Latest / Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast / Jason Vest | The Commitment | Only Bombs! 43

Transcript

Jason Vest | The Commitment | Only Bombs! 43 · Only Bombs! Comedy Podcast

0:10
My guest today is an Austin -based comedian from
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Michigan, a retired Army National Guard Sergeant
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First Class, an Iraq War veteran. He's appeared
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on Kill Tony three times, earned a big joke book.
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He's the host of the Thank You For Your Service
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podcast. And he's also a social media guru, giving
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some of the best advice that you can ever get.
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With us today is Jason Vest. Thank you, Jason.
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Welcome to Only Bombs, dude. Thank you for having
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me. I'm excited. We finally get a chance to do
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this. Yeah, dude. It feels great to actually
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do it. I got so busy last time, I completely
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forgot about our last appointment. And I blew
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you off. And I feel bad for that. No, no. It's
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OK, man. It happens. It happens. It's like everybody,
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especially like in this kind of world, it's like,
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dude, there's so much. There's so much going
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on all the time, you know? This is the most legit.
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podcast studio in Austin I just want to let you
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know that like most of these are in some like
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young kids dirty fucking apartment and stuff
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so you have the most legitimate setup here dude
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thank you man thank you so much really that means
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a lot because it's a it's a lot of it's a lot
1:12
of work and I've said it before in here it's
1:14
that it's just a culmination of just a long time
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of trial and error and just trying to get it
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right and stuff. So thank you, man. Thank you.
1:22
I appreciate that, dude. Well, yeah, let's get
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started. Where are you from, man? I'm from a
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small town, like a small farming community, Stockbridge,
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Michigan. OK. It's like, I think, halfway between
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Jackson and Lansing, Michigan. It's just in the
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middle of nowhere. So population, probably less
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than 5 ,000 people. Not very big at all. Very,
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very small farming community. And then I joined
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the military there. Oh, you joined the military
1:51
over there? I joined the military in Stockbridge
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and left and never really looked back. Oh, okay.
1:55
Cool. What was life like out there? It was just
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weird, man. My mom, we moved there. My mom went
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through... My mom has always been in and out
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of marriage. She's been married like five times,
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right? Gotcha. And so my mom got in a relationship
2:08
with her cousin. My mom was in an ancestral relationship
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with her cousin and we used to live in Saline,
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Michigan Which is kind of near Ann Arbor, Michigan
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near the College University of Michigan and she
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got into an ancestral relationship With her cousin
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and we just packed up and moved to be closer
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to him So it wasn't like my childhood wasn't
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like this like fucking cookie cutter Come home
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to fresh baked cookies. I came home to my mom
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getting fucked by her cousin. That is wild like
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what is that? What did that kind of do to you
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growing up? Like, did that kind of fuck with
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you a little bit? Oh, dude, you just end up,
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you end up, like, finding ways to cope with it.
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Like, you try to be funny, you try to make people
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laugh, and, you know, it's true what they say,
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like, the saddest people are usually the funniest
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people, because I was fucking miserable as a
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kid, and so I used humor and comedy. I did a
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lot of skits with my friends in school. You know,
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I had dreams of, like, being in SNL and stuff
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like that. And I just focused my efforts, like,
3:07
not being home. Oh, yeah. And the first chance
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I got, I joined the military and got the fuck
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out of Dodge. Yeah, I feel like that's sort of
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natural. Was there anything about, like, growing
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up like that that said, okay, this is not normal?
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Oh, 100%. Like, I knew it wasn't normal, man.
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Like, I talk about it on my social media. Like,
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people thought that that was, like, a joke, and
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it was like, no. No. We moved our whole upbringing
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because my mom fell in love with her cousin.
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Wow. And then we moved to this house in Stockbridge
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and she got a pet pig. Oh. She named the pig
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after her cousin Steve. I don't mean to laugh,
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but wow. Yeah. That is just fucked up. Like that
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is just so wild. Like, man, holy cow, dude. So
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yeah, I see why you joined the military. Yeah.
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I mean, it was awful. And so I lived in this
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basement. And so my mom made me stay in the basement.
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It was just like this moldy basement. And in
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Michigan, in the wintertime, it would dry out.
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Like, it would fucking dry out. The ground would
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freeze. But when spring would hit, that motherfucker
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was pirates of the Caribbean. And there was,
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like, water. Like, I lived in, like, two inches
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of standing water. Yeah, so you grew up fucked
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up. That is that is insane. So you knew. I knew
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that that wasn't the way to live. And I had friends
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that I would like stay at their house from time
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to time. And so when I joined the military and
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I didn't do very good on the test, so the only
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branch I could get into at the time was the National
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Guard. And I'm like, fuck it. I just need to
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get out of this environment. Yeah, fuck it, dude.
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And so you go in there and you were a combat
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medic, right? Not very long, though. Not very
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long. No, because the National Guard is a part
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-time job. One week in a month, 48 days annually.
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I needed a real job. I needed to get out of the
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environment I was in. So I started talking to
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my friends and getting my friends to join. And
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I got so many people to join that I turned the
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National Guard into a full -time job. And they
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hired me as a recruiter. I was young, dude. I
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was like 21 years old as a recruiter. 21. Yeah,
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you went in earlier than me. I was Navy 23. Oh,
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thank you for your service. OK. And you too,
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bro. But no, man. So in between time, what would
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you do being in the National Guard? just, like,
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go out and just try to get, like, comedy clubs?
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Did you already, like, know that? I wasn't doing
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any type of comedy back then. I was just, like...
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I got in the National Guard. I did my basic training,
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came home, and I'm now back at home, because
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it's only a part -time commitment. One week in
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a month, two weeks annually. I needed a job.
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It didn't fix the problem. And so I just hustled
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my ass off trying to recruit people, and I'm
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like, man, if I can recruit enough people, I
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can get one of these good recruiter jobs and
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I can work full -time for the military, and that's
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just what I... I fucking grinded every day for
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like two years. And then finally the National
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Guard was like, hey, we'll give you a recruiter
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job. And it pays really well. Like you basically
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get the same pay as someone on active duty, but
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you don't have to, you get to stay home. You
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get to do recruiting duty. It's not the same
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thing as like regular army. It's not even as
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hard, but it's a good paying job. So I worked
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my fucking ass off till I got that job. Sure.
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How long were you in before you went to Iraq?
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10 years. Ten years. Ten years, yeah. I was recruiting
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before the war, and then, like, I was recruiting
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when the war kicked off, and I had a real problem
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recruiting people to go to war when I hadn't
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been myself. And so you'd get in these living
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rooms, and these parents would be like, all right,
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when did you go? And I'm like, motherfucker,
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I'd never been. And then I'm like, oh, shit,
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I'm not the example. I'm not the example. And
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I just had a real problem with that. I had a
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problem, like, I was supposedly a leader, but
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how could I be an example to these young kids?
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And I'm signing them up for war when I never
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went myself. So I quit my full -time job as a
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recruiter and volunteered to deploy as a medic.
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I didn't know shit. I hadn't been a medic in
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eight fucking years. Wow. You know, I completely
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understand that, dude. When I was in the Navy,
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you always felt like less of a sailor because
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you didn't deploy. You know, so I kind of feel
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that, man. So you get over there and was it like
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a sort of shock to the system that you were there
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to begin with? No. I mean, it was pretty much
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easier than recruiting duty. Recruiting duty
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is fucking awful. Recruiting duty for the military
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is terrible. It's just you're always dealing
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with some stupid fucking kid that wants a bunch
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of shit that doesn't qualify for half of what
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they want to do. And you're in there just selling
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your soul. Being a recruiter for the military,
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I think, is one of the hardest jobs. in the fucking
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military. That's why no one wants to do it, man.
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So when I got to Iraq, it was like a hangout,
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you know? Granted, you were in Iraq, but it still
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wasn't as shitty. I would go to war ten times
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before I'd ever be a recruiter again. Wow. So
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what was it that made it easier, I guess? Just
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camaraderie, being around people that wanted
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you there. Being a recruiter is a lot like being
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a comedian. The metric is real fucking simple.
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If you don't get laughs, you're a shitty comedian.
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If you don't get fans or followers or whatever,
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you know, that's how people are measured in comedy.
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Same thing as a military recruiter. If you don't
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have that number at the end of the month, you're
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a piece of shit. And I hadn't lived my life in
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almost eight years where I didn't have some number
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held over my head. So, like, while everyone's
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like, oh, you know, this Iraq shit's terrible,
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I'm like, this ain't half as bad because I don't
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have to worry about recruiting anybody. I just
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have to stay alive. Right. How long were you
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there for? I was there for a year. Yeah, straight
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up to the whole year there and everything. But
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I didn't see a lot of hard combat or anything.
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I was in a troop medical clinic, so we dealt
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with cough and cold, neck and back shit. I did
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all sorts of stupid shit that no one wanted to
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do because I wasn't a good medic. I wasn't good
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at my job. I just had the skill. Wow. Because
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I think you've seen that in the military where
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someone has a job and they hold that skill, but
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it doesn't mean they're qualified to do that
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job. They might suck at it. Yeah. I was a shitty
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medic. Yeah, I get that. I was pretty shitty
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at my job initially. And then, I don't know,
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for some reason, there was like pressure that
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came on me, like an inspection that was coming
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up. And then I just kind of lit the fire under
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my ass. And then I just, I don't know, for some
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reason, kind of rose to the occasion. But that
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was right when I was getting out. OK. So it was
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just kind of wild. So you come home after like
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a year. What's your next plan? What are you thinking
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to do? I went right back on recruiting duty.
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And so I had gotten into a bunch of trouble before
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I left. And so I resigned my position and went
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to Iraq, did the thing, came home, and resurfaced
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in the New York National Guard. And so I lived
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in upstate New York for six years, and I just
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went right back on recruiting duty. I didn't
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take any fucking time off. I didn't even take
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the two weeks. I literally got home on a Friday.
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I was back to work on Monday. Wow. No time off.
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It is a fuck it get back to the fucking grind
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Wow, and I just didn't believe in like coming
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home and sitting still Yeah, I didn't have this
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like fucked up deployment where I came home and
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I was like this fucking mental disaster Yeah,
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I came home motivated for the next chapter. Yeah,
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and that's what I did Did you know then that
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you were gonna go and do comedy or was it like
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sort of a like kind of gradual? progression to
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that point. No, I used to listen to the Opie
10:19
and Anthony radio show when I was in Iraq. I
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don't know if you're familiar with that, but
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I used to listen to Opie and Anthony, very popular
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talk radio on Sirius XM. Yeah, I remember them
10:29
because I've seen a lot of their prank calls
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that they did or the relationship calls, I think,
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where they would... I don't know if this is them
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maybe actually, but they would be like somebody
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at work and they would just call and be like,
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why weren't you... Like, why didn't you call
10:43
me back? And shit like that. All sorts of crap.
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They did all sorts of assaults on the media.
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You name it. And Opie and Anthony was like, edgy
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radio. And I fell in love with it. I became obsessed.
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I had XM radio in my government car. I had it
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at home. And I just listened to it all the time.
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And I was like, man, maybe one day I get to do
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that. Maybe. You know? And it was always in the
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back of my mind, like, just listening to their
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stories. Like, Jim Norton and Patrice O 'Neil
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and Bill Burr, like, when he had hair. You know,
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just talking about... hanging out and doing comedy,
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and it just really sparked my interest, but it
11:15
wasn't even a possibility for me. I was in the
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military, and I had to work. I had a job to do,
11:22
and I had real life. So it didn't become reality
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for me until I did 20 years and got out. And
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I got out, and I flailed around for like three
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years. I got a government job. Right away when
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I got out of the military, the government offered
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me a job to come back doing federal oversight.
11:39
over the military in the recruiting realm. And
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so got into that for a few years, quit drinking
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and got sober, like quit completely everything
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and just got my life together a little bit, gained
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a bunch of weight and I just was fucking miserable.
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So then I started comedy during the pandemic.
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What made you start to begin with? The pandemic.
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The pandemic. The pandemic is I'm like, I'm 40
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something years old. I think I was at 41 years
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old when I started comedy. And I'm like, I don't
12:05
want this to be my story. I don't want to die.
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at some fucking government job, like, just wasting
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away when I maybe could have done something really
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fucking cool. Were you always a fan of comedy?
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I was a fan of comedy, and I was a fan of entertainment,
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and I said, you know what? Fuck it. I'm gonna
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go to an open mic, and I went to my first open
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mic when things kind of started to open up for
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the pandemic. I got hooked, and for two years,
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I didn't post to social media. I didn't do anything.
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I didn't have a TikTok, and I just did stand
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-up. And I go to every open mic I could. I would
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drive to Chicago when I had free time to go maybe
12:44
do comedy there, just a different audience, different
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group of people. And I just came obsessed with
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it. And then I did a photo shoot with the Naked
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Cowboy in New York. And I called in sick to do
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it. I said, I'm taking a mental health day. And
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then later that day, pictures surfaced of me
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and the Naked Cowboy. And I was in a Speedo playing
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guitar with him. and it went pretty viral, and
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then that I pretty much got it talking to, like,
13:12
I don't know if you're gonna be able to do both.
13:15
How did that even pop up? Like, how did you even
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get to that position of being, like, in it with
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a naked cowboy like that? We were in New York,
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I called in sick, and I hated my fucking job,
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right? I fucking hated it. And this was towards
13:28
the end when I decided that I maybe wanted to
13:30
go pursue a different path. I just called in
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sick. We had a bunch of extra money. I'm like,
13:34
let's go to New York and see what happens. Got
13:36
to New York and then I saw the Naked Cowboy on
13:39
the street and I'm like, hey, can we come do
13:40
this photo shoot with you? I got this idea, maybe
13:43
get us some social media followers. And he's
13:45
like, bring it. And I played with the Naked Cowboy
13:48
for about an hour and a half. Wow. And all these
13:50
people in Times Square were coming up and it
13:53
was pretty fucking cool, pretty liberating. But
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I was about 300 pounds. Yeah. That's what I was
13:58
about to say. Like, it sounds like, you know,
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even though you're kind of flying by the seat
14:02
of your pants, there's still, like, there's this
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feeling of freedom, you know? Like, you just,
14:06
it's like you're finally just saying, like, dude,
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I've been working fucking forever. It's time
14:09
to just let go, dude. Is that right, you think?
14:12
Yeah. The Naked Cowboy doesn't know any of this.
14:14
He probably doesn't have any clue how much that
14:16
that moment meant to me. Wow. You know what I
14:18
mean? Like, he has no fucking clue. Like, that
14:20
was the moment I'm like, you know, fuck all of
14:22
this. Fuck everyone. Because when you start comedy
14:24
late in life, People are immediately gonna hate
14:27
on you. It doesn't matter if you start comedy
14:30
and you're like 30s or four I'd say late 30s
14:33
40s people are gonna look at you like why the
14:36
fuck are you doing that and that's what I got
14:38
I got opposition from my employers and people
14:41
that I used to serve with because I worked as
14:43
a civilian with people that I used to serve with
14:44
and everyone's like Why are you doing that? You're
14:47
just embarrassing yourself. You're never gonna
14:49
do anything with that. And that just is like,
14:52
motherfucker, oh yeah? I'll fucking show you.
14:54
And then I had a conversation with my boss before
14:56
I quit, and he goes, you'll be back in a year.
14:59
And I'm like, you're gonna be hearing my name
15:02
for the rest of your fucking life. And I just
15:05
said, fuck it. I quit my job, sold everything,
15:08
downsized. I had a nice house in Rochester Hills,
15:11
Michigan. Got rid of everything. Went to Chicago,
15:15
did the Laugh Factory open mic one time, and
15:18
I said, this is where I want to be. I'm not even
15:20
passed by this club yet. I'm moving to Chicago.
15:22
Wow. And I just figured it the fuck out. And
15:25
I still now I'm not on social media. I'm not
15:29
making, nobody knows who the fuck I am. I'm just
15:31
every once in a while maybe posting some pictures
15:33
of me in my underwear or some just fucking stupid
15:36
shit, you know, to get traction. but not doing
15:40
what I'm doing now. And I just grinded open mics,
15:42
open mics, and then I was really raunchy, and
15:45
I didn't get accepted. I didn't get accepted
15:46
at all, and it pissed me the fuck off. And I
15:48
got real depressed and got even fatter. And I
15:52
just wanted to be accepted, and I'm just like,
15:54
why the fuck don't these people accept me? And
15:56
it really fucked with me. It really fucked me,
15:59
because I was always kind of a reject in the
16:00
military, so I was thinking, hey, maybe this
16:03
will be the one place I won't be a reject. And
16:05
I got fucking rejected by everyone. And everyone's
16:08
like, why did you fucking quit your job? And
16:10
then I said it fucked with me. I went into a
16:13
deep, deep, deep depression. I got sick and I
16:17
got diverticulatus really bad during a mushroom
16:20
trip. Really? Yeah. So I had a diverticulatus
16:24
attack during a mushroom trip. So I thought I
16:27
had wild mushroom poisoning. I'm waking my wife
16:31
up. I'm like, I gotta call poison control center.
16:33
I think I had wild mushroom poisoning No, it's
16:35
not the mushrooms and then I'm like I have to
16:38
go to the ER I had this major fever and I was
16:40
in the hospital for almost a fucking month. I
16:42
had almost become septic and died What they were
16:46
gonna have to remove like a big chunk of my colon
16:49
and I'm just in this VA hospital Now the VA medical
16:53
system is fucking terrifying. Yes, it is terrifying
16:57
Yeah, and it's just the doctors are horrible
16:59
All of them are from foreign countries. Like
17:02
none of them can speak fucking English. And I'm
17:04
not saying that that's like, I'm not trying to
17:05
say that to be racist, but it's fucking terrifying.
17:08
It's like people are using Google Translate to
17:11
fucking communicate with you. I was treated like
17:13
an animal. I had to like live and sleep in my
17:16
own piss and shit one night. And I'm just like,
17:20
something's gotta fucking change. Like I'm gonna
17:23
die in this fucking VA hospital at 44 years old.
17:27
No, I think I was 45. 45 years old. Nothing's
17:30
gonna happen. I'm not almost 400 pounds. I quit
17:33
my fucking job. I can't even tie my fucking shoes
17:36
So I said if I get out of this VA hospital I'm
17:39
not gonna take anything for granted anymore and
17:42
I'm gonna like really go all in on this because
17:45
I'm giving the my the haters what they want They
17:50
want to see me 400 pounds They want to see me
17:53
so defeated that I have to fucking crawl back
17:56
and go, please. Can I have my job back, sir?
17:59
And I said, fuck that. I got out of the hospital,
18:01
hired a writing coach, got on a diet, and said,
18:05
fuck it. I'm going to write. I'm going to make
18:08
videos. And my writing coach at the time, Jessica
18:11
Michelle Singleton, she's a touring headliner
18:13
out of the comedy store. Shout out. She goes,
18:16
maybe you should shop these things that you have,
18:19
these ideas or stories on the internet. Made
18:22
one TikTok went viral. Wow. So how many? Can
18:27
I ask how many? went viral was like like a million
18:30
two million and I think during the first I made
18:33
one it went viral the first one was a massage
18:36
parlor video just talking about military people
18:39
going to the massage parlor and woke up next
18:42
thing you know I got three million views and
18:43
I had like it yeah I had 8 ,000 followers my
18:47
8 ,000 so like oh I'm sorry no good no I was
18:50
gonna be like so So, you speak to Jessica, right?
18:54
And, you know, she's encouraging you to kind
18:57
of explore these kind of stories that you have,
19:01
right? And, like, where do these stories come
19:03
from? Like, these are so... Well, they're true.
19:05
Yeah, there's no elements... There's nothing
19:08
that's not true. That is fascinating. There's
19:10
nothing that... I mean, because think about the
19:11
detail and the level of work. Do you think that
19:14
I have that creative of a fucking mind that I'm
19:17
gonna dream up some fucking drunk clown? at a
19:21
restaurant making balloon -fucking -weapons.
19:25
Like, you can't make some of this shit up. Right,
19:27
yeah. And that's the thing, is when people watch
19:29
your videos, like, that's the thing. I know I
19:32
was just kind of throwing you some accolades
19:35
there, I guess, a minute ago, because I really
19:37
love those videos. But I completely believe that
19:42
what you're telling, it's just, I've just never
19:45
heard of, like, like a life like that, but I'm
19:48
starting, like when I drive by, let's say like,
19:51
you know, you can see these massage parlors everywhere.
19:53
And I guess I never really started thinking about
19:55
it until I saw some of your videos. I was like,
19:57
I wonder what kind of people just go in there.
20:00
Addicts. You know? I'm an addict. Yeah. Sex addict,
20:03
food addict, pill addict, booze addict, weed
20:07
addict. I'm an addict. You're just an addict,
20:09
yeah. I'm an addict. And so this is sort of like,
20:12
you just ended up in one of these things and
20:14
you started getting these stories? I am a sex
20:16
addict. And so then I go into these massage parlors
20:19
and I just get addicted to going. It's low effort.
20:23
Pay the money. It's transactional. Here's $100.
20:27
Get your dick sucked. Done. Get the little bottle
20:30
of water. Head out to your car. Go home. Wow.
20:35
And so you take these stories and what makes
20:37
you... Want to release them out is it kind of
20:40
like a thing in you that says that like it's
20:43
a healing for you to do that or not healing Yeah,
20:46
I think that I guess what I want people to know
20:48
from following my content is it's okay to be
20:51
a freak It's okay to be fucked up It's okay to
20:56
own Who you are? It's okay. I like that. We've
21:01
just gotten so far away from people think they
21:03
have to be a certain type away. And it's like,
21:07
no, just be who the fuck you are. And unfortunately,
21:09
who I am is fucking pretty disgusting at times.
21:13
And that's, would you say that's because literally
21:15
because of your upbringing? Yeah, 100%. 100%.
21:19
My mom was a stripper and an escort. So I grew
21:22
up hanging out at strip clubs like after school.
21:26
hanging out at strip clubs, doing my homework
21:28
at the strip club until I had to leave. So it's
21:31
like, I grew up around sex. My mom had dudes
21:34
in and out of the house. She was a pass around
21:36
for a motorcycle club. So it was just like, I
21:39
was just exposed to sex at a young age. I knew
21:42
how it worked. Wow. So, like, now that you're
21:47
older and when you look back at that, is it something
21:49
that you're just like, you're trying to launch
21:51
yourself forward or are you just kind of embracing
21:53
it and just being like, you know, I'm just going
21:56
to make like awareness of this? I don't know
21:58
if there's any rhyme or reason. I just think
22:01
that some of my stuff just needs to get out.
22:05
Some of your stuff just needs to get out. It
22:07
needs to get out. That makes sense. And, you
22:09
know, sometimes you're like, maybe I shouldn't
22:10
put this out. Maybe this isn't how I want to
22:13
be perceived. And then you get that message from
22:16
someone at 3 .30 in the morning that that video
22:19
saved her life. That's what I was about to ask
22:21
you. Was there any positivity from that? And
22:23
now I'm getting probably 20 of those a week.
22:28
Wonderful. Before I was getting maybe once a
22:31
month, once in a while. Now I get it every week.
22:34
Like I was on the edge. I almost had a drink
22:36
today. I was thinking about just fucking going
22:39
out into the woods and ending it. And that's
22:41
a lot of pressure to put on me. You know what
22:43
I mean? When people reach out to me like that,
22:45
I mean, I'm glad my shit resonates, but fuck.
22:47
Yeah. Better make that video. Was there any particular...
22:52
Was there any particular message that, like,
22:54
stands out to you as, like, that this was impactful
22:56
for you? They just... I get them all the time.
22:58
You get them all the time? Like, I get so many
22:59
I can't... I'm getting so many now, man. I can't
23:01
keep up with it. Wow. There's a lot of dudes
23:03
hurting out there. And there's a lot of dudes
23:06
from our culture that are hurting. And one of
23:09
the things that maybe can help all of us that
23:12
wore the uniform heal is camaraderie. And maybe
23:16
my content brings you back to that place where
23:20
you're hanging out with your buddies that you
23:22
served with after a long weekend talking about
23:25
the bitches you fucked, right? That's the vibe
23:28
I'm going for. And I think that that's why people
23:32
like it, is it resonates with that culture, like
23:37
law enforcement, military, firefighters, EMS,
23:41
a lot of dudes and the weekends after the weekend
23:44
just talk about their conquests or things like
23:46
that. Yeah, it's a I know what you mean, man.
23:51
It's like because it's sort of like this this
23:53
self discovery and figuring out who you are.
23:55
And it seems to me that you are just authentic,
23:59
like you're just being genuine and you're putting
24:01
it out there. And, you know, like you're telling
24:03
these stories, you know, you're telling these
24:05
memories and they're helping people out. Is there
24:07
a part of you that was a little hurt or insulted
24:10
if anybody were laughing at this? No. Like, I
24:14
talked to him in the beginning, talked about,
24:16
you know, growing up fucked up with the pig and
24:17
everything, and that's a video. That's a 16 -minute
24:19
video. Yeah. They got a million views. And, you
24:23
know, people are like, why are you even putting
24:25
this out there? My own family won't speak to
24:27
me because of it, because I'm putting that information
24:29
out there. Wow. But I made that because I talked
24:31
to one of my really good friends. I was talking
24:34
to her about that time. And I'm like, you know,
24:38
I think what people need to realize at Christmas
24:40
is it's okay to not want to be around your family
24:43
if your family is a piece of shit. Right. And
24:47
then that manifested itself into a 16 -minute
24:50
story about being abused as a kid. But that was
24:56
the message overall, was that it's okay to be
24:59
a little angry on Christmas, because sometimes
25:01
on the holidays, people get resentful that they
25:05
don't... have what they perceive to be a perfect
25:08
holiday, that they're alone, you know? A lot
25:10
of veterans are shut -ins. It's a very lonely
25:13
life for a lot of veterans. A lot of veterans
25:15
live a life of isolation, you know? And to be
25:18
able to tell a story that could resonate with
25:21
people, be like, all right, maybe my childhood
25:23
wasn't so fucked up. You know, at least you have
25:26
the ability to do so. Right. The capability,
25:29
you know? It's a fucking gift, man. It's something
25:32
that I don't take lightly. Like, the ability...
25:35
to make people laugh at really fucked up shit,
25:39
I think, is a privilege. Yes, I agree. I agree.
25:42
And I think that, like, I'm given by the people
25:45
that follow me and the people that come to the
25:48
shows, they give me permission to say those things.
25:53
And I just respect it. Yeah. I respect the fuck
25:57
out of it. Yeah. Because not everybody gets that.
26:01
Not everybody can just say what the fuck's on
26:03
their mind. and they don't have to worry about
26:05
someone coming after them, getting canceled,
26:08
getting judged, not getting booked on a show.
26:11
I can say whatever the fuck I want today, whether
26:14
you like it or not, and it's not going to affect
26:16
me any more than it might just piss a few people
26:19
off. Yeah. Do you actually write down these stories
26:24
or do you just get in front of the camera, hit
26:26
record and just say them? Sometimes I'll make
26:29
notes. So I use an app called Evernote. And I'll
26:32
just jot down notes about something that I might
26:34
want to talk about. And I do stream of consciousness.
26:38
But that's not how it always started. When I
26:40
first started making these black and white videos,
26:43
I would cut out certain things. And I would cut
26:46
out the breaths. Or I would cut out if I mispronounced
26:49
something. And then people were like, oh, he's
26:52
just editing all this stuff. And anybody can
26:54
do a button. So I said, all right, I'll show
26:56
your ass. Barely edit anything out. It's all
27:00
stream of consciousness. I'm not reading from
27:02
a prompter Hmm. Yeah, so this stuff wasn't it
27:06
wasn't written down like this is just off the
27:07
top of your head Sometimes I might have to say
27:10
it like 50 times because I might not remember
27:13
it like I might something Might come up in my
27:16
memory from the event while talking about it
27:18
and I'm like, well shit now I got to rerecord
27:20
the whole thing because I forgot about this detail
27:22
Wow Wow. Yeah. And these are these are like very
27:25
interesting stories. I seriously employ like
27:27
anybody to go watch these stories because they're
27:29
they're they're just they are they are funny.
27:32
They but at the same time it's like you're like
27:35
what like what is this? You know, like and I
27:39
think that's what intrigued me about your your
27:41
stuff to begin with. Like just when I was like
27:43
scrolling through Instagram and I just kind of
27:44
looked at your stories and stuff. It's just it's
27:46
so unique. Thank you. You know, it's so unique.
27:48
And it's like it's really amazing that you're
27:50
able to to open up and just really let out these
27:55
kind of things and give a side to it that people
27:57
don't even know. So kudos to that, man. Thank
28:00
you, thank you. Yeah, for sure, dude. So with
28:04
comedy and then going into comedy, what were
28:09
you initially like, okay, I'm going to tell these
28:12
stories on stage? Or were you like, no, let me
28:15
go ahead and try to make something up. Maybe
28:17
they're not ready for that or whatever the excuse
28:20
might be. I guess it started off with just, I
28:23
just want to peek stuff out and see what happens.
28:25
Okay. Right? No real goal in mind. I'm just going
28:28
to say, I'm going to talk about these things.
28:30
And it was like an evolution, right? So when
28:31
I first started making content, I was using an
28:34
iPad and a green screen. Then I got a couple
28:36
different cameras and I was the green screen
28:38
dude. Then it just kind of evolved into what
28:41
I do now, right? And so at first I wanted it
28:44
to be separate. What you saw on the screen might
28:48
be different when you come to a show. And now
28:51
I'm getting more and more people kind of almost
28:55
demanding the rest of the story. There's more
28:59
to it. There's a lot more to everything. When
29:01
you make a video, you only have a certain amount
29:04
of time before you'll lose people's attention.
29:06
But like a lot of the stuff from the internet,
29:08
it actually is a lot deeper than what people
29:10
realize and that there's more details to it.
29:13
So now I'm more kind of evolving into that mixed
29:18
with other stuff too. Right? Like, I don't really
29:22
tell jokes. I just talk about what's on my mind.
29:25
I hate the word joke. I hate it. What do you
29:28
hate about the word joke? Joke is cheap. Joke
29:31
is cheap. I can throw away a joke. Gotcha. I
29:34
just don't like the word, so you'll never hear
29:35
me call it a joke. Yeah. Because it's more than
29:38
that. It's more than that. It's more than that.
29:40
And I sit there and I think about it and think
29:43
about it and think about it and sit on something
29:45
and do research. to make sure I have the details
29:49
just right. The Oriental Health and Massage in
29:53
Jackson, Michigan off of I -94 on exit 145 across
29:57
the street from the truck stop and next to the
29:59
Wendy's. I can say that a zillion times. I'm
30:02
never going to mess it up. Wow. And that is true,
30:07
man, because the things that I've seen you say
30:08
is like the specificity. is another thing that
30:13
kind of gets you, but it builds the story, dude.
30:15
It's almost like watching your videos is sort
30:17
of like listening to an audio book in a way,
30:19
you know? Have you ever thought about doing that
30:21
and writing a book? I'm thinking about it. It's
30:22
like, dude, this stuff just keeps getting like
30:24
bigger and bigger and just keep getting more
30:26
and more followers. It's like, you have these
30:28
ideas and then the reality hits. It's like, I
30:30
got... 15 fucking cameos to make tonight. Wow.
30:34
You know, I got 15 cameos. I try to engage with
30:37
everybody that engages with me as much as humanly
30:40
possible. Wonderful. So if you send me a DM,
30:43
I can't always get the direct messages back,
30:45
but if you comment, I'll get that eventually.
30:48
Usually I'll get to it, right? But I try to do
30:51
that too. So like, between the stand -up and
30:55
the content, this is my full -time job. I make
30:59
a living doing this. more money than I made in
31:02
the real world. Congratulations. Thank you, thank
31:04
you. That's wonderful, man. But it's every ounce,
31:08
because I don't, I mean, it's just me. Yeah.
31:10
It's me. I edit the videos, I shoot the videos,
31:13
I write the videos. Yeah, man. Well, congratulations
31:18
for a number of reasons, because based upon what
31:21
you were just saying a moment ago, you know how
31:23
like your whole thing was like you were just
31:25
going to show them basically, and now you're
31:28
fucking doing it, dude. When this started kind
31:31
of picking up, was there like a moment that you
31:34
were like, oh shit, this is real now? Yeah, I
31:38
think it was going to the airport after the second
31:41
time I got on Kill Tony. The first time I got
31:43
on Kill Tony, bombed, got a little joke book,
31:46
hated myself for a long time, and then got on
31:48
Kill Tony, did really good. And then I'm going
31:50
through the airport, people are recognizing me,
31:52
and that's when I'm just like, holy fuck. Like,
31:54
I'm sitting next to a guy in the airport, and
31:56
he's like, I want to go to the butthole contest,
31:58
you know? They're just talking about something
32:00
from the content, and I'm like, oh shit. And,
32:03
you know, I just flew back from Michigan. last
32:06
week and walking through the airport again was
32:08
like, hey, hey, hey, and I'm like, shit, like,
32:11
this is... Wow. That is insane, man. But it's
32:14
also really awesome that, like, you know, the
32:16
stories that you're telling, you know, it's just,
32:18
it's resonating with people, you know, and it's
32:20
resonating with the right kind of people, you
32:22
know. Is, like, is there anything about, like,
32:25
the hate that you get, you know, is there anything
32:27
that bothers you or is it just like... It all
32:29
fuels. It's all fuel. It all fuels. It's all
32:32
fuel. I read every negative comment. I read,
32:35
when I bombed on Killtony, I read every negative
32:37
Reddit comment, every one of them. I don't believe
32:41
that you should ignore the comments. I don't
32:44
believe in that. I believe that you don't have
32:46
to respond to the comments, but you have to be
32:49
aware. Because there might be some nugget in
32:51
there that might be a layer of truth that you
32:54
just don't want to fucking hear. You might not
32:57
want to hear that you're not fucking funny, or
32:59
what you said at that moment wasn't fucking funny,
33:02
but maybe it wasn't. Damn. And maybe you're more
33:05
triggered that that person commenting is right
33:08
than you are understanding that you're the problem.
33:13
Sure. And so, so I took Kill Tony Hate from the
33:17
first time. And I just kind of worked on my thing,
33:19
got on it, murdered. And then I got on Kill Tony
33:21
a third time and bombed my dick off. It was fucking
33:24
bad. It was pretty catastrophic. And I was really
33:27
embarrassed by it. And I sat down. I cried about
33:30
it. I didn't cry, but I mean, I sat around it.
33:32
I was sad about it for about a week. And I said,
33:35
you know what? I'm not doing this right. And
33:38
then I started making those black and white videos
33:39
and doubled my following. Wow. So I had 200 ,000
33:43
followers. When that happened, when I bombed
33:46
on Kill Tony, I took a week of self -assessment
33:49
and I just assessed how I was talking, how I
33:52
was presenting myself on all aspects of the stand
33:55
-up and whether the social media hyper -focused
33:58
on fixing the things I knew I needed to fix,
34:02
right? I just wasn't willing to fix them. Now
34:05
you're exposed, man. Kill Tony exposes you. If
34:08
you ain't got it. You're gonna find out you don't
34:11
have it real fucking quick. Mm -hmm. And I'm
34:14
like, no I'm better than this and I just focus
34:17
and I'm almost a half million followers as of
34:20
today I'll probably hit a half million next week
34:22
Wow Congratulations on that too, bro. Do you
34:26
uh, what prompted you to sign up for Killtony
34:27
to begin with? Um, I moved to Austin for it.
34:30
You moved to Austin? I moved to Austin for it.
34:32
I look at coming from the military you measure
34:35
success by benchmarks Like if you don't make
34:39
sergeant by this time, you're probably never
34:42
gonna make staff sergeant in your career, right?
34:45
That's just the way I look at things, right?
34:46
So if you've been doing something for a really
34:48
long time and you've never done one thing, you
34:51
gotta throw yourself to the fucking fire. And
34:53
so I moved down here, we downsized again, sold
34:57
everything, moved down here when I got my 100
35:00
% VA disability and just kinda... You know, I've
35:04
gotten my dick kicked in, but I've won and I've
35:06
gotten my dick kicked in by it, too. So I respect
35:08
it. I got no issue with Kill Tony. Wonderful.
35:11
Nothing. No negative. Nothing negative to say,
35:13
because it kind of changed, it's changed my life
35:15
in two ways. Right? So I got on the second time.
35:18
It was life -changing. I gained a hundred thousand
35:20
followers from that platform. Didn't get a golden
35:23
ticket. So people are always like, oh, you got
35:26
to have a golden ticket. No, you have to be fucking
35:27
funny. You have to be funny. Yes. Yeah. Tickets,
35:32
titles don't fucking matter. You just have to
35:34
be funny. So I gained a hundred thousand followers
35:37
from that platform Got on it again when I probably
35:40
really should have taken my win and hyper focused
35:44
on my act and Come back when I was ready when
35:47
I came back the third time. I was not ready.
35:49
I was not prepared I kind of was still figuring
35:52
this thing out and I was worried about what people
35:56
wanted from me And so I was so in my head, what
36:01
do these people want from me? I got on Kill Tony
36:03
the second time I talked about an Asian woman
36:06
shitting on my chest. They're gonna want that
36:09
again. They want that extremeness of that again.
36:14
And I just got so focused on giving people what
36:18
I perceived they want that I wasn't focusing
36:20
on being funny. And so when I left, I'm like,
36:25
I need to focus on being funny. Kind of it kind
36:29
of I see where you're coming from with that too
36:30
because it kind of seems like The second that
36:33
you sort of deviate from your little plan It
36:36
seems like it doesn't work for you You know,
36:38
like it seems like everything in your mind like
36:40
the way that you want to do it sort of um It's
36:43
like it's a path of least resistance. It's just
36:46
being genuine Yes, you feel that way 100 % 100
36:50
% and then I was always like Oh, and you know,
36:54
when you're on social media, and you have a social
36:56
media following, and you do stand -up comedy,
36:59
and you're not famous, or you don't have a following
37:03
from stand -up comedy, a lot of the other comedians
37:06
fucking hate it. They get fucking jealous, or
37:10
they label you as a TikTokker, and I think that
37:15
the last time I got on Kill Tony, I was such
37:18
in a hurry to prove... I'm not this label. I'm
37:24
not this thing, right? I gotta prove I'm not
37:26
this thing. I don't have to prove shit. That's
37:29
just shit you build up in your fucking head,
37:31
right? This comedy game, this entertainment game's
37:33
a mind fuck, man. And if you let it get ahead
37:36
of you, you're gonna feel like you're not good
37:39
enough all the fucking time. And I just sat down
37:43
and go, you know what? I'm good enough to fucking
37:44
do this. I can do this. It may be a real hard
37:48
road. It might be a real hard road, but I'm gonna
37:51
figure it out." And that last loss just was life
37:54
-changing. And I made a video after that experience,
37:59
and it became one of my most viral stories, Tuck
38:02
Tuck. I loosely talked about it on Kill Tony,
38:06
and I said, you know what? I'm gonna give them
38:09
what they want, but I don't think what I thought
38:12
they wanted was this insane... statement no they
38:18
want the whole story yeah yeah that man that
38:22
is that is really just kind of crazy it's like
38:25
because I see I kind of I see your though the
38:28
way that the way that this is working out for
38:30
you, you know, like as you're telling me, like
38:32
I see how it's just kind of, you know, you're
38:34
doing your comedy, you're doing this funny, but
38:36
you're also being like, you know, so real with
38:37
your stories. And it's a, is there ever like
38:40
a point, like, do you have like a limit to what
38:42
you're willing to share or is it just like, I'm
38:45
gonna give them everything as much as I can do
38:47
it? It's hard sometimes it shows because there's
38:50
people that bought that ticket and they want
38:53
me to talk about that thing, right? But when
38:57
you're... I'm not new at stand -up comedy, but
39:00
for years I ignored my greatest strength. And
39:05
my greatest strength may not necessarily be like
39:08
the, I woke up today and I went to the coffee
39:11
shop type shit. Like, I don't think that's my
39:14
wheelhouse. And I was trying to do that, right?
39:17
Like that's what I was trying to do. So I think
39:20
like right now I kind of know my lane. I know
39:24
what it is and I kind of just stick to it. It's
39:28
just giving people what they want. It's sometimes
39:30
hard to say that thing still. Like I have a show
39:33
on Saturday. I probably sold more tickets than
39:35
I have any show in Texas. And they're gonna want
39:39
me to say that fucked up thing. And I have to
39:44
do it. And I have to just be comfortable knowing
39:47
that there might not be fans in the audience
39:50
that might not, they might not know what they
39:53
got themselves into. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a reason
39:57
why you feel that you have to do it? Is it just
40:00
because of the fans? Because that's what the
40:01
people, that's what they want. So you get after
40:03
every show, they're like, I thought you were
40:05
going to talk about this. Gotcha. And I thought
40:06
you were going to talk about that. And I'm like,
40:09
fuck. Yeah. I'm missing the whole thing. Yeah.
40:13
I'm over here talking about, you know, women
40:17
with up the crack leggings, but that might not
40:19
be what they want to hear. They want to hear
40:21
more about what I talked about on social media.
40:24
Maybe not the same thing, but along more in depth.
40:29
So, but you wouldn't label yourself as a social
40:32
media comedian. I'm a comedian, man. You know
40:36
what I mean? I'm just a comedian. I'm not a stand
40:39
-up comedian. I'm not a TikToker. I'm definitely
40:43
not an influencer. I don't have any fucking brand
40:45
deals. Like, I don't make any money off that.
40:48
I make money off of monetized content and cameo.
40:51
That pays the bills. That's it. Those two platforms.
40:55
That's it. Did you ever think that your life
40:57
was going to turn out like this? No. I still
41:00
don't know how it's going to turn out. This isn't
41:02
it. This is just the beginning. You know what
41:05
I mean? This is just the beginning. And so I
41:08
think a lot of times people get, I get impatient,
41:10
we all get impatient as comedians because we
41:12
want that shit right fucking now, right? Like
41:15
we want that big win right now, but we might
41:18
not be ready for it. I might not be ready for
41:22
it. Yep. That is a very, very, very true statement.
41:25
Yeah. You know? We might not be ready, but you
41:27
don't know you're ready for it until you fall
41:29
on your dick. You step on your dick. Yeah. Yeah.
41:32
I usually say that it's like, you know, you gotta
41:35
get rough before you get polished. You know what
41:38
I mean? It's like this. This whole thing right
41:41
here. It's like where it's at right now. I'm
41:43
just like... It's not the biggest thing in the
41:47
world, but the thing is about it is that it's
41:48
like, I'm still just polishing it out. And it's
41:52
like, I'm still just trying to make it the best
41:54
version of itself. And that's kind of seems like
41:57
you're doing the same thing. It's like, you're
41:59
still polishing and still going, which is awesome
42:03
because it's almost like it seems like you're
42:05
humble about it. You're in a great position,
42:08
but you're also like, hold on, man, I'm still...
42:11
I'm still working it. Well, because like you
42:13
see these people that just blow up overnight
42:15
and they're fucking gone. And they're gone. I
42:17
don't want to be that guy. Yeah. I want a career.
42:20
Yeah. This is not a game for me. This is my whole
42:23
fucking life. Hell yeah. I wake up. This is what
42:26
I do. And I've just accepted the fact that I'm
42:30
not going to have a lot of free time because
42:31
I don't. I have no life. No fucking life. I'm
42:35
on my phone. I'm on a stage when I can. I don't
42:39
even get to perform that much. Like I have to
42:40
pick and choose. There's sometimes I hate, I
42:42
can't do comedy tonight because I have a backlog
42:46
of cameos and I have people that have been waiting
42:49
for three days for their cameo. I have to do
42:51
that for them. And so, and if you want something
42:55
from me and you're willing to spend your time,
42:57
energy and money on me, then you're my priority.
43:00
That's my priority. Absolutely. That's, you're
43:04
paying me. That's where I am. You know what I
43:06
mean? And I've had to raise my cameo price four
43:09
fucking times. Wow. Four times. Wow. And it's
43:13
not because I'm trying to milk people, it's that
43:15
because when it's this price, I can't. I have
43:19
no life. Wow, man. I wake up, go to the gym,
43:23
believe it or not, come home, write cameos, and
43:27
I record at night before I go to bed. So what
43:31
is your support system like? Like, I know you
43:34
said you're not really close with your family.
43:36
None, not at all. No family, none. So this is
43:38
you and your wife. He's my wife, that's it. And
43:40
you guys, like, tag -team this thing. Two dogs.
43:42
Well, not really, because she's a busy editor,
43:44
too. Okay. So she's got her own career. So through
43:47
this, she learned how to edit videos. Oh, nice.
43:51
So helping me... launched her and taking my pictures
43:54
at comedy shows. Now she's a very successful
43:57
photographer in the comedy scene and she's an
44:00
editor. She has got a celebrity client and so
44:03
she does, she does a lot. And so I can't take
44:06
that, I can't. My bullshit can't affect her bullshit.
44:10
Sure, you know what I mean? I totally get it
44:12
When you start doing this shit and you start
44:14
getting followers and everything it can always
44:16
I can't can't always be all about me, you know
44:19
I know exactly what you mean dude, like I have
44:25
us I don't know if you do this, but I have um,
44:28
like basically I take I take days off like I
44:31
have like One day off, basically, I will not
44:33
look at my phone. I will not do anything podcast
44:36
related. Do you have anything like that? No,
44:37
I couldn't do that. You couldn't do that. Wow.
44:40
The train would stop moving. The train would
44:41
stop moving. Because I run my own merch. I have
44:45
a website person that helps me with my website
44:47
and he's a friend I serve with and above and
44:50
beyond. Wonderful, yeah. I could never pay him
44:52
what he's actually worth. You know what I mean?
44:55
Sure. I've got Ronnie, Ronnie Rohrback. helps
44:58
me from time to time. He's my roommate. So like,
45:00
if I have anything I need help with ancillary
45:03
shit, he can help out with and then Melissa helps
45:05
with the editing for the most part. Yeah. One
45:09
man band. That's awesome. But I get it, dude.
45:12
That one man band thing. I mean, like, yeah,
45:13
you're right here in the room with me. You see
45:15
what I'm talking about. No, I mean, it is what
45:16
it is. And it is what it is. It's just going
45:18
to be that way till it's not. Yeah. Yeah. And
45:21
you just have to accept that. Like, did you know
45:23
what? Even last night. Four o 'clock in the morning,
45:25
I'm in front of the camera, making fucking cameos
45:27
going, but you know what? I could be at a miserable
45:30
fucking job. Yeah. Hating myself, hating my life.
45:36
You know, is my life super enjoyable now? It's
45:40
consumed with this stuff right now, but I get
45:46
to earn a living making people laugh. Yeah. I
45:49
don't give a fuck if it's on a stage or it's
45:50
on a screen. I get to make people laugh. Yeah,
45:54
I do that. Yeah commiserate with you because
45:56
uh, it's the same thing with me dude is that
45:58
I love this I love this and my support system
46:01
and the people that are behind me and you know,
46:04
that's That's such a massive encouragement just
46:08
the fact that I have people behind me and it
46:10
sounds like you have the same thing with you
46:12
know your wife and Ronnie and You know who's
46:14
uh, yeah, he reached out to me too. And I was
46:16
like, yeah, I'm gonna get you on so Ronnie I'm
46:18
gonna call you. Yeah, I mean Ronnie Ronnie Ronnie
46:20
is like the BFF man, and he definitely is one
46:23
of the first people I met in comedy. So, like,
46:26
I'm surrounded by some of the people I first
46:28
started with. Ronnie was the first person I met
46:31
at my very first open mic. Oh, he's hilarious.
46:33
And now we do shows together. We run a show together.
46:37
And he opens for me. Sometimes he headlines our
46:39
shows, too. You know, he's been in comedy a long
46:41
time, too. I don't want to take that away from
46:42
him or anything. Ronnie's been in comedy longer
46:44
than I have. But he was one of the first people
46:46
I met. And, you know, I try to... Try to help
46:50
people out as much of as much as I can. That's
46:53
why I started producing a show is I just wanted
46:54
to give people opportunity Make sure to give
46:58
we have two shows that we run and I want to make
47:01
sure that we give comics That don't normally
47:05
get chances opportunities because it is hard.
47:07
It's hard to stand out here in Austin Right,
47:10
it is. It's hard. Yeah, that's one of the most
47:12
popular things mentioned on the podcast here,
47:15
is how saturated it actually is. And yeah, you
47:18
gotta somehow just be funny and get a name for
47:21
yourself. So it's really awesome that you're
47:22
doing that. What are the names of the shows?
47:25
Storytime with Jason Vest. Storytime with Jason
47:27
Vest. It's my storytelling show. And so they're
47:31
at the shows. It's whatever you want. I could
47:35
get on stage on Saturday and they go, I want
47:37
to hear this. This is what we're talking about.
47:41
You know what I mean? That's what it's modeled
47:43
after. It's a storytelling show. We don't really
47:47
book comics that have jokes. We ask that they
47:50
have a story. It's okay. It's a comedy safe space.
47:54
You're not gonna get a tons of laughs a minute.
47:56
Maybe you will. You never know. I bombed on my
48:00
own show and I've had amazing sets on my own
48:04
show. Oh, wow. That's awesome, dude. I mean,
48:07
that's awesome in a thing that you have your
48:09
own show to do that at, you know? Because I think
48:12
bombing is extremely, it's an extremely important
48:15
part of the process, you know? It's sort of like
48:17
a paradox in a way, you know? Because, you know,
48:20
bombing and baseball and shit like that is like,
48:23
you know, it's a big thing, it's a good thing.
48:25
And then bombing and comedy is like a terrible
48:26
thing. But I think it's not so terrible because
48:29
it sort of like molds you into like, you know,
48:32
the comedian that you want to be. Dude, I bombed
48:33
on Kill Tony. Twice yeah in front of millions
48:37
of people. Yeah, and I've had a lot of followers
48:40
both fucking times So both times you end up bombing
48:44
on that shit Feeling like a fucking fraud and
48:47
I did like whatever when I blamed everyone else,
48:50
but me I whined and fucking cried about it But
48:52
once I took a self -assessment, I'm like, yeah.
48:55
Yeah, not today You know, I'm not gonna blame
48:59
anybody but myself and yeah, it's not a word
49:02
you kind of dust yourself off Do you get that?
49:04
That mentality from the military, or do you get
49:07
it? Is that just how you are as a person? Dude,
49:09
I've had to fight for everything, man. I came
49:11
from poverty, like nothing. I came from an abusive
49:15
home. I had the shit beat out of me, you know?
49:18
So, like, when I joined the military, that was
49:20
just the way out, right? So I just latch on to
49:23
things. And I'm like, I'm not letting go of this.
49:25
What else I got? At that point, I got a college
49:29
degree in the military, but I didn't have a degree.
49:32
Then... Barely graduated high school. So I just
49:33
latched on held on to it and wrote it till the
49:35
end and just did everything I could to not be
49:38
a piece of shit and I think that that's why I've
49:41
gotten some of the things I've I've been able
49:42
to accomplish is because I think it's childhood
49:46
trauma, dude I think I'm scared to go back to
49:49
that fucking basement Yeah, yeah, right like
49:52
I'm scared to go back to that and I'm just like
49:56
I'm not going to let it but another thing is
49:59
too is like a lot of my comedy Is molded after
50:03
my best friend he was my best friend and we served
50:09
together in Iraq and and a lot of what the internet
50:15
sees is him his persona his personality and I
50:21
started telling his story like the true story
50:23
of how he died and everything and it just it
50:26
resonated with people and And that that he made
50:30
me laugh Like, I'd never laughed before in my
50:33
life, right? And I said that when I made the
50:37
commitment to doing this, that I'm gonna be that
50:39
for as many people as I can. You know what I
50:43
mean? Yeah, man. And because I just grew up so
50:46
fucked up, and I've been through so much fucked
50:48
up shit, that if I can make someone's day a little
50:52
bit better by telling some story about getting
50:54
my butthole fingered by a pregnant chick at a
50:56
fucking Waffle House, then I'm gonna fucking
50:57
do it, and I don't give a fuck if people don't
50:59
like it. Man. It's so intense. And so when you
51:05
sit there at night and you're just like, I fucking
51:07
hate this. I got all these fucking cameos. I'm
51:10
not getting booked on comedy shows. I get that
51:14
message from one of these guys saying they were
51:16
on the edge and that stupid video was the thing
51:19
that kept them from fucking doing it. So it puts
51:22
shit into perspective, right? Like, you know,
51:25
what you might be annoyed to do might be the
51:29
only thing keeping that person going to the next
51:32
day. And so that's just, it's not gonna stop.
51:36
This is just my life now, and I've accepted it.
51:38
I didn't mean to get all emotional and start
51:39
crying. No, it's okay. Do you need me to get
51:42
you a tissue or anything? No, no, I'm good, man.
51:43
Yeah, no, it's okay, man. You know, it's... You
51:47
know, that's the thing about comedy, man. That's
51:49
the thing about humor. That's the thing about
51:51
all this is people use it as coping, and I do
51:54
too, you know? I have things in my life that,
51:57
you know, like, fuck me up heavily and then...
51:58
You ended up, like, musing. I just, the way I
52:01
get through it is just comedy, dude. And I love
52:02
comedy this much that I'm also just trying to,
52:05
you know, work my life around it too, you know?
52:08
Right. And I think it's a beautiful thing that,
52:10
you know, your friend, you know, came into your
52:12
life and he was what he is and what he will always
52:16
be. I think it's a beautiful thing that you're
52:19
carrying him. Every day with you, you know, and
52:22
you you're you're making it man. You're making
52:24
it. Thank you. Thank you It's a beautiful thing.
52:26
You know, I'm just forever trying to make my
52:28
buddy proud, you know, because he'd be losing
52:30
his shit right now He just wanted to go and he
52:35
want to go viral on the internet So that's kind
52:37
of where this came from you make during the youth
52:39
when YouTube first started, you know He wanted
52:41
to be a viral youtuber And he bought a camera
52:45
and doing all this shit. And so I guess like
52:48
me doing all this social media stuff has made
52:50
me closer to him because he was the one supposed
52:53
to go viral. But I feel like I just have a mission,
52:57
right? Yeah, you got a mission. Like I carry
52:59
the torch. Yeah, and you're doing a damn good
53:01
job. Someone's got to do it. So yeah, but you
53:04
know, he'd right now he would just be losing
53:06
his shit to know that I told the story of him
53:09
and it went got millions of views. Yeah, so he
53:12
went viral. You know, we did it What was his
53:14
name Bob Nanny Bob Nanny? Yeah, he was a good
53:18
dude Oh, yeah, dude. Oh, yeah, man. Um, god,
53:23
that's intense. I don't mean it be a mood kill
53:25
here Thank you. Thank you for sharing bro. Thank
53:28
you for sharing that it's uh, you know But that's
53:32
how that's how much this kind of thing means
53:34
man, you know, that's how much this stuff means.
53:37
It's like it's not It's not anything that you'd
53:39
be taking lightly, dude. This is, you know? It's
53:41
just, it's just tough, man, you know? It's like,
53:43
I started this thing, I quit my job. Yeah. And
53:46
I just never thought that I would have a half
53:48
million fucking people that fuck with me. Yeah.
53:50
You know what I mean? Yeah, buddy. And you just,
53:52
you end up like, I just end up fucking like losing
53:55
it sometimes, and it's balling because I'm like,
53:57
I can't believe that so many people... Get down
54:02
with whatever fucking bullshit I spew out. You
54:04
know what I mean? So it's this powerful stuff.
54:06
It's captivating Well, you I mean seriously it
54:08
is it's it is captivating. It's like it's a it's
54:11
hard. It's hard not to Just tell you like how
54:14
much I was just not love tuning any of your stuff
54:17
It's because it's just it's so interesting and
54:19
it's kind of like it's you you have you do have
54:22
a gift, bro You do and the gift is like that
54:25
you can take this stuff that you know that you
54:28
could see on like I don't know like just 60 minutes
54:31
or something people talking about and that stopped
54:33
their life and you would be completely Understandable
54:35
about why that would have stopped their life
54:37
But you found a way to not just do that but make
54:41
it funny and then be strong enough on top of
54:43
that To like persevere through it to make it
54:46
funny is like that's it's it's very impressive
54:50
I appreciate it and that's why that's why I'm
54:52
just I'm so happy that you came on dude And you
54:55
know, and I really appreciate you sharing Bob.
54:57
I really appreciate that dude And, you know,
55:02
is a... So what is the next step, man? Like,
55:06
where is Jason going from here? You don't even
55:08
know, dude. Channing Tatum just started to follow
55:11
me on Instagram, so I'm hoping I get cast in
55:13
Magic Mike 4. I got to lose a couple pounds,
55:17
I might have to get on Ozempic. But, you know,
55:19
I don't know, dude. Every few weeks, it's just
55:23
something different. And... I don't really have
55:26
a major plan. The plan is to do more live dates.
55:30
Nice. To do more live dates, take my show on
55:33
the road. That's the big plan. Hell yeah. And
55:36
just keep producing content like we always have.
55:39
Yeah. Is there like something like in the far
55:42
future that you're like, dude, this is like the
55:44
ultimate goal. This is where I want to be. Or
55:46
is it just, you just take it one day at a time?
55:48
I just take it one day at a time because you
55:49
don't know what can happen when you set, sometimes
55:51
you set these big, massive goals. You have big
55:53
dreams, but you also can't set yourself up for
55:56
disappointment too. I just want to tour a little
55:59
bit more and get that, that revenue from ticket
56:03
sales. I would like to do that. that would be
56:06
nice to be able to do that and be able to bring
56:08
the show to people. Because the cameos, like
56:11
I'm doing a lot of cameos, but those are the
56:13
same people that would buy a ticket. Right? Like,
56:17
I'm getting so many cameos and I'm just like,
56:19
you know, I love doing it and I won't stop doing
56:21
it, but there are also people that would buy
56:24
a ticket. They just want access, you know what
56:27
I mean? So it's like... And you want to do, like,
56:29
touring? Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to. Oh, man. That
56:32
would be, like, that would be badass, dude. I
56:34
can't wait to see, like, what life would be like
56:36
for you, like, touring and, like, you know, meeting
56:38
these people and stuff. I mean, we have a little
56:40
bit. And we've got to meet a lot. I've toured
56:42
a little bit. And I've gotten to meet people
56:44
on the road. And it's been pretty, pretty, pretty
56:47
awesome. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you meet people from
56:49
all walks of life. A lot of not young kids, believe
56:53
it or not, that would have joined the military
56:54
but didn't. Really? Yeah, young kids like 21.
56:58
Wow, so you have you had people say that they
57:01
join the military because of your stories? Oh,
57:03
yeah, I've had kids call like text me or message
57:06
direct message my phone number But they'll message
57:08
me and be like, hey, I just joined the military
57:10
today listening to your stories Wow, and then
57:12
some of the recruiters like locally here like
57:15
yo, you're helping Yeah, you're fucking doing
57:19
it dude, that's pretty funny because everyone
57:22
that one time there was this a Colonel in the
57:25
army recruiting command that messaged me on Instagram
57:27
and says, who do you work for? Uh huh. He's like,
57:31
are you part of some CIA, like operation? Yeah.
57:34
He was, I don't think he was serious, but it
57:36
was pretty funny. Yeah. I was like, I was like,
57:38
Whoa, dude, like that's crazy. Wouldn't that
57:40
be some next level of shit? Like I'm really working
57:42
for the government recruiting through degeneracy.
57:45
Like the whole time it's been a Psyop. Yeah.
57:48
Oh my God. Yeah, dude. Like it's some kind of
57:50
Psyop. Cause people go all the time. They're
57:51
like, are you AI? Are you A .I.? People think
57:54
I'm A .I. People think you're A .I.? All the
57:57
time. They think I'm an A .I. person. Dude, you're
58:01
like the Terminator. My phone number leaked.
58:03
So my phone number leaked. So now I'm getting
58:04
like phone calls. Wow. Oh, no. We have to change
58:09
a phone number today or tomorrow. No, that sucks,
58:13
dude. That is what it is. Oh, my God. Hey, man,
58:15
I'm never gonna be mad. I'm never gonna be mad.
58:17
I will always take the picture. I will always...
58:21
answer the message, if I get it. It's a privilege
58:25
to be able to get to fucking do this, man. I
58:28
get to talk about spreading my asshole open,
58:31
and I get paid for it, and it makes people laugh.
58:34
Fucking, what do you want? I'll do it, you know
58:37
what I mean? Seriously, yeah. It's the life,
58:40
man. It's just like, dude, every single comedian
58:43
has the same goal in mind of just getting behind
58:46
a mic and making people laugh. That's it. Yeah.
58:49
That's it. I think it was Gabriel Iglesias. He
58:51
said, everyone laughs in the same language. And
58:55
I always loved that, that quote. I hope I'm not
58:58
misquoting, but I always love that quote, because
59:02
there is something to it, man. It's just the
59:06
power of laughter, you know? Yeah. And the healing
59:09
power of it, dude. Especially in our culture,
59:12
because like I said, these guys are shut -ins,
59:13
man. A lot of these vets, they say self -isolate.
59:17
and all they do is sit inside with their fucking
59:19
thoughts, scrolling on their fucking phone, you
59:22
know, and if there's something that can take
59:24
them back to that time, maybe get them out of
59:26
the fucking house, come to a show, you know what
59:28
I mean? That's my thing. I want to get some of
59:31
those guys to come out to a show. Get some of
59:34
these shut -ins. Get your ass out of the house.
59:37
For real, man. For real. Dude, we're about to
59:40
wrap it up. Cool. But is there anything you want
59:43
to put out? This is your camera. You can say
59:44
whatever you want. You can find all my tour dates
59:47
at www .jwvest .com. I have local shows bi -weekly
59:54
here in Austin and in New Braunfels, Texas at
59:57
New Braunfels Live. Awesome. Brother, thank you
1:00:00
so much. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for
1:00:02
sharing, dude. I really appreciated having you.
1:00:04
I hope I didn't kill your mood too much. No,
1:00:06
no, you didn't. Not at all. So, well, once again,
1:00:09
thank you, Jason. And guys, like, just if you
1:00:11
want to hang out, check out some more videos.
1:00:13
I guess it's, I don't know if it's like right
1:00:14
there. I'm still trying to learn how to do this.
1:00:16
December 11th, come see us live. Thank you for
1:00:19
tuning in. And that's it. That's a wrap. Adios.
1:00:21
You're doing a live version? December 11th. Where
1:00:23
at? Velveeta Room. Oh, we'll come through.