WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 722 - John Caponera / Adam Devine

Episode Date: July 7, 2016

Comedian John Caponera was one of the Comedy Store comics who left a real impression on young Marc Maron. John and Marc catch up in the garage and talk about the grind of the road, corporate gigs, comedy on cruise ships, and raising a family while doing this crazy job. Plus, Adam Devine from Workaholics stops by to talk about the new movie he and Marc are in, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. 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.

It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category.

And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talked to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. 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 nicks what the fucking istas what the fucker rekans what's happening i'm mark this is my show wtf it's a podcast i guess you know that if you're listening to it. How's everybody doing? Are you okay? Y'all right? Y'all good where you are? You're running? You're sweating? You're sitting? You're driving? You're flying? You're on a train? You're digging holes out in the desert looking for treasure? All of you, welcome to the show. Thank you for coming today on the show. Good show. Adam Devine, I'm going to talk to in a few minutes about a movie that we both are in.

Can I say we're both in this film? He's got a slightly bigger part than me. And then veteran comic John Capanera, who I used to watch when I was a doorman at the comedy store. Impressive stylist. Real deal comic. Just catching up with him. He's got a self-published book he'd like you to check out, if you would. It's called The Life in Comedy.

You can get it on Amazon. What else do I need to plug? Look, Spokane. I'll be there tonight. Apparently, there's still some tickets for tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday at the Spokane Comedy Club. You can go to WTFpod.com slash tour to link up to that. I got Wise Guys coming up in Salt Lake City, July 14, 15, and 16. And I've got the Comedy Attic in Bloomington, July 28, 29, and 16. And I've got the Comedy Attic in Bloomington,

July 28, 29, and 30. I'll be at Stand Up Live in Phoenix. Look, that's a big room. And if you guys don't start buying tickets, who knows what will happen. Do you understand? September 3 at the Albuquerque Journal Theater. And in September, I'll be at the Comedy Club in Rochester,

New York, the 9th and the 10th. And that's about all for now. Those things are happening. I'll be with Dean Del Rey here in L.A. at the El Rey Theater on July 19th. Me and Anthony Jeselnik and Joey Diaz.

Dean Del Rey and friends at the El Rey Theater. Go do that if you want. Also, I'd like to give a little love to my friend, to my dear friend, Dom Irera, who is going to be playing at the Denver Comedy Works, one of the best rooms in the world, September 7th, 8th, and 9th. Give a little love to the great Buddhas of the stand-up profession. What's happening how we doing everything all right did i mention everything hey um so you want to know what's going on with buster kitten buster kitten the amazing slapstick cat buster kitten is now uh

in the second bedroom comfortably isolated but not quarantined i just got to get him acclimated i i got to introduce him to the other cats but he's um coming into his own he's uh he seems to be sleeping on a pillow tucked in the the bottom cubicle of a kallax ikea record shelf is that is that what it is are those the ones kallax shelving unit uh If you don't know, that is truly the best shelving unit for records. But I got a little double Kallax, and the records are on top and underneath. I left open, and I stuck a pillow into one of the cubicle holes, and Buster Kitten is sleeping in there. I'm getting him the top-notch food.

I'll go sit in there. He's purring. He's meowing. He's playing with a couple of mice. He's shitting in a box. sleeping in there i'm getting him the top-notch food i'll go sitting there he's purring he's meowing he's playing with a couple of mice he's shitting in a box he's doing all the things kittens do and he will jump on my lap that's the uh the only trick that i know is happening right now is the jumping on the lap adam divine stopped by and you know sometimes i do these short interviews and uh he came by to promote the movies in. So Mike and Dave need wedding dates.

I am in that movie. I'm in it. They remember those of you who are around. They flew me to Hawaii for a day. I only I spent a day in Honolulu. They flew me down there. I got there, got some rest, got up and was taken to set. The hotel was pretty interesting. There were dolphins at the hotel. There were, there were like pools,

tidal pools in back of the hotel and there were dolphins in it. And I, if I'm not mistaken, turtles, maybe a turtle, a big turtle dolphins at the hotel. That's fancy. And I did a scene. dolphins at the hotel that's fancy and i did a scene i played a bartender who uh was trying to stay sober now i don't know i it was a very uh fun time it was a fun day i'm glad i did it have no idea what they used don't know how i did let's just do it let's just talk now to uh to adam divine about that movie and about himself. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that.

An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series, streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required, T's and C's apply. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock

take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. A little bit. You read all these books? I read some of these books.

Yeah. But a lot of them I've had for many years. And you've never read. Right. I'm thinking about buying more books, and I don't want to read all the books, you know? Yeah, just use them for decor. I want people to come in and be like, Jesus Christ, this guy reads.

Well, I mean, I've read, there are books on here that I've taken a look at. Then there are books that, you know, I was sent for free. Like there's a lot of graphic novels that I've read, but there's some I haven't, but I don't want to get rid of them because I might look at them. I'll peruse all of them. Sure. I'm not going to read all of them sure and like some of

the bios some of these are good reference books some of these books i've been trying to read since uh i was in college and i don't understand them some some of them you want to just have so you know that it's a book right now when people are like that book and you're like yeah i have that book yeah yeah exactly i yeah i'm gonna get to, yeah, I have that book. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm going to get to it. Yeah. Oh, that's that one about the thing. Yeah, yeah, I got that. I read the back of the book, so I know it's the thing. Or how about this one?

I started it. I started that book. You know, I kind of got it. I get it. And then I got busy and moved on to a bigger, thicker book. Yeah, which I also started. So they're both by my bed. Yeah.

Yeah. They're both in my garage yeah they're there i got them i got all the books adam divine is that how you say is that your real name that's real yeah what how does that happen i don't know penny and dennis divine also have it my grandparents have it the divines i don't know where it came from you don't know where it came i know it's uh irish everyone thinks i'm jewish but uh no i thought it was irish it's straight straight irish you thought it was irish yeah i do i did have a book of irish names yeah i looked it up before you got here okay the book of irish what

is his lineage yeah yeah sure it is irish probably it definitely is yeah that's what they say i think there's another actor there's a maybe i saw a character in a movie about Ireland that's name was Divine. That might be it. Ned, waking Ned Divine. Yes. Yeah. So there you go. So we got to the bottom of it. You're sourced.

Yeah. I want to do one of those, like, you see the commercials where they take like a prick of your blood and then you can be like, you are 65% Native American or whatever. I just did that. You did you? You don't even need blood. You need spit. No shit.

Yeah. I'm doing some TV show where they do that. It's sort of this is your life genetic testing. Oh, cool. So I had to do two separate labs. So I just sent the other one. I sent two in. So you don't know what you are yet?

No, I'm pretty sure it's going to be Russian, Polish, German, Jewish, mutt. Cool. That's the region. Yeah. Eastern European Jew area. Yeah. But you probably go right all the way back to Ireland. Do you ever go to Yeah. Eastern European Jew area. Yeah. But you probably go right all the way back to Ireland. Do you ever go to Ireland?

I've never even been overseas. What? To promote the movie. Mike and Dave need wedding dates. I was supposed to go to Berlin and what, London, I think? Yeah. But then I'm doing something. I'm shooting something else.

You've never been out of the country you're one of those uh like well you seem like kind of an American guy I'm super I'm super domestic I am I'm a bud light of a human domestic where do you grew up where uh Iowa Iowa and Nebraska oh my god I went till I was 10 and then uh moved to Omaha Nebraska and then lived there till I was 18. Were your parents in farming? Moved out here. No. Really?

No. My dad works for the railroad. Oh, okay. So that's a very Midwestern thing. Does he a switcher or a conductor? He was a conductor. He was? I think he did everything, but he's been a conductor for as far as I know.

For as long as I know. So he's on the train. He's on the... I remember, like, this is the train he's on that i remember like this is the most americana shit that anyone can have i would like come at me with something more americana yeah mark maron listeners um i used to i remember being at a railroad crossing and seeing my dad hang out of the train and wave to us like me and my mom there's dad yeah there he is and he's like honking the horn and waving at me and the train goes by yeah but he never took you in the engine he did it was like wildly like illegal to take kids in there uh well like train i don't think

like the federales are gonna you know no but like but. Right. And, but I think he snuck me on for like my fourth birthday. I have like little kid photos. I don't really remember it, but. Oh, it's okay to bring you on if it's not moving, isn't it? I don't think so. I think like it's like. Maybe he just didn't want you around. Yeah, maybe.

Maybe that's what it is. That's where he keeps all the hookers and blow. In the engine. Yeah. In that front compartment. Yeah. So walk me through the uh the what made you funny like what what happened in in childhood in terms of like i did some reading it sounds like

you had some trouble meth no no i'm kidding uh all these teeth are fake mark i believe that they're too straight you don't strike me as a meth guy no too chubby yeah exactly yeah i don't i need i don't have that meth weight were you a sports guy though no i i like wanted to be a professional baseball player when i was like really yeah really young yeah you know everybody kind of sure but uh i was hit by a cement truck when i was 11 10 you were really hit by a cement truck. Yeah. Like, level. Like, for real, hit by a truck. Oh, my God. It took me under the first, I think, like, two wheels.

Really? And it spit me out. No. And, yeah, I broke every bone in my legs. Oh, my God. That's just fucking awful. Yeah. That moment where something goes, ka-koom-ka.

I'm glad I don't remember. Like, you know, obviously, I don't remember. I, like, went into shock right away. But, like, that poor guy that was driving. He was, like, as old as I am now. Right. Driving a truck. Just driving a truck.

And then he just crushes a little boy. Like, that would be the worst. Whose fault was it? Did you run after a ball or something? Yes, he was drunk. He was? No, I wish. I wish I would, like like own the company no uh

mr cement mix yeah divine cement yeah that's what it would be uh what a great alternate life that would have been i don't know what it would have been you're about to be a movie star man i could have a but i could own a fleet of cement trucks. No, it was like my one buddy was across the street, and I was on the other side, and we were in the suburbs, so new houses were being built every day. And we were going to the local convenience store. We would rip pages out of Playboys and penthouses and stuff.

Sure, steal gum. This was pre-internet. Sure, of course. I'm on that cusp of, like, I was, like, the last generation to, like, have to have nudie magazines. Right, yeah. So we were, like, trying to do that, and, like, our other friend would, like, trick,

well, not trick, we were probably bad at it. Distract. Distract. It would be like, hey, where's the Razzmatazz suckers or whatever? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we would do that, but we were on our way to do that.

Did you cough? Like, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know why we just didn't take a whole magazine and that's how dumb we were you thought that would be real steel yeah that's real we're just taking a page or two we want to see an areola yeah um just one yeah um and so we were on our way to do that and he yells come on as in like i'm excited to go do this and i took it as in come on the coast is clear and three cementrics were going up the hill and two were coming down and so after the third one passed me going up the hill he yells come on i'm like okay and i walked behind and i couldn't see the other side oh god yeah it was gnarly i couldn't walk for two years see what happens when

you rip off titties when you you rip off titty pages? This is karmic return. God. Literally rip off titties. I bet that would be worse. Much worse. A lightning bolt would have just taken it. No, you would have died in that truck.

Yeah, I would have. By that truck. So for three years, recovery? Two. It was a solid two before I could really get up and walk. That's a big shot to the childhood. Yeah, middle school was a weird time in my life. Because they were wheeling you around?

Yeah. You were in traction for a while? I was in traction for a couple months. Good orthopedic, I guess, put you together. Yeah, they did a great job at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. That's what my dad did. He was in that business. He was in the bone mending business.

Oh, really? Yeah, pins, things, traction. Oh, that's awesome. Putting hips, legs, knees together. It's cool that there's so much money in that because athletes need to get healthy. Sure. And so now, like, you're like, you want to fake knee? Easy.

Got you. Exactly. Yeah, but like- Hip, no problem. Lymphoma, cancer. So like, we have no idea what's happening. But we can replace every joint in the body if you need to throw a ball or catch a run yeah if you're athletic or rich we got you when did you start doing comedy stuff i um i started like pretty young i was like 13

and i would uh freshly recovered yeah learning to walk again just learning to walk again and and i couldn't i like couldn't play sports so when all my friends were playing sports and and that was that heartbreaking though seriously yeah it was you know i really like liked playing sports you seem like a sports guy yeah um so i couldn't do that anymore but i liked i like making people laugh yeah so i would call into the like local radio station the local rock radio station and would do different characters and voices and i would do different characters and voices. And I would write down sketches.

Did they hire you or were you just doing it on your own? Well, I did it on my own for a few months. And then it kind of became like a successful bit that they were doing. You know, in my mind, it probably was like eight people listen, but I'm like, I heard like two people talk about me one time.

And then like Kmart. And I'm like, I'm famous as fuck. They knew you though at the station they're like that kid yeah well they didn't know as a kid they were like hey come in what we want to get you we want to put you on staff and have you be like a recurring like you do this every day yeah and and you're like oh great and i show up with my mom because i'm 13 years old and they were like holy shit we had no idea you were a child because i would never talk to them in my like little boy voice i would always talk to them in character yeah because i was afraid they would

find out i'm a little boy and be like get out you know get out of here you child yeah did they give you the gig but they couldn't pay me because i was a you know because it's illegal to work that young uh but they were like we'll give you all the free like we'll give you free cds and all the free concert tickets you want which is like better than money when you're 13 years old like any concert that i was so like i saw foo fighters a lot yeah yeah i was like that was the band that was like peaking when i was at that age so yeah oh that's awesome so and so you went into the studio and did it yeah that's hilarious yeah how long that last uh it lasted a little over a year. And then I went to Disney World with my family, like on a family vacation.

By that time, I was like 14 and peak of like horny, pervy 14-year-old boy, like hard dick everywhere I go. So it was the worst vacation I've ever had. Right. Because it's just like, I don't want to ride rides. I want to try to talk to girls. Right. But my parents are with me. And also I'm bad at talking to girls.

And there's all these hot girls walking around with their family. Right, right. It was a nightmare for me. Yeah, yeah. And so I come back home. I'm kind of bummed at the whole vacation. Would rather just play, like kicked it with my friends. And come home and I turn on the radio station to, you know, call in.

And they're playing It's the End of the World as We Know It over and over and over and over again. And I'm like, what the fuck is going on? And then I didn't have anybody's personal number. I just had the number for the station. And finally, I found out that they were changing formats. They fired all the DJs, and it is now a top 40 radio station. Oh, you're out of a gig. Yeah, so I'm out of the gig.

So that was their last big revolutionary move to spin that over and over again. Yeah, they changed the world. Omaha stopped. We'll show those fuckers. We got one day to do this, man. So, and then when did the sketch stuff start? You went to college and that kind of shit? Yeah.

I'm just trying to get up to speed. Let's get up to speed, Mark. I want to. Yeah. Because we just- I'll truncate this. Because I know that the movie, what's the whole name of it? Who needs wedding dates?

Mike and Dave. Yeah, Mike and Dave need wedding dates. The best scene in the movie is probably that first scene. That opening scene. I think so. That bartender brought something pretty special. Did he?

Because I haven't seen it. Now, I'm going to try to believe you. Was it good? It is. It is really good. Oh, good. I'm actually like, it's the first time,

I've done a few movies, but it's the first one that like, I'm proud of. Oh, really good. It's for like me. Like I would go see it and actually enjoy it and really think it's the first one that I'm proud of. Oh, really? It's for me. I would go see it and actually enjoy it and really think it's funny. And this is a big role. Yeah, it's my first starring role in a movie.

You and the Efron kid. Yeah, that unknown. It was very funny to do that because they flew me down for a day, and we just did that thing. And when you do a scene like that, I'm like, I don't think that's going to get it. I don't know what that's going to do that because they flew me down for the like a day yeah and we just did that thing and it's one that like when you do a scene like that i'm like that i don't think that's gonna get it i don't know what that's gonna do and and i i have not seen it i feel like a lot of times actors will like just blow smoke because they want they should make money so they can make more movies but like yeah i definitely want it to make money so i can make more movies but like i think people will

actually leave the theater going like holy shit that was that was so funny. It made me laugh as hard as Wedding Crashers made me laugh. Oh, really? Yeah. Because it's a good cast. You got Steven Root in there, and you got the girls, Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick, and you and Zach. There were other people hanging around. Who else is in it?

Well, Sam Richardson, he's on Veep. He plays Sugar Lynn Beard. She hasn't been in much but she plays my sister or my sister who's getting married yeah and she's so fucking funny and uh like she trips ball like they get like the girls give her ecstasy yeah yeah the night before her wedding and she just loses her mind and uh oh good yeah drug humor it's all there a lot of sex humor sex drugs hawaii yeah sex drugs in hawaii it's set in hawaii right we didn't just go there to shoot it because it's some budgetary yeah it's set yeah

budgetarily we had to shoot in hawaii but it's set in atlanta uh they cut the best deal in honolulu go down there uh yeah it's all set in hawaii like that that's the sort of plot is that we take these girls to this hawaiian vacation and uh that hotel was wild wasn't it they had the fucking the the fish right in the hotel yeah like right outside there were dolphins at the hotel it was funny and turtle i think a turtle or two maybe yeah it was funny how sad people got seeing those dolphins every day well you were there for how many weeks yeah i got i wasn't sad i didn't think to be sad until i saw like every like a little girl walk past being like we gotta free the dolphins i'm like oh do shit i guess you were just like yeah i'm like cool look at those dolphins should i uh throw this uh six-pack ring in there what would that do oh look they're all playing with it what's going on

yeah uh yeah that was a that was a wild hotel but uh okay so after where'd you start uh with the sketch stuff that eventually evolved because like i didn't realize that you kind of like were doing a lot of stuff before workaholics yeah well i did uh i did um stand-up in college. I went out to L.A. right after. Were you a stand-up? Was that the thing? It was solo? Yeah, I did New Faces Montreal just for us, New Faces in 06.

Oh, okay. And it was me and Hannibal Buress. So you had an act? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Were you featuring at clubs and stuff? Uh-huh.

No shit? were you playing the midwest seeing you back in the day in like oh five oh really yeah at the comedy store yeah yeah i'm like jesus this guy's gonna kill himself this guy poor guy you and i are definitely opposite types there's no doubt about that like you remind me of my roommate in college lance that was just sort of like you know kind like, what's going on? Yeah. You're like, this happy fucker. Yeah, exactly.

Shut up. This guy's okay. Well-adjusted motherfucker. Yeah, definitely different comedic types. Yeah, I'd say so. So, but were you featuring and stuff? Were you working as a comic? Yeah, a little.

I was trying to stay. I got offered, but like the feature money is like, it wasn't paying. $400 or $500 a week. Yeah, so I was doing better just staying in town auditioning for commercials and that bullshit. And I started a book. I booked a few national commercials and that sort of thing. Yeah.

And that was kind of paying the bills while I was doing all the clubs around town. Yeah. Especially the improv. I worked at the improv for a couple years from 04 to 06 working as a as a door guy and answering the phones oh you were one of those guys yeah so you paid your dues over there doing that uh-huh taking calls from comics going what time am i on yeah wait who's up no i don't want to come oh all right what's the lineup hey how many comments do i get as honestly as many as you want. There's no one inside.

You're the headliner. It's no one there. So, all right. So then how does Workaholics happen? Were you doing Funny or Die videos and shit too or what? Yeah, it was like kind of right before Funny or Die. Like 06 was like, it was like YouTube had just come out. I started making YouTube videos with the guys from Workaholics that we were all roommates together.

We went to- Here in town? Yeah, we went to college together for two years at Orange Coast Community College. Did improv classes. Yeah. And I was like, the one with the curly hair, Blake, he had like this cute little afro. Yeah. I was like, he's really fucking funny.

I should write with him. And so we started writing together and writing a lot of sketches. His best friend was Kyle, who is now our director. Right. He wanted to go to film school. So I moved out to LA with him. Met Durs at the Second City. Here.

I was taking classes in LA. And then YouTube just came out in 06. And we were all roommates. And we're like, let's make a YouTube video. This is perfect for us. And so we made like 80, 90 YouTube videos. a couple years and then i did stand up for uh comedy central live at gotham yeah and they were like oh what else are you doing i'm like i have all these internet please watch them no one's watching them and uh and then they gave us a show and that was

the birth of it yeah so that's your your creator of that thing yeah yeah and you guys write all of them still yeah no shit yeah i'm out of the writer's room talking to you right now they're pissed are they really no so they're so this is good so you did all right for yourself uh yeah so far man i don't know i mean it's been the movie's premiering tonight we'll see hopefully people go see it so how many do. How many seasons of Workaholics were there? We're still doing it. We're doing the last season right now. It's season seven. This is it, though?

Yeah. You're excited? Yeah. It's on you. You're like, how many times? They wanted us to do one more, but we're all kind of to the point that- Are all the other guys doing as well as you, though? They got other things going?

Yeah, they're all doing stuff. And we're doing a movie with Seth Rogen's producing it with with us and scott workaholics movie uh yeah it stars the three of us but it's not workaholics it's like the three of us we're hotel maids and our hotel gets taken over by terrorists and we gotta we gotta die hard this situation we're three we're three dumb john mclean's basically i get it i get rudens producing it uh-huh and uh seth rogan and who's gonna direct it your? Your guy? Kyle, yeah. Oh, that's exciting, man. Yeah, so we're kind of, we love working together,

but we don't want to do Workaholics for so long that people are like, that fucking show's still on? Yeah. We just kind of, everything becomes way over the top. Yeah. And like, you guys are like traveling now and shit. Yeah, we no longer like ride in our shitty car. Somehow we won

the lottery and we all ride uh those like those uh what can am spiders and those motorcycles with three wheels be a different show yeah well i saw you in the intern that was um yeah it was cool man it was working with deniro nice guy yeah cool like uh were you nervous yeah you know i was like honestly i was it was uh he's he's robert de niro but he's he's cool i feel like if you aren't if you aren't like oh robert de niro around him yeah yeah and or and you just have a conversation with him he's really cool yeah he's like kind of a quiet guy right yeah he's super quiet like he'll never he'll never be like hey how's it going yeah right like uh he's kind of mind you have to be like yeah you know you have to try to start we had a running bit where it was like he doesn't laugh he he just like he like has a silent laugh right but he like uh just sort of jiggles jiggles yeah

and so the running bit that i had with some of the other actors like hey time me see how long it takes for me to get to nero jiggling because he would laugh he would he was like he he wasn't like stingy with it right right but it but it was just a gentle jiggle and so it'd be like hey 45 seconds pretty good you got it you know so this movie uh mike and dave need wedding dates right yeah i'm in it i just want to make that clear i'm in the opening scene i want to this movie, Mike and Dave need wedding dates, right? Yeah. I'm in it. I just want to make that clear. I'm in the opening scene.

I want to make that clear. So buy a ticket, watch the opening scene. And if you don't like it, you can split. Yeah. That's your money. Exactly. No,

it looks like it's set up to be a pretty big summer movie and everyone's excited about it. And I, and I'm now, I'm trying to find out whether or not I was overlooked for the premiere

because I don't recall getting an invitation. You should be invited. If you're not, I'm going to have some words, Mark. With Jake? I'm going to have a word or two. It's Jake's name, right?

Yeah, Jake Szymanski, the director. He actually texted me on the way over here to say, I hear you're doing Mark's podcast. He's a good guy. Yeah, he's great. He's awesome. What was the other movie he directed before this one? He didn't. This is his first movie. here say i hear you're doing uh mark's podcast and he's a good guy yeah he's great yeah what

was the other movie he directed before this one he didn't this is his first feature wow so he was a funnier guy yeah he was a funnier he was like employee number one at funnier dot which is pretty cool he uh he was it was like right it was like day one of funnier die being a thing yeah and he was making like youtube videos much like i was yeah he was one of the first Die being a thing. Yeah. And he was making like YouTube videos much like I was. Yeah. And he was one of the first people to upload a video. And Adam McKay and Will Ferrell at that point were watching every video that was uploaded because it's a brand new site.

Right. They just did it that day. So they're like, well, watch all the things. And they really liked him. And they were like, well, we got to start hiring people. What about this kid? Brought him in. And I think McKay kind of took him under his wing a little bit.

Really? And he shut him the ropes. That's hilarious. And he's great, man. He's a he's great man i i would nice guy 10 movies with him he's like the best i was working with zach is that all right yeah it was good he's he's like it kind of sucks because he's like not only is he the handsomest guy in the world like like women just like fall over uh just like gush uh i remember like because i i don't work in a lot of movies i do the tv thing a bit but but he's pretty effortless like i forget that like some of these actors because i i mean maybe you're like me there's part of you like when you're on camera you're hey i'm this guy i'm talking at this level you know we're talking like this and then you see

guys like i imagine de niro or or like someone who's a straight actor, like Zach, they're just, hey, what's going on? And you're like, don't you speak up? Oh, I mean, both Zach and De Niro as well. But De Niro, especially during the intern, I was like, is he giving anything? Like, he's acting like he's never been in a movie before. Hey, you got to make more faces. And then you watch it and you're like, holy fuck.

Yeah. He knew what he was doing. Why doesn't he make a ton of funny faces like I try to do? Right. It's weird though, right? And then you watch it and you're like, he makes a lot of faces. Yeah. How did I not notice the faces?

Yeah. He makes faces at the perfect time. Well, good luck with the movie. I hope it does well. Yeah. Thanks a lot, Mark. Yep. well good luck with the movie i hope it does well yeah thanks a lot mark yep all right well that was fun glad to talk to him but uh jury's in was not invited was not invited to the premiere i don't know if i was forgotten about or perhaps the guy who starts the movie out strong doesn't get an invite to the

premiere but i i have heard that it's a funny movie i've seen it on the twitter i've seen people mention that it's a funny movie i will see the movie primarily because i'm in it all right okay so now i want to share this conversation I had with John Capanera. John Capanera, like, look, when I was a kid working at the comedy store, when I was just a kind of a long-haired, sweaty, drugged-up little Jewish kid, 22 years old, working the door at the comedy store, hanging out with devils and monsters and gypsies and pirates, doing the yayo, staying up all night talking about nothing.

He was one of these dudes that would come in yeah i knew he was from chicago but he would come in get up on stage do a solid spot tight material physical funny high energy you know real pro and then he did this amazing thing he just left didn't hang out with the freaks. Didn't get involved with all the swigging and the snorting and the insanity. And I kind of respected that. I didn't understand it. I was like, what do you mean? He's not going to hang out? Why doesn't that guy hang out?

That was always like this judgment. That guy doesn't hang out? Wow, what's up with that? Well, maybe he has a life. Maybe he wants to have a future. Maybe he doesn't want to get involved with some stupid bullshit and stay up for three days yammering to dummies who think they're changing things.

But Capanera was always a great comic. He's been out there doing it for like 30 years. And I thought it would be good to talk to him. I ran into him. I thought, let's see what John's up to. And he's written a book. It's called A Life in Comedy. You can get it on Amazon.

And he's a good guy. And he's a real deal. So this is me talking to John Capanera. You know, it's weird. I have interesting memories of you. Interesting memories. Here's the memory I have that was kind of hilarious. I was at the comedy store.

I was a doorman. And my job sometimes was to drive comics to Burbank Airport so they could go to the Dunes to do the comedy store at the Dunes. And you had to drive Mitzi. I'd drive sometimes. I didn't drive Mitzi.

That was a Schubert job. I drove the Jeep, but I have to pick you guys up. And one time I'd been up all night with fucking dumb Sam Kennison. I'm fucking still high on Coke and probably drunk. And I got to drive you and Mendoza to the fucking airport.

And I don't. To this day, I hate you. No, no. I would think you would hate me, but you probably don't remember it. I was like literally sweating drugs and there was no fucking gas and I was late. And you and Mendoza are like, what the fuck? And I'm like, I got no gas. I was barely keeping it together.

Get awake. And I just remember you guys, what the fuck? And I'm like, I got no gas. I was barely keeping it together. Get awake. And I just remember you guys, what is going on? I'm like, yeah, yeah. Sorry, man. It was just to me, it was really representative. The two different types of comic. Whatever the fuck I was doing up there with all the drugs and all the bullshit. There was definitely those two camps at the comedy store at that time.

And you were like this straight up kind kind of working-class guy doing comedy, and then we were a bunch of fucking lunatics. Did you ever feel that there at that time? Well, you know what? I lucked out at the Comedy Store. I got to tell you why. When I came out in 85 to do Star Search, I went down and did an audition down in Indianapolis.

So me and Larry Reeb and a couple guys from Chicago, we drove down to Indianapolis, did the audition. They called me a couple months later. I'd forgotten about it. They go, yeah, you want to do the show? For Star Search? For Star Search, back in 85. It was like its second year it was on. Was that the year?

When was Lubella on? When was that Lubella on? The year after you or something? He might have been on the year after me. They put us up right next to the comedy store at the hyatt right and it's my first day in la you know i don't know anybody else yeah i know some comics but really nobody so next i go in there that night i goes oh yeah the comedy store is next door maybe i could do my spot and work on it for tomorrow night show so i go in there and i say to the doorman i said listen is there is there any way i can get up tonight i'm doing star search tomorrow night and he

he gives me the once over and he goes and he says i think we can get you up a little later so i'm hanging out yeah i get up i do 10 minutes i have a nice set and i come in the back of the room and they say mincy wants to talk to you yeah i'm like who's mincy well it's the owner right and she goes john are you out here for good are you just here to do the show? I said, no, Mitzi, I moved out. My little crow, I packed it up, and I'm going to give this a shot, you know? Yeah.

She said, call in Monday for spots. Yeah. Well, everyone starts shaking my hand and pat me on the back, and I'm thinking, what's the big deal? And they think, well, there's guys working the door here for two years trying to become a paid regular, and she just made you a paid regular. And, you know, I come to find out, you know, I became friends with Jimmy Stewart.

I would see him after the shows all the time. We'd hang out, and he'd pick my brain. And I said, Jim, you know, I happened to luck out, you know, that she made me a paid regular. But you know what? I've been doing this seven years. I'm headlining all over the Midwest. I said, you want to get on stage you want to start in la i goes look who's on stage right now robin williams is on yeah i goes you know who's on after him eddie murphy yeah i look at the list you know who's on after him paul rodriguez i goes you

can't get stage time yeah i goes you you gotta find a place you can go and be bad yeah you gotta find a place where you can cut your teeth and just hone your act and and get up on stage it's all a trial and error it's all about stage time well yeah you're trying to start in la yeah it's almost impossible yeah sure enough he moved to florida he started working all the florida circuit down there he come back two years later and he was kicking ass he got what he did yeah he went to florida what year was that 80 what oh man when you moved out here i moved out here in 85 so i was talking to him this stuff like 85 86 he might have moved back right or 87 or something no shit came back in like 90 or whatever so he listened to kicking ass right oh yeah yeah i goes jim you always had it in you you just never

had time to to work it out. And you get stuck in the politics of that weird dark hole. Yes, exactly. Because as soon as you got past, there was 20 guys going, who the fuck is John Campanera? Oh, yeah. All the doormen are like, who the fuck is this guy? And I felt a little resentment from them.

But at the same time, it's like, dude, I came out here with an act. It wasn't like I just showed up and said hey give me a shot who was on this schedule then in like in the mid 80s let's say 85 86 when you were at the store when you first got there who was coming around was there carl lebeau was there yeah the dark forces you know uh uh louis anderson was all the time yep uh remember those guys like joey cayman joey cayman harry basil yeah uh you know steve odenkirk before he became a big steve steve odenkirk yeah yeah uh damon wayans damon dice karen haber joan hart oh yeah well you know if you were working the door you remember i got there in 80s. Oh, yeah, I guess so.

Like, yeah, okay. So I got there in 87. So it wasn't that long after you. Okay, and I lucked out because she took a liking to me, and she started working me at the Dunes in Vegas. Yeah, I drove you to the airport. She started working me in San Diego. Yeah. You know, so I was getting work from her, plus I had work from the Midwest, you know, from.

Well, you were lucky because, you know, you were made, you were set. You know, you I was getting work from her. Plus, I had work from the Midwest, you know, from. Well, you were lucky because, you know, you were made, you were set. You know, you knew who you were up there. You knew who you were in life. She couldn't fuck with your head too much. There was always guys around that like were, you know, sort of unpenetrable by that weirdness. Because that place is weird. But for you walking, I'm like, how come he doesn't feel it? How come he isn't like going crazy?

Like, because all of us who were sitting around at the door and doing drugs, that place was this haunted shithole that had its own meaning. We were talking about ghosts and about the history of the place, but you're like, it's a comedy club. Well, I wasn't there long enough to get involved in the politics. I wasn't there. I was green. But you also came and went, right?

You did your show and you left, right? You didn't hang out too much, did you? No, you know what i i hung around for comics i like to watch yeah and then if i saw the lineup and i saw that it you know i didn't care for them i'd split you know but you know i got on every night there and uh you know and that was that was awesome it was like my home away from home chicago is where i started it is that's where you grew up i grew up in chicago i i started doing comedy there in 79. Like where? What part of Chicago?

I've become sort of fascinated with Chicago. It's a great town. It's great. It really is. I always knew it was its own thing, but now I taped a special there. You probably have a huge following there. They're comedy greats. Great, great comedy town.

It is such a great town. And that's where I cut my teeth because they're a good comedy town because they give you the benefit of the doubt they want you to do well but they're very sharp right and they get all the subtleties yeah yeah yeah you know what i mean yeah they're smart yeah it's a smart town as far as comedy oh well they got second city yeah was three doors down from zany's right i started downtown yeah so i'd hook up with all the second city people right down the street at the bars afterwards. Right, right. And we'd all hang out, you know.

Right. I knew Farley and all those guys. Did you? Yeah, you know, I wasn't tight with him because they always hammered by the time I got to talk to him. You know, he wasn't coherent by the time I got to the bar. He was already hammered. You were tight with him, but he didn't remember.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys had a long friendship, and you talked a lot, but it was always in the blackout for him. Yeah, but we'd all go to the blues bar down the street from Zaney's in Second City. My sister was in Second City. Cindy. Cindy, you know Cindy? Yeah.

She went through the whole thing. So all her friends were like Bill Murray's brother, Joel Murray. Yeah, yeah. And Steve Corral. Yeah, yeah. And Steve Carell. Yeah, yeah. And all these guys, Odin Kirk. Yeah. Bob.

They were all in the same group, and they would all go to the same bar, and all the comics from Zany's would hang with these guys. Yeah, yeah. So it was a great hang, you know, but... Is it just the two of you in the family? No, I got four sisters and another brother, so... Oh, really?

Yeah, Irish Catholic. Really? Well, my dad's all Italian, my mom's Irish, family just you know i got four sisters and another brother so they're oh really yeah irish catholic really well my dad's all italian my mom's irish but we had six kids and he was a fireman my dad was a fireman in chicago so you were like real blue collar chicago yeah that's what you grew up i was the south side of chicago i grew up with like six blocks from comiskey park uh-huh we were 10 minutes from the loop yeah right off the Dan Ryan loop. But it was all blue collar neighborhood. Carpenters, plumbers, cops. You know, my neighborhood was the stockyards. Back in the early, back in

the day, the stockyards was right down the street from my house. The meat stockyards? The meat stockyards. Yeah. And eventually in 72, it moved to Oklahoma or something. But you remember it? It was, I was 12 years old. It was right down the street from my house. You could throw a rock and it was where all the pens were.

They kept all the cows and the pigs and the slaughterhouse. Right there? It was right there. We'd be playing baseball and all of a sudden a cow would run back. That got loose from the pens and would run by our park. We're like, a cow's by the park!

And eventually the stockyards left and they put it, it became a big industrial park but that was right down the street from my house was the stockyards. You have those memories. My whole neighborhood smelled like shit. My whole life it smelled like cow shit. You knew you got into our neighborhood when you smelled the cow shit.

How long did that stay around after they got rid of the cows? It stays, doesn't it? It probably lingered for a couple years. But I could throw a rock and right in front of the International Amphitheater, I was only a block away. That's where they had the big riots in 68. No shit. Yeah.

So the history, man. It's the history. There's a lot of history there in that neighborhood. But your dad was a union guy, right? Oh, yeah. My dad was a fireman and all my cousins are electricians they're all big union guys back there you know they swear by it yeah sure it's a union town yeah it's a big union town so what and now as a as a kid of a fireman that was that exciting i mean did you you know get to go on the truck and shit oh yeah yeah we'd go to the firehouse

was it one of those old kind with the pole and everything he actually for 15 years he was a captain over at the firehouse in chinatown where they shot back draft oh really he was the captain of that fire house oh was he on set and shit did he he got to see him filming stuff and everything did he think they got it right did he did you did he well he wasn't a consultant but i'm sure they use consultants but. But did he watch the movie? Yeah. And did he think it was good? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He liked it.

Oh, good, good. He liked it. He liked it. But he's still living, my dad. He's 82. He retired a chief. So I told you, I said, Dad, you're one of the few guys that are actually able to milk the system and get something out of you.

Usually, you retire and you croak the next day and you never get that money you put into it yeah he got it though he got his pension he's still spending it still does he still live in the house he grew up yes no shit in fact when i go back there i stay with my dad stay in the same house we grew up in oh my god that's so sweet that's when i was two years old yeah same room yeah oh god is your shit still in there? No, no, no. Actually, he remodeled a little bit. But it's the same house. It's funny. What's different about the neighborhoods back there is my house, I knew everybody on the block, for one thing.

Sure. I knew everybody in the neighborhood. I could go down every block and tell you what kid lived there. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you come out to LA, I don't even meet my neighbor until there's an earthquake and everyone's out in front. And you go, oh, you're my neighbor.

How you doing? It's a weird thing. Isn't it weird? Well, the thing I think that's different is that it's generations of people live in the place. So a lot of times, like I bet in the neighborhood in Chicago, you knew their families, your parents knew their families, you knew when, what's hishis-name's father died or when the kid graduated. Like, there was a, like, you know, sometimes.

Right. It was a village. Right. And then sometimes you'd go over to the other kid's house when your parents were away or whatever, like, everyone took care of each other. Like, my grandparents' neighbors, you know, and it just, it doesn't, like, up here I know my neighbors, but usually it's just this sort of,

like, could you keep an eye on the thing so that, you know. Yeah, yeah. You're not... Like, my house next door, my sister lives next door. Cindy, who's next to you, where? No, no, I'm talking... I'm sorry. My house in Chicago.

Oh, okay. This is the difference. Right. In Chicago, my sister lived next door with her family. Next door to my dad's place, my cousin lives. Right. You know, which is my dad's niece right across the street three other nieces my my dad's my uncle's daughter wait you're saying you

lived in an entire neighborhood of campaneras i'm telling you the whole block the whole block is inundated with campaneras and my grandmother lived a block away yeah my other grandmother lived two blocks away you know so there was a real village so if you had to leave and go hey watch my kid i gotta run exactly i gotta run to home depot so we could watch it yeah i don't have that out here i have three kids and we could never get a sit my wife wouldn't trust anybody because who knows we didn't have a village right and it's it makes it so much harder well that's why people don't leave that's why they don't leave their hometowns a lot of the times and like i know a kid you know uh nate bargetti's funny guy uh he's a comic from from

nashville and he's doing okay out here but he moved to nashville because her parents are down the street his parents are down the street and it makes life nice and easy and the kids have a relationship with their grandparents yeah and you know what and that's what one thing my kids didn't get which i wish they could have had because I had that. Yeah. And I had 35 cousins just from my mom. I had seven brothers and sisters. They all had five kids.

Right. I had just 35 cousins on my mom's side. That's not even my dad's side. Yeah, yeah. And they're all around. They're all in the neighborhood. Yeah. So, you know, you grow up with so much community and family, and it's one thing my kids didn't get out here you know

because you got to travel every time we went back to chicago they got to see all their cousins right and they loved it you know but uh because i was out here and and my wife's mother was out here and she didn't want to move back there and everything we stayed but yeah it's it's hard you know there's a thing in my book i have a what's the name of the book it's called a life in comedy it's available on amazon it's on amazon.com yeah it's a download you can download it on any ipad now what was the when did you write it i wrote it while i was not doing the cruise ships i had a lot of downtime oh yeah ships yeah so i the last couple years i i would just sit in my room and write whatever came to my mind. What were you saying was in there?

Do you remember? Well, I have a whole chapter on, it's called a sick stand-up comedy, a single man's game. And it's really, our profession is really cut out for somebody who's single. Yeah, or a bad married guy. Yeah, or a bad married guy or a married guy with no kids whose wife doesn't work and can travel with you. Right, right. You know what I'm saying? Just to babysit you, for fuck's sake.

Yeah, because it's hard. It's really hard. Once you have that first kid, now you've got to juggle time in, time away. She's bitching that you're gone too much. You're bitching that if I don't work, we can't feed the family. And it becomes a big juggling act,

and there's a lot of stress on both sides. And the fact that we were able to hold it together for 25 years is a minor miracle. Yeah, it really is. miracle yeah it really is not really not really i'm sorry and plus the fact that you know i'm trying to mend relationships with my kids because i was gone a lot you know oh really there's a story in my book i talk about you know i'm i miss so many little league games and so many recitals and so much and it kills you And it's those things that you don't get back in life. Right. You can't get that back.

Once they're gone, they're gone. Yeah, yeah. There was one particular moment. I just remember I'm in Bumfuckle, Michigan, you know, at a Red Roof Inn. Yeah. And it's snowing outside. It's March. Yeah.

And the closest, you know, theater or mall is two miles away. I don't have a car. It's worse. So I'm sitting there watching it snow. And my wife, I'm sitting there watching it snow. I'm on the phone with my wife, and my two sons are in a Little League game, in the Sherman Oaks Little League Championship game, and she's giving me play-by-play on the phone, telling me it's three and two. There's a man on third.

She's announcing. She's announcing the game to me, and I'm listening, and all I remember is hanging up the phone and crying myself to sleep because I wasn't there to see my two sons playing the championship game. Oh, that's brutal, man. And so a lot of the book talks about the loneliness of the job. Yeah, how old are they now? They're 20 and 18. No shit.

Yeah, yeah. They both went to Locke's, the fine arts school out here. Oh, yeah. It's like the fame of New York. Yeah, and what's their thing? They were in the drama department. No kidding. So my one kid, he's's their thing? They were in the drama department. No kidding. So my one kid, he's working at Big Five now

trying to become an actor. He's taking a year off from college. Working at Sporting Goods Place? Yeah, yeah, just to make a little money while he's trying to act, you know. Well, that's the thing about you, and I was excited to talk to you, is that you're a guy that, you know,

you're a grounded dude, you're a solid dude, you got a solid act, you know know you've had opportunities come and go but you're still out there fucking doing it because you have to yeah yeah you know i always prided myself on being a provider and no matter what it took you know i knew that i had to make a certain nut every month to uh to to make ends meet and to pay my mortgage and everything else. And, you know, at the same time, I missed acting and I missed being in town, but I didn't have the luxury when I was a single guy to just stay and audition. And say, you know, fuck it, I'm just going to take the next couple months off and go on pilot season, go out.

You could do that then. You know, I could do that then. You know, but once the kids hit and you had to make a certain amount of money, you know, whether it's on the road or in a cruise ship or whatever, corporate date, you got to make the bread, voiceover, whatever you had to do. Right. And I always, the last 30 years, I've been fighting the juggling the two because if you're gone, they just go down the list.

Oh, call so-and-so in to read for the part. Campanera's not around. Right. And then if I stay home and I don't for the part. Campanera's not around. Right. And then if I stay home and I don't get the part, I don't feed my family that month. Right. And I don't pay my mortgage. Right. So for 30 years trying to juggle that.

It's crazy, man. It's crazy. It really is. And it's paid its toll. It's paid its toll on my relationships with my family, my wife, and everything else. But my dad was a real worker, my mom, you know, so I always prided myself on being a, you know, a provider. Yeah, you got a working class ethic about it. There's a working class ethic about it. And I was, you know, I'll admit I wasn't the nurturing guy,

you know, I left that to my wife, right. You know, and now I'm paying the price because I have, you know, these, I'm trying to price because I have these – I'm trying to rebuild my relationships with my kids. Yeah. How bad are they? Are they real mad at you or just a little mad at you? No, no. I have a really good relationship with my son.

My other son just got a rehab. He's trying to rebuild his life again. 4.0 student. Oh, yeah? And I'm pulling for him. And my daughter's acting out now in school because my wife and I are going through a tough time, and she's ditching classes and this and that. Oh, my God.

Yeah, so I have to be home more now to try and mend those things. And as a life of a stand-up comic, when you're married with kids, it becomes really hard. Sure, man. Well, let's go through. So when you started, how old were you when you started? I was 22, right out of college. You just knew you wanted to do that.

Well, no, I wanted to be an actor. Yeah. And my senior year in college, we had a class called Advanced Public Speaking. Yeah. And for our final, all the kids had to do a comedy monologue. Right. And the teacher didn't care if you ripped off prior or Carlin, as long as you committed to the material. Right material and I used to

do impressions at the time as a poof off and I said I'm going to do my own thing so I put a bunch of impressions into a game of baseball I don't remember it was like the Cagney Capers versus the Sullivan Shoes and I just remember one bit at the end of it Cagney's arguing

with Ed Sullivan what do you mean he's already shaved? He's already shaved. He's got to be one of the other dogs. And he goes, I don't know. He slid in and he dragged the ball. He picked the ball up real quick. Everything's happening too fast. He doesn't know what the hell's going on anymore. Why, you silly son of a bitch. You're making these calls out of your ass.

So it's all these different impressions. And the kids in the class were laughing their ass off. And I got a nice grade for it and everything. And a day later, this kid from the class comes up to me and says, Hey, John. He goes, Man, that was really funny. He goes, You know, they're doing a gong show down the street in Joliet.

And I goes, What are you telling me for? He goes, Why don't you do that thing you did in class? I goes, That was for a grade. I'm not a stand-up. Yeah, yeah. He goes, But it was very funny. So we go over there, and I entered this gong show. I won $500 in this stupid bar having a gong show.

And you're like 18? I was 22. Oh, so after, okay, yeah. That was my senior year. I was going to graduate in a month. Right. So anyway, I graduate a month later. I'm playing softball in a league in Chicago.

We go to the bar that sponsors us. We're all sitting there in our uniforms drinking, and they got a little gong show going on at the bar that night. So I'm sitting there in my uniform watching them going, you know what, I think I'm better than half these people. So I get up and I do the little bullshit thing I wrote for class, and I won another $500. So within a month, I won $1,000 doing a stupid thing I wrote for class.

Yeah. And this kid comes up to me afterwards. You know, I never had $1,000 in my whole college career. I was always broke. Right. He says, hey, man, there's a comedy club in Lyons just outside of Chicago. It's 20 minutes from my house. They have open mic night every Thursday.

They sprinkle in the open micers with the regulars and you get to do five minutes. You should check it out. So I go to the comedy womb. I get up. They put me up in between like Ted Holum and Arsenio Hall, you know, and I go. Who are locals then? Who are locals. Yeah.

We're starting out. I mean, they were like the pros at the time. Right, right. And I do my little five minute bit that I wrote for class. Yeah. And it was so bad because it was like, ladies and gentlemen, imagine if you will, a bunch of celebrities getting together for a game of baseball. Right.

I think it would go something like this. Yeah. You know, I didn't know how to talk to the crowd. I didn't know. All I knew was. But you knew that that was a standard intro to a bunch of impersonation. Exactly. You saw that on TV.

Well, I, you know, I did five plays in college. I was a theater. I was communications major that did a lot of impersonations. You saw that on TV. Well, you know, I did five plays in college. I was a theater, I was communications major that did a lot of theater. Yeah. So I was used to being up in front of an audience. Were you a comedy fan? Yeah, I was a big Carlin and Pryor fan at the time. But I wasn't used to being up there by myself

with the onus on me to be funny. Yeah, yeah. So I would present it like, you know, and then I would hide behind the characters. Sure. Because I didn't know how to set up rapport with the crowd. Yeah, yeah. So I would present it like, you know, and then I would hide behind the characters. Sure. Because I didn't know how to set up rapport

with the crowd and talk to them and riff. You just did the act. I just went in and I just hid behind these characters. And it worked. And the guy says,

hey man, I like what you did. Why don't you come back on the weekends? And then he started giving me gas money and then eventually the older guys

would take me on the road and let me open for them. Like who first? Like Ted Holum, Ed Fiala, you know, Emo Phillips, you know, Judy Tenuta. And eventually, I wanted to be an actor, but this kind of thing started snowballing for me. And for a whole year, I did that bit.

That's all. Finally, I said, fuck, I got to do something else. If I can't prove I can be funny without doing an impression, I'm getting out of this. Yeah. So I just started writing my own monology stuff. Yeah. And I started living and dying with it. I died a thousand deaths.

Yeah. But I didn't want to be known as just an impressionist. Right. Well, I didn't even realize, because by the time I saw you at the comedy store, it was all about your life. Exactly. I remember one bit where you're measuring something.

Yeah. What was the setup on that? Well, I used to work on the docks in Chicago, loading trucks. Did you? Yeah. Were you a union guy? In college. Yeah.

In college. Did you get in the union? Yeah. They ended up working me one day too late and they had to put me in the union. It was in college because if you worked 30 days, you had to join the union. And I don't know how they forgot it. I snuck in. Anyway, it was one of these jobs where you just loaded trucks. But there were some real characters on the job.

And the one guy worked with, he was a measuring nut. He had a tape measure in his back pocket. It's like, Louie, what are you doing? We're loading trucks. We're not measuring shit. You know, what the fuck? What's a measuring thing? Yeah.

You know, he's one of these guys that walks in and goes, what kind of trim did you use up there, John? Is that three and three quarter or three and a half? I'll be a son of a... He starts measuring shit. You know, his head's going back and forth. That's three and seven eighths. I'll be a son of a bitch.

You can't get that shit no more. They quit making that in 68. That's a custom job. It's like, who gives a shit? And then there was another guy. He was the direction. He would ask you where you went over the weekend just to tell you how you got there. What'd you do Saturday, John?

None of them had teeth. They had no teeth. They're all smoking camels. What'd you do Saturday, John? I went golfing out at glenn eagles glenn eagles wait a minute that that's off 171 in it hold on wait a second that's oxford avenue right wait a minute what you take 94 94 to 55 south 55 south of kingery kingery 171 171, 171, Archer, Archer, over. I've been there before. Sure, Glen Eagle. Takes about a half a six-pack.

I'll be a son of a bitch. But that one impression, like the Drew Carey, or not Drew Carey, the Harry Carey, you did for a long time, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, Harry Carey was a local celebrity in Chicago back in the 80s. When I was growing up, he was the back in the 80s when i and when i was growing up he was the announcer for the white sock right he had just come over from st louis because they kicked him out because he was banging augie bush's son's wife so he gets a job with the white socks and uh

you know at the time he was only a local celebrity because he wasn't with the cubs yet with wgn yeah so i would do him on my act. Only in Chicago people knew him. Right, right. But then he got on GM with the Cubs and went nationwide. So now I could do the impression anywhere I went. Right. But Harry was great because the game was incidental to the story he was telling. He goes, you know, I was on Rush Street last night.

I closed the one bar, went across the street at the taco at that greasy spoon and there's the throat of first. Anyway, you know, I had too many jalapeno peppers. That's a fastball off Grace's head. Both benches empty.

And so I go back to my place. I took a dump and my asshole's killing me. There's a plate at the plate. The nurse steals home. And I'm thinking, man, I should have had some ice cream. Maybe if that came out first, my asshole wouldn't be bugging me. I mean, I would just sprinkle it.

You could just go on for an hour. I could go on for an hour with that. Okay, so here you are. You're running around uh you're running around chicago you're getting big were you getting big in chicago oh yeah i started headlining all over chicago i started to develop a a following and uh you know what happened is i started working zanies in the early 80s yeah and when the club took off in the mid 80s it got started yeah real popular right it started selling out every night.

And then I just started hitting road and headlining all over the Midwest. Now, who were the guys? See, the weird thing about that era is that was the real comedy boom. That was the club boom in the early-'80s, right? I mean, that was when everything started happening. New clubs were happening everywhere. And all the guys that we know now, some of the bigger guys, we're all starting out. So they're all running around.

Johansson, Jenny, all those guys were touring the country around the same time you were, right? Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny. I would run into comics that I work with from New York. And when I realized I wanted to move to New York or L.A., when I first started out, I didn't have the money to do that. Yeah.

And eventually, I built up a nice kitty from headlining and everything, and I had to decide, do I want to go to New York or L.A.? Then when Star Search called, I said, well, maybe this is an omen. Yeah. To move to L.A. Right. And I realized all the comics that I worked with from New York were out in LA.

I said, well, that just... Like who were your friends? Well, I just ran, you know, like different guys that I worked with in New York, like Rick Overton and stuff like that, that ended up moving to LA.

Well, if they're moving to LA and they're from New York, I might as well just go, you know, cut out the middleman and go right out to L.A. And you'd had all this road experience. Yeah. Mostly headlining, middling.

You did all of it, right? Yeah, Indianapolis and Detroit. Chick and Patty? So you worked for Chick and Patty over in Indy? Yeah. You remember Chick and Patty? Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Of course. And then I worked the Crackers and I I worked at Ridley's Place, and I worked all over Indianapolis, and Detroit, and Ohio, all over Ohio. You know, Hilarity's, Wiley's Comedy Club in Dayton. Yeah. And so I cut my teeth in a lot of places. And you know what else is cool is when I first started out, brother worked at midway airlines so he had a buddy pass so i got to fly to a lot of places for free just to show my goods holy shit where you know i instead of driving seven hours i fly in in an hour go up that night just to showcase and fly home oh that's sweet deal i was able to come back and

establish crowds around the midwest just because my brother worked for Midway. Oh, my God. So that was another way to get started. How long did he work for them? Just a couple years. Yeah. But it was enough for me to establish my place, myself, in a lot of clubs. Oh, that was nice.

Yeah, yeah. Is Cindy the only one that ended up in show business other than you? Cindy, yeah. Yeah? Yeah. But you know what? Growing up, my grandfather was Cindy, yeah. Yeah? Yeah, but you know what? Growing up, we were, my grandfather was a big singer.

Yeah. You know, he cut a couple albums back in the day in the 50s. Your father's father? My mother's father. Oh, yeah? Jumpin' Red Cassidy. Oh, yeah?

And, you know, and all the get-togethers we had, he sang at everything. Yeah. And he's a real showman, a vaudeville guy. Yeah. A real jokester.

Yeah. And I think every get-together we had, whether it was Easter, St. And he's a real showman. Yeah. A vaudeville guy. Yeah. A real jokester. Yeah. And I think every get-together we had, whether it was Easter, St. Paddy's Day, Christmas, whatever, he performed. Mm-hmm. And all of his kids sang. So it was like 10 max amateur hour. Yeah. And I think growing up and seeing that, and I couldn't sing, so I did impressions.

And to get the laughter from all the family members. Sure. It just encouraged you growing up. And my sister played guitar, my brother sang, my other sister sang. So we, I think growing up, and that's a chapter in my book talking about how I think showbiz got in my blood early on.

But it wasn't until I was in college that a teacher asked me to audition for one of the plays he was directing, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Oh, yeah? You know, I went to college to play baseball. And this guy pulls me aside and says, hey, man, I think you'd be great for this play. McMurph Tree? No, Billy Bibbit.

Oh, really? Yeah. And I said, I never acted. He goes, yeah, but I like what you're doing in my oral interpretation class. And I think you'd be good for this part. So I said, I'll give it a shot. I was flattered, you know. And I got the part of Billy Bibbit, and the thing was a huge success on campus,

and I ended up getting the acting bug. So I ended up doing five more plays in college, and I wanted to be an actor when I came out of college, and I didn't have the money to move to L.A. and New York, so I started doing the stand-up circuit. Isn't that something? So you gave up on the baseball dream? Yeah.

My coach my sophomore year, I needed classes and didn't know it, and I wasn't catching the ball coming off the bat until it was on top of me. I made a few errors at short, and he stopped playing me. And I'm like, fuck, if I'm going to sit on the bench all this time and not play and swat flies and swat mosquitoes. And at the same time, this teacher had approached me, and all of a sudden I went from playing baseball to be one of the theater guys. Yeah, that's wild.

You're the one jock among the theater guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're all like, you a theater fag now? All of a sudden you're a theater guy. He goes, hey, you get more pussy if you're not the gay guy in the theater. You know who gets more pussy on the cruise ship? It's the one dancer that's not gay, and he's banging all the other hot dancers. Like, who's the fool now?

Yeah, right. You and your judgments. Yeah. So you come out here for Star Search, and where did you come in on Star Search? You know, I went up against Jenny Jones, right? So we're in the semifinals. Yeah. And we both do our bits and we're waiting for the judges

to tally the votes. Yeah. And Ed McMahon turns to Jenny and says, now Jenny, remember Thursday bloopers? She was going to be doing the bloopers and blunders show with Dick Clark and Ed McMahon. I'm like, what the fuck? She's already in cahoots with this guy.

I have a snowball's chance of winning this. And no sooner did that thought come to mind. And the winner's Jenny Jones by audience decision. Oh, yeah, right. Yeah, well, anyway. So it's so funny. A few months later, it's ironic that I ended up working with her at a club in Tampa. Yeah.

And she's supposed to be headlining. Can't follow you. She can't follow me. At all. Because she has 20 minutes to her name, and then she's doing the other 20 minutes of Q&A. Oh, really? Because she can't fulfill the 45 minutes. Right.

And Ronnie Bullard's opening the show, right? And Ronnie's a funny guy. Yeah. So by the next night, I i'm headlining she's in the middle and ronnie's still opening well by the end of the week ronnie's in the middle i'm headlining and she's opening and i said well maybe this was prophetic because she ended up becoming a talk show host anyway right she was never really a stand-up for the you know for the long haul no you know you know what she ended up doing what she was cut out sure she got the show and yeah

it's interesting you see that happen in stand-up you know who just ends up like you know because like do you love doing comedy still or what you know i love performing and i still like writing and i still like doing it but i don't like to travel anymore sure i'm burnt out yeah you know if you see the cover of my book it's me with my rolly bag and a backpack looking up at the sign where my where the plane's going right that's the picture of my book right right because it book it's me with my rolly bag and a backpack looking up at the sign where my where the plane's going right that's the picture of my book right right because it's it's it's a life in comedy it's about being on the road it's about living out of a suitcase it's the loneliness of the job and like you were saying before that's the one thing i always remember it's like every

time you go do a road gig it's like did they have to find a hotel that was not near anything did you know is this like you're always in the industrial park or out far away from anything and then you like you're like well maybe i'll just go get coffee and you're the one guy walking you know for a mile oh yeah i know that's the that's the bumfuck michigan gig i was talking right and you're excited if the place is connected to a mall like if the mall's right there you're like oh thank god yeah i go to movies at least i catch a movie i could get some food yeah i could shop yeah you know like a depressed woman shop and buy shit to make yourself feel good about yourself yeah it's just it's a lonely existence man and it can really eat at you after a while well when you were when you were here uh initially like after what what what was

your sort of how did a career unfold when you were here? Because you worked a lot, and then you got the series, and you must have thought at that time, we're like, oh, this is it. When did that happen? How'd that all happen? Well, in 94, 93, Rick Messina, who was a comedy manager, he handled Tim Allen. Tim Allen had become a star already on Home Improvement, and he was doing a theater and around in Orange County.

And he said, John, you want to open up for Tim this week? He's doing this gig out in Orange County. I said, yeah, I'll open for him. So I go out there and I do 20 minutes. I had this really killer set. And unbeknownst to me, some people from Disney television were in the audience. The same people that worked for Tim Allen, Dean Valentine. He ran Disney TV. Yeah, I remember that guy. guy anyway he comes up to me afterwards and says man i really loved your

stuff because i think you could be the next tim allen he says i want to get warren littlefield out to see you and the head of nbc at the at the comedy store he was the head of nbc at the time yeah and i said this is awesome So we scheduled for the next week. I call in all the friends I knew, every marker I could cause. Yeah. Just come out this one night, you know,

laugh like De Niro in Cape Fear in the movie scene where he's just laughing his ass off. Was it main room? Main room or original room? It was in the original room. Yeah. But I packed it.

Yeah. And I go up and I did my 10 or 15 minutes, 20 minutes or whatever, have a killer set the next day. They offer me a it. Yeah. And I go up and I did my 10 or 15 minutes, 20 minutes or whatever. I have a killer set the next day. They offer me a pilot. Right. So we shoot the pilot. It's called The Good Life.

They make it a mid-season replacement show. Who's in it with you? Eve Gordon was my wife. Justin Barfield was one of my sons. He was six years old. He ended up working more than any of us after the show. He never stopped working. He went from that to Malcolm in the Middle.

He was like the third son. The kid never stopped working. He was six years old in my show. He worked more than anybody. But it was a fun show. Jeff Martin was the producer. He just came off The Simpsons. He was the head writer on The Simpsons.

Disney hired him to be a showrunner to produce sitcoms for them. And it ended up being short-lived. But I got to see how the other half lived. But you did a whole season, right? I did. It was a mid-season replacement show. Yeah. But the problem was it was NBC.

How many episodes? And we did 13 episodes. They all aired. But after the first four airings, they took us off for the Winter Olympics. So all the momentum we got, we lost. Was it responded to well? Did people react? Well, the problem was we followed Saved by the Bell, the college years, which was the

worst rated show on TV at the time. So we had no lead in. Yeah. And the three shows that came out that night was Sav by the bell john larroquette and john mendoza and myself yeah and there was no show to help kick off the other show yeah the only show that year was seinfeld and he and the show that followed it was frazier he was he was the only show that could help kick off someone everybody else was thrown to the wolves yeah it died it died a slow death and that was my big shot.

Yeah. I was a star of that show, and it showed me how the other half lived. Yeah. It got me my house in Studio City. Yeah. And I was able to hold on to it, you know, for 21 years. Yeah. But I told my wife when we bought it, I said,

hon, this is a beautiful home. I said, but if this show doesn't go and I'll find out in a month, you know. We might have fucked up. I said, you'll never see me again because I'll be in a month, you know, I said, I said, you'll never see me again. Cause I'll be on the road for, you know, trying to pay for it. And sure enough, the show goes under and I've been on the road for the last 21 years trying to pay for it.

What did she say at that moment though? No, John, it's going to go. No, she goes, this place is beautiful. You know, I guess we're, we're, we're above our means here, but we ended up, we ended up keeping it. It was the only thing in my life I ended up getting on the right side of the curve. Right, right. Because it quadrupled on me.

Sure. Because I was able to hold on to it. Right. You know, and it's my retirement. Yeah. All my money's into it. Yeah, yeah. I want to cash in my chips so I can retire because that's my 401k.

Are you thinking about selling the house? Yeah. Yeah, because I'm tired of the road and I want to downsize. What do you want to do? Get a condo or something? Yeah, either a three or two bedroom condo or something. Stay here though?

Trying to stay here because my kids are here and I don't want to bail on them. It'd be nice to just move to Phoenix or Albuquerque and buy a four bedroom. Yeah, I grew up in Albuquerque. You think in Albuquerque? Well, I have two sisters that live there. No shit.

Where's Cindy? Cindy's in LA. She's in Sherman Oaks, but I got two sisters live in Albuquerque. No kidding. I could buy a house for a song there and retire altogether. Right. It's a nice city. Yeah, it's a great city.

And I like it there. Phoenix, not as good. Albuquerque's nice. I like it because it's a little cooler. Yeah. You know, I like the whole snow. And it because it's a little cooler yeah you know i like the whole snow it doesn't all look the same you know phoenix kind of looks the same block to block you're like is that the mall we were just at you know what i mean every i know every fucking mall

the same color and the same my brother lives i know it's that same bizarre it's flat look yeah you know yep but uh you know it's an option well what but you did a lot of you of, you were doing a lot of acting here and there, right? You know, after I did The Good Life, I got acting parts off the ass. You know, I was doing episodics. You know, I did Love and War. I did L.A. Law. I did E.R. I kept getting a lot of acting roles.

So I ended up getting a SAG pension from it. Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah. And it's not a lot, but it's enough. Yeah, it's there. At least to pay my rent wherever I go. Right. And so I ended up getting a lot of acting work out of that. But stand-up has always been the bread and butter when it comes down to it.

Yeah. If I ever have a slow month, I just hit the road and I start working again. How's your draw out there? You still pull? If I ever have a slow month, I just hit the road and I start working again. How's your draw out there? You still pull? Well, you know, I pull in cities like St. Louis, Chicago, and the Midwest still. And what's the turnover on material?

You work new shit? I'm always working new material because it's the only thing that rejuvenates my act. Exactly. I can't wait to get to that new bit. Exactly. It puts a shot in your arm of your act because you got that new bit you can't wait to get to. I know. And if you don't have it, it's like, oh, here we go.

Yeah. And then, like, isn't that wild, right? You know, you're doing the hour and you're tired of the hour. And then all of a sudden you find one thing that fits in with the other two things or whatever. And you get to that and all of a sudden everything's good again. Yeah. It's amazing. You'd be surprised what one good joke or one good bit would you rejuvenate your whole act yeah yeah because you can't wait to get to it and you're excited about

everything else again and it's as a stand-up because all these new kids steve start doing it every year you know yeah the field just keeps getting more and more tight and if you don't stay with the times and keep writing you're're going to get lost in the shuffle. So many guys got lost, right? Yeah, you know, so many good guys, too, quit because they don't want to do the road anymore. And you ask any good comic, you know, why'd you stop? He goes, I couldn't sleep in another hotel.

I couldn't do the road anymore. I had to stop. And, you know, and that's where I'm at. I'm at my career. I'm at that juncture right now. Sure, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, it sounds like you I'm at. I'm at my career. I'm at that juncture right now. Sure, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, it sounds like you got a couple of plans that might work out. Yeah, I really do want to sell my place and really downsize and chill with the road.

Yeah. I haven't talked to many people about that the, you know, when you mention corporate gigs or you mention ships, like I don't think i've talked to anybody really about you know that world of comedy so like when you like what do corporates usually look like how do they work well you do a corporate gig like i'm doing one in a in a month it's for the st louis cardinals yeah you know every year they have a they have a gig where they bring all the ball players yeah together with the local businessmen yeah It's called the Knights of the Cauliflower Ear. It started back in the 20s when the businessmen would have the ballplayers come and meet them so that the ballplayers could get jobs in the offseason because they weren't making that much money at the time.

Oh, right. But even though the ballplayers can buy and sell these guys now because they make so much money, they kept the tradition up. So Tony La Russa would bring me in every other year to perform for these guys. And they kept it up. And they want me to come back and do it. So that's just one particular.

Tony LaRusso. Is he the guy that does the pet charity too? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I first met him. I was doing his charity gig. Yeah.

Yeah. So then he became manager of the Cardinals and said, would you come in and perform? Do a couple gigs for me for the team. It's a good gig? It's a great gig. You know, you meet all the ballplayers it's good gig it's a great gig you know you meet all the ball players and businessmen and it's a fun gig but this is a corporate gig where you just

shoot in for the night yeah do the gig for them in your home the next day right now if i could do three of those a month and not have to travel it would be a perfect world but and your material you can you can do a clean hour i could do a clean hour and i could do a dirty hour yeah and then like like some of those gigs from what i I understand, because I'm never really sought after for those type of corporate gigs, like sometimes you have to adapt to whatever the company is. Oh, I don't do that. No, good.

I tell the guy, he goes, hey, maybe you could fuck with Joe. Yeah. You know, fuck with Joe. You know, well, Joe's the owner. They don't tell me till afterwards. Yeah. And the guy's signing my check. Right.

And I go, well, they never told me you own the place. They just said you worked in accounting. And now Joe's going to fuck you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You thought that joke was funny, huh? I'm going to take another zero off your check. Yeah, good luck cashing this. Yeah, and then you do Carnival or some of these cruise lines.

Carnival wants you to do a half hour clean, and then they want you to do a half hour blue as shit, you know? Is that how it works now? Yeah. They want you to do one for the family and one for the R-rated. Is there anything good about doing the ships? The only good thing is that you sometimes have another comic on there that you can pal around

with. Yeah. But if you don't have that other comic or the other comic's a douchebag and you don't want to hang with them, it becomes a really long week. Yeah. And there's so much downtime. And you keep running into the audience. Yeah.

And you're alone with your thoughts a lot because you don't know anybody. And you're on the water. Then you try to make small talk with people just so you don't feel like a lonely guy. Oh, yeah. There's a sad guy. And then you're on the water and you feel so disconnected because you're out at sea. Yeah. And you don't see land.

Yeah. And you feel like you're one of these navy guys that are trying to get leave and just trying to get on land so you can go and so you can go and get a hooker and and just just have some other life outside of yeah yeah i'm talking about the navy guys not myself yeah but i'm just saying that's how you feel though you feel like you're in the navy and you just want to get leave. Now, when you're on a ship, do you have to do a show every night? On Carnival, you do. On Royal Caribbean, you don't.

But on Carnival, you have another comic to work with that you can pal around with. On Royal Caribbean, you don't. Yeah. And how often do you do those? I do maybe one a month or maybe one every two months. I really cut them back because the loneliness gets to me after a while. Yeah, yeah. Do you get to see parts of the world or is that even diminished?

Oh, no, you do, but that's diminished for me because how many times can you go to Cozumel? It's beautiful and they have great scuba diving and all that. But when you've been there a hundred times, you can only buy so many sombreros and you can only buy, you know, so much Kahlua. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's so, you know, you can only do so much.

You get so many boner pills. You know, you can only buy so much of that shit in Mexico. Right, right. And after a while, it's like, all right, been there, done that. You know what I mean? So it's a... You never went up to Alaska or anything?

Yeah, I did the whole Alaska thing. You know, you can only catch so many salmon. You can only, you know, wave at so many bears. There's the sad guy waving at the bears again. The bears are feeling bad for you. Is that guy back? I just woke up. Oh, my God.

I got to look at that guy, the sad comic. Oh, my God. Why doesn't he get a podcast and just stay home and try to get a following or something? You know, right on a sitcom. What, this guy's here every other month? Oh, shit. Does he get tired of this? I got three kids, man.

I got to feed the family. Yeah. We understand. We got cubs. You know, it's funny. Everybody sees the world of a stand-up. Oh, my God. This guy works an hour a night.

He's banging all the waitresses. He's getting coked up out of his mind, he's living large. No, no, man. It's like you get all this love and acceptance from this audience. They're buying your CDs, they're buying your drinks after the show, they're buying your paraphernalia,

and you're getting all this love. And an hour later, you're in your hotel room watching HBO eating a Domino's pizza jerking off. That's it. And that's your life. and you're getting all this love and an hour later you're in your hotel room watching hbo eating a domino's pizza jerking off that's it and that's your life you are the loneliest guy in the world that's right yeah you win right yeah you win yeah you want to put a bullet in your head i used to have like people a lot of my fans were bringing me baked goods for a while because i used to talk about so like i'd end up in the hotel room with like three or four trays of baked cookies and cakes just sitting there on my bed jerking off surrounded

by fucking cake and i was like what the fuck is this is this the victory am i living it you know oh my god it's some life yeah it's a trip too when you like that because i'm at that point right now where i've got to write sort of a new hour i gotta get good night a nice big piece going and like you know you figure out where do you start that you know what story is going to be this like usually the way it goes with me is do you start that? What story is going to be this? Usually the way it goes with me is you get that one piece where I can build around that. That's the main piece.

Let's see what comes in between and after and whatever. But you forget there's still this weird courage necessary to fucking take the hit when you're building this thing. Oh, it's unbelievable courage. You don't know where all the laughs are yet. Nope. You don't want to write it. You don't want to try and memorize everything

because no one can write 45 minutes and memorize it. Right. You want to go up there with the gist of it to give you the freedom to roam and discover stuff while you're on stage. Yeah. So, you know, you got to get up there with a recorder and just say, I'm going to fly.

And then when something hits, you go, oh, God, what did I do there? I got to remember, how did I do that? And if you don't have that recorder there to play it back, you're fucked. You know, you're fucked. A lot of times I record and I don't even listen to the recording. I just, like, I'll just keep doing it the way I think

I should probably listen more. Do you record everything? No. No, but there's something about knowing where that laugh hits that makes you remember that. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? It's just the nature of the job.

It's a built-in thing where you go, oh, all right, that was funny. You ever hit those ones where you get the laugh and you can never get it again? Where you're like, what the fuck did I do that one night? I know that pisses you off so much because you didn't record it and you're like, how did I phrase that? Maybe it was the timing. Maybe it was the delivery.

It was the wording. Why didn't I record it and you're like how do they phrase that maybe it was the timing maybe it was the delivery it was the wording i why did i why did i record it i fucked myself lost one audience one audience saw that genius yeah and you're improvising and shit's kicking ass and then you can't recreate it because you didn't record it well yeah i gotta remind myself i gotta make sure i do that so what's your sister doing is she writing on television now she's uh right now she's in between jobs i think it's the first time in her career where she hasn't been on a show she's really been lucky falling into she got a family no she's got a husband yeah but she has no kids oh okay but uh she got a place in sherman oak she's been at it you know she went from second city i remember working from Second City to working on SNL,

to working on Norm MacDonald, to My Boys, to Nurse Jackie. She did a thing, Shameless. She's been at a million things. You guys close? Yeah, she's four years younger than me, so we all grew up together. That's fucking sweet.

I think it's sweet that you still got this relationship with your family. I talk to a lot of people, and they're like, I don't know. You know what I mean? I don't talk to my brother. I don't see that guy. No, you know what? I keep in touch with all of them, and even though we're all parts of the country, I got a brother in San Francisco, two in Albuquerque, one in Chicago,

and we all keep in touch. That's's great and you go back every year to Chicago a couple times I get back there four and five times a year to do the clubs or a wedding or funeral right you know because I have so much family back there I you know I I didn't even leave till I was 30 so I still have all the people I played ball with you know people I went to college with people I went to high school with yeah you know there are so many people back there you don't see yourself living there again you don't want to you know i could yeah right i could live back there you know not you know easily you know but i i am used to the weather out here yeah and you know i i've been out here 30 years now so

your kids grew up here and your wife's where's she from? She from here? She's originally from New York. But then she grew up in Florida and came out here in the mid... She came out here in the 80s. And I met her when she was a waitress at the Comedy Store. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, it's great to talk to you, man. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, I... It's great to see you. I'm happy for you because I know you get on the ground floor when these podcasts first start. Rare when that happens. You're like the pioneer of this. Once in my life. I'm so happy for you that it actually took off for you. Once in my life, the cosmic timing worked.

Yeah. It's like I had no expectation. It's like you said about your house. If you could get one of those in your life where you're like, I'm ahead of the curve on this. You know what I mean? And it was all by blind luck. Right. Exactly.

It's like, you know, if you get one of those, you can't plan that shit, but if you get one of those in your life, good for you. Whatever the fuck it is. I know. And I know it happened to be my house for me and your podcast for you. But more power to you, man. I'm happy for you. Thanks, man.

Thanks for talking, John. All right. That was me, John Capanera. His book, Life and Comedy, you can get it on Amazon. And I'm sure you can see John if you look him up on the Internet. So, as always, go to WTFpod.com, powered by Squarespace, and check out the tour dates, the merch, the stuff, the things get on the email list

you know, that kind of thing alright well, I hope you enjoyed that alright, hold on, I'm going to get my Les Paul and plug it into that dirty old man amp. Boomer lives. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats.

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