June 28, 2023 • 48 mins
We're excited to share with you an incredible journey of courage, transformation, and laughter with our guest, Dan Dean. From his days in high school, to serving in the Marines and Army National Guard, and finally taking the leap into the world of comedy, Dan's story is truly unique and inspiring. Join us for an in-depth exploration of military life, the challenges of transitioning back to civilian life, and the surprising connections between military service and comedy.
In this fascinating episode, Dan takes us through his time in Okinawa, Japan, and shares his insights into the mindset and culture associated with serving in different branches of the military. We also discuss the unique backgrounds of those in the National Guard and the significant impact that college benefits had on many individuals' decisions to enlist. As we continue, we delve into Dan's journey into comedy, touching on the influence of comedians like Bill Burr on his style and the importance of perfecting a set to captivate audiences.
Don't miss out as Dan shares his advice on staying positive during difficult times, finding the right balance between a career in carpentry and a passion for comedy, and how he's connecting with audiences through his new TikTok page and other social media platforms. This insightful and entertaining episode is a testament to the courage it takes to follow a unique path and embrace the unknowns in life. So, are you ready to embark on this incredible journey with us and Dan Dean? Tune in now!
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KP (00:00):
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Dan (00:19):
I love the Marines.
I was weird that way becausewhen I was in high school, i was
completely the opposite of aperson you would imagine going
into the military.
As a matter of fact, i wascompletely anti-military.
I thought that the military wasfor weak-minded fools and they
(00:39):
brainwashed you and that was theonly thing you would do if you
didn't have any other option inlife.
I just assumed I was going togo to college, get a degree and
become a professional,upstanding citizen.
That's what my idea was of whatlife was supposed to be.
KP (01:10):
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation.
I'm joined with a longtimeacquaintance who graduated from
high school and, like many, lefthis hometown to become part of
the few, the proud, the MarinesOur guests today then
transitioned out of the MarineCorps and into the Army National
Guard, redeployed in support ofOperation Iraqi Freedom.
(01:30):
Now, at almost the same time,our guest today, dan Dean,
somehow found himself on stagedoing comedy.
He's been part of severalcomedy tours and today he's
going to share his professionaljourney and insights on life.
By the way fascinating fact Ihonorably took Dan's high school
football number after hegraduated number three And Dan
(01:54):
was also my supervisor at onepoint.
So it's great to reconnect withyou.
It's great to see you, buddy.
It's great to have you on theshow as well.
Thank you for joining us, dan.
Dan (02:01):
I forgot all about that supervisor thing.
I don't really count that jobAs a matter of fact.
that job is probably why Ijoined the military.
KP (02:11):
You know, i do remember you joining right after that
specific position.
Dan (02:13):
Huh I was like I can't do this.
I can't sell fake ass jewelryfor the rest of my life.
Where's my life heading?
I thought I was a smart guy.
I'm sitting here in the middleof a mall in a kiosk selling
some bullshit to whoever walksby.
KP (02:31):
And also supervising some high school brat that rarely
showed up to work.
So this work I know is verygracious to have the opportunity
to work for Dan, and it wasselling gold-plated jewelry.
I had a great time workingthere, man, and I remember some
(02:54):
of the pranks where we wouldlike super glue the quarter to
the floor and just watch peopletry to pick it up.
Yeah, it was a good timeworking there.
Dan (03:05):
I had a lot of fun and met a lot of interesting people.
I always got free pretzels fromthe pretzel store.
There were some perks toworking there, but you're
working at a kiosk at the malldoing nothing.
It was fine for a high schoolkid, but I was out of high
school.
I'd been to college for a year,I stopped going to college and
(03:28):
now all of a sudden I findmyself working at the mall.
What the fuck?
What has my life come to?
KP (03:35):
Yeah Well, hey, man, there was no shame.
I appreciated it And it wasdefinitely for some reason.
I was very blessed to havereally awesome jobs, from
working at the little localgrocery store there in South
Charleston to working for you atthe Upper Valley Mall, which
back in the 90s that was theplace to be.
Now I think it's probably aflea market, who knows But I
(03:56):
know who you are.
I've been in contact with youfor a number of years now, but
for the audience members outthere that are meeting you for
the first time, would you mindletting them know and
introducing yourself, lettingthem know who you are and how
this all started out for you.
Dan (04:10):
Well, they've gotten a little glimpse into me right now
.
But yeah, my name's Dan Dane,from the Metropolis of South
Charleston, ohio, and I wasn'treally going anywhere in life,
so that's when I decided to gointo the military.
I was in the Marines for eightyears, had a little bit of a
(04:31):
break in service there and thenI transitioned into the Army
National Guard, deployed threetimes between the two services
and ended up retiring in 2019after 23 years.
KP (04:47):
Wow, I didn't realize you were in the Marines for that
long.
I remember when you left andthen when you came back you must
have been on leave or something.
I saw you at the local gasstation.
Where were you stationed atwhen you were in the Marine
Corps?
Dan (05:00):
I was active duty for four years and then I went and did
four years in the Marine Reserve.
So when I was active duty,after boot camp at Paris Island
and then Marine combat trainingat Lejeune, i did MP school in
Alabama, at Fort McClellan, andthen my first duty station was
(05:21):
in Okinawa, japan.
I was there for a year as agarrison MP, basically doing
regular police patrol work inJapan on this tiny island, and I
wish I would have stayed longer.
I don't have any idea why theyoffered me They even offered me
a small bonus, but it was abonus which was unheard of at
(05:44):
the time in the Marine Corps.
I declined, i just wanted to beback in the United States.
Then I came back.
I was at Marine Corps AirStation Buford for three years
after that.
I finished out my active dutytime there.
Then I went into the reserveand most of my time in the
(06:05):
reserve was actually on TDY.
I was active duty most of thattime.
I ran the Marine Corps Humveefor the Marine Corps Recruiting
District there for about sixmonths or so, which there are a
lot of really cool experiencesand stories with that.
Then we deployed for the firsttime right at the beginning of
(06:29):
the war in Iraq in 2003, whichwas also quite an experience
right there at the beginning.
Then I came back.
Like I said, i took a coupleyears break.
I was still on the IRR, but Itook a couple years break and
then switched over.
KP (06:50):
I didn't realize that you had deployed to Iraq so early, I
guess at the same time I wasfinishing up.
I was finishing up.
I was in an Ash Regard at thetime enlisted.
Then, around 2003 was when Igot my commission.
By the time you and Ireconnected again, you had
already been out.
You went to Iraq in 2003?
Dan (07:10):
Yes, right as the war started.
It was about seven days afterthe bombing started.
We knew we were going, so wewere at Camp Pendleton when they
started the bombing.
We got there just a few dayslater and we were doing some
(07:30):
security checkpoints along someof the MSRs.
We set up EPW camps.
The grunts would go through thetowns and they'd come out with
all these EPWs and they'd bringa big five ton out to our
collection point and just startdumping the prisoners, literally
kicking them off the five ton.
(07:52):
We took control of them thereand then we would transport them
down to a different spot inKuwait where they were holding
the EPWs at that point.
Then, after the festivitiesstarted to calm down a little
bit, we moved down into Kuwaitand we were Running customs
(08:16):
missions for the returning units.
KP (08:20):
Wow, yeah, so you had you'd been there four times, right,
three, three times.
You did it with Afghanistanonce.
No, i never did.
Oh, you just did three total.
Okay, go gotcha.
So we know.
What's amazing to me was,talking to the hundred and first
, when I was stationed or when Iwas deployed to Mosul, iraq,
there were a couple of captainsand first lieutenant said, had
(08:43):
talked to me and told me thatthe year and a half before when
they were there, they describedMosul as a completely different
place.
Now, for the three times thatyou deployed, did you see an
evolution of change in Iraq,like of the war, and how it was
not the same each and everysingle time?
Maybe it was the heightenedsecurity or the type of
equipment you were using?
Dan (09:04):
Well, that's hard to say, because the second time I
deployed I was in Kuwait theentire time.
It was more of a vacation thananything, to be honest.
The third one was too, but Idid spend some time up in Iraq
and that was a little bitdifferent, because that was an
army deployment, whereas I wasMarine Corps the first time.
(09:27):
Not to mention when we gotthere in 03, we didn't have
anything.
The war had just started.
There weren't any hardstructures.
We didn't have any airconditioners.
We were there in two man puptents in the middle of the
desert Hanging out for a month.
We were eating MREs three mealsa day.
(09:48):
We had cases of these one literwater bottles and we got two of
those per day.
You had to drink them in themorning because as the day got
on they just got hot.
The only relief you would getis if you were able to go on
(10:10):
patrol in a vehicle and youcould get your sock wet and put
them in the wet sock and hang itout the window.
We also didn't have any uparmored humvees.
We didn't have any armoredvehicles.
We were driving along in softtop 998s with no doors in the
middle of Iraq in a war We hadjust the most bullshit equipment
(10:36):
you can imagine When we got toan actual base.
Finally this army unit rolls inand they've got all this nice
ass equipment, all these nicehumvees.
Here we are sitting in our justghetto piece of shit vehicles.
It was quite a bit different,but there are reasons for that.
KP (11:01):
What's that famous quote by Rumsfeld?
We go to the war with theequipment we have, not the
equipment we wish we had In2004,.
I remember standing in a cellhall and watching that press
conference or something, and hemade that comment At the time.
we were doing convoys andpatrols with soft sided humvees
(11:24):
and using what's called ghettometal, which is the metal that
we put on.
Dan (11:27):
Whatever you could find you welded on yourself.
KP (11:31):
Right.
I was kind of part of thattransition because after he said
that and there was so muchpublic outcry over it because I
remember there was an E4 thatstood up and asked the question
why, after almost two years, whyare we still putting our own
armor on our own vehicles?
Why don't we have up armored?
His response was we go to warwith the equipment we have.
Within the next month we had tosend an entire platoon down to
(11:55):
Kuwait to pick up all thisOshkosh level three armored
vehicle.
That E4 saved literallythousands of lives.
After that, him asking thatquestion and them having such a
big push for that up armoredstuff.
Dan (12:10):
He probably got an NJP.
He probably got an Article 15for saying that shit too.
KP (12:17):
Yeah, you know, what's funny is I actually tried to look him
up.
I wanted to interview him.
I want to find out where he isand you can't find him anywhere,
not on LinkedIn, not anywhere.
So maybe one of these days I'llget lucky, because I do want to
find out whatever happened tohim.
He's probably that E4 and Iused to have his name.
He's probably single handedlysaved thousands of lives by
(12:39):
asking that question that dayand pushing the American leaders
into providing the rightequipment for that type of war
at the time.
Sorry, i didn't mean to go downthe rabbit hole with you, man.
Let's jump back to the MarineCorps.
You served in the Marines.
You're out in the middle of thePacific Ocean and you're from a
(13:01):
small village in Ohio with2,000 residents, total right.
So did the Marines after yourtime deploying and then you got
out?
did the Marines meet youroverall expectations?
and what would you tell anyoneout there that would be thinking
about joining the Marines andleaving home for the first time?
Dan (13:22):
Oh, i love the Marines.
I was weird that way becausewhen I was in high school I was
completely the opposite of aperson you would imagine going
into the military.
As a matter of fact, i wascompletely anti-military.
I thought that the military wasfor weak-minded fools and they
(13:43):
brainwashed you and that was theonly thing you would do if you
didn't have any other option inlife.
I just assumed I was going togo to college, get a degree and
become a professional,upstanding citizen.
That's what my idea was of whatlife was supposed to be.
(14:04):
And then you've already heardthe story of why I decided to
join And I don't know, maybe Idid get a little bit brainwashed
, maybe I didn't.
but as far as the military goes, after 23 years I don't think
there should be a draft per se.
but I think anybody should try.
(14:26):
the military of some sortdoesn't have to be the Marines.
Everybody kind of knows that ifyou wanna challenge yourself,
if you wanna go the hardestroute, Marine Corps is probably
the way to go.
But try out the military.
If you're physically capable,do it.
It's gonna do you good, nomatter what.
You're gonna get benefits outof it, whether those be mental,
(14:50):
physical, financial or otherwise, you're gonna get something out
of it.
KP (14:56):
Yeah, no doubt I'll tell you what I remember prior to going
to war and after going to war,how much my perspective changed
overall with the differentservices, specifically the
Marines.
Whenever I worked with theMarines in Mosul, they were
always extremely professional.
You could always feel like thatyou could depend on them to
(15:19):
have your six at all times.
Man.
They were some of the mostprofessional like locked on
groups that I ever worked withover there, to include special
forces and any other units outthere.
It really changed myperspective overall And as far
as I think, sometimes peopledon't know what's best for them.
I know it's tough to leave home.
Yeah, i think it's tough to goto leave home and go to basic
(15:42):
training or boot camp.
Hell, i didn't wanna do iteither, but I had to do it
because I felt like that was theonly way that I was gonna be
able to pay for college and Iwas ever gonna turn the page to
go to the next chapter and growup and become a man.
So for me it was one thing thatyou know it helped catapult me
(16:05):
into the next chapter, but itwas another thing that I didn't
wanna do it, but I just feltlike I had to do it.
I agree with you 100%, man.
I think that we need to look inthe mirror sometimes and take
that hard, that hard rightversus that easy left, you know,
or vice versa.
So I guess it took you a coupleof years after being out of
(16:26):
high school right to do that.
Dan (16:28):
Yeah, it absolutely did.
And this just kind ofpiggybacking on what you just
said.
As I progressed in my career,as I became a senior NCO and the
Army or whatever, i would seeso many people.
Anytime I got a new soldiercommand I'd ask them why they
joined And the number of peoplewho told me they joined for the
college benefits wasextraordinary.
(16:50):
But what was really satisfyingto me was when I would see those
same people who joinedspecifically for college
benefits end up re-enlisting andextending and continuing their
career.
You know, they joined forcollege, ended up liking it and
that have realized that it was agood thing for them and they
continued on with that.
KP (17:12):
Yeah, and that's exactly what happened to me.
I enlisted in the NationalGuard, utilizing that 100%
tuition assistance that my statewas offering at the time, and
then the patriotic bug kind ofbit me in the ass And next thing
, you know, i'm understandingnow.
I'm understanding what my greatuncle, who served in World War
(17:35):
II like the sacrifice that heheld, my dad serving 20 years in
the Army I understand now, likethe sacrifices that he did.
And so I decided at that pointhey, i'm just I'm gonna take
this to the next level, i'mgonna become an officer, i'm
gonna get commissioned and I'mgonna do four years active duty.
And at the time the war wasgoing on, i knew that I was
going to deploy.
(17:56):
The chances were really goodthat I was gonna, i just didn't
know when.
So that's exactly what happenedto me, man, like I went in for
one reason and then I ended upstaying longer, you know,
because it was something biggerthan myself.
And you know that's that was.
That hits the nail on the headfor exactly how I came about
doing a total of eight years inthe military.
(18:16):
Now, when you transitioned outof the Marines, what was it like
to go home, to your smallvillage, or did you go back to
your small village of 2000people, and how?
how did your perspectivechanged overall?
Dan (18:32):
Yeah, it's a whole different thing dealing with
civilians, especially after theMarine Corps, because they, like
you said, they're always knownas being pretty strict, pretty
locked on, squared away.
They're very rigid anddisciplined And, even if you
don't realize it, you kind ofget used to that mindset.
(18:55):
And then when you get home,when you're dealing with
civilians who aren't used tothat kind of structure and
discipline in their lives, youtend to get a little bit
irritated sometimes And I thinkthat's a normal thing.
I hear that all the time And itdoesn't take long to transition
(19:15):
back into that civilian mindsetand to get a little bit more
tolerant of that.
But yeah, that's real, that's athing.
KP (19:27):
Yeah, you know, i've heard some horror stories about folks
who go from active duty toreserves or active duty to
National Guard, and I know whatit's like to go from National
Guard to active duty.
But can you give us someinsight on what it was like for
you to transition from activeduty Marines to the reserves, to
(19:49):
the Army National Guard, andwhat advice would you have for
anyone out there that's thinkingabout doing the same thing?
Dan (19:55):
Well, as far as horror stories go, i guess I probably
got lucky.
I didn't really experience awhole bunch of that.
Everything seemed to be prettysmooth for me, and maybe it's
because I allowed myself alittle bit of time to get used
to it.
I got off of active duty Andthen I took about four months
before I went and went into thereserves.
(20:17):
If you don't know how thatworks, when you're going into
the active duty Marine Corps yousign an eight year contract,
four up front, and then you'regoing to be in the IRR for the
final four years.
So then afterwards I was stilltechnically in the Marines but I
(20:41):
wasn't in any active branch.
Now the reserves is a differentbranch from active duty.
So I just had to go to therecruiter and say I want to be
back with a unit again training,but I don't want to be active,
so I want to be reserved, andall I had to do is fill out a
(21:03):
couple of papers.
Next month I was in a drillingstatus with the unit and there
is a big rivalry between activeduty and reserve.
There's a big rivalry betweenthe Marine Corps and the other
branches, between all thebranches really.
But if we're being honest, it'snot all that different.
(21:28):
Yes, the Marine Corps is alittle bit more structured,
active duty is a little bit moredisciplined than the reserves,
probably.
But it's still the Marines, youknow, you're still doing the
same thing.
The training is all the same,the qualifying with weapons is
(21:48):
all the same.
There's no real differencethere.
The only difference is you're acivilian for a good portion of
the month and you're just doingthe military thing on the
weekends.
And I don't know, i don't knowif active duty gets jealous.
Maybe they don't get to livetheir lives the way they want to
(22:11):
for most of the month.
But you can see where theirthought process is coming from.
And it's the same with the Armyand the active duty, army and
the National Guard.
And then the difference betweenthe Army and the Marines is
considerable in the minds of theMarines.
(22:32):
But the biggest thing for mewhen I was switching into the
National Guard was getting overthe roadblock of my own mindset.
Because when you're in theMarines, especially in boot camp
, they drill it into your headYou're the best, the Marine
Corps is where it's at andanybody else is secondary.
(22:53):
So all I, you know, i just hadto get over the idea in my own
head that I wasn't going to be aMarine anymore.
And once I got over that then Ikind of fit right into that
reserve unit and then again intothe National Guard unit.
KP (23:13):
It sounds like your overall humbleness and your ability to
ground yourself has reallyhelped you transition quite a
bit, because I have talked topeople before that have very
high expectations when they makethat jump from active duty to
the reserves and the NationalGuard.
And I think sometimes peoplehave a tendency to do that to
(23:38):
compare things to the way theyused to be or to compare this to
that.
And I think sometimes youreally have to have an open mind
about it, and so it sounds likethat's pretty much what you had
was an open mind and you hadtransitioned your mind, i guess,
and your expectations tounderstand that, hey, like, not
every unit's going to be thesame and not every branch is
(23:58):
going to be the same.
I had heard before, you know,people saying well, i went from
this active duty unit and I wentto this reserve unit, national
Guard unit, and you know it wasreally messed up.
The command did this, thecommand did that.
But I can also say the samething for active duty too.
I've seen that with active dutyunits, and a lot of it has to
do with the overall culture ofthose units that have been
(24:18):
created over time with thecommand.
So I can see it going both waysmyself.
I've seen some really highspeed National Guard units.
As a matter of fact, when I wasin Iraq, i was a platoon leader
for a reserve unit.
I was the only active duty guyand I had some of the most
skilled professionals in myopinion when it came to dealing
with things outside the wire AndI really depended on them and I
(24:41):
leaned on them quite a bit toget me through some tough times,
you know.
So I definitely understand yourperspective on that one.
Dan (24:48):
The good thing about the National Guard is that you have
all these different people and,yeah, you're doing the same job,
but during the month they'reall doing different things.
They come from differentbackgrounds.
You know, you've got a mechaniccoming in from an auto
dealership, i'm a carpentercoming in, and you've got
different cops and just peoplefrom all kinds of different
(25:10):
backgrounds.
So if you need something,you've got a hookup somewhere.
I pulled in one time myalternator went out.
The guy came out, he worked atthe dealership.
I went and got an alternator.
He fixed it right there in theparking lot for me for free And
that's just kind of one of thebenefits.
But there were a lot of guys whocame into the National Guard
(25:34):
from the Marine Corps and theycouldn't get over that metal
roadblock that I talked about.
As a matter of fact, there wasa guy I deployed with out of the
Marines.
He got ahold of me and said,hey, i think I'd like to try the
National Guard, and we got himover there.
He joined my unit.
I drilled with him for he wasthere for about a year and he
(25:55):
ended up getting out and goingback into the Marines And he
retired as the first sergeant inthe Marine Corps And he, just
he couldn't get over that metalroadblock.
You know, i'm a Marine, i'm thebest.
And but he was a.
He was actually a really goodMarine.
As for myself, i alwaysconsidered myself kind of an
(26:16):
average Marine, so then when Iwent into the National Guard I
was a pretty good soldier, yeahman.
KP (26:25):
I mean, yeah, that's interesting.
I mean your personalitydefinitely has a lot to do with.
I think the thing about you, dan, that I've known you for a
number of years, man, is, youknow, i don't, i don't think
that, even though you were aMarine, i don't think that that
uniform was ever an extension ofyour character, your
personality, your identity, andI think that's a that's a big
(26:46):
deal for some people Like Ithink there's some people out
there that'll walk around forthe rest of their life, you know
, and all this stuff and and who, and all this stuff And it's
and it's and, at the end of theday, like, you've always been a
very grounded guy, very humbleguy, and you've been, dan, and I
think I that's one of thethings that I really appreciate
about you as a person is younever have taken on the.
(27:09):
The Dan that I met after joiningthe Marines and you were on TDY
I saw at the gas station wasthe same guy that I remember
working with me at the mall.
So over the years, man, i thinkthat has helped you a lot with
with your transition overall.
And speaking of transition, youknow, you, you got into comedy,
which I had been to a few ofyour shows before in Dayton and
(27:32):
in Dayton, ohio there.
Dan (27:34):
You saw me when I was just started.
I was terrible back then.
KP (27:39):
Dude, i listen.
I think at the end of the day,like, just like this podcasting
stuff, man, it's not as easy aspeople think.
Um, i and I didn't think youwere terrible, you were actually
killing it on stage.
Um, so would you mind talkingto us about comedy?
like how the hell did that evercome about, man?
Like what inspired you to dothat?
Is this something you alwayswanted to do?
Dan (27:58):
You said, the people think comedy isn't as easy as it looks
It was.
If people think comedy is easy,they're looking in the wrong
place, because comedy isanything but easy.
You have to be kind of amasochist to do comedy, because
it's as much misery as it ispositive.
(28:19):
But as far as comedy goes, igot into it.
I have to give credit to themilitary for getting me into
comedy, because I was in a unitin the National Guard with a
female soldier and she sent me amessage that said hey, i'm
(28:39):
doing this comedy show, i'mdoing an open mic at Wiley's
comedy club.
I need some people to comewatch.
Would you mind coming out?
KP (28:47):
Yeah, sure Why not.
Dan (28:49):
I'd never been to a comedy show live before.
You know, i'd seen some comedyon TV.
I'd seen Eddie Murphy, ross andGeorge Carlin, richard Pryor.
I knew comedy existed, but I'dnever been to a comedy show.
So I went and I watched thisopen mic this girl from my unit
And as I'm watching I saw someof these people on stage and I'm
(29:11):
like, well, they're not verygood.
If they could do this, i can doit.
So I talked to that guy rightthere that night.
I said, hey, sign me up forthis, let's do this thing.
About a month later I wrotesome material, got on stage and
I never really looked back fromthere and I've taken some breaks
here and there when my daughterwas born and then I deployed
(29:34):
once again after that, but eventhen I ran some shows over in
Kuwait when I was deployed,managed to find a couple other
people who wanted to do somecomedy And we kind of did some
open mics over there, not reallya USO tour, but we were
(29:56):
performing for the troops.
KP (29:58):
Yeah, that's pretty bad ass, man.
What type of comedy do you do,Dan?
Dan (30:09):
It has transitioned a lot since I've started sort of an
observational comic.
But the older I get, thegrumpier I get.
My comedy tends to reflect thatto where Bill Burr is a big.
KP (30:29):
Right, i love it Yeah.
Dan (30:30):
He's one of my favorites and he's a big influence on me.
My style is similar to his towhere I'm sort of an angry comic
on stage sometimes, but hetends to tackle broader, bigger,
more important subjects, whileI'm up on stage yelling about
fight, fighting geese, and whycheesecake is a pie, you know.
KP (30:55):
Right, yeah, man, and overall, over the years, have
you, have you done any tours andwhat are some of your favorite
clubs to perform in?
Dan (31:05):
I've been all over.
I've performed in severalstates, mostly in the Midwest.
I'm not, you know, i'm not abig professional comic tour and
all over the country It's moreof a hobby for me that tends to
pay for itself.
You know, get paid for shows,but I'm not out there making
thousands of dollars or any.
I'm not performing in front of20,000 people at an arena or
(31:27):
anything.
But I love doing shows at, like, the animal lodges moose, elks
and Eagles lodges, that kind ofthing.
But my favorite clubs arealways going to be Wiley's and
Dayton, where I did my my veryfirst set and then the funny
bone there, and Dayton as well.
Fantastic staff, really reallynice club, yeah.
KP (31:52):
So what are some of the unknowns about being a comedian
Things that you learned afteryou actually got on stage and
had the microphone in hand andyou started doing your bit.
Like what are some of thethings that you learned sort of
the hard way about comedy?
Dan (32:09):
Well, a lot of people coming into comedy think that
you have to write a new bitevery time you get on stage, and
that's 100% not true.
When you're on stage, if you'reseeing somebody perform comedy,
they have probably performedthat same set enough times to
(32:32):
where they're sick of hearingthose jokes.
You know the jokes that I tellall end up doing it different
shows 50 times to try to perfectthat joke to.
You know, kind of rewriting itand tweaking it here and there
until it's it becomes a good,solid joke.
That's why, if you listen tosome of these guys, some of
(32:52):
these professionals like youknow the Joe Rogans, bill Burr,
stuff like that they're talkingabout.
They're out there getting theirhour ready, getting their
special ready.
They're doing that samematerial over and over and over.
It's not like they just go outthere and have a brand new hour
that nobody's ever heard before.
And anytime I've gone to seeBill Burr I'll watch his special
(33:15):
six months later and he'stelling the same jokes that he
told when I went to see him.
They're just slightly different.
He's tweaked them a little bit.
He's figured out what was funnyand what wasn't and reworded it
a little bit, and so that'skind of hard for people to grasp
(33:35):
as far as comedians go.
And it's hard to get people tocome watch you when you're just
starting, because you know, say,my mom comes and watch me do a
set and she comes back the nextweek and I'm doing that same set
.
So you've got people coming outand watching you and you're
doing the same material over andover.
They're like I've seen this, doyou have anything new?
(33:58):
I'm like yeah, but this isn'tready yet.
You know this isn't where itneeds to be yet And I'll do
something new once once thismaterial is ready.
So people get burned out,coming and watching comedy real
quick.
It's hard.
You know everybody's like oh, ilove comedy, i love to laugh.
It's hard to get people to comeout and watch comedy.
KP (34:20):
Yeah, i've actually been to a lot of comedy shows and I saw
the late Charlie Murphy when hewas up in Chicago and I've seen
Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corollaback in the day Not current
Jimmy, but early Jimmy, when hewas actually really funny.
But and so at at the end of theday, whenever I saw these folks
(34:42):
and then I would see theopening acts, a lot of times the
opening acts were just as funnyas the main, the main person
Absolutely Like yeah.
So have you ever shared thestage with anyone that that
would be considered famous oranyone that you've met or been
(35:02):
able to connect with or networkwith?
Dan (35:04):
a little bit.
I've never done shows with anyof the huge, huge comics.
I did a show with Brad Williamswho you know he has his own
special on Netflix and he'spretty well known.
Vince Morris is a comic I loveto work with.
(35:25):
He's kind of local but he'sbeen on HBO Comedy Central, that
kind of thing.
I did a show with Chris Gattainwho was on Saturday Night Live
And yeah, i'm basically givingyou my buy now My credits.
people have worked with.
KP (35:41):
Yeah, no, you know, i had one other comic on here in the
very beginning when I startedthe Morning Formation podcast
and I brought up military darkhumor And I think it kind of
triggered him.
He got really upset and waslike there's no such thing as
that And like went off on mepretty much And I don't know he
was kind of a jerk.
But what are your thoughts onthat, like as far as military
(36:05):
dark humor and surveillance, notgetting it?
I mean, do you believe thatthere is such thing as dark
humor?
Dan (36:10):
Sure, there's dark humor, but comedy is subjective and
every comic has a differentstyle and every person watching
comedy likes a different styleof comedy.
So just because you're a darkcomic doesn't mean you're not
going to have an audience outthere.
Anthony Jeselnick is one of thedarkest comics that I know and
(36:35):
he is goddamn hilarious.
I will watch his clips over andover.
He's hilarious.
You got guys like Daniel ToshHe's also.
I just watched a clip of histoday.
He was talking about what anaccomplishment it was for white
people to pull off slavery.
KP (36:54):
Which is.
Dan (36:55):
You know, it's obviously a taboo, crazy thing to say, but
that's what comedians are therefor.
You know, dave Chappelle saidthe thing about comedians having
a responsibility to speakrecklessly, and I take that to
heart.
As far as I'm concerned, thereis no subject that's off limits,
as long as you can make itfunny.
And then, you know, i've beenin rooms where a comedian will
(37:18):
tell a joke and just getabsolute crickets, and sometimes
that's even funnier than thejoke itself.
You know, even if I didn'tthink the joke was funny
sometimes just the silence inthe room all of a sudden you'll
hear me in the back just bustout laughing.
You know, because I know thatcomic is up on stage just dying
(37:39):
because nobody's laughing atthis joke and nobody in the
audience gets what they're goingfor.
And we've all been there.
That's how it goes.
But eventually you will findthe audience and somebody will
like that joke.
I got advice one time that I'vealways it's been my number one
piece of advice that I alwayskeep close to the chest.
(37:59):
The guy told me if you thinksomething's funny, it's funny.
You just have to make theaudience believe it's funny.
And that's where the problemlies.
Sometimes you just can't dothat.
Sometimes you just can't makethe audience buy into a bit, and
I've had to.
I've had to shelve bits andthere have been jokes that I did
(38:20):
years ago that I'll see andI'll bring back all of a sudden,
like this is hilarious.
Why didn't this ever work?
I'm going to try it again and,you know, change a little
something.
And all of a sudden, there itis, all of a sudden, that bit
works.
All you had to do was get afresh, fresh, fresh thought
about it and differentperspective.
KP (38:43):
I love the whole comedian front because they've really
worked hard to push back againsta lot of the, i guess,
political correctness that'sgoing on today And overall you
will see a lot of comics comeout and say, hey look, this is
what I'm supposed to do, i dothis for a living.
Like we're supposed to be raw,we're supposed to be real, we're
(39:06):
supposed to be authentic.
And you mentioned earlier BillBurr.
I mean that guy.
When he says stuff it's justfor me.
I'm like, yeah, he's right.
Like why did I ever think of itany other way than what he's
saying?
It's just common sense, right,and a lot of times comedy can
bring that common sense to itall.
You mentioned earlier thatyou're into observational comedy
.
I remember standing with you atthe mall and no better place to
(39:29):
observe people, right.
And I remember us just crackingup and just observing people
walking by and the peopleworking over at the cell phone
place right next to us, or theperson working over there.
We would all like make jokesabout them.
So you know, i guess you had italways.
I guess you always had it inyou, dan.
It was just a matter of havingthat opportunity to find a stage
and to get on it.
(39:50):
And you know, thankfully youhad a good friend in the
National Guard who invited youand got you in on it.
And over the horizon, what doyou have planned?
Dan (40:02):
As far as what Comedy or just life in general.
KP (40:06):
Comedy, life in general, anything.
Dan (40:08):
Well, the pandemic sort of put a halt on all things comedy
in general, And before that Iwas out there, you know rip roar
and doing shows every weekendat different locations, and it
never really picked up for meafterwards And I would kind of
(40:29):
like to get back to the placewhere I was to, where I'm doing
more shows and and being moreactive in the comedy scene.
But as far as that goes, youknow, i'm a carpenter and
business has never been betterfor that.
These days I have as muchcarpenter businesses as I need
(40:52):
and I'll just.
That's always a fallback for me.
You know, if I don't have anycomedy lined up, if I don't have
anything going on, i can alwaysbuild something and that that
allows me a lot of leeway.
It always has allowed me a lotof leeway.
KP (41:09):
Yeah, that's awesome and, by the way, speaking of which, if
anyone's looking to connect withyou, i know that you have the
Instagram for the carpentry work, right?
What's that?
Dan (41:24):
called Camouflage construction.
KP (41:26):
Camouflage construction and what other social media
platforms are you on if folkswant to connect with you?
Dan (41:30):
I am on Facebook as well, dan Dean on there.
I do have a camouflageconstruction Facebook page also,
and I just created a TikTokpage.
I finally gave in and created aTikTok.
I haven't uploaded any videos,but that's gonna be sort of my
comedy outlet.
I think I've got some reallygood ideas for some TikTok
(41:54):
videos.
So if you go on there I thinkmy screen name is Grumpy Dan,
but it's at Dan Dean 71.
You can find me there.
Like I said, you're not gonnafind any videos now, but I'm
gonna get some comedy videos upthere.
I've got some ideas.
KP (42:13):
I hope that we got you inspired to jump back into it.
Man, i know the pandemic.
You know, like you said, put adamper and everything, and I'll
make sure that I put all of thelinks in the show notes.
So, if you're listening to thison the audio platforms, go down
to the show notes.
You'll see all of Dan's socialmedia platforms to connect with
him.
If you're watching this onYouTube, scroll down to the
(42:36):
description.
You'll see the same thing.
All the links will be downthere as well, so you can
connect with Dan, whether youwant him to do some woodworking
for you, or you want him to makeyou laugh, or you want to just
have a beer with him, becauseyou know you want to talk about
some experiences that you haddown range.
Whatever the case is, dan is amulti-talented professional and
I've been.
It's been such a pleasure toknow you all these years, dan.
(42:58):
And just to finish everythingoff for this podcast, man, what
is the number one piece ofadvice that you would give
anyone out there who iscurrently a service member or is
maybe a veteran?
you know, a piece of advice apiece of advice for a community
(43:21):
to change their mindset, fortransition, for change, because
change is inevitable and youseem to be the master of that.
Dan (43:29):
Well, like I said, i have done quite a few things and
having this constructioncarpentry background has given
me the leeway to do that.
But I have a couple of piecesof advice.
The first is that money isn'teverything, you know.
Don't get into something justfor the money, especially if
(43:50):
you're not happy doing it.
If you're unhappy at a job, godo something else.
There are opportunities outthere, there are different
things available, and that kindof leads me into my second piece
of advice.
Don't be afraid to take a chance.
Don't be afraid to go afterwhat you want.
You know, if you're in a jobthat you don't like and you want
to be an artist, you know, gobe an artist.
(44:12):
You might suffer a little bit,you might be scraping for money
here and there, but don't beafraid to live your dream
because ultimately, living anunfulfilled life and having a
lot of money is going to be alot worse in the end than being
happy and having to be happy andhaving a lot of money is going
(44:37):
to be a lot worse in the endthan being happy and having a
lot of money.
KP (44:43):
So that's great.
Bye, amen to that man.
When I got out of the army, iactually got a high-paying job
right off the bat and I thought,yeah, this is what I want.
I left Hawaii, moved back tothe Midwest, sold my board, sold
my kayak, sold my life.
You know, i'm from the US andI'm like, hey, dan.
And now I look back.
I'm like why the hell did I dothat?
(45:04):
I could have gotten a jobliving in Paradise.
And now I'm just kind of livinghere on the mainland with a
good job now, a decent jobanyways.
So that's very, very wise.
Dan, and I really appreciatedyou giving us that.
Dan (45:19):
I'm going to say one more thing, though, however, to
piggyback on that.
How do you feel right now?
Forty-three, you're forty-three, i'm forty-five right now.
So you can see what forty-fiveyears of living with no money
has done to me, compared to thisguy over here who had a
(45:40):
good-paying job.
So I don't know, maybe myadvice isn't the best, or else
maybe the next two years of yourlife, you're in for some shit
KV.
KP (45:50):
No, no, man, Listen, there's a lot of stress underneath this
, everything going on over here,and every day, you know I'm
drinking the Celsius, gettingthe caffeine in just to keep it
going.
So I'm in the same boat as you,man.
Like I said, the one thing thatI really and I appreciate your
service and just you being afriend and an acquaintance all
(46:14):
these years, and I reallyappreciate you giving us the
opportunity to learn a lot moreabout you.
Today, man, I hope that youpick up your comedy, you start
up a podcast, you do all thethings, man, because you have a
lot of stuff to give a lot ofpeople out there.
Dan (46:26):
Hey, thanks and I appreciate you having me on.
It was a good time.
I enjoyed being enjoyed talkingto you, enjoyed catching up.
KP (46:34):
Right on, man, Right on.
Well, you keep holding it downout there in the Midwest, out
there in the field, out there inSouth Chucky.
I'll hold it down out here inLA and enjoy this two-hour
bullshit commute that I do everysingle day.
I hate it.
But anyways, for everyone elseout there, I hope you enjoyed
this interview.
Please check out Dan Dean.
All the links are in thedescription or in the show notes
(46:55):
below.
Dan, thank you for joining usAnd for everyone else out there,
as always, I want you to staytuned, stay focused and stay
motivated.
This episode is powered by Act Now Education.
Go to www.
actnoweducationcom for freecomprehensive educational
resources and opportunities foractive duty, veterans, military
spouses and children.
Dan (00:19):
I love the Marines.
I was weird that way becausewhen I was in high school, i was
completely the opposite of aperson you would imagine going
into the military.
As a matter of fact, i wascompletely anti-military.
I thought that the military wasfor weak-minded fools and they
(00:39):
brainwashed you and that was theonly thing you would do if you
didn't have any other option inlife.
I just assumed I was going togo to college, get a degree and
become a professional,upstanding citizen.
That's what my idea was of whatlife was supposed to be.
KP (01:10):
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation.
I'm joined with a longtimeacquaintance who graduated from
high school and, like many, lefthis hometown to become part of
the few, the proud, the MarinesOur guests today then
transitioned out of the MarineCorps and into the Army National
Guard, redeployed in support ofOperation Iraqi Freedom.
(01:30):
Now, at almost the same time,our guest today, dan Dean,
somehow found himself on stagedoing comedy.
He's been part of severalcomedy tours and today he's
going to share his professionaljourney and insights on life.
By the way fascinating fact Ihonorably took Dan's high school
football number after hegraduated number three And Dan
(01:54):
was also my supervisor at onepoint.
So it's great to reconnect withyou.
It's great to see you, buddy.
It's great to have you on theshow as well.
Thank you for joining us, dan.
Dan (02:01):
I forgot all about that supervisor thing.
I don't really count that jobAs a matter of fact.
that job is probably why Ijoined the military.
KP (02:11):
You know, i do remember you joining right after that
specific position.
Dan (02:13):
Huh I was like I can't do this.
I can't sell fake ass jewelryfor the rest of my life.
Where's my life heading?
I thought I was a smart guy.
I'm sitting here in the middleof a mall in a kiosk selling
some bullshit to whoever walksby.
KP (02:31):
And also supervising some high school brat that rarely
showed up to work.
So this work I know is verygracious to have the opportunity
to work for Dan, and it wasselling gold-plated jewelry.
I had a great time workingthere, man, and I remember some
(02:54):
of the pranks where we wouldlike super glue the quarter to
the floor and just watch peopletry to pick it up.
Yeah, it was a good timeworking there.
Dan (03:05):
I had a lot of fun and met a lot of interesting people.
I always got free pretzels fromthe pretzel store.
There were some perks toworking there, but you're
working at a kiosk at the malldoing nothing.
It was fine for a high schoolkid, but I was out of high
school.
I'd been to college for a year,I stopped going to college and
(03:28):
now all of a sudden I findmyself working at the mall.
What the fuck?
What has my life come to?
KP (03:35):
Yeah Well, hey, man, there was no shame.
I appreciated it And it wasdefinitely for some reason.
I was very blessed to havereally awesome jobs, from
working at the little localgrocery store there in South
Charleston to working for you atthe Upper Valley Mall, which
back in the 90s that was theplace to be.
Now I think it's probably aflea market, who knows But I
(03:56):
know who you are.
I've been in contact with youfor a number of years now, but
for the audience members outthere that are meeting you for
the first time, would you mindletting them know and
introducing yourself, lettingthem know who you are and how
this all started out for you.
Dan (04:10):
Well, they've gotten a little glimpse into me right now
.
But yeah, my name's Dan Dane,from the Metropolis of South
Charleston, ohio, and I wasn'treally going anywhere in life,
so that's when I decided to gointo the military.
I was in the Marines for eightyears, had a little bit of a
(04:31):
break in service there and thenI transitioned into the Army
National Guard, deployed threetimes between the two services
and ended up retiring in 2019after 23 years.
KP (04:47):
Wow, I didn't realize you were in the Marines for that
long.
I remember when you left andthen when you came back you must
have been on leave or something.
I saw you at the local gasstation.
Where were you stationed atwhen you were in the Marine
Corps?
Dan (05:00):
I was active duty for four years and then I went and did
four years in the Marine Reserve.
So when I was active duty,after boot camp at Paris Island
and then Marine combat trainingat Lejeune, i did MP school in
Alabama, at Fort McClellan, andthen my first duty station was
(05:21):
in Okinawa, japan.
I was there for a year as agarrison MP, basically doing
regular police patrol work inJapan on this tiny island, and I
wish I would have stayed longer.
I don't have any idea why theyoffered me They even offered me
a small bonus, but it was abonus which was unheard of at
(05:44):
the time in the Marine Corps.
I declined, i just wanted to beback in the United States.
Then I came back.
I was at Marine Corps AirStation Buford for three years
after that.
I finished out my active dutytime there.
Then I went into the reserveand most of my time in the
(06:05):
reserve was actually on TDY.
I was active duty most of thattime.
I ran the Marine Corps Humveefor the Marine Corps Recruiting
District there for about sixmonths or so, which there are a
lot of really cool experiencesand stories with that.
Then we deployed for the firsttime right at the beginning of
(06:29):
the war in Iraq in 2003, whichwas also quite an experience
right there at the beginning.
Then I came back.
Like I said, i took a coupleyears break.
I was still on the IRR, but Itook a couple years break and
then switched over.
KP (06:50):
I didn't realize that you had deployed to Iraq so early, I
guess at the same time I wasfinishing up.
I was finishing up.
I was in an Ash Regard at thetime enlisted.
Then, around 2003 was when Igot my commission.
By the time you and Ireconnected again, you had
already been out.
You went to Iraq in 2003?
Dan (07:10):
Yes, right as the war started.
It was about seven days afterthe bombing started.
We knew we were going, so wewere at Camp Pendleton when they
started the bombing.
We got there just a few dayslater and we were doing some
(07:30):
security checkpoints along someof the MSRs.
We set up EPW camps.
The grunts would go through thetowns and they'd come out with
all these EPWs and they'd bringa big five ton out to our
collection point and just startdumping the prisoners, literally
kicking them off the five ton.
(07:52):
We took control of them thereand then we would transport them
down to a different spot inKuwait where they were holding
the EPWs at that point.
Then, after the festivitiesstarted to calm down a little
bit, we moved down into Kuwaitand we were Running customs
(08:16):
missions for the returning units.
KP (08:20):
Wow, yeah, so you had you'd been there four times, right,
three, three times.
You did it with Afghanistanonce.
No, i never did.
Oh, you just did three total.
Okay, go gotcha.
So we know.
What's amazing to me was,talking to the hundred and first
, when I was stationed or when Iwas deployed to Mosul, iraq,
there were a couple of captainsand first lieutenant said, had
(08:43):
talked to me and told me thatthe year and a half before when
they were there, they describedMosul as a completely different
place.
Now, for the three times thatyou deployed, did you see an
evolution of change in Iraq,like of the war, and how it was
not the same each and everysingle time?
Maybe it was the heightenedsecurity or the type of
equipment you were using?
Dan (09:04):
Well, that's hard to say, because the second time I
deployed I was in Kuwait theentire time.
It was more of a vacation thananything, to be honest.
The third one was too, but Idid spend some time up in Iraq
and that was a little bitdifferent, because that was an
army deployment, whereas I wasMarine Corps the first time.
(09:27):
Not to mention when we gotthere in 03, we didn't have
anything.
The war had just started.
There weren't any hardstructures.
We didn't have any airconditioners.
We were there in two man puptents in the middle of the
desert Hanging out for a month.
We were eating MREs three mealsa day.
(09:48):
We had cases of these one literwater bottles and we got two of
those per day.
You had to drink them in themorning because as the day got
on they just got hot.
The only relief you would getis if you were able to go on
(10:10):
patrol in a vehicle and youcould get your sock wet and put
them in the wet sock and hang itout the window.
We also didn't have any uparmored humvees.
We didn't have any armoredvehicles.
We were driving along in softtop 998s with no doors in the
middle of Iraq in a war We hadjust the most bullshit equipment
(10:36):
you can imagine When we got toan actual base.
Finally this army unit rolls inand they've got all this nice
ass equipment, all these nicehumvees.
Here we are sitting in our justghetto piece of shit vehicles.
It was quite a bit different,but there are reasons for that.
KP (11:01):
What's that famous quote by Rumsfeld?
We go to the war with theequipment we have, not the
equipment we wish we had In2004,.
I remember standing in a cellhall and watching that press
conference or something, and hemade that comment At the time.
we were doing convoys andpatrols with soft sided humvees
(11:24):
and using what's called ghettometal, which is the metal that
we put on.
Dan (11:27):
Whatever you could find you welded on yourself.
KP (11:31):
Right.
I was kind of part of thattransition because after he said
that and there was so muchpublic outcry over it because I
remember there was an E4 thatstood up and asked the question
why, after almost two years, whyare we still putting our own
armor on our own vehicles?
Why don't we have up armored?
His response was we go to warwith the equipment we have.
Within the next month we had tosend an entire platoon down to
(11:55):
Kuwait to pick up all thisOshkosh level three armored
vehicle.
That E4 saved literallythousands of lives.
After that, him asking thatquestion and them having such a
big push for that up armoredstuff.
Dan (12:10):
He probably got an NJP.
He probably got an Article 15for saying that shit too.
KP (12:17):
Yeah, you know, what's funny is I actually tried to look him
up.
I wanted to interview him.
I want to find out where he isand you can't find him anywhere,
not on LinkedIn, not anywhere.
So maybe one of these days I'llget lucky, because I do want to
find out whatever happened tohim.
He's probably that E4 and Iused to have his name.
He's probably single handedlysaved thousands of lives by
(12:39):
asking that question that dayand pushing the American leaders
into providing the rightequipment for that type of war
at the time.
Sorry, i didn't mean to go downthe rabbit hole with you, man.
Let's jump back to the MarineCorps.
You served in the Marines.
You're out in the middle of thePacific Ocean and you're from a
(13:01):
small village in Ohio with2,000 residents, total right.
So did the Marines after yourtime deploying and then you got
out?
did the Marines meet youroverall expectations?
and what would you tell anyoneout there that would be thinking
about joining the Marines andleaving home for the first time?
Dan (13:22):
Oh, i love the Marines.
I was weird that way becausewhen I was in high school I was
completely the opposite of aperson you would imagine going
into the military.
As a matter of fact, i wascompletely anti-military.
I thought that the military wasfor weak-minded fools and they
(13:43):
brainwashed you and that was theonly thing you would do if you
didn't have any other option inlife.
I just assumed I was going togo to college, get a degree and
become a professional,upstanding citizen.
That's what my idea was of whatlife was supposed to be.
(14:04):
And then you've already heardthe story of why I decided to
join And I don't know, maybe Idid get a little bit brainwashed
, maybe I didn't.
but as far as the military goes, after 23 years I don't think
there should be a draft per se.
but I think anybody should try.
(14:26):
the military of some sortdoesn't have to be the Marines.
Everybody kind of knows that ifyou wanna challenge yourself,
if you wanna go the hardestroute, Marine Corps is probably
the way to go.
But try out the military.
If you're physically capable,do it.
It's gonna do you good, nomatter what.
You're gonna get benefits outof it, whether those be mental,
(14:50):
physical, financial or otherwise, you're gonna get something out
of it.
KP (14:56):
Yeah, no doubt I'll tell you what I remember prior to going
to war and after going to war,how much my perspective changed
overall with the differentservices, specifically the
Marines.
Whenever I worked with theMarines in Mosul, they were
always extremely professional.
You could always feel like thatyou could depend on them to
(15:19):
have your six at all times.
Man.
They were some of the mostprofessional like locked on
groups that I ever worked withover there, to include special
forces and any other units outthere.
It really changed myperspective overall And as far
as I think, sometimes peopledon't know what's best for them.
I know it's tough to leave home.
Yeah, i think it's tough to goto leave home and go to basic
(15:42):
training or boot camp.
Hell, i didn't wanna do iteither, but I had to do it
because I felt like that was theonly way that I was gonna be
able to pay for college and Iwas ever gonna turn the page to
go to the next chapter and growup and become a man.
So for me it was one thing thatyou know it helped catapult me
(16:05):
into the next chapter, but itwas another thing that I didn't
wanna do it, but I just feltlike I had to do it.
I agree with you 100%, man.
I think that we need to look inthe mirror sometimes and take
that hard, that hard rightversus that easy left, you know,
or vice versa.
So I guess it took you a coupleof years after being out of
(16:26):
high school right to do that.
Dan (16:28):
Yeah, it absolutely did.
And this just kind ofpiggybacking on what you just
said.
As I progressed in my career,as I became a senior NCO and the
Army or whatever, i would seeso many people.
Anytime I got a new soldiercommand I'd ask them why they
joined And the number of peoplewho told me they joined for the
college benefits wasextraordinary.
(16:50):
But what was really satisfyingto me was when I would see those
same people who joinedspecifically for college
benefits end up re-enlisting andextending and continuing their
career.
You know, they joined forcollege, ended up liking it and
that have realized that it was agood thing for them and they
continued on with that.
KP (17:12):
Yeah, and that's exactly what happened to me.
I enlisted in the NationalGuard, utilizing that 100%
tuition assistance that my statewas offering at the time, and
then the patriotic bug kind ofbit me in the ass And next thing
, you know, i'm understandingnow.
I'm understanding what my greatuncle, who served in World War
(17:35):
II like the sacrifice that heheld, my dad serving 20 years in
the Army I understand now, likethe sacrifices that he did.
And so I decided at that pointhey, i'm just I'm gonna take
this to the next level, i'mgonna become an officer, i'm
gonna get commissioned and I'mgonna do four years active duty.
And at the time the war wasgoing on, i knew that I was
going to deploy.
(17:56):
The chances were really goodthat I was gonna, i just didn't
know when.
So that's exactly what happenedto me, man, like I went in for
one reason and then I ended upstaying longer, you know,
because it was something biggerthan myself.
And you know that's that was.
That hits the nail on the headfor exactly how I came about
doing a total of eight years inthe military.
(18:16):
Now, when you transitioned outof the Marines, what was it like
to go home, to your smallvillage, or did you go back to
your small village of 2000people, and how?
how did your perspectivechanged overall?
Dan (18:32):
Yeah, it's a whole different thing dealing with
civilians, especially after theMarine Corps, because they, like
you said, they're always knownas being pretty strict, pretty
locked on, squared away.
They're very rigid anddisciplined And, even if you
don't realize it, you kind ofget used to that mindset.
(18:55):
And then when you get home,when you're dealing with
civilians who aren't used tothat kind of structure and
discipline in their lives, youtend to get a little bit
irritated sometimes And I thinkthat's a normal thing.
I hear that all the time And itdoesn't take long to transition
(19:15):
back into that civilian mindsetand to get a little bit more
tolerant of that.
But yeah, that's real, that's athing.
KP (19:27):
Yeah, you know, i've heard some horror stories about folks
who go from active duty toreserves or active duty to
National Guard, and I know whatit's like to go from National
Guard to active duty.
But can you give us someinsight on what it was like for
you to transition from activeduty Marines to the reserves, to
(19:49):
the Army National Guard, andwhat advice would you have for
anyone out there that's thinkingabout doing the same thing?
Dan (19:55):
Well, as far as horror stories go, i guess I probably
got lucky.
I didn't really experience awhole bunch of that.
Everything seemed to be prettysmooth for me, and maybe it's
because I allowed myself alittle bit of time to get used
to it.
I got off of active duty Andthen I took about four months
before I went and went into thereserves.
(20:17):
If you don't know how thatworks, when you're going into
the active duty Marine Corps yousign an eight year contract,
four up front, and then you'regoing to be in the IRR for the
final four years.
So then afterwards I was stilltechnically in the Marines but I
(20:41):
wasn't in any active branch.
Now the reserves is a differentbranch from active duty.
So I just had to go to therecruiter and say I want to be
back with a unit again training,but I don't want to be active,
so I want to be reserved, andall I had to do is fill out a
(21:03):
couple of papers.
Next month I was in a drillingstatus with the unit and there
is a big rivalry between activeduty and reserve.
There's a big rivalry betweenthe Marine Corps and the other
branches, between all thebranches really.
But if we're being honest, it'snot all that different.
(21:28):
Yes, the Marine Corps is alittle bit more structured,
active duty is a little bit moredisciplined than the reserves,
probably.
But it's still the Marines, youknow, you're still doing the
same thing.
The training is all the same,the qualifying with weapons is
(21:48):
all the same.
There's no real differencethere.
The only difference is you're acivilian for a good portion of
the month and you're just doingthe military thing on the
weekends.
And I don't know, i don't knowif active duty gets jealous.
Maybe they don't get to livetheir lives the way they want to
(22:11):
for most of the month.
But you can see where theirthought process is coming from.
And it's the same with the Armyand the active duty, army and
the National Guard.
And then the difference betweenthe Army and the Marines is
considerable in the minds of theMarines.
(22:32):
But the biggest thing for mewhen I was switching into the
National Guard was getting overthe roadblock of my own mindset.
Because when you're in theMarines, especially in boot camp
, they drill it into your headYou're the best, the Marine
Corps is where it's at andanybody else is secondary.
(22:53):
So all I, you know, i just hadto get over the idea in my own
head that I wasn't going to be aMarine anymore.
And once I got over that then Ikind of fit right into that
reserve unit and then again intothe National Guard unit.
KP (23:13):
It sounds like your overall humbleness and your ability to
ground yourself has reallyhelped you transition quite a
bit, because I have talked topeople before that have very
high expectations when they makethat jump from active duty to
the reserves and the NationalGuard.
And I think sometimes peoplehave a tendency to do that to
(23:38):
compare things to the way theyused to be or to compare this to
that.
And I think sometimes youreally have to have an open mind
about it, and so it sounds likethat's pretty much what you had
was an open mind and you hadtransitioned your mind, i guess,
and your expectations tounderstand that, hey, like, not
every unit's going to be thesame and not every branch is
(23:58):
going to be the same.
I had heard before, you know,people saying well, i went from
this active duty unit and I wentto this reserve unit, national
Guard unit, and you know it wasreally messed up.
The command did this, thecommand did that.
But I can also say the samething for active duty too.
I've seen that with active dutyunits, and a lot of it has to
do with the overall culture ofthose units that have been
(24:18):
created over time with thecommand.
So I can see it going both waysmyself.
I've seen some really highspeed National Guard units.
As a matter of fact, when I wasin Iraq, i was a platoon leader
for a reserve unit.
I was the only active duty guyand I had some of the most
skilled professionals in myopinion when it came to dealing
with things outside the wire AndI really depended on them and I
(24:41):
leaned on them quite a bit toget me through some tough times,
you know.
So I definitely understand yourperspective on that one.
Dan (24:48):
The good thing about the National Guard is that you have
all these different people and,yeah, you're doing the same job,
but during the month they'reall doing different things.
They come from differentbackgrounds.
You know, you've got a mechaniccoming in from an auto
dealership, i'm a carpentercoming in, and you've got
different cops and just peoplefrom all kinds of different
(25:10):
backgrounds.
So if you need something,you've got a hookup somewhere.
I pulled in one time myalternator went out.
The guy came out, he worked atthe dealership.
I went and got an alternator.
He fixed it right there in theparking lot for me for free And
that's just kind of one of thebenefits.
But there were a lot of guys whocame into the National Guard
(25:34):
from the Marine Corps and theycouldn't get over that metal
roadblock that I talked about.
As a matter of fact, there wasa guy I deployed with out of the
Marines.
He got ahold of me and said,hey, i think I'd like to try the
National Guard, and we got himover there.
He joined my unit.
I drilled with him for he wasthere for about a year and he
(25:55):
ended up getting out and goingback into the Marines And he
retired as the first sergeant inthe Marine Corps And he, just
he couldn't get over that metalroadblock.
You know, i'm a Marine, i'm thebest.
And but he was a.
He was actually a really goodMarine.
As for myself, i alwaysconsidered myself kind of an
(26:16):
average Marine, so then when Iwent into the National Guard I
was a pretty good soldier, yeahman.
KP (26:25):
I mean, yeah, that's interesting.
I mean your personalitydefinitely has a lot to do with.
I think the thing about you, dan, that I've known you for a
number of years, man, is, youknow, i don't, i don't think
that, even though you were aMarine, i don't think that that
uniform was ever an extension ofyour character, your
personality, your identity, andI think that's a that's a big
(26:46):
deal for some people Like Ithink there's some people out
there that'll walk around forthe rest of their life, you know
, and all this stuff and and who, and all this stuff And it's
and it's and, at the end of theday, like, you've always been a
very grounded guy, very humbleguy, and you've been, dan, and I
think I that's one of thethings that I really appreciate
about you as a person is younever have taken on the.
(27:09):
The Dan that I met after joiningthe Marines and you were on TDY
I saw at the gas station wasthe same guy that I remember
working with me at the mall.
So over the years, man, i thinkthat has helped you a lot with
with your transition overall.
And speaking of transition, youknow, you, you got into comedy,
which I had been to a few ofyour shows before in Dayton and
(27:32):
in Dayton, ohio there.
Dan (27:34):
You saw me when I was just started.
I was terrible back then.
KP (27:39):
Dude, i listen.
I think at the end of the day,like, just like this podcasting
stuff, man, it's not as easy aspeople think.
Um, i and I didn't think youwere terrible, you were actually
killing it on stage.
Um, so would you mind talkingto us about comedy?
like how the hell did that evercome about, man?
Like what inspired you to dothat?
Is this something you alwayswanted to do?
Dan (27:58):
You said, the people think comedy isn't as easy as it looks
It was.
If people think comedy is easy,they're looking in the wrong
place, because comedy isanything but easy.
You have to be kind of amasochist to do comedy, because
it's as much misery as it ispositive.
(28:19):
But as far as comedy goes, igot into it.
I have to give credit to themilitary for getting me into
comedy, because I was in a unitin the National Guard with a
female soldier and she sent me amessage that said hey, i'm
(28:39):
doing this comedy show, i'mdoing an open mic at Wiley's
comedy club.
I need some people to comewatch.
Would you mind coming out?
KP (28:47):
Yeah, sure Why not.
Dan (28:49):
I'd never been to a comedy show live before.
You know, i'd seen some comedyon TV.
I'd seen Eddie Murphy, ross andGeorge Carlin, richard Pryor.
I knew comedy existed, but I'dnever been to a comedy show.
So I went and I watched thisopen mic this girl from my unit
And as I'm watching I saw someof these people on stage and I'm
(29:11):
like, well, they're not verygood.
If they could do this, i can doit.
So I talked to that guy rightthere that night.
I said, hey, sign me up forthis, let's do this thing.
About a month later I wrotesome material, got on stage and
I never really looked back fromthere and I've taken some breaks
here and there when my daughterwas born and then I deployed
(29:34):
once again after that, but eventhen I ran some shows over in
Kuwait when I was deployed,managed to find a couple other
people who wanted to do somecomedy And we kind of did some
open mics over there, not reallya USO tour, but we were
(29:56):
performing for the troops.
KP (29:58):
Yeah, that's pretty bad ass, man.
What type of comedy do you do,Dan?
Dan (30:09):
It has transitioned a lot since I've started sort of an
observational comic.
But the older I get, thegrumpier I get.
My comedy tends to reflect thatto where Bill Burr is a big.
KP (30:29):
Right, i love it Yeah.
Dan (30:30):
He's one of my favorites and he's a big influence on me.
My style is similar to his towhere I'm sort of an angry comic
on stage sometimes, but hetends to tackle broader, bigger,
more important subjects, whileI'm up on stage yelling about
fight, fighting geese, and whycheesecake is a pie, you know.
KP (30:55):
Right, yeah, man, and overall, over the years, have
you, have you done any tours andwhat are some of your favorite
clubs to perform in?
Dan (31:05):
I've been all over.
I've performed in severalstates, mostly in the Midwest.
I'm not, you know, i'm not abig professional comic tour and
all over the country It's moreof a hobby for me that tends to
pay for itself.
You know, get paid for shows,but I'm not out there making
thousands of dollars or any.
I'm not performing in front of20,000 people at an arena or
(31:27):
anything.
But I love doing shows at, like, the animal lodges moose, elks
and Eagles lodges, that kind ofthing.
But my favorite clubs arealways going to be Wiley's and
Dayton, where I did my my veryfirst set and then the funny
bone there, and Dayton as well.
Fantastic staff, really reallynice club, yeah.
KP (31:52):
So what are some of the unknowns about being a comedian
Things that you learned afteryou actually got on stage and
had the microphone in hand andyou started doing your bit.
Like what are some of thethings that you learned sort of
the hard way about comedy?
Dan (32:09):
Well, a lot of people coming into comedy think that
you have to write a new bitevery time you get on stage, and
that's 100% not true.
When you're on stage, if you'reseeing somebody perform comedy,
they have probably performedthat same set enough times to
(32:32):
where they're sick of hearingthose jokes.
You know the jokes that I tellall end up doing it different
shows 50 times to try to perfectthat joke to.
You know, kind of rewriting itand tweaking it here and there
until it's it becomes a good,solid joke.
That's why, if you listen tosome of these guys, some of
(32:52):
these professionals like youknow the Joe Rogans, bill Burr,
stuff like that they're talkingabout.
They're out there getting theirhour ready, getting their
special ready.
They're doing that samematerial over and over and over.
It's not like they just go outthere and have a brand new hour
that nobody's ever heard before.
And anytime I've gone to seeBill Burr I'll watch his special
(33:15):
six months later and he'stelling the same jokes that he
told when I went to see him.
They're just slightly different.
He's tweaked them a little bit.
He's figured out what was funnyand what wasn't and reworded it
a little bit, and so that'skind of hard for people to grasp
(33:35):
as far as comedians go.
And it's hard to get people tocome watch you when you're just
starting, because you know, say,my mom comes and watch me do a
set and she comes back the nextweek and I'm doing that same set
.
So you've got people coming outand watching you and you're
doing the same material over andover.
They're like I've seen this, doyou have anything new?
(33:58):
I'm like yeah, but this isn'tready yet.
You know this isn't where itneeds to be yet And I'll do
something new once once thismaterial is ready.
So people get burned out,coming and watching comedy real
quick.
It's hard.
You know everybody's like oh, ilove comedy, i love to laugh.
It's hard to get people to comeout and watch comedy.
KP (34:20):
Yeah, i've actually been to a lot of comedy shows and I saw
the late Charlie Murphy when hewas up in Chicago and I've seen
Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corollaback in the day Not current
Jimmy, but early Jimmy, when hewas actually really funny.
But and so at at the end of theday, whenever I saw these folks
(34:42):
and then I would see theopening acts, a lot of times the
opening acts were just as funnyas the main, the main person
Absolutely Like yeah.
So have you ever shared thestage with anyone that that
would be considered famous oranyone that you've met or been
(35:02):
able to connect with or networkwith?
Dan (35:04):
a little bit.
I've never done shows with anyof the huge, huge comics.
I did a show with Brad Williamswho you know he has his own
special on Netflix and he'spretty well known.
Vince Morris is a comic I loveto work with.
(35:25):
He's kind of local but he'sbeen on HBO Comedy Central, that
kind of thing.
I did a show with Chris Gattainwho was on Saturday Night Live
And yeah, i'm basically givingyou my buy now My credits.
people have worked with.
KP (35:41):
Yeah, no, you know, i had one other comic on here in the
very beginning when I startedthe Morning Formation podcast
and I brought up military darkhumor And I think it kind of
triggered him.
He got really upset and waslike there's no such thing as
that And like went off on mepretty much And I don't know he
was kind of a jerk.
But what are your thoughts onthat, like as far as military
(36:05):
dark humor and surveillance, notgetting it?
I mean, do you believe thatthere is such thing as dark
humor?
Dan (36:10):
Sure, there's dark humor, but comedy is subjective and
every comic has a differentstyle and every person watching
comedy likes a different styleof comedy.
So just because you're a darkcomic doesn't mean you're not
going to have an audience outthere.
Anthony Jeselnick is one of thedarkest comics that I know and
(36:35):
he is goddamn hilarious.
I will watch his clips over andover.
He's hilarious.
You got guys like Daniel ToshHe's also.
I just watched a clip of histoday.
He was talking about what anaccomplishment it was for white
people to pull off slavery.
KP (36:54):
Which is.
Dan (36:55):
You know, it's obviously a taboo, crazy thing to say, but
that's what comedians are therefor.
You know, dave Chappelle saidthe thing about comedians having
a responsibility to speakrecklessly, and I take that to
heart.
As far as I'm concerned, thereis no subject that's off limits,
as long as you can make itfunny.
And then, you know, i've beenin rooms where a comedian will
(37:18):
tell a joke and just getabsolute crickets, and sometimes
that's even funnier than thejoke itself.
You know, even if I didn'tthink the joke was funny
sometimes just the silence inthe room all of a sudden you'll
hear me in the back just bustout laughing.
You know, because I know thatcomic is up on stage just dying
(37:39):
because nobody's laughing atthis joke and nobody in the
audience gets what they're goingfor.
And we've all been there.
That's how it goes.
But eventually you will findthe audience and somebody will
like that joke.
I got advice one time that I'vealways it's been my number one
piece of advice that I alwayskeep close to the chest.
(37:59):
The guy told me if you thinksomething's funny, it's funny.
You just have to make theaudience believe it's funny.
And that's where the problemlies.
Sometimes you just can't dothat.
Sometimes you just can't makethe audience buy into a bit, and
I've had to.
I've had to shelve bits andthere have been jokes that I did
(38:20):
years ago that I'll see andI'll bring back all of a sudden,
like this is hilarious.
Why didn't this ever work?
I'm going to try it again and,you know, change a little
something.
And all of a sudden, there itis, all of a sudden, that bit
works.
All you had to do was get afresh, fresh, fresh thought
about it and differentperspective.
KP (38:43):
I love the whole comedian front because they've really
worked hard to push back againsta lot of the, i guess,
political correctness that'sgoing on today And overall you
will see a lot of comics comeout and say, hey look, this is
what I'm supposed to do, i dothis for a living.
Like we're supposed to be raw,we're supposed to be real, we're
(39:06):
supposed to be authentic.
And you mentioned earlier BillBurr.
I mean that guy.
When he says stuff it's justfor me.
I'm like, yeah, he's right.
Like why did I ever think of itany other way than what he's
saying?
It's just common sense, right,and a lot of times comedy can
bring that common sense to itall.
You mentioned earlier thatyou're into observational comedy
.
I remember standing with you atthe mall and no better place to
(39:29):
observe people, right.
And I remember us just crackingup and just observing people
walking by and the peopleworking over at the cell phone
place right next to us, or theperson working over there.
We would all like make jokesabout them.
So you know, i guess you had italways.
I guess you always had it inyou, dan.
It was just a matter of havingthat opportunity to find a stage
and to get on it.
(39:50):
And you know, thankfully youhad a good friend in the
National Guard who invited youand got you in on it.
And over the horizon, what doyou have planned?
Dan (40:02):
As far as what Comedy or just life in general.
KP (40:06):
Comedy, life in general, anything.
Dan (40:08):
Well, the pandemic sort of put a halt on all things comedy
in general, And before that Iwas out there, you know rip roar
and doing shows every weekendat different locations, and it
never really picked up for meafterwards And I would kind of
(40:29):
like to get back to the placewhere I was to, where I'm doing
more shows and and being moreactive in the comedy scene.
But as far as that goes, youknow, i'm a carpenter and
business has never been betterfor that.
These days I have as muchcarpenter businesses as I need
(40:52):
and I'll just.
That's always a fallback for me.
You know, if I don't have anycomedy lined up, if I don't have
anything going on, i can alwaysbuild something and that that
allows me a lot of leeway.
It always has allowed me a lotof leeway.
KP (41:09):
Yeah, that's awesome and, by the way, speaking of which, if
anyone's looking to connect withyou, i know that you have the
Instagram for the carpentry work, right?
What's that?
Dan (41:24):
called Camouflage construction.
KP (41:26):
Camouflage construction and what other social media
platforms are you on if folkswant to connect with you?
Dan (41:30):
I am on Facebook as well, dan Dean on there.
I do have a camouflageconstruction Facebook page also,
and I just created a TikTokpage.
I finally gave in and created aTikTok.
I haven't uploaded any videos,but that's gonna be sort of my
comedy outlet.
I think I've got some reallygood ideas for some TikTok
(41:54):
videos.
So if you go on there I thinkmy screen name is Grumpy Dan,
but it's at Dan Dean 71.
You can find me there.
Like I said, you're not gonnafind any videos now, but I'm
gonna get some comedy videos upthere.
I've got some ideas.
KP (42:13):
I hope that we got you inspired to jump back into it.
Man, i know the pandemic.
You know, like you said, put adamper and everything, and I'll
make sure that I put all of thelinks in the show notes.
So, if you're listening to thison the audio platforms, go down
to the show notes.
You'll see all of Dan's socialmedia platforms to connect with
him.
If you're watching this onYouTube, scroll down to the
(42:36):
description.
You'll see the same thing.
All the links will be downthere as well, so you can
connect with Dan, whether youwant him to do some woodworking
for you, or you want him to makeyou laugh, or you want to just
have a beer with him, becauseyou know you want to talk about
some experiences that you haddown range.
Whatever the case is, dan is amulti-talented professional and
I've been.
It's been such a pleasure toknow you all these years, dan.
(42:58):
And just to finish everythingoff for this podcast, man, what
is the number one piece ofadvice that you would give
anyone out there who iscurrently a service member or is
maybe a veteran?
you know, a piece of advice apiece of advice for a community
(43:21):
to change their mindset, fortransition, for change, because
change is inevitable and youseem to be the master of that.
Dan (43:29):
Well, like I said, i have done quite a few things and
having this constructioncarpentry background has given
me the leeway to do that.
But I have a couple of piecesof advice.
The first is that money isn'teverything, you know.
Don't get into something justfor the money, especially if
(43:50):
you're not happy doing it.
If you're unhappy at a job, godo something else.
There are opportunities outthere, there are different
things available, and that kindof leads me into my second piece
of advice.
Don't be afraid to take a chance.
Don't be afraid to go afterwhat you want.
You know, if you're in a jobthat you don't like and you want
to be an artist, you know, gobe an artist.
(44:12):
You might suffer a little bit,you might be scraping for money
here and there, but don't beafraid to live your dream
because ultimately, living anunfulfilled life and having a
lot of money is going to be alot worse in the end than being
happy and having to be happy andhaving a lot of money is going
(44:37):
to be a lot worse in the endthan being happy and having a
lot of money.
KP (44:43):
So that's great.
Bye, amen to that man.
When I got out of the army, iactually got a high-paying job
right off the bat and I thought,yeah, this is what I want.
I left Hawaii, moved back tothe Midwest, sold my board, sold
my kayak, sold my life.
You know, i'm from the US andI'm like, hey, dan.
And now I look back.
I'm like why the hell did I dothat?
(45:04):
I could have gotten a jobliving in Paradise.
And now I'm just kind of livinghere on the mainland with a
good job now, a decent jobanyways.
So that's very, very wise.
Dan, and I really appreciatedyou giving us that.
Dan (45:19):
I'm going to say one more thing, though, however, to
piggyback on that.
How do you feel right now?
Forty-three, you're forty-three, i'm forty-five right now.
So you can see what forty-fiveyears of living with no money
has done to me, compared to thisguy over here who had a
(45:40):
good-paying job.
So I don't know, maybe myadvice isn't the best, or else
maybe the next two years of yourlife, you're in for some shit
KV.
KP (45:50):
No, no, man, Listen, there's a lot of stress underneath this
, everything going on over here,and every day, you know I'm
drinking the Celsius, gettingthe caffeine in just to keep it
going.
So I'm in the same boat as you,man.
Like I said, the one thing thatI really and I appreciate your
service and just you being afriend and an acquaintance all
(46:14):
these years, and I reallyappreciate you giving us the
opportunity to learn a lot moreabout you.
Today, man, I hope that youpick up your comedy, you start
up a podcast, you do all thethings, man, because you have a
lot of stuff to give a lot ofpeople out there.
Dan (46:26):
Hey, thanks and I appreciate you having me on.
It was a good time.
I enjoyed being enjoyed talkingto you, enjoyed catching up.
KP (46:34):
Right on, man, Right on.
Well, you keep holding it downout there in the Midwest, out
there in the field, out there inSouth Chucky.
I'll hold it down out here inLA and enjoy this two-hour
bullshit commute that I do everysingle day.
I hate it.
But anyways, for everyone elseout there, I hope you enjoyed
this interview.
Please check out Dan Dean.
All the links are in thedescription or in the show notes
(46:55):
below.
Dan, thank you for joining usAnd for everyone else out there,
as always, I want you to staytuned, stay focused and stay
motivated.
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