WEBVTT - Comedy Saved Me-Inside the Creative Mind of Paul Mecurio 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:03.560 Comedy Saved Me. 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:05.320 Part of what the show does is get people to 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:07.920 see people in different lights than the way they You know, 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:09.440 don't have to think of a ninety five year old 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:12.200 woman as like this daughtering old whatever. Like I asked 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.520 her about a Paul and Oscarby. She'd had one recently. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:15.680 She's feeling good, by the way. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.239 In case you're curious, I'm Lyn Hoffman and welcome to 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.520 Comedy Saved Me, a brand new podcast from Buzznight Media Productions. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.840 The creator of Taking a Walk and Music Save Me podcasts, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.880 Comedy Saved Me is a podcast showcasing the incredible healing 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.800 power of comedy and laughter. Today, we are so excited 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.320 to welcome the amazingly funny Paul mccurio with one R. 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.880 Paul mccurio, who's an Emmy and p Vidy Award winning 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.720 comedian who currently works and appears regularly on The Late 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.519 Show with Stephen Colbert, That Little Show There, and he's 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.680 also worked on the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, had 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.680 his own series on HBO, Yeah Hbo, and his own 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.840 Comedy Central specials and if He's not crazy Busy enough. 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.240 Paul has also created a successful Broadway show called permission 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.559 to speak. And it's directed by the legendary director Frank Oz, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.360 you know for movies like Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.200 Rotten Scoundrels, The Score. He's the voice of Yoda and 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.360 a puppeteer and creator of the Muppets. It's amazing that 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.200 you have all this going on. Paul mccurial is so 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:21.680 excited to welcome you to the very first edition of 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:22.760 Comedy Saved Me. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.640 I am honored to be here. This is awesome. Thank 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:26.440 you so much. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.520 This is better than better than working with Frank Oz. 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.840 That guy, Oh really, I got just hang you know, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.280 he just hangs on. He just wants He's so needy. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.720 Please can I work with you? I'm like, Frank, I'm busy. 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.880 I can't take it. No, he's the best. He's the best. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:41.440 He's like that. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.039 Does he ever break into Yoda? 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:44.560 He does? 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:46.600 And I slap him when he does that really hard, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.960 and it knocks the pointy years off his real ears 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:51.920 because he always wears the pointy eears, because you've. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.240 Got to let everybody always Yoda. It's like, Frank. 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.200 People notice the sometimes they think he's a balding spot 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:57.840 and I'm like, no. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.280 That's Yoda. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.560 No, he's he's the coolest guy ever and so down 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:12.840 there and crazy artist, creative like, mind like, and so 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.560 to have the ability to work with him has been 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.160 like really cool, really really I can imagine. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.200 Yeah, yeah, Well. 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:21.680 I want to talk about that, but first I want 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.440 to start a little bit back in the beginning, well 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.800 not too far in the beginning, but what was the 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:31.560 first moment that you connected with comedy? Can you remember that, 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:33.800 you know, the time that it really just cemented that 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.600 was going to be your ultimate pursuit in a career. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.200 Well, it's funny because there's two different answers to that. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.639 One is like I first connected with comedy as a 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.239 kid watching it. There's something about like I would ask 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:49.359 to stay up late to watch the comedians. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:51.000 And then I go into school. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:52.880 I grew up in Providence, Rorde Island, and I go 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.080 into school, like tell the jokes that I saw on 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:57.960 TV doing Rodney or whatever. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.480 But I was like a class clown. 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.800 Like we had lockers, you know those lockers, ones on 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:03.440 top of the other. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.160 So we broke the floor of the. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:08.760 Which would be the floor of the want the upper 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.400 locker the ceiling of the lower locker. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:11.320 So it was like one. 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:12.919 Locker and then I would get in the locker and 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:15.320 I'd pull my pants down and my friends would open 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.480 the bottom locker and people would see my scrunny you know, 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.720 hairless chinchilla Italian legs looked like like a little hairless boy. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:27.079 Anyway, Uh, don't throw up in your mouth. And uh so. 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.640 I was there was something about comedy going on with me, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:31.560 but never thinking I was going to do it. 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:33.240 I didn't grow up in a performing family. 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.880 And then I started writing, and it was in law 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.440 school and I ended up practicing. While on Wall Street 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:46.720 doing Igers Acquisition, I started writing jokes to Hobby and. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.160 And I didn't know what was happening, like, but these 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:48.200 jokes are coming out of me. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.400 And then I mentioned Atlanta at a private function and 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.680 I gave him my jokes and I said, I don't 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.080 know if you need jokes, but I'm never going to 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.480 use these, and he was like okay. He really his 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.040 head moved around like it's a Macy's Day balloon in 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.040 the wind, like you just want to grab his head 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.160 and go just sit still for a minute. And it's like, hey, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:12.280 it sounds like the heliums like and so a couple 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.520 of days later, my phone rings and it's this on 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:15.760 the other Lene it's Jay Leno. 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:16.960 It's Paul there. And I'm like, there's no. 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:18.960 Way jay Leno was calling me. So I thought it 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:20.599 was my friend David pulling a prank. He goes, not 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:21.279 really a Shamelano. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:23.520 I go, David, I know I'm in the middle of 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:24.680 a merger deal. I don't have time. 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:26.680 He goes, now, it's Sheleno. I go, David sock. He goes, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.880 it's Shane Leno And I actually said to Jay Leno, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.240 you do allowsy jay Leno and. 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.599 Yeah, And he said, what's really me? And I'm like, 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:38.159 oh crap. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:39.640 And then he goes, I want to hire you to 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.840 sending jokes for the Tonight Show monologue and I'll pay 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:47.240 you fifty bucks a joke. Wow, And he did the joke. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.280 About a week later, he calls me, Janey's Paul there. 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.680 I'm like, what what do you want, Jay? I don't 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.040 have time. I'm busy. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.560 I have a lot of friends. I don't. 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.800 Don't you have friends in Hollywood? I got stuff. I 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.680 go buzz Night online one, I got Hoffman online. Two, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:04.000 I got stuff going on. 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:07.680 No. He said, I'm gonna do your joke on the 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:08.200 Tonight Show. 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.120 Tonight and I got together at our apartment in New 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.200 York with a botish champagne. He did this joke for 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.280 fifty bucks and it blew my head off my shoulders. 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.240 And so that was the point where I'm like, oh, 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:23.279 maybe I could like do this like for real, but again, 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.640 like I didn't plan it. Like people like ask me like, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.680 when you look back, were you funny? I'm like yeah, 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.640 they were like I was funny as the kid where 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.800 you find like I go, yeah, like I was the 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.320 funniest lawyer in the law firm, which you know, I 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:36.360 know it's not saying much. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.520 It's like saying you're the sexiest I guy, you know 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:38.920 what I mean. 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.440 It's like, you know, it's not a it's like engineering 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.359 you like my you like my pocket protector? Hey? You know. 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:50.120 Like so that's kind of the moment. I think it 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.600 was a combination of something going on with me as 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.760 a kid but never thinking I would do it but clearly, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.679 and then being the class clown and then that joke. 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.920 It all kind of came together. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.400 MELTD. Who are some of your early influences? Who do 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:11.080 you watch in say, television shows, or well. 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.960 I loved like like I like different communities for different reasons, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:15.560 So I don't have like one particular favorite, but like 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.720 Rodney Dangerfield for his timing and just how defined that 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.640 character was, Steve Martin for his inventive miss George Carlin 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.160 for like he could be edgy but also just goofy. 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.520 Like those were just some I mean Robin Williams because 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.680 of it, and John at the Winters because of their 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.560 like complete improvisation, like just grab a stick and like 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.159 be funny with it for five minutes. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.440 So I never really discriminated. 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.160 It wasn't like I never liked, like like even Rickles 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.440 I liked because he was so outrageous. 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.200 The stuffy would say, like. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:48.680 I was working on a daily show at the time 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:50.440 as one of the writers, and Rickles came on our 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:52.400 show and we were all like, oh my god, it's 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.400 Don Rickles and he was performing in Atlantic City, would 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.800 take the show in New York. So like we said 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.960 to his manager, Tony, of course his manager's Tony, right, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.760 and he go like a Vegas guy with the whole thing, 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:04.240 and we go, we want to see him. So he 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:06.960 set us up like fifteen of us tickets and he 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.760 sat us right down front, and he comes out on stage, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.520 Wrickles with like a tumbler scotch and a tuxedo, and 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:17.760 he's like, he's like a like a cougar prowling looking right, 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.080 and he stops and one of the guys and one 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.240 of the writers, his name is Jimmerow, really skinny guy, scrunny, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.440 always sickly looking, and he stops and he looks at 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.239 him and he goes, hey you you I'm a friend. 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:29.000 Get a mask. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:34.280 And he's walking and they were like, yes, Don Rickles 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:39.200 assaulted one of us. We've arrived. It's it's it's all 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.679 of those things. But for me, like you know, stand 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.040 up is like about connecting with. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.280 The people, Like it's always you know, you start out, 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.240 you do stand up, you come out, you do your jokes. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:51.640 But I started to find that it was weird for 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.640 me to just come out and launch into jokes, like 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.240 when you had all these people, it was like you 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.160 wouldn't walk into a cocktail party and just launch into 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.840 material like So I started talking to the audiences and 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.040 then that led to like a whole bunch of other 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:05.720 kind of stuff that I like to do because I 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.080 just it just felt weird to me to go up 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.000 and just go. So I was at Target the other 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.800 day and whatever, right, like, so I started going, hey, whatever, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.480 and then my brain goes all over the place. 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.880 Oh wow, So then you can understand women because my 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.960 brain's always all over the place. But somehow I always 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.000 come back to everything, so you know. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:29.120 You can connect it. I can't. 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.760 I go like whatever, and my wife is like, you're 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.520 in like, he's very calm, and I'm. 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.200 All over the place. Multitask. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.160 I'm multitask in bed, my dear romantic evening is making 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:42.720 love to my wife, and I'm on the phone with 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.640 my broker, eating Chinese food, watching a football game, and 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.280 having a satellite EDIH installed. I'm like, I'm a thousand 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.719 shares song. Good that tastes good, Honey, that's so good, right, 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:53.280 there's good. 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:54.439 It's good. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:59.640 Yeah, you're a multitasker. I love it. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:01.000 ALTI tasking all right. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:05.000 So, not to get too serious, but a lot of 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.200 people that I've ever talked to in the world of 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.200 comedy usually tells me of these just really tragic or 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.160 horrible stories that really brought them the yin and yang. 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.160 It's that whole yeah, making lemons out of lemonade story. 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.360 Was there anything particular that happened to you in your 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.959 life that may have triggered you to, you know, become. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.520 Yes, being the son of my mother, that's pretty much everything. 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.040 Being the son of my mom is like insane. 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:36.480 Not in a bad way, but in a crazy way, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.520 because she really she started this furniture business in nineteen 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:41.640 sixty out of a tenement house in Providence, and we 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:43.760 all had to work in the business, and my mother 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.160 wore the pants in the family. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.080 My father was like he just took a back seat. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.440 He was like a what avertina, you know. And she 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:52.000 was like, so she. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.800 Didn't have a high school education. She could, they couldn't 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.360 afford to send her to college. She felt like she 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.559 got screwed out of college. So she's a very strong woman. 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.920 And so it was just like everything was built around 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.479 the store, and I think that did have some impact. 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:05.840 You know. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.160 I wasn't like abused or anything, but it was just like, 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:10.720 you know, just insane stuff. 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:12.080 Like my mother. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.040 You'd go to the store one day and she would 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.079 lock customers in the store in the middle of the 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.360 day and think it was okay, like I'm not making 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.640 this suffer. I go there one day the door because 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.400 she has bad hearing, and she's very flighty, and she 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:26.040 likes to do. 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:27.560 What she wants to do when she wants to do it. 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:29.600 So the reason she had her own business is she 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.760 didn't want to be beholding to a boss, so she 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.199 can make her own hour. So in the middle of 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.160 the day, if she wanted to go shopping at I 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.600 don't know, TJ Max or something, she was just going 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:39.720 to go and lock the store. So one day she 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.319 decided to do that. And this has happened more than once. 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.240 And there's a woman in the store and the door's locked, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.120 and I'm like, how'd you get in here? She goes, well, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:48.679 I was looking around to turn to ask your mother 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:49.880 a question I couldn't get out. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.800 I said, how long you've been here? She goes four hours? 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.000 I said, what are you been doing? She goes, well, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.240 I browsed a lot, She said, I took a nap 0:10:59.280 --> 0:10:59.680 on that. 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.400 So fa, and she goes your name, Paul go yeah, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.760 she goes, well, the phone rang and I took messages. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.320 She took messages from me. 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.640 Okay, so you can never win with your parents, right, No, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.360 So I said to my I said to my like, goh, ma, 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.040 you can't lock people in the store. In the middle 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:17.160 of this, she goes, oh, I don't know what you're 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.319 yelling me about. The woman took on that on that 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:20.839 hope and she liked it so much she's going to 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.640 buy it. I made a sail and I wasn't even 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.920 in the store. I'm like, okay, you know I can't 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:25.720 do this anymore. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:26.280 I'm done. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.080 Like so, she goes through garbage on Sunday nights, look 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:30.040 up for good garbage. 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.800 She found her hearing aids in the garbage because they're 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.200 cheap as you grew up in the depression, and they whistle. 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:36.240 Is that me? 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.440 You take her for a walk, like within ten minutes 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.760 you have a pack of dogs following you down the street. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:49.079 Just it's like, so, so, I think what happened, you know, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.440 all joking Asidbermen is, my mother was so dominant that 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.240 you kind of needed to break out on your own. 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.080 And I think maybe comedy was a wait for me 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.240 to kind of step out of the shadows a little bit. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.360 You know, that makes a lot of sense. I'm she 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.680 left to go to lunch and lock the customers in 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.280 the store, is what you're saying. 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.959 Yes yes on a regular basis. 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:10.760 I love her. I love her. 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.520 Oh you would love her, Oh you you would love her? 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:18.280 Oh yeah, she keeps yeah, she's just just so wow okay, 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.600 And then the other thing was yeah so she so. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.280 I do think that there was kind of just that 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:29.800 thing of like she very much takes over the room, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.000 and like, I think, what you're brought up like that, 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:33.920 then one of two things happen. You either kind of 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:38.000 shrink or you try to break out of the room yourself. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:39.680 And I think maybe I went in that direction and 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.600 that's why maybe comedy was one of the things. And creatively, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.560 I think it was more fulfilly for me than being 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.720 on Wall Street and doing mergery deals. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.360 Yeah, because now I was creating was fascinating. 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:50.719 Yeah, because I was. 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.240 Creating something like when Leno did that joke and all 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.920 those people reacted to it, I think what And I 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.199 took time to figure this out, and millions of I 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.200 was worth the therapy to figure out like they I 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.280 created this thing out of thin air and then they laughed, 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:08.120 And that didn't happen with me. 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:09.600 As a lawyer, and lawyer, you know, you're. 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.800 Executing deals and you're doing you know, contracts and it's 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.320 more dry, and I think there was something missing in 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.920 that for me. And plus, you know, I mean, look, 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.680 the drugs on Wall Street were great, but not as 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:23.360 good as comedy clubs. Let me be honest with you. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.720 Did they tell you that, you know? You were They 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:29.800 thought you were funny? And while you're. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:31.959 At the law firm, I really was funny at the 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:32.360 law firm. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.640 But I also was like one of the few young 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.000 associates that wanted to do mergers and acquisitions, which is 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.920 a very like intense time consuming all nights, and a 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:42.480 lot of the young associates didn't want to do because 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.000 they didn't want to stay late or work weekends. 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:44.640 And I didn't care. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.600 I kind of liked I liked the frenetic pace of things, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.760 and that's what that kind of work is, and that's 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.400 what kind of comedy is like, especially when you're starting out. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.719 You're running around, you're doing sets, you try to get 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:57.840 bookings and this and that, you're acting, and it's like, 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.160 so there's something about me that likes that craziness. 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.280 You know, well, you have to. There is not one 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.320 comedian I've ever met that doesn't work their ass off 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.319 all day, all night, but don't call them in the 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:09.280 morning because they're up late. 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.160 Yes, yes, my friends would say, well, how come you're 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.720 sleeping late because you're nine to five is nine to five. 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.520 My nine to five is nine and night to five 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.360 in the morning, I'm doing shows and then I'm going 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.720 out and i'm you know, I'm you know, breaking into 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.720 cars and stealing mine. Now, no, but really you really 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:28.920 just a side thing when don't judge me. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:33.160 That's fine. I understand catalytic converters are very you know 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:38.560 exactly they're they're sought after. What does it feel like 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.320 when you're really connecting with an audience? You know, I 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.640 can't ask you about me because obviously I'm an easy audience. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.960 I love anything funny. I laugh until I cry. As 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.240 you can see, I have a tissue because my tearing 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.800 up your fan communities out there laughing you bring so 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.360 much joy to them. What does that feel like when 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:57.360 you're really connecting? 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.320 There is like a zone you get into, like where 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.680 you're just it's like having this really intimate conversation with 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:06.200 a bunch of people you don't know, but you're on 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.760 the same wavelength that you can even hear and feel 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.480 them like reacting, and it can be about it doesn't 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:13.520 have to be about anything heavy that you're talking about. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.120 Like I mean, the other night, I was just thinking 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.400 and I was I just said, I out of the book. 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.040 I'm like, how do the people make vacaline make any money? Like? 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:24.720 And people started laughing, and then I just. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.680 Went, I mean, I've had the same tub of vasaline 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.680 for like ever. My vacaline was handed down to me 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:37.560 by my grandfather in a will. Okay, have you ever 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:39.800 heard anybody say this thing? Hey, honey, I'm gonna go 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:40.840 to get more vasaline? 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:42.880 Weine? 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:46.560 No, you could go through every bag of garbage in 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.120 your town. You're not gonna find one empty container of vassaline. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.080 No. No, So I don't know what that company's doing. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.000 So I thought of that and I said it, and 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.120 it just went over really well. And then that feeling, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.400 it's like you connected with them on an emotional level 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.400 and it's not like connecting on an intellectual level. 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:06.440 And a meeting or whatever. 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.400 You do a pitch and there's a thing it definitely 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.200 and then when you're really in a groove, you. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.200 Can feel it like it just doesn't matter. 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.600 You're completely your guard is down and you're just like this, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.560 You're just it's like you're having a conversation with them 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.960 even though they're not speaking, but they're speaking through laughter 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:28.040 or their attentiveness, and so that it's a really it's 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.520 a place you get to and when you get there, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.760 it's like really special and different than like being in 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.640 a meeting at law firm like I was. And you know, 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.400 people like the document you drafted. You know, it's like, 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.000 you know, people are not breaking out champagne or whatever, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:43.600 you know what I mean. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.600 But like, I love that font that you you made. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.400 That document was the perfect font. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.400 Oh my god, that you chose Times New Roman. I 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.640 would have gone Ariel for you, mercurio. You're going to 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.200 be a partner. You are going to be a partner. No, 0:16:58.360 --> 0:16:59.960 there's a lot of guts going with the Times New 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:02.000 and you went with the twelve point. I would have 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.520 gone fourteen point. Good for you, Good for you. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.520 Do you think that it's there's something about Do you 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.400 think there's something about it in terms of a therapeutic power, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.080 you know, not just for the audience but for yourself. 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.840 When you're connecting at that high of a level where 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.440 you're just like you're in the zone. Do you think 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.000 that's like almost a therapeutic power. 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:24.640 Yeah, I think it's for both. 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.920 I mean I think you know, they talk about there's 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:34.119 been studies and even in cancer like laughter helps cure people, 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.600 or you know, there there's definitely you get the set 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.040 and there's people come up to me and say, I 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.760 needed to come out. I just lost my father. I 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:42.840 needed to come out. Things are so crazy in the world. 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:43.879 I needed to forget about it. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:44.720