March 12, 2024 • 31 mins
March 12, 2024
126. Turning Life's Struggles into Stand-Up Material
Ever think buying your dream home is all sunshine and rainbows? Think again!" In this eye-opening episode of "Homeowners Be Aware," host George Siegal gets real with Mike Knox, a stand-up comedian with a past life as a prison guard and a homeowner who's seen it all. From the highs of snagging a house during the 2008 crash to the lows of floods and faulty roofs, Mike spills the beans on what owning a house really entails. It's not just about the glamour; it's about the gutters, the leaks, and the unexpected costs that can turn your home sweet home into a relentless project. Mike's stories are packed with humor, horror, and a heap of advice that could save you a fortune. So, if you're thinking of buying, already own, or just love a good tale of homeowning gone wild, you won't want to miss this episode. It's real talk, real laughs, and real advice from someone who's lived through the homeowner's journey from hell and back.
Here’s how you can follow or reach Mike Knox:
Website: http://mikeknox.com/
Important information from Homeowners Be Aware:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeownersbeaware/
Website: https://homeownersbeaware.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-siegal/
If you'd like to reach me for any reason, here's the link to my contact form:
https://homeownersbeaware.com/contact
Here's the link to the trailer for the documentary film I'm making: Built to Last: Buyer Beware.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
George Siegal (00:00):
I really enjoy sharing building and remodeling
stories, whether they are goodor bad.
Learning what others have gonethrough can help us avoid making
the same mistakes, or using agood idea can make our project
even better.
My guest today has someinteresting experiences with
projects that he's taken onsince buying his house.
Mike Knox is a stand-upcomedian, the author of two
(00:21):
books.
He's also worked as a prisonguard.
From flooding to roof issues,mike has some great advice for
anyone Learning of buying ahouse.
I'm George Siegal and this isHomeowners Be Aware, the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner.
Mike, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Thanks for having me.
(00:42):
Hey, I want to jump right intoyour challenges and problems as
a homeowner.
I always talk about mine, andthe list is really long.
Tell me about some of the stuffyou've had to deal with in your
days as a homeowner.
Mike Knox (00:57):
Sure, I always like to say I always like to tell
people you don't have to own ahome just because I've had such
horrible experiences with mine.
Mine started with I bought myhome about 2008 when everything
crashed.
I got house fever.
I thought I have to own a home.
I'm going to all these places.
Everybody's talking about it.
Everybody's like you got to getinto real estate.
I was listening to that.
(01:17):
I really just tell people tojust slow down.
Make sure that when you buy ahome, you've got some money
saved, because the second thatyou step into that home, when
it's yours, there's all thesethings that everybody else wants
.
The second I moved into my place, it's like we need new floors.
Well, that was another 15 grandand then I really trusted the
realtor and I really trusted theinspector and I always tell
(01:42):
people you've got to meeteverybody halfway and you've got
to check all those things,because I'm still finding stuff
that the inspector from 15 yearsago missed and I'm still
dealing with those issues whereI thought that guy knew what he
was doing.
When they really come in for acouple hours, they go up in the
attic, they're checking aroundthe house, but I'm still finding
places in the attic.
(02:04):
I'm dealing right now withleaking that's coming from the
side of the house because it'sbeen raining so much in Los
Angeles.
We really don't get a lot ofrain in Los Angeles, and so this
year was a lot of heavy rain,so I'm noticing like I should
probably get some rain guttersthat I never had before.
All those things are justalways adding up.
About a month ago I was on myway to go see some friends that
(02:24):
I hadn't seen in a long time andI like the water heater burst
and it was just had flooded thegarage and now those are on and
I was thinking, oh well, I guessit's been 10 years since I had
the water heater.
But when you, when you'rerenting, that's all the stuff
the landlord or the propertyowner has to deal with.
When you're the homeowner,that's all the stuff you're
dealing with, and nobody evertells you any of that and that's
(02:45):
the things that are constantly.
It's like the upkeep of thehouse I always think of, like
the in my mind.
My house is small, it's 1200square feet but I'm always
thinking it's like this Englishmansion castle that I've got to
maintain, but it's just memaintaining it.
But there's always somethingthat comes up and that's what
it's so hard to kind of conveyto other people that are looking
to get a home is like it's.
It just to me is always everyday that I'm waiting for
(03:10):
something else to happen.
George Siegal (03:11):
Yeah, that's a.
That's a very common story.
What part of LA do you live in?
Mike Knox (03:16):
North part of Los Angeles, in Valencia, so near
Magiment.
George Siegal (03:20):
Yeah, I mean.
So the challenges that thateverybody has.
Okay, the home inspectors I'vehad a bunch of them on as a
guest on the podcast and a lotof them seem like great guys.
I've met some a few of them inperson and they and they really
know their stuff.
But they do admit they're onlywith you two or three hours, you
know, maybe four, depending onthe size of the house.
You had a smaller house so itprobably was less.
So they're not going to catcheverything, but you like to
(03:41):
think the some of the stuffyou're finding that they would
have caught.
As far as realtors, you know,that's another tough one.
I hear good and bad stories.
You know it's like how much arethey obligated to tell you they
really want to sell a house,they want their commission.
So it's a tough relationship toknow how much you can really
count on other people and what Ialways say is you have to be
(04:02):
your own best advocate foryourself.
Mike Knox (04:03):
Yes, and I think a lot of people go into like I did
.
I went in blindly thinking allthese people are professionals
and they're all going to help meand I don't really need to do
any research.
But that was finding out yearslater like I should have done
better research.
But you never know.
It's a, it is a total gamble.
I definitely am glad that I owna home, but you never really
(04:25):
know who you're, who you'redealing with, inspector wise.
For me the guy had known thereal estate agent so he kept
hugging her and he was moreinterested in like catching up
old times.
So that was a big reason why hemissed a lot of stuff was
because he was just chatting itup.
And I learned, like, make surethese people don't know each
other and they're friendly,because that works better.
You know you really want.
(04:46):
You really want that personthat is in your best interest.
That's not there to just have.
He was just there to have.
Oh my gosh, I've seen somebodywho's just there to have fun.
George Siegal (04:56):
Did she recommend him?
Yes, yeah, see, that's always aproblem for me because there's
a real conflict of interestthere.
Even if they're honest, I thinkit's better to go into a
transaction with one in yourpocket that you found, just to
avoid that kind of stuff, causeI don't really want to chatty,
cathy, you know trying to makeout with my realtor.
I want them to.
(05:16):
I want them busted in theirbutt finding out what's wrong
with my house.
Mike Knox (05:19):
Yeah, Same with the same with the broker.
She knew the broker and thatguy turned out to I mean, he
turned out to same thing.
He was more interested in likegoing to coffee or lunch with
her than and I finally just wentwith another broker because he
wasn't.
He finally, after all thesemonths, just was like oh I, I
don't know how to deal with thisanymore.
(05:39):
And that was what killed me isyou're just dealing with people
like how did you get, how didyou, how were you ever licensed
to do this?
And it was so hard to getpeople just to do their job Now
in Los Angeles.
George Siegal (05:49):
the real estate disclosure forms are pretty
comprehensive.
So did they disclose everything?
Was there stuff that they liedabout?
Mike Knox (05:58):
It's not necessarily that they lied about, it was
just my.
The big thing for me was thethe AC air ducts were all rotted
so.
So it's very hot in Los Angelesespecially.
I'm low desert, so I have torun the air conditioning all the
time and the air.
And within the first week of memoving in, I had to replace the
air conditioner because we hadfires going on.
We had this huge Heat wave andthe air conditioning went out,
(06:22):
and that's why I've neverforgotten that.
Like I would hear people saythat, oh, something's gonna
happen the second that you moveit into your house and, sure
enough, my air conditioningcompletely went out.
Well, that was at the time wasanother 4000.
Now air conditioning replacingthat stuff's probably around
15,000, if you get the parts atall, because they're ordering
them from China.
Yeah, and I really a lot oftimes I wish I didn't have the
(06:43):
money at the time when I movedin 16 years ago and I really
wish there was stuff that I haddone, because now everything
Coming out of Kobe is threetimes more expensive.
Like I'm looking at getting anew roof, well, that's three
times more than it was when Ihad bids three years ago.
George Siegal (06:56):
Yeah, be careful with roofers, and that's that's
a whole other scam business.
There's some really good ones.
But I had a leak at our houseand a roofer came and he stood
outside.
He looked up at the roof, whichwas it's a two-story house.
He goes yeah, it'll cost youabout twenty five hundred
dollars to fix your problem.
And I said twenty five hundreddollars to fix what problem?
You're down here, the roof's upthere, don't you need to go up
(07:18):
there?
He goes no, I've been doingthis for years.
That wasn't even the part ofthe roof where the problem was
and this guy was gonna rip meoff for twenty five hundred
bucks fixing something thatwasn't even broken.
Mike Knox (07:27):
Yeah, and a lot of them know.
They know that you don't likefor me, they'll come in and they
know that I don't know anythingand so I'm I'm trust, I'm
putting a huge amount of trustinto somebody and this is a
stranger that you know.
And thank goodness for Googleor YouTube, because I can at
least YouTube stuff.
That saves me a ton of money,which a lot of people don't do
and a lot of people are just asimple putting so much trust in
(07:48):
these people that they're therebecause they're trying to keep
their job or make money fortheir business.
And again, it just all comesdown to money and how much more
money I can make now, how muchwere you aware I guess I'm, I'm.
George Siegal (08:01):
I think I know the answer of the building code
of the.
Is it up to earthquake code?
All the things that are Safetyfeatures of the house.
Were you concerned about any ofthat?
Mike Knox (08:11):
No, because I had house fever.
So moving in, I would just, Iwanted to get into house.
I had to get into a house.
I could care.
I could have cared less if itwas.
You know, I was living in acloset, I didn't care.
And then so, looking back, thoseare all the things that,
because I've been, you know,right in the middle of when
earthquakes happen, but theepicenter of earthquakes, an
(08:32):
earthquake insurance I can'tafford.
It's way too expensive butthat'll devastate your house if
a huge earthquake hit.
And those are.
Those are things that nobody istelling you about.
They're nobody's telling youabout your insurance that you
got to carry your property tax.
They're not telling you that ifyou're not paying your property
tax, they're gonna repossessyour house.
So there's all these otherthings that you're just not
aware of.
Building codes specifically.
Every time something breaks,the guy comes in is like up,
(08:55):
it's not a building code, that'sanother $300, and it's always.
These building codes are alwayschanging.
Laws Are always change,supposedly always changing,
which is another thing peopleneed to be aware of, because
they'll come in and, you know,rattle off some law where they
have to charge you more money Tojust to install something.
Now you probably don't haveflood insurance either.
George Siegal (09:15):
I would imagine.
No, it'll come for you to know.
I just read this article thatsaid 25% of Los Angeles is
susceptible to flash floodingand flood insurance isn't
terribly expensive out there.
But if your house was to floodand we learned this in making
the films that I make yourinsurance isn't paying you if
your house floods.
There's so many things.
(09:36):
Have you ever actually readyour insurance policy to know
what you have that is covered?
I have, but that's only becauseI have a family of insurance
agents.
Mike Knox (09:44):
So that's been instilled in my head, but most
people don't, because it's.
It's so exhausting and boringto look through that stuff, but
a lot of insurance, you know.
It reminds me of a, of awarranty that I got from my car,
where I read through it and itcovered everything but the
engine.
Well, what do I want this to do?
And it covered everything butthe engine.
Well, what do I want thispolicy for then?
So, yes, I've got to readeverything.
George Siegal (10:05):
There's a lot of exclusions in there and uh.
Here in florida they took out alot of policies.
Don't cover sinkholes anymore.
What's one of the main damagespeople get from their houses?
Sinkholes.
Hurricane coverage.
The deductible is 2, so peopledon't realize the first 2 is out
of their pocket and in ourstate you can't even sue and get
attorney's fees.
If you win, then anymore canyou get attorney's fees in
(10:28):
california.
Mike Knox (10:30):
I'm not too sure, but I've tried to sue and it is
especially.
Ellie county is by far theworst place to try to get
somebody in the court or suesomebody, so I've definitely
been through that wow.
George Siegal (10:42):
So With the lessons that you've learned,
have you thought about justgoing back to being a renter?
I would rent if I could.
Mike Knox (10:49):
I, I would too.
It's just that I'm too far intoit now and I really feel like
you know what I, I give up now.
I really just end at the pointwhere I just give up.
I mean, there's, it just seemslike when everything's thrown at
me now, okay, yeah, sure.
George Siegal (11:04):
Which is frustrating, because they make
homeownership out to be theAmerican dream.
It's your biggest asset, it'syour Center, a place for pride,
and the reality is it's a moneypit that you're responsible for,
and and sometimes it's not fun.
Mike Knox (11:19):
No, not at all.
That's another reason why youknow people.
The little quick answers thatpeople always give you is well,
why don't you just move out ofstate?
And my thing is at least I knowmy neighborhood, my street.
To me it's a safety net, it's Ican.
I can go home and feel safe.
I don't want to go movesomeplace where I will I figure
out that I have a wacko neighboror there's all these other
problems.
At least I've pinpointed mostof the problems in my house and
(11:42):
I'm like I'm just not gonna move.
But All of those problems dobother me.
But I don't want to have a newset of problems and that's a
Large reason why I don't want.
I mean, moving is such a hasslealso.
George Siegal (11:54):
Wasn't there a Tom Hanks movie called the money
pit?
Mike Knox (11:57):
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I think that's very true.
I love that movie.
George Siegal (11:59):
Yeah, yeah, that is very true.
Now there's a lot of this stuffthat's happened to your house.
Make it into your comedy act.
What's the act?
Pretty much about?
Mike Knox (12:08):
My comedy act mostly is about my daughter's epilepsy,
because that's a whole notherstory.
We're just trying to getepilepsy laws in place.
It's such an underfundedMedical condition and then also
I worked in a prison, so aboutprison stuff, but I would
definitely you know definitelyadd this stuff.
But it's just hard, for whenyou're talking to people that
(12:30):
don't own a home, they thinkthat it's you know, I'll tell
people don't own a home and theythink that I'm crazy, and so
that's just one of those lifethings where you've got to learn
on your own when you okay, Ican't stop you.
Especially now.
It blows my mind that theinterest rate is between seven
and eight percent.
I don't know how people affordto get a house now, but again, I
(12:51):
didn't know how I afforded itwhen I tried.
George Siegal (12:53):
So Well, there's a lot of people that own homes
that are underinsured.
So if the asset, if you don'thave a mortgage, I mean you have
to.
If you have a mortgage,insurance is Mandatory.
But a lot of cash buyers arejust saying, well, we're not
gonna have insurance and then awildfire blows through or a
flash flood or something happensand it could be life-altering.
It also says a lot that you getmore comedy out of epilepsy
(13:14):
than you do out of your home.
The home is really not funny.
What, what are the things youtalk about?
Because epilepsy, I know it'svery challenging for for anybody
to deal with.
What, what kind?
What's that been like having adaughter with that?
Mike Knox (13:27):
As a parent has just been horrible.
But the great part is mydaughter got a VNS in plant
about eight years ago, which isa Vegas nerve simulator
pacemaker for your brain.
So she's been seizure free forseven years.
She still has some difficultystuff, but she went from.
You know the diagnosis of never, never, never being able to
progress past the age of six.
She's 17 now.
She's getting straight A's.
She loves school and learningand, as somebody, doing comedy
(13:51):
was hard for me because Eightyears ago she was like a
vegetable, basically Couldn'tjoke around with me, communicate
with my wife and I.
So it's just horrible to watch.
As a parent we were.
Your child isn't progressingand being able to keep up, and
now she's able to do all that.
She's just.
She's just a happy little kid,and so that Definitely warms my
heart to see that she's justable to be a kid because she was
(14:14):
in the hospital.
I know the hospital so much.
She stayed back in the fifthgrade because she's just in the
hospital so much.
So the fact that she's nothaving seizures and she was
wasn't able to sleep.
She'd have a lot of insomnia,insomnia.
So it's not just the seizures,it's also interrupting your
entire life.
You're just pretty much noteven able to function, couldn't
(14:35):
leave the house because she'sgonna have a seizure and I've
got to go rush her to thehospital or administer some
medication.
So it disrupts everything inyour family.
George Siegal (14:42):
Wow, there's nothing worse than when there's
problems with your kids.
So when you're, when you'remaking jokes about it on stage
to an audience, what's thereaction?
Or people first a little while.
I can't believe he's talkingabout it, or is it in a way that
they go oh yeah, this is, thisis rough, but he's, he's coping
with it and has a sense of humor.
Mike Knox (14:59):
Yeah, it's all about.
It's not making fun of epilepsy.
It's trying to educate peopleabout epilepsy, because I know I
didn't know anything aboutepilepsy and so comedy is a
great way to to tell peopleabout their vulnerabilities, and
I meet so many people aftershows that are like you know, I
have epilepsy and I'm so scaredto talk about it, or have kids
they don't want to come out ofthere, they're getting bullied
at school because of this andI'm so glad that you brought it
(15:20):
up and talked about it andthat's what I've learned from
all of it is it's it's abouteducating people, because they
just don't know, and then alsotrying to get Laws in place,
because California has no laws,so nobody has to recognize it.
So I take my daughter to schooland they should have a seizure
at school.
They didn't have to recognizethat all or be trained how to
how to administer medication oranything like that, because
(15:40):
there's no laws to protectAnybody with the disability of
epilepsy.
George Siegal (15:45):
There's a lot of it.
Go ahead.
Mike Knox (15:48):
I was just gonna say there's a lot to be done in that
area.
George Siegal (15:50):
Yeah, I would imagine a lot of comedy about
maybe all the things that thestate does recognize that are
far less important.
Yeah, and then something likethat what was it like being a
prison guard?
Which prison were you at?
Mike Knox (16:02):
It's horrible.
I was at the Lancaster, whichis the only prison in LA County.
It just it just dumps you down,and I was at the time.
I was doing it.
I just needed a job and Ineeded insurance and I was like
I'm going to start a family, soI can't work in a prison, I'm
going to get out of there, andit was to.
I was told that you have towork in there to be a parole
(16:22):
agent and I was doing aninternship in college, which is
a complete lie.
That was another you know badinformation that I got and then
I was like well, I'll write abook about it.
And you know I am interested inprison because not a lot of
people knew about it at the time, and so I did that.
I wrote a book about it and Idid what I accomplished to do.
(16:44):
But it's you have more problemswith the people that you work
with than you do the actualinmates, because you're just
trying to do your job and theydon't want to do their job and
so you end up arguing with themand a lot of it is like the, I
always say, the Kruger Dunningeffect.
It's overly confident, dumbpeople because you've been given
this badge and this uniform.
And that's a large problem withanything with law enforcement
(17:07):
is the idea is it's this onedirection of communication.
So if you're trying tocommunicate with somebody else
that thinks they know everything, you're just at a loss.
George Siegal (17:15):
Now, how accurate are films or shows like Oz,
shawshank, redemption, alcatrazwhen you see those?
Is there any reality to what wesee in those films?
Mike Knox (17:27):
Oh yeah, and those movies are.
It's so hard to make a movie,so those the writers and
producers, everybody they'reconsulting people that have
actually worked in a prison.
So they do a pretty good job,to the point where it's hard for
me to watch because it is somuch reality.
But prison is really about 99%boredom and 1% of pure terror,
(17:48):
because it's just a city, it'sfunctioning and your function as
working there is just to houseand feed, and so you really
don't have time to deal witheverybody.
They should be dealing withpeople's mental health.
It should be a different aspectinstead of just locking them up
and forgetting about them, andso I had a lot of compassion.
There's definitely there's alot of them that are criminals,
(18:10):
but there's a lot of dysfunctionwhere they're throwing
everybody together, and the ideaof this violence, where
everything has to be dealt withwith anger and violence, was
just unnecessary.
George Siegal (18:20):
Do you ever see?
Was there a lot of stuffsmuggled into prisons, like you
see in these shows?
Where things are coming in,things are going out.
Mike Knox (18:28):
Yeah, and the problem with that is that you know the
idea of everybody wants tobelieve well, it's the prison
guard that's doing it.
But you have visiting that'sgoing on five, sometimes seven
days a week and those peoplearen't patted down or searched,
you know.
So stuff just flows inconstantly, or it comes in
through the back gate, which iswhere food is coming in or
resources are coming in, andthose are people that don't work
(18:48):
for the prison.
And then you also have insidethe prison.
You have teachers and freestaff, you know medical people
and cooking, and so all of thosepeople that aren't really
trained how to deal with, hey,these people are gonna come and
try to manipulate you.
So it's just, it's dysfunctionfrom the start and you're just
trying to stop the flow.
But then the stories thatyou're reading in the paper or
(19:10):
seeing online is that it's aboutthis select few that are doing
it, and in reality it's.
You know it's a combination.
George Siegal (19:16):
Now I had to film in a prison one time and they
took every piece of equipmentapart.
They thoroughly went over us.
So it just makes me wonder.
There's gotta be other waysthat all that stuff's getting in
, because it's not through thenews crew.
Mike Knox (19:29):
Well, this is the other thing too.
When you say news crew, it'slike they know that you're
coming and it's like we don'twant, they don't ever want
people filming in there.
So we're gonna basically we'regonna kind of prevent you from
doing this, we're gonna say thatit's okay.
Oh yeah, we want thistransparency and openness, but
they really don't.
You know, at least that's whatI saw.
I've been out of there sinceit's been 20 years since I've
been out of there, so maybestuff has changed, but it was
(19:51):
just when I was there sonegative and you just it just
dumbs you down.
Where you just all people aretalking about is, you know what
position do you have?
And then they're mad at theposition that you got because
you had weekends off, or youknow they're just talking about,
you know, the overtime that Igot and it's mindless and as
somebody for me that's trying tocome at like I don't know an
artistic mind.
(20:11):
That was not there and that was.
You know, I'm writing stuffdown because I was writing a
book at the time and they'reupset that you're writing stuff
down.
So everybody's very suspiciousabout each other and paranoia.
George Siegal (20:23):
Do you ever try out your comedy routine there?
That'd be a good tough audience.
Mike Knox (20:28):
They were actually very mad If you do anything
outside of being in there.
And also when I was a paroleagent, extremely upset.
Somebody saw me doing comedyone time and wanted me to be
fired for it.
Because, again, they're notpeople that are, they're not
trying to be artistic people,they're just trying to be law
enforcement.
And that's the problem.
A lot with law enforcement, asyou see, is people in law
enforcement.
They can't stop being lawenforcement and they don't see
(20:51):
two sides of the thing.
It's just this very this wallgoes up and I learned that too
doing standup and improv is thatyou have no emotions because
you're told constantly to haveno emotions.
And I really realized after Iretired like how dead inside I
was because of that job.
George Siegal (21:06):
Yeah, we went on a field trip in high school to
Hatchopee prison, I think it was, and man, that scared the
living daylights out of us.
And that's not even a max,that's a pretty low security
prison.
Mike Knox (21:17):
I think, oh no, that's a serious prison.
George Siegal (21:20):
It was scary and it made us realize, okay, we
don't want to end up in here.
Mike Knox (21:24):
Yeah, that was a deterrent for me.
They probably took you on theminimum yard because every place
has got a minimum like a softyard and a hard yard.
But to Hatchopee definitely Tome it's all concrete and steel.
It's like I would not want tobe in a cement box.
I'm just surprised that youwent on a tour there in high
school.
George Siegal (21:41):
Yeah, I would.
You know, I made me realizethat wouldn't last five seconds
in prison.
I mean, they would just beatthe crap out of me the moment I
walked in.
So when you're doing yourstandup, I've tried that a
couple times and that's tough.
I mean, it's tough to get up infront of people.
If they're laughing, if theyknow you, and it's going well,
it's great.
But when there's crickets, whenyou've made a joke or you're
(22:03):
talking about something, all ofa sudden you start to sweat and
get nervous and it's not an easything to do.
Mike Knox (22:09):
No, it's horrifying, which is a large reason I really
.
I Did comedy in college, thenkind of quit and I had to quit
because my daughter was sick.
But I really realized like if Icould work in a prison then I
can do that.
And a lot of it is justembracing the darkness and if
you can stand up I give creditto any comedian, no matter how
good they are, bad they are.
But if you can stand up onstage and just embrace that
silence, you're gonna be fineand that's what you do.
(22:30):
You're just, you're going upthere.
They know for the most part thatthey came to see comedy.
I've only I, I've only beenlike heckled once and that was
always a fear of mine, like I'mgonna get heckled or something
like that, and really the guywas just totally drunk.
So you use the comedian, knowyou're in, you're in control.
For the most part you just gotto keep yourself in control
because all those people theydon't want to be on stage.
(22:51):
That's why they came to see you.
So a lot of it is just Workingthrough all that stuff in your
mind and to me it's working onmyself.
It's great therapy but itdefinitely scares me to death
and definitely gives me anxietyand I Definitely at the time,
don't want to be on it, but itis great to actually get your
material, to craft your materialand get your material.
(23:12):
You know up there and say itwithout forgetting your lines
what's the biggest place you'veever played?
The biggest place I've everplayed is the ice house in
Pasadena, and With cancelculture, everything's so PC.
George Siegal (23:26):
There's things that get you in trouble if
you're making jokes.
I mean I went to a comedy showin Austin, texas, and they made
everybody lock up their phonesin those bags so people couldn't
film it.
So there's no distortion ofwhat you know.
Little clips that take jokesout of context.
I mean it's a little scary whatcan happen to people if people
don't like what you're talkingabout.
Mike Knox (23:48):
It is scary, but I also think that that's your job
as the comedian to adjust yourjob if somebody were to come.
You know there's a there's acomedian that makes a lot of
money and he he Is making fun ofepilepsy and seizures and I
hate that guy, but he getsemployed and nobody says
anything about it.
So to me, if you, if there'ssomebody, had a problem with
what I said and they came up andtalked to me, I would change it
(24:09):
, and I think that that's alsowith the climate.
Now, if you're gonna say, okay,I see your side to it, that's
not a problem, because there'sjokes that I was, I was doing 15
years ago, I couldn't do now.
But that's just.
Your job is to adapt to what'sgoing on and I think that every
comedian knows that and can dothat.
George Siegal (24:27):
Who's the best stand-up person you've ever seen
?
Mike Knox (24:31):
I don't want to be cliche, but it was definitely
Bill Burr and it was.
This was before he becamefamous, but it was probably two
o'clock in the morning at thecomedy store and he was just
bombing and he, he, just hestood up on stage until he
turned the entire crowd aroundit.
To me it was just like amazing,because I would have walked off
stage.
I mean, he was like 10 minutesinto it where nobody was
laughing, anything like that.
(24:51):
He was like I'm just gonna stayup here until you guys start
laughing.
I mean, he really turnedeverything around and that was
amazing to me.
George Siegal (24:58):
Yeah, wow, and favorite prison movie.
Mike Knox (25:02):
Off the top of my head, it's the one with Tom
Selleck, an innocent man.
George Siegal (25:04):
I Don't know if I've seen that one, and I love
Tom Selleck, so I have to seethat that's good, good film.
Mike Knox (25:11):
Yes, it's definitely Exactly how person is.
George Siegal (25:15):
All right.
So let's bring this back tohomes.
Yes, what would you be youradvice to somebody who is buying
a home, whether it's you didn'tbuy new construction?
It sounds like right, youbought an existing house, or was
it new?
Mike Knox (25:29):
No, it was.
It was existing house and Iwould definitely say I, when I
was going through homes, peoplewere definitely trying to steer
me.
I had many, had a few realestate agents that were trying
to steer me away from where, atthe area that I wanted because
it was a new construction.
And I still, like that wasburned in my brain, like I hate
that guy because he wanted, hewas trying to get me to place
where I did not want to go to,and I really saw that a lot was
(25:52):
those real estate agents weretrying to get because they
wanted more money or they wantthey were gonna get it some sort
of you know other kickback forsomething, for directing to
these new places.
And I Went in thinking, well, Icould fix this stuff up, which I
can't.
I don't have any skills, but Idefinitely do tell people to go
slow.
And don't you know, the houseacross the street from my house
(26:15):
was the one that I first wanted,but that got sold, and then the
house that I was in got sold,but then they lost their loan
and so I was able to buy thishouse and that was just by.
Oh well, there's nothing Icould do about it, but just by
going slow and then also havingsome sort of savings.
I know they'll give you a loanif you don't have any, but
because of the fact that you'regoing through this she, it's the
(26:37):
biggest deal you're ever gonnamake in your entire life, and so
you need some sort of Cushionfor when you get punched in the
face, because it's definitelygonna happen and regular
maintenance.
George Siegal (26:46):
You have to do, you have to maintain everything
regularly.
Mike Knox (26:50):
Yeah, you're going.
You know, those are things thatyou know you.
If a lot of people are like, oh, I'll do the gardening myself,
you know myself, that's a hugeordeal to do.
I have a pool, so I have tohave a pool guy, because I don't
know anything, if I tried it.
I tried to do it in thebeginning and it just turned a
pool green and it's.
Those are the conveniences, butthey still, you know, cost
money to maintain.
George Siegal (27:12):
Yeah, they do.
And you know, like I say, whereI live, renting is more
expensive, almost than owning.
You know there's houses thatpeople are renting for 15 to
$20,000 a month.
So if you want to rent a house,you have no chance.
Mike Knox (27:27):
Yeah, same here.
I mean, it blows my mind,especially like in Hollywood,
where people are renting onebedroom apartments $3,200 and I,
again, I don't know.
I don't know what's going on, Idon't know what people are
doing.
I.
George Siegal (27:41):
Don't either, but it's definitely a challenge.
So how can people get in touchwith you, follow?
You know where you'reperforming, just to find out
more about you.
Mike Knox (27:50):
Check me out on Mike Knox.
George Siegal (27:51):
Calm or Instagram or tiktok is Mike Knox comedy
and are those links on yourwebsite also to you, to those
social media?
Yes, fantastic, and I'll alsoput those in the show notes so
so people can get in touch withyou and follow you.
And so, with all this rain,have you had?
So you got you had some damagefrom, from the rain, is it?
It looks like it's died down alittle bit today, right, is it?
(28:12):
Things a little better?
Mike Knox (28:14):
Yeah, uh, I.
So I was having like leaks onthe side of my house because of
the amount of rain and soluckily the week before, because
it also rained, I had guttersput in for that side.
So that seems to have clearedup the leak that I had.
George Siegal (28:29):
I mean, I had that leak for like 10 years
probably and I couldn't speakyou probably love it when you,
when everybody talks about theatmospheric river that's hitting
Los Angeles.
You guys have had a tough year.
Mike Knox (28:39):
Yeah, and a lot of it is just because you know they
love to build in Los Angeles andnot do infrastructure.
So, especially where I live,there's only, you know, there's
two freeways and you, you knowthese.
They keep putting up like40,000 homes at a time and it's
just, you know, stretching allin Northern Los Angeles and
they're not going to stop.
But that's why you're probablyseeing videos of all these
(29:01):
potholes, because it's just likethey'll just put one layer,
thinking it's not going to rain,and then it starts to rain and
those potholes, you know, startsinking again.
George Siegal (29:09):
Pretty soon, la will be going all the way out to
Bakersfield.
Mike Knox (29:12):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
George Siegal (29:15):
I used to live there.
I mean, that's that whole area.
I admire you for sticking withit, but I don't think I could
live in California anymore.
Just too much traffic, too muchsmog.
Earthquakes scare me more thanthan hurricanes.
If you at least a hurricane,you see it coming.
Earthquake you're just in themiddle of the night.
Boom.
Mike Knox (29:33):
Yeah, I know, you know I.
I got really upset a period oftime a few years ago, so I
started looking at homes andother areas and I did.
I went to Florida and I went toTexas and Arizona.
I was just like to me.
It really is, except for rightnow, with all this rain.
The weather is the fact thatit's perfect weather most of the
time, and then I could navigate.
(29:54):
That was the thing, as I knewLA so well that I could navigate
for the most part.
I mean, there is horrible,horrible traffic.
But that's what I loved aboutCOVID was there was no traffic.
But when there is traffic, Ican at least navigate some sort
of way, and that's why I don'twant to move.
I don't want to start overtrying to figure out where these
horrible areas are.
George Siegal (30:11):
Yeah, it's funny you were talking about potholes.
I used to live in Detroit andduring the winter they would
have trucks driving around andthey would just throw a handful
of asphalt into the potholes asthey were driving down the
highway and then it would end upall over everybody's car.
It would end up all over thehighway.
Is that what LA feels like withthose potholes?
Mike Knox (30:28):
Oh yeah, because it's .
You were thinking okay, there'spotholes, so why don't we try
to fix this up?
Cause there's always that's theother thing about LA there's
always construction going on,but there doesn't seem to be
anybody doing anything, andthat's clogged up traffic also,
and so there's yeah, there's allthese potholes, but nobody's
doing anything to fix any ofthem, and when they do, you see
eight guys standing around ahole and one guy working the
machine.
George Siegal (30:48):
I want that job.
Yeah, yes, caltrans, I thinkI'm qualified for that.
All right, hey, mike, thank youso much for coming on.
I appreciate your time and Ihope to see you perform sometime
.
I'd love to see your act.
Mike Knox (31:02):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
George Siegal (31:04):
If you have a story involving your home, good
or bad, I'd really like to hearfrom you.
There's a contact form in theshow notes.
Fill it out and you might be aguest on an upcoming podcast,
and if you enjoyed what you justlistened to, I hope you'll
become a regular subscriber.
A new episode comes out everyTuesday morning.
Thanks for listening today, seeyou next time.
I really enjoy sharing building and remodeling
stories, whether they are goodor bad.
Learning what others have gonethrough can help us avoid making
the same mistakes, or using agood idea can make our project
even better.
My guest today has someinteresting experiences with
projects that he's taken onsince buying his house.
Mike Knox is a stand-upcomedian, the author of two
(00:21):
books.
He's also worked as a prisonguard.
From flooding to roof issues,mike has some great advice for
anyone Learning of buying ahouse.
I'm George Siegal and this isHomeowners Be Aware, the podcast
that teaches you everything youneed to know about being a
homeowner.
Mike, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Thanks for having me.
(00:42):
Hey, I want to jump right intoyour challenges and problems as
a homeowner.
I always talk about mine, andthe list is really long.
Tell me about some of the stuffyou've had to deal with in your
days as a homeowner.
Mike Knox (00:57):
Sure, I always like to say I always like to tell
people you don't have to own ahome just because I've had such
horrible experiences with mine.
Mine started with I bought myhome about 2008 when everything
crashed.
I got house fever.
I thought I have to own a home.
I'm going to all these places.
Everybody's talking about it.
Everybody's like you got to getinto real estate.
I was listening to that.
(01:17):
I really just tell people tojust slow down.
Make sure that when you buy ahome, you've got some money
saved, because the second thatyou step into that home, when
it's yours, there's all thesethings that everybody else wants
.
The second I moved into my place, it's like we need new floors.
Well, that was another 15 grandand then I really trusted the
realtor and I really trusted theinspector and I always tell
(01:42):
people you've got to meeteverybody halfway and you've got
to check all those things,because I'm still finding stuff
that the inspector from 15 yearsago missed and I'm still
dealing with those issues whereI thought that guy knew what he
was doing.
When they really come in for acouple hours, they go up in the
attic, they're checking aroundthe house, but I'm still finding
places in the attic.
(02:04):
I'm dealing right now withleaking that's coming from the
side of the house because it'sbeen raining so much in Los
Angeles.
We really don't get a lot ofrain in Los Angeles, and so this
year was a lot of heavy rain,so I'm noticing like I should
probably get some rain guttersthat I never had before.
All those things are justalways adding up.
About a month ago I was on myway to go see some friends that
(02:24):
I hadn't seen in a long time andI like the water heater burst
and it was just had flooded thegarage and now those are on and
I was thinking, oh well, I guessit's been 10 years since I had
the water heater.
But when you, when you'rerenting, that's all the stuff
the landlord or the propertyowner has to deal with.
When you're the homeowner,that's all the stuff you're
dealing with, and nobody evertells you any of that and that's
(02:45):
the things that are constantly.
It's like the upkeep of thehouse I always think of, like
the in my mind.
My house is small, it's 1200square feet but I'm always
thinking it's like this Englishmansion castle that I've got to
maintain, but it's just memaintaining it.
But there's always somethingthat comes up and that's what
it's so hard to kind of conveyto other people that are looking
to get a home is like it's.
It just to me is always everyday that I'm waiting for
(03:10):
something else to happen.
George Siegal (03:11):
Yeah, that's a.
That's a very common story.
What part of LA do you live in?
Mike Knox (03:16):
North part of Los Angeles, in Valencia, so near
Magiment.
George Siegal (03:20):
Yeah, I mean.
So the challenges that thateverybody has.
Okay, the home inspectors I'vehad a bunch of them on as a
guest on the podcast and a lotof them seem like great guys.
I've met some a few of them inperson and they and they really
know their stuff.
But they do admit they're onlywith you two or three hours, you
know, maybe four, depending onthe size of the house.
You had a smaller house so itprobably was less.
So they're not going to catcheverything, but you like to
(03:41):
think the some of the stuffyou're finding that they would
have caught.
As far as realtors, you know,that's another tough one.
I hear good and bad stories.
You know it's like how much arethey obligated to tell you they
really want to sell a house,they want their commission.
So it's a tough relationship toknow how much you can really
count on other people and what Ialways say is you have to be
(04:02):
your own best advocate foryourself.
Mike Knox (04:03):
Yes, and I think a lot of people go into like I did
.
I went in blindly thinking allthese people are professionals
and they're all going to help meand I don't really need to do
any research.
But that was finding out yearslater like I should have done
better research.
But you never know.
It's a, it is a total gamble.
I definitely am glad that I owna home, but you never really
(04:25):
know who you're, who you'redealing with, inspector wise.
For me the guy had known thereal estate agent so he kept
hugging her and he was moreinterested in like catching up
old times.
So that was a big reason why hemissed a lot of stuff was
because he was just chatting itup.
And I learned, like, make surethese people don't know each
other and they're friendly,because that works better.
You know you really want.
(04:46):
You really want that personthat is in your best interest.
That's not there to just have.
He was just there to have.
Oh my gosh, I've seen somebodywho's just there to have fun.
George Siegal (04:56):
Did she recommend him?
Yes, yeah, see, that's always aproblem for me because there's
a real conflict of interestthere.
Even if they're honest, I thinkit's better to go into a
transaction with one in yourpocket that you found, just to
avoid that kind of stuff, causeI don't really want to chatty,
cathy, you know trying to makeout with my realtor.
I want them to.
(05:16):
I want them busted in theirbutt finding out what's wrong
with my house.
Mike Knox (05:19):
Yeah, Same with the same with the broker.
She knew the broker and thatguy turned out to I mean, he
turned out to same thing.
He was more interested in likegoing to coffee or lunch with
her than and I finally just wentwith another broker because he
wasn't.
He finally, after all thesemonths, just was like oh I, I
don't know how to deal with thisanymore.
(05:39):
And that was what killed me isyou're just dealing with people
like how did you get, how didyou, how were you ever licensed
to do this?
And it was so hard to getpeople just to do their job Now
in Los Angeles.
George Siegal (05:49):
the real estate disclosure forms are pretty
comprehensive.
So did they disclose everything?
Was there stuff that they liedabout?
Mike Knox (05:58):
It's not necessarily that they lied about, it was
just my.
The big thing for me was thethe AC air ducts were all rotted
so.
So it's very hot in Los Angelesespecially.
I'm low desert, so I have torun the air conditioning all the
time and the air.
And within the first week of memoving in, I had to replace the
air conditioner because we hadfires going on.
We had this huge Heat wave andthe air conditioning went out,
(06:22):
and that's why I've neverforgotten that.
Like I would hear people saythat, oh, something's gonna
happen the second that you moveit into your house and, sure
enough, my air conditioningcompletely went out.
Well, that was at the time wasanother 4000.
Now air conditioning replacingthat stuff's probably around
15,000, if you get the parts atall, because they're ordering
them from China.
Yeah, and I really a lot oftimes I wish I didn't have the
(06:43):
money at the time when I movedin 16 years ago and I really
wish there was stuff that I haddone, because now everything
Coming out of Kobe is threetimes more expensive.
Like I'm looking at getting anew roof, well, that's three
times more than it was when Ihad bids three years ago.
George Siegal (06:56):
Yeah, be careful with roofers, and that's that's
a whole other scam business.
There's some really good ones.
But I had a leak at our houseand a roofer came and he stood
outside.
He looked up at the roof, whichwas it's a two-story house.
He goes yeah, it'll cost youabout twenty five hundred
dollars to fix your problem.
And I said twenty five hundreddollars to fix what problem?
You're down here, the roof's upthere, don't you need to go up
(07:18):
there?
He goes no, I've been doingthis for years.
That wasn't even the part ofthe roof where the problem was
and this guy was gonna rip meoff for twenty five hundred
bucks fixing something thatwasn't even broken.
Mike Knox (07:27):
Yeah, and a lot of them know.
They know that you don't likefor me, they'll come in and they
know that I don't know anythingand so I'm I'm trust, I'm
putting a huge amount of trustinto somebody and this is a
stranger that you know.
And thank goodness for Googleor YouTube, because I can at
least YouTube stuff.
That saves me a ton of money,which a lot of people don't do
and a lot of people are just asimple putting so much trust in
(07:48):
these people that they're therebecause they're trying to keep
their job or make money fortheir business.
And again, it just all comesdown to money and how much more
money I can make now, how muchwere you aware I guess I'm, I'm.
George Siegal (08:01):
I think I know the answer of the building code
of the.
Is it up to earthquake code?
All the things that are Safetyfeatures of the house.
Were you concerned about any ofthat?
Mike Knox (08:11):
No, because I had house fever.
So moving in, I would just, Iwanted to get into house.
I had to get into a house.
I could care.
I could have cared less if itwas.
You know, I was living in acloset, I didn't care.
And then so, looking back, thoseare all the things that,
because I've been, you know,right in the middle of when
earthquakes happen, but theepicenter of earthquakes, an
(08:32):
earthquake insurance I can'tafford.
It's way too expensive butthat'll devastate your house if
a huge earthquake hit.
And those are.
Those are things that nobody istelling you about.
They're nobody's telling youabout your insurance that you
got to carry your property tax.
They're not telling you that ifyou're not paying your property
tax, they're gonna repossessyour house.
So there's all these otherthings that you're just not
aware of.
Building codes specifically.
Every time something breaks,the guy comes in is like up,
(08:55):
it's not a building code, that'sanother $300, and it's always.
These building codes are alwayschanging.
Laws Are always change,supposedly always changing,
which is another thing peopleneed to be aware of, because
they'll come in and, you know,rattle off some law where they
have to charge you more money Tojust to install something.
Now you probably don't haveflood insurance either.
George Siegal (09:15):
I would imagine.
No, it'll come for you to know.
I just read this article thatsaid 25% of Los Angeles is
susceptible to flash floodingand flood insurance isn't
terribly expensive out there.
But if your house was to floodand we learned this in making
the films that I make yourinsurance isn't paying you if
your house floods.
There's so many things.
(09:36):
Have you ever actually readyour insurance policy to know
what you have that is covered?
I have, but that's only becauseI have a family of insurance
agents.
Mike Knox (09:44):
So that's been instilled in my head, but most
people don't, because it's.
It's so exhausting and boringto look through that stuff, but
a lot of insurance, you know.
It reminds me of a, of awarranty that I got from my car,
where I read through it and itcovered everything but the
engine.
Well, what do I want this to do?
And it covered everything butthe engine.
Well, what do I want thispolicy for then?
So, yes, I've got to readeverything.
George Siegal (10:05):
There's a lot of exclusions in there and uh.
Here in florida they took out alot of policies.
Don't cover sinkholes anymore.
What's one of the main damagespeople get from their houses?
Sinkholes.
Hurricane coverage.
The deductible is 2, so peopledon't realize the first 2 is out
of their pocket and in ourstate you can't even sue and get
attorney's fees.
If you win, then anymore canyou get attorney's fees in
(10:28):
california.
Mike Knox (10:30):
I'm not too sure, but I've tried to sue and it is
especially.
Ellie county is by far theworst place to try to get
somebody in the court or suesomebody, so I've definitely
been through that wow.
George Siegal (10:42):
So With the lessons that you've learned,
have you thought about justgoing back to being a renter?
I would rent if I could.
Mike Knox (10:49):
I, I would too.
It's just that I'm too far intoit now and I really feel like
you know what I, I give up now.
I really just end at the pointwhere I just give up.
I mean, there's, it just seemslike when everything's thrown at
me now, okay, yeah, sure.
George Siegal (11:04):
Which is frustrating, because they make
homeownership out to be theAmerican dream.
It's your biggest asset, it'syour Center, a place for pride,
and the reality is it's a moneypit that you're responsible for,
and and sometimes it's not fun.
Mike Knox (11:19):
No, not at all.
That's another reason why youknow people.
The little quick answers thatpeople always give you is well,
why don't you just move out ofstate?
And my thing is at least I knowmy neighborhood, my street.
To me it's a safety net, it's Ican.
I can go home and feel safe.
I don't want to go movesomeplace where I will I figure
out that I have a wacko neighboror there's all these other
problems.
At least I've pinpointed mostof the problems in my house and
(11:42):
I'm like I'm just not gonna move.
But All of those problems dobother me.
But I don't want to have a newset of problems and that's a
Large reason why I don't want.
I mean, moving is such a hasslealso.
George Siegal (11:54):
Wasn't there a Tom Hanks movie called the money
pit?
Mike Knox (11:57):
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I think that's very true.
I love that movie.
George Siegal (11:59):
Yeah, yeah, that is very true.
Now there's a lot of this stuffthat's happened to your house.
Make it into your comedy act.
What's the act?
Pretty much about?
Mike Knox (12:08):
My comedy act mostly is about my daughter's epilepsy,
because that's a whole notherstory.
We're just trying to getepilepsy laws in place.
It's such an underfundedMedical condition and then also
I worked in a prison, so aboutprison stuff, but I would
definitely you know definitelyadd this stuff.
But it's just hard, for whenyou're talking to people that
(12:30):
don't own a home, they thinkthat it's you know, I'll tell
people don't own a home and theythink that I'm crazy, and so
that's just one of those lifethings where you've got to learn
on your own when you okay, Ican't stop you.
Especially now.
It blows my mind that theinterest rate is between seven
and eight percent.
I don't know how people affordto get a house now, but again, I
(12:51):
didn't know how I afforded itwhen I tried.
George Siegal (12:53):
So Well, there's a lot of people that own homes
that are underinsured.
So if the asset, if you don'thave a mortgage, I mean you have
to.
If you have a mortgage,insurance is Mandatory.
But a lot of cash buyers arejust saying, well, we're not
gonna have insurance and then awildfire blows through or a
flash flood or something happensand it could be life-altering.
It also says a lot that you getmore comedy out of epilepsy
(13:14):
than you do out of your home.
The home is really not funny.
What, what are the things youtalk about?
Because epilepsy, I know it'svery challenging for for anybody
to deal with.
What, what kind?
What's that been like having adaughter with that?
Mike Knox (13:27):
As a parent has just been horrible.
But the great part is mydaughter got a VNS in plant
about eight years ago, which isa Vegas nerve simulator
pacemaker for your brain.
So she's been seizure free forseven years.
She still has some difficultystuff, but she went from.
You know the diagnosis of never, never, never being able to
progress past the age of six.
She's 17 now.
She's getting straight A's.
She loves school and learningand, as somebody, doing comedy
(13:51):
was hard for me because Eightyears ago she was like a
vegetable, basically Couldn'tjoke around with me, communicate
with my wife and I.
So it's just horrible to watch.
As a parent we were.
Your child isn't progressingand being able to keep up, and
now she's able to do all that.
She's just.
She's just a happy little kid,and so that Definitely warms my
heart to see that she's justable to be a kid because she was
(14:14):
in the hospital.
I know the hospital so much.
She stayed back in the fifthgrade because she's just in the
hospital so much.
So the fact that she's nothaving seizures and she was
wasn't able to sleep.
She'd have a lot of insomnia,insomnia.
So it's not just the seizures,it's also interrupting your
entire life.
You're just pretty much noteven able to function, couldn't
(14:35):
leave the house because she'sgonna have a seizure and I've
got to go rush her to thehospital or administer some
medication.
So it disrupts everything inyour family.
George Siegal (14:42):
Wow, there's nothing worse than when there's
problems with your kids.
So when you're, when you'remaking jokes about it on stage
to an audience, what's thereaction?
Or people first a little while.
I can't believe he's talkingabout it, or is it in a way that
they go oh yeah, this is, thisis rough, but he's, he's coping
with it and has a sense of humor.
Mike Knox (14:59):
Yeah, it's all about.
It's not making fun of epilepsy.
It's trying to educate peopleabout epilepsy, because I know I
didn't know anything aboutepilepsy and so comedy is a
great way to to tell peopleabout their vulnerabilities, and
I meet so many people aftershows that are like you know, I
have epilepsy and I'm so scaredto talk about it, or have kids
they don't want to come out ofthere, they're getting bullied
at school because of this andI'm so glad that you brought it
(15:20):
up and talked about it andthat's what I've learned from
all of it is it's it's abouteducating people, because they
just don't know, and then alsotrying to get Laws in place,
because California has no laws,so nobody has to recognize it.
So I take my daughter to schooland they should have a seizure
at school.
They didn't have to recognizethat all or be trained how to
how to administer medication oranything like that, because
(15:40):
there's no laws to protectAnybody with the disability of
epilepsy.
George Siegal (15:45):
There's a lot of it.
Go ahead.
Mike Knox (15:48):
I was just gonna say there's a lot to be done in that
area.
George Siegal (15:50):
Yeah, I would imagine a lot of comedy about
maybe all the things that thestate does recognize that are
far less important.
Yeah, and then something likethat what was it like being a
prison guard?
Which prison were you at?
Mike Knox (16:02):
It's horrible.
I was at the Lancaster, whichis the only prison in LA County.
It just it just dumps you down,and I was at the time.
I was doing it.
I just needed a job and Ineeded insurance and I was like
I'm going to start a family, soI can't work in a prison, I'm
going to get out of there, andit was to.
I was told that you have towork in there to be a parole
(16:22):
agent and I was doing aninternship in college, which is
a complete lie.
That was another you know badinformation that I got and then
I was like well, I'll write abook about it.
And you know I am interested inprison because not a lot of
people knew about it at the time, and so I did that.
I wrote a book about it and Idid what I accomplished to do.
(16:44):
But it's you have more problemswith the people that you work
with than you do the actualinmates, because you're just
trying to do your job and theydon't want to do their job and
so you end up arguing with themand a lot of it is like the, I
always say, the Kruger Dunningeffect.
It's overly confident, dumbpeople because you've been given
this badge and this uniform.
And that's a large problem withanything with law enforcement
(17:07):
is the idea is it's this onedirection of communication.
So if you're trying tocommunicate with somebody else
that thinks they know everything, you're just at a loss.
George Siegal (17:15):
Now, how accurate are films or shows like Oz,
shawshank, redemption, alcatrazwhen you see those?
Is there any reality to what wesee in those films?
Mike Knox (17:27):
Oh yeah, and those movies are.
It's so hard to make a movie,so those the writers and
producers, everybody they'reconsulting people that have
actually worked in a prison.
So they do a pretty good job,to the point where it's hard for
me to watch because it is somuch reality.
But prison is really about 99%boredom and 1% of pure terror,
(17:48):
because it's just a city, it'sfunctioning and your function as
working there is just to houseand feed, and so you really
don't have time to deal witheverybody.
They should be dealing withpeople's mental health.
It should be a different aspectinstead of just locking them up
and forgetting about them, andso I had a lot of compassion.
There's definitely there's alot of them that are criminals,
(18:10):
but there's a lot of dysfunctionwhere they're throwing
everybody together, and the ideaof this violence, where
everything has to be dealt withwith anger and violence, was
just unnecessary.
George Siegal (18:20):
Do you ever see?
Was there a lot of stuffsmuggled into prisons, like you
see in these shows?
Where things are coming in,things are going out.
Mike Knox (18:28):
Yeah, and the problem with that is that you know the
idea of everybody wants tobelieve well, it's the prison
guard that's doing it.
But you have visiting that'sgoing on five, sometimes seven
days a week and those peoplearen't patted down or searched,
you know.
So stuff just flows inconstantly, or it comes in
through the back gate, which iswhere food is coming in or
resources are coming in, andthose are people that don't work
(18:48):
for the prison.
And then you also have insidethe prison.
You have teachers and freestaff, you know medical people
and cooking, and so all of thosepeople that aren't really
trained how to deal with, hey,these people are gonna come and
try to manipulate you.
So it's just, it's dysfunctionfrom the start and you're just
trying to stop the flow.
But then the stories thatyou're reading in the paper or
(19:10):
seeing online is that it's aboutthis select few that are doing
it, and in reality it's.
You know it's a combination.
George Siegal (19:16):
Now I had to film in a prison one time and they
took every piece of equipmentapart.
They thoroughly went over us.
So it just makes me wonder.
There's gotta be other waysthat all that stuff's getting in
, because it's not through thenews crew.
Mike Knox (19:29):
Well, this is the other thing too.
When you say news crew, it'slike they know that you're
coming and it's like we don'twant, they don't ever want
people filming in there.
So we're gonna basically we'regonna kind of prevent you from
doing this, we're gonna say thatit's okay.
Oh yeah, we want thistransparency and openness, but
they really don't.
You know, at least that's whatI saw.
I've been out of there sinceit's been 20 years since I've
been out of there, so maybestuff has changed, but it was
(19:51):
just when I was there sonegative and you just it just
dumbs you down.
Where you just all people aretalking about is, you know what
position do you have?
And then they're mad at theposition that you got because
you had weekends off, or youknow they're just talking about,
you know, the overtime that Igot and it's mindless and as
somebody for me that's trying tocome at like I don't know an
artistic mind.
(20:11):
That was not there and that was.
You know, I'm writing stuffdown because I was writing a
book at the time and they'reupset that you're writing stuff
down.
So everybody's very suspiciousabout each other and paranoia.
George Siegal (20:23):
Do you ever try out your comedy routine there?
That'd be a good tough audience.
Mike Knox (20:28):
They were actually very mad If you do anything
outside of being in there.
And also when I was a paroleagent, extremely upset.
Somebody saw me doing comedyone time and wanted me to be
fired for it.
Because, again, they're notpeople that are, they're not
trying to be artistic people,they're just trying to be law
enforcement.
And that's the problem.
A lot with law enforcement, asyou see, is people in law
enforcement.
They can't stop being lawenforcement and they don't see
(20:51):
two sides of the thing.
It's just this very this wallgoes up and I learned that too
doing standup and improv is thatyou have no emotions because
you're told constantly to haveno emotions.
And I really realized after Iretired like how dead inside I
was because of that job.
George Siegal (21:06):
Yeah, we went on a field trip in high school to
Hatchopee prison, I think it was, and man, that scared the
living daylights out of us.
And that's not even a max,that's a pretty low security
prison.
Mike Knox (21:17):
I think, oh no, that's a serious prison.
George Siegal (21:20):
It was scary and it made us realize, okay, we
don't want to end up in here.
Mike Knox (21:24):
Yeah, that was a deterrent for me.
They probably took you on theminimum yard because every place
has got a minimum like a softyard and a hard yard.
But to Hatchopee definitely Tome it's all concrete and steel.
It's like I would not want tobe in a cement box.
I'm just surprised that youwent on a tour there in high
school.
George Siegal (21:41):
Yeah, I would.
You know, I made me realizethat wouldn't last five seconds
in prison.
I mean, they would just beatthe crap out of me the moment I
walked in.
So when you're doing yourstandup, I've tried that a
couple times and that's tough.
I mean, it's tough to get up infront of people.
If they're laughing, if theyknow you, and it's going well,
it's great.
But when there's crickets, whenyou've made a joke or you're
(22:03):
talking about something, all ofa sudden you start to sweat and
get nervous and it's not an easything to do.
Mike Knox (22:09):
No, it's horrifying, which is a large reason I really
.
I Did comedy in college, thenkind of quit and I had to quit
because my daughter was sick.
But I really realized like if Icould work in a prison then I
can do that.
And a lot of it is justembracing the darkness and if
you can stand up I give creditto any comedian, no matter how
good they are, bad they are.
But if you can stand up onstage and just embrace that
silence, you're gonna be fineand that's what you do.
(22:30):
You're just, you're going upthere.
They know for the most part thatthey came to see comedy.
I've only I, I've only beenlike heckled once and that was
always a fear of mine, like I'mgonna get heckled or something
like that, and really the guywas just totally drunk.
So you use the comedian, knowyou're in, you're in control.
For the most part you just gotto keep yourself in control
because all those people theydon't want to be on stage.
(22:51):
That's why they came to see you.
So a lot of it is just Workingthrough all that stuff in your
mind and to me it's working onmyself.
It's great therapy but itdefinitely scares me to death
and definitely gives me anxietyand I Definitely at the time,
don't want to be on it, but itis great to actually get your
material, to craft your materialand get your material.
(23:12):
You know up there and say itwithout forgetting your lines
what's the biggest place you'veever played?
The biggest place I've everplayed is the ice house in
Pasadena, and With cancelculture, everything's so PC.
George Siegal (23:26):
There's things that get you in trouble if
you're making jokes.
I mean I went to a comedy showin Austin, texas, and they made
everybody lock up their phonesin those bags so people couldn't
film it.
So there's no distortion ofwhat you know.
Little clips that take jokesout of context.
I mean it's a little scary whatcan happen to people if people
don't like what you're talkingabout.
Mike Knox (23:48):
It is scary, but I also think that that's your job
as the comedian to adjust yourjob if somebody were to come.
You know there's a there's acomedian that makes a lot of
money and he he Is making fun ofepilepsy and seizures and I
hate that guy, but he getsemployed and nobody says
anything about it.
So to me, if you, if there'ssomebody, had a problem with
what I said and they came up andtalked to me, I would change it
(24:09):
, and I think that that's alsowith the climate.
Now, if you're gonna say, okay,I see your side to it, that's
not a problem, because there'sjokes that I was, I was doing 15
years ago, I couldn't do now.
But that's just.
Your job is to adapt to what'sgoing on and I think that every
comedian knows that and can dothat.
George Siegal (24:27):
Who's the best stand-up person you've ever seen
?
Mike Knox (24:31):
I don't want to be cliche, but it was definitely
Bill Burr and it was.
This was before he becamefamous, but it was probably two
o'clock in the morning at thecomedy store and he was just
bombing and he, he, just hestood up on stage until he
turned the entire crowd aroundit.
To me it was just like amazing,because I would have walked off
stage.
I mean, he was like 10 minutesinto it where nobody was
laughing, anything like that.
(24:51):
He was like I'm just gonna stayup here until you guys start
laughing.
I mean, he really turnedeverything around and that was
amazing to me.
George Siegal (24:58):
Yeah, wow, and favorite prison movie.
Mike Knox (25:02):
Off the top of my head, it's the one with Tom
Selleck, an innocent man.
George Siegal (25:04):
I Don't know if I've seen that one, and I love
Tom Selleck, so I have to seethat that's good, good film.
Mike Knox (25:11):
Yes, it's definitely Exactly how person is.
George Siegal (25:15):
All right.
So let's bring this back tohomes.
Yes, what would you be youradvice to somebody who is buying
a home, whether it's you didn'tbuy new construction?
It sounds like right, youbought an existing house, or was
it new?
Mike Knox (25:29):
No, it was.
It was existing house and Iwould definitely say I, when I
was going through homes, peoplewere definitely trying to steer
me.
I had many, had a few realestate agents that were trying
to steer me away from where, atthe area that I wanted because
it was a new construction.
And I still, like that wasburned in my brain, like I hate
that guy because he wanted, hewas trying to get me to place
where I did not want to go to,and I really saw that a lot was
(25:52):
those real estate agents weretrying to get because they
wanted more money or they wantthey were gonna get it some sort
of you know other kickback forsomething, for directing to
these new places.
And I Went in thinking, well, Icould fix this stuff up, which I
can't.
I don't have any skills, but Idefinitely do tell people to go
slow.
And don't you know, the houseacross the street from my house
(26:15):
was the one that I first wanted,but that got sold, and then the
house that I was in got sold,but then they lost their loan
and so I was able to buy thishouse and that was just by.
Oh well, there's nothing Icould do about it, but just by
going slow and then also havingsome sort of savings.
I know they'll give you a loanif you don't have any, but
because of the fact that you'regoing through this she, it's the
(26:37):
biggest deal you're ever gonnamake in your entire life, and so
you need some sort of Cushionfor when you get punched in the
face, because it's definitelygonna happen and regular
maintenance.
George Siegal (26:46):
You have to do, you have to maintain everything
regularly.
Mike Knox (26:50):
Yeah, you're going.
You know, those are things thatyou know you.
If a lot of people are like, oh, I'll do the gardening myself,
you know myself, that's a hugeordeal to do.
I have a pool, so I have tohave a pool guy, because I don't
know anything, if I tried it.
I tried to do it in thebeginning and it just turned a
pool green and it's.
Those are the conveniences, butthey still, you know, cost
money to maintain.
George Siegal (27:12):
Yeah, they do.
And you know, like I say, whereI live, renting is more
expensive, almost than owning.
You know there's houses thatpeople are renting for 15 to
$20,000 a month.
So if you want to rent a house,you have no chance.
Mike Knox (27:27):
Yeah, same here.
I mean, it blows my mind,especially like in Hollywood,
where people are renting onebedroom apartments $3,200 and I,
again, I don't know.
I don't know what's going on, Idon't know what people are
doing.
I.
George Siegal (27:41):
Don't either, but it's definitely a challenge.
So how can people get in touchwith you, follow?
You know where you'reperforming, just to find out
more about you.
Mike Knox (27:50):
Check me out on Mike Knox.
George Siegal (27:51):
Calm or Instagram or tiktok is Mike Knox comedy
and are those links on yourwebsite also to you, to those
social media?
Yes, fantastic, and I'll alsoput those in the show notes so
so people can get in touch withyou and follow you.
And so, with all this rain,have you had?
So you got you had some damagefrom, from the rain, is it?
It looks like it's died down alittle bit today, right, is it?
(28:12):
Things a little better?
Mike Knox (28:14):
Yeah, uh, I.
So I was having like leaks onthe side of my house because of
the amount of rain and soluckily the week before, because
it also rained, I had guttersput in for that side.
So that seems to have clearedup the leak that I had.
George Siegal (28:29):
I mean, I had that leak for like 10 years
probably and I couldn't speakyou probably love it when you,
when everybody talks about theatmospheric river that's hitting
Los Angeles.
You guys have had a tough year.
Mike Knox (28:39):
Yeah, and a lot of it is just because you know they
love to build in Los Angeles andnot do infrastructure.
So, especially where I live,there's only, you know, there's
two freeways and you, you knowthese.
They keep putting up like40,000 homes at a time and it's
just, you know, stretching allin Northern Los Angeles and
they're not going to stop.
But that's why you're probablyseeing videos of all these
(29:01):
potholes, because it's just likethey'll just put one layer,
thinking it's not going to rain,and then it starts to rain and
those potholes, you know, startsinking again.
George Siegal (29:09):
Pretty soon, la will be going all the way out to
Bakersfield.
Mike Knox (29:12):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
George Siegal (29:15):
I used to live there.
I mean, that's that whole area.
I admire you for sticking withit, but I don't think I could
live in California anymore.
Just too much traffic, too muchsmog.
Earthquakes scare me more thanthan hurricanes.
If you at least a hurricane,you see it coming.
Earthquake you're just in themiddle of the night.
Boom.
Mike Knox (29:33):
Yeah, I know, you know I.
I got really upset a period oftime a few years ago, so I
started looking at homes andother areas and I did.
I went to Florida and I went toTexas and Arizona.
I was just like to me.
It really is, except for rightnow, with all this rain.
The weather is the fact thatit's perfect weather most of the
time, and then I could navigate.
(29:54):
That was the thing, as I knewLA so well that I could navigate
for the most part.
I mean, there is horrible,horrible traffic.
But that's what I loved aboutCOVID was there was no traffic.
But when there is traffic, Ican at least navigate some sort
of way, and that's why I don'twant to move.
I don't want to start overtrying to figure out where these
horrible areas are.
George Siegal (30:11):
Yeah, it's funny you were talking about potholes.
I used to live in Detroit andduring the winter they would
have trucks driving around andthey would just throw a handful
of asphalt into the potholes asthey were driving down the
highway and then it would end upall over everybody's car.
It would end up all over thehighway.
Is that what LA feels like withthose potholes?
Mike Knox (30:28):
Oh yeah, because it's .
You were thinking okay, there'spotholes, so why don't we try
to fix this up?
Cause there's always that's theother thing about LA there's
always construction going on,but there doesn't seem to be
anybody doing anything, andthat's clogged up traffic also,
and so there's yeah, there's allthese potholes, but nobody's
doing anything to fix any ofthem, and when they do, you see
eight guys standing around ahole and one guy working the
machine.
George Siegal (30:48):
I want that job.
Yeah, yes, caltrans, I thinkI'm qualified for that.
All right, hey, mike, thank youso much for coming on.
I appreciate your time and Ihope to see you perform sometime
.
I'd love to see your act.
Mike Knox (31:02):
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
George Siegal (31:04):
If you have a story involving your home, good
or bad, I'd really like to hearfrom you.
There's a contact form in theshow notes.
Fill it out and you might be aguest on an upcoming podcast,
and if you enjoyed what you justlistened to, I hope you'll
become a regular subscriber.
A new episode comes out everyTuesday morning.
Thanks for listening today, seeyou next time.
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