Speaker 1: Are you leaving?
Speaker 2: I you wanna way back home?
Speaker 3: Either way, we want to be there, doesn't matter how
Speaker 3: much baggage you claim and give us time and a
Speaker 3: terminol and gay.
Speaker 2: We want to send you off in style.
Speaker 1: Do you wanna welcome you back home?
Speaker 2: Tell us all about it?
Speaker 1: We scared her? Was it fine?
Speaker 3: Malborn?
Speaker 1: Do you need to ride?
Speaker 2: Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
Speaker 1: Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
Speaker 4: Do you need to ride?
Speaker 2: Ride with Karen and Chris? Welcome to Do you need
Speaker 2: a ride? This is Chris Fairbanks.
Speaker 1: And this is Karen Kilgaroff.
Speaker 2: Karen, I you almost did that hilarious thing. I love
Speaker 2: when comedians do it where I introduced myself, except I
Speaker 2: say your name and then you follow suit and say
Speaker 2: my name. It's not fun when comics do that.
Speaker 3: It is so hilarious, and it it really kicks you off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it let people know, yeah, that they're entering some
Speaker 2: backwards world.
Speaker 3: Get ready open your mind, because this is what this is.
Speaker 2: I'm kidding, of course, I don't like that. I also
Speaker 2: don't like when someone's doing a selfie video and then
Speaker 2: they turn and go, oh, hello, I didn't see you there.
Speaker 2: That's still very popular.
Speaker 1: And you and you say no, thank you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I and I say it, no, I don't see
Speaker 2: you there, And I slam my computer shut and and
Speaker 2: shoot loose papers off of my desk. Nice that I
Speaker 2: only keep stacked on the desk for that purpose.
Speaker 1: For a station. Yeah, in your inbox.
Speaker 2: Ye, yeah, No one's even watching. Yeah, it's like that's
Speaker 2: Stephen J. Connell opening to eighties shows.
Speaker 1: Yes, when it goes fly.
Speaker 3: And then it reel paper typewriter paper to flying cartoon paper.
Speaker 2: Into a logo. And I'm going to say, that's not
Speaker 2: the first time I've referenced that.
Speaker 1: No, you love that.
Speaker 2: I'm all out of and we're gonna our guest today.
Speaker 2: You're not going to believe the story that I told
Speaker 2: on his podcast. I'll give you one guess what it
Speaker 2: was about.
Speaker 3: Was it about feline aids for God, God, damn it.
Speaker 2: That's what I did on Eugene's podcast. I talked about
Speaker 2: that damn cat. The episode even is called this Darn Cat.
Speaker 2: He knew preemptively that I would overtell that story for
Speaker 2: years to come, because that was a long time ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but we love it.
Speaker 2: We've got them all set up we're doing it over zoom.
Speaker 2: Back then, when I did his podcast, we had to
Speaker 2: recruit a local recording station in Missoula, Montana. There was
Speaker 2: like all these people involved. It was very professional. But
Speaker 2: that's we didn't want to do that to Eugene today,
Speaker 2: so we kept it very unprofessional.
Speaker 1: He's one of the great professionals of our time.
Speaker 2: I know. That's why I thought I'd mix it up
Speaker 2: for him, remind him what it used to be like before.
Speaker 2: He was a consummate professional.
Speaker 3: He plays clubs and colleges in this great country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you watch Bob's Burgers, you will recognize his
Speaker 2: voice and you're going to be very excited.
Speaker 3: Yes, for our guest today, it is, in fact Eugene Merman.
Speaker 2: Hello, he did he said it. You promised to say
Speaker 2: hello when we announced your name and you and you
Speaker 2: followed through with that promise.
Speaker 4: Yes. I thought it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not lie.
Speaker 1: Yeah Yeah, follow your gut, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 4: And let them know that I'm here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's real.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: How are you, Eugene doing okay?
Speaker 4: Doing okay?
Speaker 2: Are you a person Eugene that lives in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: or do you live in New York?
Speaker 4: City, great choices. I yeah, live in not neither. I
Speaker 4: am a person who lives in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: Boston or Salem.
Speaker 4: I live underneath one thousand meters underneath the pbdy Essex
Speaker 4: Museum in Salem. I live in the Boston area.
Speaker 2: And you are from there. You moved there as a child, correct?
Speaker 4: I moved there. Yes, I moved to Lexington, Massachusetts a
Speaker 4: child from the former Soviet Union. We fled, and then
Speaker 4: I lived in New York for a very long time,
Speaker 4: and a few years ago moved back to the Boston area.
Speaker 2: How old were you when you left us?
Speaker 4: I was four.
Speaker 2: Do you remember? This might sound like a dumb question,
Speaker 2: but I have one distinct memory from where I was
Speaker 2: born in Monterey. I'm not bragging. It's a nice town
Speaker 2: and I was only there till I was two. But
Speaker 2: I do have one vivid memory. Do you have any memories.
Speaker 4: I essentially don't have any memories. I think I remember
Speaker 4: like the smell of black current. I think that's the
Speaker 4: only thing that like it, like had this weird familiarity.
Speaker 4: And then it turns out there were like bushes that
Speaker 4: were near like a little place we had on a pond.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Yeah, And have you ever been back.
Speaker 4: I have not. I've been curious. But then as over
Speaker 4: the decades as it became more and more authoritarian, sure
Speaker 4: it became less scarier prospect because.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I understand that fully.
Speaker 1: I got to go to.
Speaker 3: And I don't know what the correct term would be,
Speaker 3: because I went there in nineteen eighty seven in high
Speaker 3: school on like this it was called it was called Moscow,
Speaker 3: Poland and the West. It was like a tour that
Speaker 3: we got to go on like first school, and so
Speaker 3: we actually it was behind the Iron curtain technically, it
Speaker 3: was like right before the wall came down and everything,
Speaker 3: and it was unbelieved. It was like one of my
Speaker 3: favorite things of my life. And it was so fascinating.
Speaker 3: And the thing I've always talked about, which is so
Speaker 3: me is my favorite thing about it was people had
Speaker 3: card tables set up on the sidewalk with little glasses
Speaker 3: that would look like a small orange juice if you
Speaker 3: ordered it in a rest, and it was they were
Speaker 3: like half filled with coke, and so you'd go up
Speaker 3: and pay a couple of roubles and you stand there
Speaker 3: and drink your coke and give them the glass back.
Speaker 3: And that was basically you know, that was one of
Speaker 3: the many things you could do on some of.
Speaker 4: Country, surviving off of basically lemonade stands entirely.
Speaker 3: And then there were actually automated vodka dispensers that you
Speaker 3: could go up and do the same thing and then
Speaker 3: you just the same glass stayed in it and you paid.
Speaker 1: You put it in like a.
Speaker 3: You know, soda machine whatever, but it would just pour
Speaker 3: out a certain amount of vodka. Did there, take your shot,
Speaker 3: put it back and it would do like a rinse
Speaker 3: of like aizing rose.
Speaker 4: It sounds like like like the germs only came to
Speaker 4: the Soviet Union in the mid nineties.
Speaker 1: They were all collected on one glass.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then no, but it was but then we
Speaker 3: also stayed in places that were clearly at one time
Speaker 3: these unbelievable gorgeous hotels and now we all just got
Speaker 3: to be and there was like our rooms were like
Speaker 3: you know, there were thirty foot ceilings and these arched windows,
Speaker 3: and it was it was really amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I liked it.
Speaker 2: So when you you and your parents fled, I assume
Speaker 2: you have fled with your parents.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was it was really their idea. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I knew so little of the world at that time.
Speaker 4: But yes, my parents and my brother and I all
Speaker 4: left together.
Speaker 2: And was Massachusetts, So it's just an arbitrary choice or
Speaker 2: what was the process?
Speaker 4: Like, No, I think that the process was. I think
Speaker 4: that we might have had friends in this area and
Speaker 4: there was like maybe jobs in tech. This was in
Speaker 4: you know, nineteen seventy nine, so I think it was
Speaker 4: just where like and maybe there was even like Jewish
Speaker 4: organizations helping us relocate, and for whatever reason it was
Speaker 4: this area. I think it had to do with the
Speaker 4: potential of work.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's great.
Speaker 3: Is that what your dad did or your mom did?
Speaker 4: Like? Yeah? And math, Yeah, it's one of the staples
Speaker 4: of Russian refugees.
Speaker 2: Are you how about you? Are you good at math?
Speaker 2: Because I am not.
Speaker 4: I would describe myself as not great at math, not
Speaker 4: like like meaning I'm fine, but I'm not like I
Speaker 4: can't do math to like solve problems. Like yeah, if I,
Speaker 4: like my dad could tell you if like a bridge
Speaker 4: could hold a car and I can't do that. I
Speaker 4: could tell you if like you have like eighty apples
Speaker 4: and you added forty apples.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, oh I can't do yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I'm like more in the like I can
Speaker 4: like calculate almost unlimited numbers of apples, but not like
Speaker 4: ten of like the strength of various materials, Like I'm out.
Speaker 2: These guys working on this bridge, they're going to get
Speaker 2: hungry and want apples, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: And if they're like, we have eighty, and then another
Speaker 4: guy's like I have forty, Like oh, it sounds like
Speaker 4: you guys have one hundred and twenty apples. So and
Speaker 4: then the real you are fine, enjoy your lunch, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2: And then the bridge collapses because they weren't paying attention.
Speaker 4: To that math exactly.
Speaker 2: It's your dad funny because I always thought it's maybe
Speaker 2: two different brains that are.
Speaker 4: I think of comedy as a verb. I do think
Speaker 4: actually comedy and math are sort of very related because
Speaker 4: I think of, like, you know, comedy is figuring out
Speaker 4: sort of like this little problem and then like tweaking
Speaker 4: it in a way where you make a joke. So
Speaker 4: it is in a certain sense like kind of formulas
Speaker 4: but not but not math formulas. Yeah yeah, maybe it's
Speaker 4: no formulas.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, those don't intimidate me like numbers do.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Maybe I am good at a form of numberless math.
Speaker 4: Yeah, called comedy. Comedy trial and error, like science, You
Speaker 4: get on stage, you try stuff. Yeah that's not as
Speaker 4: good a punchline as this other thing.
Speaker 2: You edits by adding or subtracting words.
Speaker 4: Yeah, math at a particular velocity and speed.
Speaker 2: All on a train leaving somewhere exactly.
Speaker 1: So how did you get into stand up?
Speaker 4: I loved stand up as a kid, like listening to
Speaker 4: like Emo Phillips and Bobcat Goldthway and watching Robin Williams
Speaker 4: is like at night at the met and now like
Speaker 4: in Heinstein, I'm like, oh, I got like thirty percent
Speaker 4: of it, but you know, I loved it. And then
Speaker 4: I think at some point in high school I was like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, that's a type of job, like not
Speaker 4: everyone like works with computers. There's all sorts of things,
Speaker 4: and you know, started doing more like theater and video
Speaker 4: and stuff. And then you know, at the end of
Speaker 4: high school, essentrally, like the summer before college, tried stand
Speaker 4: up and it like went deceptively well. And then like
Speaker 4: my second time, as I think a lot of people
Speaker 4: like you feah really hard, You're like, oh, this is
Speaker 4: a very long process. Yeah, so but but I was
Speaker 4: still like it was it seemed so fun and so
Speaker 4: then you know, I like, I basically listened to so
Speaker 4: much stand up growing up and then started doing it
Speaker 4: and then really loved it. Yeah, yeah, and comedy in general,
Speaker 4: like writing funny things and doing silly stuff.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, yeah, I've always thought that you
Speaker 2: do much more than stand up in.
Speaker 4: My now now in hindsight, yes, at eighteen, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, I feel like I feel like I may have
Speaker 1: met you before. Could this be right?
Speaker 3: I feel like I may have met you before, either
Speaker 3: before you started stand up or right when you started.
Speaker 4: It's not pop, I mean well meaning I started when
Speaker 4: I was eighteen, So I find like, like I think,
Speaker 4: like that's not likely, like meaning, I think we met
Speaker 4: probably in New York though, so depending on when, Like,
Speaker 4: you know, I moved to New York in two thousand,
Speaker 4: and I did it throughout you know, I did stand
Speaker 4: up throughout college, and you know, then for a few
Speaker 4: years in Boston before moving to New York. We probably
Speaker 4: met in the early ish two thousands.
Speaker 3: Yes, And maybe it was Maybe it was, And maybe
Speaker 3: that was just an assumption because I feel like when
Speaker 3: I first met you, you didn't say anything.
Speaker 1: But then looking back, it's like.
Speaker 3: If I was with David Cross, or I was with
Speaker 3: somebody that was your hero, right that maybe you just
Speaker 3: had that kind of like maybe you were the person
Speaker 3: that was running the room or do you know.
Speaker 4: An, Yeah, you actually been quiet. I did do a show.
Speaker 4: Oh I did a show and invite them up at
Speaker 4: raffifi and starting in the early two thousands, and like
Speaker 4: I easily like I had met David through Brendan Small
Speaker 4: in Boston, and so it's very possible that like, I mean,
Speaker 4: it's likely that I met you with David and yes
Speaker 4: that I was quiet or or something, and yeah, I
Speaker 4: don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I had an idea of what New
Speaker 3: York comics were like in my mind, and then I
Speaker 3: just remember being I just remember you being very quiet,
Speaker 3: and then and kind of like almost like keep your
Speaker 3: eye on that guy. I don't know what that guy's doing.
Speaker 3: And so then I over the years watching your career
Speaker 3: has been very delightful to me because I was like
Speaker 3: and I'm sure I was also rude because that was
Speaker 3: it was always my approach.
Speaker 4: Don't know that that don't think that was the case,
Speaker 4: but who does. I was probably like quiet and uncomfortable
Speaker 4: in the world. Sure, that's very likely.
Speaker 3: I think I was rude and uncomfortable in the world.
Speaker 3: But it was that thing of like going from you know, nobody,
Speaker 3: especially at the time out of respect for LA comics,
Speaker 3: like you didn't want to be in LA comic, so
Speaker 3: going to going sorry, going to New York. I had
Speaker 3: that kind of thing of like this is the place
Speaker 3: where you have to have good sets. And I was
Speaker 3: having absolutely terrible sets everywhere I went because I was
Speaker 3: truly a LA comic way where nothing was nothing was
Speaker 3: very punchy, it was all very self referential and you know,
Speaker 3: and I guess kind of sucked in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3: So so I think I just had like that defense
Speaker 3: up of like I'm not bad, you're bad, right, right,
Speaker 3: And I also.
Speaker 4: Who knows, like depending on the night or what it
Speaker 4: was like, sometimes you'd try stuff that would be great
Speaker 4: and then sometimes it'd be like that's very strange and confusing,
Speaker 4: you know. So I feel like I you know, I mean,
Speaker 4: when I was in you know, there was like some
Speaker 4: people who went through like a world and stand up
Speaker 4: where you like are an opener and then you're a
Speaker 4: middler and then you're a headliner and maybe you're hosting
Speaker 4: stuff that's like a lot of tourists. But I always
Speaker 4: found it much easier to sort of start my own
Speaker 4: show with friends and have like and sort of build
Speaker 4: an audience for the thing that like I'm trying to do.
Speaker 4: And so I think as a result, like you would
Speaker 4: have these rooms where like you could actually then try
Speaker 4: sort of odd stuff, and the stuff that worked would
Speaker 4: then work in wherever across the country, and the stuff
Speaker 4: that and you just it wasn't so bad, like you
Speaker 4: could you could kind of bomb with grace, but as
Speaker 4: a result try a lot of different stuff.
Speaker 3: Yes, as opposed to if you were carolines at ten
Speaker 3: o'clock at night and then you're just like, I shouldn't
Speaker 3: be a comedian, this is right.
Speaker 4: Well you also, yeah, then have to be probably like
Speaker 4: I mean, and I think there was probably a world
Speaker 4: of very aggressive euro comics and then a world of
Speaker 4: sort of like nerdy gentle cop ofy like weird and absurd,
Speaker 4: and like again you're like figuring stuff out and then
Speaker 4: eventually like a lot of stuff blurs together and it's
Speaker 4: like all the things that were like sort of that
Speaker 4: world of you know, are now TV shows and people
Speaker 4: with movies and stuff.
Speaker 1: Totally.
Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, I'm someone that I started in Austin and
Speaker 2: there was a pretty quickly you got work featuring at
Speaker 2: different clubs run by like Rich Miller and I. And
Speaker 2: when I moved to La I you were one of
Speaker 2: the first comics I saw where clearly you had built
Speaker 2: your own following and had your own thing going on,
Speaker 2: and to me that the going name for it was
Speaker 2: alternative comedy back then. Yeah, but I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this is what I want to do. I'm glad that
Speaker 2: I moved here because I felt uneasy and probably also
Speaker 2: was very quiet around everyone. But what a relief to
Speaker 2: me to see that you were doing that and you
Speaker 2: didn't have to just go and feature on the road
Speaker 2: and struggle in front of flyover audiences, you know, right.
Speaker 4: And also I think a lot of it was that,
Speaker 4: like it was also just a more like it was
Speaker 4: a for me, it was the better way to become
Speaker 4: a professional comedian. Like it wasn't like I was killing,
Speaker 4: as you know, a feature in random places and then
Speaker 4: did Like it was more that this was the way
Speaker 4: to build an actual following and like you know, I
Speaker 4: you know, put out an album in the very early
Speaker 4: two thousands, where other people in my position maybe wouldn't,
Speaker 4: but it was like that, that's what I had access to.
Speaker 4: Like you can't put yourself on television but without without
Speaker 4: a threat, but you can like release a record and
Speaker 4: now it's probably you know, that much easier though, that
Speaker 4: much more saturated.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when I met you, you had a following, grassroots
Speaker 2: following that you created, and especially from my perspective, people
Speaker 2: knew you in the audience. That just blew my mind.
Speaker 2: And we were young, we were children. Yeah, yeah, so
Speaker 2: good job. From the beginning.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to get you here to say good
Speaker 3: job on that in the early two thousand.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you so much, thank you, thank you. It
Speaker 4: was look you did.
Speaker 2: It correctly, and I saw the early signs that you
Speaker 2: were doing it correctly. So again, congratulations to you twenty
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Thank you very very much.
Speaker 1: And what are you doing these days, Eugene, what's what's.
Speaker 3: Your deal now?
Speaker 4: I'm I am uh me and my friend Julie Smith
Speaker 4: who who we did our comedy festival together, and a
Speaker 4: bunch of stuff we're working on, starting like a small
Speaker 4: comedy label. And I have a five year old son.
Speaker 4: So yeah, so a lot of time is spent, uh
Speaker 4: you know with him.
Speaker 1: Sure good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like and he I feed him and I pat
Speaker 4: him on the head and I said, great job. Yesterday
Speaker 4: I got him a booster uh COVID booster shot. So
Speaker 4: all that sort of stuff. So I'm up to yeah exactly.
Speaker 4: It's a mix of dad stuff and Bob's and then
Speaker 4: recording random stuff and sort of slowly getting back into
Speaker 4: stand up as the pandemic is here forever. So so
Speaker 4: like at first I was like, oh, when things get better,
Speaker 4: and now it's like, well I had COVID in January.
Speaker 4: It was asymptomatic, but uh it was that was that
Speaker 4: was fine, I guess for me. Yeah. So like I'm
Speaker 4: now slowly starting to do stand up, I guess yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm looking at it as just go on the
Speaker 2: road to celebrate these little vacations between variants. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: and that'll that'll be a nice I mean, that'll be okay, right,
Speaker 2: that'll be I think.
Speaker 4: I think this is the new I think it's like
Speaker 4: you yeah, like I did like a benefit, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know, like a thing where I just like
Speaker 4: did a small thing a month or two ago and
Speaker 4: I had a mask on most of the time, and
Speaker 4: a bunch of people there got COVID, but I had
Speaker 4: had it and didn't happen to get it. So it's
Speaker 4: like go to stuff, but maybe stay masked and not
Speaker 4: near too many people. But I don't know, I think
Speaker 4: that's you know, but yeah, I think here in Massachusetts
Speaker 4: also a lot of people are you know, vaccinated, And
Speaker 4: sure right now most of the people I know having COVID.
Speaker 4: It's not like great, but it's not the like terror
Speaker 4: that it was.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, so scary.
Speaker 2: At did you did you travel here for the Bobs
Speaker 2: Burger's movie?
Speaker 4: I did, I was. I was there, yeah, last week
Speaker 4: for the premiere. It was it was my first premiere.
Speaker 4: It was really fun. Yes, I mean like on that scale,
Speaker 4: like I've gone the guy in a documentary and went
Speaker 4: to the premiere of that, but like in terms of
Speaker 4: like a street is blocked off and there's a red
Speaker 4: carpet and a ton of press and like you know,
Speaker 4: photographers and all this stuff like.
Speaker 2: People call it yelling Jean at you.
Speaker 4: Yes, that I experience occasionally, but yeah, it was it
Speaker 4: was pretty It was fun and it was also really
Speaker 4: great to see everybody and yeah, the premiere was fun.
Speaker 2: So you haven't seen any of these you've been recording
Speaker 2: then there at your house?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I record, uh yeah at home mostly. We about
Speaker 4: a month and a half ago had gone out for
Speaker 4: wander Con, and so I saw for the first time
Speaker 4: some of the people and then some of the cast
Speaker 4: that's like here or Lauren Bouchard who comes to Massachusetts
Speaker 4: because he's from here. So like some some of the
Speaker 4: people I've seen, but then others I hadn't seen, you know,
Speaker 4: in a few years. So it was really really nice.
Speaker 3: And people are loving that movie, right, I see people
Speaker 3: on Twitter.
Speaker 4: I think people are enjoying it. Well, we'll find it.
Speaker 2: I like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen clips that
Speaker 2: I like.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I think it's I think it's very funny.
Speaker 4: I think it's very sweet, you know. I feel like
Speaker 4: Lauren and Norah and everybody like do such a good
Speaker 4: job of like these kind of very sweet, funny, quirky stories.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's I'm a huge fan of the show,
Speaker 3: so there's I feel like the movie is and also
Speaker 3: of the songs, Like the songs are just so brilliant,
Speaker 3: they really are. Yeah, it's so good. When you said
Speaker 3: Julie Smith. Though it reminded me. I just realized. The
Speaker 3: last time I actually saw you in real life was
Speaker 3: when I did your comedy festival at at the Bellhouse.
Speaker 3: I remember watching the lineup was insane, the audience was great,
Speaker 3: and I was just like I had that voice in
Speaker 3: my head that was just.
Speaker 1: Like, and Ye're getting get out there and eat it,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, I'm not good. It was like
Speaker 1: that thing of like, don't just don't eat it, just
Speaker 1: don't do it.
Speaker 2: It's important to have that voice always in your head.
Speaker 2: I know I have it. Yeah, I don't need it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 2: Even Sometimes the voice will say I wonder what it
Speaker 2: would feel like to stop doing well right now and
Speaker 2: consciously eat it, and then I do it, and then
Speaker 2: I do it. It terrible. I forgot terrible.
Speaker 4: I forgot that.
Speaker 2: It always feels needed.
Speaker 1: The reminder that sucks.
Speaker 2: I will do it. My brain is a terrible thing
Speaker 2: that I can't control. Yeah. The Belhouse is synonymous with
Speaker 2: your name. Actually I know nothing of it except you
Speaker 2: at a show there.
Speaker 4: Yeah. We did our festival there and then A showed
Speaker 4: Union Hall for a long time. Yeah, it's a wonderful
Speaker 4: relief on venue, and I think, like now, like there's
Speaker 4: lots of shows, people have recorded specials there, and you know,
Speaker 4: it's a great space.
Speaker 2: Yep, I forget about all them. That's Merman's House. And
Speaker 2: it's one of those dad movies or movies that my
Speaker 2: dad made me watch over and over. No, I loved it. Fletch,
Speaker 2: the first Fletch and like Catty Shack. But you're do
Speaker 2: you know much about this Fletch that's coming out or
Speaker 2: when it comes out?
Speaker 4: I mean in the sense that I'm in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: So I's like I don't know the details of like
Speaker 4: when it comes out or anything, but I know that
Speaker 4: I filmed it last summer, and I know that it's
Speaker 4: coming out and that you know, it'll be funny, and
Speaker 4: I think it'll be. Yeah, I'm very excited to see it.
Speaker 2: Are you a character that was maybe based on one
Speaker 2: from the original movie?
Speaker 4: I don't know. No, I don't, I don't. It's not
Speaker 4: I think that the tone of it is much more
Speaker 4: like the tone of the novels as I understand that
Speaker 4: from the seventies, So it's not a remake of the movies.
Speaker 4: It's like actually like an adaptation of the original books.
Speaker 2: I'm always someone, yeah, that either doesn't know or forgets
Speaker 2: about the existence of books and how they brought me.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of books, and I believe it
Speaker 4: is based on the book Confess Fletch.
Speaker 2: I am going to go ahead and admit that I
Speaker 2: didn't know there was a series of Fletch books. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's just.
Speaker 4: I mean, I found out when I was doing them.
Speaker 4: I don't think like a lot of people are finding
Speaker 4: out right now that in the seventies there was a
Speaker 4: series of Fletchboesah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think anyone like read them in high school.
Speaker 3: It doesn't seem to be well. Although I have to say,
Speaker 3: Fletch was a movie that came out right when I
Speaker 3: think I was twelve when it came out or so,
Speaker 3: so it was one of those movies that we had
Speaker 3: memorized and said the lines to each other constantly or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I do remember seeing that in the credits it
Speaker 3: was like based on the book by the author I
Speaker 3: can't remember, Okay. So that's the only reason I knew
Speaker 3: is because I just loved that every frame of that movie.
Speaker 1: I think it's great. And also it's starring John Hamm right.
Speaker 2: Yeahs, yes, it is a comedy. He is funny in
Speaker 2: it though.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, Yes, it's not a gritty reboot.
Speaker 4: It's like the New Batman. It's like it's just it's
Speaker 4: just him, Like every scene he just murders someone. Yeah,
Speaker 4: in self defense. No, it's it's like a it's a
Speaker 4: it's a I mean it's yeah, it's it's very funny.
Speaker 4: It's directed by the Greg who did Super Bad, so
Speaker 4: it's this very funny Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm very excited to see that. Was it really fun
Speaker 2: to be in that movie?
Speaker 4: It was really fun, you know, I like, uh, you know,
Speaker 4: I haven't done a ton of movies, and that was
Speaker 4: sort of it. And it was really fun and they
Speaker 4: were really nice and it was fun on set.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you're gonna dust off your mirror suit.
Speaker 4: Yes exactly, I'll have to.
Speaker 2: Yes, ready for another carpet. Get used to it.
Speaker 4: Yes, the new me.
Speaker 3: Uh you get really big lips and lip injection.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will.
Speaker 4: I will get like butt implants and shoulder spikes or
Speaker 4: whatever people do. I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: Give the shoulder spike implants.
Speaker 4: I'll consult with the you know, the sty in the
Speaker 4: Boston area.
Speaker 2: There was the Velvet Room, the place I started at
Speaker 2: in Austin. Next door was a burger place called Casino
Speaker 2: El Camino, and a lot of the employees there were
Speaker 2: from the Jim Rose circus side show thing, and there
Speaker 2: was a guy there with it. It was the first
Speaker 2: time I'd seen implants under like, I guess these little
Speaker 2: horns yes, yeah, yeah, embedded, I guess, screwed into the
Speaker 2: bone of his skull. Yeah, And I couldn't. The skin
Speaker 2: was stretched over it like tot and I'm like, I,
Speaker 2: if you ever bump your horns getting out of your car,
Speaker 2: what is it? Horrified me just because I kept thinking
Speaker 2: of the accidents or bumping them that tight skin. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a very clinical, disgusting thing for me to
Speaker 2: talk about. But I was obsessed with how dangerous it
Speaker 2: seems to have spiky implants. So do not get them
Speaker 2: in your shoulders. I will joke, yeah.
Speaker 4: If you do. I didn't mean like I guess, yeah,
Speaker 4: I guess. It sounded like I was going to do
Speaker 4: surgical implants, right.
Speaker 2: I assume you go through surgery and then get it
Speaker 2: all removed the day after the premiere. Yeah, the butt
Speaker 2: implants and everything, yeahs.
Speaker 4: Over yeah, I'm not going to do that. I think
Speaker 4: I saw that guy there because I've seen that in
Speaker 4: my life around twice, and I feel like it's either there, Yeah,
Speaker 4: because I remember that place.
Speaker 3: I wonder if that's you know, like people get their
Speaker 3: tattoos removed after a while. I wonder if, like you
Speaker 3: get two horns implanted in your head and then like
Speaker 3: thirteen years later, you're kind of like, I don't know
Speaker 3: if I'm really this person anymore.
Speaker 4: Probably right around the same time you're passing the bar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're so.
Speaker 1: You're a talented lawyer.
Speaker 4: You're like a very good lawyer. You just at twenty
Speaker 4: were like, I'm a scary little monster in the Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Why is he always wearing a fedora to court?
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly to hide his horse or a very large wig,
Speaker 3: like a top.
Speaker 4: Like one of those British Yeah exactly, British barristers.
Speaker 1: It's just upon bringing his own powdered wig to court.
Speaker 3: Hey, look, I want to do this the right way,
Speaker 3: he says, hiding his horn.
Speaker 2: I really want there to be a modern day lawyer that,
Speaker 2: without explaining it to people, just wears a wig like that.
Speaker 2: I want it to be true. Just for you know, geez, yeah,
Speaker 2: just for litigation, just for for a hit and run accident.
Speaker 2: Anything powdered wig. You know what, I'm going to start
Speaker 2: wearing one, do it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think I came.
Speaker 2: Here for support.
Speaker 3: Wait for winter, though, because there it will warm you
Speaker 3: up really good. I think summers summer's not great.
Speaker 2: Well that's the purpose of the powder. Sure you're sweaty
Speaker 2: and disgusting under that wig, but the powder keeps you
Speaker 2: fresh because it's medicated.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wait, can we go back to Fletch for one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do let's get out of this whole wig thing.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry were back in so Yeah, it's funny. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so Greg Mantola directed it, who did super Bad, And
Speaker 4: it's a very funny and Ham as great as Fletch.
Speaker 3: Did you ever do any like did anything ever happen
Speaker 3: on set? Like did you forget your lines?
Speaker 2: Or wait?
Speaker 1: Did you have to shoot?
Speaker 4: So originally I was worried that I would have to
Speaker 4: do a Boston accent, and but I had like as written,
Speaker 4: there were only like two lines or so, and I
Speaker 4: was like, do I have to do that? Because it's
Speaker 4: originally I think was cast as that because really John
Speaker 4: Hammond and Greg had asked me if I wanted to
Speaker 4: do like they were like, here's the world, do you
Speaker 4: want to do this? We're shooting in Boston, and it
Speaker 4: sounded fun and so I agreed. And then when I
Speaker 4: saw it, I was like, Oh, I wonder if I
Speaker 4: have to do this Boston accent for these two lines
Speaker 4: out there. No, I'm a security guard.
Speaker 2: I would assume if any jo.
Speaker 4: I think they had enough. So like when I got there,
Speaker 4: they were like, we have plenty of people who are
Speaker 4: local who have an actual Boston accent, so you don't
Speaker 4: have to like pretend, which is great because it's like
Speaker 4: one thing to try to get like one or two lines,
Speaker 4: but to improvise in an accent that I don't really
Speaker 4: do would be its own level of effort.
Speaker 3: Which is funny because you're actually from Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's not like I can't probably say a
Speaker 4: word or two, but like to have a conversation is different.
Speaker 4: So it's like a lot of improv and it was
Speaker 4: it was pretty fun. I haven't seen it yet, but
Speaker 4: but I've but somebody I saw somebody last week who
Speaker 4: said they saw it that it was funny, and yeah,
Speaker 4: so I'm excited to see it.
Speaker 2: I am so too. Have you guys seen not to
Speaker 2: change the subject to something that involves none of us
Speaker 2: but the new kids in the hall.
Speaker 4: No, I really want to see it.
Speaker 2: It is. I texted your Karen today, like you didn't
Speaker 2: have better things to do? Hey, one pm, watch all
Speaker 2: of kids in the hall and be sure to just
Speaker 2: be in your underpants like me. They really went for it.
Speaker 2: I'll just say that I was so and I thought
Speaker 2: maybe they wouldn't get away with certain things. But it's
Speaker 2: so well done and they are so good that it is.
Speaker 2: I highly recommend it. It's great.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 3: I watched it with the second that I heard that
Speaker 3: it was on, and I was just like, this can't
Speaker 3: be real.
Speaker 1: And then I just binge the entire thing. I was thrilled.
Speaker 2: They are funnier than ever. And I don't know what
Speaker 2: if they've been practicing with acting, they're so good.
Speaker 1: Well they've all been a didn't Yeah, I think so?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think they've all stayed in practice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, kept it warm.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I can't wait to watch it.
Speaker 2: I hosted some music festival and I do want to
Speaker 2: ask you about that, Eugene, because I know you've opened
Speaker 2: for a lot of bands, but uh, one of the
Speaker 2: we went to Calgary. It was like a folk music
Speaker 2: festival and you just had to talk in between these
Speaker 2: acts as as they were setting up. It was actually
Speaker 2: and no one was listening, but it was me and
Speaker 2: another comic, Derek Sigin, I think. And then Kevin McDonald
Speaker 2: was there, and he was so nervous. He acted like
Speaker 2: he just had moved to Saskatchewan and gotten married and
Speaker 2: he didn't do showbiz stuff anymore. That's why I was
Speaker 2: so happy to see how funny he was. Because he's
Speaker 2: so funny. I was worried that he would get on
Speaker 2: stage and no one would know him. And the minute
Speaker 2: he got on stage, the whole crowd freaked out. I
Speaker 2: mean either yeah, and he's like, oh, what a relief,
Speaker 2: And I'm like, are you kidding me? Yes, Yeah. He
Speaker 2: was so humble and it's like he didn't even know.
Speaker 2: I was just staring at him, so excited to have
Speaker 2: met him. They were just really important to me in
Speaker 2: the in the early nineties, watching them over and over
Speaker 2: and over. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So anyway, he actually was one of the people the
Speaker 3: Odd Bloc festival that they used to do and I
Speaker 3: believe Winnipeg. Yeah, and their first night, they had a
Speaker 3: kind of like all the comics can go and hang
Speaker 3: out in the lobby of the main theater that they
Speaker 3: have it in, and he was there and I was
Speaker 3: freaking out. It was like it might as well have
Speaker 3: been fucking Rob lower At.
Speaker 1: That's the only other slow you can think of.
Speaker 2: But I like, yeah, I problem too.
Speaker 3: Those are the two that matter to me most. But
Speaker 3: I think I was with like Michelle Buteau or something,
Speaker 3: or they're like, go say hi, and I'm like no, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: Like I was acting so weird. But it was that
Speaker 3: thing to me of like those guys were I loved
Speaker 3: that show. And it was at this time where I'd
Speaker 3: like flummed out of college. There was nothing going on.
Speaker 3: I hadn't started stand up and yeah, it was it
Speaker 3: truly was like the idea that he would think people
Speaker 3: wouldn't recognize him in Canada is hilarious.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and then they it was just to see
Speaker 2: thirteen thousand people on this outdoor this island. It was
Speaker 2: the middle of the day. It was a terrible gig
Speaker 2: and that's why he was nervous.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was right to be like this is
Speaker 4: a good thing. Right. The part where he was wrong
Speaker 4: is that people adore him and he's very funny.
Speaker 2: And the part where he's right, he's like, I'm supposed
Speaker 2: to do stand up. I don't do that. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think like as I've done sort of things that
Speaker 4: music stuff, I have shrunk like like now I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh you like I think after the first time that
Speaker 4: someone was like and you can go as they're setting
Speaker 4: stuff up, and then it turns out like you can't.
Speaker 4: You can't possibly perform as stuff is being set up,
Speaker 4: so you have to say like, no, I can do
Speaker 4: a set beforehand or after, but I can't do it during.
Speaker 4: It's not it's just genuinely not possible, Like you can't
Speaker 4: tell a joke and someone is like trust like trying
Speaker 4: the sound of the symbol and then like of a
Speaker 4: kick drum and then there's a guitar, Like it's not feasible.
Speaker 4: But it takes having terrible experiences to go like, oh,
Speaker 4: these are the things that I that you should and
Speaker 4: they don't know. They're like, it'll be fun, yeah, and
Speaker 4: the answer is it will not be fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's always you're always tricked into it by because
Speaker 2: that's this festival. There was of course a comedy tent
Speaker 2: with twelve people sitting in the grass right then later
Speaker 2: oh and then there's just this other thing where you
Speaker 2: kill time as Roady's drape cable over your shoulder right.
Speaker 4: Right, And I think you have to like now I
Speaker 4: know that if someone asks the thing, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I'll totally do like this version of it. But na,
Speaker 4: like I'll do a set before a band, But there
Speaker 4: can't be like someone tuning up instruments. And you also
Speaker 4: can't do like a really a half hour like you
Speaker 4: have to in a row, like it has to be,
Speaker 4: you know, unless I guess it's like you're both like
Speaker 4: draws or something like that, like if you're splitting the
Speaker 4: bill as opposed to like opening for some huge band.
Speaker 3: Do you have any do you have any nightmare stories
Speaker 3: from doing gigs like that?
Speaker 4: I mean, you know what's funny is like it's all
Speaker 4: it's like, well, no, it's like more like the stories
Speaker 4: where it's like and it went shockingly well, is like
Speaker 4: the part that like is in a sense amazing, Like
Speaker 4: I certainly have, Like I did a tour in Florida
Speaker 4: with Modest Mouse where I did maybe twelve shows, and
Speaker 4: you could imagine that some like work very hard, but
Speaker 4: the fun your part is almost like a few work great.
Speaker 4: Like yeah, but it's true that there was one maybe
Speaker 4: in Miami that was like it was like so hot
Speaker 4: and people couldn't hear me, and there was a woman
Speaker 4: in the front like I don't know, or a kid
Speaker 4: like I forget, like somewhere between, probably like around eighteen
Speaker 4: or twenty, and she was like kind of get my attention,
Speaker 4: and like it was so distracting and everyone was yelling,
Speaker 4: and then I was like and then finally it became
Speaker 4: clear that like people didn't realize that there's like a schedule,
Speaker 4: so like if I get off stage, it h the
Speaker 4: band doesn't go on any faster. And then she also
Speaker 4: tried to convey sort of basically and I I'm Randy
Speaker 4: and philosophy of self interest that I was like, are
Speaker 4: you describing on Rand She's like, I've never heard of her.
Speaker 4: She's just I just like act in a self interested,
Speaker 4: selfish way.
Speaker 2: It's as while you were on stage, yes, it was.
Speaker 4: Like this is what I mean. It was like people
Speaker 4: distracting you with complicated, tedious concepts. Oh, and the problem
Speaker 4: is also like you can't even like make fun of
Speaker 4: like it's not like like it's the whole thing. It
Speaker 4: was just also just noise and chaos. But on the
Speaker 4: other hand, there were shows in like I think it
Speaker 4: was Saint Augustine that were really fun in Jacksonville were
Speaker 4: really really great. One of the way that it all
Speaker 4: sort of that like doing stuff with bands. I did
Speaker 4: stuff with Gila Tango because they would have comics on
Speaker 4: shows and stuff. But when I started working with this
Speaker 4: agent who was wonderful and booked me on the Modest
Speaker 4: Mouse Tour and then some other stuff. She when the
Speaker 4: Shins were blowing up, so like I don't know, around
Speaker 4: two thousand and two plus or minus, like they had
Speaker 4: three shows at Bowery and she was like, do you
Speaker 4: want to open for the Shins? And I was like, yes,
Speaker 4: I would love to open for the Shins, and you know,
Speaker 4: and then I learned like from that experience, like let
Speaker 4: people know they'll be a comedian. Yeah, So like there's
Speaker 4: two other bands, and then I think at eleven o'clock
Speaker 4: or ten or whatever it was that when the Shins
Speaker 4: were supposed to go on instead, I came out to
Speaker 4: do ten minutes of stand up comedy and there's people going
Speaker 4: like shin shin shit said. Then I'm like hello, and
Speaker 4: I think I had like also some video because I
Speaker 4: knew it could be hard, Like nobody really yells at
Speaker 4: video because they know it can't stop. But there was
Speaker 4: a point in which like I'm sort of trying to
Speaker 4: talk or whatever, and then I made some joke of
Speaker 4: how I can't believe I'm being heckled by people who
Speaker 4: could get beat up by Belle and Sebastian, and then
Speaker 4: that kind of like turned and everyone's like, oh, this
Speaker 4: is let's give this person six minutes of our attention.
Speaker 4: So then people were kind of nice. So it was
Speaker 4: like but yeah, and then I did, you know, various shows,
Speaker 4: and now since then have like done a lot of
Speaker 4: music comedy things with friends, you know. But also it's
Speaker 4: that's at a time where it's like if there's an
Speaker 4: opportunity to like reach an audience and like have to
Speaker 4: figure out how to make it work, you know, it's
Speaker 4: totally worth that. So like, yeah, you know, that's like
Speaker 4: if there's a way to like make two hundred dollars
Speaker 4: in a night and pay your rent, and maybe it's
Speaker 4: a little hard, you still you know, do it and
Speaker 4: also reach people and probably you know, find fans in
Speaker 4: the end.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I did that Yola Tango show one time. I really
Speaker 3: love those guys. They're so nice and there's they had.
Speaker 3: They have so many friends that are comics and stuff,
Speaker 3: and I've felt so honored to do it. And at
Speaker 3: one point I was finishing a joke and I was
Speaker 3: so I was so shaky about like I just kind
Speaker 3: of I'm sure it came out, but it's like I
Speaker 3: didn't believe in myself as a stand up doing stand
Speaker 3: up in New York City. I was like, I just
Speaker 3: don't have the hard jokes to be doing this, and
Speaker 3: I think it like showed. But there was one joke
Speaker 3: that I was doing and it was about a taco
Speaker 3: bell commercial and the punchline was like bitches ruined food
Speaker 3: and the second the last word was out of my mouth.
Speaker 1: This guy in the back goes and rock shows.
Speaker 3: And then people kind of like booed the guy, which
Speaker 3: then felt horrible because then it was like, oh, this
Speaker 3: audience pities me. Like it's kind of thing where the
Speaker 3: whole thing turned, and it is absolutely the thing I
Speaker 3: think of because I'm so furious myself for not giving
Speaker 3: it a beat and then going like, and this is
Speaker 3: of course the comeback I've written hundreds of years later,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like, oh, bitches ruined rock shows.
Speaker 3: Let's not we better not tell Georgia the fucking drummer
Speaker 3: of Yo Latango.
Speaker 1: But instead I was just like, I can't remember what
Speaker 1: I did. It was like, uh, this that's not the
Speaker 1: spirit of Hanukkah whatever, and.
Speaker 2: Then yeah.
Speaker 4: Holidays, Yes, yeah, those shows were really fun. I mean
Speaker 4: they're you know, they also like but but they were
Speaker 4: also a thing where like people knew to expect a
Speaker 4: surprise band and a surprise comic for those shows. So
Speaker 4: it was, you know that that was It was really
Speaker 4: when you'd be on a show and people are well
Speaker 4: for the Shins, one was like, why is there? Why
Speaker 4: is this person not the Shins? And then the Monastus shows,
Speaker 4: I think I'd like, I was like, because nobody would
Speaker 4: have known me, so I was like, please build me
Speaker 4: as comedian Ugee Burbot just so people know it's comedy.
Speaker 4: And then I think, similarly, I am seed that this
Speaker 4: tour for Cake, the Unlimited Sunshine Tour with Cake, Teagan
Speaker 4: and Sarah and Gogle Bordello and that I was like,
Speaker 4: you know that. Also, like the opening set was great,
Speaker 4: it was really easy, and then I could do a
Speaker 4: sort of shorter set after the first band, and then
Speaker 4: like when it was time for Cake, like cause I
Speaker 4: think they were like and you'll do like a few minutes,
Speaker 4: but then you would walk out and basically it was,
Speaker 4: you know whatever, three thousand people chanting Cake and there's
Speaker 4: no like version where you're like, hold on. I'd love
Speaker 4: to tell you about a time at a mall that
Speaker 4: was a little silly, like nobody wants to hear it.
Speaker 4: They're just like Cake, so like, but then you just
Speaker 4: once you do it, like with bands, you're just like,
Speaker 4: here's what will work. I'm happy to do that. If
Speaker 4: like you want a different thing, like it doesn't it's
Speaker 4: not a good idea.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like for sure it's proven out.
Speaker 4: And you don't want me to do forty five minutes,
Speaker 4: Like you don't want forty five minutes, you want like
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five. Yeah maybe Brodags.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll never forget watching Tool asked David Cross to
Speaker 3: open for them and were this was like in it
Speaker 3: was in southern California, but it was outside of La somewhere,
Speaker 3: I want to say, it was in either Ventura or something,
Speaker 3: and we all drove out to watch it because we're like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah.
Speaker 1: We'll get you know, Tool tickets or whatever.
Speaker 3: And then David's performing and he literally got introduced. He
Speaker 3: walked on stage and everyone just started throwing bottles and
Speaker 3: bottle caps and shit at him.
Speaker 1: Oh no, and he didn't.
Speaker 3: He got to the microphone, he tried to fight against
Speaker 3: it for like thirty seconds and then they just left.
Speaker 3: It's like Tools, audience doesn't want fi fucking comedy, and
Speaker 3: it's Maynard Keenan who was like, I love comedy, they'll
Speaker 3: love comedy.
Speaker 1: It's like it does not work that way at all.
Speaker 4: Yes, I think it's like depending like I did a
Speaker 4: tour with Andrew Byrd and his audience was incredible. They
Speaker 4: are like the lovely NPR people, and I did. I
Speaker 4: think that show was actually probably like half hour opening sets,
Speaker 4: like you know, but it was like, you know, a
Speaker 4: very pleasant show in theaters for you know, a lovely audience. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but Tool sounds impossible, yes, so like yeah.
Speaker 2: But you know what was just as bad. And I
Speaker 2: was too new green and new to stand up to
Speaker 2: have done well, but because it was a half hour
Speaker 2: in front of Selene or Cindy Laupper, so I always
Speaker 2: want to call her Celine Dion. But they threw stuff
Speaker 2: and yelled get off stage too, and it was Cydey Lauper,
Speaker 2: and the woman that asked me to do it got
Speaker 2: fired because of how badly I did. It was the worst.
Speaker 2: I cried afterwards. I had trouble getting paid. I was fired,
Speaker 2: yeah right there.
Speaker 4: And how long? How much time were you supposed to do?
Speaker 2: This was like two thousand and five and it was
Speaker 2: in Houston, Texas at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Way and
Speaker 2: the girl, I think she worked for Verizon, and she
Speaker 2: was like, oh, I know a comedian that could open
Speaker 2: for Chris or for Cindy And I was just not
Speaker 2: ready and there was no announcement. They people cheered when
Speaker 2: I walked out, thinking it was going to be Cindy
Speaker 2: Lauper and it was just a guy and they had
Speaker 2: just immediately were booing. But I was like, I gotta
Speaker 2: do my thirty minutes of what was then like wordplay
Speaker 2: and puns now it and someone peeked down and I
Speaker 2: was fired and I never got my free meal. Everything
Speaker 2: was bad, and they were.
Speaker 4: Right to the Verizon Center.
Speaker 2: Well I thought it was going to be they said yeah,
Speaker 2: and there's a whole tour after that. And my friend
Speaker 2: Tommy was a regular opener for Share and he had
Speaker 2: bought a house from that gig. Granted he was also
Speaker 2: a family friendly like magician. He had a lot of
Speaker 2: plan bees to go to other than jokes, right.
Speaker 4: Right, Yes, I once had very early in whatever I
Speaker 4: think in the early two thousands, I was almost with
Speaker 4: some agency and they booked some room in Vegas. So
Speaker 4: I went to like La to like to like meet
Speaker 4: with them and maybe come back and meet like have
Speaker 4: another meeting or whatever. And they were like, you could
Speaker 4: go and do this, you know, off the beaten path
Speaker 4: Vegas room where you would I think just do ten
Speaker 4: minute sets or something like something not and I like,
Speaker 4: I was supposed to do eight shows. I think in
Speaker 4: the first night I did too, and it was just
Speaker 4: such a mismatch where it was like also it was
Speaker 4: like an audience of people like on ventilators and or
Speaker 4: like respirator not ventilators anyway, like oxygen machines and very
Speaker 4: like elderly and this was you know what it was.
Speaker 4: This was actually after nine to eleven because the guy
Speaker 4: who headlined killed with like it was something like forty
Speaker 4: five minutes of stuff about bush Gore. But it felt
Speaker 4: like it was it was like November ish or Actroum
Speaker 4: November after nine to eleven. So it was this weird
Speaker 4: thing where like the world had changed and it was
Speaker 4: like I get doing topical stuff, but it was like
Speaker 4: not exactly topical, but to that audience it was quite topical.
Speaker 4: And I remember saying something about the Internet, you know,
Speaker 4: because this is what two thousand and one, and then
Speaker 4: I like meaning the Internet, like like it was like offhanded,
Speaker 4: like I signed up for something on the Internet, and
Speaker 4: I could see in the eyes of the audience that
Speaker 4: they like they didn't use the Internet, Like it was
Speaker 4: not like I was like it was like I brought
Speaker 4: up the telephone before most households had a telephone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you're on a ventilator thing, you yeah,
Speaker 2: I really know you're going to the Internet.
Speaker 4: But it was like I was like, oh, I can't.
Speaker 4: I don't have like I thought, like this is broad
Speaker 4: stuff that will relate and then I forget like the
Speaker 4: poor ms like so the MC trying to help me,
Speaker 4: like like he was genuinely trying to help me. And
Speaker 4: he was like, do you have any fart jokes or
Speaker 4: anything about being Jewish? And I was like I had
Speaker 4: like one thing, like I didn't, but I tried what
Speaker 4: I and it was like this is not a good match.
Speaker 4: And then the the place was like, you know what,
Speaker 4: you can stay at the hotel the next three days,
Speaker 4: but why don't you do none of the shows? And
Speaker 4: I was like, this is great, this is a great deal.
Speaker 4: I do not need this six more times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got treated much better than I was. Just
Speaker 2: locked out of the Verizon Wireless Amphi theater. Yeah, pushed
Speaker 2: out by a rody guy.
Speaker 1: Don't come back.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 3: You know that's funny is that the early days or
Speaker 3: the old days of the Largo when it on Fairfax,
Speaker 3: they used to always try to have comedy openers for
Speaker 3: music nights, and I would do it all the time
Speaker 3: because I like that was the level that I was
Speaker 3: at of kind of like hosting and MCing and stuff.
Speaker 3: They music audiences at that time did not want It's
Speaker 3: like they got trained into accepting comedy going with music,
Speaker 3: but in the beginning it they didn't like it, and
Speaker 3: it is a totally different vibe, yeah, than any kind
Speaker 3: of a comedy audience, Like when they're there to get
Speaker 3: sung to and you know, like see their favorite musician
Speaker 3: in an intimate setting. They don't want to hear anything
Speaker 3: out of my mouth for sure, And it'd just be
Speaker 3: like I would totally do it for the money and
Speaker 3: the dinner that you would get. I'd be like, I
Speaker 3: don't care, fine, I have to pay my attend you
Speaker 3: played a spaghetti Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah. But also like as it happened more and more often,
Speaker 4: people like like meaning I now do it with musicians
Speaker 4: where like it seems like it could be a fun
Speaker 4: match or it would go well, or it's like someone
Speaker 4: I like and we're kind of doing it together, you know, totally.
Speaker 4: But it's yes, it's true that like if no, like yeah,
Speaker 4: if it's like a raucous crowd who don't really know
Speaker 4: there's gonna be comedy, it is not. It is a
Speaker 4: little uphill.
Speaker 1: It's not great.
Speaker 3: Also, if you I think, if you're going out in
Speaker 3: front of a crowd like that, you have to know
Speaker 3: you have like the killer material that's going to land
Speaker 3: kind of no matter what. And I was on a
Speaker 3: comic that would always be like I'm gonna try this thing.
Speaker 3: It's like, no, dummy, no, get the get all of
Speaker 3: your closers and put them all together, you know.
Speaker 4: Right right front you like, yeah, fifteen minutes of closer
Speaker 4: basically help yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, and that is jokes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you, if you, if Yeah. Now now I
Speaker 4: can show them so many bobs episodes like enjoy this far.
Speaker 4: Here's another fart coming at you, oldie.
Speaker 1: One of the great historical farts of all time.
Speaker 4: Exactly. Yeah. Now you know, two decades later, I have
Speaker 4: the fart jokes I needed.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it just is not well, yeah, you gotta
Speaker 2: craft them that some some of those fart jokes just
Speaker 2: need time to be molded.
Speaker 1: Eugene, do you still do your podcast?
Speaker 4: No? I did it for I mean it was really
Speaker 4: like audible hit, like was like do you want to
Speaker 4: do this thing? And they had basically all all these
Speaker 4: stories that they that they had recorded, and so I
Speaker 4: would talk to the person and they would so so
Speaker 4: it was it was really really fun. But I think
Speaker 4: that they were like we're now doing like I think
Speaker 4: they moved to do like larger long form sort of
Speaker 4: like almost like radio plays and stuff, and so I
Speaker 4: forget how many years ago that stopped. But I really
Speaker 4: enjoyed it, and I would totally do a podcast like
Speaker 4: I love like I did like college radio, you know
Speaker 4: in college, and I love radio. So podcast is very like,
Speaker 4: you know, it's really fun. So would totally do something
Speaker 4: like that again. But don't do it right.
Speaker 2: I forgot. That's how I because we didn't know each
Speaker 2: other very well, and that is how I was. They
Speaker 2: had it recorded from me.
Speaker 4: They already had it, yes, yeah, they had recordings, and
Speaker 4: so I would talk to you know, interview the people,
Speaker 4: and we would pause it and like go like wait,
Speaker 4: like tell me a little more about that.
Speaker 2: It's just so funny because they set me up to
Speaker 2: record in Missoula, and the place I recorded was a
Speaker 2: place where they teach kids how to play guitar, and
Speaker 2: then they had a little recording area so little kids
Speaker 2: could So I was just in a little room with
Speaker 2: little kid guitars. It's just in Yeah, it was. It
Speaker 2: was really an interesting experience. It was pre zoom, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do you have anything else you want to plug?
Speaker 3: Bob's Burger's movie.
Speaker 4: Yeah, The Bob's Burgers movie is coming out I don't
Speaker 4: know when this comes out, but the Bob's Murgers movie
Speaker 4: comes out on May twenty seventh, so either go to
Speaker 4: it or go right when you hear this. Yeah, there
Speaker 4: can go the evening after or if it's September, go
Speaker 4: rent it, rent it.
Speaker 2: No, you're fishing for a day that this will come out,
Speaker 2: but we we just go, oh no, I.
Speaker 4: See this comes out. This comes out six twenty seven.
Speaker 4: So so so I've done a perfect job promoting. So
Speaker 4: I hope you saw Bob's Burgers, the mono Fletch. Go
Speaker 4: see Fletch. If that's been an ass so that's check
Speaker 4: that out.
Speaker 2: I'm very excited, Yes, both excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well awesome. Thank you so much for doing
Speaker 1: this one.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me. This was really fun.
Speaker 4: Thank you guys.
Speaker 2: Well, Eugene, you look good with that beard. I've been
Speaker 2: meaning to say, thank you, thank you. I know that's
Speaker 2: a visual reference, not good for podcasting, but that's a
Speaker 2: nice beard.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Ejeene has a beard. It's really it goes down to
Speaker 3: his belt.
Speaker 4: And yeah it's yes, I'm working my way into his
Speaker 4: eazy top.
Speaker 2: Yes, he has a guitar that spins from a belt buckle, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: And he's got legs and he knows how to use them.
Speaker 2: I'm going to stop now, I'm going to stop with
Speaker 2: this easy top.
Speaker 1: Rep stop and wrap it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah it. Thank you for being on e Jene you've
Speaker 2: been listening to Do You Need a Ride?
Speaker 4: D y n a R.
Speaker 2: This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 1: Produced by Casey O'Brien.
Speaker 2: Mixed by John Bradley.
Speaker 1: Artwork by Chris Fairbanks.
Speaker 2: Theme song by Karen Kilgareff.
Speaker 3: Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at dinar
Speaker 3: podcast That's d y n ar Podcast.
Speaker 2: For more information, go to exactly Rightmedia dot com. Thank you,
Speaker 2: Oh You're welcome.