Are you ready to dissect the complex world of comedy while navigating the murky waters of separating art from the artist? This episode brings you a thought-provoking discussion on the controversial figures of Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson, reflecting on the challenge of reconciling their revolutionary work with their problematic personal lives. We talk about the ripple effects of Cosby's contributions to mainstream comedy, especially on the actors associated with him and the rights holders of the Cosby show.
Join us on a rollicking journey into the heart of stand-up comedy. We talk about our love for the craft and how it has shaped us, discussing different styles, personas, and the crucial art of crowd work. Special guest Roman Addison shares his experiences in the comedy scene of Virginia, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, perseverance, and the rich diversity in this dynamic industry.
Delving deeper, we touch upon the harsh realities of comedy. We share our stories of performing in tough rooms like Jam Cafe and Bad Habits, discussing the critical role of community support and the significance of self-reflection. Wrapping up with some updates on our comedy careers and future plans, we hope this conversation leaves you with a profound respect for the grind and a deeper understanding of our beloved world of stand-up comedy. Tune in and enjoy the laughs, the learnings, and the undying love for comedy.
https://noidmediallc.komi.io/
Are you ready to dissect the complex world of comedy while navigating the murky waters of separating art from the artist? This episode brings you a thought-provoking discussion on the controversial figures of Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson, reflecting on the challenge of reconciling their revolutionary work with their problematic personal lives. We talk about the ripple effects of Cosby's contributions to mainstream comedy, especially on the actors associated with him and the rights holders of the Cosby show.
Join us on a rollicking journey into the heart of stand-up comedy. We talk about our love for the craft and how it has shaped us, discussing different styles, personas, and the crucial art of crowd work. Special guest Roman Addison shares his experiences in the comedy scene of Virginia, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, perseverance, and the rich diversity in this dynamic industry.
Delving deeper, we touch upon the harsh realities of comedy. We share our stories of performing in tough rooms like Jam Cafe and Bad Habits, discussing the critical role of community support and the significance of self-reflection. Wrapping up with some updates on our comedy careers and future plans, we hope this conversation leaves you with a profound respect for the grind and a deeper understanding of our beloved world of stand-up comedy. Tune in and enjoy the laughs, the learnings, and the undying love for comedy.
https://noidmediallc.komi.io/
Because it means you're on this like the first rung of like working right, uh, and you still do open mics and you'll have these new guys who are trying. You can't tell if it's like Calculate it, where, like they're purposely sucking up to you so it's like hopefully they can get something from you, or like like they're like oh yeah, let me stroke his ego and then maybe down the line He'll give me something, but it's like oh yeah, no, do you at different level tonight. It's like no, I'm not. I'm here at the open mic with you. I'm, but I'm waiting to do my three minutes and then I'm gonna go home like we're not, I'm not. Like I'm not. I'm not like, oh yeah, you know I'm a freaking feature act for the funny ones. No, did I do road work? Is it good road work? It's like I don't know. I'm doing a lot of. I'm doing a lot of motel conference rooms, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1:So that's that's like the wild thing, this art man.
Speaker 2:This is true art. We already started, man, but I need to say this I know who's getting into it, but I'm gonna try something different right here, man. Thank you, gentlemen, this is no ID podcast. Welcome back season nine. I got here a guy about four years ago Great guy. He used to give me a lot of still does give me a lot of advice on the stage. He's roll comic. I've seen him kill a room. Yeah, I know him as Cal you, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's Kai. You thank you very much. They can't see, because I have my hat on, because my girlfriend's a hippie and refuses to turn the heat on, despite the fact it's cold in our home.
Speaker 2:The white little bill.
Speaker 1:There we go. I like that one, there we go.
Speaker 2:My friend man, a good brother of mine, addison Hall, was going on. Baby oh nothing room.
Speaker 1:How are you, buddy?
Speaker 2:I'm good bro, I'm a little tired, but I'm okay.
Speaker 1:I didn't think about. It is like it sucks that like little bills. Kind of dark now because he's connected to big bill. He's out now. Dude, he's good, he beat the charges. Now, I didn't know they got something else on his ass do they for real God that he saw, he looks, he's all blind and shit. He's what he has to be close to 90.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. I think so. I think he is at the 90, I think he's at those gas pump numbers.
Speaker 1:That's been odd one. That's be a real odd one. To like you're a judge and you have to like oh man, I'm presiding over Bill Cosby. Oh gosh, shoot, oh.
Speaker 2:Man Cosby show the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, are this like this like weird, like nice sweaters, like bright colors?
Speaker 2:He knows crazy. He is in my top ten.
Speaker 1:Isn't that? Isn't that a bummer? We're like he's a great, he's a great comic. I was thinking about that. I was. I was listening to Michael Jackson. I like a lot of Michael Jackson's early stuff. You know, I got a lot of shit like that. Shit's so catchy, but then it's just like, oh oh, he probably does, he might have done awful things, it's a. It's a. It's a very like that Um, separating the art from the artist thing you know, like Off it's not comedy, but like in movies like Roman Polanski.
Speaker 1:Like Chinatown is a great film, but Roman Polanski is a horrible human being. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bro, like I watched Bill Cosby. We have Bill Cosby show, cosby Mysteries, the Cosby show and people don't realize this, cuz I'm a big fan of different variations of comedy was he did Cosby Like he had a adult theme Show on CBS and it came on with. Everybody loves Raymond. That's what everybody loves Raymond, king of Queens. It's like late 90s late 90s.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that I was. I knew you did some other stuff. I Personally. What is the Cosby mysteries? Was he Scooby doing it up? Oh?
Speaker 2:Was. He had a young most done. He had like most deaf was up there, wow oh.
Speaker 1:Wow, dude, I had such a crush on Alicia Keys. She was in a film called smoking aces and she was so hot, she was so beautiful, oh dude, but like. All I can think about if it's Cosby mysteries is us him framing people for crime.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the bummer thing, man. You gotta like separate the art because like his art was like Dude, he was huge, he was freaking huge. Like he started like the 50s Mm-hmm, being like a, like an African-American starting like doing like mainstream comedy in the 50s. That's, that's an achievement, you know, like you put all the other bad shit aside, that's that's pretty freaking impressive.
Speaker 2:So again, he's got to separate the art from the artist like sitting down with psychologists to Produce the Cosby show so it won't give any negative stereotypes, but not to build Cosby show when he was like a gym teacher, then doing Cosby and then it's a horror source with some Cosby like the one where he's like a retired pilot or like, yeah, she was an airport.
Speaker 1:Yeah, someone do with the airport? Yeah.
Speaker 2:You can't find it on Prime, but you can find a bitch on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure, like that dude, whoever owns the rights to the Cosby show is pissed. They're so pissed. They have a beloved show and they're like I can't, no one wants to buy for me. It's like, yeah, that dude did stuff. I have to be a bone. Imagine all those other actors where it's just like they're missing that check of them selling it like you know what I mean, like selling it to Netflix and there's like, okay, we just not. Can we give Bill's money to like a charity? Can we get, can you sell to someone please? Cuz I mean those royalty checks. Man, I don't know how much reading you've done on that, but like you're like freakin. Jerry Seinfeld was like making like a million dollars a month just from like cuz they were showing the site Seinfeld and some weird country in Asia.
Speaker 2:That's a go-to man but like I show was like they still play it. They play it on like a block from six to eight on TV one and then early in the morning from like seven to nine, but it would not play Cosby. They will play the Cosby show, that is it and it's only select episodes that they play, like I remember there was did the thing with. Elvin was up there and he was going broke. He's working in Whole Foods.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like man. The money ain't that good. Cosby's the same thing you said. Yeah, they ended up going on power with fifty-seven.
Speaker 1:That's what it is. Oh, good for me. Got something out of it, man. Um it's. You know Jerry Seinfeld. One of those dudes was like. He was like a few years ago he did something for Netflix where it's like him going through his old notebooks and as I go I got a sparring comic that was really interesting to watch. You just like watching this. Do work a bit about like coat hangers. He was like hey, what's?
Speaker 1:the deal with coat hangers, like I got that, but it's funny cuz. Like You're clearly on the cleaner side of comedy. Like one of my dudes is Richard Pryor. Like I grew up watching, like Watcher, watching Richard Pryor specials in his movies. You know what I mean. Like like was it the toy? And then when he did with the guy who played Willy Wonka were like they're blind and oh. It's like see no evil here, no evil.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like him. He's a fascinating guy where he came from, just like the background he came up in, and then, like he was trying to do the clean thing, trying to do you know what Bill Cosby was doing, and then he was just like, nah, now I'm gonna do my thing, I'm gonna do me, and then just just blew up. You just and it's funny, cuz like I've always talked about the comics in my opinion it's like you're either a Richard Pryor guy or your George Carlin guy. You know what I mean like you want to either Want to be the funniest talk, telling all your wildest stories on stage, or you want to be a guy trying to make some like poignant point in the humorous fashion. So I'm definitely a Richard Pryor guy. I like being bombastic and loud. I Silly Billy. That's my, it's my goal, dude man yeah, pryor was like.
Speaker 2:Pryor took that realism to another level. That first company special back in, what was it? 7678 you call me on YouTube. Yeah, it was half hour special. I can't repeat none of the jokes.
Speaker 1:I definitely can't.
Speaker 2:I was wrong, man. Yeah, this shit talked about free-basing cocaine like it's.
Speaker 1:That's wild. He said, I'm so on fire. He's like isn't this ridiculous? And I was like, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:I'll be a sin Bravo, how long you been doing counting my man.
Speaker 1:This year is my fifth year I I started in July, so like I'm about yeah, so five years in, I'm gonna be rounding six before too long.
Speaker 1:So, damn and Love it. I I can't a real out of curse on this. I'm trying to like, yeah, okay, cool, I was. I was trying to figure out what I can I can't do. Now, man, I really do love it.
Speaker 1:It's, it's the. It is the funnest thing I do. And it's funny because, like you'll meet dudes we're like me. You, I think, mean you're very similar personality wise, but our comic style is very different.
Speaker 1:So it's always fun to like, pick your brand on comedy, like, do, like some of the bits you work, I'm just like that's clever I'm. I'm such a neanderthal I couldn't write that. That's what I love about this stuff, man. And you'll get guys. We're like I don't know if you've seen Brandon Romero Ramirez lately, that kid is getting sharp and he's always he's been good since he started. But, man, some of the, some of the bits he does and I'm like that's so funny, that's so good. Or like my buddy Matt Hubbard I'm sure you know I'm out of Virginia Beach. Oh, he has this bit about like a water slide and I'm like that's so good, that's so funny. That's what I love about it. Man is like the people who are really about it. You can really sit down and really talk to them about comedy and their perspectives are so interesting, because you'll get guys like like I find Josh Gideon like he's a new guy around here.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you've run into him. The stuff he writes is so fascinating in the way he's trying to approach it, as you can see, he's like in that Crystallizing of what he wants to present on stage. We're like you know, like you know you're four years in, I'm five, I mean you've done hundreds of shows. We've been, we've been paid to do this. We kind of know how we want to present ourselves on stage. We kind of know the persona we're going for and you're, I'm kind of watching this new guy, josh, because he's just, he's this big, handsome kid, I'm smart and he he's kind of doing this like a Shy, naive guy thing on stage, but he's talking about like dark stuff and I it's really interesting to watch him kind of like Figure out how the piece all that together, and that's why I like it.
Speaker 1:Man, it's like that. You know, being on shows we're all doing very Different acts in a very similar fashion, which is fun. You know, like me and you, on a show is always interesting because you go up there and you have these sharp, tight written bits and I'm up there just like doing bits, then going at the crowd for a second, then doing bits, going at the crowd for a second.
Speaker 2:It's fun. I'm some of my crowd work from you. Who's yeah, I think was either open mic or a show we did with Noel Goodman, evan Winsberg at Cape Ola yeah the fire. It was a fireman in the front, he was oh yeah. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the same one. Like I found out uh, like I was, I was doing bits and like found out like half the crowd are farmers. Do you remember that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the same night and I was like, oh shit, you guys are all farmers, nice, you guys are doing well for yourselves here. This is a nice restaurant. I know that, I know well, it's funny because, like, uh, when it's a show run by a friend of mine and there's friends and there's my friends on the show, I'm more, I'm way more willing to take risks, doing crowd work and stuff, because it's like you guys know I'm funny. So if this doesn't go well you guys know I'm funny it's not like well, this guy sucks, um, like at that one, uh, one of the things I remember the most is like, so the picture of k-bolly for the listening audience.
Speaker 1:We were on like a, like a side balcony kind of thing, like a little patio, um, and they had these pillars, so we're kind of off from the road, and along one side wall Was like a window and it was probably like a eight foot long window and there was like a. It was connected to a different restaurant, not not capable of a different restaurant, and the stage was like right next to it. So I I was having fun. I would like point at people at the end of the other restaurant, like one guy looked like, uh, george rr martin from game of game of thrones. I was like, oh, shoot guys, it's george rr martin, which In retrospect was a bad thing to go with because, like, the people in the back of the room couldn't see it, but the people up front loved it because they could see it. And then the guys inside like why is that weird bald guy pointing at me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was looking with everybody. And then I like how, after you finish getting off, say you walked up to the fire, and he was like hey man, it's just shows, I'm all in.
Speaker 1:That's something I'm really big on, man. Um, you know, like you talk. We talk about like this, like figuring out what you want to do with this thing. Right, you want to figure out what you want to do with the art of comedy. I mean, my goal, ultimately, is to be a guy where it's like you pay the money to come see me and you get a night where you forget about Whatever. You know what I mean. Like I'm not gonna, not gonna bring up some Tragedy that happened recently, I'm not gonna try to challenge your perspective on something. It's like hey, man, this is my life, this is some weird stuff that happened to me. Let's, let's, let's laugh.
Speaker 1:And so when I do crowd work, might, my goal All the time is to be fun. It's never to be insulting, because like there's some dudes, especially a lot of new guys, where it's just like their whole thing is they insult the audience, they're just like shitty to the audience members and like I just I don't, I don't like that. That's not, that's not why I'm doing this. You know what I mean. Like I want comedy to be fun.
Speaker 1:I don't want someone leaving feeling like shit and then they don't want to go to another comedy show, that's what. So that's why I always make sure where like I, if I got someone for a little bit, I always make sure I shake their hand. I'm like, hey, man, is this jokes? Hey, thank you for being a good support, that kind of thing. So Because I mean my opinion, that should be the goal. If you're trying to piss the audience off, you know me and you were doing different things if you're trying to make the audience upset, so I'm trying to get the audience to come back and, yeah, follow me and follow me.
Speaker 1:Share my podcast with everybody. If you're on a business, make it mandatory for your employees to listen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, what's been one of the greatest things of comedy that you you've done, like seen or are done?
Speaker 1:seen or done in a comedic fashion or Resulted from me doing comedy both. Um, honestly, the thing I'm really grateful for is like we talked about like I didn't have the easiest upbringing. Um, you know, I come from poor white folk and we we, we moved a lot because, you know, money was always tight so we're always like having to move to a different house and stuff like that. And you know it didn't have a lot growing up and I like that I could do comedy and so, like that ended up leading me being a drug addict and like I'm four years sober from Oxy. It was just oh yeah, it's a blessing. But I like I can impart experiences I've had with people, like I've had talks after shows where it's just like, oh yeah, that's how I grew up too, that's cool to see someone else doing well from that. Or like I talked to a guy last Saturday.
Speaker 1:I did push comedy theater last Saturday and a guy walked up to me afterwards and he's like, hey, man, you don't remember me, but I saw you at a Fox Hill like six months ago, which was like an open mic I was going to for a while, run by this guy named Connor Pittman. In Hampton. There was a music mic, but like he was inviting comics and I was one of the guys he invited. But like I was like, yeah, man, no, I'm officially two years sober myself and it was you're the reason I decided to start comedy. He's like taking the class at push comedy theater.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh wow, man, well, congrats, this is the best thing, you're going to love it. This is the best thing. So that was really cool. I like that. I can be like a thing that connects people in a way where it's like, hey, you're not alone, this weird struggle. And like I do it in a non serious way. I'm not like, oh yeah, I was a drug addict. My life fell apart. Like no, dude, it was kind of all right. You know he's terrible, I shouldn't have done it but hey, I like that, that's really cool.
Speaker 1:I, like the group of friends I have, I've been very blessed, like you know you Nick, you know Brandon Pabone, I've met so many great dudes and, like I said, like every time I see you, rome, I'm like hell, yeah, like, yes, cool, it's gonna be a fun night. It's like Rome's here. This will be fun If it's not me and Rome. We look at each other like hey, another terrible one. So that's fun. Like I'm very grateful for that. That comedy is providing me with that Because you know what I mean All of us are so different, from such different walks of life and temperaments and stuff like that, and it's cool. It's cool getting to know each other.
Speaker 1:Like me and me and our buddy, I mean Wood, we're on a show up in Richmond, just getting the ride with him, and it was us. We spent the night just hanging, just bullshit, and then that was fun, it was just cool. Best comedic wise, I don't know. I've had a lot of really fun moments. Man, like I work a bit about work being in the trades and I this is at Kazi's one night and the place is packed and there's this guy in the front row big guy, big ass, big old catcher, mitts on him and he's just like housing this play to nachos and I was like, hey man, you in the trades, and when you're in the trades like you mechanic, and he started laughing. When you're on the mechanic, I'm like I fucking knew it and the crowd just like blew up.
Speaker 1:And this is I. That was. That was a really fun one. Crushing at a sold out show where there's like almost 300 people in the crowd, that was. That was wild. You know, like like I worked with a guy named Matt Bronger. He's a great comic Fantastic dude out LA and he had it like he was that Sandman and I was working the weekend. This was like last year, late last year, and just from top to bottom I crushed the whole weekend. But like the day before I went up there I had to take my mom to the emergency room. She's like shaking and like the next day I'm like going and I'm like, oh yeah, my mom's going to die. That sucks. And then day of my truck died.
Speaker 1:So yeah truck to seized up on me in a parking garage in New Brnoose. So I took my girlfriend's car up there and I get there and the dude's like, hey, man, how you doing. And I just want to be like, yeah, great, dude, I'm fucking awesome, things are great. And then I just crushed, like that was, that was fun.
Speaker 1:It was fun to be able to like, having spent a lot of time doing this, a lot of time like really studying this art, wanting to be good at it and wanting to be good back to it. Do you know what I mean? Like it's been good to me, so I should be good to it. That's why, like, I'm really big on talking to new guys and trying to like, hey, you shouldn't do this, this is good, don't do that, Because I feel like I got rewarded. Like this thing I've put a lot of time into. I was able to crush, despite the fact that I was in a terrible, terrible place emotionally and that was cool. That was a cool thing of this, like, oh, I've been drilling this thing for so long and I'm fucking great at it now.
Speaker 1:Um yeah, it's been a lot of great moments like that man. A lot of cool stuff comes from doing this, so blessings.
Speaker 2:You get to meet a lot of people too, man.
Speaker 1:Great people. Yeah, a lot of great people.
Speaker 2:You get to see a lot of stuff Like I enjoy conversations after the show. Those will go over specials and your face drops. When I named some of the comedians that I actually watched, I was like, yeah, I watched John Mulane. He was like you fucking would watch.
Speaker 1:John Mulane, you would do that. That sounds like one. Well, that's what I like, man is. The beautiful thing about comedy is people who don't do it. They hear it and they think, oh, it's comedy. Where it's like one singular thing, where it's like, oh, it's, that's country music, it's rock music. But comedy is like music where there's all these different guys. It's all these different guys Like like I love a dude named Dan Cummings and I haven't met many people who watched him.
Speaker 1:He's great, I love anything like him. Then like Patrice O'Neill, and then I like Bernie Mac, and then I like the blue collar guys. Like I listen to a Jeff Fox worthy album from like 87. And it's just this dude in some honky tonk, just crushing, just crushing, and this is like hell, yeah and man, that's that's what I love, man.
Speaker 1:And like like Taylor Tomlinson, like that's the perspective of just like a pretty petite white girl. Like that I don't have. I don't have a clue about any of that. You know what I mean, but she had a bit about. Like trying to make a guy wear a condom for sex is like trying to make a kid wear a coat for a Halloween costume, and it's just like that's so good, so funny, yeah, so funny.
Speaker 1:And like I love that because that's like me and you are never going to write that bit, but you hear that bit and you're like that's great, that's a good bit, you know, that's that's what I love about this art, this art form. Man, it's way more broad and diverse than most people think. Like, if you, if you're not a comedy fan, if you're just like watching this because you're like I don't know Rome's friend or girl who's obsessed with them or something like that, that's you should check out comedy. There's, there's someone for you, there's someone who's going to have a perspective or a thought you've had and you're like, holy shit, holy shit, and that's gonna like blow it up.
Speaker 2:Fun fact Cat Williams just opened up for Jeff Foxworthy.
Speaker 1:Fucking for real. Oh dude. Oh my God, I would. I would cut my foot off to see that show. That's a wild show, dude. Oh man, cat Williams is so high energy though, and, like Jeff Foxworthy, is so slow. That's interesting. Oh, cat, cat Williams is another dude. I love Cat Williams, dude, that guy is fucking so funny, so funny. Oh man, he pushes me.
Speaker 2:I think, from just repeat what you like, just going back on what you said, like just seeing, in my opinion, like the best thing that's ever happened to me in comedy One is getting out the house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:That's getting out the house too. Is I get to challenge myself on that stage because probably calm. Well, I used to fucking suck back in the day.
Speaker 1:I suck, bro it took you a minute, but when you found the rhythm, you found the rhythm.
Speaker 2:The lockdown was the best thing that's ever happened to me, bro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you were doing those virtual mics hard once you all over the place on virtual.
Speaker 1:I hate virtual mics, man, because, like I have, I'm like the opposite of you, because you're like a smart, clever writer where me is like I got to fill this crowd, I got to know what the crowds, you know what I mean. Like I can't do that in a virtual room. I did one, I did one show and I did it because the guy was like hey, man, come on please. And I was like okay, and I did it and I apparently did well, but I felt like I was bombing the whole time. You know what I mean? You're just in the, you're just in a room like this, me like so I'm a bald guy. I started balding young and when you start balding young, it's like guys were going develop personality and then, like you don't feel anything, you're like I'm bombing, you just want to like dive out of the way of the camera. I did a lot of people. Hey, won't you have a virtual? I've never done one of those, ever, not one time.
Speaker 2:I was crushing. I was crushing Sold out Wi-Fi stadium.
Speaker 1:Oh, dude, oh dude. Yeah, I had so many people watching me. I was just duttering, dude. Even the Wi-Fi was laughing. The Wi-Fi was having to stop to catch his breath.
Speaker 2:I did one called the art of bombing oh that's kind of sure.
Speaker 1:That makes the comics butthole pucker. You're like, oh no.
Speaker 2:When do wrong out of guitar. Another one was a ventriloquist dummy. Another guy didn't give no fucks. He was just drinking a monster drink and just just rip it. Hey bro, who are you ripping on the front porch Like it's nothing? Dude, I was like oh shit Crazy. Yeah, I still do the virtual mic sometimes, yeah, I think it'd be fun.
Speaker 1:The one I had the most fun with was like I had a buddy of mine was at like a desk, like how I am, but he had the camera set back so you can see the front of the desk and he had like a microphone like pointed up here so he looks like a news anchor and like I was out on my front porch and it was supposed to be like we were doing sets but me and my buddy just ended up dominating the show. We ended up running a fake news report and I was the field reporter and I was like back to the studio with Andrew and Andrew. So the Chinese are invading, we have a special reporter on the ground at it's and hall, take it away. And I was like yeah, the Chinese are here to collect the debt that the American people owe them and they will get theirs. I'm like in my front yard just shouting.
Speaker 1:Virtual mics man Virtual mics.
Speaker 2:You do them on zoom still yeah, zoom and uh, forget the other one man.
Speaker 1:I wonder if someone started like a virtual comedy club yet Like on Discord, let's start a Discord server for the purpose of doing comedy shows. Looks like I'm gonna bring people in.
Speaker 2:They did them on Twitch. They was on the one Twitch for a minute.
Speaker 1:They're on Twitch man, that's a, that's a tonight show thing. At that point, doing a TV show, I Pitch that. I pitched that the Tyrell Tyrell used to have this show called a Ty water tonight and I was like dude you should.
Speaker 1:Just, you should bring that back. It should just be you and you should sit at a desk and you should read news reports from around the Hampton Rose area and then, like, write jokes about them. And you can do it on Twitch, you can do it on Instagram and YouTube. It was funny cuz like my. I was telling my girlfriend about that. My girlfriend's, like, why do you always pitch shows for other people? You should be at your own show. Fair enough, fair enough, I'll do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think I think there is um, like there's a reason I have this setup. I think, um, I'm at a point where I know I'm good. You know what I mean. I'm comp, I'm a competent comedian, but I want to expand my audience more. I want to. I want to do more stuff. You know what I mean. Like it's it's cool. It's cool being well known around the state and like you know people going out. I know this guy's a good comic, but I would like to be able to do Carolina's. I like to do they let you. Pennsylvania, maryland, you know so. But like You're not gonna do that just by doing mics and Hampton. So you gotta expand a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was always like man. This is it. I'm glad when I'm started a podcast, I was that's smart. I gotta figure out something to do on my own.
Speaker 2:I only started a podcast cuz I bomb Real bad. They cut the lights off on me and then I started. Oh and I wrote a bit about it. I was like, oh yeah, I wrote a bit. A thing to be I was talking about with the old black ladies was like I said it was a black church, it was a black church crowd at a bar, which probably is funny now that I think about it.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's hilarious. What if this is?
Speaker 2:what a spot yeah but yeah, man, that's why I started a pod, and then I tried to get a couple of comedians out here in 75 and I didn't know who's who. So then I just like, let me just dig in my bag. You really got the first season of no idea. Man, my mom up there, my sister, cousin, I it's the co-worker from the job, random people it's learning man.
Speaker 1:That's like you. That's the thing like what I like about you doing the podcast is like so many dudes around here start a podcast and they'll do like eight episodes and they're like, well, I'm not famous yet, so I'm stopping doing this. It's like I mean, it's gonna take years to do buildup, like that first season. That's the thing like. Like this takes off, like you do, to really enjoy your podcast. Well, like the first season, cuz it'll be. You just be like, oh, this is this him figuring it out, this is this him trying to put pieces together and see, like, what works and what doesn't. But yeah, man, I think that that's a big issue with our area, where too many people are like they just want to do one thing Like I'm doing. I do Mike's and Portsmouth, I'm gonna become famous. It's like no, no, have to do other things, you have to figure stuff out. You talk about like bombing man and like I think I think you can get a lot of growth out of bombing. Like I still, I did a showcase once and it was in this nice restaurant and like in Norfolk, it was like right across the way from the scope.
Speaker 1:It's like a hockey arena and for people not from the area and I was bombing. I was bombing really hot, like really bad, and it this, this again. It was a nice restaurant, like cloth napkin in your lap kind of place like and Dude, there's this older black couple and you tell the dude was a hard-working guy, you know, and he probably ran his own business within the trades of the shipyard or something. And you know it's clearly like hey, friday night, hey, baby, I'm gonna take you out, we're gonna have a nice dinner. And then it's just me on stage talking about dating, doing drugs, and literally there's a part where I was like look, I was like doing a bit and I looked over at him. He looked up from cutting his steak, he looked at me, went and it hurt so bad.
Speaker 1:But the thing was, if I mainly went to another mic after that I went to Zeke's. Did you ever do Zeke's, norfolk, fucking Zeke's was great, I love Zeke's. So I went there afterwards and I did that whole. I told that whole story on stage like minutes, like 30 minutes, after that happened and Crushed, just crushed, because like if you're gonna be a comic, you have to be ready to be silly, you have to be ready to be the butt of the joke. If you're, if you're trying to do cool guy comedy, you're gonna burn out quick because it's silly, it's ridiculous. You know me and you are dudes in our early 30s and we're gonna, at some point this year, next year, we're gonna do shows for people who are 80 years old and we're gonna be like, hey, what's up, guys, how are we doing? Tonight? Everyone's like that's comedy, man, it's ridiculous. That's what's great about it.
Speaker 2:It is like one minute you could be having like a bad show at a fancy restaurant and in the next minute you can be at Zeke's beans and bones fucking, killing it. Killing it. One minute you could be opening up and killing in that the funny bone. Two weeks later you could be bombing at a bar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a dive bar with two people listening. Yeah, you can open for a comedian and then the like. Two days later You're at a bar and you're bombed and there's just some drunk. I'd be like you know how you should do it. You should do this. Let me tell you a joke. You can take this if you want it and you're like well, again, please don't.
Speaker 2:You came up in rough. That rough. Virginia comedy era that rough oh.
Speaker 1:That was. That was the thing like me and Nick talked about where it's just like do. When I started, do's are so shady than you guys, so shady the new guy. I think it was a month and a half before I could get people regularly to talk to me and it's funny cuz, like I think, um, I think dominant personalities tend to dictate the scene, politics and like our scene now is Very nice, we're very nice, we're very welcoming people, and I think that a lot of that's just because it do's like you, do's like me, do's like Nick, where it's just like hey, man, how you doing? Oh, yeah, I'm even doing this. Well, welcome, hey, you can do this, this and this Cuz. When you come up in that, have you ever bombed on an open mic and then had the hose go up and fucking roast you even more? Like the bombs sucked enough, but when the guy goes up, it's like that guy sucked right, everybody there. He's like sitting in the back nursing a drink. Never gonna do this again. It was just stupid.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was rough, so fucking.
Speaker 1:That stuff makes you thankful, man, like when you get to do something like push, where, like push, always has these really great, great crowds who are very, very forgiving and so much fun. And it makes you thankful for that because you did. You know, you did a freaking clam bar and Chesapeake when they watch football instead of listen to you. You had a microphone and a speaker and they literally were basically doing their best to ignore you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you remember, like your worst bomb you ever had yeah, yeah, I had one these to be a mic.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you remember a place called capstan in Hampton, sure do? Um, yeah, I dated the beer tender there for a little bit and this is very pretty girl and it was kind of thing. We're like every other comic had a crush on her and I just happened to like match with her on a dating app. So we dated for a little bit and so we broke up on a Sunday and the mic was that Wednesday and I was like you know in my head, like I'm gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna figure this out, we're gonna get back together. It's gonna be fine, show up to the mic.
Speaker 1:It's just me and Donna Lewis who ran it and and that's a little small crowd, not bad. And like I'm sitting at the bar talking to her and we're being cordial, being nice, I'm like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's gonna work out, we're gonna be fine. And then, so the place where the beer was, like where the the Taps were, they had like a piece of metal that we've been polished enough that reflected. So I was just sitting there having my beer and I saw her open her phone and go to bumble and she was already texting somebody and like, literally, as I see that Donna Lewis goes all right, that's and home.
Speaker 2:And then I go there and I'm like I was a drug addict.
Speaker 1:My uncle beat the fuck out of me a couple times, just the saddest. Just a guy just just trying his best to hold it together and it was just 10 minutes. This 10 minutes, I'm not a single laugh, dude, and you're like in your feelings and you don't really care, you know, yeah, that was probably. That might have been my worst one. Yeah.
Speaker 2:The lights turning off was not my worst one.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Nope, I wouldn't even say it was a bomb, I just forgot my, my goddamn jokes.
Speaker 1:Oh, you just froze up.
Speaker 2:Froze up. I was supposed to do 10 minutes. I drove to Petersburg Three hours Chesapeake to Petersburg and I just forgot my fucking jokes. I was so pissed that it was like coming up to me here, so funny. I was like no, the fuck, I'm not Drip home, I didn't eat nothing, I just drove home the radio not on, just quiet. My use. I guess I'm gonna talk to on the way home. They was like you call me.
Speaker 1:I like Guys, sit with my feelings for a little bit. Sorry, forgive me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know you got a little crappy Android over there.
Speaker 1:I do. We saw this is an iPhone, this is. This is proper nice dude. Look at my. That's my mom calling me dude. I show some respect to Miss Hall dude, not even uh, I, I I saw the dude once and I won't say names and we shouldn't say names because you might have been there.
Speaker 1:I Saw a guy freeze up one time Because he was like he was not doing well and he was like alright, I'm gonna, I want to end on a laugh. That's literally what he said. You are, I want to know a laugh. And he went to try to a bit and then he blanked and he thinks he blanked for like eight seconds. He probably blanked for a minute and a half. Have you ever seen a guy going like and it's like 60 people watching him? He's like Hold on, man, that one that was. I think about that every once in a while and it's funny because, like I, can also go back into like how people think and how people handle things because, like that, that being what happened was so intense for that guy that he's like I did I only blame for like 10 seconds and I was like what?
Speaker 2:Took a nap.
Speaker 1:You could, you recorded it, we could listen. You want to listen to a minute and 30 of silence? Like we could do that. Like that's really funny, man. Like I love that. I'm sure you run into it. The guys who are like I Love a dude who goes up there doesn't get a single laugh, but it's confident the whole time. I guess off-stage and like whoo, another one in the books, you just like what.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had like the croc center one time for a show Shout out. I was supposed to host, I'll suppose the host but they said now we won't ditch, you do some time. I said I bet you know, fuck it, I do it. The host had was literally walking people out of the room. So you know, I go, I'm leaving, I'm going to my car. It was they had three hopes and he can't bring him or his homeboys up there. The host with I'm walking to the car, he goes. Man, good job room, we killed it. I said we, we didn't kill nothing, I Killed but I I do.
Speaker 1:I do love that. I got in the other couple times where it's just like we'll be on a show, I'll be on a show with someone and I deal well and, like you know, you're shaking hands, I'm doing a little conversation, like one of the cops come up to you afterwards it's just like, yeah, I did, alright, right, and you're just like you want me to be honest with you, or Like that's fun because, like you can see them do the math in their head and like, yeah, I mean I did well. It's like, yeah, okay, I mean that's what you want to say. Sure, like you're doing that. We're like I'm not trying to be an asshole, but it's like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna cosign the delusion with you because I don't think that's gonna help you. Like my favorite one is I did a show in Fredericksburg and it was a good lineup. It was like it was a fun lineup and Lionel was on it and I always loved doing shows on a line.
Speaker 1:L is Lionel's a dude I view as like a mentor.
Speaker 1:That's a guy who, like I think he's, he's funnier in me, he writes better jokes than me, he's better posed on stage.
Speaker 1:Just like I want to suck up whatever information I can with him and we did a show and one of the guys was a dude who's like oh yeah, dude, I've been in comedy for 15 years in New York, all right, yeah, it's like trying to like big dog, you're trying to like talk himself up and you just move to the area and this dude gets up and he was supposed to do 15, does literally about three minutes, just has a panic attack on stage.
Speaker 1:First joke, like he comes out hard to the first joke he swings big old miss and then he's like sitting there trying to do some jokes and the only part where you got to laugh is it was since it was outdoors. It was like it was like when they were just starting to open stuff during the pandemic and he goes this first time I've ever been bombing so hard I can literally hear crickets and like that got a laugh and he left on that. And then it was so funny because the host looked at me and said hey, I know, I said you're only going to do 15, but can you do like 20?
Speaker 2:I was like yeah, I can do 20.
Speaker 1:That's because this other person just bombed as hard as they could. Yeah, I mean, that's what I love about comedy. There is so many people doing this and there's dudes who are all taking it seriously in different levels. But there's dudes like us who are trying to do it very honestly, like you're not going to fucking bomb off stage and walk up to me like did it again, asin. But there aren't guys like that and I find that very interesting.
Speaker 1:I find it very interesting when you get these guys who are like this is my life, man, I love this, this is my heart, and I was like hey, man, you're going to come to the mic. I was like I can't football. Oh, I can't, I'm going to. I'm actually I have a bowling team, so I'm on a bowling team now, so I can't make it out. But you know, this is where my heart is and it's like is it? You seem to do anything you can to avoid doing it, almost unless it's like a book show, and it's like okay, like I think that's really interesting and it's like fun because, like I'm watching a bunch of new guys who I'm seeing the different places there, right, because you'll have a guy who's very like, very loves the art of it and really wants to really develop and be good, not like confident, not believing himself, but he actually wants everyone else. When he goes up, like that guy's good. And you'll have a guy who's good, but maybe his ego is starting to get him a little bit and he will be like oh yeah, dude, I have 30. I doubt you have 30, dude, I've seen you do 10 and your 10 is like a. It's like a car that has all the nuts removed from one tire. It's real shaky. It's you know what I mean. It's real shaky, dude, and like that's funny to watch because you'll see how those dudes develop and develop differently because of that, because of their attitudes towards it. Like I'm sure me and you are very similar, like we're very self-critical, we're very self-critical. I'm sure you've had this show where, like you feel like you bombed and I was like fuck it, whoa, that was amazing. Like no, I missed, I missed this punchline. You didn't see when I tripped over my words and I had to reset that. Like a fucking fool, I'm an idiot, I'm a dummy. And I think that has its benefits and has its drawbacks.
Speaker 1:Like I had one where, like I did a don't tell for Nick, where I hosted, and I wanted to do very well, because there's these people out of DC and I wanted to like you know they don't know me. I want to show up and impress and I'm doing my jokes and like I'm a bald guy under this cap, everybody. So I have some jokes around that and so I have things I say, things I look like and I do in the crowd. When you look at dildo, which is kind of funny, I thought it was actually legit kind of funny. But you know I'm the host.
Speaker 1:So I had to like kind of set the tone. So I started going at this guy and the guy looked like me but bigger and like way worse off. So I just kept going at him. I was like you look at me, crawled out If I crawled out of a dumpster. You look at me, if I never get up pills.
Speaker 1:I was like I hit him for like 30 seconds, like 12 times, like this boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This is set the tone of like hey, dude, I'll burn you alive in the word game if that's what you want to do. And I think I went at him too hard because I think the crowd kind of went. Oh, I can pull back a little bit and I'm like I did it because I was, I wanted to do well, and then the guy stepped on a punchline so it was like I'm frustrated. So it was like, all right, I'm just going to hit you verbally as hard as I can, and then the rest of myself.
Speaker 1:It was good, I got last, but it was not. It's not where I'm used to being at, especially when I do my working set Like my working sets very good, my 15 minutes is very tight and like I did last night, and crushed and it's just like all right. So, like I know, I know the level the lab should be at and I'm not, I'm out there. So I got off stage and everyone's like oh, yeah, you did great. Oh man, yeah, you're great, you should have the guy. I'm like no, no, I went too hard at that guy. The crowd didn't like it and that was so funny because I was literally at the bar, like getting a drink, because the bar was like behind where the show was happening, and so I was talking to a couple of audience members and they're like oh, I just thought that guy was your friend Because you were so quick. We just assumed that guy was your friend and I was like no, no, I have no clue who that guy is. I was just mad, I was just mad.
Speaker 2:So the last critical performance I gave myself, I gave them the last spin. I did like five or six Suffolk Art Center, everybody's like you crashed. I was like no, the fuck I did and we're musical hall Good set? No, it wasn't. And when I did George's with you I didn't think that was my best fucking set at all. I really was like you did very well.
Speaker 1:You did very, very, very well. That's not the two. And they were, and they were a tight room. That was a tight room. You got to love a tight room, you know, or so it's like ha ha, Next show. I was like yo, I was like this shit you mean saying to catch my breath.
Speaker 2:I was on the stage when I got off. They was like you did. So good bro, I missed several alley, oops.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I messed up, I missed so many alley oops. But then, like I did a funny bone with the ugly last year and I said, damn, that's a good set. But then I was like it wasn't great, but it was sold out. I got a standing. Oh, but I like it wasn't fucking great, it wasn't fucking great. And somebody like you need to get out your hands Like now. Y'all don't understand. Like this shit here. Very critical, like I like you I like when you were at a show.
Speaker 2:I like when the line else at a show because I can pay. Both of y'all brings Like. I like I said it prior, I was like yo you, lionel Rondell, nick Tory.
Speaker 1:Rondell.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fuck. Who else, so I might, if I miss y'all, apologize. I'm like you're working on that. This is all you gotta do right here. Do no, no, no, no. I was like all right, cool. You and Lionel was like really in Tory, tory gave me the one that told me to start watching shit on music.
Speaker 1:And yeah, tory is a, tory is a really it was always a really smart comic. He was always he was. He was this dude who, like I remember I was writing this joke with the premise being like you know how you like you'll go into like a fast food place or a you know dollar store or whatever. He was like hey, how are you doing? Like, oh, I'm good. Like what if you just answered honestly Like, oh, hey, how are you doing? It's terrible, Thanks, thanks for bad. Things were really bad. And he had a bit similar to that and it was like so much more clever and polished that I just dropped mine. But it was just like that's smart.
Speaker 1:And Lionel is one of those dudes. Like, what I love about Lionel is like Lionel will hear a bit and he'll give you a tag for it and you're like that's such a good, how did I miss that? That's such a good tag. And you know, let's do it casually Like, hey, man, just take this. If you don't want to say fuck you, lionel, you know you're better than me, just tell me the tag. Don't act like you're doing. Like like oh, I don't know if this is good or not, so you know it's good, just give it to me. I want it. Give me your tag, I'll take it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you go in these rooms where it's just not anything like. Oh then you do, jam kept bad habits. We did bad habits one time.
Speaker 1:That was the clan bar I was talking about. Oh, I don't, so I'm not going to go shade at that guy. But when we last time we did it, um, it was apparently supposed to be a clean show and I got there late and I told the host that, um, and the host was like, hey, you want to go first, I'm sure. And I went up and I did. I did not do a clean set, you know, because I wasn't told to. So I got off stage and everyone's like like I heard groans and stuff during my set and I got to say, was this supposed to be clean? And I was like, yeah, and I was just like, as the host, you should tell me that, like a, you didn't do time at the top, which you're supposed to do as the host. You're supposed to work, warm the room up. That's how it goes. Yeah, man, it's not like that, where it's just like it's.
Speaker 1:That's like one of the reasons, like I try to pick and choose what mics I go to now, cause this is like I have no issue with new guys, like new guys are going to miss stuff, but there's like certain stuff of like, if you're just going to straight up, just set me up for failure, cause, like I have a clean set, I can work clean. But I seem to be told, cause, like I go to mics I'm developing different bits, like whatever I'm working on that night, and if it's a clean room I'll pivot and not work on whatever dirty joke I may be working on. Not even that. I'm particularly a. You know, some sort of the mic came at me, some sort of vulgar comic, but I do have sets where I curse, or you know it's a sexual joke or whatever it is, but I need to be told and like just not telling me, and then I just go in front of all these fucking white Riddnecks who just hey, don't want us there. Let's straight up, don't?
Speaker 1:want us to be there.
Speaker 2:So, man man, I didn't read the room cause I think you left. I had on my Malcolm X hat. Well, fucking French t-shirt on it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Nick's signal.
Speaker 2:I'm going to fuck this up. So I know I'm going to jam, and I was like oh see how jam is. I came back like the next week and jam was always tough. If that man, kevin Hart, can come out there and perform, they were not going to no.
Speaker 1:they just be staying in the back playing dominoes, ignoring them.
Speaker 2:Shit, I did tropical delight one time that she was bad.
Speaker 1:Oh, dude, um, talking to jam cafe and bad habits. Um, patrick Devine you remember Patrick Devine? Sure do. Patrick Devine for those that don't know, great comic, he's just like this one liner guy. Um, so it was me, rome and him at bad habits and I bombed and I went to the bad habits I went to I'm sorry, I went to the jam cafe to do another set and I'm like, standing outside as Patrick shows up and this is how much this guy's a dickhead. It's the funniest thing in the world.
Speaker 1:Um, there I'm talking to people how I bombed and how rough it was, and blah, blah, blah. And then Patrick shows up and like, oh, patrick, how did, how did bad habits go? You do well. And he looked at me and went yes, he gave me the most pointed smile of like yes, I did dickhead. Oh, shout out to Patrick man, that was so funny. I think about that. That's like one of the funniest things in other comics done to me because, like he knows how badly I wanted to hear him go. No, I also bombed. It was tough. It's like no, I figured it out. You're just not good. I was like dammit, so funny, so funny.
Speaker 2:I went there the first time and I ain't been. I ain't go back Then it. You know they got rid of it. But when I was walking from the car, bro, it seemed like a straight biker Trump rally going in this business. I don't. I think I ranked the wrong turn and it's only like 10 minutes from my house. I think I made the wrong turn so I was scared as a bitch. It was crazy. It was a black guy that was sitting on the bench. He was like you, going in there. I said yeah. He said whoo.
Speaker 1:No words of warning, just a whoo.
Speaker 1:So fucking bad, bro, dude, fucking. That was one of those places where it's just like there are people that just don't want comedy and that space did not want comedy because, like before, that host had it Isaac Fields, our friend Isaac Fields had it. Did you go do it at all when Isaac had it? So he had it for three months, four months, something like that, and he was like a Saturday first and then it was a Saturday showcase and he'd do a couple of people, a lot of people go as the mic and then he would do a headliner. I've seen so many people bomb there, so many dudes. The only person I ever saw do well, there, right. So like I watched, I watched, I watched. Why am I playing on his name? Dan Old Redneck, dude, the educated Redneck.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was Dan Ellison Dan.
Speaker 1:Ellison. I watched Dan Ellison bomb there, I watched Big Vino bomb there and then I watched Jason Kiprose murder for 30 minutes just doing his clean comedy, doing his potato jokes, his total favorite jokes, just murdering. And, like I always knew, jason was good. You know what I mean. Jason Kiprose has been doing this for a while and he's very talented. I was just watching a guy murder in a room where you've seen no one else do well, I mean no one else and he's just up there just casually murdering and his flip flops and his cargo shorts.
Speaker 1:And you're just like damn dude, oh yeah, that was that, that was that man. There's some rooms that are just nightmares and like I think for newer guys that can be really beneficial, because I think it's it's good to, because you learn to read the room, you learn to like you say a thing, say how they react, see their body language, try to like figure it out, because sometimes it's like sometimes people will be tight and you can do like crowd work and open them up a little bit, like talk to them and talk to them in like a fun way, and other times you try to talk to them it's like pulling teeth and it's just like they don't want this at all, they don't want comedy. And the weird one is like the people who are just like outwardly mean for no reason towards the show that was an odd one where it's just like hey guys, we're going to do comedy and then they're like, well, that sucks, but I'm ordering another drink and food and staying and this is like all right, cool, yeah, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was a weird space for comedy.
Speaker 2:Where is space Garage brewery? I did a showcase with three comedians from Wilmington.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You did garage brewery before.
Speaker 1:No, I've heard stories about the garage brewery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I met three comedians. I saw the ad on Instagram, damn. The guy said look, I'm in Chesapeake, I want to know if I can get some time. Blah, blah, blah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can't pay you. I said I'm not worried about getting paid. It's only five minutes up the street. You know what I mean. Like I'm good, so I'm going to give you 10 minutes. I'm going to light you at eight, is it okay? Hope kills it. I could kill it, but the feature in the headliner.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love those shows, though this is my favorite.
Speaker 2:Killed. Really good, I killed it and but the whole sense of he was talking to me and Like he was like, yeah, I've been doing it, this is this, this, and Like I've been doing it about four years and I've been really working on my craft and reading the room, but like the one thing I noticed about him at garage brewery, he wasn't really focused on the art of comedy, he was on the art of making money. No, ain't like you're selling tickets to a brewery for a showcase, but if I'm at the brewery already, I'm just gonna sit there and just get a fucking free show already. Hmm, I was telling him like you know, I'm not about making money.
Speaker 2:Like, if you focus on the bread, the money part, the aspect of comedy, you're not gonna go anywhere. Yeah, you focus. If you focus on your penny, your pay, you'll kill it and it'll come, because comedy is very like, it's different. It's one of the most humblest careers. Like I drove three hours for five star. Was it five star comedy when he's on of these the door. But I don't fight three hours to do a show on top of a brewery and I think out of 25 comedians I was probably like number 23. Yeah, damn. So you know.
Speaker 2:I didn't get paid for. But I said I went up there and did what I was supposed to do. But, like this, one of this is one of the most humbling careers and when you got one foot on the stage and one foot doing something else, you're not gonna go far at all. You know what I'm saying. Like I do a garage brewery. I was like you know what I made up my mind. I'm not gonna focus on the money. And I also made up my mind that I'm not gonna focus on one comedy club as well.
Speaker 1:You can't one common couple. It's you can't. Let's one thing sinkers. I think you man, but I mean I think you're a hundred percent right. The thing with comedy is, I think you can do the thing where it's like you have a name value, like maybe you're like a guy who was a reality star or something like that, and now you're gonna try I'm actually a comedian and then you go up and it's just like it's gonna take one show they're gonna be excited to see for five minutes but when, like, you're eight minutes in, they haven't laughed a single time. That crowd's gonna start to turn on you. And I've done.
Speaker 1:I've done shows where it's like I've done a show where the guy has been doing comedy relatively a short while but he had a big enough Pool in like the local area that he could get a room together and get a bunch of his friends come out. That dude Want the headline and I was like I was. You know, I was one of the middle acts and I crushed and Literally that dude did 20 minutes and it was quiet it's his friends quiet the whole time. And Then you have that awkward moment where he's sitting at the bar shell shocked you know what I mean Cuz he's confident, like that's thing. It was all bravado. But then he hit the reality of Comedy, of like, yeah, you can have all the bravado in the world you want, you have all the confidence in the world you want, but if you don't have good bits that you've really honed and gotten good, you're gonna have shows where you're not gonna get anything and it's gonna be 20 minutes of you eating a dick and then, like you didn't, from all your family. I can't have that. Have the guy sitting at the bar and talking to his friends and they're like you're so good you should do right, won't say names. There is a show I do, I've done a couple times and it's so. The owner, the owner of the place does it with us. I have had multiple of his friends and his family go. Hey, you should tell him not to do this anymore and just have you guys do it. Whoo Dude, yeah, no, comedy is, um, so what?
Speaker 1:I think it is Legitly, as I think it's an incredibly hard art form, but with a low, low barrier for entry. All you have to do is be willing on stage. But the thing is is you can see the guys who do it and you see the guys who don't. And I think I think comedy, I think between like Andrew Schultz and like Joe Rogan and stuff like that, I think comedy became cool. It became like a cool like oh yeah, dude, that's the thing, like I was talking to some new guys about this.
Speaker 1:But it's like you have to be okay with the part-timers. You have to be okay with the guys who, like, they'll come to a mic once a month, twice a month maybe, but they do it because they like telling their friends and their coworkers that their comics that's like a fun, that's like a fun thing for them to say it like a cookout or a dinner party or our business Like a business cocktail thing. So, yeah, I do comedy, it's no big deal. I'm like then I can show them pictures of them on a stage with a bunch of people watching. You gotta be okay with those guys. But that's not what me and you were doing. Rome, like me and you, like I said, we're trying to find funny, trying to develop a really good act. So when, eventually, we do start having a following and we start getting those bigger shows, we can improve it. Because the thing is, if you, it will show.
Speaker 1:I've seen, I've seen shows where it's like I won't say names again. There's young guy whose dad was a producer For some rather big Artists, so the kid kind of had some cache a and they keep getting put on shows and a kid kept Bombing and the kid want and said, instead of going to the mics, instead of getting good, that kid wants to be a Step up, want to be pushed ahead a little bit. And guess what happened? He got the shit beat out of him. And the first time you get the shit beat out of him he was like it's one time, I'm sure I'll figure it out in the second time, third time. Eventually you're gonna get sick of getting hit. You don't want to get on stage and all cool. Another 15 minutes of silence and like lower back sweat, like fighting off panic.
Speaker 2:I Did a show on a Saturday with wood and Joe. There was another guy shout what Joe? Wouldn't? Joe Keith to some people would a to a lot of people would to us and Joe parlor, we did a show together with this guy. The guy was headlining at his Mexican restaurant. I.
Speaker 1:Know I.
Speaker 2:Think I did the show. He's a second time.
Speaker 1:Glad I'm on this show. You might have.
Speaker 2:This guy had a Dressing room which was the women's bathroom, yes, and he had His sister, was his manager, his PR, she was everything. Young cat won't know what he had. Now I don't know what he's doing comedy. He had headshots and was selling headshots with autographs. He gets up there now. I never hosted before, so I hosted. He gets up there. He made the noise like ski, like, like what the fuck is wrong with him? I like no, no, no. So he's promising me and Keith and wood I mean wood and Joe like a bunch of shit Like you, john, this club. After this we get to the club we couldn't even get in. We end up having like A male at Denny's and going to fuck home like the show bad. He did clash like two weeks later and he didn't clash, didn't win, and we haven't seen him since the clash with like he was young in the game, charge people headshots on an autographs of his head.
Speaker 1:That's it I did. I stand by the fact that, like the beautiful thing about comedy right, like I don't know you're at spiritually, but like comedy man, I think there's something to it where if you're starting to get an ego, it'll like alright and it'll check you, and sometimes it checks you pretty hard. It'll check you pretty freakin hard, dude. I uh my first start I was probably two years in. I started getting very good because I was at the time I mostly did crowd work and I was crushing regularly. And then I had Three months, maybe three months, of this solid bombs getting up multiple times a week, just regular bombs dude just Just drop there, just trying my hardest, just taking swings and just not getting anything.
Speaker 1:So this is my ego just being beat into the dirt man, that's what I love about comedy, man, it will check you hard. Um, it's funny cuz. Like you talk about the Miller, dennis, I think those are. I think sometimes those are the funnest man. Food afterwards, like like we me would, nick, um, anthony, patrick, logan, uh, a whole bunch of us and park clay, we went and got a food at waffle house after that one night show that Nick did a cause.
Speaker 1:These and like all of us were on it and we crushed like like I probably crushed that's probably the hardest ever crushed where I got to do like 30 minutes and I got like two different like applause breaks and stuff like that. Just that post-show hang, just mean wood and a booth talking shit and eating food and just yeah, it was like what a fun hang man. And like there's that, there's like a brotherhood within comedy because like, if you do this long enough, you're gonna have the bomb. You just, long enough, you're gonna have that show where you embarrass yourself in front of a headliner. You really like, if you do this long enough, you're gonna bring a girl out thinking you're gonna press her doing comedy and you're gonna bomb. You know, it's just that's world. That's why. That's why I think this like when me and you see each other, we just immediately click into, like yeah, you see this guy, I can. We just immediately start being catty little girls like you know this guy, he sucks, you know, you know he sucks, this guy sucks. So we'll do that shit and we'll talk about like dumb shows we do, or like we'll talk to, like we'll talk about a bit we liked that someone does and how we're jealous that we didn't write that. That's. That's like. That's what I love about this art form in, because the dudes who are really doing it really get you. And then if you get these guys who are not and like they might be confident, but they're good promoters like that, like they're okay on stage with their better promoters and like, sure, there are dudes I have.
Speaker 1:I did a show for a guy recently that I knew I was better than and he wanted to do a full 30 and I was like that's probably gonna be a mistake but I'll do it with you and he's just a good Promoter, he's a his his social media game is great, it's so good, he knows how to do it, he's he's like a good-looking dude, knows what he's doing and Did the show.
Speaker 1:I crushed Couple other another one of our friends were on it I'll tell you about later crushed as well, trying to leave it vague so people don't know who it is. And that guy got up and did 30 minutes dude and he bombed. It was rough. It was tough because he had to follow me and our buddy who are drilled in tight guys, and he's up there, you know, barely a year in trying to figure it out and it's funny cuz afterwards man, just like literally the owner was talking to him and then I walked up, the owner patting me on the shoulder and pointed I mean would definitely have this guy back. I was like all right sick.
Speaker 1:Nice. That was good. That's good, nice. But and that's the fun thing about the art form because guess what that guy you know he didn't do well, he does want to do this. He's just better at promoting, he does want to do this and like he was loose, honest, he was just like he looked at me. I didn't go well and I went. So that's what I love about. Yeah, comedy is great. It's the best. If you're listening this and you thinking about trying comedy, you should just try it. It's. You're either gonna love it or you're gonna hate it. This is, but it's worth trying because it's the best thing in the world.
Speaker 2:If you're doing comedy while you listen to this, watch a lot of stand-up and I'll tell my for right, yeah, stand up watch everybody, watch everybody.
Speaker 1:You can watch dudes who, like you're not gonna write bits like like you know, like, say, like that Taylor Tomlinson girl, there's like watching her like this, you're just like I'm not. I'm not an attractive female, I'm never gonna write bits like this, but they're well-written bits, they're fun to see how they're structured, it's fun to see the words she uses. Are like you can find these, like there's this young Mexican dude. He's this heavy set guy with a mullet, out of LA and, dude, he has this bit about his grandmother having a meth head who lives in her shed and cuts her grass and it's just like, yeah, when she dies, that's, he's gonna be my method, he's a part we like pros, the method with a, like a taser to get him back in the shed. This is dude. There is, and that's the thing man like. And then, like you can look at my buddy, winston Hodges, like that, like I watch his Crowdwork stuff and it's so good, it's so funny. Or I watch Nick, and like watching Nick, what work these silly bits about being a dad. Or you watch like aunt and what working these wild bits about his mom. Or you know, dude, it's.
Speaker 1:It's so interesting to watch your friends who, like you, don't feel like you're a lot of like Comedy-wise, but you're all hitting the same direction, you're all trying to achieve the same thing and just the bits coming out like I love I think I talked to you about this last Time we saw each other. I'm loving writing mundane bits. I love that I have a bit about canned meat. I have like I have seven minutes on talking canned meat. It's just I love doing the mundane stuff. Man. Like I'm trying to write a bit about like a Like literally just about having IBS, just because I like hot sauce and it's like it's a nightmare the next day and just it's a fun one.
Speaker 2:I just finished a good bit of being lot, tools and tolerant. Yeah but you know you really like me.
Speaker 1:You really have potty humor.
Speaker 2:Let me talk about something that's actually happening.
Speaker 1:I think when I started.
Speaker 2:I'm getting to the realism about like my life and shit. I was like, okay, this is actually Gonna work. Mm-hmm like we used, I think we start trimming the fat off and talk about the realism of your stuff, like it's okay to fabricate a story, but don't do it so hard, and like people can notice when you be, yes, in on the mic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you want to like massage it, you want him, you want to stretch it a little bit, so you give it a little bit more like highlights and it seems a little bit bigger than like larger in life, but you want to keep the core bits. The core, the core stuff. That's the thing of like. If I was honest about when I was a drug addict, it's a bummer, you know what I mean. It's like I lost two or three years being a fucking junkie and this is like that's not fun. So it's fun. I just kind of be like a silly Billy about it. That's what it should be and it should be kind of thing where it's like I'm gonna Show you something that sucks, you know. It's like talking about, like you know, talking about mom being blind or Talking about my dad or the less chill things about working in the trades. It's supposed to be give you a little slice of life, right, and but this I'm not giving that slice of life to be like oh, oh, poor me, right? No, it's like it's hey, look at this little slice of life. This kind of sucks, but this is silly, this is funny. Like like I was talking to a dude about it. Um, when there's a trade, a guy in the trades at a show, and I do my trade stuff, we always talk afterwards and I was talking to him about it and the thing I want to talk about is like the whole narrative every time the trade stuff comes up is either they're crooks or dummies. Right, that's like the thing and I want to show this as that's. That's not the dudes. I know there are crooks and dummies in the trades for sure. That's not who I am, it's not who my dad is, is not who the guys I work with are. You know, like we're trying to provide a good product at a fair price, and that's what I want to highlight. Man, that's what I want to do. I want to. I want to do something that's like honest Because, like I just you know, as a, as a poor white kid growing up, all the white comics I saw, we're all outside the blue collar guys.
Speaker 1:We're always these upper class Fucking dorks who go to college and they're their big bit is like my dad didn't, like I was getting an art degree and I was like, yeah, what, what job can you get with an art degree? Like, yeah, is that a real problem? You know like, and, and I want to because just think, man, there are a lot of people like me, like that blue collar background, that working class people, they, they just a representation, representation too, and I like that. I stand out because, like, there's not a lot of dudes, uh, working in the direction I'm working. Do you know what I mean? It's like you watch all these guys. They'll go up and they'll have a bit about whatever the new story of the day is. Right, this, whatever the new story of the day is.
Speaker 1:And, uh, the shitty thing is there's a lot of comics who want to prey on like tragedies. Like I'm like it's funny I was talking about last night. Um, because I didn't, I didn't understand why no one went in this direction. When Kobe died, everyone had a Kobe joke, everyone had a Kobe joke. And I didn't want to do a Kobe joke because, like, that dude died and his daughter died with him. That's horrible. Like, say, like, like Everything else aside about the guy. That's a, that's a tragedy, that's a, that's a sad thing. And you have these people doing these like bits. That's like this kind of shitty, this kind of mean.
Speaker 1:Um, the bit I wrote, but I never did, but I like was like Can you imagine being a guy who started a small helicopter tour business, then the next day that happens, just being that guy, like god damn it, just throwing stuff against the wall? That's the type of helicopter I have, too Shit. Ah, like that, like so that was the joke. And I never did it because it's like it was, it's sad and like everyone else is doing. So why should I do it? Why would I? If everyone is, if everyone is selling apples, why would I go to the farmers market and be like I'm gonna sell apples? Do you know what I mean? Like it's. I just don't get that. That's why it's good to draw on that personal experience like we were talking about, like drawing on your personal life, you know. I mean like like how many people, how many people were home schooled, have a blind mom, a martial arts father and it was a drug addict? That's that's. That's. That's not a, it's not a common backstory. So it's like I can draw on that.
Speaker 2:So we go out. What advice do you have to any Any comedians in the game? In the game, whether they're looking to get into it, whether it's aspiring or they already in the game already um, you got to be honest.
Speaker 1:It's really good to be honest, but it's it's going to be honest, but not too self-critical, because you can self-destruct me too self-critical, um, and you should. You're running your own race. That's a big one. You're running your own, your own race, man. Like, if you get into this and you really start doing it, like, really start doing it, you're gonna see people that you think you're better than that. Like I did a show not too long ago, um, in a small area and there was a local person who was the headliner and they did better in me. But like, watching their set, you realize like, oh you, you're gonna only be able to work here.
Speaker 1:60% of your material is about this area, it's about hyper-Pacific things about this area. That's people in this area know. So you'll make them laugh. That's not gonna work in Richmond, that's not gonna work in Williamsburg, that's not gonna work in Charlotte, that's not gonna work in New York, that's not gonna work in Boston. So you're running your own race. So when you get into this, you're gonna see your friends getting stuff. You're gonna see your friends doing stuff. You're gonna see people you don't think are good getting stuff and you gotta not, you can't let that shake in your head. Just, you're doing your own race. You're getting better for when your time comes. So that, get up, be honest about your material, but not too self-critical and remember that it's your race, so you're gonna get there when you get there. So that would be my advice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a marathon out of race. It may not be a race a marathon out of, not a job, right foot whatever.
Speaker 1:It's a marathon out of sprint. Thank you, yeah, thank you. We got it, we figured it out. Look at that, it's workshopping dude Riding team.
Speaker 2:Riding team.
Speaker 1:Roman Addison dude, we'll figure it out. There we go. Roman Addison partners. The riding company we're starting.
Speaker 2:You broke a barrier, baratula First. I don't wanna get canceled. It's your first non-colored person I've had on this podcast, your first Caucasian, first Caucasian on this podcast man, you are you really are.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I keep being that guy. This is the second or third podcast I've done where I'm the first white guy. Yeah, dude, it's so like last one. The dude made me talk to him cause I mentioned casually, like growing up in a black church and that ended up being like 15 minutes of a podcast. Like we were talking about the old ladies in their hats. Do you remember? Do you remember when you'd go to church? Yeah, I just felt like they were always competing you could have the top. There was a lady who had like a small little burden in her hat at my church. I think her name was Miss Rose. But oh man, I just I just view this as friends Like we're. I was like, oh, you're a good guy. That's like when I had a cancel on your ass, we got felt bad. So it's like Rome's a good dude, rome wants me to do something, I'll do it. I like that guy.
Speaker 1:But I'm glad I could break the barrier, dude.
Speaker 2:You know you like the Jackie Robbins of my podcast, right.
Speaker 1:I would say, dude, it's like finally good as like as a white guy getting into some black spaces, letting people know, yeah, you guys don't hear enough about white people yet. So let me tell you a little bit about me. Dude, I'm Polish, we're the Poles, we're the people adjacent to Russia. Our home, our homeland, is mud and snow with a couple of potatoes. So it's pretty cool, pretty sick. At home school. I was home school. Yeah, shit, shout out to my mom, dude, that sweet blind woman.
Speaker 2:Shout out to my pops for making me do comedy and be consistent with me.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Papa Davis, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I do want to shout this out because it was a good friend of well, good friend of both of ours Good guy Timmy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out to Tim Maclin man.
Speaker 2:Shout out to Tim.
Speaker 1:Maclin yeah, man, that was a. That's one of those things that's been a real growth for me this year. It's been really tough Like and I'm still like. Whatever you follow me on Instagram, you see like everyone's on all the posts of Petro because there's something on about them. Yeah, that's something if you guys can take away from this. Check on your friends, man.
Speaker 1:You know, just like checking on people, I do it with you, I do it with other people, but yeah, check on them with people. Man. Like, hey, man, how you doing, I'm here if you need to talk, yeah, shout out to Timmy man. Shout out to Timmy man, tim Tim.
Speaker 2:Tim, tim Tim was a realist oh yeah, dude, tim was a realist.
Speaker 1:Tim was funny man. Tim was real good. Tim was so funny. I love. I always loved. His bit about it was like they legalized. They legalized weed in Denver. And it's like that's the start. That's the start. Next thing you know, those mountains are gonna be in a pawn shop so they can score a smack. Yeah, shout out to Tim man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great game. I appreciate you, Addy, coming on here, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, buddy, thanks for having me. This was fun, not a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:You'll be back, just give me some time. I got some more sex workers, or whatever you want to call them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's my favorite thing about following you on Instagram. It's just every once in a while I'll say it's a lady, just a lady in lingerie. I'm like man, rhomes is out there doing it. Rhomes is, I love that you're also look, cause you're like one of the few dudes I know who do church shows, so it must be wild for people who follow you from church shows. They're following you. It's like yo, he was so funny at the fellowship and then it's just like a lady who's like yeah, yeah, I let my fans come on and fuck me, but I had a lot of posted on my only fans and you're like, damn bro, what are you doing? Dude?
Speaker 2:Man I'd say I need to write out what was written on it. But when my pops passed, we had a funeral and they was like, oh, I saw you do a podcast and they started scrolling on my Facebook. They was like, and what, trip me out. One of my aunts, like I watched the episode with the kink talk, the dominatrix. I was like what the fuck?
Speaker 1:I'm at the end of that. That was what. Oh, can you give me her information? So I ask questions and she's like I don't want to have this conversation.
Speaker 2:It's so bad bro, so fucking bad. It's the head. There's no one else with my dating life at all.
Speaker 1:Shout out to the no ID podcast dude. It's so much oh great, Nobody was dating me.
Speaker 1:I was so happy for you, buddy, this is I, like this. I think it's because it's it feels like you Do you know what I mean? Like there's so many people, that's like I feel like they're chasing what they think people want to see and said I feel like you're doing what you want to do and I fucking respect the hell out of it, man. That's that's. We talk about. The art side of this, right, I think, and I'm sorry if I keep holding you up, if you gotta go.
Speaker 1:I think people who do this like really are really doing this. There's like a spectrum right and one side of the spectrum is the art side and the other side is the business side, and I think me and you are like one notch over on the art side where we're like I want to like, present me well, I want to do my bit well, but, like I'm a comic, I'm a clean comic, but yeah, I'm gonna do a podcast where I talk to sex workers Like that's, I like that Cause. That's like. That's clearly like that's the art side of you. And I'm sure the business side of you in your head is like what are you doing? We're clean, we do church shows and you're like but this is interesting and I respect that Cause.
Speaker 1:I'm that way where it's just like oh, this dude's a year in, should you feature for him? It's like I'll feature for him, he's going to pay me, I'll bury that guy, I don't care. And this is like cause I just having fun with it. You know what I mean. I'm going to have fun at the show, where the business side of me should be like no, I'm actually above that now. So now I'm not above that dude, pay me and drink. Take us all show up. I'll make you regret that policy. Comic string for free.
Speaker 2:Now I'm snorting. That was fun man. It is fun, bro. When is the next show? When is the next thing you got going on?
Speaker 1:So I got a bunch of stuff coming up. I next weekend, thanksgiving weekend I'm going to be in Elkton, virginia, a Bruja comedy. I'm running it for our buddy Tyrell, who doesn't want to go out that way, cause it's like three hours from us until he has his kid, probably closer to four grand, cause he lives in Virginia Beach. So I'm going to be running that Originally. It's funny. The first guy I asked when I took one, like I was given the show, was wood and wood was already books. So this month it's going to be Parker Clay, nathan Carlson and Zach Carpenter, and so I'm going to host. If you guys haven't seen Nathan Carlson, he's a killer, he's great, he's really good and dude Parker is so sharp right now Parker's like fresh back from Denver and he's sharp as hell.
Speaker 1:Next month which I'm waiting for the confirm that I'm going to have the show next month. But next month I'm going to have wood and I'm going to have a millhouse have you met him Out of. He comes with Kossies, he's really sharp and he's funny. I want to put him on some shows and I'm probably going to see if I can get a couple other people to come with us, as I got in the mill, know where's, and it's a lot of fun. I also have a I'm doing oh wow, I'm blanking on stuff. I got a bunch of stuff. Follow me on Instagram Addison L Hall. You just type in Addison, I'll be the first not hot girl.
Speaker 2:So there yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I got a bunch of stuff coming up and I'm producing a podcast currently that I'm hoping to have out by the first of the year called Dyson Dudes. You can kind of you can see my books back there. It's like a role playing podcast. It's kind of X files theme with comics and we joke and have a lot of fun. And I got my buddy, kale Moore, and Taylor Edwards on that Great comics. You guys haven't seen them. But yeah, man, I got a bunch of stuff. Check me out Addison L Hall Instagram. So yeah, buddy.
Speaker 2:Check me out Comedienne Roan and NoID Media TV on Instagram and on Facebook and YouTube Comedienne podcast to be posting. We got a new website. We'll link in the bio.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah.
Speaker 2:We upgraded 110%, but I'll tell you this episode that came out. You already probably didn't see me somewhere, shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and then next year is gonna be that year of whatever travel. Yeah, got some big shit coming up in February. I can't really speak on it because I had signed some documents.
Speaker 1:Ooh, there we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very cool. Addie bro, I appreciate you getting up here. Man, we're gonna play it. Stop the podcast, all right. Yeah, that was fun.