October 8, 2025 • 62 mins
The car is moving, the mics are live, and Big Energy fills the cabin. We welcome Steve from Cleveland’s southeast side—a former class clown turned campus champion—who proves that humor, heart, and hard work can live in the same room. We trade locker room stories and tight five timing, then unpack what makes a great set: reading the crowd, owning the mic, and turning a heckle into momentum. If you’ve ever wondered what the comedy grind really looks like beyond the hour on stage, this conversation pulls the curtain back on writing, booking, producing, and staying sharp when the room gets spicy.
The heart of the ride dives into learning differences and inclusive education. We share a visual learner’s path through dyslexia and explore why “instruction” isn’t the same as “education.” Steve brings receipts from his work in multicultural affairs—building community, addressing food insecurity and housing stability, and asking the one question that changes a student’s day: “How are you doing today?” It’s a masterclass in belonging, practical resources, and the kind of care that helps young adults carry on with their studies and their lives.
Then the story hits a different gear: performing for 400 incarcerated people and hearing that 20 minutes of jokes bought six months of peace. That moment reframes what “crushing” means and shows how laughter can be a service, not just a show. We wrap with creator ownership and a dream in motion: The Emerald Boot, a comedy club and kitchen blending Irish and Italian comfort with stage time for rising comics. There’s tactical advice on pop-ups, programming, and learning adjacent skills so you can build your own room—and hold the door open for others. Stick around for the Fast Fiddy Five and a final word on kindness, marriage, and money wisdom that actually travels.
If this ride moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop a quick review. Your support helps more people find the laughs, the lessons, an
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rance podcast.
This is as always your host,Mike Bono.
I have a great guest for ustoday.
He comes to us all the way upfrom Cleveland, Ohio.
That is uh Steve Furlonman joinsthe show and he is actually on
(00:20):
his way home, folks.
This is a true ride home rants.
But Steve, thanks for joining,man.
SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
Well, what's going on, Mike?
Man, I appreciate you having meon the show.
It is a hundred percent a realride home.
Getting off late because youknow, work.
And uh I was like, hey, podcastis podcasting.
We still gotta jump on thisthing.
We got to get on this show.
So I'm super excited to be here.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:45):
We're super excited to have you on here, Steve.
So uh tell us a little bit aboutSteve.
You know, where did you grow up?
You know, kind of like the highschools and all that.
What tell us a little bit aboutyou?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
Oh man, let's do it.
So um grew up in uh Cleveland,Ohio, actually the southeast
side, um, because Cleveland isvery particular about what part
of Cleveland you're from.
So uh Southeast side, uh 131stis kind of where I grew up, and
then from there, um I wentfurther into the southeast side,
a place called Garfield Heights,Ohio, and now I'm over in Maple
(01:16):
Heights, Ohio.
They're all cousins, they're allalways in the same neighborhood.
Um went to, of course, localelementary schools.
Uh father was in the MarineCorps, that's how we ended up in
Cleveland anyway.
Funny story.
Was born in Boston.
Um when my parents got married,my father moved us here.
So uh, yeah, so Boston.
(01:38):
Got family there, Cleveland,definitely family here.
Uh went to Benedict and HighSchool, played football.
Uh Benedicton is a is a I'mgonna say world-renowned
all-boys school, uh located onthe east side of Cleveland as
well, kind of in that southeastside area.
Um there's a lot of communityhelp offered by my high school.
(02:01):
I take a lot of pride of thefact that um it's not
necessarily the best conditionsaround the school, but the
school definitely tries to doits best to uplift community.
Um, and so you know, being inthat space, being a part of
privilege in that way, but alsogoing home to some realities and
(02:24):
having a cross by other people'srealities and finding the
intersectionality between myblessings and other people's
pain.
Um definitely have my eyes wide,so it kind of put me on some
different paths.
So not only was I intoathletics, I was into
volunteerism and um, you know,making people smile and making
(02:44):
people laugh.
So I was kind of a class clownfor a long time, which then
ultimately turned into likehosting and throwing parties and
doing events, and I just reallywanted people to have a good
time.
Big energy.
Big energy is my brand, bro.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Dude, that that's I I love that.
Um, because I I was labeled theclass clown.
Obviously, I'm doing stand-upcomedy now, which is just so
everybody that I I went to highschool with was like, say, dude,
we told you you'd be doingstand-up, and like like they
just keep like pounding me andlike making jokes like that too.
But I I like you said, you know,I love to make people laugh.
(03:21):
That is what I've always lovedto do.
Even on the football field, Iplayed football in high school
too, as well.
And like there've been timeswhere guys are like, dude, can
you just like take somethingserious right now?
Like, I mean, you you crackingjokes out here.
We're out here sweating intwo-a-days, and you're out here
cracking jokes and stuff.
I was just like, Yeah, you'reforgetting about how much those
legs hurt from all these windsprints we've been having to do,
(03:41):
though, ain't you?
Like, and they're just like, Ohshit, I didn't think about that.
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02 (03:46):
Like, it was burnt to pass out, but I got this joke
for you though, real quick.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
Yeah.
That's because that's what itis.
Bill's time router, man.
It it cures the spirit.
You can make somebody laugh ifyou can if you can put a smile
on their face, changes thatwhole the whole look of the day.
You know what I'm saying?
Those roll-pilled glasses, comeon.
SPEAKER_01 (04:06):
I I still remember to this day, uh guy that he was
just coming off of an injury,and we were running, they called
him pulse laps.
It was just a lap around theoutside of the field about
outside the goalpost.
And you know, being a skilledplayer, they wanted us to do
that in 45 seconds.
Well, they were giving him alittle bit of leeway, you know,
you're coming off of a leginjury, uh, build yourself back
(04:28):
up and you know, get yourselfback right.
And he was just like, Hey, uh,can you like just like jog with
me just so I don't feel like I'mthat much of a weight being
left?
Well, I'm six foot five.
He was like five foot two.
And so I'm like walking next tohim.
(04:48):
And he's like, Can you slowdown, man?
Like you're I was like, one ofyour steps is like six of mine.
So like it was just funny.
Like, Coach was like, What areyou doing?
I was like, I'm trying to gethim to like go a little faster,
but like I'm just like moving myarms real fast and making it
look like I was jogging it.
I will I wasn't.
And like we still had a goodlaugh.
(05:09):
We had a still good, we stillhad a good laugh about it when
we got back to like the thestart finish and everything like
that.
He was just like, All right, Ithink I need to find somebody
else to run with me, but I'mlike, Yeah, I appreciate you
trying, but you're just too damntall to be doing that with me.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
I'm 6'4, so yeah, I'm I'm I'm going to you know
outstride you.
And I laugh because when you seeme and my wife in public, we
have similar issues.
She's only 4'11.
So when I'm out and I'm walking,I gotta be mindful, man.
I gotta slow it down.
You know, I gotta baby stepping.
SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
I I still deal with it on a daily basis.
My wife's 5'2.
I'm still and like there's oh,she was she just always like,
What can you walk at my pace,please?
Like she's like, I can't, Ican't do this.
SPEAKER_02 (05:58):
Like, you're I'm gonna look like the Pink Panther
walking next to you.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
Everything's gonna be a very sly and slow motion.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:08):
Absolutely for sure.
I deal with it, I deal with thetwo.
SPEAKER_02 (06:12):
Um so the injury um makes me think of a story,
though.
SPEAKER_03 (06:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
Uh so I I'm in I'm in college.
I played one year of collegeball D3, not a big story.
Okay.
Uh, so that's not the story.
Nobody's like, yeah, D3.
But I did play one year ofcollege ball.
It was a great time.
I I had a uh great team, we hada good time rider, uh, terrible
record, but we were friends.
(06:40):
So we're in friends on a teamgoes in for end zone, no tackle.
Um it's uh uh kind of a goalline play.
Uh he gets cracked by the miclinebacker and goes down.
So middle linebacker pretty muchtaking out over the top.
(07:02):
We of course don't score.
And after all the smoke clears,this dude's fingers in like four
different directions.
SPEAKER_03 (07:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Now everybody's on the teamtalking to him and tell him to
calm down because he feels pain,but he can't figure out what's
going on.
And he's not looking down at thehand yet.
So the thing is like, bro, yougood, it's fine, everything's
okay.
No, don't look at your hand,don't look at your hand.
(07:30):
I don't know what they'rethey're talking about yet.
I see the play, but because I'mplaying tight end, I had a whole
different route.
When I come back over, I'm like,hey, what's going on?
Everything good?
And I look at Dude's hand and Igo, oh damn.
And it felt like the Kevin Hartmoment before the Kevin Hart
moment.
Where he's talking to Don Tito.
(07:52):
And I promise you, people justlooked at me with like total
disgust.
So that's when I knew I couldmake it in comedy at some point,
too, if I wanted to.
SPEAKER_03 (08:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:00):
Because that that was that's timing.
Only a jerk could be that thatgood at timing right there.
That was just funny.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
Oh, yeah.
I tell people all the time atshows, I I pretty much
preference every show and startwith if you want to heckle, by
all means, go ahead.
I love hecklers.
I have a microphone.
You were all in proximity tothis speaker system, and I will
ruin your night.
I'm just letting you know thatnow.
Like it this could go one of twoways.
(08:30):
You could just let me tell my haha stories and we can and we
could have a good time andeverybody can laugh, or you
could try to say something, andthen you will be my entire set.
I will throw every joke I'vewritten out the window and I
will make everything about you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:43):
You're my favorite comedian.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
And it's just I've learned to like be real quick
off the cuff.
And I I equate that to I grew upin a very blue-collar town.
Uh, my dad was a steel millworker for as long as I can
remember.
And for growing up, if you wereeither going along with the joke
(09:06):
or you were the butt of the jokein my household, like that's
just how I grew up.
We all ragged on each other, andit was just good time, good
humor.
But if you were sensitive or youdidn't you didn't like the joke
or anything like that, you justbecame the joke.
So you had to learn to be quickoff the cuff to get back at
anybody who was talking to you,and that made me the comedian I
(09:27):
am today.
And I wouldn't have it any otherway.
Like every show, I was like,because there's always that one
person in the crowd, like, I'mgonna get him.
No, you're not.
Um I'm I'm a professional craptalker.
That's what I am.
Like, I won't that's I I getpaid to talk crap.
That's that's there it is.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
There it is, and that's and that's the dream.
And that's the dream.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
So going back to you a little bit, I believe you have
uh a few different degrees uhwith that.
You know, what are your degreesin, you know, education?
I know is a big thing for you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:02):
Yeah, so of course you got your high school
diploma.
Gotta get that to start thejourney.
Um, got the high school diploma,and shout out to anybody who is
doing education in anon-traditional sense.
I always love to shout outpeople who um have had
obstacles, who have had toovercome things, and who have
had to truly strive to get highschool diplomas and degrees and
(10:24):
stuff like that.
It is not easy.
It is made to seem like it'seasy.
There is, you know, a program infront of you, but if if
something throws you off thattrajectory and you get back on
and you go for it, shout out toyou.
So, yes, I have high schooldiploma, then I have my
bachelor's in education.
Um, early childhood wasinitially the focus.
Um, and then I was like, youknow what?
(10:45):
I don't know if I'm gonna teachin the classroom.
So I went towards theeducational administrative um
piece and component of it, andthen finally my master's is an
educational foundation.
So learning about the history ofwhat education is supposed to
be, what it looks like, um, whowas responsible for for
receiving it.
And pretty much if I was to walkinto any school, I could go, let
(11:08):
me see.
Let me let me see how well youall are doing, and if you're
truly educating kids, or if youjust provide instruction and
lunch.
Like, like it's because it'sdifferent.
Like you gotta you gotta educatea person from top to bottom.
There's a holistic approach tomaking sure that a child or a
(11:28):
young person um is knowledgeableand can obtain knowledge, right?
Has access to real knowledge.
So it it's it's it's levels andlayers, but all I have to say, I
spent a lot of money to be ableto teach people how to teach
people who teach.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
I gotcha.
That's that's I know I have abig respect for people in your
uh profession and what you do.
Um I think I I don't say this alot.
I don't like to bring it up, butyou know, I I grew up diagnosed
dyslexic.
So I learn differently than mostpeople.
(12:06):
Uh and I I'm a visual learner.
It's basically what it's alljust to save everyone the long
spiel about it.
I'm a very visual person.
I have to see it, touch it,taste it, and I can I figure it
out and I'll do it.
And so growing up, you know, inthe in the 90s, uh in that sort
of aging myself a wee bit, uh,but uh that was a very new thing
(12:28):
to uh teach someone differentlythan how teachers were uh taught
to teach.
So I I somebody who does whatyou do like that's amazing to
me, and somebody who's willingto take the time to learn that
is just an awesome thing.
And uh, you don't see that in alot of people.
SPEAKER_02 (12:49):
I appreciate the flowers, but I also uh uh I can
give you that same and extendthat same sentiment to you.
Um someone who is trying tonavigate, especially at that
time, right?
Because we're in school aroundthe time, or at least there you
know what an overhair projectorwas.
So we're in the same class.
We're in the same age bracket.
(13:09):
Um it's funny because I saw thatonline the other day, and people
really don't know what thoseare.
Uh, but anyway, knowing that youwent through um life having to
understand, number one, what itwas that was challenging you in
that way, and then number two,coming to grips, and then
finding people who could eithergive you the resources or the
(13:33):
space to learn better and moreefficiently.
Um big big ups to you for notlosing patience with yourself,
because there are a lot ofpeople who had things that were
undiagnosed or untreated, likethis idea, um, with no
programming around them and noresources.
So, you know, for you to be ableto find it, for your parents to
be able to find it, for you tojust grow through it, or learn
(13:55):
how to adapt and teach yourselfcertain things just so you
wouldn't fall through the crack.
And shout out to you.
That's big spirit right there.
And we respect you.
SPEAKER_01 (14:02):
It still blows uh my parents' mind to this day, like
when there's like something newand like I can see it, figure it
out, and like be able to touchit and do it, and then I just
always know how to do it.
It's not like it's an it's likeit's somebody with an identity
memory.
I and I I don't have one ofthose.
(14:22):
I don't at all.
But if I can see it, touch it,and then do it, I can remember
how to do that, and I know howto do it from then on out.
And like my mom's still shockedthat like at an early age I
figured out how to do a Rubik'sCube.
And it was took that one time tofigure out how many times you
need to turn this way, this way,that, and it was done.
(14:45):
And uh it it it's weird nowbecause I am getting older.
I was I was always really goodat math, and now that I do math
on a daily basis with like dayjobs and stuff like that, it's
just not that thing for meanymore.
Like I just don't want to do itanymore because I do it every
day.
Um but you know, it's it it'sstill, you know, it's still a
(15:10):
challenge at 36 years old.
You know, it you know, it's notlike something that just like
goes away.
And I think that's what somepeople think they're like, oh,
you learned how to figure itout, like also you're good now.
Like, no, not really.
SPEAKER_02 (15:22):
You still work, you work through it.
But we we all have things, butsome people understand what they
need in order to survive, movepast it, um, you know, grow from
it, like, and you know, it itcan be it can be tough.
It can be tough, but I I likehow your brain works because all
these degrees and everythingelse we just mentioned, can't do
(15:43):
a Rubik's Cube.
Well probably could, but Ihaven't successfully completed
one.
I got so frustrated that onetime when I was a kid, took all
the stickers off and just putthe colors together the way I
felt like they should go.
So that's that's me.
I have more patience instead oflearning how to do the Rubik's
Cube to peel off every stickerperfectly, which if you know
they're glued on there.
SPEAKER_01 (16:04):
Yeah, that's that's tough.
SPEAKER_02 (16:06):
So I took that type of time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
That's more patience than figuring out that Rubuscube
is peeling off those stickersperfectly to put them over
there.
SPEAKER_02 (16:13):
See, that's that's sick.
So my mom was like, Did yousolve this?
And I was like, No, I got tiredof it.
So I showed her what I did, andshe was like, Wow, you could
have just learned how to do aRuby cube.
And I was like, Nah, I like thisbetter.
So that's that's me.
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
I I I get it, man.
I mean, there's still thingslike even even to this day, like
my wife always can tell.
She's like, You need you need tocalm down and then redo what you
just did.
Because if I start to get overlystressed or over, I don't even
want to use the word stimulated,but like overly stressed or
angry or anything like that,like words tend to like just do
(16:51):
certain things, and then she'salways like, calm down, redo it.
Wow, that's that's insane.
I will say this though, my likelike going off of this little
tangent here, but my mom, youknow, spent a lot of time with
me uh with education growing up,and she I still remember her
telling me this story, and sheand she references it a lot of
times when we're talking aboutit.
(17:12):
It's like, do you remember thetime you read a sentence from
period to the capital letter andit made sense?
And I I I did it, that's how Isaw it.
I from left to right, I saw itfrom like the period to the
capital, and I read it at first,and somehow the way I read it,
it made sense.
(17:32):
Wow.
And she just would have to do itto me too.
Calm down, reread that.
And I did it, and it was it wasa completely different thing,
but she was like, you know, itmade sense the first way you
read that, right?
I was like, apparently, I Idon't know.
Like, you know, and I I wasstill like five, six years old
when this was happening too.
(17:52):
So, you know, like that's wherelike stuff like that still
happens.
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
I mean, but who's to say it's not connected in just
how we shape things?
Like if your art wasn't comedyand your art was painting or
drawing, right?
How would that play a part intothat, right?
Or like if you play music, howmight you see music notes
differently?
Everybody's just different.
So sometimes you you you want togo, uh, there's a right way to
(18:21):
do certain things.
And other times you just want togo, nah, this is the way I do
things.
And whatever you can become morecomfortable first, as long as
you can get things doneefficiently and all in all
correctly, you don't want tojust turn anything crazy, but if
you can get things done, there'sthere's something there.
Right.
I feel like it becomes a trueproblem when it prevents you
(18:44):
from handling whatever businessyou set out to handle.
SPEAKER_01 (18:48):
Absolutely.
It's um uh it it I I I don'twant to say hate's a strong
word, uh, but I I hate thepeople that are like, yeah, this
is the way you have to do it.
Why?
Is this the way you do it?
Like I do things differently andI still come out to the same
answer.
(19:10):
And does it make your way rightor my way right?
Just this is how I do it.
So I get that all in all.
Um so with those degrees, likewhat do you do for a day job?
Like what what does that allentail for like what's the day
look like for you?
SPEAKER_02 (19:29):
So um I work for a university um and I work in the
office of multicultural affairs.
And so for me, um, the day lookslike figuring out ways where I
can stress and impress upon ourstudents that they are
significant.
Um, they're significant fromtheir cultural backgrounds, from
(19:50):
their connections, throughintersectionality, through
agreeability.
Um, and by agreeability, what Imean is where do we find those
areas where we can agree onthings?
Um, and then where can we havesome dynamic conversation about
those things that come up thatare different from us?
Um so it starts from a goodplace, and then once we have
some rapport and once we have umsome connectivity um within the
(20:15):
group or within you know ourspace, now we can have more
dynamic conversations.
I also just create a space wherestudents can cool out and relax
and um find resources and youknow, everything from um
students who may have some someissues with transiency, right?
You you you may not have a studyplace to live.
(20:38):
So if you're unhoused, let'sfind you some resources.
Um if if there's a um you know,if there's some issues with
finding food, right?
Um, because these disparitieshappen.
Um they happen in college too,and people don't think about
that, but it's real.
You know, so if you if you'redealing with um hunger on any
(21:01):
level, I'm finding a way to feedyou.
I'm finding, you know, differentprograms that are on campus and
the things that we have in termsof resources, but I'm also doing
that in my space as well.
So uh it comes with a lot ofdifferent things because I'm
taking care of the whole suit.
Um, yes, we have academicsupports and stuff in our office
as well, um, that I'mresponsible for making sure that
you know exist.
(21:22):
Um, but the the the bigger thingis how are you doing today?
I feel like if I could sum upwhat I do, I ask that question
with all the necessary and duesincerity to every student,
every student that I comeacross.
Because you might not be doingwell that day.
And I need to I need to know howI can assist you in getting you
(21:44):
back to where you need to be soyou can go and change the world.
I deal with some brilliant kidstoo, by the way.
Like this this is the this is uhand I call them kids because I'm
an adult, but honestly, they'reyoung adults.
But that's how you see them.
You see them as, you know, asyours almost.
Like you feel responsible.
Um, you take work homedifferently.
(22:05):
Like I'm not taking homenecessarily, you know, papers
and stacks of papers because I'mnot on the faculty side of the
house.
But I'm taking home people'smood and their energy and their
their their hardest stories thatthey've had to tell, and um
things that they're uh uh afraidto express to their parents, or
(22:26):
you know, those fears of notfitting in socially, or you
know, their their financialburdens, and you know, do you
know if there's any on-campuswork?
Like those are the things I'mtaking home.
So we and it's it's just myself,we we've had some some changes
in terms of staffing, so it'sjust myself and one other
person, and we have some reallygreat student coordinators, and
(22:50):
that's that's what's balancingthis thing out, and we do a
great job.
Yeah, it it's gonna say it.
I'm gonna say it.
We do a great job.
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
It sounds like you do um just from the passion that
you have when you talk aboutwhat you do, and I I love to see
that with anybody when withwhatever they do, whether it's
like you said, art, music,comedy, education, anything like
that, if you have that passionto just sit and talk about it,
uh it uh it doesn't make uh fora work day.
(23:22):
If if that makes sense.
Uh I've always said if if youlove what you do, you'll never
work a day in your life.
And this podcast and comedy 13years.
Uh not the podcast we're onfive, but uh you know comedy for
thirteen years, and people arelike why do you still do it?
Why do you still uh do thecomedy grind?
(23:43):
Because even thirteen yearslater, I'm still considered
quote unquote an up and cover.
And like it it it is a grind.
It it's and I I I love it.
I love being on the road, goingto to different places, seeing
different places, meetingdifferent people, and getting up
on stage and making a room fullof strangers laugh.
SPEAKER_02 (24:05):
Absolutely.
You know I gotta ask you though,Mike.
You know I gotta ask you.
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02 (24:13):
What has been one of your most favorite experiences?
And let's talk food for asecond.
What has been one of your bestmeals on the road?
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
Oh man, I've had so many good meals.
I mean, I do a lot of work inbars, so I I eat a lot of bar
food.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Uh bar food is big, but we can go wing for wing.
We go, you know, we can go fryfor fry.
They had like a different typeof potato.
Because some some bars don'thave potato skins, but others
do.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
So Yeah, I'm a I'm a big potato skin fan.
I am.
I mean, I've I've eaten somegarbage on the road too, you
know.
There's been there's been timeslike I growing up in, you know,
I was I was living in WestVirginia, uh, where I grew up,
and I was like two, three yearsinto comedy, and this guy from
(25:03):
Illinois like hit me up for ashow.
And the first time I've reallytraveled outside of Ohio,
Pennsylvania, or West Virginia,so that tri-state area.
And he was like, hey, I mean,it's not a lot of money, but uh
I'll pay you like 150 bucks tocome out here.
Now I was gonna spend more ongas to get out that get out
there and back.
(25:24):
And I was like, Bet, I'll do it.
I already I had to work thatday.
Uh so I worked like half a shiftat um I was working at 18T at
the time and drove to Illinois,did the show, had to turn around
and drive right back so that Icould be at work in the morning.
And that's that's the part thatlike people don't see with
(25:45):
comedy when you're firststarting out.
You're gonna take some of theseuh these shit shows for lack of
a better term, excuse myfriends, but you know, like
you're gonna eat some crap.
And I did uh to this day, uh Iate something on the way home.
I just like a little truckstuff.
I was like, I need to get somefood, some energy drink, or
something just to get me home.
SPEAKER_02 (26:05):
Yeah, you stuck out sushi, didn't you?
It wasn't sushi.
SPEAKER_01 (26:08):
I don't like I'm not a big sushi guy as it is, even
fresh.
I was like, no, I don't I don'tdo sushi, but like it was one of
those things on like one ofthose rollers, like and this was
like two three in the morning.
I still don't know what I ate tothis day.
Um but I ate it just to get somefood in my stomach, to get me
the eggs, to get me help.
And like people ask me all thetime, they're like, Oh dude,
(26:30):
you're comedian.
So you work like uh an hour anight.
It's like uh I wish, but likeI'm constantly writing jokes,
I'm constantly doing stuff likethis podcast, I'm constantly
looking for uh venues to producemy own shows, I'm constantly
looking for shows and talking tobookers.
(26:51):
Like, I I don't ever have likeif I was clocked in with comedy,
I would have clocked in 13 yearsago and I still haven't clocked
out.
SPEAKER_03 (27:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:01):
Like for a day, nothing, lunch break, nothing.
Like that's the grind of comedy.
People don't see that.
And I love every minute of it.
That's the thing.
Like, I don't feel like I'veworked for the past 13 years.
SPEAKER_02 (27:15):
And that's what I you know, I mean uh with uh you
love what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:21):
Uh yeah.
Even this pot even this podcasthere, like I I last week and in
end of this week, you know, at aat a day job that I still work,
I worked a 60-hour week and hadto record three shows.
You know, so like even thatworking uh 12, 13 hour days at a
day job and coming home and uhdoing more work here.
(27:42):
And uh those of you who'velistened to the show before know
I still don't have a producer.
I still don't have anybodyediting my stuff.
I have my switchboard here andmy microphone.
I do everything.
Johnny helps out with the theguests and the administrative
stuff and keeping me on schedulebecause if he wasn't, I would
forget everything.
SPEAKER_02 (28:02):
Umny, man.
That's my guy.
SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
Yeah, Fitti.
I love Fitty.
Um, I've known Fiddy sincecollege.
I've I love him so much.
Uh it's just like so, yeah, I doeverything with this show, and I
I love every minute of it.
SPEAKER_02 (28:17):
That's what's up.
I mean, and and you know what itshows.
Uh, and it's kind of cool thatyou're doing everything in this
hour.
Like, I hope that's never yourlife story, but in this hour
it's cool because even as you'redoing this, you're learning and
you're growing and you'reputting yourself in different
positions.
One of the things I used to tellstudents back in the day was,
all right, boom, because youknow, you get students they and
(28:40):
they they want to be pop stars,they want to be in movies, they
want to do TV and stuff likethat.
Um, but at the time I wasworking for a trade program.
And I'll tell you where I usedto work.
I I might not tell you where Iwork, but I'll tell you where I
used to work.
I used to work for a companycalled Jobcore.
Jobcore, national program, butit's trade-based.
(29:00):
So we would get students thatwould come in and, you know, of
course they they still want todo what they want to do after
they graduate high school.
They're doing a trade, they'redoing HVAC, they're doing
carpentry, they're doing brickman.
But, you know, I want to be suchand such, you know.
I was watching Instagram and Ithink I can do such and such.
Well, I want an audition forthis, bro.
And I'd be like, those are allgreat dreams.
(29:22):
But how can you get in the room?
And I would share a story aboutthis RB singer and vocalist
who's real who's real dope now.
Her name's Joe Scott, but shehung out and she was actually
working for a cleaning service,but that service used to clean
studios, and one of her favoriteproducers was in one of the
studios and she was assigned toclean.
(29:44):
She got to singing in that room.
So I was like, well, let's thinkabout it.
If you want to be on TV or in amovie, why you can't learn how
to do set design after you getyour carpentry uh certification.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (29:54):
You know, put yourself in the space and have
some other discernible skills sopeople are involved.
And then once you're in theroom, make a fool of yourself.
And that might get you to thenext level.
So, like with you right now,with you learn how to do all
these other technical aspects ofit, I mean, you can take your,
you know, you can pull a LeBron,take your talent somewhere else,
(30:16):
and help somebody else withtheir show, but you're an on-air
personality, whether they knowit or not.
You're a comedian, whether theyrecognize it or not.
So as soon as you get anopportunity, they catch a cold,
and you might fill in for me,Mike, they got a natural
platform.
Who knows?
You know what I mean?
Like those things happen.
So yeah, I say do everything asa part of it, and I'm not taking
(30:39):
my own advice because I don'tknow how to produce a song to
save my life.
But I do know how to um do somevocal artist production, right?
But if you ask me to make abeat, no, can't do it.
I got a guy for that who does aphenomenal job.
(31:01):
Shout out to my boy Sean.
But you know, those are thethings.
Learning just something elseoutside of the part that you
love puts you in a position thateven if you have to do a little
bit of what you don'tnecessarily love, but it's still
in the same realm, you still getthat opportunity.
You surround yourself with thatenergy of like, I'm still here
and I can still do this.
SPEAKER_03 (31:21):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (31:22):
So you can buy a comedy club.
You look, if all if you didnothing else, buy a comedy club,
and part of them going on yourstage is you doing 10 minutes a
night.
SPEAKER_01 (31:37):
It's so funny you bring that up.
My wife and I, honestly to God,have kicked around the idea of
opening up our own comedy cluband restaurant.
We have a name, we have a theme,we have everything we we want to
do.
We just don't know where tostart, essentially.
(31:58):
Like we we have the idea, andwe've been talking about this
for the better part of about twoyears now.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
Find a space with a small parking lot next to it
that you can get access to atthis time and that time, and and
then you slap a neon sign on thefront and call it what you want
because people will come, right?
People are looking forentertainment, people are
looking for a good time, andpeople are looking for
(32:25):
accessibility to these things.
And if you got great bar foodand some bar stools, somebody
will sit there, eat, and laugh.
SPEAKER_03 (32:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (32:34):
And that's the thing.
It's it's it's we make it biggerbecause it's it's a business.
So we're seeing the businessaspect, we're seeing where we
can fail.
What about where we can be supersuccessful?
And that's what holds a lot ofus back, honestly.
I mean, and you're and you'redoing great, but we both still
work real jobs.
So we're not doing everythingthat we necessarily want to do,
(32:55):
even though we're, you know, andI and I say this with respect to
everybody's beliefs, but eventhough we're blessed to be able
to do a little bit of both,right?
We can stabilize our lives, wehave quality um careers and day
jobs and things that we can relyon.
I absolutely, I absolutely loveworking with my students.
But if you would have told methat my plan A minus, I'm not
(33:21):
gonna call it my plan B, but myplan A minus was going to
overcome the plan A, I'd havebeen like, nah, I'm gonna be a
star.
And so still wanting that formyself, I have to find different
ways of being, you know, thatcelebrity, at least in my head
and in my walk.
Because it may not ever be, youknow, MTV's greatest hits of the
(33:44):
week, you know what I mean?
But it's but it's something.
I'm I'm doing something that Ilove.
So you gotta decide though.
Like, because I want to come tothe club now.
Now I want to come to the comedyclub.
Now I want to go to, you know,to the spot.
SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
It it it's it's it's I'm just it's funny that you
brought that up because like Isaid, we've been talking about
it.
Like, I like we even like I'llI'll say it on here.
I'll just put it out there.
Like, we've we've called itbecause I'm full Italian, my
wife is full Irish, and we weregonna call it the Emerald Boot.
Like the Emerald Boot ComedyClub, like we were gonna serve
(34:21):
off like have the bar food therefor that too, but we were gonna
have like uh uh Italian food andIrish food there too as well.
So you can get the best of bothcultures in one.
And then just make people laughwhile we're while we were doing
it too as well.
Like in that like we've we we'vethought, like we've almost to
(34:41):
the point where we've almostliterally sat down and wrote out
a business plan.
SPEAKER_02 (34:45):
Uh like it's you can do that from now, so go for it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:49):
Yeah, we we we just gotta find the sp the right
space, honestly, is I think theonly thing holding us back
because I know so many comicsfrom doing this for 13 years
that even if I had opened it up,I would all I would have to do
is make a couple quick calls.
Hey man, I I'm putting thistogether, I'm gonna do this like
Bringer show.
If you can bring five people uhto the show, I'll give you 10
(35:11):
minutes of stage, I'll give you15 minutes, you know, whatever
of stage time on on it here tostart out with.
And you know, just so we cangrow the brand and grow people
like, oh, he's doing this, andthen go from there.
I I like I thought about thisway too much um right now too as
well.
SPEAKER_02 (35:32):
In the missus, we're gonna flesh it out because now I
want to see the hemorrhague.
We could do something reallycool over the summer.
You can do a pop-up one time,just so you can see how it
feels.
And if you like how the bootfit, wear it.
But uh, yeah, that's a that's avibe, man.
We love hearing about dreams,though.
You know, dreams are dreams aregreat.
(35:54):
Like, is there something now?
I'm interviewing you.
Let me stop with that.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
I don't give a no dude, you cool like that.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
Something that like when you were younger, you were
like, I know the I know thelaughs were there, but did you
have like a uh a let's talkabout obtained?
Is there something that youactually did do that was on your
checkout?
And you were like, oh, I got achance to do this in comedy,
like in my space, in the thingthat I dream about most.
I've gotten a chance to touchthis.
This was great.
(36:22):
This was a great experience.
Or did it turn out not to bethat great and you want to do
something different?
SPEAKER_01 (36:27):
Um, I mean, I've gotten the the things that I
think are great.
They're still uh a comic.
I mean, he's had countless HBOspecials and that, and I got to
open for him.
Um little little hole in thewall bar.
I mean, me and him are stillfriends to this day.
We still talk, we still bounceideas off of each other.
(36:47):
Uh bought his book, uh, I'llgive him a little shameless
plug, How to Fail at Stand UpComedy, uh by Steve Sabo.
And I've had him on I've had himon the show um countless times.
One of the few books I don't Idon't read a lot.
Obviously, we had the thedyslexic talks about like I
don't read books just just toread them for that's not
enjoyable for me.
I read his book cover to cover.
(37:09):
Absolutely love it.
It had so many tips and tricks,you know, on how to make it as a
stand-up comedian.
And I realized reading that bookthat early on in my career I was
doing almost everything uh uhthat would help you fail at
stand-up comedy.
unknown (37:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (37:26):
And so, you know, just having that, I I I don't
want to call him a mentor, butyou know, a mentor just to
bounce it off, and you know,being able to open for him and
just uh be in the same greenroom as him uh and just bounce
ideas off of him, uh that thatwas a great experience for me.
There there was a few things,you know, doing a couple of like
theater shows and stuff likethat that it just it that wasn't
(37:48):
my uh my cup of tea.
There was a couple ones like I'mnot a clean comic.
I'm not gonna sit there and actlike I'm this even killed uh
person.
I'm not had to do a PG I didn'thave to.
I I chose to do a PG-13 show.
Right and it took me out of mycomfort zone.
And the experience that I gotfrom that is uh I could make it
(38:12):
as a PG-13 comic because Iabsolutely uh killed to the
point where the headliner thatwent on after me uh like he
wasn't uh mad that I did so wellbecause his jokes didn't hit as
hard uh as they should have.
Uh right.
But he was just like, man, likeuh uh you sent me your tape and
(38:33):
I almost didn't book you forthis show because of how dirty
of a comic you you can be.
And how like in doing a PG-13show, we have kids here.
There's certain things you can'ttalk about.
Um, so that was uh that wasanother one.
The uh last big, big show I had,which you know, take the the
(38:55):
payment and everything of that.
I got to work with a localcompany in Columbus, Ohio, uh
Slapstick Comedy, give them ashameless plug.
I still love them.
They were putting togetherprison shows.
They were sending us intoprisons, and I got to perform
for 400 inmates.
Wow.
And uh after 13 years of doingcomedy, I hadn't signed one
(39:18):
autograph, anything like that.
Uh these inmates were coming upto me and shaking my hand and
asking for an autograph.
Uh a lot of them have told me,like, hey man, that uh 20 minute
set that you just did just gaveme six more months of peace in
here.
(39:38):
I I almost told Slapstick, don'tpay me for this show because
that's all the payment I need.
Right there, that I just gave400 people a little bit of a
break and to feel normal for alittle bit and not like they
were incarcerated.
And that that to this day isstill I'd probably say my
(40:00):
shining moment in comedy wasbeing able to do that show for
them.
SPEAKER_02 (40:04):
Man, that that that sounds insane to to have that
moment, right, where you aredoing literally walking in your
purpose in that way.
You're doing comedy, but you'redoing it for a group that you
don't know how they're gonnatake it.
Yeah, and then they and thentake it the best possible way,
and they appreciate you in thatway.
I think that was very, verypowerful.
(40:26):
That's what's up.
Of all the moments that youexpressed, I know I know they
were all really great, but Ilike that one.
SPEAKER_01 (40:31):
Yeah, I like that one a bit.
And you know what?
That that was the start of thatshow was the most nerve-wracking
show for me because I'm a bigcrowd work guy.
And it's just like, all right,like I don't know how these guys
are gonna take this.
You know, if they if they giveme something, I'm gonna give it
right back to them.
Like, I'm not gonna shy awayfrom it.
(40:52):
But right.
No, they're they were all overit.
Like, I'm just gonna No, it'sit's funny because my wife, I
mean, we and her have beentogether 10 years, um uh married
for four, but we've beentogether for 10.
She's missed three shows totalin that time.
Uh one, she had food poisoning,literally couldn't get uh out of
(41:14):
the house.
The second one, she had uhCOVID, so she wasn't allowed to
go.
And the third one was thatprison show because she
literally wasn't allowed to go.
Um and that like, you know, Ishe was a ball of nerves while I
(41:35):
was there because like and thatI don't know if I fed off of
that, just knowing like, okay,I'm uh three hours away from
her.
Um I can't have my phone inthere.
Uh I'm in a room full ofinmates, but like getting out,
like and being able to text her,like, hey, show went great, uh,
everything's fine.
(41:56):
I'm in the van now with the withthe other comics, and we're on
our way home.
Like, and she was asking, butlike looking around that room,
you know, there were officerseverywhere.
Like, you couldn't look aroundand not see one.
So, like, if anything were tohappen, like I would have been
fine.
So, like that lowered thenervousness a little bit for me.
(42:21):
But yeah, like that that it wasa nerve-wracking show, but at
the end the reward supersededeverything.
SPEAKER_02 (42:28):
Those are those are sometimes the best though when
you're in front of a crowd thatyou didn't you I mean, you of
course you signed up for it, youkind of knew what it was, but
when you're finally in it, andthen they receive you, and it's
a nice reception, people arereally excited to have you there
and you feel appreciated, that'salways the best.
unknown (42:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:46):
So I'm glad that that was the experience you had.
I'm I'm I'm still hype aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (42:50):
Yeah, that that was that was the best thing.
And you know, touching on it alittle bit, you know, outside of
work and everything like that,you are uh, you know, family
man, you are married.
Like, how do you how do youbalance that work life balance
with, you know, job, family, andeverything like that?
SPEAKER_02 (43:06):
So, you know, it's myself and my wife.
Um, no children just yet, butyou know, life can be licensed.
So we never know when um that'llhappen.
But when it does, that'll besomething else that that that'll
be another show.
I'll come back on and be like,hey, kids now.
But uh right now we're we'rejust learning how to be married.
Um and be married when you haveum and you shout out to my wife,
(43:29):
she's a wonderful, wonderfulwoman.
Um, career woman, yes, but alsoum just truly about this this
idea of us, this we.
And um when you have somebodywho wants to be a we, uh, that's
a good thing.
Um marriage.
(43:50):
People have a lot to say aboutmarriage and and and sometimes
it's it's vaguely negative.
Uh like no, you get to you getto wake up and go and experience
life, and you get to look nextto you and be like, hey, that
was crazy, right?
And somebody else can literallyanswer you back and be like,
yeah, that was wild.
I'm glad we made it out of that.
Like, or you know, that we'redoing this together.
(44:11):
Uh because that's just kind ofwhere where we are.
Like, we are um going into ourthird year.
Um, so we're we're new at this,and and when we get frustrated
or when we have you know momentswhere we're not quite sure, we
have to remind ourselves does athree-year-old know everything?
You know, we're we're we're youknow, in our 30s, so we don't
(44:37):
know everything.
So I know a three-year-olddoesn't.
So I look at it from the lens,and this is why I think, you
know, me being in education isreally big.
I look at my life as, you know,in these moments, these things,
these my these uh milestones,when they're upon me, or I'm
growing in those ways, or we'regrowing in those ways.
Um, I chart it and I look at itlike from infancy all the way
(45:01):
through adulthood.
So by the time we're 18, we'renot dealing with what a
three-year-old dealt with.
We're dealing with what an18-year-old deals with.
Because it's just the maturationof relationships.
All you're looking at issomething maturing and the time
that it takes to truly educateyourself around where you are
now.
Um and looking at it from thatstandpoint keeps me in love
(45:22):
every day.
Because I love ourthree-year-old.
Our three-year-old is great.
You know, we're in a we're in athree-year-old marriage, and we
get to continue to learn thingsabout each other.
Um, we get to continue to growas individuals, which is a
roller coaster ride in itself.
And then we have to cometogether and be like, all right,
this is what I learned todayabout me.
(45:44):
What did you learn about you?
And how does it now worktogether?
Um, and what does togetherreally look like in this moment?
And it's okay to admit that youdon't know stuff.
And you can be supertransparent.
So to answer your question, Ithink we balanced it out by just
understanding that we don't knoweverything.
Um, and that it's best to askquestions, especially right now,
(46:06):
and continue to ask questions,and continue to give each other
that space um and that marginfor grace and error.
So you go you gonna makemistakes.
So as long as we hold the vowsteady, as long as we adhere
into those, everything else isjust trivial.
It's gonna suck for a day, aweek, and then we're going right
back to you know how life shouldbe.
(46:26):
Um, the biggest thing I thinktoo, and this is for anybody who
is thinking about gettingmarried, um, is making sure you
understand how finances work.
Make sure you understand howmoney works, um, and make sure
you understand everybody'sthreshold and expectation when
it's centered around money.
Know your partner broke boilingpoint.
(46:47):
When it's either more or less.
Um, and if you can get a goodidea around that, um, everything
else will kind of like fall inline.
When you can when you can createsome sense of true stability and
enjoyment um outside of thethings that you all do, and
especially when you can cometogether and find enjoyment in
some of your some of yourpartner's hobbies, those things
(47:10):
are also cool too.
So, yeah, marriage is cool.
Yeah, I like it.
It was for me, bro.
SPEAKER_01 (47:16):
I was I do it all the time because like as soon as
I'm on stage, you know, Imentioned being married, like I
can feel the crap, like, ah,he's gonna talk shit now.
Like, like and I'm just like,no, I'm not one of those comics.
Like, I actually love my wife.
Like, I like I'm not one ofthose comics.
Uh no, I that's not to say Idon't have jokes about uh my
(47:38):
wife that I stay on stage.
And like she like okay.
It it my my whole I don't mywhole stick on stage is you know
that I got dubbed the angrywhite comic.
Um at like after my like thirdshow because I just go on these
long filled rants about I hatestupid questions and I hate like
(47:59):
stupid people, and like that'sthe whole thing.
And like that's not somethingthat I don't say stupid things
to as well, and I don't askthat, but my wife does too.
So like that gets put into myact on stage.
Uh and recently like she startedto do this thing now where like
she wants to be the heckler thatwants to to to talk during the
(48:20):
show.
So like that that's that's a newthing, but like we we're we're
learning that and it it'sworking for us too as well.
And you know, it's it's funny.
Like you you mentioned it therein the middle there where you
just like look at it, like Iknow it's crazy, right?
Like, you know, the I saidsomething, and I can't remember
what the hell it was uh to savemy life, but it was something
(48:43):
along the lines that I was gonnado something for my wife.
I don't know if it was just togo get her another drink uh or
what it was, and she just lookedlike I'm talking about like
that.
That's just like it was thatquick of a moment where I was
like, I'm running inside, do youneed anything?
And she's like, that's what I'mlike.
See?
Like that's what that's why wewere together.
Like, you know, you like youknew I needed something without
(49:04):
me even saying anything.
SPEAKER_02 (49:06):
Yeah, you get it.
SPEAKER_01 (49:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:08):
Get it.
So I say that I was ready formarriage for a long time because
I was a serial monogamist.
You don't want to teach you howto date.
I don't know if the 90s is likethat.
Yeah, but nobody taught us howto date.
SPEAKER_01 (49:20):
It was just like you figure it out.
SPEAKER_02 (49:22):
That that's exactly you figure it out, but you like
you have a lot of likerelationship quotations.
SPEAKER_03 (49:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:31):
And and along those lines, you realize, hey, I don't
want to, I really don't want tobe in all these people's faces.
What is it that I actually want?
And so you create the dun dundun checklist.
And when I tell you, as soon asI literally was like, these are
the things that I think I'mlooking for in a woman.
(49:53):
Can they be delivered in apackage that's pretty?
Again, beauty is an outtabehold, but I I I think my wife
is absolutely gorgeous.
And she's my wife now.
And it's so crazy.
So I'm like, now I'm trying tomanifest Bentleys and Mansions
(50:17):
and stuff like that.
Because if it's that easy tofind a gorgeous wife who's
intelligent and smart and laughswhen stuff ain't funny, um, what
what else can I just talk up?
You know, am I able to get somecool stuff?
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:32):
Gotcha.
Uh-oh.
Uh, but Steve, I I just realizedhow long we've been sitting out
here talking, and we are runningdown near the episode.
SPEAKER_02 (50:40):
We're just chopping it up.
SPEAKER_01 (50:41):
Yeah, and uh, we are running down near the end of the
episode here, but I do have toget this segment in before we
end the show.
And for all the old listenersout there, you know what's
coming in.
But for the new listeners outthere, it is the Fast Fiddy
Five.
Five random questions from thewonderful manager of the
podcast, Johnny Fitty Falcone.
(51:02):
Uh, for the new listeners, theseare rapid fire.
Uh, you can elaborate if youneed to here, Steve.
But if you already, becausethese have nothing to do with
what we've been talking aboutfor the better part of an hour
here.
All right.
Question number one.
Is white water rafting overratedor underrated, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_02 (51:20):
Ooh, overrated.
That's crazy.
Why am I drawing on purpose?
SPEAKER_01 (51:24):
Yeah, I I love the water as a former swimmer.
No, no, thank you.
Um, question number two.
If you could be either Batman orthe Incredible Hulk, who would
you pick?
Oh, it's Batman all day.
Yeah.
That's an easy one.
Uh three, uh, what month is theworst month in the year?
SPEAKER_02 (51:44):
Oh, April.
Nothing but, you know, nothingbut rain.
Uh, and and it's like icysometimes, but the sun will be
out and it's fooling you, it'scold.
I April, trash.
Garbage.
Yes, get it out of here.
SPEAKER_00 (52:01):
Number four, what is your go-to grocery store to shop
at?
SPEAKER_02 (52:06):
Oh, man.
I'm gonna be in trouble withthis one.
Um, Trader Joe's.
SPEAKER_03 (52:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (52:12):
Trader Joe's is solid, and then there's a place
called the Miles Market that Iabsolutely love.
It's it's more of a marketplace.
I guess.
And I'm telling you, they gotthe best selection of just
produce and fresh meats andstuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (52:27):
So, yeah.
All right.
Well, last but not least in theFast Fity Five, the best flavor
of Popsicle is.
SPEAKER_02 (52:36):
Oh, we gotta go the punch one, the red one.
SPEAKER_01 (52:43):
Okay.
I I I mess with the red one.
I'm I'm more of an orange fan.
Which is that that'scontroversial.
People either let's see.
SPEAKER_02 (52:50):
Yeah, we're popping the icy pops right in the
plastic that's frozen.
SPEAKER_01 (52:54):
It just is just his pop signal.
SPEAKER_02 (52:56):
So I gotta go with, I gotta go with that.
The frozen ones that come in theclear bag that they're along,
that's the break.
You just pop them boys in themiddle.
Yeah, it's gotta be the red one.
The red one is crazy.
I will take orange as a backupthough.
Shout out to you.
SPEAKER_01 (53:10):
I got you.
No worries.
Uh, that was the fast fittingfive.
I feel like he took it easy onyou, Steve.
I'm not gonna lie to you here.
Like, those were those were likelayup questions.
Like, he's gotten like deep intothese things before.
If you've listened to the showEddie at all, like you'll know
like there's questions that likeI have to stop in the moment be
like, what the hell does thatsay?
Like, that's like it's it'scrazy how this man's mind works,
(53:34):
and I'm I'm here for it.
Like, there was one questionthat I'll never forget it.
And uh he asked uh one of ourMMA fighters that was on um uh
you're locked in a racquetballcourt.
It's you, a fat man in asilverback gorilla, you have a
flare, a dumbbell, and boxingglove.
(53:55):
Who comes out alive?
Like, that's the way this man'smind works.
Like, and he just wants to knowwhat people think of like that
stuff.
Like, and we made a wholesegment on this show about these
random.
SPEAKER_03 (54:06):
I'm going to play the girl.
SPEAKER_02 (54:12):
The gorilla will undoubtedly see Batman in the
light and become startled andstart pounding on Batman.
I take the dumbbell.
I don't see nah, because thenyou're gonna have the animal
people on me.
I can't I got nothing.
I could drive, I could drive thedumbbell on the gorilla's foot.
Now the gorilla has a brokentoe, but he already beat up
(54:34):
Batman and I walk out unscathed.
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
Man, that that's that's better than the answer I
think I got that on the on theshow when I actually asked that.
Wow, that's phenomenal.
But like I said, Steve, we arerunning down here near the end
of the episode here.
I give every guest thisopportunity at the end of every
show.
If there's anything you want toget out there, anything you want
to promote, or even if it's justa good message, I'm gonna give
(54:59):
you about a minute and the flooris yours.
SPEAKER_02 (55:03):
What's going on, everybody?
It's your host big Steve, akaFair Conference.
And I just want to let you knowthat um love is a good thing.
Um, being kind is an even betterthing.
Um shout out to my guy RickySmith, random acts of kindness
everywhere.
He would often let me know thatif you can get a smile on a
(55:23):
person's face, if you can ummake it so that people feel
comfortable, it makes the worldjust that much better every
time.
Um shout out to my boyHeadcraft, who uses music to get
a word out.
Shout out to my boy MiseryJones, Sean Green, who has a
wonderful food truck, who servesup smiles all the time through
(55:45):
delicious cuisine.
Um, that's authentic, not onlyto him, but to his family
bloodline.
And um, you know what?
Continue to do the things thatmake you happy.
Don't hurt anybody in theprocess, and especially don't
hurt yourself.
We just want to see everybodycome back and listen to another
episode of My Man Mike's go.
(56:05):
You feel me?
So thank you for listening.
That's my that's my minute.
SPEAKER_01 (56:10):
Oh man, I I appreciate that.
That at the end of there, uh,shout me out like that.
But I love it when there's agood message at the end of every
show.
I'm all about helping people getanything that they want out
there, uh, anything they gotgoing on.
But when there's a good messagelike that to end the show,
there's no better way to end it.
So, with that being said, thatis going to do it for this
(56:31):
week's episode of the Ride HomeRants podcast.
I want to thank my guest again,uh Steve Furlone Mun for joining
the show.
This was a lot of fun to get totalk to you.
And as always, if you enjoyedthe show, be a friend.
Tell a friend.
If you didn't, tell themanyways, because they might like
it just because you didn't.
That's gonna do it for me, and Iwill see y'all next week.
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home
Rance podcast.
This is as always your host,Mike Bono.
I have a great guest for ustoday.
He comes to us all the way upfrom Cleveland, Ohio.
That is uh Steve Furlonman joinsthe show and he is actually on
(00:20):
his way home, folks.
This is a true ride home rants.
But Steve, thanks for joining,man.
SPEAKER_02 (00:26):
Well, what's going on, Mike?
Man, I appreciate you having meon the show.
It is a hundred percent a realride home.
Getting off late because youknow, work.
And uh I was like, hey, podcastis podcasting.
We still gotta jump on thisthing.
We got to get on this show.
So I'm super excited to be here.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (00:45):
We're super excited to have you on here, Steve.
So uh tell us a little bit aboutSteve.
You know, where did you grow up?
You know, kind of like the highschools and all that.
What tell us a little bit aboutyou?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
Oh man, let's do it.
So um grew up in uh Cleveland,Ohio, actually the southeast
side, um, because Cleveland isvery particular about what part
of Cleveland you're from.
So uh Southeast side, uh 131stis kind of where I grew up, and
then from there, um I wentfurther into the southeast side,
a place called Garfield Heights,Ohio, and now I'm over in Maple
(01:16):
Heights, Ohio.
They're all cousins, they're allalways in the same neighborhood.
Um went to, of course, localelementary schools.
Uh father was in the MarineCorps, that's how we ended up in
Cleveland anyway.
Funny story.
Was born in Boston.
Um when my parents got married,my father moved us here.
So uh, yeah, so Boston.
(01:38):
Got family there, Cleveland,definitely family here.
Uh went to Benedict and HighSchool, played football.
Uh Benedicton is a is a I'mgonna say world-renowned
all-boys school, uh located onthe east side of Cleveland as
well, kind of in that southeastside area.
Um there's a lot of communityhelp offered by my high school.
(02:01):
I take a lot of pride of thefact that um it's not
necessarily the best conditionsaround the school, but the
school definitely tries to doits best to uplift community.
Um, and so you know, being inthat space, being a part of
privilege in that way, but alsogoing home to some realities and
(02:24):
having a cross by other people'srealities and finding the
intersectionality between myblessings and other people's
pain.
Um definitely have my eyes wide,so it kind of put me on some
different paths.
So not only was I intoathletics, I was into
volunteerism and um, you know,making people smile and making
(02:44):
people laugh.
So I was kind of a class clownfor a long time, which then
ultimately turned into likehosting and throwing parties and
doing events, and I just reallywanted people to have a good
time.
Big energy.
Big energy is my brand, bro.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Dude, that that's I I love that.
Um, because I I was labeled theclass clown.
Obviously, I'm doing stand-upcomedy now, which is just so
everybody that I I went to highschool with was like, say, dude,
we told you you'd be doingstand-up, and like like they
just keep like pounding me andlike making jokes like that too.
But I I like you said, you know,I love to make people laugh.
(03:21):
That is what I've always lovedto do.
Even on the football field, Iplayed football in high school
too, as well.
And like there've been timeswhere guys are like, dude, can
you just like take somethingserious right now?
Like, I mean, you you crackingjokes out here.
We're out here sweating intwo-a-days, and you're out here
cracking jokes and stuff.
I was just like, Yeah, you'reforgetting about how much those
legs hurt from all these windsprints we've been having to do,
(03:41):
though, ain't you?
Like, and they're just like, Ohshit, I didn't think about that.
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02 (03:46):
Like, it was burnt to pass out, but I got this joke
for you though, real quick.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
Yeah.
That's because that's what itis.
Bill's time router, man.
It it cures the spirit.
You can make somebody laugh ifyou can if you can put a smile
on their face, changes thatwhole the whole look of the day.
You know what I'm saying?
Those roll-pilled glasses, comeon.
SPEAKER_01 (04:06):
I I still remember to this day, uh guy that he was
just coming off of an injury,and we were running, they called
him pulse laps.
It was just a lap around theoutside of the field about
outside the goalpost.
And you know, being a skilledplayer, they wanted us to do
that in 45 seconds.
Well, they were giving him alittle bit of leeway, you know,
you're coming off of a leginjury, uh, build yourself back
(04:28):
up and you know, get yourselfback right.
And he was just like, Hey, uh,can you like just like jog with
me just so I don't feel like I'mthat much of a weight being
left?
Well, I'm six foot five.
He was like five foot two.
And so I'm like walking next tohim.
(04:48):
And he's like, Can you slowdown, man?
Like you're I was like, one ofyour steps is like six of mine.
So like it was just funny.
Like, Coach was like, What areyou doing?
I was like, I'm trying to gethim to like go a little faster,
but like I'm just like moving myarms real fast and making it
look like I was jogging it.
I will I wasn't.
And like we still had a goodlaugh.
(05:09):
We had a still good, we stillhad a good laugh about it when
we got back to like the thestart finish and everything like
that.
He was just like, All right, Ithink I need to find somebody
else to run with me, but I'mlike, Yeah, I appreciate you
trying, but you're just too damntall to be doing that with me.
SPEAKER_02 (05:24):
I'm 6'4, so yeah, I'm I'm I'm going to you know
outstride you.
And I laugh because when you seeme and my wife in public, we
have similar issues.
She's only 4'11.
So when I'm out and I'm walking,I gotta be mindful, man.
I gotta slow it down.
You know, I gotta baby stepping.
SPEAKER_01 (05:46):
I I still deal with it on a daily basis.
My wife's 5'2.
I'm still and like there's oh,she was she just always like,
What can you walk at my pace,please?
Like she's like, I can't, Ican't do this.
SPEAKER_02 (05:58):
Like, you're I'm gonna look like the Pink Panther
walking next to you.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
Everything's gonna be a very sly and slow motion.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:08):
Absolutely for sure.
I deal with it, I deal with thetwo.
SPEAKER_02 (06:12):
Um so the injury um makes me think of a story,
though.
SPEAKER_03 (06:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:18):
Uh so I I'm in I'm in college.
I played one year of collegeball D3, not a big story.
Okay.
Uh, so that's not the story.
Nobody's like, yeah, D3.
But I did play one year ofcollege ball.
It was a great time.
I I had a uh great team, we hada good time rider, uh, terrible
record, but we were friends.
(06:40):
So we're in friends on a teamgoes in for end zone, no tackle.
Um it's uh uh kind of a goalline play.
Uh he gets cracked by the miclinebacker and goes down.
So middle linebacker pretty muchtaking out over the top.
(07:02):
We of course don't score.
And after all the smoke clears,this dude's fingers in like four
different directions.
SPEAKER_03 (07:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Now everybody's on the teamtalking to him and tell him to
calm down because he feels pain,but he can't figure out what's
going on.
And he's not looking down at thehand yet.
So the thing is like, bro, yougood, it's fine, everything's
okay.
No, don't look at your hand,don't look at your hand.
(07:30):
I don't know what they'rethey're talking about yet.
I see the play, but because I'mplaying tight end, I had a whole
different route.
When I come back over, I'm like,hey, what's going on?
Everything good?
And I look at Dude's hand and Igo, oh damn.
And it felt like the Kevin Hartmoment before the Kevin Hart
moment.
Where he's talking to Don Tito.
(07:52):
And I promise you, people justlooked at me with like total
disgust.
So that's when I knew I couldmake it in comedy at some point,
too, if I wanted to.
SPEAKER_03 (08:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:00):
Because that that was that's timing.
Only a jerk could be that thatgood at timing right there.
That was just funny.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
Oh, yeah.
I tell people all the time atshows, I I pretty much
preference every show and startwith if you want to heckle, by
all means, go ahead.
I love hecklers.
I have a microphone.
You were all in proximity tothis speaker system, and I will
ruin your night.
I'm just letting you know thatnow.
Like it this could go one of twoways.
(08:30):
You could just let me tell my haha stories and we can and we
could have a good time andeverybody can laugh, or you
could try to say something, andthen you will be my entire set.
I will throw every joke I'vewritten out the window and I
will make everything about you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:43):
You're my favorite comedian.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
And it's just I've learned to like be real quick
off the cuff.
And I I equate that to I grew upin a very blue-collar town.
Uh, my dad was a steel millworker for as long as I can
remember.
And for growing up, if you wereeither going along with the joke
(09:06):
or you were the butt of the jokein my household, like that's
just how I grew up.
We all ragged on each other, andit was just good time, good
humor.
But if you were sensitive or youdidn't you didn't like the joke
or anything like that, you justbecame the joke.
So you had to learn to be quickoff the cuff to get back at
anybody who was talking to you,and that made me the comedian I
(09:27):
am today.
And I wouldn't have it any otherway.
Like every show, I was like,because there's always that one
person in the crowd, like, I'mgonna get him.
No, you're not.
Um I'm I'm a professional craptalker.
That's what I am.
Like, I won't that's I I getpaid to talk crap.
That's that's there it is.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
There it is, and that's and that's the dream.
And that's the dream.
SPEAKER_01 (09:51):
So going back to you a little bit, I believe you have
uh a few different degrees uhwith that.
You know, what are your degreesin, you know, education?
I know is a big thing for you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:02):
Yeah, so of course you got your high school
diploma.
Gotta get that to start thejourney.
Um, got the high school diploma,and shout out to anybody who is
doing education in anon-traditional sense.
I always love to shout outpeople who um have had
obstacles, who have had toovercome things, and who have
had to truly strive to get highschool diplomas and degrees and
(10:24):
stuff like that.
It is not easy.
It is made to seem like it'seasy.
There is, you know, a program infront of you, but if if
something throws you off thattrajectory and you get back on
and you go for it, shout out toyou.
So, yes, I have high schooldiploma, then I have my
bachelor's in education.
Um, early childhood wasinitially the focus.
Um, and then I was like, youknow what?
(10:45):
I don't know if I'm gonna teachin the classroom.
So I went towards theeducational administrative um
piece and component of it, andthen finally my master's is an
educational foundation.
So learning about the history ofwhat education is supposed to
be, what it looks like, um, whowas responsible for for
receiving it.
And pretty much if I was to walkinto any school, I could go, let
(11:08):
me see.
Let me let me see how well youall are doing, and if you're
truly educating kids, or if youjust provide instruction and
lunch.
Like, like it's because it'sdifferent.
Like you gotta you gotta educatea person from top to bottom.
There's a holistic approach tomaking sure that a child or a
(11:28):
young person um is knowledgeableand can obtain knowledge, right?
Has access to real knowledge.
So it it's it's it's levels andlayers, but all I have to say, I
spent a lot of money to be ableto teach people how to teach
people who teach.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
I gotcha.
That's that's I know I have abig respect for people in your
uh profession and what you do.
Um I think I I don't say this alot.
I don't like to bring it up, butyou know, I I grew up diagnosed
dyslexic.
So I learn differently than mostpeople.
(12:06):
Uh and I I'm a visual learner.
It's basically what it's alljust to save everyone the long
spiel about it.
I'm a very visual person.
I have to see it, touch it,taste it, and I can I figure it
out and I'll do it.
And so growing up, you know, inthe in the 90s, uh in that sort
of aging myself a wee bit, uh,but uh that was a very new thing
(12:28):
to uh teach someone differentlythan how teachers were uh taught
to teach.
So I I somebody who does whatyou do like that's amazing to
me, and somebody who's willingto take the time to learn that
is just an awesome thing.
And uh, you don't see that in alot of people.
SPEAKER_02 (12:49):
I appreciate the flowers, but I also uh uh I can
give you that same and extendthat same sentiment to you.
Um someone who is trying tonavigate, especially at that
time, right?
Because we're in school aroundthe time, or at least there you
know what an overhair projectorwas.
So we're in the same class.
We're in the same age bracket.
(13:09):
Um it's funny because I saw thatonline the other day, and people
really don't know what thoseare.
Uh, but anyway, knowing that youwent through um life having to
understand, number one, what itwas that was challenging you in
that way, and then number two,coming to grips, and then
finding people who could eithergive you the resources or the
(13:33):
space to learn better and moreefficiently.
Um big big ups to you for notlosing patience with yourself,
because there are a lot ofpeople who had things that were
undiagnosed or untreated, likethis idea, um, with no
programming around them and noresources.
So, you know, for you to be ableto find it, for your parents to
be able to find it, for you tojust grow through it, or learn
(13:55):
how to adapt and teach yourselfcertain things just so you
wouldn't fall through the crack.
And shout out to you.
That's big spirit right there.
And we respect you.
SPEAKER_01 (14:02):
It still blows uh my parents' mind to this day, like
when there's like something newand like I can see it, figure it
out, and like be able to touchit and do it, and then I just
always know how to do it.
It's not like it's an it's likeit's somebody with an identity
memory.
I and I I don't have one ofthose.
(14:22):
I don't at all.
But if I can see it, touch it,and then do it, I can remember
how to do that, and I know howto do it from then on out.
And like my mom's still shockedthat like at an early age I
figured out how to do a Rubik'sCube.
And it was took that one time tofigure out how many times you
need to turn this way, this way,that, and it was done.
(14:45):
And uh it it it's weird nowbecause I am getting older.
I was I was always really goodat math, and now that I do math
on a daily basis with like dayjobs and stuff like that, it's
just not that thing for meanymore.
Like I just don't want to do itanymore because I do it every
day.
Um but you know, it's it it'sstill, you know, it's still a
(15:10):
challenge at 36 years old.
You know, it you know, it's notlike something that just like
goes away.
And I think that's what somepeople think they're like, oh,
you learned how to figure itout, like also you're good now.
Like, no, not really.
SPEAKER_02 (15:22):
You still work, you work through it.
But we we all have things, butsome people understand what they
need in order to survive, movepast it, um, you know, grow from
it, like, and you know, it itcan be it can be tough.
It can be tough, but I I likehow your brain works because all
these degrees and everythingelse we just mentioned, can't do
(15:43):
a Rubik's Cube.
Well probably could, but Ihaven't successfully completed
one.
I got so frustrated that onetime when I was a kid, took all
the stickers off and just putthe colors together the way I
felt like they should go.
So that's that's me.
I have more patience instead oflearning how to do the Rubik's
Cube to peel off every stickerperfectly, which if you know
they're glued on there.
SPEAKER_01 (16:04):
Yeah, that's that's tough.
SPEAKER_02 (16:06):
So I took that type of time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:08):
That's more patience than figuring out that Rubuscube
is peeling off those stickersperfectly to put them over
there.
SPEAKER_02 (16:13):
See, that's that's sick.
So my mom was like, Did yousolve this?
And I was like, No, I got tiredof it.
So I showed her what I did, andshe was like, Wow, you could
have just learned how to do aRuby cube.
And I was like, Nah, I like thisbetter.
So that's that's me.
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
I I I get it, man.
I mean, there's still thingslike even even to this day, like
my wife always can tell.
She's like, You need you need tocalm down and then redo what you
just did.
Because if I start to get overlystressed or over, I don't even
want to use the word stimulated,but like overly stressed or
angry or anything like that,like words tend to like just do
(16:51):
certain things, and then she'salways like, calm down, redo it.
Wow, that's that's insane.
I will say this though, my likelike going off of this little
tangent here, but my mom, youknow, spent a lot of time with
me uh with education growing up,and she I still remember her
telling me this story, and sheand she references it a lot of
times when we're talking aboutit.
(17:12):
It's like, do you remember thetime you read a sentence from
period to the capital letter andit made sense?
And I I I did it, that's how Isaw it.
I from left to right, I saw itfrom like the period to the
capital, and I read it at first,and somehow the way I read it,
it made sense.
(17:32):
Wow.
And she just would have to do itto me too.
Calm down, reread that.
And I did it, and it was it wasa completely different thing,
but she was like, you know, itmade sense the first way you
read that, right?
I was like, apparently, I Idon't know.
Like, you know, and I I wasstill like five, six years old
when this was happening too.
(17:52):
So, you know, like that's wherelike stuff like that still
happens.
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
I mean, but who's to say it's not connected in just
how we shape things?
Like if your art wasn't comedyand your art was painting or
drawing, right?
How would that play a part intothat, right?
Or like if you play music, howmight you see music notes
differently?
Everybody's just different.
So sometimes you you you want togo, uh, there's a right way to
(18:21):
do certain things.
And other times you just want togo, nah, this is the way I do
things.
And whatever you can become morecomfortable first, as long as
you can get things doneefficiently and all in all
correctly, you don't want tojust turn anything crazy, but if
you can get things done, there'sthere's something there.
Right.
I feel like it becomes a trueproblem when it prevents you
(18:44):
from handling whatever businessyou set out to handle.
SPEAKER_01 (18:48):
Absolutely.
It's um uh it it I I I don'twant to say hate's a strong
word, uh, but I I hate thepeople that are like, yeah, this
is the way you have to do it.
Why?
Is this the way you do it?
Like I do things differently andI still come out to the same
answer.
(19:10):
And does it make your way rightor my way right?
Just this is how I do it.
So I get that all in all.
Um so with those degrees, likewhat do you do for a day job?
Like what what does that allentail for like what's the day
look like for you?
SPEAKER_02 (19:29):
So um I work for a university um and I work in the
office of multicultural affairs.
And so for me, um, the day lookslike figuring out ways where I
can stress and impress upon ourstudents that they are
significant.
Um, they're significant fromtheir cultural backgrounds, from
(19:50):
their connections, throughintersectionality, through
agreeability.
Um, and by agreeability, what Imean is where do we find those
areas where we can agree onthings?
Um, and then where can we havesome dynamic conversation about
those things that come up thatare different from us?
Um so it starts from a goodplace, and then once we have
some rapport and once we have umsome connectivity um within the
(20:15):
group or within you know ourspace, now we can have more
dynamic conversations.
I also just create a space wherestudents can cool out and relax
and um find resources and youknow, everything from um
students who may have some someissues with transiency, right?
You you you may not have a studyplace to live.
(20:38):
So if you're unhoused, let'sfind you some resources.
Um if if there's a um you know,if there's some issues with
finding food, right?
Um, because these disparitieshappen.
Um they happen in college too,and people don't think about
that, but it's real.
You know, so if you if you'redealing with um hunger on any
(21:01):
level, I'm finding a way to feedyou.
I'm finding, you know, differentprograms that are on campus and
the things that we have in termsof resources, but I'm also doing
that in my space as well.
So uh it comes with a lot ofdifferent things because I'm
taking care of the whole suit.
Um, yes, we have academicsupports and stuff in our office
as well, um, that I'mresponsible for making sure that
you know exist.
(21:22):
Um, but the the the bigger thingis how are you doing today?
I feel like if I could sum upwhat I do, I ask that question
with all the necessary and duesincerity to every student,
every student that I comeacross.
Because you might not be doingwell that day.
And I need to I need to know howI can assist you in getting you
(21:44):
back to where you need to be soyou can go and change the world.
I deal with some brilliant kidstoo, by the way.
Like this this is the this is uhand I call them kids because I'm
an adult, but honestly, they'reyoung adults.
But that's how you see them.
You see them as, you know, asyours almost.
Like you feel responsible.
Um, you take work homedifferently.
(22:05):
Like I'm not taking homenecessarily, you know, papers
and stacks of papers because I'mnot on the faculty side of the
house.
But I'm taking home people'smood and their energy and their
their their hardest stories thatthey've had to tell, and um
things that they're uh uh afraidto express to their parents, or
(22:26):
you know, those fears of notfitting in socially, or you
know, their their financialburdens, and you know, do you
know if there's any on-campuswork?
Like those are the things I'mtaking home.
So we and it's it's just myself,we we've had some some changes
in terms of staffing, so it'sjust myself and one other
person, and we have some reallygreat student coordinators, and
(22:50):
that's that's what's balancingthis thing out, and we do a
great job.
Yeah, it it's gonna say it.
I'm gonna say it.
We do a great job.
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
It sounds like you do um just from the passion that
you have when you talk aboutwhat you do, and I I love to see
that with anybody when withwhatever they do, whether it's
like you said, art, music,comedy, education, anything like
that, if you have that passionto just sit and talk about it,
uh it uh it doesn't make uh fora work day.
(23:22):
If if that makes sense.
Uh I've always said if if youlove what you do, you'll never
work a day in your life.
And this podcast and comedy 13years.
Uh not the podcast we're onfive, but uh you know comedy for
thirteen years, and people arelike why do you still do it?
Why do you still uh do thecomedy grind?
(23:43):
Because even thirteen yearslater, I'm still considered
quote unquote an up and cover.
And like it it it is a grind.
It it's and I I I love it.
I love being on the road, goingto to different places, seeing
different places, meetingdifferent people, and getting up
on stage and making a room fullof strangers laugh.
SPEAKER_02 (24:05):
Absolutely.
You know I gotta ask you though,Mike.
You know I gotta ask you.
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02 (24:13):
What has been one of your most favorite experiences?
And let's talk food for asecond.
What has been one of your bestmeals on the road?
SPEAKER_01 (24:22):
Oh man, I've had so many good meals.
I mean, I do a lot of work inbars, so I I eat a lot of bar
food.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Uh bar food is big, but we can go wing for wing.
We go, you know, we can go fryfor fry.
They had like a different typeof potato.
Because some some bars don'thave potato skins, but others
do.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
So Yeah, I'm a I'm a big potato skin fan.
I am.
I mean, I've I've eaten somegarbage on the road too, you
know.
There's been there's been timeslike I growing up in, you know,
I was I was living in WestVirginia, uh, where I grew up,
and I was like two, three yearsinto comedy, and this guy from
(25:03):
Illinois like hit me up for ashow.
And the first time I've reallytraveled outside of Ohio,
Pennsylvania, or West Virginia,so that tri-state area.
And he was like, hey, I mean,it's not a lot of money, but uh
I'll pay you like 150 bucks tocome out here.
Now I was gonna spend more ongas to get out that get out
there and back.
(25:24):
And I was like, Bet, I'll do it.
I already I had to work thatday.
Uh so I worked like half a shiftat um I was working at 18T at
the time and drove to Illinois,did the show, had to turn around
and drive right back so that Icould be at work in the morning.
And that's that's the part thatlike people don't see with
(25:45):
comedy when you're firststarting out.
You're gonna take some of theseuh these shit shows for lack of
a better term, excuse myfriends, but you know, like
you're gonna eat some crap.
And I did uh to this day, uh Iate something on the way home.
I just like a little truckstuff.
I was like, I need to get somefood, some energy drink, or
something just to get me home.
SPEAKER_02 (26:05):
Yeah, you stuck out sushi, didn't you?
It wasn't sushi.
SPEAKER_01 (26:08):
I don't like I'm not a big sushi guy as it is, even
fresh.
I was like, no, I don't I don'tdo sushi, but like it was one of
those things on like one ofthose rollers, like and this was
like two three in the morning.
I still don't know what I ate tothis day.
Um but I ate it just to get somefood in my stomach, to get me
the eggs, to get me help.
And like people ask me all thetime, they're like, Oh dude,
(26:30):
you're comedian.
So you work like uh an hour anight.
It's like uh I wish, but likeI'm constantly writing jokes,
I'm constantly doing stuff likethis podcast, I'm constantly
looking for uh venues to producemy own shows, I'm constantly
looking for shows and talking tobookers.
(26:51):
Like, I I don't ever have likeif I was clocked in with comedy,
I would have clocked in 13 yearsago and I still haven't clocked
out.
SPEAKER_03 (27:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:01):
Like for a day, nothing, lunch break, nothing.
Like that's the grind of comedy.
People don't see that.
And I love every minute of it.
That's the thing.
Like, I don't feel like I'veworked for the past 13 years.
SPEAKER_02 (27:15):
And that's what I you know, I mean uh with uh you
love what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:21):
Uh yeah.
Even this pot even this podcasthere, like I I last week and in
end of this week, you know, at aat a day job that I still work,
I worked a 60-hour week and hadto record three shows.
You know, so like even thatworking uh 12, 13 hour days at a
day job and coming home and uhdoing more work here.
(27:42):
And uh those of you who'velistened to the show before know
I still don't have a producer.
I still don't have anybodyediting my stuff.
I have my switchboard here andmy microphone.
I do everything.
Johnny helps out with the theguests and the administrative
stuff and keeping me on schedulebecause if he wasn't, I would
forget everything.
SPEAKER_02 (28:02):
Umny, man.
That's my guy.
SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
Yeah, Fitti.
I love Fitty.
Um, I've known Fiddy sincecollege.
I've I love him so much.
Uh it's just like so, yeah, I doeverything with this show, and I
I love every minute of it.
SPEAKER_02 (28:17):
That's what's up.
I mean, and and you know what itshows.
Uh, and it's kind of cool thatyou're doing everything in this
hour.
Like, I hope that's never yourlife story, but in this hour
it's cool because even as you'redoing this, you're learning and
you're growing and you'reputting yourself in different
positions.
One of the things I used to tellstudents back in the day was,
all right, boom, because youknow, you get students they and
(28:40):
they they want to be pop stars,they want to be in movies, they
want to do TV and stuff likethat.
Um, but at the time I wasworking for a trade program.
And I'll tell you where I usedto work.
I I might not tell you where Iwork, but I'll tell you where I
used to work.
I used to work for a companycalled Jobcore.
Jobcore, national program, butit's trade-based.
(29:00):
So we would get students thatwould come in and, you know, of
course they they still want todo what they want to do after
they graduate high school.
They're doing a trade, they'redoing HVAC, they're doing
carpentry, they're doing brickman.
But, you know, I want to be suchand such, you know.
I was watching Instagram and Ithink I can do such and such.
Well, I want an audition forthis, bro.
And I'd be like, those are allgreat dreams.
(29:22):
But how can you get in the room?
And I would share a story aboutthis RB singer and vocalist
who's real who's real dope now.
Her name's Joe Scott, but shehung out and she was actually
working for a cleaning service,but that service used to clean
studios, and one of her favoriteproducers was in one of the
studios and she was assigned toclean.
(29:44):
She got to singing in that room.
So I was like, well, let's thinkabout it.
If you want to be on TV or in amovie, why you can't learn how
to do set design after you getyour carpentry uh certification.
SPEAKER_03 (29:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (29:54):
You know, put yourself in the space and have
some other discernible skills sopeople are involved.
And then once you're in theroom, make a fool of yourself.
And that might get you to thenext level.
So, like with you right now,with you learn how to do all
these other technical aspects ofit, I mean, you can take your,
you know, you can pull a LeBron,take your talent somewhere else,
(30:16):
and help somebody else withtheir show, but you're an on-air
personality, whether they knowit or not.
You're a comedian, whether theyrecognize it or not.
So as soon as you get anopportunity, they catch a cold,
and you might fill in for me,Mike, they got a natural
platform.
Who knows?
You know what I mean?
Like those things happen.
So yeah, I say do everything asa part of it, and I'm not taking
(30:39):
my own advice because I don'tknow how to produce a song to
save my life.
But I do know how to um do somevocal artist production, right?
But if you ask me to make abeat, no, can't do it.
I got a guy for that who does aphenomenal job.
(31:01):
Shout out to my boy Sean.
But you know, those are thethings.
Learning just something elseoutside of the part that you
love puts you in a position thateven if you have to do a little
bit of what you don'tnecessarily love, but it's still
in the same realm, you still getthat opportunity.
You surround yourself with thatenergy of like, I'm still here
and I can still do this.
SPEAKER_03 (31:21):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (31:22):
So you can buy a comedy club.
You look, if all if you didnothing else, buy a comedy club,
and part of them going on yourstage is you doing 10 minutes a
night.
SPEAKER_01 (31:37):
It's so funny you bring that up.
My wife and I, honestly to God,have kicked around the idea of
opening up our own comedy cluband restaurant.
We have a name, we have a theme,we have everything we we want to
do.
We just don't know where tostart, essentially.
(31:58):
Like we we have the idea, andwe've been talking about this
for the better part of about twoyears now.
SPEAKER_02 (32:05):
Find a space with a small parking lot next to it
that you can get access to atthis time and that time, and and
then you slap a neon sign on thefront and call it what you want
because people will come, right?
People are looking forentertainment, people are
looking for a good time, andpeople are looking for
(32:25):
accessibility to these things.
And if you got great bar foodand some bar stools, somebody
will sit there, eat, and laugh.
SPEAKER_03 (32:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (32:34):
And that's the thing.
It's it's it's we make it biggerbecause it's it's a business.
So we're seeing the businessaspect, we're seeing where we
can fail.
What about where we can be supersuccessful?
And that's what holds a lot ofus back, honestly.
I mean, and you're and you'redoing great, but we both still
work real jobs.
So we're not doing everythingthat we necessarily want to do,
(32:55):
even though we're, you know, andI and I say this with respect to
everybody's beliefs, but eventhough we're blessed to be able
to do a little bit of both,right?
We can stabilize our lives, wehave quality um careers and day
jobs and things that we can relyon.
I absolutely, I absolutely loveworking with my students.
But if you would have told methat my plan A minus, I'm not
(33:21):
gonna call it my plan B, but myplan A minus was going to
overcome the plan A, I'd havebeen like, nah, I'm gonna be a
star.
And so still wanting that formyself, I have to find different
ways of being, you know, thatcelebrity, at least in my head
and in my walk.
Because it may not ever be, youknow, MTV's greatest hits of the
(33:44):
week, you know what I mean?
But it's but it's something.
I'm I'm doing something that Ilove.
So you gotta decide though.
Like, because I want to come tothe club now.
Now I want to come to the comedyclub.
Now I want to go to, you know,to the spot.
SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
It it it's it's it's I'm just it's funny that you
brought that up because like Isaid, we've been talking about
it.
Like, I like we even like I'llI'll say it on here.
I'll just put it out there.
Like, we've we've called itbecause I'm full Italian, my
wife is full Irish, and we weregonna call it the Emerald Boot.
Like the Emerald Boot ComedyClub, like we were gonna serve
(34:21):
off like have the bar food therefor that too, but we were gonna
have like uh uh Italian food andIrish food there too as well.
So you can get the best of bothcultures in one.
And then just make people laughwhile we're while we were doing
it too as well.
Like in that like we've we we'vethought, like we've almost to
(34:41):
the point where we've almostliterally sat down and wrote out
a business plan.
SPEAKER_02 (34:45):
Uh like it's you can do that from now, so go for it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:49):
Yeah, we we we just gotta find the sp the right
space, honestly, is I think theonly thing holding us back
because I know so many comicsfrom doing this for 13 years
that even if I had opened it up,I would all I would have to do
is make a couple quick calls.
Hey man, I I'm putting thistogether, I'm gonna do this like
Bringer show.
If you can bring five people uhto the show, I'll give you 10
(35:11):
minutes of stage, I'll give you15 minutes, you know, whatever
of stage time on on it here tostart out with.
And you know, just so we cangrow the brand and grow people
like, oh, he's doing this, andthen go from there.
I I like I thought about thisway too much um right now too as
well.
SPEAKER_02 (35:32):
In the missus, we're gonna flesh it out because now I
want to see the hemorrhague.
We could do something reallycool over the summer.
You can do a pop-up one time,just so you can see how it
feels.
And if you like how the bootfit, wear it.
But uh, yeah, that's a that's avibe, man.
We love hearing about dreams,though.
You know, dreams are dreams aregreat.
(35:54):
Like, is there something now?
I'm interviewing you.
Let me stop with that.
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
I don't give a no dude, you cool like that.
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
Something that like when you were younger, you were
like, I know the I know thelaughs were there, but did you
have like a uh a let's talkabout obtained?
Is there something that youactually did do that was on your
checkout?
And you were like, oh, I got achance to do this in comedy,
like in my space, in the thingthat I dream about most.
I've gotten a chance to touchthis.
This was great.
(36:22):
This was a great experience.
Or did it turn out not to bethat great and you want to do
something different?
SPEAKER_01 (36:27):
Um, I mean, I've gotten the the things that I
think are great.
They're still uh a comic.
I mean, he's had countless HBOspecials and that, and I got to
open for him.
Um little little hole in thewall bar.
I mean, me and him are stillfriends to this day.
We still talk, we still bounceideas off of each other.
(36:47):
Uh bought his book, uh, I'llgive him a little shameless
plug, How to Fail at Stand UpComedy, uh by Steve Sabo.
And I've had him on I've had himon the show um countless times.
One of the few books I don't Idon't read a lot.
Obviously, we had the thedyslexic talks about like I
don't read books just just toread them for that's not
enjoyable for me.
I read his book cover to cover.
(37:09):
Absolutely love it.
It had so many tips and tricks,you know, on how to make it as a
stand-up comedian.
And I realized reading that bookthat early on in my career I was
doing almost everything uh uhthat would help you fail at
stand-up comedy.
unknown (37:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (37:26):
And so, you know, just having that, I I I don't
want to call him a mentor, butyou know, a mentor just to
bounce it off, and you know,being able to open for him and
just uh be in the same greenroom as him uh and just bounce
ideas off of him, uh that thatwas a great experience for me.
There there was a few things,you know, doing a couple of like
theater shows and stuff likethat that it just it that wasn't
(37:48):
my uh my cup of tea.
There was a couple ones like I'mnot a clean comic.
I'm not gonna sit there and actlike I'm this even killed uh
person.
I'm not had to do a PG I didn'thave to.
I I chose to do a PG-13 show.
Right and it took me out of mycomfort zone.
And the experience that I gotfrom that is uh I could make it
(38:12):
as a PG-13 comic because Iabsolutely uh killed to the
point where the headliner thatwent on after me uh like he
wasn't uh mad that I did so wellbecause his jokes didn't hit as
hard uh as they should have.
Uh right.
But he was just like, man, likeuh uh you sent me your tape and
(38:33):
I almost didn't book you forthis show because of how dirty
of a comic you you can be.
And how like in doing a PG-13show, we have kids here.
There's certain things you can'ttalk about.
Um, so that was uh that wasanother one.
The uh last big, big show I had,which you know, take the the
(38:55):
payment and everything of that.
I got to work with a localcompany in Columbus, Ohio, uh
Slapstick Comedy, give them ashameless plug.
I still love them.
They were putting togetherprison shows.
They were sending us intoprisons, and I got to perform
for 400 inmates.
Wow.
And uh after 13 years of doingcomedy, I hadn't signed one
(39:18):
autograph, anything like that.
Uh these inmates were coming upto me and shaking my hand and
asking for an autograph.
Uh a lot of them have told me,like, hey man, that uh 20 minute
set that you just did just gaveme six more months of peace in
here.
(39:38):
I I almost told Slapstick, don'tpay me for this show because
that's all the payment I need.
Right there, that I just gave400 people a little bit of a
break and to feel normal for alittle bit and not like they
were incarcerated.
And that that to this day isstill I'd probably say my
(40:00):
shining moment in comedy wasbeing able to do that show for
them.
SPEAKER_02 (40:04):
Man, that that that sounds insane to to have that
moment, right, where you aredoing literally walking in your
purpose in that way.
You're doing comedy, but you'redoing it for a group that you
don't know how they're gonnatake it.
Yeah, and then they and thentake it the best possible way,
and they appreciate you in thatway.
I think that was very, verypowerful.
(40:26):
That's what's up.
Of all the moments that youexpressed, I know I know they
were all really great, but Ilike that one.
SPEAKER_01 (40:31):
Yeah, I like that one a bit.
And you know what?
That that was the start of thatshow was the most nerve-wracking
show for me because I'm a bigcrowd work guy.
And it's just like, all right,like I don't know how these guys
are gonna take this.
You know, if they if they giveme something, I'm gonna give it
right back to them.
Like, I'm not gonna shy awayfrom it.
(40:52):
But right.
No, they're they were all overit.
Like, I'm just gonna No, it'sit's funny because my wife, I
mean, we and her have beentogether 10 years, um uh married
for four, but we've beentogether for 10.
She's missed three shows totalin that time.
Uh one, she had food poisoning,literally couldn't get uh out of
(41:14):
the house.
The second one, she had uhCOVID, so she wasn't allowed to
go.
And the third one was thatprison show because she
literally wasn't allowed to go.
Um and that like, you know, Ishe was a ball of nerves while I
(41:35):
was there because like and thatI don't know if I fed off of
that, just knowing like, okay,I'm uh three hours away from
her.
Um I can't have my phone inthere.
Uh I'm in a room full ofinmates, but like getting out,
like and being able to text her,like, hey, show went great, uh,
everything's fine.
(41:56):
I'm in the van now with the withthe other comics, and we're on
our way home.
Like, and she was asking, butlike looking around that room,
you know, there were officerseverywhere.
Like, you couldn't look aroundand not see one.
So, like, if anything were tohappen, like I would have been
fine.
So, like that lowered thenervousness a little bit for me.
(42:21):
But yeah, like that that it wasa nerve-wracking show, but at
the end the reward supersededeverything.
SPEAKER_02 (42:28):
Those are those are sometimes the best though when
you're in front of a crowd thatyou didn't you I mean, you of
course you signed up for it, youkind of knew what it was, but
when you're finally in it, andthen they receive you, and it's
a nice reception, people arereally excited to have you there
and you feel appreciated, that'salways the best.
unknown (42:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:46):
So I'm glad that that was the experience you had.
I'm I'm I'm still hype aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (42:50):
Yeah, that that was that was the best thing.
And you know, touching on it alittle bit, you know, outside of
work and everything like that,you are uh, you know, family
man, you are married.
Like, how do you how do youbalance that work life balance
with, you know, job, family, andeverything like that?
SPEAKER_02 (43:06):
So, you know, it's myself and my wife.
Um, no children just yet, butyou know, life can be licensed.
So we never know when um that'llhappen.
But when it does, that'll besomething else that that that'll
be another show.
I'll come back on and be like,hey, kids now.
But uh right now we're we'rejust learning how to be married.
Um and be married when you haveum and you shout out to my wife,
(43:29):
she's a wonderful, wonderfulwoman.
Um, career woman, yes, but alsoum just truly about this this
idea of us, this we.
And um when you have somebodywho wants to be a we, uh, that's
a good thing.
Um marriage.
(43:50):
People have a lot to say aboutmarriage and and and sometimes
it's it's vaguely negative.
Uh like no, you get to you getto wake up and go and experience
life, and you get to look nextto you and be like, hey, that
was crazy, right?
And somebody else can literallyanswer you back and be like,
yeah, that was wild.
I'm glad we made it out of that.
Like, or you know, that we'redoing this together.
(44:11):
Uh because that's just kind ofwhere where we are.
Like, we are um going into ourthird year.
Um, so we're we're new at this,and and when we get frustrated
or when we have you know momentswhere we're not quite sure, we
have to remind ourselves does athree-year-old know everything?
You know, we're we're we're youknow, in our 30s, so we don't
(44:37):
know everything.
So I know a three-year-olddoesn't.
So I look at it from the lens,and this is why I think, you
know, me being in education isreally big.
I look at my life as, you know,in these moments, these things,
these my these uh milestones,when they're upon me, or I'm
growing in those ways, or we'regrowing in those ways.
Um, I chart it and I look at itlike from infancy all the way
(45:01):
through adulthood.
So by the time we're 18, we'renot dealing with what a
three-year-old dealt with.
We're dealing with what an18-year-old deals with.
Because it's just the maturationof relationships.
All you're looking at issomething maturing and the time
that it takes to truly educateyourself around where you are
now.
Um and looking at it from thatstandpoint keeps me in love
(45:22):
every day.
Because I love ourthree-year-old.
Our three-year-old is great.
You know, we're in a we're in athree-year-old marriage, and we
get to continue to learn thingsabout each other.
Um, we get to continue to growas individuals, which is a
roller coaster ride in itself.
And then we have to cometogether and be like, all right,
this is what I learned todayabout me.
(45:44):
What did you learn about you?
And how does it now worktogether?
Um, and what does togetherreally look like in this moment?
And it's okay to admit that youdon't know stuff.
And you can be supertransparent.
So to answer your question, Ithink we balanced it out by just
understanding that we don't knoweverything.
Um, and that it's best to askquestions, especially right now,
(46:06):
and continue to ask questions,and continue to give each other
that space um and that marginfor grace and error.
So you go you gonna makemistakes.
So as long as we hold the vowsteady, as long as we adhere
into those, everything else isjust trivial.
It's gonna suck for a day, aweek, and then we're going right
back to you know how life shouldbe.
(46:26):
Um, the biggest thing I thinktoo, and this is for anybody who
is thinking about gettingmarried, um, is making sure you
understand how finances work.
Make sure you understand howmoney works, um, and make sure
you understand everybody'sthreshold and expectation when
it's centered around money.
Know your partner broke boilingpoint.
(46:47):
When it's either more or less.
Um, and if you can get a goodidea around that, um, everything
else will kind of like fall inline.
When you can when you can createsome sense of true stability and
enjoyment um outside of thethings that you all do, and
especially when you can cometogether and find enjoyment in
some of your some of yourpartner's hobbies, those things
(47:10):
are also cool too.
So, yeah, marriage is cool.
Yeah, I like it.
It was for me, bro.
SPEAKER_01 (47:16):
I was I do it all the time because like as soon as
I'm on stage, you know, Imentioned being married, like I
can feel the crap, like, ah,he's gonna talk shit now.
Like, like and I'm just like,no, I'm not one of those comics.
Like, I actually love my wife.
Like, I like I'm not one ofthose comics.
Uh no, I that's not to say Idon't have jokes about uh my
(47:38):
wife that I stay on stage.
And like she like okay.
It it my my whole I don't mywhole stick on stage is you know
that I got dubbed the angrywhite comic.
Um at like after my like thirdshow because I just go on these
long filled rants about I hatestupid questions and I hate like
(47:59):
stupid people, and like that'sthe whole thing.
And like that's not somethingthat I don't say stupid things
to as well, and I don't askthat, but my wife does too.
So like that gets put into myact on stage.
Uh and recently like she startedto do this thing now where like
she wants to be the heckler thatwants to to to talk during the
(48:20):
show.
So like that that's that's a newthing, but like we we're we're
learning that and it it'sworking for us too as well.
And you know, it's it's funny.
Like you you mentioned it therein the middle there where you
just like look at it, like Iknow it's crazy, right?
Like, you know, the I saidsomething, and I can't remember
what the hell it was uh to savemy life, but it was something
(48:43):
along the lines that I was gonnado something for my wife.
I don't know if it was just togo get her another drink uh or
what it was, and she just lookedlike I'm talking about like
that.
That's just like it was thatquick of a moment where I was
like, I'm running inside, do youneed anything?
And she's like, that's what I'mlike.
See?
Like that's what that's why wewere together.
Like, you know, you like youknew I needed something without
(49:04):
me even saying anything.
SPEAKER_02 (49:06):
Yeah, you get it.
SPEAKER_01 (49:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:08):
Get it.
So I say that I was ready formarriage for a long time because
I was a serial monogamist.
You don't want to teach you howto date.
I don't know if the 90s is likethat.
Yeah, but nobody taught us howto date.
SPEAKER_01 (49:20):
It was just like you figure it out.
SPEAKER_02 (49:22):
That that's exactly you figure it out, but you like
you have a lot of likerelationship quotations.
SPEAKER_03 (49:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (49:31):
And and along those lines, you realize, hey, I don't
want to, I really don't want tobe in all these people's faces.
What is it that I actually want?
And so you create the dun dundun checklist.
And when I tell you, as soon asI literally was like, these are
the things that I think I'mlooking for in a woman.
(49:53):
Can they be delivered in apackage that's pretty?
Again, beauty is an outtabehold, but I I I think my wife
is absolutely gorgeous.
And she's my wife now.
And it's so crazy.
So I'm like, now I'm trying tomanifest Bentleys and Mansions
(50:17):
and stuff like that.
Because if it's that easy tofind a gorgeous wife who's
intelligent and smart and laughswhen stuff ain't funny, um, what
what else can I just talk up?
You know, am I able to get somecool stuff?
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:32):
Gotcha.
Uh-oh.
Uh, but Steve, I I just realizedhow long we've been sitting out
here talking, and we are runningdown near the episode.
SPEAKER_02 (50:40):
We're just chopping it up.
SPEAKER_01 (50:41):
Yeah, and uh, we are running down near the end of the
episode here, but I do have toget this segment in before we
end the show.
And for all the old listenersout there, you know what's
coming in.
But for the new listeners outthere, it is the Fast Fiddy
Five.
Five random questions from thewonderful manager of the
podcast, Johnny Fitty Falcone.
(51:02):
Uh, for the new listeners, theseare rapid fire.
Uh, you can elaborate if youneed to here, Steve.
But if you already, becausethese have nothing to do with
what we've been talking aboutfor the better part of an hour
here.
All right.
Question number one.
Is white water rafting overratedor underrated, in your opinion?
SPEAKER_02 (51:20):
Ooh, overrated.
That's crazy.
Why am I drawing on purpose?
SPEAKER_01 (51:24):
Yeah, I I love the water as a former swimmer.
No, no, thank you.
Um, question number two.
If you could be either Batman orthe Incredible Hulk, who would
you pick?
Oh, it's Batman all day.
Yeah.
That's an easy one.
Uh three, uh, what month is theworst month in the year?
SPEAKER_02 (51:44):
Oh, April.
Nothing but, you know, nothingbut rain.
Uh, and and it's like icysometimes, but the sun will be
out and it's fooling you, it'scold.
I April, trash.
Garbage.
Yes, get it out of here.
SPEAKER_00 (52:01):
Number four, what is your go-to grocery store to shop
at?
SPEAKER_02 (52:06):
Oh, man.
I'm gonna be in trouble withthis one.
Um, Trader Joe's.
SPEAKER_03 (52:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (52:12):
Trader Joe's is solid, and then there's a place
called the Miles Market that Iabsolutely love.
It's it's more of a marketplace.
I guess.
And I'm telling you, they gotthe best selection of just
produce and fresh meats andstuff like that.
SPEAKER_01 (52:27):
So, yeah.
All right.
Well, last but not least in theFast Fity Five, the best flavor
of Popsicle is.
SPEAKER_02 (52:36):
Oh, we gotta go the punch one, the red one.
SPEAKER_01 (52:43):
Okay.
I I I mess with the red one.
I'm I'm more of an orange fan.
Which is that that'scontroversial.
People either let's see.
SPEAKER_02 (52:50):
Yeah, we're popping the icy pops right in the
plastic that's frozen.
SPEAKER_01 (52:54):
It just is just his pop signal.
SPEAKER_02 (52:56):
So I gotta go with, I gotta go with that.
The frozen ones that come in theclear bag that they're along,
that's the break.
You just pop them boys in themiddle.
Yeah, it's gotta be the red one.
The red one is crazy.
I will take orange as a backupthough.
Shout out to you.
SPEAKER_01 (53:10):
I got you.
No worries.
Uh, that was the fast fittingfive.
I feel like he took it easy onyou, Steve.
I'm not gonna lie to you here.
Like, those were those were likelayup questions.
Like, he's gotten like deep intothese things before.
If you've listened to the showEddie at all, like you'll know
like there's questions that likeI have to stop in the moment be
like, what the hell does thatsay?
Like, that's like it's it'scrazy how this man's mind works,
(53:34):
and I'm I'm here for it.
Like, there was one questionthat I'll never forget it.
And uh he asked uh one of ourMMA fighters that was on um uh
you're locked in a racquetballcourt.
It's you, a fat man in asilverback gorilla, you have a
flare, a dumbbell, and boxingglove.
(53:55):
Who comes out alive?
Like, that's the way this man'smind works.
Like, and he just wants to knowwhat people think of like that
stuff.
Like, and we made a wholesegment on this show about these
random.
SPEAKER_03 (54:06):
I'm going to play the girl.
SPEAKER_02 (54:12):
The gorilla will undoubtedly see Batman in the
light and become startled andstart pounding on Batman.
I take the dumbbell.
I don't see nah, because thenyou're gonna have the animal
people on me.
I can't I got nothing.
I could drive, I could drive thedumbbell on the gorilla's foot.
Now the gorilla has a brokentoe, but he already beat up
(54:34):
Batman and I walk out unscathed.
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
Man, that that's that's better than the answer I
think I got that on the on theshow when I actually asked that.
Wow, that's phenomenal.
But like I said, Steve, we arerunning down here near the end
of the episode here.
I give every guest thisopportunity at the end of every
show.
If there's anything you want toget out there, anything you want
to promote, or even if it's justa good message, I'm gonna give
(54:59):
you about a minute and the flooris yours.
SPEAKER_02 (55:03):
What's going on, everybody?
It's your host big Steve, akaFair Conference.
And I just want to let you knowthat um love is a good thing.
Um, being kind is an even betterthing.
Um shout out to my guy RickySmith, random acts of kindness
everywhere.
He would often let me know thatif you can get a smile on a
(55:23):
person's face, if you can ummake it so that people feel
comfortable, it makes the worldjust that much better every
time.
Um shout out to my boyHeadcraft, who uses music to get
a word out.
Shout out to my boy MiseryJones, Sean Green, who has a
wonderful food truck, who servesup smiles all the time through
(55:45):
delicious cuisine.
Um, that's authentic, not onlyto him, but to his family
bloodline.
And um, you know what?
Continue to do the things thatmake you happy.
Don't hurt anybody in theprocess, and especially don't
hurt yourself.
We just want to see everybodycome back and listen to another
episode of My Man Mike's go.
(56:05):
You feel me?
So thank you for listening.
That's my that's my minute.
SPEAKER_01 (56:10):
Oh man, I I appreciate that.
That at the end of there, uh,shout me out like that.
But I love it when there's agood message at the end of every
show.
I'm all about helping people getanything that they want out
there, uh, anything they gotgoing on.
But when there's a good messagelike that to end the show,
there's no better way to end it.
So, with that being said, thatis going to do it for this
(56:31):
week's episode of the Ride HomeRants podcast.
I want to thank my guest again,uh Steve Furlone Mun for joining
the show.
This was a lot of fun to get totalk to you.
And as always, if you enjoyedthe show, be a friend.
Tell a friend.
If you didn't, tell themanyways, because they might like
it just because you didn't.
That's gonna do it for me, and Iwill see y'all next week.
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