WEBVTT 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:27.125 Thank you for making the time to do this. Dude, thank you for making the time. No. Thank you. No. You did it. I'm here because of this guy. It's been the last interview we did was nine years ago. Is that right? For what? What did we do? Planes. That's right. Was it fire and rescue, or is it the first time? First one. Santa Monica Airport. Do you remember that junket? Yeah. I think it was there was there was planes 00:00:27.990 --> 00:00:49.755 in the in the area. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I wore, like, a tan or a banana colored suit. Yes. Right? Did you recently watch this clip or something? No. I just I have a weird thing about, like, what I was wearing at at certain points. You told me this great story. And it's always so difficult when you do junket interviews because they're so quick. Right? Right. Three, four minutes. You told me this great story about Ernest Glenn. 00:00:50.475 --> 00:00:52.715 Wow. Ernest Glenn. Yeah. That's the first 00:00:53.220 --> 00:00:56.900 person that didn't show up for a comedy gig, 00:00:56.980 --> 00:01:08.100 an open mic as we call them. And I I filled in without even knowing I was gonna go on stage for the very first time. That was the guy's name that didn't show up. Right. When the host said, where's Ernest Glenn? 00:01:08.865 --> 00:01:35.095 I said, that's me. And then I ended up doing my first comedy show ever Wow. As Ernest Glenn. There was some weird background are you, Ernest Glenn? I never found that guy, man. Really? What do you think Ernest Glenn was a real name? Oh, yeah. I definitely feel like they were going to the list of people that signed up for the potluck or whatever. And when he didn't show or maybe he I don't know. Maybe he left or whatever it was, but I was from time to time, I'll just Facebook and be like, where is Ernest Glenn? I wanna reach out and say thank you for starting 00:01:35.495 --> 00:01:40.455 my career by not showing up. There was this weird backwards tie in to the movie, 00:01:40.615 --> 00:01:42.695 to Plains, because Dusty 00:01:42.935 --> 00:01:44.775 got his way into the 00:01:45.095 --> 00:01:45.895 tournament 00:01:46.375 --> 00:01:59.740 by faking a name. And I didn't even know this Ernest Glenn thing. I didn't know any of this stuff. I don't remember any of that. Really? Yeah. Okay. Because I was like, was there It mirrored my comedy career. By accident. And then Dusty Croppapper, 00:01:59.740 --> 00:02:01.340 Dane Cook, the DC. 00:02:01.580 --> 00:02:11.355 Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was a lot of, like, little hidden Easter eggs that I felt like were in there kind of speaking to my comedy career. But Ernest Glenn. Wow. 00:02:11.595 --> 00:02:23.420 I Wow. Thirty one years later doing stand up comedy. And when I hear that name, it probably impacts me more than any other name that you could say because it made my life what it is Wow. Completely 00:02:23.420 --> 00:02:28.380 because one person decided not to show up for a show. Were you terrified when you got on stage the first time? 00:02:28.940 --> 00:02:43.035 I what I didn't even have time. I was honestly, it all happened so fast. I think if I knew what was going on that night, I'd be sitting there like, you know, oh my goodness. Wait. Am I gonna bomb? It happened so fast that then I was up there, and then I'm just doing some 00:02:43.755 --> 00:02:57.580 jokes or routines that I thought someday when I sign up, I'll do the Then I'm just going into it. But the one thing I remember about that first set first of all, I did get a few laughs in a in a room full of 30 or 40 people. I got a few laughs, but what I remember 00:02:58.060 --> 00:02:58.700 is 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:00.860 feeling like 00:03:01.555 --> 00:03:03.875 right away knowing I'm a pressure player. 00:03:04.035 --> 00:03:17.300 When it was really, like, put on me, like, you have to make this work right now Yeah. I identified almost immediately. Maybe all the jokes weren't great. Maybe I was lackluster in this area or that, but I was prepared to, like, 00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:30.785 meet that moment. And so moving forward, was like, okay. I'll be okay once I get up there even though maybe offstage I was a little ragtag. And then were you like, I gotta do this immediately again? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I didn't do it immediately, it was almost like, my god. Is this gonna like 00:03:31.745 --> 00:03:37.505 that fear of can I be funnier? Do I have you know, can I expand upon that? 00:03:38.465 --> 00:03:46.130 Especially when you're a young comic, you're kind of in your head ruminating about all that stuff. So I think I got on stage about six days later at a place 00:03:46.690 --> 00:03:56.690 called the ninety nines, which was a bar that had another, like, open mic situation where you could sign up and get in front of, like, all the people were just watching whatever the local sports 00:03:57.035 --> 00:04:06.315 was, and you get up on stage and try to pull their attention towards you. And I think I got a few people to take their eyes off the game. But, no, after Ernest the Ernest Glenn moment, it was 00:04:07.035 --> 00:04:15.240 I I knew this was my life. I just find it so difficult watching your comedy and speaking with you that you You find it difficult watching my comedy. I love 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:22.680 that's a segue that I can get into. I find it very difficult watching your comedy. I just I can't digest it. 00:04:23.315 --> 00:04:24.755 No. Where are you going It's with 00:04:26.275 --> 00:04:27.555 hard to believe 00:04:27.795 --> 00:04:32.995 that you were an anxious person growing up. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I was an introvert. 00:04:33.155 --> 00:04:35.235 I was like one of those people that 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.780 you know, in school the thought of 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:40.620 having to 00:04:40.940 --> 00:04:45.500 forget about getting in front of the class, the thought of even if the teacher asks me something, 00:04:45.900 --> 00:04:51.915 I was mortified at the thought of it. When it did happen, I was even more like just discombobulated 00:04:51.915 --> 00:05:02.075 at that moment, but I would be sitting there tapping my toe going, please don't call me. Like, or in sports, please don't pass the ball to me. I'd never wanted any participation because I was so scared that I would not 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:03.710 come through. 00:05:04.270 --> 00:05:06.350 How does that turn into being 00:05:06.670 --> 00:05:20.345 a prolific stand up comedian? You know how many people over the years that I went to school with were like, where did that like, how? You know? Because they knew that about me, that I was just really trepidatious and had a lot of social anxiety, right? But 00:05:20.585 --> 00:05:22.025 that first set, 00:05:22.745 --> 00:05:30.300 and I told my mom later that night, because I told her what happened, she said, well, how did you do? And I said, I think I I 00:05:30.540 --> 00:05:32.140 exceeded my expectations. 00:05:32.140 --> 00:05:32.860 I mean, some 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:35.260 of the jokes, even if they 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:36.380 missed, 00:05:36.700 --> 00:05:38.220 it wasn't cringey, 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:39.580 and I kind of 00:05:40.140 --> 00:05:49.765 commented on it. I almost had, like, a little commentary to say, like, you know what? That joke's not ready for public consumption. Let's move on. Let's pretend that Yeah. And I was covering and improving, 00:05:50.085 --> 00:05:50.645 so 00:05:50.885 --> 00:05:52.325 it was almost like 00:05:53.605 --> 00:05:59.990 a Clark Kent Superman kind of moment, except I wasn't pretending to be Clark Kent. I was really Clark Kent. 00:06:00.630 --> 00:06:06.310 But on the stage, man, it it became it felt like a little bit of a superpower. Like, Sasha or Sasha 00:06:06.550 --> 00:06:15.325 what is Sasha Fierce, Beyonce. Right? A little bit. I just needed the wind machine, and and I had the mullet, so that probably would have worked. But it it it was 00:06:15.885 --> 00:06:25.325 I identified immediately that I I had a place in the world. If I wanted to just cultivate it Yeah. Maybe it would, you know, pay the rent. So it was very performative? 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:30.700 It it was yeah. I mean, in the first year, it was everything 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:32.940 that stand up comedy 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:37.820 should and shouldn't be. Every bit of it that was, like, could be exceptional 00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:43.205 and forward moving and feeling evolution, and then all the stuff that you hear about hell gigs 00:06:43.365 --> 00:06:45.445 and nightmare situations 00:06:45.845 --> 00:06:49.445 and heckler battles and not getting paid and 00:06:49.925 --> 00:06:51.045 failing miserably. 00:06:51.925 --> 00:07:22.235 But you can't stop doing it because you're in a constant state of like, why did that work? Why didn't I work there? Why did that crowd not like me? What and you start figuring, like, I need to try pushing buttons tonight. I have to I remember when I went to New York City being, like, I'm gonna see how far I can let the ship leave the shore. How much can I turn them off on purpose to see when can I, you know, bring them back to me? So you need years and years and years of that try and fail. Yeah. And you need them equally. You need very, very bad moments 00:07:22.395 --> 00:07:23.195 coupled with 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:25.240 highlight moments. 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:31.000 When do you feel like you turned the corner and you were like, I am now a comedian? When 00:07:31.640 --> 00:07:37.000 did I yeah. Because I was really embarrassed to say it for a long time. I actually was. It's a good question because 00:07:37.495 --> 00:07:47.095 I didn't I couldn't say to you, I I do stand up comedy. I think I was a little ashamed of it. I I I just didn't I was I was very beta. What was the job up till then? 00:07:49.095 --> 00:07:50.935 Pizza. I worked at a pizza place. 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:58.190 So slinging pies. I was a dietary aid at a nursing home. I worked at a video store, you know, renting 00:07:58.590 --> 00:07:59.390 movies. 00:07:59.790 --> 00:08:04.190 I I sold the Boston Globe out of a truck at a at a Walgreens. 00:08:04.190 --> 00:08:14.405 I mean, I did anything I could to continue the stand up comedy career and to avoid any legitimate nine to five. Because I knew if I went into a plan B, that like most people, you get kinda 00:08:14.645 --> 00:08:18.565 stuck. Yeah. Sort of in that. So I did a lot of miscellaneous 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:35.845 part time stuff, and then doing gigs where, you know, if you could make 20 or 30 or $40 and just, you know, put it in the till and go, okay, I got two more weeks of this I could probably do, and then I gotta figure out how to pick up some hours at like the pizza place. So but eventually, were like, okay. I'm gonna lean into this. 00:08:36.885 --> 00:08:41.445 Yeah. I think that it was like the first two years, it was like this 00:08:41.525 --> 00:08:45.285 hobby that I had a a real affinity for 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:49.380 and made me feel it made me feel like 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:54.180 like I had purpose. It really did. It made me feel like 00:08:55.540 --> 00:09:00.905 anything was better than how I felt kind of when I woke up and thought about facing 00:09:01.225 --> 00:09:02.025 the world. 00:09:02.665 --> 00:09:05.625 Was almost like, this place, I have the ability to 00:09:06.585 --> 00:09:13.385 I don't want to make it like model in and say, I felt special. I really felt like, all right, this is a little thing I can contribute. This works sometimes. 00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:19.850 And then after about three or four years, I was in a comedy group, we were doing sketch and improv, and 00:09:20.650 --> 00:09:26.650 improv games, and I played guitar. We did anything we could on stage, make up songs, and just 00:09:26.890 --> 00:09:31.485 anything and everything to entertain people. And after about three or four years doing that, 00:09:32.285 --> 00:09:44.685 I quit all my jobs, and then I was a full time comedian, and that's when I had to finally start letting people know, yeah, this is what I do. I'm a comic. Oh, really? Be funny. And then it was just mortifying to 00:09:43.640 --> 00:09:57.800 It's so funny. Like, comedians and magicians fall into that same category where it's like you tell them that you do that for a living and they're like, prove it to me now. Go. Exactly. Exactly. It's somebody once said it's like, you know, it's not like you meet a plumber and go, lay down some PVC piping. Let's see. 00:09:59.015 --> 00:10:10.535 Grab some copper tubing and and make a, you know, make a kitchen sink work. But Every magician I've ever known does have a deck of cards with them. Is that true? Yes. To redo some sleight of hand. Because they're like, alright. Here you go. 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:35.465 I'll show you something. I think I probably, some time into my career, always had, uh, you know, a CD or something. So if somebody was like, are you funny? I'd be like, here. Just take it. If you write me an email, I'll know that you like my stuff. Be nothing worse than people being like, well, be funny if you're a comedian. Oh, man. And and a lot worse. Sometimes people think because you're a comedian they can just have at you because it's also in some way it's it's strange. In Boston, 00:10:36.185 --> 00:10:39.370 in that era, stand up comedy was 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:50.170 two things at once. It was the boom of the eighties was happening. The Robin Williams and the, you know, the success of Mork and Mindy. And if you were on the Tonight Show, it was almost like 00:10:51.095 --> 00:10:52.695 Boston identified, 00:10:52.855 --> 00:11:01.815 man, if you're if you're good at this job, like, this is something really exceptional. Yeah. But they also because it was Boston and it was, like, 00:11:03.270 --> 00:11:08.790 it it was rough and tumbly in the area where I used to do stand up, if you didn't 00:11:08.870 --> 00:11:10.710 come with something that was 00:11:11.350 --> 00:11:15.830 exceptional in their eyes or met that expectation of the boom of the eighties, 00:11:16.955 --> 00:11:19.675 then, oh, man, they would just they they would 00:11:20.395 --> 00:11:29.115 they could really bring the hammer down on you. Looking back, best thing ever. Because it put you through boot camp in comedy. If you're good, they were like, you're good. And if you were half, 00:11:29.890 --> 00:11:39.010 they would just You'd be like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, just brutal, brutal, brutal after you got off stage. And so it kind of formed you to go In my comedy 00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:42.050 graduating class, it was like me, Bill Burr Wow. 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:44.450 Patrice O'Neill, who sadly has passed away, 00:11:45.785 --> 00:11:55.385 Gary Gullman, and then a bevy of other comics that, like, if I threw some other names at you. But that class, we came up like, if we don't stick together and really 00:11:56.105 --> 00:11:56.985 hone our craft, 00:11:57.630 --> 00:11:59.710 this city will be like, 00:12:00.350 --> 00:12:05.390 you're not you're not representing this place very well. Joe Rogan in Boston at that time? He was a 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:13.315 graduating class ahead. Him and CK were, like, the two or three years right before us. So when we were coming in, 00:12:13.715 --> 00:12:15.315 you had the legendary 00:12:15.715 --> 00:12:21.795 locals that to this day are still, like, some of the best comics I've ever seen in my life. Then you had guys like 00:12:22.035 --> 00:12:22.835 Maren, 00:12:22.995 --> 00:12:23.555 CK, 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:25.260 Joe, 00:12:26.140 --> 00:12:37.100 and a lot of others that were in that a couple years before us. So they were quickly, like, getting out of there. Right. But, yeah, I did I remember there was a place in Boston. It was called Dick Dougherty's 00:12:38.115 --> 00:12:45.315 Shipwreck. It was a boat in the harbor, and I used to do shows there with Rogan all the time. We were always performing on this docked boat 00:12:45.635 --> 00:12:46.515 to people. 00:12:47.075 --> 00:12:50.115 There were some strange gigs back then, but, no, seeing those guys and 00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:53.290 how they then took their careers in some 00:12:53.850 --> 00:12:56.010 new directions from the former 00:12:56.010 --> 00:13:02.250 stars of comedy was it was good for us to be able to see that, like, oh, this is a career, man. Did you ever have the authentic Boston accent? 00:13:04.145 --> 00:13:11.265 My dad well, when I listen back on Harmful of Swallowed or the first stuff, I can hear it. But my dad did broadcasting, 00:13:11.505 --> 00:13:14.385 and he was big into enunciating. 00:13:14.625 --> 00:13:21.130 And so there were times in my life when I'd slip into it, and, like, when it gets late, I get tired. I'm like, dude, I'm 00:13:21.770 --> 00:13:36.435 I'm tired, kid. But my dad was always about, like, really articulating to tell a story because he did color commentary and sports stuff. So I had it, but I also didn't have it heavily because he kinda kept me, like, focused on you know, don't sound so regional. 00:13:36.675 --> 00:13:45.300 You know? Appeal to a broader audience, and don't just go like, oh, yeah. Everybody over at the harbor is down at he's like, make sure that you, you know, build up that 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:46.420 that 00:13:46.740 --> 00:14:03.775 modulation and and use your voice to be able to speak to several people and not just a region. That was my exact move when I moved from Canada to The US. Is that right? I was like, I don't wanna sound I don't want someone to see me on TV and go, oh, that guy's clearly from Canada. Right. A little having a little bit of that inflection, 00:14:04.095 --> 00:14:07.375 it's great. It makes you identifiable. But I guess if it's 00:14:07.855 --> 00:14:14.920 too heavily a region, then it feels like you should only be in that. Right. Particular You don't hear a lot of here 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:24.120 in The States, and they'd like, ah, you're not one of us. Yeah. What are you doing here? People often will hear the the Canadian accent from me because my dad's side came down for PEI. 00:14:24.685 --> 00:14:27.885 No. Oh, wow. We're all we're all Prince Edward Island, 00:14:28.285 --> 00:14:29.005 O'Hagans 00:14:29.245 --> 00:14:32.845 that came down and then couldn't get hired in Boston as O'Hagans. 00:14:33.005 --> 00:14:36.685 So they switched it to Cook to try to You could have, like, a bit of, like, a 00:14:37.570 --> 00:14:38.450 Wisconsin 00:14:38.450 --> 00:14:44.690 accent, perhaps. I don't know. It feels like a I don't know. Sometimes I I'm always 00:14:45.970 --> 00:14:58.415 asked about, like, now where are you from? People that don't know I'm from Boston, and it's kinda interesting sometimes where people think that I'm from. You know? Yeah. Maybe it's just changing a little bit of the accent in Boston or tempering 00:14:58.415 --> 00:15:09.940 it started to make people go like, I hear something in there, but I don't know exactly Yeah. You what it talk about the boom of comedy in the '80s, but you really brought comedy back in the February. 00:15:10.180 --> 00:15:11.620 Like, you made it, like, 00:15:12.020 --> 00:15:12.900 cool again. 00:15:13.380 --> 00:15:20.180 Well, it was like I was coming up with a generation of the next generation of comedy fans. And I could see that, like, oh, this is like an Internet generation. 00:15:20.755 --> 00:15:21.875 This isn't 00:15:23.235 --> 00:15:24.355 this isn't 00:15:24.595 --> 00:15:29.155 stand up at, like, just an underground spot with a brick wall. This is 00:15:29.635 --> 00:15:34.755 the the not only the Internet, but really, like, Comedy Central at its peak in in knowing, like, 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:37.940 is stand up comedy is finding 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:39.140 its way 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:40.900 to be directly, 00:15:41.060 --> 00:15:44.580 not just a comic in a comedic role on a sitcom, just 00:15:44.900 --> 00:15:53.675 stand up public consumption of stand up comedy sets, right, from Comedy Central. So I looked at it like I was meeting college kids coming out of Boston, 00:15:54.155 --> 00:16:02.635 and when I would talk to them at, like, a meet and greet after, they would often say, this is my first comedy show. And the more I heard that, I was like, I'm the first comic they're seeing. So 00:16:03.515 --> 00:16:13.620 and I'd say, you've never seen so and so live, or they were already stars or they were already, you know, further along. So I was like, okay. I'm just gonna come up with this generation of comedy fans and see if I can, 00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:21.780 you know, be like their leader. And, I mean, in in it I I don't know if it was, like, something you were planning on doing. I don't know if it was 00:16:22.285 --> 00:16:34.125 a it just it worked. It worked. Well, it wasn't like I was at first, wasn't planning on, like, okay. Can I, like, lead the charge more than I was, like, I'm just gonna my dad once said, 00:16:34.730 --> 00:16:46.250 you you should do a lot of colleges because the things that you discover in your college years, you'll take with you for the rest of your life? That's good advice. Spoke to me, and he's like, and that means there'll always be somebody who probably wants to you 00:16:46.570 --> 00:17:04.490 remind them of that era, and they'll always wanna support you. So I was like, okay, at least you have the chance to have somewhat of a career to be able to do this long term, even though it might not be the full time gig since I love it. Yeah. But once I saw those numbers really expanding, and it wasn't just New England anymore, 00:17:04.650 --> 00:17:08.490 and it was people saying, hey, will you will you come to Vancouver? 00:17:08.490 --> 00:17:09.610 Will you come to 00:17:10.090 --> 00:17:22.045 Tempe, Arizona, and places that I never even, you know, at that time heard of, I was like, this is a this is happening. I I I was like, I got it. I I know what is this is this is getting bigger than me, but I'm 00:17:22.205 --> 00:17:28.285 but I'm fulfilling it because I'm putting out more content, and I'm doing meet and greets anywhere I go, and I'm really, like, 00:17:29.550 --> 00:17:32.910 ingratiating myself with a fan a new, you know, comedy 00:17:33.070 --> 00:17:48.405 fan that could be a fan for life. Was it still being met with the criticism from people that were like, it's just the Internet. Like, who needs that? Well, at first, yeah, there was a small period of time where people would say and it was so funny. I used to really think this was like they'd say, 00:17:48.725 --> 00:17:52.085 oh, he clicked a couple of buttons and filled up Madison Square Garden. 00:17:52.725 --> 00:18:01.150 Like, people really thought, oh, he he did the the Myspace thing, and he just clicked a button, and it was like, you know, listen. It it doesn't matter how 00:18:01.150 --> 00:18:06.990 much you bang the drum and get all the people in the circle to watch you. If you don't deliver on something, 00:18:07.955 --> 00:18:10.275 they will leave faster than they 00:18:10.515 --> 00:18:19.075 formed. Sure. So to me, it was like the clicking of the button was well, you didn't see the fourteen years prior to this that I was, 00:18:20.230 --> 00:18:21.830 you know, at the at the 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:38.365 gig meeting meeting everybody longer than the show. Literally hanging out three hours after an hour and a half show to make sure everybody got a chance to get to know me and really build that army of fans. That's always such an interesting thing when it's the fourteen year overnight success. 00:18:38.605 --> 00:18:40.365 Right? I know. It's like 00:18:40.685 --> 00:18:41.965 and and people will say, 00:18:42.365 --> 00:18:53.190 did it how did it feel when it all just kinda happened? I'm like, it really never felt like that. It it it was on honestly, like, I'm at a college. There's 200 people. Wow. 200 people care about seeing me. 00:18:53.590 --> 00:19:09.755 Syracuse the next year. Hey. There's 420 people. And then, oh, wow. Now it's a thou you know, it's like, saw that year because I was playing those same schools. That was, like, part of my route year after year. So when I finally went to Penn State, I remember Penn State thought it was gonna be 5,500 people. 00:19:10.555 --> 00:19:11.115 And 00:19:11.915 --> 00:19:25.420 I had a couple things that were in the zeitgeist and a Comedy Central thing, and my first album was kinda still underground and people passing around, burning it or whatever. And then I remember Penn State called and said, hey, can we move this show to the field house? 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:28.140 Because more than 5,500 people are 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:33.285 clamoring to get in. And I was like, how many people? And they were like, it's about 8,500. 00:19:33.285 --> 00:19:35.445 And when we got to Penn State, 00:19:36.565 --> 00:19:38.485 it was 12,500 00:19:38.485 --> 00:19:41.365 people had showed up. And that night, 00:19:41.765 --> 00:19:42.645 I was like, 00:19:42.885 --> 00:19:44.725 I'm taking this anywhere. 00:19:44.885 --> 00:19:46.565 I'm gonna take this to the biggest 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:57.840 audiences that I am willing to take it to. Was that the biggest crowd you'd played at that time? At that time. 5,000, 6,000 before. Yeah. And then it just boom. It just was like, 00:19:58.955 --> 00:20:07.435 what's the local arena? Forget the college. What's the fifteen, twenty thousand seat arena? And then it was that for about three or four. I didn't even do theaters. I skipped theaters. 00:20:07.515 --> 00:20:19.140 Yeah. Because for so long, it was Which I missed. The comedian in front of the brick wall. Right. Or in the cafeteria doing the college gig or maybe a theater at the Yeah. Yeah. But it went from 00:20:20.340 --> 00:20:37.655 years and years of great clubs, you know, the comedy sellers and, of course, the laugh factories and, you know, Knicks Comedy Stop in Boston. It was, like, club, club, club, and then all these college audiences. And I was looking at theaters. I'm like, okay. I wanna play the Beacon. I wanna play the Fox Theater. I had all these ideas. You had the celebrity theater in Arizona, 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:41.540 and then it just jumped. It went to 00:20:41.940 --> 00:20:54.340 only arenas for, I didn't even know, like a four or five year run before I came back. Was like, I'd I'd like to do these theaters. What do you think it was? Because so many comedians wish to play one arena show in their entire career. 00:20:54.915 --> 00:20:57.955 I think it was because of my energy, 00:20:58.675 --> 00:20:59.395 my 00:20:59.875 --> 00:21:04.595 the access to me that I think before that was well, it was not in vogue 00:21:05.315 --> 00:21:09.475 to know your audience. It was actually kind of a no no. I got a lot of shit early on because 00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:12.090 I treated it like a business. 00:21:12.330 --> 00:21:17.770 I treated it like everybody does today, podcasting and you know, you have to be entrepreneurial. 00:21:17.850 --> 00:21:37.555 It used to be a business of twenty three hours of the day nobody knows you. You're skulking around, you're a dark figure, you're somewhere in a corner. Then you come to life, you're only the funny person. And I was like, what? No, gonna I don't subscribe to that. I already knew I liked watching comedians on maybe on a Richard Pryor would do a talk show where he'd be very candid. 00:21:38.660 --> 00:21:49.780 Or a comic that I loved, like Robin Williams would do a role that had a lot of heart. And I was like, why can't people get to know that side of me and know, oh, he's funny when he's on stage. I 00:21:49.780 --> 00:21:50.660 think it was 00:21:51.225 --> 00:21:57.785 just a confluence of all those things of the energy, of course, routine that I worked on for so many years. 00:21:58.345 --> 00:22:03.545 They were really rooting for me because they knew me. They knew me as a pal online. 00:22:03.785 --> 00:22:10.540 And people, I'm telling you, man, they were writing, I knew we'd make it. We. I knew we would get you there. I knew we'd 00:22:11.180 --> 00:22:11.900 SNL. 00:22:12.060 --> 00:22:28.565 I knew that we would do that. It was always I used it. I always said we. I never said I wanna do that. I always talked to my audience and we're gonna do this together. Why don't we try to? I still, to this day, is that's how I feel. That's how I wanna communicate it. I'm I'm not there unless it's a we situation. 00:22:28.725 --> 00:22:30.405 Right? Yeah. But I 00:22:30.725 --> 00:22:42.510 have to give everything I have and do something that I think has been in the whole you know, in the never been done before holy shit business in order for the fans to go. That this is where we need to elevate you. Do you remember who was in your Myspace top eight? 00:22:42.830 --> 00:22:54.915 I had a lot of people. I would shuffle it out. You know? What an honor that would be. Cute girls at the time that I was like, oh, I gotta put her in there. I'd like to meet this girl at some point. How quickly did Tom get out of the Myspace topic? Tom was in there for a bit because he was a buddy. 00:22:55.635 --> 00:22:58.515 But then real? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know Tom. 00:22:59.075 --> 00:23:03.395 Tom was a a friend, and and, of course, it was like then it became almost like 00:23:04.115 --> 00:23:04.515 like, 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.400 you know, what would somebody send a sufi picture? 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:12.840 Or maybe they were the one to get 00:23:12.840 --> 00:23:26.055 me in their town, and I'd say, oh, you brought me to this place I've never been before. I'm gonna put you in my top eight for the entire honor that would be. It was cool, man. It was yeah. I really loved that whole experience. That that era of the Internet was 00:23:26.295 --> 00:23:41.230 a lot of fun. There's a whole generation that won't even know the honor that it was to be in someone's Myspace top eight. Yeah. It because it wasn't at all corporate. That was a website that didn't feel even though, you know, there was money behind it, it was just a whole different 00:23:42.215 --> 00:23:43.175 strategy 00:23:43.415 --> 00:23:51.415 and just the whole rigmarole had nothing to didn't feel like it felt like the Wild West. It didn't feel like there was anything to do with, like, 00:23:52.055 --> 00:23:54.615 algorithms and who gets what or, you know, 00:23:56.040 --> 00:24:02.040 a currency stream. And it it really was just like a hang. You know? So if you were on the cutting edge then 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:03.960 of Myspace, 00:24:04.600 --> 00:24:12.015 what do you see with, like, TikTok right now? Because I feel like that's kind of maybe twenty years later what that was doing then. Yeah. It's like 00:24:12.655 --> 00:24:13.775 there's still 00:24:14.175 --> 00:24:15.295 an ability 00:24:15.535 --> 00:24:17.135 to craft something 00:24:17.455 --> 00:24:20.335 and create something that's wholly original. 00:24:20.335 --> 00:24:23.375 I mean, I know TikTok's a lot of things. There's a lot of different kinds of content. 00:24:23.990 --> 00:24:33.030 You put a lot of content out on TikTok. I I I mean, I love it. I I don't think I've engaged with anything outside of maybe for a little while I was doing things like Clubhouse. 00:24:34.470 --> 00:24:39.190 You know, I love doing podcast stuff, but TikTok was the first one in a long time 00:24:39.525 --> 00:24:40.245 that 00:24:40.565 --> 00:24:50.485 and I know them behind the scenes. And when they approached me and I was like, this is kinda how I would like to use this as a hub for the next, you know, era of my my comedy. 00:24:50.725 --> 00:24:51.125 They were 00:24:51.890 --> 00:25:02.770 it it felt like that Myspace of it all, where it was kinda like, what can we do to help you cultivate the audience that you want in here? So I like those that group of people's great, and I think that it's 00:25:03.250 --> 00:25:04.770 it's incumbent upon the creator 00:25:05.305 --> 00:25:11.145 to come up with something that, of course, is gonna get eyes on it. But even more importantly is 00:25:11.465 --> 00:25:13.465 you have to have a long 00:25:13.705 --> 00:25:18.505 form game plan to where you wanna take your audience, where you wanna take your career. 00:25:18.665 --> 00:25:19.785 So I try to tell, 00:25:20.340 --> 00:25:21.380 young, 00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:27.460 especially comics, like, don't be in such a rush to feel like you gotta get that 5,000,000 00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:32.820 views on so and so. Because trust me, when you get it, you gotta be ready. 00:25:33.525 --> 00:25:44.005 And if you're not, and that next number slips down to nothing Yeah. It's gonna feel it's gonna feel like you're over, and you're not. It's just the way society 00:25:44.165 --> 00:25:45.045 imbibes 00:25:45.205 --> 00:25:46.005 on content. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.120 But if you've got like your character, 00:25:49.120 --> 00:25:50.160 your persona, 00:25:50.800 --> 00:25:54.400 you've mapped out where you want to take your audience, you know how to communicate 00:25:55.840 --> 00:25:56.400 that, 00:25:57.280 --> 00:25:59.920 then you have a real chance at utilizing 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:01.520 those machines 00:26:01.925 --> 00:26:07.285 to feed your machine. But if you don't have a machine of your own, that machine will use you, 00:26:07.525 --> 00:26:12.965 and then you'll be sitting a year later going, man, that was like, why didn't that sustain? 00:26:13.285 --> 00:26:14.245 And it's because 00:26:14.650 --> 00:26:30.090 you didn't have a sustaining plan. What's the thing you're driving people toward? The special right now? The special. It's it's really for me And the next special after that is Yeah. I mean, it's it's really, you know, like, permission to speak freely. Of course. I wanted to create the most 00:26:31.215 --> 00:26:39.535 incredibly beautiful comedy special with one of the most legendary directors who I've worked with twice before, Marty Culner. He directed Vicious Circle, 00:26:40.015 --> 00:26:42.975 argue arguably one of the most beautiful comedy specials. 00:26:44.060 --> 00:26:46.060 You know, he made that arena. 00:26:46.540 --> 00:26:50.540 I mean, it was I I just remember looking at the footage saying, Marty, like, 00:26:50.940 --> 00:27:02.755 you made me look like beyond what I even thought I was doing up here. And then we did isolated incident. When I called Marty on this, I I said I want to set the bar again. You know? A lot of people followed suit, 00:27:04.355 --> 00:27:06.435 you know, after doing the arena show. 00:27:06.755 --> 00:27:23.380 I I could watch a lot of people and go, this looks like what we did. This has the same kind of Yeah. And and yet before that, people were like, this isn't a comedy show. This feels like, you know, this isn't really but it is. You know, when you can be right in the middle and it's like four theaters are around you at any given point. 00:27:23.700 --> 00:27:25.060 And so called Marty and said, 00:27:26.045 --> 00:27:29.245 you know, I'm ready to to do something that I think is 00:27:30.525 --> 00:27:31.645 a game changer. 00:27:31.885 --> 00:27:36.125 And so pitched him on the idea, my house, Hollywood Hills, drones, 00:27:37.005 --> 00:27:38.685 but really more than anything, the content. 00:27:39.170 --> 00:27:46.450 Letting people in, not just in my home, you know, that's what it thematically was, but I'm letting people in closer to 00:27:46.690 --> 00:27:47.970 my experiences. 00:27:47.970 --> 00:27:49.970 Sometimes it's funny self deprecating. 00:27:49.970 --> 00:27:56.775 Sometimes it's a little cocksure because I've done a lot of cool shit. And sometimes it's like, here's where I failed so badly 00:27:56.775 --> 00:27:57.735 and had, 00:27:58.455 --> 00:28:02.535 you know, traumatic capsizing experiences that I can now laugh at. 00:28:02.935 --> 00:28:07.175 I said, so it's gonna be aesthetically beautiful, but it's gonna be introspective 00:28:07.175 --> 00:28:07.735 and 00:28:08.210 --> 00:28:13.970 unbelievably funny because I'm more present at 31 than I've ever been before. I love 00:28:14.050 --> 00:28:19.170 film, and I love that you shot this at IMAX. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's insane. Yeah. We found IMAX 00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:24.425 standard with quality cameras just because I knew I wanted to upscale it and 00:28:24.665 --> 00:28:28.025 and show it on an IMAX screen. I was like, this feels so 00:28:28.185 --> 00:28:32.185 cinematic. And so we have that. Like, that's like 00:28:32.665 --> 00:28:47.850 Christopher Nolan really, like, changed the game. Like, when because IMAX for the longest time was, like, science documentaries. Right. Right. And then he was like, let's film the Dark Knight Right. Using IMAX cameras. Yeah. Him and James Cameron, obviously, like, you know, really avatar, you know, made made things 00:28:48.330 --> 00:28:49.610 feel more immersive, 00:28:49.850 --> 00:28:58.335 you know? And that's Do you think this is gonna be a new trend? Like, comedy specials shot on IMAX? If I could cross my fingers and make a wish, it's like, I hope that 00:28:58.895 --> 00:29:03.375 after people see this at we're gonna do Man's Chinese Theater as the opening night, 00:29:04.335 --> 00:29:09.480 I hope that some theater people see it and say, maybe we should do a run of this or 00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:37.590 do the next one thinking of it more in this, you know, in this way. An event type of, you know, film situation. I don't know. I mean, I just know that I'm just happy we're showing it one time on a big screen in front of a great audience. And if you're gonna debut it in any theater in Los Angeles, like, that's the one That's it. That's where all the big movies That's right. Do. Yeah. It's still referred to as the Chinese theater. That's what people call it. The TCL Chinese theater. Formally Yeah. Man's, but we we know it now as the TCL 00:29:38.230 --> 00:29:40.230 Chinese theater. And it's a beautiful 00:29:40.390 --> 00:29:45.270 historic location. Did you call it above it all because your house is above everybody else? 00:29:45.915 --> 00:29:51.595 It was it that was, you know, kinda like the second meaning, but really it was about, like, 00:29:53.115 --> 00:29:55.195 you know, staying above negativity, 00:29:55.275 --> 00:29:56.315 staying above 00:29:56.875 --> 00:30:06.740 people to you know, people take your People will hijack your narrative in this business. Happens a lot. It happens every day. Something gets written about you, and the court of public opinion 00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:15.305 says that's more interesting than the reality of it, and they go with it. And so there's me, and then there's a version of me that lives on the Internet that 00:30:15.625 --> 00:30:19.945 is kind of fascinating to watch how that version of myself 00:30:20.505 --> 00:30:31.350 gets piecemealed and put through the spanking machine, or even sometimes lauded for things that you're like, I don't know. That was just a cool thing I did. I didn't expect it would be so shimmery. 00:30:31.670 --> 00:30:36.630 So above it all was really me being like, staying above maybe early in my career ego, 00:30:36.790 --> 00:30:38.550 and things like hubris and 00:30:39.110 --> 00:30:46.465 stuff that gets into you when you're a young person who has all this fame and success out of the the blue. And then also staying above a lot of negativity. 00:30:46.465 --> 00:30:47.665 And sometimes when 00:30:48.065 --> 00:30:55.025 people come to take your legs out from under you because everybody wants your spot at some point. So above it all really was that. 00:30:55.990 --> 00:31:01.110 And, yes, of course, that beautiful view and being able to look out and, you know, stay inspired. 00:31:01.430 --> 00:31:06.470 Why was there so much negativity that followed you around? Like, when you were at the peak of your popularity. 00:31:06.630 --> 00:31:12.265 Yeah. I think it was a I think it was a few things. I know that it was, you know, there was a lot of envy. 00:31:13.225 --> 00:31:25.545 There was a lot of people that felt like there was a certain pecking order, and there really isn't. You know? You just get picked at some point and thrown on the cover of Rolling Stone or whatever starts to take over. 00:31:26.510 --> 00:31:27.310 Other 00:31:27.310 --> 00:31:28.910 people look at that and they're frustrated. 00:31:29.710 --> 00:31:31.230 And so sometimes people 00:31:31.550 --> 00:31:51.525 well, actually, a lot of people have come to me years later and said, I'm one of those people that pig piled on you because I was frustrated. I was tired of going on a morning radio show, trying to get a few 100 people maybe to my gig, and the first thing they would say is, well, Dane Cook's doing this, why don't you do what he do he does? And and so I understood it as that, and then it was also 00:31:52.245 --> 00:31:54.565 something I never understood because my dad was a 00:31:55.100 --> 00:31:55.900 athlete. 00:31:55.900 --> 00:31:58.780 And I thought that the arts were going to be like 00:31:59.260 --> 00:32:04.780 athleticism or like being a sports figure, where it was like just stats based. 00:32:05.340 --> 00:32:06.060 And 00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:12.745 I quickly learned that being self made in a business that wants to write you up or write you down, 00:32:13.785 --> 00:32:16.265 you take the power away from them, the industry. 00:32:16.905 --> 00:32:22.905 And so at some point, the pitchforks are out because like, oh, you wrote yourself up, but now we get to 00:32:23.545 --> 00:32:26.440 of undress you here. So it was that. And 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:28.760 I just think it was just like a 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:31.080 multitude of things that were 00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:42.475 going to happen one way or the other, because that's kind of where a career takes you. You've got to be like the belle of the ball. And they've got to make you feel like you're more special than you are. And then they have to 00:32:43.835 --> 00:32:47.835 have to almost like the American way, where it's like, now you have to have the fall, 00:32:48.635 --> 00:32:50.155 and they have to dissect you. 00:32:50.555 --> 00:32:53.595 And you have to talk about either your trauma or 00:32:54.235 --> 00:33:02.070 what you're encumbered by. And then you get to get back up, and that's when everybody does the slow clap, and then you're kind of in for the rest. 00:33:02.470 --> 00:33:19.545 That's really like the way that our narrative in this country likes to it's that John Travolta thing, right? Yeah. The biggest and the best, Saturday Night Fever in Greece. Then it's like making fun of him because he's on talking baby movies or whatever he had to do to take care of his livelihood or whatever he needed. And it was just like 00:33:19.865 --> 00:33:21.865 disparaging and discouraging. 00:33:21.865 --> 00:33:26.025 And I'm sure probably hurt a lot for him to be like, man, I was the biggest thing in this 00:33:27.890 --> 00:33:28.290 And 00:33:29.010 --> 00:33:29.570 then, 00:33:29.890 --> 00:33:34.370 you know, a pulp fiction or something, and everybody goes, we knew you were the best. 00:33:34.850 --> 00:33:42.235 And it's kind of like, I saw the writing on the wall with it, and after I had kind of like my major moment and then a 00:33:43.755 --> 00:33:48.155 fall down moment, I was actually kind of Okay with it. I was like, oh, the pressure's off, 00:33:48.395 --> 00:33:50.075 and now I can just roll 00:33:50.315 --> 00:33:51.675 back into this with 00:33:52.235 --> 00:33:59.530 passion and the fans that stuck by me that were meant to be there in the first place. There was a point when you were kind of like the 00:34:00.010 --> 00:34:01.530 nickel back of comedy. 00:34:01.690 --> 00:34:06.650 Like, where it was like, it was really cool to not like you. Right. But at the same time, 00:34:07.290 --> 00:34:16.635 your numbers were speaking for themselves. Like, you were selling out arenas, but people were like, oh, yeah. But, like, I I don't like them. Right. Well but I'm 00:34:16.635 --> 00:34:20.635 not looking at that at the time because I'm looking at 20,000 people that love me. So 00:34:20.955 --> 00:34:26.510 anytime everybody wants to go, like, what was it like to I go, you know, I guess if 00:34:26.750 --> 00:34:28.350 the point counterpoint is 00:34:28.590 --> 00:34:34.350 I was on the cover of Time Magazine in the same year that people were saying I sucked as one of the most influential 00:34:34.350 --> 00:34:35.630 people on the planet 00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:51.785 and accepting that I was. I knew I'd use this Internet in a way that nobody I got there first and then figured it out, so I could actually sit there and be like, this is true. Yeah. I am an influential person. I don't know more than this year, and I definitely think if they did an issue called 00:34:52.120 --> 00:34:53.160 where did they 00:34:54.040 --> 00:34:57.800 misstep, I would have been on the cover of a few of those. But I never 00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:01.240 was down, 00:35:01.640 --> 00:35:04.200 even when people were taking potshots, 00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:05.720 because I've never not had an audience. 00:35:06.545 --> 00:35:10.545 I've never had an audience I'm fortunate that I never had an audience abandon 00:35:11.425 --> 00:35:13.585 me, to where I'm like, I can't do gigs. 00:35:14.945 --> 00:35:21.400 Thirty one years, I've never not performed. And if I tell people I'm at a place, they come out. So 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:23.000 that 00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:25.160 only helped business 00:35:25.720 --> 00:35:31.000 because it made me more interesting than I actually really am, which is a homebody. 00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.800 I do my gig. I do these big, massive shows. 00:35:34.495 --> 00:35:38.655 And then I actually thought, man, I'm just kind of a pretty 00:35:39.935 --> 00:35:41.295 average guy. 00:35:41.775 --> 00:35:49.535 And yet that version of me, either loved or hated, was so much more interesting for people to 00:35:47.700 --> 00:35:55.540 parse. Right. And it was very good for business. Do people ever think that you on stage is not authentic? 00:35:56.500 --> 00:36:14.725 I think years ago, people felt like, oh, the energy's a put on, and it's just this whirling dervish of energy, but like, what's he really like? And you're like, but actually I've never done drugs or you know Never. Never drank, yeah. Yeah, but I also knew at that time I was not false, but I didn't have all the 00:36:15.445 --> 00:36:24.810 accoutrements that I wanted to build up as well rounded performer. I knew I broke even though it took a lot of years, I still was like, I'm only fifteen years into this. Like, I have so much to learn. 00:36:25.210 --> 00:36:27.050 I I I have a lot of things that 00:36:27.450 --> 00:36:38.975 I I need to Fifteen years in any other career? Like, you're, like, you're a veteran. Right. And yet I knew that fifteen years in, I I could look and go, alright. If there's 20 boxes that I've seen other 00:36:39.215 --> 00:36:42.735 comics that I wanna emulate and love, I I check eight. 00:36:43.055 --> 00:36:46.780 You know? Or I could talk to my comedian friends and be like, man, 00:36:47.100 --> 00:36:49.180 remember in 2011, 00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:51.900 I walked into the laugh factory, 00:36:51.900 --> 00:36:55.100 and for the first time in my career, I planted my feet. 00:36:55.580 --> 00:36:59.260 I did not take the mic out of the stand, and I said, for one year, 00:36:59.820 --> 00:37:00.700 I'm not going to move. 00:37:01.845 --> 00:37:04.085 I need to learn complete stillness. 00:37:04.245 --> 00:37:07.765 I need to learn to tell a story right here. I 00:37:08.245 --> 00:37:11.445 love physicality, and I always wanna add that as flair. 00:37:11.765 --> 00:37:16.085 But I was like, I need to learn absolute stillness in vernacular 00:37:16.085 --> 00:37:23.980 only. I need to be funny quite simply by telling you something poignant because I want to talk about poignant things Yeah. And I want to be introspective. 00:37:24.860 --> 00:37:29.500 But if you're talking about something that's very genuine and you're adding this, now that's a distraction. 00:37:29.580 --> 00:37:30.700 This works 00:37:30.860 --> 00:37:32.220 if that's part of the character. 00:37:32.735 --> 00:37:37.935 But when I'm talking about like, for example, I I have a story in the news special about a stalker 00:37:38.335 --> 00:37:41.455 that I have, that I've been dealing with. Open case LAPD. 00:37:41.455 --> 00:37:43.135 A violent stalker. 00:37:43.295 --> 00:37:47.535 A person who has physically threatened to kill him. Man or a woman? It's a woman. 00:37:49.830 --> 00:37:53.030 I knew that if I was gonna make that story funny, 00:37:53.670 --> 00:37:56.710 because there is funny, crazy shit in this story, 00:37:57.110 --> 00:38:05.025 the only way that I would eventually in my career be able to tell a story that that's that is that real and stark and caustic and meaningful 00:38:05.345 --> 00:38:07.505 is if I just tell you like this. 00:38:08.305 --> 00:38:09.505 This woman 00:38:10.145 --> 00:38:12.065 said, I'm going to kill you. 00:38:12.385 --> 00:38:14.705 I'm gonna find you, and I'm gonna murder you. 00:38:15.960 --> 00:38:17.560 And I remember 00:38:18.120 --> 00:38:19.480 sitting there and thinking, 00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:25.640 man, I wish I read this after I ate this pizza because I've been waiting all it was like, I was finding humor. 00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:29.720 Yeah. Because also, I grew up in a family that 00:38:29.960 --> 00:38:30.600 humor 00:38:31.925 --> 00:38:34.325 helped us to get it was a coping mechanism. 00:38:34.565 --> 00:38:42.005 So even with this scary thing that I was dealing with, I I could find humor to cope because I was really scared, genuinely. 00:38:42.485 --> 00:38:44.325 But the 2011 00:38:44.325 --> 00:38:46.940 planting my feet in 2022 00:38:46.940 --> 00:38:51.260 is the best fucking decision I could have made back then. Because now I can 00:38:51.740 --> 00:38:53.740 I can just be completely 00:38:53.740 --> 00:38:54.700 transparent? 00:38:55.020 --> 00:38:57.900 And then I can put the what's that? Was that difficult? No. 00:38:58.845 --> 00:39:02.925 Because I got I got good at it. There's other things that are difficult still. I don't 00:39:03.885 --> 00:39:12.205 if I want it. Like, there are other elements that I, you know man, I'm still learning. I'm 31 years, and I still feel like there's things that I could be better at, 00:39:13.030 --> 00:39:18.790 ways that I could, you know, dovetail into certain things. And I might say to you, like, man, I've gotten really 00:39:19.430 --> 00:39:22.550 I'm, you know, I'm laser with, like, improv 00:39:22.550 --> 00:39:25.910 and you not seeing the stitches between jokes. I can segue, 00:39:26.525 --> 00:39:28.605 but then I can find other things that 00:39:29.805 --> 00:39:31.405 that I'm still desperately 00:39:31.405 --> 00:39:32.925 trying to figure out the 00:39:33.085 --> 00:39:46.500 ultimate way to I'm a storyteller, I'm not a joke teller. Yeah. So I want three acts in everything I tell you. Yeah. I wanna be able to have three acts, and the way that I construct most of my humor is like this. There's an act one, which is like the information. 00:39:46.580 --> 00:40:01.055 There's an act two, which is the dark center of the joke or whatever that might be. Then there's an in between with act two to three, and it's improv. And I'm gonna play off the crowd, or I'm gonna find something new, and I give myself permission to leave the joke, 00:40:01.295 --> 00:40:02.815 to explore my feelings. 00:40:02.975 --> 00:40:08.655 Something I learned from Chappelle. I started off with Dave in New York City, and I would watch Dave. He could be so poignant, 00:40:09.140 --> 00:40:10.420 and he could really 00:40:10.660 --> 00:40:11.300 feel 00:40:11.540 --> 00:40:24.500 a feeling in real time and then add it into the routine. So it was like learning from the people that I came up with to go, if I can have a prewritten piece of material that is formulaic and funny, 00:40:25.215 --> 00:40:35.855 but I can put something very real at any given time in it. So that's in between act two and three, and then the act three is what? The punch line Yeah. Yeah. The button, the tag, and then stitch, stitch, stitch, the segue, 00:40:35.935 --> 00:40:37.215 and you shouldn't know any of that. 00:40:38.100 --> 00:40:40.100 You should only be laughing and enjoying, 00:40:40.340 --> 00:40:42.900 and you're not realizing, to me, that's 00:40:43.460 --> 00:40:45.540 three years of working on that piece 00:40:45.780 --> 00:40:54.580 to make something that should just feel like we're just shooting the shit. But you're such a great storyteller. Thanks, man. Yeah, love it. That's what makes you so good at what you do. I 00:40:54.235 --> 00:40:59.435 truly genuinely appreciate that because I I I love it. There's a story 00:41:00.075 --> 00:41:05.755 a clip from a story on YouTube with you and Dave Chappelle. I'm sure you know the story I'm talking about, the laugh factory, 00:41:06.075 --> 00:41:14.480 where it it's supposed to be Dane's night, and Dave Chappelle shows up. Not true. That none of that story is true? No. And apparently, 00:41:14.560 --> 00:41:21.200 Dave got this tight 10 and The guy that yeah. Yeah. Okay. So You know the whole thing. Yeah. But the guy that told the story even told the story by saying, 00:41:21.985 --> 00:41:23.345 I heard this thing, 00:41:24.065 --> 00:41:37.950 and I don't know, but I heard and it was like he prefaced it by saying that Dave came in and basically because it was my night that Dave did a set and then said, hey, everybody. Join me outside for a cigarette. And then the arena And then the crowd just followed Dave And 00:41:38.670 --> 00:41:44.750 the guy was like, this is like 2,006 or seven. Let me tell you something. Dave and I were both at the peak of our power at 02/1967. 00:41:44.750 --> 00:41:51.075 You know, him at the Chappelle show and just everything in his life that was happening. And, you know, me from this meteoric 00:41:51.315 --> 00:41:51.715 like, 00:41:52.115 --> 00:41:58.035 the two people you're not leaving a room at that era was me and Dave. I mean, I'm not trying to sound like, you know, so, like, 00:41:58.355 --> 00:41:59.955 it's just not true. 00:42:00.755 --> 00:42:03.635 So he didn't say, let's go outside. I'm gonna go No. 00:42:04.620 --> 00:42:06.860 I just saw David Summercamp. I did his 00:42:07.180 --> 00:42:12.380 his Yellow Springs show. Like, he's like I adore that guy. We would never do anything to try to 00:42:13.180 --> 00:42:14.620 to underhand, 00:42:14.620 --> 00:42:19.100 you know, to to take away from one another. Both of us know probably more than most people that, 00:42:21.055 --> 00:42:22.495 you know, this isn't 00:42:23.135 --> 00:42:24.815 this isn't the job that 00:42:26.975 --> 00:42:40.550 this isn't a good look in this job to try to take something away from somebody else. Yeah. And Dave would never do that. And people that believe that, I know it's a good story and it sounds fun to tell, but it's like, he would never have done that to me. There's, like, 6,000,000 00:42:40.550 --> 00:42:41.590 views on that. 00:42:42.230 --> 00:42:56.385 6,000,000 people that you're saying people have been lied to. You're you just set the record straight. Yeah. Maybe this will get 12,000,000 views Alright. We'll see. And everyone will see. We'll see. Actually, it's a it's such a good story. It's like, let it be out there. Yeah. You know how it is. Yeah. It's all But the title of it is like 00:42:56.465 --> 00:42:58.465 Dave Chappelle savagely 00:42:58.465 --> 00:42:59.905 ruins ruins 00:42:59.905 --> 00:43:01.530 Dane Cook's career. 00:43:03.050 --> 00:43:06.250 Right. That's 00:43:06.250 --> 00:43:07.450 just so ridiculous. 00:43:08.250 --> 00:43:14.410 Yeah. I mean, I was also, um, in a magazine article once that said I was dating, uh, Rihanna. 00:43:14.915 --> 00:43:24.355 Oh, that's nice. She came to the show, and then there was this whole breakdown of, like, we went to the Pacific Palisades. And, like, for years, my friends were like, man, what was that like? I'm like, never met her. 00:43:24.995 --> 00:43:28.260 You know? These things just had it's fodder. It's like 00:43:28.580 --> 00:43:34.980 the Internet is ready? This is what the Internet is. It's just waiting for one person to say it so everybody can believe it. 00:43:35.860 --> 00:43:49.015 One person says it. We've seen it recently with people that something really terrible is said. One person says it, and then everybody runs with it. And it's like that on the good side and the bad side. Sometimes people can say something that, like, 00:43:49.415 --> 00:44:01.210 this person's a hero because they once saved the dog from a fire, and that person's like, I never did that. I called the fire department, but I never ran into the And so that's all the Internet's waiting for us. One 00:44:01.290 --> 00:44:06.650 good sounding story to go, let's latch onto that. It's like a big game of broken telephone. 00:44:07.290 --> 00:44:08.810 Yeah. No, the Internet is 00:44:09.235 --> 00:44:10.595 the Internet is a 00:44:11.635 --> 00:44:14.355 it's a it's a TV program. It's one 00:44:14.595 --> 00:44:16.355 show Yeah. With 00:44:16.595 --> 00:44:18.915 remember Three's Company was all about misdirection? 00:44:18.915 --> 00:44:38.265 Jack would hear something, and then the whole episode is I heard the tail end of a What a great reference. Three's Company. The whole Internet is just, I think I heard a thing, and then somebody else goes, well, I'll meme it. And then another person says, a source said and then all of a sudden, you're just watching this thing, you're like, well, that was fun, but that's not me. There's 00:44:38.505 --> 00:44:39.705 there's so many 00:44:40.425 --> 00:44:42.665 parts of your career where I feel like 00:44:43.225 --> 00:45:05.370 you were already at a really big level, and then you took it to another big level. And I feel like the movies for you were a really big part of that. Yeah. It was fun because that, like, when movies came around, it was really just fans of the stand up that suddenly are hitting you up saying, you know, do you wanna play in this sandbox for a little bit? You know? I didn't I wanted to do film, and I had hoped to, you know, broaden my my aspirations. 00:45:05.450 --> 00:45:21.560 But for me it was like, I'll just follow where stand up takes me. And then it took me to some really interesting places. It continues to, you know, every once in while my phone rings and it's like, you know, Mel Brooks, like, you wanna do the producers at the Hollywood Bowl? And it's like, I just continue to feed the stand up because 00:45:21.640 --> 00:45:22.840 what comes from it is 00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:24.360 it's fascinating. 00:45:24.520 --> 00:45:27.880 What was the movie that really, like, took it up, you think? 00:45:29.560 --> 00:45:37.615 I mean, on the comedy side, definitely My Best Friend's Girl was, like, the one that I felt like for me, you know, just as a performer and a producer. 00:45:38.175 --> 00:45:41.455 I'm I'm really proud of that. You know, the other comedies were a lot of fun, 00:45:41.695 --> 00:45:43.455 but I sometimes 00:45:43.455 --> 00:45:48.260 signed on late, and it was like, show up and I'm just part of another person's 00:45:48.260 --> 00:45:57.620 ride or vision. But I produced that with Lionsgate, and I got to really build that character and script from the ground up. And then on the drama side, it was like, 00:45:58.100 --> 00:46:01.780 man, Dan in Real Life, Peter Hedges gave me the opportunity to 00:46:02.245 --> 00:46:03.605 show vulnerability. 00:46:03.685 --> 00:46:11.365 Such a sleeper, great movie. Yeah, it really is. And it's like, with Disney plus now, all these things like planes or that 00:46:11.525 --> 00:46:12.645 new 00:46:12.645 --> 00:46:16.565 audiences and families are finding them. But probably Mr. Brooks, I got to play a real 00:46:17.010 --> 00:46:17.970 salacious, 00:46:18.050 --> 00:46:19.970 you know, lascivious character. 00:46:19.970 --> 00:46:20.370 And 00:46:21.170 --> 00:46:29.170 I I mean, honestly, man, it's just like I've been really lucky. I've been lucky to you know, lady luck once in a while just throws me something that's so 00:46:29.375 --> 00:46:40.655 you know, I've done song and dance at Hollywood Bowl with V Mel Brooks. I've worked with Jerry Lewis. I've worked with some of the greats, the Kevin Costners, and then I've had the chance to just continue to 00:46:41.135 --> 00:46:44.735 create things like Above It All and do something that I feel like is 00:46:44.980 --> 00:46:56.660 the heart and soul of who I am, which is a person that just wants to make people laugh. Where does the process begin? Like, so Above It All is about to come out, and you told me off camera you're already working on the next special. That's right. So is just 00:46:57.595 --> 00:46:58.475 workshopping 00:46:58.475 --> 00:47:06.315 stuff? Is it writing jokes down? What is it? Yeah. I mean, it's for me, it always starts with what's the piece of material 00:47:06.955 --> 00:47:08.395 that is really, 00:47:08.635 --> 00:47:17.810 like, where I'm at right now in my life. Right? What's something that, like, you know, am I deeply in love? Am I at the opposite? Am I just like, you know, 00:47:18.610 --> 00:47:27.170 The Bachelor out on the town? Am I trying to escape in my life? Am I trying to be more centered? Everything is a through line and a theme. And with this, 00:47:28.915 --> 00:47:30.835 the bit that I 00:47:31.635 --> 00:47:39.635 told a story about five years ago, it's been five, with the pandemic it was like a pause and then working on it again. So this is the longest incubation period of like, 00:47:40.210 --> 00:47:45.570 usually it's a couple years and you film it, right? Yeah, yeah. But this is four years, almost five with some of this material. 00:47:45.650 --> 00:47:47.090 And I tell a story 00:47:47.570 --> 00:47:48.450 about 00:47:49.170 --> 00:47:50.130 the first 00:47:50.370 --> 00:47:52.610 really bad hell gig that I did, 00:47:53.305 --> 00:47:55.625 and it was really humiliating. 00:47:55.625 --> 00:48:00.665 And I walked people through this whole story. I told her five years ago, and I was like, when I go 00:48:00.985 --> 00:48:03.305 on the next stage to 00:48:03.785 --> 00:48:06.025 do a show for television, 00:48:06.025 --> 00:48:06.425 I'm 00:48:07.140 --> 00:48:09.060 gonna tell that that's gonna be the crux. 00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:22.185 And so it starts with one thing and I kinda build build out from there. So, I mean, you are in love right now. Right? We both just got engaged. That's right. Congratulations. Congratulations. For both of us. Yeah. Right? Right? I didn't I didn't make a comedy bit about it, though. 00:48:22.825 --> 00:48:27.225 I did. It's in the trailer for this. Yeah. Yeah. I I definitely 00:48:27.945 --> 00:48:28.585 you know, 00:48:29.225 --> 00:48:39.650 I can't do a stand up comedy special or album without talking about relationships in some way, cause it's the one through line that fans always want. Fans always want something in there about, 00:48:39.970 --> 00:48:42.610 you know, a makeup, a breakup, cheating, 00:48:42.610 --> 00:48:44.850 you know, being you know, being like, 00:48:45.170 --> 00:48:51.805 you know, sowing your oats. At every point in my career since I was 19 years old, people want some kind of like, you know, 00:48:52.845 --> 00:49:02.205 something to do with like falling in or falling out of love. In fact, Troublemaker, that whole special, speaking of like theme and through line, I called it Troublemaker because my whole goal was to break people up. 00:49:03.210 --> 00:49:10.410 And I broke a lot of people up with that special. A lot of people broke What it bit specifically? No, the whole thing. The whole it's just a savage 00:49:10.570 --> 00:49:13.050 I say at the beginning of that show, I'm like, 00:49:13.930 --> 00:49:14.330 you know, 00:49:15.765 --> 00:49:23.765 if you make it through this comedy routine, you're gonna look at the person you're with at the end, and you're either gonna be better from it, or I'm gonna ruin you. 00:49:24.085 --> 00:49:30.490 And it was like and and I said, and you're gonna be glad because I'm either gonna, like, end this because you're not meant to be together, 00:49:30.810 --> 00:49:31.770 or you'll know 00:49:32.010 --> 00:49:44.515 that because of the and so I cultivated a whole set that I felt like I was a troublemaker. It was like I was gonna rabble rouse Man. And make make people break up, or a lot of people wrote me and said, we got married after that special. 00:49:44.915 --> 00:49:54.995 We we knew we were right for each other after that special. Does your fiance ever go, please, we don't need to talk more about our relationship. Oh, no. She's very funny. She's super funny, and she is 00:49:55.630 --> 00:49:58.030 man, she's like silver tongued. So it's like, 00:49:58.350 --> 00:49:58.910 you know, 00:49:59.470 --> 00:50:03.550 you're a comedian. You wanna be with somebody who, first of all, thinks you're funny. 00:50:03.790 --> 00:50:09.150 Right? That helps. Sure. But if you you could be with somebody who's also kind of funny, but Kelsey is like, 00:50:09.725 --> 00:50:45.455 I can't even repeat some of the things that you know, like, she'll go there. Like, I'll say some crazy shit, and then she'll stay say stuff that makes me go, I cannot believe you just said that. I mean, she's she's awesome. Look. You don't even have to be a comedian to want your partner to think you're funny. Like, if my fiance didn't think I was funny Right. This would not work. Right. You know, when you're with somebody and, like, you'd say something funny and every once in a while they just look you be like, that is not funny. I get that a lot. It just it just steals your soul. So to be with somebody that, like I mean, also, we we we laugh a lot. We're always having a good time. Rachel gives me this one. She'll be like, you think you're so funny, 00:50:47.080 --> 00:50:47.720 Like, 00:50:49.080 --> 00:50:49.960 aren't I? 00:50:50.600 --> 00:51:06.745 No. Not right now. Yikes. Not right now. Okay. That's fair. Okay. That's fair. Not right now is okay. I'll take a not right now every once in while. She's hungry or a little low blood sugar. It's like, but, you know, when it's like when, you know, when somebody's like, try harder, then it's like, okay. 00:51:06.985 --> 00:51:21.040 Back to the open mics. What's the piece of advice that you dole out now to comedians that are coming out or coming up? I try to tell them the best advice I ever got, and it's the only thing that they should ever hear from another comedian, which is 00:51:21.520 --> 00:51:23.440 you know better than anybody 00:51:24.080 --> 00:51:27.280 what you should be doing up there. Okay? My 00:51:28.160 --> 00:51:28.640 whole 00:51:29.085 --> 00:51:30.205 gear with, 00:51:30.525 --> 00:51:33.005 you know, being in a mentor situation with 00:51:33.725 --> 00:51:37.165 forget about comedians, but anybody kind of on the come up in the arts is 00:51:37.405 --> 00:51:39.565 I will fight anybody 00:51:39.645 --> 00:51:48.730 away from you so you can keep your integrity. You have to just you know, you know I don't know. I I would never even dare to say to somebody like, you should be doing this. 00:51:49.210 --> 00:51:50.490 You should chain I 00:51:50.890 --> 00:51:53.610 stay far away from that. I most of my mentorship 00:51:54.265 --> 00:52:10.580 is, like, on the on the legalese side. I've been through so much stuff legally that I I feel like I'm the one who says, like, let's read your contract together. Do you know how to read a contract? Do you know the things that you should be looking out for? Oh, it's 40 pages. That's already a contract you don't want. 00:52:10.900 --> 00:52:16.100 Boiler room. This can be three pages. If somebody hands you a 40 page contract, 00:52:17.460 --> 00:52:22.980 you're in rough shape. So my whole mentor thing is like helping a comic, especially comics. 00:52:24.685 --> 00:52:27.885 Doesn't even matter if I think it's the funniest thing. 00:52:28.525 --> 00:52:30.845 It's like what you believe in, 00:52:31.085 --> 00:52:32.445 in your messaging, 00:52:32.525 --> 00:52:35.805 that's what you need to get to the core of. And stay away from the noise of 00:52:36.205 --> 00:52:52.775 other comics and other people saying, you shouldn't do that, or that's offensive, or it's like, that's what you sign up for. This job is about turning people off. As much as you think it's about making people laugh, you're never gonna make everybody love you. You're never gonna be funny to everybody all the time. So 00:52:53.415 --> 00:52:57.015 you're signing up for a your success 00:52:57.335 --> 00:53:08.570 comes at the heels of people not liking what you do. So you have to be able to go, oh, I'm I'm I've got my strong opinion. Yeah. They don't like it, but they're laughing a lot. 00:53:08.970 --> 00:53:13.370 And early in a comedy career, sometimes you go, oh, man, these people weren't laughing. 00:53:13.530 --> 00:53:15.290 And you you're like, that makes you feel bad. 00:53:15.975 --> 00:53:19.095 It's, like, good. That's actually good. You want them laughing, 00:53:19.335 --> 00:53:32.530 them to be like, I don't I'm not into this. So that's about pushing the envelope as much as you possibly can? It's not even it's not even, like, the envelope of, like, oh, I'm saying things that are, like, so obtuse and, like no. It's quite literally, like, 00:53:33.170 --> 00:53:35.250 some people's sense of humor is, like, 00:53:35.810 --> 00:53:39.330 dull, or they're gonna be into something that's, like, they love 00:53:39.650 --> 00:53:51.875 very political like, it's not even pushing the envelope. It's it's going, these are the things that are funny to me. This is what I'll say. There's two kinds of comics, and this is the comic I wanted to be versus some comics do this. 00:53:52.275 --> 00:53:53.475 Some comics 00:53:53.475 --> 00:53:54.595 write and think, 00:53:54.915 --> 00:53:56.515 what is funny to them? 00:53:57.315 --> 00:54:07.610 What is funny that they that they will laugh at and latch onto? And they write from that. But the comics I loved were what's funny to me, and how can I bring people into my world? 00:54:07.850 --> 00:54:08.810 And maybe 00:54:09.210 --> 00:54:15.850 their flex of that are gonna make them go like, oh, that's like that speaks to me. That's what you want. Them not laughing, 00:54:16.090 --> 00:54:21.695 them cracking up. And And if you can do that, you start to know like, oh, I I think I I think I have a 00:54:22.415 --> 00:54:22.975 a 00:54:23.295 --> 00:54:24.095 persona 00:54:24.415 --> 00:54:43.920 that as time goes on, those people won't show up for the show. Yeah. More of these people will. Yeah. I just wanna thank you for always being so genuine. Oh, man. Dude, Always being so generous with your time and your wisdom. Love talking shop. You know, it's like when when we first started DMing, I was like, you know, this is just this is what I wanna be doing. Talking stand up and talking about, 00:54:44.945 --> 00:54:48.545 you know, creating something from nothing and saying, like, how can we 00:54:49.345 --> 00:54:51.665 we how can we make more Yeah. People 00:54:52.465 --> 00:54:53.185 you know, 00:54:54.145 --> 00:55:01.380 just have the the time of their life for a little while, escape everything, turn on a comedy show that's really beautiful as well, and go, 00:55:01.780 --> 00:55:10.420 this is a nice little pause from all that other stuff. I love that you're so passionate about it that you're like, oh, when we're done here, I'm gonna go swing by the laugh factory. I'm 00:55:10.900 --> 00:55:14.420 pretty exhausted. I've done a bunch of interviews and a lot of stuff today, 00:55:15.175 --> 00:55:31.290 as I'm doing every day. But it's because I want to talk about it. I want to keep going. I'm excited. I end every conversation with the same question because I'm all about gratitude. I start and end every day saying out loud three things that I'm grateful for. Yeah. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Love. 00:55:31.770 --> 00:55:33.930 Grateful for love. You know? It 00:55:34.330 --> 00:55:37.930 it makes it's the adhesive, man. It makes everything else 00:55:38.170 --> 00:55:43.745 everything that I thought was great about, like, having whatever passion or creativity or everything 00:55:44.305 --> 00:55:45.025 was, 00:55:46.145 --> 00:56:09.180 like, in, like, hitting the nitro button in a, you know, fast car already once, like, I really had genuine love in my life, both being able to really give it and really receive it in its truest form. I I will echo that too. Yeah, man. Love is Changes your life. Changes it it it it narrows the scope in a way you want it to be. Yeah. When you're a young man, it's like, 00:56:09.580 --> 00:56:09.900 you know, 00:56:11.005 --> 00:56:16.605 you're looking at everything all at once and try but once you have that person, especially that one person who just 00:56:17.245 --> 00:56:18.765 they love you for 00:56:19.405 --> 00:56:21.325 the things that you accomplish, 00:56:21.325 --> 00:56:25.405 don't accomplish, just your passion and what you give to them and how 00:56:25.760 --> 00:56:28.320 what I think is important, how you champion them. 00:56:28.560 --> 00:56:31.920 The best kind of relationship this is a relationship, Shona is like, 00:56:33.040 --> 00:56:37.280 they're into your goals and want to help you. You're into their goals and unselfishly 00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:43.055 just want to help them. And then you've got some stuff together that you're looking forward to doing. If you can have that triangulation, 00:56:44.815 --> 00:56:47.775 hold on to that. That's what you want the rest of your life. Two other things. 00:56:48.415 --> 00:57:02.590 That there's a stage somewhere that I can get on for a little while in the pandemic, it felt like it was gone. I never thought stand up would be gone. I always looked at stand up as if everything else goes away, we'll always need laughter. Sure. And then suddenly that was gone. 00:57:03.710 --> 00:57:04.590 And that was, 00:57:04.830 --> 00:57:05.390 like, 00:57:07.150 --> 00:57:08.110 gut wrenchingly 00:57:10.155 --> 00:57:11.995 depressing. Yeah. I mean, I 00:57:13.195 --> 00:57:15.195 didn't even know what I was feeling 00:57:15.595 --> 00:57:25.940 when I was exploring that idea of, like, I I may never do it again. Like, I don't know what the world's gonna do, but, like, I may never be with a group of people in a building making them laugh in that way again. 00:57:26.260 --> 00:57:27.300 So gratitude 00:57:27.300 --> 00:57:29.700 to be able to get on a stage somewhere and 00:57:30.900 --> 00:57:41.305 not only that, but just be able to get on a stage. And also, it's still the last place that you can really go, unless people are filming it and sharing it. And just share thoughts, and it doesn't all have to 00:57:42.025 --> 00:57:44.025 make sense or always be, 00:57:44.185 --> 00:57:44.905 you know 00:57:47.225 --> 00:57:52.230 It's still a place a bit like a speakeasy that you can go into and just talk some smack, and 00:57:53.030 --> 00:57:55.430 most people are cool with that and understand it's jokes. So 00:57:55.990 --> 00:57:58.230 that, and then the third 00:57:59.590 --> 00:58:01.030 that I got to 00:58:01.510 --> 00:58:07.675 I'm always grateful, and not a day goes by where I don't thank God that I got to show my mom and dad everything 00:58:08.315 --> 00:58:13.675 that they hoped for me. Everything that they the pieces that they saw of possibility, 00:58:14.475 --> 00:58:22.980 and yet all the obstacles and being self loathing and having all that, you know, fear. When I was a kid, anxiety and being what 00:58:22.980 --> 00:58:26.100 I told you about, which is just like not 00:58:26.180 --> 00:58:29.460 really having a lot of self worth as a young person. And 00:58:30.500 --> 00:58:34.660 I'm thinking about it now, that I got to hug them and show them 00:58:35.105 --> 00:58:41.905 that I could do this incredible thing in front of all these thousands of people and make them laugh. So those three things are 00:58:42.465 --> 00:58:49.025 that's it. I can't wait to see what's next for you. I can't wait to see this. I can't wait to see this. This is it. You know? This is like 00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:58.400 you know, I don't know what I would even do past this. I usually always have an idea. Like, I'm working on the next one now, but I can't honestly say because I'm still trying to discover what is that theme moment. This 00:59:00.080 --> 00:59:04.055 is like this is something I look at and go, man, I I just 00:59:04.375 --> 00:59:11.255 don't know what I would do past this. I I've played a lot of stages that I got to play Radio City in 2019, 00:59:11.255 --> 00:59:14.295 and that was, like, the last place that I really felt like I need to play. 00:59:16.450 --> 00:59:18.050 And when I did that show, 00:59:18.530 --> 00:59:27.410 I remember leaving there and feeling like, I don't have another stage that I have to play in the world. There's not another place. I've performed for all 00:59:27.890 --> 00:59:38.855 the troops. I've done the greatest USO shows. Those are things that were really important to me. And I got to do, obviously, Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, a bunch of great arena shows, but those 00:59:39.175 --> 00:59:52.080 classic locations. But it was always Radio City that I wanted to play in my house. I always wanted to do this show. So I don't know what's next, but I too am excited to try to figure it out. Dude, thank you so much. Oh, man. You got it. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it.