and i'm gonna do a 10 or an 8 or 10 and this is back when leary he had a ponytail he had braided ponytail or an eight or 10. And this is back when we were,

he had a ponytail, he had braided ponytail. That's how far back this is. He was just a, you know, a force of nature. He gets up there and I don't even know if he did well, didn't matter.

Just the, the, the pace of it just annihilated the room. And then I made this, I got up there and I'm like, I'll just jump on his way. And I tried. And it was like, it was that kind of silence that has a vacuum to it where you. Where you're just up there, and it's like, exactly.

And it was like the worst eight minutes, one of the worst eight minutes of my life. That kind of bombing, I haven't done it in a while. But it's one thing if you can't get over it. It's part of the job, and you do what you can. It still sucks. But the kind of bombing where there's this sort of a vacuum. They're stunned first. You know the doom is coming. Right, or you feel like you're imposing something. Like, there's this sort of a... They're stunned first. They're stunned. You know the doom is coming.

Right. Or you feel like you're imposing something. Like, who's this guy? I'm sorry. Is this a bad time? Yeah, exactly. Right. I haven't had that in a while.

Oh, those were... And that's the worst feeling, especially when it first happens, because I would get that on the road. Yeah. Because you've got to realize, we were on the road with kids. Headline in Virginia. Some fucking club in Virginia. Yeah, yeah.

And what is this? Why does this joke always works? And then- Oh, and when they always work and they don't. And then you're by yourself and you're done. And you have no idea who you are because who you are is what you just projected on stage and they didn't like it. Yeah.

So like, why did I do what I did? Who am I? Where am I? Yeah. I'm going to go walk around the mall. I got to remember how to get back to my hotel with a 40 ounce. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Some guest. The worst. Eating a truck stopper sandwich, not knowing who I am. Welcome. Yeah. So you like, but you know, the thing with Dennis, you know, he, he liked your character and you showed up and you fit into that whole crew. Well, I met, I met Dennis at the audition.

I went in to read for the Tommy Minetti character. In the job. Yeah, when we get auditions. And that one, where'd that go? Two seasons? Yeah. 19 episodes, two seasons, ABC. But what we did was, you know when you go for auditions on tape?

I'm never going to see these fucking people again. So I did it. Yeah. Dennis told me later, he goes, you were the second to last one on a tape, and we called you in to read with him. So there was really no bullshit. You go in, you read. He sifts through everything, picks out the ones he wants.

I read with him. It was me, Dennis, Peter Tolan, and a cameraman. That was it. I didn't know. It was at the Chelsea Piers in New York. I didn't know. Everyone was up watching, like in the rafters. But Dennis wanted to set the environment of just being you couldn't

see them people no i had no idea the camera was there i thought they were just taping it they were feeding it the serpico was up and all those guys were up there interesting for this and we just started improv and and i started making him laugh and it was that same kind of i felt the training of the improv from improvving with in the clubs and yeah yeah laughs and and our timing was similar yeah yeah it, that moment really worked well and then Serpico came out and shook my hand. I'm Jim Serpico

and he was a Long Island guy and he kind of knew who I was and I remember, you know when you do something and you're still out of your body? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're trying to be professional and I'm saying,

I think it's a very interesting project and I'd love to be a part of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta get out of here. Before you fuck anything up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what it was and I got the call later

and just became, we became part of, I was inducted into the family. I always called Dennis the skinny Irish Sinatra. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what it was. And I got the call later and just became, we became part of, I was inducted into the family. I always called Dennis the skinny Irish Sinatra. Yeah. Yeah. But it was a nice place. And it's baptism by fire, Mark.

Yeah. He just goes, make me laugh on this take. Dennis would just yell. Yeah. And I was partners with Lenny. Yeah. That's like being the guy on the tank just feeding the ammunition into the cannon. Yeah, yeah. Lenny's something else. You know, scared me he still scares me but he's the sweetest

guy and he's just a force of nature we found a way to work but I knew him back in like you know I knew him when I was a kid and you know doorman at the comedy store and everyone was fucked up and you know and I knew him from Boston a little bit and he was a he was like the king of Boston very intimidating and like I was always scared of him and I think i still am i think i'm still a little scared of them they all scared me because i always felt like you know there's this you know there was like this this this irish tribe unity in boston where i'm like you know i'm never going to be part of that you know and how like and and even when i was accepted by them a little bit i'm like this can't be trusted right as soon as shit goes wrong i'm the first one oh yeah oh yeah i'm done And even when I was accepted by them a little bit, I'm like, this can't be trusted.

As soon as shit goes wrong, I'm the first one they throw off. Oh, yeah. I'm done. But when you're in that, when they make you, I will tell you when things, when my dad died. When was that?

When did that, what show were you doing then? I was doing, what was I doing? Was it The Jobber? It was The End of Rescue Me, the beginning of Top Gear. He got diagnosed with cancer. I remember I was on a movie set. I was working and he was I doing? Was it the job? It was the end of Rescue Me, the beginning of Top Gear. He got diagnosed with cancer.

I remember I was on a movie set. I was working and he got diagnosed. And fuck, and I went home. And Dennis and Lenny. How many years ago was that? He died in 2010. He got diagnosed in 2007, I think. And so Dennis and Lenny, what?

I was working. We were still doing Rescue Me. And they just took the time just to, they didn't really say anything. They just kind of... I remember sitting in the trailer, just quiet, just sitting. When Harry had cancer. Yeah.

And like they... I kind of... I just remember the moment of having those guys just be... It was very quiet. Not a lot of people said anything, but I knew that it was okay. If I wanted just to break down right there, I could have. I didn't. Right.

But I felt like I had permission from them. And it was all unspoken. It was a profound feeling. I'm still trying to articulate it. But had they been through, they'd been through that kind of loss. Lenny has. Lenny,

since Lenny has, well, he lost his dad. Lenny had since lost his mom after that. And that was another emotional place that we kind of went through together. Lenny showed up at my father's funeral in red pants. Just these giant red, and everyone knows all the guindaloo,

because there was all kinds of cops, criminals, plumbers, everyone showed up. And Lenny walked in, and I heard, I think Lenny Clark's out there. Out of! It's just big Lenny. I love you! Came, hugged my mother.

It's just really, really nice. Big teddy bear. Big a big teddy bear. A big scary teddy bear to me. Really nice. Well, the interesting thing about it seems, both of my folks are still around. It's not something I've had to process in my own experience. But when there's a diagnosis and there's a long-term illness, the grief is sort of cushioned by the fact that you have time to connect. It's still, it's a different kind of pain.

Because I've also had a friend of mine also who had someone taken suddenly from him. Yeah. So now there's that whole process. You got a process of. Right. But I think it's different. I think that like knowing that you're dealing with a terminal situation. And if you have loose ends, at least you can.

Yeah. You have the ability to do that. But then it's also, the denial phase was a lot of, we're going to beat this thing. My father, we're going to beat this thing. What kind of cancer? He had bladder cancer. Oh, Jesus Christ. And they didn't catch it till late.

And it was cigarettes and everything. And I remember me and him, we were in the garage. And it was one of those moments he just looked at me, and he goes, I ain't going to win. Yeah. But I ain't going to fucking give up either. Don't tell your mother. He actually says, I ain't going to make it easy on the motherfucker.

Yeah, I said it. Okay. Whatever you want to do. Oh, my God. So that was the end of the denial. Yeah. That moment was the end of the denial. And then, you know, it lasted longer than I thought it would. How long?

The denial? No. You get three years. Someone always said, you're going to get three years no matter what you do. I mean, he did the chemo. But it was three years. And pain. Mark, it was a lot. And chemo, you know. But it was three years. Uh-huh. And pain.

It was a lot. And the helplessness you feel, like, you know, because you can't do anything, you know. But they make him comfortable, right? He, you know, he was old school. Oh, really? Did he want the drugs? Yeah, well, after a while. I'll take them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But give me two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And was there stuff that, you said that your wife got some stuff from him. Yeah. My wife got to my wife and I remember the day

I took him out to lunch and I would always go out there. I would always, when I would, New York, and I would always just go out and watch football with him, just sit there with him,

just to be with him. I mean, my mom, I had to be there and love my wife. Love my wife. And he would tell her stories and we haven't seen you in a while i tell my father come into the city i'm not coming to the city i gotta

drive in traffic tolls get there no place to park and my wife would go you know we haven't seen you why don't you come see how about thursday yeah i can come in on thursday and he would come in and spend time and and he loved her and he would tell her all the stuff that's how i found out about there might have been some regret that he didn't get to fulfill the artistic whatever he was doing. Because he got to design kitchens and bathrooms and he took

what his father gave him to another level. Right. I went to a totally different place with his blessing. He was also able to see some of your amazing success.

Yeah. So I mean. That was. Oh we did. It was the Rescue Me tour. This was a great moment. We did. Because you know fucking Leary's always we're doing a Rescue Me tour. This was a great moment. We did. Because, you know, fucking Leary's always, we're doing the Rescue Me tour.

So the warm-up gig is Mohegan Sun. 7,000 people in the arena. That's the fucking warm-up gig. In Connecticut? For the tour, yeah. Yeah, yeah. In the big room. In the big room.

Yeah. And after that, we had Radio City. So I said, Pop, I'm playing Radio City. He goes, I heard. Listen, your mother said you're playing the Mohegan Sun. Can we come to that gig? So he could fucking gamble. That's why he wanted to come.

So I said, you're going to come to the show? He goes, of course I'm going to come to the show. You know, unless I get on a rush or something. But I should be there. He goes, you're going to do the Jews? Because I had this bit about Moses questioning faith. And people following Moses through the desert and some guy in the back yelling, hey, I don't think he knows where he's going.

And it's this piece about questioning Moses. I said, yeah, Pop, I'll do it. So I do the gig. He has big mane and white hair. And I did the gig and got a big applause break. And as the applause break is going, I look down and I see my father. Okay, Pop, you happy? I did it.

And I said to everyone, I go, that's my father. He was gambling. He said, I'll come to the show if you do the Moses bit. And then everyone was clapping. So it comes times next year we're doing the tour again, and he can't make it. He's just too ill. So I said, Pop, come on.

I'll send a coffee. We're doing a gig again. Well, he gets on, and he went, ah. He goes, that was one of the greatest things I ever saw. I go, why? He goes, you were on stage making everybody laugh, you were with your friends, and everyone in that audience, when you said my name,

everyone in that audience was looking at me, and I was looking at you. And my heart just fucking fell out. I just went, now? Now? Now I get, you're dying, and I have this love now. But he said it would just water his eyes eyes and I could see how happy he was. So I had that moment.

That's fucking beautiful. You get that shit. Yeah. And that's the shit I hold on to. Yeah. And you have closure around it and you feel like it's all, you know. I have closure because he, it's not that I have closure. I have, I felt like I didn't want him in here anymore.

Yeah. And at some level I think he decided to take the hit. Yeah. So it would be easier for us to adjust when he was gone. It was time to go. Yeah. Yeah. And he went out the way he would want.

He went out in his chair with his family. We were hugging. It was like the top shot, the crane shot in the movie. You knew it was happening? Yeah. Because it was like the doc said. The hospital was at my house, and my mother's cousin is a nurse. Yeah. And she said said it's gone it's

close yeah so we were all there his kids were whole i was holding him yeah i was holding him as the life left him really on the fire yeah oh my god yeah we were all at home at home in his chair which i still have yeah you do yeah i still got the chair that's amazing well that's a good that's a that's a touching story because i think that's the way it's supposed to happen. Yeah. I mean, in the sense that like not in the hospital. Yeah. It's like, but you look at what could have been.

Yeah. And then I still got the fucking anger of why, you know, what did he do? And there's no, there is no, it's cause and effect. You can't smoke Lucky Strikes for 30 years and think nothing's going to happen. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. How old was he? 69 yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. How old was he? 69. So young in terms. Yeah. In this world, 69 years old. So you don't have kids?

No. Not yet? Or is that it? No? No? Not going to happen. I don't. Me and my wife, we might adopt.

Me and my wife keep talking. We keep talking about it and then we're like, let's lay down. Yeah, yeah. You get to a certain age where you wonder. Your brothers have kids? My brother's got two kids. My brother, I got two God kids. Yeah? Which are You get to a certain age where you wonder. Your brothers have kids? My brother's got two kids. My brother, I got two God kids.

Yeah? Which are great because I send them all the stuff from- You get to be the good uncle. Oh, yeah. I get to come in and give them stuff

they're not supposed to have and send them videos. We just did an episode of Top Gear where we made, I made a Popemobile out of a 69 Lincoln. Oh, really?

And I got to drive Cloris Leachman to the Emmys so I get to do all this weird stuff. We made our own snowmobile. Oh, that's fun. We made our own snowmobile. Oh, that's fine. We made our own snowplow. So you work with mechanics and they're good.

Yeah, I draw the stuff up and we all have, what if we build, on the build shows we have. Isn't that funny though, because you're sort of honoring the idea that your father didn't think you could- Oh, I don't build. I can't build them. No, I know, but nonetheless, you're involved with that. Yeah. Well, that's the greatest thing, because I love cars bring great comfort to me because

of my father. In fact, I just bought a 1970 Buick Deuce and a quarter it's an electric 225 my grandfather had this car i just bought it because the sound of that motor and that big armrest yeah big car reminds me my dad yeah and that's that brings me football cars uh bring me comfort the odd couple yeah those colombo it's just so funny that your career sort of has got you involved in that thing. Yeah. You know,

you're doing cars. Yeah. He would love to see some restoring this car so I can drive around in this big car and think I'm like that. That's beautiful.

Well, good, man. It was great talking to you. Good to catch up with you, my friend. Yeah, buddy. That was a great talk. Sweet guy. We're both hanging in there.

I'm glad things are going well for Adam. Go to WTFpod.com. If you're new to the podcast, go get the app, the free app upgrade. Stream all 500 and however many we're at now. Enjoy. Comment sections are limited to Facebook now because I don't like the anonymity of douchebags. Douchebags don't deserve protection.

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