All Episodes

October 16, 2025 • 18 mins
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
We interrupt this programme for a special
announcement.

(00:23):
Oh man, that's rubbish.
That's rubbish.
I've been sitting here for abouta half hour, kind of ruminating
on what to say on this very,very special day.
It's been one year on October16th of 2024.
I launched this podcast.
I was extremely nervous.

(00:44):
I felt like there was a feelingthat there's some saying, you
know, that no one would startanything if they knew how hard
it would end up being.
And at the other way peoplestart is that there's sort of a
built-in delusion.
Like when I began, I reallythought this podcast could like

(01:04):
be popular.
I thought it could, I thought,and I thought I really thought I
could get really good atstand-up in a year.
And these are, you know,delusions that are helpful in a
way, because if I knew how hard,how few people would listen, and
what kind of grind it would be,and how not that great at

(01:28):
stand-up I am, I would neverstart.
And so I'm I think if I listenback, I and I listen back to the
first episode, and it's youknow, it's really cringy to me.
And I think there's some sayingmost people will say, like, if
you're creating stuff, if you'renot cringing at what you wrote

(01:53):
or what you said, or what youcreated a year ago, you're
you're not growing fast enough.
You know, it's a sign of growththat that you you don't like,
you know, what you thought wasgood back then, you don't like
now.
I I think one of my big mistakeswas that I thought I had to kind

(02:17):
of be special or do somethingthat I thought was you know
really pushing it or be reallyweird in order to get attention.
And and I think ultimately, youknow, only I guess about 600
people have listened to thatfirst episode, and that's our

(02:37):
biggest episode.
That you know, the why.
I think people come to thispodcast that if they find it,
they go to the why, and it'sgotten 660 downloads total in a
year, and that's our number oneepisode, which is might shock
you if you thought this was abig podcast.
It's not, it's so small.

(02:59):
The numbers, you know, there'sdownloads, and then there's
people who really activelylisten, like to more than 40% of
the episodes.
And I think the people wholisten to more than 40% of an
episode, that number is lessthan a hundred people per
episode.
And so if that is you, boy, am Igrateful for you.

(03:22):
Because it when I was launchingit, it really felt like it could
go to zero.
You hear all these things aboutpodcasts, and I'm not
exaggerating that there'smillions, and that about the
average person who's an avidpodcast listener really only has
time or listens to three.
So podcasting is really thehardest game in town because

(03:44):
it's incredibly time consumingfor the listener.
Yes, you can listen anywhere,but if you think about it, how
many podcasts do you listen to?
You might be a super user andyou might listen to five or ten
regularly, but ultimately thismay be the only one you listen
to, or you'll listen tooccasionally you'll listen to an

(04:07):
episode that really gets youknow tickles your fancy.
But the truth is, I have beendoing this for a year.
At one point, I was posting onInstagram, and certainly in the
beginning, and I found it to beso unenjoyable.
And and I guess if I was adifferent kind of person, I
would I would just keep grindingthe publicity, I would make find

(04:30):
a way to get it on YouTube,which is what all the podcasts
are doing now, and and I wouldjust grind and I would make
clips and I would just blast it,blast it, blast it, and I would
ask really famous friends to Iwould beg them to come on, and I
would do all the things you'resupposed to do to grow a

(04:52):
podcast.
What ended up happening is Ijust around maybe the third of
the way through, I said, I Idon't know if I'll last six
months if that's what I do,because I'm not that that's not
enjoyable.
And so the the the the deepestadvice from the people uh who I

(05:13):
respect, this guy SteveBartlett, I don't listen to his
podcast.
I think he's got a top fivebusiness podcast called uh my uh
it's called The Diary of a CEO.
And his advice is um the theconditions to out persist, if
you're not gonna love doing itfor 10 years without the need
for commercial incentive,there's a significant

(05:35):
possibility you're not gonnahang in there long enough to
fail, learn, improve, grow.
He attaches his graph for howlong he podcasts before people
showed up, and in the he says,for context, we added more new
subscriber in the last 90 days,two million, than we had in the
first 900 days.

(05:57):
So he he had no one listeningfor years, and now he's got this
giant podcasting business with13 million subscribers on
YouTube.
But if you look at the graph,he's basically at zero for the
first seven years, just kind ofshocking and inspiring.

(06:18):
So I guess what I'm saying on myyear anniversary here is every
uh when you go to bed at nightand you're about to launch a
podcast, you dream of itbecoming big, you dream of
becoming life-changing, youdream of you know, it increasing
in popularity, word of mouthspreading because what you're
saying is so interesting topeople that they can't help but

(06:40):
spread the word.
Uh, that is not the case withthis.
I know there are people whoreally like this.
I think a lot of them are myfriends who've known me, and I
it's so sweet who has sort ofshown up and consistently
listened, and it means the worldto me.
Um I know I did a couple, I dida guest spot on a popular

(07:03):
podcast like we're here to help,and that was Jake Johnson from
New Girls Podcast.
It's great if you want to listento it, really funny.
And there was like a two-weekbump where people from that
podcast checked me out, and thenand then they they went away,
and so it's humbling, it's itcan be really discouraging, but

(07:27):
I think what I've learned inthis process is how to really
give less fucks.
I think probably the the thingthat's changed the most in the
last year is getting comfortablejust expressing thoughts.
There were some episodes where Iwas really nervous about sharing
stuff.
I wish I had the kind of brainthat could tell you what those

(07:50):
episodes were, but it was juststuff that was felt vulnerable
or it felt like, yeesh, I'msaying too much.
And anytime I would wake up andhave this pang of dork tingles,
I would inevitably get a f atext from a friend who was just
who had enjoyed it, and it kindof relieved my anxiety.
But it also made me realize thatno one cares about you.

(08:17):
And I and I mean this not insome sort of dark way, but no
one really if they care, they'recaring for a little bit, and
then they're on with their life.
And, you know, as certain thingsgo on in life, and and I start
to watch, you know, the oldergeneration pass on.
I mentioned my dad and and justparents in their 80s getting

(08:40):
older, and you sort of see whathappens to their friends, and
you kind of see what will happenwhen they're on their last
breaths, who's gonna be around,and what will happen after.
There's really just a handful ofpeople that are truly, truly
affected when you sort of makeit to the finish line for for a

(09:03):
long period of time, and that'syour family.
Your friends are super bummedand they'll miss you.
Uh, but everyone's gets on withtheir life.
And I think what I'm realizingis it just feels it feels like
life needs to be about what youare meant to do, what you enjoy,
what what feels right, and anddoing things that you fear so

(09:29):
that you you kind of realizethat you didn't have anything to
really fear.
I mean, there were episodeswhere, you know, maybe the
boarding school episode where Iwas like, oh my god, like I'm
not gonna be allowed back oncampus, and that's so not the
case.
It's probably a condition of nota lot of people listening and it
not spreading out.

(09:49):
Although that episode, myboarding school episode was one
of the higher episodes, um uhnumbers-wise, but you know, the
key to building a podcast is toget basically people with a lot
of followers who are famous tocome on and interview you.
I mean, to interview them, andtheir followers want to hear

(10:10):
them and they want to check youout, and you grow over time
slowly but surely.
The the game is so saturated,there's five million and
counting, probably thousandscoming online every day.
And this isn't to say that if Istuck this out for another, you
know, ten years and and got youknow really good guests and it

(10:33):
morphed into something, and Iand I started doing YouTube and
just playing the game a littlebit more, that it couldn't turn
into something.
And I very well may do that, butI think what I really want to
say to you is I'm done.
Not in the sense that I'll neverbe back, and I will certainly
announce that uh I've done mywhat I committed to, which is

(10:57):
sort of really giving it my alland doing a a real stand-up set,
you know, a sort of finished,polished product, come what may,
I'm still gonna do that.
But as far as the rhythm, theweekly rhythm, I I don't want to
commit to that anymore.
So you may find if you are aloyal listener, you may find

(11:22):
that next Thursday nothing'scoming up, and maybe an episode
will pop up on a fucking Monday.
Because I don't want to bebeholden anymore to this weekly
thing.
It's been great that I've doneit and I've showed up on days
that I don't uh feel like it atall.

(11:43):
Uh sit down at 10 o'clock withno nothing to say, and then over
time something comes out.
But I was sort of I'm forcingit, and I something has been
lost.
So I'm gonna retool, I'm gonnarethink.
I think I'll keep podcasting.

(12:05):
It's it's too easy, really, andenjoyable.
There's just I just don't havethe fire to to do it the way it
needs to be done to kind ofgrow.
And I gotta figure out what whatversion of this will be like
that.
It's not to say that the peoplewho do it for 10 years don't

(12:27):
have their down moments and gettheir podcast fatigue.
But I guess if if you'rethinking about a podcast and you
want to do it, I I encourage youto do it.
There's there's tons to learn,and there's there's a
badassness, I think, in justgetting comfortable sharing your
ideas with the world.

(12:48):
And it's I used to be that kindof person who roll my eyes at
the next podcast because I havethis sort of dick inside me, but
it's always connected to thefact that I wanted to do it and
wasn't doing it.
And I knew I was letting myselfdown by not doing it.
And so when I look back, I I amI'm really proud that I that I

(13:11):
overcame a tremendous amount ofresistance, not only to start
it, but to also continue it asit was clear that this wasn't
taking off, that I didn't havesome hit on my hands, and that
even and even more so that youknow people were dropping off.
It's like you you you put out anepisode that you really like,

(13:35):
and it just doesn't get as manyviews, and and I wasn't really
looking at the views all thatmuch.
A lot of times I was scared to,because it would it would be
like a pit in your stomach.
And so I just want to do this onmy own terms, and I want to
figure out a way to be more tomake a better product.

(13:58):
The easy I've been doing it theeasiest way, which is basically
to procrastinate until Wednesdaynight and then just diarrhea
into a microphone, and then seewhat listen back and see what I
think is worth keeping or couldbe entertaining for you, and
what could be funny for astand-up special.

(14:20):
And again, your feedback hasbeen so helpful.
Um, it's mostly friends, and I Ijust appreciate it so much.
But there's just there's it'stime to kind of focus my efforts
in other areas.
I have ideas for a podcast.
I I think at this point, ifyou've listened a long time, you

(14:40):
know I the thing that I that Ifind effortless is the world of
meditation and Easternphilosophy.
I can't get enough.
I have some ideas about how uhof doing a podcast in that world
and kind of bringing in areverent, kind of funny, you

(15:00):
know, not so precious vibe tothat.
I it would be really fun toexplore and to talk to spiritual
people and to just have a light,loose, fun conversation that's
also very deep.
Um, and I really like the ideathat I can do an audio journal

(15:21):
too.
I mean, it was always aboutbeing funny, but in the effort
to be funny, you leave out a lotof the stuff that you're really
thinking about, and that wouldsort of find its way in
sometimes.
But I I am a more seriousperson, I think, in my heart of
hearts.
You know, I had another podcastidea where I I wanted to just

(15:44):
bring random people off thestreets and find a way to make
their life interesting to anaudience, you know, to to sort
of with with the idea that ifyou're ever bored by another
human being, that's becauseyou're not asking the right
questions, and to just testthat.
Um also the idea of exploringmarriage and parenting, uh doing

(16:08):
something with my wife, that'scrossed my mind a lot.
So there's a lot of things I'mthinking about, and that's not
to say that you can't do all ofthem.
You know, that's the nature ofpodcasts, and you can have five,
one each day.
You do need a team for that, andI never got a team together.
I did this all by myself, somaybe that was the maybe that

(16:30):
was stupid.
Anyway, yeah, so those are someideas.
Look, if you if you've beenlistening, I think my final my
final request would be, youknow, what what do you think I
could do that would takeadvantage of whatever strengths
you think I have and is aviable, you know, podcast

(16:53):
premise or any other creativeendeavor.
You know, a lot of times if I ifyou just ask people, hey, what
do you think I should do, orwhat do you think what strikes,
have you ever had an idea forme?
It's interesting when peoplepeople will step up, man, and
they've and they are I I'venever been let down, honestly,
and you ask people those to helpyou.

(17:16):
It's like asking for help is areally powerful uh can be a real
powerful moment.
So I guess that's what I'mdoing.
I'm gonna ask you for help onefinal time, and let me know if
there's anything you think Icould or should or you want me
to do, and um I'll keep it underconsideration.

(17:40):
Well, that is my confession.
That is my one year uh episode.
We did it.
I thank you super really fromthe bottom of my heart um for
sticking around and going onthis ride with me.
And I'll use a famous WinstonChurchill quote This is not the

(18:03):
end, nor is it the beginning ofthe end, but perhaps the end of
the beginning.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

The Bobby Bones Show

The Bobby Bones Show

Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.