Latest / The Scene Projects / Andrew Branson on Comedy Growth, Sherwood Lounge, and Minnesota's Humor Scene

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Andrew Branson on Comedy Growth, Sherwood Lounge, and Minnesota's Humor Scene · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Andrew Branson.
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  Welcome to the show, brother.
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  What's up, dude?
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  Man, it's good to see you again.
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  Yeah.
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  Dude, it was really cool to meet you, dude.
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  We met a couple weeks ago at a show you were doing.
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  Yeah.
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  That was a great time, man.
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  And, at the Sherwood Lounge, a place that I've grown, to love a whole lot.
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  And, we're gonna talk about that because now you're playing a show there as well.
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  But before we get into all that, kinda wanna just give you the floor here at the beginning,
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  let you tell our crowd a little bit about yourself and what you do, and then we'll pick
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  it up and and talk about the show coming up.
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  Okay.
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  What up?
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  I'm Andrew Branson.
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  I do stand up comedy.
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  I've been doing it for about three years now.
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  I also kinda write music, and I do stuff here and there with my musical buddies on the side,
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  but mainly do stand up.
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  And that's how I met doing that's how I met Bubba right here going to Sherwood Lounge.
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  And he was doing a show, and I I was just having the best time, giving the best energy,
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  putting and hollering, just yelling out, and then, like, the best cattle.
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  He was playing sublime.
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  He was playing you played what's that song?
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  Tennessee Whiskey.
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  That was such a good time.
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  Yeah.
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  The way you moved the bar you moved the bar was really cool.
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  Like, everyone is just, like, stuck what they're doing and just focused on you.
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  You're you're you're very talented.
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  You do you're you're amazing.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  So I
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  But, yeah.
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  Sorry about that.
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  I I do I do stand up comedy, and, I met you at at the Sherwood Lounge while you were doing
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  your show, and we just had such a good interaction.
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  And, yeah, you ended up inviting me on stage at the end of the show to do you told me to pick a
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  song, and I was like, sure.
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  I'll do Good Riddance, The Time of Your Life by Green Day.
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  Did that, and then ended up doing five minutes at the end of the show, for of stand up comedy.
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  And and the bar really liked it, so they, I asked them if I could do a show there next
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  month, and they said, yeah, we can do it.
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  So, that's coming up.
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  And that is such a full circle moment.
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  It's why it's exactly why I invited you up there.
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  Right?
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  You know, we were vibing.
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  You and your friends were in the bar all night.
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  You know?
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  Like you said, hooting and hollering.
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  You made it fun for us to perform.
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  Right?
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  Because while there, we had a few people that were really engaging.
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  Sometimes you play those shows, and I know that you know this as a performer yourself that,
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  like, when there's no energy coming back at you, man, it can get very hard to sit up there
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  and perform.
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  So as kind of a thank you to you as we were talking outside and, you know, you had
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  mentioned you do stand up, but also that you performed.
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  And I really just I thought it would be a great introduction.
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  Have you come up and sing a song with us knowing that, especially with the guys that I
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  had playing with me that night.
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  Shout out to Paul and, you know, to Lance as well playing that night.
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  And we had such a good time that it was like it was can't miss.
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  Bringing you up for a song was a great introduction to say, hey.
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  Alright.
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  Now you like him already.
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  Now he's gonna give you five minutes of comedy, and it kinda sets you up in a in a thing where
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  you couldn't I mean, you would have had to been really, really bad to fail.
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  Right?
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  And you weren't.
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  You were good.
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  And people thought it was funny, and the bartender obviously thought it was great.
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  You know, Colleen wasn't there any longer.
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  Shout out to Colleen, the owner of the Sherwood Lounge.
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  She was just the sweetest lady, and it's been so good to me going up there.
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  As someone coming from five hours away, sometimes it's hard to get a bar to, you know,
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  believe in you.
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  And we've never brought in, like, a massive crowd, but we've always done very well with the
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  crowd that is there.
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  And that's kind of the vibe of that place.
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  Right?
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  To me, I I use the term townie bar in a very affectionate way.
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  Right?
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  Like, it is a quintessential townie bar.
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  It is for the people that live in that neighborhood.
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  It is their space.
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  Right?
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  It's their living room or in where they see their friends and they play some pool or darts
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  or they watch the game.
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  Like, it's that space.
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  And we're able to come in and entertain that crowd for a little while.
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  And I was really happy to hear that you had booked a show there, and you're bringing
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  something different to that little area of Saint Paul that they probably don't get a lot
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  of.
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  Yeah.
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  So, like, Colleen, that that I've only been to this bar.
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  I don't that was the first time I ever went to that that bar when I met you.
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  And my friend Jesse had showed me that bar because she was like, we were gonna go watch
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  football, and her brother coaches Northwestern football team.
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  So we're like, I'm just gonna go to this bar, watch football game, and then we ended up
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  spontaneously, like, seeing their band.
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  And it was just like, we had such a great time, and that's how we made that's how we made the
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  connection.
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  And it was one of the first thing I noticed, and I had been there maybe a couple times since
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  then, maybe, like, four or five times since then, I've seen the same faces.
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  You see very similar faces, but you see different faces.
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  And those and at the same time, there's a pretty big crowd of regulars that go there.
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  They got a they got a really big regular crowd that, like, goes in and out of there.
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  And I heard from the from the from Greg, the person who's sitting setting up this comedy
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  show with me there, they haven't seen comedy there in, like, fourteen or fifteen years.
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  So I I talked to some of the people after they after we set up set up this deal.
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  I talked to some of the regulars, and they seem really excited about it.
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  They seem like, oh, we haven't seen one of these here in a long time.
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  It's been, like, twelve years.
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  And I corrected them.
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  I was like, it's been fifteen years.
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  That's what he said to me.
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  I can't believe it has it's been fifteen years.
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  And it's just far enough out of the, like, the, like, the downtown area where it has that dive
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  bar feel.
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  It has that hometown kind of bar feel.
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  And, like, it's a lot of the comedians I'm bringing out to these shows are comedians that
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  are like me, that have been doing it for either, like, you know, a couple years, a few
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  years.
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  And then also there, I am bringing one person who is very, very new, literally just started
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  doing it this year, and I think they're amazing, and I wanna give them more time.
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  That's what the that's what the challenge of this show is.
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  That's what the deal is with this show is that I'm bringing stand up comedy that is not in
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  three to five minute clips.
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  I'm bringing stand up comedians to do fifteen, twenty minutes, and I'm showing five comedians
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  at a time, myself included.
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  So you're getting an hour and half of comedy, maybe a little bit more of comedy, and these
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  comedians are flexing the time that they need to do because they don't get that opportunity.
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  And this is has, like, that real kind of middle of Minnesota feel to it that, like, these,
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  downtown comedians haven't had an opportunity to feel.
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  And this bar hasn't fit hasn't had comedians in fifteen years.
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  I think it's a perfect opportunity.
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  Which is wild because I think it has a pretty good setup for comedy.
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  Right?
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  You're kind of back and the rooms aren't separated, but you're in the back there.
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  It's a smallish stage.
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  Right?
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  You ceiling low low ceilings with a low stage, but it's a wide stage.
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  So, like, you can do a good amount on this stage.
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  I implore anyone that hears this to go check out the Sherwood Lounge even for comedy or
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  music because I think it's gonna be a great time, and I think they might even offer me to
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  come back for a monthly thing.
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  So we'll we'll we'll be to be continued with that, But, yeah, I'm excited for it.
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  It's gonna be a good time.
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  I'll see you later.
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  It's gonna be pretty awesome, man.
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  I wish I was gonna be up there for the show and able to see you guys doing your thing, but I
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  know I'm gonna have a lot more opportunities to do that.
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  I think it's gonna be a hit.
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  I'm really excited that you got the opportunity to go back there and and to do it.
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  Can you talk a little bit about a a few of the comedians that you're bringing and kinda what
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  people can expect from the night that aren't necessarily familiar with the comedy show?
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  So the the layout of this comedy show that I'm doing, right, I'm gonna open with myself.
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  I'm doing about ten minutes.
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  And then I'm gonna bring up the next comedian who's gonna do 15, another fifteen, another
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  fifteen, and then we're closing out with a headliner that does about twenty to twenty five
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  minutes.
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  So and, like, give or take, I could I I could have another, like, guest spot.
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  I don't know the comedian that I really like.
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  I'm gonna give another comedian, I don't know, five to ten minutes as well.
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  So that's why the the show could run between an hour and a half to two hours.
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  And I just with with my with the system I have, people can RSVP on the little scan thing so
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  they can it shows me how many tickets I'm actually getting.
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  So he there's a poster that he might pull up or something like that, but I saw a link at the
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  bottom that you guys can look at.
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  It'll bring you to the event page, and you can get a ticket for free, and that just shows me
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  who's all coming.
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  But it's a completely free event, and you just you just come to Colleen at Sherwood Lounge and
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  have a great time.
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  But so all the comedians that are going on it, Sam fourteen, great comedian.
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  He's been doing it for a handful of years.
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  He's a New York guy.
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  He flew he he's been living in Minnesota for a few years, and he started doing it a lot
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  Duluth.
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  He came down about two and two years ago, and he's been my first friend in the comedy scene,
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  and he's really, really funny.
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  He's been electric when it comes to crowd work.
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  He's really bombastic.
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  He'll get in your face type of comedy.
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  Like, he'll it's it's kinda like the big energy that, like, I really wanna bring to this little
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  bar.
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  Like, the first person I really thought of was like, oh, I need to bring Sam fourteen.
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  And then who else?
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  I'm bringing my friend, one of my closest buddies, Joe Attic Johnson.
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  Joe Attic Johnson, I was there for his first open mic.
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  This was about three years ago as well.
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  Everyone's energy just gravitated to him because he had so much energy right away.
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  And there's not that many people where you see their first open mic and then you like, I was I
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  witnessed his first open mic, and I was like, wow.
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  You are amazing.
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  And he's just built up his energy, his stage performance so much that is a a performer you
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  guys have to check out in the scene is Joe Addison.
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  Who else do I got?
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  Is so we're gonna backtrack a little bit.
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  The person who showed me call Colleen's Sherwood Lounge is my friend, my new friend,
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  Jessie s.
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  Jessie s just started doing stand up in the middle of the summer, and she was just going to
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  the terminal bar.
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  Shout out to terminal bar, another great epic comedy spot that does comedy on Thursday nights
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  from 07:00 till about one in the morning every Thursday.
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  Go check that out in Northeast.
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  She started going there in, like, the middle of the summer, Jessie s.
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  And I immediately took a liking to her because she was writing new material for every single
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  set she did.
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  Every time I saw her, she had a new five five minutes.
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  Every time I saw her, she was doing a new five minutes, which was consistent for about every
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  week for, like, three two months two, three months, and I thought that was really cool.
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  And not that many people can consistently write new material for every five minutes, and I
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  thought that was really cool.
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  So I'm like, I'm trying to give you the opportunity to do fifteen minutes just like I
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  said earlier.
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  Giving people the opportunity to do more time in the scene when all they've really been given
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  is, five minutes at a time.
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  You know?
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  Right.
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  Because especially in comedy, I mean, it's hard to hold a crowd sometimes for five to ten
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  minutes.
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  So the way that a lot of you know, our fifteen or twenty minutes, it's definitely hard to do
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  that.
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  But so a lot of, I wanna say, you know, other promoters or, you know, people that are putting
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  together comedy shows tend to give you shorter sets, especially for people that are just
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  starting out.
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  But how are you ever going to know if you're capable of that if you don't get an opportunity
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  to do it?
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  Right?
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  Like, you don't wanna spend years and years and years, like, only working on a tight five
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  minutes or a tight ten minutes, you have to be able to stretch your you know, spread your
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  wings a little bit and stretch that out and and to learn in that.
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  So I really love that you're kinda giving an opportunity to some of your friends and some of
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  these other people that are kinda just starting out to go out there.
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  And I think there's always a possibility that it bombs.
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  I think that's just part of comedy.
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  Right?
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  That, like, it it could be a great set.
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  But I also know that from listening to Joe Rogan, from watching, you know, kill Tony for
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  years now, which is probably a big reason why when you said, hey.
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  I do comedy, you know, that I don't you didn't even ask me if you could do a set.
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  I was like, oh, I'm gonna get you up there.
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  Right?
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  Because because I've seen that it matters.
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  Like, you the people comedians need that stage time as much as musicians do.
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  As long as I've been a musician, I've been running open mics and and getting other
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  musicians up there to do their thing.
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  And it just felt it felt natural.
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  And I I don't when someone tells me that they do something, I assume that you do it well
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  enough to be confident in the fact that you told me you'd do it.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  Because there's always that chance that somebody might say, hey.
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  Well, I'm gonna put if I put you up there for five minutes, are you gonna chase everyone out
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  of the bar?
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  Right?
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  And you didn't.
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  I I thought people loved it.
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  It was totally unexpected.
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  And I I suspect that these people that you're bringing in, they're not first timers, but
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  they're still very early in their careers.
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  And I can't think of a better place as, like, an incubator for that kind of comedy scene than
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  the Sherwood Lounge as well because of the vibe we've been talking about there.
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  And I'll about the comedians I'm bringing on because I think there's two more I need to
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  touch base with.
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  But yeah.
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  So Sam fourteen I'm gonna start the beginning of list again.
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  Sam fourteen gave me my first opportunity of doing fifteen to twenty minutes for a show.
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  He knew a headliner from New York City that came out to Hastings, booked a show at a
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  brewery, and he needed a middle act.
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  And he kinda and Sam was my was was my one of my first friends, and he gave me the
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  opportunity to have that that what we're talking about.
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  So I was like, I need to return the favor.
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  Sam is one of my best friends and he is so funny.
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  He he was gonna he's gonna I knew he was gonna jump at this opportunity.
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  So contacted Sam fourteen and he's he's on the show.
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  Joe Addict, one of my other best friends in the scene, he has given me he he's hosted shows
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  with me before.
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  He's a great host.
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  I actually might might ask him to host some of these from time to time, see if I can throw in,
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  like, twenty minutes here and there on the show, you know, if it continues.
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  Jesse s.
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  Jesse s.
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  And then who else?
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  Bill Colas.
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  Bill Colas is another one of my best friends in the scene.
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  He's just a really good guy.
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  He's a really cool guy.
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  He's a veteran of the scene.
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  I feel like he's been I don't I'm not sure how many years he's been doing it, but I know he's
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  been doing it more than me.
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  He's been doing it, like, five plus more years, maybe ten years.
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  He is one of those guys that you always call upon.
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  When I asked him to do this show, he laughed and he goes, when anyone starts doing their
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  first show, they always ask me.
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  And I'm like, Phil Colas, I love you.
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  Every time I see Phil Colas at a mic, I'll look across and I'll be like, Phil Colas.
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  And he'll look at me and be like, Eddie Branson.
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  Like, it doesn't matter where we are.
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  It just always like that.
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  And I I I've actually ran into him at least one or two other times, like, not comedy related
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  and just been like, frugalist.
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  And he'll just yell into the ether, Andrew Branson.
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  And then and then he'll look at me and find me.
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  He's he's a good guy.
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  He's one of he's like minis he Minneapolis' sweetheart in the comedy scene.
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  That's what I'd say.
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  He's
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  So a lot of these people that you're having on, it it seems like, you know, that some of them
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  gave you opportunities when you were just starting out and you're kinda repaying the
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  favor, but you're always you're also kinda, like, reaching down, right, and bringing up
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  some other artists and paying it forward at the same time.
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  I think that's really cool.
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  That's what you gotta do, man.
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  You gotta give everyone opportunities.
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  You gotta give all the new people opportunities and the people who, like, are tried and true
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  that are going to, you know, do well at these types of shows.
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  You gotta bring those people in because, you know, you wanna have a good show.
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  You wanna bring someone that you know is, like, like like, does well at open mics, at clubs, at
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  bars, at real shows.
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  You wanna you wanna bring people like that, but then you also wanna give you wanna, like, nudge
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  people a little bit.
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  Push people in the right direction of, like, like, hey, friends.
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  Hey, brother.
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  Like, I'm pushing you in the right direction because I'm giving like, you need you need
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  this.
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  And, yeah, people will find their own drive.
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  I believe, like, people will find their own drive to do their own thing, but give them the
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  taste a little bit.
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  Give them the taste.
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  And so this is the headliner we're bringing on the show.
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  The headliner is another one of my good buddies, Matt Grady.
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  Matt Grady has been doing comedy for, I think, about ten years as well.
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  He I was on a show with him in Northern Minnesota a few months ago and we camped out.
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  He he was my camping buddy and we went fishing and we were kayaking.
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  It was the best time.
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  And then, like, it was just, the coolest time and he did, like, fifteen, twenty minutes of,
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  like like, fifteen minutes of straight crowd work and then ten, fifteen minutes of another
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  material.
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  And he was on stage for, like, forty minutes to, like, a, like, a little over a half hour of
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  about forty minutes.
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  And it was like, wow, dude.
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  You're just like you're you're connecting with the bar, having such a good time, and I'm like,
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  I wanted to give Matt Grady that opportunity again to do that because the way I saw him
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  connect with the crowd is I want Sherwood Lounge to connect with the comedians that I'm
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  bringing there because it's just gonna be it's gonna be a really great time, and I think the
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  lineup I got is really special, especially for the first first show that I that I bring there.
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  The the lineup that you're showing, like, the the backdrop, I don't know if the the people
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  will see this, but, like, that's the first, you know, poster I ever made.
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  It looks like a child made it.
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  But we all gotta start somewhere, Andrew, and I think it's really cool.
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  And the first thing that I told you, you know, when I saw you shared the show is, like, way to
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  capitalize on that moment.
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  Like, that's why I gave you the opportunity when the band was playing there to, like, okay.
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  You say you do comedy.
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  Prove it.
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  Right?
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  Because I knew that, especially that bar and my relationship with them.
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  And it's the same reason, you know, we had J Mo up there playing with us, and not that he
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  hasn't played there before.
• 19:15
  But as a reminder, like, hey.
• 19:17
  Don't forget this guy's in your backyard.
• 19:19
  Like, I'm coming from out of town.
• 19:20
  You know?
• 19:21
  But these people are right here, and they can actually bring some people in here that haven't
• 19:26
  seen this bar before and haven't hung out.
• 19:28
  And I think a lot of people, especially Midwestern kids like us, it's hard not to like
• 19:33
  that space.
• 19:34
  Right?
• 19:34
  Like, the drinks are affordable where you don't get that downtown.
• 19:39
  They're bringing in bands.
• 19:40
  They're bringing in different things to try and entertain, not just the crowd that they have,
• 19:46
  but to supply something where maybe people will come out from there.
• 19:49
  And I know that that area of Saint Paul isn't like the hot spot.
• 19:53
  Right?
• 19:53
  You know, all the way out on White Bear, it's not where the young people are going to be seen
• 19:58
  by their friends and to look cool, but it's definitely for people that know they're cool to
• 20:04
  just go hang out.
• 20:05
  Right?
• 20:07
  No.
• 20:07
  Yeah.
• 20:08
  That's just like that that's exactly how it is.
• 20:10
  Like, I went there on a whim to go watch football with a friend, and we've ended up
• 20:15
  seeing you guys and had the best time.
• 20:17
  And you these are sorry.
• 20:19
  I keep stuttering.
• 20:20
  These are the types of nights that you have or, like, these are the types of, like, times you
• 20:24
  have when you, like, go out there and you go do something that, like, maybe you're not really
• 20:29
  you're not used to doing or, you know, usually, you do spontaneous things and then you meet
• 20:33
  great people.
• 20:34
  You meet involve yourself in great opportunities.
• 20:37
  Life just smacks you with opportunities.
• 20:39
  Do you grasp on it?
• 20:41
  Do you take opportune do do you, like, grab life by the balls?
• 20:44
  And do do you do you, like, you know, hone in your opportunity?
• 20:47
  You hone in your skills?
• 20:49
  Or you just, like, you know, like, I don't know.
• 20:51
  I like to have fun.
• 20:52
  I had a great time that night.
• 20:53
  It was it was a it was a time.
• 20:54
  I didn't try to stress out too much.
• 20:56
  I'll tell you about this.
• 20:57
  So, like, you were like, yeah.
• 20:59
  You didn't you were you were giving me props for capitalizing up for yeah.
• 21:03
  On the opportunity, not only for getting the show booked, but for also doing stand up when
• 21:09
  you were just like, yeah.
• 21:10
  Get up here in due time.
• 21:11
  And I'm like, okay.
• 21:13
  I don't I will say this.
• 21:16
  I was given an opportunity like this similar, and I do it sink or swim.
• 21:21
  This is the and I've always lived by this, and I will say this on the first podcast that I've
• 21:25
  ever been on because this is the first podcast is I will probably I'll probably put this on a
• 21:29
  t shirt at some point, is believe to achieve.
• 21:33
  And you gotta believe to achieve.
• 21:36
  You can't achieve without believing.
• 21:37
  But if you believe repetitively enough, then achieving just comes naturally.
• 21:46
  So the whole point is just like one word, one thing, believe and achieve.
• 21:51
  I think about that, and I thought about that for years just because I'm a skateboarder.
• 21:54
  I've been skateboarding as well since I was, like, a little kid.
• 21:57
  I'm like, when you're trying to do something new, something scary, believe and achieve.
• 22:01
  I was given the opportunity to do seven minutes for a sold out crowd at the State Theater in
• 22:09
  Minneapolis.
• 22:10
  That's, like, 2,100 people.
• 22:13
  And I did it I did it and I had a great time.
• 22:16
  It was for Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee for the Bad Friends show.
• 22:20
  Dude, that's incredible, man.
• 22:22
  Yeah.
• 22:22
  It was a lot of fun.
• 22:23
  I was I was only like eleven months in the stand up, which was, like, I don't know, like,
• 22:27
  two years ago, almost two years ago, this month.
• 22:31
  The thirtieth this month, it'll be two years ago.
• 22:33
  Like, that
• 22:34
  Man, a moment like that will keep you going for years.
• 22:37
  Right?
• 22:38
  Because because it it may take you a decade to build up to where you're you know what I mean?
• 22:43
  You're back to that point.
• 22:45
  Hopefully, it's not that long, but, you know, I I've played as a musician, I played in front of
• 22:50
  some big crowds.
• 22:51
  No.
• 22:51
  I didn't bring them there, but those moments keep me pushing through, you know, maybe some
• 22:56
  of the gigs that are I mean, I think a lot of people would look at even a show like the
• 23:00
  Sherwood that we did.
• 23:01
  There wasn't that many people there.
• 23:02
  There's maybe forty, fifty people throughout the night.
• 23:05
  It's small, not a ton of people, but that was some one of the most fun gigs I played the
• 23:11
  entire year.
• 23:12
  Right?
• 23:13
  Because there was five or six people, right, that was pretty much like your table and and
• 23:18
  another group of people that were just vibing, and they were all about it.
• 23:23
  And and everybody else, like, didn't not like it.
• 23:26
  They're just kind of in their own thing.
• 23:27
  They're hanging out, you know, doing whatever, but, those moments keep you going.
• 23:33
  Those moments are exactly what keep you going.
• 23:36
  And, like, what you're saying, like, at the at the State Theater, that was somewhat that was a
• 23:42
  well established famous person giving me an opportunity, and I swam.
• 23:47
  I did not sing.
• 23:48
  And there was moments where, like, the sea of laughter's, like, in in that whole in that
• 23:54
  whole place was like, this is so cool.
• 23:56
  They gave me an opportunity, and I capitalized on it.
• 23:59
  I wanna be able to give other people opportunities like this in the future if I
• 24:02
  How did that come about?
• 24:04
  I'm so I'm a huge fan of Santino.
• 24:06
  Right?
• 24:07
  I listen to his whiskey gin and not as much these days as I used to, but when I was working
• 24:11
  full time, I would listen to his podcast all the time.
• 24:14
  So how did that come about?
• 24:16
  Very cool, man.
• 24:17
  That's awesome.
• 24:18
  So I got meet and greet tickets to the Bad Friends tour with my cousin, and we go in line
• 24:27
  and we in the meet and greet line, we meet them.
• 24:31
  And I was like, hey, guys.
• 24:32
  I just wanted to tell you to Bobby Lee and Andrew Santino.
• 24:35
  I'm like, I'm a big fan of both of you guys' careers since, like, Bobby I was a little kid,
• 24:41
  like, four year old kid watching mad TV.
• 24:43
  And Andrew Santino, said, Dave is a really Dave is really funny right now, but I'm a big I'm a
• 24:51
  real big fan of I'm Dying Up Here.
• 24:54
  I thought I'm I'm the show I'm Dying Up Here is really underrated, and I was really upset that
• 24:58
  that only got one season of it.
• 25:00
  And he was like they were both like, wow.
• 25:02
  Thank you.
• 25:02
  I'm like, I'm also a stand up comedian, and I've been doing it for, like, eleven months.
• 25:06
  And then Bobby immediately, perked his head up.
• 25:08
  Like, he was, like kinda like he wasn't paying attention, but then when I said I'm a stand up
• 25:12
  comedian, he, like, you know, like a dog.
• 25:14
  Like like, he he really started, like, looking at me.
• 25:17
  So he's like, wait.
• 25:19
  You do stand up, Bobby?
• 25:20
  And I'm like, yeah.
• 25:21
  He goes, how how long have you been doing it?
• 25:23
  I'm like, eleven months.
• 25:24
  And Bobby's like, how many sets have you done this year?
• 25:27
  And I'm like, I don't know.
• 25:28
  Over, like, 70, maybe 60 ish.
• 25:30
  I I lost track.
• 25:31
  I've been doing it, like, four or five times a week or, I don't know, every week this year.
• 25:34
  So you were grinding early on?
• 25:37
  Yeah.
• 25:37
  I was grinding a lot early on.
• 25:39
  And, you know, you see that in people that, like, get catch the comedy bug.
• 25:43
  Know, that's kind of a trait.
• 25:45
  Like, if if you you do it a little bit here and there or you catch the comedy bug and you just
• 25:50
  go hard on it for a long time.
• 25:55
  So they're like, that's awesome.
• 25:56
  How much time can you do?
• 25:57
  And I'm like, about fifteen, twenty minutes easily.
• 26:00
  And then they're like, cool.
• 26:01
  Do wanna do some time tonight?
• 26:02
  No hesitation.
• 26:03
  I was like, yes.
• 26:04
  Absolutely.
• 26:05
  Absolutely.
• 26:06
  And so later on in the show, they were doing, like, a talent show thing.
• 26:10
  So, like, it was it was a bit that they were doing throughout their whole tour.
• 26:14
  Okay.
• 26:14
  Okay.
• 26:15
  We're asking people, when you sat down in the tour in in in the, you know, for the show, the
• 26:23
  big screen comes down and there was, like, a scan code.
• 26:26
  You scan the scan code and it's like talent show for later in the show.
• 26:30
  Put your name and put your talent, put your email, phone number, blah blah blah, and you
• 26:35
  sign up for it.
• 26:36
  But they told me about it in the meet and greet, was before the show, so I knew about it
• 26:40
  beforehand.
• 26:41
  And they go, hey.
• 26:43
  We're gonna do a talent show later in the show, and you we want you to sign up, but we're
• 26:49
  already gonna call your name.
• 26:51
  We're already gonna call your name, we're gonna have you up.
• 26:53
  So you already, like, RSVP.
• 26:54
  Yeah.
• 26:55
  Sign up, but you're when we see your name, you're coming up.
• 26:59
  Yeah.
• 26:59
  Or, like, we're just gonna remember your name, and we're just gonna call you up.
• 27:02
  And so what happened was I was one of the first people who signed up in the thousands of people
• 27:06
  that were there.
• 27:07
  So my name got buried under the 2,100, 2,200 people that were there.
• 27:13
  And so they they go through their show, like, does twenty minutes, Bobby does twenty minutes,
• 27:18
  Jesse Jetzky does twenty minutes, and then they do
• 27:20
  I love Jesse Jetzky Johnson, dude.
• 27:23
  He's the best.
• 27:25
  But so and then they started doing some, like, comedy podcast bits where they were reading
• 27:33
  doing, like, table reads with fans for, like, you know, like, movie reads from, like, scenes.
• 27:39
  And I was like, oh, I would've been really cool to be in that, but I was not.
• 27:44
  So I ended up doing they ended up calling up names.
• 27:48
  They were like, alright.
• 27:49
  We're gonna do a talent show.
• 27:50
  We have this list of people, and they started up calling up random names.
• 27:52
  And then they called up the first name, which was a fat his his talent was he was fat, and he
• 27:59
  could do a cartwheel, but he wasn't that fat.
• 28:04
  So I was like in the back, I was like, boom.
• 28:07
  You're like you're like my brother.
• 28:09
  You know what mean?
• 28:10
  You're not even that fat, dude.
• 28:11
  You're like you're like six two, fucking like two hundred and ten pounds.
• 28:15
  What is that?
• 28:16
  That's what I weigh.
• 28:17
  Wait a minute.
• 28:18
  Yeah.
• 28:19
  Yeah.
• 28:20
  What the hell?
• 28:23
  But, yeah, then the other guy was, he was an he was like, yeah, I can beatbox.
• 28:30
  And he was like a fatter guy.
• 28:34
  And the guy that
• 28:35
  You're like, get him to do a car wheel.
• 28:37
  And he was like, yeah, can beatbox.
• 28:39
  But he couldn't really beatbox.
• 28:40
  It was really basic shit like And I was like, okay.
• 28:46
  Cool.
• 28:47
  That's just, like, so basic.
• 28:48
  And then there after they called up those two, they were like, alright.
• 28:52
  We had a we already have one picked out.
• 28:56
  We met someone in the meet and greet line, and his name's Andrew.
• 28:59
  He he's a stand up comedian in Minneapolis.
• 29:01
  Andrew, are you here?
• 29:02
  And I was in the nosebleeds.
• 29:03
  I was in, like, the balcony of the State Theater in the far back, and I was like, I'm
• 29:08
  here.
• 29:08
  And, like, spotlight hands back all the way.
• 29:12
  It was very comical.
• 29:13
  And, the meet and greet was on the stage, so I already knew how to get down there from the
• 29:18
  nosebleeds.
• 29:19
  So, like, it it was like, I'm here.
• 29:21
  And then, like, spotlight, like, pans on me.
• 29:23
  Suit.
• 29:24
  Four and a half minutes later, Andrew makes his way to the stage.
• 29:27
  Exactly.
• 29:29
  Yeah.
• 29:31
  That exactly.
• 29:32
  Exactly.
• 29:33
  I had to go down the go down the first few around the corner, down the stairs, around the
• 29:37
  around the stage, getting through the stage, and, like, everyone in the front front, like,
• 29:43
  floor section just watched me go, like
• 29:50
  So epic, man.
• 29:52
  Oh my goodness.
• 29:53
  What an experience, dude.
• 29:55
  Yeah.
• 29:56
  It was really cool.
• 29:56
  It was a good time.
• 29:57
  And then, like, I did about
• 29:58
  And everybody else in front of you kinda sucked, so people were ready for someone to be,
• 30:02
  like, kinda if you were just, like, kinda good, you were gonna get a lot of love.
• 30:07
  Right?
• 30:08
  It was pretty it was I think I was pretty good.
• 30:10
  I mean, I'd had a few jokes that were, like, really popping, and that was, like, the first
• 30:14
  good 15 that I wrote in my in my career so far.
• 30:18
  And there was a couple jokes.
• 30:20
  There's one joke particularly that, like, I said and then delayed laugh, and then it had a
• 30:26
  laugh.
• 30:27
  And then the laugh waved across the entire crowd.
• 30:31
  It went and then that's the thing.
• 30:39
  And I was like, well, that was weird because, like, my head was following it, and I had to
• 30:42
  say something about it.
• 30:43
  I was like, that was crazy.
• 30:44
  I've never been in a big enough room where, like, I could follow the wave like a the the
• 30:48
  laugh like a wave.
• 30:49
  And, like, that's the thing about Minnesota is that Minnesota is known, doesn't matter where
• 30:54
  you're at, at a theater or a comedy show.
• 30:57
  It is just known throughout the whole nation that Minnesotans laugh like so, like, if you
• 31:05
  can if you can make They'll stop immediately.
• 31:12
  Straight face.
• 31:13
  And, like, that's just, like, what you you gotta, like, hone that for for com comedy.
• 31:17
  Know that.
• 31:18
  Understand that.
• 31:19
  And, like, see how many, like, jokes you can rattle off quickly that can make them do that.
• 31:23
  Because, like, in in other states, you can, like, make people laugh and they'll, like,
• 31:27
  coast down.
• 31:29
  But, like, in a theater, it'll still be like, woah.
• 31:33
  It's ridiculous.
• 31:35
  And, like, when you start noticing that about Minnesotans and you do the shows in states and
• 31:40
  you, like, maybe you have a joke in between, like, a like, a couple songs or something like
• 31:44
  that, it's just kinda it's just funny.
• 31:46
  And that's a trope that, like, you hear about through doing comedy and then you experience
• 31:50
  it.
• 31:51
  But I'm from Minnesota, so I'm, like, dealing with it as I'm getting better doing comedy.
• 31:56
  So I don't know.
• 31:57
  I think it's kinda funny.
• 31:58
  So
• 31:59
  Yeah, man.
• 31:59
  It's so that's just so epic, dude.
• 32:02
  I I love that that happened for you.
• 32:05
  And and you're continuing this tradition of getting people up and giving them an
• 32:10
  opportunity, and it makes me even more proud of myself, that that I kinda saw you and gave you
• 32:17
  that opportunity and to see where it's gone to now.
• 32:20
  It's just been it's been really cool, man.
• 32:22
  I'm really enjoying watching what, you know, what you will continue to do here and continue
• 32:29
  to grow.
• 32:29
  So we've had the flyer up there.
• 32:31
  Everybody's seen it.
• 32:33
  We got the QR code.
• 32:35
  We ran the banners so everybody knows to follow Andrew Branson Comedy on all social media
• 32:41
  platforms.
• 32:42
  I'm gonna put a link over on the website as well so people will be able to see it
• 32:45
  @thesceneprojects.com and check this out.
• 32:49
  Andrew, thank you so much for being on the show today, man, and and really taking advantage of
• 32:54
  the opportunity that you got and then paying it forward to a lot of other great people too,
• 32:59
  dude.
• 32:59
  Congrats to you, and I wish you nothing but the best of luck.
• 33:03
  Oh, thanks, Bubba.
• 33:04
  I appreciate you.
• 33:04
  This was a lot of fun.
• 33:06
  And, yeah, that's all I wanna be about in the comedy scene is, like, giving it giving it
• 33:10
  forward, like, paying it paying it forward because, like, these people gotta you gotta
• 33:14
  give everyone opportunities to shine.
• 33:16
  And they need with the recent closing of Comedy Corner Underground, it's gonna reopen soon, but
• 33:23
  I feel like there needs to be more opportunities for comedians to shine.
• 33:26
  There needs to be more comedy.
• 33:27
  There needs to be more laughs in this world, and please come out to Sherwood Lounge,
• 33:33
  December.
• 33:35
  It's gonna be a great time.
• 33:36
  Come come have some laps for free with great comedians.
• 33:41
  Awesome.
• 33:41
  Well, Andrew, thanks for so much for, spending a little bit of time with me today, and thanks
• 33:46
  for being part of the scene.
• 33:48
  Thanks, Mova.
• 33:49
  Have a good one.