WEBVTT - Paul Mecurio 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Access Podcast, the podcast about podcast. I'm your host, 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.320 Mattie Stout, and this week I'm really happy to welcome 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:13.320 an old friend of mine, Emmy and Peabody Award winning 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.720 comedian Paul Mecurio. Now, Paul, you might know him from 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.639 The Daily Show, where he was a writer for many, 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:20.840 many years, but he's also got a podcast, The Paul 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:26.120 Mecurio Show, where he interviews a less guests from entertainment, media, sports, music, politics, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.560 and science. Let's hear a little taste of that right now. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.480 We just we're waiters who were nauseated by the concept 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.120 of food and we're reading a specials list. That's it, 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.640 and we just are going say we have a cop 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:44.360 sell with a and I'm happy to having him on 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.680 the show. Paul, I think I met you fifteen years 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.720 ago at a bar after the Opie and Anthony Show 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.160 in New York. Wow was it? Oh? Yeah, you picked 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:55.760 me up. We had a great night of sex. It 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.760 was awesome, It was great. Yeah, you're gentle, gentle lover. 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.039 Uh So, Paul is uh one of one of the guys. 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.240 I'm really happy to say that I've as I've known 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.080 for a while that I've watched uh kind of jump 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.080 into podcasting and and do it and do it well. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.520 And since the first one you've done, you've got to 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.520 inter interview all kinds of people since then. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:21.560 it's been crazy. Like I try, I like to do 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:23.759 the one I want interviews, you know, in long form 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:27.400 and uh and you know, kind of just go wherever 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.600 it goes with people. And so I've been lucky to 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.760 get some really cool guests like Brian Cranston, Stephen Colbert, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.880 Neil Legrasse, Tyson Sugar, Ray Leonard, this up and coming 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:44.240 musician Paul McCartney. Um, and uh so it's been pretty insane. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.120 Like people are they? I think they like being able 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.560 to go long form and talk more than like the 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.560 five minute sound bites that they normally get on like 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:53.800 a stand on a on a late night talk show. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.360 You know. Well, I'm gonna say the Paul McCartney story 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.160 for a little bit later because it's a good one. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.160 But the folks who maybe have not um heard you before, 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.520 I have not seen your stand up, they should know 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.000 who you are. But your introduction into comedy is very 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.639 much unlike anyone else that I know. I love this 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.040 story of how you got into comedy, and I just 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:17.120 was wondering if you could relate that to folks that 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.680 haven't heard you before. Yeah. Absolutely. So I have a 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.960 big drug habit, and uh I needed extra money, you know. 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.600 Uh I was on I went to law school and 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.640 then I ended up in New York City. Uh I 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.079 grew up in Providence, Rod Island, middle class family, don't 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.359 have money. Ended up on Wall Street as a lawyer 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.120 and an investment banker, doing these like huge merger deals. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.320 And then I started writing jokes as a hobby. And 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.040 uh I was making short films and one of my 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.359 short films got into a big festival and I met 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.240 like like Woody Allen and Albert Brooks and all these 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.639 filmmakers there. I lied, I told it firm that I 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.520 I might I had to go help my brother move 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.239 or something, and I was. I was in Colorado with 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.640 a big festival with all these people. So I started 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.400 to live this like secret double life on Wall Street. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.360 And then I started writing jokes and I'm Jay Leno 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.840 was a private entertainment um at this private function that 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.360 a client had and they invited us from the firm, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:17.760 and I almost wasn't going to go and I just 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.200 as I was leaving, I said, what the heck? And 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.320 I printed out like a like twelve pages of jokes 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:24.680 that I had been writing and I don't know what 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:25.840 I was gonna do with them. And I went up 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.320 to him after the performance and I said to Leno 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.079 and I said, I'm a lawyer. I'm never going to 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:32.640 use these jokes. I don't know if you need jokes, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.920 but here you're going. He's like, okay, man, he really 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:38.880 does talk like they letting helium out of a balloon 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.120 very very slowly, you know, like like like like whenever 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.360 you talk to you just want to go breathe, breathe 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.760 and uh. And so I he takes them and then uh, 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.360 I get a few feet away and he goes, hey, 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:53.640 come back here, I go to go. You might want 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:54.960 to put your name in your phone numberrun here so 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:56.400 I know how to reach it. Like that's how that's 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.520 how nervous. I was like, I'm here, I am Mr 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.240 wall Street, M and a deal and I can't even 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.960 put my name on a document and just complete idiot. 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.520 And I thought, he said, okay, I'll take a look, 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:08.000 and then I thought I got a nice blow off. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.680 And then Two days later, my phone rings and he goes, uh, 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.320 hies paul Er, it's Jay Lenno. I'm like, uh And 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.160 I told my friend David, who does good impressions, about this, 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.839 and I thought it was him punking me. Then I go, yeah, David, right, stop, 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:23.200 I know it's you. I think, goes, not really a 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.320 j Leno. I go, David, you do alousy jay Leno. 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.800 I said to Jay Leno that he does allowsy jay Leno. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.080 He does, yeah exactly, he goes. He goes, I think 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:33.760 I do a pretty good Jay Lenno. I'm Jay Lenno. 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.560 I'm like, nah, the voice is not right, so it 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.320 was out it was Jay Leno. When he goes, I 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.120 read the stuff and I'm gonna hire you to start 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.280 sending jokes in for the Tonight Show monologue. You don't 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.600 have to leave your job. He said, you just send 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.200 me stuff and if I use it, I'll pay it 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.560 per joke. And I'm like, are you kidding me? He goes, no, no, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:52.479 He goes, I need jokes for the monologue. I can't 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.480 you jokes from my tonight show act. I mean from 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.039 my regular night cluback, because people feel ripped off if 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:58.400 they see it on the Tonight Show. And then they 0:04:58.440 --> 0:04:59.920 see me doing the same joke that they paid on 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.440 under bucks to see. So and he goes, by the way, 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:03.960 what do you do for a living? I go, I'm 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.599 a lawyer, and he goes, I knew it. He starts 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.040 laughing at me and go why. He goes, you're right 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.520 like a lawyer. You're way too worthy. He goes, get 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.120 to the punchline. He goes, you don't need to give 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.919 me stage direction when to make a funny face. I'm like, 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.520 all right, right, do you? Then a week later he 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.520 called me go ahead, sorry, I'm sorry. Do you remember 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.680 one of those jokes? Yeah, the joke he did. He 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.080 called me a week later and he did one. He said, 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:25.240 I'm going to do one of your jokes on the 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.760 Tonight Show. And I went and got some champagne with 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.279 my girlfriend and my girlfriend and my wife and another 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.120 couple and we watched it and he did my joke 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.359 and it was the most powerful thing that I had 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.279 ever seen in my life. He paid me fifty bucks 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.719 for this joke. So here I am like this, you know, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.320 middle class kid from Italian neighborhood and Rhode Island doing 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.599 big m and a deals and that's not impressing me 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.039 as much as a silly fifty dollar joke on the 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.560 Tonight Show, right, because it was this box that I 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.280 had been watching where comedy came out of, and now 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.320 my comedy was coming out of. It was just weird. 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.400 It was surreal, and the joke was about something to 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.560 the effect of, you know, it was watching one of 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.280 these modeling shows like this Old House, and he goes up, 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.479 you know, they're always a contractor's very neat well, kept 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.400 these polities on time, he's under budget. He goes to 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.080 these people exist in real life, every contractor, I know, 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.480 you know, he's showing plumber crack, hitting on my wife, drunk, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.840 stealing stuff from my house like that kind of thing, Right, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.640 And the joke did well, and then he yeah and 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.440 I and I started sending them stuff and and he 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.359 started kept doing it. And then I was like, okay, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.480 but I didn't have any plans to leave or whilst 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.479 you or anything. So he said to me, little, you know, 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:33.320 you could try the jokes out before you send them 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:34.479 to me. And I go, how do I do that? 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.440 He goes, well, you can get a sense of the jokes, 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:37.920 are any good? You go to some go to some 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.560 open mic nights and like you know, bars and stuff. 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.840 So I did, and I that's where I truly started 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:45.800 to live this secret double life where I was a 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.080 lawyer by day in a comic by night. Now I 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:49.599 want to ask you a question, as I've heard this 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.760 story a few times. Did you have to hide that 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.840 you were doing comedy? Was it that frowned upon as 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.600 being a lawyer, that that you would be out, you know, 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.520 kind of doing that on the side at this kind 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.800 of firm. Yes, it was one of these big, big, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.000 international white shoe law firms, like it would not be 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:10.080 considered proper. They would have they would have like they 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.920 expect a certain level of the quorum and behavior and 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.520 stuff like that. It wasn't like a solo practitioner one 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.040 guy I was working for. UM. It wasn't like bigl 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:26.160 you weren't you personal. It wasn't like a better call sault, 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.400 you know what I mean. Yeah, it was like it 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.160 was like you know when you see I don't know 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.560 a movie that's about corrupt big law firm. Not that 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.280 this law firm was corrupt, but that like that those big, 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.720 big law firms with like five hundred lawyers all over 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.480 the country and in Europe, like that's what this firm was. 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.000 It was one of the biggest firms in the world. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.160 So they just, you know, they don't want their people 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.320 to be acting like a buffoon, I guess, like you know, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.480 and stuff like that, and they have their clients see 0:07:57.480 --> 0:07:59.440 and then go, hey, I got a guy who was 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.240 telling some dick jokes doing my deal. I don't know 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.280 if I feel comfortable with that, right like, so that 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.040 was why I had to do it. And I was 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.800 also embarrassed, to be honest with you personally, like I 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:15.040 felt like it was I don't know, silly, frivolous, not 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.520 going to be taken seriously by these people. Like you 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:22.520 gotta understand, these are like really intense, kind of serious, 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.840 almost to the point of you know, taking themselves too seriously. 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:28.800 Do you think you could have gone away with it 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.480 if in today's world with social media? Do you do 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.280 you think that like your story would even be possible. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.560 I mean no, I I'd be willing to bet that 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.600 the social media stuff with those firms that you you, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.880 I'm sure that they have the people who work at 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:44.880 those firms no sign stuff. And the firms look at 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.160 what they're doing, Like no, I mean, I mean maybe 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.520 I could do some like joke, you mean, like write 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.760 some jokes and put it on social media that kind 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.480 of thing. Well, I mean just even as far as 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.240 you know, people capturing your act and and putting it 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.560 out and hey, look I saw doing common and I 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:00.240 think that would be a problem for them, Like I 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.440 think it would be like, you know, that's not what 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.120 we do, this is not who we are. It just 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.600 it just it taints the brand, you know what I mean. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:09.960 And I think that that I know that that would 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.800 have not flown. Like if you wanted to do comedy, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.520 go do comedy, but you gotta quit. And I wasn't 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.400 prepared to do that. But I didn't want to stop 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.760 doing the comedy because I was getting something out of 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.920 it creatively, Like I really connected with it, you know. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:24.720 So it's like, well what do I do here? You know, 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.240 I was kind of between a rock and a hard place. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.040 But but that was that was That's a good question. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.439 But I don't think I could have. Also, I was 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.920 embarrassed personally to say something because I just, like I said, 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:39.040 I just felt like I was with these heavy hitter, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.560 like very serious people and like I'm gonna. I just 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.400 think it would have I felt at the time it 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.679 would have compromised me with the people I worked with, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.360 you know what I mean. And and so I would 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.640 sneak out of work and it did a break and um, 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:55.679 I would go to these like dive bars around New 0:09:55.760 --> 0:10:00.240 York City working open mic nights, um and literally lead 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:01.760 like I would get in a car and all the 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.319 other associates, the young lawyers were going to, you know, uh, 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.920 get dinner and I'm I would go down to this place. 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.760 One of the places were called Downtown Bay Route too 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.400 and I and I I always loved the two because 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.600 I see that they were franchising these hell holes or 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:22.520 somebody somebody blew up one, you know, I don't some 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:27.080 some bomber. Uh. And it was literally like it was 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.240 a dysfunctional cheers. They had hookers there, They dealt drugs 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:32.680 out of there. There was a sign on the men's 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.320 room door that said the toilet seat is only to 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.240 be used to go to the bathroom, not to cut coke. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.840 Thank you the management, And it literally said thank you 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.480 the management. Which is always my favorite part of this 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.679 is like they were so polite in their debauchery, you know. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.240 And and I would go and I pick a number 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.520 in my little Brooks Brothers suit with a bunch of 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.600 people that looked either homeless or where hookers or drug addicts, 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.319 and I'd wait to go on stage. And the end 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.240 of the story is one night, one one night, I 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.880 go on stage and there's a scuffle just before I 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.960 go on stage, there's a scuffle at the pool table 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.800 and this guy grabs his neck and another guy runs 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.080 out and he and the guy grabbed his next start screaming, 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.400 he cut me, man, he cut me. And it was 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.040 like a drug deal gone bad. And he cut him 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.599 right there at the bar by the pool table with 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.000 a knife cutter, with a with a box cutter. And 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.080 and I'm next. But I think the show's over at 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.800 this point because it's complete mayhem. He's screaming, his girlfriend's crying. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.400 We're at my boyfriends. The cops are there now taking 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.240 a police do you hear their walkie talk and sex 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.720 or nine rink? And then all of a sudden, I here, 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.560 all right, you guys ready for some comedy. I'm the 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.839 next guy up. And I'm not doing it long enough 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.600 to know that I don't really have to go up. 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.199 So I go up, and I remember thinking, even then 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.160 when I had no experience, like I gotta say something 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:52.960 about what's going on in the room, would be weird 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.040 not to say something, So I say, nice to be here. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.880 I always at the Downtown baby route to I always 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.880 wanted to follow a slap, which I thought was a 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.400 pretty good line, you know what I mean, yeah, exactly. 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.800 And then but the guy who got his neck cut 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.080 heard me say it, and I don't think he thought 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.240 it was very funny, and he said, you make it 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.000 fun of me. He's drunk. He goes, I don't need 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.120 to take this, and he takes all these bloody napkins 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.360 and he wants them up and throws them at me 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.840 and they stick to my shirt, to my like white 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.679 Brooks Brothers shirt. Right now, a normal person says, I'm 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.920 getting off stage, but I'm determined screw this. I'm I'm 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.760 I'm gonna. I'm gonna see this to the end. So 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.120 he turns back to me and he goes, so I'm trying. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.520 I'm getting no laps. He's wandering around the bar screaming 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.760 about this guy. I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna and 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:40.680 he goes, what are you doing anyway? He yells at me. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.760 I go, I'm trying to tell jokes. He goes, oh yeah, 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.160 he goes, I like jokes and he turns back to 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.480 the bar. He goes, hey, everybody, shut the hell up. 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.040 This guy's trying to tell jokes. And the whole place 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.360 shuts up. And I finished my set. It was like 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.360 the best two minutes I've ever had in my life. 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.160 Upstand up. And I go back to the firm with 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.439 this like blood stain on my shirt, and I think 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.640 I'll just put like a like you know, like when 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.839 you're twelve and you break your mother's face, You think 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.880 you glue back together and she'll never notice. But the 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.880 minute she sees that, she notices. Let's that was me. 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.320 I turned into a twelve year old. I started walking 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:15.480 around the firm the rest of the night with a 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.959 file folder up against my rib cage, thinking nobody will 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.640 notice the big, grapefruit sized blood stain on my shirt. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.760 And I walk into the I walk into the meeting 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.360 with his like seeing your partner of the firm, They 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.640 couldn't find me. He's screaming at me, where have you been? 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.880 What have you been doing? Why do you have a 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.400 blood stain on your shirt? Right? And I'm thinking, okay, 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.920 my secrets out, this double life that I was trying 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.800 to hide is going to be revealed. And I didn't 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:42.640 know what to say. And another lawyer goes, what kind 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.200 of shirt is that? I go it's a Brooks Brothers shirt. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:47.040 Why he goes, oh, I know how to get blood 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.920 out of a Brooks Brothers shirt. He goes close out 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.240 and lemon juice and another guy goes, not no, now, 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.800 ARMANI that's the shirt you want when you want to 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.080 get blood like that. Literally they were arguing about and 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.560 I'm what's sure it's better when you get put And 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.280 I just blurt it out, as are you guys really 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.880 making American Psycho? What's going on? And and that became 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.280 my life. And I did that for a while until 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:13.720 I almost had a nervous breakdown and I'm like, I 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.440 gotta either, you know, should to get off the pot here. 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:18.640 And so I decided to go for it full time 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:21.280 and and I did, and I sold my apartment and 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.920 unraveled my life and started over again. You know, it 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.320 was crazy. Moved to a rooming house with um, I 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.920 lived below a three pound phone sex operator who sold 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.840 Herbalife diet product story Door that was that was one 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.160 of my roommates and this in this house. It was 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:44.520 really crazy. So from those days until now. We had 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.960 how Magical on last week and I was talking about 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.080 how social media is changing comedy and in some ways 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.960 that are good, in some ways that are bad. How 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.160 do you feel about comics sharing so much of their 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.920 personal thoughts and let's just end political beliefs on social media. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.400 Do you think that sometimes will turn an audience off 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:07.920 to them? Um? Well, especially political stuff. We're so divided 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.440 in the country right now. I do think it's really 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.440 hard to kind of have a have an honest, open 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.200 conversation without you know, somebody getting piste off, you know. 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.240 And it's a shame because you know, if you look 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.560 at political comedy going back to the sixties, people in 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.080 the room may not agree with you, but they were 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:28.840 all laughing at least because they will laugh at the 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.280 absurdity of it. But people, this is do or die. 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.440 I mean there as we're speaking, the President endorsed Roy More, 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.040 you know, alleged pedophiles, So clearly politics is more important 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.800 than pedophilia. Like it's crazy. Um so I do think 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.640 that it can hurt you if you do that. But 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.360 the other thing is, I personally, if I weren't a comedian, 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.720 I wouldn't be on social media. I'm I go on 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.160 and I give my opinions about things that will make jokes. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.720 But I really feel like it's a chore and I 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:00.400 don't really like doing it because it doesn't feel organic 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.480 to me. It feels like something I have to do 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.320 to stay in touch with fans and stuff like that, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.440 and I'd rather have it be like have them see 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.320 me on TV or see me live or in a 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:16.400 movie or whatever. But it's I think that, um, I 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.280 think exposing every aspect of your life is not something 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.440 that I'm necessarily particularly interested in. It's like, I think 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:24.960 that you can kind of be entertaining in ways that 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:26.960 are more creative than that. But there are some people 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.160 that like to live every aspect of their day. So 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:31.960 you know, like saying, hey, I just had a really 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.920 great grilled cheese sandwich with munster cheese. I like munster 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.640 cheese better than American cheese. I kind of want to 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.800 put a bullet in my head. But like, sometimes you've 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.560 got to do that kind of stuff. So I feel 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:49.040 like as a performer in the in the comedy clubs too, 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:50.920 like they rely on it, you know, they want you 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.440 to have a following, so the following knows about what 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.760 you're doing and comes out and all that stuff and 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.440 Facebook and you know, you know, putting you know, putting 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.520 posts about your weekend. You know, like I'm you know, 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.360 where I'm gonna be in the next couple of weeks. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.320 I got to do that. But it's just it just 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.919 doesn't for me anyway, It just doesn't feel And I 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.679 also again again also I feel like it takes you 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:15.960 out of the moment. Like there's this one comic I know, 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.560 and he's constantly like taking pictures and posting them on Instagram, 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:22.840 like constantly, like we'll be in the middle of talking, 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.119 you know, I'll look at you a little there, I'm 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.240 gonna take a picture. It takes a picture, post something 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.840 you know, funny about it. Whatever. But it's like it 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.240 just it just becomes a job and not it just doesn't. 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.480 It's just not something that I have fun with, but 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.720 I'll do it, and it doesn't really play into your 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.720 strengths as a comedian. So if not seeing Paul live, 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:43.639 go see him live. In fact, you can see him 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.040 a Tampa at the Tampa Improv December seven through tenth, 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.560 and the fourteenth or the seventeenth, it will be at 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.280 the Omaha Funny Bone. The thing I like about your 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.960 stand up, Paul is that it's it's never the same. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.000 And I mean I've I've gone to see you two 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:57.840 or three times when you've been in San Francisco in 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:01.320 the same stretch because you do so with the audience 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.600 and that you know you're not you're not gonna go 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:06.760 up and hear the same jokes every time because you're 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.080 coming up with them as you go. So I think 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.439 that that's something that you do that are not a 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.080 lot of comics. Do Do you find that to be 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.240 hard today with the climate? Do you find it some 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.919 people don't want to play as much as they used to. No, 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.480 that's not a problem. I do think that, you know, 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:23.639 I like to do that because it's just it's just 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.920 weird for me to walk into a room and not 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.320 and they just start launching into material. It's sort of 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.520 like walking in just like it's like you're walking into uh, 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.840 I don't know, a dinner party and just like start 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.440 just making a speech, you know, it's like it's like, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.960 you know, you go hello, how you do It's just 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.159 weird for me not to. So I've come to the 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.000