Latest / Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast / ONLY BOMBS! 23: Monarey Martinez

Transcript

ONLY BOMBS! 23: Monarey Martinez · Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast

• 0:00
  Only Bombs Only Bombs Welcome to the podcast
• 0:12
  But we blow up all the jokes Only Bombs Detonate
• 0:17
  another bomb blast With every episode of Pop
• 0:21
  Only Bombs Only Bombs Oh my God, yeah. So pardon
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  me if it's still like that. No, you're totally
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  fine, yeah. I used to work overnights too at
• 0:38
  a gas station a long time ago. But I get the
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  nightlife job and I always bartended and worked
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  in clubs and restaurants. So very much so a night
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  owl. And yeah, I understand. I understand the
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  struggle. Yeah. A lot of people just operate.
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  better at nights, you know? I feel like I'm one
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  of those people. Yeah. I feel like I wake up
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  during nights and I struggle during the day to
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  just stay functional or whatever. But I think,
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  you know, that whole circadian rhythm thing.
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  Yeah, it's real. Yeah. When you were working
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  at a gas station, was that like, was that crazy?
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  Yeah. I mean, I got robbed at some point for,
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  so for sure. It was definitely pretty intense.
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  Yeah. I worked there when I was, I think I was
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  just turned 18. I, this is back in Buffalo, New
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  York where I'm from. Niagara Falls, right? Yeah,
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  Niagara Falls is like right there. Canada is
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  like also like you can walk. I mean, you don't
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  walk, but it's like a 10 minute walk. Canada
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  is right there. But yeah, I was like saving up
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  money because I knew I wanted to move to California.
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  I knew I wanted to live in LA. And so I worked
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  overnight at a gas station, and then I also worked
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  at a Greek diner, and then I also was, this is
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  like all the same time, and then I also did housekeeping
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  at a motel in Buffalo, and it was awful. And
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  I was just trying to save up my money and moved
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  to California. And I got robbed at gunpoint,
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  and I still had to work the next day. No. Yeah.
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  Was this like a 7 -Eleven? No, it was called
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  Sunoco. They have, I think there's one, I've
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  seen one in Austin, like North. But Sunoco, I
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  actually genuinely loved that job. It was like
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  probably one of my favorite jobs. The pay wasn't
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  great. You got paid like minimum wage, but it
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  was so cool because like you work by yourself,
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  especially if you are the overnight person. So
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  you don't have a boss. You don't have anyone
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  micromanaging you. Like you had all these like
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  random customers. I remember like a lot of drug
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  dealers used to come in. They would get money
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  orders. Money orders. Yeah. And I'm not really
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  sure why they needed money orders, but that's
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  what they do. Um, but like all the cops would
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  come in and you had like the donut man, the milk
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  man, the Pepsi man. Um, you know, the guy that
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  brought in the actual like gasoline. So you just
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  had all these like regulars and, um, yeah, you,
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  you're by yourself and as long as you got your
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  stuff done, you were like chill. And so, um,
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  yeah, I, I loved that job. Yeah. I have a bunch
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  of jobs from like way back in the day that I'm
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  like, man, I wish that could have been a thing.
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  Yeah. And you just mentioned a second ago, like
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  a Greek, like it was a Greek. A Greek diner.
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  A Greek diner. Yeah, yeah. I worked at a, also
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  worked at a Greek restaurant. Oh, nice. And I
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  was like, man, it was just like such a cool vibe.
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  All the people there were really, really cool.
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  Yeah. But it just, you know, it was destined
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  to like not be a thing, you know, to be like
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  held on. For sure. So did you work during the
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  day there? Yeah, I worked during the day at the
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  Greek diner, Pegasus. And the gas station you
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  worked during the day too? No, the gas station
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  I worked overnight. I think our shift started
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  at 11, and it was 11 at night till 7 in the morning.
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  Man, when I think of the gas station, especially
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  overnights, I'm like, that's when those creepy
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  crawlies started happening. Oh, for sure. Yeah,
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  I made friends with all the cops, and all the
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  cops were like, Very nice to me, and I remember
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  one of the cops, anytime I was having issues
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  with, say, this stupid boy that I was dating,
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  he'd be like, do you want me to go pull him over?
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  And I'm like, yes, actually I do. But they would
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  come in and check on me all the time, make sure
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  I was okay. And so I was very rarely alone, alone.
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  You'd have little moments, but I had so many
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  regulars too. Yeah, I would get off at seven
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  and then I would like try to like nap for an
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  hour and I had to be at Pegasus, the Greek dinner
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  at nine in the morning. So it's like, yeah, it
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  was, I didn't, I still don't drink coffee to
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  this day. I'm like, I never, I never, you know,
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  use caffeine. I was just young and hungry and
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  wanted to move to California. And I was like,
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  this is what I got to do. And yeah, when I think
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  back at it now, I'm like, I don't know how I
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  survived, but. Yeah, that's off. I totally get
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  it. Did you know why you wanted to move to California
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  even back then? Yeah, I always knew that I wanted
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  to do something with comedy, writing, performing.
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  Oh, wow. So when I was real young, at first I
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  always wanted to be a judge. I was obsessed with
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  justice. I don't know why. I was obviously a
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  traumatized child. I love that though. Yeah,
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  and I was like, people need to pay and I need
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  to punish them. That's awesome. Yeah. So one
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  time that we had a school play, I was in fourth
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  grade and there was a role and it was the judge.
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  And I was like, well, I want to be a judge so
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  obviously I have to play that part. And then
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  when I was like rehearsing my lines and, you
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  know, doing all that, I was like, oh, whoa, this
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  is fun. Like, I like this part. Yeah. And then
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  I started to, I didn't even like register that
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  I loved standup comedy, but I remembered like,
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  my parents were never around. My dad's like,
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  Both my parents are degenerates. God bless. If
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  they watch this, they won't. But they, you know,
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  drug and alcohol, very irresponsible, had kids
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  very young. They're not married. They both had
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  multiple partners, can't hold a good job. Like,
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  my dad's been in and out of jail. Like, they're
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  just that type of people. And God bless. But...
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  So they were never, like, home. So, like, I would
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  just watch, like, whatever I wanted to watch
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  on TV. There was no, like, you can't, that's
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  a bad word, that's rated R. And I always liked
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  to watch stand -ups. So on HBO, they'd have,
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  like, specials. And then on BET, they had Comic
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  View, like, every night at 11 o 'clock. And then
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  Comedy Central, obviously, they had, you know,
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  all their different, like, stand -ups. Oh, my
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  God, what was the one? It was just, oh, my God,
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  why am I slacking out? Comedy Central Presents?
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  Yeah, Comedy Central Presents. And so I would
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  always just naturally flick between those. But
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  I looked at stand -up comedians like rock stars.
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  I was like, oh, you have to be a genius to do
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  that. Their brains are these high level, which
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  I still think is true, but there's a lot of bad
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  comedians too. The point where you're watching
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  them is, like, when they're 20 years in, they've
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  been doing it for so long, like, but I never,
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  like, saw the entry point. So when I saw comedians,
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  I was just like, okay, those people are gods.
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  I love stand -up. But I didn't think of myself
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  doing stand -up. But I was like, oh, I could
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  get into comedy though still. I could write or
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  I could do comedy acting or something. And yeah,
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  so I always knew that. I was like, I want to
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  go to California and I want to do something with,
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  like, comedy and writing. Um, and then eventually
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  life kept being like, stand up, stand up, stand
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  up. And I was like, Oh yeah, I am a stand up
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  comedian this whole third time. Yeah. Were you
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  one of those people where, uh, where everybody
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  was like, just kept telling you like, Oh man,
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  you, you need to get on stage. Like you need
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  to be that. Like you could do that and everything.
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  I was, I was like that too. Growing up in school,
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  like people would just, just tell me that all
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  the time. So I loved, I know what you're talking
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  about when you watch Comedy Central and you're
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  watching like all these people, you're like,
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  dude, like. These people are awesome. Yeah. This
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  is amazing. Oh my God. I mean, yeah, they were
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  gods to me. I was like, that's the coolest thing
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  in the entire world. And so I remember watching,
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  Chris Rock was like the first person where I
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  was like, where I would like memorize his name
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  and was like, that guy. Okay. That's a great
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  name too. Yeah. That's a great one. I love Chris
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  Rock and I... I loved comic view on BET, too,
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  because I felt like there was things that I could
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  just relate to those comics more. Like, say a
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  lot of the comics we're talking about, like,
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  you know, being broke and, like, living in, like,
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  dangerous neighborhoods and, you know, you know,
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  their parents, like, not being around or their
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  parents having drug and alcohol issues. And,
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  like, that was my story, too, where I'm like,
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  OK, like, you know, I always lived in, you know,
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  definitely not good neighborhoods until I was
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  in high school. But for the most part, it was
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  all, like... very sketchy, like our school, like
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  we couldn't carry backpacks. We had to carry
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  crates because kids would bring weapons to school.
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  You weren't allowed to wear hoodies or like gold
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  jewelry because like kids, there's always like
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  fights and everybody's getting jumped. The teachers
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  are getting jumped. Like just very scary schools
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  where I would like, you know, I would cry before
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  school. I was like, I just don't want to get
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  jumped. Um, yeah, like, yeah, not, yeah. Um,
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  But anyway, so like I always loved watching them.
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  And so when I watched Chris Rock, I was like,
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  okay, I was like, this person gets it. And like,
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  he was always making such good points, like based
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  on like society and like his point of view. And
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  I remember when TiVo came out, do you remember
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  TiVo where you like record TV? And TiVo was a
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  thing. And I remember the first time like getting
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  to record, they were doing, I think it was on
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  Comedy Central, but they were showing like...
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  three Chris Rock specials like in a row and I
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  got to record them. And then I got to watch them
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  like over and over and over. And yeah, and I
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  was like, I love this thing. And then I would
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  start telling, I remember like telling my dad,
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  I was like, yeah, I love stand up, like I love
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  Chris Rock. And he was like, well, if you have
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  Chris Rock, like you probably really love Richard
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  Pryor. And again, this is like before... Like
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  other people had the internet, but like we were
• 9:59
  broke like we never had a computer or anything
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  So it's and was before YouTube. So it's like
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  I couldn't just like look up, you know, Richard
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  Pryor but I remember one time a rerun coming
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  on of One of Richard Pryor's specials I think
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  it was live at the Sunset Trip and watching that
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  and I was like ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
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  ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding pain
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  and trauma and just the ugliest, worst parts
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  of themselves. And, you know, one, being like
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  willing to be vulnerable to open up about it,
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  but two, make it so funny. And three, he's like
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  making money as a career off of it. And I was
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  like, that's what I want to do. Now, the time
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  of when I did that was many years later, but
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  I knew I was like, it just like lit me up in
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  a way where I was like, I'm activated. Yeah.
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  Oh, yeah. So for me, it's almost like kind of
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  the same sort of deal, except for like, I, it
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  was, I would see, I wouldn't realize what standup
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  was, I think, initially. Like I didn't, I didn't
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  understand that this guy on this microphone here
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  is like, he's saying jokes. I didn't even know
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  what the hell a joke was. You know, and I remember
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  kind of like, my journey was sort of similar
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  though, in that. people would say these kind
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  of things or something like that. And I didn't
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  really understand until it was like, I want to
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  say like 03 or something like that. I saw Robin
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  Williams live on Broadway. And that was just
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  like, for me, it was like the most like compelling
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  thing I'd ever really seen on a stage to think
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  that like one person is getting up there with
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  an act like this. And I watched that thing so
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  many times. And then that was like a floodgate
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  for me. It was like, you know, like Robin Williams
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  and then it was like Dane Cook. Vicious Circle?
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  Was that the one that, was it Vicious Circle
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  or what's the one that, his big special in 2003?
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  Yeah, it was Vicious Circle because that was
• 11:50
  a big one that where he brought in that circle
• 11:52
  stage, right? And he had that whole like super
• 11:55
  finger thing called Su -Fi or whatever. And then
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  there was one before that and that's the one
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  that I really loved. Like the one where you're
• 12:04
  still like hungry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course
• 12:06
  like Mitch Hedberg and like, you know, because
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  he was really big back then too. Comedy Central
• 12:12
  Presents had so many people, Sklar Brothers were
• 12:14
  on there. Ben Oswald, I remember. All the ones
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  that I watch on Comedy Central, I remember I
• 12:23
  was looking this up recently because there's
• 12:26
  so many names. I'm like, oh, that was this person
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  where it's like when I was younger, I wasn't
• 12:31
  registering who they were. I didn't know who
• 12:32
  they were. They were up and coming comics. But
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  then now, Knowing stand -up so well and being
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  like, oh fuck like oh, I didn't even realize
• 12:42
  that that was that same person or whatever I
• 12:45
  remember seeing like a David Tell I think it
• 12:47
  was like David Tell like his HBO half hour because
• 12:49
  they did like the half hours on HBO and Louise
• 12:51
  to Yeah. And what is her name? Janine? Garofalo?
• 12:57
  Garofalo. I remember hers. Hers was really funny.
• 12:59
  Oh yeah. And, but then being like, oh shit, like
• 13:02
  many years later, like, oh, like that is this
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  person. Like I have seen this and connecting
• 13:07
  those dots is always, I love those moments too.
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  Yeah. Or like, or if you knew somebody from standup
• 13:13
  and now they're a big actor. Like for me, it's
• 13:15
  Zach Galifianakis. I saw Zach Galifianakis on
• 13:18
  Comedy Central Presents. I was like, man, I love
• 13:20
  them. Now he's a huge actor where it's like,
• 13:23
  do you all even know that that's where he started?
• 13:26
  He was like that. Michael Keaton too. He was
• 13:28
  a huge stand -up comic. Yeah. That's right. Yeah.
• 13:31
  Then watching him be Batman or whatever, you're
• 13:33
  like, well, that's so right. He was Batman? Yeah.
• 13:39
  1989 version. Yeah. But it's like, yeah, knowing
• 13:42
  that they - watching those celebrities where
• 13:45
  it's like, again, I didn't know Michael Kean,
• 13:46
  I was two, I wasn't born or whatever. I didn't
• 13:48
  see him as a standup, but then knowing who he
• 13:51
  was and then they're like, oh, he was a standup.
• 13:53
  And then, you know, just watching YouTube clips
• 13:54
  or whatever and you're like, oh, that's so cool.
• 13:58
  Right. It's wild. It's wild. And it's like, because
• 14:01
  it all makes sense no matter what they did, because
• 14:03
  it makes sense to like people, I guess, like
• 14:05
  who want to do standup because I feel like it's
• 14:07
  just like. and these people are actually saying
• 14:10
  the things that are in my mind. They're saying
• 14:12
  them in a way that make perfect sense. Totally.
• 14:16
  You said Richard Pryor, you watched Richard Pryor,
• 14:19
  Chris Rock, stuff like that. Did these people
• 14:22
  influence your writing when you finally actually
• 14:25
  started writing? I don't know if they influenced
• 14:28
  my writing. I'd say the person that I was like,
• 14:30
  I remember watching Bill Burt, this is when Netflix,
• 14:33
  when they would give you the CDs, the actual
• 14:36
  discs. I had a roommate at the time and they
• 14:39
  were like 14 years older than me and I was like
• 14:42
  22 or something, might have been 21. But I was
• 14:45
  living in Los Angeles at the time and they were
• 14:47
  the first people to tell me about Netflix. Like,
• 14:49
  oh, you sign up for this thing and like they
• 14:51
  send you the discs or the CDs or whatever. And
• 14:55
  I remember, wait a minute, I can't remember.
• 15:00
  Don't quote me, but I remember looking up the
• 15:03
  stand -ups. And I think Bill Burr was part of
• 15:07
  their first wave of comedians that they were
• 15:09
  like, all right. And I remember, but I feel like
• 15:12
  I remember also streaming him too. So when they
• 15:14
  were done with the CDs, I think it was just the
• 15:16
  movies that were still the discs. I don't remember,
• 15:19
  but I remember first watching Bill Burr and it
• 15:21
  was in 2008 or 2009. Because I think a special
• 15:25
  came out in 2008, but I probably didn't see it
• 15:26
  until like 2009, 2010. Um, but I remember being
• 15:29
  like, whoa, like, I remember watching him and
• 15:33
  I still hadn't even started stand up. I didn't
• 15:35
  start until 2014. Um, but I just remember like
• 15:38
  studying him, like watching it over and over.
• 15:40
  And I was just like, and I, and I felt like,
• 15:43
  cause he has like a lot of, um, he's like very
• 15:46
  persuasive and he like, you know, he's a type
• 15:48
  person where it's like, he uses his anger to
• 15:50
  like rant, but like, he makes like such good
• 15:51
  points that he persuades you to like switch like
• 15:54
  your opinion. And I was like, yeah, that's what
• 15:56
  I do too. Um, and, uh, but then I've, too, when
• 16:00
  I watched Phil Burr, I was like, I should never
• 16:02
  do stand -up. Like, that's so, like, he's so
• 16:05
  amazing. Where I was like, I just, but then I,
• 16:08
  I had a friend, I don't know why I'm blanking
• 16:11
  out on who this was, but I remember somebody
• 16:13
  telling me, they're like, well, that's like,
• 16:14
  that's them doing stand -up for so long. Like,
• 16:17
  where he started is gonna be like where you start.
• 16:19
  Like, you're comparing yourself at him when he's
• 16:21
  like a seasoned comic. And then I was like, all
• 16:24
  right, um. But in 2009, I knew I wanted to do
• 16:27
  stand up and I just kept bitching out, kept bitching
• 16:30
  out, kept bitching out. And then I did, but I
• 16:33
  was doing sketch and improv. So I did sketch
• 16:35
  and improv for like six, seven years before I
• 16:37
  ever did stand up. So like I got to LA in like
• 16:41
  2007. And from 2007 to 2013, all of that was
• 16:49
  like sketch and improv. And I was in Second City
• 16:52
  and my teacher was like, Every time we had to
• 16:55
  write a thing, we had to write these little character
• 16:58
  monologues or whatever. And my teacher was like,
• 17:01
  you're a stand -up. He's like, you're writing
• 17:03
  stand -up. And I was like, oh, hi, no. But then
• 17:05
  I kept not doing it. He's like, bitch, you gotta
• 17:08
  do stand -up. You're a stand -up. And then, yeah,
• 17:12
  2013, I took a class. Regret it, but whatever.
• 17:16
  But I took a class at first. And then after that
• 17:21
  class, that's when I started grinding open mics
• 17:23
  in 2014. Wow. You actually went from like a comedy
• 17:29
  troops thing like that. I always think about
• 17:32
  that like the kids in the hall. Of course, Second
• 17:35
  City, everybody knows that. I always wondered
• 17:39
  how, because I see how those things are different
• 17:43
  and I've actually done theater myself and stuff
• 17:45
  like that. I understand the improvisational aspect
• 17:49
  of it. But did you walk away from that feeling
• 17:53
  like, okay, this is going to make me better at
• 17:55
  stand -up? Or did you think that, oh shit, I
• 17:58
  just went in a whole different direction? No,
• 18:00
  I'm really happy that I did it. I think a lot
• 18:02
  of people shit on improv and sketch all the time.
• 18:06
  There's always a comedy divide between the stand
• 18:09
  -ups and the people who do improv. But I'm so
• 18:12
  happy that I did improv first and that I - That
• 18:16
  I got my feet wet and like really like understood
• 18:19
  like the mechanics of comedy and also working
• 18:22
  with other people and Working because I did groundlings
• 18:25
  and Second City and I was in the Second City
• 18:27
  Conservatory where it's like you end up Producing
• 18:31
  and performing your own show like on like their
• 18:33
  main stage for like a month. It might be like
• 18:34
  two months And like just building that whole
• 18:38
  thing like with you know your team members uh,
• 18:42
  was such a cool experience. And it just taught
• 18:46
  me, like, so many, like, comedy, comedy, like,
• 18:48
  mechanics that it's like, you know, you, you'd
• 18:50
  have to, like, maybe, like, read about or something,
• 18:52
  but it's like Second City and Groundlings just,
• 18:55
  um, yeah, it's like a comedy boot camp for sure.
• 18:59
  And, um, but I knew something was missing when
• 19:01
  I was there. I was like, I really enjoy this
• 19:03
  and I really like this. And I had, I mean, some
• 19:05
  of my good friends to this day where it's like,
• 19:07
  they're so talented, like, they're so good at
• 19:10
  character work. And I always felt like that's,
• 19:12
  like, where I struggled. I was like, I know I'm
• 19:14
  funny, but, like, if there's, like, all these
• 19:16
  different accents you have to do or all these
• 19:18
  different characters, I was like, there's only
• 19:20
  really, like, maybe three different characters
• 19:22
  I can play. And then I'm seeing all these other
• 19:24
  people who's like, I can do 25, like, in there.
• 19:27
  And each one of them is so, you know, individual
• 19:30
  and different. And I was like, OK, I feel like
• 19:33
  that's not really me. And then I was like, oh,
• 19:35
  I'm going to write for those people because,
• 19:37
  like, I know how to write in other people's voices,
• 19:38
  like, really well. And so I was like, oh, I'll
• 19:41
  just write in their voice. And then, and then
• 19:44
  I was like, yeah, I just like kept hearing like,
• 19:46
  do stand up, do stand up, do stand up. And I'm
• 19:47
  like, I think I was just so scared to be bad
• 19:51
  at the thing that I loved the most. And I was
• 19:54
  like, because if you're, it just will break my
• 19:57
  heart, you know? And, but it's like, yeah, that's
• 20:00
  the point of stand up. Like you're going to be
• 20:01
  bad when you first start. Like everybody's bad.
• 20:03
  And if you think you're good and you're 10 years,
• 20:06
  you're not even 10 years in, it's like, you know.
• 20:10
  That's, uh... You're in for a rude awakening.
• 20:13
  That's... Man, that is so true. That is so true.
• 20:16
  When I first got on there, you know, I didn't
• 20:21
  realize how terrible it was that people were
• 20:23
  like, oh man, you're funny, you should do stand
• 20:25
  -up. You know, I always took it as like a massive
• 20:27
  compliment. And it is, I understand what they're
• 20:29
  saying and stuff like that. But yeah, when I
• 20:32
  first got up there, I was like... Oh, no. Yeah.
• 20:36
  Oh, no is the right response. Yeah. Yeah. I was
• 20:39
  just like, oh, dude. Even now, it's like, I respect
• 20:44
  the stage. It's like, I respect the hell out
• 20:47
  of it because it's not like, I can't just be
• 20:50
  like, all right, let me just write down this
• 20:51
  funny thought and go up there and be like, all
• 20:53
  right. There's so many people who do the same
• 20:55
  thing, I'm sure, who you're like, oh, you should
• 20:56
  put this in your act. Oh, my God. Yeah. And then
• 20:59
  you're like, that's not good. Yeah, I'm like.
• 21:02
  Don't ever talk to me ever again. Yeah, don't
• 21:04
  say that. It's not, it doesn't work like that.
• 21:05
  It's always the most uninteresting. Like I've
• 21:07
  always had like, you know, tons of different
• 21:09
  jobs when I'm, you know, was doing standup. And
• 21:12
  like anytime I would tell people, like, I'm a
• 21:14
  standup, they're like, oh, are you going to write
• 21:15
  about us? I'm like. you're the most boring person
• 21:18
  I've ever met in my life. No. Right. Yeah. Exactly.
• 21:22
  It's like not everything goes into it. Yeah.
• 21:25
  There are many different filtered thoughts that
• 21:27
  get there. Right. And also it's like, why in
• 21:29
  the world do you think that my interaction with
• 21:32
  you is like the top 20 things that are interesting
• 21:35
  about my life? And I'm like, I mean, of course,
• 21:39
  most of them don't. they mean well, but it's,
• 21:43
  it always just, you could just see the delusion
• 21:45
  and the human beings where I'm like, oh, like
• 21:48
  you think that, you think that you are something
• 21:52
  fascinating. Wow. That's interesting. It totally
• 21:56
  put me in your act, you know, and I'm like, man,
• 21:58
  it's like, it's like, it's, it's actual experience,
• 22:01
  like experience, you know, I'm like, for me,
• 22:03
  it's like everybody, what I love about standup
• 22:05
  is that everybody has, even though there's writing
• 22:08
  styles, everybody has a different approach. I
• 22:12
  guess that's what I was leading into was that
• 22:16
  when you finally got up on the stage, the open
• 22:19
  mic stage in 2014, when you finally got up there,
• 22:23
  when you finally took that leap and everything,
• 22:25
  by then, did you have things written and did
• 22:27
  you feel ready? Or was it something where you
• 22:30
  just jumped in blind and was like, let's see
• 22:32
  what's going to happen? No, I had been writing
• 22:34
  things since 2009. 2009, when I I remember, like,
• 22:38
  every single night when I would go to bed, and
• 22:40
  this is, like, when the, you know, it just became
• 22:42
  more prominent, like, I would have this, like,
• 22:46
  stream of consciousness, and it would just, like,
• 22:47
  be like... And it was just naturally, kind of,
• 22:50
  in joke form. And I remember just, like, every
• 22:53
  night before I'd bed, and I'm like... I'm like,
• 22:55
  why am I... Like, I would step outside of myself,
• 22:58
  and I'm like, why am I... What is this? Like,
• 23:00
  what are these thoughts? And then, like, another
• 23:03
  thought popped up, and it's like, this is stand
• 23:05
  -up. Like you're writing stand up, write it down.
• 23:07
  And I'm like, oh, is that what this is? Like
• 23:09
  I'm just, you know, it's just piling through
• 23:12
  my head constantly. And then so I was like, okay.
• 23:14
  So I had like a notebook and, you know, and then
• 23:16
  when I was like doing sketch and improv, I would
• 23:18
  sometimes like look at my ideas and be like,
• 23:20
  okay, can I make this a sketch? Can I make this
• 23:22
  a scene? Can I make this a character? And then
• 23:25
  when I started, when I got to do stand up, when
• 23:27
  I finally was doing it, I was like, okay, finally
• 23:29
  I can. use all this the way I want to, you know?
• 23:32
  And it doesn't get transformed by other people
• 23:35
  and their character work or whatever, because
• 23:37
  that's what you have to do, you know, in sketch
• 23:38
  and improv. You give an idea and then it grows
• 23:41
  into this whole snowball that, like, you'd have
• 23:43
  no control over anymore. And that's why I like
• 23:46
  stand -up, because I was like, I like my ideas.
• 23:49
  I don't want your input. But yeah. Did you find
• 23:53
  it difficult to kind of, like, let go of that
• 23:56
  whole, like, I guess, like the... I'm trying
• 23:59
  to think of the right word, sorry. Like the tether
• 24:01
  of like having that kind of direction that improv
• 24:03
  kind of gives you or. Wait, wait, sorry. Say
• 24:06
  that again. I don't know if I understand. No,
• 24:08
  that's okay. I'm asking you so strangely. What
• 24:11
  I'm trying to like, okay. My example, I guess,
• 24:14
  would be like some hard part that I had, especially
• 24:17
  like leaving theater and then trying to do standup
• 24:19
  and having like that mind that would bounce back
• 24:21
  and forth. I would be like. Oh, man, I have no
• 24:24
  direction. I guess what I'm asking is, was that
• 24:28
  challenging for you to leave the improv thing
• 24:31
  and then go into the stand -up thing, or was
• 24:34
  it something that you felt was more natural for
• 24:37
  you? It was more natural. It was more natural
• 24:38
  and it was more freeing because I felt like.
• 24:40
  sketch and improv was that was way more of a
• 24:43
  challenge for me of like one having to constantly
• 24:47
  like let everybody build a scene like with you
• 24:50
  and let everybody's ideas of your original idea
• 24:53
  just blossom, which is the beautiful part of,
• 24:56
  you know, doing like the conservatory and doing
• 24:58
  sketch and like building a show. But then at
• 25:01
  the same time, you're like, well, I want to just
• 25:03
  see what it is on my own. And so Stand Up finally
• 25:05
  gave me the opportunity to be like, all right,
• 25:08
  sister, like it's all you. Now you have the freedom
• 25:10
  to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, kind of, um, so I've
• 25:13
  seen your jokes and I've seen like the way that
• 25:14
  you like, like in your kind of structure. And
• 25:16
  I love how like you, and I know we kind of spoke
• 25:19
  on this briefly, um, but like, you know, how
• 25:22
  you incorporate, you know, like your real life
• 25:24
  into it. And it seems like it's so natural. And
• 25:27
  that's what I love about it is cause I can see
• 25:29
  like how it's like, you're speaking from. you
• 25:31
  know, like an actual part of you. Did you begin
• 25:34
  that way or did you sort of like, I'm just gonna
• 25:37
  write a joke, like why the chicken crossed the
• 25:39
  road? Or did you like, did you start off real
• 25:41
  experiences right off the bat? I kind of always
• 25:43
  knew that I was gonna be like personal narrative
• 25:45
  base, because again, like Richard Pryor was my
• 25:48
  favorite. And I was, I loved, I loved... When
• 25:53
  I first started stand up to it like it was therapy
• 25:55
  like you know not to be lame And it's like everybody
• 25:57
  says that but it's like it really was my therapy
• 25:59
  where it's like you know I didn't even do therapy
• 26:02
  up until you know my recent years So my whole
• 26:05
  entire life how I had all that trauma and just
• 26:08
  you know fucked up childhood like comedy was
• 26:12
  my outlet to be like all right, you know now
• 26:15
  I have this thing and like there it's not like
• 26:18
  I went into it being like I want to write about
• 26:20
  trauma But when I watched Richard Pryor and I
• 26:23
  saw him take material of like his heart attack,
• 26:26
  his divorce, like him, you know, his dad dying,
• 26:30
  like all these things, like where I was like,
• 26:32
  whoa, you can do that. And so I was like, I knew
• 26:35
  I wanted to take the things that were the scariest
• 26:38
  or the things that I was the most afraid of or
• 26:40
  the things that I was the most ashamed of. Because
• 26:43
  I was like, if I can turn this into comedy, then
• 26:45
  it's like I have the last laugh. Like literally,
• 26:47
  like none of this stuff can break me or has control
• 26:50
  over me because I'm turning it into comedy. Yeah.
• 26:53
  And hopefully money. Right, yeah. No, that is
• 26:56
  brilliant. I love that. I love that you took
• 27:00
  those things like that. I really do. Because
• 27:04
  I'm sort of, when I first got into it, I don't
• 27:08
  know, I kind of got into it thinking, okay, maybe
• 27:12
  I might take like a Dane Cook approach. And I
• 27:16
  was like, no, this isn't working. I might take
• 27:17
  maybe this approach. Yeah. I discovered like,
• 27:21
  and I'm still like, I'm still brand spanking
• 27:23
  new. I've only been doing it like, you know,
• 27:25
  stand up since like 23. But, but now I'm at the
• 27:29
  point where I'm like kind of learning. I'm like,
• 27:32
  nah, dude, I just really just need to just be
• 27:34
  myself and just like open up. And then, and then
• 27:37
  structure, you know, is like the most important
• 27:39
  thing. So I guess like, what, what was like a
• 27:43
  massive like, uh, lesson that kind of came to
• 27:46
  you where you were like, oh shit, I really wish
• 27:48
  I would have known this earlier. Yeah. I mean,
• 27:50
  all the time. I mean, I think, um, luckily I've
• 27:54
  always had like the anchor of like being very
• 27:56
  true to myself because I've definitely like witnessed
• 27:58
  people like, you know, I could always tell where
• 28:01
  I'm like, all right, David tells your influence.
• 28:04
  Okay. Louie's your influence. Okay. This person,
• 28:06
  it's like a Dion cult, whatever. It's like, I
• 28:07
  can always tell where people's influences come
• 28:10
  from. And I can tell when it's like multiple
• 28:11
  influences, but, um, I think to me, the best
• 28:17
  stand up is something that can stand the test
• 28:19
  of time. And to me, the things that can stand
• 28:22
  the test of time are things that are personal
• 28:24
  or individualistic. And I remember trying to
• 28:30
  write... topical like because you know at the
• 28:33
  time John Stewart and all this stuff is uh the
• 28:35
  Daily Show like this is super popular and like
• 28:38
  you want to get a writing job you want to get
• 28:39
  a writing gig you want to maybe write on weekend
• 28:41
  update on SNL and so I remember like trying to
• 28:44
  force myself to I which I still do think is a
• 28:47
  good exercise I think to be a well -rounded comic
• 28:50
  you know all these things are different tools
• 28:52
  like you should know how to do crowd work. It
• 28:54
  doesn't mean you have to only do crowd work,
• 28:56
  but you should learn how to do crowd work. You
• 28:57
  should learn how to do topical material. You
• 28:59
  should learn how to do personal narrative things.
• 29:01
  You should learn how to do abstracts. It's like
• 29:04
  you should be able to try and learn how to do
• 29:06
  everything. Um, and cause different times you're
• 29:09
  going to need, write clean, have, you know, jokes
• 29:11
  that are dirty. Cause it's like, you're going
• 29:13
  to see like, you know, you have certain crowds
• 29:14
  where you're like, all right, everybody's 85
• 29:16
  and they look like they just slept a bingo fucking
• 29:18
  tournament. Like probably not going to love my
• 29:21
  molestation material or an abortion joke. So
• 29:24
  I'm like, I don't believe in like writing for
• 29:27
  the audience. Cause to me that's like the definition
• 29:28
  of a hack, but I do believe in, in orchestrating
• 29:34
  and learning how to do different styles. true
• 29:36
  to yourself so this way when you're in different
• 29:39
  situations, you're on a brunch show, whatever,
• 29:41
  it's like you are like, okay, this is still me
• 29:44
  being this, but adapting to my environment. So
• 29:48
  I think learning to adapt to my environment was
• 29:53
  like a big lesson where I'm like, okay, like
• 29:55
  I don't have, because I used to think like, nope,
• 29:57
  you just gotta like, fuck it, I'm gonna do a
• 29:59
  rape joke and they're gonna get over it. And
• 30:01
  it's like, no, you know, there's times where
• 30:04
  it's like, Obviously, if it's your own special,
• 30:07
  you're going to do whatever the fuck you want.
• 30:08
  But like I said, you're going to do a show on
• 30:10
  a brunch show or you're going to do like a college
• 30:13
  clean show and you forcing like, no, like this
• 30:16
  is who I am. And I'm like, all of it is who I
• 30:19
  am. But it's OK to know your environment and
• 30:21
  to be a good technician and to be like, OK, this
• 30:23
  is going to work here. This is going to work
• 30:25
  here. So long as you're not pandering to them,
• 30:27
  but you're aware of the environment and the surroundings.
• 30:30
  That's a that's a good one. That's a good one.
• 30:32
  You know, I. That's a reason why I love to ask
• 30:35
  people who are more experienced in the comics
• 30:37
  who are more experienced with this whole thing,
• 30:38
  those kind of things, because it's, what I learned
• 30:41
  a lot is like, oh, I never even thought of that.
• 30:44
  And now I'm thinking about it. I'm like, oh man,
• 30:46
  I never even thought about that. For sure. But
• 30:48
  it also, it leads to like, I guess, like epiphanies.
• 30:51
  Yeah. Where you're just like, you know, oh, you
• 30:53
  see, this is another reason why I just need to
• 30:55
  write. Totally. To myself. Yes. And a lot of
• 31:00
  great comics. do say that, oh, this was my therapy.
• 31:05
  A lot of times, they do say that and everything.
• 31:10
  I love that you're saying that. I feel like there's
• 31:13
  wisdom in that. Did you find that the LA comedy
• 31:17
  scene was challenging for you to navigate? For
• 31:22
  sure. I mean, I'm so happy that I came up in
• 31:24
  LA. LA and New York, I did New York for a year,
• 31:28
  2017 and 2018. There's beauty about coming up
• 31:34
  in LA and there's, you know, a lot of hardships
• 31:36
  too, because one, you, it's so competitive. And
• 31:40
  there's so many different scenes that it's like,
• 31:42
  you could be doing Santa for like, you know,
• 31:44
  eight years and you've never even intertwined
• 31:47
  with this other comic. You know who they are,
• 31:48
  because it's like social media, but you're like,
• 31:50
  you've never even been on a show with them. Because
• 31:51
  that's, you know, there's the main, there's like
• 31:54
  the club scene. There's the alt scene, then there's
• 31:57
  like the west side scene, there's the valley
• 31:59
  scene, and there's like a small like downtown
• 32:01
  scene. But it's like these are five major scenes
• 32:03
  and they all have their whole own mics, all their
• 32:07
  own shows, all their own like comics, all their
• 32:09
  own like vets. Like it's just so massive. Um,
• 32:14
  and, um, and when you're going up on stage, it's
• 32:16
  like, I remember like, you know, doing open mics
• 32:18
  with like people who were like writers on Conan
• 32:20
  and people who are writers on SNL and whatever.
• 32:23
  And it's like, that's what it is. So it's like,
• 32:25
  if you want to, you know, and so it's like, it's,
• 32:28
  I know a bunch of people who like started in
• 32:30
  a smaller scene, like, um, you know, they started
• 32:33
  in Chicago or they started in, um, uh, like San
• 32:36
  Diego or something, and then they come to LA.
• 32:38
  And I think that that could be good too. But
• 32:41
  it kind of like forced me and I'm like competitive,
• 32:45
  like not like in a way where it's like I'm not
• 32:47
  happy for other people. But I was like competitive
• 32:49
  where I'm like, I'm going to show up in all the
• 32:52
  different scenes and I'm going to do multiple
• 32:54
  in the different scenes, like every single night.
• 32:56
  And, you know, I leave my house 5 p .m. and come
• 33:00
  home at 2 a .m. like every single night. And
• 33:02
  I did that for so many years. And so that's why,
• 33:04
  you know, in L .A., people... everybody who knows
• 33:07
  me will be like, no, she grinded her ass off.
• 33:09
  And there's the comics who we know grinded our
• 33:12
  asses off and went everywhere. And there's comics
• 33:14
  who are like, oh, you just did a comedy class
• 33:16
  and only did a comedy class and then you only
• 33:18
  did bringer shows. And then there's people where
• 33:20
  it's like, you kind of just networked and hustled
• 33:22
  and hoard your way in. But like the thing that
• 33:26
  I love about LA is it's like you can, you can
• 33:29
  certify your material. Like meaning like, the,
• 33:33
  if you're doing like jokes that like kind of
• 33:35
  only work in like the club scene, you know, versus,
• 33:38
  and then you try to do it in an alt room, not
• 33:39
  all the time it's going to translate. And then
• 33:41
  you do it in, you know, rooms that are like more
• 33:43
  predominantly like a black audience or the West
• 33:46
  side or again, like the Valley where it's like,
• 33:49
  I would take one, once I was like, okay, I think
• 33:51
  I got this joke. I think this joke is good. then
• 33:53
  I would go certify the material. Like, can I
• 33:55
  do the same joke on the alt side? Can I do the
• 33:58
  same joke in the clubs? Can I do the same in
• 34:00
  the valley? The valley was, like, kind of, like,
• 34:02
  more rowdy, punk -rocky type of scene. Downtown
• 34:05
  has a similar vibe, but, like, kind of more artsy.
• 34:08
  And then the west side is, like, liberal conservative,
• 34:10
  like, where it's, like, they're, like, they're
• 34:13
  not conservative, like, Republican, but they're
• 34:15
  conservative, and, like, you can't be talking
• 34:17
  about all this edgy, dark stuff without them
• 34:19
  being like, ooh. But yeah, so when I knew, I
• 34:22
  was like, all right, I'm gonna take this joke
• 34:24
  and if I can get it to work everywhere, then
• 34:26
  I know that that joke is like certified, like
• 34:28
  that this is good. And that's why, yeah, I love,
• 34:32
  I... And again, you're in LA too, you're with
• 34:35
  so, like, an array of comics, like, people who
• 34:38
  work on the road, people who have, like, writing
• 34:39
  jobs, people who are on TV, people who are, you
• 34:42
  know, they open for some of the biggest names.
• 34:44
  Like, you're just around all these people and
• 34:46
  you're constantly getting to, like, see, like,
• 34:48
  where you stand. And, you know, it is a very
• 34:52
  humbling, it's a very humbling experience for
• 34:55
  sure. Wow, that is amazing. I love that you went
• 35:00
  into the in -depth thing with LA because I've
• 35:03
  never even been there. I've been in California
• 35:06
  a couple of times, but I've never been to LA.
• 35:11
  I'm not really drawn to it, but I'm also learning
• 35:15
  about myself. I'm one of those comfy people.
• 35:18
  I have to talk myself out of getting out of the
• 35:21
  comfort zone. Do you have a favorite of those
• 35:27
  three, of LA, New York, and let's say Austin?
• 35:30
  Yeah. I think they all serve different purposes
• 35:33
  and it just depends where you're at. But I think
• 35:36
  it's so important as a comic to, in my opinion,
• 35:40
  I think it's so important to experience all three.
• 35:43
  Doesn't mean you have to live in all three, but
• 35:45
  do a three -month stint, do a two -month stint
• 35:48
  in another area. I'm very fortunate that, well,
• 35:52
  it wasn't because of fortune, it was because
• 35:53
  of me just trying to figure out life, that it's
• 35:55
  like, that I lived in all these places. But I
• 35:58
  think the more, the... the wider you can cast
• 36:04
  that net in different types of environments,
• 36:07
  like, it's only gonna make you a better comic,
• 36:09
  you know? Because it's like, you're gonna just
• 36:11
  constantly be, like, working different skills
• 36:14
  and environments and, like, learning your own
• 36:16
  voice. Like, you know, people think voice as
• 36:19
  in, like, your point of view, that's one way,
• 36:21
  but the other way of using your voice is, like,
• 36:24
  actually using your voice as an instrument. Like,
• 36:26
  from when I would do the club scene, it's like,
• 36:28
  I could be a little bit more, you know, like...
• 36:31
  animated or loud or in your face or, like, you
• 36:34
  know, maybe, like, I could swear more or whatever.
• 36:36
  But if I try to do that same exact set, perform
• 36:38
  it that same exact way on the east side, the
• 36:41
  alt scene, like, I would get a lot of, like,
• 36:43
  pullback. And again, I was never changing my
• 36:46
  jokes, but I was just changing, like, my voice
• 36:49
  and, you know, not, not, like, putting on, like,
• 36:51
  a voice, but, like, just being, like, if I come
• 36:53
  at them, like, if I'm aggressive and I'm a tent...
• 36:56
  intense it makes them pull back so I had to like
• 36:58
  learn to be like let me do my same thing but
• 37:01
  like I would approach them like a little bit
• 37:04
  more, like, in a vulnerable spot. Like, say,
• 37:08
  like, if I'm doing the molestation joke, I'm
• 37:09
  like, yeah, I'm just kidding. This is not the
• 37:11
  joke. But if I'm like, yeah, like, I got molested.
• 37:13
  Like, that type of energy, again, in a club,
• 37:15
  it might be, like, more, you know, people are
• 37:17
  more with you. But in an alt scene where it's
• 37:19
  like, you know, the room is like small, the lights
• 37:21
  are, you know, you can see everybody's faces.
• 37:24
  It's like, you know, you're getting different
• 37:25
  people who, like, maybe they have had similar
• 37:28
  experiences to you and they're not, like... they're
• 37:30
  not these people who are like, and fuck that,
• 37:33
  and da -da -da -da, they're a little bit more
• 37:34
  reserved, or they're a little bit more maybe
• 37:36
  timid, and so I had to deliver that same material,
• 37:41
  but now not so in your face, so this way they
• 37:43
  could hear me, and it's not offensive to them,
• 37:47
  or it's not intense, or it's not overly confident,
• 37:51
  because maybe some of those people aren't overly
• 37:53
  confident, they're not gonna relate to you. I
• 37:56
  don't remember what the question was. Just enjoying
• 37:59
  what you're saying, actually. But I think I just
• 38:02
  asked about, like, just the different scenes.
• 38:05
  Oh, yeah. You know, like, and do you have a favorite
• 38:07
  between them? Oh, New York, L .A. and Austin,
• 38:09
  yeah. I think, so, like, a lot of people will
• 38:12
  talk, I feel like ever since Austin, you know,
• 38:16
  since the, you know, the new reign of, like,
• 38:19
  the mothership, because obviously Austin was
• 38:20
  its whole scene ever before, you know, Joe Rogan
• 38:24
  moved here. Um, and I think that because Austin
• 38:29
  started to have such a spotlight on it, like
• 38:32
  with that, you know, with them moving here, LA
• 38:34
  and New York always used to talk shit about each
• 38:36
  other. It was always like these two, cause those
• 38:38
  are the two big scenes. Those were the only two
• 38:40
  scenes you can really make it, you know, by LA
• 38:42
  and New York. And then all of a sudden Austin
• 38:44
  opens up, opens up the new guard, whatever. Then
• 38:48
  now these two, oh, they're, they love to talk
• 38:52
  shit about Austin. And Liz Splatt actually had
• 38:56
  a good, she did like one of those like street
• 38:58
  interview things and she was like, it's annoying
• 39:00
  that like, I'm going to butcher it a little bit,
• 39:03
  but she was basically saying where, where it's
• 39:07
  annoying that it's like, we wouldn't want, you
• 39:09
  know, Americans wouldn't want to be represented,
• 39:12
  like represented by one president. Cause say
• 39:14
  like, whatever, if you're Republican or Democrat,
• 39:17
  like whoever the president is, like half the
• 39:19
  country is against that person and half the country
• 39:21
  is for that person. And you're like, don't you
• 39:24
  don't know about America based on just our fucking
• 39:27
  president like you don't know what we want or
• 39:29
  like it's the same thing with Austin where I
• 39:31
  feel like there's two big names that everybody
• 39:33
  and it's like and you see these New York and
• 39:36
  LA comics who clearly have not come through and
• 39:40
  done like the real Austin scene. And they're
• 39:43
  like, oh, Austin comics are this and Austin comics
• 39:45
  are that. And I'm like, you don't know what the
• 39:47
  fuck you're talking about. Cause that's just
• 39:48
  not even true. You're basing it on the most surface,
• 39:51
  you know, uh, the, the entry point of Austin.
• 39:55
  And it's like, that's so unfair. Um, and yeah,
• 40:00
  that part I don't like, but uh, Like I said,
• 40:03
  I think all of them have a different approach.
• 40:07
  And, but I do think the thing that New York and
• 40:09
  LA has that like Austin doesn't have yet, and
• 40:11
  maybe it will if it gets bigger and bigger, but
• 40:14
  because Austin is very small, like, you know,
• 40:17
  population -wise and their comedy community -wise,
• 40:20
  it's definitely, it makes it way less competitive.
• 40:25
  Like, you can move, anybody can move here in
• 40:27
  Austin and you can be on the top shows, like,
• 40:29
  in a month. You know, there's no barrier of entry.
• 40:33
  In LA and New York, it takes years to get on
• 40:35
  the dope shows. Even if you're a killer at two
• 40:38
  years, even if, like, you're doing your thing,
• 40:40
  even if you have a following, like, people don't
• 40:42
  give a fuck about you and people, like, and they're
• 40:45
  competitive. And so it's like, it will take you
• 40:47
  many, many years just to get on, like, the dope
• 40:49
  cool shows. Like, let alone, let alone even the
• 40:52
  clubs know who the fuck you are or, like, you
• 40:54
  know, give you any opportunity. And it just makes
• 40:57
  it so much more competitive, which kind of forces
• 41:00
  like the people who are going to rise up, like
• 41:02
  you're going to rise the fuck up because that's
• 41:04
  the only way to do it versus here. It's like,
• 41:06
  I mean, again, it's nice. Again, like when I
• 41:08
  first moved here, it's like I could hit up anybody
• 41:10
  and I can get on any show immediately. You know,
• 41:14
  and I've seen comics who are one year in and
• 41:17
  they're on the top. They're on the best shows
• 41:18
  because it's just not as many comics. It's just
• 41:21
  not as competitive. It's just not as, like, difficult
• 41:25
  to get stage time. It's very easy to get stage
• 41:27
  time here. Which, again, on one hand is really
• 41:30
  good for certain comics because, you know, you
• 41:33
  need to get those reps in, you need to get those
• 41:35
  reps in. In LA, we don't get the reps in with
• 41:37
  the show, like, when you're first starting, like,
• 41:40
  years five and below. You're getting the reps
• 41:41
  in with the mics, which people are like, oh,
• 41:44
  mics suck because it's all comedians. Guess what?
• 41:47
  Like, if you get the comedians to laugh, you
• 41:49
  know your shit's dope. It's usually the comics
• 41:51
  who can't get other comics to laugh and they
• 41:54
  only can get an audience to laugh, which usually
• 41:56
  the audience are definitely, you know, they're
• 41:58
  a lot easier to make laugh than comics because
• 42:00
  they're, they're less educated on it. You know
• 42:02
  what I mean? Like, so I feel like if you're,
• 42:07
  if like, you're really, if you're dope and what
• 42:10
  you're doing is like legit. the comics are gonna
• 42:13
  laugh at you. Like, again, it might take two
• 42:15
  years, but like once you get that, you're like,
• 42:18
  you know your shit's gold and you know it's like,
• 42:20
  you know, gold standard, whatever. But there's
• 42:23
  just not that, there's not that here, but it
• 42:27
  doesn't mean that like you still can't develop
• 42:29
  or whatever. But yeah, I think Austin is great,
• 42:33
  especially for... uh, comics who kind of like
• 42:36
  in the in between where it's like, okay, you've
• 42:38
  been featuring on the road for a lot. You're
• 42:40
  trying to like become a headliner and, you know,
• 42:42
  build your own audience. And like the thing that
• 42:45
  you care about the most is like getting reps
• 42:47
  in and just, you know, constantly like developing
• 42:49
  your material. I think it's really good for that.
• 42:52
  Um, and I also think that the scene will just
• 42:55
  continue to grow, you know? Um, and yeah, so...
• 42:59
  If you're broke and you need a place to live
• 43:02
  where the cost of living is low, it's like, yeah,
• 43:05
  you're going to come to Austin. If you're five
• 43:09
  years in and you're like, okay, I'm ready to
• 43:10
  compete and I'm ready to learn and I'm ready
• 43:13
  to be challenged, then it's like you're going
• 43:14
  to go to LA or New York. If you also want to
• 43:18
  write, you want to get a writer's job or you
• 43:21
  want to get into acting, then you're going to
• 43:23
  go to New York or LA. Because there's just way
• 43:26
  more opportunity for those other fields. I feel
• 43:29
  like that's the other thing. Austin, it's like,
• 43:31
  it's kind of just stand up right now. It's like
• 43:33
  there's not like a whole, you know, television
• 43:35
  scene here or there's not like, you know, I don't
• 43:39
  know. Like I just feel like LA, there's just
• 43:41
  so many, LA and New York, there's just so many
• 43:43
  more opportunities. But if you're just concentrating
• 43:45
  on stand up, it's very affordable to do it here
• 43:48
  and you can get a lot of stage time. And I think
• 43:51
  for certain people in certain areas, like that's
• 43:53
  going to be really good for them. Yeah. You know,
• 43:56
  actually, like you're kind of like open my eyes
• 43:57
  to like some things actually, like some things
• 43:59
  I've said on here because, you know, like, because
• 44:02
  I know that I've never, I've never been to, you
• 44:05
  know, LA or New York or nothing like that. I've
• 44:08
  been in New York, but not for comedy. So I know
• 44:11
  that, right. But I didn't realize that what I
• 44:13
  was saying, like how much I guess it was maybe,
• 44:15
  maybe the right word would be like privilege.
• 44:17
  That like when I first, when I first got here
• 44:20
  and I first like, you know, I was immediately
• 44:22
  like, I'm going to do stand up. and there were
• 44:24
  so many options to do it. I just opened up a
• 44:28
  book and I'm like, all right, I'll just go to
• 44:30
  stand up here, here, here, and here. Then at
• 44:33
  the time, I didn't know what the mothership even
• 44:37
  was. Sorry about those little bastards by the
• 44:39
  way. I've been trying to get rid of them for
• 44:40
  a week. But at the time, I didn't know what the
• 44:43
  mothership was. I go down there and then I see
• 44:48
  that and then I met one of the door guys. Everybody
• 44:51
  was there super nice, you know, he was really
• 44:53
  funny. Whoever that guy was, he was so funny.
• 44:56
  And, you know, even then, like I've heard like
• 44:58
  even some comedians on the show, like literally
• 45:01
  told me that the first, excuse me, that the first
• 45:04
  thing that, you know, they were able, like the
• 45:05
  first days that they were able to get one was
• 45:07
  actually at the mothership, which right now I'm
• 45:09
  like, it's fucking insane. You know, so, but
• 45:11
  it goes to show like how, what you're saying.
• 45:13
  More accessible. More accessible. It is. But
• 45:17
  what was your first impression having all the
• 45:21
  scenes and coming from New York and LA? What
• 45:23
  was your first impression of Austin? Was it a
• 45:26
  positive one or were you sitting there like,
• 45:29
  what were you thinking? If I'm going to be 1000
• 45:31
  % honest, I hated it. Before I moved here, I
• 45:36
  was visiting. I feature on the road a lot for
• 45:40
  Kurt Metzger. Kurt Metzger moved out to Austin.
• 45:44
  Um, and so I was just like doing a visit and
• 45:47
  just like doing a run and like, this is more
• 45:49
  so of like the actual city of Austin that I'm
• 45:52
  speaking on. Um, so small. It's so small. The
• 45:57
  fucking freeways. I can't, it's just, it angers
• 46:00
  me in a way where I go. someone's got to get
• 46:03
  a shot in the head for this. Like, what is happening
• 46:06
  here? I'm just so used to, like, it was such
• 46:12
  a culture shock. Again, I'm from Buffalo, so
• 46:13
  it's like I'm not from the same fancy place.
• 46:15
  But I'm from Buffalo, but I moved out to California
• 46:19
  in 2007. I was there for almost fucking, you
• 46:21
  know, up until last year. So it was almost 20
• 46:23
  years that I was in, you know. And so the thing
• 46:28
  that I'm so used to is it's like so many dense
• 46:31
  neighborhoods and like dense neighborhoods with
• 46:33
  like different ethnicities. Like this is like
• 46:36
  little Ethiopia. This is like little Italy. This
• 46:38
  is Taitown. This is Koreatown, Chinatown. And
• 46:42
  there's so many different like legit food spots
• 46:45
  with like people who don't even speak English.
• 46:47
  Like they're like legit from that country or
• 46:49
  whatever. and, like, you can immerse yourself
• 46:51
  in the culture. And, like, that's why I love
• 46:54
  New York and LA, because I've always been a person
• 46:55
  that, like, I don't know, I just, like, love
• 46:58
  learning about other people's cultures. Probably
• 46:59
  because, like, my family's, like, Puerto Rican
• 47:01
  and Irish, and I... One of my brothers, his dad
• 47:05
  is from Yemen. I was always around a lot of different,
• 47:08
  my babysitter, she wasn't really my babysitter,
• 47:10
  she was just my neighbor and my mom was never
• 47:12
  home and so she was just like, would be nice
• 47:13
  and feed me dinner. I'll watch your kid. Yeah,
• 47:17
  she's like, okay, your mom's not home, that's
• 47:19
  weird. But they were a black family and so I
• 47:22
  was just always around so many different races.
• 47:25
  and, you know, different types of people. And
• 47:27
  I just, I didn't even realize because again,
• 47:29
  I lived in New York and LA where it's like, that's
• 47:31
  just in your face everywhere. And then when I
• 47:33
  came here, it was like, none of that's here.
• 47:36
  Like it's very, it's very white cowboy culture
• 47:41
  or whatever. And that's fun. God bless. Like,
• 47:43
  you know, if you're, I, I'd say country is the
• 47:46
  music I listen, I'm the least educated on. And
• 47:51
  people are gonna be like, there's black people
• 47:52
  here, there's Mexican people. I know, but I'm
• 47:54
  saying like not in the numbers of where it is
• 47:56
  like in New York and LA. And it's so spread out.
• 48:01
  Um, again, there's not a lot of dense neighborhoods.
• 48:03
  Uh, there's so much construction on their one
• 48:06
  main freeway. So when I first moved here, uh,
• 48:09
  and it was during when all the fucking, what
• 48:11
  is it? The crickets are everywhere. Yeah. So
• 48:13
  I first got here, there's like crickets everywhere
• 48:15
  and there's no, there's no mountains. There's
• 48:18
  no, there's no palm trees. There's no ocean.
• 48:20
  So to me, in my opinion, I know I'm gonna get
• 48:23
  a lot of hate for it. I was just like, it's ugly.
• 48:25
  And again, I'm from an ugly ass place too. So
• 48:27
  it's like. Baby girl knows ugly. Okay, and to
• 48:31
  me Austin was ugly Especially coming from Southern,
• 48:34
  California where it's just the backdrop you could
• 48:37
  be in the parking lot of fucking Target and there's
• 48:39
  a see gorgeous mountains and Again, palm trees
• 48:42
  everywhere and the weather is like perfect all
• 48:44
  year round So when I first came here, I was like,
• 48:47
  I don't know what these people will talk about
• 48:49
  Austin like this place ain't it and then now
• 48:52
  Mind you, I had done stand -up in Texas before,
• 48:57
  like just featuring on the road for other people.
• 48:58
  I love Houston. I fucking love Houston and I
• 49:02
  love Dallas. Houston's my favorite though, because
• 49:04
  Houston is so diverse and it's so dense and there's
• 49:07
  so many different types of people and different
• 49:09
  types of food and different, like the buildings,
• 49:12
  it's just the architecture, like freeways make
• 49:15
  sense. So Austin just felt like, it just felt
• 49:20
  like, Like a girl with like you know who just
• 49:24
  cakes on her makeup And it's like she's got extensions
• 49:28
  in and lashes not saying that woman can be beautiful
• 49:30
  But it's like then when you see them like yeah,
• 49:33
  I feel say you're like this is very different
• 49:35
  right now So I felt like like it was like a lie.
• 49:38
  You know where people like it's this it's that
• 49:40
  it's this and that and I was like I don't see
• 49:43
  it um but then I moved here basically because
• 49:47
  I was I totaled my car in Los Angeles, and, like,
• 49:52
  at the same time, too, I, like, lost, like, two
• 49:55
  major streams of income that were kind of, like,
• 49:58
  comedy adjacent. I was, like, working in film
• 50:00
  production, and then I was, like, a booking producer
• 50:03
  for a podcast, and then I was, like, helping
• 50:07
  Kurt and Kyle. They had, like, a sketch show,
• 50:09
  and I was, like, getting paid to do that. But
• 50:11
  it was just, like, all these things, like, dried
• 50:12
  up, and then I got in a car accident, and then
• 50:14
  I was, like... I was like trying to get just
• 50:18
  like a normal job, but I was like, I don't really
• 50:21
  wanna get another job again. But then Kurt was
• 50:24
  out here and he's like, just come stay with me,
• 50:26
  like stay with me for a bit. And so my original
• 50:28
  plan was like, okay, I'm just gonna go to Austin,
• 50:30
  I'm gonna stay with them, stay at a three bedroom
• 50:32
  house, like a spare room. And I was like, I'll
• 50:35
  get on my feet, just get some money and then
• 50:36
  I'll go to New York. Because I was like, I don't
• 50:38
  have my car. So I was like, I might as well go
• 50:39
  to New York, I don't need a car. And then yeah,
• 50:43
  I got to audition. at the mothership and then
• 50:47
  Adam offered me a job. And I was like, OK, I
• 50:49
  don't really have any, you know, there's I have
• 50:54
  no like plan right now. And I was like, this
• 50:57
  is going to give me some stability of like having
• 51:00
  this paycheck. And yeah, that's kind of how I
• 51:05
  how I ended up staying. And yeah. And again,
• 51:09
  like everything I'm saying about Austin, that's
• 51:11
  just my physical like the appearance of the city.
• 51:14
  It's not like, you know, there's wonderful things
• 51:16
  about Austin, you know. And like I said, it was
• 51:20
  very easy to get stage time. It was like so easy
• 51:23
  where I was like, what? I was like, are you sure?
• 51:28
  Yeah, give it, give it. Yeah, sure. I'll do it.
• 51:30
  Everybody was just like nice and cool. There
• 51:33
  wasn't a lot of like, and the thing that is good
• 51:36
  because there aren't so many like, like I said,
• 51:39
  defined big scenes. It's kind of just all like
• 51:41
  one scene, even though like they do have like,
• 51:43
  you know, there are shows that like would be
• 51:45
  considered like, you know, more of like the alt
• 51:47
  side or whatever, but everybody does everything.
• 51:50
  And so it's not like, okay, we're this and we're
• 51:53
  this and we're this and we're that. Um, everybody
• 51:56
  can kind of go everywhere. Um, and, um, it's
• 52:00
  also like not as clicky, which is like super
• 52:02
  nice too. Like LA and New York like clicky as
• 52:05
  fuck. Um, yeah. And, uh, but it's like, that's
• 52:09
  fine. That's normal. Um, when you're, you know,
• 52:12
  when it's just so many more people and so many
• 52:14
  more scenes, it's going to happen. Uh, so I feel
• 52:17
  like Austin, yeah, there's, there's, it's good
• 52:21
  and there's, it's bad and it just depends on
• 52:23
  like where you're at and like what you need.
• 52:26
  Um, and so yeah, there's a lot of Austin that
• 52:28
  I do appreciate too. Oh yeah. Basically like,
• 52:31
  so you get the, uh, you get the audition to go
• 52:35
  to. the mothership and everything. So the mothership
• 52:40
  for me, my first impression of it was just like,
• 52:42
  oh, it's just another comedy club. But I didn't
• 52:44
  realize what it actually was like here. It seems
• 52:47
  like it's almost like a castle or something.
• 52:52
  you know that's up on the hill like you have
• 52:53
  to you got to try to get there yeah you got to
• 52:56
  work hard there did you find that that was kind
• 52:58
  of similar with like comedy clubs elsewhere as
• 53:00
  well yeah i mean i came from uh los angeles and
• 53:03
  the sore is the castle there and the sore and
• 53:05
  the cellar are like the two big i look at them
• 53:08
  like uh like uh like institutions like similar
• 53:12
  to like harvard yale stanford where it's like
• 53:14
  before, you know, the Ivy Leagues for comedy,
• 53:17
  it was just the seller and the store. Obviously,
• 53:20
  there's an improv of the Laugh Factory, but they
• 53:21
  don't have the same, they don't develop and build
• 53:24
  you in the same way that, like, the store and
• 53:26
  the seller do. So, the mothership opening up
• 53:30
  was, you know, and them doing the door guy system
• 53:33
  that they built off of, you know, the comedy
• 53:36
  store. That was, uh, now you're opening another
• 53:39
  Ivy League school in an area where, literally,
• 53:43
  Physically and metaphorically in the middle of
• 53:45
  these two places. Yeah, and so it just That's
• 53:49
  what I always say to words like the people who
• 53:51
  talk so much shit about LA and New York I'm like,
• 53:53
  I mean the people in LA and New York who talk
• 53:55
  so much shit about Austin I'm like you don't
• 53:57
  understand that like at the end of the day like
• 53:59
  this is good for all of comedians all of comedy
• 54:02
  because It gives, again, there's so much saturation
• 54:07
  of, you know, comedy in these two places that
• 54:10
  when you're opening this other place, it now
• 54:12
  is like another, you know, institution where
• 54:15
  you can kind of, you can build and you can develop
• 54:18
  and you can make money and you can, you know,
• 54:21
  have a base here where it's like, doesn't have
• 54:24
  to be just these two places. And again, these
• 54:27
  two places being very expensive and, you know,
• 54:30
  LA has the, LA is the best weather of. everybody.
• 54:33
  But New York, it's like you're dealing with winter,
• 54:35
  here you're dealing with like fucking brutal
• 54:36
  heat. But it's like at least now we just have
• 54:39
  more choice and we have more, you know, because
• 54:42
  anybody can come through. There's comics who
• 54:44
  come all the time from LA and New York. They
• 54:45
  stay here for a week. They get their stage time.
• 54:47
  They get paid a lot higher than they do at the
• 54:50
  other two clubs. And you can make a little bit
• 54:52
  of money. And again, you could certify your material
• 54:55
  because, you know, not always they're like the
• 54:57
  internal certifying material in the scenes. Externally,
• 55:01
  now you go to East Coast, you go West Coast,
• 55:03
  you go to the South, and it's like, you're like,
• 55:05
  okay, I can get three kind of different markets
• 55:09
  and really test my material. So I think, yeah,
• 55:13
  the mothership is for sure the castle out here.
• 55:16
  And again, there's some people in Austin who
• 55:18
  don't fuck with the mothership and there's people
• 55:22
  outside that don't fuck with it. And there's
• 55:23
  people, it's like, but at the end of the day,
• 55:25
  it's like, it's a club where you can make money.
• 55:28
  You could certify your material. And you could,
• 55:31
  if you wanted to, you could, you know, have your
• 55:34
  life base be out here. And so it's like, at the
• 55:35
  end of the day, the more options and choices
• 55:38
  we give comics, it's like, that's only going
• 55:40
  to be better for comedians. Yeah. It seems like,
• 55:43
  like sort of where I'm at, it seems like, yeah,
• 55:46
  this is like, that's the place that you strive
• 55:48
  to get on that stage. You know, I, when I first
• 55:52
  realized what it was, I would go and see, just
• 55:56
  I think at the time, like back in 23, I think
• 55:58
  it was, Joe Rogan and friends. They would just
• 56:01
  be the constant like every week, I would just
• 56:03
  wait for him to like put out that bulletin and
• 56:05
  I would just go see that because I would see
• 56:07
  a ton of these different comedians like get up
• 56:09
  there. And I was like, man, like, I didn't even
• 56:11
  like, for example, I didn't even know like Ron
• 56:13
  White was like still a thing at 23. And then
• 56:15
  I see him. I'm like, he's still this great. Yeah.
• 56:17
  You know, I was really super impressed with Asana
• 56:20
  Maude because he would just open up like he had
• 56:23
  this like killer like Jets joke that I really
• 56:27
  liked. And and so I guess what I'm getting at
• 56:30
  is you could see the community that you applied
• 56:34
  to and then you got accepted into and everything.
• 56:39
  Is this helping you as far as your comedy goes?
• 56:43
  Do you get all of these great things that help
• 56:48
  you fine -tune your own comedy? Do you get that
• 56:52
  a lot? Is that all you all just really go off
• 56:55
  of, bounce on? Yeah, you mean like with the other
• 56:59
  comics like or do you mean like just watching
• 57:01
  them or what do you mean? Yeah, I guess I'm kind
• 57:04
  of getting a sense of like how like like how
• 57:07
  that has helped you Yeah, sorry. Sometimes like
• 57:10
  sometimes I just go off because I get like so
• 57:12
  curious and excited. You're good Yeah, but um,
• 57:15
  but yeah, like how is how is being there amongst
• 57:17
  all of these comedians? How is that like helped
• 57:20
  you? Yeah, I mean, I think just being at any
• 57:22
  club It's like any club is gonna be beneficial
• 57:26
  where it's like, I mean, no matter what, if you're
• 57:28
  a comedian, you're gonna be around other comics.
• 57:30
  So it's like, you don't have to be at a club
• 57:33
  to get, like, you know, the inspiration or to
• 57:35
  get the camaraderie or to, you know, just learn
• 57:41
  a skill set, like, just by watching instead of
• 57:43
  performing sometimes. Just being around other
• 57:45
  comedians, you're gonna get that. But at a club
• 57:48
  specifically, what's gonna help you is... There's
• 57:52
  times where it's like when you're just like a
• 57:54
  regular comedian and again like I start working
• 57:56
  at the mothership when I was 11 years in so I
• 57:58
  was like pretty much like all of the nitty -gritty
• 58:02
  like work of a comic has already been done so
• 58:05
  it's like I've already like developed but the
• 58:08
  doesn't mean like you're not gonna develop other
• 58:10
  skills or whatever but the the thing that like
• 58:14
  a club will like really help you with is, so
• 58:17
  you're gonna see the same exact people over and
• 58:20
  over and over and over versus in regular comedy
• 58:22
  world. You might, again, I'm not talking about
• 58:24
  Austin, but in New York and LA, it'll be six
• 58:27
  months before I see this, and like, they're working,
• 58:29
  hustling all the time. I'm working and hustling
• 58:31
  all the time, but there's just so many scenes
• 58:33
  that it's like, and there's so many rooms that
• 58:35
  like, we're never on the same fucking lineup.
• 58:38
  Here... one, at the mothership, and two, in Austin,
• 58:41
  because it's so small, you're on the same lineup
• 58:43
  over and over and over with so many of the same
• 58:46
  people. Yeah. And so, um, uh, one, it helps you,
• 58:51
  because, like, sometimes as a comic, you just,
• 58:52
  like, beat yourself up, like, oh, I don't have
• 58:54
  a new joke, I don't have a new joke. Like, you're,
• 58:56
  you're thinking you gotta come up with it, like,
• 58:57
  you know, every two weeks or whatever, but then
• 58:59
  you're seeing, you're like, no, everybody's kind
• 59:01
  of, you know, you're, because you're just seeing
• 59:03
  it over and over and over. Yeah. And so it makes,
• 59:05
  makes you, at least for me, it makes me, like,
• 59:07
  hate myself less. And I think at a club too,
• 59:12
  like when the goal of a stand -up comic, you
• 59:15
  know, or at least a near goal is like you want
• 59:18
  to be your own headliner and you want to be working
• 59:20
  the clubs. So like touring. So pretty much when
• 59:24
  you tour, you're doing clubs. You're not doing
• 59:26
  these alt rooms. You're not doing these like,
• 59:29
  obviously it depends on the kind of comic you
• 59:30
  are. But for the most part, you're performing
• 59:32
  at a club. You're performing at a club that,
• 59:34
  you know, they have their system in place. And
• 59:38
  so it's like, you want to be as familiar with
• 59:43
  a club scene, club setting, club audience as
• 59:47
  much as possible. Because one day when you headline,
• 59:51
  that's all you're doing is you're going on the
• 59:53
  road doing clubs. So being in that environment
• 59:58
  and just like... learning how the flow of a club
• 1:00:03
  works, learning the typical audience. Fridays
• 1:00:07
  and Saturdays, you're going to get more bachelor
• 1:00:09
  and bachelorette parties. Fridays and Saturdays,
• 1:00:12
  you're also going to get more birthday parties.
• 1:00:14
  On certain nights, you're going to get a lot
• 1:00:15
  of couples. On Wednesdays, it's for whatever
• 1:00:18
  reason, especially if you live in a city where
• 1:00:20
  they have a lot of, what are these things called?
• 1:00:24
  Quinceañeras? No. Uh, like the different fricking,
• 1:00:29
  like the people who come in from out of town,
• 1:00:31
  like the different, they have the fucking lanyards.
• 1:00:34
  It's, uh. Oh, there's festivals. Conventions.
• 1:00:36
  Conventions. Yeah. Oh yeah, the Comic -Cons and
• 1:00:38
  stuff like that. Yeah. And on the, exactly. So
• 1:00:40
  it's like, you're learning how to perform in
• 1:00:42
  front of convention people. Like, cause there's
• 1:00:43
  so many times on Wednesdays and Thursdays at
• 1:00:45
  the mothership, it's literally a group of 40
• 1:00:47
  of them. And I know because I'm, you know, working
• 1:00:50
  there and I see that they're all from the same
• 1:00:52
  place and you're like, oh, okay. So like. you
• 1:00:54
  might want to do crowd work with this crowd of
• 1:00:56
  like, what's your guy's job? Who's the boss?
• 1:00:59
  Who makes the most money? Who do you hate at
• 1:01:01
  work? Like whatever, but it's like, you're not
• 1:01:03
  going to learn all those ins and outs, like,
• 1:01:05
  unless you're consistently like at a club, you
• 1:01:07
  know, and you're going to be way more comfortable
• 1:01:09
  at a club that you consistently perform at because
• 1:01:12
  you feel like you belong there. So it also allows
• 1:01:16
  you to feel like, okay, I can expand, I can spread
• 1:01:19
  my wings a little bit more. versus when you're
• 1:01:22
  just always doing these kind of like indie shows,
• 1:01:25
  whatever, you're not really building as much
• 1:01:28
  of a comfortability there because it's always
• 1:01:31
  like a new venue or whatever. Versus at a club
• 1:01:33
  that you're there every other fucking day. You
• 1:01:39
  just develop way more comfort. And so, yeah,
• 1:01:44
  I think it's just beneficial to be at a club
• 1:01:47
  as much as possible. Yeah, I think it's really
• 1:01:49
  awesome. I've always wanted to work in a place
• 1:01:54
  like that, like an environment like that, like
• 1:01:56
  surrounded by comedians, because I simply just
• 1:01:59
  want to learn, because I'm very aware that I'm
• 1:02:05
  very much in the learning stages, and it was
• 1:02:07
  something that I didn't realize that I would
• 1:02:10
  be in. But I feel like this is something that
• 1:02:12
  you're going to have to. like have an open mind
• 1:02:15
  about. Is there like a comedian, like I guess
• 1:02:18
  that you favor right now that you're just sort
• 1:02:20
  of like, I would really love to see them live.
• 1:02:22
  I really would love it. Like, I feel like I can
• 1:02:24
  learn something from it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
• 1:02:26
  I feel that way about so many comics, but just
• 1:02:29
  wanted to say something off you said. In the
• 1:02:31
  learning phase, you, to me, in my experience,
• 1:02:34
  the learning phase never ends. You're always
• 1:02:36
  like learning is just like in a different. you
• 1:02:38
  know, in a different position. Like, even if
• 1:02:40
  you are a world -touring headliner, it's like,
• 1:02:43
  okay, but then it's like, have you done an arena?
• 1:02:45
  Or they're gonna, you know, have you, like, uh,
• 1:02:48
  um, do you know how to perform, like, at a fucking
• 1:02:52
  award ceremony or what? Like, there's always
• 1:02:54
  gonna be, like, new things to, like, discover.
• 1:02:57
  And so, like, you're always gonna be looking
• 1:02:58
  up to your older comics as, like, people who
• 1:03:01
  can deliver information and that can, you know,
• 1:03:04
  give you cheat codes of, like, oh... X, Y, square,
• 1:03:07
  okay, that's how I do this. Okay, X, X, X, two
• 1:03:09
  Y, I don't know, video game, fucking paddles,
• 1:03:11
  but. Totally get it. Yeah, but yeah, so I mean,
• 1:03:16
  I'd say a comic that I have not seen live, like.
• 1:03:19
  Um, but I'm obsessed with them, probably John
• 1:03:21
  Mulaney. Um, I was gonna try to see him in Austin.
• 1:03:24
  I mean, thankfully, I've seen Louie live. I watched
• 1:03:26
  him because Kurt, uh, also used to open for Louie,
• 1:03:28
  or he still does like once in a while. And so,
• 1:03:30
  and I was opening for Kurt. So like we got, I
• 1:03:32
  got to go for one of his, uh, the special that
• 1:03:35
  he did at the Kodak Theater. Um, and, uh, I've
• 1:03:39
  also just seen him like at the improv or like
• 1:03:41
  at, um, at the cellar in New York. Uh, but John
• 1:03:44
  Mulaney is a person that I've not gotten to see
• 1:03:46
  live. Um, I also really love Maria Bamford. I've
• 1:03:50
  gotten to see her live. I love her. I love her
• 1:03:52
  so much. I've always loved her. You know, since
• 1:03:54
  those Comedy Central presents days, she was just
• 1:03:57
  fantastic. I've actually spoken about her a bunch
• 1:03:59
  on here. Yeah, she's great. I also, obviously,
• 1:04:03
  Norm MacDonald is dead, but that's a perfect
• 1:04:05
  example of a comic where it's like, okay, I'm
• 1:04:08
  not similar to this comic whatsoever, like in
• 1:04:11
  style or whatever, but. I appreciate him so much
• 1:04:15
  for, like, what he does and, like, who he is
• 1:04:18
  and just what he means to stand -up comedy, like,
• 1:04:21
  in general. But that's a person that it's like,
• 1:04:24
  I'll study and I'll watch. But again, he's so
• 1:04:26
  different from me. But it's like, I still just,
• 1:04:29
  yeah, just appreciate him so much. But that's
• 1:04:31
  a person I'm like, I mean, just even meeting
• 1:04:33
  Norm. I, yeah. Man, I love talking to Norm. Yeah.
• 1:04:39
  Man, I used to, like, I always send people to,
• 1:04:40
  like, moth joke or something like that. I just
• 1:04:44
  love just the brilliance of just him. Just how
• 1:04:48
  he's just him. He's so intelligent. I actually
• 1:04:52
  was going to do a mini documentary. I started
• 1:04:56
  putting all the clips together and everything.
• 1:04:58
  Then when I started looking into the copyright
• 1:05:01
  shit, I was like, fuck man, this is not going
• 1:05:03
  to be as easy as this. Have you read his book?
• 1:05:05
  No, I haven't. You got to read his book. I'm
• 1:05:08
  going to look into that. Norm's book, I'm gonna
• 1:05:10
  write that down. See, this is a big reason why
• 1:05:15
  I love this podcast. It's because I love, one,
• 1:05:17
  hearing experiences, and two, I love that you
• 1:05:21
  openly kind of share your knowledge. And I love
• 1:05:24
  that you put out there that it's a constant learning
• 1:05:27
  thing. Because I feel like just... you are a
• 1:05:34
  stand -up comic. I feel like in your, I guess,
• 1:05:38
  your spirit or whatever that you just know without
• 1:05:41
  a fraction of a doubt. Yeah. But have you ever
• 1:05:43
  found that you've doubted yourself? Have you
• 1:05:45
  ever been like, I don't know if this is what
• 1:05:47
  I want to do? Oh, all the time. All the time?
• 1:05:49
  All the time. All the time. I think the people,
• 1:05:53
  and again, this is my personal opinion, but I
• 1:05:55
  think the people who tend to be the actual funniest
• 1:05:58
  comics are the people who their soul has the
• 1:06:04
  most merit in our art form are the people who
• 1:06:07
  either want to kill themselves or they're always
• 1:06:10
  like, should I quit? Is this, you know, I think
• 1:06:13
  there's a comic is usually the person who can,
• 1:06:17
  you know, always be, always meet humility. I
• 1:06:22
  think that if you are always like, I got this
• 1:06:25
  all together and this is all right, you're probably
• 1:06:27
  not a good comic. Because at the end of the day,
• 1:06:29
  it's like a comedy, a comic is the person who
• 1:06:33
  can like narrate life, a person who can narrate
• 1:06:36
  a scene, a person who can narrate like a moment.
• 1:06:38
  And if you don't have the perspective, you don't
• 1:06:41
  have the, your perception is not. Truly like
• 1:06:44
  in tune if you're only seeing the good and that
• 1:06:47
  means that like your perspective isn't good because
• 1:06:49
  it's like the the more There is no such thing
• 1:06:52
  as like absolute good and absolute bad or absolute
• 1:06:54
  right absolute wrong So a comic is a person where
• 1:06:57
  it's like you're always able to scale back on
• 1:07:00
  either end whether it's in in anything You know,
• 1:07:03
  whether it's in politics whether it's in, you
• 1:07:05
  know a car accident whether it's in, you know
• 1:07:08
  How you feel of your self -worth? It's always
• 1:07:11
  like, you should be able to go all the way this
• 1:07:14
  way and all the way that way. Because that's
• 1:07:16
  what good comics do. That's what a person, not
• 1:07:19
  even a comic, but just a person who has, you
• 1:07:21
  know, self -awareness or a person who is highly
• 1:07:24
  perceptive is you have the ability to go this
• 1:07:26
  way, that way, this way, that way, this way.
• 1:07:29
  And so if a person is like, oh, I feel so solid
• 1:07:32
  and I feel so good, it's like, well, you're missing
• 1:07:34
  the whole rest of the picture. So I think that
• 1:07:38
  it's so normal and natural to to wanna fucking
• 1:07:41
  quit or to wanna give up or to think that you're
• 1:07:45
  bad at it or you should, like you should always
• 1:07:48
  think you're bad at it. Cause it's like, you
• 1:07:50
  think you're good at it, then it's like, there's
• 1:07:52
  no good comedy that's gonna come from that. Like
• 1:07:53
  I'm good at comedy. It's like, all right, like
• 1:07:56
  then it doesn't seem like there's much more to
• 1:07:58
  grow. Oh man, well, I think you kind of vindicated
• 1:08:01
  something in me because now I'm like, oh good,
• 1:08:03
  okay. Cause like for a minute there, I was like.
• 1:08:06
  Man, I really, really, really suck at this. Yeah,
• 1:08:08
  that's normal. Yeah. But there is times I do
• 1:08:12
  want to quit because I'm like, I just don't know
• 1:08:13
  if I'm a stand -up comedian. Yeah. But there's
• 1:08:17
  also a thing in me that I always have, I got
• 1:08:20
  to keep going. I got to just keep going. That's
• 1:08:24
  another thing I love about just comedians, is
• 1:08:27
  that you just keep getting up there all the time.
• 1:08:30
  So I guess my, you know, my next question would
• 1:08:32
  be like, where, where are you going from here?
• 1:08:33
  Like, do you have any kind of goals for your
• 1:08:35
  comedic journey? Yeah. Um, I mean, my big goal
• 1:08:38
  is to, I want to start doing my podcast again
• 1:08:41
  too. Um, and, um, I want to do that. I want to
• 1:08:45
  build my audience cause like my goal is like,
• 1:08:47
  I, you know, obviously I want to be headliner
• 1:08:49
  and I want to like have my own tour and be my
• 1:08:53
  own person. Um, and not constantly opening up
• 1:08:55
  for other people, even though like obviously
• 1:08:56
  I've totally enjoyed that and love that, but
• 1:08:59
  it's like. I, you know, you have your own voice,
• 1:09:01
  you have your own perspective, and it's like
• 1:09:04
  you want to find your tribe of people who are
• 1:09:06
  like, who understand your perspective, who understand
• 1:09:09
  your voice, and who, you know, they appreciate
• 1:09:14
  your humor, they appreciate, you know, the, what
• 1:09:18
  you're cooking up. And so like my goal is, yeah,
• 1:09:22
  I mean, I'm also not the kind of comic where
• 1:09:24
  it's like, you know, this could be to my detriment
• 1:09:27
  or whatever, but For whatever reason, I've never
• 1:09:31
  been in a comic where I'm like, I feel so compelled
• 1:09:34
  to be like, I constantly have to be putting out
• 1:09:36
  content, I have to do this, I have to do that.
• 1:09:37
  And I've definitely gone through phases, but
• 1:09:39
  then it's like after a month, I go, it's just
• 1:09:42
  not me. I don't feel, I'm so comfortable and
• 1:09:46
  confident in like who I am and like what I do
• 1:09:49
  that I don't feel like I have to... you know,
• 1:09:53
  force myself, because there's tons of ideas that
• 1:09:55
  I could do for content where I'm like, okay,
• 1:09:58
  this could get me a following, okay, this could
• 1:09:59
  get me a following. Obviously, I could just fucking
• 1:10:01
  be online in a fucking bikini, like, whatever.
• 1:10:04
  But it's like, I, that's just not what I want
• 1:10:07
  to do. Like I want to do it organically. And
• 1:10:10
  even just like I said, like little meme ideas
• 1:10:12
  or little like internet trends or something.
• 1:10:15
  It's like, yeah, you can quickly get, you know,
• 1:10:17
  an audience that way. But it's like I'm trying
• 1:10:20
  to build like a very savvy comedy crowd, like
• 1:10:26
  people who genuinely like appreciate this art
• 1:10:29
  form and are knowledgeable in this art form.
• 1:10:33
  Those are the, you know, it's kind of like David
• 1:10:36
  Tell where it's like David Tell, it's like he
• 1:10:37
  doesn't have five million followers, you know,
• 1:10:39
  but David Tell is like one of the fucking goats
• 1:10:42
  of all time, you know? He's amazing. Yes. Incredible.
• 1:10:45
  Yes. I've got to meet David Tell too. He doesn't
• 1:10:48
  know who I am. Yeah, but just like just seeing
• 1:10:51
  I'm like, oh my god, like you've fucking influenced
• 1:10:53
  me so much. Um, but uh, but yeah, it's like,
• 1:10:57
  you know, David Tell is not again. I mean, I
• 1:10:59
  don't know his personal choices. but it doesn't
• 1:11:02
  seem like he's this person where he's like he's
• 1:11:04
  trying to like jump on a trend or he's trying
• 1:11:06
  to keep up with the kids or he's trying it's
• 1:11:08
  like no he knows who he is he knows he's a goat
• 1:11:10
  all the comics you know who so many people are
• 1:11:14
  come under him and um they know that like he's
• 1:11:17
  a king and he's legit and it's like um you can
• 1:11:20
  chase the followers or you could chase the money
• 1:11:23
  or you can chase you know um, whatever it is
• 1:11:26
  that you need for like your validation. But I
• 1:11:28
  think for me, um, I just, the older I've gotten,
• 1:11:31
  I've just, uh, for sure have so much, uh, understanding
• 1:11:36
  and, uh, confidence like with myself and my self
• 1:11:39
  worth is definitely didn't used to be good, but,
• 1:11:43
  um, you know, where it's at now to where it's
• 1:11:45
  like, I'm not going to chase like bullshit. I
• 1:11:47
  want to build something that I'm passionate about
• 1:11:50
  that's organic and that's not me trying to be
• 1:11:52
  like, look at me, look at me, look at me. Like,
• 1:11:54
  I don't fucking need attention like that. And
• 1:11:56
  like, I mean, it's weird being a stand -up comedian
• 1:11:58
  because it's like, you feel like the people,
• 1:12:00
  most of these motherfuckers need attention. Most
• 1:12:02
  of these motherfuckers like didn't do their homework,
• 1:12:04
  don't know the fucking art form. They just want
• 1:12:06
  to be famous and that's why they're here. You
• 1:12:08
  could tell. You could tell on their jokes. Yeah.
• 1:12:10
  A thousand percent. But for me, I just think
• 1:12:14
  that's... That's just not how I get down and
• 1:12:16
  God bless anybody could do it anybody could do
• 1:12:19
  whatever they want but I just Yeah, I I don't
• 1:12:26
  need validation. I don't need attention and You
• 1:12:30
  know again, there's tons of times where I feel
• 1:12:32
  like I wish that I did because I would be so
• 1:12:36
  much more like Present online I'd be so much
• 1:12:39
  more like, you know wanting to build that fan
• 1:12:43
  base like in any way to where I could be like,
• 1:12:46
  okay, I have my 500 ,000 followers or I have
• 1:12:48
  my million subscribers, whatever it is. But to
• 1:12:51
  me, I'm like, I don't want to, I don't want just
• 1:12:57
  like surface attention. Yeah, totally get it.
• 1:13:02
  Yeah. I'm in the same way. So think about...
• 1:13:07
  the people that have followed the podcast, for
• 1:13:10
  example, and stuff like that. I'm very grateful
• 1:13:12
  for it because to me, it's quality over quantity
• 1:13:15
  kind of thing. I'm not really worried about the
• 1:13:18
  millions and millions of viewers or nothing like
• 1:13:21
  that. I just want everybody who likes it to actually
• 1:13:24
  like it. That's really a big reason why, and
• 1:13:27
  I know I told you this before, is the reason
• 1:13:29
  why I wanted to get you on is because I saw you,
• 1:13:31
  I really liked your stuff, I was a fan. You spoke
• 1:13:34
  a second ago about that. uh, you know, just,
• 1:13:38
  you know, your quality, you know? And, uh, and
• 1:13:42
  a lot of times, like, when I identify things
• 1:13:44
  in comedians, like, I'll identify their, their
• 1:13:47
  structure, you know? And that's like, that to
• 1:13:50
  me is like a huge, like, indicator that, man,
• 1:13:53
  I'm like, that's something that I'm still like,
• 1:13:55
  I want to learn from. And I love that they're
• 1:13:57
  doing it. You know, David Tell is like a fucking
• 1:13:59
  master. Powerhouse. He says shit that I'm, like,
• 1:14:03
  he does his jokes. I'm like, how did he do that?
• 1:14:06
  Totally. All the time. It's like watching a magician.
• 1:14:08
  Yep. You know, you're just like, how did he do
• 1:14:10
  that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Absolutely.
• 1:14:11
  It's like, will I ever be there? It's like, maybe,
• 1:14:14
  but probably not. But that's the beauty of it
• 1:14:16
  though. Right. That's the beauty of it. And you'll
• 1:14:17
  be, you'll do something in your own way where
• 1:14:19
  other people will be like, well, how do you do
• 1:14:21
  that? It's like, it's not going to be a replica
• 1:14:23
  of what Dave Patel is doing because that's what
• 1:14:25
  Dave Patel is so good at, you know? Yeah. But
• 1:14:28
  yeah, and it doesn't mean that like, you know,
• 1:14:31
  at least for me, like that one day it's like,
• 1:14:32
  yeah, that I... Of course, if I had millions
• 1:14:35
  of followers, like, I would enjoy it. But I'm
• 1:14:37
  only gonna get there if I'm building the things
• 1:14:40
  that I am organically, like, passionate about.
• 1:14:43
  And it's not me trying to strive for followers.
• 1:14:46
  It's me, like, putting out my work. And if it
• 1:14:49
  just, if it naturally happened, then I would
• 1:14:51
  be like, okay. But, like, I'm not, like, fishing
• 1:14:53
  for people. I'm, like, I'm showing what I like
• 1:14:58
  or showing what I do. And if they come along,
• 1:15:00
  then, like, that's great. But, um, I do have
• 1:15:02
  to be better about being online. I just fucking
• 1:15:04
  hate it so much. Um, but yeah, but yeah, I want
• 1:15:08
  to be a big headliner. I want to, I mean, I kind
• 1:15:11
  of want people, you know, whatever with Louis,
• 1:15:13
  but I kind of want Louis CK's career where it's
• 1:15:16
  like, you know, he's an amazing, um, standup
• 1:15:19
  comedian, award winning standup comedian, but
• 1:15:22
  then also had a series Louis, one of my favorite
• 1:15:25
  shows of all time. Um, I want to have like my
• 1:15:28
  own series that I write direct. I probably won't
• 1:15:30
  act in it. I've more so I don't necessarily love
• 1:15:34
  I don't really care about that maybe but whatever
• 1:15:37
  but um but I want to write direct edit it um
• 1:15:41
  and I want to produce for other people and direct
• 1:15:44
  for other artists too um yeah That right there,
• 1:15:49
  that dream or whatever, that's something similar
• 1:15:51
  that I would love to get into. I don't know how
• 1:15:55
  LA operates. I've never been there. I have done
• 1:15:57
  extra work and I've spoken about it before, just
• 1:15:59
  being extra in movies and seeing that process
• 1:16:02
  and in this one on a much, much more miniature
• 1:16:07
  scale. But I'm kind of like you. It's so weird
• 1:16:13
  and awkward to me putting myself in front of
• 1:16:15
  the camera. I know it's necessary because I want
• 1:16:18
  this to be a video podcast. But there's a big
• 1:16:22
  thing in me that was like, oh man, I had this
• 1:16:25
  little mascot that I made. I named him Boom and
• 1:16:28
  he's like this little guy right here. So I made
• 1:16:31
  that to be like. look at this, you know? Yeah.
• 1:16:35
  And then the research was sort of like, shit,
• 1:16:37
  unfortunately I have to get in front of the camera.
• 1:16:38
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, that kind of thing.
• 1:16:40
  But yeah, when you mentioned like, you know,
• 1:16:43
  when you mentioned Louis C .K. and he's another
• 1:16:45
  one, you know, he'll say things and I'm like,
• 1:16:47
  how the fuck did he do that? I know. Where did
• 1:16:49
  he come up with that? You know, it's really beautiful.
• 1:16:51
  He's a philosopher, yeah. Yeah, he is. He's so,
• 1:16:53
  he's a philosopher. He's so intelligent, you
• 1:16:56
  know, and. You know, you learn from them. You
• 1:16:58
  learn from people better than you. And since
• 1:17:00
  there's always going to be better than you, it's
• 1:17:01
  just like you said. It's like there's always
• 1:17:03
  going to be a practice and everything. But is
• 1:17:06
  there anything that you want to put out before,
• 1:17:08
  like a wrap up? No, I mean, you can follow me
• 1:17:12
  on Instagram or on YouTube. Start building that
• 1:17:16
  back up. It's just my name, Monterey, M -O -N
• 1:17:18
  -A -R -E -Y. You'll find me. But yeah, pretty
• 1:17:22
  much. Oh, yeah. Well, thank you so much. I really
• 1:17:26
  appreciate you doing this. I really enjoyed having
• 1:17:28
  you on. I learned a lot, and, you know, best
• 1:17:31
  of luck in your career. I hope that you go super,
• 1:17:34
  super, super far, like, because you're really,
• 1:17:36
  really funny. Aw, thanks. I appreciate you. And
• 1:17:40
  that's it. That's a wrap. Thank you. That's it.
• 1:17:51
  dharmadhira bhamanam dharmadhira bhamanam dharmadhira