How Did Federal Prison Change Your Life?

In this episode, Gandhi talks with comedian, Goumba Johnny about the lives he has lived; from professional football player, to morning radio host, to federal prison, to comedian, he's done it all and lived to tell the tales. We also find out what song makes us all cry and say hello to Producer Celia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
All right, it's Sauce on the side. I'm Gandhi, and
I'm here with two producers who are not my usual producer.
Andrew obviously is here every now and then. Hello Andrew.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Oh hi, how are you today?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh fabulous? I hate your little fake nice boys. I
hated so much. We all know you're a monster. And
I say we all because I'm here with Celia. Hello Celia.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Hi?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Hi? Who is How do we describe your title? Now?
Who are you? What do you do?

Speaker 4 (00:30):
I'm a producer, associate producer for the podcast network?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Okay, your podcast? Maybe we should describe to people what
the podcast network is. I don't know if a lot
of people know that we have a whole network.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, it's the Elvis Stram Podcast Network. We have shows
like Joe Gado and Steve Burns two cool Moms. We
have yours obviously saw us on the side with Gandhi.
We have a couple of new shows coming very soon
that I'm super excited right now.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
A lot to talk about who they are and what
they are.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I can talk about. One of them.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Is the one I like, Yes, Nicole and Jemmy Mother
Knows Death on the Way.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yes, coming to our network. She's great. I loved her
for a long time. She follows me on Instagram. Now
I was like, oh my god, I made it follow me.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Wow, you'll get there. Oh I'm terrible about following people.
I have to find you on Instagram.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
You don't follow me.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I tell you.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
I listened to a best of and you said that
if anyone ever approaches you about that, it really bothers you.
So I was never going to approach you because also
that's not my place to do.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So, but well, that's nice of you to consider me.
One of the things is I just genuinely don't pay attention.
A lot of times I'll look at something, I'll even
like reply to people or tags someone, and then I
forget to follow them. But it's not on purpose. For
the most part, I do find it really weird that
when people like, why don't you follow me? Why do
you care? Who cares? I agree?

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I agree?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Or if you have apps the track?

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Oh my god, that's so insane.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that is actually insane.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
That would just hurt my feelings. I think all the time,
because even if I go and like, look at my insights,
you know, shows you how many people unfollowed you. It
doesn't tell you who, it just shows you how many.
I'm like, by the hundred, whoa what is going on here? Yeah?
They dig And I also want to be like, what
did it?

Speaker 4 (02:15):
What set you off?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yes? Who are you? And what set you off? Because like,
do I care enough to bring you back? Or was
it something that I posted that I'm very happy that
you left because what I say all the time, you
don't have to be here. If you are a terrible person,
you don't deserve my content anyway.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
AnyWho, a lot of really fun all us drand podcasts.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Thanks for listening, but we want you to listen through
the iHeartRadio app. Yes, do your job jesus.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, well, thank you for doing it for me, Celia.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I hope you're taking notes on all the things not
to do.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, we would highly prefer if you used the iHeartRadio
appy to listen to all this through podcast network. So potentially,
don't listen to my higher up.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Hold on, that just hit me like a train andrew
someone's boss, Yeah, mine, get out of here. What's it
like for you to watch your boss get lit up
by everybody else?

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Honestly, I feel like I need to defend him a lot,
and I love doing that because I love Andrew and
he's a great boss. But when I see someone like
you per se knock over the stuff on his desk, yes,
it reminds me of like a little kid whose books
are getting knocked out of his hands in the middle

(03:30):
school hallway. And so then I feel really bad. But
then I also think it's really funny.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
All thank you. First of all, have you ever seen
Andrew partake in bad.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Behavior only on video?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Because it happens. Here's the thing about Andrew, which I
say all the time. Andrew is a problem. He is
a little menace. Yeah, you see what he's doing with
this little face right now, look it off to the side.
He acts like he's this little innocent Oh I'm just
a little baby. Oh yeah, Andrew's a fawn and it
was please.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I have an innocent fawn in the woods.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
There's none of the above. Andrew is a monster. You'll
find out soon enough. He's a manipulator. And we love him.
We do love him, but don't fall for the bullshit.
People have fallen right into his trapp You fallen. You're
in the trap, Celia.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
I fear that I am, because what do you manipulators?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
You'll find out I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
If only Diamond were.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Here, yeah, the goof troop.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah. Oh, if only Joshua here, josh will be on
the same page. You gotta get to know Andrew. He
does such a good job of being like again, please sah,
don't hurt me. I'm such a little person. Yeah. Can
I have some more from Africa?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
With all the little birdies in the little from meet
Genesee and with mean girls. She says that, but you're
a mean girl, You're a bitch.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Oh my god. Have you guys seen the recent Like
you know, everybody tries to rewrite history when it comes
to movies, who was really the bad person? And they
say Katie Herron was allegedly the bad person, But in
real life if it was Janesee and who was the
worst of all of them?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
I am sick of it.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
She was the manipulator.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, No, Regina George deserved everything she got, maybe not
getting hit by the bus that was a little much. However,
there's also a joke in there that everybody misses all
the time, and it makes me chuckle. But Janiean was
just trying to get her vengeance. Katie was stupid if
she was allowed to be manipulated that easily, Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes,

(05:30):
what's the joke? Okay, So the whole thing is Regina
says that Janie Ian told her she was a Lesbiana
through the whole thing, right, and Janis is like, I
never told her that. That's crazy. Why would she ever
think that? At the end, when she's dancing with Kevin
Daport don't get me started on him, the Indian guy,
and he's like, I'm into brown girls or whatever it is,

(05:50):
he says, and he asked her where she's from. She's Lebanese.
Oh god, Joe Gonna asked Regina. George thought that she
was revealing she was a lesbian, but in fact she
was just Lebanese, which, by the way, and the second one,
the fact that Janie is not Lebanese or whatever. It
ruins the whole that whole joke, it ruins it.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Are you talking about the musical one?

Speaker 1 (06:13):
The new one? The new one? It's horrible.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
I watch it on a plane, and that is where
it should stay. It's on the plane.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
It was the plane.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yes, it was so bad. Do not watch the new
Mean Girls the old one because that joke is quality.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
I did like seeing Lindsay Lihan show up and it's
sorry spoiler alert she is.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
There's no spoilers because just don't watch it.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, it just don't.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Please don't watch it, and you don't watch The Second.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Joker also was not great.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
It just yeah, no, not at Oh, there were so
many problems. I'm not going to get into it, but
let's be real, having an Indian girl playing idiots strike one.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I liked her song though, that was the only song
I found enjoyable. She was the only person I found
enjoyable in that.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
Entire girl who played Katie needed help so much. She
really genuinely did not know how to sing, how to act,
how to do the sponsorships that they had throughout the movie.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
I was not a fan, and I'm scared to say
it because she's so mean. Renee Rap wasn't a fan
of it. I didn't think she did a good job
as Regina.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah she did.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Better on Broadway as Regina.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Maybe that's it.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah, maybe that's it.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
And then she went and insulted like every millennial that
ever lived. I'm like, why are you being mean to them?

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
My god. Also, I thought she was forty five. I
had no idea. Yes, I am aged blind. I can't
tell how old anybody is. Yeah yeah, And I was
like my age, yeah, and she's she's like twenty four.
Oh yeah. And I was excited because I was like, oh,
they got this girl and ass forty five year old
playing a mean girl? Here for it. Then I found

(07:44):
out Nope, not the truth.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Oops.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Anyway, where did we even get going on.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
This elvisdram podcast? Networkless and wherever? But iHeartRadio is preferred.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yes, So today we have somebody who I'm really interested
to talk to because I feel like Gumbajani has lived
multiple lives in his one lifespan. But I don't want
to tell you about it. I'm gonna let him tell
you about it. So let's just get to it. Do
you like to be called goomba Johnny? John? What do

(08:14):
I address you as?

Speaker 3 (08:15):
I'm gonna be honest with you because this goes back
to when I was single, okay, and I would go
out on a date and many times that the young
lady would say to me, I please, I don't have
to call you gumblah Johnny. Oh, you know it was
awkward okay, because people didn't know how to address me,
especially in a romantic way. So I said, well, when

(08:36):
I have my clothes on, I'm guomblah Johnny, and when
my clothes off Johnny.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
So we're gonna call you Johnny. For those who can't
see the man is naked in here, it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
No, I'm married, okay, okay, So it's that part is
my life is over.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
So speaking of your life, that's actually what I want
to talk to you about today, because I think I
learned something new about you every time you come in
and then you even someone says, oh, by the way,
blah blah. So I know that you're a professional athlete.
I know that you then worked in morning radio. I
know that you then maybe did a little time somewhere.
Do we talk about that, yeah, okay, and then now

(09:12):
you're a comedian. Yeah, it's a lot of lifetimes in
one life.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
There was a lot in between. I did everything with garbage.
Oh okay, I was a garbage man.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Okay, we're in that equation. Did all that fit in?

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Well, all right, I'll start at the beginning. Yeah, obviously
went to high school like all of us, I went
to college when I got out of college. I played
football in college, and then when I got out of college,
I signed a free agent contract with the Jets amazing,
And then the following year I signed a contract with
the Giants. And after a failed football career, I kind

(09:45):
of bounced around.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
What position did you play?

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Offensive line?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Okay, why do you say it's a field football career?
I think a lot of people will never even make
it that far. Wow.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
I did better than most. Yeah, And I was more
of a an athlete, I think, than a football player.
I usually went up the ladder, you know, Like when
I was in high school. In ninth grade, I was
on a football team. I didn't play one play, and
senior year I was a captain and it just kind
of went on like that. I was a very very

(10:15):
hard worker. And it was the same thing with radio.
You know. It was the last one hired at the station,
and I was the lowest paid, and then at some
point I became the highest paid. You know.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Oh, okay, I can't wait to get to this because
you're gonna have plenty of advice for our lovely Celia here.
He was just now starting in radio, and I'm sure
would like to hear where that came from Okay, so
you say you had a failed football career, I'll disagree
with that.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Well, and then you know what I mean. Yeah, I mean,
by my standards, I'm very proud of what I've accomplished.
I wish I could have accomplished a little bit more.
We always do. Anyone like yourself, you know, you're an overachiever. Look,
you're on the number one show in the country and
you're still looking around saying what's next?

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, yeah, I mean so I think about that a lot. Yeah,
because I know that the show is going to look
different in five years. I know that. You know, Elvis
has been doing this for my entire lifespan almost so
he's not gonna want to stick around until he's ninety
one hundred years old, you know. But I'm in a
different place in my career than everybody else is, so
of course I have to think what's next. Yes, hopefully

(11:15):
this podcast is going to do something. Help me out here.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
You're doing You're doing great.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
I like, I mean, so far, it's been super fun.
I get to Yeah, you get to meet a lot.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Of different people. Yeah, it's you know, that's the one
thing I missed about the radio. The interviewing part was
probably my favorite. You get to meet it's interesting. I
think you'll agree with me when you meet celebrities at
six thirty in the morning. Oh yeah, kind of like
the mask is down absolutely, you know what I mean. Yeah,
and it gets like, you know, like you see j

(11:44):
Low at six thirty in the morning. It's a lot
different than see walking on the red carpet. Everything is different, yeah,
talking about like they're just waking.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Up personality, Everything about it is different. Meeting celebrities in
real life period is quite an eye opening experience.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
And they're also tiny.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
They're tiny, and I have to tell you from my experience,
some of them are really not that impressive. And I
don't mean to knock celebrities. I'm just saying many people
came into my studio and I would say, how did
they do it?

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Can you name names?

Speaker 3 (12:20):
No, but I will name the names of some people
I thought that were Angelica, Like two people stick out
in my head that seemed so deserving, so worthy, so kind.
One was Olivia Newton John and the other was Lutha Vandros.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Oh wow, I.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Thought they were both amazing people. You mean, some people
come in and you could actually almost like see the
white light. Yeah, you know what I mean? They have
that vibe. Who do you do like that came in
that that blew you away, that you felt like not
only was they had a star presence and they were deserving.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Ricky Martin was awesome.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
Well I had the same experience with him too. Yeah,
and I have to tell you, I mean I introduced him.
Actually we did a show with Ricky Martin and I
introduced him and at first I introduced his opening act
and guess who that was? Destiny's Child?

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Holy moly, man, I wish I won.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
I think is that that Destiny's childs was his opening act?
That show was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
I bet it was.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
But he I think you'll agree with me. He's like
the eye of the hurricane everything around him. People go
crazy when they see him, and he's like no mistake.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yes, he seemed to actually be interested in the conversation.
And I really just why you're here. I love comedians.
I have a really soft spot for comedians.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah. What I have encountered from a lot of comedians
has been great. I know there's this scene a whole
comedians are so dark. I think that's such a dark side.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
I know, I've been doing this a long time, and
I've done radio for a while too, and whatever else
I've done, I tell I tell people. People ask me
what I am, and I say, I'm a comedian. And
when I was on the radio, all the radio people
would introduce me, this is Johnny. Johnny's a comedian, and
all my comedian friends would go, this is Johnny, he's

(14:07):
on the radio.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Have no identity.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
So I was kind of like this tweener, this in
between person, you know, just like a personality. But I
identify with the comedians more. I don't want to say
more than the radio end, because I definitely identify with
the jocks. The business end of the radio business I
found to be very difficult.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Same Yeah, I'm in there with you right now. It's tough.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
I had to. I don't know if I if I
if I navigated the business end of the radio part
as good as I could have. Somebody explained to me
about the sales and programming don't like each other, and
I'm like, how could that be. We're the same company.
You know, Sales wants to do one thing and programming

(14:56):
wants to do another, and they butt heads all the time.
And you know, I after six months.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
In the race, you were But some people there's just
certain stuff that some people ask us to do or
expect us to do. And I think, did you did
you read that statement out loud before you presented it
to us, because I think not, And if you did,
I have a whole bunch of other questions. Yes, but
I digress. I took away from your football, and then
you worked with garbage.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, well I worked with garbage and did everything with garbage.
I ran an incinerator, I was a porter, I mopped
holes and I compacted garbage, and then I worked on
a garbage drug.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
Did you ever encounter crazy things like a dead body?
Or Okay, they kill people and youngers? What are you
talking about?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Not?

Speaker 3 (15:42):
When I was not in the neighborhood, I was making enough.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Ok I just think of about the guys all the time.
I see.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
I'll tell you the thing that you don't know about
being a garbage man, how nice the people are to you.
And that blew my mind. It would be ninety degrees
ninety five degrees out. People would come out with iced
tea and lemon or people would say, would you like
to use my hose, you know, to get a drink
unannounced actor kindness, which we all love.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
And then you became a driver.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
After that, I kind of bounced around in the eighties.
I worked in the nightclubs, and then I became a
manager at a comedy club. And that's when I started
to go on stage for the first time. Oh wow,
which was by accident.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
How do you go some comedians?

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Comedians didn't show up? Oh how to go up and
introduce the acts? And you know, I bombed horribly, horribly.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
You have to vomb at some point though, right.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Well, it's it's a birthright. The funny thing about bombing
is that you start sweating from places you had no
idea you had sweat glands. Like I'm like, I can't
believe I could feel sweat running down off my ears.
I didn't know your ears could sweat. And it comes
on like a faucet and I feel the water running
behind my knees and I'm like, oh my god, oh

(17:04):
my god, oh my god, this is this is the worst.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
And then you thought after that, maybe should try that again.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
After that, I got on stage and I and I
and I said to myself, I think I could do
this I got no laughs.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Not one laughs? Do you remember an I gotta laugh.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
At the end. Everybody knew I was struggling, and I said, look,
I noticed some people out there struggling with your lives,
and you might be thinking about suicide or anything like that.
I said, please, don't do it. Just do five minutes
to stand up. You'll get the same feeling and you'll
live to tell the story. And they all started a
falling because they knew I was dying. There you go, yeah,
it's okay, Johnny, it's okay.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Time you'll be better.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
I only had one way to go, okay.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, So you got the bug from that.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
I got the bug and then I would do some hosting,
and then when I got the job at the radio station,
I started again. I came to the conclusion when I
started in radio, and I k to you in ninety six.

(18:12):
By ninety eight, I said, you know, you know how
you've really become well known in radio? You do stuff
outside of radio? Yeah, you know what I mean. So
I said, you know what, I'm gonna start doing comedy again.
And I started in ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
And it was interesting, how did you go from driving
and filling on a comedy club stage to now you're
hosting a morning show on kt you There.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Was an audition for KTU when it came on in
ninety six. You know, at the time, I was working
at a strip club.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Okay, please tell me your strip club DJ.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
No. No, I was a vice president.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well you're a vice president of a strip club.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well I don't even know that was a position there.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Wow, when in the club does like thirty million a yeah? Yeah,
they have a corporate structure mold. Okay, So it wasn't
like what you're sore on the Sopranos.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, which is I was thinking the Botto Bank. Yeah,
Now it wasn't so this was like a big money
making shirt clubs. Yeah, you're the VP of the shrip club.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Right. So at that particular time, Hollywood Hamilton got an audition, okay,
and he says, I'd like you to come in. I've
been living in New York. I do not sound like
I'm from New York. He goes, you are in.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
New York, you certainly sound like it.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah. Yeah, And he said, I'd like you to come
in and go on the air with me for this week.
I said, you know, I get home from the club
five o'clock in the morning. That means I'd have to
go from one job to the other. I'm not doing it,
so I'll never forget what he said. He goes, Johnny,
I'll throw you a hundred dollars a day, and I said, no,
I said, I'll give you two hundred and find somebody else.

(19:45):
So he goes, please do me a favor. So I
did him a favorite. We went on the air and
I didn't think really very much of it. And the program,
the director at the time, Frankie Blue, he said to me,
you guys are not ready for the mor but you
would be great at night. And they made me an offer,
and I wasn't going to take it. It was paltry.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
I was going to say, was radio shitty payback then
like it is now?

Speaker 3 (20:12):
No, When I was no, it was different in the
fact that the way you were treated. Okay, radio personalities
were celebrities and they were treated that way. As time
went on, the talent was disregarded.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
No, it ain't shit.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well, you know you know what I'm saying. I don't
mean to I'm not bad mouthing the industry.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
It has changed.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
It changed. Yeah, and one of the reasons when I
left was I was not in the same business that
I got into. But anyway, they offered me a job.
Make a long story short, and he said, you got
to do this. This is this, He goes, this is
your life's work. And I'm like, I said, I don't.
I never had anybody talk like that to me. You

(20:55):
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Entertainment is a really good place to get smoke blown
right up your ass.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
He said, I've been doing this twenty years, he goes,
and he goes, I've been in the radio for quite
some time. This is your life's work. And I decided
to take the job. We went on at nights, but
we had some kind of record. We were number one
twenty five fifty four with men and women at night congratulations, Yeah,
which was quite remarkable. Yeah, And you know in New

(21:24):
York at the time. And then they moved us to
mornings in ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Did you enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
After two years? You know, people often ask me what
I miss I missed the people, sure, the interaction with people.
I mean, it was so different. I mean, you know,
I've been on your morning show obviously, and it's a
the only way I could describe it compared to what
I do. It's a very large, slow moving machine, you

(21:52):
know what I mean. And I mean that in a
positive way. But when you're like local, like we are
just in New York and it's just it goes bing
bank bank. We used to take callers and listeners and
talk all the time and talk to people and you know,
play jokes and have fun and so on and so forth.
And I missed that part interacting with the with the
people of New York because there's so many characters here.

(22:15):
I think it's a New York thank I mean, I'm
gonna get killed for saying this, but even the women
are funny.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Oh wow, here we go. I'm going to kill you myself. No,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Mean that like in a demeaning way, but how is.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
That even women are funny?

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Because in New York are probably funnier than other men
in other cities, you know what I mean. They have
that sense of humor, you know what I mean, They
have that New Yorker way about them. You know what
I'm saying, They're not what's the word now, demure? Yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
I mean, you know, any woman that rides the subway,

(22:50):
she's cool for me. You have the nerve to get
on and off the subway and defend yourself. I love you.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
She's scared of nothing.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, you're fearless.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
So how long did you do morning radio?

Speaker 3 (23:01):
I don't know, about eight years until they gave it
to Whoopy Goldberg.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Oh that's what.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
That's what they switched me in the afternoon chat.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Oh okay, did you go by Gumba Johnny on the radio?

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (23:10):
They call do okay?

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, I own it, trademark copyrighted.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Oh really, like you really own it?

Speaker 3 (23:15):
And I owned too?

Speaker 1 (23:17):
How can you do that?

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Very simple?

Speaker 1 (23:19):
You just get in it.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
When I became popular at a certain point, a lot
of people were going to want to call me up
and open up pizzerias and use the name Gumbai Johnny.
And now I was instructed by my agent that I
couldn't do anything to stop them because I don't own
the name.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
And now you do, and now they can't do anything
with it.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Well. Yeah, And also, as you know, with many of
the radio names, when you become popular in one.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
City, someone else takes it in another city.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
It could be another Gandhi in Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
That would be hilarious, right.

Speaker 3 (23:47):
There could be another Boomba Johnny in Boston.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
I might have a tough time trademarking my name. No
work out for me.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
I'll try well, because it's a real name.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
He's my great grandfather.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
He was your great grandfather. I did not know that.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, oh wow was Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
And I always have been amazed by the Indian culture. Yeah,
because nobody excelled in the United States better than second
generation Indians. Second generation Indians just off the charts, took
advantage of all the opportunities in this country and have
done amazing, amazing stuff. I didn't know this, but when

(24:26):
I was on k Tu, Indians loved dance music, of
course love it. Did not know that. And they would
invite me out to these big prayer things in Edison
tents with ten thousands, yes, all of them. They said, oh, go,
Goomba Johnnie. We want you to come out to this.
We have a tent with ten thousand people. I'm like,
all right, this is not possible, I said, I said,

(24:48):
I said, this is not possible. There's no such thing
as a tent with ten thousand people. So I go.
They introduced the government of at Creepy and he totally
snubbed me. Oh totally snubbed me, act like I wasn't
even there. Okay, then they introduced me and they went crazy,
even crazy. Then he comes over. No, he came over
and shook my head. So I thought that was very funny.

(25:11):
But I when I would do comedy, there were these
six Indian guys that would come to my gigs periodically
and they would sit there and they would laugh and
sometimes laugh and not laugh. So I grabbed them after
the show. I said, come here, I gotta talk to
you guys. I gotta be honest with you. I love
you guys. You come to so many of my shows.

(25:31):
But do you get all the jokes? Do you get
all the humor? The leader says to me, He goes gumbo, joney.
Indian people are very smart. Some of your jokes we
get today and some we get tomorrow, but we get them.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, they'll figure it out. They're gonna laugh so hard,
they said, other people are laughing. I'm gonna find out why.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yes, and I couldn't stop laughing. I said, I love
you guys. Give me on you just you yourself. You
never know what kind of impact you have.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
That's one of the fun parts. I think it's getting
you know, we have a conversation that you wouldn't probably
not think about again later on in the day. Then
you get a message from somebody. And now it's social media,
people really can't reach out to you all the time.
We'll get a message later in the day saying that
conversation probably meant nothing to you, and it made my
day better.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
I found that out as a comedian, Like when I
would go to the gym at night after doing the
morning show. Somebody at the gym would say you when
you said that, I almost drove off the road, and
I'm like, I didn't think that was funny at all.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Wow, your sense of humor is terrible.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
So glad stop that.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
There are so many people who say, like, girls aren't funny.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
Well, that's been a thing among comedians for a very
very long time. And you know, I'm not surprised by
that because it was a male dominated.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Just like everything else in industry.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
But it's changed quite a bit. There are funny, funny
women out there.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
I'm just a fan of comedy in general. I love
Do you have favorites, Ah, yes they do. Who are
your favorites?

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Well, I have favorites for different reasons. My favor, and
it's hard because he's my dearest friend for forty years.
Is Colin Quinn. If you look at his body of work,
it is utterly ridiculous. He's a comedians comedian, okay, anyone else,
Sam Kinnison. I admire Jerry Seinfeld even though you know,

(27:32):
like this younger generation might see him as something else.
His accomplishments and his ability his to write these fatless jokes,
these jokes that are just totally clean, is quite amazing,
you know. I mean, he has that's a different form
of comedy, like Jay Leno. These people are like monologusts,

(27:54):
you know. So there's all different forms. And then you
have people like Bill Burr that has.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Easily Top five I love so much.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yes, yeah, but he has something to say Boston guy. Yeah, no,
you know in his comedy, he even though he is condescending, sarcastic,
Boston dad. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean, But
he's got something to say at the end of the day,
you like, like what you know what. He may be nuts,
but he's right.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
And that's what I love about Bill Burr, you know
what I mean, You get that thing. He may be nuts,
but he's right. There's a comedian named Ryan Hamilton that
I love. He's very clean. Not that I prefer clean comedians.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
But are you a clean comedian?

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I can be. I've done clean sets. I mean I
did my I did a dry bar special, which is
a Mormon run station.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
So okay, So I'm thinking like a blowout bar for
your hair.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
No, no, no, no dry bar. Yeah, there is something
something like that.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Don't know, maybe not it's a blowoup bar.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah. You know, it depends where you are. I mean,
if you're if I'm in a theater, you know, people
are paying seventy five hundred dollars ticket, they come dressed up,
so on and so forth. You code to a comedy club,
people are playing twenty five five forty dollars for a ticket. Yeah,
the clubs are a little bit more salty.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
I'm known for the private parties. I was the king
of the private parties for quite some time.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
That sounds so scandalous.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
I'm talking about, Yeah, for the radio. Then you end
up in somebody's backyard with a microphone.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
So we're talking about like a house party. We're not
talking about like a Diddy party.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
No, okay, Now, there was no Diddy parties for me,
I guess I wasn't cute enough. He's the talk at
the comedy clubs now.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
I can only imagine. It's interesting to me that now
everyone's coming out of the woodwork. Well I knew, well,
where the hell were you?

Speaker 3 (29:29):
What I have to tell you? I mean I interviewed
him quite a bit, did you, Yeah, I would get
what was probably about a halftime Uh, entitled. He had
an air about him. I don't mean entitled in a
bad way where it put you down. But he carried
himself like he was something. There's no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
When you look at some of the things that are
coming out in the press about him, based on your
own experience with him, are you like, no way that
never could have happened? Or in your head?

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Do you think it's interesting because there's two lives. I know,
I have friends that played high school football with him
at Mount St. Michael, and they liked him. Apparently there
was at some point conjuncture in his life, there was
a fork in the road. Yeah, and he changed, or
he supposedly changed. I don't know. You know, I interviewed

(30:17):
him several times, and you know, he was diddy man.
He was you know, some people come in like like Mariah.
Mariah carries herself like she's royalty.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
She does her I mean, she's radio.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
I mean, but she's Mariah pulls it off, she does.
She pulls it off like she says something regal about it, Darling.
She comes in, you know, the guy doling, good morning Dolling. Yeah,
and uh. And some celebrities are like that. All right.
When we we we used to have all the pop stars,
all right, Brittany Justin? Uh uh, Backstreet Boys, And anytime

(30:52):
I'd go anywhere, they said, what's Brittany Like? What's Justin?

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Like?

Speaker 3 (30:55):
What's this guy like? Now? Remember I handled I interviewed
Brittany from when she was sixteen to twenty every year,
a couple times a year, so I watched their grow
up and people would say, you know, what's Justin like?
And I said, Okay, what were you like when you
were eighteen? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Exactly?

Speaker 3 (31:11):
I was an asshole when I was eighteen. All right, now,
factor in several million dollars, a lot of attention, and
a whole bunch of people who will never say no
to you. Do you think you could handle it?

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Be a monster?

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah? No, But I'm just saying. I'm just saying it's
not What is thrown at these children and their children
is next to impossible to handle. I don't want to
say they're doomed. It's not all like Litters's golden.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
I think there's a little bit of doom involved in
this kind of stuff because one of the best things
about accomplishments is working for something and then getting that thing.
Whereas if you're a little kid and things are sort
of just handed to you, not that you don't have
to perform and travel and do all of that, you
don't have that same enjoyment in life that I think
you get from working for something and accomplishing it later

(31:59):
on and.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
Just have goals to meet.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
You did it all right? Was left?

Speaker 3 (32:03):
Well, what's more importantly is you sacrifice your your real childhood, yeah,
and relationships, and then what if that is the pinnacle
of your life and the rest of your life you
have to look back and say, I'll never get that high.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Again, which is what it seems like is the problem
for a lot of the child stars and now you know,
and then they.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Turned to They turned to drugs and alcohol to medicate.
They medicate themselves and that's it. I was semi successful
late in life, and I'm very grateful for that. And
you asked me about my football career, and when I
look back on it, I am really glad that it
didn't take off or take hold because I was not

(32:42):
prepared at my at twenty one, twenty two years old,
I was not prepared for any kind of success. When
I look back on.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
My life, that's interesting. It's an interesting take on you know.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
I mean, I even when I became successful on the radio,
it was so quick, and it was so it was
so weird, you know, I just was it was mind boggling,
you know what I mean, because you know, you know yourself.
You're in a studio, You're hanging out with eight other people.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Yeah, and it feels like you're just talking to them,
talking to millions, thank god. It just feels like millions
of people know who you are.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
You, you know what I mean, millions of people know
you and and it's like it's it's it's powerful. In
this business, you have to learn how to sit on
your ego.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, absolutely, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
You have to learn how to sit on your ego.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
If you don't, someone else will teach you how to
do it.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Oh yeah, there's always there's there's always somebody. There's always
somebody more than willing to kick the kick your feet
out from underneach.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
You know, and laugh about it.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah. I'm joining myself now touring the country doing stand up.
My life is great. I'm in a great marriage, I'm
in a good place. I have less than i've had before.
I've had more money, I've had bigger houses, I've had
nicer cars, but I've never been happier.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
So you don't have less, you just have less money,
but you have more.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
I want to say, no, yeah, I have I have less,
I have less distraction. I'm almost at the point now
where it's like impossible to insult me. I don't care
what you think.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
About it, right, what do I think about me?

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (34:31):
I have to live with men, not you.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yeah, and that I think that's a whole process. It is,
you know what I mean. Because we're in a business
where we're constantly seeking validation and we're constantly being judged,
especially me every night on stage. You gotta have a
tough tummy.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
I think I have reached your place of it's really
hard to insult me. Yeah, only because I think I've
heard every insult anyone could ever think. There were things
that people say about me that I'm like, Wow, that
was a new one plot twist. Who knew from the
things you say to your race, to your gender, to
what you look like. I was never prepared for that

(35:08):
because I work in radio, so I just always thought, Okay,
it's radio. No one gives a shit what you look like.
That is untrue.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Yeah, well yes, well now because of everything with the media.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Yeah, social media is everywhere, and if we want to
keep up, we have to be on camera. I used
to just be used to coming in and you know,
like sweatshirt, sweatpants, hair, puol back, no makeup, having a
good time. Man, when those cameras are on, people really
want to let you know you look like job of
the Hut again. Here we go. But then you just
get to a point where like, I've heard it all.
That's fine, you can say it again, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
But it's always humbling, and you know, people come up.
I don't know if this happens to you. People say
you used to be on the radio, and I said, yeah, no,
I never listened to you.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah, okay, somebody, I'm glad you say that because we
get that all the time. First of all, I always say, please,
if I am in a setting where somebody doesn't know me,
do not introduce me and include my job. I would
rather you just introduce me by my first and last
name her first name, and that's fine. We can get
to know each other. Whenever somebody introduces and says, oh,
she's the co host of the elves Around Morning show,

(36:09):
it never goes well because it's either I used to listen,
but I don't listen anymore, or that show's still on
or never heard of it, or oh I listened to NPR.
There's really never Oh my god, that's cool. So don't
please don't introduce me that way because he has always
got something to say. They always got something to say.
And I think, you know, somebody introduced me and was like, oh,

(36:30):
this is my friend and she's the CEO of Big Lots.
At no point would I say I'm more of a
kmart person, right, that's just weird. It's a weird thing
to say.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
My mother used to say, nobody wants to miss an
opportunity to kick you in the ass.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
So many times, tis well, you.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Know, and you just you got to have a tough
tummy in this business. You got it. If if you
if you're not good with criticism, goodbye, you will spiral,
will get eat you will get eaten from the inside out. Right.
But what I'm doing now is fantastic. I'm in a
good place.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
You ever going to write a book?

Speaker 3 (37:07):
I'm doing a one man show.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
When's that happening.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
I'm working on it for the past nine months, and
it's very interesting. You know. Obviously my life is very dense.
You know, there's even so much we didn't even scratch.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
No, I want to scratch it.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah, and a rot a book in twenty ten. It
was a comedic like hand guide. Okay, I knew what
it was like the process of book writing. So when
I sat down and I was going to do a
one man show, I said, I can't put pen to paper.

(37:43):
It's just too personal.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
A lie, oh, a lie, okay.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
And I don't mean lie. I won't go I won't
go there, so you'd skim. Yeah. So I took a
kid that worked for me, who's a segment producer at
NBC It out at Studios, recorded My life from zero
to ten, ten to twenty twenty to thirty and thirty
to forty. That's when it ends. It ends with me

(38:11):
leaving federal prison. All right. It starts with my birth,
and it's about what happened to me, my choices, how
did I get here? Where am I going? And what
was interesting is is what I got out of it.
I knew this was going to happen. While he was recording,
he was able to ask me questions, why good, Why

(38:32):
did you do that? So I had an audience. I
wanted to know where the reactions are. We put it
all together, edited it, and then I'm going to start
doing focus groups.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Okay, so this is going to be a process. You
have a lot left.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
I got some work. I would say, I have another
nine months worth of work.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
I'm really excited to see this.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yeah, and it's the cherry on my Sunday. Life is
about relationships, man, That's all it's about. It's not really complicated.
It's about your relationship with odd. It's about your relationship
with your religion, government, your wife, your lover, your friends,
your work, and it's really about finding yourself. I made

(39:14):
a lot of mistakes, but I was able to look
back and realize why I made them, and I was
able to forgive myself for the mistakes that I made,
and to forgive my parents for the mistakes that they made,
and my friends who turned on me or whatever organization
turned on me, and just move forward. And when I did,

(39:35):
my career went through the roof.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
The whole world changes.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Yeah, the whole world changes because your energy changes, you
know what they mean, your vibration changes.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
I wish more people believed that.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I think so many people look at that and think
what a hippi tippy statement. But when you actually live
it and you practice it, and you realize, oh no,
this is very real. The energy I put out is
the energy that comes back to me in every form.
I wish people actually knew that.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I fell in love with myself.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Oh that's a good one.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
Yeah, And I like myself, and I think that is
very hard to do when you're in show business because
of how much you're being judged.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
And how much your livelihood depends on other people liking you.
That's a tough one, you know.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
I know this has nothing to do it, you know,
the hardest part for me about this job is taking pictures?

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah? Is it because you hate the way you look
or you just don't like I don't.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
I didn't like taking pictures of my family, you know, and
I would always hide in the back. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yeah, what about it makes you uncomfortable?

Speaker 3 (40:35):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Oh that's something to explore.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Is there a part you don't like? I know some
people don't like given order to know, you know, like
your interaction with the public. Do you feel like that
something infringes on.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Your I detest small talk. I can't stand it. I
think it's a waste of time. I don't want to
engage in it. So you gotta do it. You have
to do it when when and listeners are so nice
and they want to Oh, I get you, and I
get it, you know the whole we love your show.
You've done this. That's awesome. I love that. I don't
consider that small talk. But then when you like hang

(41:09):
around a little too long you don't have anything else
to say, then the small talk starts happening. I don't
want to talk to random people about sports, whether any
of that, I don't care. I look at people and
I'm like, you got any secrets? And usually that either
gets a really good secret or they're like, please leave
me alone and they walk away. But I'm really bad
at small talk, and a lot of times once I'm
just done with it and I'm tuckered out and I
can't like smile and fake it anymore. I go sit

(41:31):
in a corner and the rest of the show is
out like shaking hands, having a good time, and I
look like a bitch, which probably that's how it comes off.
You know, I can't do it.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
No, it's well, you have to understand you talk for
a living. Yeah, so they might find it odd you
don't want to talk.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Well, you can only have the same conversation. So many times.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
I go through it with my wife. I would do
the radio show. I would go out at Friday night,
do an eight o'clock show and a ten o'clock show
and come home and lay in bed, and my wife
would want to talk, and I'm like, I don't take
this person. I'm out of work. I talked all day.
I said, I'm sorry that your shirt didn't come out

(42:13):
at the cleaners. I'm sorry, but I gotta be honest
with you. I don't care, yes, And then my wife,
my wife would just look at me. If people knew
you're a real personality, nobody would come see you. You
are a bastard. I can't talk anymore. Please don't make
me talk. I'll talk to you in the morning.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
So much or even just you know, like you experience that.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
Yourself in your relationship.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Oh my god, all the time. Yeah, all the time.
I'm happy to go home and not say a word.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Is your guy verbal? Is he a verbal?

Speaker 1 (42:43):
He's pretty quiet. He's a quiet guy, but when he
wants to talk, he wants to talk. And I'm like, okay,
here we go. Yeah, I feel the same. I'm like,
I'm tuckered out.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Man.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
I did this all day and then I recorded a podcast,
and now I gotta do these commercials and I have
to take a couple of business calls. I'm just My
sister will call me sometimes and I answered the phone
and she's like, did I wake you up? So no,
I just haven't said a word since I left work,
so my voice sounds a little sleepy. She's like, I
get it together.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
I know.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
Nice not saying anything. It's great. Okay, last question. I
know you've spent way more time with me than I
thought you would, so I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
No, it's no big deal. I mean I don't think
of that interesting. So I hope you edded this up
to find something interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
I'm going to make it longer. The one thing I
did want to ask you about what you touched on briefly.
You said, at the age of forty, your your show stops,
it leaves with you or ends with you leaving federal prison.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
I had no idea you even went there until very recently.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
What happened was in ninety I started working at a
strip club called Scores in the city and was.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
That the thirty million dollar place?

Speaker 3 (43:41):
Yeah? Wow? And the business got very, very big. And
when the business got very big, it drew a lot
of attention from celebrities Madonna, jfk JR, oh Tupac.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Wow, I mean everybody, PAULI.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
I can't even a triple A, Ok, you know what
I mean? You know, bon Jovi, this one. That one.
The club was very very popular, and it was also
popular in an organized.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Crime way if they existed.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
Yeah, yeah, if they existed, right, I mean, which is
kind of weird because where people going, oh my god,
there was organized crime at a strip club. I'm like, please,
where do you want to hang out at your Butcher's exactly?
I mean, thank god they got a place to go.
You know what, I mean yeah, so so yeah, there
was a huge sweeping indictment that I got sweeped up in.

(44:32):
I ended up going to jail for tax evasion because
I was paid cash and check. Ten months sentence, never
been arrested before. Wow, and under the guidelines I got
out of jail in two thousand. I went to a
federal jail in Pennsylvania, and then I got out of
jail in two thousand and In two thousand and two,

(44:53):
the guidelines that I was sentenced under were struck down
by the Supreme Court. Is unconstitutional.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
So how does that work out for you?

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Is it? I plead deal. I pleaded out. But at
the time I was on the radio, so it was
huge news. I just got the morning show, front page
of the papers, CNN, NBC.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Oh the trauma.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah, I had my head shot on the car.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
And go down a rabbit hole with this one today. Yeah, okay,
so how that work out? They just said, okay, go
do your time, and when you're done, come back out
and you'll be on the air again.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
No. I got arrested and it was all over TV.
And I got arrested with Joan Gotti Jr. Jesus, which
which is kind of like topping out if you're going
to do your first store for your first rest. I
don't think it gets any better than that.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
It sure does. I'd be pissed off though, because I'm like,
they're going to talk about him, They're not going to
talk about me.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
It's like your first concert is Jingle Bowl, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Like get home, run, Hey, if you're gonna go big
or go home, yeah, bigger home.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
So yeah, although I didn't know him, I'm first time
I met him. I got arrested. But anyway, it was
a big ordeal. I was the only day I think
I missed on radio in my career. Next day I was,
I was on the air.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Oh wow, okay, And.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
I stayed on the air, and I was ninety eight,
and I fought the case for two years and I
accepted a plea dealer was literally ran out of money. Yeah,
it cost me so much, fifty thousand every six months
lawyers and I ended up going to jail, and it
was an interesting experience because you know, when you go
to jail, there's not like a section for DJs, right,

(46:29):
there should be there's a section, the people's section for murderers,
but there's no DJs there, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (46:34):
So yeah, I did that. And then I came back
on a Sunday and I got a call from the
program director and he says, we'll see it work tomorrow.
I don't know what to say, and he goes, John,
it's a business decision, he goes. Don't get me wrong,
I like you. I totally understand your set of circumstances.

(46:56):
He goes, but you're a money maker, he goes. Want
you're on the air tomorrow station. It sounds better what
you wanted.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
So who filled in while you were gone for all
that time?

Speaker 3 (47:04):
Michelle Visage Okay? And they had a whole series of
guest hosts. I think Cyndy Lopper this.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (47:10):
For was it all ten months? That?

Speaker 3 (47:11):
You know? I was five months in and five months
house arrest.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
So the day you get arrested, where, by the way,
where did you get arrested? Were you home?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
I was?

Speaker 3 (47:21):
I was in my apartment in nurshell, okay. And then
I was walking to my car and I got jumped
by damn. They told me I was the easiest guy
to get.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Because you just every single day they know exactly where you're.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Gonna because I had I was the only guy who
had a job that they were arresting.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
So the next day when you came on the air,
were you able to talk about it or during that time?

Speaker 3 (47:42):
I didn't talk about it, but it was in the news.
I mean, I addressed it briefly and that was it. Okay,
you know what I mean. My involvement was totally overblown,
but it made it made a good case. The papers
and the TV stations ran with it. And you know,
there was a lot of humiliation from my family. Oh yeah,

(48:03):
you know, my father was a police officer, so that
didn't help. Okay, And it was a rough ride. And
when I look back on it now, and you know,
this will come out in the One Man Show, it
was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
That's impressive.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
It was really revealing. I got to jail. First two days,
I slept for like forty eight hours. I totally collapsed
emotionally and physically, just burnt after fighting for two years
from my life, several hundred thousand dollars in debt, fell asleep,
woke up. I remember getting up. I was looking at

(48:41):
my feet and then I said I'm going to figure
out how I got here, and I was able to
nail it.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
And now people are going to get to see this
whole revelation. And you were one man show. Hopefully in
nine months, maybe a little bit longer a problem, maybe sooner. Yeah,
and when that happens, are you going to come back in?

Speaker 4 (48:57):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (48:57):
Yeah, You're gonna come And I went back and I realized,
this is what happened to me. This is what I've
been denying my whole life, this is what I've been hiding,
This is why I gravitate to these type of people.
It changed everything for me, changed the relationship with my dad,
my mom, my friends, my family, work, everything. I was

(49:23):
just a different person. I emotionally and spiritually transcended.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Not a lot of people can say that.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
No, I was able to see a spiritual transformation, a
leap forward, and I'm very grateful to God for that.
Definitely a better person for all the mistakes I made,
you know, hopefully you know at the end of the day,
it led.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
Up to something looks like it already has.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
Well. You know, my goal is to get into heaven,
which your great grandfather.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
I think you'll probably see him there hopefully you're not
going to go for a long time.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
There's a great joke that wanted comedians tell about your grandfather,
and it hit me with it was throw out line.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
You can't set me up like that because that what
if I don't think it's funny. Okay, tell it, no,
I want to hear it.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Somebody was annoying any and the comedian looks at him
and goes, you're so annoying. Gandhi would slap you.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
That's good. That's a good one because he was all violence. Okay.
So if we want to see you, if people want
to see you, where can they go? Because I know
you're you're touring still.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah, but Anthony rod all over the country.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
How can people find you?

Speaker 3 (50:29):
Just go to you know, go to at Goomba Johnny
g O U, M b A, j oh.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
H and Y always saw it. Yeah okay at Goomba
Johnny on.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
Instagram and we always post our schedules. We'll always here
locally and stuff. I mean, have you been to You've
been to a show.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
I have seen you perform, but not at one of
your shows. I saw you at Danielle's birthday party, which
I was crying very personally. That was great. Maybe that's
why I was laughing so hard.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
You didn't know of the story.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I knew that she
went on there and was terrible, because every time we
play the audio she gets mad about it. She's like,
damn you all. I did know that part, but I
didn't know. The backstory is very funny.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
Story was great.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
And then I saw you perform again at her Laughter
Heels Benefit. I saw you there, but I want to
see you.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Yeah, you got to come to you constantly writing new stuff.
I think we sold out, like make me close to
ten shows at the Paramount in Long Island and that's
like a eleven hundred.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Seat Good job, congratulations on that.

Speaker 3 (51:26):
You know you go every time and you know what
people lip syncing you're act.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
You sure don't know. Do you want to know. I'm
gonna say this right now, and I'm gonna leave it
and we'll circle back in maybe a year, two years.
I've been working on a stand up back for a
really long time. At some point I want to open
for you, guys.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
I think that is wonderful and I will help you
make that possible. I'll do everything. I'll do everything I
can to make it possible. Okay, don't be doing no
Indian jokes.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
I don't have Indian jokes. I have a couple about
my dad though, because he's an immigrant and he's very ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
Well Anthony does though, Like my dad.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
He has a very thick accent. Yeah, he speaks incredible English.
When he encounters someone else with an accent, he assumes
they cannot speak English, Oh really, and then he starts
talking to them and broken English like with hand signals.
He'll say things like me, no, want catch up. I'm like, dad,
what you can't do that? He does things like that
all the time. So there is some of that, but

(52:19):
it's not about.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
My favorite thing about Indians now is that they are
so have matriculated so beautifully into our culture, the American thing.
I'm walking down the streets now and there's Indian cops.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Yes, I saw that the other day. So what my god,
this is crazy Indians.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
He's trying to talk to me and I never had
a cop. Go my friend, my friend, my friend, and
I'm like, oh my god, it's an Indian cop.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
This is crazy. This is crazy. Ye please put that
into your act.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
I just thought of it.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
We're everywhere now where, everywhere, we're on your radio, where
the cops, We're everywhere. Yeah, I'm not going to too
much on that.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
Thank you for having me on the show.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Hey, thank you for coming on.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
And it was it was great to be here. Hopefully
somebody out there will find this entertaining and redeeming and
get something out of it. That's my wish. Yeah, and
I'd love to do it again sometime in the future.
And you do a great job. You're great on the radio.
You do great stuff. You know, you're where you're supposed
to be.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
I love you for saying that all the time.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
No, you're where you're supposed to be. And and I'm
going to give you a mantra, yes and this. I
do say this every day three times. I am when
I am, and that is enough.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
I am what I am, and that is enough.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
That's it. I go out there and I kick ass.

Speaker 4 (53:44):
Well.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
I think you're pretty great.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
Thank you, You're.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Welcome, Thank you. All Right, there we go. What did
you think I mean?

Speaker 4 (54:01):
I was on the edge of my seat the whole
entire time.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
I can't tell if you're being serious about that or
I am just like hyping me up. No, I'll take
either one.

Speaker 4 (54:09):
But his life story is quite literally like it's a movie,
an action movie. It's but also a drama comedy. It's
a genre like.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
Sort of Forrest Gumpy where it's like, wait, you did that,
and you did that and you need these people and
that person and you went to prison what and then
you came back and just got your job?

Speaker 4 (54:31):
What?

Speaker 2 (54:31):
This is crazy?

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Now you're a stand up comedian. Cool, But he was great.
I had a good time with him. So thank you
for sitting in on that with me. Okay. So you know,
normally at this point we do and ask me anything question.
We've been really shitty about that lately. Do you have
a question?

Speaker 4 (54:48):
I have a good question. Oh, okay, but it's not
relevant to our most recent topic.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Okay, it doesn't have to be oka about anything. I
answer if you have one too, by all means.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
I ask a lot of my friends this question. I
think a really good conversation starter. Okay, Okay, if you
had to sing a song from like like word for word,
you could not mess it up or else you would
like I don't know, be tailed or something. What song
would it be and why? And it can't be like
a lullaby or like.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
ABC the ABC's and it can't be happy.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
I feel like a real song that genuinely you just
know every word tun And there's like a reason.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Why Andrews buddy Tommy asked us this one time. I
don't know if you were with us, were you there?

Speaker 2 (55:29):
It was? It was the UFC fight.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Yes, at the end of a UFC fight when we
were waiting to get our rides home because it was
so crowded. He asked this question. And I thought for
a while, and I think I can do a lot
of Disney songs, okay, And I mean that might be
borderline lullaby though.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
Yeah right, see, like mine is Don't Stop Me Now
by Queen Wow. Because yes, I impressed myself that I
could learn all the words that fast, okay, And so
I'm like, I would want to show that off. And
also it's so fun to sing, like that's my karaokes
song too, that's.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
A good one. Yeah, okay. So if I don't do
a Disney song, I.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Know yours what Firestarter.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Get out of Here?

Speaker 4 (56:10):
No?

Speaker 1 (56:10):
That is my walkout song to my UFC fight.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
I mean there's not too many of them.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
There's like two words. Maybe it would be firestarter. Yeah,
there's not a lot of words. What's your song?

Speaker 2 (56:25):
I want to say it's biscuits. I really do know
most of the words to biscuits.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
It's a good song.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Yeah, or high Horse.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
Yeah, I could do that too.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
The architect. I think I know all the words.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Oh wow, that was quick too.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
I see. I don't think it's sad. I think it's
so beautiful. It's also makes me ugly cry, which part
because one part of that song makes me cry every time.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
Oh the whole, Like but also was saying yesterday, Casey
mas Gras is the only person whose voice immediately starts
and I'm immediately crying.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Oh wow, Like it's.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Just like one of those people who I think her
voice is. Like it's like melted brown butter on a
porch on a summer night.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Wow, melted brown butter.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
I'd be really sad about the butter having been wasted,
you mean, like on something.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
In the South, like melted brown butter. Like like maybe
like brown butter.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
Treats like she's from New Orleans. So I'm sure that
this makes sense.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Down there all like a screen porch and like looking
out like to kids playing or something at night.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Also, I'm sorry, I'm just I'm picturing it. It's just
a bowl of melted brown butter.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Yeah, I'm picturing an accident, like damn, we just lost
the buttons.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Like just a bowl of butter with like brown sugar
on it, and it's like, oh, we forgot to.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Cook that alripea butter. The part of the Architect that
makes me cry is when she's singing about being on
top of a mountain. Oh that that part, Oh my god,
I'm like, if that ain't my life, tell me what is?
That's the best part.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
I do love that song.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
It's good songs.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Great, Yeah, love Casey.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Found out so much about you guys today, Well more you, Celia.
I've known a lot about Andrew. Andrew, do you have
any ask me anythings? Or should we wrap it?

Speaker 2 (58:03):
I don't really have one.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
He's not a strong producer, but that's okay.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
I was gonna ask what didn't you like about the
Joker movie? Because I want to go see it. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (58:14):
Second, Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
I've heard what happens at the end, did you yes?

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Because that's fucked up.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
I don't follow anyone on threads, so usually when I
refresh it, it just still be like vague posts and
also just movie reviews.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
I think it's monstrous for people to reveal what happens
at the end.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Well that's threads, so that place is already monstrous.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Also that Okay, what didn't I like about it? So
I can't say I'm like a hardcore it must be
this way. But Harley Quinn's character versus the actual Harley
Quinn from the comic books was so different. Lady Gaga
is a freaking singer, and they tried to do a
musical with it, but I really feel like they failed

(58:56):
at making it a musical.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
Was she good in it?

Speaker 1 (59:01):
She was fine. I don't know that there was really
a lot of space for her to even shine like
it didn't. It's hard to explain, Like, I don't want
to ruin anything. I want you to go see it
and then make a judgment for yourself, which I know
you'll be able to do. I just wow, I expected
so much more because the first one I think is incredible. Yeah, Joker,

(59:22):
I will say, is hands down the best origin story
of a villain that I've ever seen. DC Marvel, whatever
you see exactly how Arthur became that way and what
pushed him to that point, and then you look at
society and you're like a lot of stuff makes sense
right now. I appreciated it, and then for this Abahama
nation to happen, and then I looked up online like

(59:43):
what did I miss? What is going on? And basically
the producer said he was kind of making this one.
Not producer, the creator said he was kind of making
this one to punish people for how they reacted to
the first one. And I was like, that's what it
felt like. Sorry, it felt like punishment.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Yes, that sounds wildest to me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
I'm not just having that much money that you're like,
I'm just gonna make a movie and ruin all your days.
But it was bad. It wasn't even like okay, I
thought it was bad. Okay, I was really upset by it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I saw the substance that one. I have to say
for people listening that one, they're saying, Demi Moore might
get Oscar now, Yeah it is. It feels like the
whole entire cast of Inside Out, all those little emotions
all get like a chance to like say, hi, oh
that movie. One minute You're like huh, the next minute

(01:00:36):
you're like oh, the next thingue.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
Like, ah, all those emotions Margaret Quilly in it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Yes, it is disgusting. It is like I don't even
know if it's good. I still feel weird about it. Later,
she takes like a substance it's called the substance, and
it literally creates like a whole other, younger being of
yourself and you see it like emerge from her back.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Ew.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
Yeah, it's like, if you're not into body heart, I
strongly recommend not seeing it so much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Blood into body horror.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
It's like gore.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Oh, the amount of blood and just juices, just a
lot of.

Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
It emerge from her back is an awful statement.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
And then just yet a lot of gore. But I
have to say, like a week later, maybe I don't know.
For me, it's like if you feel awkward after a movie,
does that make it good because it makes you feel
weird type of way? I think so I feel weird
still a week later.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Yeah, I didn't think about The Joker again until people
ask me how the.

Speaker 4 (01:01:36):
Movie was, because it was not then it was bad.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
I also knew that person who directed the Substance was French.
Literally in the middle of it, I was like this
guy's French, and then at the end it was like
Corin du Bois. It was like, I was right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
There's also a movie out right now with Channing Tatum.
Oh blink twice, blank twice. That's supposed to be about
all things. Did you guys see it?

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
I thought it was supposed to be about DiCaprio.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
It is, actually yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Somebody was like, is it true? It's about Diddy? That's
what I've been reading, and I didn't know anything about anything,
so I just didn't reply.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
Oh, I think it's Leonardo DiCaprio.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
I want to say it, but it is rumors.

Speaker 4 (01:02:16):
I'll say it. He's dating the oldest woman he's ever
dated right now, and she's twenty six. Interesting, he's okay,
fifty fifty he's fifty three.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Oh wow, this is shitty statement. I know before I
say it. If I were the twenty six year old,
I'd be so mad that I got this version of
Leonardo DiCaprio. He too, Get the hell out of here.
Did you see him in the nineties early two thousands.
That's Leonardo DiCaprio. You will want not whatever this dad
daddy uncle thing is happening. It's like dirty it's just
like a oh you probably used to be so hot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
I have to say blink twice. I saw it this
weekend with my sister. It feels like a kid's like
art project where at the end they're like wow, like
ironments like going downhill, wo very like you got you
knew what it was going to be the mini like

(01:03:08):
you watch it, Yeah, it's like Epstein Island, but then
there's not much more except them being like the girls
are holding hands at the end to be like feminist power,
and you're like it's a little too on the nose
for me, Like there's nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Really Okay, Okay, it's yeah, so I shouldn't see it
or should I just wait for it?

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
Two, it's on my voodoo so you can watch it
for free.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Done, Yeah, that's what.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
I can watch it for free. I'm telling you it's
probably not good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
I got the movie I encounter I got to be
to Be to.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
Let me tell you, I was so mad.

Speaker 4 (01:03:42):
I was like this on my TikTok for hours, watching
a tub movie like part one, part two, and then
all of a sudden, I'm at like part two hundred
and thirty seven, and I've been in my bed for
four hours watching like five movies.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
They're not great. There was an Arikamna movie that I
was really I talked about this with Diamond and another
episode I was like waiting to watch this movie and
then we watched it and it was so bad.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
What it called.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
It's called it's about a hold on. Let me look
it up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
In the meantime on tub, I will say, there's a
reality show called pet Moms. Sorry when I tell you,
immediately go to to be and watch pet Moms. It
was filmed over six six years.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
That's insane.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
The first season it's these crazy California women. It was
self funded because to be, who knows who's fun in
half those two B productions. This woman put up her
own reality show, filmed over six years. All of a sudden,
in the last episode, they're like, well, COVID's here, so
I guess the show's over.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
They're like what.

Speaker 4 (01:04:48):
Wait, so is it about like.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Pet moms living in LA. They're just like cracked out
pet Moms. At one point the like they're at a
charity gala and the woman is just like, hey, yeah,
so like you I don't know, there's just no drama happening.
And then the next scene is literally like my dog
died and you're like, what is happening? It's absurd, It's amazing,
pet moms.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Oh, we got Andrew into when we were off the grid.
We got him into love after lockdown, after lock up. Yeah,
it was bad. The Erica movie Erica meta movie is
called Picture Me Dead. It's kind of a remake. Well first, wait,
you have to watch the original to see why I
wanted to watch this one. Have you ever seen Eye
for an Eye with Keifer Sutherland and Sally Field? No

(01:05:34):
fucking traumatic movie. It is traumatic. I saw it when
I was way too young. I don't know. It's not
a horror movie. It's basically about this happy family and
they're getting ready to celebrate the youngest daughter's birthday party.
And Sally Field, who is the mom, is on the
phone with her daughter and a delivery guy comes to
drop something off, rapes and murders her. With her mother

(01:05:55):
on the phone, she hears all of it. It is
brutal and from that point what happens this movie? Same concept. Okay,
Erica Menna on the phone with her little niece. She's
so excited because she got this opportunity to go and
work with this photographer, Erica Menna. Here's the whole thing,
the murder, all of it. So I was like, oh,

(01:06:16):
let's watch this remake, Like, can't be that bad, fucking terrible.
It was the worst thing I've ever seen. I was
like actually laughing out loud through parts of it. And
that is not hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
The concept is not supposed to be funny.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
She can't even pronounce words. I'm just gonna say that,
and they have her playing a district attorney. So we
all just we start there and then we're off and running.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
It's like Denise Richard's playing a nuclear physicist, not the
James Blonde James Bond. Uh what is that? The Bond girl?
That was something not solid, not solid butter Stimiths. Was
her name too, Christmas Richards or something.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
That sounds about right, Christmas the astrophysicist.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:56):
By the way, I wish Diamond was here because I
started watching the season of Love Is Blind and I
got a lot to say about that. We'll get to
it on the next episode, but until then, Okay, if
people want to find you online, Celia, where would they
find you?

Speaker 4 (01:07:08):
Instagram? Celia, Underscore, Underscore Romano.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
I'm asking for myself so I can go find you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Andrew, Andrew Pug. That's Andrew Pug Pug all one.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
This is why you barely crack ten thousand followers. You
were not even excited about that. That was such a
bad delivery.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Hey guys, I love when you follow me at Andrew hugg.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Are you still over ten k?

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Yeah, buddy, ten point one.

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
We love to see it all right. Until next time,
Say bye everybody. Bye.