Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / Quality Over Loyalty: Navigating Stand-Up, Gatekeeping, & Creator Culture in Corpus Christi | EP127

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Quality Over Loyalty: Navigating Stand-Up, Gatekeeping, & Creator Culture in Corpus Christi | EP127 · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker: What's going on, y'all?
• 0:00
  Speaker: It's Jesus Hilario Hernandez back at it again, Corpus Christi Originals Podcast.
• 0:04
  Speaker: Lovely Corpus Christi dipping scene.
• 0:05
  Speaker: If you can tag the name of this spot on the in the comments, tag it on the uh on the comments below.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Appreciate you guys.
• 0:12
  Speaker: Alright, so I'm gonna be talking about a few things uh on this solo episode.
• 0:16
  Speaker: Uh had some recent posts lately about uh the local creator community.
• 0:20
  Speaker: The first thing is quality versus local support.
• 0:23
  Speaker: Do creators rely too much on hometown loyalty?
• 0:26
  Speaker: Here's the hook is being from Corpus Christi enough to earn support or are local creators expecting love without putting in the work?
• 0:35
  Speaker: First question: why do so many local artists feel entitled to a crowd just because they live here?
• 0:43
  Speaker: So many artists, I don't know what you what do you guys see?
• 0:47
  Speaker: Do y'all see I uh artists that feel like entitled to uh to support?
• 0:54
  Speaker: I guess what I see from running the podcast is that people reach out to me wanting to get on the podcast, and there we go, that's city city sound right there, you guys.
• 1:05
  Speaker: Oh, so I mean, so okay, what why do so many local artists feel entitled to a crowd just because they live here?
• 1:13
  Speaker: What I can tell you personally from my podcast is that people like I I can see this because people will reach out and and be like, I'm a Corpus Christi original, put me on your show.
• 1:27
  Speaker: And from what I'm looking at is I'm looking at substance in the guest, like who are you?
• 1:33
  Speaker: Are you are you offering to the community already?
• 1:35
  Speaker: Whether it's through your music, through your business, creativity, whatever.
• 1:39
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 1:39
  Speaker: Do you have a social footprint?
• 1:41
  Speaker: Are you doing stuff?
• 1:42
  Speaker: Like, are you actually in the scene?
• 1:44
  Speaker: Have you have you made progress on your work?
• 1:46
  Speaker: Are you good at what you do?
• 1:48
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 1:49
  Speaker: A lot of those things factor into bringing people onto my pop podcast, and I can see from all these comments that I had from other creators um on the on the Corpus Christi Originals podcast um post uh talking about local creators and stuff like that.
• 2:04
  Speaker: I mean, I can see obviously, like for instance, okay, I can see people wanting you to support them if they're new at in the game, if they're new at something, you go and check out their stuff, and it's like, dude, this sounds ugly, or this tastes ugly, or this looks ugly, you know.
• 2:22
  Speaker: I mean, yeah, I'll support you at the onset because you're my you know, because you're my friend, you're you're asking for support, you know what I mean.
• 2:29
  Speaker: But am I gonna go and tell somebody about the product because the product is good?
• 2:34
  Speaker: There's a question to ask, ask ourselves, you know what I mean.
• 2:37
  Speaker: And like I I found myself in that predicament, like for instance, bringing people on my podcast, like, I'm not sure I want to have my listeners uh exposed to you or to what you're doing, and of course, that comes with a lot of kickback um from from people they're like, Oh, I thought you know, I'm a Corpus Christi originals, I thought it's you know, whatever, whatever, whatever.
• 2:58
  Speaker: It's like, no, bro, like it's just like I was mentioning it in a comment and the post is like, do you is your stuff even good?
• 3:04
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 3:05
  Speaker: Do do I want to show people what you have?
• 3:07
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 3:08
  Speaker: I'll support you at the onset, yes.
• 3:10
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 3:11
  Speaker: Like, go, you know, I'll be your cheerleader, you know, in that sense.
• 3:14
  Speaker: But as far as like going all the way and supporting that much, I don't know, maybe we'll see.
• 3:21
  Speaker: Uh, what is the difference between asking people to support a friend versus building a product or show that people actually want to pay for?
• 3:28
  Speaker: There's a difference, you know what I mean.
• 3:30
  Speaker: Like I'm saying, like paying for a product because you want to put support the person monetarily only goes so far.
• 3:38
  Speaker: I feel like it.
• 3:39
  Speaker: If the person is not progressing, then they're gonna stay stuck at that that bottom level, you know what I mean.
• 3:45
  Speaker: So it's important for that that person that you're supporting to continue to progress in the things that they're doing.
• 3:51
  Speaker: Um, so it's on the creator, it's on the creator, the musician, the business owner to to get better at what they're doing, to get better at their craft, to continue to have support from the community.
• 4:04
  Speaker: Because if your stuff is good, they'll go tell their friend, oh that she you got you really got to try this out.
• 4:09
  Speaker: You gotta really gotta listen to this music.
• 4:11
  Speaker: It's good.
• 4:11
  Speaker: You really gotta try this, this, uh, this taco or whatever, you know what I mean?
• 4:15
  Speaker: That goes a long way more than just hey, can you support me?
• 4:18
  Speaker: Hey, can you support me?
• 4:20
  Speaker: Because at that point, it'll be to where you're like crossing boundaries, like support me.
• 4:25
  Speaker: If you don't support me, then you're this or whatever, you know what I mean?
• 4:28
  Speaker: Then it gets into that conversation, which is uh it's uncomfortable, you know what I mean?
• 4:32
  Speaker: Because you this you thought this person was cool with you or you're cool with them, and then they're automatically they're like forcing you to support them.
• 4:39
  Speaker: When it gets to that point, it's it's toxic, you know what I mean.
• 4:41
  Speaker: Okay, so last question on this how do you elevate your quality so that people support you because you're great, not just because you're local.
• 4:49
  Speaker: You gotta study, you gotta study up, you gotta practice while you're studying, you know what I mean?
• 4:55
  Speaker: Don't wait until you feel like you're the most studied up, and then you go and play.
• 4:59
  Speaker: No, like while you're practicing, get gigs, you know, because you need that practice of being in the gig.
• 5:04
  Speaker: The gig could be music, if it's food-wise, you got it.
• 5:07
  Speaker: You gotta practice, you gotta sell it, you gotta give it away.
• 5:10
  Speaker: Ask people their opinion.
• 5:11
  Speaker: Hey, this is too salty, whatever, and then you and then, of course, you learn from other local creators if they're open to it, they they've already been in the game, get some of their advice, you know what I mean.
• 5:22
  Speaker: Get advice, study up, YouTube, whatever you gotta do to figure out how to make your craft better and be willing to to stumble and fall, you know.
• 5:31
  Speaker: I mean, be willing to fall in that your product is not good and you got to go back to their drawing board and figure out how to make it better.
• 5:37
  Speaker: Here's the takeaway: if your main selling point is I'm local, you're selling location, not talent.
• 5:44
  Speaker: Raise the bar.
• 5:45
  Speaker: Alright, number two, is the corpus scene hating on each other or just unsupportive?
• 5:52
  Speaker: Here's the hook is the corpus creative scene actually dead, or are people just too busy talking trash behind the scenes to build something real?
• 6:01
  Speaker: Here's the first question: why does it feel like the local creators are quicker to judge each other's work than show up for each other's events?
• 6:10
  Speaker: There's competition, there's competition in every industry, every facet of business.
• 6:16
  Speaker: Uh, and some people, if they're not good, they try to bring everybody else down, bro.
• 6:23
  Speaker: Because they're not getting the support that they want, either because they're toxic or the stuff is just really genuinely not good, and they're not changing it.
• 6:30
  Speaker: Then those people I feel like they might feel like they're at the bottom, they're stuck at the bottom, and they're like, dude, how come everybody else is growing and not me?
• 6:37
  Speaker: Let me bring them back down with me, you know what I mean?
• 6:40
  Speaker: Like that crabs in the bucket.
• 6:41
  Speaker: A lot of people were putting that in the comments, which I think that that's where it comes from.
• 6:45
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 6:46
  Speaker: Like, we're down here, everybody else has got to come down here because I'm down here, you know what I mean?
• 6:51
  Speaker: So, back to that question.
• 6:53
  Speaker: What was the question?
• 6:54
  Speaker: Why does it feel like the local creators are quicker to judge each other's work than show up for each other's events?
• 7:00
  Speaker: Like I said, like some sometimes people get jealous.
• 7:02
  Speaker: There's jealousy, there's envy, you know what I mean?
• 7:05
  Speaker: You could hate on a creator because they're doing better than you, they sound better than you, you know, they make food better than you, that they do comedy better than you.
• 7:11
  Speaker: All those things make a factor into that.
• 7:14
  Speaker: What do you guys think?
• 7:15
  Speaker: Let me know in the comments.
• 7:16
  Speaker: Second question Do create corpus artists actually support each other when it counts, or do they just show up if there's something in it for them?
• 7:24
  Speaker: Both ways, bro.
• 7:25
  Speaker: You got these creators, like I okay, for instance, I'm in the local comedy scene.
• 7:30
  Speaker: You show up to an open mic, there's no fan, there's no crowd there.
• 7:35
  Speaker: Some comedy, some comedians will leave, be like, no, there's no fans here, I'm leaving.
• 7:40
  Speaker: But somebody will actually stay there and chalk it up as an experience, you know what I mean?
• 7:45
  Speaker: Like knowing what it's like to go with no crowd there.
• 7:47
  Speaker: Like, are you really gonna put in the effort, even if there's no even if your friends are just watching, or your or your roadies, or your bandmates, or or whatever?
• 7:55
  Speaker: Are you gonna continue to work on uh your your craft uh of it whenever there's no crowd, you know what I mean?
• 8:02
  Speaker: So if if it's not in you can tell too, like, oh yeah, I seen them stay around and still be still do the open mic when nobody's there, you know what I mean?
• 8:11
  Speaker: Like, and and and in the same scene, you'll see those same the the same people, not the same people, but different people are like ah, there's nothing here, there's no money, and all right, I'm gone, I'm leaving.
• 8:20
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 8:21
  Speaker: You see and you notice.
• 8:23
  Speaker: That's what you gotta do.
• 8:23
  Speaker: You gotta see and notice.
• 8:25
  Speaker: What do you guys think?
• 8:26
  Speaker: Uh leave your comments down below.
• 8:28
  Speaker: Third question why do you why do we shift the uh how do we shift the culture in South Texas from competitive gatekeeping to genuine collaboration?
• 8:37
  Speaker: We gotta be open, we gotta be we gotta be open to criticism, being criticized.
• 8:45
  Speaker: We gotta be open to understanding that there's envy envy and jealousy in our in each other's scenes, and we have to recognize it and be able to be willing to be taught, you know what I mean?
• 9:01
  Speaker: Be willing to be liquid.
• 9:02
  Speaker: Liquid moves around, it finds its place.
• 9:05
  Speaker: If you're a solid, it's difficult for you to move around.
• 9:08
  Speaker: So, collaboration, you have to be able to, and it goes both ways.
• 9:13
  Speaker: If one person wants to collaborate with another person, that person has to want to collaborate with you too.
• 9:17
  Speaker: Like, if you try to force the issue, too, you're gonna put yourself in a place that's uncomfortable, and you that's not something that you want.
• 9:24
  Speaker: So, the way we shift uh culture in South Texas from competitive gatekeeping to genuine collaboration is just being open and don't be like like trying to hold everything, you know what I mean?
• 9:36
  Speaker: So, takeaway is hating on the next person's hustle isn't going to make your own show any better?
• 9:44
  Speaker: Alright, so third thing does Corpus Christi support its own people?
• 9:50
  Speaker: Uh, we have incredible talent right here in Corpus Christi, so why does the city wait until someone leaves town to finally give them credit?
• 9:59
  Speaker: What do you guys think?
• 10:01
  Speaker: Leave it in the comments.
• 10:03
  Speaker: Um, okay, that's the hook, right?
• 10:05
  Speaker: First question why are people willing to pay $50 plus dollars for a touring show but complain about a $10 cover for a local lineup?
• 10:13
  Speaker: Locally, bro, you just gotta accept the fact that some people are good and some people are bad.
• 10:19
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 10:20
  Speaker: And it sucks because the people that are bad usually outweigh the people that are good, you know what I mean?
• 10:29
  Speaker: So I think a lot of us shy away from that local tack, that local ten dollars because it's not good, bro.
• 10:38
  Speaker: Because the maybe the product is not good, because the scene is is not good, you know what I mean?
• 10:44
  Speaker: Like the scene are like each scene, you know what I mean?
• 10:48
  Speaker: It's it's difficult, bro.
• 10:50
  Speaker: Like, really, because you got the people bringing it down, you got the people trying to bring it up, you got the people wanting to start shows that are actually good, and the people that are over here, like, oh come there to put me on their show, this and that.
• 11:02
  Speaker: You know, I mean, you gotta deal with all that, dude.
• 11:04
  Speaker: And it's it's just it sucks, man.
• 11:06
  Speaker: And and then I feel like when they're willing to pay for that one that had that that $50 for that for the outside gig, it's because they're not a part of our scene, bro, and they're good, you know, they're good.
• 11:18
  Speaker: They they made it to a certain level, you know what I mean, and they can charge that $50, you know what I mean.
• 11:24
  Speaker: The $10 shows, they haven't made it yet, you know what I mean.
• 11:27
  Speaker: And we as the customer have to understand that it's just like like like a food businesses, like uh we have to understand that some of these businesses make their food is not good, and some of it is good, you know what I mean.
• 11:42
  Speaker: So and we have to understand that we're not chained restaurants because chain restaurants are like they've been around for a while, you know what I mean?
• 11:50
  Speaker: They they know what to charge, they know all this stuff, like local businesses.
• 11:53
  Speaker: You have to have that level of grace, but you but but that doesn't give the local business uh a pass to be like okay, you have to support me.
• 12:03
  Speaker: No, you have to have good stuff, you know what I mean, and be willing to to charge that that amount of money.
• 12:07
  Speaker: What do you guys think?
• 12:08
  Speaker: Um, what does genuine local support look like behind leaving a quick like or comment on Facebook?
• 12:15
  Speaker: A genuine local support is show up to their events, spend money, money, cash is I think the best way to support a local business where this donation, because think about it, money is a transaction that that we make on in and every on the daily basis, like for anything, for any type of transaction.
• 12:36
  Speaker: Like, I'm here doing a podcast, somebody can donate to my podcast to help me with equipment, whatever, whatever.
• 12:43
  Speaker: But money, I think, is the best way showing up to the event, talking to them, letting them know, hey, I'm here, great stuff.
• 12:49
  Speaker: Take it.
• 12:50
  Speaker: I got I gotta go home back to my kid, whatever you gotta do, just support them locally, show up to the place, talk to other people, let other people know that you're there.
• 12:57
  Speaker: Like for me, going to in the comedy scene, I show up to an open mic.
• 13:01
  Speaker: There's other people there that I've seen that follow me on my page, they're like, Hey, I appreciate your podcast, pretty cool.
• 13:07
  Speaker: That whole networking aspect show goes a long way, even if you're not the person that's receiving the money, you know what I'm saying?
• 13:14
  Speaker: You're the fan, you're you're the you're the follower.
• 13:16
  Speaker: Go to the events, show up.
• 13:18
  Speaker: Uh, if you can, you know what I mean?
• 13:21
  Speaker: Like, if you can't, you can't, you know what I mean?
• 13:24
  Speaker: That's fine, but just you like we know as creators who the who the loyal people are.
• 13:29
  Speaker: Uh like on Facebook, we see them at our events.
• 13:32
  Speaker: We know, you know what I mean.
• 13:33
  Speaker: What do you guys think?
• 13:34
  Speaker: Last question uh, what responsibility do local venues, businesses, and audiences have in keeping talent right here in Corpus?
• 13:42
  Speaker: What responsibility do local venues, businesses, and audiences have in keeping talent right here in Corpus?
• 13:50
  Speaker: It's our responsibility, I think, because this is our city.
• 13:54
  Speaker: Our money that's in our pocket goes to those businesses, right?
• 13:59
  Speaker: It helps them to keep the lights on, to help create the local the to help the local creators to continue to grow into good musicians, good artists, good uh food businesses, whatever what have you.
• 14:14
  Speaker: So the more we support those businesses, the more they can continue to help the local creator economy, um, the local economy, because monetarily we're helping them out.
• 14:28
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 14:28
  Speaker: It's just a it's a it's a both way street, it's a networking thing.
• 14:32
  Speaker: So, like one of here's my opinion like a person goes to like okay, I go to open mic, right?
• 14:39
  Speaker: Stand-up comedy.
• 14:41
  Speaker: If I go to open mic at somebody's business, I want to make sure before I leave that I bought something from that business because they're letting us use their stage, they're letting us use the lights, their restroom, you know what I mean, their chip, their furniture, bro.
• 14:56
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 14:57
  Speaker: It's you it's a it's just the level of courtesy that you show to other businesses that are trying to that that are even though the even though the business might not be like all for comedy, you know what I mean?
• 15:08
  Speaker: They're still letting you use their place, bro.
• 15:10
  Speaker: Buy a drink, buy, buy a meal, you know what I mean.
• 15:15
  Speaker: If you're at a local music venue or whatever, buy buy whatever, you know, buy a t-shirt, something, bro.
• 15:20
  Speaker: Before you leave, you know what I mean?
• 15:22
  Speaker: Wipe your feet off before you come in, you know, get something and leave.
• 15:26
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 15:27
  Speaker: Just show respect to the to the venues and to the to the uh businesses that are showing you uh that are helping your creator scene grow, bro.
• 15:36
  Speaker: Uh takeaway, stop waiting for people to blow up in Austin or San Antonio before you admit they were good here first.
• 15:45
  Speaker: Support the ones that are here first, bro.
• 15:47
  Speaker: The ones that you know that are good, support them, bro.
• 15:50
  Speaker: Like, why wouldn't we want to do that?
• 15:52
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 15:54
  Speaker: Second category.
• 15:56
  Speaker: Here's another topic uh regarding me, the host of the Corpus Christi Originals podcast.
• 16:00
  Speaker: Uh, behind the mic and personal growth.
• 16:02
  Speaker: Might make I might chop this into a second video.
• 16:04
  Speaker: We'll see what happens.
• 16:06
  Speaker: Uh, this is inspired by uh the two partners on the Corpus Christi Originals network, Ben de Leon and Lito Cortez.
• 16:13
  Speaker: Shout out you guys.
• 16:14
  Speaker: Uh, first, how the podcast changed and how I see people.
• 16:18
  Speaker: When you sit across from hundreds of people with a microphone, you stop listening to react and start listening to understand.
• 16:26
  Speaker: Uh how has okay, first question, how has host confidence and perspective shifted over the last few years of running the show?
• 16:37
  Speaker: Okay, so first thing, you start listening to react and start listening to understand.
• 16:44
  Speaker: So the main the main thing behind my podcast, sorry I get nervous because there's I feel like there's people behind me.
• 16:51
  Speaker: Okay.
• 16:52
  Speaker: I listen to understand, like, okay, I I've got I have like I have ADD, bro.
• 17:00
  Speaker: Let me just talk about this real quick.
• 17:02
  Speaker: I have ADD, and sometimes it's difficult for me to it's difficult for me to carry a conversation because I'm easily distracted, right?
• 17:14
  Speaker: So having a conversation for me is is difficult, but at the same time, I'm also interested in people.
• 17:20
  Speaker: So whenever somebody is talking like on a podcast, it has helped me to try to listen to people.
• 17:26
  Speaker: Um, so here's the first question How has host confidence and perspective shifted over the last few years of running the show?
• 17:32
  Speaker: So the last okay, so I started on Zoom, right?
• 17:35
  Speaker: Zoom videos, and then eventually I went to the studio, and now I'm doing like mobile, right?
• 17:42
  Speaker: So I guess my confidence uh in being a host and my perspective has shifted from just trying to get viewers, right?
• 17:51
  Speaker: From just trying to get people to watch my show.
• 17:53
  Speaker: It's shifted from that to wanting to have fans and people that actually want to listen to the podcast.
• 18:04
  Speaker: And I felt like it changed from what people wanted or what people thought of it to what I like, and the people that are similar to me, have similar likes and differences as me, will be my fans, or the people that follow the podcast, and that's so because I don't want to get stuck in that rut of I'm doing this because they're saying to do it this way.
• 18:35
  Speaker: It became more like this is how I want to run it, I want to run it like this because this is just how I am, and if people don't like it, they like it.
• 18:45
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 18:47
  Speaker: Uh next thing, did you catch yourself do you catch yourself interviewing people or analyzing dynamics in everyday off-camera conversations?
• 18:55
  Speaker: No, but I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this.
• 18:57
  Speaker: So when I first started learning how to interview, I found myself wanting to practice that on my coworkers, like practice how to ask open-ended questions in normal conversation so that way I wouldn't rely on a script.
• 19:15
  Speaker: So I would find myself, even still, like now, I'll find I'll try to figure out how to ask an open-ended question.
• 19:22
  Speaker: Open-ended question is like a is like a question that causes the person to think and respond instead of just a closed question, which is like a yes or no question answer, like uh, do you like uh do you like the color blue?
• 19:36
  Speaker: It's a yes or no question, and then you try you you you figure out how to make them talk about their favorite color.
• 19:42
  Speaker: So, like, why isn't blue your favorite color, or why is blue, or why is this your favorite color?
• 19:48
  Speaker: Like, why questions?
• 19:50
  Speaker: I know that those come up a light, or like I use how do you find yourself la la la dot dot dot this, you know what I mean?
• 19:57
  Speaker: So I do that, I practice it in normal conversation, and and even before I started the podcast, I noticed that that I would do this with people because people I found out that since I don't really know how to talk about myself, I would always ask people because I wanted to be in conversation or in communion with them, I would continue asking them questions because they like to talk about themselves at the onset, so I'm just like asking just normally just asking you questions just to keep them talking so that way I can have company with somebody there, you know what I mean?
• 20:29
  Speaker: So that's something that I had kind of carried into uh my podcast style as well.
• 20:35
  Speaker: Uh, who was a guest that completely shattered your expectations once the camera started rolling?
• 20:40
  Speaker: Um, you know what?
• 20:43
  Speaker: I will I was happy to have Michael White on my show.
• 20:46
  Speaker: Uh he was one of the earlier before like 50 episodes, but having him on there was pretty cool because he actually was talking like I don't know if it's an act with Michael White, and and I don't want to overstep my bounds if it is or if it isn't.
• 21:04
  Speaker: Uh, but this was the time he was going to like kill Tony and stuff like that and doing comedy.
• 21:09
  Speaker: But anyways, like it was cool to hear his some of his story, and and I think that because I had a genuineness, like I was actually genuinely interested in him, that that that that helped him to come out and talk about his upbringing and and things of that nature.
• 21:26
  Speaker: And I would like to have to have a second interview with him just to get to know him a little bit more because I feel like a lot of people judge him at the onset.
• 21:34
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 21:35
  Speaker: Like and and I feel like it's uh when you judge people a lot at the onset, d do you have this kind of defense mechanism?
• 21:42
  Speaker: I know this personally, like, because I know that and I get it to the point to where it's atrophy, like to where I meet, like I'll just before I even go out in public, like I just try to convince myself like people are gonna be like this, and I need to be on my game because this is this and that.
• 21:57
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 21:58
  Speaker: And The it gets to the point to where it's so bad for me that I have to stop doing it.
• 22:04
  Speaker: I have to be like, you know what?
• 22:05
  Speaker: Not all people are like this.
• 22:08
  Speaker: Some people, some people have it worse than you, you know what I mean?
• 22:10
  Speaker: Like, so I I I guess what I'm trying to say is that Michael White was a cool person to interview because he was actually sharing a little bit of his journey and where he came from.
• 22:20
  Speaker: And I think the genuineness that I had uh in asking him questions helped that, even though, like, I was I was kind of a fan, like, because I knew he was popular, and I was like, and I didn't want to I didn't want to be just like, oh, I got you on here because you have followers.
• 22:38
  Speaker: No, I wanted it to be like, look, I got you on here because you look like an interesting person, and I like to get to know you better, you know what I mean.
• 22:44
  Speaker: Take away the biggest lesson from holding the mic isn't learning how to talk, it's learning how to actually listen.
• 22:51
  Speaker: Uh so number five, I got the unfiltered truth about doing open mics in corpus.
• 22:56
  Speaker: Alright, here we go.
• 22:58
  Speaker: Everyone wants to be funny, but not everybody wants to eat dirt at an open mic on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night or a Thursday night.
• 23:09
  Speaker: First thing, what is the reality of the local stand-up scene in Corpus Christi compared to what people see on Instagram clips?
• 23:18
  Speaker: Bro, you don't complete this could be any scene, bro.
• 23:21
  Speaker: You don't really completely know a scene until you're in the scene, bro.
• 23:26
  Speaker: That's why it's cut somewhat difficult for me as a podcaster to vet people because I don't know what they're seeing.
• 23:34
  Speaker: Like I could get somebody from the car scene, right?
• 23:36
  Speaker: And there could be a clicks in that car scene, and they could, and the one click could be like, Why'd you get that guy on?
• 23:43
  Speaker: He does this, this, and this, la la la, whatever, whatever.
• 23:46
  Speaker: In the stand-up comedy scene, bro, open mics are dirty, like they're dirty in a sense that you eat, you bomb.
• 23:56
  Speaker: Like, there could be no audience, like the only audience could be all the other comedians there.
• 24:01
  Speaker: But the challenge is, are you still gonna go up?
• 24:04
  Speaker: Are you still gonna respect the craft enough to go up and be like, there's no there's no crowd here, but I'm still gonna work, I'm still gonna work out.
• 24:12
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 24:13
  Speaker: People are not watching the like people see the the guy with the ripped abs put you know chest, bulging muscles, but they don't see him working out 5 a.m.
• 24:23
  Speaker: in the morning when everybody else is asleep, you know what I'm saying?
• 24:27
  Speaker: Like, so stand-up is different from the from the Instagram highlight reel because you you you don't see the dirt that we eat, bro.
• 24:35
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 24:36
  Speaker: And and there's a lot of stuff that goes in it.
• 24:40
  Speaker: Uh, how do you handle bomb moments or an indifferent crowd?
• 24:44
  Speaker: And what does that teach you about delivery, pacing, and presence?
• 24:47
  Speaker: So, bombing means basically that you suck, it means that you had a sucky night, you know what I mean?
• 24:55
  Speaker: Think of like a musician, you go up on stage, you miss your part, you miss your chords, or whatever.
• 24:59
  Speaker: Same thing with comedy.
• 25:00
  Speaker: You try out a joke, you try out this joke you've been working for for over a week, you try it out at an open mic, and no there's no laughs, there's nothing, bro.
• 25:08
  Speaker: There's just complete silence, like, and that's like that's bombing, like, like oh shoot, I can't believe that sucked, you know what I mean?
• 25:15
  Speaker: And you go home knowing that.
• 25:16
  Speaker: So, what was the question?
• 25:19
  Speaker: I'm trying to find it here.
• 25:20
  Speaker: How do you handle bomb moments or an indifferent crowd, and what does that teach you about delivery, pacing, and presence?
• 25:28
  Speaker: The way you handle bomb moments is understanding the the way I at least understand it, and I'm probably gonna change my perspective later because we change as people.
• 25:37
  Speaker: The way I've learned to accept it is understanding that it's part of the process, it's it's a reminder of my humanity.
• 25:49
  Speaker: Like, oh shoot, I'm not perfect after all.
• 25:52
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 25:52
  Speaker: You get to that point where you feel like you're perfect and everything's good, and you go and you you play, and they're like, What was that?
• 25:59
  Speaker: And you thought your cut your confidence was all this high and everything, and then you're just like shot down.
• 26:04
  Speaker: It's just you just chalk it up as that's a humble reminder that I'm not perfect, and I need to work, I need to work on it.
• 26:11
  Speaker: Uh delivery, pacing, and presence.
• 26:14
  Speaker: I mean, listen back to it, you know what I mean.
• 26:19
  Speaker: Another way to handle bombing is to is to record your set, record every set, and if that set bombed, go back and listen to it and try to figure out why it bombed.
• 26:27
  Speaker: Uh and um study comics, study, study other comics, you know what I mean.
• 26:36
  Speaker: Um listen to other comics that have been in it, like go to YouTube.
• 26:40
  Speaker: There's tons of advice right now.
• 26:41
  Speaker: Comedy's booming right now.
• 26:43
  Speaker: Um, delivery pacing and presence.
• 26:46
  Speaker: Like, for one thing that I need to work on is separating my words because when I say, like, sometimes I'll say words really fast, and it'll and you won't understand the three words that I just said, so I have to slow my speech down and talk more like this on stage so that people can hear, you know what I mean?
• 27:04
  Speaker: You have to figure that stuff out.
• 27:06
  Speaker: Is the local comedy scene supportive behind the scenes, or is everyone just competing for the same five minutes of stage time?
• 27:12
  Speaker: Like I said, bro, you get into a scene, you know who is who, because there's some that are really supportive, like some like brute, and it's it's deceptive too because sometimes they'll I feel like they'll support you online, you see them in person, and it's totally different, bro.
• 27:29
  Speaker: So being like online presence and actual being with the person face to face is is different.
• 27:36
  Speaker: So I think there's some people that are really supportive, and there's some people that feel like they have to be supported so that way they won't get hated on, you know what I mean.
• 27:45
  Speaker: And I feel like some people just don't support at all, and they're just they're jerks, you know what I mean?
• 27:50
  Speaker: Like it's just like music, bro.
• 27:52
  Speaker: It's just like any scene, like there'll be a jerk there, there'll be a jerk in your scene, you know who they are, everybody knows who they are, and it's like all right, this here's this guy again, you know what I mean?
• 28:02
  Speaker: It's just like that in every scene, it's like that in the comedy scene.
• 28:05
  Speaker: I don't think why I don't understand why it would be different in the comedy scene as the points to any other scene.
• 28:10
  Speaker: So, uh yeah, a lot of a lot of people are competing for five minutes on stage.
• 28:16
  Speaker: Um, and I see that I don't know if this is true, but I think that a lot of times if you show up to an open mic, friends will sign their friends up.
• 28:28
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 28:29
  Speaker: They'll sign their friends up on the hey, can you sign me up?
• 28:32
  Speaker: I'm on the way, this, this, and that.
• 28:34
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 28:35
  Speaker: And there could be somebody waiting there to at the open mic like 30 minutes early, waiting for it to open, and then sign up.
• 28:40
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 28:41
  Speaker: That's it's disrespectful to that dude.
• 28:43
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 28:43
  Speaker: It's it's just it's not courteous, bro.
• 28:46
  Speaker: It's not courteous, bro.
• 28:47
  Speaker: Just sign up when you get there.
• 28:49
  Speaker: Like the other day I showed up to open mic late.
• 28:51
  Speaker: I got there when the show started.
• 28:53
  Speaker: I had no choice but to be like, hey, is there still room on the list?
• 28:56
  Speaker: Can I get on the list?
• 28:57
  Speaker: I I mean, you know what I mean?
• 28:59
  Speaker: That's the least I could do.
• 29:00
  Speaker: If I can't get on the list, fine.
• 29:01
  Speaker: That's my bad, that's my fault for being late.
• 29:03
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 29:04
  Speaker: So it should I just be courteous and show respect to everybody that's in the scene, bro.
• 29:09
  Speaker: That I think that's I feel like that's a given, to be honest.
• 29:12
  Speaker: Stage presence isn't built when the room is laughing, it's built in the silence when a joke lands flat.
• 29:19
  Speaker: Alright, so here's the here's the last topic.
• 29:21
  Speaker: Category number three local mindset and creator hustle.
• 29:25
  Speaker: People say corpus is a dead end for creators, but the truth is most people just don't know how to build their own stage.
• 29:31
  Speaker: First question: why do so many local creatives wait for an established venue or platform to give them permission instead of launching their own thing?
• 29:41
  Speaker: It's work, bro.
• 29:43
  Speaker: It takes work, it takes work.
• 29:45
  Speaker: If I mean, you a lot of people they already want something that's already they want red carpet rolled out for them.
• 29:50
  Speaker: Look, here you go, here it is.
• 29:52
  Speaker: Because it's easy, bro.
• 29:53
  Speaker: It's easy.
• 29:55
  Speaker: If you go create your own thing, you gotta deal with people saying, Don't do it like this, you should do it like this.
• 30:00
  Speaker: You gotta deal with those people.
• 30:02
  Speaker: You have to actually you have to actually humble yourself and go and ask a venue, hey, can I play this?
• 30:09
  Speaker: You gotta you gotta be willing to accept that no from different venues that might tell you no.
• 30:13
  Speaker: It's it's work, bro.
• 30:14
  Speaker: And a lot of people honestly, it cut it comes down to wanting to work.
• 30:19
  Speaker: Do you really want to work?
• 30:20
  Speaker: Do you really want this thing to work?
• 30:22
  Speaker: Because if you don't want it to work, then you're not gonna do the work, bro.
• 30:26
  Speaker: You're not gonna do the work.
• 30:27
  Speaker: So I think that I think that they they wait for an establishment or venue because it's already there.
• 30:33
  Speaker: It somebody somebody has already put in the work for them to do it.
• 30:37
  Speaker: What I mean.
• 30:39
  Speaker: Next question.
• 30:42
  Speaker: What are what do you guys think?
• 30:43
  Speaker: Leave a comment down below.
• 30:44
  Speaker: What are the actual advantages of building a media network podcast or brand in a mid-sized city like Corpus versus getting swallowed up in Austin or Houston?
• 30:54
  Speaker: I don't know, I've never been to Austin or Houston.
• 30:56
  Speaker: Um, the uh the the advantages of building a media network podcast or brand in a mid-sized city, it's smaller, obviously.
• 31:04
  Speaker: I've and this this is just speculation.
• 31:07
  Speaker: I mean, I've heard from like Javi Luna, yeah.
• 31:12
  Speaker: I've had him on the podcast before, and he was saying that you can make it in corpus, bro.
• 31:16
  Speaker: It's just a smaller pond, the pond is smaller.
• 31:19
  Speaker: And I've heard for a guy a guy from Houston.
• 31:21
  Speaker: I was talking, he was a comic from Houston.
• 31:23
  Speaker: He's like, bro, Houston is pretty much the same as it is here, it's just there's more, there's more people you gotta deal with.
• 31:29
  Speaker: So it's like I think the advantages, it's like that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, you know what I mean?
• 31:36
  Speaker: The the smaller you are, the more agile you are.
• 31:39
  Speaker: It's like you have to learn how to how to how to move in a small uh a small area, you know what I mean?
• 31:45
  Speaker: It it's you have to adapt to your situation.
• 31:47
  Speaker: I think anybody can do it if if you learn how to adapt to uh your situation.
• 31:51
  Speaker: Adapt meaning like be liquid, move around and figure, figure out how you can how you can get through, you know what I mean, in your situation.
• 31:59
  Speaker: Third question, what is the single biggest obstacle holding back local creators from taking their production and branding seriously?
• 32:06
  Speaker: What is the single biggest obstacle holding back local creators from taking their production and branding seriously?
• 32:13
  Speaker: Single biggest thing holding people back, creators back, I don't I think it's mindset, bro.
• 32:20
  Speaker: Like their their unwillingness, their un people, like people's a person's unwillingness to see other people's perspectives as a possibility for their per help with their perspective.
• 32:32
  Speaker: And I think it's the mindset that holds them back.
• 32:35
  Speaker: Like if you if you have the crab in a bucket mindset, if you feel like there's if you have a not an abundance mindset, but the opposite of abundance mindset, if you have that mindset, that's what's holding you back, bro.
• 32:49
  Speaker: It's because once you have that mindset of abundance, then you start taking those steps, those different things that you may think, like social media or a website or networking, all these things are come all come back to the mind, bro.
• 33:04
  Speaker: Where your mind is at.
• 33:06
  Speaker: Are you willing to um to take other are you willing to listen to advice?
• 33:11
  Speaker: Are you willing to change a recipe if it if it doesn't have the right ingredient?
• 33:16
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 33:17
  Speaker: Like it all comes back to an abundance mindset.
• 33:20
  Speaker: Do you think that you can grow with other creators that are in the town in this town trying to make some money as well?
• 33:26
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 33:27
  Speaker: Do you have that abundance mindset?
• 33:28
  Speaker: Do you have that trailbare blazer mindset?
• 33:30
  Speaker: Are you willing to like make mistakes in front of other people?
• 33:33
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 33:34
  Speaker: I go to open mics, bro.
• 33:36
  Speaker: I got a relatively uh big following on my podcast, and bro, I go to open mics and I eat dirt, bro, in front of these other comics, and who who that has a big following is willing to go and make those mistakes in front of the other people, you know what I mean?
• 33:54
  Speaker: I don't I think the follower account, the the the amount of followers, you should still be able to want accept the fact that you might fall, even at that level.
• 34:08
  Speaker: You go to a higher level, you're gonna fall from a higher level, you know what I mean?
• 34:11
  Speaker: So you you just have to accept that fact.
• 34:14
  Speaker: Um, key takeaway you don't need to live leave, you don't need to leave town to build an empire, you just need to stop waiting for someone else to build it for you.
• 34:24
  Speaker: Let me say that again.
• 34:25
  Speaker: You don't need to leave town to build an empire, you just need to stop waiting for someone else to build it for you.
• 34:32
  Speaker: Alright, last thing, and I'm gonna get out of here, you guys.
• 34:34
  Speaker: That's 40 minutes right there.
• 34:36
  Speaker: The art of listening in a loud world.
• 34:39
  Speaker: We live in a city full of people shouting for attention, but very few people actually know how to pay attention.
• 34:45
  Speaker: What happens in your brain and perspective?
• 34:48
  Speaker: What happens to your brain and perspective when you spend long hours observing, listening, or analyzing how people communicate?
• 34:55
  Speaker: Man, that's a deep question.
• 34:57
  Speaker: Oh, Chat GPT came up with that one.
• 34:59
  Speaker: Uh nah, man, but I think that okay, the more communication that we make with people, I think it does have an effect on our brain.
• 35:08
  Speaker: Because we we are a people of community.
• 35:11
  Speaker: We have ears.
• 35:12
  Speaker: Why do we have ears?
• 35:13
  Speaker: To listen to the wind, to listen to the water, you know what I mean, to listen to nature.
• 35:20
  Speaker: We have ears so that we can communicate with other human beings, bro.
• 35:24
  Speaker: So what goes into our ears goes into our brain.
• 35:29
  Speaker: We process the stuff, goes into our heart, goes into our body.
• 35:32
  Speaker: I think the the communication is so effective that it can be it can be life or death.
• 35:38
  Speaker: Because you can have somebody talking trash all the time in your ear, 24-7 for 13 years, 14 years, 16 years, and then at the 17th year, you break away from that.
• 35:49
  Speaker: What's gonna happen to that person?
• 35:51
  Speaker: They're gonna continue to live with that in their mind, you know what I mean?
• 35:55
  Speaker: So I think that communication is powerful in that sense.
• 35:59
  Speaker: Um so yeah, definitely, and I want to with my podcast to bring show that to other people like look, you can still respect somebody's perspective, even though they might be different from you, or you can still be able to listen to somebody and have your form have your own opinion, even though their opinion is different from yours.
• 36:21
  Speaker: So I want to empower people with my podcast, like empower them in a sense that they become better human beings.
• 36:27
  Speaker: Um why are most people bad listeners and how does this learning why are most people bad listeners and how does learning to truly hear someone make you a better host, friend, or partner?
• 36:40
  Speaker: I think most people are bad listeners because they're focused on their own their own stuff, you know what I mean?
• 36:46
  Speaker: And a lot of people a lot of people use communication or relationships to get something from that person, and I think that's a bad attitude to have because it needs to be reciprocal, it needs to be a two-way street, it needs to work back and forth because they have ear, you have they have ears too, just like you have ears.
• 37:06
  Speaker: So if you're trying to get something from them, what if they're trying to get something from you?
• 37:10
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 37:10
  Speaker: Not in a bad sense, but like in the sense that you're helping each other grow, you know what I mean?
• 37:17
  Speaker: And I think people are bad listeners because they're just trying to get something and not trying to give something back.
• 37:24
  Speaker: Uh so that's that's a huge thing that I think uh why people should learn to be better listeners so it can help humanity as a whole, bro.
• 37:34
  Speaker: Um, how does it make me a better friend, host, or partner?
• 37:39
  Speaker: It makes you better because you're wanting to give.
• 37:44
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 37:45
  Speaker: You're wanting to give.
• 37:47
  Speaker: And a lot of times you got to be careful with giving because people just want to take.
• 37:51
  Speaker: So you have to you have to vet your relationships, you know what I mean?
• 37:54
  Speaker: You gotta figure out do I really want to have a relationship with this person?
• 37:58
  Speaker: Do I really want to be their friend?
• 37:59
  Speaker: Do I really want to, you know be married to them, you know, get married to them.
• 38:04
  Speaker: You know what I mean?
• 38:04
  Speaker: So it's a lot of discernment, like trying to figure out when to listen, when to talk, you know what I mean.
• 38:11
  Speaker: Um, and I think it makes that that that makes sense.
• 38:15
  Speaker: Uh, what is the habit or phrase you constantly notice people use when they aren't being fully real on camera?
• 38:21
  Speaker: I had this one guest, he reached out, he emailed me, pitched himself, and he was like, Hey, I'd like to have you on the podcast.
• 38:29
  Speaker: I got him on the podcast, and it was weird because this guy was only there to be seen by the camera.
• 38:36
  Speaker: And the way I knew that is because he kept on looking at the camera, fixing his jacket, looking at the camera, fixing his jacket, and he kept on like was making and like and I've had guests that know that the camera there, but they the the conversation gets to the point where it's so interesting that they forget the camera is there.
• 38:54
  Speaker: But this one guy, like, he kept on making sure that he was it was strange, bro.
• 38:58
  Speaker: Like, and I feel like those gestures are are like you could that's when when I because when I first met him, it wasn't like that.
• 39:08
  Speaker: And then when you get in when he gets into the when he got into the studio, it was it was just totally different vibe and and and this the also too that same interview was like I don't know if it was my questions or if he wasn't sure how to have a conversation or if he I don't know what it was, it it must have been my fault because his answers are real short, real brief, like yeah, mm-hmm, yes, blah blah blah, and then he would stop.
• 39:35
  Speaker: And I'm like, bro, I thought you wanted to come on, like I thought you wanted to have a conversation, like it's weird.
• 39:40
  Speaker: Uh so that's I guess that's how I know.
• 39:42
  Speaker: Like, if the person isn't willing to like open up and have a conversation or even know how to come have a conversation, maybe they're conscious of it.
• 39:50
  Speaker: I don't know, but I think that those are kind of telltale signs.
• 39:53
  Speaker: I'm still learning.
• 39:54
  Speaker: Last here's the takeaway: if you want to be interesting on a microphone, start by being genuinely interested when the mic is off.
• 40:02
  Speaker: That's it, you gotta be interested when the mic is off, you gotta be that you gotta be the same person off the mic that you are on the mic, and that doesn't say doesn't go to say that you gotta share all your information, you know what I mean?
• 40:17
  Speaker: You just gotta be genuinely interested, and I think that going back to that question is whenever I'm having conversations with people outside of the podcast, it's just natural, it's just genuine.
• 40:28
  Speaker: Like, I'm genuinely like I genuinely want to learn stuff, I want to have communic community with people, and so like another thing I can add too is when I go into the scene, when I go into scenes and people don't people are like you could tell that they don't want to vibe with you.
• 40:43
  Speaker: It's upsetting to me because I I want to be a part of that that community or that scene and I want to talk to people, you know what I mean.
• 40:49
  Speaker: And and when you're met with those creators that are just kind of selfish and they're just for themselves, and they're just there to get and not you know, there to get and not give.
• 40:59
  Speaker: It's upsetting to me because I'm like, man, I would really like to have a conversation with that person.
• 41:03
  Speaker: You know, I mean they seem interesting, but that that facade that their their mind, that thing, it just it it holds them back, bro.
• 41:10
  Speaker: Um, but anyways, there's my solo episode.
• 41:12
  Speaker: You guys, I haven't put one out in a minute.
• 41:14
  Speaker: Um, stay tuned for the next episode.
• 41:16
  Speaker: Appreciate you guys for listening.
• 41:17
  Speaker: Comments, questions, leave them down below.
• 41:19
  Speaker: Thanks a lot, you guys.
• 41:20
  Speaker: Y'all have a good one.
• 41:21
  Speaker: Appreciate y'all.