Speaker 1: Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and t DC Media to What I had to
Speaker 1: do was I had to do an open mic two
Speaker 1: where I'm at now, and that road is long and hard,
Speaker 1: but I did it. I'm just gonna just do what
Speaker 1: I do. I'm gonna wear what I wear. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say what I say. If I never make it, I
Speaker 1: ever make it. If they don't like you, what is
Speaker 1: the consequence? Really? Nothing, nothing happens. I'm on a wave
Speaker 1: and I'm riding this wave. I don't know how long
Speaker 1: this wave is gonna last. Hopefully it lasts for a while,
Speaker 1: but if it doesn't, I know that. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: always going to be out there. And this is my
Speaker 1: little too, also known as Bobby Lee. But today I'm
Speaker 1: going to be called so the whole time, we're just
Speaker 1: going to keep saying, don't do until y'all stop watching.
Speaker 1: You're going to be here. Thank you. I'm a little
Speaker 1: too loud. It's blowing my mind. Oh there we go.
Speaker 1: That's fine. You can adjust it to whatever makes you
Speaker 1: have a very loud voice. You do. Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: You know you're my favorite, my favorite too. Generally speaking,
Speaker 1: you're my favorite. Genetically very good, your face genetically perfect,
Speaker 1: genetically perfect to look at my face. No, you're beautiful circle. No,
Speaker 1: you're perfect circle. It's like a yellow moon face. You're
Speaker 1: like the moon and the stars and everything in between.
Speaker 1: So I know you're super busy. So I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: that you're here today. Kidding me, um, I didn't even
Speaker 1: know I was going to do it until today, but
Speaker 1: it's I wanted to pretend like you've been. I've been
Speaker 1: looking forward to it from last week, but then I
Speaker 1: had amnesia. I've heard you had an advent calendar and
Speaker 1: you were leading up to the day every day. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was for the last three years, even before the
Speaker 1: studio was built, before the show even exists. Start checking
Speaker 1: it and stuff. So his hand, So that's our that's
Speaker 1: Steven Stephen. What did happen to your hand? Oh? I know, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's a it's an exciting story. Then good, he's up
Speaker 1: the zoo if you guys can't hear, and tigers escaped
Speaker 1: and clawed his hands. That's cool. So that's what happened,
Speaker 1: now that we got thought out the way, shall we? Yeah? Yeah, okay, great?
Speaker 1: So so the whole series is designed to inspire people
Speaker 1: who maybe a young a young little to do coming
Speaker 1: up in the world, trying to become a grown to
Speaker 1: do like yourself. Well, you know, the thing for me
Speaker 1: is that I didn't know I wanted to do what
Speaker 1: I'm doing until I was doing it. Just like you
Speaker 1: just showed up on the show, you didn't even know.
Speaker 1: I lived my life. I wake up and I go, okay,
Speaker 1: I don't stress about things, and I go what do
Speaker 1: I need to do today? And I do it the
Speaker 1: best I can. I'm a stand up comic. So I
Speaker 1: started to stand up in and So I was working
Speaker 1: at a coffee shop and it closed, and then right
Speaker 1: next door it was a comedy club, and I just
Speaker 1: a pretty famous comedy club the comedy store. But back
Speaker 1: then the San Diego wasn't um that popular, and I signed.
Speaker 1: I got a job there, first as a bar back,
Speaker 1: and then a month later I did open mic night,
Speaker 1: and then five years later I was I did Jay
Speaker 1: Leno and then but they're like, so much happened in
Speaker 1: between day. So we're gonna we're gonna talk about all
Speaker 1: that because stand up is, in my opinion, one of
Speaker 1: the hardest things on earth to do, and people are
Speaker 1: there in the crowd wanting people to crash and burn
Speaker 1: on stage. They don't want to laugh. No, no, I laugh.
Speaker 1: I'm the generous No no, I am a generous over laugher.
Speaker 1: And I snort sometimes only because I know that ship
Speaker 1: is hard, and it's like, to me, it's my biggest
Speaker 1: fear to stand up there, and like, you are there
Speaker 1: to entertain people and that's it, right, And so that's
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure. And if you're having an off
Speaker 1: day and people don't laugh, how do you not run
Speaker 1: off the stage crme? Well, because um, you have to
Speaker 1: build a thick skin. And I was very sensitive. But eventually,
Speaker 1: and you know, if I had a bad show, it
Speaker 1: would really affect me, like I wouldn't be able to sleep.
Speaker 1: But then eventually what happens is that you stop caring.
Speaker 1: Is it because you have so many reps in and
Speaker 1: you're going every right because you realize that what is
Speaker 1: the if they don't like you? What is the consequence? Really? Nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing happens. It's all my internal perceptions and how we
Speaker 1: feel about it. So it's like, you know, I saw
Speaker 1: a guy bomb on TV. I don't want to name who,
Speaker 1: you know who it was but he wasn't doing well
Speaker 1: on TV. I was like, I was living in San
Speaker 1: Diego and I was watching it. He was bombing, but
Speaker 1: there was like no canned laughter, but he seemed fine
Speaker 1: with it. So because he seemed fine with it, I
Speaker 1: was okay with it watching him, And then I thought
Speaker 1: it was cool that he was like I didn't care
Speaker 1: like that. I know I'm funny, you know, can I
Speaker 1: say funk? Yeah? I just did these people? You know.
Speaker 1: So what happens is you eventually um you you grew
Speaker 1: immune to people's um you know. Is it more about
Speaker 1: becoming immune or is it more about like building up
Speaker 1: the inner confidence and saying, you know what, I'm here.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to let them tear me dow. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to let them tell me I'm not good enough.
Speaker 1: Bombing is inevitable no matter what do you consider bombing
Speaker 1: people not laughing just or just like you know, you
Speaker 1: you're telling jokesone's laughing, or like something happens in the
Speaker 1: room where you lose control of the room and there's
Speaker 1: nothing you can do about it. For me, it's like
Speaker 1: that's inevitable. No matter what level you are at, you're
Speaker 1: gonna go through that so um for me, it's just
Speaker 1: like you know, realizing that this is not my night,
Speaker 1: and um, I don't really give a funk about these people,
Speaker 1: and you just okay, and then but we care. I
Speaker 1: care about you. I care about you personally. But like
Speaker 1: you know, also, I'm not one of those comics that's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a great job. I'm trying to make people
Speaker 1: laugh and escape there. You know, they're daily you know,
Speaker 1: routines of you know, I don't know, mine is a war.
Speaker 1: I don't view the audience as somebody I'm trying to help.
Speaker 1: I view them as somebody I have to defeat, right,
Speaker 1: like an animal that I have to tame. And sometimes
Speaker 1: I can't tame that animal. I think that's the way
Speaker 1: I get through it. You know. Yeah, what has been
Speaker 1: what has been the biggest challenge? Like where do you?
Speaker 1: Is there like a consider stint thing that came up
Speaker 1: for you in the earlier days that that had you
Speaker 1: lose control? Was there something in what you were doing well?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you had a lot of comics
Speaker 1: locally in San Diego, or like you have to do
Speaker 1: it this way or you know you're too dirty because
Speaker 1: I was very I'm still very dirty. On stage, I
Speaker 1: swear a lot. I talked about things that um, you
Speaker 1: know I got the God wouldn't like, but um Jesus
Speaker 1: or whatever I had, or they go, you have to
Speaker 1: wear a suit to do corporate gigs and do all
Speaker 1: these things. And I just thought to myself, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna just do what I do. I'm gonna wear what
Speaker 1: I wear. I'm gonna say what I say. If I
Speaker 1: never make it, I ever make it. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, what happened was I stuck to
Speaker 1: my guns, and I, um, even in San Diego, like
Speaker 1: if a headliner would walk in, like you know, someone
Speaker 1: like Polly Shore, Ice Clay or something like that, and
Speaker 1: they would see me, you know, there was something about
Speaker 1: me that they liked, and so I started opening for
Speaker 1: all these guys like Carlosmonca from San Diego. So I
Speaker 1: just stuck to my guns. And I still stick to
Speaker 1: my guns. You know, even when you're I'm acting in
Speaker 1: a director gives me a note sometimes I just can't
Speaker 1: do it the way they want me to do it.
Speaker 1: So I'm just going to do it the way I
Speaker 1: think it because this project and it doesn't feel authentic
Speaker 1: to like you and who you are as an artist.
Speaker 1: Maybe well, sometimes I just can't do it, you know,
Speaker 1: I just I just don't know what they're saying, and
Speaker 1: I can't do it. So I just kind of stick
Speaker 1: to my guns and do my thing. I got booed
Speaker 1: off the stage in front of twenty thou people. When
Speaker 1: was that? That was recently? This is after you've made it?
Speaker 1: People booed me off stage? Where was that? Up at North?
Speaker 1: It was in San Jose. Do you know what caused
Speaker 1: the booing? Did you? I had to follow Leslie Jones
Speaker 1: and she was on fire that night, and they actually
Speaker 1: boot you off the stage. I don't remember because I
Speaker 1: blacked out, you know, I blacked out for us, So
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what happened. But um, I was
Speaker 1: off staged for like two or three minutes and then
Speaker 1: I just kind of blacked out. And then I was
Speaker 1: backstage in some room with my shirt off because I
Speaker 1: was sweating so are And I remember my agent Matt
Speaker 1: was next to me and he was cackling, like laughing,
Speaker 1: you know, just maniacally. I go, what happened? He goes,
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone bomb like that. Do you even
Speaker 1: remember what was happening starting gibberish, So you were literally
Speaker 1: just not you know, and yeah, then then I remember
Speaker 1: that night. I was in the hotel room and I
Speaker 1: was like laying there right, and that just you know,
Speaker 1: you kind of relive certain parts of it that you
Speaker 1: know that you remember and then just eventually just kind
Speaker 1: of go, all right, that happened, and then you wake
Speaker 1: up and you're fine. Yeah. So one of the questions
Speaker 1: we ask all the artists and the creators on here,
Speaker 1: and everybody we have on is super successful, and you
Speaker 1: are no exception. We always ask about, like the worst
Speaker 1: day you got to before I even got to for you,
Speaker 1: was that, Well, that's not even the worst day. I
Speaker 1: have so many bad days, but I can't even you know,
Speaker 1: like fifty stories up that was there a day that
Speaker 1: so you woke up the next day and you had breakfast,
Speaker 1: you were fine, you moved on. Was there a day
Speaker 1: that you almost just said I'm done, I'm quitting this.
Speaker 1: This is not I mean, but that had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with the show. It had to do with the
Speaker 1: trajectory of my career. Well, that's just as important of
Speaker 1: a conversation because I think a lot of people set
Speaker 1: these goals, and a lot of times these goals you're
Speaker 1: already hitting them and you're already really successful. But to you,
Speaker 1: you're not. So you think you're failing. Yea, but I
Speaker 1: am failing. No, you're not. I know. But the thing
Speaker 1: is is that I here's the thing. I don't want
Speaker 1: to fight with you. I do. I want to fight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but um, the way I and this is probably not healthy,
Speaker 1: but the way I get through things is through I
Speaker 1: had to motivate myself. And for me to motivate myself,
Speaker 1: I have to create these rivalries and this and and
Speaker 1: and an atmosphere that's going to get me out of
Speaker 1: where I'm at. Where did that come from? I think Korean?
Speaker 1: I don't know Koreans do it? You know, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of like there was a point where, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was on a show called mad TV
Speaker 1: Freight never heard of it. I think it's got canceled. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you were basically the star of the show. They're
Speaker 1: somehere thinking, but Peel, you made history with that show.
Speaker 1: And you know, Alex Borstein did very well. They're all
Speaker 1: they're all great, but so are you. I feel like
Speaker 1: you're the type of person you would win like ten
Speaker 1: oscars and still think you're not doing it. Maybe people are, well,
Speaker 1: here's what happened. So then after Matte was over, I
Speaker 1: couldn't get any work at all, Like I couldn't you know,
Speaker 1: get an audition. I couldn't get anything going. And for years,
Speaker 1: why do you think that was successful? No, we would
Speaker 1: call casting directors and they would say, yeah, he was
Speaker 1: on Matt TV though, so we're not gonna they didn't
Speaker 1: like the show. People only later liked the show, you know,
Speaker 1: because the kids that watched it all became in there, became,
Speaker 1: you know, in their twenties, and they started having some
Speaker 1: sort of power. And then you know, and then people
Speaker 1: from a show started blowing up, like he and Peele
Speaker 1: blew up, um Ike Barrenholt started doing well, you know,
Speaker 1: Alex will sat so a bunch of these people will
Speaker 1: people just started working and then we became kind of cool.
Speaker 1: But in the beginning, it was terrible. And my doctor
Speaker 1: Ken Jong started working a lot, and he came in
Speaker 1: under the same type and he was just getting every
Speaker 1: role and I couldn't even get in the room to
Speaker 1: compete with for those roles, and so I just kind
Speaker 1: of set her on and said, um, you know, I
Speaker 1: look back and I go I did it. I did
Speaker 1: eight years on the show. I did stand up at
Speaker 1: tonight show. I did a couple of couple of lines
Speaker 1: and a couple of movies. I think that that's fine,
Speaker 1: let's get out of here. No. But the reason why
Speaker 1: I did is because I didn't know what else to do,
Speaker 1: like if somebody something else had come up for me
Speaker 1: to like, I had to you have to survive and
Speaker 1: make money. So for me, the only way to make
Speaker 1: money was to do stand up. So I would do
Speaker 1: shows on the road. So I was always touring, so
Speaker 1: every year I would just be doing thirty forty dates,
Speaker 1: weekends whenever. And then you're just out in like Nebraska
Speaker 1: or Illinois, and you're just out there grinding it out.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you would make good money, sometimes you wouldn't,
Speaker 1: but you know, you you have to survive as a
Speaker 1: human being in this society. And then, um, what happened was, um,
Speaker 1: you know that whole analogy of waves, It was true.
Speaker 1: So like you know, Matt TV was a wave that
Speaker 1: I rode for a long time and then I then
Speaker 1: I caught the wave, went back out there and I
Speaker 1: waited for the next wave, and they waited for years
Speaker 1: when a wave came along. So another wave came along.
Speaker 1: So what happened was I got the show called Animal Practice.
Speaker 1: It was a NBCi, it was a show about veterinarians.
Speaker 1: It was a sitcom and there was a monkey in it.
Speaker 1: And then I was in the Dictator and then I
Speaker 1: booked another pretty big thing. And then after those things
Speaker 1: were over, I waited another three or four years, three years,
Speaker 1: and then now I'm on a new wave now, which
Speaker 1: is I did this Viceland show, I did Love a
Speaker 1: little bit. I'm on a sitcom now, and um, I
Speaker 1: did a couple of movies and and I had my
Speaker 1: podcast is doing well. So I'm gonna the big I'm
Speaker 1: in the biggest wave that I've ever had been on. So,
Speaker 1: so how are you feeling right now? Great? Good? I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful, Thank you Lord. No, but you're You're a
Speaker 1: good place right now. Life's good, right, Yeah, I'm on
Speaker 1: a wave and I'm writing this wave. And then, um,
Speaker 1: I don't know how long this wave is gonna last.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it lasts for a while, but if it doesn't,
Speaker 1: I know that, you know, I'm always going to be
Speaker 1: out there. And so you know, what I realized about
Speaker 1: myself is I'm always gonna try, which is it's it's cold,
Speaker 1: because here's the things is that you have these dreams
Speaker 1: and these goals, but you know, as I think it's
Speaker 1: the human condition where nothing ever really just kind of
Speaker 1: completely sad because you get to the next one and
Speaker 1: then you see the mountain right above and you're like,
Speaker 1: one more year and I can get there. And you
Speaker 1: also realize that you think that it's going to fix
Speaker 1: you in some way, that if I get this, this
Speaker 1: and this, I'm going to feel this way and then
Speaker 1: everything will be great. But what you realize is that
Speaker 1: you can never escape yourself. And I have so many
Speaker 1: issues and problems and you know mental, you know anguish
Speaker 1: that I have to fix those things internally for me
Speaker 1: to ever be happy, and I refuse to because the
Speaker 1: fact that I think that it's going to affect my
Speaker 1: comedy in some way. So you think that in some
Speaker 1: ways the trauma and all the stuff you've gone through
Speaker 1: makes you the funny person that you are. But I'm
Speaker 1: also impossible to live with, like my girlfriend is at
Speaker 1: the end, tell me why you're so impossible to live with?
Speaker 1: I can't even begin if this was a five hour podcast.
Speaker 1: But I am a living nightmare. I'm like, I'm like Geoffrey,
Speaker 1: I'm jof Free from Game of Thrones. I am yeah,
Speaker 1: like you see me now and you're like, oh, he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you know soft kind of like you know
Speaker 1: Asian guys. Funny, I'm Craig Cray. I think you're hard
Speaker 1: on yourself, and I'm Craig Craig crazy like you know,
Speaker 1: I'll like, I'll tell you, I'll give you one story
Speaker 1: love story time here. So I was playing this game
Speaker 1: called Red Dead Redemption two. Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1: Have you guys heard of that game? No, my good
Speaker 1: friend's nephews, you guys played that game. Yeah. So I
Speaker 1: was playing Red Dead Redemption and um, one of the
Speaker 1: goals was to kill five cougars with an arrow. But
Speaker 1: cougars are very difficult to find in the game. It's like,
Speaker 1: let me ask you something, how many Eskimos have you
Speaker 1: met in your life? None? That I remember exactly. That's
Speaker 1: what cougars are in the game. Okay, you never see him. Okay,
Speaker 1: so um, so I finally found It took me like
Speaker 1: five hours to find a cougar. So I have my
Speaker 1: bow and arrow and I'm going back like this, and
Speaker 1: then my girlfriend goes and they look over like this,
Speaker 1: and I turned back. The cougar had bit my neck
Speaker 1: right and then I died. I throughout the control like
Speaker 1: screamed like anger. Oh it's just such crungy goods. Yea,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I don't know when to talk to you,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I go, what I'm playing that,
Speaker 1: you know? And then you know, I'm just like, I'm
Speaker 1: forty seven years old. Who acts like that. It's the
Speaker 1: fucking video game. You're passionate. You're not Joffrey because you
Speaker 1: got upset over a video game. You're a passionate person. Oh,
Speaker 1: but then here's I do Joffrey things like this though
Speaker 1: here and then I choked her. I have before, but
Speaker 1: but in fun, fun kept getting in fun. I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: But um, I'll do stuff like um, like for my openers,
Speaker 1: Like sometimes I'm on the road and my opener is
Speaker 1: about to go up on stage, I'll block him from
Speaker 1: going on stage. They just said my name. I go, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna how do you block I Just there's
Speaker 1: a door usually to the stage, and you and I
Speaker 1: just blocked the door, like, yeah, but I'll block it
Speaker 1: for like two minutes, why just to see them suffer? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh I didn't and then yeah, and then they start
Speaker 1: sweating and then I go okay, now yeah, or else
Speaker 1: say you'll never open from me again unless you hop
Speaker 1: scotches across the stage times. Is this your version of hazing?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and they go yeah, but it has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with my aunt. You need to hop scotch.
Speaker 1: You're never gonna open for me again. So then if
Speaker 1: I watched them on stage, I see the hop scotching,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'll tell an opener. If you don't
Speaker 1: say Yabba dabad five times during your act and you
Speaker 1: can't tell the audience why you're saying it, right, you
Speaker 1: have to do that so they'll go ya and then
Speaker 1: just go into their act. It's so fun for me,
Speaker 1: but that's very job for you. Ask I was not
Speaker 1: expecting that story. I'll tell you that much. That means no.
Speaker 1: I Actually it's playful. It's like a fun older brother hazing.
Speaker 1: You're just you know, like you've worked up the ranks
Speaker 1: and now they're just paying their yabba dabba. Dude, Come
Speaker 1: on like it? Do you just stand up because I
Speaker 1: would shoop my pants publicly you would pants, yes, and
Speaker 1: privately no. But I'm just saying, like, that's why I
Speaker 1: commend you guys for what you do, because not only
Speaker 1: are you up there and doing your thing, but you're
Speaker 1: expected to deliver something that will make everybody have an
Speaker 1: emotional reaction to you. That's that's a lot of pressure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you're doing exactly what I do without an audience. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But like in my head, I think they're laughing when
Speaker 1: I said yeah, but Dad would do. I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: so funny in my head, but nobody they laugh because
Speaker 1: I pay them right right. But what I'm saying to
Speaker 1: use this is what what end up happening is you
Speaker 1: do what you do on stage, and you're going to
Speaker 1: be able to like if they don't laugh, you'll be
Speaker 1: able to handle it. I actually think I'm quite funny,
Speaker 1: but funny call me Roberts. So you should try it.
Speaker 1: I should. Can I open for you? You You would never
Speaker 1: let me open for you, because they should on your stage?
Speaker 1: Can I see this if you said to me, I
Speaker 1: want to try it? Like, this is what I do.
Speaker 1: I play the Irvine improv once a year and I
Speaker 1: always have new comics go up and for like people
Speaker 1: have never done it before. I had, um, Michael Rosenbaum,
Speaker 1: you know who played Lex Luthor on Smallville, he did
Speaker 1: it for the first time opening from me. There Will Sasso,
Speaker 1: who was a mad TV guy. He did it there.
Speaker 1: And I always have new people do it there. It's
Speaker 1: in front of six seven people, and if you ever
Speaker 1: wanted to do it, should trying. So Like, I think
Speaker 1: I'm funny in a like I can play off of
Speaker 1: you way. But comedians are storytellers. So you'll get up
Speaker 1: there and you'll talk about a very ordinary thing and
Speaker 1: it becomes hilarious. I don't know, You're like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can do it, so like what do you just take
Speaker 1: a regular thing that happened in your day and then
Speaker 1: you just exaggerated because it's not all true. I mean
Speaker 1: there is like ways to like, um, you don't If
Speaker 1: you don't want to do it, you don't have to
Speaker 1: do it. I want to be I want to be
Speaker 1: the next Bobyl. Do you want to try? You do?
Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about doing it? Though? Everyone I
Speaker 1: know and I'm not trying. This is not the Tatiana
Speaker 1: Show right now. It's all about you but everyone I
Speaker 1: know tells me I should do improv, but I'm my
Speaker 1: biggest fear. I'm telling you take away the crowds, I
Speaker 1: would do it. Improv is different though, Well you should
Speaker 1: try because you're with other people and they can like balance, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you bounce people. But stand up is you're about yourself, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you're everyone's just looking at you, like, make me laugh.
Speaker 1: That's why I always snort and laugh really loud in
Speaker 1: the audience because I'm like, I'm you know, I'm pathetic.
Speaker 1: But there's something about there is something about being up
Speaker 1: there and hearing the roar or even silence and people
Speaker 1: just staring at you and they're listened to everywhere that
Speaker 1: you're saying. There's just something about that that's like, um,
Speaker 1: like going to church or something like very kind of spiritual.
Speaker 1: And I don't I don't want to sound narcissistic or
Speaker 1: like no or whatever, but people are there to see you.
Speaker 1: I mean, there is a thing where you're like and
Speaker 1: then like sometimes I have a great show and the
Speaker 1: audience they'll stand or something after and then I can
Speaker 1: go out there and you know, it's just there's something
Speaker 1: about it that's better than anything else. That's ever existed. No,
Speaker 1: I mean I believe that. And when you have a
Speaker 1: good show like that, you're reminded why you're doing what
Speaker 1: you do. So is comedy stand up specifically something that
Speaker 1: because you're booking shows and you're on television and you're
Speaker 1: doing movies. Is comedy something in the stand up world
Speaker 1: that you will always do no matter what because it
Speaker 1: feeds your soul. Well, what happened was when I was
Speaker 1: on mat TV for um eight years, I really didn't
Speaker 1: do it that much because in my head, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm on TV now, because I was like that I
Speaker 1: made it, yeah, And I'm like it was just like
Speaker 1: in the tooth I got in two thousand and I
Speaker 1: was young, you know, and I was like yeah, and
Speaker 1: then you're like, you know, we have you know. I
Speaker 1: remember the first year I was there, Green Day played,
Speaker 1: and you know, you see, like you know, guest stars
Speaker 1: like Anna Faris or Ryan Reynolds, people just kind of
Speaker 1: guest starring on the show and you're like there and
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm a part of it. And then when
Speaker 1: the show ended, I didn't do like concentrate on stand up,
Speaker 1: and so when I had to go on the road.
Speaker 1: I didn't really have the time or the material to
Speaker 1: do it, but I had to do it to pay
Speaker 1: my mortgage because I bought a house. So I was strownding,
Speaker 1: you know. On stage. I was frantically trying to figure
Speaker 1: it out every show, and it was that first year
Speaker 1: was really tough. Sometimes I would have to do forty
Speaker 1: five and I get off after the club, but don's
Speaker 1: like only twenty five minutes. I don't know what else
Speaker 1: to do. I no more jogs, you know, and they'd
Speaker 1: be like, um, yeah, the next show, you have to
Speaker 1: do forty five because we're paying you for you know.
Speaker 1: So it was just a really tough after that. But
Speaker 1: so I made a vow never to stop. So even
Speaker 1: now when i'm on you know, I mean, I'm only
Speaker 1: like fifth lead on a on a sitcom, but but still,
Speaker 1: I you know, when I'm working during the week, even
Speaker 1: though I'm tired, I'll still go up, Oh, it's not marijuana.
Speaker 1: It's just fine. It's just a jewel. Because I quit smoking.
Speaker 1: You don't have to cover quit because the kids here.
Speaker 1: I quit smoking and for two years, but I've been
Speaker 1: addicted to these jewels. Let me see what it's like
Speaker 1: it's just um, is that a vape? I just sounded
Speaker 1: like such a grandma a little vape? What is that?
Speaker 1: You look like somebody that you don't? Do? You do rink?
Speaker 1: I mean I love a good glass of veno, but
Speaker 1: it's got to be a full body temperare Yeah, you
Speaker 1: spoke marijuana. Yeah, your children? I have a French bulldog.
Speaker 1: Does that count? I have dogs as well? But why why?
Speaker 1: Why do you do you do not do those things?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just like a control freak and
Speaker 1: I don't like being out of control. I think that's
Speaker 1: what it is. Yeah, I mean I went to college
Speaker 1: in Miami, so I was satan for four years basically UM.
Speaker 1: But then you know, when you get that out of
Speaker 1: your system, you become like the second coming of Christ.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened to me. Yeah, Like I got
Speaker 1: it out of my system and now I'm on that path.
Speaker 1: Well I'm you know, you know, I've been sober for
Speaker 1: sixteen years, right, But that was a full blown drug addict,
Speaker 1: and I've always struggled with UM addiction and m alcoholism,
Speaker 1: even as a kid. I went to my first rehab
Speaker 1: at the age of four. Wow. Yeah, and then I
Speaker 1: went to rehabs until I was seventeen, and then um
Speaker 1: I went to this place called McDonald Center, and that's
Speaker 1: where I first got sober the first time. And I
Speaker 1: stayed sober for thirteen years. And then when I got
Speaker 1: on mat TV, UM relapsed. Yeah, yeah, you know, and
Speaker 1: then and then I got sober two years after that.
Speaker 1: But that two years was the worst two years of
Speaker 1: my life. The years that you were getting sober. No, No,
Speaker 1: the two years. So when I was thirteen years sober,
Speaker 1: I got mad TV and then I was doing was
Speaker 1: I was partying the first two years I was at
Speaker 1: Matt TV. And those first two years at mat TV
Speaker 1: was the worst two years of my life. Are we done? Now?
Speaker 1: What is people doing? No, he's just he's just checking
Speaker 1: the camera. He's like, he started talking about drugs. Shut
Speaker 1: it down. This interview for me is a dream because
Speaker 1: you're being honest and you're not doing like the pr
Speaker 1: everything's perfect thing, which no one can relate to, by
Speaker 1: the way, because people out there are dealing with the
Speaker 1: same exact thing. So and also your success story, so
Speaker 1: it's great to share this. Yeah, I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: think that um I would have any of the things
Speaker 1: that I have. Even when I did stand up when
Speaker 1: I was twenty three, from when I told you I
Speaker 1: was working to coffee shop and all that I was
Speaker 1: still I was very like active in my my recovery.
Speaker 1: And I was. And the reason why I even did
Speaker 1: stand up was because one night I was at a
Speaker 1: men's meeting and I was twenty three years old. It
Speaker 1: was a Friday night. I was at this men's meeting
Speaker 1: and you know, I was a speaker. I was the
Speaker 1: first speaker. So I spoke, you know, at this meeting.
Speaker 1: And this old man after the meeting comes up to
Speaker 1: me and he goes, I've never seen him before or
Speaker 1: after that, by the way, and he goes, a kid,
Speaker 1: you should do stand up? Was it Rocky Balboa? Does?
Speaker 1: Want to sund like? And then he and I got really,
Speaker 1: you guys, do something about I know I've never seen you,
Speaker 1: you know, seen you before, but up there, that was
Speaker 1: the funniest thing I've ever seen in a meeting. It
Speaker 1: was supposed to be you'll you know, but um so
Speaker 1: that that that's planet of seed. And then you know,
Speaker 1: a month later I did it. So without me being sober,
Speaker 1: I don't think I would I wouldn't. I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: here right now because everything just led up to you know,
Speaker 1: everything this. Yeah, yeah, totally. And I think that's really
Speaker 1: inspiring for people who might be in a dark time
Speaker 1: right now, or they're in a rut and they do
Speaker 1: have big dreams, but they just can't get out of it.
Speaker 1: You've had, like you said, waves of things that come
Speaker 1: and go. What has been the thing? There's got to
Speaker 1: be something that has pulled you out of those moments
Speaker 1: because there are dark times like what has has it
Speaker 1: just been internal? No? I mean people around you? Oh, No,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's it's basically you. You can you
Speaker 1: can see kind of into the future to see you
Speaker 1: can see where your life is going to end up.
Speaker 1: It's that like, you know, in six months, I could
Speaker 1: die kind of a thing where you go, you know,
Speaker 1: if I keep doing this, I'm gonna lose everything, you know,
Speaker 1: And a lot of people they just go to the end,
Speaker 1: right But for me, I'm lucky. I can just see
Speaker 1: you know, imminent you know danger, So I just kind
Speaker 1: of go, you know, I'm gonna quit right here because
Speaker 1: I don't want to die, you know, And I have
Speaker 1: parents that are still alive. I have a brother, I
Speaker 1: have I have family, and you know you have a girlfriend?
Speaker 1: Who have a girlfriend? Yes? That you can't you know
Speaker 1: you want to destroy yourself. You know you have responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Why do you think drugs and partying is so relevant
Speaker 1: in the comedy world. Is it just because you're up
Speaker 1: late at night and you've got to like get yourself going,
Speaker 1: Because there's there's obviously a trend with comedians, right well,
Speaker 1: I mean, why do we do what? What is the
Speaker 1: need to go up on stage and have and make
Speaker 1: strangers laugh? There is a weird but that's that's you
Speaker 1: being in an entertainer. There's also, I think as a
Speaker 1: stand up especially, there's something else going on there of
Speaker 1: like this need for it, you know, because you're not
Speaker 1: doing it. I don't care what any comics says. You're
Speaker 1: not doing it to make people happy. You're doing it
Speaker 1: to feed something that's missing in your life or something
Speaker 1: that you're you know lacking. Right, what is it for you? Well?
Speaker 1: You know the reason why I relapsed in the first
Speaker 1: place because I replaced stand up comedy for spirituality, right, so,
Speaker 1: you know, in order for one to get sober, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, is is that you need some sort of
Speaker 1: divine intervention or some spiritual awakening, right. But whatever ended
Speaker 1: up happening is I started doing stand up and the
Speaker 1: audiences applause and their affirmation filled whatever that thing that
Speaker 1: I was missing. Where I was supposed to fill it
Speaker 1: with spirituality, I filled it with something that was just
Speaker 1: kind of like fleeting, you know, like you know people's
Speaker 1: you know, applause, and I thought it was spiritual. It
Speaker 1: did fix me for a while, but it's like any
Speaker 1: other drug. It's not real really, you know. So now
Speaker 1: I don't take myself that seriously. Even if you know,
Speaker 1: I'll go to some markets, I'll sell out, you know,
Speaker 1: you know I wasn't very I sold out, so like
Speaker 1: see the tickets and you know, the rooms packed. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they come out, they cheer, you know, I
Speaker 1: do it, but you know, afterwards, I don't have that
Speaker 1: thing like, oh I'm special, you know, I just gotta go.
Speaker 1: That's my job, and um, I say hi to people.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not it's just it's a weird thing.
Speaker 1: Even um on the street, I just when people go,
Speaker 1: can I get a photo? Yeah? Why? I don't know
Speaker 1: why you would want one, But yeah, I don't have that.
Speaker 1: You know, you see a lot of comedians that that
Speaker 1: we're nice, but then they make it and they're just
Speaker 1: full fucking douchebags and like and they buy it and
Speaker 1: they and they swim in their own like narcissism and
Speaker 1: their ego and they think there's something special and then
Speaker 1: they crash. You know, I'm not that. No, you're definitely not.
Speaker 1: We Actually we're not going to name names that there
Speaker 1: was a comedian who was supposed to be be on our
Speaker 1: show and this person did not want to come to
Speaker 1: the studio because it was in the middle of Hollywood
Speaker 1: and they were afraid that they were going to get mobbed.
Speaker 1: And in my head, I'm just like, you're not going
Speaker 1: to get mobbed. And it's great, it's like, you're really funny.
Speaker 1: But we've had people in the studio who have like
Speaker 1: fifty million followers. They didn't get mobbed because people have
Speaker 1: like a sense of respect, right. But to me, that
Speaker 1: was like the craziest thing. And I was just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I want your your safety is more important to me
Speaker 1: to stay home. You know who I know who this
Speaker 1: comedian is? You might I so want to know so badly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But also like it's fine. I get that, but and
Speaker 1: also it is it is a weird time right now
Speaker 1: where I think celebrities do have to take an extra
Speaker 1: a layer of security because people are crazy. Fans are crazy.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've had a no no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no. Have you ever had a crazy fan story? No?
Speaker 1: Because for me, it's like how can you especially with
Speaker 1: with the Internet and social media and also YouTube stars
Speaker 1: like for instance, I was this is funny. I was
Speaker 1: literally I went to that lobby because it's a hotel, right,
Speaker 1: and I ran into this kid. I took a photo
Speaker 1: of him, This kid Casper, right, he isn't like a
Speaker 1: huge YouTube star from England. He's got like four million,
Speaker 1: five million followers on Instagram, is a big star. The
Speaker 1: reason why I know that was because I did his movie.
Speaker 1: I was. I played the bad guy. Him and this
Speaker 1: other guy YouTube star. They did a lions Gate movie
Speaker 1: and I was the bad guy, the nemesis in it.
Speaker 1: And um, the thing is is that you know, with
Speaker 1: these kids coming up in social media and and YouTube
Speaker 1: and their power with all the followers and this, and that,
Speaker 1: there is no way to become a star anymore. You know,
Speaker 1: there's It's not like in the eighties, you know, where
Speaker 1: if you were on a sitcom there's only four channels
Speaker 1: and you were an instant star. I mean you would
Speaker 1: get like thirty million people watch your show. I'm on
Speaker 1: a TV show. Now it feels like I'm on doing
Speaker 1: community theater. I think that nobody has ever said to me,
Speaker 1: I love you on that show, not one time? Right,
Speaker 1: So how do you you know if you were if
Speaker 1: I was on you know, um, the original Roseanne or
Speaker 1: Cosby Show or Seinfeld, like a huge show, that's one thing.
Speaker 1: But if you're not on a show like that, there's
Speaker 1: no way to behave that way because there's no real
Speaker 1: reason because the people don't give a fuck. This is Hollywood.
Speaker 1: I lived right down the street, you know, and I've
Speaker 1: done a million things. I walked on the street, like
Speaker 1: one out of every person will say can I get
Speaker 1: a photo? But like you know, even when I'm on
Speaker 1: the roads, you know, in Canada, I'm a bigger star
Speaker 1: just because Matt TV was bigger then. Still it's like,
Speaker 1: what's it's not? It doesn't, it doesn't, it's nothing. What
Speaker 1: the fun is that I want to know who this
Speaker 1: person is? Now it's Okay, it's cool. I'm complete with it.
Speaker 1: You are I'm complete, okay, right, like I let things go.
Speaker 1: It's like, fine, I'm not complete with it. So on
Speaker 1: the topic of influencers, what do you think about like
Speaker 1: this new wave of celebrity coming in. You've got like
Speaker 1: these huge YouTube stars that are taking I don't want
Speaker 1: to say taking television roles because they're they're getting them right,
Speaker 1: But how do you feel about this new wave of celebrity,
Speaker 1: this new wave of actor who's not really necessarily an actor,
Speaker 1: but they're getting their roles. They still have to compete
Speaker 1: with us, right. It's like when I'm in an audition
Speaker 1: and I'm testing for a network and you're performing in
Speaker 1: front of the executives and the president of a network
Speaker 1: and you have to kill it, go ahead, try yeah,
Speaker 1: because they don't at that point, they don't care how
Speaker 1: many follows you are. You have to get the part.
Speaker 1: So for me, it's like there's more people, but I
Speaker 1: got in the door my own way. But the thing
Speaker 1: is is that, um, I feel a little bit. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be difficult to say. I'm gonna say it
Speaker 1: in my own way. When I was coming up, we
Speaker 1: had no internet, so there was only one way to
Speaker 1: do it, really, and there was actually only two ways
Speaker 1: to do it there was as a stand up especially
Speaker 1: is you get really good fifteen years later you become
Speaker 1: a headliner, and then you come to l A and
Speaker 1: then see what happens, or you come to l A
Speaker 1: before that and hopefully you can act as well. You
Speaker 1: can luckily to land apart and then get it that
Speaker 1: way right, And um, so I but I did Dorman
Speaker 1: washing dishes, to come to l A the comedy store
Speaker 1: in Hollywood, cleaning the roof, cleaning the basement, checking ideas
Speaker 1: for years. Then you climb up to like, um, your
Speaker 1: first TV spot, and then you climb up to you know,
Speaker 1: getting auditions. So I did it the way it was
Speaker 1: set up, okay, And so there's something I didn't do
Speaker 1: it in my bedroom and all of a sudden, straight
Speaker 1: to you know, the casting office. No I did it.
Speaker 1: You know. I'm from a place called Poway, California. And
Speaker 1: in Poway, my parents are immigrants. They owned clothing stores.
Speaker 1: They don't not speak English, they don't know what Hollywood is.
Speaker 1: I have no connection to Hollywood. So what I had
Speaker 1: to do was I had to do an open mic
Speaker 1: two where I'm at now, and that road is long
Speaker 1: and hard, but I did it, and there is something
Speaker 1: about me I sometimes, you know, I'll close my eyes
Speaker 1: on go I can't believe that you did it. And
Speaker 1: I had a lot of hardships on the way, but
Speaker 1: nobody handed you a single thing. Yeah, and there is
Speaker 1: a sense of pride. I guess when it comes to that,
Speaker 1: you know that I did it, but you don't in
Speaker 1: your head, you don't go you know I'm going to
Speaker 1: make it. You just do what's in front of you.
Speaker 1: And back then it was like, well I got booked
Speaker 1: at this coffee shop on Friday. I'm gonna go do that.
Speaker 1: Oh um, I get to host a show where there's
Speaker 1: a headliner. I'm going to do that. Oh I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make twenty bucks if I do a show in Escondido.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do that. And you just do You just
Speaker 1: live your life. How am I going to pay rent?
Speaker 1: How am I gonna you know, like everyone else? And
Speaker 1: then eventually you don't have a day job, and then
Speaker 1: eventually you're fine. But now the system, so you did
Speaker 1: it that way right, you worked your way up. Now
Speaker 1: it's like people are putting these skits on Instagram and
Speaker 1: on YouTube, and you're seeing some of them open at
Speaker 1: like laugh Factory the Comedy Store. What do you I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've seen some of them bomb and you or
Speaker 1: or do really well. Well, here's the thing, though, it's
Speaker 1: like still at the end of the day they get
Speaker 1: to the Comedy Store or laugh Factor, they still have
Speaker 1: to you know, compete against us. And you know this
Speaker 1: show I'm doing Saturday with Burr and David Spade and
Speaker 1: all these guys, they're beasts. I mean they're I know them,
Speaker 1: They're beasts, and you know, in a packed room, they
Speaker 1: also have names, so they have fans, and also they're
Speaker 1: at the top of their game. So yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: care how you got there, but can you follow that?
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you this, Papa. Can you
Speaker 1: know if if Rogan or whoever is on the lineup,
Speaker 1: I might not do as well. But I have no fear.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna walk off stage
Speaker 1: and people go, oh, you killed it or whatever. You know,
Speaker 1: But I only got there because I put in the
Speaker 1: work and the years, you know. And here's a little thing.
Speaker 1: It is that those guys the reason why you do
Speaker 1: all the work is because you eventually get the respect
Speaker 1: of those guys as well. So when you're on stage,
Speaker 1: you don't feel like you're a a faker, you know what.
Speaker 1: You know that you belong there because you have your peers,
Speaker 1: you know, go yeah, and you guys a kind of
Speaker 1: came up together. Yea yeah, And I'm not gonna say that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, in the beginning was Joe Rogan and I friends. No,
Speaker 1: I was this kid, and I probably ran and got
Speaker 1: a drink for him, and I probably, you know, it
Speaker 1: was too scared to talk to him at one point.
Speaker 1: But one day he says, what's up, dude, and you go, oh, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been here for a while, right, And then eventually like, um,
Speaker 1: it's so funny because I here's here's the great thing
Speaker 1: about working at a comedy club as a new comedian,
Speaker 1: this is that not only do you meet because when
Speaker 1: I started, you know, it was I saw Sebastian model
Speaker 1: Skalko go up the first time and he bombed. He
Speaker 1: just sold out twenty thousand seats and I think Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: or Philadelphia, right seats one show, right, I was there
Speaker 1: when he bombed in front of like eight people or whatever,
Speaker 1: and he was like, I don't know if I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do this. I know, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: I just saw him grow to this gigantic thing, right.
Speaker 1: But not only that is by working at a comedy club,
Speaker 1: you meet other people that might not be doing stand up,
Speaker 1: but they're like when I came to the comedy store,
Speaker 1: there was a kid, Matt, and he used to hang
Speaker 1: out at the comedy store and he was a male
Speaker 1: room guy at GIRSH and he used to hang out
Speaker 1: at the open mics, and you know, I became friends
Speaker 1: with Matt and we became very close. And then Matt
Speaker 1: became an agent at GERSH and then he became one
Speaker 1: of the head agents at GIRSH and then he signed
Speaker 1: me and then I'm still with Matt. And then Matt
Speaker 1: went to see A. He's the head of the commedy department.
Speaker 1: But I knew I had known him for twenty over
Speaker 1: twenty years and he's my guy. That's the That's why
Speaker 1: coming to l A as a young person and doing
Speaker 1: these like you know, washing dishes and carrying ship and
Speaker 1: all these little things, and you meet other people that
Speaker 1: are struggling. There's another kid named Jordy who I used
Speaker 1: to do open mics. He was kind of a bigger,
Speaker 1: orange hairt guy who just wear this green tie on
Speaker 1: stage and him and I would do all these open
Speaker 1: mics here in Hollywood in front of nobody. Was dismal
Speaker 1: back in the late nineties. And he's one of the
Speaker 1: executives at Comedy Central now right, and he's my friend.
Speaker 1: He calls me, Hey, you want to do the show?
Speaker 1: You know. So it's like, you know, that's why that's important.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not skipping those things you can go to,
Speaker 1: you know, do a YouTube video and have have to
Speaker 1: generate an audience. And that's great, and I'm happy for you,
Speaker 1: but in many ways, I think that this way is
Speaker 1: better for me because I need allies. Well, you built
Speaker 1: a really solid foundation in your community, and I was
Speaker 1: going to act. I was going to ask you this
Speaker 1: question and closing, um, what is a piece of advice
Speaker 1: you'd give somebody, the young hopeful comedian who's doing stand up.
Speaker 1: They may be bombing, but you just I think you
Speaker 1: just answered it. You just have to put yourself in
Speaker 1: the community and just immerse yourself in that world. From
Speaker 1: what I hear and and don't be above taking the
Speaker 1: mopping job at the comedy start. But I also think
Speaker 1: that suffering is a part of it. It's the suffering
Speaker 1: makes you grow. The suffering. Also, when you start with
Speaker 1: like ten guys, eventually seven of them leave. They quit
Speaker 1: because they can't handle the suffering. But the two or
Speaker 1: three of you that stick around, right, you're closer to,
Speaker 1: you know, the top, so you can't. The suffering is motivation.
Speaker 1: It keeps you strong. And Allison is an actress and
Speaker 1: should I she came in She's like, I'm just in
Speaker 1: a mood today, but you know, she's very talented. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm calling you out right now. You have these, especially
Speaker 1: when you work in the industry. I go through it
Speaker 1: myself where I'm just like, why am I doing this?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, keep on, keep on, keep on. One.
Speaker 1: I mean, here's the thing. But like last year, right,
Speaker 1: I was gonna quit doing acting because I I tested
Speaker 1: for um This War a Brother Show and it was terrible.
Speaker 1: I from the president of the network and it was
Speaker 1: a horrible audition and I wanted to jump off a building.
Speaker 1: And then this year my agent goes, you want an
Speaker 1: audition for pilot. I'm not I'm done. I can't do
Speaker 1: it anymore. But what happened was, um, there was a
Speaker 1: show that wanted me. I wouldn't audition, but then that
Speaker 1: president last year I tested for. He said pretty much, Well,
Speaker 1: he tested last year, so just give it to him.
Speaker 1: So you just, you know, just by failing and showing
Speaker 1: up the year before and then the year later, you know,
Speaker 1: I got awarded for you meet me bombing, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But my point is that it just
Speaker 1: I didn't quit. I stayed in town, and then you know,
Speaker 1: here we are. You know anyway, I don't even like you.
Speaker 1: You were the perfect interview. I promised you guys an
Speaker 1: inspirational series, and you just basically killed it. I just
Speaker 1: want to cancel the rest of the series now you
Speaker 1: did it all. Are you gonna cry? Can you shoot
Speaker 1: your pants? You know what you're like? No, Bobby Lee,
Speaker 1: what a delight. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Speaker 1: That was he made us laugh. He got us to
Speaker 1: think a little. Nobody's quitting anything ever. Behind the influence
Speaker 1: as a production of I Heart Radio and t DC
Speaker 1: Media