Latest / Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast / ONLY BOMBS! 21: Keegan Carmychael

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ONLY BOMBS! 21: Keegan Carmychael · Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast

0:49
Hey man, thank you for doing this, dude. Yeah,
0:53
yeah. Hell yeah, yeah, yeah, man. How's everything
0:56
been, man? How's comedy been for you? It sucks,
0:59
man. Why does it suck, man? I don't want to do
1:03
this. Do you enjoy comedy? Yeah, it's funny.
1:06
Doing it? You enjoy doing it? I don't, man. Yeah?
1:09
Why don't you enjoy doing it? This is the last
1:11
resort. Because people are always... People always
1:15
ask me, they're like, should I get into comedy?
1:17
I'm like, no. If your life is a little bit good,
1:22
like if you have a nice place to live, a car,
1:27
if you have a nice woman in your life, a family,
1:29
don't do this. Run away. Why not do it though?
1:35
Are you finding challenges like this in comedy?
1:38
I don't think it's as glamorous. I think the
1:42
fantasy of comedy is much better than the reality.
1:47
Yeah. They make it seem like you're going to
1:51
be the fighter pilot next thing you know. You're
1:55
homeless and in your car for a while. Yeah. I
1:59
think homelessness is the natural trajectory
2:02
of being a comedian. Yeah. So you went through
2:06
that too? You were homeless for a bit? I've been
2:08
homeless a lot. Yeah. How do you treat that?
2:11
Do you just try to find jobs and things like
2:14
that and then you just... Like do comedy at night
2:17
or something or I? I eventually I gave up looking
2:21
for a job like I used to go to the library and
2:23
apply to jobs well freaking day eventually I
2:27
like gave up and I literally just had to get
2:30
on an e -bike and door -dash That's the only
2:33
way and it and actually make more money doing
2:35
that than most jobs anyway, so it's fun Do you
2:38
have any crazy stories from just doing that?
2:40
I feel like I feel like there would be a bunch
2:42
of shit from door dashing Yeah from just being
2:45
on a bike just out and just getting the food
2:47
and everything People recognize me a lot. That's
2:50
weird. It's very strange to be like Recognizable
2:55
and like moderately famous like very moderately
2:59
famous, but then like I'm still door dashing
3:02
So it's always weird I get a lot of love like
3:05
people see me on the street They say nice things
3:08
to me and I'm like, yeah, I'm still on a bike
3:10
door dashing. It's weird. Yeah sucks That sucks,
3:14
man. I used to doordash, too, and I fucking hated
3:18
it, so I can only imagine trying to do it all
3:21
the time. But it's better than working any regular
3:24
job, like in a factory or something. Do you have
3:28
any kind of professions other than comedy? Well,
3:32
I was a truck driver. I drove semi -trucks. Oh,
3:36
no shit. Yeah. Truck driving is the only thing
3:39
that can make you more suicidal than comedy.
3:41
So, it's the worst. You gotta live over the road.
3:48
No one to talk to. No one to fuck. You have yourself,
3:54
man. You work 14 hours a day. I used to work
4:00
70 hours a week for $300. What? Not in trucks?
4:05
Yeah. No way. And I'll call them out too. Werner.
4:14
Okay. Werner got hit with the class action lawsuit.
4:19
And like three years later, I finally got the
4:22
results of it. They're like, it's like an $18
4:26
million lawsuit. Find out what you're getting
4:29
paid. And I clicked on it. I got $57. No, you
4:35
have 57 bucks out of 18 million. I got 57 bucks.
4:39
Oh my gosh, dude I know you're talking about
4:42
I did one of the class action suits and I got
4:43
like I think like a quarter or something like
4:46
that Yeah, I was like it was more it was wasted
4:48
more time trying to get it Exactly. Yeah the
4:51
whole time I was working for them like this this
4:53
ain't legal. There's no way this is legal No,
4:56
did you ever like try like hot shotting or anything
4:58
like that? No Truck driving, it's really hard
5:04
to make money in truck driving right now. The
5:07
government kind of ruins everything. And it's
5:13
just so, like the cost, the cost to run your
5:17
own business now in trucking is insane. They're
5:20
trying to get rid of like the independent truckers.
5:23
So everybody has to work for a company. And when
5:26
you work for a company, it's really hard to.
5:30
Make a good living in truck driving. Yeah, I
5:33
bet. Is that how you ended up in all these other
5:35
like cities? Truck driving or was that just you
5:38
independently going out there? No, I was never
5:40
um, I was never truck driving doing comedy. Um,
5:45
actually I lost my house in Mississippi So that's
5:47
when I got back in the semi truck. Thankfully
5:49
I was sober enough at the time to pass a drug
5:52
test or else I would have really been screwed
5:54
So I just had to live out of the truck for a
5:57
little bit And then I did six more months of
5:59
that. I was like, I can't, I'm done with this.
6:03
And the only reason I got into comedy was I was
6:06
literally just listening to the Rogan podcast
6:11
and they mentioned the mothership. So I went
6:13
to Austin for like two months just to see what
6:16
it was about. Oh yeah. You just came here and
6:19
just started doing open mics? Yeah. I was really
6:22
like unsatisfied with it. So I went to LA for
6:24
a while. LA is where I really got better. What's
6:28
that scene like? In terms of the big three, in
6:30
terms of like L .A., Austin, New York, I think
6:34
the open mic scene in L .A. is the best. And
6:38
I think you're able to get better. It is tough.
6:43
There's a lot of people pleasers. In L .A., there's
6:48
a lot of comics just playing the political game
6:52
to get booked. And because that gets rewarded
6:56
in L .A. Oh, okay. I guess if you do want to
7:00
be a little more edgy, you probably got to go
7:02
to Austin or New York even. That's why I have
7:06
like LA friends who hit me up. They're like,
7:08
well, I just can't take it out here. I want to
7:10
come to Austin. I'm like, I don't really think
7:15
you, it's just, to me, it's really hard to get
7:17
good in Austin. Yeah. Nah, man, I don't know
7:22
anything about LA, like, but I just have like
7:25
this sort of Like sort of like idea about what
7:28
I think it might be like, you know, like I guess
7:31
in my head I think automatically I'm like it's
7:33
gonna be a bunch of like fake people and you
7:36
know Nobody's gonna be like saying like real
7:38
shit. Is that like accurate or you think that's
7:40
more like it's accurate in terms of like fake
7:42
people first of all first things first I met
7:45
a lot of great people and there's a lot of freaking
7:47
awesome people in LA, but there are a lot of
7:50
people who like just Say what they need to say
7:56
to get booked. Um, in terms like the political
7:59
side. And I don't even do politics in my comedy.
8:03
Um, but like, yeah, if you lean hard left and
8:07
do left humor in LA, you'll get rewarded for
8:11
it, and that's just the reality. So yeah, I don't
8:14
know. That's just how it is. And it sucks. I
8:15
just think if you can make the crowd laugh, that's
8:18
what should get rewarded, but it's just not the
8:20
case, you know. Yeah. Is that why you chose like
8:22
to kind of do one liners? Is it because you just
8:24
wanted to get people laughing like right off
8:26
the bat? Well, what's interesting, the reason
8:29
I started doing the one liners is because in
8:33
case I ever got, in case I ever got on Kill Tony,
8:36
I wanted to be able to do quick jokes in a minute.
8:39
Yeah. But then it took me a year and a half to
8:41
get pulled and I just started kind of falling
8:46
in love with doing the one liners. Oh, okay.
8:50
My favorite comedian was always Demetri Martin.
8:53
Great comedian. He explained one time how a joke
8:58
is like a puzzle. Once I understood what he meant
9:03
by that, it became so fun to me to put that puzzle
9:07
together. To me, it's a lot more fun to write
9:11
those one -liners than it is to just write long
9:16
stories. You know, do long stories. Yeah. What,
9:20
uh, so what did he say about that? What was the
9:21
puzzle? Um, basically, so basically people laugh
9:26
when they make the connection. So when you're
9:29
writing a joke, you have to get two things to
9:31
connect. Right. So like it's very literal when
9:35
you, like you, they have to get it to laugh.
9:40
So it's fun to like be like, okay, what does
9:43
this do? And then what else does that? and you
9:47
connect them together for the joke and then they
9:50
get it. That's the puzzle. It's just making two
9:52
things connect. Yeah. Do you find it easy to
9:55
make those connections or? Um, it gets a lot
9:58
easier. You have to train your brain to do it.
10:00
Um, cause like people, people tell me all the
10:03
time, they're like, Oh, one lighter comedy. That's
10:07
the hardest form of comedy, but they really just
10:10
need to train their brain to do it. Once you
10:12
know how to do it, the jokes kind of just come
10:15
to you. Mm -hmm. Like I don't ever look for jokes.
10:18
I don't ever I don't I don't write Like I don't
10:22
sit down and write I literally just let everything
10:24
come to me You have to let the joke just hit
10:27
you and it's cool when it'll hit you at any time
10:30
Thanks. So like is there so there's nothing that
10:33
you just kind of do to pull inspiration from
10:35
anywhere You just kind of just combs organically.
10:37
Yeah, I always let it happen organically. Um
10:40
the last like six months I pretty much just like
10:44
get high for two weeks straight. Everything like
10:47
just filters into me during those two weeks.
10:51
And then I cycle off for two weeks to lower my
10:55
tolerance. I only do it when I'm high because
11:00
it just comes to me. You're kind of freeing.
11:04
Yeah. I pretty much just lay down in bed and
11:09
get high and everything comes to me. That's just
11:13
the reality. Do you find that one particular
11:16
substance helps you more than others? Does weed
11:18
help you better? I have a secret weapon, but
11:22
I'm not going to reveal it because then everyone's
11:25
going to start doing it. That's right. Don't
11:27
reveal the secrets, man. No, there's a certain
11:31
variant of THC that people aren't using that's
11:35
very potent. There's a gummy that has it with
11:38
some other stuff and it gives me where I need
11:41
to get to. and just everything flows to me. Dude,
11:44
I love those gummies, man. I know what you're
11:46
talking about, though, like, because a lot of
11:47
times if I'll take the gummies, I could sit and
11:50
actually, like, if I'm stuck on a joke, I can
11:52
sit and it will just, like, it'll just kind of,
11:54
like, flow out. I'll just get into, like, this
11:56
flow state and I'll just come up with a bunch
11:57
of tags. But I don't, like, so what I do is,
12:00
like, when I write, I'll kind of, like, write
12:02
down, like, a whole big long thing. and kind
12:05
of like trim it down. So to hear that, are you
12:07
always just thinking about jokes? Like always?
12:10
Yes and no. Okay. Because I'm never forcing it,
12:15
but I'm always letting it happen. Oh, okay. You
12:20
have to find that balance. Like I'm never gonna
12:22
be like, look at that. Let me make a joke about
12:26
that. I'm just gonna look at it and if it hits
12:30
me, it hits me. It's just there, you know? But
12:33
I also believe in putting stuff in your mind
12:38
and just letting it incubate. And a couple months
12:43
later, it'll just hit me. You're like, oh, that
12:46
thing I saw then, oh, now it works. It'll just
12:50
hit, I don't know how to explain it. Stuff just
12:52
hits me. I don't force it, it just comes to me.
12:56
It makes sense though. So do you have, what separates
13:00
a good joke from a bad joke in that? the structure
13:05
is much more important than the idea. This is
13:09
actually something I talk about in my Kill Tony
13:12
interview coming up. Tony kind of asked me the
13:15
same thing, and I explained to him, dude, I got,
13:19
a few weeks ago when I was super high, and I
13:24
had this revelation of joke writing, and I literally,
13:28
I go on Kill Tony and I tell him, No, I'm in
13:32
the process of rewriting 1500 jokes right now
13:35
because I just realized how the structure is
13:38
so much important than the idea. Basically, you
13:41
make a statement, but you have to pivot. I call
13:45
it the ghost pivot, but because therefore so.
13:47
If you can use those words without saying them
13:50
out loud and then push the punch to the very
13:56
last word. That is the most successful joke.
14:00
No one's going to understand what I'm saying.
14:02
I totally know. But it makes sense. Trust me.
14:09
Yeah, it makes sense to you. And that's what's
14:12
most important, man. But you can see it, dude,
14:14
because you're up there and you're getting laughs
14:16
from this. Whatever you're doing, you're doing
14:18
it right, man. People think you're hilarious.
14:22
I haven't even scratched the surface of my potential
14:27
because Like I just keep learning and I feel
14:30
like I've really like pivoted the last couple
14:34
months in my joke writing and really learning
14:37
like the formula I guess. A lot of people run
14:41
over their punch lines. You have to end on a
14:45
word that's punchy and a lot of people just run
14:48
right over the punch line. They don't give the
14:50
crowd that time to laugh. So a lot of times a
14:54
comic will say a funny idea, but nobody laughs.
15:00
And they're wondering, why did nobody laugh at
15:03
that? Because you had a funny idea, but you had
15:07
no idea how to structure it. You have to structure
15:09
things in a way that's designed to make people
15:12
laugh. Yeah. Do you ever, like you go out to
15:15
open mics and do you see that a lot? Do you see
15:17
people doing that a lot? Like where they just,
15:19
you're like, dude, that's such a good idea, but
15:21
they just didn't execute it? Yeah. Oh, all the
15:23
time. And it's not just open micers. I mean,
15:26
it's, you know, more established people as well.
15:29
They'll kind of go like, why did nobody laugh
15:32
at that? That's funny. Yeah. Yeah. It's because
15:35
it was funny. You just didn't put it in the form
15:38
of a joke to make people laugh. That's the biggest
15:41
mistake people make in their joke telling is
15:45
they run over the punch line. Yeah. You have
15:47
to make it obvious that this is where you laugh.
15:52
Know exactly what you're talking about when I
15:54
because there's been times I go out there and
15:56
you'll see somebody just Automatically like say
15:58
their own joke and just get completely deflated
16:00
You know just by just by like the flatlining.
16:03
I mean shit. I've fucking I've done that You
16:06
know what I mean? Like how do you handle things
16:08
like like feeling like you're bombing? Something
16:11
I've gotten so much better at Recently is when
16:15
I am bombing mm -hmm. I'm not bombing I think
16:19
the best comedians, even when they're bombing,
16:21
you can't tell because they're so good at playing
16:25
it off. If the crowd doesn't react well to a
16:29
joke, I'm able to play it off so well now that
16:32
I can get a laugh by playing it off. And all
16:36
this comedy is is building tension and breaking
16:39
it. So if I say something and they don't laugh,
16:43
that's fine because what just happened is I built
16:46
more I built more tension. Yeah. So now I get
16:51
an opportunity to break that tension again. Yeah.
16:55
Do you have like just jokes, like just ready
16:58
to go just in case that happens? Yeah, like playing
17:03
things off. Yeah. I think that's, I think that's
17:06
what really separates an open mic 'er and an
17:11
experienced comedian is when it's not going well,
17:15
You know what to say immediately to turn it around.
17:20
Yeah, so yeah, I'm getting very I'm getting much
17:24
better at um Having things ready to go for certain
17:28
situations. Oh, yeah What was it was that also
17:32
a pivotal moment when you figured that out about
17:33
yourself? It's a game -changer Yeah, because
17:36
before um, you know a lot of early comics when
17:40
the sets not going well They just don't know
17:42
how to play it off right and turn it around and
17:45
then you're up there for like 10 minutes and
17:48
it's super awkward. Yeah. But if you know how
17:52
to lean into that tension and break it, I think
17:55
that's the thing about doing standup is it's
17:57
really hard to understand things until you figure
18:00
them out. I know that's dumb to say, but it's
18:03
a feeling. No, yeah. It's kind of like learning.
18:07
Uh, you know, like learning the ropes, like there's
18:08
a, there's a way that you do this. You know what
18:11
I mean? Exactly. You know, it's like, I was telling,
18:14
I was telling somebody that's it's almost like,
18:16
uh, like, so I play guitar and I was like, dude,
18:19
it's kind of like playing guitar really. It's
18:21
like, it's a, yeah, you start off and you're
18:23
shitty as fuck. And then you slowly learn how
18:26
to like put things together that work for you,
18:29
you know, and then becomes your song. Yeah. And
18:32
I was, I was literally just going to bring up
18:35
a guitar analogy. There's like this great quote,
18:38
he talks about like, you spend all this time
18:41
learning everything about the guitar and you
18:43
got to think so much, so much, so much. And eventually
18:46
you just get to turn your brain off and play.
18:51
That's a point where I'm getting to in my standup
18:55
is when I go up there, I can just turn my brain
18:59
off and play because whatever the situation is,
19:04
I know which notes to hit. Because the crowd
19:08
is part of the instrument. The crowd wants to
19:11
be heard, too. And you have to know how to play
19:15
the instrument that is the crowd. Man, yeah,
19:18
that's good, dude. Once you figure that out,
19:21
you start getting a lot better at stand -up.
19:24
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's good, man. That's good.
19:27
And that really kind of hits me because I think
19:30
back to when I was on Killtonian, I've mentioned
19:33
doing here a bunch. because I was on Killtony
19:35
right and I went and I said my jokes but I remember
19:38
like I had to like seriously like super think
19:40
about everything I do with my jokes and then
19:42
I told him I played guitar and they gave me a
19:44
guitar and I just played it. You know what I
19:46
mean? It's like, but it wasn't like, you know,
19:48
the reverse. I was thinking super heavily about
19:50
my jokes, but with the guitar, I was like, oh
19:52
yeah, fuck it, I can just do it. And so it's
19:54
kind of like, yeah, so what you're saying is
19:55
sort of like, man, if I could just get that way
19:57
about my jokes, you know, I would be good to
20:00
go, you know? So that's pretty good, man. That's
20:02
pretty good. Do you like, do you find yourself
20:04
like just sort of like reflecting on your joke
20:08
writing and on like your sets at the end of the
20:10
night or anything like that or? I don't really
20:13
like think about... a set when I'm done with
20:16
it. I'm very much based on feel. I don't really
20:22
think about things, I just feel them. I remember
20:25
when I was bus driving, I was training to be
20:28
a bus driver. And I already had experience driving
20:32
semi -trucks, which is way harder than driving
20:34
a bus, right? And when I was training to drive
20:36
the bus, the trainer would tell me all this shit.
20:39
When you get here, do this, five paces, look
20:43
at this, turn that, I'm like... Shut the fuck
20:45
up. That's not how my brain works. I'm all feel.
20:49
All feel. Just let me do the damn thing. That's
20:54
how I am with comedy. I'm not... It's all feel.
20:57
So like when I'm done with the set, I don't really
20:59
have to think about it and analyze it. I've...
21:03
I've felt it. You've felt it. And I know how
21:06
to react after. Yeah. Dude, so you have like
21:10
a... How many freaking like one -liners that
21:13
you can go off of? Do you have any idea? On my
21:17
laptop, it's up to like 1 ,500. But that doesn't
21:21
mean they're all good. A lot of them suck. But
21:24
it's important. So one of the best pieces of
21:28
advice I heard was from one of the writers of
21:31
Rick and Morty. He said, write the bad stuff.
21:37
So when I have an idea, and I know it's probably
21:40
not good, I still write it down. Because what
21:44
you don't wanna do is get in the habit of saying,
21:47
that's not good, I don't need to write it down.
21:50
Because then you're gonna think that about everything.
21:52
Eventually, you're not gonna write anything.
21:54
So, whatever joke I have, I still write it down.
21:59
And I like to go try it. Because, look, I don't
22:03
know everything. Something I think is stupid,
22:06
sometimes it works. And then sometimes the ones
22:09
I think are really good. They don't work so well.
22:14
Yeah. That's good right there. Yeah. Cause you
22:16
don't know what other people are thinking, you
22:17
know? Yeah. What I, um, I used to, I would say
22:22
like the first like two years of, of comedy,
22:26
like I was really more complex and I had to come
22:30
to the realization of you got to dumb it way
22:35
down. And that's not being disrespectful to the
22:39
audience. I'm not saying the audience is dumb,
22:41
but I need to get them to laugh. And for you
22:45
to laugh, you gotta get it quick, you know? Because
22:48
if I might say something complex, and you might
22:51
sit there and go, oh, okay, that's good, that's
22:56
funny. But it doesn't matter, because you're
22:58
gonna laugh. Right, right. And by the time they
23:00
get it, you're already moving on. Yeah, exactly.
23:03
Yeah. Man, I had this, uh, I had this toilet
23:06
joke that did that. Like, and I forgot what the
23:09
punchline was now, but like, but, uh, but yeah,
23:11
it was like, for some reason I was like, oh man,
23:13
this is going to be good. And then I get up there
23:15
and it was like, it fucking, it just sucked.
23:17
Like nobody fucking liked it like ever. You know,
23:19
but it was funny because I began my next joke
23:21
and then all of a sudden people just like started
23:23
laughing, you know? So do you take like, when
23:26
you go out there, do you take like your, you
23:28
know, your best jokes of the night and like move
23:29
them over to try to like, like the Chris Rock
23:32
thing, you know? Um, I don't know. What does
23:35
that mean? So, apparently what Chris Rock did
23:37
was he would go, he would have like a new set,
23:40
right? And he would, and I just saw this like,
23:41
like on Instagram somewhere. But like, but he
23:43
would take the set and he would say the jokes,
23:46
right? And then he would put the jokes that did
23:48
well in like a green column and then the jokes
23:51
that didn't do well in a purple column. And the
23:53
next time he took all the green ones and he moved
23:56
it over, you know, and basically he kept moving
23:59
over the columns until he had all green. So people
24:02
were like, oh, how did Chris Rock do it? And
24:04
it's like, he did that. Do you have like, kind
24:05
of like, a kind of same sort of thing? Um, yeah,
24:08
so I get what you're saying. And, um, sort of.
24:14
Sort of? So, um, I know the jokes that are gonna
24:21
pop well. And... I like to put in jokes that
24:28
I know aren't gonna do as well in between things.
24:32
Because it goes back to what I said earlier about
24:34
building tension. Yeah. Sometimes I want... I
24:39
don't know if this is gonna sound super arrogant.
24:41
I'm not acting like I'm the greatest comedian
24:43
ever, because I'm not and I have so long to go.
24:46
But I do tell jokes that I know aren't gonna
24:48
work. Strictly to build tension. So I do have
24:55
jokes. Yes. I guess to your analogy. Yes. I have
24:58
green jokes. Sure. But I have jokes that are
25:02
more red. Gotcha. And I mix them in to build
25:06
tension. It's something, it's something I kind
25:10
of learned from Harland Williams. I feel like
25:13
Harland, I picked up on Harland doing this. He
25:17
says stuff that he knows isn't going to work.
25:21
But that's why it's funny. And what it does is
25:24
it builds so much tension. So then when you really
25:28
have a green joke, boom, now that thing's really
25:31
gonna pop more. It's something I've been messing
25:34
around with. That's pretty cool though. I didn't
25:37
even think to do that, man. I just tell people
25:41
that my whole set is pretty much shitty. You
25:46
know, but uh, but no man, that's pretty cool
25:49
Like so was it harland williams that kind of
25:50
gave you that sort of inspiration to do that
25:52
Or was that something that you just kind of naturally
25:54
fell into? Um Harland and William So William
26:01
Montgomery, I don't know. This is gonna sound
26:03
really bad and I'm sorry William Sometimes I
26:07
think William does it too. He says something
26:10
that's he knows probably isn't gonna work. Yeah,
26:13
but it builds more tension. I know I keep reiterating
26:17
it, but it's all about building tension and breaking
26:20
it. It really is. So, yeah. And that's what I
26:24
learned from Jordan Peele. Because Jordan Peele,
26:27
great comedy writer, amazing whore story writer.
26:35
And he has this quote, he's like, comedy and
26:37
whore is the same thing. It's building tension
26:39
and releasing it strategically. Yeah, yeah. grasped
26:45
that, I really started messing around with structuring
26:51
my sets differently. Don't just have all the
26:57
green jokes in order. Throw in some stuff that
27:01
doesn't work as well to build tension. Yeah,
27:07
no, it makes sense, because that was something
27:08
that I was sort of learning too. about what that
27:11
looks like. Because I think that whenever I went
27:13
out and I started doing comedy, like, I would
27:14
just give the audience everything. You know what
27:17
I mean? Like, I wouldn't create that tension
27:20
that you're talking about, you know? And I found
27:23
that, like, I started getting laughs when I started
27:26
writing, like, towards that, but I'm still kind
27:28
of learning what that is, like, you know, so.
27:31
Well, I think a lot of people... This is actually
27:35
the biggest mistake I see in young... beginning
27:39
comics, is they're trying way too hard. They're
27:43
trying to convince the audience that they're
27:46
funny. That's the wrong approach. The audience
27:50
can tell when you're trying way too hard. And
27:53
like something I picked up from Mitch, when Mitch
27:58
is, the times he's really crushing, he knows
28:04
he's funny. And he's not trying to convince you
28:06
he's funny because he knows he's funny. And when
28:09
he's just floating in the joke and letting it
28:13
go, not even trying, that's when he gets the
28:16
best reactions from the crowd. Yeah. So that
28:19
was kind of like the biggest takeaway I learned
28:22
from him was don't try. Like you, you know you're
28:27
funny. Don't convince them you're funny. Right.
28:30
Just spill your mind and let them enjoy it. Yeah.
28:33
It's kind of like a pushy salesman. You know,
28:36
you're not going to buy it just because he's
28:37
fucking just telling you to buy it. You know,
28:39
like they got to sell it to you. Yeah. You know.
28:42
Yeah. And it really comes down to anything. Something
28:44
I've been like. Like something I've been really
28:50
thinking about, like when I'm high, like I do,
28:53
I've been like really digging in deep, getting
28:56
in parts of my brain lately, and I've been really
29:00
understanding polarity. Um, there could only
29:05
be a hundred percent of something between two
29:08
people. So like, if I'm giving you more than
29:12
that 50%, it starts to become unattractive or
29:15
you start pulling away. Ooh, wow. And that's
29:19
the thing. It's the same thing. Like, if you
29:22
ever meet a girl who's like, just giving you
29:25
too much, giving you, it's like, no, I'm back
29:26
up. Same thing with you. If you've, uh, every
29:30
guy's guilty of this. We've. giving too much
29:32
to a woman and she pulls away, right? It's polarity.
29:36
There's only a hundred percent between two people.
29:39
So it's the same thing with standup comedy. If
29:42
the comedian is up there just trying way too
29:45
hard, the audience is like, well, wait. But if
29:50
he's just up there spilling his brain, hey, enjoy
29:53
this or not, I don't really give a fuck. Then
29:58
the crowd is much more engaged. Yeah, I just
30:02
want, I found that like when I, it's so weird
30:05
because you go in cycles, I guess like when you're
30:06
kind of learning comedy and it's like at the
30:09
beginning I was like, okay, yeah, I'm just going
30:10
to be myself. And then I was like, wait, what,
30:12
no, but what is that? I need to go up there and
30:14
I'm just going to perform. And then all of a
30:16
sudden, like now it's coming back to like, oh,
30:18
fuck it. I'm just, I'm just going to be myself.
30:20
Yeah. And a great piece of advice in that regard.
30:27
Mark. Mark Norman gives the best comedy advice.
30:30
If anybody needs to learn how to do comedy, go
30:32
listen to Mark Norman's podcast and stuff. I
30:35
love that, man. He said, your voice in comedy
30:40
is your best jokes. So whatever your best jokes
30:44
are, that is your voice. Once you understand
30:48
that, it becomes much easier to just... Be you
30:52
and relax more on stage. Yeah. Yeah, like one
30:55
of the big struggles of comedy is literally just
30:57
figuring out how to stand on stage I just told
31:01
someone I was talking to I said It took me three
31:04
years to figure out how to hold a microphone
31:06
the way I wanted to hold it. Oh really? Yeah,
31:10
how are you doing in the beginning? Oh, I would
31:13
try in the beginning. I would keep it in the
31:16
stand Because then I could have both hands free.
31:23
But then I kind of found that the more expressive
31:27
physical comedy wasn't really my realm. I was
31:30
a big cord grabber. I would just be grabbing
31:33
like six feet of cord. That's why people ask
31:37
me, why do you put your hand in your pocket?
31:41
I'll do an hour long set with my hand in my pocket
31:44
because I can't... grab the cord and my hand's
31:46
in my pocket. Yeah. You seem like when you're
31:48
doing your jokes on stage, you seem like you're
31:50
kind of like in sort of like a flow state in
31:53
the way that you kind of get them. Do you prepare
31:57
your set or do you just go like, I'm just gonna
31:59
go there and just do my thing? It's prepared.
32:03
I have to prepare it because I'm telling so many
32:06
jokes. I have to know them in order. But yeah,
32:09
it kind of goes into that flow state, kind of
32:11
back to what we were talking about with the guitar.
32:14
Once you can turn your brain off, you're just
32:16
gone. Yeah. Man, sometimes when it comes to...
32:19
Because I kind of do the whole story with the
32:22
tags deal. So my whole thing is, if I got three
32:26
minutes, I know that's going to be enough for
32:28
one story with a bunch of tags on a punch line.
32:30
But I can never figure out how I can remember.
32:36
You just... Do you just remember just those one
32:39
-liners like that? I do have a really good memory
32:44
in general, but what I'm great at is coming up
32:49
with mnemonic devices. So every joke leads into
32:54
the next one to me. It would not make any sense
32:59
to anyone else, but I have my own mnemonic device.
33:04
that every joke leads into the next one. Dude,
33:07
I've always wanted to get into mnemonic devices,
33:10
like, because I'm very big on, like, writing
33:12
everything. Like, I don't know why, but that's
33:15
just, like, the way, like, my mind works. Yeah.
33:17
You know what I mean? Have you been doing that,
33:18
like, since you were a kid? Like, just mnemonics?
33:20
Yeah. I guess it always just came natural to
33:24
me. I guess it seems weird to me that people
33:27
don't use that method. Yeah. Because it's so
33:30
powerful. Every joke... I have has a one word
33:35
name. Sometimes the one word will lean into the
33:41
title of the next joke. Oh, yeah. Or sometimes
33:45
this joke is about this. Well, it reminds me
33:50
of this, which is the next joke. It makes sense
33:53
to me. So mnemonic devices are the best way to
33:59
remember your material. Yeah. Yeah. I, man, I
34:03
totally see that. There was, I forgot which comedian
34:04
said it, but like I saw something recently about
34:06
like, you know, like what if the word acronym
34:08
was an acronym or something like that? Like,
34:11
I was like, I was like, man, that was really
34:13
funny. Yeah. And that's another one I, um, acronyms
34:16
as well. So like I said, every joke has a one
34:19
word title. Yeah. Sometimes I'll take the first
34:22
letter of those jokes and it'll spell like, maybe
34:24
it'll spell rust. Okay, and I'll be oh the next
34:29
four jokes are rust, you know, and that's badass.
34:32
Yeah Yeah, so you can do like a paragraph and
34:34
just know all the jokes man. That is fucking
34:37
cool What's the longest set you've ever done?
34:39
I've done an hour in terms of like a good 145
34:43
A good 45. That's not bad though. It's really
34:46
important to do be able to do the one longer
34:49
sets That's how you really get better. I really
34:53
turn the corner when I was able to get more stage
34:56
time and start doing like the half hour sets
34:58
and whatnot. In the open mic scene, it's really
35:01
hard to get good at comedy doing it three minutes
35:03
at a time. Yeah. But once you do like the half
35:07
hour pluses, you can really like, you have more
35:11
room for air. Yeah. And you can fuck around a
35:14
little bit, figure out what works more. Cause
35:17
if you're doing like three, five minute sets
35:19
all the time, there's not a lot of margin for
35:21
air. You're just trying to... Go with what you
35:24
know. Yeah, that's true, man. I was telling,
35:29
I think it was Jamie Lee when she was on here.
35:32
I was saying, I'm not trying to talk myself up
35:35
because I'm not good yet, but I prefer shows,
35:41
doing shows, because I feel like, one, you get
35:43
more time, and two, it just feels like the pressure
35:47
is off. You know what I mean? Like, so do you
35:51
still go out and do open mics? Yeah. Open mics.
35:54
Okay. This is my, this is how I approach open
35:57
mics. This is Bobby Lee's advice. It's the best
36:01
advice I've ever heard for open micing. The point
36:04
of an open mic is to get data. If I go to an
36:09
open mic and I can get one piece of data, I'm
36:13
cool with it. But what really makes me angry
36:16
is when I go waste my time there and I don't
36:19
get any information to take back with. So I don't
36:24
even, the open mic isn't about getting last for
36:27
me. It's about just finding about one piece of
36:32
data, about a joke, about the structure of a
36:36
joke. Like this idea works. A lot of times I'll
36:40
go to an open mic. I'm not even telling jokes.
36:45
I'm just throwing out the premise to see if it
36:47
gets a chuckle. I'm like, oh, okay, I can mess
36:49
around with that one. So someone said that to
36:53
me one time. I used to go to like the midnight
36:55
mic at the creek. Cause at the midnight mic,
36:59
there's no pressure. You just throw anything
37:00
out there. And I was just like, I would throw
37:02
out premises all the time. And someone stopped
37:04
me and was like, you're not even telling jokes.
37:06
I know. Relax yeah, I'm doing my shit, but there's
37:10
someone I don't have a joke for it yet But I
37:12
have an idea did it get a chuckle okay now I
37:14
know I can mess with it put it into the form
37:16
of a chuck I used to like going to those midnight
37:19
mics man And then uh and then it was like I felt
37:21
like it was like me and like two other people
37:23
you might have even been there to be Honest with
37:24
you like how long have you been also Nelson?
37:28
I've come and went I've been here. I've been
37:30
back in Austin for a full year now okay, I've
37:36
spent In comedy, I've done two years in Austin.
37:40
I've done a year in LA. You prepared to go on
37:43
Kill Tony. How did you feel like your set went
37:46
on Kill Tony compared to other sets that you've
37:50
done? My most recent appearance are in general.
37:54
I guess like your first appearance. When you
37:56
basically got up there and everything and you're
37:59
in front of that stage, which is crazy. I have
38:02
a funny story about that. Hell yeah. Tell it.
38:06
So the first time I appeared on Kill Tony, they
38:11
had just gotten new producers, and they decided
38:16
to go with a smoke machine. What? Yeah. It was
38:21
the first episode they ever did a smoke machine
38:23
in the mothership. I went out there. I could
38:27
not see anything. Really? Anything. And I was
38:32
thinking to myself, I would think back on it.
38:34
I was like... I couldn't see anything. Is that
38:37
just how it's always like or is it just a blur
38:40
to me? Then the very next episode of Kill Tony,
38:44
the air conditioning goes out. And they figure
38:48
out it's because the smoke machine is like tripping
38:50
the AC. Okay? And then they had to get rid of
38:55
the smoke machine. So I was like, I knew I couldn't
38:58
see anything. I knew it. That was when they pulled
39:01
the HVAC guy up on stage, right? Yes, I was the
39:04
episode before that. That was the first time
39:06
they ever tried the smoke machine. And it was
39:09
always on my head. Because like, you know how
39:11
like things... Things are like a blur, you know,
39:14
I'm like, okay, is it just a blur to me or could
39:16
I really not see? That's really funny dude, I
39:23
specifically remember I could see this dude like
39:25
right here and he was like And I kept like making
39:27
eye contact with him. So if you didn't see anything
39:29
it might have been that fucking smoke. Yeah,
39:32
that's why you see it in my two appearances after
39:39
When Tony and them are just like bullshit, and
39:41
I'm actually like standing there taking it all
39:43
in like looking around This is what it looks
39:47
like But in terms of how my appearances went
39:54
um oh Wow the first one the the first one oh
40:04
It didn't they they had a It was weird because
40:08
I didn't feel like it went well, but I got like
40:10
a really big bump from it. So I'm like, okay,
40:13
it must've been all right. But when I look back
40:15
on my first appearance, I'm like, I really didn't
40:18
even know how to write a joke yet. I say that
40:21
just because I've rewritten those jokes and they
40:23
work much better now. I learned in my second
40:26
appearance that the first joke I need to tell
40:29
just needs to be really simple that everyone
40:31
can get. And I actually took that. into my third
40:35
appearance, which people will see. The first
40:38
joke I told was super simple. And Tony actually
40:41
calls me out on it and he's like, oh, I get it.
40:44
I know what you're doing. You're just swimming
40:45
and crowd up. I'm like, yeah, that's exactly
40:47
what I was doing. Cause I needed, sometimes you
40:50
just need to say something to get them on the
40:52
same wavelength as me. And then after I told
40:56
that joke, I went out and I told three more one
41:00
-liners that absolutely crushed. And, uh, my,
41:04
my third appearance, my latest one went very
41:07
well. I'm excited. I'm excited to see it, man.
41:09
I really am. Cause, uh, cause it's been kind
41:11
of, it's been kind of crazy, man. Seeing like,
41:13
you know, like your evolution of all this, especially
41:15
like you go from like where you were at, like,
41:19
you know, LA, you know, you come to Austin and
41:22
everything. Did you ever think that it was going
41:24
to become what it has been for you? Yes and no.
41:28
I mean, I always knew I had potential to kind
41:31
of. blow up in a way. Um, I didn't know it was
41:35
going to quite be this way because I guess I'm
41:38
what I'm saying. I didn't understand how much
41:39
like hate I was, I would get because I'm so detached
41:42
from it. I guess like people want me to care
41:45
about what they have to say about me, but I've
41:48
just become so detached from it. People will
41:50
see that in the latest interview I have with
41:53
Tony. Tony is like really trying to grill me.
41:55
And I'm just straight up telling him like, dude,
41:56
I don't care anymore. I'm so detached from it.
42:01
I told him, I'm like, dude, I'm just trying to
42:04
shit shower and shave. And he's like, no, give
42:07
me a real answer. I'm like, that's the answer,
42:08
dude. I know everyone deals with stuff, but I
42:13
kind of get like, a lot of times I get like such
42:15
a barrage of bullshit thrown my way. The only
42:17
way to make it through it is just to detach from
42:20
it. Yeah. I love what you said about that on
42:23
Rick Diaz's podcast, that quote about the brilliance
42:26
is the counterpart. Yeah. You said, like, of
42:29
everyone telling you what to do, you know? And
42:31
I think you said it was like a beautiful statement,
42:34
you know? And I just, I really, that resonated
42:38
with me because it's like, it's such a human,
42:40
it's just a human thing, man. It's like, you
42:43
know, you're just doing your thing, you know?
42:46
And so I love that, dude. I love that, I love
42:48
that you, like you said also, I think you said
42:50
that you were like fueled by this kind of hate,
42:53
you know? Oh, I would have quit so long ago.
42:56
If people would just shut up, I would have quit
43:00
so long ago. And the thing is, people always
43:03
have something, people are always gonna try to
43:06
tell you what to do for some reason. If I change
43:09
everything about me today, they'll find a new
43:12
reason to hate me tomorrow. That's the reality.
43:16
People love to hate. But what's really cool is
43:18
I do have a lot of support, and I have a lot
43:21
of fans. Uh, well, maybe not that many, but I
43:24
have people who like me and that's cool. Yeah,
43:27
man. It's cool when they, people say nice things
43:30
to me. I appreciate it. Yeah. So would you say
43:32
that like the support outweighs the negativity?
43:35
I mean, and this will get deep, but I do have
43:37
people who message me or stop me and they'll,
43:42
they'll tell me like, Hey, you know, I was in
43:44
a really bad place. I was, you know, I was getting
43:48
ready to and I found you. and it really helped
43:53
me. And that stuff is always going to outweigh
43:57
some jackass saying stupid shit. No, I love that.
44:03
I love that for you. I love that you hang on
44:06
mostly to the support and you kind of just like
44:08
say fuck the hate, you know, because it's especially
44:12
this whole thing with comedy. It's like. You're
44:15
gonna get fucking hate. People are gonna fucking
44:17
hate you. Yeah, it's an entitlement to think
44:20
you can have positivity without negativity. And
44:23
nothing's that serious. That's what I don't think
44:27
people understand when it comes to this whole
44:29
comedy thing. It's comedy. It's comedy, man.
44:31
It's fucking... I think comics take comedy too
44:37
seriously in terms of... Comedy's become like
44:41
a game of podcasting. where it's like, let's
44:44
get on a podcast and say some drama. I don't
44:47
want to do that shit. I just want to go up there
44:49
and tell a joke about a toaster. You know, like
44:52
this is cool. It's a chill conversation, but
44:56
like, you know, you see other podcasts is like,
44:58
let's just go drama, drama, drama, drama. Fuck
45:01
that. I don't want to be a comedian who's like
45:04
that. I just see a toaster, make a joke about
45:07
a toaster. That's me. I know I told you before,
45:10
like the fucking your moon joke. Oh my God. I'm
45:13
literally, I'm going to post, I'm going to, if
45:14
that's cool with you, I'm going to put that,
45:16
the moon joke in this video. I don't believe
45:18
in the moon landing. I believe it will stay in
45:23
orbit. Dude, what I love about that joke too
45:26
is that it's so, it's just, it's so right there.
45:29
It's like right there. Like the punchline, everything
45:31
was just right there. Yeah. That's, that's what,
45:34
that's what, that's one of the best comp. I think
45:36
that's the best compliment a comedian can get.
45:40
is when someone tells them like, oh, that was
45:43
right there. Um, but I love it when people tell
45:46
me like, oh, that was right there. Cause that's
45:48
what pisses me off the most is, um, when I hear
45:53
a, uh, a joke and I'm like, how did I not think
45:57
of that? It's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't wait
46:02
to, I can't wait to like post it just cause I
46:04
want like, I want everybody to fucking see it.
46:06
Cause it's me. Like when I saw it, I was like,
46:08
oh, Oh, it was just literally right there. I
46:12
actually haven't told that joke in front of a
46:16
real crowd yet. I don't even know. We'll see
46:19
if it actually works in front of a real audience.
46:22
Oh, dude, I really would love to know. I'll get
46:25
a clip of it eventually. We'll see if it works.
46:27
Yeah, man, absolutely. Have you ever heard of
46:31
Geechee Guy? I don't think so. I'll have to send
46:34
you some of his stuff, man. I think he's in the
46:37
Guinness Book of World Records. He holds like,
46:39
I think he told like 667 jokes in like an hour
46:43
or something like that. Okay. Just some kind
46:45
of crazy thing. Like he's like for the most joke
46:48
writing, but he has a lot of those kind of like,
46:50
like jokes that are just like right there. Oh,
46:53
okay. I'll have to check that out then. Yeah.
46:55
I'll send it to you, man. Is it, it's like in
46:58
a, a standup setting or are you just? Yeah. Oh,
47:02
okay. Yeah. He's a, he's a standup comedian.
47:04
He was around the eighties and the nineties and
47:06
Oh, okay. You know, he was really good, man.
47:09
I don't know when he passed. I think it was sometime
47:11
in the early 2000s or something. And I wish I
47:14
had, like, the ability. I would love to have
47:15
the ability to be like, oh, let's watch this.
47:17
You know, I'm still kind of learning. Oh, yeah.
47:19
But yeah, dude, like, I'll send you some of his
47:22
clips. I think you might like them. Yeah, I'm
47:24
surprised I haven't heard of it. Maybe I have
47:26
seen them and I just don't know it, but yeah.
47:28
Yeah, he's a... I wish I could think of, like,
47:31
one of his jokes for you, but like... But his
47:33
jokes are just very much like, they're funny
47:35
as fuck, and you're just like, fuck, it's like
47:37
right there. It was right there, you know? Like,
47:40
I don't know, man. They're pretty fucking good.
47:43
I'll just send you anything, dude. Yeah, that's
47:45
the thing. That's the thing. That's my approach
47:47
to comedy is I'm not trying to go up there and
47:50
say something like so profound. Yeah. I think
47:54
that's another mistake comedians make is they
47:56
try so hard to say something interesting or profound.
48:02
You don't have to. You can say the dumbest freaking
48:05
thing, and if it gets a laugh, then it works.
48:09
Yeah. You know, we were talking about acronyms.
48:12
Ever heard Kiss? The acronym Kiss? Yeah. Yeah.
48:16
Okay. Another method is the saying, play chess,
48:23
not checkers, not comedy. Just play checkers.
48:26
Just play checkers. I love that, dude. Just play
48:30
checkers, man. Hell yeah, dude. Well, um, did
48:33
you, uh, let's see, did you want to put anything
48:34
out at all? Or like for like anybody, like anything
48:37
that's coming up, like anything new or? No, not,
48:41
uh, not, not right now, man. I'm just laying
48:46
low. And then I think, uh, I think next week
48:50
there's going to be some traffic coming my way
48:52
and hopefully I get some more stuff going then
48:54
and yeah. Hell yeah, dude. Oh yeah. You got any
48:57
shows or anything? Shows right now. That was
49:01
a weird way to ask that, but yeah. No, I don't
49:07
have any like headlining gigs coming up. But
49:11
I'm sure I'm gonna get some more stuff here soon,
49:16
so. Fucking right, dude. Hell yeah, man. The
50:00
galaxy wants to know. Are you having sexual relations
50:03
with Senator Amidala? Absolutely. That's strictly
50:08
against Jedi code. Master Yoda is 900 years old.
50:12
Never seen a woman naked. Do I lack discipline?
50:18
What about Mace Windu? Master Windu's fucked
50:22
so many people his lightsabers turned purple.
50:24
Okay, fair enough. What about Obi -Wan? He's
50:27
a stickler for the rules. Obi -Wan would fuck
50:29
Padme if he could. He's a creep. He'd follow
50:35
her to... ...Mustafar. Is being in a relationship
50:40
with Padme worth all the trouble? I can save
50:44
her. We have a saying on Earth. She don't want
50:47
to be saved. Don't save her. What are you suggesting?
50:54
I'm just saying, maybe let her breathe a little.
50:56
Did Obi -Wan tell you to say that? No. Maybe
50:59
just give her some space. There's a rumor that
51:06
the senator is pregnant. Are you looking forward
51:08
to having kids? I'm great with younglings. How
51:12
would you play with your kids? Build them a sandbox?
51:15
It's real funny. I bet Obi -Wan told you to say
51:18
that. I'll force choke you right here if I have
51:21
to. We have the results of the DNA test. We're
51:28
gonna find out who Anakin Skywalker's father
51:31
is. Some say it's Kurt Cobain. Some say it's
51:35
Mitch Hedberg. I don't know who those people
51:38
are. All right, Anakin Skywalker, your father
51:40
is Watto. Is that a joke to you? Obi -Wan put
51:53
you up to this. It's not always Obi -Wan. Do
51:57
you want to do this interview? I did. Then you
52:01
turned on me. Not everyone is turning on you.