June 23, 2025 • 52 mins
In this episode of Comedy Saved Me, host Lynn Hoffman sits down with acclaimed comedian Craig Shoemaker for an honest and heartfelt conversation about the transformative power of laughter. The show, which explores how comedy can be a lifeline during life’s toughest moments, features Shoemaker sharing personal stories from his decades-long career and the challenges he’s faced along the way.
Key Highlights
• Personal Journey: Craig Shoemaker opens up about his unconventional childhood, the adversity he’s overcome, and how humor became his tool for healing and connection.
• Healing Power of Laughter: The discussion delves into how comedy has helped Shoemaker—and countless others—navigate trauma, grief, and mental health struggles, emphasizing that laughter truly is the best medicine.
• Career Insights: Shoemaker reflects on his experiences in stand-up, television, and film, and how his work with the Laughter Heals Foundation has brought laughter therapy to those in need.
• Candid Reflections: The episode is filled with both levity and vulnerability, as Shoemaker and Hoffman discuss the importance of radical acceptance, forgiveness, and the courage to face life’s challenges with humor.
Why Listen?
Listeners will find inspiration in Shoemaker’s resilience and the show’s message that comedy can be a powerful force for personal growth and healing. The episode is a blend of laughter, wisdom, and real-life stories that highlight the universal need for joy and connection.
Comedy Saved Me is hosted by Lynn Hoffman and features new episodes every Monday, each one spotlighting a different comedian’s journey and the life-changing impact of humor
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Comedy subjective. Some people object to some things that we say.
I have a saying stop global whining. Let's shut up
and stop global whining. As oh my, I feel like
Yoda a friend, did you are a crap? I do
not care.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm Lyn Hoffmann, host of the Comedy Save Me podcast,
and if you like this podcast, thank you. I'd like
to recommend another podcast I host, which is called Music
Saved Me, a podcast that explores the healing power of music.
On Comedy Saved Me, we delve into the lives of
comedians and explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. And
today I'm so excited because we have an incredible guest.
(00:44):
Dare I call him the Godfather of comedy. He's been
making us laugh for decades. Craig Shoemaker is here. He
is a legendary comedian, an actor, and author, and he's
also been a pioneer in using comedy as a tool
for healing and growth. Right up my alley. He also
has some very cool projects that he's working on right now,
(01:07):
and he's also been doing for many years that we're
going to discuss. Welcome Craig Shoemaker to comedy saved me.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I'm just excited to talk to you again. We used
to hang out in Boston when you were you were
the big cheese on the radio in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yes, so John Lander brought you into my life many
years ago. And then subsequently, every Friday that you would
perform at the Comedy Connection, you would come to the
studio and inevitably I would end up on the floor
in tears laughing, and I couldn't even have to go
to a commercial break.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I just love that. I had it happen. The other
day I did TV in Vegas and she was crying.
So my face hurts. And that's one of my favorite
things is to hurt people in that way. I do
a ninety minute show and they say, I have Bell's palsy.
If I give you Bell's palsy by the end of
the show, I know I've done my job.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Oh yeah, that is for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And you know, you laugh, it's a release, it's a
pain relief, and and it's wonderful to see that. I
don't understand if laughter is the best medicine, why is
it not being deployed as such?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Exactly?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Why do we see these commercials constantly? You don't see
any comedy commercials. It's all about some drug. It's like
they give you the fear, they get you scared, and
then they have a commercial that handles the fear that
they just gave you the anxiety. We got a pill for.
What we just sold you was some anxiety, some stressor,
(02:30):
And now here's the pill for. It's something you can't pronounce.
It's all the stuff you can't pronounce either. You don't
even know what you're putting in you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It comes up with the names for those things to
begin with.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I think they get stone too. How about zimbalfin. I
don't know, sounds too much like a dolphin. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You gotta wonder, you gotta wonder, but they should know.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I don't know how they come up with these things,
but they don't sound very you know, I started my
work and laughter heels and a cancer facil and I
don't know if you knew this. It can't what they
put in them, Like timo, they call it the red death. Now,
what kind of a thing is that? Yeah, you just
went ooh. I mean now you're trying to live right
with this cancer and trying to survive and heal and
(03:14):
you're putting something in you called the red death. I mean,
why don't they call it Santa Claus come on something
or bashful? Yeah, something in your body. We feel like,
oh wow, this is a positive energy. It's a positive vibration.
And that's what laughter is. It's a positive vibration.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, that's exactly why I'm so excited to have you here,
because you know, like you just said, wouldn't it be
great if a commercial came on TV and said, hey, laughter,
we figured out a way to put laughter in this patch.
Just slap it on your face and you'll laugh all
day long, you know, the laugh patch, the laugh patch.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I've always said that they should have you know, they
have a fit bit. How about laugh bit count your laughs?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh my godness, that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
That'd be great. And then have Well, we actually have
a business. We're pitching it today. You should come to
our pitch meeting. We have laughter Works. We go to
companies and corporations and give wellness a sense of humor.
Corporate wellness certainly needs that. Oh yeah, and I teach
something called guided laffitation and chuckle chatter.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wait, guided laffitation.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yes, instead of meditating I'm not a great meditator, and
I'll bet you're not either. You have add it's like
I do right exactly, I know you even though it's
been twenty years. I know you're not a great meditator
and I'm not either. Because we had something going on,
I'll be going, oh, I forgot to put the Washington dryer.
(04:35):
I mean, whatever it is, it's oh my god, the kids.
So I just I came up with this laffitation. It's
something we all love to do. It's really great for
you to laugh. So there's no jokes. You don't need jokes.
The whole premise for me is in all my study.
I've been studying this for years. I have the nonprofit
All Laughter Heels, and I worked in a cancer facility
(04:57):
to develop this program. And I I just laughter is
a choice. It's not like you need a joke. Just
like you, you don't know if you're on a staremaster
or on a hill. Your body does not know the difference.
It's getting the benefits of whatever that workout is. You
don't have to have something that even you don't even
need a trainer necessarily. I'm not saying anything against your
(05:18):
trainers out there but working out is working out, and
so is so now you're just doing silly squads or
laugh lunges, you know, whatever it is, it's a choice.
And then the thing is about comedy. I know yours
is called comedy, but comedy is subjective. Some people object
to some things that we say a lot these days.
Oh my god, everyone's complaining. I have a saying, stop
(05:39):
global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh my god, I feel like Yoda offended. You are
a crap. I do not give. I mean, I'm so
sick of everybody's a victim. Now let's take charge of
our lives and start laughing more and stop looking for
people to effect you and it hurt you because they're
not really hurting you. You're just putting it on them.
That's on you. So it's the same thing with laughter,
(06:06):
is a comedy is subjective. You remember Patch Adams, Remember
that movie Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, yeah, with Robin Williams.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, remember that was a true story about Patch Adams.
I think he works out of Baltimore. He would go
to hospital rooms dress as a clown to make kids laugh,
make people laugh. That's subjective. If a clown shows up
in my hospital room. I'm pulling the tune. I might
pull the plaga heard the clown in my room and
(06:34):
a clown it'd been shoes in my room. Come run
take this rath car. That's what I would be doing,
because it's not funny to me. As a matter of fact,
it's quite sad. This guy's got shoes that are too
big and he thinks it's funny. Now there's nothing against him.
But that's the moment where I went. That was my haha,
one of my haha moments. So I said, what if
we do laugh atation where it's a choice, just like meditating,
(06:58):
you breathe, laughter about breathing, breathing, so good for you
and all of that. And so it's been working. It's awesome.
I take people through these guys, the laffetation retreats and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It must be so, I don't know, fulfilling when you
know that you're helping someone heal with with laughter just
by being yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, you want to you want to do a little
little meditation lafittation right now?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I do. All right, that's that's a great idea. Let's
do it. But I don't have any tissues, and I
feel like I'm soon going to look like a big
mess on this.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But whatever you you're going to cry? Is that what
you mean? Well?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I cry when I laughed. Do you remember when you
used to make lander and I laughed so hard? We
were both crying and you thought we were crying, but
we were.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
He was another one. He had big tear dunts. It's
both of you.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I never met anyone like that. It was we had
to have tissues in the room whenever you showed up.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, we'll do a short one that so you don't
get into full tears. But just as this is really
great for work. When we're at work, it relieves stress. Ready,
just take a big breath through. Everybody do this along
with I was just.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Gonna say, can everyone at home do this too?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Everyone do this? Ready, take a breath for your nose
and let out a hob. Listen to the hob, the
sound and the resonance from the ha. It's a very
spiritual word. It's cleansing. Allow it to cleanse you. You know,
in Church's Hallelujah is aloha. In Hawaii's a ha is
a beautiful word. Anyway, here we go, breathe in ah,
(08:25):
is gonna feel better already you let out that ha.
That's a hat sound. Let's do one more. Breathe into
your nose and a hah. Good. Now we're gonna giggle
at the end and giggle until the gas runs out
in the car. Ready and do it with me. It's contagious.
Here we go, look at it. Here we go.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Killing me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
See that's a really short version of guided laftation. And
when you're ready, towards the end of the interview, I'm
going to take you upper level to chuckle chatter.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
By the way. How are you feeling right now? A
little stress less stress right, no pressure.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I feel less stressed. But to be honest with you,
I was so excited to see you again after all
these years. I'm a little nervous because I want to
make sure that I do everything right by you, because
you know you're my people.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
But laughter does that though. It takes you out of that,
out of your and puts you more into presence awareness.
It's mindful to laugh. We rewire, we rewire the brain
when we do this, and it's amazing the results that
have happened. Your oxygenating, your body, healing and endorphins are released.
Stress is being relieved, which is a huge, huge cause
(09:48):
of illness. So people don't realize this. That really is
the best medicine. Here's the way to deploy it is
the laftation. And we'll get to the chuckle chatter later.
But even if you are nervous, it takes away to nerves.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Need to be a professor at a college and teach
this as well.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
But what you're saying it don't make enough money with me.
I got to make a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, I have a few ex wives. By the way,
all my shows, my comedy shows, are benefit shows and
all proceeds go to my ex wives. I just thought
I'll let you know that if you pay a cover
for my show, it goes to botox and pilates class.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Oh my god, the client and the cult.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Of my ex wife join. She's in a cult, so
it all goes to the cults.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Hopefully it's a good cult.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
But I got to laugh about that.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
You have to. I love the One of the things
that you do is you're like, well, first, let me
just say this laughter. It does have what you just
did that exercise When I was looking at you and
we were doing that together. I can imagine being in
a business place and everyone looking at everyone and just
bursting out laughing, and stages when Lander and I would
do something with you on the show and we'd start laughing,
(10:52):
and then he'd have to go go to break, go
to commercial because we can't even talk. No one could
even talk. People would call us in their car, have
to pull the car over on the highway and say,
I don't even know why you're laughing, but I had
to pull over because it made me laugh too.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's it right there. You got the that's the magic,
that's the secret. Yeah, it's so contagious. We're so busy
being angry with one another, projecting our resentments and going
in our fear. Everybody's afraid and know how to deal
with their fears. Laugh through it, and then you'll be
You'll become a better person. Wouldn't we want to spread
(11:30):
spread that contagion around is laughter and joy and be
in joy?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Do you have to laugh at yourself?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's what I do all the time. And you're you
know the title of your program, that's I've had to
do that my entire life. My dad left when I.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Was born, right away gone, oh yeah, gone.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Gone, yeah, and then he became a cult leader. And
it's a long story, but geez, I've had a really
really difficult time in life and the only thing that
saved me was laughter. We would get we would watch
television together. It's the only time we bonded. My mom
was always working, trying to make a living in a
secretary's whether she's a secretary or a law firm. And
(12:07):
I was alone alone a lot, and I was, you know,
really tiny, so I was picked on and beaten. I
was kidnapped when I was thirteen by a serial pedophile.
What yeah, what. I'm not going to be a victim
to that, though. This is where I learned resilience is
really really important in life, not to be a victim.
Everybody's like a hashtag this and ribbon this, like we're
supposed to get on to your whatever you think you're
(12:29):
a victim of, and a lot of times they're not
even a victim of it. They're choosing who else is
the victim. He's treading as a victim. I say that
none of us are. None of us are. We need
to really really own our lives, have take ownership of
our lives and The one way you can do this
is look more to laughter and not to the news,
which is all negative, and they keep you in that condition.
(12:50):
It's an addiction. So you know, I'm a long time
sober now. And all of those things happen because of
those difficult circumstance, says, I learned how to live, and
a lot of it had to do with laughter. We
my my mom. I wanted my mom married so bad.
And I thought my dad's name was doesn't pay the
child support. I thought that was his name because he
(13:11):
didn't pay any child He would pop around every few
years and I would try to fix my mom up
with with comedians on television. There's a show called Hollywood Squares. Yeah,
so Center screening Paul Lynde. Right, he was Uncle Arthur
and bewitched.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
He set mom up with Paul land I did.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I wrote him letters, Dear Paul Lynde, you should meet
my mother because I read an article he was saying.
I didn't know why he was saying. I thought he
was happy Oho, I love oh wow, right, And my
mom would laugh at her. She goes, he's adorable. My
mom would say he's and he's handsome. And my mom
never got who was gay. She didn't. She thought Liberaci
(13:51):
is just flamboyant. My mom could never admit that anyone was.
Like the word gay wasn't even used back in her time,
right right, And it's like a woman who was a
lesbian was a spinster or whatever she would call it
would never be. Oh they were together like sexually, Oh
my god, God forbid. But my mom loved Paul Linz.
I wrote them letters. I said, you should meet my mother.
(14:12):
Here's a picture in a belly dancing outfit. That's a
true story too. And he never wrote me back. But
my goal in life Lynn, honest to God, when I
was a kid is how innocent I was. I wanted
to be. I wanted him to adopt me and marry
my mother, and we would be the first father and
son team on the Hollywood Squares. What like they would
(14:32):
go be in the box together, you know, like Waylon
and Madam always had their own box. I was picturing
them going, I'd like Craig and Paul Lynn for the wind, please,
and we'd be in the box. Don't take it signed,
it's a sports questions there. We'd wear double asscots. So
that that was my visual of life. I really wanted
to be guess what Lynn the law of attraction? I
ended up on Hollywood Square seventy five episodes seventy five.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
How did I miss those episodes? Was that when Whoopee
was producing was hosted.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, exactly, And but the only problem is I'm not
at big celebrities. I was always Craig shoemak Shoemaker to block.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
They used only to block.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They only used me as a block, but they would
never pick me first. I was always Whoopy or some
big star. Like one time I'm looking at a monitor,
I'm like, the only way to go she goes. I'll
take Antonio benderis for the loss. They try to pronounced Shoemaker,
but everybody goes to be Shoemaker.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's anyway. I was on the Hollywood Squares too, by
the way, just say you know wow, I was. I
played the game and then I had to cover behind
the scenes for Channel four in Boston. Oh okay, so
I got to go in the chair in the center
square where you wanted to go with Paul.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Oh you were doing you were doing a piece?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, I was doing. I was doing a piece for
the local news.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh, but they let you sit in the square.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So they let me tour all around and then I
did my whole intro. But you know what they had
to do. They tape five shows and five shows like
Saturday and Sunday as you remember, or at least ten
shows on weekends, like right in a row. So they
kept the audience in there, and they're like, okay, Lynn,
get Lynn, it's time for her to work. I'm like,
you mean, I have to do this thing for Boston
(16:11):
in front of the entire audience waiting for me to
finish so they can get back to tape another episode
of Hollywood Squares. I thought I was going to poop
my pants. I really, I don't know how I did it.
I don't even remember what I said. But those boxes
are really uncomfortable and cramped, and they are not luxurious
at all on the inside.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
No luxury. They have new Hollywood Squares. I don't know
if they do have luxury anymore, but or if they
made that fix. But they call it the Linn Hoffman
chair as a matter of fact, that yeah, they have
plush chairs now they call it the Lynn Hoffman chair.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So I had an effect that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Inspire you inspired the Hollywood squares that shift a little
bit so with they're production designed by Lynn Hoffman. But yeah,
I mean my life was all about this. Really is
difficult for me to deal with being beaten or whatever
it is, or kidnapped. What am I going to do
about it? You got a lot, you got a few choices,
and I'm not up for the other choices of being
(17:04):
a victim. I'm not up for being felt sorry for
any of that kind of stuff. I'm up for Let's
make a difference with each other with a vibration of love,
light and laughter. Let's bring that and we and the
rising tide floats all the boats.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It does. If we lift each other up, everybody wins.
You're you're a pioneer using laughter as healing. As we're discussing,
you've also had an incredible career in movies and television.
You had roles in Parks and Recreation, one of my
favorite shows, and Matt Locke. Last time I saw you
were going to work on a movie with Pharah Foss.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Oh wow, yeah, wow, that's a long time ago. That's
not the last time I saw you. That movie was done.
It was fair Foster did my movie The Love Master.
You know, my character the love Master.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Obviously, right, that's right, baby, Yeah, yeah, you see naked
and afraid I get naked, you'll be afraid baby. Oh yeah,
the love Master. Baby.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I wasn't even going to bring it up, but here
it is.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I put my pants, thought it looks like a giraffe
getting in a Mini Cooper.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
The doorb the doorbells.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
That was the scene with Sarah Pharah was doing the
movie they call The Love Master, directed by my friend
who were going to get to Michael Goldberg. She was.
I couldn't believe it. She was doing my movie for
like one hundred dollars. So we're in a car rehearsing together,
just alone. I was. I think they called her miss Fawcett, like,
thanks for doing my movie, Miss Fawcett, and she goes, oh,
(18:33):
shut up, I'm here, but I just want to know
if that love Master is real. She reaches over and
there was there was no horne in my crotch. I'm
not Cara Top, but anyway, you get the idea. She
reaches over for my junk. Really now, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Full on, Fara Fawcet groped you.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Absolutely, and I was not gonna sue. I was gonna
actually ask for what's the opposite restraining order? I was
gonna ask her to I was gonna ask her to
stalk me.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thank you, ma'am. Can I have another exactly?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Unfortunately I wasn't ready for my close up though, so
I had an inny, it's my regret in life that
I go, Okay, I'm ready now because I was. I
had like a soprano voice talking. She just grabbed me. No,
I was not ready. Now ready, baby?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh yeah, you might need two hands to handle the
whopper baby.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Oh yes, but she was so sweet and yes, the
doorbell was in the scene she asks for the love Master. Actually,
maybe she was getting in the character. She asked to
we on a date, and you know, allegedly in the
scene and I said, oh, thanks, because I'm always like
a nice guy and stuff. And she goes, oh shut up,
(19:50):
and where's the love master' Oh that's this character my act.
And she goes, she hangs, she shuts the door in
my face, her door, and then her doorbell rings and
she answers that, yes.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That wasn't my hand that rang the door bill. Oh yeah,
And then she goes, come on in.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Because that's what the women the women. That's why the
love Master came about. Because the girls in high school
would all use the F word with me, you know,
the F word.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Uh, fun friend.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I was always doing a good friend. I was so
tired of being the friend. I was really tiny and
I'm six to two now, but I was like five
to one in high school and really tiny, high voice,
and uh, they would go to the bathroom together, you know,
girls go to the posse p. Yeah, they took me
with them. That's what a geek I was that took
me with them on the posse p. Come on, Craig,
let's go.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
What did you do while they were using doing the
makeup and the I just.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Sit on the tub. You know, everybody's smoking cigarettes back
then and everything. Oh then they go Tommy's hot, George's hot,
and I'm going, yeah, I'll fix you up. I know
those guys. Yeah, yeah, because they were always bad guys.
And that's when I'm there.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
You were a professional wingman when you were a kid.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I was a wingman before there were wings on my side.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
No wonder you went into comedy.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
That's exactly why. Another thing that again, that was a
pain point for me. You know, I wanted girls and
they didn't want me. I asked thirteen girls to go
to the prom. I actually had a funny thing happen. Again,
these are a law of attraction things I want to
tell people. Just be patient with your life, you know,
just you know, it will unfold the way it's supposed
(21:21):
to unfold. So I'm on I was on a TV
show with Cindy Crawford to be That's great advice.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
By the way, what you just said really great advice.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, I mean just wait, you know, be patient. Grand
Canyon is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but
it was not created in three days. Sometimes these creations
need to take their time, you know, in the pace
of a higher source, not our own pace with our
own fears. So I'm on this NBC show with the
Cindy Crawford she got They gave her a week on
(21:50):
NBC to have her own show, late night show, and
I was one of her guests. She was that she
went to the premiere and she's talking to me. She goes, Craig,
you must have had a lot of girls because you're
the love master. I go, oh, no, Cindy. As a
matter of fact, I asked thirteen girls of the prom
and the one who went with me, Linda Scott, she
made out with Ricky aldemer in the corner, even though
I paid for her corsage and all that, and I
(22:11):
looked in the cant of I go, well, Linda, I'm
sitting here with Cindy Crawford suit card out. So then
it turns out he was watching, and so is Ricky
Aldemayer's wife. The emailed me. I got a little revenge
for that. She was the thirteenth one I asked out
because she would look good for the photos. I didn't
wasn't dating or anything, but yeah, she made it up
(22:33):
with Ricky Aldemier. He was there with someone else and
I saw them in the corner. But you know, those
things will cause comedy, and comedy is truth. If you
can tell the truth out there, that makes for the
best comedians. And the truth is we all have pain,
but sufferings the choice I choose not to suffer.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, that's for sure, and you share that with people,
which is like the best part of all. How do
you navigate though the challenging landscape, if you will, of comedy,
especially with the way society has sort of evolved in
the last I don't know. Decade. It's a really interesting time.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's funny. It's what do you use that where it's devolve? Yeah,
this is evolving. It really is. When you're playing the
victim role and finger pointing and taking somebody's words of
like maybe two hundred and eighty characters and make that
their entire character and attack them for that, and it's
amazing to me. This is another paradigm I'd like to
(23:34):
switch is let's embrace the comedians. Let's lift the comedians,
and let us have that voice that is going to
expose the people that are corrupt. We are the curtain polers.
We have no money behind us. You know, there's no union.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I have a friend who did comedy for years. My
opening act with Godfather my son. He's almost homeless because
he can't work. He has no residuals. We have nobody
to support us. I'm not playing a victim either, But
that's just the fact. Comedians are out there literally giving
you your medicine, literally making you happy. That's our goal,
it's our only goal. Yes, we're going to make some money,
(24:08):
but there's not that many multimillionaire comedians. Definitely not very
few billionaire comedians. But the billionaires get away with everything
because the lemmings that follow them do their bidding for them.
But what part of the bidding is, I'm going to
attack the messenger, the comedian who's trying to expose these
things in a funny way. That's what's really odd to
(24:30):
me is how many people are attacking and canceling comedians.
Go cancel a congressman. You can cancel a lawmaker, Cancel
a lobbyist. Cancel somebody poison poisoning your crops. Cancel somebody
who's making drugs that are really really bad, they're fentanyl
and stuff to go, cancel them. Not a comedian who
for one joke. If you don't like the joke, I say,
(24:53):
move on to the next one. There's another one common
that you're gonna like.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It's like New England weather just wait a minute, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Or New England clam Or you might not like the potatoes.
I don't like the potatoes. I love the clamps.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Well, it's just so easy if you're laughing, because that
coming through your nose is not and it will with me.
I tell people all the time, Craig, I live in
this world of television commercials, advertising, and things, And I
try to tell the close people in my world that
I speak to being victimy that you talk about, it's
sort of just being lazy. And also, if there's so
(25:28):
much thing like you said, if they can keep you scared,
they can control what you do, and there's no use
in arguing about it. It's more like, you know, you're
just willing to follow the pack as opposed to kind
of blaze your own trail. And that's not easy for
people at all to understand.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I've always liked you, and now I'm realizing why you
have a wisdom about you that you even had when
you were twenty two years old. That is absolutely so wise.
What you just said.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Want to you know what I said?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I don't even know what I said.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You're onto the formula that get you in fear, and
then the masses follow and so on. That's paraphrasing what
you were saying. But that's that's exactly what It is obvious.
But we just fall for it.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
If you But people don't believe me. And I'm I'm embedded,
like I'm here, I do imaging and marketing and commercials
and things, and so I understand how they're and now
it's really scary Craig because it's literally like one to
one advertising, Like you say something, your phone hears it,
and you turn on the TV. Bam, there's a commercial
(26:32):
specifically for you, not the next door neighbor.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I know.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
So it's gone to the days like did you see
that hilarious spot on TV?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
No, I didn't see it because I was watching the
same channel. But something else came up for me.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm hoping that it comes up. You want a billion dollars.
I'm thinking that's going to come up on my screen sometime.
You one a billion dollars. It's amazing to me. I
actually said, Ioner, if my hair is being lost here
and then boom every day, yep, here's transplants coming across
my phone. It's insane. I'm trying to figure out.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I think I work on my house. He's I got
to go. So why are you gotta go?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
My dad called me and he told me, did you
see that commercial for shingles? You better go right now?
And and I was like what what? What?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
And here like you're working on my house? No, I
met the shingles on my roof. But yeah, start hammering it.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Was so weird. But but I but I saw that
that fear in his eyes, Like, well, if I see
it and they're and they're scaring me, it's easy to
control when people are scared. It's easy to control what
you do, what you buy, all of it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm just amazed how people aren't listening to their true sense.
But I speak, and when I I, you know, I coach. Now,
I do a lot of coaching, executive coaching.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That's why I wanted you to come on here, because
I know you're an expert at laughter and healing. And yeah,
I love.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I love some of the work that I've done to
have people have personal transformations. And none of it happened
from pop and a pill. It all happened from some
changes and shifts that they needed to make, some mindset shifts.
And it's amazing to watch how they transmute this paint
into pleasure and happiness and joys. And it's an easy choice,
(28:15):
but it's amazing how we don't make it because all
they're doing is feeding us that crap. And now they're
literally feeding us crap. We are the most obese country
in the world. We're the first world country, but we
have these third world problems of diabetes and heart issues
and everything else. And then they get mad at somebody
for saying you're fat shaming or whatever it is. Well,
(28:37):
how about trying your do your own inventory on this,
watch what you're eating, and really be conscious about what
you're eating. But not only that, be conscious about protesting
comedians as opposed to protest to people that are making
this crap that you're addicted to. It's so people whose
processed foods. Of course, it's hard. Everything is hard. It
was really hard for me to deal with no support
(28:59):
when I was kidnapped and I came back from being kidnapped,
I was thirteen, really really hard. I was suicidal, by
the way, talk about laughter. So my mom raises by herself,
and you know, and I told my mom what happened,
and she said, ever telling you of this again, which
I would never do to my children. You cannot keep
secrets like that, Oh no, because that's a point of shame,
and you know you're gonna shame. And I started drinking
(29:20):
at thirteen and stuff like that. Well, then I suicide.
I wanted to kill myself. I had no reason to live.
And this was a guy I empowered to be like
a father figure, and he took me away, and it
is a really bad situation, my god. But so I
put these neckties. I tied these neckties together, and I
threw them over the closet door, and I tied them
on the doorknob, and I made a news that I
(29:41):
learned in boy Scouts, and I started dangling and choking,
and my mom comes in, just, oh, my god, what
are you doing? She goes, that was her new neckties.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Get up, Only you would turn that into a comedy situation.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
He did say that, wow, And I could get up
by the way I was on my knees. I just
got up, you know. I mean, I wasn't really doing it,
but there was some part of me that wanted to
be checked out instead of now and check in all
the time and just you know, be who we truly are.
We're meant to be love, light and laughter. It's what
we're meant to be. You know, let's do a laugh bit.
(30:22):
You know, children laugh three hundred times a day and
adults laugh twenty We need to you know, catch the
kids here, you know what I mean. Like, that's why
we need a laugh bit. We need we need to
laugh that much where instinctually, it's I call it the
seventh sense, our sense of humor.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Ooh, I've never heard of that before. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
You're so right. It's the seventh sense. We all know
the sixth senses, intuition and things like that. We all
know the five senses, our seventh sense, which we ignore that.
We don't even call it that. I'm starting to call
it that with my business. It's something we ignore. But
we need to have that sense of self, our sense
of humor, because it goes away. We're born laughing, right,
(31:01):
Peek a boo makes you laugh. Yeah, it's simplest thing
in the world. We don't analyze them all that stupid stuff.
I three stooges, honey, it's you're just laughing. It's the
silliest crap ever. There's no punchlines or anything. But it's
so simple. Then we make it complex because we indoctrinate
(31:26):
children to believe you must follow and regurgitate. You regurgitate
the information we give you. I can still tell you
fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus Saale, the Ocean Blue,
Nina Penta Sentamury I can live right.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Wow, Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
What purpose does that serve me?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
And it turns out he wasn't such a great guy either,
like took the holiday away. We grew up a Columbus,
Columbu this Italian day. Now they're going, who wha, whoa, whoa, whoa.
He annihilated entire cultures. I mean literally.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Not gonna to get into the politics. People get upset.
To My point is, I'm just regurgitating what they tell
me to learn. And that's what school is, yep. And
for your compliance, you get an award, an award, whatever
it is. Even if you go to war, you get
a little metal, get a little metal. Here, do your job.
We're gonna tell you who to hate, We're gonna tell
you who your enemy is. You're gonna go fight for us.
And that's how the world operates. I'm saying, listen to
(32:22):
your true sense of self, and if wants none of that,
it doesn't want violence, it doesn't want to fight or
be angry or raging or hate. That's not what your
true self wants. But we've been taught that. So I
have a program literally when I coach groups individuals to
recondition to be who we really are reprogram through a
programming that I've developed and including what you did earlier.
(32:45):
Just a little bit bit of it is shifting your
vibration through the power of laughter.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
There's something about vibration that is scientific. Like you would
mention upfront.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
The other thing you're wise about. That's exactly right. We
are all energy. Yeah, yeah, that's what we are.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
We are electricity in us, Like we don't plug into
a wall. That's always baffled me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
And now we have false electricity guiding us. These smartphones
that make it idiots.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Oh yeah, dumb phones.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I mean it's making it's it's making me into an idiot.
You know what's happening is, yeah, I scroll. I'm guilty.
I scroll, okay, and I late night scroll, which is
not good. That's bad for it, Like give the insomnia.
I mean I boom. Now what's happening is my hard
drive in my head only has so much space, right,
we only have someone space, so valuables have. Stuff has
(33:33):
to leave my brain, so crap like what you have
for dessert on Instagram goes in. That's what is everybody
so self obsessed? Oh, let me show you what I
have my life, how beautiful. It is so now it's
like now that's being programmed into me. So now everybody.
So there's a new custom probably the last twenty years.
I'm in the restaurant. It comes up. He goes, my
name is Kad, I'll be your weight. I go, do
(33:54):
I have to memorize your name?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Is there gonna be a talent?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You just you just replaced myself. This is a security number.
Don't don't give me the specials. I'll lose my Gmail password.
Gmail password pisses me off, by the way. It's always
fighting with me talking about fighting. It's not strong enough.
They're called me a wuss over here. They're arguing, that's
my password, and they go, try a symbol, try a number,
(34:18):
Try how's this pound pound pound jackass? But yeah, everywhere, Yeah,
that one gets right through. Yeah, of course I all
know my Gmail password.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Is this the classes that you're teaching? Is that part
of Laughter Heels the Laughter Heels foundation that you started
that a while back?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, And that was inspired because I will tell you
positive and I don't want to call anything negative, but
you know I was. I've been doing comedy for years
and all these people come up to me, especially Detroit.
That was the first time it happened. I'll never forget
Kim and say, hey, thank you so much. I just
thought they were saying thanks for the laughs that night,
and I said, no, really, we were told we couldn't
(34:57):
have a child. We tried in vitro every then we
gave up. We saw your show, went home. My husband
pretended he was a love master. I had a wonderful time,
and we had a baby girl nine months later, right,
And that's when I thought to himse, wow, that laughter
is good medicine. And I thought, wow, you're not trying
(35:18):
to have a child, You're just allowing. You're creating space,
a laughter space and all that. So then I had
all these other people set up, like one, I have
a photo. I should show it to you, conceived in
the parking lot of the Brave Improv minutes after my show.
They couldn't even wait till they got home. And there's
this little girl who came out laughing. It's the funniest
little picture that they sent me.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
How does that make you feel when that happens?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Oh, I just love it. I love it. I embrace
it because I'm saying it's not an ego thing. I go, oh,
laughter works, not Craig works. Now I happen to be
the messenger of the laughs. That's great, But I always
tell people go wherever he needs. You might think I stink.
It doesn't matter to me. Just go somewhere else and
go get the laughs or do a guided laffittation. It's
your choice. So and then my my child, Jared, was
(36:07):
adopted and no breast milk. Guess where his breast milk
came from? Breton. Mindy couldn't conceive. I said, come to
my show. They did. They had sex and they had
baby Cooper, who was born one week different from Jared. Yes,
one week. So we would go to the farmers farmers
market and get Mindy's breast milk like a drug deal.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Did she ever fridge all stocked up?
Speaker 2 (36:30):
She's frozen for us.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
This is Jared.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
This is oh yeah, because I gave them life and
they give they give Jared life of you know this, uh,
and it's this twenty years ago. I mean, so anyway,
all to get to the story of Michael Goldberg, he
wrote Cool Running His Little Giants. One of my best
friends from Philly with Eagles parties everywhere. I mean, we
just were bonded. He directed the Love Master movie with
(36:55):
Farah Faws and we're in Arizona filming some of it
and his wife they wanted to have a baby, Karen,
who actually was my blind date at first. He married
her and so Karen says, I'm ovulating. We're in a
condo about to watch our eagles actually, and I said, hey, man,
do the Love Master. It works for a lot of people.
It's a fertility clinic over here. They said, yeah, it's
(37:17):
a great idea. So I said, I'll go get sandwiches.
And I went and got sandwiches, came back. They were
already done. I guess Love Master did his job.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Baby Kayla was born nine months later. What yeah, So how.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Many kids is this? How many kids is this? Now?
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I can't well? I five? I count five for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Conceived by guys doing the Love Master.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Do you keep in touch with them?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Well, I'll tell you the story with Golds. His name's Golds.
Michael Goldberg. Oh again, a comedy guy. Really funny dude.
We bonded through laughter, which is another thing we bond
with our kids. I talked about this when I coaches it.
Who do you bond with from your childhood people you
laugh with, right, you share laughter together. That's the You
don't want to hang out with some miserable gloom and
(38:04):
doom person, right, Yeah, although misery loves company sometimes. But anyway,
a year and a half after Kayla was born, he
was diagnosed with brain cancer. In the game three Months
to Live. That was my moment why I'm on your show,
because that was the moment I went, ah, if laughter
is the best medicine, let's prove it. And I started
(38:27):
this program in a cancer facility in the valley. He
showed up for all of it. I just was making
it up as I went along. I did a lot
of research. There's a lot of science that backs this up.
On my new business of Laughter Works, we actually have
the top neuroscience from Harvard. He's on our board now
and this is all backed up. This is this serious.
Take laughter seriously. I mean, it really is what it
(38:50):
does to you for your healing process, and if anything
it does, it gives you a will to live. The
more you want to laugh. He took all my prescriptions.
I said, hey, let's all exchange our favorite common movies,
even saying the name of the movie is funny. And
fun or a quote from the movie if I say
those aren't pillows, planes, trains, automobiles, and then people laugh
(39:12):
just at the thought of that scene. If those aren't pillows,
Uh huh. Anyway, how about the Bears game housekeeping? See
what I mean? So you're laughing just at the thought.
That's the vibration that's being exchanged between us right now.
He shows up for all of it, does all the prescriptions.
I say, go to comedy shows. He was so many
of my shows. He came three months to live. He
(39:33):
lived fifteen years past that product. Fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Oh my god, Craig, I'm gonna cry and I don't
have any tissues. Now you're making me cry. Holy crap.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
And he had a team of about five of us
would like you know, look, he went through the chemos
and stuff like that as well. But he had his
will to live. You can't coach he really did, and
he showed up for all of it. And then, if
I may get a little people can tune away if
you don't want to hear a semi crude story. But
it is funny. Okay, it's a little risque. But how
(40:05):
about you just take those things out of what you
think is riskue, and just listen to this story for
what it is, the true story. He was in hospice
and it was the end. Who's actually living in an
old folks home at fifty years old? That's so sad,
you know, to go in there. By the way, if ever,
I'm in need of a self esteem boost, I can
get laid in these old people's homes. I'm a studying there.
(40:29):
They would just walk up and go, I'm taking a closet.
I have no teeth, I'm perfect for you. It was unbelievable.
I will I never felt like such a stud I
mean wow. So anyway, that's rightly you say.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Venereal diseases are up in retirement homes and old age
homes and stuff, so that is true.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Let him have fun. What the hell exactly? What else
are you gonna judge them? They don't even judge anymore.
Who cares anymore? At that point? While I go in
there and we film this actually for a movie called
Laughter Heels. I have a nonprofit called Laughter Heels, which
I formed for him, and we go to hospitals, after
care facilities, wounded warriors, first responders. We help people find
(41:11):
this joy and this laughter in their lives because they're
dealing with difficult circumstances and this will shift them in
no other way, no better way. So he shows up
off it and then he ends up in a coma.
He's literally in a coma we have where we filmed it,
and I said, well can I I said, old, what
can we do for you? He's just staring, literally staring
in this. I was like waving my hand in front
(41:32):
of him. What could I do? Man? What can I
do to help you? I leaned in, I said, want
me to give you a handy. I never done anybody
but my own. I'm really good with my own. I'll
give you a handy. He came out of a coma
and he goes and he laughed, shut up. I told
(41:52):
him I was going to whack them off.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I believe that's called no. I shouldn't say it. Sorry,
I'll say it.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I think that's called handj He left off the j
for my crew comedy friends.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
And I didn't know that. From now on, when I
tell the story, I'll make it up that I didn't
say Jay. I actually said, I'll tell you what I said.
I said, you want me to jerk you off? Because
that's a photo. It it got put off. That's that's
the big They'll call you a jayo with the accent.
You're a jay o. It's the worst thing.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
But he woke up. He woke up and laught, laughed,
he laughed. Were there's doctors in the room that saw
this happen?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Well, it was definitely one of our friends was in
the room because he was filming it. And whoa Mark
Ben He was a director and he yeah, he was there,
and yeah, I think there's a there was a nurse
there that saw this. He was just a wave in
my hand. There was no way he was. And he
he had been in a coma before. I remember, like
years before, and when he came out of a coma,
I actually said, you could hear us, couldn't you. He goes, yeah,
(42:52):
I can hear you in a coma that they act
like they can't or they don't or whatever the case is.
But anyway, he heard me and he laughed because you
knew that was And he died two days later. But
I'm happy and proud that it made him laugh. Oh
my gosh, you know, And that's a great legacy. I'll
take that one all day long. And by the way,
I didn't go through with it. I didn't.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
I wasn't even going to ask that, but thanks for
letting us know, because I know.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Your mind, your promise, you maker, no no Jayo.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well you know, it's interesting that you bring that up
because this was leading me to my next question.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I can't imagine where Jao goes to your next question.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Don't you love that this is called the Jao segue?
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Is a first? I guarantee it's a first.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
How can Lynn take that and roll it into.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Something I'm waiting, I'm sitting back. Where's Lynn going with?
I know she's a genius on the microphone. Let's see
where this is going. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Well I wouldn't go that far, but thank you, I'll
take it. Looking back on your career, which has been
long and less curious because I don't even know if
that's a word less curious, but I found stuff from
you from like the early eighties and stuff. So you've
been at this a long time. And if you look
back on your whole career, especially with everything that you've
been through, we didn't even touch on your relationship with
your dad when he came back into your life. I
(44:11):
do believe. Yeah, yeah, there was a But what do
you hope for, especially with all of these foundations, What
do you hope that your legacy will be? And how
do you want to be remembered in the world of comedy.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It's funny us to say that there's a difference between
comedy and laughter, and that's something I feel like me
finding that difference is important for the world to understand
because we're divided on what makes us laugh. We're not
divided when we are laughing. That's a good quote, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
That is You should put that on a T shirt.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Yeah, write that down right.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
I only have a sharpie.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
It's not going to come up with all these quotes.
The other day it came up with seven cents.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Actually, I love it. But we're recording this so it's
in there.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah. I want my lega see to be For instance,
I have a legacy business. Now laughter works. We're we're
going to change corporate wellness and turn it on its head.
And it's a huge business. And look, I've found out
in life that's not about awards and rewards. I was
a community or at American Comedy Awards. It's like the
(45:18):
big it's the Oscar of Comedy. It's on ABC. It
was presented by Lily Tomlin. You know, do you know
it was the loneliest night of my life? Really yeah,
because I got there and I'm going, wow, first, there's
no there there. Then I see people backstage. My contemporaries
are shining me off. You know that night they did.
I was driving around in a limo with my big
(45:39):
award and you get imposter syndrome. And it was a really,
really lonely night. But it also became a point where
I could go, Okay, what is this about? Is this
about my ego? So what's the legacy? The legacy is
if I can teach people and guide people into a
(46:00):
new realm of possibility with the power of laughter, then
I'm doing my job. It's not about me being rewarded.
Like I know, I have a trophy next to you.
I don't want to brag, but I do. I want
to brag about let's see it. So I've got a
couple of EM's back here, and I've got the Comedian
or American Comedy Awards Supporting Actor and all this kind
of stuff. But here this award right here, keep it
(46:21):
next to me. I won the horses ass Award and
I actually reunion.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
That's an ass of a horse made into an award.
Holy mode.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I won this trophy the horses asked of my ex
wife's family reunion from by the way your area, Massachusetts.
I won that award and I deserve and I deserved
and earned that reward an award.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Wow, are you still friends with your exes?
Speaker 2 (46:49):
No, on one of them, for sure.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
No.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
I don't know that that could ever be repaired unless
something happened with her like a lightning bolt, understood, wake
her up into I've done my job with both. I
have done my job literally, all the forgiveness, all of
the amends, everything that I need to do to clean
up my side. Some people I don't think are capable.
(47:15):
You know. I used to say to to my son's
I say, she puts her head to the pillow. Does
she really believe those things? Because she would accuse me
of these things like a lot of women are doing.
This is very sad. Whether they work the court system
and they don't get punished for bringing up false things,
they do not get punished whatsoever. And that stuff sticks
to a guy when you hear the stuff that she
(47:35):
would say about me costs me like a million dollars
to prove my innocence. That would have gone to my children.
That's all everything I do ever do in life, call
goes to kids, my kids, and that yet wives are
preventing that from taking place because they take it through
in this revenge system that we're in, in the family
court system. It's not built for the man because we're
(47:57):
still paying for the you know, for the nineteen fifties
fathers said get my slippers, bitch of co'se. Still they
think that we're still that guy. Yeah, and so if
you get something attached to you, your bully, abuse her
and oh it's done. You know, that's it. I believe her.
It is literally a statement you'll hear out there. Well,
(48:20):
it's a bad situation to be in. So I can
only bring my kids who I truly am. So if
you say I the one, I definitely don't speak to
the other one. She joined a cult, and so.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Are you serious when you say that, like, oh yeah, yeah,
a literal cult.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
She was literally just completely brainwashed. My kids say it too,
they spoke to the police about it. Yeah, she's completely
enamored with this cult leader. This woman, she just follows
everything that she does. She has a podcast. It's just
it's really it's heartbreaking though, to see somebody with this
kind of you know, it's mental health, which again that's
what I'm helping people with his mental health. Her mental
(48:59):
health is so far compromised by giving all of her
power over to somebody where I'm saying, you have the
power within you. It tap into that potency, that potency
which is filled with joy and laughter, happiness, gratitude, grace.
That's who we really are. And she went down this
other path of greed and selfishness and you know, blew
(49:20):
the whole family up for no reason. But in that case,
there's a much better chance because first we have two
young children. It was really close. And during the fires,
again my highest source and highest good, we evacuated. I
invited her to the beach house that I rented, and
she moved into the beach house. So there we were,
(49:44):
you know, still divorced and still you know, in alleged battle,
and we walk in the beach together and laughing and
going on dunes and cartwheels and making fun of me.
Of course, that's always.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
Part of a that's part.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Always as Dad's always the brunt of the joke. It's
great about comedies. I can think of reverse that on
a stage with a microphone. But it was really beautiful
and in the moment, not to say it stayed, you
know there's But that's where I'm going to keep returning to.
I'm going to keep returning to that true essence that
I really am. My true seventh sense is my sense
(50:22):
of humor. I'm going to keep returning to it. And
with sense of humor comes love and light. And that's
that's where I hope that we could all get to obvious.
All is never going to happen, but more people if
we do follow this indoctrination, if you will, we're indoctrinated
to be in fear. Why not be indoctrinated to look
(50:42):
for more joy, look for more laughter, keep your laugh bit,
pay attention to whoa look at how many times I
laugh today. I guarantee you're gonna feel better, right.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
I think that we need to call Apple immediately after
this call and pitch them on the idea, because I
think that is genius. I also think that you're genius
because of what you're doing with your craft, because it
helps so many people. And the question I have for
you is you know, you're giving of yourself and people
want to get what you're giving and have it work.
(51:12):
And I've had so many people tell me through my
life when when I would say to them, you know,
happiness is a choice, and you have to force yourself
and teach yourself. You have to learn behavior. And if
you learn a different behavior and you've been doing it
for so long, yeah it's hard, but you can't. The
old saying people don't change is I think it's bullshit.
(51:34):
I think people agree with you hard on something.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
And here we can hang out more. For God's sake,
we need to hang out more. You're in complete alignment. Actually,
one of my books is called Get Out of Line
and Into Alignment.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
Well, that's a chiropractor, you know.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
This is alignment with your true self. You're out of
these people's lines, right, And that's so important. Even the
topics of your podcast, it's out of line. That's I'm
not in line with them telling you to pop a
drug for your answer, right, or eat something bad for you.
That's you're in alignment with yourself, your true self, which
is probably why you still look twenty two years old
(52:12):
and you're not twenty two anymore, I know it. I
googled Craig.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
Thanks so much for being on Comedy Save Me, and
thank you for the joy of laughter and the therapy
that you continue to spread and give everyone. Because I
think you should be a doctor of laughter.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
Life has changed, but you and I haven't. Can't wait
to hang with you when I come back east. There
you come out west, all right, Greig.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Thank you
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Comedy subjective. Some people object to some things that we say.
I have a saying stop global whining. Let's shut up
and stop global whining. As oh my, I feel like
Yoda a friend, did you are a crap? I do
not care.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm Lyn Hoffmann, host of the Comedy Save Me podcast,
and if you like this podcast, thank you. I'd like
to recommend another podcast I host, which is called Music
Saved Me, a podcast that explores the healing power of music.
On Comedy Saved Me, we delve into the lives of
comedians and explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. And
today I'm so excited because we have an incredible guest.
(00:44):
Dare I call him the Godfather of comedy. He's been
making us laugh for decades. Craig Shoemaker is here. He
is a legendary comedian, an actor, and author, and he's
also been a pioneer in using comedy as a tool
for healing and growth. Right up my alley. He also
has some very cool projects that he's working on right now,
(01:07):
and he's also been doing for many years that we're
going to discuss. Welcome Craig Shoemaker to comedy saved me.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I'm just excited to talk to you again. We used
to hang out in Boston when you were you were
the big cheese on the radio in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yes, so John Lander brought you into my life many
years ago. And then subsequently, every Friday that you would
perform at the Comedy Connection, you would come to the
studio and inevitably I would end up on the floor
in tears laughing, and I couldn't even have to go
to a commercial break.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I just love that. I had it happen. The other
day I did TV in Vegas and she was crying.
So my face hurts. And that's one of my favorite
things is to hurt people in that way. I do
a ninety minute show and they say, I have Bell's palsy.
If I give you Bell's palsy by the end of
the show, I know I've done my job.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Oh yeah, that is for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And you know, you laugh, it's a release, it's a
pain relief, and and it's wonderful to see that. I
don't understand if laughter is the best medicine, why is
it not being deployed as such?
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Exactly?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Why do we see these commercials constantly? You don't see
any comedy commercials. It's all about some drug. It's like
they give you the fear, they get you scared, and
then they have a commercial that handles the fear that
they just gave you the anxiety. We got a pill for.
What we just sold you was some anxiety, some stressor,
(02:30):
And now here's the pill for. It's something you can't pronounce.
It's all the stuff you can't pronounce either. You don't
even know what you're putting in you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It comes up with the names for those things to
begin with.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I think they get stone too. How about zimbalfin. I
don't know, sounds too much like a dolphin. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You gotta wonder, you gotta wonder, but they should know.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I don't know how they come up with these things,
but they don't sound very you know, I started my
work and laughter heels and a cancer facil and I
don't know if you knew this. It can't what they
put in them, Like timo, they call it the red death. Now,
what kind of a thing is that? Yeah, you just
went ooh. I mean now you're trying to live right
with this cancer and trying to survive and heal and
(03:14):
you're putting something in you called the red death. I mean,
why don't they call it Santa Claus come on something
or bashful? Yeah, something in your body. We feel like,
oh wow, this is a positive energy. It's a positive vibration.
And that's what laughter is. It's a positive vibration.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, that's exactly why I'm so excited to have you here,
because you know, like you just said, wouldn't it be
great if a commercial came on TV and said, hey, laughter,
we figured out a way to put laughter in this patch.
Just slap it on your face and you'll laugh all
day long, you know, the laugh patch, the laugh patch.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I've always said that they should have you know, they
have a fit bit. How about laugh bit count your laughs?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh my godness, that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
That'd be great. And then have Well, we actually have
a business. We're pitching it today. You should come to
our pitch meeting. We have laughter Works. We go to
companies and corporations and give wellness a sense of humor.
Corporate wellness certainly needs that. Oh yeah, and I teach
something called guided laffitation and chuckle chatter.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wait, guided laffitation.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yes, instead of meditating I'm not a great meditator, and
I'll bet you're not either. You have add it's like
I do right exactly, I know you even though it's
been twenty years. I know you're not a great meditator
and I'm not either. Because we had something going on,
I'll be going, oh, I forgot to put the Washington dryer.
(04:35):
I mean, whatever it is, it's oh my god, the kids.
So I just I came up with this laffitation. It's
something we all love to do. It's really great for
you to laugh. So there's no jokes. You don't need jokes.
The whole premise for me is in all my study.
I've been studying this for years. I have the nonprofit
All Laughter Heels, and I worked in a cancer facility
(04:57):
to develop this program. And I I just laughter is
a choice. It's not like you need a joke. Just
like you, you don't know if you're on a staremaster
or on a hill. Your body does not know the difference.
It's getting the benefits of whatever that workout is. You
don't have to have something that even you don't even
need a trainer necessarily. I'm not saying anything against your
(05:18):
trainers out there but working out is working out, and
so is so now you're just doing silly squads or
laugh lunges, you know, whatever it is, it's a choice.
And then the thing is about comedy. I know yours
is called comedy, but comedy is subjective. Some people object
to some things that we say a lot these days.
Oh my god, everyone's complaining. I have a saying, stop
(05:39):
global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh my god, I feel like Yoda offended. You are
a crap. I do not give. I mean, I'm so
sick of everybody's a victim. Now let's take charge of
our lives and start laughing more and stop looking for
people to effect you and it hurt you because they're
not really hurting you. You're just putting it on them.
That's on you. So it's the same thing with laughter,
(06:06):
is a comedy is subjective. You remember Patch Adams, Remember
that movie Oh.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, yeah, with Robin Williams.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, remember that was a true story about Patch Adams.
I think he works out of Baltimore. He would go
to hospital rooms dress as a clown to make kids laugh,
make people laugh. That's subjective. If a clown shows up
in my hospital room. I'm pulling the tune. I might
pull the plaga heard the clown in my room and
(06:34):
a clown it'd been shoes in my room. Come run
take this rath car. That's what I would be doing,
because it's not funny to me. As a matter of fact,
it's quite sad. This guy's got shoes that are too
big and he thinks it's funny. Now there's nothing against him.
But that's the moment where I went. That was my haha,
one of my haha moments. So I said, what if
we do laugh atation where it's a choice, just like meditating,
(06:58):
you breathe, laughter about breathing, breathing, so good for you
and all of that. And so it's been working. It's awesome.
I take people through these guys, the laffetation retreats and
things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It must be so, I don't know, fulfilling when you
know that you're helping someone heal with with laughter just
by being yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, you want to you want to do a little
little meditation lafittation right now?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I do. All right, that's that's a great idea. Let's
do it. But I don't have any tissues, and I
feel like I'm soon going to look like a big
mess on this.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But whatever you you're going to cry? Is that what
you mean? Well?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I cry when I laughed. Do you remember when you
used to make lander and I laughed so hard? We
were both crying and you thought we were crying, but
we were.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
He was another one. He had big tear dunts. It's
both of you.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I never met anyone like that. It was we had
to have tissues in the room whenever you showed up.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, we'll do a short one that so you don't
get into full tears. But just as this is really
great for work. When we're at work, it relieves stress. Ready,
just take a big breath through. Everybody do this along
with I was just.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Gonna say, can everyone at home do this too?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Everyone do this? Ready, take a breath for your nose
and let out a hob. Listen to the hob, the
sound and the resonance from the ha. It's a very
spiritual word. It's cleansing. Allow it to cleanse you. You know,
in Church's Hallelujah is aloha. In Hawaii's a ha is
a beautiful word. Anyway, here we go, breathe in ah,
(08:25):
is gonna feel better already you let out that ha.
That's a hat sound. Let's do one more. Breathe into
your nose and a hah. Good. Now we're gonna giggle
at the end and giggle until the gas runs out
in the car. Ready and do it with me. It's contagious.
Here we go, look at it. Here we go.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Killing me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
See that's a really short version of guided laftation. And
when you're ready, towards the end of the interview, I'm
going to take you upper level to chuckle chatter.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
By the way. How are you feeling right now? A
little stress less stress right, no pressure.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
I feel less stressed. But to be honest with you,
I was so excited to see you again after all
these years. I'm a little nervous because I want to
make sure that I do everything right by you, because
you know you're my people.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
But laughter does that though. It takes you out of that,
out of your and puts you more into presence awareness.
It's mindful to laugh. We rewire, we rewire the brain
when we do this, and it's amazing the results that
have happened. Your oxygenating, your body, healing and endorphins are released.
Stress is being relieved, which is a huge, huge cause
(09:48):
of illness. So people don't realize this. That really is
the best medicine. Here's the way to deploy it is
the laftation. And we'll get to the chuckle chatter later.
But even if you are nervous, it takes away to nerves.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Need to be a professor at a college and teach
this as well.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
But what you're saying it don't make enough money with me.
I got to make a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Well, I have a few ex wives. By the way,
all my shows, my comedy shows, are benefit shows and
all proceeds go to my ex wives. I just thought
I'll let you know that if you pay a cover
for my show, it goes to botox and pilates class.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Oh my god, the client and the cult.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Of my ex wife join. She's in a cult, so
it all goes to the cults.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Hopefully it's a good cult.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
But I got to laugh about that.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
You have to. I love the One of the things
that you do is you're like, well, first, let me
just say this laughter. It does have what you just
did that exercise When I was looking at you and
we were doing that together. I can imagine being in
a business place and everyone looking at everyone and just
bursting out laughing, and stages when Lander and I would
do something with you on the show and we'd start laughing,
(10:52):
and then he'd have to go go to break, go
to commercial because we can't even talk. No one could
even talk. People would call us in their car, have
to pull the car over on the highway and say,
I don't even know why you're laughing, but I had
to pull over because it made me laugh too.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's it right there. You got the that's the magic,
that's the secret. Yeah, it's so contagious. We're so busy
being angry with one another, projecting our resentments and going
in our fear. Everybody's afraid and know how to deal
with their fears. Laugh through it, and then you'll be
You'll become a better person. Wouldn't we want to spread
(11:30):
spread that contagion around is laughter and joy and be
in joy?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Do you have to laugh at yourself?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's what I do all the time. And you're you
know the title of your program, that's I've had to
do that my entire life. My dad left when I.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Was born, right away gone, oh yeah, gone.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Gone, yeah, and then he became a cult leader. And
it's a long story, but geez, I've had a really
really difficult time in life and the only thing that
saved me was laughter. We would get we would watch
television together. It's the only time we bonded. My mom
was always working, trying to make a living in a
secretary's whether she's a secretary or a law firm. And
(12:07):
I was alone alone a lot, and I was, you know,
really tiny, so I was picked on and beaten. I
was kidnapped when I was thirteen by a serial pedophile.
What yeah, what. I'm not going to be a victim
to that, though. This is where I learned resilience is
really really important in life, not to be a victim.
Everybody's like a hashtag this and ribbon this, like we're
supposed to get on to your whatever you think you're
(12:29):
a victim of, and a lot of times they're not
even a victim of it. They're choosing who else is
the victim. He's treading as a victim. I say that
none of us are. None of us are. We need
to really really own our lives, have take ownership of
our lives and The one way you can do this
is look more to laughter and not to the news,
which is all negative, and they keep you in that condition.
(12:50):
It's an addiction. So you know, I'm a long time
sober now. And all of those things happen because of
those difficult circumstance, says, I learned how to live, and
a lot of it had to do with laughter. We
my my mom. I wanted my mom married so bad.
And I thought my dad's name was doesn't pay the
child support. I thought that was his name because he
(13:11):
didn't pay any child He would pop around every few
years and I would try to fix my mom up
with with comedians on television. There's a show called Hollywood Squares. Yeah,
so Center screening Paul Lynde. Right, he was Uncle Arthur
and bewitched.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
He set mom up with Paul land I did.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I wrote him letters, Dear Paul Lynde, you should meet
my mother because I read an article he was saying.
I didn't know why he was saying. I thought he
was happy Oho, I love oh wow, right, And my
mom would laugh at her. She goes, he's adorable. My
mom would say he's and he's handsome. And my mom
never got who was gay. She didn't. She thought Liberaci
(13:51):
is just flamboyant. My mom could never admit that anyone was.
Like the word gay wasn't even used back in her time,
right right, And it's like a woman who was a
lesbian was a spinster or whatever she would call it
would never be. Oh they were together like sexually, Oh
my god, God forbid. But my mom loved Paul Linz.
I wrote them letters. I said, you should meet my mother.
(14:12):
Here's a picture in a belly dancing outfit. That's a
true story too. And he never wrote me back. But
my goal in life Lynn, honest to God, when I
was a kid is how innocent I was. I wanted
to be. I wanted him to adopt me and marry
my mother, and we would be the first father and
son team on the Hollywood Squares. What like they would
(14:32):
go be in the box together, you know, like Waylon
and Madam always had their own box. I was picturing
them going, I'd like Craig and Paul Lynn for the wind, please,
and we'd be in the box. Don't take it signed,
it's a sports questions there. We'd wear double asscots. So
that that was my visual of life. I really wanted
to be guess what Lynn the law of attraction? I
ended up on Hollywood Square seventy five episodes seventy five.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
How did I miss those episodes? Was that when Whoopee
was producing was hosted.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, exactly, And but the only problem is I'm not
at big celebrities. I was always Craig shoemak Shoemaker to block.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
They used only to block.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They only used me as a block, but they would
never pick me first. I was always Whoopy or some
big star. Like one time I'm looking at a monitor,
I'm like, the only way to go she goes. I'll
take Antonio benderis for the loss. They try to pronounced Shoemaker,
but everybody goes to be Shoemaker.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's anyway. I was on the Hollywood Squares too, by
the way, just say you know wow, I was. I
played the game and then I had to cover behind
the scenes for Channel four in Boston. Oh okay, so
I got to go in the chair in the center
square where you wanted to go with Paul.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Oh you were doing you were doing a piece?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, I was doing. I was doing a piece for
the local news.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh, but they let you sit in the square.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
So they let me tour all around and then I
did my whole intro. But you know what they had
to do. They tape five shows and five shows like
Saturday and Sunday as you remember, or at least ten
shows on weekends, like right in a row. So they
kept the audience in there, and they're like, okay, Lynn,
get Lynn, it's time for her to work. I'm like,
you mean, I have to do this thing for Boston
(16:11):
in front of the entire audience waiting for me to
finish so they can get back to tape another episode
of Hollywood Squares. I thought I was going to poop
my pants. I really, I don't know how I did it.
I don't even remember what I said. But those boxes
are really uncomfortable and cramped, and they are not luxurious
at all on the inside.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
No luxury. They have new Hollywood Squares. I don't know
if they do have luxury anymore, but or if they
made that fix. But they call it the Linn Hoffman
chair as a matter of fact, that yeah, they have
plush chairs now they call it the Lynn Hoffman chair.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So I had an effect that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Inspire you inspired the Hollywood squares that shift a little
bit so with they're production designed by Lynn Hoffman. But yeah,
I mean my life was all about this. Really is
difficult for me to deal with being beaten or whatever
it is, or kidnapped. What am I going to do
about it? You got a lot, you got a few choices,
and I'm not up for the other choices of being
(17:04):
a victim. I'm not up for being felt sorry for
any of that kind of stuff. I'm up for Let's
make a difference with each other with a vibration of love,
light and laughter. Let's bring that and we and the
rising tide floats all the boats.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It does. If we lift each other up, everybody wins.
You're you're a pioneer using laughter as healing. As we're discussing,
you've also had an incredible career in movies and television.
You had roles in Parks and Recreation, one of my
favorite shows, and Matt Locke. Last time I saw you
were going to work on a movie with Pharah Foss.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Oh wow, yeah, wow, that's a long time ago. That's
not the last time I saw you. That movie was done.
It was fair Foster did my movie The Love Master.
You know, my character the love Master.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Obviously, right, that's right, baby, Yeah, yeah, you see naked
and afraid I get naked, you'll be afraid baby. Oh yeah,
the love Master. Baby.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I wasn't even going to bring it up, but here
it is.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I put my pants, thought it looks like a giraffe
getting in a Mini Cooper.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
The doorb the doorbells.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
That was the scene with Sarah Pharah was doing the
movie they call The Love Master, directed by my friend
who were going to get to Michael Goldberg. She was.
I couldn't believe it. She was doing my movie for
like one hundred dollars. So we're in a car rehearsing together,
just alone. I was. I think they called her miss Fawcett, like,
thanks for doing my movie, Miss Fawcett, and she goes, oh,
(18:33):
shut up, I'm here, but I just want to know
if that love Master is real. She reaches over and
there was there was no horne in my crotch. I'm
not Cara Top, but anyway, you get the idea. She
reaches over for my junk. Really now, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Full on, Fara Fawcet groped you.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Absolutely, and I was not gonna sue. I was gonna
actually ask for what's the opposite restraining order? I was
gonna ask her to I was gonna ask her to
stalk me.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thank you, ma'am. Can I have another exactly?
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Unfortunately I wasn't ready for my close up though, so
I had an inny, it's my regret in life that
I go, Okay, I'm ready now because I was. I
had like a soprano voice talking. She just grabbed me. No,
I was not ready. Now ready, baby?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh yeah, you might need two hands to handle the
whopper baby.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Oh yes, but she was so sweet and yes, the
doorbell was in the scene she asks for the love Master. Actually,
maybe she was getting in the character. She asked to
we on a date, and you know, allegedly in the
scene and I said, oh, thanks, because I'm always like
a nice guy and stuff. And she goes, oh shut up,
(19:50):
and where's the love master' Oh that's this character my act.
And she goes, she hangs, she shuts the door in
my face, her door, and then her doorbell rings and
she answers that, yes.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That wasn't my hand that rang the door bill. Oh yeah,
And then she goes, come on in.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Because that's what the women the women. That's why the
love Master came about. Because the girls in high school
would all use the F word with me, you know,
the F word.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Uh, fun friend.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I was always doing a good friend. I was so
tired of being the friend. I was really tiny and
I'm six to two now, but I was like five
to one in high school and really tiny, high voice,
and uh, they would go to the bathroom together, you know,
girls go to the posse p. Yeah, they took me
with them. That's what a geek I was that took
me with them on the posse p. Come on, Craig,
let's go.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
What did you do while they were using doing the
makeup and the I just.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Sit on the tub. You know, everybody's smoking cigarettes back
then and everything. Oh then they go Tommy's hot, George's hot,
and I'm going, yeah, I'll fix you up. I know
those guys. Yeah, yeah, because they were always bad guys.
And that's when I'm there.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
You were a professional wingman when you were a kid.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
I was a wingman before there were wings on my side.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
No wonder you went into comedy.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
That's exactly why. Another thing that again, that was a
pain point for me. You know, I wanted girls and
they didn't want me. I asked thirteen girls to go
to the prom. I actually had a funny thing happen. Again,
these are a law of attraction things I want to
tell people. Just be patient with your life, you know,
just you know, it will unfold the way it's supposed
(21:21):
to unfold. So I'm on I was on a TV
show with Cindy Crawford to be That's great advice.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
By the way, what you just said really great advice.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, I mean just wait, you know, be patient. Grand
Canyon is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but
it was not created in three days. Sometimes these creations
need to take their time, you know, in the pace
of a higher source, not our own pace with our
own fears. So I'm on this NBC show with the
Cindy Crawford she got They gave her a week on
(21:50):
NBC to have her own show, late night show, and
I was one of her guests. She was that she
went to the premiere and she's talking to me. She goes, Craig,
you must have had a lot of girls because you're
the love master. I go, oh, no, Cindy. As a
matter of fact, I asked thirteen girls of the prom
and the one who went with me, Linda Scott, she
made out with Ricky aldemer in the corner, even though
I paid for her corsage and all that, and I
(22:11):
looked in the cant of I go, well, Linda, I'm
sitting here with Cindy Crawford suit card out. So then
it turns out he was watching, and so is Ricky
Aldemayer's wife. The emailed me. I got a little revenge
for that. She was the thirteenth one I asked out
because she would look good for the photos. I didn't
wasn't dating or anything, but yeah, she made it up
(22:33):
with Ricky Aldemier. He was there with someone else and
I saw them in the corner. But you know, those
things will cause comedy, and comedy is truth. If you
can tell the truth out there, that makes for the
best comedians. And the truth is we all have pain,
but sufferings the choice I choose not to suffer.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, that's for sure, and you share that with people,
which is like the best part of all. How do
you navigate though the challenging landscape, if you will, of comedy,
especially with the way society has sort of evolved in
the last I don't know. Decade. It's a really interesting time.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's funny. It's what do you use that where it's devolve? Yeah,
this is evolving. It really is. When you're playing the
victim role and finger pointing and taking somebody's words of
like maybe two hundred and eighty characters and make that
their entire character and attack them for that, and it's
amazing to me. This is another paradigm I'd like to
(23:34):
switch is let's embrace the comedians. Let's lift the comedians,
and let us have that voice that is going to
expose the people that are corrupt. We are the curtain polers.
We have no money behind us. You know, there's no union.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I have a friend who did comedy for years. My
opening act with Godfather my son. He's almost homeless because
he can't work. He has no residuals. We have nobody
to support us. I'm not playing a victim either, But
that's just the fact. Comedians are out there literally giving
you your medicine, literally making you happy. That's our goal,
it's our only goal. Yes, we're going to make some money,
(24:08):
but there's not that many multimillionaire comedians. Definitely not very
few billionaire comedians. But the billionaires get away with everything
because the lemmings that follow them do their bidding for them.
But what part of the bidding is, I'm going to
attack the messenger, the comedian who's trying to expose these
things in a funny way. That's what's really odd to
(24:30):
me is how many people are attacking and canceling comedians.
Go cancel a congressman. You can cancel a lawmaker, Cancel
a lobbyist. Cancel somebody poison poisoning your crops. Cancel somebody
who's making drugs that are really really bad, they're fentanyl
and stuff to go, cancel them. Not a comedian who
for one joke. If you don't like the joke, I say,
(24:53):
move on to the next one. There's another one common
that you're gonna like.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
It's like New England weather just wait a minute, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Or New England clam Or you might not like the potatoes.
I don't like the potatoes. I love the clamps.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Well, it's just so easy if you're laughing, because that
coming through your nose is not and it will with me.
I tell people all the time, Craig, I live in
this world of television commercials, advertising, and things, And I
try to tell the close people in my world that
I speak to being victimy that you talk about, it's
sort of just being lazy. And also, if there's so
(25:28):
much thing like you said, if they can keep you scared,
they can control what you do, and there's no use
in arguing about it. It's more like, you know, you're
just willing to follow the pack as opposed to kind
of blaze your own trail. And that's not easy for
people at all to understand.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I've always liked you, and now I'm realizing why you
have a wisdom about you that you even had when
you were twenty two years old. That is absolutely so wise.
What you just said.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Want to you know what I said?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I don't even know what I said.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
You're onto the formula that get you in fear, and
then the masses follow and so on. That's paraphrasing what
you were saying. But that's that's exactly what It is obvious.
But we just fall for it.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
If you But people don't believe me. And I'm I'm embedded,
like I'm here, I do imaging and marketing and commercials
and things, and so I understand how they're and now
it's really scary Craig because it's literally like one to
one advertising, Like you say something, your phone hears it,
and you turn on the TV. Bam, there's a commercial
(26:32):
specifically for you, not the next door neighbor.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I know.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
So it's gone to the days like did you see
that hilarious spot on TV?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
No, I didn't see it because I was watching the
same channel. But something else came up for me.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I'm hoping that it comes up. You want a billion dollars.
I'm thinking that's going to come up on my screen sometime.
You one a billion dollars. It's amazing to me. I
actually said, Ioner, if my hair is being lost here
and then boom every day, yep, here's transplants coming across
my phone. It's insane. I'm trying to figure out.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I think I work on my house. He's I got
to go. So why are you gotta go?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (27:09):
My dad called me and he told me, did you
see that commercial for shingles? You better go right now?
And and I was like what what? What?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
And here like you're working on my house? No, I
met the shingles on my roof. But yeah, start hammering it.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Was so weird. But but I but I saw that
that fear in his eyes, Like, well, if I see
it and they're and they're scaring me, it's easy to
control when people are scared. It's easy to control what
you do, what you buy, all of it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm just amazed how people aren't listening to their true sense.
But I speak, and when I I, you know, I coach. Now,
I do a lot of coaching, executive coaching.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
That's why I wanted you to come on here, because
I know you're an expert at laughter and healing. And yeah,
I love.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I love some of the work that I've done to
have people have personal transformations. And none of it happened
from pop and a pill. It all happened from some
changes and shifts that they needed to make, some mindset shifts.
And it's amazing to watch how they transmute this paint
into pleasure and happiness and joys. And it's an easy choice,
(28:15):
but it's amazing how we don't make it because all
they're doing is feeding us that crap. And now they're
literally feeding us crap. We are the most obese country
in the world. We're the first world country, but we
have these third world problems of diabetes and heart issues
and everything else. And then they get mad at somebody
for saying you're fat shaming or whatever it is. Well,
(28:37):
how about trying your do your own inventory on this,
watch what you're eating, and really be conscious about what
you're eating. But not only that, be conscious about protesting
comedians as opposed to protest to people that are making
this crap that you're addicted to. It's so people whose
processed foods. Of course, it's hard. Everything is hard. It
was really hard for me to deal with no support
(28:59):
when I was kidnapped and I came back from being kidnapped,
I was thirteen, really really hard. I was suicidal, by
the way, talk about laughter. So my mom raises by herself,
and you know, and I told my mom what happened,
and she said, ever telling you of this again, which
I would never do to my children. You cannot keep
secrets like that, Oh no, because that's a point of shame,
and you know you're gonna shame. And I started drinking
(29:20):
at thirteen and stuff like that. Well, then I suicide.
I wanted to kill myself. I had no reason to live.
And this was a guy I empowered to be like
a father figure, and he took me away, and it
is a really bad situation, my god. But so I
put these neckties. I tied these neckties together, and I
threw them over the closet door, and I tied them
on the doorknob, and I made a news that I
(29:41):
learned in boy Scouts, and I started dangling and choking,
and my mom comes in, just, oh, my god, what
are you doing? She goes, that was her new neckties.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Get up, Only you would turn that into a comedy situation.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
He did say that, wow, And I could get up
by the way I was on my knees. I just
got up, you know. I mean, I wasn't really doing it,
but there was some part of me that wanted to
be checked out instead of now and check in all
the time and just you know, be who we truly are.
We're meant to be love, light and laughter. It's what
we're meant to be. You know, let's do a laugh bit.
(30:22):
You know, children laugh three hundred times a day and
adults laugh twenty We need to you know, catch the
kids here, you know what I mean. Like, that's why
we need a laugh bit. We need we need to
laugh that much where instinctually, it's I call it the
seventh sense, our sense of humor.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Ooh, I've never heard of that before. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
You're so right. It's the seventh sense. We all know
the sixth senses, intuition and things like that. We all
know the five senses, our seventh sense, which we ignore that.
We don't even call it that. I'm starting to call
it that with my business. It's something we ignore. But
we need to have that sense of self, our sense
of humor, because it goes away. We're born laughing, right,
(31:01):
Peek a boo makes you laugh. Yeah, it's simplest thing
in the world. We don't analyze them all that stupid stuff.
I three stooges, honey, it's you're just laughing. It's the
silliest crap ever. There's no punchlines or anything. But it's
so simple. Then we make it complex because we indoctrinate
(31:26):
children to believe you must follow and regurgitate. You regurgitate
the information we give you. I can still tell you
fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus Saale, the Ocean Blue,
Nina Penta Sentamury I can live right.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Wow, Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
What purpose does that serve me?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
And it turns out he wasn't such a great guy either,
like took the holiday away. We grew up a Columbus,
Columbu this Italian day. Now they're going, who wha, whoa, whoa, whoa.
He annihilated entire cultures. I mean literally.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Not gonna to get into the politics. People get upset.
To My point is, I'm just regurgitating what they tell
me to learn. And that's what school is, yep. And
for your compliance, you get an award, an award, whatever
it is. Even if you go to war, you get
a little metal, get a little metal. Here, do your job.
We're gonna tell you who to hate, We're gonna tell
you who your enemy is. You're gonna go fight for us.
And that's how the world operates. I'm saying, listen to
(32:22):
your true sense of self, and if wants none of that,
it doesn't want violence, it doesn't want to fight or
be angry or raging or hate. That's not what your
true self wants. But we've been taught that. So I
have a program literally when I coach groups individuals to
recondition to be who we really are reprogram through a
programming that I've developed and including what you did earlier.
(32:45):
Just a little bit bit of it is shifting your
vibration through the power of laughter.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
There's something about vibration that is scientific. Like you would
mention upfront.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
The other thing you're wise about. That's exactly right. We
are all energy. Yeah, yeah, that's what we are.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
We are electricity in us, Like we don't plug into
a wall. That's always baffled me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
And now we have false electricity guiding us. These smartphones
that make it idiots.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Oh yeah, dumb phones.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I mean it's making it's it's making me into an idiot.
You know what's happening is, yeah, I scroll. I'm guilty.
I scroll, okay, and I late night scroll, which is
not good. That's bad for it, Like give the insomnia.
I mean I boom. Now what's happening is my hard
drive in my head only has so much space, right,
we only have someone space, so valuables have. Stuff has
(33:33):
to leave my brain, so crap like what you have
for dessert on Instagram goes in. That's what is everybody
so self obsessed? Oh, let me show you what I
have my life, how beautiful. It is so now it's
like now that's being programmed into me. So now everybody.
So there's a new custom probably the last twenty years.
I'm in the restaurant. It comes up. He goes, my
name is Kad, I'll be your weight. I go, do
(33:54):
I have to memorize your name?
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Is there gonna be a talent?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You just you just replaced myself. This is a security number.
Don't don't give me the specials. I'll lose my Gmail password.
Gmail password pisses me off, by the way. It's always
fighting with me talking about fighting. It's not strong enough.
They're called me a wuss over here. They're arguing, that's
my password, and they go, try a symbol, try a number,
(34:18):
Try how's this pound pound pound jackass? But yeah, everywhere, Yeah,
that one gets right through. Yeah, of course I all
know my Gmail password.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Is this the classes that you're teaching? Is that part
of Laughter Heels the Laughter Heels foundation that you started
that a while back?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, And that was inspired because I will tell you
positive and I don't want to call anything negative, but
you know I was. I've been doing comedy for years
and all these people come up to me, especially Detroit.
That was the first time it happened. I'll never forget
Kim and say, hey, thank you so much. I just
thought they were saying thanks for the laughs that night,
and I said, no, really, we were told we couldn't
(34:57):
have a child. We tried in vitro every then we
gave up. We saw your show, went home. My husband
pretended he was a love master. I had a wonderful time,
and we had a baby girl nine months later, right,
And that's when I thought to himse, wow, that laughter
is good medicine. And I thought, wow, you're not trying
(35:18):
to have a child, You're just allowing. You're creating space,
a laughter space and all that. So then I had
all these other people set up, like one, I have
a photo. I should show it to you, conceived in
the parking lot of the Brave Improv minutes after my show.
They couldn't even wait till they got home. And there's
this little girl who came out laughing. It's the funniest
little picture that they sent me.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
How does that make you feel when that happens?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Oh, I just love it. I love it. I embrace
it because I'm saying it's not an ego thing. I go, oh,
laughter works, not Craig works. Now I happen to be
the messenger of the laughs. That's great, But I always
tell people go wherever he needs. You might think I stink.
It doesn't matter to me. Just go somewhere else and
go get the laughs or do a guided laffittation. It's
your choice. So and then my my child, Jared, was
(36:07):
adopted and no breast milk. Guess where his breast milk
came from? Breton. Mindy couldn't conceive. I said, come to
my show. They did. They had sex and they had
baby Cooper, who was born one week different from Jared. Yes,
one week. So we would go to the farmers farmers
market and get Mindy's breast milk like a drug deal.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Did she ever fridge all stocked up?
Speaker 2 (36:30):
She's frozen for us.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
This is Jared.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
This is oh yeah, because I gave them life and
they give they give Jared life of you know this, uh,
and it's this twenty years ago. I mean, so anyway,
all to get to the story of Michael Goldberg, he
wrote Cool Running His Little Giants. One of my best
friends from Philly with Eagles parties everywhere. I mean, we
just were bonded. He directed the Love Master movie with
(36:55):
Farah Faws and we're in Arizona filming some of it
and his wife they wanted to have a baby, Karen,
who actually was my blind date at first. He married
her and so Karen says, I'm ovulating. We're in a
condo about to watch our eagles actually, and I said, hey, man,
do the Love Master. It works for a lot of people.
It's a fertility clinic over here. They said, yeah, it's
(37:17):
a great idea. So I said, I'll go get sandwiches.
And I went and got sandwiches, came back. They were
already done. I guess Love Master did his job.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Baby Kayla was born nine months later. What yeah, So how.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Many kids is this? How many kids is this? Now?
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I can't well? I five? I count five for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Conceived by guys doing the Love Master.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Do you keep in touch with them?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Well, I'll tell you the story with Golds. His name's Golds.
Michael Goldberg. Oh again, a comedy guy. Really funny dude.
We bonded through laughter, which is another thing we bond
with our kids. I talked about this when I coaches it.
Who do you bond with from your childhood people you
laugh with, right, you share laughter together. That's the You
don't want to hang out with some miserable gloom and
(38:04):
doom person, right, Yeah, although misery loves company sometimes. But anyway,
a year and a half after Kayla was born, he
was diagnosed with brain cancer. In the game three Months
to Live. That was my moment why I'm on your show,
because that was the moment I went, ah, if laughter
is the best medicine, let's prove it. And I started
(38:27):
this program in a cancer facility in the valley. He
showed up for all of it. I just was making
it up as I went along. I did a lot
of research. There's a lot of science that backs this up.
On my new business of Laughter Works, we actually have
the top neuroscience from Harvard. He's on our board now
and this is all backed up. This is this serious.
Take laughter seriously. I mean, it really is what it
(38:50):
does to you for your healing process, and if anything
it does, it gives you a will to live. The
more you want to laugh. He took all my prescriptions.
I said, hey, let's all exchange our favorite common movies,
even saying the name of the movie is funny. And
fun or a quote from the movie if I say
those aren't pillows, planes, trains, automobiles, and then people laugh
(39:12):
just at the thought of that scene. If those aren't pillows,
Uh huh. Anyway, how about the Bears game housekeeping? See
what I mean? So you're laughing just at the thought.
That's the vibration that's being exchanged between us right now.
He shows up for all of it, does all the prescriptions.
I say, go to comedy shows. He was so many
of my shows. He came three months to live. He
(39:33):
lived fifteen years past that product. Fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Oh my god, Craig, I'm gonna cry and I don't
have any tissues. Now you're making me cry. Holy crap.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
And he had a team of about five of us
would like you know, look, he went through the chemos
and stuff like that as well. But he had his
will to live. You can't coach he really did, and
he showed up for all of it. And then, if
I may get a little people can tune away if
you don't want to hear a semi crude story. But
it is funny. Okay, it's a little risque. But how
(40:05):
about you just take those things out of what you
think is riskue, and just listen to this story for
what it is, the true story. He was in hospice
and it was the end. Who's actually living in an
old folks home at fifty years old? That's so sad,
you know, to go in there. By the way, if ever,
I'm in need of a self esteem boost, I can
get laid in these old people's homes. I'm a studying there.
(40:29):
They would just walk up and go, I'm taking a closet.
I have no teeth, I'm perfect for you. It was unbelievable.
I will I never felt like such a stud I
mean wow. So anyway, that's rightly you say.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Venereal diseases are up in retirement homes and old age
homes and stuff, so that is true.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Let him have fun. What the hell exactly? What else
are you gonna judge them? They don't even judge anymore.
Who cares anymore? At that point? While I go in
there and we film this actually for a movie called
Laughter Heels. I have a nonprofit called Laughter Heels, which
I formed for him, and we go to hospitals, after
care facilities, wounded warriors, first responders. We help people find
(41:11):
this joy and this laughter in their lives because they're
dealing with difficult circumstances and this will shift them in
no other way, no better way. So he shows up
off it and then he ends up in a coma.
He's literally in a coma we have where we filmed it,
and I said, well can I I said, old, what
can we do for you? He's just staring, literally staring
in this. I was like waving my hand in front
(41:32):
of him. What could I do? Man? What can I
do to help you? I leaned in, I said, want
me to give you a handy. I never done anybody
but my own. I'm really good with my own. I'll
give you a handy. He came out of a coma
and he goes and he laughed, shut up. I told
(41:52):
him I was going to whack them off.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
I believe that's called no. I shouldn't say it. Sorry,
I'll say it.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Say it.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I think that's called handj He left off the j
for my crew comedy friends.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
And I didn't know that. From now on, when I
tell the story, I'll make it up that I didn't
say Jay. I actually said, I'll tell you what I said.
I said, you want me to jerk you off? Because
that's a photo. It it got put off. That's that's
the big They'll call you a jayo with the accent.
You're a jay o. It's the worst thing.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
But he woke up. He woke up and laught, laughed,
he laughed. Were there's doctors in the room that saw
this happen?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Well, it was definitely one of our friends was in
the room because he was filming it. And whoa Mark
Ben He was a director and he yeah, he was there,
and yeah, I think there's a there was a nurse
there that saw this. He was just a wave in
my hand. There was no way he was. And he
he had been in a coma before. I remember, like
years before, and when he came out of a coma,
I actually said, you could hear us, couldn't you. He goes, yeah,
(42:52):
I can hear you in a coma that they act
like they can't or they don't or whatever the case is.
But anyway, he heard me and he laughed because you
knew that was And he died two days later. But
I'm happy and proud that it made him laugh. Oh
my gosh, you know, And that's a great legacy. I'll
take that one all day long. And by the way,
I didn't go through with it. I didn't.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
I wasn't even going to ask that, but thanks for
letting us know, because I know.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
Your mind, your promise, you maker, no no Jayo.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Well you know, it's interesting that you bring that up
because this was leading me to my next question.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
I can't imagine where Jao goes to your next question.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Don't you love that this is called the Jao segue?
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Is a first? I guarantee it's a first.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
How can Lynn take that and roll it into.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Something I'm waiting, I'm sitting back. Where's Lynn going with?
I know she's a genius on the microphone. Let's see
where this is going. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Well I wouldn't go that far, but thank you, I'll
take it. Looking back on your career, which has been
long and less curious because I don't even know if
that's a word less curious, but I found stuff from
you from like the early eighties and stuff. So you've
been at this a long time. And if you look
back on your whole career, especially with everything that you've
been through, we didn't even touch on your relationship with
your dad when he came back into your life. I
(44:11):
do believe. Yeah, yeah, there was a But what do
you hope for, especially with all of these foundations, What
do you hope that your legacy will be? And how
do you want to be remembered in the world of comedy.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It's funny us to say that there's a difference between
comedy and laughter, and that's something I feel like me
finding that difference is important for the world to understand
because we're divided on what makes us laugh. We're not
divided when we are laughing. That's a good quote, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
That is You should put that on a T shirt.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Yeah, write that down right.
Speaker 1 (44:49):
I only have a sharpie.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
It's not going to come up with all these quotes.
The other day it came up with seven cents.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
Actually, I love it. But we're recording this so it's
in there.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah. I want my lega see to be For instance,
I have a legacy business. Now laughter works. We're we're
going to change corporate wellness and turn it on its head.
And it's a huge business. And look, I've found out
in life that's not about awards and rewards. I was
a community or at American Comedy Awards. It's like the
(45:18):
big it's the Oscar of Comedy. It's on ABC. It
was presented by Lily Tomlin. You know, do you know
it was the loneliest night of my life? Really yeah,
because I got there and I'm going, wow, first, there's
no there there. Then I see people backstage. My contemporaries
are shining me off. You know that night they did.
I was driving around in a limo with my big
(45:39):
award and you get imposter syndrome. And it was a really,
really lonely night. But it also became a point where
I could go, Okay, what is this about? Is this
about my ego? So what's the legacy? The legacy is
if I can teach people and guide people into a
(46:00):
new realm of possibility with the power of laughter, then
I'm doing my job. It's not about me being rewarded.
Like I know, I have a trophy next to you.
I don't want to brag, but I do. I want
to brag about let's see it. So I've got a
couple of EM's back here, and I've got the Comedian
or American Comedy Awards Supporting Actor and all this kind
of stuff. But here this award right here, keep it
(46:21):
next to me. I won the horses ass Award and
I actually reunion.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
That's an ass of a horse made into an award.
Holy mode.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
I won this trophy the horses asked of my ex
wife's family reunion from by the way your area, Massachusetts.
I won that award and I deserve and I deserved
and earned that reward an award.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Wow, are you still friends with your exes?
Speaker 2 (46:49):
No, on one of them, for sure.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
No.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
I don't know that that could ever be repaired unless
something happened with her like a lightning bolt, understood, wake
her up into I've done my job with both. I
have done my job literally, all the forgiveness, all of
the amends, everything that I need to do to clean
up my side. Some people I don't think are capable.
(47:15):
You know. I used to say to to my son's
I say, she puts her head to the pillow. Does
she really believe those things? Because she would accuse me
of these things like a lot of women are doing.
This is very sad. Whether they work the court system
and they don't get punished for bringing up false things,
they do not get punished whatsoever. And that stuff sticks
to a guy when you hear the stuff that she
(47:35):
would say about me costs me like a million dollars
to prove my innocence. That would have gone to my children.
That's all everything I do ever do in life, call
goes to kids, my kids, and that yet wives are
preventing that from taking place because they take it through
in this revenge system that we're in, in the family
court system. It's not built for the man because we're
(47:57):
still paying for the you know, for the nineteen fifties
fathers said get my slippers, bitch of co'se. Still they
think that we're still that guy. Yeah, and so if
you get something attached to you, your bully, abuse her
and oh it's done. You know, that's it. I believe her.
It is literally a statement you'll hear out there. Well,
(48:20):
it's a bad situation to be in. So I can
only bring my kids who I truly am. So if
you say I the one, I definitely don't speak to
the other one. She joined a cult, and so.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Are you serious when you say that, like, oh yeah, yeah,
a literal cult.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
She was literally just completely brainwashed. My kids say it too,
they spoke to the police about it. Yeah, she's completely
enamored with this cult leader. This woman, she just follows
everything that she does. She has a podcast. It's just
it's really it's heartbreaking though, to see somebody with this
kind of you know, it's mental health, which again that's
what I'm helping people with his mental health. Her mental
(48:59):
health is so far compromised by giving all of her
power over to somebody where I'm saying, you have the
power within you. It tap into that potency, that potency
which is filled with joy and laughter, happiness, gratitude, grace.
That's who we really are. And she went down this
other path of greed and selfishness and you know, blew
(49:20):
the whole family up for no reason. But in that case,
there's a much better chance because first we have two
young children. It was really close. And during the fires,
again my highest source and highest good, we evacuated. I
invited her to the beach house that I rented, and
she moved into the beach house. So there we were,
(49:44):
you know, still divorced and still you know, in alleged battle,
and we walk in the beach together and laughing and
going on dunes and cartwheels and making fun of me.
Of course, that's always.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
Part of a that's part.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Always as Dad's always the brunt of the joke. It's
great about comedies. I can think of reverse that on
a stage with a microphone. But it was really beautiful
and in the moment, not to say it stayed, you
know there's But that's where I'm going to keep returning to.
I'm going to keep returning to that true essence that
I really am. My true seventh sense is my sense
(50:22):
of humor. I'm going to keep returning to it. And
with sense of humor comes love and light. And that's
that's where I hope that we could all get to obvious.
All is never going to happen, but more people if
we do follow this indoctrination, if you will, we're indoctrinated
to be in fear. Why not be indoctrinated to look
(50:42):
for more joy, look for more laughter, keep your laugh bit,
pay attention to whoa look at how many times I
laugh today. I guarantee you're gonna feel better, right.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
I think that we need to call Apple immediately after
this call and pitch them on the idea, because I
think that is genius. I also think that you're genius
because of what you're doing with your craft, because it
helps so many people. And the question I have for
you is you know, you're giving of yourself and people
want to get what you're giving and have it work.
(51:12):
And I've had so many people tell me through my
life when when I would say to them, you know,
happiness is a choice, and you have to force yourself
and teach yourself. You have to learn behavior. And if
you learn a different behavior and you've been doing it
for so long, yeah it's hard, but you can't. The
old saying people don't change is I think it's bullshit.
(51:34):
I think people agree with you hard on something.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
And here we can hang out more. For God's sake,
we need to hang out more. You're in complete alignment. Actually,
one of my books is called Get Out of Line
and Into Alignment.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
Well, that's a chiropractor, you know.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
This is alignment with your true self. You're out of
these people's lines, right, And that's so important. Even the
topics of your podcast, it's out of line. That's I'm
not in line with them telling you to pop a
drug for your answer, right, or eat something bad for you.
That's you're in alignment with yourself, your true self, which
is probably why you still look twenty two years old
(52:12):
and you're not twenty two anymore, I know it. I
googled Craig.
Speaker 1 (52:15):
Thanks so much for being on Comedy Save Me, and
thank you for the joy of laughter and the therapy
that you continue to spread and give everyone. Because I
think you should be a doctor of laughter.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
Life has changed, but you and I haven't. Can't wait
to hang with you when I come back east. There
you come out west, all right, Greig.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Thank you
Host
Lynn Hoffman
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