Marriage, Comedy, and Finding God | Isaac Witty | The Reverend and Reprobate Podcast - The Reverend and the Reprobate

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi guys, Ricky Pope here fromthe Christian Nerds Unite podcast. On the
show, we dive deep into ournerdy fandoms and look at them through the
lens of our faith by chatting withChristian content creators and experts who love comics,
science, video games, media,sci fi and fantasy, discovering how
their faith shapes their creative work andtheir lives. You can listen on your

(00:23):
favorite podcast app, or find linksto everything at Christian nerds Unite dot com.
So Forest and Kyle Man dash up. Hey, this is day Business
to Kerry Pomeroli, this is MikeRider, this is even the Cold,
this is Lam Wargan is Graham Parker, the hoof Gepe. And this is
why you should never ever, never, never, never never. How I

(00:44):
got suckered in. I'm so embarrassedthat I'm here. You're wasting your time.
You got better things to do.Never listen loves Darlin, Yummy.
Reverend and the Rent play. Hey, everybody, Welcome to The Reverend and
the reverbad to Show, where twobest buds interview people they have no business
talking to. My name is LucasPinkard. I'm an actual reverend here with
me as always. Is a manwho's been unhappy with his seating arrangement since
the third grade teacher moved him tothe front of the class. Is Big

(01:06):
Dan Phip Gibson's buddy. Why moresugar? Is this like a did Tina
secretly send you sugar? Yes?She did? For this fantastic, delicious
want I'll take some. It wasin my pocket. I'm not gonna let
that bother me. Good would Iwouldn't either, I would I eat right
off the floor. I don't care. I've also seen like how much you

(01:26):
sweat walking down the hallway, andI do not want something from your pocket.
You shut up, You don't saythat. I think the shirt though,
that's a shirt issue. Yeah,just a shiny shirt. That's just
a sh what's all that dark grayon your shirt? Shiny? It's a
hypercolor shirt. But yeah, what'sgoing on? Man? Not a whole
lot today with us? Is amarriage expert, and right on past that.

(01:51):
I want to talk about myself today. I'm just because today so as
I'm boring, You're not boring,I'm super boring. Just ask Camden's grandma.
She's so tired of hearing me talk. We did we'd had Camdon on
the gua everybody, he's returning tothe show. Who's Camden, He's He's

(02:13):
the young man. He's the youngman whose grandmother said, in response to
viewing his episode, that Lucas talkstoo much. Yeah, she did say
that. I liked it, butlest you talked too much. It's like
you talked too much. She getsenough of me on Sunday Morning sermons.
I done fell down on the groundlaughing. I don't remember the fall.
I do remember the laugh I wasexaggerating. I heard it. It was

(02:37):
delicious candy, jelly beans. Okay, this is the Starburst jelly beans and
still Easter. We gotta get throughthis Easter candy. It's a day.
Yeah, so I'm helping you.I do appreciate that you didn't bring any
dots into studio today. There weren'tanything. I threw them away. Disgusting.
How dare you? It's what doyou think about dots? Dots are

(03:01):
It's a little gump, It's likea little Yeah, it's the worst.
Can imagine the worst candy that's justjust imagine on candy Land the board just
like gum drop. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. It's there's
a whole land filled with them,not crazy. Would that be heaven for
you or purgatory? I don't,I don't. I don't like them,

(03:22):
but I would take those over peeps. Oh yeah. The only thing peeps
are good for is peep jousting.Have you ever done this? No?
You know? Do you know that? You guys know about this? Have
you heard about this peepe jousting?Wow? What a great crowd. What
a great crowd, What a greataudience. Uh so with with peepe jousting,
what you do is you take twopeeps and you shove a toothpick in

(03:43):
them, and then you put themin the microwave, and whoever is peep
doesn't pop is the winner. That'spretty good, it's a great Yeah,
peep jatop. Wouldn't they just missbecause they stup blow up in the microwave
because they're marshmallow. So it's notreally jousting, it's just an endurance competition.
Well no, because the toothpick actuallywill pop the other one, and
so it's yeah, it's who's whoever. That sounds like whoever's peep gets popped?

(04:05):
That sounds like lost art from youthgroups. Yeah, for so many
good youth group things that happened thatwe as adults just be bunny, Yeah
we stopped yeah, okay, whichalso involves marshmallows. Yeah, but it
also involves like a lot of hospitalvisits and death, which is why Shelby
Bunny got banned from the youth groups. Also, lockins, We should bring

(04:28):
lockins back as adults, except thatwe need like a bunch of beds.
We have a bunch of beds.That's that's all it's missing. No,
if we're gonna do lockins as adults, then then I think what we do
is we rent a cabin. Youwould go to the cabin, would literally
have to lock That would be ohyeah for sure. Because I am,
for one, I'm gonna be like, all right, this is fun.
I'm leading go no yeah, nohuh. The doors locked from the outside.

(04:49):
You can't get out of this lockand n till our wives come and
let us out. That'll be afun thing to do. Like as as
a lead pastor, like, let'sthink of a list of the word church
outings just for adult church lock inyeah, present, Like it's a real
idea, and a pumpkin pass thatwould be a great way to get something

(05:12):
else passed present the church lock in, Like, here's this great idea that
we have church lock in and they'relike, no, absolutely, And I'd
be like, okay, like dothink we need a new sound system?
Well that's a way better idea thanchurch lock inbo like, oh favor,
fine, we'll fine, We'll dothat. Yeah, and fantastic. And
also for the guitar player, yeah, I think Brian deserves that. I

(05:35):
think he does too. Yeah,I was angling, Yeah, but I
can't see you playing a PRS.What what guitar am I allowed to get?
Gives him less pole? I'm down. Yeah, See that's what you
need. You need a less pole. You don't need a PRS. You
need something that has a soul,not something that's been cut from a forest
bias and c machine and assembled inMaryland. You need a guitar whose neck

(05:59):
was hand made by an old mannamed Enis in the middle of Tennessee.
That literally is so you needed Gibsand guitar from the Yeah. Yeah,
So there's this this guy who madeall of the next right where the fret
board and all that stuff is forfor Gibson guitars for years and he was
just this old man named Enis anduh and he did it from yeah,

(06:26):
from like the eighties until like theearly aughts he did. It's all of
their stuff and like if Enis wasn'tthere, they didn't make guitars. Oh
yeah, yep, Enis was wasthe man, and then he retired.
And now you might as well geta PRS. Yeah you hear that.

(06:47):
Yeah. Who we're live in ourLake Dallas studio. Yeah, back to
Isaac. How is it not livethere any other way? Yep, we've
recorded and a vacuum used right now, this is prerecorded. But also I've

(07:10):
used AI to simulate Danley before ona couple of episodes. Oh, that
would be so good. It wouldbe so much easier to edit. AI
wouldn't be sitting here eating peeps.And actually I don't mind the AI eating
peeps. It's just whenever you inan outtake scream out a generic race as
though that like why does why doesit have to be generic race? People?

(07:36):
And this Those are the ones thatare really difficult, where I'm like,
difficult, you just do command seecut take it out, but it's
not just command to see because there'scontinuity issues that happened, and you tend
to do it in the middle ofsomeone making like an innocuous statement about a

(07:56):
story that's taken like three or twoin the middle of one of your really
long story. It's lately you've beendoing it a lot to Camden, who
Isaac barely remembers that is he's theSamoan gentleman, right, yes, yes,
yes, so on the on theshow Today's Marriage Expert, Isaac Whitty,
how's how is marriage? I havebeen seeking some advice, and I

(08:18):
am so glad that you're here.All right, all right, well,
my wife and I we do agimmick. What's yours and your wife's gimmick
till death do us? My wifeand I are also doing this gimmick.
I like you just cut the legsoff of that right away, Marriage Expert

(08:39):
before we get started. Stop.Yeah, that's good. Is a smart
maneuver. No, in ten daysfrom now from now right this recording,
Uh, we're four months away fromfour months whoa ten days away from four
months of marriage? Wow? Soso after this recording is released, you'll

(09:01):
be ten days past four months ofmarriage. Likely we're about twenty one days
out. In order to set upany good you know, I've been married
and I've learned some things. Wealways have to have the first fight.
Have you guys had the first fight, because I don't know that we have.
No. Actually we really cursed it. Yeah for you and me.

(09:24):
Now, oh yeah, we've beenmarried a long time. Here and I.
We were married about sixty seconds intous meeting one another. Yeah,
we really have not had a fight. Then you're not married. I've heard
that argument. Yeah. Part ofme makes me think maybe you're right.
Yeah, but I know people whohave gone like years in marriage and never

(09:46):
had like a big blowout fight.I don't remember why, but we argued
about tooth a tooth brush. Thisis like fifteen years ago. It was
more than that though. It wasabout was on one side yours or hers.
I'll leave that to your imagination,all right. And the other person,
me, was trying to brush myteeth. That's what I remember.

(10:09):
I probably didn't handle it very well, but again, fifteen years ago.
So I have a question about insecurities. And because this is a personal question,
so you can swat it out tohalf court if you want to.
Okay, all right, when itcomes to your marriage in particular, how
have you had to address insecurities overthe years, because there have been a

(10:31):
lot of things that have happened,like with Heather's diagnosis and then changing of
medications, and a lot of insecurity. Yeah, even outside of that.
Okay, So how do you preventthat from because you guys squabble often,
but you don't a lot. Butevery time I'm on the phone with you,
she is just squawking in the backgroundabout something. Get off the phone.

(10:52):
You're in the house. Is that, Lucas again? Tell him high
like whatever it is, there's alwayssomething in the background. Really funny thing
is before you called, we werehanging out, you know. Yeah,
And so it's definitely a bit toher for sure. When you call,
she gets to squawk in Yeah,insecurities are I mean certainly like when we

(11:13):
first got married, before we goton the plane to go to our honeymoon,
Yes, we had a fight.I mean I say a fight.
It wasn't fight, but in abig insecurity that I had a Facebook account.
Oh really yeah, and she wason you being on Facebook. Oh
yeah, this this would have beenits infancy yea. And she is from
the backwoods of Boyd, Texas.She is she she is a country girl

(11:37):
who did not understand Facebook, nornor nor the uh the Jezebels. I
yeah, how to say that,but that's that's on Facebook. My dad
is your sister's a flush? Yeah, that would be another good one.

(12:00):
There's a there's a list that Iwent no, no, no, no,
no no no jes Jezebel. Yeah, yeah, she didn't understand.
I don't understand why you're on here, and so I yeah, we argued
about it. We got on theplane, I thought about it, and
then I deleted it when we gotback. That went't you what? I
don't need it? M Yeah,how old were you when you got married?

(12:20):
And then she got a Facebook accountand then she she uses it?
Yeah she does. She uses herFacebook account. Not for floozies. No,
I was twenty three? Oh wow, okay she was. She was
twenty one? Ye were would youever? I just think it's hard.
So I just think it's so gaggywhen married couples when they share a Facebook

(12:46):
account. Do you think when yousay, do you mean like or do
you mean like? You think it'sa gag like like like gross? Yeah,
I also gag it that it does, Okay, So I see both
sides of it. No, No, and here and here's why. I
mean, I'm not invalidating your opinion. You can have opinion. No,

(13:09):
the reason that I see both sidesof it is from a minister's perspective that
it does so No, I'm justI'm putting this out there right is it
does show that there is transparency andthe relationship from the minister perspective, like,
it's more than just my wild hasthe password to my Facebook account,
like, no, she is onit has access to everything we share this

(13:31):
account. And the reason that Ishare a body mind and Facebook account and
Facebook account, Yes, we areindeed one flesh and digital fingerprint. Um.
But the reason and I know thatthis is a guy that we all
have admiration for that Jared Matt Chandler. So if there is that shared Facebook

(13:54):
account or the shared Instagram account alot of the stuff, No, he
doesn't. But his Instagram account recentlywas one of the reasons that he had
to take a step away from ministrybecause he and the elders determined that there
was some that a line had beencrossed, though there was no infidelity or
anything like that. And now he'sback in the pulpit, right and they
haven't addressed like Waddle was in themessage, but just that he was walking

(14:16):
in a way that was during Yeah, that was dangerous, and so he
needed to take a step back tofocus on a few things, to kind
of reevaluate some things, and hewas venturing into ferent newland. Maybe it
sounds like to not speculate too much, It just sounds like what he said

(14:37):
is that the relationship became too familiarin such a way that it that it
was inappropriate for two married people tobe having these conversations. But we should
also make very clear that his wifeknew that they were having this conversation,
that lady's husband knew that there's allright, and and then when the church
talked about it, they did he'sbeen restored to ministry. He's back in

(14:58):
the pul right, So there's notlike this wasn't a huge scandal of any
by any stretch of the imagination.But all of that is prevented when there's
the shared account, because then it'sless like she knew about the conversation and
like verified she had access to allof it. Read all of it?
Are you advocating for are you justkind of playing devil's advocate like there's something

(15:22):
Yeah, yeah, let's let's playingDevil's advocate, because I don't think the
devil needs any more advocates. Ithink he's got plenty of them, but
more just kind of explaining, likethe reason from a ministerial perspective, why
it's important. I also can seeit from you know, some of our
our friends who have struggled with addiction, especially like those who have struggled with
pornography and those types of things thatwhen you have that that shared account,

(15:48):
that now, all of a sudden, like your preferences, the reels and
videos and sponsored posts and things thatshow up are much much different, and
it forces you know, that thatkind of transparency and accountability. I don't
want a shared Facebook page, wasmy wife right? But um but I
do understand if you're because minister thingsso Kursten. Kirsten's not a crafter.

(16:12):
She never has been. She toldme it's when we get married. The
ladies, well, the ladies likethe crafting. What she has gotten into
recently is a homesteading stuff. She'sin the midst of creating a hydroponic garden
in our house in order that wecan grow lettuce all year round in the
water in the yep, in thehydroponics. Yeah, in the water um

(16:34):
water lettuce, yes, yeah,not the Devil's lettuce too. Yeah.
So so there's there's that. Butshe also has has started to look up
and all this is like post baby, right, because before the baby,
she's like not interested in crafting.I'm like, oh, I'm gonna make
some broth at the house and putit in these Mason jars. And she's
like, why we can't buy thestore. Um, that's not a great

(16:56):
impression of my wife, but Iloved it. But yeah, but now
she's like that we can can things. And now she's interested in did you
know canning and jarring and all jams. But also I'm not interested in seeing
any of that. Yeah. Soyeah, it's not crafting stuff. Now
all of a sudden, my wifethinks she's the pioneer woman. Yeah.

(17:18):
Like, so Danley and I camefrom like playing music together and and not
we nope, um, opening forsomebody and playing for some of your different
things. Yeah, I know,so sorry, I'm so derailed by that.

(17:38):
So the but the thing is thatwe had this experience where there are
a lot of people that we encounteredthat we're doing things within the Christian realm
because they got more recognition than theydid in the secular realm. That people
with moderate talent could become really popularwithin the Christian realm if they were very

(18:04):
friendly. Yeah, yeah, andthat it really didn't matter, and there
wasn't a lot of I guess peeringinto like what this person believes, how
strong is their faith? Like thosekind of things. They could just kind
of get away with it because likeno, no, no, they're super
friendly and they're pretty good, soyeah, like send them to another church.
And there wasn't a lot of likelooking into into the fire you finding

(18:26):
that that's putting it not again,like not to put you in a in
a weird place, but do youthink having come from like the secular comedy
world and now into the Christian comedyworld, that you've seen some of those
same types of things over the courseof your career of people that you're saying
of essentially like people they like fakedfaith in order to make what is common

(18:49):
and they're like, it was funnyI went to where I met Christen,
my wife. We met at theCCA Conferences Association that Dave Pendleton one allow
us to be a part of youall. We've been blackballed, Yeah,
we're blacklisted. Well they were.We went to this last year, like
a year ago, almost a yearago, mus be nice um and and

(19:12):
the whole thing was about forgiveness restoration, right, And it was my first
time to be there in like fifteenyears. Um. So I was like,
I don't I guess, I guesssomebody had a fight. So this
this is one of those things likewhen in the corporate culture, when there's

(19:32):
a new policy that comes out,somebody messed up. Yeah, hey,
guys, quick meeting, but alwayswear gloves when using when cutting lemons,
right, and the war gloves meetingwas right when I showed up. Forgiveness
guys, we're talking about that forall day today, all day to day.
And we talked about it for threedays. Oh wow, I talked

(19:53):
about it for three days and Johnto Pierce must have called somebody a ninny.
They're like, well, we've gotto talk about this now. So
apparently there was a lot of talkabout oh, this will be a shocker,
okay. Politics, there was alittle some disagreements over the past few

(20:14):
years about politics within the Christian comediancommunity can't imagine I have a hot politics
take oh, hold on Lucas,Future Lucas start here on the edit and
six seconds. I think, aslong as Fast and Furious movies are doing
well in the box office, Trumphas a chance. Okay, I think

(20:37):
the same group of people that areseeing Fast and the Furious are voting for
Trump. I think, as longas it's still happening, he's got a
shot. The big man's got ashot. And Mark Okay, No,
it was politics. It was that'sstaying in Andy Dan's operators is going to

(21:00):
have to endorse that it was thatthere are I'll just put this out there
and I won't. I will notsay that I have a huge opinion.
Well, I don't know. Um. There was also some debate within the
CCA about apparently there were some comedianslike what you're talking about that we're either

(21:22):
now that we're talking about whether theyreally were Christians or if they were um
progressive Christians, which really I don'tknow. If I was a church,
I'm trigger, I say, Isay, if a church doesn't like that
a performer at their church would bea progressive and not I agree with their

(21:44):
ideology, kind of shame on themfor not asking, right, that's not
really on the comedian. Yeah,that's on that's on the place hiring them.
Is that the same thing as bringinga comedian out who does you know,
dirty comedy, blue whatever, Yeah, and then say we need you
to go clean. I don't godo you know who I am? You

(22:06):
know, like bringing out Well,so it's interesting I'm saying, like bring
out George Carlin, you go,hey, I need you to go clean,
you know tonight? No, no, because they're claiming to be a
Christian comedian, but a Christian comedianthat's a very broad term. Yeah you
know what I mean? Oh ohyeah, yeah, we know. Oh
yeah. Joel Ostein I don't thinkhe would classify himself as a comedian.

(22:33):
No, but you know what I'msaying, I think, yeah, Tommy
Robbins should be similarly categorized. They'relike, yeah, man, I'm the
funniest universalist Christian comedian out there.I believe in everything, man, Yeah,
yeah, yeah, but why not. I do think it's a It's
a fascinating thing because it's not oneof those things that often gets talked about

(22:53):
until like something happens and then yeah, yeah, like once something happens one
something some but he has like aquote a fall from Gray. So they
make some kind of like a hereticalor inflammatory statement. We don't really think
about it, but then as soonas they do, we're like, oh,
maybe they weren't actually a Christian thewhole time and uh and that was
one maybe they were predestined for notheaven for heck. Yeah, well,

(23:19):
these starburst jellybeans are so good.I'm so happy for you, John Calvin.
So we we walked into I thinkyou were with me when this happened.
We opened for a very prominent togethera lot. Yeah. This would
have been early twenties. This wouldhave been pre year marriage, um,
before he excluded good old years.Yeah, the good old year that we

(23:40):
had before year marriage. Um,before Daney excluded me from his wedding party.
We uh we we we're playing.We opened for this very prominent Christian
band, your wedding party we hadto go and uh and again just because
you didn't pets your COVID test,we're continuing on so it's like uh buffering.

(24:06):
Um. So so we walk ontothe bus of this very prominent Christian
band that we had just opened for. Um. They sound got needed him
for something. And what we walkedinto was this. It was no huh
no, close close, yeah,both of those all common words recipal and
sretra. Uh. So we walkonto this bus and uh, it was

(24:34):
like the biggest like weed to smokecloud I had, Oh dude, I'm
talking like billowed out like we wehad gone um like we had our our
drummer, a very good friend atthe time. His dad was playing on
tour with Toby Keith, and wegot to go on. We didn't go

(24:55):
on Toby's bus because Toby like hadhis own thing, but we went on
the band bus. We were onthe bus with um, some of the
backup singers and like the other bandsand and all this, Like there wasn't
a hint of anything other than youknow, they're having Jack Daniel sponsored the
tour. So there's some guys havingjack and coke, but they're there drinking
but I'm yeah, And and therewere people that were smoking cigarettes, but

(25:15):
not in the not in the bushright and certainly not like within the area
around the venue, you know.But we walked onto this bus and I'm
talking like it was the whole Prevothat's like seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Bus was this giant hot box andlike we walked in. We were
like, hey, they need you. We gotta get out of here,

(25:37):
and it was like billowing out ofthe thing, right and so we So
I went and I told him,you know, and I was friends with
the guy who was the um,the booker and who's also the sound guy.
Uh. This was that formerly thedoors it's in a club and dpellament
so but they were known as beinga Christian club. I was like,
hey, like we like, Ismell like a skunk because I just walked

(26:00):
onto that bus, like these dudesare so high, and he just looks
at me and he was like you'dbe surprised how often that happens. And
that was it. He was likedid you but did you get him?
And I was like yeah, yeah, oh yeah, they know they'll be
out in a minute. And sureenough, dude, they they came out
and the majority of the people thatno, they were not great, the
majority of the people. I don'tremember this. I don't think I was

(26:21):
there. I probably played that nightand then left to go do something,
but yeah, I remember talking aboutthis. Yeah, Brandon may have been
with I don't remember years ago wasthis, Um did they just say the
name and bleep it out? Fuck? No, yeah, that's not that
surprising. Yeah, so um butany yeah, I know, um and
now we got to cut that.But the because go beat beep yep,

(26:44):
so we we end of this isthirty seven, so they should have been
like sixteen years ago. And uhand we walk in and he's like,
no, yeah, that's a prettyIt's that happens more often than than you'd
think. And it like, soyouth group kids are coming into the concert
and as they're coming in, they, you know, the couple of the
band members walked by and dude,they reeked and you could tell like the

(27:07):
high school kids are like, ohmy gosh because they can smell it on
them. And then they you know, they told them, hey, this
is what we need this one,do you mean? And then and then
walked back out because we're on stage, nobody's getting close enough to you to
smell you. And by the time, you know, you get eleven hundred
people packed into a club, likethey're sweaty and stinky and all that,
Like, yeah, who knows wherethe smell came from. It's probably from
you. Know, the oil basedfog machines or whatever, speaking of which,

(27:30):
yeah, nope, so getting one. We're not getting one of the
church, Like we could get onefor the studio if you want to,
I'll let you pitch it to thechurch. After you pitch the lock in.
That's when you pitch the fog machine. You pitch the adult lock in,
and then the fog machine and theninstead of chairs, and then the
third thing that we pitch will eitherthing that we actually want after they nixed

(27:51):
the two bad ideas. Yeah,I love it for this, I'm fine.
I don't need a fog machine.Yep. So one Isaac that said
like that, oh they would hateit? Is that something that you've you've
kind of had to deal with herany experience that you've had, because like
again, you were very big inthis teck of the world in in the
comedy. Oh I was, Iwould you don't give us fun? I

(28:15):
was not. I had success.Yeah, I had some I had some
success. I was not a householdname or anything like that. Okay,
but your version of some success ismore success than what ninety five ninety six
percent of comedians get. I don'tknow the percentage. The biggest thing I
ever did was I was on TheDavid Letterman Show in two thousand and four.

(28:36):
Okay, I on Gosh, andit was hosted by Tom Green.
By the way, what what ahack you must be on the David Letterman
Show. I love me some Tom. That that sounds like it's whenever whenever
I said, I would like topush back on a little bit because it
makes it feel like I wouldn't wantto leave people to believe that I was,

(28:56):
you know, selling out theaters oranything like that. I wasn't doing
that. I was working comedy clubslike a regular bad manager. I was.
I was doing colleges all the time. Um. But I was a
huge coke head back then, soI was putting most of it up my
nose. You know. How wasLetterman? He looked a lot like Tom

(29:17):
Green. I mean like that musthave been the cocaine talking. Uh did
you get any delicious cheese? Yeah? What was that? What was that
experience? Like going going to theEd Sullivan Theater and all that stuff?
So what happened was I worked acomedy club and I haven't told the story
in a long time. Okay,cool, Um? I worked happy to
be the first in a long time. I worked at comedy club called the

(29:41):
Skyline Comedy Cafe and Appleton, Wisconsin. I featured for a guy named Eddie
Brilla who used to he was foryears. He was the crowd warm up
guy and the comedian booker at LettermanLike, super cool guy, really nice
guy. Um Eddie Brill. Ijust heard about this guy. Oh really,
yeah, Yeah, it's really agreat guy. I think you're thinking

(30:02):
Robert g Lee. Actually Robert gLee would know. Robert I don't know
he would know what he did allof the comedian booking for Lukman. Yeah,
for years, I think for years. Are you sure you're not You're
not thinking about Tommy Morin's friend.No, No, the show that I
was talking about before you went offon a long story, the new podcast
I've been listening to. They justtalked about him. Yeah, Shane Gillis,

(30:26):
he talked about him. That makessense. He's been what are the
odds? Seems pretty good at thispoint, pretty good if you're talking everyone
knows Eddie b Yeah. But hewas headlining and I featured, and he's
he asked me to start sending tape. That was back in the days before
the internet, back when you wouldsend you'd make this is before Facebook,

(30:48):
before I got in trouble. Yeah, I would, I would before al
Gore invented it. I'm sorry,I'm done interrupting. Al Gore had already
invented in lost to the election,which he claimed to have invented the Internet
during in two thousand and four,also before global warming, is definitely pre
man bear pig. I'm sorry,but I apologize, so he forgive me.

(31:14):
He told me to send him atape. I send him a tape.
He said, I like this jokeand this joke and this joke.
Send me a tape with those threejokes and fill the time with other jokes.
And then after I think that happenedthree times. And on the third
tape, he said, that's theset. Now just wait. And uh
So I waited for I think Iwaited for two weeks. Three weeks wow,

(31:37):
And then my phone rang? Whatdid you do in those two or
three weeks? Yeah? Like,are you like anticipating this call? Like?
Are you waiting by the phone.I knew that I was next in
line. Okay, so it's justa matter of time. No, I
was living in Minneapolis. No,and so one day I got a call

(32:00):
Twin cities. That's right, hewas in the left twin What is this
funny that Dallas fort Worth doesn't getreferred to and as the twin cities and
they are cities verses each other.Yeah, it kind of feels though,
Oh, I mean certainly. Butalso, you know, don't come after
fort Worth and don't come after Dallasbecause fort Worth will come get your Dallas

(32:22):
come get you. Yeah, we'realso allowed to go after each other,
and we both gang up on brothers. It's not twins, it's a it's
differently born different times, like Irishtwins. Yeah. Yeah, we're born
within the same year. But wewant our own attention for your own things.
But if you mess with him,like Jacob and Esau similar to Dallas
and fort Worth exactly. And fortWorst is the one with the fuzzy arms

(32:45):
that decided to give up everything toDallas for soup, that would be a
very forward thing to do. We'rekind of soup go. Yeah, we
would like we would like this airport. Would you really go? And do
you want this hair of boots Ostrichsome good looking boots. It's good.

(33:07):
Yeah, take the airport. Okay, so you're in Minneapolis awaiting the call.
So I was in Minneapolis and oneday the phone rang and Eddie Burl
said, I'll see He said,you can do the show tomorrow, which
would air Friday. Now, justno, Dave is not going to be
the host. It's going to besomeone else. We don't know who yet.

(33:29):
Yeah, because he had some kindof health issue that was going No,
it was it was in two thousandand four. He would he just
I don't know what his reasons.He took Fridays off for like for a
few months. He took Fridays offand he had guest hosts every Friday.
Yeah, because like Bruce willis guesthost during this time. And yeah,
there was like some kind of thingthat was happening for Dave. I think

(33:51):
he was getting treatments for something,which he might have been conceiving his next
kid, because the only kid hehas came around like six months later.
Yeah, maybe that's it could havebeen in short station period invidro or whatever
it is, those celebrity stuff.Yeah. Yeah. So, um,
so they said you can totally sayno to this. Dave's not gonna be

(34:14):
on. You can wait if youwant. And I said no, I'll
take it because I thought this mightthis call might never happen again. Yeah.
So um. I flew out thatnight to shoot the show the next
day, which aired Friday. Soit's pretty cool actually because I flew to
New York, did the show Thursday, and then Friday morning, I flew

(34:37):
to Dayton, Ohio, where Ifeatured for Mitch Hedberg Friday Night and Saturday
Night The Great Friday Night when whenit aired, they showed my set after
Mitch's set and I was there withMitch Hedberg watching my Letterman set. That's
crazy, so weird. Wow,Okay, so that it seems like a

(35:00):
very surreal moment. Yeah. Yeah, to think back on that now,
it seems like, wow, therewas a lot of stars that aligned.
What did he say? I justremember him being complimentary and we didn't We
did not hang out much that weekendwhen that Dayton weekend he stayed, He
and Lynn stayed to themselves that weekend. Is did his wife his widow?

(35:23):
Yeah, Linz's wife. Yeah.But they then it was like, see,
that was my second time to workwith him. I had worked with
in Austin before that, and Ikind of worked with him. I kind
of worked with him at ACNE inMinneapolis a few months before that, because
he's the one that allowed me todo guest sets, which got me my

(35:44):
good tape to send to Eddie Brill. So actually, Mitch Hedberg's all over
my Letterman experience. Yeah, okay, so Mitch Hedberg let you do guest
sets during his week. I mean, Mitch always had the greatest crap audience,
you know, oh for sure.I mean his crows were so smart
and with it, you know.So we found it out have to be.

(36:06):
We found out that Gilbert Gottfried,outside of being on stage, has
a different voice, different speaking.He really plays No, Mitch talked exactly
like that. That's really Mitch talkedexactly like the same cadence. The last
thing he ever said to me wasI offered to pay for something that he

(36:28):
had paid for all of and Igo, you don't have to pay for
all this, and he goes,Isaacson's the last time we hung out,
I make a lot more money.Okay, So this this time you're talking
about where you guys watch Yeah,so this time that you guys hung out,
where you watched your Letterman tape together? Was that the last time that

(36:49):
you hung out with him. No, No, the last time I hung
out with him, did you callhim Mitch? Oh, you're cool?
What did you think, Mitchell MitchHedberg Ye, first and last week,
which at the time he wouldn't havebeen massively big. He was not massively
but I mean he was big incircles. I mean he was huge in

(37:09):
the first markets. He was hugein were Houston, Minneapolis because he was
kind of from Minneapolis. He didnot start in Minneapolis, but he was
from Saint Paul. Yeah. Um, he was also big in h Grand
Forces, in North Dakota because thisone guy, this guy Chris Lincoln,
really got behind him. He washuge in Grand Forks. He really was

(37:34):
at this place. There was acomedy club called the Westward Hoe and uh,
and he was huge in Grand Forks. He was there all the time.
But so I had moved to NewYork and I didn't know very many
people in New York yet, andI was I was kind of at that

(37:54):
time, I was like really startingto get into colleges and therefore really starting
to get in a hard hard drugsand stuff like that. And so Mitch
was playing at Carolines. This wastwo thousand. It was the year he
died. Okay, so that twothousand and five. Yeah, so this
is a year after your Letterman set. Okay, Yeah, so he I

(38:17):
was living in New York. Hewas playing Carolines. So it would have
been a Thursday night because it wasSaint Patrick's day. He had just done
he had just shot um. Hehad just shot the Howard Stern Show that
morning, and I remember he wasin a really good mood. And after

(38:37):
the show I went I went downthere for let me back up. I
went down there thinking, like thisguy, I'm a huge admirer of his,
I'm a super fan. He workswith a different person every week who
knows the film. Maybe he'll forgetwho I am. But to my shock,
I walked in. I waited forhim at the bar while he walked
down the steps, and to myamazement, he not only recognized me,

(39:00):
but he also was happy to seeme. I was pretty surprised at that.
So that's going to be surreal.It was really neat. Yeah,
that my hero really really was excitedto see me that night. So we
hung out and he was like,Hey, hang out in the green room
with us, or hang out watchthe show, whatever you want. To
do. So after that we hungout for a while and I went back.

(39:24):
I scoured New York City and founddrugs and we hung out with him
that night, me and my friendDavid Lee Nelson, who was not deceased.
He died of cancer two years ago. But um, yeah, it
was. We hung out in thishotel room that night and it was amazing.
You know, we're all just likehanging out with our hero. And

(39:45):
then and then, and then aweek and a half later he died.
Yeah, and apparently that was thelast. I did a guest set the
night after that, which would havebeen the Friday Show. So he did
the Friday shows, Saturday Shows,the Sunday Show. And I heard the
rest of the week like the Strokeswere hanging out no man, Like,

(40:06):
had I gone any other night,I wouldn't have been able to hang out
with him because I heard the restof the weekend he was surrounded by celebrities.
You'd you get this last kind oflike night with with Mitch and then
ten days later it was gone.What was I guess what was that like?
Because it sounds like the last yearof his life. You guys had
some pretty impactful moments together. Wekind of did in a weird way like

(40:30):
I've been in no way would sayMitch Hedberg was a good friend of mine
or anything like that. We werenot closed I um, but maybe you
could have been time good acquaintances.Maybe over time, I suppose. But
we worked together about four times,and he was always just so nice to
me. And uh, there wasa there's a guy doing a documentary about

(40:54):
him right now, and I talkedto him on the phone recently. I
don't know. I was just tellinghim, like, I don't know how
I would really add to your documentary. I was just kind of a guy
who worked with him four times.I would I wasn't not like a super
close friend of his. But thestory of Mitch Eedberg just sounds kind of
like, based on talking of thisdocumentarian guy, it sounds like he was

(41:15):
a guy who had a lot ofclose friends at the beginning of his career,
and then as he kept going,he kind of shoot away his good
friends, and as he got moreand more into drugs, and and then
he just hung out with people whowanted to do drugs with him, and
unfortunately I was one of those people. So like, looking at like that,

(41:36):
that timeline so and oh four,he helps you do these guest sets.
You get a letterman, you getto watch your letterman set with him.
Yeah, then you're with him liketen days before he dies. You
guys have this this night where youget to hang out, and like you
said it was, it was awesome. Kind I remember looking at him in
his hotel room and being like,you're my favorite comedian, you know.
So what happens like fast forward tendays from there, like it's March thirtieth,

(42:00):
two thousand and five, how doyou get the news that Mitch Hedberg
passed my way? So, yeah, I remember it being a tie.
I remember it being a voicemail anduh he was he had died. But
we we used to have um,this guy on on staff who just has
like the biggest heart and he wasgreat about doing hospital visits and and taking

(42:22):
care of folks, And anytime somebodypassed, we would just get this text
message that an all capital letters wouldsay deceased and then it would be a
colon and then it would like havetheir name. And so that's how a
lot of us for the first likeseveral years I was on staff here at
Old School Bulletin. Oh my gosh, like we would get this, like
I'd be I'd be like, okay, where's this. Oh gosh, it's

(42:45):
like a town crier. Yeah right, Like I didn't even know who was
sick. Yeah, but like andif but if somebody like died magically or
suddenly, because like we we hadand it was this terrible thing. So
we had this kid as he wasa kid, he was early twenties,
and he was working at a warehouseand he fell off of the and there's

(43:12):
a lot of speculation because him andthe guy that was driving the forklift were
arguing that the guy that was drivingthe forklift had him up like several feet
in the air in this warehouse,that he shook him off because he was
mad at him, and then itends up like the fall kills him,
right, And so whether or notit was in voluntary manslaughter, like all
these things like becomes this big deal. And so I remember getting the text

(43:37):
message about it was that it wasdeceased, and it had this twenty one
year old kid's name, and Iwas like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa whoa, Like this is notthe way. Because that text went
out to like fifteen people, andsome of those people were the parents,
kids who were really close to him. And so that was when we finally
put the I was like, you'renot allowed to send out these texts anymore,

(43:58):
Like, yes, you can doit, because the other thing was
he went and posted on Facebook.It's like you need to go deleted from
your Facebook immediately, and you can'tsend out these text messages anymore because people
just found out like that. Textmessaging is such a casual way to talk,
right, It is not an appropriateway to talk about someone's death.
Is that a generation unless it's TomCruise? Like, is that you know,

(44:22):
like a major heard about that?Yeah? Yeah? Is that how
you found out about Michael Jackson's death? Was a text message? Now?
I was in LA, though,were you really? Yeah? Did you
coincidence? When did they? Like? I was in LA administering some medicine.
I don't know what that's supposed tomean, like he killed Michael Jackson,

(44:46):
That's what I'm saying. Yeah,but no, no, I was.
It was just I happened to bein La. It was like it
was on TV. It was onTV and in a client's home. I
saw it and I went, ohno, that's crazy. Wow. Okay,
So that's so many questions about youbeing in la at a client's home.

(45:07):
I have a whole other life.Yeah, we'll package this for later.
Yeah, so yeah, client's nameTom Cruise. Do you Danley was
counting his mediclarian's doctor. Do youthink do you think that that is like
a generational thing, because like Ithink it is. Yeah, because we

(45:28):
grew up without the cell phone.Yeah, you know, we're we're the
less I think you're about ten yearsolder than us. Texting, right,
so texting you never want to haveanother phone call in my whole life.
That's not true because you love whenyour wife squawks at me when we're on
the phone. No, no,whatever, I mean, it's kind of
funny. But I would have donewithout that. The thing is is I
can get you to answer your phone. I cannot get you to answer a

(45:49):
text message. They're they're literally timeswhere that's that's why, because I want
the information, not the conversation.Yeah, you don't want to you don't
want to get health specific everybody.I want to know what you need to
tell me. And then when itbecomes when he becomes a problem is when
we need a decision from you.Hey, Danley, what do you want

(46:10):
to do about And then so,if you're gonna be the don't text bat
guy, turn off your freaking readreceipts, how do you do that so
that so that we're not just alllooking at it saying red for hours.
I'm like, I know he's seenthis. I have I have actual,
hard evidence that he's seen this messageand is refusing to answer. I didn't

(46:32):
tell my phone to do that.Yeah, so this, this actually has
pertinence to today and we'll get backto the generational thing here. And just
a second, it has pertinacause becausewe were talking about whether or not we
wanted to bring the lovely Kristen Wittyright to the program, and I asked,
Danley, do you want to bringKristen on? You have a misunderstand

(46:53):
and I said, you know,whatever you want to do, and then
he just left it on red.And then I called him today and he
was like, no, this isnot my decisions. Like, no,
it is you. I was like, I do the editing. You get
to say yes or no to Isaac'swife. And he goes and this is
what he says, Why I'm atlunch with Isaac. He goes, you
want to ask Isaac so that Isaaccan make the call. Do you want

(47:16):
some more information that I just foundout? Okay, yeah, this is
the problem with your two wives havingsimilar names? Is I thought you were
asking, should we bring cursedon onmy wife? Yes, but my wife
doesn't want to be on the show? I know, and I went their
names are spelled completely differently. Iwas like, if you want to,

(47:37):
their names have one vowel. Thatmakes all of the difference in the world.
Well, I thought you were sayingyour wife and I was like,
well, wouldn't that mean wouldn't thatbe fun viewers if we all brought our
wives. Yes, I was like, if you want to? And then
and then I even said, it'slike, I don't know, Uh,

(47:58):
why are you making me make thisdecision? I felt like either she was
holding you hostage no, or oryou're like, I don't it doesn't want
to listen to the show. Shedefinitely doesn't want to be on the show.
Mystery solved. That's what happened.Sorry, sorry, Kristen Danley.
Stanley didn't want to tell you know, so he made Isaac do it,

(48:22):
which I think that's not what happened. So you you really thought it was
Kirsten. Yes, there's no way. Yep, there's what is in that
giant nugget of yours other than justair and space, lots of other things.
Jelly Beans, yeah, jelly beansfor the starburst jelly beans. Go.

(48:42):
They're up there fighting the peeps ofsweet tarts right now. Yep,
yeah, I'll just looking for thedots. Okay, for the first time
ever, your wife would be like, and if all people would like with
Isaac, somebody she sees a coupleof times a week. She's like,
you know whose episode I to beon? I don't give enough time.
But I also thought it was odd. I also thought it was odd.

(49:07):
I was like, sure, ifyou want. I don't know why you're
asking me. We're we're gonna haveLeanne Morgan on in a few weeks.
And that barely moves the needle enoughfrom my wife to think, you know
what, I'll put Levi in thestroller and walk the two hundred yards to
the church to go see Leanne Morgan. She is there's no way she wants
to be on, no offense toUncle Isaac. There's no way she wants

(49:30):
to be on with Isaac. Ithought she was a fan of mitch Headbirds.
She barely wants Isaac to come overto our house. Well, that
makes a lot more sense, doesit did leave halfway through the meal last
time, and because of the baby, right, and it proves my point

(49:52):
that one of them needs to changetheir name. Okay, yeah, it's
two k's and then very similar vowelsin almost identical order. M Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's an Yeah it's really not yeah.
I know that to be true,but it already has caused a problem.

(50:12):
Oh my god, I don't thinkwe can have either one of mine
or Isaac's wife back on. Actually, that's what we should do. We
should put Danley on an episode withKristen and Kirsten and then just make him
like the whole episode is him justhaving to address them by their names.
I love it. Yeah, Imean, I god, that would be
a that'd be a great bit.Okay. So I do think though,

(50:35):
that the text message thing is agenerational thing, because like, even though
we might prefer to talk over textmessage just to get that information, like
if it's a small piece of information, I agree, but I'm saying there
are some topics that demand a phonecall. I think, for like the
younger millennials and for gen Z thattext messaging is as intimate a form of

(50:58):
communication as the phone is. They'renot even. They're not even. You
don't think so. No, they'regonna talk on Fortnite. Yeah, they're
gonna get it. Well, atleast if they're on fork Knife, then
you can hear their voice. Yeah, yeah, they're talking over Fortnite fork
Knife. Yeah. I've so,we've We've got a mutual friend who uh,
he's dating this girl and they theygame together and that's the majority of

(51:23):
their conversations that they have. It'snot over the phone, it's it's them
gaming together, which is bizarre.I'm calling it because I remembered when we
call together, squ're going out ofstyle and we should stop buying them and
just get ready for the future ofdownloads. And I'm calling it now that
phones not gonna be a thing.We're gonna be stuck in a virtual world
talking to each other. I couldsee that. I think that's true.

(51:45):
I've heard I've heard techie people saythat is that is going inevitable when you
invest in invest in fork Knife.Now, when you think of trend setters,
it's Elon Musk it's Gary V.Listen, I can just see the
anytime you can make it about youand then and then do your humble brag

(52:07):
of it's not about it's gonna cometrue, but basically not about very good.
It's not about me. Yeah,Dan Stradamus over there that was coming
and giving us the same reason Iwas in Los Angeles that day kill Michael
Jackson. Can I can I makeprediction that I did earlier? Okay,
I'll just say it and that wedon't have to talk. I believe that

(52:28):
within six months Joe Rogan will bedeep platform interesting. All right, So
I said it. So now it'sout there. I said it. I'm
not backing it up with it.Is he gonna make This is our YouTube
short from this video is just Ibelieve in six months Joe, and that's
our fifteen seconds. I think thatthey won't want him to be able to
influence the next election, and Ithink I think that there are people out

(52:52):
there who believe that he has toomuch influence and he will sway people in
the Middle to go in the MiddleEast people and the tea ballots of the
Middle East. Yeah, yeah,you boy, you nailed it. If
anyone knows the geopolitical landscape. It'sDanstradam. No, what I mean is

(53:17):
not the ultra left or ultra right, the middle the moderates. He will
He'll send the moderates to the MiddleEast. Yeah, where they belong,
Iran, you into the Middle East. That is that's in hesitations. I

(53:38):
remember to remember it fondly. So, uh. We we've learned today that
we shouldn't um, we shouldn't givebig groundbreaking news over text message voice text
message. We also learned go ahead, keep going, go. Yeah.
We've also learned that Isaac believes JoeRogan is going to be platformed in six

(54:00):
months, and also about Fast andFurious, and Danley believes that people who
what's the fast and the furious willwill be the reason that the election is
swayed one Now, as long asthe movies are still coming out and they're
crushing the box office, I knowwhat you said, So Trump has got
a strong shot. I think Ithink as soon as they bring one out
and there's no one goes to seeit. Did did you really like?

(54:21):
This? Was on the Christian nerdHQ on the download What was right this
this conversation about fast X Because thisconversation. This is cutting edge. This
is a revn REP original conversation.This is soon to be ONNQ. So
we we saw Super Mario take thebox office, right, and then Super
Mario which stars Chris Pratt, andthen Chris Pratt takes it with Guardians of

(54:45):
the Galaxy as star Lord, andthen Grout takes it from star Lord into
Fast X and they're all about tolose to Ariel this weekend. Well,
we'll see about that. Dude,there's I but here's my prediction. I'm
with you. Fast X gets killedat the box office by the Little Sure,
Well, it's been out for it. It's been out for a little

(55:06):
bit three weeks, right, No, fastin the Furies came out this weekend.
Yeah, so it will. Itwill have its one week in the
box office. We're gonna we're gonnaas the box office winner. We're gonna
see how it does. If itdoesn't do well, it's gonna be blue.
If you agree, you would dieanother election. They go blue based
on The Little Mermaid. D platformingfurious, Yeah, I don't think that's

(55:30):
d Platforming and dethroning from the numberone spot are two totally different things.
Yeah, he said, as hespat out on the table. I'm out
of candy. My dental work hasmade me very spitty lately. I don't
like it. I don't like itat all. Um. Well, Isaac,
as you well know, we andall of our shows with a segment

(55:50):
that we call controlled routiness, seriesof rapid fire questions which you can answer
with a short or as lengthy andanswer as you would like. Expect nothing
from us by way of reply response. There are no right answers, but
there are several wrong ones. Makesure not to step on any of those
landmines. And to get a start, I'm gonna send it over to General
Grease. I wasn't prepared for thisquestion, but this question for this segment,

(56:13):
Okay, but I'll ask this,okay, Um the Catholic Church,
M yes, that's not a question. Yes, Yes, I'm prepared for
this. Yes, I do youthink is does you think? Does you
think that this is not good?That that and everywhere like such as that

(56:36):
and everywhere like as such as thatwe don't have holy waters? Is it?
Is it good or bad that weas Protestants don't have holy I'll have
holy waters to sip on Oh,I don't think they sip on it.
They don't they put there. They'reletting this holy water just sit there in
this basin. We we got introuble. Did I destroy that sentence enough?

(57:01):
It was pretty close. We getin trouble when I was like fourteen
UM at an Episcopalian church, whichis like, if you don't want to
be all the way Catholic, butyou still want the smoke and head,
if it's good enough that, I'mjust gonna, you know, go all
the way with it. No,because only those who who are clean only
need their feet washed. Yeah,I know, I know what you're getting

(57:22):
at. So what what happened?I was at this Episcopellian winning was supposed
to be an usher for my cousin. I'm like this super fast and at
the back during the rehearsal dinner,my cousin and I, my other cousin
and I were like flicking water fromthis water basin on each other, and
the bishop kept looking at us wheneverhe's performing this rehearsal, and we're like,
I don't know if the heck thisguy's problem is um and uh,

(57:43):
And then he starts talking to usabout uh you know, we're gonna take
communion and all this stuff, andthen he leaves it. He called it
the Holy Euchrist. My uncle,who is not churched. Um. When
we get in his car, myuncle just starts letting us have it because
we made the bishop mad because we'reback there flicking holy water off each other,
and they gotta fly that crap inall the way from Jerusalem and it

(58:05):
gets blessed by like a thousand priestsand a monk doing a rain dance and
all this stuff. He doesn't knowanything about it, but he's furious at
us because the bishop talked to him. He's like, and I'll tell you
one other thing. None of us, and I mean none of us tomorrow
are gonna eat any of that HolyUterus because I have no idea what he's
talking about. And I was likethis, I actually I don't know anything
about the Holy Water, but theHoly Uterus I do know. Um,

(58:25):
all right, Isaac. Next question, if you could get rid of any
one thing of your wife's what wouldit be. Um, she puts too
much peanut butter and her smoothies.And we have our first fight coming up.

(58:46):
But I do not. And thenwhen I teas her about it.
How much is not Isaac, Oh, it's not funny. It's not like
I've made the joke of like,oh, you're making your peanut butter milkshaco
of that, and it's like,it's not funny. Oh. I love
that. Yeah, I love that. I love that. The duality of

(59:09):
a comedian who is also a wife. Yea, and they at certain points
they don't no no sense of humorabout that, but about about that and
others as you will find. Yeah, and I find that hysterical because my
wife does too. She's very funnyand something she does not have a sense

(59:31):
of human the heck is with women. I don't know women, you know.
Um. The other thing that wehad a disagreement on was that all
of the girls in her family,not just her, right, all of
the girls in her family where liketemple garments, terminator sunglasses. Okay,

(59:57):
and they all it's a very theylook just like her dad. And I've
told I used to tell her allthe time, like will you please set
Yeah, Well it's true too,yeah, and it's it's a it got
a little touchy for a little while, so good to the point it's like
the big black glasses, the onesthat wrap around so like the oil rigs

(01:00:22):
from ok that's what they look like. And her dad wears those, and
then she wears those. All hersisters go hey, sorry, I'm like,
I'm like, you look too muchlike you're you reminded that's what your
dad wears. So what sunglasses?Would you prefer her to wear? Girly
ones on the nose? Okay?Yeah, like I bought her. I

(01:00:43):
bought her these white ones with likeor something like that girl's glass. She
didn't like them very much, anduh, you didn't that block out enough
of the sun? I think thatshe likes she I understand she likes the
efficiency of them because from from theperipheral the like you're but you're not talking
about like the ozone glasses, right, Like some go over the collectacles of

(01:01:05):
her eyes that they're very white?Are they're very blue? Are the other
girls like that? Like they moresensitive? They also have the eyes of
the blue ice white dragon. That'swhat I'm saying, extremely extremely baby blue
eyes. Yeah maybe no, maybeit's a family thing. They always have

(01:01:28):
never been touched by the sun.Yeah, do you do you sometimes because
of your wife's eye color? Justthink when she looks at you that she's
automatically mad because it's like it's soher eyes are so striking. Yeah they
are, Yeah, yeah, therereally are. They Like there have been
a couple of times where she's like, because she's doing some some things in

(01:01:49):
the church and she's editing y'all's podcastsocial media stuff. No, she'll she'll
just she'll look at me and belike hey, and I'm like, yes,
ma'am. Oh no, she's like, well, what are you doing?
Like nothing, I'm fine, funddiamond charge all right, Dan,
your turn. Girls are so fun, that's not a question. No,
I lost track. Um, who'sthe best pope? M M same?

(01:02:15):
I like that German guy that gotI like that guy. I wish I
was like, Yeah, they're likeyou're you're the voice that guy can't do
that voice of God says I'm tired. Oh so great. Yeah that makes

(01:02:43):
sense. That makes sense. Whydo you believe the maka putt is the
peckle of coffee making? It bringsout the richness of coffee. It makes
it makes a low quality coffee likeit brings, it brings it up a
few notches. It if you've ifyou're a coffee person. Same. Um,

(01:03:04):
I just it's disappointing to drink coffeepot coffee after you've had the Moca
maca whatever. No, it's notmacha, it's not powdered green tea from
the hills of Japan. The metalthing like where you put the water down
here and the Italian Yeah, sothe name of it. It's a reverse

(01:03:24):
pot. Yeah, it's the absolutebest way to make drink coffee with those
things. So I do it,questions, and Isaac has to Isaac has
to disassemble his with the vice grips. Do you know that's the manliest way
to make coffee? Kids them gunscocked at all? Oh you mean you
don't mean literal ice cript. No, that's the manliest way to make coffee.

(01:03:45):
Then I have to go in thegarage to use the vice script to
unscrew the That's incredible. How didyou do that at your your previous abode?
There was a vice script there too, So wow, I want to
try this coffee if it takes vicegrips, Yeah, and you don't wash
it out, You just spray wD four in the next bat ever every

(01:04:05):
day. Oh, what a richtaste, just like fish oil. The
main ingredient for w It's and Mark. I don't know. I don't know
if that's arible or not. You'llhave to decide, Yeah, I will,
I will. Uh well, Isaac, any any parting words? Do

(01:04:28):
you do you think that we keepthat? Does you think? I don't
think you do? Okay? Ona scale of one to oh to a
Baptist, oh oh plus okay,we'll keep that so that everybody's like,
oh, I wonder what they said, Oh, you subscribe to our non
existing patriot and to h to hearthat? Yeah, follow me on Instagram.

(01:04:51):
That's what you're on the grama onbig time on Instagram. Why should
I get on the Graham You're alreadyon the Gram. I'm not I have
a thing. What are you on? Nothing? Really? I want to
shut down. I want to shutdown all you don't see. You want
to be on TikTok. I didnot want to be on anything. Yeah.

(01:05:15):
I didn't want to be on anything. And when I started dating Kristen,
she was like, if you're noton social media, it's almost like
you're not even a comedian. That'strue, It's kind of true. That
cut deep well, it made sense. They rang true but it did a
cut deep. Yeah, it's sodeep that now I'm on Instagram. Yeah,
yeah, you change their mind.What they say is the first cut

(01:05:38):
is the deepest. Yeah. Yeah. Woo. So you're answer, what's
your what's your screen name on it? Isaac Whitty? Yeah, I c
W I T T Y. Yeah, you'll find me. But no underscores
or anything like that. Man,lucky you. Everything now was taken.

(01:05:59):
Yeah, like the next generations,the underscores and asterisks and numbers. Before
we wrap, I do want toend on a sentimental note. Okay,
if if we can all just putour hands on the table and like,
there we go. Is it aboutme? I'll just touch fingers? Okay,
So no, Um. One ofone of the ways that we first

(01:06:20):
found out about you was from youryour now lovely wife, Kristen, and
the video that she sent us waslike, here, check Isaac out on
this podcast. I think it'd begreat on your show. Um, And
our our show is very scatter brained, as anyone who is not just like
listened to our show but knows uswould know that it would there would have

(01:06:41):
to be right. But the clipthat she sent us was one that I
found incredibly thoughtful because it was youtalking about your your testimony, you were
coming to Christ, like from thebackground and stuff that you came from,
and also like what God has donein your life. And and I know
we've you know, we've talked aboutwrapping a couple of time, but I
think we would be remiss if wedidn't ask you to share that story because

(01:07:02):
I do think it's one that's that'slike super super powerful and very very cool
now on since we've only known youon this side of it right to just
see what what God's doing in yourlife and how He's using you. So
would you would you mind kind ofsharing that? No, yeah, not
at all, And if you haveany questions along the way, let me
know. But um, we're notafraid to. I was. I was

(01:07:23):
in Los Angeles driving down to five. I was raised in church and it
never meant anything to me. Um, yeah, I was. I did
the whole church youth camp I did. I was in. I went to
church until I was I even workedfor our church up until I was like
twenty twenty three years old. Iwas in church all the time. I

(01:07:45):
moved away from Tulsa, where Iwas from, and I moved to Minneapolis,
and I left God and everything likethat behind. Um. Soon after
I moved there, I got intodrinking and I started drinking a lot and
party and a lot, but nothinghard yet. The more I drank,
and everything I would, I woulddrink. But I was still experiencing a

(01:08:08):
lot of success. At the time. I was young and I was a
party animal. I was, Idon't know, I was having a lot
of fun. I didn't I didn'tfeel the bump at all from so I
kind of I kind of at thatpoint in my life, in my early
twenty early and mid twenties, Ikind of felt like everything I was told
when I was a kid, it'skind of not true, because I feel

(01:08:29):
like I'm doing great. Like Ikept experiencing more and more success. I
was like living on the road doingcomedy, doing what I'd always wanted to
do, working with really neat people, and uh you know, and uh,
there was there was some success.Like I was on Comedy Central,
I was a Montreal Comedy Festival lettermanand Conan, Yeah, well Conan was

(01:08:50):
much later. That was like mylast gasps kind of of success. But
I got into cocaine a little bit, just uh just kind of a spontaneous
decision. I was in working acomedy club in Corpus Christie, and uh
and we went over the we wentover the border to No, I'm not
not Corpus Christie. We were inEl Paso and we went over the border

(01:09:14):
to Warez and I remember sitting ata bar and this guy was talking to
my friend and my friend turns tome and he goes, you want to
try cocaine? And I was like, sure, We're in Mexico. So
based on just being proximity, oh, just the fac that I was in
Mexico, I was like, I'llgive that a try it because it doesn't
even really count, and uh sotake on your birthday. So I tried

(01:09:41):
cocaine and I was just also,tacos don't count, right, But oh
my gosh, I loved cocaine andI really started. That's when I really
started doing coke every chance I couldget well, you know, well more
like it started like every week,then I went to twice a week,
three times a week, to eventuallyback in to By two thousand and six,
I was like a full blown likeI'm a co head, like three,

(01:10:04):
three or four times a week allthe time. Got into crack a
little bit too. I was stilldoing comedy here and there. I went
through a marriage and a quick divorceand still drinking a lot, way far
from God. A few years afterthat, then I had my last gasp
with of success with doing Conan.That was back in twenty fifteen, I

(01:10:27):
think fourteen fifteen. In twenty sixteen, I was given an because when I
lived in New York, I madefriends with someone who happened to become a
celebrity I was friends with back then. I made friends with Amy Schumer.
So when I saw that she wasgoing to be playing in Minneapolis, where
I was living at the time,I texted her and I was like,

(01:10:49):
Hey, I'm in Minneapolis, let'shang out. And she was like,
want to open for me? WhenI was there, I was like yeah.
So this was like a show tenthousand people, Targets Center, this
is a huge venue. This iswhere the NBA Timberwolves play. Yeah,
I mean it's a gigantic venue.So I went up that night thinking it

(01:11:10):
would be like other times I hadopened for bigger names, thinking like,
this is gonna be an easy crowd, like a really great crowd, and
it was just not. I justI fell on my face. I bombed
in front of ten thousand people.It was like one of the biggest shows
I had ever had. And sothis, this this image I had of

(01:11:30):
myself as someone who could always pullit together and do when it really mattered,
do well on stage. It wasjust shattered. So at that point,
once I once that happened, Iwas so incredibly depressed. I just
I quit being in my mind.I was I was no longer a comedian.
I was just a drug addict.So I I just started doing continuing

(01:11:54):
doing adderall all the time, drinkingreally heavily. UM, I kept doing
cocaine. Eventually I even did cocaineto the point where I couldn't do it
anymore, like my nose was soworn out. But um, I eventually
started I got a job selling furniture, and I started smoking meth, which

(01:12:16):
is um. You know, soit was a pretty rough lifestyle, yeah,
sure, devolution, Yeah yeah,yeah, it was. It was
very It was a slow decline downdown, down, selling selling furniture,
you know, smoking meth and um, and I I was started getting suicidal

(01:12:39):
thoughts. I started really seriously thinkingabout killing myself. And I was a
really really dark place, and uh, I just I went down to Tulsa
because I talked to my sister,and my sister said, if you are
if you come down here, I'llget you antidepressants and therapy, which is
what I had. I decided,yeah, that's what you. I was

(01:13:00):
like, if I could just getthis and this, I know i'd be
fine. And I told her Idon't want to hear anything about God,
and she was like, that's finewith me. Yeah, my sister worked
worked for her, she's in theministry. Yeah, she just wants you.
Well, yeah, she just wantedme. Well, she met me
where I was at. So mybrother in law as well did the same.
So I went down to Tulsa.I was like, ah, probably
on my third time saying this therapist, I said, I finally admitted to

(01:13:26):
him I've been smoking meth for thelast two years. And that's when he
goes, well, if that's thecase, it'd be best if you stayed
for about three months. We couldwork some of this out and start this
conversation on what it means for youto continue your life without math. And
so I was like, I knewhow much money that would cost, so

(01:13:47):
I did not want to put mysister and brother in law out like that.
So I just I was like,I'm not going to accept all that
money. I don't. I didn'tlike the idea of owing people money,
so so I was like, I'mnot doing it. I had a fight
with my mom about She was like, I think she should take him up
on it. I was like,no way. So I stormed off,

(01:14:09):
drove down the house. I wassitting in a parking lot smoking weed,
and I was like, it occurredto me, I'm broke. I have
nowhere to go. I called Hazeltonand I was like, maybe I can
go to Hazelton do it my way, not with this Christian counselor. Yeah,
and uh man, it's if youthink that Christian counselor costs a lot,

(01:14:30):
like like Hazelton is like forty fiftygrand. I mean for like outpatient,
it's nuts, Like it's uh So, I just kind of had this
moment where I was like, Ihave nowhere else to go. I have
to take accept this help. Iwill accept help. And when I when
I there was something in my mindwhen I when I decided that I was

(01:14:53):
willing to accept the help, somethingkind of spiritual happened like a door opened
in me. And uh so,so it was just kind of a matter
of time at that point. SoI was sitting, I was in the
car still, A top of thehour news station came on. News news
thing came on, and it wassomething about some so I think it was

(01:15:13):
about something about kids being hurt orsomething like that, right, And I
said out loud, I guess itwas a prayer. I said, how
the F could you let that happen? Talking to God? That was my
prayer to God, I said,I used the F word in my prayer,
and it was a very angry prayer. It was a very honest prayer

(01:15:36):
because that's that's like the best Icould do at that moment. I did
not know where to turn. SoI thought, I'll actually turn to God
and I'll say, where the howthe F could you let this happen?
And I really, looking back onit, I wasn't really talking about I
really wasn't talking about that news stories. I was kind of talking about,

(01:15:56):
how could you let this happens?Everything? Yeah, yeah, the news
story was your excuse, Yeah,yeah, to be angry. How did
you let this happen? And thishappen? How could you possibly allow someone
like me to end up in aplace like this? Yeah? And um,
all the anger and resentment I wentat God with it was only returned
with love and kind of an invitation. Okay, and this is this is

(01:16:20):
how you felt. It was likeit was like an explosion in my mind
and heart. You know, itwas like I I grace and mercy was
poured down on me at that moment, and at that moment there was it
was like an invitation of do youwant to be with me? And that's

(01:16:41):
when I that was the day Igot saved. And I used to think
that that term got saved was socorny. Yeah, but I don't like
the I found the Lord. Ifound Jesus right, because that makes it
sound like I did something, becausereally I didn't do anything but say,
how the F could you let thishappen to me? And then he did

(01:17:02):
all the rest. I was likea dead body out in the middle of
the ocean, and then I wasbrought back to life, you know,
So I it's awesome. I wasjust I got saved in that moment.
Did you like, because you grewup in church, so did you recall
and go back over everything that youhad you had learned previously or was it?
Was it something? It was justa feeling like a you know,

(01:17:25):
it's logic, logic wasn't in it. It's kind of like I I had
such resentment, like resentment towards theBible and Church that um, I didn't
even like God really met me whereI was at, like in a way
like God sent me tim Keller becauseyeah, so this is something that I
want to get into because like,so you have this was tim Keller.

(01:17:47):
Well, well he has this momentwhere's radically saved, and we'll we'll get
into who tim Keller is because youmentioned that he just passed away. Yeah,
but before you find tim Keller,you get more angry, Yeah,
at at God in the Bible.Yeah, like I immediately followed. So
you get saved, you have thisincredible experience, and then you go home
and then you get upset all over. Well, to answer your question,

(01:18:10):
it's like, yeah, I feltlike I already knew what the Bible said
because I was raised in church,and I was like, I know what
it is and it's boring, andI'd get it. You know, I'm
into God. I'm just not inthe Bible. You know that's what I
would say. Back then. Iwould say, I'm still gonna be the
same guy. I'm still gonna drinkand cuss. I'm just I'm just a

(01:18:30):
Christian now. And but I hadthis moment where I was like, Wow,
I just had this huge epiphany.I just had this this uh,
this encounter with the Almighty. Ithink I'm gonna pick up the Bible and
read it because I bet that'll inspireme. So I remember, I was
all by myself. I picked upa Bible and I just turned to no
page in particular, really, andI just opened it and I read like

(01:18:53):
half a chapter and I got Iwas angry. I was like, this
doesn't mean anything to me. I'mso mad at this. Like God's words
should make me feel inspired to goto therapy. Yeah, I really had
I really was angry. And Itexted my sister and I was like,
I just tried to read the Bibleand it made me mad. And she

(01:19:15):
was like, well, that's nota good way to introduce yourself. Do
you remember what you read? Idon't know, No, I don't remember.
I'm sure it was Old Testament.Okay, yeah, well that's that's
the majority of it right, likeyou fell upon like meaningless meaningless, everything's
meaning this is not uplifting at all, or some kind of anger. Yeah
yeah, yep, but I remember. And then she goes, what you

(01:19:40):
should maybe you should try this,Maybe you should try listening to some preaching
podcasts. So she sent me threeoptions, one of which was Tim Keller,
who's a Presbyterian minister in New York. And I just really really,
I mean, it wasn't just TimKeller, it was like ninety percent Tim
Keller. I also really got intoFrancis and and I listened to with George,

(01:20:00):
who was my old friend from Tulsa, but um and Willie George as
well, but but not Willie Nelson, not Willie. But I got into
but I really really got I gotinto Tim Keller so hard, like I
would listen to three to five messagesa day. I just binge oh man,
yeah. Because But then after aboutI did that for about a year

(01:20:23):
where I did not read the Bible. I went to church every Sunday,
I've all I served in church.I went to small groups, but I
did not read the Bible. ButI just noticed there's this real common theme
with all of these Tim Keller sermons, and it was that he's always talking
about the Bible, you know.So I just occurred to me like I
think I'm gonna give it another try. And it was about April May of

(01:20:44):
twenty twenty. I just made adecision. I'm going to read the Bible
every morning, read one chapter aday. Yeah, what else are you
gonna do? It's twenty twenty,like we're all stuck at home, right,
Yeah. So I started doing thatand it was just amazing, Like
it wasn't at all like for likebecause I had I don't know, because
I spent so much time in listeningto people talk about the Bible. Now

(01:21:08):
I was actually mature enough and Iwas ready to actually read the Bible and
it was just this incredible thing likewhere it wasn't like before, Like now
like the words are just exploding offthe page and I'm just really interested in
what happened. And I just keptNow it's I mean, I'm even I
even love the Bible so much thatI'm going to seminary in in in September.

(01:21:32):
I'm gonna I'm going to pursue acertificate in Biblical theology. So yeah,
it's it's it's pretty awesome. It'spretty amazing. I went from a
meth head to that, from methhead to minister the Isaac Whitty story.
Did you also go I may havemissed this, but did you allso?

(01:21:53):
Did you still go to rehab?Did you accept? You know? I
care? I kind of bury thelead there. Um. I never had
since that day. I never usedhard drugs again. I never watched pornography
again. I mean, meth andporn go hand in hand. It's like
you just math is pornography? Isit really gets a grip on him?

(01:22:16):
But I never did. I neverdid hard drugs again. I mean,
I mean again, God met mewhere I was at. I coming from
where I came from, with allmy friends being like drug users like weed,
mushrooms that was no big deal,and seeing your hero die from it.
Yeah, yeah, so that's that'sone of the things that I wanted

(01:22:36):
to get it. Like it still. I still did edibles and I did
mushrooms a couple of times, butthat fell aside, fell to the side
pretty fast. So like seeing partlike seeing Mitch die from an addiction,
right, that doesn't even phase you? Oh it did? It did?

(01:22:57):
But I remember back when had died. It was like there there used to
be, there was this real thingin the early two thousands of like we
really wanted to be these hard drinkand drug using like Doug stand Hope,
real comedians, real comedians. Yeah, and that's what Hedberg was. Hedberg
in our eyes was like you canbe really good on stage and do a

(01:23:19):
lot of drugs. And then whenhe died, it really kicked the chair
out from under that that idea thata lot of us haund so but yeah,
it was really really sad when thathappened because it was kind of like
an idol of mine was was disintegratingright before. Yeah, sure, so
now for sure. So, um, you know, this episode's gone really

(01:23:40):
long, but I think it's goneto a good place. Like what I've
that last part, Well, No, I've got two questions that I that
I that I want to get atbecause um and and they're both like pieces
of advice, but they're from bothsides of the story. Right, So
if you are you know, inif somebody's listening and they're in your situation,

(01:24:01):
yeah that you were in in intwenty eighteen, what piece of advice
do you give to them? Iwould say, I would say the thing
that you need to know is thatyou're you're more love than you could possibly
imagine, and that UM, tolook to the Cross because there is grace
and mercy. You can't go toofar from God's grace. I mean,

(01:24:26):
it's always available to you. That'sThat's what I would say. So the
next question is on the opposite side, like you've got a friend or a
loved one who's in that situation.What what piece of advice do you give
to those who are who are seeinga person that they love and that they
care about, you know, likeyou kill themselves. Yeah, like Devolve

(01:24:47):
killed themselves, right. I wouldsay that I think a big reason why
I think, a big reason whyI'm here right now is because a big
reason why I'm here. I'm hereright now is because of the prayers of
my family. Um, God hearsyour prayers. Your prayers mean something.

(01:25:08):
Um. I think that now,like more and more, even in my
spiritual life. Now I'm just realizingthe power of prayer. And Um,
you can't, I mean, don'tgive up on them. They're gonna be
jerks. They're gonna they're gonna ignoreyour calls, and they're they're pretty selfish,
but um, God knows them betterthan you know them, and don't

(01:25:31):
stop praying for him because a miracle, like what happened to me, and
that is what it is. Itwas a miracle that yeah, I mean,
people don't people don't just stop doinghard drugs out of nowhere without without
a lot of help like rehab orsomething like that. And that really is
what happened to me. That's awesome. Yeah, So that's pretty cool getting

(01:25:54):
to to have, especially over thecourse the last few months, just like
a front row seat too, likeGod continuing to use you and grow and
that has has just been so cool. Um, and especially getting to see
like yours and and Kristin's relationship growover the course of the last year because
like when we first and I'm sorry, Kristen, yeah, yeah, but

(01:26:15):
but when we first heard about you, we were we were certainly like making
the pants jokes and stuff like playingoff of like her her comedy bit.
I remember that when we asked herwho she's looking for or she has something.
I don't remember the exact question,but she said that she likes men
with WHI looking for a Robert Downeytype man, not necessarily you know,

(01:26:40):
what I like RBJ. Yeah,I like wit, which is a problem
because guys who have wit generally don'tlike girls who have wit because they want
to be the funniest one in theroom, or so I have been told
by my guy comedian front. Ohyes she did, she did that.

(01:27:00):
That's literally what she I'll have togo back and stuck in my head.
Yeah. Ever since then, itlike she literally she did like in in
that Yeah, it was it wasgood, but we were making those some
jokes and then, like I said, getting to you know that video that
she sent um because like we're asking, you know, she's like, hey,
you gotta have because we had herback on the show. She was
like, hey you gotta have Uhthis guy I'm dating on Isaac. We're

(01:27:26):
like okay, and she's like he'she's hysterical and we saw your your stuff
on Conan. And then she sendsus this podcast and you're like Ben Saves
in twenty eighteen and you're going throughall this stuff. I was like,
this is much different than what shepitched. Was that like, yeah,
no, he's he's hilarious. Youhave to have him on. But this
is a guy with like tremendous depththat has a real encounter with with the

(01:27:48):
grace of Christ in a way thathas radically changed her life. And man,
I gotta say, like watching itover there over the last year,
getting to a DJ y'all's wedding akapush play on the iPad playlist this is
awesome mine too. Yeah, yeah, I got I'm a professional playlist play
pusher um like it's it's just beenso cool, and it's been he getting

(01:28:09):
to watch you guys grow and thengetting to watch the stuff that you guys
are doing now in tandem with youryou know, you're how to fix your
marriage comedy stuff that is is veryfunny. It's been a blast to be
able to like that. I've beenin put in the position now where God
has sent me a wife that Ijust I mean, I just think the
world of and I have so muchrespect for and and we just get to
know each other better and better allthe time. And just to think that

(01:28:32):
I would have to think of whereI was five years ago compared to now,
it's just pretty incredible. Yeah,we've all been blessed. Yeah,
yeah, the women in our livesthat blessed us slash cursed us with Yeah,
even if Danley can't tell them apart. Hey, thank you guys for
watching The Reverend and the Reverbate onthe Christian Nerd HQ and kursten Let's show

(01:28:57):
Yeah Featream. Thank you guys forwatch make sure they're like subscribe doing a
little bill. Check out Isaac stuffwhich is down there in the show notes,
Isaac Whitty on Instagram and the Wittiesover on the tiktoks. Y'all,
let's stay hardks and we'll see checkhim on the Gram.

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Marriage, Comedy, and Finding God | Isaac Witty | The Reverend and Reprobate Podcast

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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;}Marriage, Comedy, and Finding God | Isaac Witty | The Reverend and Reprobate Podcast