Speaker 1: I went to three high schools, so I was kind
Speaker 1: of able to like reinvent myself when I would go
Speaker 1: to each high school. So I saw, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: I had friends of my first high school kids I
Speaker 1: grew up with. They think I'm funny, but you know,
Speaker 1: they know me. So I need to figure out am
Speaker 1: I funny? At this next high school I go to,
Speaker 1: and I remember I was funny, and then I remember
Speaker 1: I came out a little too strong, eventually being too funny,
Speaker 1: and then that becomes annoying. And then I went to
Speaker 1: a third high school, I'm like, all right, I kind
Speaker 1: of get the idea I could tone it down. And
Speaker 1: then I went to college and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: kind of have a good balance. Hi. I'm Gary Veeter
Speaker 1: and I am the host of the limited series podcast
Speaker 1: Number one Dad.
Speaker 2: Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to the place you
Speaker 2: want to be right here on Off the Beat with
Speaker 2: your host Brian Bongertner. Of course, my guest today is
Speaker 2: an extremely talented stand up comedian, Gary Veader. He really
Speaker 2: tickles me. He's dry and understated, but very very clever
Speaker 2: and sharp my kind of humor for sure. He's performed
Speaker 2: on Conan, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and he
Speaker 2: was even a finalist on America's Got Talent. He tours
Speaker 2: and performs all over the country, or if you prefer
Speaker 2: to stay home, He has a stand up special out
Speaker 2: now on YouTube called It Could Be Worse. For his
Speaker 2: most recent act, Gary is going back to his very
Speaker 2: unique childhood, I love this. You see. Gary's dad was
Speaker 2: a real deal con artist. Now we're talking a list
Speaker 2: of aliases, fake accounts, shady deals, rated by federal agents.
Speaker 2: Kind of con artist. And he even brought his young
Speaker 2: son Gary in on some of his scams, like sneaking
Speaker 2: into Disneyland or photo copying dollar bills for lunch money,
Speaker 2: and even making Gary pretend to be a reporter to
Speaker 2: get access to Madison Square Garden, interviewing players including even
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan himself. Now, even though he cut his dad
Speaker 2: out of his life over twenty years ago, Gary is
Speaker 2: now revisiting all of these memories, plus the stories he's
Speaker 2: heard from other people, and attempting to reconnect and reconcile
Speaker 2: with his father. Luckily, he has recorded his journey for
Speaker 2: you and me to listen to on his new podcast,
Speaker 2: Number one, Dad Give It a listen. I promise you
Speaker 2: won't be disappointed. Please welcome my fascinating, upstanding and well
Speaker 2: very funny new friend, Gary Veder.
Speaker 3: Bubble and squeak. I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble
Speaker 3: and squeak. I cook get every mole lift over from.
Speaker 1: The night before.
Speaker 2: What's up, Gary?
Speaker 1: What's up man? How's it going.
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the Office, so this is
Speaker 1: super cool.
Speaker 2: Oh you you are you've seen it before?
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean many times over, So this is super cool.
Speaker 1: I love it now.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. That's very nice. I mean mostly people
Speaker 2: don't say nice things to me. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You deserve it. And you were are you?
Speaker 2: Were you an og or did you find it later?
Speaker 1: No og? I watched it when I was in college,
Speaker 1: so it was pretty. It was super cool. And then
Speaker 1: I mean it hit, it hit big time. I loved it. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it was different than you know
Speaker 1: when you find a good show. It's just so nice
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, I mean I love Seinfeld. And then
Speaker 1: I put for me, I put it right up there
Speaker 1: with Seinfeld, and I mean, it was just an incredible show.
Speaker 1: And I was said when it when it when it
Speaker 1: went off the you know, I mean obviously you completed it.
Speaker 1: It was it was a completed show. But I was
Speaker 1: sad when it happened when it went on.
Speaker 2: Where did you go to college?
Speaker 1: No, we're good University at Buffalo.
Speaker 2: Why is that nowhere? Good?
Speaker 1: I mean it's a college and you know you pay
Speaker 1: for it, but it's not really educational experience. You're just
Speaker 1: going to get a degree. And anybody, I feel they
Speaker 1: would you know, if a dog went there, it's as
Speaker 1: good as a dog. It's like a dog college. That's
Speaker 1: probably never happened back, you know, I know it.
Speaker 2: Yes, this is your all, my moter. You can't say
Speaker 2: things like that. I just had a couple of uh,
Speaker 2: very entertaining days and evenings and in in Buffalo. I
Speaker 2: it was, it was good. What's the place Pink's Pinkies
Speaker 2: with the steaks?
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know. Very late, I don't know about Pinky's.
Speaker 1: I know Anchor Bar. I mean there's Anchors and Duffs.
Speaker 1: Anchor Bar is a famous one. Duffs.
Speaker 2: That's the whole what do you call it? The wings? Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, the supposedly supposedly they started the wings and that
Speaker 1: was the big that was the big thing for Anchor Bar,
Speaker 1: and they make great wings. They make great wings, duff says,
Speaker 1: great wings, and it's kind of if you're from Buffalo.
Speaker 1: Those they'll argue who has the best wings. And I
Speaker 1: think the people, yeah, I think people from Buffalo. They
Speaker 1: go with Duffs a lot. That's their thing. So they
Speaker 1: could tell an outside if they pick Ancher Bar. But
Speaker 1: my friend actually saw O J. Simpson OJ I said
Speaker 1: it was weird.
Speaker 4: But O J.
Speaker 1: Simpson at Anchor Bar, Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was a
Speaker 1: good guy.
Speaker 4: O J.
Speaker 1: Simpson was a good guy.
Speaker 2: But O J.
Speaker 1: Simpson not so good.
Speaker 2: Uh but yeah O J.
Speaker 1: Simpson at ankle Or Bar once and uh yeah he
Speaker 1: stabbed them.
Speaker 2: Wow he like everybody that I didn't hear that news.
Speaker 2: Yeah was this before OJ's problem or after this?
Speaker 4: Was this was?
Speaker 1: Is that yeah his little miss out? Yeah yeah it's
Speaker 1: yeah LEAs right, Yeah, but no, yeah this was after.
Speaker 1: This was after this is when he got away you know,
Speaker 1: doing it. But hey, so that's it J talk.
Speaker 2: Ye're yeah, that's a race we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Shimpson are Yeah.
Speaker 2: Shims Look, we did our crack research team here analyzed
Speaker 2: your life, put you at a computer, spit out a
Speaker 2: bunch of data to me. I am totally fascinated, so fascinating.
Speaker 2: In fact, i've I have not started your show, but
Speaker 2: I have seen all of your teasers and tray. I
Speaker 2: am so excited to listen to it. This is not
Speaker 2: a joke. Thank you podcast number one Dad, which is
Speaker 2: is rolling out as we speak. This is fascinating. You
Speaker 2: partnered with Big Money Players podcast, Will Ferrell's podcast Empire.
Speaker 2: It's about Gary's family. So I want to start. Usually
Speaker 2: I sort of go more chronological here, but this is
Speaker 2: a This is a part of your newest project, which
Speaker 2: was your your childhood growing up? So where did where
Speaker 2: did you grow up?
Speaker 1: I grew up on Long Island in a town called
Speaker 1: dick Hills.
Speaker 2: And yeah the Unfortunate game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, unfortunate name, and we're thinking about changing
Speaker 1: it for the podcast, even though the podcast is completely true,
Speaker 1: like can we get rid of that? But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a podcast called and at least it was not called
Speaker 1: Little dick Hills. But anyway, I enjoy. You know, when
Speaker 1: I decided to do this podcast, you have to be
Speaker 1: very vulnerable, and I was not. Uh when I when
Speaker 1: I pitched the idea, I didn't expect it necessarily to happen.
Speaker 1: And then as soon as they're like, oh, we're gonna
Speaker 1: we agree to this. Nobody ever agrees to anything that
Speaker 1: I ever pitched or but they agreed, and there Now
Speaker 1: the whole plan is that I go and I tracked
Speaker 1: down my father, who I haven't talked to in twenty
Speaker 1: four years. And my dad is a con man. So we,
Speaker 1: uh we ran a bunch of cons together, which sounds.
Speaker 2: No, but so but this so I want. So you're
Speaker 2: grow you're growing up there in Long Island, and are
Speaker 2: you aware that your dad is a con man? As
Speaker 2: a kid, Now, I know we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: your Madison Square Garden experiences, so obviously there were things
Speaker 2: that happened. Are you aware that he is growing up
Speaker 2: or is he just dad?
Speaker 1: Well, he's dad, but I wouldn't say I knew that
Speaker 1: he was a con man. I knew that he would
Speaker 1: kind of cut corners to get around, you get around.
Speaker 1: I didn't know the name con man necessarily, but as
Speaker 1: I got older, I was like, oh, this, this, this
Speaker 1: is what a con artist is. And my dad is
Speaker 1: I think one of the best at this because he
Speaker 1: never doesn't seem to ever get caught. He gets what
Speaker 1: he wants. He's able to manipulate different situations, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I would just watch him, you know, could be small things,
Speaker 1: but we would be going to Disneyland, and this is
Speaker 1: back when Disneyland used to get a stamp on your hand,
Speaker 1: and he would have my entire family lick their hands
Speaker 1: and then just press it against his, which would get
Speaker 1: the stamp, and then we would have all get access
Speaker 1: to Disneyland, you know, a simple thing.
Speaker 2: And he'd pay one on one ticket, one ticket. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he would pay for one.
Speaker 1: Ticket and he would get four other people and for free,
Speaker 1: and they you know till they you know, this is
Speaker 1: back in the eighties early nineties when you were able
Speaker 1: to do this. And he would always find ways, creative
Speaker 1: ways to cut corners and wouldn't really care if the
Speaker 1: kids were involved or were aware of like what he
Speaker 1: was doing. And yeah, pretty much, you know, it was
Speaker 1: everything his businesses the same thing. He was involved in
Speaker 1: different scams where he had a furniture company and he
Speaker 1: wasn't delivering the furniture. And these are a lot of
Speaker 1: these scams were things that you could get away with
Speaker 1: in the eighties and the nineties, because it's pretty hard
Speaker 1: when somebody doesn't get their furniture delivered to figure out
Speaker 1: who do I complain to? And am I going to
Speaker 1: start making ninety phone calls and waiting on hold for
Speaker 1: hours to get to the bottom of this and then
Speaker 1: there not to be any resolution. So my dad would
Speaker 1: figure out these ways to yeah, definitely rip people off
Speaker 1: and get away with it, and he was successful at that.
Speaker 2: Wait. So he was the furniture delivery person.
Speaker 1: He owned the whole sorry, he owned the showroom. And
Speaker 1: there are people that would get their furniture, but then
Speaker 1: there are also people that he just would not deliver
Speaker 1: their furniture too. So it was, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: a plus minus game where maybe let's say, you know,
Speaker 1: ninety percent of people were getting their furniture, but then
Speaker 1: ten percent was just handing him money and then he
Speaker 1: would never deliver it. Eventually, the Attorney General of New
Speaker 1: York State got wind of it and went after him.
Speaker 1: But for years he was very successful in doing this
Speaker 1: and then just collecting one hundred percent profit and not
Speaker 1: delivering the furniture.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned before, he he didn't have any sort
Speaker 2: of he had no qualms about including you the children, correct,
Speaker 2: and how many how many siblings were there?
Speaker 1: I have two older sisters.
Speaker 2: Okay, so the three of you and is he is
Speaker 2: is it? Is there an attitude of hey, son, let me,
Speaker 2: let me, let me, let me show you what we
Speaker 2: can do here, like is heching you?
Speaker 1: Yeah. It was all lesson absolutely grooming me to be
Speaker 1: him and kind of showing me, oh, this is how
Speaker 1: life works. And we you know, we're seeing I'm seeing
Speaker 1: this at his kneeland. I'm seeing this, you know, if
Speaker 1: we're going to the movie theater, you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna go with the movie theater with your
Speaker 1: parent and my dad and my experience was we would
Speaker 1: sneak in. There was no there was no difference except
Speaker 1: that he wouldn't want to pay, and he just found
Speaker 1: this easy way to do it. You know whatever. It's
Speaker 1: me going under the ropes, just like I mean, kids
Speaker 1: sneak in all the time, but not with their parents.
Speaker 1: So my dad would have me going under the ropes
Speaker 1: and then I would be down the corridor and then
Speaker 1: he would tell the usher, hey, my son has my ticket.
Speaker 1: And I'm you know, seven to ten years old at
Speaker 1: the time, and I looked even younger when I would
Speaker 1: be ten, I would look like I'm seven. So it
Speaker 1: worked to his advantage the way that I looked and
Speaker 1: for him to have access. And of course we would
Speaker 1: see his movies at the same time. It wouldn't be
Speaker 1: movies that I would want to see. What we would
Speaker 1: be saying. You know, we'd be seeing Rambo and I
Speaker 1: would see I remember seeing dances with wolves. So there
Speaker 1: was all the things that he was interested in. Going
Speaker 1: to say, but but yeah, but I was growing up
Speaker 1: quick and taking the life lessons that he taught me.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to talk about that, but before I've
Speaker 2: got to mention Madison Square Garden. So you guys would
Speaker 2: consistently how would you get into Madison Square Garden? Because
Speaker 2: that feels like, yeah, it's you know what's funny is
Speaker 2: I heard a story a few years ago about there
Speaker 2: is a vip entrant. Did you utilize that?
Speaker 1: No, I don't know if they had that back in
Speaker 1: the day, but I do remember taking the elevator and
Speaker 1: the vip I've been in that vip entrance and that
Speaker 1: is so I'm very familiar with it.
Speaker 2: I've heard of people sneaking in there. But how would
Speaker 2: you get into Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 1: Okay, so back when Sports Illustrated for Kids was very relevant,
Speaker 1: I was getting the magazine and I was I adored
Speaker 1: sports everything, and especially the New York Knicks and the
Speaker 1: New York Rangers. And my dad and I we went
Speaker 1: to a few games, not at Madison Square Garden but
Speaker 1: at Nasau Coliseum, and we would never have access to
Speaker 1: any of the players or anything. And I remember one
Speaker 1: time we tried meeting players and I just waited with
Speaker 1: the rest of the kids, and kind of the players
Speaker 1: leaving that entrance, that VIP entrance that you're talking about
Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden. They had something very similar in
Speaker 1: NASA Colisseum. But you're waiting. If you're waiting over there
Speaker 1: for players to leave, you're waiting with a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of other people, and hopefully maybe you're going to get
Speaker 1: an autograph. And I remember we did that. And then
Speaker 1: soon after that, my dad said, the Rangers are playing,
Speaker 1: We're going to go to a game at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 1: And I didn't think much of it. I thought it
Speaker 1: would be just like every other time we've went. And
Speaker 1: this time he called up Madison Square Garden and told
Speaker 1: them that Sports Illustrated for Kids would be there, and
Speaker 1: on the way to the garden, he told me that
Speaker 1: I would act as a reporter for Sports Illustrate for
Speaker 1: Kids and he's going to be the photographer, and I
Speaker 1: don't have to say anything, just follow my lead. And
Speaker 1: we went to Madison Square Garden for the first time
Speaker 1: this is back in like the nineteen ninety two to
Speaker 1: ninety three season, to a Knicks first game, and it
Speaker 1: plan worked flawlessly. They gave us press passes when we
Speaker 1: walked in, and then I went into the locker room
Speaker 1: and I would interview the players on the Knicks and
Speaker 1: which would be Patrick Ewing and John Starrks, Charles Oakley,
Speaker 1: Anthony Mason, they were all on the team at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and completely rolled out the red carpet for us. And
Speaker 1: after that happened, we just kept doing it and nobody
Speaker 1: suspected a thing, especially because you're doing it frequently enough,
Speaker 1: they just become acquainted with you. So everybody would go
Speaker 1: assuming that we're there as Sports Illustrated for Kids, and
Speaker 1: I go into the visiting team's locker rooms, and then
Speaker 1: I started going to Ranger games also, and we went
Speaker 1: to some big games for basketball I mean, the biggest
Speaker 1: that I consider is when I went to Michael Jordan's
Speaker 1: double Nickel game where he came back to the Garden
Speaker 1: for the first time. He scored fifty five points, and
Speaker 1: after the game, I went into locker room and I
Speaker 1: interviewed him and sat with him and got an autograph card,
Speaker 1: an autograph picture or photograph card, and he took a picture.
Speaker 1: And then I went to Rangers were in the Stanley
Speaker 1: Cup in nineteen ninety four, and I went to game one,
Speaker 1: Game five, and Game seven, and we're going to all
Speaker 1: these games. Every game that I ever went to with
Speaker 1: my dad. We never paid for a ticket, We never
Speaker 1: had a seat. We would always find a great seat.
Speaker 1: He would be off taking pictures with the rest of
Speaker 1: the photographers because he's keeping up the scam, and I
Speaker 1: would be sitting either in the press area by myself,
Speaker 1: or he would locate a seat that was open that
Speaker 1: would be like a special area. So when the Rangers
Speaker 1: won the Stanley Cup Game seven, I was sitting pretty
Speaker 1: much right behind the goalie of I want to say
Speaker 1: it was yeah, of the Vancouver Canucks goalie, and right
Speaker 1: there I'm sitting glass and I witnessed everything and then
Speaker 1: after the game, I go into the locker room and
Speaker 1: I interview the players for the Rangers, and then I
Speaker 1: went to the team after party. And this is all
Speaker 1: without a ticket everything. And then after that my dad did.
Speaker 1: Nothing was ever too big or too scary for my dad.
Speaker 1: The Rangers celebrated at Gracie Mansion, which is Mayor Giuliani
Speaker 1: was the mayor at the time, which was his house,
Speaker 1: and we went there and we went to the team
Speaker 1: like whatever celebration that was a few days later there,
Speaker 1: and he went past the security detail for the mayor
Speaker 1: and everything, and not a problem because they believe that
Speaker 1: we were pressed. And so this is something that of
Speaker 1: course is definitely worth jail time for trespassing. But my
Speaker 1: dad didn't get He was bringing his kid there and
Speaker 1: he just keeping up appearances. Nothing phased him, and his
Speaker 1: camera definitely helped give him access. But of course, his
Speaker 1: his you know, it's his quick talking, his thinking, and
Speaker 1: he was always able to maneuver. He always seemed like
Speaker 1: he was somebody who could get out of anything or
Speaker 1: figure out a plan to get whatever he needed, and
Speaker 1: that was definitely beneficial. A lot of people look at
Speaker 1: scamming as they become a little bit fearful. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to do this because I might get caught. My
Speaker 1: dad never seemed like that person. He didn't he didn't care,
Speaker 1: he didn't getting caught. They never never crossed his mind.
Speaker 2: How did it? How did it turn sideways?
Speaker 1: Because everything he was doing was a lie. Everything was
Speaker 1: a scam. So, you know, I mentioned the furniture stuff,
Speaker 1: and chronologically we're a little bit out of order, but
Speaker 1: that was going on around the same time the Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated stuff was going on. And then he had other businesses.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: Mainly it was a telephone business where he would help
Speaker 1: install telephone systems to different various businesses and payphones as well.
Speaker 1: Payphones were big in the in the nineties, and he
Speaker 1: would he would say that he, you know, in the
Speaker 1: payphone business. He would say that he was at and
Speaker 1: T and that's how he's getting accounts. He's getting big
Speaker 1: accounts Toys r US and Costco and a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of different gyms that were big balleys had
Speaker 1: you know, had a had a gym back in the
Speaker 1: in the nineties, and so he'd have these access to
Speaker 1: it by just basically, you know, saying he was certain
Speaker 1: person great at impersonating people. Eventually, AT and T got
Speaker 1: wind of this and then took him a court and
Speaker 1: we had the US Marshall's Raidar house because he was
Speaker 1: saying that he was somebody that he wasn't, and they
Speaker 1: brought a big case against him, which is that this
Speaker 1: is all talked about in the podcast. But all this,
Speaker 1: all this heat, all all these problems that happened with
Speaker 1: my dad really took a toll in the family. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that not the greatest father. You know,
Speaker 1: part of being a father is being selfless, and he
Speaker 1: lacked a lot of selflessness and it definitely hurt where
Speaker 1: you're kind of wondering as I got older, were you
Speaker 1: doing those things at the garden for me or were
Speaker 1: you doing it more for you? And you're it starts
Speaker 1: crossing your mind. Was it just the need to lie
Speaker 1: into to con people and to scheme or did you
Speaker 1: really want to just take your son to the game
Speaker 1: and this is the only way that you could do it.
Speaker 1: And the podcast really dives into trying to figure out if, uh,
Speaker 1: if if that was his goal, if his goal really
Speaker 1: was for me, and also maybe has he changed has
Speaker 1: he changed his ways because I want to track him down.
Speaker 1: I want to find out what he's been doing for
Speaker 1: the last twenty four years, because yeah, we stopped talking
Speaker 1: when we were fifteen.
Speaker 2: You and you were fifteen.
Speaker 4: Right, have you found him?
Speaker 1: So that's what the that's what the pod in the podcast, Uh,
Speaker 1: right now, I'm trying to figure that out. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to I'm trying to locate him. You know, a con
Speaker 1: man and a guy. You know, numbers get changed a lot,
Speaker 1: things aren't, things aren't as easy, but you kind of
Speaker 1: have an idea, like hopefully where he is. And definitely
Speaker 1: when I decided to do this, I I believe that
Speaker 1: I would be able to find him. And the reason
Speaker 1: why is as soon as I start talking about him,
Speaker 1: I think that he'll make himself more present. So you
Speaker 1: know that there there are things that I didn't I
Speaker 1: didn't think that it wasn't wasn't going to happen. So
Speaker 1: and that's kind of where I'm at in the podcast,
Speaker 1: where I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to find him,
Speaker 1: but it might not be as easy when it's just
Speaker 1: me trying to trying to look. So, you know, I
Speaker 1: reach out to different people and trying to get phone
Speaker 1: numbers and and trying to locate it. But I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not an investigative reporter by any means, So you
Speaker 1: know I'm doing everything you can do that that any
Speaker 1: normal person would do also, But hopefully the goal is
Speaker 1: to find him and to see what he's up to
Speaker 1: and and possibly reconcile. But reconciliation is is a tough
Speaker 1: thing because it doesn't just happen over you know, a
Speaker 1: talk during a podcast. It's going to take time and
Speaker 1: have somebody and yeah, and maybe TV it would work
Speaker 1: that way, but it's going to take a minute. And
Speaker 1: so if you know, we were to meet it, it's
Speaker 1: a work in progress no matter how it looks.
Speaker 2: Number One, Dad, the podcast, It is such an amazing story.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to give any more of it away.
Speaker 2: I don't really care about my listeners, but for me personally,
Speaker 2: I want to hear it all play out limited series.
Speaker 2: It's fascinating to me and the psychology of that and
Speaker 2: going through that as a kid, and as you just mentioned,
Speaker 2: was he doing was he giving me his kid those
Speaker 2: experiences or was it all just about him? I can't
Speaker 2: wait to see how this resolves itself, which also transitions
Speaker 2: me beautifully expertly, if I do say so, myself into
Speaker 2: your now future successful career as a comedian. Do you
Speaker 2: think that your dad and the experience that you had
Speaker 2: with your dad shaped you in any way to who
Speaker 2: you are today.
Speaker 1: It's tough because I never wanted to give him any
Speaker 1: credit for anything that I became. You know, part of
Speaker 1: you know, if I if I wanted meeting him, I
Speaker 1: wanted to show him that I wound up being different
Speaker 1: than he was. But the fact of the matter is
Speaker 1: my childhood shape me, and it showed me that you
Speaker 1: could do things that are outside the box. A lot
Speaker 1: of people don't believe that certain things could be accomplished.
Speaker 1: And when I was able to see that my father
Speaker 1: was able to accomplish things not doing things the right way,
Speaker 1: but it took a lot of thought and a lot
Speaker 1: of creativity. It really made me think that doing something
Speaker 1: that I want to do with my life, if which
Speaker 1: is stand up comedy, it seems very difficult, seems so
Speaker 1: far fetched, and nobody really believes it. When I was
Speaker 1: growing up, like kids in my school and when I
Speaker 1: was in high school, and you tell them that, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, well, I'm thinking about maybe writing, you know,
Speaker 1: TV or or doing stand up comedy. And to them,
Speaker 1: it's almost like you might as well say that, you know,
Speaker 1: Aliens landed, which by the way, I heard that they did,
Speaker 1: but I was really talk about it, so I I,
Speaker 1: you know, I would say it and nobody believed. But
Speaker 1: I had a belief in myself. I to me, I
Speaker 1: saw the impossible being done through my what my my
Speaker 1: father's lens. But I knew that I could possibly translate
Speaker 1: that into thinking outside the box. And and if if you,
Speaker 1: if you work hard, if you if you're creative, just
Speaker 1: like my dad was, maybe my my dream of becoming
Speaker 1: a stand up comic can can be fulfilled.
Speaker 2: When did you start having the idea? Well, is it
Speaker 2: for you? Is it about performing? Is it about making
Speaker 2: people laugh?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 2: What is it for you that drove you towards it?
Speaker 2: And when did that start to happen? Was your dad
Speaker 2: still around?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was around. I saw him being funny. I
Speaker 1: always thought that he was funny. I remember him being
Speaker 1: I mean, he was extremely charming and people. He would
Speaker 1: make people laugh and I saw him do that, and
Speaker 1: to me, I guess you know, when I when I started,
Speaker 1: I do remember having the thought that, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: you could have been to me. I thought, oh, you
Speaker 1: could have been a comedian. And I'm sure he wasn't
Speaker 1: as funny as I thought he was, but I do
Speaker 1: remember him telling Joe. I remember telling jokes, and I
Speaker 1: remember thinking when I was young, I was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: like that is funny, and I can't wait to be
Speaker 1: older to make adults laugh. I remember I could. I
Speaker 1: could make some of my friends laugh, but I wasn't
Speaker 1: making adults laugh. And I remember thinking, oh, if I
Speaker 1: could make adults laugh, that would be good. That would
Speaker 1: be that could be something. And then as I got older,
Speaker 1: I started thinking about it more. And because my parents
Speaker 1: have everything that they were going through, I went to
Speaker 1: three high schools, so I was kind of able to
Speaker 1: like reinvent myself when I would go to each high school.
Speaker 1: So oh, I saw Okay. You know I had friends
Speaker 1: of my first high school kids I grew up with.
Speaker 1: They think I'm funny, but you know they know me.
Speaker 1: So I need to figure out am I funny at
Speaker 1: this this next high school I go to, and I
Speaker 1: remember I was funny, and then I remember I came
Speaker 1: out a little too strong. Eventually, being too funny and
Speaker 1: then becomes annoying. And then I went to a third
Speaker 1: high school, I'm like, all right, I kind of get
Speaker 1: the idea I could tone it down. And then I
Speaker 1: went to college and I'm like, all right, kind of
Speaker 1: have a good balance here. And there's a there's definitely
Speaker 1: a weirdness of being a comedian. If you tell people
Speaker 1: you're going to be a comic or you want to
Speaker 1: be a comedian, then they start thinking that, oh, you're
Speaker 1: just trying to be funny, and they kind of shoot
Speaker 1: it down. A lot a lot of people when you
Speaker 1: tell them that you have this goal of becoming something,
Speaker 1: they tend to shoot it down because maybe they're afraid
Speaker 1: of it, but they or they see that you're trying
Speaker 1: it and and and that's what they want to do
Speaker 1: and but or that's just their mentality. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a tough thing to go through. And uh,
Speaker 1: but you have to just kind of be your own
Speaker 1: person and have your own faith in that. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know that it's a I mean going you know,
Speaker 1: when you say that you want to be acting an actor,
Speaker 1: that what makes you think that you're going to get picked,
Speaker 1: You're going to get a goal and it's a tough
Speaker 1: thing to go through, but you have to fight through
Speaker 1: that stuff and and just yeah, there's some luck involved,
Speaker 1: but I mean, obviously there's it's majority of it is
Speaker 1: skill and you have to back it up when it
Speaker 1: when the time is right, because you know, if you
Speaker 1: didn't back it up, you wouldn't have got you wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been on the office, it wouldn't have happened. You're
Speaker 1: able to backround.
Speaker 2: Do you consider yourself an actor?
Speaker 1: You know, I maybe not until recently, but because but
Speaker 1: now and and listen, I if you watch me on stage,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like I'm performing at all, but I
Speaker 1: because I stand still, I'm very monotone and but yeah, right,
Speaker 1: I'm talking to the right person. But you know, but
Speaker 1: there is acting in it. There is a performance in it.
Speaker 1: I might not be jumping around or making crazy facial expressions,
Speaker 1: but I try to think of being in the bit.
Speaker 1: And you you there's little movements that go a long way.
Speaker 1: So there's acting in stand up. But as far as
Speaker 1: acting acting, I'm not. I'm definitely not an actor, but
Speaker 1: I think I I could play myself. I could do that,
Speaker 1: you know, but so so it'd have to be something
Speaker 1: I would write. I don't. I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: able to be you know, Jim Carrey man on the Moon,
Speaker 1: but I could be you know, Gary Vetter searching for
Speaker 1: his father, if it was, if that was a TV show.
Speaker 6: Pitching it now, Yeah, one of the things that I
Speaker 6: like to talk to people about because you know, look,
Speaker 6: there's Gary the little kid or high school kid, college
Speaker 6: kid who wants to make people laugh.
Speaker 2: But to me, there's a distinction between and.
Speaker 4: I call it.
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is right or not, but
Speaker 2: like I'm doing an activity versus like, oh, this is
Speaker 2: what I want to do, this is what I'm going
Speaker 2: to focus in and that I want to do in
Speaker 2: my life. Was there a moment for you or was
Speaker 2: there a time where it changed for you where you
Speaker 2: were like, oh, this is a pursuit that I'm going
Speaker 2: to put my whole self into.
Speaker 1: Well, I didn't think there was something else that I
Speaker 1: really wanted to do, and I don't think there's something
Speaker 1: that I thought that I could enjoy doing. So I
Speaker 1: would look at people and everybody, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: people do it every day, but I didn't think I
Speaker 1: could do this. I didn't think I could put it
Speaker 1: on a suit every day and go to an office
Speaker 1: and maybe be in that suit in hot weather and
Speaker 1: sitting in my car and traffic. I thought of all
Speaker 1: these things. I wanted a job that had some freedom,
Speaker 1: that maybe allowed me to travel and maybe, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I might go to Dayton, Ohio. No offense Dayton, but
Speaker 1: it's not the you know, the best place for me
Speaker 1: to go visit, but I would I would be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's cool. I get to go there and do stand
Speaker 1: up so, you know. So these are things that I
Speaker 1: thought would be cool, and I was envisioned myself, Oh,
Speaker 1: I could be a comic and then I'd come home
Speaker 1: and then my family would be there and they would
Speaker 1: think that it's cool. I also thought that too. I
Speaker 1: thought that maybe one day I would have a family
Speaker 1: and I would be a comic and my kids would
Speaker 1: be be like, oh, my dad's a comedian. That's a
Speaker 1: cool thing. So I thought that could Maybe that's what
Speaker 1: I wanted my dad to actually be. So I wanted
Speaker 1: my kids to be proud of me, because I didn't
Speaker 1: really feel proud of my dad. I felt that I
Speaker 1: had to really keep that decide what he was doing.
Speaker 1: I wasn't proud that not only was he installing payphones
Speaker 1: and that was his business, but he was conning people
Speaker 1: too in a process. You know, he was doing all
Speaker 1: these things to rip people off. And yeah, I wanted
Speaker 1: my kids to be proud, and I wanted to be
Speaker 1: proud of my dad.
Speaker 2: You know, something just occurred to me. And by the
Speaker 2: time this errors, we will have passed. I guess I'm
Speaker 2: exposing myself, but I was going to thinking about this. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: this experience will have passed. But I'm sharing something with you.
Speaker 2: I probably should not share this at all, but I
Speaker 2: have a daughter and just right now, this week, she's
Speaker 2: participating in let's just call it a camp. And in
Speaker 2: order to participate in this camp, she has to be
Speaker 2: of a certain age. Now she is not that age, okay,
Speaker 2: but all of her friends are doing this again, let's
Speaker 2: call it a camp. We lied, I lied. I lied.
Speaker 2: I signed her up and basically put her correct birthday
Speaker 2: and put it a year earlier. And I'm not joking
Speaker 2: with you. The entire day yesterday, I felt guilty. I
Speaker 2: felt I felt horrible. So I'm just thinking back again
Speaker 2: about your dad and that idea of like bringing your
Speaker 2: kids and without judgment, saying myself, I am currently right
Speaker 2: now doing the same thing. Yeah, and you felt guilt.
Speaker 2: I felt incredible guilt. But and this is I guess
Speaker 2: where I at least can assure myself that I'm different.
Speaker 2: I made that decision not because I needed some time
Speaker 2: off this week and I needed to stick her somewhere,
Speaker 2: right like, this is an activity that she legitimately loves,
Speaker 2: that she will legitimately excel at with her friends in
Speaker 2: the summer, and so I wanted her to have this experience.
Speaker 2: Does that make it any better? I don't know, but it's.
Speaker 1: Just I think so, because yeah, I think it really does.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you're kind of answering the question
Speaker 1: that I'm searching for is that did my dad do
Speaker 1: it for me or for himself? And here you're trying
Speaker 1: to do something for your daughter that will benefit her,
Speaker 1: and you're you know, what you're getting out of it
Speaker 1: is her pure enjoyment, that her succeeding and what she's doing.
Speaker 1: And it sounds like, you know, hands down the right decision.
Speaker 1: Now it doesn't It doesn't make it any better that
Speaker 1: you had to, Like, yeah, but you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: maybe That's the thing is sometimes you might have to
Speaker 1: to fib a little bit. That's a that's a little
Speaker 1: fits a little.
Speaker 2: I tried to explain to her literally what I said
Speaker 2: to her, I'm sorry to interrupt you was right. So
Speaker 2: remember our little white lie. That is what was the
Speaker 2: word I said. And I was like, is that a
Speaker 2: good thing to explain? I mean, at some point she's
Speaker 2: gonna understand it, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's yeaascinating. I mean I think I now I find
Speaker 1: and you know, don't get me wrong. I mean I
Speaker 1: learned from somebody who was constantly lying, and I kind
Speaker 1: of showed me, oh, maybe you can lie. And there
Speaker 1: are things like, yeah, just lie. You don't know. What
Speaker 1: my dad was showing me was that that he lies
Speaker 1: all the time. So then I realized, oh, I don't
Speaker 1: want to be like him, so you know, I won't.
Speaker 1: But it's still that lying is still in me. And
Speaker 1: I would still lie as I was getting older, and
Speaker 1: I would lie about things that I didn't need to
Speaker 1: lie about. And eventually, you know, I meet my wife
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I she would get upset with
Speaker 1: me because I would lie about something silly, like not
Speaker 1: tell her anything, tell her something.
Speaker 2: I would tell her.
Speaker 1: I would tell her everything for the most part, but
Speaker 1: then things I would leave out and she would be like,
Speaker 1: why are you not telling me that? And I realized
Speaker 1: that was a big problem. I can't not tell her stuff.
Speaker 1: It was just in me. And she taught me a
Speaker 1: lot about just just be as forthcoming as possible and
Speaker 1: there's no there's no reason not to and because then
Speaker 1: you're hiding something. So my dad kind of just showed
Speaker 1: me that that was okay to do. And it really
Speaker 1: took some time to break that up.
Speaker 2: In twenty fourteen, ten years ago, now, you participated in
Speaker 2: a little competition. It was explained to me as a
Speaker 2: March Madness type competition Caroline's on Broadway. You beat beat
Speaker 2: that's what you were the champion and beat sixty three
Speaker 2: of the best young comedians out there. Now here's my question.
Speaker 2: First off, congratulations ten years later. Is there anybody who
Speaker 2: you hang out with now that is in the stand
Speaker 2: up world that you beat that you can hold over
Speaker 2: their head? That's really where I'm angling here.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody you do so many of these things?
Speaker 1: There were so many when those were in the early days.
Speaker 1: I was probably doing comedy five years. At that point,
Speaker 1: five six years, you're you're in these infancy days of
Speaker 1: doing stand up where you're just trying to get ahead.
Speaker 1: You're trying everything, and you know, there's that was one contest,
Speaker 1: and that was a good one because I was in
Speaker 1: New York and you got to be seen by different
Speaker 1: managers and agents and I got an age manager after
Speaker 1: that and I won. Yeah, and then you get bookings
Speaker 1: at Carolines and that's cool. But you know, it could
Speaker 1: have it. Really, it could have happened to me, ey
Speaker 1: the way I look at it, it could have happened
Speaker 1: to anybody, because you do that and then you get
Speaker 1: that and then somebody else gets something else. So it's
Speaker 1: it's all it all. It all happens for everybody, if
Speaker 1: I feel, if it's supposed to happen, and your career
Speaker 1: kind of moves along as time goes on. But uh,
Speaker 1: I couldn't even tell you who was in it. I
Speaker 1: know there was one person. I know, the person who
Speaker 1: had to go. I know there there was one person
Speaker 1: who was in, who was in the finals, who is
Speaker 1: a finals with me, who's a runner up who I beat?
Speaker 1: Uh So technically I do have it.
Speaker 2: His head.
Speaker 1: Yes, I beat him and he is my friend, but
Speaker 1: so so I okay, so yes, I do have I
Speaker 1: take it back. I have one person and I hold
Speaker 1: it over his head all the time, no matter what
Speaker 1: you do, because I'm a better stand up comedian and
Speaker 1: he's you're better.
Speaker 2: You won, he won, You're a champion. The next year,
Speaker 2: season ten of America's God Talent, you become a finalist there.
Speaker 2: Do you think that that the Caroline's thing helped you
Speaker 2: to get that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, totally. You know I did before even
Speaker 1: that March Madness thing in twenty fourteen that you mentioned,
Speaker 1: I did a couple other contests and there was one
Speaker 1: I came in second that was in Atlanta, and what
Speaker 1: I realized was that if you come in second, nobody
Speaker 1: really nobody cares. Nobody cares if you come in second and.
Speaker 2: The first love.
Speaker 1: Yeah, extactically, yeah, I mean that's how it goes and
Speaker 1: and and you know, all the glory goes to whoever wins.
Speaker 1: So when I then I went to that you know
Speaker 1: thing at Karenlines where they did the March Madness thing,
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, I gotta win it
Speaker 1: because nobody's gonna care if you don't. Nobody's gonna remember
Speaker 1: if you came in second.
Speaker 5: And then I when I went, your buddy, no right, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 5: he quit. He's the garbage right now, which is a
Speaker 5: good job. But so then I did America's got talent,
Speaker 5: and I kind of went in with that mentality. I
Speaker 5: have the way I tell jokes there. I have some
Speaker 5: longer jokes, longer bits, but for the most part they're short,
Speaker 5: and I could get to laugh pretty quickly. I could
Speaker 5: get to laugh in ten fifteen seconds and a lot
Speaker 5: of jokes, So I thought I had an advantage.
Speaker 1: And I really went in with a lot of confidence
Speaker 1: that that that this could happen, that I could that
Speaker 1: I could advance. I didn't know how far, but I
Speaker 1: was really hopeful. I felt that if in the right situation,
Speaker 1: I could maybe catch a hot streak. And I was
Speaker 1: fortunate I got a hot streak I had. I had
Speaker 1: people that went before me that weren't stand ups that
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to a ventriloquist and then a
Speaker 1: parrot and all the things that are not stand up comedy,
Speaker 1: so you still have to perform and it's a different setting.
Speaker 1: But I felt that my act would uh would really
Speaker 1: come out and really play itself well in front of
Speaker 1: their audience, and and it and fortunately enough it did
Speaker 1: and and that was that was a good moment for
Speaker 1: sure in my career.
Speaker 2: I watched your first Colbert Club. Oh but you you
Speaker 2: appearing on Colbert and Conan and those late night shows.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that, because you know, back in
Speaker 2: the back in the olden days, right, it was like
Speaker 2: being on Johnny Carson was like it for you in
Speaker 2: your experiences doing those shows? Was it similar, Like do
Speaker 2: you feel like that gave you some street crowd?
Speaker 1: So it's such a different world. And I looked at
Speaker 1: it when I started doing stand up, that's that. It
Speaker 1: was all I wanted. My first TV appearance that I
Speaker 1: ever had was on Conan. It was Conan when he
Speaker 1: was on TBS, and I grew up my Conan was
Speaker 1: my guy. I loved Jay Leno, I love Letterman too,
Speaker 1: but Conan was what I grew up watching. I love Conan.
Speaker 1: I would watch him all the time, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to be on his late night show. And then he
Speaker 1: moved to TBS, and then I was started doing stand
Speaker 1: up probably around that same time, and I tried getting
Speaker 1: an internship there when I was in college. That never
Speaker 1: that that didn't work out, but I tried, and I
Speaker 1: really wanted to be somewhere in Conan's world, and I
Speaker 1: tried so hard, and then I finally got the offer
Speaker 1: to do Conan and I did it, and it was
Speaker 1: kind of like an outer body experience when you're on
Speaker 1: the show. Because I watched this guy growing up. I
Speaker 1: never thought that I would be on TV, and this
Speaker 1: was my opportunity. I'm going to show these people that
Speaker 1: said that being a stand up comedian, people that I
Speaker 1: that that knew me that this is not going to
Speaker 1: this isn't gonna happen, And now here I am doing
Speaker 1: stand up comedy and I'm on TV. I made it,
Speaker 1: And that's really what I was. It's just complete. You're
Speaker 1: just on pilot mode doing your set in front of
Speaker 1: that that camera because they keep everything. Everything you say,
Speaker 1: it's just it's good, but it was, it was. It
Speaker 1: was incredible. It was an incredible experience. And then you know,
Speaker 1: then I did I did Colbert a little while later,
Speaker 1: and it was the same deal, same thing. You still
Speaker 1: have that outer body experience where I'm I'm on the
Speaker 1: Ed Sullivan stage in the in this theater. It's like
Speaker 1: so many, so many historic people. You try not to
Speaker 1: think about it, but it can't. You can't help it
Speaker 1: because until you go on, you're you're just sitting there
Speaker 1: with you know, in this environment. And then then you're
Speaker 1: on stage and now you're doing you have to do
Speaker 1: your set, words have to come out of your mouth.
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable, but it But but you do it and
Speaker 1: and yet and if you practice enough, that's all you
Speaker 1: want to do. You want to just keep practicing, keep practicing,
Speaker 1: keep getting you know, if you're a comic, keep getting
Speaker 1: on stage, because when that moment comes, you're just it's
Speaker 1: like a fight or flight mode and you just just
Speaker 1: do it. You say it and then and then hopefully
Speaker 1: you know, it goes well.
Speaker 2: Uh, you recently released comedy special. It could be worse.
Speaker 2: Do you enjoy doing those? Do you enjoy having those
Speaker 2: out in the world.
Speaker 1: For sure, it's a you know, a sense of completion.
Speaker 1: I worked on an act that I was doing for
Speaker 1: about a little over two and a half years, and
Speaker 1: I feel the jokes are good. You know, things change
Speaker 1: over time, so you're you know, you're mixing things back
Speaker 1: and forth. But these are jokes that I took on
Speaker 1: the road, and I would I would be saying, and
Speaker 1: I feel like I perfected him to the best I could.
Speaker 1: And then you deliver in front of a camera. Uh,
Speaker 1: and and that's it, that's the final product. And then
Speaker 1: I put that on YouTube, and so far it's been
Speaker 1: a good response, and yeah, people people think it's great.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, I'm not that obviously the
Speaker 1: biggest comic in the world, but it's a good way.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: YouTube is such a great way to get people that
Speaker 1: might not be familiar with you to actually see you.
Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, that's that. That's been a so far,
Speaker 1: a good, good thing to release.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Do you like still like being on the road?
Speaker 1: I really like the road, I really do. I enjoy
Speaker 1: it because you're really the only way to find out
Speaker 1: if a joke works. I mean, I live in New York,
Speaker 1: but the only way to find out if a joke
Speaker 1: works is if you take it everywhere. You got to
Speaker 1: make sure that it's going to work for in all
Speaker 1: these different scenarios, you know, in front of different types
Speaker 1: of people, and you want I want every everybody as
Speaker 1: much as possible. You're never going to make everybody like
Speaker 1: your comedy, but I want to make as many people
Speaker 1: as possible enjoy my comedy. So the only way to
Speaker 1: do that is by testing the material out and doing
Speaker 1: it in different situations.
Speaker 2: Yeah you're a dad yourself down.
Speaker 1: Yeah I am. And that's kind of what got the
Speaker 1: podcast going was that my my first son was born,
Speaker 1: and it made me really reflect on Okay, here's I
Speaker 1: have a son. You know all I did have. I
Speaker 1: had a dad that was in my life, and you know,
Speaker 1: how am I going to be as a father. And
Speaker 1: that's what got me thinking more on the podcast. But yeah,
Speaker 1: being a dad and it is amazing. I love it.
Speaker 1: And now now I have a second son as well,
Speaker 1: so I have a four year old now and one
Speaker 1: and a half year old, So it's pretty it's pretty special.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean it's everything I ever wanted. I
Speaker 1: never you know, my wife and I it wasn't easy
Speaker 1: for us to have kids. Uh, in the beginning. I
Speaker 1: tried first, then she tried, and now it was we
Speaker 1: both she was going, uh we had to do IVF.
Speaker 1: So it was it was a struggle and but we
Speaker 1: were able to do it. So we're so thankful that,
Speaker 1: you know, as heart of the process. As we're now
Speaker 1: we have two, two beautiful kids.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. That that to me is the hardest part
Speaker 2: about being on the road right when you've got when
Speaker 2: you've got the little ones at home. Yeah, it leaves
Speaker 2: an empty space at times. As much as you love
Speaker 2: what you're doing, as much as you you know, know
Speaker 2: that for yourself and for your family, you have to
Speaker 2: be out there. That's a that's a that's a tough part.
Speaker 1: It's very tough. I was just away this past weekend.
Speaker 1: It was only for a day, uh to Atlantic City,
Speaker 1: so I had I had to go for a night
Speaker 1: for a gig and it was I was fortunately enough.
Speaker 1: But before that, the week before I was, I was home,
Speaker 1: so I didn't and so i'd been home. I had good,
Speaker 1: good times at home and it was great, and then
Speaker 1: I just had to go away for a night. And
Speaker 1: that's just it's such a short trip. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of times I've gone for for maybe five days
Speaker 1: at a time, but this time was just one night,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's just tough. No matter how
Speaker 1: many days it is, I feel I'm missing out. I'm
Speaker 1: missing out on things, missing things out in their childhood
Speaker 1: and my wife, she's really supportive, she's wonderful, and she goes.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't don't have to say you're sorry,
Speaker 1: like you're making money for the family and and yeah,
Speaker 1: but I want to I feel I want to be there.
Speaker 1: I don't want to miss out on things. And but
Speaker 1: it's inevitable. But uh I, it is very hard. It's
Speaker 1: very hard to do, so, you know, but I love
Speaker 1: the road too, so yeah, so it's it's but it's.
Speaker 2: You got to do what you gotta do.
Speaker 1: There's no easy way around it.
Speaker 2: Well, Gary, you're clearly a great, caring father. You're a
Speaker 2: delightful guy. I wish you all the best. I know
Speaker 2: these limited series podcasts, when you're editing together material, it's
Speaker 2: a lot of work. I know from personal experience. So
Speaker 2: I first off, I applaud you for going through the
Speaker 2: effort and for going inside yourself and exposing yourself not
Speaker 2: in a weird way. That's cool and important. Number One
Speaker 2: Dad the podcast. I'll be a subscriber today, Gary.
Speaker 1: I promise you that I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Good luck to you on the road and at home
Speaker 2: and with with the podcast. I can't wait to hear
Speaker 2: if you find your dad.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Brian.
Speaker 2: All Right, cheers man, Gary, that was awesome. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much for sharing with me and the world your story.
Speaker 2: I know it wasn't easy getting to a place where
Speaker 2: you can talk about it, but man, it is so
Speaker 2: fascinating to me. I'm so glad that you've put this
Speaker 2: podcast together and I can't wait to learn how this
Speaker 2: all unfolds. Good luck finding your dad. Listeners, you too
Speaker 2: can follow Gary's story on Number One Dad wherever you
Speaker 2: listen to your podcast. In fact, you can just add
Speaker 2: it to your cue right now, since you're already here.
Speaker 2: Do it, do it, Do it now now. I promise
Speaker 2: you won't be disappointed, and tune in here next week,
Speaker 2: because well, we have a very special guest back on
Speaker 2: the podcast revisiting us, regaling us with stories of his childhood.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Get ready, office fans. As always, it's
Speaker 2: going to be a wild ride. Off the Beat is
Speaker 2: hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our
Speaker 2: executive producer, Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia.
Speaker 2: Our producers are Emily Carr and Seth Olanski, and our
Speaker 2: talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, our theme song Bubble
Speaker 2: and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Breton