Latest / Age Defiantly with Mark Young / [Ep 6] The Cost of Telling the Truth | JP Sears

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[Ep 6] The Cost of Telling the Truth | JP Sears · Age Defiantly with Mark Young

• 0:00
  Welcome to Performance Driven Living, the podcast where we question everything.
• 0:05
  We don't tip to around tough topics, we walk right into them, not to provoke, but to
• 0:11
  get closer to what's real.
• 0:13
  You might not agree with everything you hear, and that's okay.
• 0:17
  The show isn't about being right, it's about being real.
• 0:20
  These conversations are meant to stretch your thinking, challenge assumptions, and spark
• 0:25
  something deeper.
• 0:26
  The views shared are those of our guests and may not reflect those of the host or team.
• 0:32
  And while we dive deep into health, performance, and transformation, this is not medical advice.
• 0:38
  Talk to your doctor before making changes to your health or lifestyle.
• 0:42
  Take what lands, leave what doesn't, but whatever you do, don't stop questioning.
• 0:54
  We are here on the Performance Driven Living podcast, and I have the distinct, well, sure,
• 1:05
  of having JP Sears join me today, and as all of you know, the goal of Performance Driven
• 1:10
  Living is for people to teach me something that I don't already know.
• 1:14
  And the challenge of this is actually because I know a lot of things, it's the truth.
• 1:18
  I know a lot of stuff.
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  So when people come on, like I do my best to not flex a little bit on them, that's very
• 1:23
  humble of you.
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  It is.
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  It is.
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  I'm a person of gratitude and grace, but when people come on, like I want to learn something,
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  like I don't want to waste my time, like I want to actually walk away from here with
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  something too, because I think of myself as being kind of like the voice of the people,
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  right?
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  And when the expert comes on, I want you to teach me something.
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  So seeing your Sears, like, so I'm not offended that you forgot who I was.
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  You know, I'm a little bit offended.
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  It's not true.
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  I don't worry at all.
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  Well, don't take it personally, Mike.
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  Well played.
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  Well played.
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  Funny thing is, a lot of people just like call me Mike, so I just respond to it now,
• 2:04
  so that's actually pretty funny.
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  So here's the deal.
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  Like we're here talking on this podcast.
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  I've seen you.
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  I'll be honest with you.
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  Like I've been a fan for a long time.
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  I appreciate it.
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  Many years gone by, you know, when I first saw your work, and I find hilarious,
• 2:19
  because I'll say like you were the prequel to the Babylon B, because Babylon B absolutely
• 2:24
  cracks me up today.
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  They're amazing.
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  Very conservative, but I don't even think of it as conservative.
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  It's almost like objective humor that's hilarious, but it's not everybody's offended
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  about everything humor, which is impressive.
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  But when I first seen your comedy years back, and I was like, okay, this guy's funny,
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  but for two specific reasons, one, because you've got almost this Vince Vaughn kind of
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  comedy where it's like, you don't laugh, which I think is actually really funny.
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  To me, that's actually funnier than that, because I'm a person that I think I'm pretty
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  freaking funny.
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  I'm not going to lie, but I cracked myself up.
• 3:02
  Go on.
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  It's true.
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  Right.
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  Like you'll see some of the funniest stuff and never crack a smile, and I think that's
• 3:10
  one of the funniest forms of comedy.
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  But the only thing is like, you just say what you're thinking, and there's an authenticity
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  to the humor that it's like, your humor never feels contrived.
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  So my goal on today's show is for you to teach me how to be funny.
• 3:27
  Wonderful.
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  You got your work cut out for you, buddy.
• 3:29
  So we're doing seven hours today, okay, it'll be a long podcast, but well worth it
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  by the end.
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  I love that.
• 3:36
  Well, thank you for the compliments, Mark, I really appreciate it, and thank you for
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  getting my name right.
• 3:41
  You're welcome.
• 3:43
  You mentioned the delivery, just say something about that for a second.
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  Like the dry delivery.
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  I remember in my early days of doing videos online back in 2014, what would amuse me the
• 3:57
  most in the comment section, as I just start doing videos, people aren't used to knowing
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  who I am, there was always so much confusion.
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  People are like, is this guy serious?
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  And other people are like, yes, and he's just a moron.
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  And other people are like, you guys are morons.
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  He's joking around that dry delivery.
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  It's just kind of my humor language.
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  I tend to think things are funnier when they're not delivered in a over the top funny
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  slapstick way.
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  So we all, just like love languages, we all have humor languages.
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  That makes us laugh and like how we like to express humor.
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  That dry satirical style, it's just kind of my natural way of being, which I find hilarious.
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  And I'll say like, I, again, I think I'm really funny, but, but the funny part about it
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  is like the delivery, like I will throw things into conversations, like even yesterday,
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  we were at the inaugural dinner for the lifelong well-being foundation.
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  And I'm listening, I'm sitting next to Callie Means and we're watching some of these speakers
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  like, I can't help myself because like some stuff just comes up and I'm like, hmm,
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  and I'll just like throw in some random editorial in the middle of a conversation.
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  It's like, and then the people around me are cracking up laughing and I'm just watching
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  the show.
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  Yeah, because like to me, I think timing is part of that dry delivery though, right?
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  It's, yeah, it's saying things that I'm, so I'm going to say this, I'm a big fan of
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  neuro-linguistic programming, big fan of pattern interrupt.
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  Yeah, and I think dry delivery is actually a psychological pattern interrupt.
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  Yeah, you know, humor in its simplest form when you boil it down, because like there's
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  a science to it, certainly an art and a spirit to it as well, but in a simplest scientific
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  format, humor is delivering a pattern interrupt.
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  And when you do that, you break people's expectations and that creates an emotional
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  response of laughter.
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  That's really all you're doing and with a dry delivery, people aren't, you know, in
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  a normal context, people aren't expecting something absurd to be said, let alone with
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  a straight, serious face.
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  I remember before I was doing comedy, I was a health coach and I was working with the
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  Czech Institute, holistic, exercise, nutrition.
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  And I was going around the world teaching their three day holistic lifestyle coaching workshops
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  and it's like, it's 24 hours of lecturing material, great information, but how are you
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  going to hold people's attention for 24 hours?
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  You're not usually after 10 minutes, people are checked out, even with great information.
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  So as I started doing that teaching, I realized like, all right, part of the service here
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  is kind of recapturing people's attention repeatedly and I found the more I let my natural
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  humor out in these like serious lecture formats, it would get their attention.
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  And in the beginning of the three day workshop, you know, the room would always be divided
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  into thirds.
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  A third would get it, they're laughing, a third, they're just, I'm in the room with
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  the moron and then the middle third would lay, they were confused as he joking or not,
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  but just delivering those repeated pattern interrupts, it's a great way not only to get people
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  to laugh, but more importantly to pay attention to what you're talking about.
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  So little known fact, I was a college professor for many years, you can imagine that.
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  I can, I imagine it very well, close your eyes, now imagine like, swayed patches on my
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  elbows.
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  Okay, we're good.
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  All right, very good.
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  Come back on the count of three, one, two.
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  There we go.
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  It's great to be here with you, Your Honor.
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  Thank you.
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  So being a college, and I used to talk about how I would teach because it's like I would
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  teach weird topics, any number of things, but I used to call myself an edgitainer because
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  the only way that you're ever going to keep people don't want to know what you have to
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  say, right?
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  They want to be amused because you are fighting particularly with young people nowadays,
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  with cell phones and the whole deal.
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  You have to have something that they can't get on this phone, right, that they're simply
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  coming to class with sometimes the struggle, but it became this idea of edgitainment.
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  They want to know what you have to say when they're entertained by what you're saying
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  or how you're saying it, and it really became a curveball, I think, for students, and
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  it was like, but the funny part about it is not only would you expect that, but if teacher
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  evaluations and that kind of stuff always came back, and I always had high scores and that
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  didn't surprise me because I think I'm pretty likeable, but what we would call competency
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  scores, and at the end of semesters when students were giving objective tests, they actually
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  had higher achievement levels, and I used to get questions from deans and whatever and
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  they'd be like, what are you doing?
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  And I'm like, I think I'm just being, because I would get somebody from the department
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  or something would sit through a class, and I'm me, like I'm not going to behave differently
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  just because you're in the room, and I think that's alarming to people too.
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  But it was literally a matter of just like, no, my students actually enjoyed learning,
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  so the topic was almost irrelevant, right, they were engaged.
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  Yeah, and I think people, whether they're an entrepreneur, business owner, a teacher,
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  a comedian, whatever they are, were served well by remembering, we have the message, but
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  also the messenger, and the messenger, that's where we're going to touch lives, or we're
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  going to become irrelevant really fast, that's why people who went to college, I certainly
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  didn't, you ask them, what's your favorite quote from a textbook, from back in college?
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  Nothing will be retained, because there was just no entertainment with it, no engagement.
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  The message was probably great in the textbook, but it was a poor messenger, and then hopefully
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  their professor was a better messenger, but maybe they were dry and boring, we retain
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  nothing, but then you ask someone to recite lines from their favorite movie, that same person
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  they can, I can't recite a single line from a textbook, because the messenger created,
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  there was an emotional engagement, so I think people need to realize, yeah, whatever message
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  I have, that matters, but also you are the messenger, and that's really important.
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  That being said, perfect segue to where I wanted to go, and that is your message that
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  you've been delivering clearly as a comedian, but your comedy has, I think, you got into
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  the space of comedy at a point that we started getting into cancel culture, and your height
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  really came around the same time as people were being canceled, and everybody was damn offended,
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  and tears in the corner kind of stuff, because you called me an ugly name, and it's like,
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  you've continued to do the exact same stuff, and I'm not going to say back down, because I've
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  never really considered you to be a fighter for the cause, right? It's an unapologetic authenticity,
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  that it's not like you're trying to champion hurting people, but at the same time, you're also
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  unapologetically calling out nonsense where nonsense exists. Like, what is the intentional?
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  Is that just authentic? Yeah, it's both, so part of what I do with comedy is call out
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  lies, hypocrisy, and corruption. What? We're told there's none of us.
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  Ridiculous. I guess gaslighting too. And that's, that started, you know, nowadays a lot of that
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  takes the form of the external, whatever the news is lying to us, or this politicians corrupt,
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  and but really it started with our own egotistical nature that we all have. I started doing those
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  videos back in 2014, poking fun at the new age spiritual community, which I was very much a part of.
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  It was important to me, but as I was in it, I noticed in myself, and a lot of other people,
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  there is this ravenous, egotistical nature that nobody is calling out, because we're all
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  pretending like it's not there. In our ego, like cool, we all have it. It's not a bad thing,
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  but if it controls you, it's going to lead to less than ideal outcomes. So our own inner
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  wire, hypocrite, corruptor, that's just out for control and a sense of significance.
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  I was just calling that out internally so people could have a reflection, hey, do I do that?
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  Or I'm offended by that, which means you definitely do that. You just don't want to look at it.
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  And then, you know, 2020, our world really changed. And when was that? 2020. So yeah, what happened?
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  There was a weather front from... Oh, Nino.
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  A lab, yeah, it's El Nino. So I thought, you know, I'm just still doing the same thing I've
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  always done with comedy, but, you know, the world responded different, because like everything's now
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  divided in weird ways, just literally everything. Freedom became a politically divided issue in the US.
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  So stupid. So I'm someone I like to just follow my heart. I think if there's a hack, it's like
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  have a mind. Don't be controlled by your mind. Be controlled by your heart and service to God,
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  which I think our heart is where God communicates to us. And so you mentioned unapologetic,
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  my goal wasn't to ruffle feathers, but my goal wasn't to be intimidated by feathers when they
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  got ruffled, because if you're trying to call out egotistical nature, let alone in the world around us,
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  people don't want that to happen. Some people don't want to happen. Others are really cheering for it.
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  Thank God, someone's saying this. So just following my heart, it's like, all right, if there's
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  smear articles written about me, that's okay. When I'm on purpose, I am just using the language of
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  comedy to poke holes in egotistical nature, whether that's your own or it's coming from other
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  people or politicians or health agencies. You're making me chuckle. You're making me think of my
• 14:48
  grandfather, because he used to always call me like he called me maverick. And my grandpa was like
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  the funniest, never intending to be funny person. Like he was not comedy funny. He was just so eccentric.
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  And he would do this goofy stuff. And I remember we were someplace and he's like, that one,
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  you just, everyone can be thinking it, but he just says it.
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  The way he would say stuff like it was so funny, but it was, he's like, so he used to call me maverick,
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  because he's just like you just say what everyone else is probably thinking or afraid to say.
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  And I'm like, but no one's ever surprised where I'm coming from. Yeah. And there's an authenticity,
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  I think, that resonates with people. Like I said, I enjoyed your comedy because of the authenticity,
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  but maybe it's because there's an authenticity, I think, about me too. I enjoyed that because
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  that's the way I am too. I'm not out to offend anybody, but I'm also not here to entertain
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  your nonsense. Right. I mean, amen to that. And with authenticity, a lot of times what works
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  really well in comedy is you say that every, you say the thing that everyone's thinking,
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  but nobody's really saying it makes everybody's worm. Yeah. So you either get cheers and laughs or
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  you get people pissed off, but for the people that are pissed off, it resonates with them as well,
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  because you don't get defensive about something that you yourself deep down inside don't think
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  is true. It's kind of like the old example. If you called me an elephant, I'm not going to sit here
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  and be defensive. It's like, I don't have an emotional charge about that. But if you say JP,
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  you look like you're kind of aging, your hair is falling out. I might get a little defensive about
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  that because it's like, yeah, that's that's true to me. And I don't want it to be true.
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  Thus you get an offended reaction. Well, and I think that's so true because that's one of the
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  things that I said, like one of my claims to fame is like, it is so hard to make me feel awkward.
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  Yeah. There are so few situations that ever make me awkward. Like, I'll be awkward,
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  but I'm not feeling awkward. Like, you can't make me uncomfortable. And it means I can walk into
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  just ridiculous situations and be totally normal because other people like this is just like,
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  why? So into me, tell me if this is true for you or not. But to me, that would suggest
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  that you're secure with your insecurities. Totally. Yeah. And I know exactly what my insecurities are.
• 17:19
  Yeah. But you can't poke them anymore. Right. And you don't pretend you don't have them.
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  Right. Then you're insecure with your insecurities. And you probably don't even know what they are
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  because you don't want to look at them. But if you know what they are, because your secrets,
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  is that what they say? Yeah. They do say that. Don't they? Yeah. They do. They say a lot of
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  things. They do. So you said something. I was at a conference back in February where I had
• 17:42
  graciously gotten you a gig. And thank you for that by the way. Excuse me. I keep calling.
• 17:50
  I think I got monkey pox at a pickable orgy. Well, that tracks. That's pretty normal in your
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  demographic. So you were at this conference and I couldn't help but laugh because it was so
• 18:02
  uncomfortable. And again, most people know you as this more conservative skewing comic who tends
• 18:10
  to pick on more of the fringe groups. And I'm a big Bobby Kennedy fan. I'm not going to lie.
• 18:17
  And you started your entire stick talking about Bobby Kennedy. Yeah. And I almost like
• 18:25
  peed my pants at the moment because there's no way I can possibly do it. But you started off by
• 18:31
  talking about, you know, who here believes blah, blah, blah, blah. And who's here to, you know,
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  make America healthy again, blah, blah, blah, blah. What is a house conference? Of course,
• 18:38
  the whole place was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. So they do their thing. Everybody
• 18:41
  cheers. And it's like, okay, JP got an early win. Good job. And right afterwards, you said,
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  and I was talking with Bobby Kennedy one day. And he turned to me and he said,
• 18:53
  Jay, man, our oceans are pleasant with clams. And they're giving our children all
• 19:01
  simers. And he kind of stopped it. And I damn near fell out of my chair because I'm like,
• 19:09
  dude, just started this entire comedy sketch, getting everybody to hype up about, you know,
• 19:15
  who's behind this? And you made some reference to Trump and most people clap. And I was like,
• 19:19
  all right, that makes sense in this room. Got it. And immediately went in for a Bobby Kennedy joke.
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  And it was making fun of the way he speaks, which is like almost like an ADA issue.
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  And I couldn't help but crack up laughing. I was like, okay, dude's literally just swinging
• 19:37
  in the center. Like so much comes across as being biased because you're hitting it for
• 19:44
  inch stuff. But like you hit Bobby Kennedy on the way he speaks. And he'd probably laugh at that,
• 19:51
  to be honest with you. But the part that makes me chuckle, I was like, all right, like this is not
• 19:56
  a conservative show. This is a, this is a right down the middle. Yeah. Something I've had to
• 20:05
  evolve into the past couple of years because you mentioned it earlier. I've
• 20:09
  some of my comedy got pretty heavy at like bashing what I don't like, bashing blue hair mentality,
• 20:16
  bashing victim mentality, bashing. Here's my freedom, sticking them away for my protection. That
• 20:22
  makes sense. And I realize cool, all that has a purpose. I don't want to be stuck here. I need to
• 20:30
  also get more intentional on self deprecation. And of course, that means like literally making fun
• 20:35
  of myself. I've always done that. But more so making fun of what's important to me, even the things
• 20:43
  you value. Yeah. And you know, how I make fun of it. I'm not, I'm not making jokes that belittle
• 20:49
  Bobby Kennedy's policies. I love Bobby Kennedy. I'm so grateful what he's doing. Yes. He's a friend
• 20:55
  of mine. But it's like, yeah, we, we need to laugh at ourselves, not just laugh at the other people.
• 21:05
  We can do that. That's fine. But we also need to laugh at ourselves. So yeah, I'll have jokes about
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  people I love in the door. And it just needs to happen in my, in my opinion, 100% agree with you.
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  And that, that's what I'm saying. Like that was like a moment that stuck out to me by watching
• 21:22
  that. I was like, all right, that's actually really funny. And it almost was that uncomfortable
• 21:27
  squirm because like, yeah, we all know how Bobby talks, but no one talks about the way Bobby talks.
• 21:31
  Mike, and you just like called out the elephant in the room. Yeah. About sure, Bobby talks funny.
• 21:37
  And, you know, for whatever health concerns or whatnot, but it was just the, the audiences
• 21:43
  response, they squirm. Like everybody's like, wait a minute. Am I allowed to laugh at that?
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  Because if I laugh at that, does that mean I'm against Bobby Kennedy? Does that mean JP just an
• 21:55
  asshole? Like what was going on here? It was just this weird dynamic in the room. And I was
• 22:01
  dying. Like I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Because I'm like, I love the way you just made a
• 22:05
  room uncomfortable. Yeah. Thank you. And you know, moving emotions is really the goal with comedy.
• 22:15
  External laughter. That's one form of that emotional expression of, oh, emotions are moving.
• 22:21
  There was something I expected. Then the punchline delivered something unexpected to move from
• 22:27
  what I expected to what was delivered. That movement, there's a space there. And it's an emotional
• 22:33
  space. But squarming, that's a great reaction too. That's like you don't squirm because you're
• 22:39
  logically like, well, does that compute totally? You're squarming because you're uncomfortable.
• 22:44
  Like I kind of want to laugh, but I'll definitely shouldn't. So the squarming is just an emotional
• 22:50
  reaction, but people are trying to restrict it. So exactly. So I want to ask you a question. Like,
• 22:57
  so I've been accused of always being right. Right. I know. I know. That was intuitive for you.
• 23:03
  I didn't even need to say that. Well, I hate to interrupt you. I was wrong one time. Back in 1997,
• 23:12
  I thought I was wrong about something, but it turned out I was actually right. It was the one time I
• 23:18
  was like, this is a similar vibration. But here's the funny thing is because, you know, people
• 23:24
  like, well, you always think you're right. And my response to it is, well, I'd be pretty stupid if
• 23:29
  I thought I was wrong and held that opinion, wouldn't I? And normally that's met with a, well,
• 23:35
  that makes sense. Of course, I think I'm right. Like, you think you're right. Like, that's normal
• 23:39
  because if I thought I was wrong, I changed my opinion. Like, here's the wrong answer that I'm
• 23:45
  very confident in. Exactly. I'm confident I am wrong about this and we'll defend it to the death.
• 23:50
  Like that to me is just the most illogical thing. But I watch a lot of what you do comedically.
• 23:57
  And I kind of laugh at it because I'm like, you're poking at people who think they're
• 24:04
  right about something. But I always tell people like, I want every opinion I hold challenged.
• 24:09
  Same. I want it challenged because there's only two outcomes to having your opinion challenged.
• 24:14
  Either A, I defend it and grow even more resolute in my belief or B, I discover I'm wrong
• 24:21
  and now I get to believe truth. Yeah. And neither of those are bad outcomes.
• 24:25
  Like, those are both great outcomes. Like, so yeah, please challenge me. Question me.
• 24:31
  Force me to defend everything I believe because either I'm going to know it even deeper than I did
• 24:38
  before, which is a win or I'm going to realize I was wrong and change my opinion.
• 24:42
  When I, when I listen to a lot of the comedy you do and just the stuff you do is disarming, but it's
• 24:51
  it's that evocative type language. And when people squirm, I think when people squirm,
• 24:57
  they're in that space. Yeah. They're in the, he just said something that was really uncomfortable.
• 25:02
  And I either have to laugh at it and acknowledge that that's actually accurate. And I believe it
• 25:08
  and that kind of makes me ridiculous for believing it. Or the alternative is like, I'm willing to
• 25:14
  accept that that is funny about my cause or funny on my party or whatever and accept it anyways.
• 25:20
  Right. But it forces that, that inflection point. Yeah. The squirm. It's a squirm. And I think
• 25:28
  such an important factor to a growth mindset is someone who's willing to change her beliefs,
• 25:35
  whether it's like change him 180 degrees, like, whoa, I was completely wrong. That happens once
• 25:41
  in a while. And that's great. Other times it's like, Oh, here's my belief. It had that blemish on it.
• 25:47
  Yeah. I can see that's true. There, there is a flaw in this thing I believe. Doesn't mean I have
• 25:53
  to throw the baby out with the bath water. But it's like, yeah, I can see that fault. I think
• 25:59
  laughter, you know, the court jester making fun of the thing that's so important helps you see some
• 26:05
  of the faults. And just for a great life, I think the mindset where someone can say, I have my beliefs.
• 26:13
  But I question my beliefs as opposed to the mindset of certainty that says, I have my beliefs
• 26:19
  and I believe my beliefs. So what's the dumbest thing someone's ever said to defend themselves?
• 26:24
  You know, it's not so much what they say, but what they do. And it's being emotionally reactive.
• 26:31
  If you watch some of these like debates, which I find so annoying, I hate watching them.
• 26:37
  But it's great they happen. Like, you see a Charlie Kirk go onto a college campus. People like that,
• 26:44
  it's obnoxious to watch because they're just filming content for social media. But
• 26:49
  you know, when when he's having an intellectual debate with a college student,
• 26:54
  as soon as the college students belief meets a limiting factor as in this is going to be flawed.
• 27:01
  Crisis point. You just see them get emotionally reactive. And that's not necessary. I think
• 27:09
  that's the opposite of growth. If you're belief feeling challenged instead of getting emotional
• 27:14
  and reactive because you're scared, you feel self-identified with your belief. And therefore,
• 27:20
  kind of like you start behaving in a way as though your life depends on this belief being true
• 27:24
  because you're self-identified with it. You don't have beliefs, but you are the beliefs.
• 27:30
  You get emotionally reactive, outrage. But ideally as humans, we realize, hey, if I never change
• 27:36
  my mind about anything, life would be crappy. Can you imagine at third grade, you've never changed
• 27:44
  your mind since then? It just be like, if you never change your clothes since third grade,
• 27:49
  that wouldn't be half as ridiculous as if you'd never change your mind after third grade. So we
• 27:55
  find security in keeping everything the same. Our beliefs never change. It's not correlated to truth.
• 28:01
  It's just correlated to we feel more secure. But a great growth mindset, whether your belief is
• 28:08
  challenged because you're squirming, you're wanting to laugh, or you're just in conversation is
• 28:14
  seek to understand more. Well, tell me more, I never thought of that. And it doesn't mean you're
• 28:20
  automatically going to change your mind. But if you're presented with good evidence, like, please
• 28:25
  change your mind to whatever degree you're compelled to. So by the way, that's called freedom.
• 28:31
  You're living under the tyranny of your own ego. If you are so scared that you only believe your
• 28:37
  beliefs. Yes. Yes. Which does actually bring me a question for you. Like, how did your parents react
• 28:45
  when you told them you wanted to be a comic? Well, I didn't tell them that they have a found out.
• 28:51
  I don't know that that modes well for you. Yeah. You know, it's weird. My comedy career and it's,
• 28:58
  I like to say, I'm not living the life of my dreams. I'm living the life beyond what I ever dreamt.
• 29:03
  Yeah. So I never said, Hey, mom and dad, I want to be a comedian. In fact, what really scared
• 29:11
  them is, I think in the year 2000, I said, I'm dropping out of college. I don't know what's for me.
• 29:18
  I just know this isn't for me. That scared them. And then a few months later, I said, Hey, I'm
• 29:24
  moving out to San Diego from Ohio to study with this holistic health guy named Paul check. And
• 29:31
  they basically said, cool, when that fails, you can always come home, right? They said, well,
• 29:36
  we have a daughter to you. Yeah. So we're one for two. So that, that was where they were really
• 29:44
  scared. But 13 years later, when my comedy started, they, they had already, I think gained a sense of
• 29:53
  security of JP figures things out. Like I was making a good living, having great purpose as a health
• 30:00
  coach and teaching. And then my comedy career started as a happy accident. I just, I'm going to
• 30:07
  make a video thought it would be a one time thing. But as it just grew over the course of a year or two
• 30:13
  opportunity, start opening up, they were just so stoked. They've been so supportive. Anytime I'm
• 30:20
  doing a comedy show, usually within a four hour drive of them, they're, they're there. I mean,
• 30:27
  they, I'm surprised they're not sick of watching me, but they are so supportive and so proud of
• 30:34
  this career that's accidentally awesome for me. I love that. That's, that's fun. We were talking
• 30:41
  beforehand about our parents and how do your parents want you to, they want you to be supported,
• 30:45
  they want you around, they, you know, so on, so forth. And I think one of the best compliments I've
• 30:50
  got from my parents somewhat recently, I have a younger sister. And they're always making sure that
• 30:57
  things are planned for her that she's taken care of that, you know, we need to make sure that when
• 31:02
  we're gone, that everything's okay for her. And you know, she's getting married soon. And they're
• 31:06
  like, hope she's not listening to this. But they're like, you know, we're getting prenops. Like,
• 31:11
  they're making, I recommend it. Yeah. Like they're, they're making sure that all this
• 31:14
  guy to stuff is in line. And then what's funny is that they said something. I was like, I'm cool.
• 31:20
  Like, and it was, they were talking about, I forget what it was. And, and uh, they actually look
• 31:25
  like, we don't worry about you. Yeah. Like literally, like, like, you've proven yourself. Like,
• 31:30
  there's literally no concern. Like any, like, if we're dead and we give you anything, like,
• 31:34
  please go enjoy it. Like, yeah, it is nothing to do with structuring some kind of something to make
• 31:39
  sure, like, you're fine. Like, you never cross our mind in that capacity. And it's like,
• 31:44
  that's a compliment, right? It really is. I mean, we all want to, and we all want that validation.
• 31:50
  We, we do. And, um, so grateful we're in the position where our, uh, at least my parents are
• 31:56
  still around. I know you have your dad and stepmom. We all want their love and connection.
• 32:03
  But for, to your point, I think for parents to say, we don't feel the need to protect you
• 32:09
  to look out for you, what a compliment. Cause to me, that says, we see you as a, a man who's on
• 32:17
  purpose, who's got things taken care of. Yeah. And it, and it really is, you know, and I think
• 32:22
  it doesn't matter. Like I told you, I'm going to be 50 in a month and, and it's funny because at
• 32:27
  50 years old, 49, the, uh, that compliment from your parents is validating. And I'm like, am I,
• 32:34
  am I just immature that that felt nice? It might be co-dependent. And I'm sure it is, but it's great.
• 32:40
  But yeah, I did think it just, it felt nice. Like there's something that your dad can say to you
• 32:44
  that no one else in the world can 100% and, and I think that was maybe a moment that I had wanted
• 32:49
  for a long time. And it was nice to receive that. Yeah. Which, which does bring me to a question
• 32:54
  because so much of your stick has been very much, particularly after 2020. And this whole topic
• 33:02
  of toxic masculinity, and you've gone, I almost used the phrase, you know, toxic masculinity,
• 33:09
  and you just went hard on at it. And that probably would have been a terrible play on words.
• 33:14
  But use that as you will. The, but the reality is is like the toxic masculinity has, and we're
• 33:23
  seeing somewhat of a shift. Like even in the political spectrum, we're seeing the shift that
• 33:29
  it's almost like, you know, we had an election in our daddy's home kind of weird kind of shit,
• 33:34
  and whatever. Like I don't, not to make it political, but how do you stand up in that space?
• 33:40
  Because there has been a, I don't even know what I want to say to that. Like there's almost
• 33:46
  become like this androgynous kind of middle zone where men are all living in. But there, there
• 33:53
  is a, let a man be a man, let a woman be a woman. And anybody in the middle, that's cool too.
• 33:58
  But don't shame anybody for being masculine or being feminine. Like it, all of it's okay.
• 34:04
  That's free. Yeah. Right. People have gotten weak. And I think
• 34:09
  a contributing factor is there has been some terrible messaging. It's just like getting work
• 34:15
  out advice, you implement the advice, and you get weaker. Some of the advice is essentially
• 34:22
  boil down to on the whole and society, teaching men to behave like women, shaming their masculinity,
• 34:30
  and then teaching women to behave like men. Like, hey, feminists, go, you to be a powerful woman,
• 34:38
  you need to go, you know, get the good job or start a business, then you'll be happy.
• 34:44
  We all know, like money, status, achievements, that's not going to actually fulfill you.
• 34:49
  But that's the messaging and then telling men to behave like women and telling men not to treat
• 34:54
  women, right? Like, I don't hold the door open for that's, that's toxic masculinity or man doesn't
• 35:00
  need to pay for things. Now, men and women as individuals, obviously do what the hell you want.
• 35:08
  If you're a woman and you want to raise kids, do that. If you're a woman and want to start a
• 35:13
  business, do that. If you're a man, do what you want to do, don't violate other people.
• 35:19
  But I think there's been, it almost looks intentional to me, messaging that is just shaming
• 35:26
  healthy masculinity, get that labeled as toxic masculinity and doing the same thing to women,
• 35:33
  like telling women, hey, toxic masculinity is really bad. Look out for it. But you should actually
• 35:39
  behave that way. So I think we're now on the other side of it. There's still the residual fog,
• 35:46
  but I think we've done a good job of waking up to like, that is a really crappy message.
• 35:54
  That does not work for men or women and actually telling men and women how to behave when
• 36:01
  they're adults, that might be the first flaw. I mean, if you're a woman or a man out there,
• 36:08
  you're a grown adult listening to mainstream media and how you should behave, you were putting
• 36:16
  yourself in the position of a child, wanting to be told how to tell you what to do.
• 36:21
  Yeah, we have these things called natural instincts that will come out mixed with your personality
• 36:27
  and your discernment, hopefully good values as well. And that should maybe determine how you
• 36:32
  behave, not like these societal standards or Hollywood, the most morally bankrupt people you'll
• 36:39
  ever find for having them tell you how to behave. It's like, yeah, children maybe need to be told
• 36:46
  how to behave somewhat. But if you're an adult listening to how you should behave, you are not
• 36:52
  functioning like an adult. So what has been your best stick on toxic masculinity?
• 36:58
  Because you've made it a topic so many times. Yeah, you know, there's a few videos in a series
• 37:04
  called how to be a real man. You know, you definitely need a lot of chainsaws, things like that.
• 37:13
  So that's some important messaging out there. I see that. Well, I live in a high-rise condo,
• 37:18
  so chainsaws are usually not allowed. Oh, well, real men don't follow rules, especially when
• 37:23
  it comes to chainsaws. So I actually have a not follow the rules in the condo association
• 37:27
  story for you, which is somewhat coincidental. But this is this goes back to the I'm 20,
• 37:32
  2020, tired of lockdown. I live in South Florida, but I also live in Broward County, which is the
• 37:37
  bluest county of all of Florida. So it's kind of like this little island of insanity. And everybody's
• 37:42
  like, you're in Florida. You don't even have COVID without like, oh no, I'm in Broward. We're locked
• 37:47
  down, don't worry. And I ended up throwing a party around Christmas. But so that's Christmas
• 37:55
  end of 2020, end of 2020. So we had been nonsense for nine months or so. So I ended up throwing
• 38:01
  this holiday party and probably had like 30, 40 people over to my house, right? Total super
• 38:05
  spreader event and have them all over. But I'd made a Facebook invite for it. And the Facebook
• 38:12
  invite actually at the top, it was titled holiday protest. And so the end to the entire body
• 38:21
  to the invite, which funny part of the story comes later. So I was like, oh, I'm inviting you
• 38:25
  all to a holiday protest, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to serve food and drinks to make sure
• 38:29
  that anybody protesting too hard is at least fed and, and you know, well hydrated blah, blah,
• 38:35
  blah. So it's 30, 40, 50 people or whatever all come over. And again, I live in a high rise condo.
• 38:40
  So a bunch of old people in this building, you can imagine, like all these strangers are walking
• 38:45
  through the building to get up the elevator and stuff like that. And it's, you know, everybody in
• 38:48
  town is like running and hiding their pets. The following week is over a weekend. And I get an
• 38:54
  email from the from the association, letting me know that I have violated, you know, sub contract
• 39:02
  rule number 15.4 and citing the county rules of gathering restriction sizes. And I'm only allowed
• 39:10
  to have, you know, five people at a time and that it was this whole deal about county ordinance
• 39:16
  this and this and citation after citation after citation. And of course, being a jerk, I end up
• 39:23
  replying and my reply was I am so sorry for this misunderstanding. I understand exactly and I
• 39:32
  would strictly adhere to county policy. But I do want to point out to you, here's a screenshot of
• 39:38
  the invitation that had gone out. This was not a holiday party. In fact, this was a protest.
• 39:44
  And in accordance with county ordinance, blah, blah, blah, blah, protests can happen up to 50
• 39:49
  people without they're being any fear of infection. And so yeah, wouldn't you follow the
• 39:54
  science thing just I made everybody stand at least six feet apart. But we went to this whole deal.
• 39:58
  And it was like the fact that they got this letterback saying, no, I had a protest and the protest
• 40:03
  didn't violate any county literally never heard that. Oh, that's beautiful. I was just being a
• 40:09
  spartanized to begin with and then it actually turned out perfect because like my response kind of
• 40:14
  said itself up. And I'm like, but I laughed though because I'm like, guys, part of comedy is this
• 40:20
  idea of pointing out the ludicrous. Yeah. Like if we get together for a Christmas party, five people,
• 40:26
  you know, people are having to have two different Thanksgiving's because the whole family can't come
• 40:31
  together. But if we're all out in the street, then it's cool. Yeah. Like we can fight together to
• 40:36
  protest. And it's like pointing out to them the incongruence of the county ordinances that if I
• 40:41
  was having a protest at my house, we were good. Yeah. But if it was a party at my house, we were
• 40:46
  probably all going to be dead in a week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pointing out the absurdities part of
• 40:52
  comedy. And hopefully whoever was reading that email got a laugh. But either way, at least they
• 40:59
  shut up about it. But yeah, you know, I think the court jester archetype, which we all have access to
• 41:06
  some people think, well, I'm not a comedian. I'm not funny. It's like, no, you have your five
• 41:11
  senses. You also have a sense of humor. That's one of the senses as well, whether it's well developed
• 41:18
  or less developed, that's to be determined. But the court jester part of its job is to
• 41:26
  highlight the absurdities. That way, you're not limited by the absurdities you go beyond them.
• 41:32
  And COVID sure served up here. I mean, back in 2015, if someone would have written all the
• 41:40
  absurdities into a slapstick movie script, it would have been two over the top. It's six feet apart
• 41:47
  and all these stupid rules based on nothing and, you know, protests are super. They're actually
• 41:53
  really important. But gatherings, there's are that's like a suicide call. So many absurdities to
• 42:00
  point out, yeah, yeah, absolutely was amazing. It just was off the charts. But so all the absurdities
• 42:07
  living through strange times, you're a dad now. How has that changed your boldness? Oh, dramatically.
• 42:17
  I'll tell you, so my son, I learned he was on the way in spring of 2020. So his perfect storm,
• 42:25
  like all these absurdities, freedoms are like wanting to be eroded. If you allow it, you're like,
• 42:31
  oh, good, I brought somebody into this. Yeah. I mean, there was that fear initially. And up until
• 42:37
  that point, I'd been doing self-development for 20 years at that point. And like the parts of
• 42:45
  me that were really developed as a man were like compassion, perspective, awareness, questioning
• 42:53
  myself, not believing my beliefs, finding the meaning of things. What was completely undeveloped
• 42:59
  was like the warrior archetype, the bold fear slime. And so the perfect storm of
• 43:07
  COVID and all the restrictions, but really my son coming into the world, that brought the boldness
• 43:15
  out of me like I had never seen but always wanted and needed. It just wasn't online. So having my
• 43:22
  little guy knowing he's coming into the world, like I just wanted like the world needs to be a
• 43:29
  better place for my son that protector instinct comes out where you're willing to self-sacrifice
• 43:35
  at any level. So being a father, I mean, very much really helped me develop that warrior archetype.
• 43:45
  Be bold, be fierce. Don't worry about being the nice guy all the time. Don't worry about people's
• 43:51
  approval, people pleasing. All that goes out the window compared to the the priority of this little
• 43:59
  human being. So yeah, my having my son come into the world really helped me be a complete man.
• 44:08
  Not to say like I'm complete, like I'm done so much to grow, but man I was so incomplete before him.
• 44:15
  I love that because one of the things that I see like, you know, a man is either that warrior
• 44:22
  and he's going to go take on the world and then has a child and kind of calms down. Yeah,
• 44:26
  right. You see a lot of that, but you're giving the opposite story. Like yeah, I actually was very
• 44:31
  much into self-improvement, development, and so on and then like all of a sudden this warrior
• 44:35
  architect took place and it reminds me a good friend of mine and former roommate.
• 44:40
  Last few years I would say got married, had a baby and so on and like and I reached out to
• 44:45
  recently and it was last year because all of a sudden he is like election stuff all over the place
• 44:51
  and so on and it's funny because in years gone by he would almost razz me as being too outspoken
• 44:59
  about stuff and having opinions and politics and he's like, I'm a political, I don't care,
• 45:03
  I was born in Canada, what does it matter? Like this whole deal and like and finally one day I said
• 45:08
  a message and I'm like, who is this? Like what just happened and he's like, jubilee.
• 45:14
  And that's his daughter's name obviously and he's just like, jubilee and he's like and I was like
• 45:19
  unpacked that like I want to know beyond that and he's like, there's purpose in what I leave behind
• 45:24
  now and he's like, I can't raise a child in a situation that I don't agree with and it's like
• 45:29
  and his boldness and his outspokenness and his willingness to to go out there it was just funny
• 45:36
  because like his entire Facebook feed for years prior was like quotes from the Bible and all this
• 45:41
  other kind of stuff and now all of a sudden it's all this controversial stuff and I'm like,
• 45:45
  dude, like what just happened here, right? And he's like, no, and he's like my daughter and it's
• 45:50
  like it brought out that that the passivity went away and the warrior showed up and I was like,
• 45:54
  that's cool. I mean if you want to see people who like tyrants fear the most is parents.
• 46:03
  I mean it's the maha moms. Yeah it really is. If you want to unlock your power as a human
• 46:09
  you have to live for something greater than yourself. If you don't eventually you'll become
• 46:17
  controllable but if you're living for something greater than yourself and by the way kids
• 46:22
  are the greatest thing to live for greater than yourself and of course there's purpose,
• 46:27
  there's mission that can qualify too but kids are just like a no brainer. Those are people
• 46:34
  who are willing to die for their cause. Yeah. They are on the hill, they are willing to die on
• 46:40
  and it's not for themselves, it's for their children. Those are very powerful people. And you can't
• 46:45
  threaten a man who's willing to die. 100%. Yeah, the old saying it's better to die on your feet
• 46:52
  than live on your knees. Parents, you know, you're a good parent. You're willing to die on your feet.
• 46:59
  I love that. Yeah. And do to go ahead. I was going to say you mentioned some men have like the warrior
• 47:06
  already awakened and they have a baby. Mine was the opposite. I heard it quote recently. I forget
• 47:11
  who said it doesn't matter. I'll butcher it but they said being a real man means you're developed
• 47:19
  enough where you can slit someone's throat and hold a baby all in the same day. Now,
• 47:25
  obviously, hopefully you don't need to slit someone's throat. I normally limit that to Wednesdays.
• 47:28
  Wednesdays are as good as throat-slitting Saturdays as my cup of tea but well it's Wednesday today.
• 47:35
  So caution. No knives behind there but that just represents that warrior archetype. I think
• 47:42
  to be a complete man, you need to have access to both. Not just be stuck in one like I can only
• 47:49
  be the warrior no matter what the circumstance or I can only be the tender compassionate, vulnerable,
• 47:56
  no matter what the circumstances. But if you can access whatever kind of qualities you need given
• 48:02
  the situation, you're a pretty darn powerful person. That's masculine. Yeah. Amen to that. That's
• 48:08
  complete masculinity. You got the full 360 degrees of masculine tools. 100 percent. Well, JP,
• 48:16
  I expected you to come in here and teach me how to be funny. But it's actually been a pleasure
• 48:20
  like kind of getting to know more about you as a man and what makes you tick and what's been the
• 48:27
  inspiration for your comedy. What thoughts would you leave us with at the end of this? I guess
• 48:33
  been great just getting to sit and chit chat, not even do a comedy stick. I mean you're freaking
• 48:37
  hilarious. But what would you leave listeners with? Yeah, you know, this will sound cliche.
• 48:45
  Follow your heart. I think we're living in a time where the world needs God more than ever. And
• 48:51
  I'm not going to quote Bibles and stuff like that. But I'll just say practically speaking, I think
• 48:56
  God communicates to people through our hearts. We all have like what we want. And if I think if we
• 49:03
  can surrender what we want to what want what wants to live through us, we're going to be living
• 49:10
  much more in our power zone. Like don't be seduced by what you want. Be motivated by it. Go after it,
• 49:17
  but abandon it when something greater than your own wants comes up. And I don't think our minds
• 49:23
  really going to generate that. Our mind might start to become aware of it. But I think as humans
• 49:29
  are super power is our hearts. You look at the people that you admire the most who deserve it.
• 49:35
  There is someone who is following their heart. So I think never discount it. Having the awareness
• 49:42
  of what your heart is telling you and then the courage to follow it. It makes people just
• 49:49
  have more purpose, more fulfillment and contribute to a greater world around them like
• 49:54
  nothing else can. I love that. Thank you for that. Especially when you're delivering such a powerful
• 49:59
  message in a absolutely hilarious way and really making people squirm at that because it's like
• 50:06
  you're almost like watching a train wreck at the side of the road, right? Like I shouldn't be
• 50:12
  listing, but I can't look away. But there's such a powerful message. But because of the way that
• 50:18
  you're delivering it, it is educating people into a new awareness and I appreciate that there's
• 50:24
  people like you out there doing that. So appreciate you being here, man. Amen. Thank you for having me.
• 50:28
  I appreciate it. So there will be contact information for JPCers. Certainly more of you know who he is,
• 50:33
  than you know who I am. But looking in the notes and you'll find out how to get a hold of him. Is
• 50:39
  there anything in particular that people should be looking for? Any particular platform where you
• 50:43
  really want them to search for you? You too. My website is awakenwithjp.com that has links to
• 50:49
  everything else and on socials. Everything is awakened with JP. Awesome. So check out awakened with
• 50:54
  JP and look for him. Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, all this kind of stuff. You're on all the handles,
• 50:59
  obviously. We'll put all of them here in the show notes. So take a look and go follow JP. The dude's
• 51:04
  hilarious. Appreciate it. Thank you for thinking so Mark. Appreciate your brother. I do.