#285 – Turning Real Life into Art: Writing Takeaways from Standup, Storytelling, and Politics - Spun Today with Tony Ortiz

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I loved going out and being able to support Ari, you know, in
the climax of this story of this
essentially stolen storytelling show that was taken away from him, that
definitely shouldn't have been. So to be able to go support the other side
of that and just, you know, the ideology behind, you know,
sticking to your guns, supporting your art,

(00:22):
standing behind your word, all that good stuff, I definitely appreciate the
opportunity to being able to do so.

(00:47):
What's up folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today Podcast,
the only podcast that is anchored in writing but unlimited
in scope. I'm your host Tony Ortiz and I appreciate you listening.
This is episode 285 of the Spontane Podcast and in this
episode I am going to speak about Andrew
Schultz's latest comedy special Life, as well as writing

(01:10):
insights that I took away for myself that I wanted to share with my fellow
writers and creatives out there. I'm also going to speak about going to Ari
Shafir's final storytelling show couple of months
ago. I'm going to share who I will be voting for for New York
City Mayor and why. And last but certainly not least,
your favorite segment and mine, another addition to the Goats

(01:32):
Doing Goat list. But first, before we get into all that good stuff, I wanted
to tell you guys about two quick ways you can help support this show. If
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(01:54):
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(02:17):
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Straight off of the Life Tour Andrew Schultz's latest comedy special

(03:46):
is titled Life. Andrew Schultz is a great stand up
comedian and podcaster out of New York. He's the co host of both the
Flagrant Podcast and Brilliant Idiots with Charlemagne Tha
God. He's also credited with the current promotional approach of Stand
up comics to leverage YouTube for putting out bits and
full length comedy specials. The idea being to get the

(04:09):
attention of fans, even if it's by giving away content for
free and establishing your fan base and ultimately what their world is about,
which is eyeballs, getting eyeballs on your content and using all
those avenues to drive purchases to your
hard ticket live shows. And also has leverage at the negotiating
table for your future comedy specials and additional

(04:31):
content, all without the need of the
network gatekeeper approval. He's gone from viral
YouTube clips to major global world tours including
selling out Madison square garden within 90 minutes.
That's within an hour and a half of it being announced, sold out,
and with so much demand that he had to add a second show.

(04:54):
This latest standup comedy special, Life came out on Netflix
on March 4, 2025. In this special, his storytelling
abilities and comedic chops were at the forefront where he transforms
the deeply personal experience of trying to have a kid with
his wife, which ultimately led him and her down the IVF
route into a hilarious and relatable comedy special.

(05:18):
So absolute. Shout out to Andrew Schultz for putting this
together. I wanted to speak to you for the production and presentation of the
special. The special was filmed at the Beacon Theater in New York and there's actually
this whole drama behind that which he spoke to on Flaker and if you're a
podcast fan, you'll know it. But for the uninitiated give a
bit of a background to. He had another theater locked in

(05:39):
and ready to shoot a special, a theater in Brooklyn, which he didn't name,
which I thought was classy in terms of, you know, taking the higher
ground and not shitting on them too much. And also probably wise from a legal
perspective and. And, you know, maybe getting sued for defamation down the line or something
like that. But he had this theater locked in in Brooklyn and with a couple
weeks to go to shoot the special. So, you know, they did the walkthroughs of

(06:01):
this theater, you know, sound checks and, you know, contract signed,
you know, good to go, literally within a couple weeks, two weeks. And this was
around Thanksgiving of last year, if I remember correctly, because it was
going to be that Thanksgiving weekend. I think the filming was going to be on
Black Friday or maybe that Saturday, but it was definitely that holiday
weekend. After Schultz had

(06:23):
Donald Trump on his podcast with again, a couple
weeks to go before shooting the already locked in,
sold out shows at this theater for his special, the theater reached out
to him and his business manager and canceled the taping.
They said that they couldn't honor their agreement and would no longer be
allowing him to shoot his special there. And look, I

(06:45):
think Trump is a vile human being who cares so
deeply about himself and himself alone that
will go against anyone or anything that he's ever
said, as long as it serves some sort of self interest in the moment,
including his main campaign promise of getting us out of wars and
not starting any new wars, which he definitely hasn't gotten us out of any

(07:08):
new ones, and is very much so about to get us into another,
or at the very least supporting and egging it on to continue and
escalate. But where I think my friends on the left to get it wrong,
as much so as my friends on the right, which is very much so rooted
in what that Brooklyn theater decided to do, backing out of
the venue booking agreement that they had with Schultz, is that speaking to

(07:31):
someone from the other side isn't a crime. We're supposed to
speak to folks from the other side. How else will you win them over? How
else will you spread your ideas? How else will you check your own
thoughts and ideologies? By allowing other
opposite thoughts and ideologies into your world
to wrestle against them and actually objectively consider them. That whole idea

(07:54):
of, you know, if you quote, unquote, platform someone from the other side,
you're just as bad or you're a Nazi is such a
joke. The folks on the left that think that
literally equal the folks on the right that think that the folks on
the extreme right say you call the folks on the extreme left
Nazis, and the folks on the extreme left call the folks on the extreme right

(08:15):
Nazis. It's like, you guys are the fucking Nazis, you extreme
fucks. You guys are the problem. But I digress.
Thankfully, though, with two, maybe three weeks tops to go,
on a holiday weekend, the Beacon Theater in New York, which I've been to several
times, stepped up to the plate and were like, yo, you can shoot your special
here if you want. Which Schulz did. And it was amazing.

(08:37):
So shout out to the Beacon Theater for standing up, for
just playing their position. You're a theater, you're a venue. You're in
the business of renting out your venue for whatever artistic
expressions or reasons that your theater
is rented out for. You're not supposed to be some sort of
manifestation of a political statement. But anyway, on a

(09:01):
lighter note, and speaking to the production and presentation of the special, I wanted to
speak about the promo with Matt Damon.
Matt A list celebrity superstar Damon,
which was a great marketing tool for the special and such a
huge get. And the guys on the flagrant pod broke it down. Schultz had
had them like the other guys that are part of the podcast, like Dove and

(09:24):
Mark, as extras in this promo. And they broke out, or
they broke down, rather how it came to be. And apparently Schultz has met Matt
Damon enough times that they're friendly.
You know, they're not. They're not friends, but they're friendly and have each other's
numbers. And he said that, you know, he worked on this text to Matt
Damon because they had this idea to see if Matt Damon would. Would cut a

(09:45):
promo for the special. Grandiose idea.
And he was like that. He worked on the text for like an hour or
two and pretty much gave Matt Damon every out
possible in the initial text and saying, you know, this is kind of a dumb
idea, but just putting it out there, I definitely understand. I'm pretty sure you can't
do it. It's not going to work around your schedule. This, that, and the other.

(10:06):
And pretty much asked him if he could do a promo for a special.
And the idea essentially was that, you know, in everything that Matt Damon is in,
he, you know, he plays the hero and everybody loves him and he's a
person. And they were, what if you. We cut the promo of
Yuba being more of a dick of a villain kind of,
and he pretty much sends this text to Matt

(10:29):
and is expecting him to say, you know, either
not respond or just say, of course not. And Matt
responds, apparently, according to Schultz Notch, a lot.
He's yeah, sure. Can you do it on a Tuesday, though? Because I don't have
anything going on next Tuesday. But can you do it between the hours of 9
and 2? Because I gotta take the kids to school and then pick them up
at 2. So if we can. If we can do it within that time, I'll

(10:51):
be up, I'll be there. And Shosu is kind of like,
of course, and moved everything around
to fit that schedule and shot a really
epic, really funny promo. Probably the best promo I've seen for a comedy
special, honestly. And, you know, might be biased because I'm a
Matt Damon fan, but who isn't, right? If, for whatever

(11:13):
reason you don't want to see the Schultz special, which I obviously think
you should, at the very least watch this promo, which
is hilarious in and of itself, it's two or three minutes long and
they break the fourth wall at the end and boats are cracking up. And it's
just completely worth a watch. Definitely check that out. Then,
in continuing here with the couple points more of

(11:35):
related to production and presentation, his father introduces him
on stage, which is definitely an
emotional touch. You know, just being his pops first and foremost,
you know, what a proud moment to be able to do something
where you can give that moment to your father and vice versa.
But also knowing the background with his father having dementia,

(11:57):
which my father does as well. But before that
progresses, being able to give him that moment while he still can
is priceless. It was definitely cool to see. Now,
the stage visual, the setup was pretty cool. There was this
background screen that you don't even notice until he actually uses
it and it comes into play later on in the special, but

(12:20):
it was blended into the actual curtains the whole time,
which created this subtle yet immersive look, which
I thought was pretty dope. And I forget where he mentioned this, but
there was a surround sound mixing of the special
or something like that, where the actual crowd audio
was placed throughout the sound field, which makes

(12:43):
listeners at home feel more present. It must have been either on
flagrant or maybe umbrella and idiots or on some other pod. But that was a
bit meta for me in terms of within the
comedy special sound mixing world, but
still a cool takeaway to know that they go that deep into the weeds,
into the details of what it is that they put out. It just shows how

(13:04):
much they care about their craft. And a writing takeaway that I, or
writing insight Rather that I took away from that. And it's not a direct
application of those things that I can think of or link
to, to writing prose, for example, but it is absolutely
worth noting that in a more visual medium or even an
audio medium, so like stand up or podcasting, for example,

(13:26):
production design and attention to that and sound mixing
absolutely enhance the audience connection and
emotional tone of what it is that you're putting out. Now let's talk about the
vulnerability and honesty of this special. So
Schultz digs into his IVF journey
with openness and humor, turning something emotionally fraught into

(13:48):
an experience the audience can laugh and empathize with. And he
does this masterfully. He takes you from beginning to end of how
they try to get pregnant naturally at first, and that
didn't work. Then they wound up doing testing after
trying for a long time both of his wife's ovaries and eggs,
and also on his side, his sperm. And up

(14:12):
until this point, you know, he's assuming that whatever the issue is,
it's on her side, which isn't, you know, ignorant guy thing
to do that I'm sure we can all relate to. And then this is where
we find out that the issue is actually with Andrew.
And he finds out that he has lazy swimmers due to taking
the hair pill finasteride for like over a decade. And he has

(14:34):
this really funny bit where he, he's telling the doctor that they're
marketing this pill completely wrong, that they shouldn't market it
as a hair loss drug. He's like, you're telling me you can have sex with
as many women as would let you without needing to use a condom and
you can never get them pregnant and that the side effect is that you'll have
beautiful, luscious hair. You guys should market this as the limitless pill,

(14:57):
you know, and going through all this testing, he also has bits
about the humbling experience of
going through the sperm testing and collection process. And
he's like a sperm in a cup looks a lot less than
sperm on the back. He was like that he
could fit, he could have fit his entire sample in like a context

(15:20):
contact lens case, which I thought was a funny ass line. So then
after finding this out, they wind up trying iui, which
is intrauterine insemination that also does not
work. And then ultimately trying ivf, which is
the last resort and is known as the in
vitro fertilization. And he takes us again,

(15:43):
in a funny way, but also heartfelt way through that whole experience
and how it was having to inject his wife
with estrogen and progesterone hormones
every morning as well as every night. And he has this funny line where he's
like, and what do you guys think happened to her demeanor
after a few weeks of injecting her with more woman juice? Do you think

(16:05):
she became more rational? Oh, and I think earlier on he also
said something else to the effect of that the entire process was, is
like super hard for the woman, you know, physically and emotionally,
and it's very expensive for the man. And I don't think we speak about
that enough. And just a writing insight that I take away from
the vulnerability and honesty here is that vulnerability

(16:27):
humanizes comedians and writers, and sharing authentic
struggle lets the humor land deeper and fosters a
connection with the audience, I'd say, just as much as within
stand up comedy as it would within writing prose. I also wanted to speak about
a little bit the cultural commentary through jokes within a special.
And a big thing that Schultz is known for is that

(16:50):
everyone can get these jokes, as he says, different cultures, religions,
sexes, whatever your sexual preference is, etc, and
he did not disappoint on that front in this special. There's this
recurring character, this, he calls him the Italian meatball
nurse guy that shows up throughout the special
and he does that, you know, stereo stereotypical Italian accent for him,

(17:12):
which is hilarious, along with a couple of, of super funny
bits. He has a Puerto Rican baby joke
where he says, you know, how all because he's speaking to when the baby
first comes out, how it's a lot darker
than the skin tone that they ultimately take on. And he's like, you know how
all frogs are born tadpoles, all babies are born Puerto

(17:34):
Rican and they, and they make them white by heating them up under a
711 Taquito lamp. Just hilarious. Then he has a
Muslims always, Muslims
always try to out Jew the Jews. And he,
he speaks to. I forget how he worked this in, but he has this,
this piece where he highlights religious one

(17:57):
upsmanship. He's taking on the Persona of a Muslim and he's saying
like, they fast for one day, Fine, we'll fast for the whole month. And then
he's like, how many times a day do they pray? Fine, we'll pray five times
a day. And then he's like,
he's like, oh, they only circumcise the boys.
You know, alluding to female circumcision and stuff like that. A

(18:20):
master class in letting the, the audience fill that piece in. But a writing
insight that I took away from that is
how Schultz skillfully balances edgy cultural
commentary with charm and self awareness. Most
importantly, showing how comedians, and I would
argue, writers can navigate sensitive topics

(18:42):
with wit. And I think we can take away from that
as writers doing the same thing in prose. Being confident and
brave with our perspectives, but sharing them
in a thoughtful way, not losing sight of that part. Now let's
speak to the structuring and storytelling of the special. The narrative
structure subtly takes us through Schultz's journey

(19:04):
from fertility challenges to supporting his
wife, to the fear of miscarriage, to
acceptance and resilience and ultimately a happy ending. And
there's this heart wrenching moment related to the
fear of a miscarriage, which definitely caught me off guard, got me fucking
emotional. Then I made my wife watch the special

(19:26):
and she was fucking bawling as well. And it's this moment where after they finally
get pregnant, his wife wakes up in the middle of a night. She
had a nightmare saying that she thought that she lost the baby,
or she had a dream, rather a nightmare where she did lose the baby
and she woke up, she went to the bathroom, then she starts
screaming from the bathroom and there's blood everywhere. And this is, you

(19:49):
know, after the whole journey of, you know, trying naturally, then trying
iui, then trying ivf, finally getting pregnant, and then
while being pregnant thinking that you lost a baby, because
obviously that's what you're gonna think, right? You have a horrible dream about
a miscarriage, you're having stomach pains, you have blood. That's
the logical conclusion. And the climactic

(20:13):
moment of this part of the story's arc was that
they get to the hospital, they start checking his wife and the baby
and on the baby rather. And while that's going on, Schultz said
that he apologizes to his wife and he says to her that
this is his problem and his problem has caused
in her the most difficult time in her life and that

(20:35):
he can't protect her from it, that he's really sorry about that. And she says
to him, you don't have problems anymore. We have
problems and we'll figure this out together. And that was just a
beautiful emotional beat. Within this stand up special that
perfectly segues into a video
compilation. This is where that screen that again, you don't know, is a

(20:58):
screen up until this point, really, I think there was actually he did show the
screen once before, but he shows this
montage of videos of this entire
experience that, that he's speaking about going through all the injections
and finding out that they're pregnant. And then this scary checkup in the
hospital after thinking they have a miscarriage again, bringing the audience

(21:20):
in to this very emotional moment with them and
then hearing the baby's heartbeat together, it was such an
emotional sigh of relief. And then the baby being born,
etc. Etc. And the writing insight that I take away from that
is that structuring comedy with emotional arcs
can elevate that comedic set beyond laughs into

(21:42):
something memorable and affecting. And from a writing perspective,
I'll take it a step further with not just balancing humor
with vulnerability, but doing so vice versa, and
also with other inverse themes or tones
such that they coexist and each
sharpens the other, which will create a more resonant and

(22:04):
layered storytelling experience. On a point of personal
reflection, I know a couple of people that have gone through
ivf, one successfully and one not,
and that can tech and that can definitely take a
toll on people in their relationships. Such an
emotionally and obviously physically all encompassing

(22:26):
thing. And I thought that Schulz's ability to turn a
difficult chapter into accessible resonant
comedy is inspiring. Obviously for people going
through something similar, but also for me as a writer and as a creative,
great stand up comedy often lives in the tension between
laughter and heart. And Schultz masters that

(22:48):
balance here with this special and a writing insight that I
definitely take away from that is don't be afraid to
mind the hard parts of your life for your writing.
That's likely where the deepest connections can happen. To my listeners
out there, what personal story could you tell that through humor
to my fellow writers out there? Definitely consider exploring

(23:11):
vulnerability in your work and if you enjoyed this breakdown,
definitely check out Andrew Schultz's latest comedy
special Life, streaming now on Netflix, as
well as Schultz's other content like his other specials,
the Brilliant Idiots podcast and Flagrant Pods, which I
will definitely link to in the episode notes for you. Find folks to check out

(23:37):
Going to see Ari Shafir's final
storytelling show. Ari Shafir, who is
an awesome stand up comic. I always say he's my favorite. He's the
the way I hear folks describe, you know, knowing an indie band that nobody really
knows about and then they blow up and go mainstream and then
everybody thinks that they're awesome but you're like I knew them first before, before

(23:59):
or it was cool. That's how I feel about Orish Fear.
I've mentioned a bunch in the in the past that the
very first show I actually wrote a piece about this somewhere on my
website sponsored.com freewriting the very
first podcast that I listened to or Rogan podcast that I
listened to, which was like the second or third podcast ever that I listened to

(24:22):
was super early single or double digit episode
number of a show when not many people were listening, not many
people knew what the hell a podcast was. And it was Ari Shafir on Rogan.
And I instantly became a fan of both and is where I,
you know, fell in love with podcasting all those years ago and
have since obviously followed his stand up career. His special Jew,

(24:45):
I thought was a work of art, which I did a breakdown for.
Definitely his best piece of work in my opinion, by far. I also credit
him with kind of bridging the gap
between west coast and east coast comics and
podcasters when he decided to move from the LA
comedy scene, where he's a staple obviously and within,

(25:06):
you know, quote unquote, the Rogan sphere, and just moved to New
York, which at the time was like, what? Ari, he's moving to New York?
What kind of crazy. And now it's kind of. It's like,
you know, he's. He lives this nomadic experience where he'll go to
Ecuador for like three or four months and live there. So it doesn't even seem
like a big deal now. But when he initially did that, he was just an

(25:27):
LA comic and, you know, like big in the podcasting over there and had the
skeptic thing podcast eventually, so on and so forth. And
then he became cool with the New York
comedy scene and accepted there and kind of bridged the gap with.
There was a, I guess I would say like a East coast, west coast beef,
you know, like hip hop back in the day, like with Biggie and Tupac and.

(25:48):
But it was that kind of vibe, but like a lighter version.
And it was like factions of comedy which probably still exist,
and the podcasting as well, but to a much less
degree now, if at all. These ghost comics always, you know, doing the west
coast comics pods and vice versa. And
it's cool, it's dope to see. I definitely attribute that to Ari Shafir. But

(26:11):
anyway, he has this show that he started way back in the day at
the Comedy Store where, you know, comedians will have
a show that they put on and, you know, they could format it however they
want. Like Kill Tony started this way, for example, and he had
this idea for this storytelling show where comedians would
go on to tell one story that doesn't have to be funny

(26:33):
or, you know, filled with bits or anything like that, although they often
are because they're comics telling these stories. But the idea behind the show or
the premise behind the show is tell one story,
one true story of something that happened to you once upon a time, you know,
whenever. And it started out as this show that he had at the
Comedy Store that he would do on an Idol day during the week

(26:55):
when the club was dead and would have a handful of people in the audience.
And he grew it and kept doing it and tweaking it, and it eventually grew
and got him a deal to put that show
that he created on Comedy Central, a major network at the time.
You know, he's obviously much more known in the comedy scene now,
growing in popularity, has specials out,

(27:18):
has a show going on. Just got this deal with Conversation Comedy Center. Well,
Comedy Central, he's a recurring guest on Rogan. He has his own
podcast, the Skeptic Tank, which was a great podcast. I format
my. When I do interviews with folks, I format it around
how he formatted his, which was taking a deep dive into that
person's, you know, thing, whatever it is that they do a

(27:41):
specific topic with that person, which obviously deviates. And, you know, being
true to open form podcasts, but the
main through line is usually a singular subject.
And so it was time to put out a comedy special that he had put
together. I think it was his double special. And, you know, he has this deal
with Comedy Central, shopped it with them. I guess they assumed that he would do

(28:03):
his. His special there. But he also
saw what Netflix wanted to offer and they offered him
more in terms of not just financially, but also
in terms of eyeballs. You know, his thought process,
the way he's explained it over the years, is that, you know, he has his
show on Comedy, Comedy Central, and, you know, Netflix gives him

(28:25):
an opportunity to get even more eyeballs. You know, Netflix is the big player
in the comedy arena at the time and probably still,
although it's seems to be spreading out a bit more
with the Hulu specials and the prime specials,
HBO, the YouTube specials, so on and so forth.
And, you know, he's not locked into a 360 deal or some guy with

(28:48):
Comedy Central. So it's an obvious move, right? But then
Comedy Central got pissed and told him,
essentially, allegedly, according to him, which I believe based
on how everything actually played out and the fact that all
those executives that made those decisions at the time are no longer a Comedy
Central, and that Comedy Central barely even exists anymore as a

(29:09):
organization aside from South Park. But they leveraged
his storytelling show against him and said, if you don't do your special here with
us, four of the less Money, by the way. Then we're gonna cancel your. Your
show, your storytelling show. And at this point, you know, there's definitely one season
or maybe even two or three already that they've done, and it's a network
show, so there's a bunch of jobs and friends of his that he got

(29:31):
jobs for the. In involved with producing it, and
his friends that were on this show, you know, telling their stories
and then blowing up as a result. Like, for example, Ali Siddiq,
who's a brilliant storytelling comedian in his own right
and obviously huge before that. But like me, I didn't
know about him before seeing him on Ari show and hearing the. The

(29:54):
Mexicans got on Boot Story, which was definitely viral, so it was helping
people's careers. But Ari is an artist's artist.
He'll take the hit, he'll take the lumps. He'll, you know, he'll stick to his
guns for his art. He's always been that. And it's probably the
thing I respected most about him. He's always had that level
of integrity. He just doesn't speak about it. He

(30:17):
bees about it, for lack of a better word. And this was
one of those moments where it was like, are you gonna cave?
Like most folks would. But he didn't. But he also didn't do
it in a way where he. Everybody else that
now had these jobs and opportunities based on something that he created
the show that he created, not the situation that he created, because those execs at

(30:40):
Comedy Central which tried him over are the ones that created this up
situation. And he wound up trying to take out loans to see if he can
fund the show himself, like, if they canceled it
and just keep everything going with the same production team, so on and
so forth. But ultimately he couldn't. And
they. They were like, I don't know if they were actual lawsuits

(31:03):
or just threats of litigation going on with who owned
the name. And ultimately, they owned the name because he signed to that in his
deal. So what he ultimately decided to do was
walk away from his own show that he created so
that the show can continue on, which it did for at least another
season or two with the other comedians with

(31:27):
hosted it, which were, again, friends of Ari's that
also told him, because he has integrity within
this space. Yo, they hit me up with this opportunity. I don't want to do
it. I know it's your show. I know what's going on. But he told him,
no, definitely do it. You'd be great at it. And I want the show.
To go on. I want those people to continue having their jobs. What a fucking

(31:47):
men's right. And good on him for sticking to his guns.
But I definitely want to highlight that they were able to take the show away
from him ultimately, which is why, in my opinion,
if you don't own and have creative control of your ip,
which I always harp on, I can't think of a deal
where that makes sense. To each their own and,

(32:09):
you know, lesson learned. But also, I don't know what
was involved. You know, I say that now as not having
a deal on the table to own my IP for something that I wrote, but
who knows how I'd react if some network
offers me a million dollars or $500,000
or whatever to create a series out of

(32:31):
one of my books or short stories or a movie or whatever.
I'd like to think that I would maintain
my thought process, my level of integrity, and only say yes
if it includes me having the creative control. But who
knows? Maybe it'll be like some story that I forgot about from
eight years ago that I wrote, and I'm like, oh, you want to buy that?

(32:52):
Yeah, sure. You take the ownership, whatever. I don't think so, honestly,
but I don't know. I don't know what the. What the situation would be. I
like to think that, you know, if somebody offers you 500 grand to
have creative ownership, they'll offer you 200 grand,
then not take the creative ownership, you know, or whatever. However the math breaks down,
which is what I would think that I would advocate for or push

(33:15):
for. But I digress. Moving on, then,
from that situation, Ari continued the format of
the show that he created, but in live form, and
he named it the Renamed Storytelling Show. And
this is the show that I went to go see. He announced he was going
to do it one more time and film it. So it was a final

(33:36):
run of it and a recorded event that he mentioned on his podcast,
and he. He'd be releasing it in the future behind
some sort of paywall, like Louis CK Style, which I
definitely can't. Can't wait to. To check out. So I cop tickets.
Me and my wife went. And he actually mentioned on the podcast
he wanted it to be. I think it was that special that

(33:59):
Sebastian did once where it was like a
MetLife Gala type of, you know, black tie event type of thing. He. He
mentioned on the pod that he wanted folks to, like, dress up for it. So
I was on the fence if I should or if I shouldn't. And I was
literally going to Go. You know, full suit, tie. And then I was like,
nah, let me, let me balance it a little bit. I wound up going with

(34:19):
jeans, a suit jacket, and instead of
a shirt and tie, I went with a Protect Our Parks T
shirt, which I thought was fitting. And I'm definitely glad I went that route
because a lot of people did not dress up. Although there were a couple that
did go with, with suits. And he shouted them out. He was like, hey, you
got the memo. And it filmed at this theater

(34:41):
called the Box in nyc, which we found
out is a burlesque theater. And the wallpaper all around
is just naked people fucking and shit,
which was definitely interesting. The layout of the theater was pretty cool though.
We got a booth right next to the stage, which I was hype about,
because I was definitely coming out in this special because the way we were

(35:04):
sitting on the left side of the stage,
slightly behind the. The comedians, it's like the cameras are pointing
at them, so they would have to pick us up in the background. But
we'll see. And we just had a really good time. It was a.
A funny show. I got to see comedians that, that I know and that I've.
That I have followed and listened to their stuff and

(35:27):
listen to their respective podcasts, have checked out their comedy. Got to see
Ari, obviously, and the story that he told. Got
to see Chris Stefano, which was dope from the History Hyenas
podcast and obviously a podcast guest on all the major pods.
Got to see Steve Simone, which is a real treat for me. I've been a
fan of Steve Simone since I heard him initially on. On

(35:49):
the Church of what's Happening Now, Joey Diaz's podcast, I think way back when,
and started following the. And listening to the Good
Times podcast with Steve Simone, which I wish he would bring back. It was such
a feel good, get you in a good mood podcast. So that was definitely dope
to see. And also Sean Patton, which was hilarious as well.
A great night out, really cool experience. I loved

(36:12):
going out and being able to support Ari, you know, in the climax
of this story of this essentially
stolen storytelling show that was taken away from him. That definitely shouldn't have
been. To be able to go support the other side of that and just,
you know, the ideology behind, you know, sticking to your guns,
supporting your art, standing behind your word,

(36:35):
all that good stuff. I definitely appreciate the opportunity to being able to do so
as well as having just a very nice night out, funny
night out with the Mrs. Dope experience. So shout out
to Arch Fears final storytelling show. I'll
definitely speak to it more once it's the final product that folks can
can purchase and consume. When that comes out, I'll definitely speak to that.

(37:00):
New York City's mayoral elections Election day is
Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Although early
voting is already open, I'm actually probably gonna go vote tomorrow, which is a Sunday,
which is not something I ever took advantage of before. I did it once before,
actually, but prior to then, I would always wait for election
day because, I don't know, I just wasn't informed enough

(37:23):
of the whole early voting process. And
it's simple as shit. There's literally nothing to it. It's not when you,
when we had to request ballots and fill out forms, to request
ballots during COVID or something like that, you had to fill out forms, send them
in, and if they were incorrect, they would send them back and say you couldn't
get a ballot and you had to do within a certain time frame. And then

(37:43):
you could get the ballot through mail, then you have to mail it back. It's
not that it's literally you can go into vote
the same way you would on Tuesday, June 24,
2025, on election day, the same way you go to your polling site to vote.
You have a different polling site for early
voting. You know, each district is different, so it's likely

(38:04):
not going to be the same place where you go to vote normally. But you
just look up your polling site or your early voting polling site the same way
you would your polling site from Election Day, and you just walk in
and vote like you normally do on election Day. It's literally that simple. And it's
open for like a week or more. And I don't think that's highlighted enough
because, you know, the whole narrative of how hard it is to vote and voting

(38:25):
should be national holiday, which it probably should be. But we should also highlight the
fact that early voting is open for a week plus,
and you could do it the same exact way, much more conveniently pick the day
of your choosing, weekends, different hours, so on and so forth. Anyway, I
digress. So the mayoral election this year is likely coming down to
two candidates. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and current

(38:47):
State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani. Andrew Cuomo,
which is your status quo Democratic
candidate, and Zoran Mamdani, which is
more of the social Democrat vein. So think a
Bernie Sanders aoc, which if I'm not mistaken, he has both their
endorsements now. Recent polls have them pretty neck and

(39:10):
neck. Madani has cut the the lead that Cuomo has
had, since he stepped into the race, substantially. I've seen them
project his chances as, you know, 48 to 50% or
47 to 48, 50, 48, 52,
40, 47, 53, 49, 51.
So neck and neck, essentially. But realistically, Cuomo is probably

(39:32):
gonna move on with the election. And honestly, when he entered the
race, when he announced that he was gonna run for mayor, he had
my vote. I feel like instantly not I feel like it,
I said, yeah, that's what I'm voting for, for mayor. Again, knowing nothing about the
race, my knee jerk reaction, because I liked Cuomo as a
governor, I thought he was a good governor, you know,

(39:55):
not completely informed, but just his leadership ability.
Especially throughout the, the pandemic when the whole world was
what the is Trump doing? And everyone was looking to Cuomo for
leadership, for those daily press briefings,
so on and so forth. It was like, this guy should be President. This
guy is going to be the next President. Let's just start listening to him from

(40:17):
now. Then he made a few bad moves with
the whole scandal with old folks retirement homes and how
he sent sick people, took sick people that
were in hospitals with COVID out of them into the
nursing homes and exacerbated the deaths there.
Then of course the sexual misconduct allegations,

(40:40):
which part of me Tate takes or took with a grain of salt
because it's, I think too many folks got swept up. Kind of like
Allah Aziz Ansari with the, you know, bad
dates or a wink or in asking for a number
type of thing, gets equated to rape.
You know, I mean, like there's so many layers in between. But

(41:02):
also where there's smoke, there's fire. So there is that, of course.
And it was such a scandal that he had to step down from being governor.
I think I did a piece when that happened of like his fall from grace,
if you guys want to go back and listen to that. But still, he did
have my vote initially. And as time
has gone on and I've watched the debates,

(41:23):
listened to where each candidate stands or says that they
stand, because again, dealing with politicians here, he
lost it. He lost my vote. Cuomo did. At
the top of the list of reasons why is
I think he's completely wrong on, on the genocide in
Gaza. I think the stranglehold that

(41:45):
lobbyists has on
our politicians is disgusting, especially
local politicians. It kind of makes more sense at the federal level,
but for local politicians and New York City mayor, you control
five boroughs. For the timeline of how soon
you will travel to Israel to become such a

(42:07):
headline narrative for candidates for New York City mayor
is just bonkers to me. And I liked Mamdani's response to
that when every everybody was bullshitting saying, oh yeah, I'm going to
go to Israel first chance I get. He was like, I'm going to stay
here in New York and work on New York. That's what I'm running for.
I'm paraphrasing, but essentially his response and to me just

(42:29):
was akin to Nas's bar from
Rule on the Stillmatic album when he says how can the
president fix up the problems when he can't fix home yet or when he ain't
fixed home yet? That's speaking to the president, talking about local
politics, New York City mayor. So it's just like
that times a million. But I digress. Now I don't like on the mom

(42:51):
Donnie side, the defund the police
ideas that he's flirted with or spoken to in the past,
which he's I feel tempered a bit, but
not enough. My whole thought process, and I've mentioned
this at nauseam on the podcast just with the policing
epidemic in the country, or lack thereof, is that cops

(43:14):
don't need to be defunded, they need to be funded more. They need to be
properly trained. They need to be held to higher standards. You
need more funding for cops so you can have better cops and
not piece of shit cops that should never have the honor of wearing a
badge and having a gun who don't have the mental fortitude to do so.
I want cops to be Navy SEAL level motherfuckers,

(43:36):
not. Not the I couldn't get a job doing anything else so let me
go become a cop type of folks that we wind
up with because they're underpaid, because they're overworked.
And something from his perspective of how he's
reframing the defensive police narrative around them is
that which I can get on board with this piece of it, which is

(43:58):
creating a Department of Community Safety which
focuses specifically and solely on homeless mental health
issues, guns and that in doing so
that will off the bat reduce the number of calls police take in
daily by 20% and frees them up to
focus on the response time of crimes

(44:21):
that they actually signed up for. The violent crimes
crimes that cops, the brave men and women that are police officers,
sign up knowing that they could do. But what they don't sign up for is
having to deal with mental health issues, dealing with homeless folks on the train
and if successful, that Department of Community Safety could
help mitigate that. And I understand the thought process behind, you know,

(44:43):
freeing cops up to focus on other levels of crime.
But I would just want to underscore that that takes more money, more
funding, and also doesn't solve the overall problem
because it would take the more money and more funding just to create that
Department of Community Safety. And you still need more money and more funding
to raise the bar, raise the level of police officer that

(45:05):
remain, not just lower the workload. He also has an
idea for making buses throughout the city fast and
free. He did a pilot program with one bus line
within his assembly district, which apparently worked.
And he explained in different interviews how
that ultimately gets paid for that. That was interesting. And I

(45:27):
really. This piece of his platform where he speaks to
simplifying the small business opening process. You know, small businesses are
the backbone of most communities, especially in New York.
And he plans to appoint a mom and pop czar
in the city and having them focus on that, cutting

(45:47):
the red tape, the bureaucracy that folks have to go through to open
up a small business, and you know, having to go to seven different agencies to
get different permits and licenses, this and that, and just
streamlining that process. I also like that he's young, he's
ambitious, he's different. And I was listening to a podcast, the Laughing
Out Loud podcast with Rachel Laloca, where she had the

(46:09):
current Brooklyn borough president on Antonio Reynoso, which
I've met a few times. And he said something that definitely
resonated with me, which is that we tend
as New Yorkers and probably most folks, but just speaking to New
Yorkers to vote for the devil that we know versus the devil that we don't
know, which is why we keep electing the same public officials

(46:31):
over and over and over again. You know, the devil that we know, the
name that we know. Yet we want this massive change and shift in
culture and society, or at least we say we do. I was like, damn, that's.
That's true, right? Like if you look at the landscape of all city or not
all but most sitting politicians within our local politics within New York,
I've been, I've seen the same name since well over a decade, maybe

(46:53):
even two decades since I've started more, you know, paying
paying closer attention to local politics. And the same
names are still floating around just in, within different
positions. So with that said, my vote is
going to Zoran Mamdani. And there is a rank choice
voting system for this election. So you get to cast

(47:16):
more than one vote. So you get to cast who your first pick is, your
second pick, your third pick, so on and so forth. And my number one is
going to Zoran. My number two is going to
Adrian Adams, which is the current city council speaker. Then
I have a three, four and five. My number three, not set on yet,
maybe Lander, but I mainly focus

(47:38):
on those top two. And by the way, I'll still
caveat that as hypocritical as this will sound with saying that if
Cuomo ran for president and what is
it, 28 and kind of tempered his, you know,
gung ho approach, seemingly for supporting what's going on with
the Israel Gaza conflict, and also

(48:00):
took inventory of and showed some accountability for
what happened during the COVID crisis, which I think nobody would blame him
for. And I spoke to this when I did the breakdown of his quote, unquote
fall from grace. But he had this moment on Bill Mark
over a year ago where they asked him if he had any
regrets during that time period. And he was like, no, did everything

(48:22):
exactly as I should have. Do it the same way again. It's kind of like,
come on with everything we know now. And everybody would have given
him a pass also because nobody knew what the fuck was going on. And it
was like, fuck, I made a bad decision. Just own it. Have the
character to own it. Unless you really do feel that you did nothing
wrong, in which case then you're blinded by. By something

(48:43):
because in retrospect, with knowing for a fact
unrefutably now that there were many bad moves made
during that entire crisis, not just by Cuomo, but across the board
from the massive lockdowns from Mass that didn't work and social
distance distancing that didn't work and vaccines
which did injure some people. And the lab leak theory that

(49:05):
was demonized as being conspiracy theory, which is now New York Times front
page proven fact. It's like, come on, it's okay to admit when
you're wrong and it's a character. That's what you can rely
on when nobody's looking. Someone's character, which is right.
Why Donald Trump is such a piece of. Anyway, I just
wanted to close out with saying that these are

(49:27):
some good ideas that I heard within the debate from different
candidates that I just wanted to highlight which would be dope if whoever is
the mayor elect implements into their platform.
One idea from Ms. Ramos, which has since dropped
out of the race and backed at your Cuomo was raising
the minimum wage, which you know is a common one that we hear, but

(49:50):
tying it to inflation I thought was key. I thought
was genius. I had hadn't heard that before. So
if other folks have, you know, ran on that, my apologies. But
tying it to inflation is key because, you know, inflation is a constant that's
always, you know, in theory going up and down, but always going, in
effect always going up. And it always feels

(50:14):
from a consumer perspective that, you know, is just getting more
expensive or things are never changing because when we get raises
at work and it's like, you know, the 2 or 3% or whatever it is,
it's on par with, with inflation. So so it kind of evens out
and then prices go up. So it's like we get. So I like that idea
of tying it to inflation, at least not just raising it to some arbitrary number.

(50:35):
Mr. Myri, he wants to have
universal after school from ages 3,
so 3k through grade 12, which I think is an awesome
idea. Give kids something to do and you know, they'll be less inclined
to be doing in the street. Also extend pre
K and 3K from 2:30 to 6:00pm,

(50:58):
which is key because if you're a parent, as I am, you have to
have a pretty unique situation, I think,
where you either have your grand, the grandparents of the kids close by, you know,
depending on the type of job you have, the grandparents of the kids close by
to be able to pick them up from school while you're at work, or you
have to have a job where you're lucky enough to work from home on

(51:20):
certain days and then balance that with your spouse if you have one,
to be able to pick up your kid at, you know, 2:30. Because
jobs don't end at 2:30. Typically, you know, most folks are working through
to like 5, 5:30. And you know,
extending that to 6pm solves for
that very common issue that folks are having. And another dope

(51:43):
idea which came from Mr. Blake was
vacant a vacant apartment tax
for folks that are not living in New York City. Now this ties to the
idea of how foreign oligarchs, you know,
Russians, Chinese, so on and so forth, they buy these
penthouse apartments for millions and tens of millions of

(52:04):
dollars in New York City, for example, because the
real estate is so expensive per square footage,
it's a way for them to launder money essentially. And these apartments are
completely vacant. It's a, and not necessarily laundering money,
although wouldn't put it past them, but it's a store
of capital and nobody from the city is

(52:26):
benefiting from that. So a vacant apartment
tax for those not living in nyc, I think that's a good idea.
Let me know in the comments. Who are you voting for this New York
City mayoral election of 2025? Don't forget to
vote. Election Day is Tuesday, June
24, 2025.

(52:49):
This episode's installment of Goats Doing Goat Shit goes
to none other than sinners. Writer director
Ryan Coogler. Big shout out to Ryan Coogler. And
it has to do with his deal with Warner Brothers around
this movie. Now, this deal, which I'll break down the
three key aspects of in a bit, has been

(53:12):
labeled as a paradigm shift.
Unprecedented, groundbreaking, and one of the most
important takeaways for me, which consequently highlights a
humble characteristic that I appreciate about Ryan
Coogler is that on Democracy now, he
said that this is not a groundbreaking deal at all. It's not novel. It

(53:34):
exists and it has existed. And he knows this just by
being in industry. He knows what's available to his peers.
And he says that directors like Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielberg,
etc. They often get these deals. And he alluded to it, you
know, being made such a big deal of because he happens to be a black
director now. But the reason why it was highlighted so much and the

(53:56):
three main components of this deal, which he negotiated and or his
team negotiated on his behalf and that he, as a
writer, director, warrants that negotiation
even being possible, is number one, complete
creative control, AKA final cut
privilege, which means essentially from a creative perspective,

(54:19):
he's the final decision maker of what you see on screen. Deal
point number two, royalties from day one,
also known as first dollar gross participation,
which means that he will earn a share
of the box office revenue from the start, from day one,
not after, which is the more likely scenario, the more

(54:43):
common scenario, rather not just after the studio
recoups all of its costs. So normally the studio put up
all this money to make this film and then say,
you know, even if the director happened to get
back end points, they would only kick in after
the studio recoups all of its money. After we get paid our 100 million for

(55:05):
everything we put into it, or 200 million, whatever it is after, you know, marketing
costs and stuff, that then we'll start paying you, you know, X percentage of
whatever the film makes after then, which most films probably never even get
to. But in this deal from day one, studio's making money,
Ryan's making money. And deal point number three, and most
importantly in my opinion, is the ownership rights

(55:26):
of the film revert back to ryan Coogler
in 25 years. So he's essentially licensing this film
to the studio for 25 years now,
that sounds like a long time, and it is a long time. I would like
to see that number of that type of deal go down
maybe to 15 years, 20 years, 10 years. But I think

(55:48):
back now of movies that I still love to this day, and
it's like, fuck, that shit came out 30. It's the. What, the 35th
anniversary of fucking Back to the Future. What? You know, Star wars, the.
The goonies came out 25 years ago. What? And it's like with
that ownership reverting back, that's an asset that you
pass down to your family, to your kids, to future generations, which is

(56:11):
dope. Instead of just signing that away forever. And the
studio execs, family and kids eat from that forever.
You know what I mean? Like, you created it, keep it, it's yours. And the
deal is seen as a significant win
regardless for Ryan Coogler because it's reflecting his
commitment to ownership and creative control over his work,

(56:33):
particularly given that the film. One of the film's themes is
black ownership and agency. And it's definitely seen as
a potential model for other filmmakers and creatives
seeking to exert more control over their projects.
So definitely shout out to Ryan Cooler and
welcome to the Spun Today Goats

(56:56):
doing goat shit list.
And that, folks, was episode 285 of the Spun Today podcast. Thank
you very much for taking the time to rock out with me
and to listen to this episode. I really appreciate each and every one of you
who take the time to listen. Please stick around so I can tell you
about a few cool ways you can help support this show if

(57:19):
you so choose, and I'll check you out next time. Peace.
What's up, folks? Tony here. I hope you're enjoying the Spun Today
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Take that great podcast idea from out of your head and put it out into
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(01:02:29):
direction of your dreams. Thanks for listening.
I love you Aiden. I love you Daddy.

(01:02:50):
I love you Grayson.

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#285 – Turning Real Life into Art: Writing Takeaways from Standup, Storytelling, and Politics

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#285 – Turning Real Life into Art: Writing Takeaways from Standup, Storytelling, and Politics