Sara Rooker #18 | Fourth Street Live - 4th Street Live Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:57):
With my wife. I remember there was a really,
really buff dude because I got AI got a clip of it.
All right, So I'll, Yeah, he was, he was fun.
Where was that at? That was here the I think that
was during COVID. I came.
OK, OK. The one I've definitely been
here a couple times I think. Yeah, yeah, I remember though.
That was cool. That was cool that they did

(01:17):
that. But yeah, the first time I saw
you, it was at Pioneer and you ripped into me and it was 6
people in the car and you fucking killed it.
It was so funny. And it was, I can't you know who
it was. It was the Donald Trump
impersonator cat. Oh God.
You know who I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I cannot remember that cat. It was.
And he does a bunch. Of different one his name, yeah.

(01:37):
He did. He does a bunch of different.
Yeah, he would stay in character.
He would. I know that guy.
That's yeah, Yeah, he was. He's the one that gave me
tickets. Really.
Yeah, I know that guy. I.
Can't remember his name. He's a real nice dude.
I know him, but he loved doing that Donald Trump thing.
Yeah, he did. So funny.
Yeah, yeah, he did it and. People loved it, so whatever
and. What was another one?
Astro was the other one. Do you remember that?

(01:59):
It was like a gay salon guy. Oh.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember?
He did. And he did that everywhere, and
that's who I thought he was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And. Then he just like talked to
normal one day and I was. Like, and sometimes he would
like, they would bleed into eachother.
He'd be doing Astro and he'd getkind of Trumpy and it'd be
really fine. Like, but he didn't mean to.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, you're kind of

(02:20):
being a faggoty Trump right now.We would laugh on it and he he
was like, I can't decipher the two.
What's funny is that dude's was stone cold sober.
Yeah, like 10 years sober. That's so funny.
Yeah, that's how I know him. Is he from like Gardner?
I don't know why. Maybe I'm just.
Assuming I just know him from from an anonymous fellowship,
yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think he told me

(02:42):
that because I'm sober and I think he may have told me.
I won't. You are.
Yeah, you're sober. How long have you been sober?
Almost 2 1/2 years. Yeah, so you did obviously did
comedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've been doing comedy for like 7 years, almost seven years now.
Yeah. I used to drink a lot when I
first started doing comedy. And then I think I did a good

(03:03):
job though. Like in the very beginning, I
only had one night where I got like, way too drunk.
And I was such a new comic. I was doing like 15 minutes and
I had no business doing that much time that early on.
And just where, like, I didn't remember anything, any of my
jokes. And I was like, OK, that's
embarrassing. I can't do that again.
But yeah, I always used to drinkright before I went on stage

(03:25):
and. So does it help or is it better
sober, I feel are you or is yourconnection to the audience a
little? Easier.
I mean, I think for me it's better sober because also when
I'm using substances, it's there's no moderation.
So for me, if you know, some people can work that way and
they're probably more funny or maybe they're better or they

(03:45):
feel better. But for me, it was always, I was
more stressed out about me messing something up or me,
because I also do so much crowd work.
Like if I go off the rails a little bit too hard, that could
be a problem, right? So yeah, for me, I, I think it's
always been better sober. So luckily it was never like a
huge problem comedy wise but. Yeah, like I was saying, you did
you. I saw you do crowd work for the

(04:06):
first time ever, you know, but like when I first got sober, I
like needed cool things to do that didn't require drinking.
So it was like a lot of pioneers, a lot of the Laugh
Factory and there's a lot of things like that and you get to
see a lot of cool local comedians.
But you were the first one that I was like, if your set was over
and there's like, you know, not a huge crowd, you're just like,
all right, what's up with that 2shoes?

(04:28):
You know what I'm saying? Yeah, a lot of times when
there's not very many people, I will do crowd work.
And other people are the opposite.
They're like, no, I'm running through material and I'm like,
there's four people like why am I doing that?
You know? So for me it's more of like a
fuck around type thing because I, and there's times where like
I get a reaction on jokes, but I'm also just kind of like, I
don't know if I'm going to get any feedback enough to where I'm

(04:50):
just going to like run through material.
I might as well have fun with itand maybe I'll get something out
of it, you know, that can then become a joke or I can tag onto
something. So it worked because, like,
there's a lot of comedians locally and you're the only one
my wife remembers for sure. You know what I mean?
Remember Sarah that one time? You know what I mean?
Like I said a lot, I try not to overdo it, but it's hard
sometimes. I especially I think now because

(05:11):
crowd work is just viewed as like this thing that all comics
do and to put online. And you know, I've had, I have
times like if I'm in clubs and stuff where it's like I know I
can't do crowd work or I have todo minimal or maybe have a
headliner. I've had headliners before who
are like don't do a lot of crowdwork.
Like that's my thing. Or you know, they don't want you

(05:32):
to do it. So I'll taper it down based on
the situation, but sometimes I have too much fun or an audience
member is too much. Like they keep it going and I'm
like, fuck, I had so much stuff I wanted to get through and then
I don't get through it because Ispent all this time messing
around. But yeah, so I'm working on a
balance. But yeah, no, I have a lot of
fun with it. Have you been?
You've been touring? It's been cut, yeah, 'cause the

(05:52):
last couple of times we tried toget you on, you're like.
I'm on the road. That's great.
Yeah, I'm out of town a lot, so.And where?
Where are you hit? Where are you going?
I mean, I, I'm in California a lot.
I spend pretty much part time inthe Bay Area anyway with my
wife. My wife's a comic in, in the Bay
Area. So we go back and forth
basically. So a lot of my time is down
there, you know, in Northern California, a lot of a lot of

(06:17):
places there, I do the Don't Tell shows.
I'm a producer for Reno and Tahoe, but they have those all
over. So we can, we can do those
wherever, festivals, you know, stuff like that, just pretty
much everywhere. Yeah, and you've done a couple
of podcasts, haven't you? Yeah.
Yeah, I haven't been on a podcast in a minute, but yeah,
yeah, I've done a good amount ofpodcasting and and I have some

(06:40):
jokes on SiriusXM right now. If you're 90 and you have
SiriusXM in your car and you canhear it, but I've never heard
it. But those are streaming, so
yeah. Yeah.
I opened for Ari Shafir recently.
That was fun. It was it was really cool.
I mean, it was the most yeah, atat Bally's at South Lake, yeah.
I mean it was like 800 people. So it's definitely like the

(07:02):
biggest crowd. Yeah, It was really fun.
It was not. I didn't really know what to
expect, you know, cuz he's, he'sso like he has such a specific
audience, but he's. Like the dirtiest cat I know.
He was so cool and his, his new hour was so like, not

(07:23):
controversial, not crazy. Like, which I I love Aria as a
comic. I, you know, it doesn't matter,
but I was, I was just like, he'sso cool.
He's so chill. Like he was so rad.
He like offered us his suite andhe tipped me really well and he
was just really fucking cool. So yeah, yeah, that was a that
was a fun one. So yeah, the biggest. 1 yet.
Yeah, I would say that's probably the biggest I've I've

(07:45):
done like 400 theaters, theaters, clubs.
But yeah, that was, that was like weird, 'cause it's such a
big room and it's not meant for comedy specifically.
It's a music venue, you know? So yeah, it was definitely a
little bit intimidating. But yeah, it's, it was, it was
cool. Always that, that's one of my
favourites for sure, as is. And just 'cause he's, he's

(08:06):
coming up quick too, but that's so rad.
He's done some crazy stuff. When when you write, are you
writing? How do you write?
Does it? Could you come up with it in
your head? How is your process of coming
up? With honestly, I kind of write
on stage. You do like, yeah, so like I'll
have like a premise and then I'll kind of just like RIP on
stage. I try to sandwich it in the

(08:27):
middle of some stuff. Depending on depends on the show
too. If I'm just fucking around, like
then whatever, I'll I'll really like try to maybe write
something out and fuck around with it.
But if I have an opportunity like it's a good show or I have
like a good crowd, good amount of people, it's a hot room, then
I'll try to just kind of tinker with it and play around with the
premise, maybe like a line or two and kind of see what I get

(08:50):
from it and then kind of build off of it from there.
I've never been somebody who like can sit down and just write
in a, in a notepad all day. I I think it's also partially
because I was like writing growing up.
I went to school for journalism,so it's like when I was first
writing jokes, everything was sowordy.
It was like paragraphs. Like I could not, I, I had to

(09:13):
figure out how to trim the fat. And so I think writing that way
on stage has helped me a lot. I try to remember to record like
a voice memo when I'm on stage so that I can go back to it.
I forget a lot. And then I'm like, how did that
go? That worked really well.
So like, I'll come up with new tags on stage.
But yeah, a lot of it I just, I just do, you know, during shows

(09:35):
or I'll have a premise and I'll bounce that idea, you know, off
some friends, off my wife, like just kind of see if it's even
worth it, you know, and kind of go from there or see if it's
something that's like already being done or been done, you
know? But yeah, just kind of in the
moment. Yeah, listening to yourself
recording sucks. That's like the hardest, most

(09:55):
important thing to do. But it sucks, dude.
That's the worst. I hate listening to myself and
then like having to edit it, butI know it makes me better.
Like I say, I like find myself saying stupid shit and I'm just
like, man, I say that a lot. So I but like recording.
That's the next. That's that's how I know people
are like really trying to masterwhatever craft it is, whether
it's comedy, pop, whatever it is.

(10:16):
Yeah, any kind of public speaking, Yeah, it's going to be
painful. But if you watch it back or
listen to. It it will change things.
You'll be like this is embarrassing, I have to change
this. Yeah.
Are you from Reno? I'm from Reno, yeah.
Where'd you go to school? I went to McQueen.
You're a McQueen kid. I'm a McQueen kid.
Are you? I am.
What year did you graduate? 08, That's 2011.

(10:37):
OK, Yeah. So where'd you go to middle
school? Clayton.
I went to Clayton dude. No way.
Swear to God, yeah. You're a little You're just two
years old. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's great. Did you go to Elm Crest or Elm
Crest? Yeah, me too.
That's fucking crazy. I went to Mammy Tolls a little
bit and Elm Crest. Oh, that's fun.
That's way cool. So that's so cool.
Were you what did you do in in high school?
What was your thing? Was it music?

(10:59):
Was it? I played basketball, so I played
basketball in college too. So I was like, I think I was
like kind of a misfit though. Like I, I was friends with like
all the scene kids. I was like really into music.
So I was really into like the hardcore scene and like pop punk
and stuff. And then but I also was like,
oh, I got to go to basketball. And so I think that was part of

(11:19):
this like identity crisis for majority of my life.
You know what I mean? Where it was like, I would party
really hard and do all this and I'd be like, no, I have to get
up and go run and shoot 500 shots and have to go to college,
you know, and all that. So you weren't smoking drugs?
No, I smoked weed like throughout.
I started smoking weed pretty young and drinking really young,
but I was able to, I've always been able to be very functional.

(11:41):
So I was still able to have likebasketball tournaments every
other weekend and go to practiceand like do school.
I didn't really care about school that much or like it, but
yeah. And I had, I was friends with
like all over the place, like different crews of people and
stuff like that. So.
Yeah, I was. All my friends were in hardcore.
It's crazy because I'm in a motorcycle club now and my

(12:03):
motorcycle club dudes are all hardcore dudes, really.
And I was a jazz piano player. Oh, it's fun.
So yeah. And in the in the in the in the
band, the whole deal. Like totally so cool.
Different. So I was never a hardcore kid,
but a lot of those dudes you could like.
You know, get crazy on a keyboard.
I can like, I can play that's. Cool, I used to live underoath
and I just remember seeing that dude just like pick up his

(12:25):
fucking keyboard and I was like this goes so hard.
This is. So some of the hardcore with the
piano was tight. Yeah.
Yeah. Like.
Classical musicians. That's so.
It is cool and and I definitely can relate to your identity
crisis is there was definitely Iwasn't that and and I'm OK being
that not that now, but we are going to start doing hardcore
shows here and do that. Yeah.

(12:46):
Are you in a band now? I play still jazz piano.
Oh. Really.
Yeah, that's. Cool.
And so if there's any, you know,people might just want to play
Thelonious Monk covers, hit me up.
You know what I mean? You should have like Battle of
the Bands with the motorcycle clubs.
They would do. Do the clubs have bands?
So one of the dudes in the henchman has a band and there's

(13:08):
a couple of bands throughout that kind of have dudes from
other clubs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That'd be that'd be cool. Or just like tug of war or
something. You know what I mean?
Just who's the that's always thegoing to be the debate is who's
the toughest one, right. You know what?
I. Mean, but they're like, are
there there's like sister clubs,right?
Like there's like. Like support clubs?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like they're cool.
Is there like how do you know ifsomeone's a support club?

(13:30):
Like if you're cool. It's most of the time it's what
color they're wearing. And really there's only a few
clubs around here that have support clubs.
The rest of them all just are independent or just support one
another, you know what I mean? But the term support club is
really just is just a club that is like is is, you know, like a

(13:53):
similar franchise, I guess you could say, you know what I mean.
So I remember when we did the roast at the henchman's and
like, we walked in and all theseguys stopped us immediately and
they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, like and wrist us
down. And I remember my mom was like
very nervous. I told you my grandpa was was in
clubs. So he was a biker, yes.
Gotcha. Yes, yeah.
He, he, I don't know, maybe you can teach me stuff about it

(14:15):
because I've been trying to figure it out.
But he, he was like Hell's Angelassociate in the middle of the
night in New Orleans, somebody burned down their house and they
drove to Winnemucca. My mom was in high school and
they just started living in Winnemucca.
Like literally woke up, grab your shit.
They're burning down the trailermoved to Winnemucca.

(14:37):
And then he was one of the like OG guys for the branded few.
Crazy. Yeah.
And yeah, which is funny. Like nowadays I'm like, what the
fuck? Like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And my mom and I will talk aboutit.
And she's like, I don't rememberthat ever being like there was
no stuff, like no swastikas, nothing on his stuff.
And we like, laugh about it. But I remember when I told her I

(14:59):
was doing. She's like, don't know you're
going to their clubhouse, you know, because she's older.
It's like so taboo to her. And I was like.
It's crazy what you remember as a kid.
Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure what she remembers
is probably, you know. So he went to Winnemucca and
then joined Brandon Few. Yeah.
Crazy. That's nuts.
So what's crazy about that is, from what I understand, and I
could totally be wrong and I don't know for sure, but from

(15:21):
what I was always told is that'sa World War 2 like that, that
they had their origins from all the way back from World War Two.
Yeah. So it's like kind of what I've
heard. Too.
And it's like, not what you think, but it's like, it's like
when people would bring back tokens from Vietnam, it's like

(15:45):
they would bring back Vietnameseflags, right?
You know what I mean? Or they would bring back World
War 2, they would come back and they bring that symbolism back
with them. Like they'd they'd kill ASS
Gestapo or something and they would keep his pin.
And that's where those s s boltscame from.
Indo biker culture is because itwas literally a token of we
fought those guys, killed those guys and now we have their pins

(16:05):
on there. That makes sense.
My grandpa also had a lot of NASCAR stuff so I'm like the guy
like trinkets. He's a trinket cat.
I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, like, well, he's dead now.
But I remember seeing they from Winnemucca.
They ended up going to Tennesseeand that's where they lived and
until he died. And.
Yeah, I remember going to his. I spent very little time with

(16:25):
him, but I remember going to their house and just being like,
I don't know, you can have so much Jeff Gordon stuff.
Like May, you're a Jeff Gordon fan, too.
So when you say that, it's like,oh, that.
I'm like, that makes sense. He was a collectibles guy.
And you're in, in, in the Bay Area.
That's like really where the culture, the biker culture took
off, you know? What?
I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a lot.

(16:46):
It's like, that's really like the biker hub.
Which is so cool and so funny because like, where our studio
is, where where my wife lives most of the time is just like
the center of like, Google. And it's just like people who
can't drive. Yeah, it's just terrible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's.
Like she fucking hates it. So we like, we obviously there's

(17:10):
so much more comedy there, right?
But we have like, so that's partof the reason, you know, why we
split time. But we have kind of the best of
both worlds because like I live in Verdi in the woods basically
like up off dog Valley. And so yeah, we like come here
and she's cuz she like loses hermind every day down there cuz
it's insane, you know? She can go get the Sasquatch.

(17:31):
Yeah. And then she's like, I can't
believe I have to go back to theBay Area.
This is terrible, you know? And she's like from there and
it's just gotten so much worse and stuff.
But yeah, so it's so funny to like, remember that, that, you
know. Has it gotten worse there or is
it cleaned up? Everybody that's been going
there is saying it's. I don't, I don't think so, like
I, I don't know. I've had my car broken into
several times, like in Oakland for shows and stuff, and but

(17:56):
like seeing it I'm like I don't,I don't know.
It doesn't seem any different than deep 4th St. sometimes you
know, I'm sure it has its nights.
It should. And I know they they have some
incidents, but I don't know, is it worse?
I I don't think I could say because I don't think I spent
enough time down there. Yeah, when I was younger to see
like how much it's changed. Yeah.

(18:18):
Well, something that's somethingI was talking to another
comedian about is, is Reno is inthat weird phase where we can't
get really, really big acts herebecause we're not big enough and
we don't necessarily have the venue space.
Is that true? Am I hearing that right?
Yeah, I mean, we don't have likea club.
We have, I mean, you have Laugh Factory, but I like, it's not

(18:39):
like any of us are going to Laugh Factory.
And the crowds are, you know, once in a while, like Laugh
Factory will get good headliners.
But for the most part it's a lotof casino acts and you get a lot
of tourists who are on like comped tickets and stuff, right.
So it's not like the most fun shows, I mean, in my opinion.
But you don't have a club anymore.

(19:03):
I think there's something new inSouth Lake now, or some part of
the lake, but. They have a a.
They have a a new yeah, yeah, yeah.
So like during COVID they had animprov, like an actual the
improv from like Hollywood improv and all that.
Like, And that was the improv. Harvey's right.
Yeah. And then that didn't open back
up after after COVID. So yeah, I think the issue is

(19:25):
you don't have like that happy medium spot where like if you're
doing comedy in Reno, you're doing like the Grand Sierra or
like the Event Center or something.
You're like a Tom Segura or something like that that's
coming through. Right, right, right, right.
As opposed to, you know, some ofthese other spots where you have
these like 100 and 5400 Cap rooms where you can get really

(19:48):
fucking good comics, but they'renot filling, you know, the
Atlantis or the Grand Sierra or anything like that.
So it's it's kind of in a, a weird spot because of that.
I think so I mean, we get reallygood comics that come through
for us for don't tell. We try to budget, you know, to,
to take care of people. We get comics with, you know,
really good credits who are on late night and and all this

(20:10):
stuff. But I think the age of comedy in
like the digital world also, youknow, like don't tell alone is
kind of like taking over for like Comedy Central in a way
where, you know, you could just have like.
A couple minutes, they do these like 15 minute sets and your set
could go viral. And, you know, I know comics

(20:31):
who've, like, quit their job within two weeks.
That's crazy. Yeah, yeah.
And. Like just and just.
Yeah, yeah, just from one of their sets, you know, going
viral because there's so much good comedy and like weird
pockets, you know, and like little communities and stuff
that people don't know about. I mean, I've toured through like
Idaho and Montana and I had likesome of my best shows and most
fun ever in Montana, just like such good comics, such good

(20:54):
crowds, like the shows were so fun, you know, stuff like that
where you don't necessarily get out and and see those places.
So I think the other thing that can be hard is so many of our
options are like casinos and even around like outside of, you
know, like Sacramento and San Francisco, you have you have
casinos. Like I've, I've done casino
shows in reading of, you know, some of those little areas too,

(21:16):
where like casino shows are justkind of rough.
They're like a different breed, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like Vegas, comedy is
very different. Well, they're coming to listen
to you in some places, right? And some of them they're like.
And some of them are like, we don't know we're coming, but we
don't know what to expect. And a lot of times they're older
if you're at a casino. So you have that, you know,
working against you. There's a lot of stuff that goes

(21:38):
into a casino comedy. Not so fun, pays well, but you
know, so I think that's kind of Reno's thing is like it can be
very over saturated. I don't.
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(22:25):
St. Live.
Thanks so much. This is Jacob, the host of the
4th St. Live podcast in my new book, The
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railroad contractor, is now for sale on Amazon and Barnes and
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(22:45):
Thanks so much. Yeah.
Where and I think also like people come out to comedy or
maybe it's like a mic or something like that and those
things are vital and you have tohave all the mics and you have
to have all the options for the stage time and stuff.
But the crowds that go out to those and they're like, this is
not good. And then they're, they don't

(23:05):
come out to other stuff, you know, So like with don't tell,
we can see people who are like repeat customers who are coming
out all the time. Because our, our like model is
it's, it's secret. We try to, we hold shows
basically in places. The goal is to be in a spot that
doesn't normally do comedy or like music or a live event to
make it kind of weird and to be able to do like BYOB and just

(23:29):
make it a different experience. So we, we've done comedy like
indoor skate parks, tattoo parlors, yoga studios, like any
backyards, anything like that. And then we also will do it at
places, you know, we've done bars.
We, we do places that are selling alcohol and food too.
So basically it tells you a little bit, it tells you the
neighborhood that it's in, like is it in Sparks?

(23:51):
Is it in midtown, downtown, northwest Reno, like Stead,
wherever we're doing it. And then Truckee and Lake Tahoe.
It gives you pretty good detail on like the zip code basically
that you're going to. And then it tells you, is it
indoor outdoor? Is it BYOB?
Are you buying alcohol there? Like what are the rules type
thing? And then the day of the show, it
reveals the address to you. So we're pretty lucky because we

(24:11):
have that like machine behind usto handle all of the marketing
and to handle all of that stuff.We do a lot like locally still.
But I mean, we we have constantly new people coming who
probably otherwise wouldn't go see comedy or don't know where
to go see comedy. So with that, are you how, how
do people follow? Are they allowed to come pop up

(24:34):
wherever you're going to do that, or is it whoever?
We're not sold out. Yeah, if we're not sold out,
they can pop up. But like, our lineups are always
secret till the day of we book those out for the most part.
We always have a national headliner coming in.
Typically we have like 2 comics including the headliner from out
of town. And then we have some local

(24:54):
comics that will rotate filling the lineups.
And then most, yeah, most peopleare just seeing them from ads.
The ads are very targeted very yeah, specific to real people in
and then we have like a good crew of people who are kind of
like repeat customers who are coming out all the time, which
is good yeah. So it's it's it's fun.
It's I think a good opportunity for people to experience comedy

(25:18):
and in a different way to like they, they don't have to go to a
club and it's like a 2 drink minimum and like all of this or
they don't have to go to a casino.
And they have the opportunity tosee I think younger comics and
comics who they normally wouldn't see from other places.
Like we have some bad ass comicsthat come in from, you know,
just like Sacramento and San Francisco area alone.
And then we have some really great bigger comics that come in

(25:40):
from LA, you know, Vegas. So we have a pretty good, pretty
good draw. You've got a unique take on
something that I've been thinking about today.
And it's the the cancel culture that's prevalent and largely
because of our generation, you know what I mean?
It's like, we love to be fuckingoffended about shit, you know
what I'm saying? And I think that the first

(26:06):
attack is always with comedians.And it's so funny because it's a
joke, you know what I mean? And it's never been, but I've
even caught my mom, you know what I mean?
Like, like, do you hear what that guy said?
And I said that was fucking hilarious, you know what I mean?
Just about whatever. And you have a different take on
it because you're a comedian. And you also might be offended

(26:28):
about things that people are saying.
You know what I'm saying? Where's your what's your stance
on cancel culture? And you're a comedian.
You know what I mean? I think there's such a different
I, I think when you're a comic, there's like a huge difference
between like really punching down in a way that is not like
you're not making a point. I, I think you can be extremely

(26:51):
funny. Like the, there's so many like
rape jokes that I've heard that are just stupid.
And so it's not even like a like, I don't, I can't stand
this guy. This rape joke sucks because
it's a rape joke. It's because it's not funny.
And then there's a way to make apoint and it, you know, be like
one of the funniest jokes you'veever heard.

(27:12):
And I feel like that's kind of where it gets lost a little bit.
I don't really think that cancelculture, like within comedians
is really a thing. I think it's, it's just not very
funny. And I understand.
Like, so you dig in your own grade.
Yeah. Yeah.
Even with like, very. And I've experienced it on both
ends. Like I did a show recently, I
opened for this guy who's like this guy, Steve Hofstetter,

(27:37):
who's not like my cup of tea, but he's extremely, extremely
like left. He's the one that is always.
He's the one that's always doingthe videos afterwards about
hecklers, right? Yes.
Yeah, he's like if you just had the.
Most bro, that guy's got some thin skin.
If you had the most locust dad on Facebook, that's the Just

(27:58):
imagine your dad on Facebook being so annoying, but then
imagine that your dad's like outthere marching for like
oppressed people and then he's on Facebook like talking about
just like that's the energy, youknow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very nice guy.
His crowd, very nice every. I'm very appreciative of the
opportunity, stuff like that. But even for me, I had a really

(28:19):
hard time with his his crowd. And I'm the one who's up there
like talking about being the gayperson, saying something about
that. And it's like almost like
they're upset for me and I'm like, and we can do, you know,
and I've, I've had it on like both ends, but that was the
first time I've ever experiencedthat to where I was just like,

(28:40):
what the fuck are we doing? Like, why are we, you know, that
kind of thing. Just get up here and tell him.
And he like gave me a buffer before where he was like, just
so you know, my crowds are very this way.
And if if you go off of that, you are not going to do well.
And I was just kind of like, whyare you telling me that?
Like, I'm going to be fine. And then I was like, oh shit.
Like there's times when I'm in San Francisco and I get like a

(29:02):
little apprehensive because I will, I'll, I'll be like, I'm
really like a Reno comic. Like I'll feel uncomfortable
because I am the, I'm, I'm not like I don't want to say like
woke enough, but for lack of better words, like that's kind
of the vibe I'll get that sometimes my wife and I laugh
about it because she's from San Jose and we always compare San

(29:23):
Jose and Reno a lot and she has kind of the same vibe.
She's like a little bit more edgy, a little bit more like
vulgar, so funny, like, you know, passed at every club down
there and the improv and all this stuff.
And she is just like, no, we're you'll understand, like we're
performing in Berkeley, like you'll get it, you know.

(29:44):
And so it's stuff like that where I hadn't really
experienced a lot of that until as of late where I'm like,
they're tight. Like I did that show for Steve
and I was just like, not into it.
And I was like, that was not fun.
I did not have much fun. And I remember at the time the
Booker was like, he was like, doyou would you want to do some
dates with him? And I was like, I mean, he's

(30:06):
huge. He has millions of followers.
But I was like, Nah, I did not have very much fun doing that.
And I had also heard. Good for you to not chase the
followers too. You know what I mean, right?
Yeah, that's. Rad.
It was just funny because I was like, you would think this would
be my, this would be my moment. Like, these would be my people.
And I had heard, and I don't, I don't feel bad saying this
because I've heard from so many people who I trust.

(30:29):
And I really feel strongly that this, that this is true.
But I had heard years ago, 'cause I had opened for him at
the Pioneer forever ago. But I had heard that like the
one video that blew him up that went really viral was a planted
Heckler. So it was staged.
Yeah. And I had heard that from a lot
of people. And so I kind of had this like.

(30:52):
Man. Super viral.
I can't even remember what it was, but gotcha.
It's out there. It's like his most popular, like
Heckler video ever from years ago.
But yeah, I had heard that from a lot of people.
So, yeah, I was kind of when I agreed to it, I was like, I know
he's going to sell out probably.I know it'll like, let's see
what this is. Yeah, 'cause I, I had opened for
him so long ago. Yeah.

(31:12):
You know, and it's. Yeah, it was.
It was definitely an experience.You guys have a a thing in your
brain that is just so quick, like I don't I wouldn't even
like I don't know, I don't know how to respond that fast to
anything. And I can I don't know what it
what comedians get it from. I don't know if it's nature or
nurture or both. But like you guys have like a
defense mechanism that is just like it's just normal people

(31:35):
don't have it. You don't I.
Mean, I think my parents are pretty funny.
I think maybe it it could also be like an athlete thing.
When I think back to it, I thinkabout like, playing basketball
and just kind of like talking shit, you know, and, and having
to like, be quick and, and stuff.
But I also know some comics who are really bad at crowd work and
they don't touch it and they're not quick like that, you know,

(31:55):
but they're such good joke writers and, you know, different
stuff. So I think it's definitely a
balance because I think there's the idea, you know, like we're
saying earlier, with a lot of like crowd work clips going
viral and stuff, there's this idea that it's like a crutch and
that you're not. Yeah, a comic, you're not as
good of a comic. That's like thinking that you

(32:16):
don't have material. And it's like I'm, I'm not
feeling the time due to a lack of material.
I just especially if I'm having a hard time, if a crowd's not
like super engaged or like bar shows are a prime example.
I think part of the reason why my crowd work is as strong as it
is, is from coming up in Reno because every show was, like, at
a bar and everyone was loud as fuck.

(32:38):
And you'd have people, like, huddled in the back of the room
and just so I would, like, walk over with the mic to where
people were. And I found that sometimes I had
to do things like that. So it became this, like,
natural, like, muscle that I wasable to flex all the time
because I was like, I'm not gonna just shout over people.
I'm like, trying to tell these punch lines.

(32:58):
No one can hear me. And it was a way that I would
get people to shut the fuck up. Yeah, that's real, you know, to
have, like, those interactions with them.
And then I could tell material. So it's just a balance of like,
sometimes I just have to remind myself, like, you're in a club,
people paid money to watch. You don't have to.
You don't have to go there. You don't have to do that, you
know. That's real.
That's real. So it's definitely a line.

(33:20):
Yeah, I also think comedy's an important tool because it starts
conversations in a easier way for people to pallet that maybe
not been able to 100%. Like, like if I'm sitting up
here talking about, you know, mydumb 31 year old take on the
fucking world, it's nobody givesa fuck.
But if you sit here and make it funny and you talk about jokes,
it makes you think about things in a way that nobody else would

(33:41):
have like even considered or thought or just like, you know
what I mean? Things that might be taboo you
can talk about in a in a laughing way and it starts cool
conversations. Yeah, it makes it easier.
I think it makes it more for people to be able to laugh at
themselves too, and to be able to like they acknowledge certain
things that that they know to betrue.

(34:02):
Like I'll have, I'll have a lot of fun in like rural areas a lot
too. Like when I went through
Montana, we had like the best time.
I've always had a really good time in like Gardnerville and
like the Fallons of the world, you know, places like that where
normally you're like, oh, I don't know if if she would do
well there. I've had that a lot with
Booker's too, where they're like, I don't know if I'm going

(34:22):
to send you to, you know, this place like, you know, and it's
like, no, these people actually really enjoy that.
Like they don't, you know, it was like the the biker rose
thing where my buddy Steven and I were writing for it and we
were like, how far do you think we can push this?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, with a lot.
So what were you saying? I'm curious.
We won't say his name, but he's my friend and I love him.

(34:44):
I'm trying to think. I remember 1 of I remember the
one he told me was his favorite.He was in a wife beater at the
thing and he's like really buff.At least he was this time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's still buff.
He's even. Buff Yeah.
And I said something about how he was like, yeah, he was like
in his fit. He was like a Magic Mike of a
methadone clinic. I think that was one of them,

(35:05):
but it was kind of weird becausewe were getting ready to start
and then all of a sudden his kids showed up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like when in the front row
and Steven and I were like what the fuck?
Nah, say it. And they told us nothing was off
limits. So yeah, we had a lot of fun.
There was definitely some like stereotypical like biker joke
stuff. I remember I only had one joke
that bombed, like Steven and I both crushed.

(35:28):
But I had one joke, I can't really remember what it was, but
they had just like one of their buddies had just died, who's a
member of the club or whatever. And like we used to like kind of
mess with Joe because I don't think Joe was ever in a club or
anything, but like his his friends were not that it's
funny, but he was like constantly having a friend pass
away and it was always someone like from bike for the biker

(35:48):
community. Yeah, all our friends keep.
Dying. And so yeah, we made, I made
some joke that Steven, I thoughtthis was so funny.
I was like, this is great. I'm gonna really take a take a
swing here and see what kind of comic I am.
And it was something about like,how do you guys like keep
getting more people in when you just die all the time?
It was something about that that's just silence.
It was the only one that did notdo well.

(36:09):
But it it was like for me, I waslike.
OK, that's all right. It's true it.
Was pretty funny. It's crazy all the all the
people that we grew up with, like, yeah, it's crazy.
It's but you ride a motorcycle, it's like.
We had very little information to go off of of Yeah.
And like just. Too close on that one.
So yeah. And we were like, I remember we
were trying to get our information off Facebook.

(36:29):
And so I can't remember if how many he has ex wives or one or
maybe multiple. I can't remember.
But I really went down the line of like every ex-wife.
I was able to find some of them and like we did some stuff like
and then pretending that I had slept with every one of his ex
wives, like went down the line on all of those and then went to

(36:49):
like his current girlfriend or wife or whatever she was at the
time. Yeah, yeah, no, it was really
fun and they were really good sports about it.
And like that's just like a prime example of like, you know,
people, people want to people don't have a problem laughing at
themselves. And in my experience, it's
pretty rare that you have peoplewho are going to be mad about.

(37:10):
It the most secure are usually the ones that have no problem.
It's the ones that are insecure.That's what you said.
That's what you said something when about taking my wife home
and fuck, God, it was the funniest fucking thing the whole
night. And my wife Beth was like, she's
cute and I was like, fuck God damn it.

(37:30):
You know what I mean? It was so funny, Sir.
Yeah, I didn't have a very like,fuck boy personal.
I love it on the stage, Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
That's why, yeah. No 100% yeah I am a retired fuck
boy so. That's where did you go to
college for basketball after that?
I, I went to two different schools.
I ended, I, I finished my juniorand senior year actually over in

(37:52):
Reading at Simpson. It's like a small D2.
That's one of where one of our charters is.
In reading. Our mother charters from Chasta
County. It's hot as fuck.
It is. It's not my favorite.
Place I hate reading. Yeah, it's like.
It's the worst. It's like Sun Valley if it was a
whole city. I remember we would run on the
track and our shoes would melt. OK.

(38:14):
So yeah, it was. One of it was fucking and I was
so poor. Yeah.
So we had like no ACI lived in this crazy like triplex this
woman on PCP tried to bring intoher house all the time like
crazy shit. Like I was in the like ghetto of
reading, which was just like Bible Belt or like extreme drug
use. It was like there was.
No medium. Yeah, yeah, it was wild.

(38:35):
I hated it. It's stupid how I had a boy ride
his motorcycle through there andhis boots melted on the asphalt
at a stoplight. I don't know how people do it.
It's. Just crazy, yeah.
Modesto and like Turlock remind me of that.
It does that area I do a lot of.I'll do a lot of comedy over
there too. Yeah, there's a fun little club
over near Turlock that I'll do sometimes, yeah, but they all
remind me of reading like. Of all the places, you totally,

(38:58):
Yeah. Of all the places you've
traveled, which one's been your favorite outside of Reno?
Probably for comedy, probably Montana.
Yeah, I had so much fun in Montana.
We went through like these like tiny little towns, probably like
the size of like Truckee, maybe like Libby, Montana.
And then I'm just like big into outdoors.

(39:19):
So we just camped the whole timeand did fun shit.
But yeah, we did like Billings, Bozeman, which like big college
towns. So it was like fun shows and
stuff. But yeah, we I had so much fun
through through those areas. We did some weird Christian
brewery in Idaho. That was the only bad show that
was. Miserable.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was so weird.
They're looking to be offended. Bizarre.
There's nothing more insufferable than a new

(39:41):
Christian. Years ago too, the woman came up
to me at the end. She was like 85 probably.
And she was, she gave me a sticker, she gave my, my friend
Andrea like a bunch of other stuff.
And then she slid this sticker over to me of the brewery and
she was like here to put on yourtoolbox or something and walked

(40:01):
away. And it was so funny because I
was just like she was just assuming I'm like this Butch
list. I can't even like put in a light
bulb. So it's like the funniest thing
of me being gay is like 0 skills.
It was just some like sticker oftheir brewery.
And it was so funny because the town was so small.
It was our only show that wasn'tsold out.
It was our only show that sucked.
And when we got there, we didn'tknow anything about.

(40:24):
This, this we, we used to run for this like Booker guy in New
York who set everything up. So we didn't know anything about
where we were going. And it was a town of like 60
people. And this guy was like, it's
going to be rough for you guys tonight.
You're competing with the LittleLeague championships.
And we were like, what the fuck?So I'm in this Christian brewery

(40:44):
for like 7 people. And then the hotel like shut
down. It had no power.
And it turned out my friend Andrea knew somebody whose
grandparents lived in this tiny Idaho town of 60 people, and
they were, like, out of town andgave us their house for the
night. So it was wild.
The whole thing was wild. But yeah, the Christian brewery
was, yeah, yeah. I get it.

(41:05):
We get it a lot. Like insufferable.
Yeah, well, they are insufferable.
Not all Christians don't get it twisted, but like the the people
that just became Christians, right?
You know what I'm talking about.Like just like 10 minutes ago.
They're always the one that are like, you should not have sex or
you should, you know, don't smoke crack anymore.
It's like I'll smoke crack on myown time.
Yeah, yeah, I hate that. And it's like the old Christian

(41:26):
that's. What's hard about shredding is
they're like, they're hipster Christian.
That's the worst. But.
Yeah, and the old, old Christians have been Christians
forever. They're like the coolest, you
know what I mean? They're like, do whatever.
It's the new wave, Christians, yeah.
Or whatever. They're they're the hipster.
Christians. The guitar band Christians, Yes.
Dude. Yeah, which we love.
We love you. Just fucking don't tell me what
to do. You know what I mean?

(41:47):
Yeah, yeah. They're the ones that like will
stop us at gas stations. Yeah cuz our club is called back
from hell which is a is not a do.
You guys get that a lot. All the time.
And it's like really a positive.Like it's like we're back.
Like it started with early rootsin recovery in the 90s.
And it was like, we're back fromhell.
Like we've come back, you know, and we're OK.

(42:09):
And now that's just the name of our club and we're outlawed and
it doesn't matter. But like, they'll see it.
And they're like, oh, you know, like Jesus loves you and fucking
like, cool, you know, like, thanks.
Yeah. We talk all the time.
You know what? I'm so funny.
It happens. You know what I mean?
That's. So cool.
How big is your guys club? We're big enough, yeah.
Yeah, how many is that top secret?
Stuff it is. Yeah.
Yeah. We don't talk about anything.

(42:29):
No, no, it's just because I tellit's a security thing, OK?
Like I'm in security. You guys wear I like what you're
saying. Do you guys wear do clubs like
wear their patches or is that like a thing?
Do clubs like not wear their patches as?
Much, yeah. It just depends on the club.
We wear our OK if our rules are if you ride your motorcycle.
Wear you have. To wear, if you're not wearing
it, then something happened. Yeah, You know what I mean?

(42:50):
Yeah, but yeah, we wear it everywhere we go.
And it's just it really, it's crazy because there's so much
misconception about being in a motorcycle club.
It's fucking crazy. I don't care if you're a Hell's
Angel or whatever. It's, it really is just an
organization of men who like riding motorcycles.
It's really not. You have dudes that like might

(43:15):
sell drugs and then they'll likeall that whole club sells drugs.
It's not, you know what I mean? Because there's sober Hells
Angels that I know, and then there's Hells Angels that are
nut jobs, you know what I mean? Yeah.
Just like my club. We've got sober guys like me and
we've got different guys. It's totally polar.
Yeah. It's really no different than.
That's cool. It's like the Odd Fellows or

(43:36):
like the Masons, but like, yeah,with motorcycles I guess.
I remember like meeting, I, cuz I spent some little of time with
my grandpa and I remember when we went back to Tennessee and I
remember having this idea of himbecause I, I knew this like
Hell's Angels background from him, from all these pictures and
stuff. And then when I met him and I

(43:56):
was just like, this dude has so many toy cars on his wall.
And I remember just being like, what the fuck?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like in my mind, I'm like, oh,
he's probably a murderer, right?Like, like I've, I like build
this thing up based on, and I mean the things that I've heard
and, and I know he's not like the greatest student in the
world. And this was a long time ago
too. So there was like rougher shit
going on in this stuff. And that's true too.

(44:17):
It was is different. Then yeah, but I remember also
being like, like this guy's kindof a pussy, like with a lot of
his stuff where I was like, OK, mom.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not that bad.
Yeah, and then he died of cancer.
And I was like, the Hell's Angeldied of the funniest thing ever.
OK, I have to tell you this. So he never went to the doctor,
right? He, like, didn't believe in it.
And he was, dude, he was riding a riding lawnmower in the hills

(44:41):
of Tennessee, like, like a fucking Hick.
And he like, they live in, like,the Smoky Mountains.
He, without knowing it, he droveover a black widow's nest in
like, tall grass. They all bit his leg.
Whatever. Normally he would have been able
to, to fight it. Days go by, he's getting like
gangrene looking like. So they finally go to the
hospital. It's like the first time the

(45:02):
guy's been to a doctor probably in like 20 years, finally goes
to the hospital and they're like, yeah, we have to amputate
your leg. And in that process, they were
like, oh, yo, you have colon cancer.
Like, This is why you couldn't fight the spider bite infection.
And then he died, like, shortly after that.
Yeah. But it was just like my family,
like, we have, we laugh about itall the time.

(45:23):
That he died of colon cancer. Yeah.
But you know, just like the things that my.
Yeah, my mom's like this guy used to, like, beat my brother's
ass all the time. And then like.
Oh, yeah. And.
This is that's funny. I was like the guy.
So go to the massacre training. I'm not gonna go to the hospital
either. I hate going to the hospital.
Yeah, I mean, I can't play. I got bit by a Black Widow, went
to my arm, ballooned up like 300lbs.
Type 5 is what it looked like I went to I thought I was having

(45:45):
allergic reaction. My mom was at dinner with her
friend who was a nurse and she was like you should go to the
ERI think you're allergic and they could give a shit.
They were like take a Benadryl and go home.
I was like, you don't think I need like a Valium for this?
Like I was like. Where's the cool drug?
You should get stuff for this like they but they literally
didn't even put me. They saw me in a hall and they
were like, take Benadryl and go home.

(46:06):
Like they didn't give a shit. That's funny and out by you too,
is they got those fucking the brown recluses and that I those
are the scary ones. Those are the only ones.
That's the only like, rattlesnakes could hurt you, but
like, black widows aren't going to kill you, right?
You know what I mean? But a snake in my living room?
The other. Day.
Yeah. Fuck yeah.
I don't know. It was just a Garter snake,
yeah. Yeah, scary.

(46:26):
We. Yeah, sucks.
There's a I'll have to send it to you.
There's we had a camera at my dog like tore her ECL and we had
a camera like a dog camera to watch her and the snake.
The incident was caught on camera of me being like, Oh my
fucking God, like screaming for I didn't even know I could
scream like that. Like for my wife and she comes
out and she's like, what the fuck?

(46:48):
We've had a bat twice. There's a hole somewhere in the
cabin, is what you can decipher from everything.
So you're opposed to Dog Valley?Oh yeah.
Yeah, like where it turns into gravel, like the last Rd. on the
left, the last like paved Rd. Yeah, that's yeah, I'm up there.
I can't even get mail. Damn, you got to go into town.
Yeah, I am, yeah. Yeah, I love it.

(47:09):
That's a such a beautiful area. But you're gonna get you're
gonna get snakes in your living room and mountain lions at the
school. Do you remember that?
There was like mountain lions atthe school all the.
Time. That's the one thing I've never
seen. I've had a bear a lot.
We had a bear who was like hanging in our yard quite often.
I have a shit ton of deer who like live on our property, but
I've yet to ever see a mountain.That's the only thing that I

(47:31):
haven't seen so far. Yeah.
Yeah, which hopefully I don't. Yeah, hopefully you don't.
I think they're up a little higher.
Well, those, yeah, those black bears.
They'll see you first. Right.
Yeah, The black bears out there are like, they'll go away.
It's like the Brown. Bears.
They're like dumb raccoons. The black that's.
What I'm told, at least, yeah. Yeah, we have one, and we call
him Garth Brooks. He listens to us.
Like you can just tell him to goaway right away and he'll.

(47:52):
Yeah, I have like a little kiddie pool in the summer that
he gets in. Yeah, yeah.
So we might be contributing to the problem of him coming
around, but maybe he'll just, like, lay on our grass.
He's cool. He doesn't mess with anything.
Those are the only animals that really scare the fuck out of me
is is bears because I'll I I work on the railroad and I work
in Montana and Idaho and like north.
Yeah, that's just scary. I was just in Yellowstone.

(48:13):
Right. For sure.
Those are big bears. The grizzly bears are like, they
have like, and I love bears. They're like one of my favorite
animals, but the grizzly bears have like, they have like, like
black eyes, like they're just like sunk in.
It's fucking, they're scary. They're just killers.
They're so scary. Yeah, those babies are scary.
Those are the ones where like, we'll walk and they'll like,
hey, you should have a shotgun, you know what I mean?

(48:33):
Like. Hey, we're out there at night,
too. No, it's like in the day, but
it's desolation wilderness on the railroad.
There's nothing out there, you know what I mean?
It's like 200 miles of fucking nothing.
And it's like, hey, there might be be bears.
It's crazy I just listen to this.
Podcast. You know, I just listen to this
podcast about, like, people who ride the trains.
Yeah, I can't remember what. The oh, you mean like homeless

(48:54):
people? Yeah, we're just like, it was
about like some basically like kids in punk bands who from
Oakland. Who were from Oakland, from San
Francisco, Yeah, yeah, just. Like going across the country
and stuff, but yeah, crazy shit.And then at the end of it, they
were like talking about all thisstuff that's like going on with
the railroad with like their funding.

(49:15):
And at the end of it, I was like, we got to save the
railroad. I got like there I was like,
holy shit, I care so much about.Yeah, for sure.
I learned so much, it was very interesting.
Yeah, it's, it's funny because Warren Buffett owns all, most of
them, really. Yeah.
So they're doing just fine. You know what?
I'm. Saying it's so.
Funny, Yeah. No, no, they're, they're,
they're they're it's really just, that's so fun.
It's infrastructure funding. So it's like it's whatever the

(49:37):
government spending money on that year.
So if it's infrastructure, then railroads are doing fine.
They're always going to be here,you know what I mean?
But more people are getting their stuff shipped by semi
trucks now and less by railroad.But there's always going to be
it's cheaper railroad money. We're going to go away, I guess.
Think of that. Think of who owns the railroad.
It's. Easier.
I didn't know Warren Buch who owned.
The railroad he owns, fucking insane.
He owns a lot of Union Pacific and really Norfolks, right?

(50:01):
He he does. So they're doing OK, But yeah,
it's crazy. But yeah.
This thing I was listening to was about how they were like,
and maybe it's like a state thing too, but they were it.
Also depends on the railroad cuzthere's short.
Line super ones, right? Yeah, there's short line
railroads, but the ones that you're talking about are the
UPS. So these ones were like, you
have a buddy in the rail on the card or whatever with you, and

(50:22):
they were complaining about, they were talking about the rise
and deaths of hitting people on the railroad because like where
they used to have two people in the car or whatever with them.
Yeah, they only have one becauseof these budget cuts and shit
like that. No, this was the conspiracy.
But I was, well, it could be theshort line because short lines
only have one locomotive, you know what I mean?

(50:42):
And those are, those are ones that are switching like those
are just moving in and out like of Modesto and those areas.
They do have short line railroads like Modesto and
Empire and those ones, but they always go to the UP and those
have, they have like 7 or 8 locomotive guys.
But it's funny to hear. Cancel my railroad?
No. No, no, you stay.
Active. How did I know?

(51:02):
The profit, stay with me. Yeah, no, I have no reason to
fight. For the no no fight for us too
No. It's funny that I so.
You guys like repair? It is likely you're out.
That's so. Cool.
Yeah. And it's old money.
And it's like, it's like hard toget it.
Like you have to. It's hard to start a new
railroad company you have. To start a union thing, are you
guys unionized? No, no.
And it's 110 year old company I work for and it's like that's

(51:24):
the that's how it works in the railroad.
You have to travel a lot for. Work to travel.
Interesting, I get to see some cool places like you.
I should have learned a skill. I didn't know this skill.
I inherited it. You did OK.
I did. From my wife's grandfather.
So I lucked out. You know what I mean.
I had no skills and he called me.
I. Had biker.
Man skills. So yeah.
And we'll teach you how to change a fucking light bulb.
Dog. I got you.
You could teach me some stuff. I'm trying.

(51:45):
I have an old Forerunner. There you go.
And I've been swearing for like a year that I'm going to change
the headlight, yeah. Your car's a little cliche,
though. My what?
Your car's a little. My Subaru, and it's here.
It's all-wheel drive. OK?
It's every time. I know.
Every time. No, they're great.
I know. Yeah.
Yeah. That's hilarious.
One of the other things I was going to ask you is when you

(52:07):
were first starting out, how didyou know you were funny?
What made you want to take that first jump to be like, hey, I'm
going to fucking go do stand up comedy because it seems like a
big leap. Yeah.
Yeah. Because it's like, I think I've
said funny things. Yeah.
In life. It's definitely different.
Yeah, yeah, I think I thought I,I was very like class clowny
growing up. I think a mix of like being

(52:31):
insecure, being insecure in likeschool for certain things like
math, things like that that I wasn't good at, but I've just
like kind of always been that way.
Like in my friend group and my my parents are really funny.
Like constantly growing up. It was like in living color,
like Jim Carrey stuff. My dad was a big like Mike Myers

(52:52):
from Carrie fan. So it was like both of my
parents are very funny. Everyone's very self deprecating
and and funny in that way. So I think I like had.
An idea? Yeah, I think so.
I think for me, like stand up kind of came out of like very
darker things that have happenedin my life or like at very sad

(53:13):
moments. And sometimes I have a hard
time. I think it's probably similar to
like art in general where it's like at my happiest, I'm like, I
have no material. I can't write a joke.
So like, I'll have that a lot. Yeah, yeah.
Where So I, I think I had like ahunch.
I, I had no idea how to write a joke or what joke structure was

(53:34):
or anything whatsoever. But I think I just got lucky
because it was really good timing too.
At the time. We had like a really good scene
and like supportive scene. And there was, I think it's
called Shims now, but it used tobe 3rd St.
Bar. And we did like that was kind of

(53:55):
like our hub for comedy. And there was like Wednesday
nights over there and the guy who ran it was like very, very
supportive. I had a lot of people who were
like very supportive when I was a young comic.
So they must have, you know, seen something to where they
were giving me opportunities andhelping me.
So yeah, I think it just, I had a friend who was doing open mics

(54:16):
and I, I went and watched her and I don't even remember the
first time I really did comedy. It's all kind of like a blur.
A lot of people like remember it.
You must have done good 'cause you kept going.
Yeah, yeah, it's, I think too, it's hard 'cause it's kind of
like delusional when you're new because you're like, yeah,
that's why you shouldn't let your friends come or anything.

(54:36):
Like you don't need anybody likeencouraging you.
And then you're gonna think like, Oh yeah, I got this.
And then you're gonna like, cuz we used to do this thing at 3rd
Street where we had Wednesday nights and you would do 5
minutes and then the crowd wouldvote at the end on their
favorite comic. And then if you won the
following Wednesday, you would come back and you would do 15

(54:57):
minutes and you would get like abar tab.
And so you had no business doing, a lot of times, no
business doing 15 minutes, right?
So it was a lot of times like newer people who were like very,
very, very new and like their friends were coming out.
And so their friends are like cheering for them.
And then you're like, 'cause even just having 5 minutes, like
a solid 5 minutes, I feel like takes so long to just crush for

(55:21):
like 5 minutes, you know? And I think that's like the most
important thing when. You're starting out and you
can't reuse it at some point, right?
Well, yeah, you can. It's just I don't, I don't know
my beef like now with like new comics and like at open mic, I
don't really do a lot of like open mics anymore.
But a lot of the new comics, I'll tell them like I'll see

(55:42):
some people who have been doing mics for like years, very long
time, but like none of them likecan just crush for X amount of
time, you know, and they're always doing something new or
they're always which I admire and which I think is is great.
But if it's not working or you're not like evolving, it's

(56:03):
not going anywhere. It's it's like I can't, those
are the kind of people like I can't put you up for give you a
5 minute guest spot and you crush.
And that's like how I was getting stuff.
That's why I started at the pioneer was you would only get 4
minute spots. So it's like you, you had very
little time. You know, bigger clubs.
It's like 3 minutes. It's shitty.
It's like really hard to to do well in those, those tiny slots.

(56:27):
So it's like if you can't masterthat, because that mastering
that five, I think you can easily turn into 7.
So on and so on. Like a lot of the stuff I do now
is like that 5 minutes is still in there from the very
beginning. If I record it or put it out,
then yeah, I'll have to move on from it.
I'll be forced to move on from it.
And I probably should do that. But yeah, for right now, I mean,

(56:50):
just depends the set, like how long I'm doing, what I'm doing.
If I need it to be like really tight, then I'm going to do the
stuff that I know is really tight.
So it just kind of depends. But yeah, I think that's the
most important thing. I don't even think it was like a
knowing because because you don't know, you could be very
funny. There's some comics who I love
who are like really fucking funny off stage, but I don't

(57:12):
really like them on. Stage on stage, which is crazy.
I know that there's like a couple comics like that, you
know, where I'm like, it's weird.
Just like they're so funny. They're so fun when we hang out
and I see their sets and I'm like.
Damn, it's a. Little different.
Yeah, some of the funniest people I know are in are in a a,
right? That should be.
I also think that that's just like kind of a, an automatic

(57:34):
thing. I, I did a rehab in Auburn and
it was so cool. That was actually like one of my
favorite things that I've done. And this guy who was like new to
comedy, but he was with the rehab that was putting it on.
And so he was doing a couple minutes on the show and he was
he was super new and he was justkind of telling these like wild,

(57:58):
like kind of like shock jock type, like over the top, very
like transphobic, like saying hekept saying the word
hermaphrodite. I was like, Oh my God, buddy.
Like, and then after his and he did not do well.
But then afterwards him and I were talking and he was telling
me some of the funniest fucking stories I've ever heard about

(58:19):
him running meth like back down from like Bakersfield.
And he's told me a story about him getting stuck in this
dumpster. It was like a boys and Girls
Club in in Fresno. I think this boys and Girls
Club, like metal bin, you know, like at Walmart where people
donate clothes. And he went in thinking he could
like steal shit out of it and hegot stuck.
And so then like the police had to come and they had to like

(58:42):
claws of life him out of this thing and he got butt ass naked
because he thought he was going to die of like overheating in
August. And it was like he was telling
me this stuff and it was some ofthe funniest shit I've ever
heard. And I was like, dude, like,
that's what? Why are you talking about that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about the insanity,
because. So, yeah, and like so many of
those people are some of the funniest.

(59:03):
Like, I don't know, maybe that'sjust me because that's the kind
of. No, no.
That's comedy that I like. Is is that you know?
It's also a cure. Kind of, yeah.
It's also a cure when you when you can finally laugh about the
crazy shit you did as a tweaker because I was a tweaker and I
was a 4th St. tweaker and you. Were a tweaker pianist.
I am, yeah. I didn't play piano when I was

(59:24):
tweaking. How long were you a tweaker?
For So I I started doing hard drugs at McQueen.
Really. Yeah, I still graduated.
How did that start? Miraculously environment the
kids I was around kids from yourclass OK it was like a lot of
those kids had. There was a lot of good drugs at
McQueen. Interesting, You know what I
mean? Yeah, and interesting.
And like I said, I was in the band and there was just there

(59:46):
was it was all about the kids. I.
Was were the band kids doing drugs?
Fuck yeah. It's wild.
It was like. When you say tweaking, what were
you? Oh, that was I smoked crack for
the first time at 18. Really.
Yeah, that I got from a kid thatwasn't at McQueen anymore.
He graduated. Interesting.
But I smoked crack. But I'm talking about like
ecstasy was really big. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
At. McQueen when I yeah, I knew like

(01:00:07):
that, like all my friends were doing that.
My big thing was like pharmaceuticals and opiates.
Yeah, that mine. Mine too like.
You know, Spiraled and. Yeah, I loved it.
But yeah. Were you doing drugs?
Not. Not until you were an adult.
Not until like I was in college and then I mixed with like
injury and just, yeah, you know,kind of like how we would deal

(01:00:29):
with things. I think as a family where I was
just like, yeah, a huge, huge opiate issue for a really,
really, really long time. That's one of my but I think
also I would have really enjoyeduppers because I was like a big
Adderall kid. And I'm, I still, I'm on
Adderall as an adult, but I'm like, I probably, I could see

(01:00:52):
myself just like, yeah, being a fun tweaker.
I think like, yeah. No, no, it was like, it's, it's,
it's fun. It sucks.
Or at least you think it's fun. You know what I mean?
Yeah, you think you're really productive, which is kind of
interesting. Like opiates would have that
effect on me. Like there are times where, you
know, I'm just like pass the fuck out.
But I also was like, there is like, I'm gonna vacuum

(01:01:12):
everything I own at 11:00 at night and it's like, that would
be my reaction to stuff for sure.
I would be like hand like not even vacuum, vacuum like the
tube of the vacuum, my floor. I'd be like, you just get a
better. Yeah, it's better.
This. One it is where like fuck just
so productive. Still, yeah, still very like
drug addict behavior. Just really, I would have that a

(01:01:34):
lot where and then sometimes I would write jokes and I would be
the next day I would look at it,I'd be like, this is the worst
fucking thing I've ever read. Are you talking on Adderall?
No, no on opiates. Oh, OK.
Adderall. No, I was never.
Allowed because I hear people that write on adder because I
wrote a book yeah and and I. What's your book about?
It's about the railroad, but it's also about like, so my

(01:01:58):
wife's grandfather took the company over, but there was a
running joke in the family because of the way we travel.
We're gone for 1-2 days and we're home, but we stay in nice
hotels because yeah, yeah, it's old money.
And the running joke was becausewe can't articulate to anybody
that doesn't work on the railroad what we do.
So everybody just like I was trying to say, and they'll be
like, what the fuck are you talking to?

(01:02:19):
You know what I mean? Like, what do you do?
Like I work on the railroad, like it's already built.
Like what do you talk? So then the running joke became
you guys are hitmen or something, right?
You know what I mean? And like, you guys seem kind of
weird spy. So I wrote a book about it.
I wrote a book about the actual story and then tied in.
It's fun. And then?
You're like being a biking and they're like, right, and I took
the biker. So there's so there's a when you

(01:02:40):
read it. If you know who I am, you don't
know what's true and what's not.For the most part, it blends so
many lines. That's cool.
And it's just I just I haven't murdered anybody, but everything
else is true. That's funny, but that's what
it. But.
But I've talked to a lot of authors who are writing books
and I could only write it through pure boredom.
And like, I just watch too much dirty shit on the Internet and I

(01:03:03):
got bored of like, I need to do something more productive.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then finally was like. I think I have such bad ADD that
Adderall doesn't have that impact it like.
Actually, it actually works. So it's yes, it's like.
Hard to, you know, have that badeffect.
On me and they talk about it andthey're like, they'll write so
much, yeah and then it sucks thenext day, 'cause it's.
Terrible. I was accidentally.

(01:03:23):
Taking ADDD I was accidentally taking meth Adderall for a
moment and that was like a joke with all of our friends.
And then I accidentally did methwith a stripper at wild Orchid
quite many many years ago. I tried to talk about it on
stage but people get weird about.
It another girl. Probably just her name was her
name was. Her name was Dakota.
She was from South Dakota. Was she?
That's all. Yeah, that's all I remember.

(01:03:44):
Not a real original name, Dakota.
And then she was like she cuz you know, like in at the strip
clubs, like the, the restrooms that they use are the same that
the women will go and like, if I'm at a strip club, I'm going
in the same restroom as them, right?
Yeah. And so they'll always be in
there like doing stuff like talking shit.
And it's like funny. And I remember she was like in

(01:04:05):
her stall and she was like, saw my friend Jeanette and I and she
was like, y'all want to do drugswith me?
And Jeanette was like, we're good.
And I was like, well, what kind of drugs do you have?
That's just. She was like the good kind.
Yeah, cool. I don't know what that, but we
went in and so we thought we were doing blow off the back of
her Samsung Galaxy and I was like, this is that was the thing

(01:04:28):
to me. I was like, this is disgusting.
Code sounds neat. The Samsung Galaxy aspect, we
were like Pastor friend. I was like, this is so gross.
Like, not even that. We're in the men's club.
Bath and it's not even an iPhonelike well come.
On That's why I was being judgy.I was like, we can't text her
ever, you know? And and then like 8 hours later
we were at like 1 up somewhere Iwould never be seen.
And I was like Jeanette and I were like, I don't, I don't

(01:04:51):
think that was below that We did.
I don't think so at all. And so, yeah, I've had
experiences where I'm like, oh, I could like get buck wild on on
that purse. I think we want stimulants.
Yeah, but back when we were in high school is like the they
don't really have ecstasy like that anymore.
But it was like pressed with a whole bunch of weird shit and I
was like, it's. Scary.
See, it's scary now. Yeah, that's, I was lucky.
But I also, I think it was part of why it took me so long to get

(01:05:13):
clean is because I had a reliable source, like of actual
like, I knew exactly, like straight from the pharmacy where
all the shit was coming from. I had zero fear about anything
ever being pressed. And so that was also kind of a
downfall, you know? But yeah, nowadays I'm like, I
can't even fucking imagine. Like, oh, and you, you also are

(01:05:34):
in a weird place, in a unique place because a lot of
comedians, that's just how they get down, and that's OK.
And I mean, a lot of times that's how you're getting paid a
lot too. It's.
Like somebody told me that. Unlimited alcohol, like stuff
like that where it's hard, you know?
Yeah. So.
So they have to actually pay younow?
Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah.
Yeah. You can't accept.
So how do you deal when you're backstage in everybody's

(01:05:56):
partying? That doesn't, no, doesn't.
I don't yeah, I don't get impacted by like that anymore.
I think a lot of that more too like as I get older, maybe
because also just like the physical impacts of me partying
just became a lot, you know, to where I was like, I just don't
want to feel like shit. I I never like loved drinking.
Drinking was more of like a whatelse am I going to do?

(01:06:20):
Or just convenience, you know, right.
Drinking was never like my favorite thing ever.
So that was. It was just the lubrication for
the other fun shit. Yeah, I understand. 100% And so
I've, I've, I've actually found it, I think for so long I just
had such a fear of like physically getting sober, like
detoxing and physically getting through that to where it dragged

(01:06:44):
out and dragged out. And then once I was physically
OK, I was like, oh fuck, I'm fine.
I'm not. I'm not going to do that.
Again, that's the hardest one. Yeah, that's literally the.
Problem Tobacco's hard. Naked seems hard but like I was
on. Rockstar Energy drinks for like
7 years. One time my mom was like, I'm
gonna submit you for a study. I remember it was like through
college and weaning off of that I was.
Like was that hard caffeine likethat fucking whore?

(01:07:06):
And the headaches, I bet. And I was using opiates at the
time, so it was like, I was like, this is probably harder
than that. For sure, I give it is rough, it
is rough, it's rough and it's the one that it's the one that's
like that's a hard one to touch.When when I get a guy who's
coming in looking for help and he's coming off of especially

(01:07:28):
prescription shit, depending like if he was smoking it, which
was my favorite, you know what Imean?
It was like, it's like man, likethat you might just like that'll
kill you. You might need to go somewhere,
you know what I mean? Versus any of the other ones
where you can you can just stop and it sucks.
Yeah, but were you like living on 4th Street?
Is that the vibe? Were you?
Like I was, I was. How tweaky are we talking?

(01:07:50):
Really tweaky, but I was still 18 and I still like.
Wasn't terribly bad looking as aguy, I thought so I could still,
I was making it work. I was making it work with five
different girlfriends depending on whose couch I could fit and
just using people for whatever Icould really just piece of shit,
scummy shit and shit. I've since tried to make amends

(01:08:10):
for you know what I mean? And but it's really that was it.
It was just like using people soI could get high one more day
and it was really like. Yeah.
How long were you doing that? So I I was from 12 at Clayton to
Damn, that's I know I was drink.I was drinking Baja blast from
Taco Bell up by our house with vodka at McQueen.

(01:08:33):
That was my favorite. And it was, it was really
whatever I could get my hands on.
And it was, it was literally whatever I could get my hands
on. And when I started getting my
hands on it on my own is really when my addiction took off.
And so it was like Clayton, I was smoking weed already and
just kind of went on. But I I got sober 21 because I
was using so young. Yeah, but it was.

(01:08:54):
Yeah, that's. Impressive.
It's, it's, it's really only as impressive as walking out of a
burning fucking building, you know what I mean?
Right. I just stopped.
Yeah. Digging this crazy hole, you
know what I mean? Yeah, so.
I, I think for me a lot of it was I was such a good
functioning addict. So it was like, I, I could
afford it. I could like make even though I
wasn't making it work right. Like even though I was like

(01:09:17):
burning. Everything you weren't stealing
from people, probably. Yeah, I wasn't.
I wasn't like at that place, youknow, where it was that kind of
shit. But everything else was so bad.
And I was, you know, like a terrible partner.
And I was fucking people over and doing all this crazy shit
and like, justifying a lot of mylike, manic behavior and
craziness. High functioning is harder to

(01:09:37):
recover from because because you're high functioning, high
functioning very well. And I was walking my, my, my
dog. That wasn't a real, you know
what I'm saying? So you know what I mean.
So it's a lot different when you're high functioning because
it's so much harder to identify that there's an issue or bottom
or people don't see you any different.
Like I don't, I don't recognize you any different from when I

(01:09:59):
saw you 7 years ago. You seem the same.
Yeah, I. Remember thinking like, you
know, just having that like mentality like that like kind of
judgmental thing where I was like, well, it's never, it's
never that bad. Like I was seeing I was seeing
this girl who was just kind of like a fling thing, but I
started to like hear some rumblings and think that maybe

(01:10:20):
she was on something a little bit harder than just like some
coke here and there. And I found some shit one night
that did not look like coke. And she had asked me to help her
go get her car from like Chico one time randomly and like gave
me this spiel of where it was like at some guys like grow farm

(01:10:42):
and all this. And I was like, all right, I'm
going to help her out. And then I'm probably going to
like be done with this because the vibes were just like
shifting pretty. Pretty weird.
Those are my favorite. Yeah, so we like get out to
Chico. She's already acting insane and
like on the way and she was verycool.
So I think I was present for like the kind of dip into meth,

(01:11:03):
basically, whatever, something that she was on.
And as we're like going out to Chico, she starts like telling
me this whole thing about how like people are watching her and
all this. And I'm like, I'm not like I'm a
drug addict, but this kind of drug addict, like what the like
I got, I got a job and shit lady, like what the fuck are we
doing? We get out to this farm in

(01:11:24):
Chico, her there's no car there.You were bad, but you weren't
going to trips to Chico. Bad.
So that was part of the problem for so long as I was like, yo, I
can do this. Like I'm cool.
Yeah, I'm cool. I'm not like doing this shit.
And we like, get out there. There was no car.
And then she was like, I don't have the keys for the car.
And then this guy's like chasingus off as propped with a

(01:11:44):
machete. And she's like, well, this is
because of the FBI. And I was like, and I was like,
I it took everything in me not to leave this bitch in Chico.
Yeah, you know. The paranoia's crazy.
Oh. My God, it was like my first
experience with that, kind of like.
You know, that's what, and that's what I, that's what I
think what you do is so healing and so important is being able

(01:12:05):
to, and like you said, at your own expense, being able to laugh
at those moments is when you know that you've healed from
even the trauma that you've created in your own life.
It's like that's, that's how I know like when I can laugh about
those things because at first those things were not very funny
to me, you know what I mean? It was scary and sad and I lost
everything 10 times and had no money and a 400 credit score.

(01:12:26):
You know what I'm saying? And it's fucking miserable.
And, and like good parents like,so that's the worst, you know
what I mean? I got nobody to blame this shit
on. So it's like when you're finally
able to do what you provide, which is laugh at this stuff.
Yeah, God damn. You know, you can start to heal
from it. And that's why it's such an
important part of recovery. I had a friend say something
like that to me because we were talking about some shit that had

(01:12:49):
happened, like when I had finally gotten sober.
Yeah. And I had been trying to do it
on stage, but it was like, very fresh.
Yeah. It was like right after it
happened. And I was like, I don't know,
the crowd, they just kind of turn on me.
And it's just not very, you know, and he was like, well, I
don't, I was like, it just seemskind of sad.
And he was like, well, I don't think you're like over it yet.
Like I don't think you think it's very funny yet.

(01:13:09):
And I was like, what are you talking about?
This is because that's like how I'm used to dealing with it.
And I was like, maybe you're right, Maybe I'm not like, and
I'm still, that's like one of the things that I haven't tapped
into material wise is a lot of the sobriety stuff.
And I'm working on it. I I want to figure out ways to
do it. It's my buddy Sam Miller.
He was just here. I don't, I don't know if you're

(01:13:30):
familiar with him. He's like blowing up.
Is he a local? No, he's, he's from Washington
and been in and out of jail. Huge methamphetamine guy.
His material is pretty much about all of this and he's kind
of blowing up because of like the recovery community.
Oh, so he doesn't still smoke meth?
No, no, that's sober now. He's sober now, but like his

(01:13:51):
shit is just so wild and so fun and some of like the horrific
shit that he's done and he's like, kind of challenged me to
like tap into it, you know, a little bit more.
And so I'm trying to figure it out.
But we were talking about how like sometimes it's, it's hard
because it's, it's like just even like the people who you

(01:14:13):
know, you've wronged and, and you've sought out, you know,
forgiveness or just just any of that.
They're not always, at the end of the day, going to empathize
or even like, understand addiction, you know, to where
I've had the moments and I've had the things where there's
some people who are just like, not down to, you know, and maybe
they've been impacted by it differently.
And I'll struggle with that sometimes where I can just kind

(01:14:34):
of tell I've had some people or it's just like, that's not not
into that. That's not funny yet.
But then you go like, I had likeone of the best times ever
performing at that rehab, even with like, Oh yeah, it was so
fucking fun. It was insane.
It was in a classroom at like 6:00 PM with all these lights
on, and there was high school students jousting in the room

(01:14:55):
next to us, like in full on, like, yeah, yeah.
Flanking and metal. Yeah.
And I thought it was so funny because we were driving up and
it was literally half of the room were like people in a
fentanyl program. And then the other half of the
room was like just a, a people, Yeah.
From all over the world. And we were driving up and it
was like in the hills in Auburn.Yeah.

(01:15:16):
And there's all these signs thatI was like, where the fuck are
we going? And it was like this Community
Center, like up in the hills. And there's all these signs on
the way up that was like, we buyscrap metal and it was like
junk. And I was like, that's that's
kind of triggering that they would do that to those people.
That's so funny. And like, I've tried to talk
about it sometimes and people don't.
They're just like, like they don't get it.

(01:15:36):
They don't. Think it's they don't, but the
scrap metal thing's hilarious. I want to.
That's one of my favorite. That's one of my favorite
stories is, you know, I so like I said, I got sober really
young, but I was using really young and then I needed drugs
one day and So what I what I would do everyday as I try, I
just try to come with 20 bucks. So I get a pack of 20 sevens,

(01:15:57):
Mad Dog and a bag, right. You know what I mean of
whatever, you know what I mean? Whatever I could find whoever I
ran into first that day is what I was doing that day.
And one time they were like somebody had told me about
catalytic converters, OK, right.And I was like, I didn't know
anything about cars at the time.And so I was like, fuck, like, I

(01:16:18):
need a bag. And none of the girls that I'm
talking to are answering their phone.
They're all tired of me. And I'm like, so I crawled under
this car and cut off what I thought was a catalytic
converter. And I brought it to the scrap
yard, which is on Valley Road, and brought it to him.
And I was like, hey, man, like, how much can I get for this?

(01:16:38):
And he's like, dude, that's a muffler.
That's so fun. Swear to God, that's a real
story. And that was one that it took me
a while to laugh about now because it's it also tests my
manhood, right? You know what I mean?
But like. Oh, that's funny.
I. Bought him a fucking muffler
that's really twacked out on withdrawals, you know what I'm
saying? Because you're like, I'm not
only a junkie, but. I'm but I'm an idiot.

(01:16:59):
I'm. Also a.
Pussy. And I'm also a pussy because I
can't, I can't tell the that's true.
The catalytic converter and a muffler.
My wife and I laugh all the timebecause she used to drive up
Prius and her Cadillac convertergot stolen in Oakland.
She was at a show and then a year later on the anniversary of
it getting stolen. This was last year was the year
anniversary she had a show in Oakland and it got stolen again

(01:17:20):
same day. God damn.
I was like, we gotta get you outof that Prius dog.
You can't. You just can't have one anymore.
She needs a catalytic converter guard.
Yeah, or something. So funny.
That's really funny. That Lady brought in a muffler.
Yeah, that was so I know the scrap metal life.
And people like that know, like you can tell, right?
Like, I mean, they know they're like.
Oh, they know. They know by how you walk.

(01:17:42):
Yeah, yeah, they know. Just.
Fucking, you know, that's so funny.
Yeah. And there was another time where
you talked about the paranoia. The paranoia is real.
The paranoia gets crazy, but it only gets like that when you
smoke meth, smoke crack. And it was like one day I walked
for three days straight, like wouldn't go home because I was
sure that my parents were waiting at my house with

(01:18:04):
remember the show intervention. I thought I was on the show.
So I was peeking in every singlecar and I was like, there's a
fucking camera and there's I know they're following me
around, they're coming and I wouldn't go home.
And then I just got so tired from walking that I finally went
home and just went to bed. And I walked to my parents house
off of Kings Row and was like, it's OK, the camera crew can
come out. I'm ready.

(01:18:25):
And I hadn't talked to my parents.
Anymore like worried about how you.
Were what the fuck are you talking about?
Dude, go home and I hadn't seen him.
It's just like it's it's crazy. It's crazy how fast it happens
in the. Paranoia pictures.
I'm like hearing like your nicest button up.
Yeah, I was like, fuck, dude, I'm ready for my let's get this
over with. My dad's like 7:00 in the
morning, like going to war. He's like, this is Tuesday

(01:18:45):
morning, bro, go. Home your parents knew you were
using. They knew at that time that's
why I like, wasn't living there,right?
You know what I mean? How did they find out?
So my dad's 30 years sober, OK. And then got arrested a few
times. And then one of the stipulations
of one of my arrest was to on parole was to not do drugs.

(01:19:05):
And so I told them I was going to in a counseling course that
they wanted me to go to. And I was going to that fucked
up, which is pretty unmanageablewhen you say it in retrospect.
But I was like, the only way I could do that was to get high
first. So I would do that.
And then I couldn't, you know, the drug testing.
So you couldn't do drugs really.So that's when my alcohol took

(01:19:27):
off. I just so I knew I was an addict
alcoholic because I would just trade you're like anything or
anything around anything. Yeah.
It's like if I can't do this then guess what I got?
I got I would do that too, Yeah,like should I didn't even like I
would. I would just be like, I guess
I'm taking so many muscle relaxers or like muscle.
Relaxers are tight. I remember like our our dog had

(01:19:49):
like Valium like. Is it the same?
It's it's identical and like Xanax and I had Xanax.
So dog Valium is the same. Yeah, it's identical.
I remember my mom used to make me like goodie bags of like
prescription drugs, like when I I would come home for the
weekend and then go back to college and she would give me
like Xanax and all kinds of shit.
And I remember seeing the dog Xanax and the dog volume and

(01:20:11):
the, and I'm like they're, they're identical.
The pills are identical. And I remember.
Noting that I was like, I'm a thinker and I'm going to
remember this for I love that for five years.
I love that when I take dog value.
Yeah, do. You remember DARE?
Do you remember DARE? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They did Derek Clayton one time and one of the choirs or
something is like, hey, like drugs.

(01:20:33):
It was like to give to my parents.
It was like, you know, your, your kids next high might just
be in your medicine cabinet. And I was like, oh shit, you got
the medicine cabinet, you know what I'm saying?
Dare fucking gotten fucked up, dude.
Yeah. I've been trying to think of AI
have a premise about I had to take this like insane sexual
harassment thing for work. Yeah.
And it was like so long and thorough that it was teaching

(01:20:57):
me. I was like, I didn't even know
you could sexually harass this way.
Like it was like kind of the same idea where.
It was they were giving you some.
I was teaching you some things where I was like.
Well, yeah, so I'm gonna try that.
There's new avenues down. Yeah, yeah.
That's funny. That's funny.
Your best show yet? Where has it been your favorite?
I guess let me say that the most.
Memorable, most memorable show. I had really fun.

(01:21:22):
A lot of I can't talk, I had a lot of fun at that rehab.
That show was just wild. It was so different.
So it was really fun and I thinkI got to like stretch muscles
that I'm not like work stuff out, that I'm not normally
working out. And I think it gave me an
opportunity to talk openly aboutrecovery.
In a way it is so kind of like foreign to me on stage.

(01:21:46):
Has recovery found its way into your?
Work now a little bit like slowly.
Yeah. Yeah.
But you know, I did that show like probably in the past year.
So it's, it's pretty fresh. And then, yeah, I went, I did
that run through Montana and Idaho.
Those those shows were really fun.
The Ari show was really cool. It wasn't like my favorite set
by any means, but some of my favorite sets have just been

(01:22:08):
like weird shit like that. Like that recovery room.
I did like AI did a really fun pride event in Chico at a a club
that my friends owned. It was a deli slash comedy club
that has recently shut down. In Chico, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sick. Our friends used to, like, they
were like, huge stoners, and they used to book us at this bar

(01:22:28):
out in Chico, and they would tell us all the time after the
shows, they'd be like, yeah, like, you should come get
sandwiches out of our van. And we were like, I'm like,
we're not getting sandwiches outof their van.
We're getting on the road. Yeah, sounds great.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, I had always heard
that our friend's husband was like a chef, like a wannabe
chef, whatever. And then during COVID, like
towards the end, they were like,we're opening our deli comedy

(01:22:51):
club that they would always talkabout, you know?
And they were just like these stoners, gotcha.
We were like, OK guys. And then they did it and it was
so fucking cool. If he's got a George Foreman
grill, I'd fuck. It up and the sandwiches were
amazing, yeah. They were.
They were great. Everything was great.
Potheads. No sandwiches.
I know yeah it was stupid to me to doubt.
I'm not sure they invested or something they ended up closing,
but it was a really fun room fora minute.

(01:23:11):
And I felt bad cuz I, I had likebragged about it to my wife and
I was like, we gotta go back anddo the club like we're gonna go
back during another like gay vent some kind of fundraiser
thing. And I was like best show ever,
best show ever. We went back.
The show fucking sucked. It was terrible.
We. Drove through.
Snow and like Lassen trying to get there and I just felt so bad

(01:23:34):
because I've done that to my wife before she's done that to
me where she'll like hype a showup.
We'll be like, oh, it's so fun. It's really so sick and then it
sucks so. Bad.
So what do you talk about when you get when you when you do a
show, when it's like it's like agay show, you talk about your
same set or do you? Do you?
I'll do my same set. I'll probably like do a little
bit more. I'll cater it a little bit more

(01:23:56):
to that. To the community.
Yeah, yeah. Got it.
Just kind of depending on some stuff, but I'll do a lot of
crowd work with in those kind ofthings too, because that's like
a fun opportunity for us. I already know a lot of like by
looking at yeah, you know, yeah,some.
Like. It's OK for like if you see
another biker and you're like this motherfucker, I can look at
somebody. I can be like, I already know

(01:24:18):
what this is like. I can't use a pronoun and I
gotta, I already I can already look at it and know how this is
going to go type thing. Yeah.
So I'll have fun with those. Yeah, a lot of it is like.
So you don't have to change yourset must just what I'm curious.
No, because I just didn't know. Because I just didn't know,
like. I think it's no, I think it's
just reading the room too. I mean, if someone's going to be
offended, like fuck it, they're going to be offended no matter

(01:24:38):
what. Like, I think it's just reading
the room sometimes. And like, my wife and I both did
a show the other night and what was it?
Pleasanton. Yeah.
It was a theater in Pleasanton, CA, which it was in a very.
Yeah. And it was like this big ass
theater. It was cool, but it's a
predominantly, like wealthy white part of the town.
And she had told me I'd done a show there years and years and

(01:25:02):
years ago. And it was, I can't remember
what the event was, but it was mostly like a black show.
Like I was on it with all black comics with a lot of black
audience members, which was wild.
And this show was completely theopposite vibe.
These were like very, kind of like uptight, like like a very
nice theater event. And so this was last weekend.
And she had sometimes her and I,we like will joke depending on

(01:25:26):
what the vibe is, like what she loves performing in Reno cuz
she'll open a lot of times with this thing about boofing
ketamine. And I was she, we were like kind
of like the comics were going before us and we were kind of
like, they're a little tight. The crowd's kind of tight, you
know? And I just looked there and I
was like, you should open with boofing ketamine.
She was like fuck. You.
I just got John off of that. Yeah, he said.

(01:25:47):
Well, like, so like there's moments like that where you may
cater your set a little bit, where you're like, I'm not
gonna, you know, like there's some stuff that you'll change.
But for the most part, I mean, Ialso think like comics are kind
of like who they are regardless.Like there may be like one or
two things that like maybe I won't say or I won't do or for

(01:26:09):
whatever reason. But for the most part it's like
you're not gonna you're either gonna like me or you're not
Probably, you know, nothing likethat's gonna change it.
I've had situations I did NevadaCity Pride and which was
terrible. And it was like right before I
was supposed to go on, they wanted me to do like 45 minutes.

(01:26:30):
And they were like, oh, and by the way, you need to be clean.
There's going to be kids in the audience.
And there was no AC. And this was in like August.
And I was like, I don't know wholike, gave you me for this
booking, but like, yeah, you gotme fucked up.
You should apologize ahead of time or like, have the kids
leave theater. They don't know they stayed.

(01:26:50):
So yeah, I'll do my best. There's Yeah.
You'd be surprised how many likechildren are at comedy event.
No, for sure. I'll do my best.
But yeah, yeah, for the most part I won't.
I don't. Think you should?
I don't think you should change a set depending on who you're
talking to. For sure I'll.
Change her where I am. Sometimes I'll I'll try to like
figure something out about the town too ahead of time.

(01:27:10):
I'll change words like I have a joke where I refer to like
locally. For the most part, I'll just
refer to somewhere like Trucky or like Colfax, somewhere like
close for this, this part of this joke.
So wherever I am, I will find out what's like kind of the
close little town that they likeshit on kinda.

(01:27:32):
And that's great. Like when we were in Pleasanton
and I and I was like, oh, Livermore, they hate Livermore
next door. Everyone talks shit about it.
So I'll like plug that in or like I'll do Nevada City a lot
and I'll talk shit about Colfax.And I did that when I was in
Auburn. I'll like plugs.
I'll make it very specific or I'll try to find something out
about the city that I'm in for sure.
And a lot of comics will do that, you know.
So I'll do that kind of stuff. I'll I'll try to figure

(01:27:54):
something out so that I can makeit like personable.
I'll love that. Yeah.
Yeah. Like Reading can talk shit about
like, Shingle town or something,you know what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah.
That's cool. That's cool.
Yeah, yeah. So I'll try to cater to it that
way also for sure, which I thinkcan be fun.
No, that's that's, that's rad. Do you have any shows coming up
here in Reno? Yeah.
When? When does this come out?
Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

(01:28:14):
What's? Yeah, we actually have a show
this Friday, then the 10th. We have a don't tell show.
You can go to donttell.com or. And see where it's.
At you'll find out where it's atthe morning of.
Cool, cool, cool. Yeah, but it'll tell you, like
this one on Friday is indoors. It's at a place that serves food
and alcohol. And it's in Midtown.
It's Midtown slash downtown. It's kind of over by the old

(01:28:36):
Century Movie Theater, and then we have a Halloween show on the
24th at a really cool place that's outside BYOB.
Yeah, I've got a bunch of shows coming up, so just probably just
follow me on Instagram. It would probably be the.
How do you It's Sarah dot Roker.I think it's just my first and
last name all together. Sarah Roker.
OK, sounds good, pretty easy. So follow Sarah.

(01:28:57):
Yeah, Yeah, I really love havingyou, OnStar.
We would like to have you back. And I got a special place in my
heart for other McQueen kids. You know what I'm saying?
So completing kids and Elm Crestkids.
And Elm Crest Dragons. The Dragons dude, that's.
Just insane but. That's so fun.
I remember being on trucks walking past my old elementary
school, just being so sad about myself, Dude, you know what I

(01:29:19):
mean? That's so funny.
It is, yeah. I remember we used to sit in
like 6th grade, we would get on the roof of Elm Crest and you
ever see the movie Idle Hands? I don't know why, but he like
sells. He's he's selling people
oregano. And for some reason, like in 6th
grade brain, we were like, oh, it's the same.
It's gonna be the same as smoking weed.
And we would like just roll notebook paper filled with

(01:29:40):
oregano. And we would climb the fence to
sit on the roof of Elm Crest, Right.
Just smoking oregano. Yeah.
And just like hurting my head smoking notebook paper.
And yeah, I did that. Sometimes I I see Elm Crest I'm
like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I lived over off of 6th and McDonald.
That's where I was at. Yeah, I grew up, Yeah.
I lived off of Kings Row, like right by Clayton for a long

(01:30:03):
time. Yeah, that's a small world, man.
It's crazy. Well, that's there's, there's
some kind of, there's something in the water up there 'cause
either kids are perfect or they become drug addicts.
You know what I mean? There is so.
There is something in the water.Yeah, I'm queen that.
Feels. Sarah, Thanks so much for being
here. Thanks for having us.
We'll see you soon. All right?
Hell yeah. All right.
Thanks. See you.

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Sara Rooker #18 | Fourth Street Live

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