WEBVTT - Khary Payton 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 I learned to play poker sitting at the bar at 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.519 stand Up New York comedy store. There was a bartender 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.760 and I hate that I can't remember his name because 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.200 he he would, uh you know, play cards with me 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.520 while he was addition drinks or whatever. And he this 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.440 is a mantra that I try to live by. And 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.560 he always he would always tell me he was. He 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.640 was like, Cary, whatever you do, play with your balls. 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:34.720 You win big, you lose big. Just play with your balls. Hi, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.200 my name is Cary Peyton, and uh, I have known 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.520 brand baum Gartner for decades. That's my claim to fame. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:55.640 He Hi, everybody, and welcome back to Off the Beat 0:00:56.040 --> 0:01:01.800 on this Tuesday edition. I am your host, Brian baum Gartner. 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:07.000 Now I go way back with today's guest. In fact, 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.720 I go all the way back to my college days 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.080 at good old s MU. Are you sensing a trend? 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.680 I'm gonna have everybody whoever went to s m U 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.920 on the podcast at some point. I guess I was 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.760 lucky enough to go to school with Cary Peyton, who, 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:26.080 let me say, he has been a talent since day one. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:31.800 I have always admired caries work, but since college, oh, man. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.959 He has done a lot playing Cyborg for the last 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.559 twenty years, roughly twenty years on Teen Titans and many 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:45.000 other animated DC series. Carry has inspired countless fans, and 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.280 he has changed the voice acting game for good. But 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.120 now he is perhaps best known for his on camera 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:57.760 role as the charismatic King Ezekiel on The Walking Dead. 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.360 That's right, the original the icon Hank Walking Dead. I'm 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.400 so excited to share our conversation as we get into 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.440 the nitty gritty of the business people, including carries jump 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.120 from voice on camera work, and what it was like 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.640 to join a show as huge as The Walking Dead. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.120 This is a good one, you guys. You have my 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:23.240 word on that. So here he is my good friend, 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:33.000 Cary Peyton, Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:39.359 Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every month, left 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:54.480 over from the night before. What's up? What's going on? 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.120 How are you my friend? It has been a very 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:03.080 very long time, dude, I don't I don't know when 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.840 I when was the last time I actually saw you? 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.200 Were you were you walking through the neighborhood because you 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.520 used to live in my in the same neighborhood as 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.079 my brother Guy and I would see you taking walks 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.079 when I when I uh, when I was just hanging 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.800 out with I think the first time I just screamed 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.760 at you, like from the wind from the window as 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:33.200 I walked by. Yes, exactly, exactly. Well listen, I moved away. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.320 And you're a very busy man. I mean you basically 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.640 have been have been living in our old home state 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:46.960 for the last several years. Yeah, two years, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, definitely. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.880 I used to fly back and forth the lot and 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.880 then the pandemic hit and I just got stuck. But yeah, yeah, 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:57.960 it's been it's been a crazy yeah, last couple of years, man, 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.720 but it's good. But I literally us got back to 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.600 Los Angeles and getting you know, settled and everything that 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.920 the pandemic has done so many things. But I used 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:13.640 to do random studio like home studio recordings as you do, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.080 you know, but I would just do them in you know, 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.800 walk in closet and uh and uh. And then over 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.480 the course of the pandemic it was like, well now 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.320 not now, you just slowly build, uh build an actual 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.520 studio in your house. And so so I'm doing this 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.120 for it. I feel like the third time in two years, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.840 you know. So so yeah, yeah, it's been it's uh, 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.040 it's been crazy. But I'm I finally got this space 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.080 put together. This used to be a bathroom. The fact 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:46.080 that you are such a professional voiceover actor that you're 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.560 willing to give up a toilet to have to have 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.919 a studio, it's true. Now it helps that I've got 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.360 I've got a few toilets, you know, in the house. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.080 I got a few more that It was funny because 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.320 I really had to pee one day and I and 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.320 I read it read it here before this this was finished, 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.320 and I read it here and I used the bathroom, 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.840 and I was like, you realize you're giving this up. 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.200 You realize you're given up the you know, because it's 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.920 right next to the garage, you know, it's like it's 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:18.640 and I was like, you're you're you're giving up the 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.400 convenience of dancing at the door and being able to 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.480 pop right here. But somehow I will make it work. 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.120 You'll make it work. All right, Let's let's go back 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.080 for those of you carry and I. We've known each 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.560 other along too long to mention. If I start doing 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.440 the math, I'm gonna start getting really uncomfortable. Um. We 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.120 we'll talk about that in a minute. You grew up 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.760 in in In Georgia, in my home state as well. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.720 There in uh in Augusta, No no, I was born 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.200 in Augusta and Guy and then we bounced around a 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.640 little bit. But by the third grade I had moved 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.279 to Athens, Georgia and that's where I stayed until I 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.640 graduated from high school. So it's Athens, Georgia, home of 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.400 the Bulldogs. I uh, we have we have that in common. 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.480 I didn't live there, but was there most weekends as 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:18.880 a child as well, rooting on that it was an 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.320 awesome town on the weekends. Man, yeah, yeah you could. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.839 You could get fed just walking walking near the stadium. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.040 You know, you know everybody's tailgating and and yeah yeah throwing. 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.840 You're hunger, you want to eat. When did you realize 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:41.520 that you had a passion at least for acting? Man, 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:46.280 it was it was really early, It was really early on. 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.760 I um, I remember going to see the first thing 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.760 I remembered that that honestly made me want to become 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:58.720 an actor. I think it was the first grade. There 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:00.760 might be it might have been something else that that 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.000 I that that I don't remember but the first but 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.240 in the first grade, we went to see a community 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:11.720 theater production of syra No de bergierac in in Anniston, Alabama. 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.480 My dad was was at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He was 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.840 a captain in the army, and uh, we were stationed 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.120 there for a while and we went to see syran No. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.080 And I just remember watching this dude and just thinking, 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.120 this is the coolest guy I've ever seen in my life. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.480 He's the coolest guy I've ever seen in my life, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:35.640 you know what, And and that he reminded me of 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.600 the Fox from Robin Hood, you know, the Disney movie, 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.560 which was my favorite growing up probably still is my 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.960 my my favorite. And uh, you know, he's he's literally 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.480 you know, sword fighting, he's he's the wittiest, he's the sharpest, 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.240 he's you know, he's he's got everything. And uh, I 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:57.280 think it was lost on me that that he was 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.120 kind of so down on himself. When I first watched Sara. Oh, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.040 you know, all I could see is that he was 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.400 the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and I was like, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.600 I want to do that, and um, I don't know. 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.560 At some point I went home and found a bunch 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.400 of rocks and washed them and started uh painting them. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.160 And then I started going door to door to my 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:21.000 neighbors trying to sell rocks. And one of my neighbors 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.400 called my mom and said, your boys out here selling rocks, 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.960 trying to sell rocks to us, and and my mom said, 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.160 you know at we cup home and uh it said 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:32.760 why are you selling rocks? And I was like, I 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:37.200 need capital to start my theater company. And she was 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.920 like what and and uh. I don't know where I 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.640 came up with this, but this is what my mom told. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.160 I remember, I remember trying to sell the rocks. Um, 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.439 but uh, I was. I was going to start a 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.160 theater company and perform in in the in the backyard 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.520 of our house, you know. And there was just like 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.960 nothing but like Georgia woods out in the out back 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.640 of the house. It up, but that was that was 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:06.120 it for me. I remember watching uh Syra nota Bergerac 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.600 and being like, that's what I want to do. And 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.120 then there was a TV show called Emergency that was 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:16.160 about paramedics and uh and it was around the same 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.280 time and uh and I remember thinking I want to 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.400 be a paramedic. And then I saw Syen no, and 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.199 I was like, no, I don't want to be a paramedic. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:29.439 I want to be on a TV show about paramedics. Okay, yeah. Yeah. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.160 So it was all around the first grade that that 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.400 it that that it first came together, that that this 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.920 was something that I wanted to do. I wanted to 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.480 be Syra. No, that's that's by the way, have you 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:47.600 played Sera? Now? No? No, no, there's still time. There's 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.760 still time. There's still time. So so you decide that 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.400 you sell rocks and you're trying to make capital, but 0:09:54.480 --> 0:10:02.160 what what are you doing than doing school plays? Is that? Yeah? I? Um? 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.920 I told yeah, yeah, Well I told my mom, like 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.040 the Sears catalogs would come in the in the in 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:09.880 the middle, and I was like, and I would show 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.000 the models in them, Like, Mom, I can do that. 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.120 They're just standing there with clothes. I can do that, 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.319 you know, call up Sears, you know. And I started 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.400 telling my mom to call people and do something, you know, 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.600 and and so, uh, when we finally got settled in Athens, 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.600 I started doing yeah, community theater. I remember I played 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.040 a frog, you know, and like a tiny little theater show. 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.640 And I think I played um Christmas past in like 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:42.320 a children's theater production of of Christmas Carol, Christmas Carol, 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.600 and yeah, a little stuff like that. But it was 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.480 just kind of here and there, you know. And then 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.839 what what what happened is I I saw this, uh, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.760 this contest for Showtime, the Showtime Kid Talent Quest. They 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.160 had like a children's hour and they wanted, you know, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:05.480 kids to introduce the movies. And uh, I didn't really 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.640 sing or dance or anything, but I love Saturday Night Live. 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.640 I watched Saturday. I stayed up, you know, every night 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.400 to watch Saturday Night Live. And so I tried to 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.960 do these little skits on this huge video camera. You 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.960 know that it was. It was immense and uh, I 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.720 didn't know how to edit, so I would just press 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.800 record and then my mom would press pause and I 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.800 would change my clothes into the other character and then 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.800 and then unpaused, you know, reading or whatever it was. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.360 It was the most convoluted thing. But I I made 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.680 this this crazy video and sent it in and uh 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.720 and honestly, I think they were like, you know, they 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:44.640 had all of these people who were singing and dancing 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:46.920 and doing stuff, and then it was this you know, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.280 probably this one kid who was doing weird comedy skits 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.640 pretending to be Rod Serling. It was just so yeah, yeah, 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.560 so probably weird, but some I won that contest and 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.640 they came me to New York. Yeah when I was twelve, 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:06.560 and the research says fourteen the first annual talent quest. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.240 But they flew you to New York. This is the 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.559 first time, I must go. Yeah, maybe I was thirteen 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.959 when I when I recorded it, yeah, first time it 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.400 well yeah yeah, first time in New York. The whole 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.240 family went we I recorded it over all of it 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.560 over a few days, and oh that was the thing, 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.160 so so so yeah. I had started getting into this 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.400 idea of um of uh. I loved Eddie Murphy. He 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.280 was my favorite growing up because of Mr Rogers Neighborhood 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.959 and and Gumby and all of that from Saturday Night 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.320 Live and and I would sneak and listen to his 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:43.360 you know, raunchy comedy shows. Just loved him. Wanted to 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:47.120 be Eddie Murphy and so um I went to this camp. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.880 It was like it was like a two week maybe 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.920 three week uh camp up in the mountains of South Carolina, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:58.640 Callowe Calorween, North Carolina. They had a talent contest and 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.160 the and um, one of the guys that I befriended 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.240 who had been there a few times, he had done 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.120 a stand up comedy routine and I was joking with 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.040 everybody at the lunch table and he said, Hey, can 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.160 I use that in my comedy routine? And I said, no, 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.959 I'm going to use it in my comedy. And so 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.440 that that was the first time I got on stage 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.640 to to do stand up comedy, and uh, I ended 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.720 up winning the talent contest at the at the camp. 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.679 And then so at the second annual Showtime Kid Talent Quest, 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.560 they had had the other winners come up and do 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.000 their talent and I had just made a stupid video, 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.800 so I didn't have any talent to, you know. So 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.760 so I started doing stand up comedy like in these malls, 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.880 you know, you know, at like yeah, thirteen or fourteen, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.120 I was I was say, only fourteen by then. And 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.680 then I started um going to comedy clubs and trying 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.040 to get into comedy clubs. And they were they were like, 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.679 you can't come in here, kid, You're you're you're like 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.520 a baby. But my mom was very isn't it. And 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:05.920 she found my my who would become my my Jewish grandmother, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.239 Edith Sims. She was She was a comedy booker who 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.520 worked in Atlanta and New York for some reason. Yeah, 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.000 and and I went up and bombed the first time. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.080 And I came back and she said, I can't put 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.800 you back on. And then I did. I did some 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.760 impressions of Oh my God, I did an impression of 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.680 Bill Cosby, and I did an impression of Pat Robertson 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.880 from the Seven. You know, so imagine like a black kid, 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.560 fourteen year old black kid doing doing uh Pat roberts 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.600 and yes exactly, you know, barely open your eyes when 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.280 you talk, and and uh. And so she was like, okay, okay, 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.160 you can do Pat Robertson for everybody. And and that 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.200 night I I killed and she was like, I was 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.359 like her new best friend. I would go up to 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.320 New York for I don't know, a couple of weeks, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.520 for a couple of summers, and do stand up comedy 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.440 at these at these different play in New York City 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.400 and a stand up New York comedy store at the 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.160 Village Gate and uh in the in the Village, a 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.600 couple of divy places. I kind of uh you know, 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.960 is just cultivating that performing thing. And then and then 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.720 comedians started to depress the hell out of me that 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.920 comedians are are are an amazing group because they are 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:25.160 wonderfully talented. I mean I would sit there for weeks 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:27.800 and so and and there'd be a new crop of 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.440 comedians that would come through every week, and I would 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.160 sit at the bar and listen to them all and 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.840 just think, Oh my god, they're all so funny, they're 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.320 all so great. You know, I want to, you know, 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.160 learn to be be like these guys. And they would 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.000 come to the bar and talk to me, and some 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:46.280 of them were positive. Of them were positive, and at 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.960 at we're just mad that they hadn't been discovered yet. 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.000 And I'm sitting at the bar, you know, having a 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.240 sprite and they they are drinking hard and being being like, kid, 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.280 are you gonna take me with you when you get 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.360 to be a big shot? And I was like sure, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.920 and they were like, no, you won't know, you won't 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.160 That's what Chris Rock said, No you won't. You know. 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:09.800 It was just I was like, I was like, you 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:11.480 know what, I think I've got to find something better 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.200 to do it. So I went back home. It started 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:18.880 doing theater more and uh, I auditioned for an art 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:24.400 school and that's where my theater bent really started. I 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.520 went to Northside High School School of the Arts for 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.680 a semester because it was, um it was in Atlanta 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.320 and my folks lived in Athens. But I did it 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:38.320 for a semester and that's where I met our mutual professors, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.680 Charlie Hilfert and uh and Dale Moffat. Yeah. Yeah, I 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:47.120 auditioned for them when I was in a junior in 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.280 high school. And then when when it came back around 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.680 for me to find a place to go to go 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.000 to college, Uh, you know, I auditioned for them again. 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:01.040 But but that's where that relationship started and and I really, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.960 you know, developed that love of thing. Is so crazy 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:09.040 though the idea as a fourteen year old you're like 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:15.919 in the middle of like hardcore stand up culture. I 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.120 mean even just you saying sitting at the bar watching 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.280 these guys and imagining that I mean your experience there. 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:26.680 I learned to play poker sitting at the bar at 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.960 stand up New York comedy store. There was a bartender 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.240 and I hate that I can't remember his name because 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.639 he he would uh you know, play cards with me 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.960 while he was addishing drinks or whatever. And he this 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.879 is a mantra that I try to live by. And 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.000 he always he would always tell me he was He 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.080 was like, Cary, whatever you do, play with your balls, 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.520 you win big, you lose big. Just play with your balls. 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.600 I I never forget that. And it was like, it's like, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.800 you know, if you're gonna do something that go for it. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:22.520 Way with your pauls Oh my god, So you do theater. 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.359 And yes, the two people car I just mentioned, Charlie 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:31.720 Helford and Dale Moffatt were well. They were the papas 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:38.639 and the grandpa's and the moms and everything at Smulder Statesman, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:43.240 the Elder Statesman, you auditioned to get into SMU and 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.800 spoiler alert, Carry and I ended up at college together. 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:53.400 Now Carry is significantly older one year. Um. But I mean, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:58.600 here's the thing. S MU is it is a conservatory 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.000 training theater program was a conservatory training theater program. It 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.120 still is. So when you make the decision that you're 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.080 going to audition and ultimately go to s m U, 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.920 now things can be derailed, just like with any college 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.040 uh student, But you really are making a commitment. At 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.000 that point, you knew that this was what you wanted 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.800 to do, was that right? Yeah? Yeah, Well here was 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.760 the thing I I told myself, um, the last couple 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.399 of years of high school, you know, because I had 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.760 won this contest and I had done you know, I 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.359 was doing stand up and you know, and I was 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.199 doing these different things and and and so I was 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.080 sort of a big deal, you know in my high school, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.959 I guess for having you know, kind of stepped outside 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:49.280 of our community and having done something doing Uh yeah, 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.280 I haven't done something, but uh but I knew in 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.840 my head I I didn't want I mean, American Idol 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.560 wasn't a thing yet. But I didn't want to be 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:02.600 one of those people that because everybody in their little, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:06.119 small hometown told them that they that they were the 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.520 most talented thing, that they were deluding themselves. And and 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.639 we're going to you know, go off with big dreams, 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.159 and then you know, Simon Call tells them, you know 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.560 that they that they have no idea what what pitches 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.520 and never will and so and so I told myself, 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:23.800 I was like, all right, you need more than just 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.640 belief in yourself. You need corroboration that you're actually good 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:29.600 at this. And I was like, I was like, you 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:34.240 know what, I'm going to audition for the best schools 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.560 in the country for theater, and if I get into 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.720 those schools, then that then that means something because and 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.080 it doesn't mean everything, but it means something because when 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.040 you're auditioning for a school, they're they're gonna take a 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.960 certain amount of kids. When you're auditioning for a role, 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:54.000 they're taking one. So so so you know, it's like 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.800 it's like, it's like, this is just preliminary. This doesn't 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.000 mean that you that you got it, but it means 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.439 you got a chance. And all I needed was a chance. 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:06.920 And so I auditioned for let's see, I didn't audition 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.640 for like the North Carolina School of the Arts because 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:11.359 my dad was a doctor and I had to go 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:17.320 to like an actual university university, Carnegie Mellon I auditioned for, 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.000 and then s m U in Florida State. I think 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.760 that was that was it. And then I and then I, 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:25.880 uh was like, you know what, if I don't get 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:27.959 into any of those, then I don't know that that 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.400 means you know what, you can have fun out here 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:33.240 doing this. But but let's not get crazy. And I 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:36.359 and my fallback was, you know what, I could always 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:41.919 teach history because my favorite teachers of history like performed history. 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:44.560 You know. It was like, you know, I remember one 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.600 of my favorite teachers in high school was Mr Cavalier, 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:51.479 David Cavalier, and uh, I mean, I don't know how 0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:54.800 many times he was, you know, standing on somebody's desk 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.560 literally captain, my captain, you know what I mean, just 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.120 like you know, you know, preaching to to the class. 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.440 And and I was like, you know, maybe maybe that's 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:06.280 as big as my my audience is supposed to get, 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:09.000 you know. But if I get into these places, then 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:11.159 maybe I got a shot to do more. And I 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:14.560 got in everywhere that I auditioned. But the cheapest place 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.040 to go was Florida State because of the state school. 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:21.359 And so I sent my dorm deposit to Florida State. 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.840 And then Charlie Helfort called from SMU and said, hey, 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:28.200 you know, are you coming down from Mustang days to 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:32.359 check out the school? And U s MU, even in 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:37.840 those days, was not inexpensive to go to SMU, and 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.399 I had just I didn't even think about going to SMU. 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.800 I was like, no, my folks aren't aren't paying you know. 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:46.280 I mean, my dad's a doctor, but he's a pediatrician, 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:48.439 you know what I mean. He's taking like you know, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.920 he's taking ten dollar copays. You know. It's where we're doing, 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:53.879 all right, we're letting. I living high on the hoggin. 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:55.879 So I was I was like, I gotta pay for 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.720 this myself. But but little did I know that, um 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.600 some you had quite the endowment. And uh and I 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:06.199 swear it was like I felt like I was getting 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:09.960 recruited for a football team, like a college football team. 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.199 Like I got flown in. They showed me, you know, 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:16.080 the facility, you know. I mean it was like I 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.040 was like, whoa, this is amazing. And then uh and 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.280 then I got there and all the students were like, 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.479 they were like, man, hold out, hold out for a 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:29.320 full scholarship. They've got the money. You hold out, dude, 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:31.920 it's you know. And they're all telling me to hold that. 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:33.800 And I go running back to my mom who's having 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:37.240 a meeting with Charlie, and she was like, well, if 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:40.280 you if you wanna, um wanna go here. I was like, yeah, 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:41.760 I want to go here. She was like, well, it's 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:43.560 all set up and I was like, did you hold out? 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:45.920 She was like, well, they gave me like an eight 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:48.800