#1524 - Ron Funches

[0] Hello, Ron.

[1] Hello, Joe.

[2] How are you?

[3] I'm good, man. You're good.

[4] You got double water bottles.

[5] One water, one protein shake.

[6] Oh?

[7] Mm -hmm.

[8] You're not fucking around.

[9] No, I knew.

[10] You know, last time I wasn't aware how long I would be here.

[11] Now I'm prepared.

[12] I'm going to settle in.

[13] I'm not going to be hungry.

[14] My wife got me all set up.

[15] Nice.

[16] Protein shake.

[17] Make sure that your blood sugar doesn't drop.

[18] Mm -hmm.

[19] Maintain energy levels.

[20] Mm -hmm.

[21] You are a man who has done one of the most difficult things a person could do.

[22] You lost a ton of weight.

[23] Yeah, and then maintain.

[24] and keeping it off.

[25] That's the harder.

[26] Right, that's the hard part.

[27] Yeah, the momentum of losing the weight is good, but most people, they get to a point and they want to take a break.

[28] And then once they take a break, then it all slides.

[29] Yeah, it's a bit of both.

[30] Sometimes I want to take a break, but then I want to get to that next level, so then I get back on it.

[31] Well, we were talking about Gucci Main before we started a podcast.

[32] Gucci is the guy who's done that.

[33] Yes.

[34] He's maintained and looks fucking amazing.

[35] He was a big fella at one point in time.

[36] When he had Burr tattooed on his face, The ice cream comb, yeah And now he's shredded Yeah He got rid of that ice cream Well you were saying it was lean right?

[37] Yeah for sure Yeah, codeine would put a lot of weight on him Look at the difference man That is crazy Well he wasn't too fat in the other one Yeah that's like Yeah that's kind of like him mid losing weight And that one you can find some real chunky pics Of him Yeah He got thick But now it's shredded Yeah Yeah, my inspiration.

[38] Yeah, me and my wife all the time.

[39] We look at him and his wife, the pitches they take, what they do.

[40] And I'm like, I want to hit in that direction.

[41] What do you do for working out?

[42] I have my trainer about three days a week, sometimes two days a week, and then on top of that.

[43] And we'll do, you know, just different circuits, back, chest, you know, whatever, whatever, legs.

[44] And then the other days, I'm always just trying to make sure I hit the treadmill twice a day for two miles on an incline.

[45] Twice a day?

[46] Yeah, yeah.

[47] Really?

[48] You do it twice a day?

[49] Yeah, in the morning and night.

[50] I don't do much otherwise.

[51] So, you know, especially now, a lot of my stuff is sitting in front of a computer, podcasting, playing games on Twitch and stuff like that.

[52] So I feel like, oh, if I'm going to spend sitting that long, I got to start the day, treadmill, end the day of treadmill.

[53] That's discipline.

[54] I like that.

[55] It is.

[56] I fucking hate it.

[57] So it definitely is discipline.

[58] But you like the results.

[59] Yeah.

[60] I like how I feel.

[61] I like the compliments.

[62] You know, I was just doing this thing the other day.

[63] and um uh jake johnson the guy from new girl i'm in a cartoon with him and like that's like you know he's like a leading man dreamboaty guy and he's looking at me he's like man he's like you're looking fucking good man you got your shit together you're like you're about to lead your own show and i hear shit like that and i'm like okay yeah i better get on that treadmill again yeah yeah that helps right it really does yeah the positive feedback and positive energy that's one thing that i like about what you do you are very positive like you're you're very warm and friendly like all the shit that you do online you're all smiling and positive and friendly it's cool it's it's got it gives off a good vibe like when i look at your instagram posts or read something that you post it's like ron is on the good path yeah i try to you know because it's just it's so easy to go the other way and and you caught up in what other people are doing and what you think you should be doing which i battle all of that too so i don't ever try to act like oh i'm just like oh everything's great it's like of course I go through shit all the time but like I think I choose to support my friends I choose to support positive things because that's what I can control and that's to me fighting against that negative as opposed to like just joining everybody in the fray yeah what do you mean about like how do you feel like when you say like you feel that too like the feel you feel the draw to the negative oh I mean because we all like you know we just want things you You know, so I wanted a Netflix special.

[64] I want to be a lead in a show.

[65] I want my own show, you know?

[66] And I've already do a lot of great things, but, and that's why I have to balance it all.

[67] Because I'm like, oh, man, I'm in such a great position.

[68] I do so many wonderful things.

[69] I, what always helps me actually is talking to people like you or talking to people like Bert, talking to any comedian that's been doing it like 20 years plus when I'm at like 14 now.

[70] And when I talk to them and then they are like, oh, hold on, slow the fuck down, man. Like, you look at where you are and what you're doing for how long you've been doing it.

[71] You're fucking Aces, men.

[72] So chill the fuck out and play it out.

[73] Don't freak out.

[74] And that always, you know, having faith, that always helps me out.

[75] Well, we're all stalled right now, you know, unfortunately, because we can't work.

[76] But stand -up is a long haul.

[77] Like, you're, at 10 years, people start taking you seriously.

[78] You know, if you're really precocious, people start looking at you at 7.

[79] Like, damn, this motherfucker's good.

[80] But at 10 years, they go, okay.

[81] that guy's a pro or she's really got it she's legit 10 years usually so 14 man you're cooking you know 14 you got things happening you know you're putting together like real sets you got like you get off stage you're like damn that's that was legit that was legit it's fucking it's a long road to get good at stand up you know it's like that acdc song it's a long way to the top if you want a rock and roll.

[82] I was on stage, or not about to go on stage, rather, at the improv once.

[83] And there was this lady who was on stage, and she, you could tell she's real recent.

[84] And she was just eating it, just eating shit up there.

[85] And me and the DJ were just like, whew.

[86] And I just looked and I go, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.

[87] And then the DJ played that song as I went on stage.

[88] It's a long way to the top.

[89] It is, man. It's a fucking long way.

[90] Yeah.

[91] And I agree.

[92] And that's what I had to change my mindset very early because, you know, I came from not having money, not having anything and having my son really early.

[93] And so I was like, I need to make it.

[94] I need to do this.

[95] And then, like, I remember I got on Conan the first time.

[96] And they were like, oh, what do you promote?

[97] And you got to promote something, you know, when we introduce you.

[98] And the only thing I had to promote was an open mic that I was doing in Portland the next day.

[99] You know?

[100] And I was just like, this is.

[101] is always going to be a part of this this is always going to be here it's always going to be a there'll be highs and then there'll be another day and so i got to learn to not you know fear that next day and just be like this is man this is just my life and that's what helps me through all of this quarantine stuff is why i'm back doing weird zoom shows i'm doing my own live stream show september 5th and people adapt yeah exactly yeah the best out of it so far i've seen is andrew shultz Andrew shultz has adapted the best because he's really figured out a whole new kind of a format.

[102] He's figured out I'd do these like 10 -minute chunks on a particular subject, like rapid fire with images behind him and his style of comedy.

[103] And it's, I'd be calling a quarantine comedy because it's like, there's no one in the room but him.

[104] It's just, you know.

[105] And it's high production value.

[106] And it's, it's without network notes, it's without, and it's him being able to distill his voice, without anybody telling him what to do.

[107] So then when you watch it compared to things you're seeing on TV, which now, because they're forced to scale back, start looking very similar.

[108] You're like, why the fuck would I watch this?

[109] Yeah, he's so much more fun.

[110] Yeah, Schultz is so much funnier than those guys.

[111] Those guys are forced to do TV kind of comedy for the Internet, and that shit is not good enough.

[112] TV kind of comedy is okay if you have TV kind of restrictions.

[113] You know, those restrictions that they have for language and content, then you can get away with it.

[114] But if you can just, you know, if you're forced to compete in that Internet realm, like the Internet is wild, man. Yeah, the wild west.

[115] It's a fucking full -on wild west.

[116] You know, this show, like, you can never do this fucking show.

[117] No one will ever allow me to do this show anywhere else.

[118] The only way it would have ever worked is to have no one telling you what to do.

[119] The thing about those feelings that you get when you see other people doing stuff and good things happen in them, you're like, ugh, I want that.

[120] That's fuel, man. That's the keys, like, how you harness that fuel.

[121] You could pour it all over yourself and light yourself on fire, which a lot of people do.

[122] like you know yeah we see it all the time all the time or you can just go I'm gonna work harder I'm gonna fucking just buckle down I'm gonna stay focused and I'm going to somehow or another be my best self be the best version yeah I never deny jealousy you know to me that's like that's just lying to people when you say like oh I don't get jealous like I would when I was a very young comic I would read Pat and Oswald's The Spue and And I think he wrote something, he wrote jealousy as a map of where you want to be.

[123] And I was like, oh, if I just look at it like that, that's a lot easier for me to swallow.

[124] Yeah, that's a wise way of looking on it.

[125] Yeah.

[126] You also, one thing that for me, when I first started doing stand -up, I was real jealous.

[127] And I also didn't like comedy anymore.

[128] I didn't like other people's comedy because I would be jealous.

[129] Like, I would watch someone kill.

[130] And I go, oh, why didn't I come up with that joke?

[131] Oh, my God, he's so much better than me. Oh, my God, he's killing.

[132] shit I want to be like that and then I realized like oh my god I've stopped enjoying comedy and now I'm not a fan anymore and one of the things that switched with me is I realized that I was I had a very weak perspective on it instead of being inspired and instead of being like energized I was like wishing that they would do badly which is a real common thing like you you see someone who's doing much better than you and you actually hope they fail yeah well you see a lot of people you see them start succeeding a bit I've noticed in general you stop seeing people champion them you know they stop they're like oh well you've made it as far as I wanted you to and they call you a sellout oh my god you sell out but I love being inspired that I've never had like I've always been inspired by comedy I've always loved comedy and I sure there's comedy I love more than others but I've always learned to go like well that's not for me you know I respect their craft I respect the way they put it together but that was not for me but I always looked at it like rap where it's like man you look at like the old defro records or then they always were sharpening each other by how good each individual was and I look at comedy the same way where it's like oh if I see the amazing set I'm not like trying to steal that joke or trying to that but I'm going like oh fuck I got to raise my game yeah well that was one of the best things that we had at the store absolutely we were all working together and you know we'd have a show on it'd be you and me and burr and you know you you know, and Eliza and Whitney and fucking Ali Wong and bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

[133] These shows were fire.

[134] It was just, and you had to warm up in the back.

[135] I'd be in the back.

[136] I'd be jumping up down on cushions and shit and shadow boxing and touching my toes and taking deep breaths and you got to, you know, you got to get your body charged up.

[137] You know, I missed that.

[138] I missed that a lot.

[139] I missed that a lot.

[140] I miss that feeling of being the main room, green room.

[141] Get ready to go on.

[142] Woo!

[143] And just the hang, man. I missed the hang.

[144] Oh, truly.

[145] I mean, for me, especially, because I was still always looking at it.

[146] It's like, oh, I'm the young guy on the total pole here.

[147] And it's cool that, you know, it's one thing, the original room is awesome.

[148] But when you're on these main room shows, you know, like, oh, they're putting me on here because they also think I'm a part of a draw.

[149] And so be on that with you guys, but being younger in the game than you guys and being like, oh, fuck, I have to follow Allie, Joe, Joey Diaz, you know, Whitney.

[150] have to follow them all and then I don't have the credits that these people are going to care about.

[151] It was the thing I've learned to crave of being like, because when I got them, I was like, they are on my side because I'm fucking good.

[152] They don't know anything else.

[153] They don't know what I've done.

[154] They have now figured out I'm good.

[155] And that I miss so much.

[156] I was there once and I brought you up and you said something along the lines of Joe reminds me of that teacher that got a for having sex with a, he said, with a senior or something?

[157] He seems like that cool teacher that you find out.

[158] He tells you all the cool stuff.

[159] He tells you how the real world works and then you find out he was having a relationship.

[160] The teacher's aide.

[161] I was crying.

[162] I was crying.

[163] But it's like those kind of moments, man. It's like the camaraderie of the store.

[164] One of the best things about the quarantine is being able to do this podcast and have guys like you on.

[165] and have all, you know, all of our friends to come here and just sit down and just at least spend time together and have some fun and talk because I miss that so much, man. You know, look, I love my regular friends and I love my family.

[166] I love my neighbors.

[167] But they're not comics.

[168] They're not, man. It's fucking different.

[169] You know?

[170] Yeah.

[171] My wife is funny as shit.

[172] She's funny.

[173] She says mean shit to me, like to be funny, like funny shit.

[174] Makes fun of me. it's fun it's like we have a good time but comics are a different animal man you know and if you're not around them for a while like you go fuck I wish I could just have someone who just wants to fuck around and talk shit yeah just have some fun yeah yeah someone who's not getting their feeling I heard it oh god everyone's so goddamn sensitive you know make fun of me please please you know let's talk some shit yeah no I'm that is what I miss the most is just being in the back seeing my friends and and those are things we took for granted so much as well because I just be like all right well I'll see you tomorrow and now I don't see nobody ever when we were shutting down in March and I was thinking like you know what ma 'am's gonna buckle down work out a lot right you know come June whatever the fuck this is over I'll come back guns blazing you know and then when I realized that there was going to be a second lockdown and then there was going to be no return and here we are in august and there's no sight it's not going to happen it's not going to happen until 2021 there's there's no way i was like fuck like this is terrible this is a terrible feeling like i never would have imagined that i would have to worry about comedy clubs going under but they're going under all over the place man they just can't stay open it's crazy yeah no i mean i was in the exact same boat And I think most of us were just like, okay, well, I can last.

[175] I'll put it together.

[176] Just treat it like I'm in a short -term prison sentence and just work out and get my GED and just get it all together.

[177] Become a lawyer.

[178] Yeah.

[179] Go over my case.

[180] Yeah.

[181] And then, yeah, same thing.

[182] That second lockdown happened and something happened in my brain where I was like, okay, I'm going to have to just.

[183] Because before I was like, oh, no Zoom shows, nothing like that.

[184] I don't like how it's fucking with my rhythm.

[185] I don't like how I'm not getting feedback.

[186] But after that, I was like, you know, I just kind of have to adapt and go with the flow and hope things change and know that things change in time no matter what.

[187] But if this is how it is, I got to stop fighting it and start just like, you know, finding my lane in it.

[188] So, you know, I'm just trying to do that now.

[189] Yeah.

[190] You have a podcast luckily.

[191] I felt bad for dudes who didn't.

[192] Yes.

[193] For the folks, the guys and the gals that didn't have podcasts, I was like, ooh, like you got no way to keep in touch with people.

[194] Yeah.

[195] I mean, and that was exactly the reason why I started my podcast because I was like, oh, I'm like, everything I'm doing is a guest in other people's shit.

[196] Like, I'm a guest in everyone else's home, and I don't have a home for people to come hang out with me. And so I've been thinking that for a long time, and that's the reason why I started my podcast and when all this stuff happened, I was like, I was very happy.

[197] Because I've always been in two minds when it comes to comedy.

[198] I love specialists.

[199] I love people who are just like, I do stand -up, straight stand -up.

[200] I'm going to be the best fucking stand -up in the world.

[201] Like, I love being that competitive.

[202] But I also have this part of me that's just like, I love new challenges of all types.

[203] And so I got into voice acting, regular acting, all that stuff.

[204] And when this thing came down, I was like, oh, fuck, actually, you know, just like in business, it is good to diversify because voice acting is saving my fucking life right now.

[205] Yeah, yeah.

[206] Yeah, as a person in show business, you must have as many forms of revenue as you can.

[207] You really have, and you have to save for a rainy day.

[208] You have to do those two things.

[209] And I've been real lucky that I have weird taste.

[210] I mean, weird shit, so I have, you know, cage fighting commentary.

[211] And then I also have the podcast.

[212] And I also have this stand -up thing, which is just on hold indefinitely, you know.

[213] You could do it right now.

[214] I mean, have you thought about doing one of those driving?

[215] movie shows?

[216] I talked to a bird about it.

[217] He made it sound interesting.

[218] Yeah, he loves it.

[219] The way he sells it made it sound fun.

[220] You got to realize he's drunk, though.

[221] Yeah, I do.

[222] And I realize this.

[223] I do realize that.

[224] He's like, horns, yeah.

[225] He likes horns and people high -beaming him.

[226] Like, what?

[227] I'm like, explain.

[228] He's like, dude, it's like a UFO.

[229] I'm actually, I've been talking with Chris Tit is, because he has his own little production studio.

[230] I shouldn't call it Little because he has his own production studio.

[231] I don't have no fucking production studio.

[232] He has his own big -ass production studio.

[233] And he's been shooting his own specials and his own, he's doing a reunion of the tightest show through it.

[234] And so I reached out to him and I'm going to do like a live stream show where we have 10 people in the audience.

[235] And then we'll be live streaming it out on YouTube on September 5th if people want to get tickets to that.

[236] Ronpunches .com.

[237] Don't stop my promo, Joe.

[238] Sorry, sorry, Ronfunches .com.

[239] So there's 10 people in the audience.

[240] Yeah.

[241] So do you test those folks?

[242] Yeah.

[243] Well, you know, there'll be way, not like you, where you had, where I took the full test, but it'll be temperature checks and waivers and they'll be wearing masks.

[244] They'll be wearing masks.

[245] And they'll be socially distance.

[246] Yeah.

[247] It can be done, man. You know, Texas is doing that with restaurants.

[248] You can go to a restaurant in Texas.

[249] Everybody wears a mask.

[250] Simple.

[251] They space the tables out.

[252] Everybody wears a mask.

[253] Good ventilation.

[254] Server wears a mask.

[255] And they're not having any problems.

[256] You know, with this, their draconian laws, they've, in California.

[257] This is the only state where you can't go to the barbershop.

[258] Do you know that?

[259] there's drawbacks to high population areas.

[260] There's tension in high population areas.

[261] And when things go south, when natural disasters or, you know, what we're dealing with with COVID, things along those lines, it's just a bad place to be, man. It's just not safe.

[262] It's not healthy.

[263] It's not wise.

[264] Like, I like calmer.

[265] I like a little calmer because I'm, my problem is not getting up for things.

[266] Like, I have a friend who lives in New York City, and he loves it because, like, oh, I love the energy.

[267] city everything's happening moving in a minute yeah i don't need that i got a lot of energy i need chill i need downtime i need i need a place where i get you need space you need a fortress of solitude i need relaxation i need to balance and whenever i'd go to places that were more rural there was like nature and trees and shit i always feel better i understand that i about i mean that's one of the reasons why i like where i live in the valley because i like being i've always been outside of me when i started a comedy.

[268] I started coming in Portland, Oregon, but I lived in Salem, Oregon, and I just make that 45 -minute drive, because I did like going into a thing doing my job and then leaving that there, coming back home.

[269] Yeah, that's how I always felt about Hollywood.

[270] I lived in North Hollywood when I first got here, and I just kept moving further out.

[271] Then I moved to Ancino, and I'm like, I got to go further out.

[272] And then I went way out.

[273] Yeah, man. Yeah, that is true.

[274] Like, this lifestyle is so weird if it will get you so wrapped up in other people's information and partying and doing shit and that's one of the reasons like I love like I got my little small town Canadian wife and my son who you know that's who's been my balance the whole time is that I started comedy my son was already three years old so he one was like you need to be feeding me with this and be I don't give a shit about your jokes or we're hanging out at all so you know I would like to be here and have you hanging out with me so that's always I think that's one of the reasons I've been able to be as successful as I am is that I was like I don't give a fuck about hanging I don't give a fuck about and there's a lot of fear that comes to that right because people are always like oh I want to be part of the group I want to be part of the clique and if I'm not hanging I'm not part of click and I was just like well they'll know I'm fucking good at comedy and they'll like me from that you've never had a problem with that I mean that's one of the things about the store it's a real meritocracy you'll hear people say like oh you know like there's clicks there and they don't accept you I think that's horseshit if you're funny it doesn't nobody gives a fuck if you're gay straight trans, white, Chinese, black, fucking Puerto Rican.

[275] Nobody gives a fuck.

[276] Are you funny?

[277] Yeah.

[278] And if you're funny, you're in.

[279] That place is 100 % inclusive.

[280] If you're funny, you're in.

[281] You know, it's you're accepted for what you, what the kind of heat you bring.

[282] You know, when you get on that stage and light that place up, you don't have to hang out.

[283] You don't have to be one of the, you know, one of the people that parties and drinks.

[284] They don't give a fuck.

[285] They know you're funny.

[286] Yeah.

[287] I mean, I've seen you murder.

[288] You know, when you can lay it down the way you do, you just accept it.

[289] It's just how it is.

[290] It's a beautiful thing, really.

[291] It's like that stuff, the art form of comedy, we all know how hard it is to get to that 14 -year spot like you're at.

[292] And, you know, there's a lot of people that have 14 years are not as funny as you.

[293] For whatever reason, psychologically, they've not figured it out artistically.

[294] They're not true to themselves.

[295] Whatever it is.

[296] They never found that.

[297] And I think, I bet having a child and having that, that, that, intense responsibility when you're starting out being an open micer and also having a child like woo that is that is extreme that's an extreme amount of responsibility yeah I agree and I've talked about it with the other comics that I know that our parents because we'll make fun of the laziness of other comics because they'll be like oh man I got to do this set at midnight and then I got a meeting at noon how am I going to do it and I just like well before I came to this I helped my son with his homework.

[298] I got to get him up on the school bus at 6 a .m. And then, you know, so, like, I don't have any fucking sympathy for you.

[299] Yeah.

[300] Well, one of the things that I loved before the store closed down was my schedule was basically I would put my kids to sleep.

[301] They would go to bed at, like, you know, 8 .30, 9 o 'clock.

[302] And then I would go over my notes.

[303] And then I'd have a set at like 10 .30.

[304] It was perfect.

[305] And then when I would come home, everybody would be asleep.

[306] So I just hang out with the dog and write.

[307] You get a chance to come down and not have anybody talk to you.

[308] Nothing, man. Just quiet.

[309] That's a balance, man. Yeah, that's what it's up.

[310] For me, that's so big.

[311] Balance is so big.

[312] You have to have it.

[313] You can't just be all about it.

[314] Because I think, do you know what Miyamoto Musashi was?

[315] He's a samurai from the 15th century.

[316] You wrote this crazy book called The Book of Five Rings.

[317] It's all about strategy and how to be the best.

[318] at whatever you do and one of the things that he said is like you have to have the same you have to do all things with the same intensity and energy like you can't just be a guy who has to kill people with a sword he was excellent at calligraphy he was an artist he wrote poetry he believed that you had to have a balance as a person otherwise those flaws would show up in your sword fighting oh that's amazing yeah I love that That's, I've always, that strikes me hard because I've always believed that in my comedy from the day I started.

[319] I was always like, oh, I can never let my life get far away from my persona that I present on stage.

[320] I can, you know, always we turn it ourselves up to 11 or whatever.

[321] But I go from just my experience and my love of comedy, I go, oh, when people get too far from their persona in any general way and they're lying to you, it just starts falling apart and it starts showing in their act.

[322] shows in their life and I've always that was is what gives me material because I just talk about whatever is active in my life as opposed to being like well this is who I because if I did that I'd been stuck when I was 23 just been like I'm the fat stoner guy you know right right right yeah yeah you could get caught up in your act right yes there's a look there's a lot of examples of that the even successful ones like Kinnison Kinnison is a great example bobcat for up until very Yeah, he, on this podcast, talked about how hard it was to kick.

[323] And the people like, hey, man, do that scream thing.

[324] He's like, fuck you.

[325] I'm done, man. You didn't want to do it.

[326] Yeah, he got stuck.

[327] He got trapped.

[328] Emo Phillips, he's another one, you know?

[329] I mean, emo's like in the fucking 60s now.

[330] He still got to do that weird sort of thing that he did when he was 20.

[331] That was kind of cute.

[332] You know, when you're 60, everybody's like, man, is you having a. stroke like what's going on up there buddy yeah and that one does still hurt me because he's such a tremendous joke writer yes amazing joke writer but i do see that yeah it's like you have to kind you can't just go up there and start talking can't just be yourself yes yeah which is one point when you know that's why i'm learning as you get into it people start caring less and less about like oh that's a crazy as joke he wrote and they want to know more about like who is who are you right yeah yeah the another but we were talking about kennyson he was the guy who got really got up in it because his thing was partying like he couldn't go anywhere without partying it's like guys would line up giant lines of coke for him he'd like oh here we go ah and his heart would be beaten out of his chest and couldn't you know couldn't sleep for a week and his comedy was suffering like real bad i always point to him as a great example for comedians of someone who was so good for a short period time and then was so bad afterwards he he was so good around like 85, 86.

[333] That was like the louder than hell days.

[334] Like, dude, he was revolutionary.

[335] Like, nobody had ever seen anything like that.

[336] This short, fat preacher, go on stage screaming and talking, screaming.

[337] You ever been married?

[338] Look at me. Look at me. Like, this is marriage.

[339] Oh, oh!

[340] You're like, I was married twice.

[341] That's how fucking dumb I am.

[342] And you would see him, and it was like this force in nature, but with great material, great insight, great points.

[343] And then all of it went away.

[344] And then it was like cheerleading.

[345] It was, like, weird.

[346] Like, I remember he had this bit about drunk drive, and he's like, we're going to drink and we're going to drive and we're going to pull it off.

[347] You know why?

[348] Because we do it every fucking night.

[349] And it's like, what?

[350] Yeah.

[351] And then he was killed by a drunk driver.

[352] Yeah.

[353] Which is crazy.

[354] Yeah, I hate that.

[355] I always hate when people use their charm and they use their tricks to push apart false premises.

[356] You're just like, you're fucking lying.

[357] I think he was just trying to do it just to be.

[358] He mean, his brother wrote about it.

[359] His brother, Bill, wrote a book called Brother Sam.

[360] It was a really good book for someone who's a Kinnison fan.

[361] Really interesting.

[362] He talked about it pretty openly about Sam just stopped writing.

[363] His material fell apart.

[364] And he just became like a shadow of himself, like an open micer doing a Kinnison impression with like shitty material.

[365] It's sad.

[366] It is, but it's a lesson for us.

[367] Yeah.

[368] You know, like you got to stay on your fucking game.

[369] And then there's also the problem when people know who you are, they come to see you.

[370] You know, it's Ron Funches.

[371] Oh, we're going to go see him.

[372] And like, we're excited to see you.

[373] And everything you say, I'm happy to hear.

[374] You could, you get your crowd.

[375] And the problem is if you're only doing comedy to your crowd, you could really delude yourself.

[376] Oh, absolutely.

[377] But I think that's why people who are good, like to go around to all the different spots.

[378] I love to go around and do, like, house parties and the comedy store and my show.

[379] on the road you do house parties sometimes like what kind of house parties you know they do dumb -ass mansion parties and shit really yeah there's a lot of weird rich comedy producers and you're just like i don't know what what your life is but i will take this money for this event and then i'll probably not see you again and you do it at the house yeah how many people well you know this is but way before right yeah it'd be like a couple hundred people no shit yeah in the yard or something or inside both you know wow yeah Yeah, well, there's a lot of comedy.

[380] There was a lot of comedy in L .A. In strange places.

[381] I got invited to do a lot of yard shows.

[382] Guys would show up.

[383] Hey, man, I'm doing comedy in a backyard.

[384] Best Fish Taco, doing a taco restaurant.

[385] Oh, yeah?

[386] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[387] Do you want to Kill Cliff?

[388] What is it?

[389] Sure.

[390] Grape, CBD drink.

[391] Delicious.

[392] Good for you.

[393] No THC.

[394] Well, that's a, okay.

[395] I can give you some THC if you'd like that, too.

[396] We have plenty of that.

[397] But I got those for us.

[398] No, it's not bad.

[399] Delicious, right?

[400] Good for it.

[401] 25 milligrams of CBD.

[402] Do you take CBD at all?

[403] Yeah, a bit, yeah.

[404] I might get something to my wife whenever her back is hurting.

[405] That's one of my daily things.

[406] That's just the thing that's so good for you.

[407] CBD is so good for you.

[408] Just anything you could do, the reduce inflammation.

[409] Mm -hmm.

[410] Fantastic for the body, for the brain.

[411] I didn't even know I had anxiety until I started taking CBD.

[412] I'm telling you Well, maybe you didn't Well, it's relative I mean, I didn't have anxiety compared to people who have anxiety But I took CBD I was like, man, I feel really relaxed And I was like, oh, okay, I see what's going on Yeah, no, I like a good CBD I'll just smoke just a straight CBD sometimes After a workout or something Yeah, I would say I'm going to do that And then I grab a regular joint Yeah, well I'm saying I'll mix them up too Do you ever smoke weed and then work out?

[413] Uh, yeah, my trainer hates that, but yeah.

[414] Why does your trainer hate that?

[415] He's always like, I can always tell when you're high, when you're smoking weed.

[416] He's Dutch, so that's how he talks to me. Yeah, I had a Dutch kickboxing trainer for a while.

[417] They have a different way of talking, the Dutch way.

[418] Yeah.

[419] They don't understand America.

[420] You're so fat.

[421] You don't have to be.

[422] What are you eating, my friend?

[423] It is very simple But kind of foods That Dutch is a weird country Holland Because if you, you know I don't know if you know this But they have some of the greatest kickboxers Of all time All came out of Holland Real weird Like a few guys went over to Thailand Started training in Thailand And fighting in Thailand And then they brought it back to Holland And then Holland became like this gigantic Kickboxing epicenter That's great I didn't know that I didn't know that Some of the baddest motherfuckers of all time come from Holland.

[424] Yeah.

[425] A place known for like weed shops and red light district and mushrooms.

[426] That's why I go.

[427] That's one of my favorite places to visit.

[428] Yeah.

[429] Yeah.

[430] Four times I've been to Amsterdam.

[431] I've never been.

[432] I've never been.

[433] I love it.

[434] And it's not even, you know, you can get just as good if not better.

[435] We here in California for sure.

[436] But it's just the vibe.

[437] It's just the lack of anyone ever being like, oh, you dumb stoner.

[438] None of that.

[439] Like I remember I was sitting in a coffee shop.

[440] and a guy who tried to sneak a beer in and then they kicked him out and they're like, no drinking.

[441] And I was like, I like it here.

[442] Yeah, it's funny what we chose to allow and not allow.

[443] Yeah.

[444] Where I'm going in Texas, you still, I mean, Austin, it's legal essentially.

[445] They've decriminalized it to the point where the cops won't arrest anybody for weed.

[446] You don't want you selling large quantities of it, but it's still not legal.

[447] It's still not legal statewide.

[448] it's the dumbest thing to make illegal just to make zero sense you know I see I see the argument for making alcohol illegal but I would never agree with it I think people should be able to do whatever they want yeah I'm with that the argument for weed being illegal is the dumbest does make any sense personal responsibility if we but we have so many arguments that we're not really good at it yeah so well look at what's happened with COVID yeah that's the best I mean if you look at what we're We're so bad at it.

[449] America is so bad.

[450] Our response to COVID and how we've handled it and allowed it to spread, we're the worst.

[451] Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm a big pro wrestling fan and that's the thing that's been making me angry because it's just as much as I miss comedy.

[452] I used to go to my wrestling shows with my friends and my buddies and now I'm watching the Japanese wrestling that I love and seeing that they have full crowds all sitting there and mask, just hanging out because they are good at handling their fucking business.

[453] I was just like, that's when it, because when you're just sitting here, you're like, oh, well, we're all falling apart.

[454] It's just how it is.

[455] But then you start looking over at other countries.

[456] And you're like, well, no, they figured some shit out.

[457] Well, this virus is so sneaky, man. Even Japan has had a resurgence recently.

[458] It's so weird, man. It's the weirdest fucking virus.

[459] It's just like New Zealand even had a resurgence.

[460] New Zealand had over 100 days with zero cases.

[461] And then they just got a, they got about, I think was it four or something like that?

[462] Got it and one family got it And they're trying to figure out how that happened So they shut down the city Where they're at sort of Like they at stage three or something One family Yeah so one family of four has it Sneaky fucks What have they been up to?

[463] Maybe they got some bad tests But probably not They're trying to trace how it happened It's such a weird Weird weird weird disease man I know so many people that have gotten it now I think I know about nine people And so many of them have different symptoms I know people that got it and they just got a mild headache and they felt like shit for a day and then they were fine and then I know other people like Michael Yo who was on death's door you know but his when people ask me about that there's extenuating circumstances like if you listen to Michael's story he was worn the fuck out flew all the way to New York did shows did morning radio did TV flew all the way back and then got in a car with his family drove to Vegas hung out with his wife's mom's family hung out there for a while and then drove all all the way back home, same day, and then had auditions the next day, and then auditions the day after that, and then, boom, it hit him.

[464] His immune system was compromised.

[465] Yes, he was wrecked, he was exhausted, and low vitamin D. Vitamin D seems to be one of the big factors, gigantic factor.

[466] There was a recent study that Dr. Rhonda Patrick sent me yesterday that I'd have to go over.

[467] But one of the things that she said was that in a series of studies they did when they showed people in the ICU for COVID, more than 80 % of them had insufficient levels of vitamin D. And out of the people that were in intensive care, only 4 % had sufficient levels of vitamin D. Got to take your vitamin D?

[468] Do you take vitamin?

[469] Yes, I do.

[470] How much you take?

[471] I don't know.

[472] I just, whatever's in the bottle.

[473] Oh, one of those things.

[474] Yeah.

[475] Multivitans.

[476] No, it's a full way.

[477] Yeah, the V isn't a multi.

[478] Yeah.

[479] So the full C, then the multi, the B, something called argonine that I don't know.

[480] It's an amino acid.

[481] Yeah, I do know that, but I don't know what that means.

[482] Helves build muscle.

[483] Okay, I'm good.

[484] I'm taking it.

[485] Yeah, branch chain amino acids.

[486] It's a really good post workout.

[487] Yeah, take it after.

[488] Yeah, I'm supposed to take it after my workout, but before my, yes.

[489] What kind of protein drink you drinking in that thing?

[490] This is just like some bullshit.

[491] This is like Metrix, just regular.

[492] But I'm actually, I need to figure out a better powder because I don't, I just got on it and just got the basic, like, oh, this tastes chocolate.

[493] I'm pretty sure it's not great.

[494] but I'm sure you can tell me some good ones.

[495] Yeah, I find hemp to be the best protein powder, the most easily digestible.

[496] I have zero problems with it, digestion -wise.

[497] Like, if I drink whey, an hour later, I got to stay the fuck away from people.

[498] Otherwise, I'm going to be farting.

[499] I tend to have a problem with weight, but I always have less of a problem with hemp.

[500] That's always right.

[501] Yeah, yeah, it's the most digestible for me. I mean, it's just easy.

[502] It's also something that I can eat literally, I can drink it rather literally an hour before a workout.

[503] I have zero problems.

[504] Just take it with a little bit of coconut water, mix it up, you know, just simple, easy.

[505] You know, I use the on it kind, but there's a lot of good hemp powders out there.

[506] And it's very absorbable, you know, it's very bioavailable form of protein in terms of plant protein.

[507] The two best I find plant proteins or pea proteins really good and hemp protein.

[508] I think hemp protein is a little better, at least in my experience.

[509] I'm looking to some hemp protein But Metrix is delicious It is delicious It's like you're getting yourself a little shake Yeah That's why I do in the morning When I have my favorite breakfast I get a rice cake That has a little bit of almond butter And a little bit of apple butter And then I have a shake And I go ooh I'm having shaking cake for breakfast It's just mental games Yeah What did you When you first started losing weight How much did you weigh?

[510] 360 Wow So you lost well over 100 pounds Yeah one for one Let's see right Right now, I'd be $130.

[511] That's amazing.

[512] What's the ultimate goal?

[513] I'd like to be around 200 and just keep staying lean and just keep putting on muscle a bit.

[514] But, yeah, I'd like to lose like another 15 pounds.

[515] Nice.

[516] Yeah, you could do that.

[517] Yeah.

[518] Just focus.

[519] Yeah, I mean, you're at the home stretch.

[520] Yeah, that's been the fucking, yeah, that's what sucks.

[521] Because then I'm like, why can't I have a cookie?

[522] And then I have one, and then I realize why I can't have a cookie.

[523] I eat the whole fucking box of cookies, so.

[524] Yeah, I can't fuck with pizza.

[525] No. If I have one slice of pizza, I just, the glutton in me goes off, and I just want to eat that whole thing.

[526] Mm -hmm.

[527] That abstain.

[528] Mm -hmm.

[529] Do you miss traveling?

[530] I do.

[531] Yeah, actually, I do.

[532] I was talking with that with my wife a couple days ago because we were watching some 90 -day fiancé, and they were.

[533] What is that?

[534] You never seen it?

[535] No. Oh, it's just a show.

[536] It's a whole, it's actually, it's a whole complex of shows where people from other countries meet people in America and they get married and they have to get married within 90 days once they move to America.

[537] But then also we've been watching the other way on the recommendation of Eric Griffin where Americans move to other countries for their significant others and that's been insane and beautiful.

[538] It's been beautiful to watch together.

[539] It makes our relationship look so much stronger.

[540] I go, baby, we never said we had to we should start over.

[541] I never lied to you about a gambling problem that I you know it just makes us look a lot better when we're watching those relationships um and but they're at the airport a lot and i would go oh that's pdx oh that's do that that's and she's just like oh she's like why are you getting so excited about seeing these airports and i'm just like i think i just fucking miss the the whole process i just miss knowing oh i'm going to a new city new people are going to see me i might meet some new friends like you know i miss that have you been writing i've been writing a bit yeah yeah go ahead what's sorry what's your process uh my process is usually from like if we're talking about from start um i kind of work on this little grid where i just break it down into um love hate and fear and then i just kind of get stoned or or just sometimes not stoned at all and i'll just play some instrumental music and i'll just write about what i'm scared about what i'm pissed about what i'm in love with and then I didn't take those topics and try to figure out jokes about what's going on in my life that's interesting have you always done it that way yeah love hate fear what what what what what uh where did you get the inspiration to do it that way I think I guess got it from a writing workbook from when I was in like a English class in high school really yeah it was just about how you would brainstorm writing a um paper it's a great idea yeah I mean it helps me get the basics down.

[542] So instead of like, oh, I'm writing this joke about this, it's like, okay, I'm writing about my wife because I fucking love my wife, or I'm writing about my son, or I'm scared about COVID, or I'm scared about this, or the more specific I can get about what exactly I'm scared of or I'm afraid of, you know, or what I'm in love with and just the more specific I can get, the better the jokes are.

[543] And so it's a lot of work that way.

[544] And then sometimes at two in morning i'll just be stoned something will pop in and i gotta go chase down a notebook yeah the stoned ideas that this pop out of nowhere are the weirdest ones like what that's not even my idea that's the universe's idea but i usually find that they it doesn't give it to me if i haven't put in that earlier work right right yeah it'll give me a gift for putting in the the shitty work of trying to figure out this how the fuck am i going to break this down and then in the middle of the night some completely joke some other other left field joke will just pop in it'll be fully formed set up punchline everything yeah and i'm just like i was just always i'm just like thank you yeah it is crazy like that right it is crazy that that's that put in the work part is uh what press you ever did stephen pressfield's the war of art it's a great book a real small book too it's i used to i buy stacks of them in the old studio and i just hand them out to guests like especially comics i'm like trust me just read this because one of the things it's about is about establishing the laws of your work like the way you were, you're a professional.

[545] And you show up every day as a professional and you sit in front of that computer or that notebook and you call upon the muse.

[546] You know, and whether or not the muse is real, if you do the work, it acts as if it's real.

[547] Yeah, I agree.

[548] Yeah, I believe with that all the time.

[549] Yeah.

[550] I've been talking to myself lately just like then that's what's been keeping me with my health and my writing and my meditating and whatever is just like figuring out who I am and what works for me and then being like you follow those fucking rules don't break your rules yeah whenever you break your rules shit doesn't go right even though it might look cool it might look amazing it might be like oh well this time if I break my rule it's fucking it looks like it's going to be dope and I'll get a bunch of money never works out So just don't break your fucking rules.

[551] And I'm just, it's still, it's hard, but I've been working on that.

[552] She's like, oh, I got to eat well.

[553] I got to work out.

[554] I trust my intuition.

[555] I'm the leader.

[556] I'm the fucking boss.

[557] I don't let other people lead me. I lead, even if I don't know where I'm fucking going.

[558] I lead.

[559] And I just follow those rules.

[560] Have you had that issue with like representation, like agents or managers trying to tell you what to do?

[561] guide you into a way that you didn't think was you oh no no not for me i i've been truly blessed in that truly but i think i have like one of the best managers in in the fucking world like she she's amazing she's um married to the game she's um my name's melanie but truette brian posean's wife and she's been my manager since before i moved out of la like she paid my fucking rent when i couldn't afford to pay my rent like she's looked out for me every step of the way That's awesome.

[562] She's take, there's been, there's been fucking, like, this show is going to series.

[563] They are making an offer on you.

[564] This will give you a bunch of money, but it's not the right project.

[565] Let's fucking pass.

[566] Wow.

[567] You know, and that was like in the past and, I mean, that happened in a couple of weeks into COVID.

[568] We were both scared shitless.

[569] I know she was scared shitless about that 10 %.

[570] A guaranteed season.

[571] Yeah.

[572] And she was like, no. isn't she's like this she's like you've already done parts like this three or four times you you can do this this will be there for you we're shooting for bigger things for you and just like her belief in me and and drive from me have always been there like i never ever feel like she's ever sold me short so that she can get a check ever that's huge that's huge it's rare yeah i do i do know that i have many friends that have really bad managers that give him terrible advice to take projects that are just short -term financial gain for the sacrifice of long -term career options.

[573] Oh, my manager, if she sees the word exclusive in any contract, she's just like, we ain't fucking with them.

[574] You are not exclusive to anybody.

[575] You are dating around.

[576] That's great.

[577] That's great attitude, man. That's what's interesting about today's climate.

[578] It's like you don't get a lot of real managers anymore.

[579] You almost get, you almost have a lot of.

[580] like comics who have two agents you have your agent agent and then you have your manager who's kind of acting as an agent instead of acting as a manager because they're all desperado or maybe they don't really have faith in you so they just want that money they don't really think that you're going to be that person who has a long career or that you could keep accelerating and they don't believe in the development yeah yeah yeah i feel like yeah my manager's always been the out she's always kind of seen me two years ahead of where I've been at.

[581] Like, I'm, I have that story about recently, but I remember when I first was in Portland, and there was this commercial that reached out to me, and they wanted me to play a roach in a fucking bug spray commercial, and I was broke as fuck, and she was just like, no. She's like, because we don't know what you're going to be in the next couple of years, and that commercial could be around forever.

[582] Smart woman.

[583] And so if you need the money that bad, I'd rather just give you the money.

[584] Wow.

[585] Good for her, man. Yeah, she's dope.

[586] And I have many friends who, like, they just are tremendous, tremendous comedians, tremendous joke writers.

[587] One friend who comes to mine immediately, and I've always told him, I was like, you need to dump your manager and get a better manager because you're doing, you're doing your part.

[588] And I don't see why you're not getting more money.

[589] You're not getting more chances.

[590] You're not advancing at things.

[591] They're not putting you on these talking head shows.

[592] Like, you're doing your part.

[593] And I don't, you're fucking, like, you know, he opened for me. I was like dude you're fucking crushing me and I'm the one getting the bigger check like what the fuck is that like get your get your business in order and I've always um I think from having a kid I've always been very much into the art and very much into the business yeah it's just it's hard for people to find someone like your manager that that is dedicated I got real lucky I found mine when I was an open micer I've been with the same manager since 1991 or some shit.

[594] something crazy like that yeah that's insane yeah I was like three years in the comedy when I met him and I've been with him and then he's basically not not retired but steps back and then my manager Shandra she took over 10 plus years ago or more might be more than 10 years ago now and they're just the best in terms of like seeing the big picture and the same thing you're saying about your manager just looking at the business in terms of like, what do you really want to do?

[595] Like, what's going to make you happy?

[596] Like, there's things you can do for money, but what's, what are you here for?

[597] Yeah.

[598] Like, what do you want?

[599] You want to, like, walk away from everything you do going, that was great.

[600] I enjoyed that.

[601] That's what I wanted to do, like a special, thank you, good night, you want to go, we did it, we nailed it, high fives all around.

[602] That's how you want to be able to achieve those moments and get those feelings.

[603] And I think, I know this is unrelatable to some people that are listening to this, but I think that way with everything, and maybe you don't have a manager for whatever your goal is in life, but you kind of have to think about it as your own manager.

[604] You've got to think, like, what do I really want to do?

[605] And are the steps that I'm taking, are the things that I'm doing right now, are they moving me closer to that?

[606] And if not, what the fuck do I have to do different than what I'm doing?

[607] Yeah.

[608] I mean, to me, I have that manager.

[609] I also have my vision board.

[610] I have my shit that I do on my own.

[611] I am.

[612] Vision board.

[613] Oh, yes, Joe.

[614] What's at the top of the vision board?

[615] My show.

[616] Getting my own fucking show about my son being a single dad of a son with autism, making it a fucking dope -ass comedy.

[617] What Netflix should do that?

[618] That seems like a perfect thing.

[619] You would think.

[620] That seems like a really good idea for a show.

[621] I think so.

[622] We found a spot.

[623] We're working on it.

[624] Okay.

[625] All right.

[626] You got to keep a mom.

[627] We'll talk later.

[628] Is that just more I want to be leading some movies I want to do more I always see myself as like this Rick Moranah's Billy Crystal type of unconventional charming leading man Maybe you need a buddy I could use a buddy Yeah you need like you know Christopher like Chris Farley needed David Spade like the two of them together They played off of each other You need a buddy I do need a buddy be I gotta think about that Think about that That would be wrong Maybe Bobby Lee Bobby Lee, well, he seems crazy for a buddy.

[629] He's crazy as fuck.

[630] He might be a problem.

[631] If he gets too successful, he might sabotage, go back on pills.

[632] Bobby Lee's so wild.

[633] He is.

[634] He's so wild.

[635] He's so wild.

[636] I do Bobby Lee in the early days when he, like, bring a knife to work.

[637] It's just all sweaty and shit.

[638] We were at an airport one time, and he just goes, oh, the courtesy phone's calling for you.

[639] And I was like, no, I don't, I've been here.

[640] too Bobby I didn't hear anything he's like no no no it didn't he's like spent the whole time trying to convince me and he halfway does and then I just go sit down somewhere else and I go oh he's a fucking high school bully like he's just like to fucking play around not like beat you up but like prankster like he just fucks with you all the time and no I love Bobby I'm not saying like you know trying to beat me I'm saying he's just a prankster yeah who fucks with you all the time and it's like you're just a prankster who fucks with you all the time and it's like and see money no money nothing like he just is that's who he is yeah and i love it yeah he's a guy who needs a goddamn special i've been yelling at him forever now he has an excuse there's no comedy you know now he's got an excuse but bobby lee is absolutely the best stand -up comic that does not have a special i mean he is as legit a headliner as has ever lived when that guy is crushing when he's in the OR crushing you're like the fact that he doesn't have a special is criminal criminal yeah bobby the fuck i mean he's just unique he's just him and that that's to me is the definition of someone you want to give a special to yeah i've known that dude forever known him for a long time back when he was crazy but it's nice to see that he's gotten his shit together he's calmer and more stable doesn't rub his balls on you as much not as much but nearly as much yeah i got a picture of him standing in the middle of the hallway with his pants down and his dick tucked him between his legs it's like the like that's bobby lee we've all seen it you said you meditate yeah like what do you do you know nothing like you know nothing special just sit around doing 10 minute a little meditation when i get up in the morning um sometimes they're guided some a lot of times they're not uh but i talked to i don't know you know who donic carey is he's a right he's a tremendous writer wrote for simpsons wrote for letterman and he came on my podcast and he just told me about this thing that he was doing this acronym that he was doing every day mr all we just meditate read art right exercise every day that was like part of his rules and so i was like oh i'm going to try to adapt that into my rules just as a way to keep that going so that's part of what i do meditate read art right exercise every day that's awesome yeah i mean that's a beautiful thing if you can structure your life like that and make sure you follow those principles you'll get you'll just get more out of your brain yeah and then you're surprised about like for all the times you're bored and you're like oh there's too many hours in a day you're like if you got to go through all those fucking things you'll be like fuck half the day is gone yeah i don't understand people that say there's too many hours in a day like what are you doing I want a hundred lives I want to live a hundred separate lives so I could just do different I literally don't do things because I'm scared I'll get too into them and then I will have less time for all the other shit that I'm already obsessed with I'm the same way I mull over the decision for an extended period of time because I know once I make the decision I'm all in and that was like you know I started playing video games on Twitch and doing these little comedy nights on Twitch where I show old video and make fun of people because that's part of things that I missed was that not just watching comedy I miss it being in the back in the room making fun of this punchline or this tag and then be like oh that's good you know I miss that so I've been doing that on Twitch and playing games with people but it took me a long time to decide to do it because I was like oh once I do it I'm anything I'm stand up acting whatever if I choose to do it I go full force yeah you get into it right and then it becomes a part of your daily routine and then you're trying to get better at it yeah podcasting yeah man you the twitch thing things seems like you could eat up a lot of your day just fucking around on twitch you can do you have a good chair that supports your back well i got a solid chair i could use a better chair i could definitely use a better chair you in right now do you like that one it's pretty nice it's very good yeah i like these good for the back yeah ergonomic you need something ergonomic you don't want to develop back problems because of covid you know like all the people that are sitting down all the time yeah well that's why and again the two two treads a day just make sure keeping myself upright moving so when you do this meditating thing you do it every day 10 minutes you start your day this way do you go to a place like quiet place in your house where no one's around usually do it right there in bed make up the bed get everything together sit there meditate for 10 minutes usually try to do it before my son wakes up before the neighbors wake up because their family doesn't seem to be as structurally strong as ours Oh, you got wacky neighbors?

[641] And they like yelling at each other.

[642] Oh, that's a bummer.

[643] A whole day.

[644] And then the wife, you know they had a fight because then in the morning, the wife will come out in the morning going, I love you.

[645] I love you.

[646] I love you!

[647] He's like, he's not saying it back, lady.

[648] Oh, no. Oh, no. Yeah, they're not doing well.

[649] There's a trap that some people get in that fight, break up, make up trap.

[650] because it makes everything so exciting.

[651] Mm -hmm.

[652] That's the problem.

[653] High school.

[654] Yeah.

[655] Yeah.

[656] Yeah, that's why I like, you know, I got married on Friday.

[657] Super chill.

[658] Super -ass chill.

[659] The wedding was so chill that I was like, this is going to be a great marriage.

[660] Like, we just got dressed.

[661] I got my son dressed and went off with my friend.

[662] She got dressed with her friend.

[663] We met together at the place.

[664] The guy just went over his dumb spiel, and then we talked to each other.

[665] Went home, took some pictures.

[666] We ordered in from one of our favorite restaurants.

[667] We watched 90 -day fiancé, and then we fell asleep and had sex the next morning because we knew we were going to be there.

[668] Did you get married during COVID?

[669] Yeah.

[670] Oh, wow.

[671] No, this last Friday.

[672] Oh, you, oh, well, congratulations, man. Thank you.

[673] Thank you so much.

[674] That's why you're so excited about it.

[675] Let me talk to you in a couple of years.

[676] Well, let me show you a picture of her.

[677] I've seen a picture ever.

[678] She's beautiful.

[679] It's one of the things about being talented.

[680] Yeah.

[681] You get box above your weight class.

[682] Oh, way.

[683] Yeah.

[684] Oh, yeah.

[685] I was like, oh, if I didn't do comedy, I'd never even see you.

[686] That's cool, though.

[687] That's a bright spot.

[688] You'll always look back on the time you got married and you go, damn, we got married during one of the weirdest times in the history of the United States.

[689] Yeah, man, leaning into what's solid when shit's all falling apart?

[690] That was actually, like, we got engaged before it, of course, but I was like, oh, I'm pretty sure.

[691] I was a little gun shy because I got married when I was in my 20s, and obviously that didn't work out too well and I had my son and I remember leaving my home there and I was like just will never happen again I will you know and still will never happen again but um I was still a little gun shy but because I was like oh we were in the good times we go to nice we go to fucking wherever and sure we'd hang out at home or we just she'd go on set with me and some indie movie in Oklahoma and we still have fun and so I knew she was a good woman I knew that I could trust her but especially when the shit goes down and everything's going back and she's out there like okay well what do we do what we need to pull back on what can we you know purchase less of and and then I thought I might have to go out of the country for this role for a few months and I was like oh shit I'll leave my son with her and I had no worry and I was like even you know when he was with his mom I would be worried you know but with her I know she's got him I know she loves them I know she's got his best interest at her and I was that really was when it clicked in and I was like oh this is my wife like this is my person That's beautiful.

[692] I love stories like that.

[693] Thank you.

[694] That's amazing.

[695] She's special.

[696] She's a special person, I think, because she's a little small town Canadian lady, so she doesn't know how hot she is, you know.

[697] Yeah.

[698] That could be a problem here.

[699] Yeah.

[700] Oh, she's figured it out.

[701] She's figured it out.

[702] There's a lot of guys, you know, try to hit on her every fucking day.

[703] But I'm not worried.

[704] Good for you.

[705] Good for you.

[706] I wonder when this is going to end the lockdown.

[707] When are we going to get back to normal?

[708] Are you going to be one of the first in line for a vaccine?

[709] Are you going to wait it out?

[710] I got wait in the middle.

[711] I got to be somewhere in the middle.

[712] As a parent of a child with autism, vaccines scare me in some ways, but it's still, obviously.

[713] Do you think that vaccines cause autism?

[714] I don't believe they cause autism.

[715] I believe they can accelerate certain things in people who maybe are predisposed to having, to having it and I can only just tell you my I will tell you a personal story and people can choose to like it or not but I just remember the day that we got my son his first vaccinations and he had been developing normally and just been chill and been talking and doing all the things pretty normally and then we got him the vaccine and me and my ex -wife and we just remember he just kind of like was out of it and we even because me and my ex -wife were big potheads we were both like oh he's look how stoned he looks look how fucking he looks so stoned and he's out of it but he fucking never came back and so that was a moment where i was like you know i was like i don't know if it calls it or that but i've always like this is that's the story i can tell you wow it's not the first time i've heard that you know i have a friend my friend johnny in a very similar situation I don't, yeah, I don't know.

[716] I know how adamant the people that make vaccines are that vaccines don't cause autism, and I know it's a fiercely debated issue.

[717] And in fact, Dr. Peter Hottes, who is an expert in vaccines, who actually has an autistic daughter, is adamant about the fact that there's apparently different environmental factors that contribute to autism, and they think all of it takes place.

[718] during the womb, but I don't know.

[719] Yeah, I'm not, yeah.

[720] I can never be like, well, vaccine gave my son autism.

[721] I would never say that, but I would just tell you that story.

[722] Yeah.

[723] The thing is, if that story, if that was the case, how much do you think would ever get out that all these people who have this similar story all have a case against the pharmaceutical company?

[724] I mean, do you just, just wrap your mind around the legal troubles.

[725] And I'm not saying that vaccines cause autism, but what I am saying is if they did, there would most certainly be an effort to conceal that.

[726] Yeah, absolutely.

[727] Most certainly.

[728] Absolutely.

[729] That would be a crazy lawsuit.

[730] Because, I mean, how many children are autistic in this country?

[731] Do you know?

[732] I don't know, but I know it's a lot.

[733] It's a lot.

[734] And the question is, the question has always been, are there more now because fathers are older, mothers are older, environmental factors, or that we're diagnosing it now, we didn't diagnose it before, we didn't understand it before.

[735] I mean, the first thing I even heard of autism was Rain Man. Remember the Dustin Hoffman movie?

[736] That was the first time I ever heard about it.

[737] I didn't even know what it was.

[738] I never met anybody who had autism.

[739] So I saw that, I was like, huh, what's going on there?

[740] yeah same same to me i never thought about it never had any second thought about it at all and then until my son was diagnosed and then had to become much more aware about it and and it's still a thing that um i get hit with because i'm just a dummy because i'll be like okay my son's got his high school and he's doing well and he's going to his classes and then they had to actually sit there and they go like okay you know he's getting a certificate but you know this isn't a real He's not a real high school graduate.

[741] And I'm like, oh, uh, what?

[742] You know?

[743] No, he's a high school graduate.

[744] I want my son to go to college.

[745] And then I have to sit back and go like, oh, wait, fuck.

[746] I have a, we have a different road.

[747] We have a different life.

[748] And actually, this lockdown and everything has really been helpful and going through that and just being like, well, everything's fucking weird and different.

[749] Because it'd always been like, well, no matter what, I'm going to pay my son wants to go to UCLA.

[750] So I'll pay him to go to UCLA, even if it's just life classes or, whatever but um now i've been thinking about more like okay let's just figure out a way for him to be more independent um on his own physically financially whatever he can do he might not go to college he might go to college um but you know again if i make my show i'm like i'm like well he's got to be a consultant on this he's got to do this he's got to do that i just want him to um have a good life basically of course is there anything that helps him like does anything um alleviate some of his symptoms?

[751] I mean, just the constant therapies that he's been in.

[752] Like, he's diagnosed when he's two, he's 17 now.

[753] So he's been in school since he was two, just doing different, you know, from pre -kindergarten therapies through voice therapy.

[754] And I just think it's been that constant.

[755] Right now he's getting a lot of social skills therapy where he was before everything got locked down.

[756] He was doing this thing called The Miracle Project, which is awesome.

[757] They just take kids with different backgrounds and teach them social skills, take them on different outings.

[758] And my son was doing a play, which unfortunately got canceled because of it.

[759] But they sent us the tape of the rehearsal.

[760] And it fucking, it was dope because it was the day I got, found out I wasn't getting this role.

[761] And I was real upset.

[762] It was on my vision board of like, I want to fucking get this role.

[763] And didn't get it.

[764] And I was pissed off and doing the same thing.

[765] Like, fuck Hollywood.

[766] They don't understand.

[767] They don't understand how good I am.

[768] And then I just watch my son and all these other autistic teenagers do this, their own production of a play.

[769] It's the silliest thing I've ever seen.

[770] My son is singing the SpongeBob theme song.

[771] Another kid is singing a Drake song and just seeing them go from being these awkward in their shell, looking down, looking at the floor.

[772] And then the moment that they're actually interested in something, you know, my son hears this song play or or they know it's their turn to say their line them light up and fucking just nail their line and be fucking great at it and i was like man that's what art is that's what fucking that's what i love is i don't give a shit about money about it i mean it's nice to pay my bills but i like this feeling that i get from it and and of watching my son get to do it and it just makes me feel good i'm sorry this is a rambly -ass story no no no that's not rambly at all man you're expressing yourself that's not rambly at all yeah i mean sometimes you need to be exposed to different things just to put it into perspective just how fortunate we are and how fortunate you know how easy we really do have it and how good we really have it and sometimes you know when you have ambitious goals and you have you know your eyes are on the prize you got a vision board and you're like fuck why isn't this happening for me sometimes you got to see some struggle You've got to see people that just aren't doing that well to realize like, oh, I'm all right.

[773] Yeah.

[774] Yeah.

[775] I've been made very well aware of that I'm fucking doing extremely well.

[776] Extremely.

[777] That's one of the best things I think about COVID initially.

[778] I mean, it just took too long and it's been too fucked up now.

[779] But initially I felt like one of the good aspects of having this thing where you're forced to stay home and everybody's worried about a disease is like, Like, you realize, like, hey, family, friends, loved ones, this is what's important.

[780] All this other bullshit is like when the world is falling apart, the love that you have for your family and your friends, that's what's important.

[781] Yeah, yeah.

[782] It felt good like that for a couple of weeks, and then everybody felt like they started tearing at each other.

[783] Yeah, they got scared.

[784] Yeah.

[785] I mean, God, social media is so fucking terrifying now.

[786] Just dive into this pit of animals eating each other.

[787] It's like, oh, everyone's so angry.

[788] There's so much anger.

[789] And then also, it's like the worst timing ever, right?

[790] Trump, and then the fucking elections are coming.

[791] So there's all this chaos and Joe Biden can't talk.

[792] And the fucking, you know, November's around the corner.

[793] It's like, oh, my God.

[794] And then everything's still locked up.

[795] And it's like, oh, my God.

[796] And they're talking about dropping down the unemployment check to $400 instead of $600.

[797] and then they want the states to pay 25 % the states like we don't have the fucking money and like oh Jesus Yeah it's fucking nuts It's fucking nuts But then you know it's overwhelming Until you just go to the basics of it That's something I always believe From when I was very young And I think it's something that's a young African American man Pretty early where you just go Nobody's got my fucking back I got to take care of me No one's got my fucking back The government does not have our back Not at all It's not possible We have grossly overestimated their ability to actually manage something like this.

[798] Yeah, which is in turn why I see what we see in that social media of us eating each other and going at each other, especially anyone that is considered of any stature.

[799] I mean, I see it happen to you all the time, right?

[800] With people coming at you for one thing or another.

[801] And I laugh about it because I'm just like, it's just fucking Joe.

[802] Who cares if he doesn't like video games?

[803] fuck I don't care the problem is they don't even listen to what I said yeah it took a chunk of what I said and took it out of context I love video games that's the problem yeah yeah I even talked about in that same clip and we wound up putting the full version of it online because someone had taken like a 50 second chunk of it but I even talked about those people that do make a living at it a lot of money there are people to do it yeah but I'm saying for a lot of people that waste if you want to do something else like if you're trying to do something with your life you can find things that will waste all of your time and that's one of them yeah well i mean i like streaming and i like playing games but it's also a reason why i do the comedy and i do other things is because i think at the very base of it there's there's no stability of trying to make your living off of someone else's product right you're playing someone else's game you're doing someone it's not yours you know so at any moment that can be taken away from you and so that on that small level is what i believe in what you were saying completely but i think the reason why people attack so much is because the people who were told are like supposed to be our leaders are obviously not and then people are just looking for leaders so if you have a big platform they're just like oh you're a leader you're you know and that i had people do that to me i was um when when the whole george florid thing was happening and brianna taylor was happening some one guy in particular just kept DM in me and being like when are you going to talk about it?

[804] When are you going to talk about it?

[805] When are you going to make a post about it?

[806] And what he didn't know is I was going through my own personal shit, a friend of mine and committed suicide that very week in a home that I had lived in three years prior and I was fucking dealing with that and dealing with my own life.

[807] And so I was like you know, who does the fuck when I talk about anything?

[808] Like, and I have no obligation.

[809] I have no obligation.

[810] And so it pissed me off.

[811] But But then I thought about it and I go, oh, he's not fucking mad at me. You're going to give a shit about me. He's scared.

[812] He's scared shitless and he's looking for someone to lead him.

[813] And he was hoping it would be me. But there's also people look for an opportunity to get upset at you for not complying.

[814] Like that there's a narrative where you're supposed to be discussing whatever's in the news, whatever's going on.

[815] There's a narrative that you are, you know, you're a person who talks, so you should be discussing these things.

[816] Yeah.

[817] You're a public figure.

[818] so you should lend your voice because they think you should This is the dumbest fucking thing ever Because you're just like Well, how do you assume I think about black life?

[819] I'm a black man I would like my life to matter So it makes Why do I got to go around Talking about it for fucking all day You know It makes that's gumming up the work It takes up too much fucking time I agree with that completely You should be able to talk about Whatever you want One of my favorite follows On Instagram is Lil Duval Mm -hmm Oh yeah And Little Duval Dvall through all this craziness He's just maintaining being little Duval and having fun.

[820] That sounds like him.

[821] Always, always, always lighthearted, having a good time, always laughing.

[822] His Instagram is like one of the most consistently happy thing.

[823] And like that shows his character like through all this.

[824] He's maintained his sense of humor and his perspective.

[825] Yeah, because that's power.

[826] That's power.

[827] Why would you ever let someone take that away from you?

[828] We're here to have fun.

[829] We're here to have a good time.

[830] So no matter what the circumstances, I'm going to have a fucking.

[831] good time i learned that my sense long ago when i was like well you guys might not have a good time tonight but i will yeah sometimes you have to right you have to go internal i am really interested to see like how we recover from this i'm really interested to see because we're in such uncharted territory this is uh this is new waters and it could go good or it could go bad i I mean, every single republic, every single empire that has existed before the United States has crumbled, all of them.

[832] They all crumble eventually.

[833] My fear is the ones that are strong, why we are falling apart, are dangerous.

[834] They're dangerous societies that are dictatorships, like China.

[835] If China somehow or another becomes the way they're controlling Hong Kong controls the United States, we got real fucking problems on our hands.

[836] Now, I don't know if that's really possible, if this is just like some.

[837] fear we see bits of it all the time right yeah in business you see the way that um these so -called independent enterprises refuse to speak on certain things because there's just so much money involved you know when it gets at that point you are owned yes did you ever see that thing where the world health organization guy won't talk about Taiwan won't even mention Taiwan he's in an interview because Taiwan China does not recognize Taiwan they believe Taiwan is a part of China and Taiwan thinks it's independent so the woman interviewer was asking this guy who works for the World Health Organization, Taiwan has done a wonderful job of handling this, and he's like, click, he just disconnects.

[838] And then he comes back.

[839] Like, you could see him, reach over and disconnect it.

[840] She goes, we seem to have disconnected.

[841] He goes, but now we're back.

[842] So what I was saying was that China, well, China's done a wonderful job.

[843] You know, there's no need to talk about that any further.

[844] So let's keep going.

[845] So he would not even say the word Taiwan.

[846] And like, this is the World Health Organization.

[847] Like, you won't you won't say the name of an actual country like really that that's bananas like well i can't trust you no you won't even say taiwan what the fuck else won't you say you know i mean there's there's been a few of those things man what you see and you go god damn just so many businesses have a vested interest in uh in china and and and keeping relationships with china and while COVID is happening and the economic downturn, they've been buying up shit left and right.

[848] Oh, yeah.

[849] I mean, because again, as a big gamer, Tencent is as big in the game industry as owners of just about everything.

[850] And that's one, you know, one of the biggest companies in China.

[851] What do they make?

[852] Everything.

[853] Like what games?

[854] I think they own Fortnite now.

[855] They own a bit of PubG, I believe.

[856] They own just, they own percentages of just about every company.

[857] God damn.

[858] And China owns them?

[859] Yeah.

[860] I don't know how I feel about that.

[861] Like when Trump was saying he's going to ban TikTok, I was like, ooh, I want to see how this plays out.

[862] Yeah.

[863] Yeah, that's actually, I was like, oh, that's positive.

[864] In a way, it is, right?

[865] It is, it is.

[866] But then Instagram came along with reels.

[867] Yeah.

[868] Like their TikTok ripoff, I don't know who.

[869] was using that though is anybody using reels or keep an eye on you it's a little busy to pay attention to that shit at this week yeah we've had a busy week you do TikTok no man no no no I you know I figure you shouldn't be a comedian over 30 on TikTok that seems to not go well it seems like it doesn't go well mm -mm someone just got a special off doing it basically though that Sarah Cooper just got Netflix special what she basically started off of TikTok yeah that you send me that That's the lady who lip -sinks.

[870] I was wondering who that is.

[871] She lip -sinks Donald Trump's speeches.

[872] Oh, okay.

[873] That's going to go good.

[874] I'm excited for that.

[875] It is, there's many things that are viral that I understand.

[876] That is not one of them.

[877] I have watched that.

[878] I was like, she's just saying what he's saying, but she's doing it.

[879] Like, there's nothing else to it.

[880] But she's a stand -up?

[881] Oh, no. No?

[882] No. What does she do?

[883] Is she just do that?

[884] Yeah.

[885] She just hosted Jimmy Kimmel like two nights ago?

[886] What?

[887] I saw that.

[888] That's why I was like, because I looked her up and I go, oh, I don't know who that is.

[889] Maybe she's not good.

[890] But then I saw the Jimmy Kimmel thing.

[891] So then I go, oh, maybe this whole time she'd been grinding and I just did not know.

[892] I thought as far as I know.

[893] What does she do?

[894] Is she a writer or something?

[895] Yeah, she's a writer.

[896] Oh, so a comedy writer?

[897] When Google says to the American author and comedian based in New York City, first book, 100 Tricks to Appear Smart and Meetings was published in 2016.

[898] Hmm, she's a writer Okay Maybe Who knows?

[899] I mean, list She might have a fucking Netflix special That turns out amazing I heard Seth Myers Either way she gets a good check I'm happy for her Somebody told me Seth Myers Netflix special was very good And he's I don't think he's really A stand -up right That's on his background He was an S &L guy And then he hosted that late night show But I talked to people that said His special was very good I haven't seen that I just want to see Sam J's That's the only one I want I haven't watched it but I want to Who's Sam J?

[900] Do you know her?

[901] I do Yes Yeah she's a writer for SNL I know she's powerful black bitch lesbian Yes that's right that's right that's right Great joke writer Yeah I've met her at the store I believe yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah looks a lot like me Looks like my sister Yeah the Netflix Actually looks like my tougher brother The Netflix thing is so interesting Because they've basically Taken over the stand -up comedy special now Yeah Interesting It used to be Comedy Central It's really Comedy Central Getting people to watch the streaming Online Comedy Central specials It's just not the same Yeah, I know And then they geo -blocked that shit Oh do they really?

[902] Oh no So like if you're in the UK You can't watch it?

[903] Mm -mm.

[904] Oh no I don't know why that's a smart decision That's a terrible decision.

[905] Who made that one?

[906] Someone higher than the people I talk to, I guess.

[907] So your special that you did for Comedy Central?

[908] They geo -blocked that?

[909] Yeah, they geo -blocked that, and then they put it out.

[910] So now it's actually, it's out on YouTube for free right now for 30 days.

[911] So I was stoked.

[912] I was like, oh, people in Canada and the UK can finally see it.

[913] And then I was getting messages being like, no, we can't.

[914] Oh, wow.

[915] Yeah.

[916] That's stupid.

[917] It's not the best decision.

[918] just not to confuse what we were just talking about her she's not have a stand -up special according to the press release it's a comedy special that will be full of vignettes dealing with issues of politics race gender class and other subjects short interview sketches and more shenanigans oh so she's a writer she wrote something pitch something a sketch show event yeah but it's i just got it was weird to me that things were going viral because she was just lip -syncing things the president had said so it would be like the president's voice and it'd be her lip syncing it and everybody'd be like this is amazing and i'm like she's not she's just saying the words with her lips while he talks like what's missing something yeah well you know we we're around a comedy a lot that's what i always have to remember is that my palate is you know more refined yeah i think it's also like there's a gene for certain things you know like i don't have that grateful dead gene People love the Grateful Dead.

[919] They love it.

[920] They love it.

[921] I listen and I go, okay.

[922] I don't want to be mad.

[923] I just, you and I are different.

[924] It's okay.

[925] It's okay.

[926] Yeah.

[927] No need to be angry.

[928] Yeah, I had no love.

[929] I don't.

[930] Do you get it?

[931] No, I couldn't tell you a song.

[932] Trucking.

[933] Got my, that's a good one.

[934] Got the chips gas.

[935] Well, you said you didn't like them, but you really got into it.

[936] That's like the belt.

[937] I tried to sell it.

[938] I don't want to tell you, and touch of gray.

[939] There's some cool -ass Nike shoes they put out recently.

[940] Did they?

[941] Yeah.

[942] Grateful -de -put -out some Nike?

[943] Then they went up to like $1 ,200 real quick.

[944] Yeah, so I was like, that's out of my COVID price range for sure.

[945] Yeah, it's a lot of white people that do acid.

[946] Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

[947] Rich white you up, he's one of those shoes, for sure.

[948] For sure.

[949] What do they look like?

[950] Oh, Jesus.

[951] You know I want those.

[952] Oh, those are pretty trippy.

[953] The green ones?

[954] Come on.

[955] They do look pretty trippy.

[956] Mm -hmm.

[957] Really weird.

[958] Put those on this comedy store at stage.

[959] Come on.

[960] Mm -hmm.

[961] What's up with the bear?

[962] I think that's their logo.

[963] It's their logo.

[964] A bear?

[965] Yeah, I looked into it one time because I didn't know either.

[966] He's named after the, they're like engineer who was one of the guys that developed LSD, I think, or something like that.

[967] What?

[968] Yeah.

[969] I'll pull up his name again just a second to show you.

[970] One of the guys, but Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD.

[971] Right, but I'll care.

[972] So he's like a guy who.

[973] who worked with Hoffman?

[974] When I looked it up, he said it had, like, somewhere in the range of, like, four million hits of acid he is responsible for.

[975] Something insane.

[976] Wow.

[977] I wonder how many ideas can directly be traced to that guy's work.

[978] A lot of ideas will come to you through acid.

[979] I never done acid.

[980] Want to do it now?

[981] Mm -mm.

[982] Okay.

[983] You should try microdosing it.

[984] I'd be up to it.

[985] It's interesting.

[986] I like mushrooms.

[987] Owsley Stanley.

[988] Now, he is a clandestine chemist, an audio engineer in clandestine chemist.

[989] He was a key figure in San Francisco Bay Area Hippie movement through the 1960s and played a pivotal role in the decades counterculture.

[990] So he supplied the acid.

[991] Probably worked for the CIA, this motherfucker.

[992] Five million doses.

[993] Stanley was first known, was the first known private individual to manufacture mass quantities of LSD by his own account between 65 and 67, only in two years.

[994] He produced no less than 500 grams of LSD, accounting to a little more than 5 million doses.

[995] And his professional name was bear.

[996] Oh, interesting.

[997] So that's why.

[998] So they're just like tied to LSD, the dead.

[999] That's why you got to list.

[1000] And he's the engineer that engineered the music, so that's why they say you have to be on that shit to understand the sound.

[1001] Yeah, that's what they say.

[1002] I mean, everyone I know who does acid loves the dead when they're on acid.

[1003] he developed the whole it's called the wall of sound sound system he developed one of the largest i thought that was phil specter he that's a different thing but oh he has an own wall of sound yeah this phil specter case is one of the creepiest hollywood cases ever oh i remember uh when he got arrested and then i didn't really know who he was and i did a deep dive into who he was after he got arrested for murder and apparently just that was his thing like pulling guns on people but uh when you you You see him in the trial with all his crazy wigs on.

[1004] You realize, like, this crazy motherfucker was involved with some of the biggest bands, some of the best music, and he was a psychopath, like the entire time.

[1005] Yeah, but I think, especially back then, even now, our type of businesses can kind of hide those people, right?

[1006] They don't, I've always hung out with, as long as I've done comedy, it's like, oh, that guy's a drug dealer, this guy doesn't.

[1007] But not really that.

[1008] That guy's Jesus.

[1009] Just clarify, too, his wall of sound.

[1010] is a production formula to make records whereas the engineers was an actual wall of sound of physical sound amplifier speakers that was touring around the country to make noise to blast in your face oh okay so he had both called the same thing now okay so he had developed something for touring that they called the walls okay yeah I don't know jack shit about music do you play any instruments?

[1011] No never played a piano when it was very young but no yeah that's another one of those things where i feel like if i got into that i mean you start playing guitar or something like that like how long that seems like a long road yeah you got to choose yeah it has to be your passion whenever i picked up an instrument it always felt real foreign it never felt at home at all yeah it's but it seems like a dope thing to learn yeah like i wish i could shred i just wish you could play something on a piano It seems like, you know, people just fall in love if you could play the piano.

[1012] Right, you'd be sophisticated.

[1013] Mm -hmm.

[1014] You just sit down someplace and you just start playing the piano?

[1015] Right.

[1016] You walk into a hotel and there's a hotel lobby.

[1017] There's a nice bar there with a piano.

[1018] You're like, let me sit down and play you a melody.

[1019] Yeah.

[1020] And everybody starts gathering around you.

[1021] Yeah, they think you're cool.

[1022] Mm -hmm.

[1023] That's a thing.

[1024] But that's like that scene in Animal House where the dudes playing the guitar at a party.

[1025] And remember that scene?

[1026] Sort of, yeah.

[1027] Do you remember the scene?

[1028] It's a little...

[1029] No, you could tell I was blanking.

[1030] I know what you're talking about because it's an old joke, but I'm not a big animal house guy.

[1031] Yeah, he steals a guitar from and smashes him over the head with it.

[1032] No, it didn't smash him over the head with it.

[1033] He broke the guitar, yeah.

[1034] This scene.

[1035] Can we give a little volume?

[1036] John Belushi's listening to this guy playing this horrible folk music.

[1037] Yeah, I know.

[1038] People will...

[1039] YouTube will have an issue.

[1040] Google those words.

[1041] find it back in the day when this is what everybody wanted to do did you ever see animal house yeah probably when I was young don't remember call it it's a classic that's what it seems very slow now it is that's the problem there's a lot of those movies that just don't hold up I tried to watch Porkies the other day I was like this is a rape movie terrible things get announced yesterday for the projects maybe they won't get made but three men and a baby remake and then a potential fresh prince reboot but a drama not a comedy what yeah what why can't they just come up with new ideas i agree with that listen how about a show or there's a comedian who has an autistic kid sounds great does it come out soon yeah it should be like a Netflix thing or maybe amazon prime they do a good job you ever seen the marvelous mrs mazel i have not it's very good especially the first two seasons i kind it kind of soured for me the third season but but it's a pretty good representation of stand -up.

[1042] I mean, not perfect, but pretty good.

[1043] Pretty good.

[1044] Like, close enough.

[1045] Where you go, huh.

[1046] That's just funny hearing you that you watch that show, because I don't think anybody would think that you would watch that show.

[1047] Why is that?

[1048] Because it's just funny.

[1049] Like, Joe Rogan's just going, like, you know what I like?

[1050] Barvellous Mrs. Me?

[1051] I like a lot of girly shit.

[1052] I do.

[1053] Well, then you got to get on that 90 -day fiancé.

[1054] I don't know if I can go that far.

[1055] Think about it.

[1056] I like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt You watch that?

[1057] That's a great show That's the optimistic and charming Come on That's a funny fucking show though right Yes That's a good show And that's like They got like eight seasons Yeah that's a good one I mean and so bleak You know That's the type of shit I like When you can take bleak things And still be so funny The bleakest I mean someone who got kidnapped And forced into a sex cult In a fucking bunker And then 15 years later she gets out with a super positive attitude and is facing all the modern world's issues.

[1058] Yeah, it's fucking great.

[1059] She's such an amazing actress.

[1060] Yeah, well, it's a Tina Fey show, too, that lady.

[1061] She figures shit out.

[1062] She too does.

[1063] So, this vision board, this ultimate vision board, the ultimate thing is a show and movies and stuff like that.

[1064] Is there anything that you have made manifest that's actually happened because of this vision board?

[1065] Yeah, yeah, my house.

[1066] Was one of my first major video?

[1067] board things.

[1068] I put that when I didn't have a house living in my apartment.

[1069] And what it does for me is just kind of, it focuses me. It gives me a direction instead of just being this guy who doesn't have his hands on the rudder or the or whatever the fucking thing that steers the boat.

[1070] And so like, I was like, oh, I want to get this house.

[1071] And so in order to get the house, I had to stop just like not paying attention to my money.

[1072] I had to stop just buying random sneakers every week.

[1073] I had to start being like, okay, I need to build my credit.

[1074] to pay these old bills from when I was 20 and didn't pay those off because I didn't think I'd ever have fucking money.

[1075] So who cares if I skipped out on this rent?

[1076] You know, I had to go back and undo all these things so that I could get to that ultimate vision of getting the house.

[1077] And then we end up, I have had my house for two years now.

[1078] I fucking love it.

[1079] I put that I wanted to be on Reno 911 in there.

[1080] And I taped that.

[1081] I don't know if I got cut out or not because it's, you know, six -minute quibby thing.

[1082] But a lot of things I put on my vision board end up happening that's interesting you say that you had to go and like redo things that you fucked up like what made you what brought you to that decision was just that um if i wanted to move on a lot of ways in my life the same with my like dealing with my ex -wife and things like that i had to go to therapy i had to start i wasn't trusting anyone i was like anyone who wants to hang out with me it's just because i have a little bit of money or because i've been on a couple of shows or and that and which is so ridiculous like no most people don't even fucking know me you know so but that some people did and then sometimes that would happen people would be hanging out with me just because they thought I could introduce them to a fun party or someone else cooler than me and I had to stop looking for that and being so worried about that and I had to go undo just a mindset I think this rapper I also really like walk a flak a flame many people talk about this I just changed my mindset from a survival mindset to a thrive mindset of like oh I am okay I am fine so I can go ahead and just take care of this business I'm going to get more work I'm going to get more jobs because I've proven myself it's not a fluke you know it's not a one it's not a mistake that they made in hiring me they you know I'm going to be here what made you like what where did you come up with this idea to sort of correct your mindset was it just like realized personally that the way you were looking at things was wrong or did you read something or it was just mostly that things in my life were getting better but I wasn't getting happier I had more money I had anything I could buy video game wise all that stuff I was having bunch of sex but I wasn't happier I was still lonely I was still like not doing all the things I wanted to do I was I was chasing things just for money you know And so I had to just kind of take a step back and go like, okay, like, don't just chase every single thing you see, figure out what you really go back to like when you started standup.

[1083] I'm like, what do you want?

[1084] And all I wanted when I started stand up was to be able to pay my bills and do the things I want to do.

[1085] And that hasn't changed.

[1086] Was this a gradual process?

[1087] Yeah, for sure, for sure, like a couple years.

[1088] So you just realized, was it like you were sitting at home?

[1089] This was not from reading anything.

[1090] just from you recognizing that something was wrong?

[1091] It was me to recognize something was wrong in me and me watching the people around me, me watching people with more success than me, me watching, just seeing that like, oh, like, okay, I feel this way and I have this little bit of money with it, but maybe if I get more money, I won't, but then meeting people with millions of dollars and being like, oh, holy shit, like some people still don't have their shit together no matter how much money they have.

[1092] Some people know exactly who they are and they know what they want.

[1093] They are happy within themselves.

[1094] And I wanted to be that.

[1095] That's, it's very interesting that you recognize it and made the adjustment.

[1096] You know, that's a sign of a strong mind.

[1097] You were, you were able to recognize that the current patterns that you were operating under weren't, they weren't fulfilling your needs.

[1098] so you had to like assess but then also move forward and make a change does very difficult thing to do yeah it's difficult but is that coincide with weight loss um it's probably a little bit after the weight loss but that's the weight loss kind of gives me the motivation for it you know like my whole life has been motivation for every other step i take you know like i came from just being a college dropout with son who when i was 20 he was diagnosed with autism by his 20 three I didn't have any money my ex -wife was more of an albatross around our thing like you know I have full custody of my son so it was just like I got to figure this shit out and once that we had a little apartment and everything I was like okay well I fucking figure this shit out I get my health together and that was a big one because my doctor even told me she's like you know there's so many people I tell all the time just diet exercise diet exercise you need to lose weight you need to get better you're going to die I tell this to the people all the time and you go, you know how many of my fucking patients have done anything about it?

[1099] And then she says, you, that's it.

[1100] You're the only one that I know that I've talked to about this who's just done it through diet and exercise.

[1101] So you have a, and she was just like, you have a strong fucking mind.

[1102] So I took that to heart and I was like, well, fuck, if I can do that, if I can lose 140 pounds, fucking throw, you know, I would work out, throw up.

[1103] And, you know, I get this more to my trainer, he would just be like, all right, You threw up.

[1104] Yeah.

[1105] Can you breathe?

[1106] All right, let's get back at it, you know?

[1107] Yeah.

[1108] You know, where a lot of times people would throw up and they'd be like, okay, well, that was enough for today.

[1109] You know?

[1110] He would never push.

[1111] He told me day one.

[1112] He's like, you're a very strong man. And we're going to just unlock what you've been covering up with bad decisions.

[1113] That's, it's so true what your doctor said.

[1114] And it's so interesting when you think about the goals that people have, like one of the major goals, if you asked Americans, like what do you want to, what do you want to do?

[1115] do besides be successful have a family have a career they want to lose weight but what what i said at the beginning of this podcast you've done one of the most difficult things a person could do because you didn't just lose weight he lost a fuckload of weight and he kept it off and that to me is so it's such a it's the craziest thing it's because it's like it's not like gaining weight right like gaining weight requires you got to eat all that food like you got to like you got to really get after it like if you really want to gain weight man you got to fucking put on that you know you got to be there to eat you got to get it done people have no problem with that you know but the not eating you're literally asking someone to not do something just don't do something and it's harder to do than to do something yeah and then the exercise is maybe even harder to do than to not eat those are two really difficult things to do that you need to do both of them in order to really get your health in order in order to really lose weight and everybody knows it yeah everybody knows it but nobody does it yeah and then they always want to know what's the trick what's the trick what's the trick no fucking trick pro there's no trick is to walk through that door especially with exercise it is just like a door like yeah and that's what my wife said to me oh she was like oh you went from she's like you were a guy who didn't exercise and now you're a guy that exercises she's like there's no part of you that gets up and goes oh this is hard why am i doing this is like this is what you do because this is what you do and the hardest part is making that transition because you go through that first three weeks and you're just like i fucking hate this why the fuck am i doing it you're looking at you know back when we could go to gyms you're looking at other people going oh well they're fucking attractive and this and that and i'm not yeah and i'll never be like that you know and you just got to get rid of all that i hate that i hate when i see that in comedy because i just mostly because i'm used to i go i know where it comes from and i had that in myself when people are like i don't exercise i don't and they're so fucking proud of it you You know?

[1116] I'm just like, well, okay, well, we'll see you in 10 years when you change your fucking mind and are you just aren't successful.

[1117] So, you know, that's the thing I would.

[1118] Yeah.

[1119] Yeah.

[1120] That's the only thing I would tell young me. Like everything I've done, I'm like, well, that's my process and I'm glad everything.

[1121] I wouldn't change a thing.

[1122] The only thing I would have done is told young me, be like, hey, motherfucker, if you want to be successful, you just got to be healthy.

[1123] So just get, get at it.

[1124] It's just better for your brain, too, man. You think better.

[1125] I mean, I am very fortunate.

[1126] in that I got into exercise and working out very, very young, and I've never not done it.

[1127] But for me, if I don't do it, I don't think right.

[1128] I'm just, and I think it's also, it has to be because I've been doing it so long that my brain has this requirement to burn off this energy.

[1129] And that also the kind of exercise I do is so intense, there's so much aggression that if I don't do that for a few days, that shit stores up and then then I'm not the nicest person I don't like me if I don't work out for four or five days I don't like me and I'm I'm not I'm not that nice I can get edgy real quick but if I work out every day I'm the nicest person I want I'm just it's like real simple like the body has requirements the mind has requirements if you don't give it those requirements it starts to malfunction yeah it's something I've thought about since I was very young just as our society that we've kind of mislabeled a lot of words like work, work and play and what those things mean.

[1130] And I feel like a lot of things that we consider work aren't work at all.

[1131] They're busy work.

[1132] They're like a waste of time.

[1133] They're just you spending time in a place for a set number of hours, whereas what I consider real work is getting yourself better, exercising, reading, meditating to me. That is work.

[1134] That is how you actually get better at things.

[1135] And that's just kind of how I look at it.

[1136] This is my job.

[1137] I work in entertainment.

[1138] Even if I didn't work in entertainment, it wouldn't matter.

[1139] But the fact that I do, my main jobs are, stay ready, keep material going, make sure I fucking look good and just have a positive attitude.

[1140] And if I keep it that simple, everything else is fine.

[1141] Yeah, that work, that making sure you do that work, for some people, it's just, it's an alien concept.

[1142] They never really developed that habit.

[1143] But if you do, if you just, I swear to God, anybody listen to this?

[1144] Like, oh, I don't think I could do that.

[1145] If you just started, just left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

[1146] Just do it.

[1147] Please, just get going.

[1148] Just get going.

[1149] Once you get going, it's so easy to keep going.

[1150] It becomes momentum.

[1151] So much harder to start from a standstill position.

[1152] But once you're doing it and you're kind of like, hey, I worked out every day this week.

[1153] Hey, I worked out every day this month.

[1154] Or, hey, I worked out four days a week for the past six weeks.

[1155] like fuck man you got some momentum now yeah it just feels good and especially you know when i was 360 it's not like i was going around doing box jumps and tire pushes and all any of that shit i was walking i was walking and walking and doing some light bicep curls or whatever you know it you it doesn't matter where you start did you go all in right from the jump when you said all right i'm going to lose weight or did you vacillate did you no once i you know again my mola decision and i make it so once the decision was made It was more like, okay, it's out of my hands.

[1156] I will do what my trainer says, and that's it.

[1157] And that's been the crazy thing because he'll then, like recently, he'll talk about other clients and he'll be like, oh, you know, you wanted him to do this.

[1158] He didn't want to do it, so he didn't do it.

[1159] And I go, oh, I never comprehended that I could tell you know, you know, like, I never even thought that I could be like, yeah, I know, I'm tired, fuck it.

[1160] You know, I thought, oh, I'm paying you.

[1161] This is your job.

[1162] So I just listen to you, you know.

[1163] and but I think you know so in that way it's just me having a good attitude about it I don't once I was in it I was in it and then later came the thing of like oh I have to mentally now undo like the fact that I still want these things you know it was easier to just okay well I'm not doing it because I need to protect my health and I'm going to die but once I got down to a healthy way it was like okay now we have to deal with the mental aspect I went to like overeaters anonymous for a couple of classes and I didn't like like that.

[1164] What is that like?

[1165] It's like Alcoholics Anonymous, basically.

[1166] It's the same book even that they read from.

[1167] Yeah.

[1168] So I think they just need to get their shit changed and get their shit together because it doesn't match up because they read you these like things like, oh, I reached my lowest moment.

[1169] I lost my family.

[1170] I was living in a train.

[1171] And I was like, well, no, I can't relate to that.

[1172] My lowest moment is that I, you know, took a bite of a donut and then put it on top of the trash and then came back and got it and then had to put it deeper in the trash.

[1173] That's what I. I. I need to work on.

[1174] Yeah.

[1175] It's a different kind of addiction, right?

[1176] Mm -hmm.

[1177] Yeah, you don't really lose your life the same way.

[1178] You don't become a junkie.

[1179] It's slow.

[1180] You lose your life in a weird way.

[1181] You lose your physical life.

[1182] Yeah.

[1183] You start telling, I just remember mentally the change of being like, well, you know, I just don't want to do that.

[1184] I don't want to, I can't physically go scuba diving.

[1185] They won't let me at my way.

[1186] So, you know, I'm just not interested in any of that, you know?

[1187] And now I'm just like, I want to do anything.

[1188] I went to, you know, I went to pro wrestling school for a few months.

[1189] Did you really?

[1190] Yeah.

[1191] Think about going to, Jamar Neighbors has me going to clown college idea.

[1192] So I'm up to anything.

[1193] Clown College.

[1194] Thinking about it.

[1195] What is that?

[1196] Talk to me. I don't know much about it, but he went.

[1197] He went, Jamar Navar's so crazy.

[1198] And so I was talking to him about acting class.

[1199] And he was like, man, I think you would kill it at clown school.

[1200] That is hilarious.

[1201] What the fuck is clown school?

[1202] Like, what do you do?

[1203] I bet you there's a lot of water bits, some prop work.

[1204] A lot of nose honking.

[1205] But I bet you there's some tumbling stuff too.

[1206] So I'd be interested in that.

[1207] But yeah, went to pro wrestling school.

[1208] Tell me about pro wrestling school.

[1209] Like, was this because you want to go full David Arquette?

[1210] Great reference.

[1211] Never go full David Arquette.

[1212] There's a can't kill David Arquette documentary.

[1213] Yeah, I know about it.

[1214] I just watched a trailer for it.

[1215] I'm like, this motherfucker is killing himself.

[1216] Yeah, he's out.

[1217] they're doing deaf matches getting hit in the head with like light bulbs and shit like okay yeah insane no i didn't want to do that um i just you know been a big fan of two things my whole life comedy and pro wrestling and i decided i wanted to when i lost away i was not aware of what my body was capable of anymore um you know i would still be like pushing myself up off of things and my trainer would be like what the fuck like you know you're much lighter than you think you are oh that's funny and so i decided to go Habits.

[1218] Yeah, old habits.

[1219] So I decided to go to school.

[1220] It would be like, okay, let me throw my body around.

[1221] Let me do as many fucking squats as I can.

[1222] Let me see what I can do.

[1223] Oh, did they make you do like the bodyweight squats?

[1224] Oh, yeah.

[1225] Like Carl Gotch type workouts.

[1226] Oh, yeah.

[1227] One day they were just mad at us, so they made us do like 375 squats.

[1228] Oh, that's a fun day the next day, huh?

[1229] It was a fucking bathtub day.

[1230] And Epsom salts day.

[1231] Oh, so much salt.

[1232] Oh, my God.

[1233] Body weight squats will fuck you up.

[1234] Anybody tells me they need a gym to work out?

[1235] I'm like, listen to me. Show me that you could do 200 body weight squats.

[1236] You don't need a gym to work out.

[1237] You could develop amazing leg muscles just body weight squatting.

[1238] Yeah.

[1239] I mean, squats sit -ups, push -ups, burpees?

[1240] That's a fucking, that's a workout.

[1241] Fuck, yeah, it is.

[1242] You ever do those Hindu squats where you lift your heel up at the bottom and then push up?

[1243] No. Tremendous for the quads.

[1244] Yeah.

[1245] Hindu squats are interesting.

[1246] It's a, you start off like this, right?

[1247] and then you drop down you put your hands behind you as you drop down and as you drop down your heels go up and then you push up and come back up to here and then do it again oh so it's like a sweep yeah sort of yeah but it's uh the thing about it is here i'll do one real quick the thing about it is as you're going down when you go down your heels come up like down here my heels are up yeah you're up like this so it's like it really works the top of your quads like your quads where it touches the knee tremendous amazing exercise and it's just body weight yeah i was yeah especially when i was on the road and couldn't find a gym i would squats all the time yeah but hindu squats hindu push -ups regular push -ups and a chin -up bar you're good you're good you don't need anything but if you can get other shit in there too does they got you kettlebells you do shit like that i need to get some kettlebells i don't currently i mean i was going to the gym a lot you know so i had everything there at home i just kind of have up to 50 pound dumbbells I need to get I've been trying to buy bigger dumbbells but the fuck they're so expensive right now tried to buy some 65 pounds they want to charge me 700 dollars 700 bucks 700 for a pair that's crazy yeah is that real yeah is that just because everybody bought them out I think it's all quarantined up and then shipping and the weight of the shipping and all that shit I don't know 700 bucks for a pair of dumbbells is hilarious yeah so I'm on you know you got to go prison style bro I'm looking for He just gets some rocks, sticks in them.

[1248] But I need to get some bigger weights for sure.

[1249] Trying to get jacked.

[1250] Yeah, man. I'm trying to get as healthy and put together as I can until like 40, 41, 42, and then you can cruise it.

[1251] Just cruise it from there.

[1252] Cruise it.

[1253] Still maintain.

[1254] I just turned 53.

[1255] Okay.

[1256] Well, yeah, see.

[1257] Yesterday.

[1258] Yeah, I know.

[1259] Happy birthday.

[1260] Thank you.

[1261] I thought about buying you something, but then I remembered.

[1262] then I recalled what could I get him a hug is sufficient I wouldn't need anything well man for real though happy birthday you're fucking I think I you know I texted you the day I found out that about the theme just about just your your love of ownership of your own shit the longevity the how many because I go back and I look at my podcast we just two years deep and I'm like oh man we've made it so far but I can still do so much and I go back and I'm watching old episodes of you and it's like episode five 60 you know and I'm just like man there's a longevity there's just just that's part of like this is what I do this is my shit and I told you directly the fact that you own that shit and it's yours and you license in them is a huge inspiration to me so I just wanted to make sure I tell you that you thank you brother and like I said before I really love what you do I love the energy that you put out I really do because your energies are consistently positive and friendly like I love that you do that and you put that out and you like you say hi to people I hope you you're doing great other and I'm I know it's sincere you know and you have a big smile it's like that's that's giant for people man to have a place like that where they can tune in and get just consistent positive vibes because it's great it's all I mean you know shit gets weird but life's for me it's been so much better my life is gravy compared to my childhood and things that went through you know single mom and she had abusive relationship and all this other shit and just never had structure or knowing you know a lot of things were up in the air in my household and now that i do what i literally do what i want to do for my life i know my passions sure i don't get everything i want but it's like man i i can never and i get to work with my fucking heroes you know and i never lose sight of that and when wanda sikes is like oh you're fucking why aren't you in theaters yet you're fucking get in theaters and i'm like you know i i'm still a fan first and so i i i'm it's easy for me to be happy for people because I'm like fuck this is dope and success to me just begets other success I don't look at and go oh I couldn't get that I go oh something's coming for me too yes yes it's it's it's just about maintaining that positive mentality and that is really putting out positive vibes like what you're doing really does change people's lives it really does you know I mean maybe you don't feel it yet but I guarantee you there's a lot of people that look to you for that positive inspiration they look to you for just happiness and they just like you you give that you give that to people man and then they get it it's like a little seed you give them and it grows inside of their body I just got an email from this guy I'm doing this thing with and I didn't I didn't know too much about him I know he was referred to me by this other guy we're doing this project together and then he sends me this email basically after we're done with this thing hey man I just want to let you know like I didn't tell you this before but because of you and listening to your podcast I used to have this terrible job I quit my job I moved to this new place I started from scratch I started doing Jiu -Jitsu I lost weight I got a way better job now I have a family I'm married I have a kid I'm a different person and it's because of listening to your podcast and realize that you can change your life and you can do the things you want to do.

[1263] You can just got to push yourself and you just got, and feeding off the energy of hearing someone say that that's actually done it and recognizing, like, there's no difference between you and me. There's no difference between me and the next guy.

[1264] It's just, I've done it, and you can too.

[1265] That's what people need to hear.

[1266] You see someone like Kevin Hart, and you go, that guy's an alien.

[1267] Like, I just, I'm not like that.

[1268] I can't do it.

[1269] But you're not, that's not true.

[1270] He's just a dude.

[1271] he's just a dude who's positive who works hard and if you do that too you will get successful you will you will find your fucking groove people who haven't done stuff are the people who tell you you can't do it you know because that's the reality that they've lived in I've never met someone who's truly been successful who turns around and goes well no but you couldn't do it you know because they know they know it's just putting in the work and then it just it might take decades You know?

[1272] I was 20, I was showing, again, on Twitch showing these old videos of mine.

[1273] I showed my special.

[1274] And then I somehow found this set of mine from when I was three years in.

[1275] And so I showed, we showed him we were making fun of it.

[1276] I go, look at me. Look how I'm dressed.

[1277] Look at.

[1278] You can tell, like, these are my only good pants and they aren't good.

[1279] But man, if you didn't have that, you wouldn't appreciate where you're at now.

[1280] That's so important.

[1281] Like, that's, that's a, there's a message for people that are struggling right now.

[1282] Like this struggle, fucking.

[1283] In.

[1284] Enjoy it.

[1285] Suck it in.

[1286] Take it in.

[1287] First of all, it's fuel because it's going to inspire you to move forward and become more successful.

[1288] But also, like, man, you're going to look back on these days.

[1289] The suck that you're experiencing right now will be delicious in five, ten years.

[1290] You're going to look back on it.

[1291] It's going to be amazing.

[1292] You're going to enjoy it.

[1293] Yeah.

[1294] No, I get text messages.

[1295] I got a text message the other day from my ex -wife's sister just being like, oh, I'm so proud of you.

[1296] Look at you.

[1297] And you're in movies and this and that.

[1298] and you're amazing and you're doing so well for your son my nephew and then I was just like this is so cool coming from the lady that used to call me the N -word that's amazing do you still talk to the X?

[1299] No not really sometimes just you know keep her up to date to what's going on with her son make sure that their relationship is still strong but me and her no you know she just she I understand if I was in her position, I wouldn't like what everything turned out.

[1300] She ain't never been the niece.

[1301] I don't know what that's like.

[1302] Yeah, as much as you like to see some people succeed, there's a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that you bypassed all the pitfalls that other people have fallen into.

[1303] Yeah.

[1304] Especially if you had some non -fun relationship issues with them.

[1305] Yeah, it truly is.

[1306] You know, I still try to, it's my, you know, my son's mom.

[1307] So I always have a love for her.

[1308] And I want her to be successful and I want her to be happy.

[1309] But I'm very, I know I won.

[1310] Oh, it's awful.

[1311] It's awful to take happiness and other people's failures like that.

[1312] Yeah, but that's their choices.

[1313] And yeah, it's like also like you can learn a lot from other people's failure.

[1314] Truly.

[1315] As much as you can get out of people's success, man, look at someone who you know that's just sabotaging their life left and right.

[1316] And you can learn from that too.

[1317] One of the things that you were talking about that I think is so important is like take an ownership of your fuckups.

[1318] Take an ownership of the things you did wrong.

[1319] I'm trying to rectify that.

[1320] Trying to just, you know, you don't want to repeat those patterns.

[1321] Recognize them, you know.

[1322] Develop development, getting better, evolve.

[1323] I think that's a thing, you know, through especially social media lately, that we don't, we don't allow people to evolve.

[1324] We don't allow them to change.

[1325] We hold them to the same statement that they made 10, 15, 20 years ago.

[1326] And if someone's an asshole today, that's fine.

[1327] I understand that.

[1328] It's okay to not fuck with people.

[1329] But, like, to judge someone over things they did 10, 15, 20 years ago, obviously case -by -case basis, but you're denying the existence.

[1330] of evolution.

[1331] You're denying that people change and that people can get better.

[1332] And I just always believe in that because I've seen it in myself.

[1333] I've seen it in my friends and the people around me. There's so many people that if they truly, some people don't want to change and they don't ever they never will but I've met a lot of people who weren't the best people and they pulled their shit together because they had to.

[1334] Yeah, I agree.

[1335] I agree wholeheartedly and I know I've grown and become a better person too and through all that hard work.

[1336] And I almost don't fault people that feel that way because it's fucking hard today, man. You know, and it's less hard for us because we had this advantage that we were kind of moving.

[1337] You know, we already had momentum when this shit hit.

[1338] And we were in a business where, you know, we're very fortunate that when you do well and show a business, you can make a decent amount of money, you could save some of it and you can put it aside.

[1339] But there's so many people out there that have no hope.

[1340] And I understand the bitterness and the angrier, I understand it all.

[1341] I get it.

[1342] I mean, this is a fucked up time.

[1343] It's a fucked up time where like half the country can't work.

[1344] Yeah.

[1345] And when you have that, you're going to have just a dystopian perspective on everything.

[1346] And that's what you have with people today.

[1347] And I just want us to come out of it.

[1348] I really do.

[1349] And when we come out of it, man, I hope we look back and just appreciate where we are.

[1350] If we get to a point where we can all gather and go to comedy clubs and go to restaurants and movie theaters and normal shit like we used to do sporting events you can go see pro wrestling live all that shit man i just hope we really enjoy it yeah and maybe we will i mean maybe maybe it'll be like we'll be better because we'll recognize like hey man this could all go away now we know it can all go away yeah just learning to um mind myself to respect the audience more and to yeah i'm clearly nothing without an audience i'm nothing nothing and sometimes i didn't always go into like every show being like I need to give these people you know yeah I'm sure you know sure you know sure and so I'm just trying to be more aware of that and any chance I've had although it was great like I was like okay I did this one show where they there's a little stage and a screen and people can see you and I was like oh it felt so good to get on stage again and I want to be grateful for it and they asked me to come back and then I slept through it and I was mad at myself at first but then I was like no this is like getting back to normal yeah that's funny I did some stand -up.

[1351] I did a weekend, the Houston Improv, but I was like, man, I can't catch COVID.

[1352] I got to get out of here.

[1353] I did, you know, one weekend, and I did all the right things, kept the fuck away from people, wore a mask, did my shows, got off, get out of there, didn't take pictures, didn't hug anybody.

[1354] But I was still like, but what if I got it?

[1355] And what if I give it to someone I love?

[1356] Yeah.

[1357] Yeah.

[1358] It's just, I got really high the next day, and I got real paranoid.

[1359] I was like, what if I have it?

[1360] What I have it?

[1361] I'm going to give it to people.

[1362] Yeah.

[1363] And then I was like, I can't do this.

[1364] Yeah, I went through the same mindset because I had a couple of gigs on the docket still.

[1365] But I went to that same thing.

[1366] Like, oh, I want to do stand -up so bad.

[1367] I want to perform.

[1368] I want to feel that feeling of people applauding when I enter a room.

[1369] But I just fucking have that same paranoia.

[1370] I'd be like, oh, what if I give it to someone?

[1371] And, you know, I'm healthy and that's fine.

[1372] But I give it to someone and they give it to their grandma and their grandma dies because they went to hear me do some dumb bullshit jokes.

[1373] I can't, I don't want that.

[1374] Exactly, exactly.

[1375] But at a certain point in time, like, what do we do if this is normal forever?

[1376] Like, what if COVID doesn't go away?

[1377] And this is just the deal.

[1378] This is just how things are.

[1379] Then what do we do?

[1380] Do we decide then?

[1381] Well, fuck it.

[1382] Let's just have comedy clubs.

[1383] People are going to get it.

[1384] They're just going to get it.

[1385] There is no cure.

[1386] There's nothing you could do.

[1387] Do we just live like this?

[1388] I don't think so.

[1389] That doesn't sound good.

[1390] That doesn't sound good.

[1391] So the question is always like, are we living like this because we're way.

[1392] waiting for them to develop enough hospital beds and waiting for them to develop some sort of a treatment that's responsible that really does work well.

[1393] Is that what's going on?

[1394] Because if we, I mean, we're all hoping for a vaccine, but if there's nothing, if it doesn't happen, let's just imagine.

[1395] It doesn't.

[1396] What do you do?

[1397] At some point in time, we're going to have to say, fuck it.

[1398] We're going to have to get back to work and get back to life.

[1399] Yeah, that'll be a weird life.

[1400] I don't want that.

[1401] And then I hadn't thought about that until you brought it up.

[1402] Damn.

[1403] But now I am thinking about it and it's like a horror movie.

[1404] Well, here's the thing, man. There's more than one version of this disease right now.

[1405] More than one.

[1406] There's one in India that's so different from the one here that if they develop a vaccine for the one that's in North America, it won't work for the one that's in India.

[1407] And it's possible that this thing is going to morph like the common cold or like a lot of other viruses and spread all over the place.

[1408] well if they don't have a disease prevention if there's no way other than keeping your body healthy keeping your immune system strong we're not going to live like this man we can't just live like this forever we're living like this temporarily this is the idea so we have to like that is a possibility that we need to take into account it's interesting means life's going to be different means a lot of people going to die a lot of people wearing masks a lot of people people have fucked up teeth that are going to be real happy.

[1409] I'm okay with the mask, same, because that's been, I mean, I got used to that from Japan from when I went to Japan for two weeks.

[1410] I was like, oh, that's fine.

[1411] Oh, when you went to Japan for two weeks, was it COVID or no COVID?

[1412] Pre -COVID, but a lot of people just wear a mask.

[1413] When if they're feeling a little ill, you wear a mask?

[1414] Well, that's a polite thing over there, right?

[1415] Mm -hmm.

[1416] Yeah.

[1417] Well, that's why they did an amazing job.

[1418] They got to a point where, like, I think the entire country only had a thousand deaths, which is amazing.

[1419] Mm -hmm.

[1420] But, especially if you, because people consider the size, in Japan that it's not like super populate but if you consider that most of the population in Japan is in just very dense areas like Tokyo is everyone right on top of each other and they never locked down they kept working the entire time they just wore masks and they only had a thousand deaths it's pretty amazing everybody in mind is a political commentator and he was like you need to look at this sent me this article explaining all the things Japan did they did just basically they follow order you know they're polite you know if you go over the they're like, I was, I've only moved to Tokyo once, but it's like amazing how different their culture is, like how polite they are and how they avoid, you know, like on the streets, like everybody, there's no garbage everywhere, nobody picks up their shit.

[1421] You don't even, it's rude to walk around and eat.

[1422] Yeah.

[1423] You're supposed to go take it to the proper place.

[1424] Yeah.

[1425] Get rid of your trash and then go about your day.

[1426] It's crazy.

[1427] Yeah, they have, they just have patterns of behavior and patterns.

[1428] of like they're just what they accept or what they expect rather from society from people and they all agree yeah truly discipline yeah if no one if you haven't gone and you we ever get the chance to travel go because it's fucking amazing i can't wait to go to other countries again oh i want to go some weird places i can't wait once the shit is if if the shit ever lifts up i got i just want to go i want to take in as many weird cultures i want to go to bolly i want to see what that's like i want to go to indonesia i want to go to uh a lot of the pacific islands i want to go to the philippines i want to go to a lot of places i've never been that i've just seen in videos i just like and i want to go to egypt that's that's the thing i've been kicking myself in the head about like why didn't i go see the pyramids i do i need to go see that i'd like to do that every person that i'm friends with schultz went he went right before covid everybody that i'm friends with that went there they're like bro they're like this shit changed my life like It's so big and so crazy.

[1429] You're like, what the fuck is this?

[1430] Who built this?

[1431] How did this happen?

[1432] What was this culture like?

[1433] And the fact that you got fucked up Cairo right there next to this ancient civilization that's so far more sophisticated in their structures.

[1434] Like that's one of them things where I think perspective shifting places are very important to go to.

[1435] Just because it just gives you, we're so used to like Los Angeles.

[1436] or Boston or wherever you're from.

[1437] You're used to these cities and this is how people live.

[1438] And then you go to Chechnica and you go, oh, shit.

[1439] Like, what were the Mayans doing?

[1440] You know, these motherfuckers are doing this shit 1 ,500 years ago.

[1441] Like, what is this?

[1442] How are they doing this?

[1443] Why were they doing this?

[1444] What was life like back then?

[1445] You realized, like, the pattern that we're in is just the pattern that we're in.

[1446] It doesn't mean this is the only pattern that human beings follow.

[1447] Just like, just like you were talking about Japan.

[1448] That's a different pattern.

[1449] They're on a different pattern.

[1450] their pattern they got into this really disciplined pattern being polite wearing a mask our pattern is fucking chaos but more but also our pattern's more creative that's a weird thing about our pattern over here in america we do a lot of wild shit but man we create a lot of good shit you know if you think about all the movies and the art and the comedy and the music all the shit that comes from this one continent yeah that mean it can only come from a lack of structure and from chaos and things going on it's why we have so many forms of art that are created here is why jazz is created here is why hip hop is created here stand -up comedy invented here yeah yeah it is it's like that is what's interesting right it's like you got to kind of have both of those things you got to kind of have chaos but you also kind of got to have some discipline too that's what i think that's one of the reasons why america's done so terrible with this uh this COVID reaction.

[1451] We're the worst at it.

[1452] All the fucking big countries, we are the worst.

[1453] Yeah.

[1454] It's crazy when you really look at it and they're just like, we don't, the rest of the world is just like, we don't want Americans right now because you're in an underdeveloped nation medically.

[1455] You're fucking idiots.

[1456] You just, you guys don't listen.

[1457] You want to have like a big protest where you don't wear masks.

[1458] Like, we want our fucking freedom.

[1459] And they just, thousands of people march down the street saying we don't want to wear a mask.

[1460] Bill Gates the devil.

[1461] Fuck Fauci.

[1462] Like, the people are crazy.

[1463] They're wild people.

[1464] But they come up with some good shit.

[1465] Right?

[1466] Such a conundrum.

[1467] Like, part of me, I love America.

[1468] Look, some fucking American flag behind me. It's a reason for that.

[1469] I love America.

[1470] Genuine.

[1471] I love the concept.

[1472] I love the concept of, you know, I'm the grandchild of immigrants.

[1473] My family all came over here from Europe.

[1474] I love the fact that these people, where we're like the ancestors of these people that decided wherever they were they just didn't want to be there anymore you know and they try to come up I was going to get to that or or realize hey you know that's that is for sure the most fucked up part of America right it is the most fucked up for sure how it was started slave owners that wanted to be free but it's also there's a beauty that people don't see I think that a lot of like in everyday white people that I talk to there's a little bit of fear of this just like this black anger of people being like not only black lives matter that we want reparations we want everything back we want you know which also will be great That'd be fun.

[1475] But to me, what's so beautiful about America is this level of forgiveness that's built into our structure to the fact that we can have that history, that, you know, horrible history.

[1476] And then there's no other country that freed those people and then they live there right next to their oppressors, you know?

[1477] And then there's forgiveness and there's balance.

[1478] And there's like, oh, well, we just want to continue to be a part of this lifestyle.

[1479] And we want to succeed and have our own freedoms like you.

[1480] We're not trying to then take over and now white people are slaves.

[1481] It's just beautiful thing that there's this like forgiveness there.

[1482] And that they want to seat at the table.

[1483] Yes.

[1484] Yeah.

[1485] Yeah.

[1486] And also the amount of creativity that comes from that culture.

[1487] Yeah.

[1488] And just stop and think of that, right?

[1489] Like through pressure, diamonds are created and just look at.

[1490] the black American community and think about all the different forms of art that not just originated with black Americans but were mastered by them to a point where like like even rock and roll yeah like Jimmy Hendrix is the greatest guitar player of all time I mean you go and look at stand -up comedians I mean there's there's so many musicians so many so many artists so so I mean that's the crazy thing about art right like so much of art is this dynamic expression that comes from pain yeah yeah i mean that's to me the beauty and the alchemy in art is to take your traumas take your pain and then to turn those things into your successes and your and the reason why you have finances yeah it's amazing yeah and i'm hoping that through that i mean this obviously racial relations are in this really strange upheaval right now they're in a bad spot they're in a bad spot but they're also in a spot where there's a potential for growth.

[1491] You know, like when you see these Black Lives Matter protests, the thing that gives everybody hope is that people are together walking down the street in unity and that they recognize that this is a unique moment to make things better.

[1492] This is a unique moment to take a stand, to talk about things, to recognize that there's problems, and out of the brutal murder of one man, this eruption that has existed all throughout, not just North America, but it's spread throughout the globe.

[1493] It's a crazy time.

[1494] And through crazy times, oftentimes on the other end of it, you get a better world.

[1495] Truly, truly.

[1496] Yeah, I choose to look at those positives because police brutality is not a new subject.

[1497] You know, oppression is not a new subject by any means.

[1498] But the reaction to it, the amount of allies, the amount of times where I see, I get so excited when I see all these young white allies, these people, these millennials that people kind of make fun of and they're the ones in the fucking streets.

[1499] The first they're first going to be like, no, this is bullshit.

[1500] We don't do this anymore.

[1501] And I love that to me. That's tremendous progress because I'm, you know, there was a million man march years ago.

[1502] Years ago when I was a child.

[1503] There was marches about this type of things.

[1504] And before I was a child, you know, that's the thing I talk about.

[1505] Yeah.

[1506] My mom was out on those marches getting bit by dogs and sprayed by fire hose.

[1507] And now we've reached to the point where I sit at home playing video games and I send my white assistant out to protest for me. That's true progress.

[1508] You sent your assistant out to protest?

[1509] I did.

[1510] I can show you a picture.

[1511] Did you test him after he came back?

[1512] Hey man, before you come back to my house, I'm going to have to swab your nose.

[1513] I trust her.

[1514] She's pretty safe.

[1515] It's hard to be safe.

[1516] It is.

[1517] But she's fucking, yeah, she's really pretty.

[1518] Thank you, Eleanor for being so safe.

[1519] That she did that.

[1520] She did.

[1521] She protested for you.

[1522] I put it on airplane.

[1523] I don't find it later.

[1524] No worries.

[1525] No worries.

[1526] All right, man. Let's wrap this up and tell everybody where they can get your podcast, social media, all that shit.

[1527] I got a lot of things going on.

[1528] My podcast is called Getting Better with Ron Funches.

[1529] You can find that wherever you find your podcast.

[1530] Even the name, getting better.

[1531] I love it.

[1532] Yeah.

[1533] Not about becoming the best.

[1534] It's not about we are the best.

[1535] It's the fact that every single fucking day we're trying to get better.

[1536] times we fall back, but we usually try to move forward.

[1537] And that's what it's about, great guests.

[1538] Conan's been on there, Stone Cold Steve Olson's been on there.

[1539] Yeah, it's a good guest.

[1540] Nice.

[1541] And I got my live stream event, September 5th.

[1542] People can get tickets for that.

[1543] Awakening.

[1544] Life stream comedy event, September 5th, 7 p .m. 8 p .m. Mountain.

[1545] You get all of it.

[1546] You roll the rest of them.

[1547] And that is combustion live.

[1548] Yeah, that's, um, to Chris Seides' company.

[1549] It's going to be live streaming on YouTube.

[1550] You can go get tickets at Ron Funches .com.

[1551] Um, other than that, I'm in a Netflix show called Hoops in a Disney Plus movie called The One and Only Ivan, both coming out August 21st.

[1552] Oh, Quibby would love it if I mentioned my game show.

[1553] Oh, you have a game show on Quibby?

[1554] I have a game show coming out on Quibi called Nice One on August 21st.

[1555] It's, um, I, you know, I came up off at midnight.

[1556] People know me a lot from that show.

[1557] And this is me basically kind of stealing that.

[1558] idea and then me being the host.

[1559] Good job.

[1560] Thank you.

[1561] Keep kicking ass, Ron Funches.

[1562] Thank you very much, sir.

[1563] Thank you.

[1564] Appreciate you, brother.

[1565] Appreciate you too.

[1566] Bye, everybody.