S3 E17 - Ron Feingold - "Just a Prick" - Tromedy with Nancy Norton

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
You're listening to Trauma D, the podcast that helps you take
your pain and play with it. This is Nancy Norton.
I'm a comedian, former nurse, and a keynote speaker about the
power of humor. And I just want to say I just
came off the road. I did 19 events in 18 days.

(00:28):
I don't know how and to some of them were two a days.
There was nurses week in there and I apologize that I wasn't
able to upload an episode last week because I was just
overwhelmed and I love what I'm doing and had so many wonderful
shows to. Just did an event at Fort Carson

(00:49):
Army Hospital down there in Colorado Springs.
Nurses off the charts. Thank you everyone who came out
to Nurses Off the Charts and shared a story.
In Indianapolis, there was a keynote presentation for sex
assault Nurse examiners. What a gift they are to the
community and what a lot of trauma they absorb and witness.

(01:15):
The power of humor is very helpful to folks that are
dealing with so much trauma. Get those stress hormones out of
our body. I just want to thank those
nurses and all. And also they helped me witness
a sexual assault that I went through through They witnessed,
they held space. They helped me name my attacker.

(01:38):
I mean, I went there to help them and then they end up
helping me halfway through my mypresentation.
But I really just needed them toknow, wow, this is what you're
doing. We can't make it like that.
Sexual assault did not happen, but having somebody hold space,
believe you and care for you in that vulnerable state, it's it's

(01:59):
a powerful gift that they give. So I want to thank them.
And then I had a webinar on the 16th and here I was just
broadcasting from my studio herein Boulder.
But then during the presentation, there was a
tornado. And these nurses, they are

(02:20):
preceptor trainers and the eventhosts, all of a sudden, all the
cameras went off for the panel. And I was like, my abandonment
issues, you know, it's all aboutme, right?
They don't like, where'd they go?
And they're like, we had to run to the basement, 'cause there's
a tornado. And then they continued to do
the presentation even though they heard the sound of a

(02:43):
tornado. They heard something like a
train. And there was A and there's been
devastating tornadoes. Ah, so much going on.
And this week's guest is going to address another thing that's
going on in the news right now. I just saw in the news tonight
that President Biden was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate

(03:08):
cancer. It has metastasized to his bone.
It's just a coincidence that my guest this week is a prostate
cancer survivor and has a show called Just a Prick where he
encourages people to get the PSAtest.
I say my show that you can't laugh and worry at the same
time. It's true, it does.

(03:29):
It get you out of the fight. Flight freeze.
Get out to the comedy club. Just do something different.
Go to the comedy club. You will thank yourself
afterwards and say I forgot all about my troubles.
I couldn't think about any stress while I was there.
So prostate awareness and also use humor to help raise your NK
cells that scan your body for cancer cells and viruses and get

(03:51):
yourself checked everybody. This guest also has a platform
called open bar comedy and I just did a special on there and
it is kind of the yin Yang to mydry bar comedy special.
You know, there's the family friendly and then there's the
all adult content and my specialis called sipping whiskey and
talking dirty. If you want to see the two sides

(04:12):
of Ol Nance and then there's a third side, which I don't know,
that's not a comedy special. That's just my shadow side.
Well, I should do. I think I should do a comedy
album just called The Shadow side.
But here we go. Everybody's got one.
Everybody's got a shadow side. Hey, everybody can get pushed to
a point of snapping. That's that's why we got to keep

(04:33):
using humor as much as you can, try to take the tension out.
There's a lot going on that honestly in this world right now
that is just triggering me to that back to that sense of
powerlessness around authority figures.
We have got to keep laughing. We've got to keep each other
company, stay connected. I have some more Moms Unhinged
shows coming up and other events, so feel free to reach

(04:57):
out to me and you can find my shows at nancynorton.tv.
That's nancynorton.tv like television.
Thanks for listening. Enjoy this episode an I'll see
you on the other side. Welcome to traumedy.
My guest this week is a comedianand the founder of Open Bar

(05:21):
Comedy, which is a hilarious show.
I love it. I got to be on it.
Welcome Ron Feingold. Hello.
It's so good to be here and I'm honored to be asked to be here.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks for making the drive to
Boulder. I love it.
It's been a long time. I had a high school sweetheart
that went to Boulder here and I was at CSU and tried to make it

(05:42):
work and I remember coming here every weekend and just the vibe
of this city. I haven't felt the vibe of this
city in such a long time. There's such a.
Isn't it nice? There's, I mean, for people that
are sensitive to energy, there is something here energetically
that just opens my my crown chakra and my heart chakra and
it helps me be creative and it invites me forward.

(06:05):
I just feel like I'm invited outside.
I need to go outside more. I got to be honest, there's a
lot of beauty out here. I believe in earthing too.
I mean, you know about that, like sticking your feet in the
ground for a while, yes, you know, getting your electricity
right with the earth. I really believe in that stuff.
I think it's and and doing a matthat does the same.
Thing I just bought one for my bed.
I have an earthing mat on my bed.

(06:26):
OK, so you just bought it and you've slept on it?
Yes. How many nights?
I'm well, I was just on the roadfor a few days and I missed it.
I it it's tends to help me sleepbetter.
Do you have one? No, not yet.
OK, but I want to hear what is it?
Working for you. I, I don't know if it's a
placebo, but it is because I tell myself and because what I
have, I, I read about it where how to do it because it's best

(06:48):
if you have contact with it. And I have tactile issues.
I let there are some that are feel more like sheets, but mine
feels more like a mat. And I said, I just put it at the
foot of my bed and I put my feeton it.
And it doesn't matter if you're grounded, you're grounded.
And we are electromagnetic beings.
We are of this earth, we are animals.

(07:08):
We are meant to be walking on this earth.
And yes, it's best, I think, to walk barefoot.
Get your feet and your hands outthere and the dirt.
You and I are on the same page with all that stuff.
We are like Gary Brekka, if you're familiar with him, is
he's kind of a social media, I don't know, star is a good word,
but he's just a very well informed biologist and and he
really gets to the science and the biology of why you're tired

(07:31):
or why grounding works. Oh, I'm going to check.
I want to put a link to him. Gary Brekka.
Gary Brekka, I'll find it and put a link in the show notes.
Brilliant. It's so cool that you brought
that up out of the gate. Yeah, because I was just.
I just got home. I've been on the road for about
four or five days. And I mean, I was so happy to
get my little feet back on that grounding mat.
And I've bought a smaller one. I forgot to bring it, but I'm

(07:52):
taking it on the road with. Good idea.
Yeah, I'll show it to you how. Much is it if you don't?
Mind, you know, I'm trying to think it was, it was under $100
for the two of them. OK, cool.
And it came with a little tester.
So like if you go to a hotel, you plug it into that ground
outlet, you know, the the littlecircle at the bottom of the two
slots. Don't want to get graphic, but
yeah, there's a little circle atthe bottom of the slots where

(08:13):
you plug your thing and it says if it's grounded or not.
Because some outlets, what I found out, like when I have my
light switch off, some of my outlets are dead and I don't
know anyway, blah blah blah. There's a tester that comes with
it so. It's like a biofeedback system
on. It OK, well, just to let you
know if you're at the right outlet and then I want to get
one of those. I think I have one in my toolbox

(08:34):
like an electrical tester. You've seen those where they're
outside and they show you whether you're grounded or not.
Wow, that's so cool. Thank you for sharing that
upfront. And then also, this guy's on.
I mean, social media is an amazing outlet.
And I just did a webinar about therapeutic humor.
I got to tell you, thank you forhaving me on Open Bar.
Oh. You killed it.
I'm so happy that you joined this family.

(08:57):
See, Open Bar is about freedom of expression and it was born
out of a lot of reasons that I won't get into.
But I will just say when you don't answer an e-mail from Ron
Feingold for a long time, this happens.
So. So maybe we're OK.
I I see where he wanted to have freedom of expression.
Yeah. And it bothers me that, you

(09:19):
know, comics can go to differentvenues and different places.
And in a lot of places we're asked not to say certain things,
and it stresses out the comedian.
And we're artists. It's like going, you know, to a
painter and saying, you know, you can color whatever you want,
but you just can't use red. No red.
Yeah. And and like, it's, it's not
fair. It's, it's limiting our artistic
expression. So I've always wanted comedians

(09:39):
to come in when they film with us.
We do half an hour comedy specials.
And when they come to us, I wantthem to feel comfortable on
stage that they don't have to watch their language and they
can just be focused on being an artist, which is all I want them
to do, Just focus on being funny.
I love that. I love I, I felt that.
And that's why I think that video that is going a little
viral right now is it's such a part of me and it's something

(10:02):
that I couldn't do on another special.
I have the, and I'm going to saythe name Drybar special, but I
love my Drybar special. It actually is almost like I
used to just almost like an infomercial for my humor
presentations because it's kind of corporate comedy.
But more than that, it's like Mormon comedy.
I had to not say anything about alcohol, LGBTQ.

(10:26):
I'm trying to think, I don't know that they said that in the
contract. It's just I just kind of got the
vibe like don't talk about sex. So I mean, that definitely was
in there. There's all these filters, blah
blah you. Don't even divorce, I've heard.
Divorce I there's a list there yes, I got spanked as a kid for
saying fart. So for me, there's a part of me
that likes to drop F words because come on, I I'm not

(10:51):
kidding you. I had a strict childhood, you
know, on trauma D we love to talk about like what you know,
let's just jump into your childhood.
I'm curious, where did you grow up?
So I'm an Air Force brat. Oh, really?
We moved around a lot. My father retired as a Colonel
in the Air Force when I was in college, you know, maybe my
junior, senior year in college. He was a Colonel in the Air

(11:13):
Force and then he retired. But we moved around every six
years or so. Most families moved around every
three years. And we were kind of, we bitched
about a lot and didn't want to move as much.
So start in Washington, DC from well, my father will start from
the beginning. Bloomington, IN my dad was
getting his PhD and I was planned between semesters.

(11:34):
I was told so. And then he got his PhD as
doctorate and they moved to Washington, DC.
My father worked in the Pentagonand and I remember running
around the halls of the Pentagonwhen I was a kid.
He'd bring me to work sometimes and it was just really cool.
Big halls you could just run down, you know.
And then we moved to Montgomery,AL when I was six years old.
And this is a a white Jewish boycoming to the the Deep South,

(11:57):
the segregated S still 1977. This was and it was.
A culture shock. Culture shock.
I thought black people spoke a different language because they
spoke really fast. I couldn't understand what they
were saying. And I was a Jewish kid.
I was one of three Jewish kids in an all Catholic school.
So you didn't go to the base. There was you weren't on base.
You were. You were in the community.

(12:18):
Correct. And you never lived on base?
What a Jewish boy to Catholic school?
That's wild. It was crazy.
So I started in the public schools in Montgomery, AL and
they were so horrible. By second grade my parents moved
me to the private school so I was called Saint James in
Montgomery, AL. You cannot have a pleasure.
Penetrating device, that is, he's referencing the bit that

(12:42):
I'm doing about the indecency laws.
Somebody just messaged me today about that.
And I'm going to I'm going to build another chunk around this
now because of you, because of this thing going a little bit
viral and I'm getting so many funny comments.
But one woman messaged me and said, I want you to do a whole
show on the indecency laws. And I thought, hell yeah, that's
a great idea because it's so much about oppression.

(13:02):
They're absurd. And it's just what's decent,
what's indecent in this country is, is is indecent, you know,
like. Who the fuck are you to define
it? Right.
And also like, oh, we don't careabout gun laws, but we care
about a a dildon. Yeah, I'm going to call it a
dildon. Dildon I'm.
Repeating it, you see in all those comments that says
dildon't and there's a laugh emoji that's such a great.

(13:23):
Life it is. I'm so grateful for it.
I used to sell dildo T-shirts, but yeah.
So you were there in Montgomery,AL.
Montgomery, AL. And then we moved to Colorado
Springs when I was 12 years old,and that was life changing too.
I met my best friend. It's 40 years, still best
friends and I went to college atColorado State University.
Yeah, that's kind of a liberal college, isn't No Colorado CSU.

(13:46):
I was thinking of Colorado College in Colorado Springs.
Sorry. You are correct, it's just a ski
school. You know it's an agricultural
school is what they call it. But it was 4 years.
I had a college sweetheart therethat cheated on me five times.
It caused my first real big trauma in my life.
Cheated five times. Trust.
Betrayal is so hard. It was horrible for.

(14:07):
Me, I mean when your heart is wide open and was that your big,
your first big love or? Huge.
Yeah. I mean, I had a high school
sweetheart, too, and she came toschool here.
So she went to the school in Boulder and I went to school at
CSU. And her father was like, you're
never going to marry this Jewishguy.
She was very religious. And the father broke us up
pretty much and said I'm not going to let you marry.
I wanted to marry her. That's your high school.

(14:27):
Sweetheart, High school sweetheart.
Yeah. And so she just kind of ignored
me after a while. And we broke up.
So because her father really wanted it and there was distance
as well. And, you know, it was, it was
hard. So I met my college sweetheart
my sophomore year in college. I was a resident assistant in
the dorms and we worked togetherin the dorms.
And she ended up cheating five times when I started going on
the road as a comedian when I was like a junior and senior in

(14:49):
college. Wow, you started comedy so
young. Started 19 years old.
You're such a baby. Yeah, I used to sneak into Jeff
Valdez Comedy Corner and I remember you were playing there
too. Remember Anna Beta and.
Yes, Anna Beta. I would sneak in so remember it
was on union. Do you remember this?
Yeah, you know, I'm trying to remember where it was, but yes,

(15:10):
I believe. You the other club and, you
know, there was an entrance and then there was the exit from the
showroom. And I would enter through the
exit of the showroom because it couldn't get in the other way.
And I would just hang out and just act like I was, you know,
one of the comics and everythingand just meet people like that.
And I would watch like Roseanne and in Sinbad do their because
they had a show called Almost Live that Jeff Valdez produced.

(15:30):
Wait, what year? What year was this?
OK, so this was around 19878889.OK, I moved to Colorado in 91 so
I'm trying to remember. So I.
Probably never went to that. Club, I don't think I did.
I think I only remember it at the location where it is now,
Loonies and that's where you sometimes shoot the open bar.

(15:50):
I'm not the open bar, open bar. Yes, we do it once a month there
at Loonies, once a month in Sarasota at a club called
Mccurdy's Comedy Theatre, which you would destroy the place.
Actually, I've played there, believe it or not.
Les McCarty was one of the judges at the Boston Comedy
Festival. So when I won that, he asked me
to come headline down there. And I I did love it.

(16:12):
It's a great room. It's awesome.
Yeah. And he's great.
And his wife, what's her? Pam.
Pam, they're a great couple. I mean, you know, just a shout
out to Eric, the owner of Loonies, Eric Hawkinson and Les
and Pam. This.
It's a rare find to find these comedy club owners who are just
the coolest people who treat youlike family, not like a

(16:32):
commodity. There's a lot of comedy clubs
that you're more of just a commodity to them and it they
treat you like a whole person. Took the words right out of my
mouth. Eric is like a brother to me.
He's given us opportunities and,and we've partnered together
with Open Bar and, and it's beenwonderful.
He's been such a great partner with it, as well as Chris
Collette, who's also a partner in the business.

(16:55):
And then Les and Pam, They've always treated me like family
and just so welcoming. And Bronwyn, if you remember
her, just the people that work there at the club was just.
I do remember Rowan, I got to goback there last time I was
there, my son was still a littlekid.
I've won that festival, whateverit was, 2018, blah, blah, blah.
But I just remember I had to take him on the road with me and
we're doing summer algebra classes.

(17:17):
It was crazy. But back to your SO, we were
talking a little about trauma D and the trauma and you were
saying like your your partner oryour ex partner she cheated on
you five times. It sounds like you kept trusting
like did you find out about themall at once or did you?
Was it sequential? It was sequential.
So you kept giving her another chance it.

(17:37):
Was an idiot. So it feels like insecure.
Well, but you're also in love. Perhaps 21.
Come on, Trauma bonds are real too.
Like when we love someone, it's like we you don't want to lose
her. I didn't.
And we were just talking about some of our attachment styles
and a lot of comedians have anxious attachment.
And it's like we don't, we are at least in my recovery program,
we are terrified of abandonment.So we're like, we will do

(18:01):
anything. Like especially they give us
just a little glimmer of hope. Like I won't do it again.
Like, OK, it's like Lucy and thefootball.
That's exactly what was happening and I kept on giving
her chances. We even got engaged at one time
and then she cheated again whilewe were engaged and like I can't
do this anymore. So that was in about 1993. 94
actually. We I graduated from CSU 9394.

(18:24):
I hit the road immediately. Congratulations on your what'd
you what was your major? Psychology, oh really the only
thing I found interesting to study really, but I wasn't
planning on doing anything with it at that time.
So I went on the road and just starved for about 6 years and
those first two years on the road she was cheating on me and
everything and we, we ended it. So I ended up with a a gal that
used to be a study partner of mine.

(18:45):
And I realized, I mean, one of the things that I found out
about myself is that I would be searching for somebody that was
more sexually compatible with methan anything else.
I was looking for more sexual compatibility than personality.
That was your priority at the time.
It was, well, you're a young man, Testosterone's really high

(19:06):
and, you know, craving connection.
Sex is pretty good. I it was, it was a fun 20s so
that maybe that's why they call it the Roaring 20s background.
It was fun. So yeah.
And then I was on a ship and I met my, I was with my, let me
back up. So I had this girlfriend from

(19:26):
college that we were sexually compatible and everything but I
just didn't see it going any further.
That was your study partner. Yes, OK.
And I couldn't find, I couldn't see it going any further because
I couldn't be myself around her.You know, she couldn't accept
the fact that I was a comedian and I'm a goofball.
You know I'll make I'll make thewaitress laugh every time we go
out. Yeah, she wants you to stay in
that lane of like be the Macho man or something.

(19:47):
Or not. Be just shut the fuck up and
don't fuck with the waitress, you know, just don't be this
goofball funny guy all the time.And I'm not, you know, I'm not
on all the time. But she didn't like my sense of
humor. So.
Well, that's a deal breaker. Yeah.
So we broke off that and then I met my wife on a ship that I was
working on, like with the first cruise ship that I was working
on and we. Formulated a really great week

(20:11):
together you know just had a week together on the ship and
then she lived up in Minneapolis, MN and I moved up
there and about nine months later we were engaged oh wow so
you know it's been. I love Minneapolis comedy scene.
I think it's great. I used to play Acme every six
months and I love that club. It's another hot club.
Is it still there? Yes, Acme is still there.

(20:32):
You know, I haven't, Yeah, 'cause after I adopted my son
and, you know, 2004, I stopped tour.
I stopped touring. And then now I do mostly
corporate gigs. So I haven't been back up there.
I missed that club, though. That was one of the hot ones.
But so do you think that humor played a part in your coping and
maybe still does or or even as achild, I don't know.
When did you start feeling funnyor know that you had a sense of

(20:55):
humor? Well, I should back up.
Yeah, because I said that the myfirst real experience with
trauma was with that girlfriend that cheated 5 times, but not
really because my mother was abusive.
My mother was physically and verbally abusive, but more
physically. I mean my mom kind of hit us
until she saw blood and then she'd stop.
Yeah, like I would even wait, you know, like till my father

(21:16):
got home to clean myself off, just to show him what she did,
you know? Because you needed a witness.
I did and and it never was resolved, you know, and they
divorced at the right time, which was, you know, good for
them and and their health, but Iwas never.
Where? How old were you when they
divorced? The first time they brought it
up was I was 16 and I blew a gasket so they stayed together

(21:36):
another year because of my selfish ass.
So 17 really is when they before.
So you you dealt with that abusethen the whole time.
I mean, you probably would have anyway if they divorced.
You'd be maybe it was out of self protection.
I wouldn't say selfish. I mean, maybe you knew.
If I don't have my if I am, I don't know.
If I go live with my mom halftime, I'm not even going to

(21:56):
have a witness. I don't know.
Well, I ended up living with my dad after that I moved out.
She was very unhealthy to live with.
She was having boyfriends immediately and everything.
And I'm like what the hell? You just got divorced and you're
dating this? She was like 50 something at the
time and she's dating some 70 year old man.
I'm like, what are you doing dating this codger so.
Now that I'm in my 60s, I'm like, oh 70s sounds sexy to me.

(22:18):
I got to tell you, Ron, if there's any 70 year old men out
there who want to build a tree house, hit me up Codgers.
That's the That's my dating app Codgers.
Codgers.com close to your livingwill.
So let's see what happened. So you live with your dad?

(22:40):
With my mom, it was unhealthy. So I lived with my dad, had a
great senior year in high schoolbecause of it.
Just very free with my, you know, sweetheart.
And I would go back in a heartbeat.
So that was great. And that's Colorado Springs.
That's Colorado Springs, Yeah. My first professional theater
job was at a place called Bob Young's Cabaret, and it was
melodrama. It's right at the entrance of
the Pikes Peak Highway on 24 outof Manitou Springs.

(23:03):
Is it still there? The building is still there.
It's a wine shop now. It's like a little charcuterie
wine place. But it used to be the theater.
Bob Young's Cabaret, And I wouldmake 30 bucks a show.
I would take every cent that I made.
And I got my pilot's license with it.
Look at you go. I was going to be so you're.
You're daddy's boy a little bit that way.
Well, he was in the Air Force, but, and he was a pilot as well,

(23:23):
but he wasn't a pilot in the AirForce.
He was a computer guy. He was in charge of all the
computers in Cheyenne Mountain. You remember war games and all
that. You got your pilot's license.
Yes, I am. I got my pilot's license when I
was 17 years old and it was a way of you know, I thought it
was a great because I didn't have any game and I didn't have
any muscles. All I was was funny and a little
bit smart and I love flying. So I thought that would be a

(23:44):
great way to take a girl out on a date.
But I didn't realize that no 17 year old girl is going to let
father is going to let her go inan airplane with a 17 year old
horny boy trying to, you know, join a club, you know, So it
kind of backfired. Did.
You ever make out? Did you ever make out it up in
the sky like that? Never.
I never took that. Chance.
I was gonna say you're flying, you're the pilot.

(24:04):
Come on. Girlfriend's father wouldn't let
her go up. Or down.
Or down and it took forever to get my wife to go up with me in
the air. So the weird thing is is in
January of 2020, I announced that I was going to retire from
full time road work. I'm never going to retire as a
comedian, but January of 2020, I'm retiring from full time road

(24:25):
work after this year because I'mgoing to become an airline
pilot. I bought into an airplane with a
neighbor of mine and I started training to get my instrument
light rating and my commercial license and to become a.
Because that had been a goal. That's been a dream.
Of you was when I was a kid but I was scared out of it because
my eyes were too bad but I'm lasik.
I have lasik so I'm 2020. Oh, that's cool.

(24:48):
Yeah, I could never do it with these divergent eyeballs.
I think that my dad was colorblind.
He was in the Air Force, but he he was not allowed to fly either
because he's color blind. The whole red green thing is so
important with the starboard port delios.
Yes, it's it's sad for some guys, you know, because that's a
dream. I would have loved to fly, fly
jets, but I wore glasses so wouldn't happen And I, I was

(25:09):
never going to join the military.
It was very I didn't want to do that.
I had enough of the military stuff with watching what my
father went through. So I love that you're doing
this. OK, so tell yeah.
So 2020. 2020, I announced I wasgoing to become an airline
pilot. And then March of 2020 happened,
yes. And that took me out of the game
because all these other pilots were losing their jobs.
And it just would have meant that I would get where I wanted
to by the time I was 60. And it's just a dumb move.

(25:32):
So I didn't go down that route anymore.
So I started. I found another airplane that I
was gonna just do touring with and teach people how to fly it.
It's a really cool amphibious airplane called a Signet and
I'll show it to you. Later, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Show me a picture and I'll put alink to it in the show notes.
If anybody wants to see what a signet is, it's.
Got a glider wing and it has like amphibious floats as well

(25:53):
as wheels. So you can land it on the water,
you can land it on land and it'sa really cool thing.
Why? Will you go to Alaska with me in
September? I have a gig in Homer and I'm
having a little, I have a littletime constraints.
I need to get from Anchorage to Homer.
I'm serious. I would love to.
I will push you around Alaska even though I've never been
there and never done it. You don't want me flying that.

(26:16):
OK, OK, nevermind. So yeah, yeah, that that'd be a
bad decision. So I, I started training on this
thing and spending a lot of money and I had one in my garage
and I was going to solo on it. And Long story short, my
instructor came up, we almost crashed in it.
So that scared the shit out of me.
And I gave it back, got my moneyback.
And I took that dream out and I said, well, what can I do?
And I'm trying to get something going as a platform.

(26:39):
And I realized, you know what? Why don't I make my own
platform? Why don't I create?
I think that there's a niche forpeople that are aside from the
family comedy that is 1 niche. I think that there's something
on the opposite side where I think more people occupy that
space for freedom of expression.Not that one's better than the
other. And I'm never going to say that
everybody has their own choice and preference and I'm cool with

(27:01):
that. But I think there's more people
on the freedom of expression side, right?
So I created Open Bar Comedy andI contacted Les McCurdy in
Sarasota and gave him the concept.
He was on right away. He had gotten some new equipment
from the government with the pandemic and we decided to start
shooting. So in April of 2022, we started
shooting with Open Bar. In October of 2023, we started

(27:22):
shooting in loonies at in Colorado Springs with Eric
Hawkinson. And since then, we have over
641,000 followers at the moment on Facebook and almost 35,000
subscribers on YouTube. That is fantastic.
And again, of course I'm going to put links to the show notes
on that and that I mean, that's amazing.

(27:42):
And you're one of those guys. I mean, the fact that you're
what all I'm hearing you like you are one of those guys that
is a manifester, you're a creator, you met you, you have a
vision and you have the ability and you have the focus and you
have the drive and it happens. I believe most people that you
will talk to about me will say that about me, that if I say I'm
going to do it, I'm going to do it.

(28:02):
And I don't talk shit really. So I kind of keep my mouth shut
about, you know, blowing wind upanybody's ass about, you know,
delusions of grandeur with whereI could take this.
I and I and I stopped using the word hope and hopefully.
I'm so glad. This is so weird.
Tell me why? Because I have I have the same.
Belief. I am.
I don't believe in. Well, you know, it's great to
have hope and all that, but whatever.

(28:24):
I don't use it in my vernacular because I believe in speaking
things into existence and speaking things into existence
makes it happen and you manifestit.
So that was a change that I madeabout two years ago or three
years ago maybe when I started open bar and because I stopped
using hope and I said when we noifs, when we get this done, then

(28:47):
this is going to happen. Not hopefully this is going to
happen, then this is going to happen.
So this year XM Sirius is going to pick up open bar comedians
and we are finally going to havesome revenue with this company
and. Dude, let me can I can I comment
on what you said? I I get truth chills and I'm I'm

(29:08):
done being in the closet about it.
I really feel the muses and I just got truth chills all up and
down. And a lot of it is what you said
Co creating with the loving universe.
And I'm going to tell you I had a mentor who's an amazing
person. Her name was Patricia Raycraft.
She had polio. She was about 20 years older
than me. I met her in Boulder, Co way

(29:31):
back in 91 and I was out in the garden planting my garden and
she and I said she goes, this isgoing to be a beautiful garden.
And I said I hope so. And she said, let me correct you
about something. When you say hope, you imply
that you don't believe it's going to happen.
So you need to stop saying hope because hope implies you don't

(29:53):
believe in it. Like it.
So just say it is. And so it is.
And I am, I, I, I used to get inarguments with my ex-boyfriend
about this all the time because like I'd be going home and he
goes, oh, I hope you get home safely.
And I'm like, what you're implying that you don't think
I'm going to make it home safely.
Like, I mean, it's a weird funnything and a lot of people don't

(30:14):
get it, but you do and the universe gets it and just it is.
And so it is and it's I, I likedit.
It is happening. And it is.
I make sure the people in my space also do not use that word.
The people that I'm working with, my partners, you know,
like, we're going to go get serious.
Like hopefully, man, I'm like, oh, that's right.
We're going to do it, brother. And we are doing it.
I also like present tense stuff too.

(30:36):
We are doing it. We are manifesting.
And man, I listen. You ever listen to ROM Dos?
ROM Dos is this. Oh gosh, what's his English name
anyway? He's this amazing guru who was
an heir to this railroad fortune, who denounced his
fortune from his father, went onthis quest in India doing a lot
of LSD. He worked with Timothy Leary and

(30:57):
stuff. He's got great lectures if
anybody wants to listen to ROM Das on Spotify.
But one of the things I love that I just talked about, I've
probably mentioned this on this podcast several times, this this
idea of, you know, with traumedy, I talk about it
because a lot of times we can get in our victim consciousness
is a lower vibration. Things have been done to me and
it's true. We were victimized.

(31:18):
You were victimized by your mother by this, you know, your
trust was betrayed by this ex, you know, girlfriend.
And those are true things. But he's always like, are we
connecting with what has alreadymanifested?
Which I do a lot and I'm workingon.
Is that also ruminating? It could be ruminating, yes, it
could be anytime you just feel that energy of like I get back

(31:40):
into a almost like a inner childenergy where I'm powerless and
it's just a different frequency,but it's also victim.
I call it my victim energy and nothing wrong with it.
Look, there's a time and a place, you know, to acknowledge
it, but then like then get into this other consciousness of one
with the creator because I believe we are a part.
We are part of all that is we are one with the creator.

(32:03):
So are we identifying as that which is already manifested, the
manifested or the manifester we're manifesting?
And it's like, oh, it's such a switch.
Once I start manifesting and creating, isn't that amazing how
the energy changes, the frequency raises, and like
there, there's a sense of empowerment versus
powerlessness. Anyway, that's my little

(32:23):
lecture. I like it, I love it actually.
It was a little lecture. I should be transparent though.
I mean, as far as things that tome, this is just me personally,
as far as faith-based things, wetalk about the Creator to my own
personal experience, I'm not religious.
I'm, I'm, you know, I was raisedJewish and I kind of, I'm more

(32:44):
in the school of the, I don't know, OK.
And just because I'm more science oriented, I'm very
science. 100% support your whatever, yeah.
And you know, I, if there's any kind of religion that I identify
with, it's more Native American and just, you know, that the
Earth is our provider and that'swhat we have.
If I was to worship anything, itwould be the sun.
But. And the Earth.

(33:05):
But that's where my perspective comes from.
Is the Earth. Yes.
Is is that it? It provides everything that we
need and that it's observable. Yeah, I see it.
It's empirical. It provides everything that I
need. And I really don't in my own
personal jury. I would rather have connections
with people as opposed to just for me spirit or just thinking

(33:29):
in my head that somebody's listening.
Yeah, OK, I actually love that. And I don't think it's mutually
exclusive. I you know, if I believe we're
made of whatever, it's all metaphysics, you know, but I was
thinking so when you say let's talk.
So I took over the whole hope thing from Patricia, which was

(33:49):
Co creating with the loving universe, because I feel like I
do believe in the law of attraction, Co creating with the
universe. So and also I love Mama Earth,
Pachamama, you know, I'm very much about honoring her and
thinking in terms of 7th generation and the Native
American spirit and respect of all beings, all beings, sentient

(34:10):
beings included, you know, animals, plants.
But tell me where you're when you say this differentiation
between hope and we are doing it.
So that's more of a personal mindset is what you're talking
about versus Co creating with the universe from my
perspective. It's more of my experience
because I've failed so much. I have failed so much.

(34:31):
I have put my energy into so many endeavors that in an effort
to be independent and not have aboss, I have come up with
entrepreneurial endeavors that have failed miserably.
For example, I created somethingcalled Flathead Ads, which is
just imagine a 7 foot inflatablewith arms and on top of that is

(34:54):
A and then you can put this I'llsend you a picture of it.
On top of it is a 32 inch flat screen TV and it's a mobile
advertising device where there'sa guy inside this inflatable.
He can walk around and sell tickets and advertise on the
screen as well as an iPad on thechest.
And it's called Flathead ads. And I got it patented and
everything. I own a patent.
Wow. And.

(35:14):
That's a big process. It was.
My brother's got some patents and I know a little about it.
It's expensive, time consuming. So I I got that done and I
couldn't find anybody to really get inside it to work and I just
shelved it. The weird thing is, is my son,
who's now 21 years old, has taken it out of the garage, has
improved it, made it so it can be in conventions and different

(35:35):
venues like arenas to sell tickets, conventions for your
booth to get attention. Fascinating.
Las Vegas for the Strip, it's amazing.
It could be downtown at for the downtown.
I can't wait to see the picture of it.
Trying to picture it. It's really cool.
I'll do it while we're talking and I'll show you, OK.
The listening audience will haveto wait until this comes around.
So the other thing that I had was something called Dollar

(35:58):
Birthday Club and Dollar Birthday Club was a way to
donate money to your friend as well as on their birthday as
well as give to a charity at thesame time.
So I set up this app where you can put all of your friends
birthdays in the app downloaded from Facebook.
When they let us, they changed the algorithm so that we

(36:18):
couldn't get the information anymore.
And you could get all the birthdays put them in your app.
And so you know when all the birthdays are coming and then
you can send your friend a dollar and the and the dollar
automatically gets sent to a charity of your choice.
So a dollar goes to your friends.
So just imagine 200 friends thatwish you happy birthday on
Facebook. Cindy. 200 bucks.
Yeah, you know, just a buck each, you know, So it's called

(36:40):
Dollar Birthday Club. And then Facebook started doing
their own thing. Send somebody money on their
birthday. Yeah, I saw that and and and
their favorite charity. And that went away and but.
The collective unconscious or they stole it from you, it's
hard to know. I don't know, but it's it's
affirming at least that you had a great idea.
I mean, you had a great idea, but it's crushing that you spent
a lot of time and energy invested in something that got

(37:03):
squashed because of the change of their.
Yeah, 50 grand down the drain. So this, so there's a human that
goes inside of this. There's a that's a 7 foot
inflatable with arms and legs and somebody's in there and
somebody's in there. You can see right below the logo
there. That's the that's where the guy
looks out. Wow.
Yeah, and he's wearing a backpack.
And the head. So the flat screen is the head.

(37:24):
Yep, and then he's wearing a backpack.
Is that where the power is? Yes, there's.
A the fan that makes the thing and stay all inside there, keeps
him cool too while he's in there, gets him, give him some
oxygen. Well, it's got a little screen.
He probably could get oxygen. Yeah, there's some air flow in
there as well as we have a fan going on in there and even if it
gets really bad, we have a cool suit that.
Buy tickets here. So so it's almost like a

(37:46):
Teletubby too, in the way that there's a screen right in the
tummy. That's right.
And then so they can touch the iPad, right?
There's always a handler that's with it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't.
People wanted to punch it. I was going to say or try and
touch. Touch the wrong areas.
Don't touch down below the screen, that's private.
So. So there's a handler that comes
with it and then it gets attention.

(38:07):
It's kind of, yeah. And also I guess you could do
like you could have the the readout be more of a face at
times. Well, you can have a interactive
avatar on the screen and the person inside there can interact
with people if you wanted. To well, it's really cool phone
and all that talking. To him so.
Your son, Your son is interested.
He got it out of the garage and he's rolling with it.
Flathead ads. But I've had just endeavour

(38:30):
after endeavour, you know, like.So the reason you're failing,
you catch yourself saying when you say hopefully that just it's
like, let's back it up and then restate it differently because
the the hope did not did not panout.
So let's now we are doing it Andyou, I, I know you've redone
even this like you've you've adjusted to things with with

(38:50):
open bar comedy and now it's taken off.
I've had to. I mean, we, we had a growing
process in the beginning. We had to deal with some quality
issues because some cameras weren't set right and we had
some specials that we had to redo.
We've had some specials get lostin the mail and we had to redo
them. I mean just horrible things.
Haven't we grown through everything?
So we finally have a well oiled machine of things.

(39:13):
That content that is constantly flowing.
We're constantly editing every week and we're constantly
putting out everything. So I'm extremely happy with the
way it's worked out and that that how accepted it's been
inundated by comics now that want to do it.
Yeah, for sure. Which is crazy.
And I really think that, you know, I you have another special
and you maybe can come down to and do one down there and, you

(39:35):
know, do another week. Yeah, when I, when I work on
more indecency act material, I'mserious.
I really want to talk about thatbecause there's an insanity in
this country about like that sexis dirty, you know, and I
recently did a a naked show, which I'm not saying I would do
it for open bar, but it's temp. Were you naked?
I was fully naked 100% no way. And the day of the show, Chris

(39:59):
Wellman, he's a local comedian. He does these kink shows and
he's all about taking the. Shame out of kink community.
If you have a fetish, if you have something that turns you
on, you know it is as long as it's consensual and the
communication is high, do it. Have fun with it.
He has one show, it's called thenaughty show KNOTTY, and they

(40:19):
tie up somebody while you're doing comedy on the side.
This one. And then the day of the show,
and I was ready to be naked. OK, I was ready.
I'm 64, I was ready. I mean, and I'm pretty proud.
I'm a plant based diet. I do long distance.
I don't know, I I know Tig did that.
I haven't seen that special, butit's it was more my moment to be

(40:40):
like I haven't had a mastectomy,but you might not notice.
I folks shout out to the A cups.Shout out to the A cups.
You know the French. I'm French.
They say more than a martini glass is wasted or maybe a
champagne glass. I don't know.
But anyway, that's a weird shaped boob.
A champagne glass. What is the saying?
Do you know the French saying? A mouthful is a waste.

(41:02):
A mouthful. Yes, that's what it is.
OK, so anyway, the day of the show, I'm just going to tell
you, like Chris texted us, like,you know how you get the
Facebook Messenger? Like, here's the show, here's
the lineup, and oh, by the way, it's in the round.
Like are you fucking kidding me?So you can see my tush at this.
I mean the same time and as muchas I have stayed in shape,
there's parts of my body that are not as good.
And I was like, oh, I was looking forward to backing this

(41:24):
ass up against a wall. But anyway, it was in the round.
But like, I did it, I did it andI got asked out on a date
afterwards by a 50 year old. So I was like boom, bam.
Oh yeah, hey Nance, I still I got a little sass in the.
Pants, what was your set? Oh, probably 15 minutes.
What if you went up there and just, I'm such a sick pervert?

(41:44):
What if you get a boner? What if he just actually?
One of the comics, and I think it might have been Chris, who
talked about taking Viagra because he didn't want to be.
Small, he. Didn't want to be small, but
then it was like then it I can'tremember the timing was off and
then it was really awkward. But what if?
What if you do get a boner? The community that came to see

(42:04):
the show was also naked. Oh, they were OK.
Yeah, a lot of them. And it was in that sort of
community where they're in the the fetish community.
So there's a lot of high communication.
There's no body shaming. I think it would be fine.
Did you find anyone attractive there or were they kind of
gross? You don't have to answer that
by. The way.
No, no, I found a lot of people attractive and, you know, I'm

(42:26):
pansexual. So I was like, I have to admit,
I was like, I don't want to juststare, you know, But I was like
taking it in and I'm acknowledging that like you have
a beautiful penis and I like thejewelry.
Like some of them had. I like a beautiful penis.
I do. I like looking at them jewelry
on it. Yeah, some of them had some
jewelry, had some little piercings with little chains and
stuff. I mean, it was very they're very

(42:48):
creative. But anyway, no shaming is what
it is. And I think what you're do too
is about like, let's not shame each other.
I don't know where I I'm curiouswhen I hear you say about not
censoring. Now, as you know, I'm in a
marginalized, like LGBTQ. I'm a pansexual.
I used to be lesbian identified,but now I'm very sensitive

(43:09):
about, you know, the whole to kill Tony thing.
And I get that like punching down.
I don't know how you feel about that kind of stuff.
Do you think it's an accident waiting to happen?
As much as I love the opportunity for comics, I love
opportunities for comics, and I love that Tony's giving them an
opportunity. I believe that there's one of

(43:30):
everything in this world, and sometimes somebody's going to
get in that room and somebody's going to say the wrong thing to
somebody and somebody's going totake it the wrong way.
I hope I'm wrong. I know, but on open bar you're
like do what you do you. But if you hear like if you had
somebody doing something kind ofin that realm of, I don't know,

(43:50):
harmful, you know, say somethingreally anti-Semitic and we
should do some violent thing andyou're like, wait a second.
Actually, I do draw the line at what violent.
Semitism. Anti-Semitism.
Like that's a perfect. Or any but any anti Do you also
feel protective of other communities?
Do you know what I mean? They're.
Going to be talked about, you know, if it's coming across in a

(44:13):
disrespectful way, I won't air that, OK?
If somebody is just bringing thesubject up, you know, and
talking about it and making it funny in some way, I'm OK with
that because they're making it funny and that's their
expression of it. And it and it's better to be out
in the open and stuff like that about it.
But if it be go to the edge, youknow as well.
But the moment it becomes disrespectful, the moment that

(44:35):
it becomes, you know, a joke just because it's an easy stab.
Yeah, I'm not about that. Yeah.
So I had a comic that, you know,he said fuck the Jews and and
and it was a sarcastic fuck the Jews kind of thing to say in his
joke. He goes, any Jewish people here
and nobody answered, he goes, yeah, that's right.
Hey, yeah, fuck the Jews. And I didn't put that on, you

(44:57):
know, I took. That out.
Because I didn't think that it it added to his art and I don't
think that it added to his special at all.
And I wanted that kind of out. So that kind of stuff is what I
take out. If it's if he said you know,
fuck the lesbians, you know, youknow, and if it came across as
disrespectful like that, then. Yeah.
Are there any? Because actually I just did a
gig recently or somebody was like, are there any non binary
people here and nobody was answering And I'm the other

(45:19):
comedian and I do identify so it's such the weakest.
Like somebody else was saying this the other day, a trans like
it's in the trans community to be non binary, but it's like we
are the lamest like not you knowwhat I mean?
Like I am I'm not only am I not completely non binary, I'm only
half non binary. I'm like a she they so female
identified whatever tomboy, But point is, I just said yeah.

(45:42):
And then he looked over at me because he knows me.
And then it was like I saw a shift like, oh, well, I have to
do this differently because one of them is here.
And I thought, you know, you should just pretend like that
one of them is always there. And maintaining respect is what
you, I mean that should be status quo to me is just be
constant with your respect, yeah.
Because because they're also thelisteners on YouTube as well

(46:04):
that are just like, but I don't know, we were just talking about
earlier how controversy. Gets used, it gets engagement.
It does, so I don't know, but I I I was just curious about that.
Thanks for answering that question.
I just like open communication about things.
Whatever you have to say, let's say it.
I want to hear it. You know, I might not agree with
you, but go ahead. That's your freedom to say it.
Go nuts. I know in some ways it's better

(46:25):
to be out in the open than than than like, say, a closeted
bigot. I don't know, right?
I mean, I'm, I've always been kind of an open, accepting
person. Just whatever you are, just be
genuine about it. Yeah.
All I ask of you is that you're not high head behind in the
untruths and you just be genuinebecause that's one of my pet
peeves. Is disingenuous people.

(46:45):
Yeah, and you can feel it. Oh yeah, yeah.
Before we we were talking a little bit here and I there's
something I wanted to acknowledge that I learned about
you and it's. So thank you again for coming
on. And I didn't know all this stuff
about you. You know, as I love doing this.
I always think when I'm in my 80s and I'm retired, I'm going
to enjoy listening these conversations again because it's
like, OK, I know people. I mean, you and I kind of like

(47:08):
we're in the the scene, but we didn't really hang out, no.
And then? Started together.
I remember seeing you at Times Club at Mckelvey a lot.
Tim. Wardwell and Tims.
Yeah. Right.
Yeah. Memories.
I love that place. I know.
Liquor store now. Yeah, well, then there was Wits
end and you know, you talked about Tig a second ago and she

(47:31):
and I bonded because her first paid gig was at wit's end with
Cooney. Yes, John Cooney.
And she was the MC. I was the feature act.
I forget who was headlining, butI thought, man, this is the
funniest person I've seen in ages.
Like she just impressed me. And then she got fired on
Saturday. Fired.
And then she's leaving the club.I'm pulling in and she I go,

(47:52):
where you going? She goes, I got fired and you
know, she's so dry. I was like, anyway, there's a
cartoon out there. I might put a link to that.
It was just we bonded because I was like, Ted, please know that
you're very funny. You just some people should not
be the MC. And John Cooney was very
difficult to get along. Well, and he but he was just
matter of fact, like you don't work in my club.
He paid her and yeah, he was matter of fact.

(48:13):
He was kind of gruff. But in I know in reality,
though, the audience did not gether.
She's not a strip mall comedian like I was telling her as she
left. I go, I wish I couldn't play to
strip mall. My blessing and curse is I can
almost play anywhere. What I wanted to hear from you
though, if you if you don't mind.
I mean, we kind of dropped into you had some abuse with your

(48:33):
mom, but I wanted to hear if there was any time where you
used humor back then and then again now you got a diagnosis
and have been dealing with some health.
Issues yes. So I would say when I was a
child, I was the youngest first of all.
So I I think you would find thatthe baby is always the one
that's the funniest. I'm not the baby, but my sister

(48:57):
is funny. I'm generally speaking.
I'm the fourth of three children.
Oh, wow. The four of three.
It's a joke. Fourth of three that were
wanted. OK, go ahead.
Is that a fraction? Yeah.
So being the baby and never listened to my parents, never
listened to me. And, you know, I, I remember

(49:19):
being ignored a lot, a lot. Or I would say something and
nothing would be acknowledged. And I felt like my voice was
silent. So then I realized that if I was
funny, then I could get the reactions.
So I started cultivating that asa very young child that that was
my way of getting attention was I was, I don't know if it was
naturally or if I was conditioned right to be funny

(49:40):
just because of my situation, but I don't know where that came
from because my parent, my dad is a dry funny military humor
rank times IQ is a constant. You know, it's just like only
you have to be in the military to really find it humorous.
So, and my mother is, you know, I, I never really bonded with my
mother because she was abusive and I was always kind of running

(50:01):
away from her. And she wants to, you know, have
a relationship with me now. And I always, we have an
unhealthy relationship because Ialways see that angry woman.
I can't accept her as you know what I, I can't, I haven't moved
on with that and I'm OK with it because I have surrogate
mothers. So to answer your question, how
did I, how do I deal with it when I got a prostate cancer
diagnosis May of last year of 2024?

(50:23):
And I, I had some choices to make as far as how I wanted to
get it treated. And I found I have a very great
doctor that I've known for a long time.
He's a urologist named C Joe Parakaital.
And he's the kind of guy that writes books and, you know,
research and he's in the technology.
And there's something called laser ablation where I could

(50:43):
just have a laser preserve the structures of my prostate so I
can still perform, if you will. Yeah.
And just ZAP out the cancer 'cause I I had a biopsy and one
out of 16 spots had cancer. So I was pretty lucky with it
hadn't spread yet. So this laser just zaps that
spot and then you're done. I had some complications.

(51:05):
I bled really bad. So I had a catheter for about 8
days and I had to go back into surgery to have the bleeding
stopped. And I had something called a
terp, which has a whole bunch ofother subsequent side effects.
So we say, yeah, I can still perform and do things, but it's
different. So it's been an adjustment.
Big adjustment. How did I cope with it?

(51:27):
My way of coping with it was giving back to other people, and
it's a pure distraction. Yeah.
I had to distract myself becauseotherwise I would have been
going. I got cancer, I got cancer.
I got cancer. I got cancer.
I got cancer. I got cancer.
Yeah. Because it was ruminating and
just rolling on a loop in my head.
So what I did is I realized thatmost men are stupid about how

(51:52):
they educate themselves about prostate health.
Number one, they think that you have to go in and get a rectal
exam to get a prostate exam and you do not.
All it is is what something called APSA and it's a blood
test. So what I did is I borrow, I
called up a comedian and asked him if I could borrow a line
from him because he, he says, you know, I went to a

(52:12):
phlebologist and get my blood taken out.
And the lady, you know, she's about to start and she goes, she
looks at me and she goes, littleprick.
How did you know? So I asked him if I could steal
the line a little bit. And because I wanted to start an
organization called Just a Prick.
Brilliant so look at you you start another thing I did you're

(52:34):
an entrepreneur I. Didn't mean to and it's not
really A5O1C3 but what it was. It's comedy shows and if you
come to the comedy show as a man, we will give you a free PSA
test at the and it's just a prick just to get the word out
of that. Is it done just with a finger
stick? No, it's a blood test.
It is. It is out of the vein, correct?
They have to take enough. They can't.
It's not just a finger drop likewith diabetes or something like

(52:56):
that. OK, but just a prick, but just
a. We'll pay for it.
Your ticket to the show pays forthat PSA test.
Wow. My doctor Sijo would do all of
the evaluations of any we had. Like maybe we did one show
already. It was a bad night to.
It was like a Wednesday night. It's dumb.
I didn't have like an Andrea on my side to get this.
The Facebook marketing, Yes, yes.

(53:17):
So we did one show and we got about seven people to come in
and we gave them a free PSA test.
But I want to take it on a more national level with open bar
when we do shows. 100% you're going to save lives and actually
save prostates too, because if you catch it early and you can
do this ablation versus a prostatectomy because that is I

(53:38):
guess when people have their people.
I it's men mostly, but I don't know, I don't want to gender
people with a prostate, people that have the prostate out.
It is hard to have an erection at that point, unless I mean
there are these erectile implants and things like.
That perspective, when I startedtalking to other prostate cancer
survivors, yeah, tell me. I met a guy named Carl, and Carl

(54:00):
gave me a lot of perspective, especially because he had a
prostatectomy and a lot of he was taking hormones too, because
any testosterone in the system would cause more cancer.
So he's taking this medicine to take all the hormone and
testosterone out of his body. So it makes him very depressed,
no libido, and his sex life is over.
No erections, no nothing. Wow.

(54:22):
It's over and you know, you can be creative if you have a great
lover and an understanding person, but he can't really have
sex again unless he got the injections or whatever like
that. Or the erectile implant.
I could have done that too, sure.
But when you and, and that's what I want to press, you know,
with anybody listening right nowis never let a doctor convince
you or talk you into just takingit out because that's just an

(54:44):
easy route to go. They just say we'll just, we got
to take out your prostate and then you have prostate cancer.
We just take out the whole thingand just be done with it.
Don't do that 'cause that'll endyour sex life.
That will end a lot of your joy and pleasure with if you enjoy
sex, then that's it's over with.So my suggestion and and
chemotherapy and radiation wasn't an option for me because

(55:05):
I didn't want to put those poisons in my body and I didn't
want the side effects that came with it, which were incontinence
and erectile dysfunction. So the laser ablation preserves
all the nerves for erect erections and with the terp, I
guess the only good news out of it.
I can pee like a 16 year old. So.

(55:26):
Yeah, but that's how I coped with it, was giving to other
people and helping other people so I could distract it from my
own situation with just a prick.That's amazing.
I'm going to put a little disclaimer on this only because
I don't know. I don't know.
As a nurse, I hear that you've talked to a lot of people.
I got to think that there are men that have had a
prostatectomy that will in fact figure out a way that there may

(55:48):
be a way. It might be very difficult, but
there might be a way to still have a sex life.
It's an awful, awful thing to gothrough.
And yeah, it's a big. That's why.
We say find it early so you don't.
Have to go through these things,find it early so you don't have
to go through that. And it's just a blood test.
And and if they find it really early, like you said, it's just
the ablation thing. I mean, that's amazing.

(56:09):
Well, here's the other thing about it though.
It's not covered by health insurance so I had to spend
$8000 to get this done. Really.
Because, and that this really frustrates me with our system,
you know, that there's so many things that aren't covered by
insurance when in fact there's so much better for the patient.
It makes no sense. I have another friend, his name
is Clark Bartram, and he's 61 years old and he's like a former
fitness model and he's just cut muscles.

(56:31):
It's crazy. And he has prostate cancer.
And he was able to afford a treatment that they only do in,
well, they do it in America. If you're dying and you're about
to die from prostate cancer, it's the only time you can get
it. But it's it's a very focused
medication that he went to Germany to get.
They just give you an injection.It goes right to the cancer

(56:52):
cells. It's like very targeted.
You get like 2 injections over 2days and then you go home.
Man, they're making. I know I've done some.
You know, I do these keynotes, the power of humor for different
organizations. And I did some for the Merck's
pharmaceutical, it was called Owl, the oncology women leaders,
but they are creating so many more targeted biosimilars.

(57:13):
There's, I mean, there's so manybreakthroughs in chemotherapy
that's encouraging. But it was $50,000. 50 grand.
Well, yeah, 10 grand to get overthere and be there.
And he had to go to a different country.
Go pay for it. Did he have success?
That he had success. I think so, but I think he's, he
had to do a little bit of radiation because it spread into

(57:34):
his lymph nodes. So I haven't gotten an update on
how he's doing. But he's the most positive
person he'll ever meet. And he he is an alpha male and
he is like, this thing ain't going to get me.
I am all about beating this thing.
And the doctors told me after the radiation that I was going
to feel this. I didn't feel it because I said
I wasn't going to. Feel it.
OK, You talk about putting it out there and and manifesting.

(57:55):
So inspirational. So, and at 61 years old, the way
that he looks, it's just ridiculous.
I would never take my shirt off in front of this dude.
So, so the, the people that I'vemet in the process have
strengthened me. Carl is just, you know, he's
just an older guy. He's like 63 years old and
comedy has changed his life. He started, you know, doing all

(58:16):
these, you know, comedy gigs. And it's his happiness that he
found is like, I have prostate cancer.
I just had a prostatectomy and Iwant to, you know, get all the
bucket list items done. So I met some very inspirational
people through the process and also realized, relatively
speaking, that my situation isn't as bad as these other
guys. I should.
I'm grateful. It does kind of put things in

(58:37):
perspective, that's for sure. Wow, Ron, I'm, I'm so excited
that you're sharing all this andthat you're doing all of this.
And thank you for letting me be a part of Open Bar taking the
time on this busy weekend. Of course, you just did a bunch
of shows here in Colorado and what's next?
What, where can people, what do they need to do?
They want to see you? Where do they go?
So I'm going to the Oregon Coastand doing the Chinook Winds

(58:58):
Casino next weekend. If we're going to be continuing
our filming again in October in Colorado Springs, I'll be doing
my week in Colorado Springs in November and and you know just I
do a lot in Florida and on the East Coast and a lot for the
Comedy Zone. So I'll be doing just some local
stuff. Well.
What's your website? Personal stuff.
Ronfeingold.com. RONFEIN gold.com.

(59:22):
It's gold. Gold.
Yeah, fine gold. Go find Ron Feingold.
Go see Ron Feingold. And then there's tons of
specials. Yes, we have over 120 specials
on our open bar comedy platform on YouTube and one is released
every week. I think we're actually at 130
right now, 132 specials. Nancy's is on there and it's
just, it is drop down funny, just fall on the ground funny.

(59:46):
It's so good. I mean, if you weren't on our
platform, I would be devastated.So I mean, it was really fun.
Thanks for that freedom to do that.
And also, I'm going to put in a little thing at the very end
here as somebody who's just studied therapeutic humor for
the last three years and is a registered nurse.
When you laugh, you actually raise your NK cells, natural
killer cells. They're scanning your body
constantly trying to fight viruses and cancer cells.

(01:00:07):
They gobble them up and get rid of them.
And when you're under stress, your NK cells drop.
And when you laugh, they rise. So make sure that you laugh even
when you don't feel like laughing.
You can go if you don't like oldnames.
Fancy style you go on there, you're going to find somebody
that you resonate with. If you're struggling with stress
out there, you're struggling with some sort of hard

(01:00:27):
diagnosis, make sure you get many laughs and you should get
in like 300 laughs a day and theWellness is coming your way.
I say my show that you can't laugh and worry at the same
time. Yeah, it's true.
It does. It get you out of the fight.
Flight freeze. Get out to the comedy club.
Yeah, just do something different.
Go to the comedy club. You will thank yourself
afterwards and say I forgot all about my troubles.
I couldn't think about any stress while I was there.

(01:00:48):
Yay. Thank you, Ron.
Thank. You for having me, this has been
wonderful, thank you. I want to thank my guests, Ron
Feingold. Find him online, Ron
feingold.com and you can learn more about his his comedy shows
and just a prick, which I think is such a great name.

(01:01:10):
And oh, you got to go to open barcomedy.com and find Open Bar
Comedy on YouTube. Watch my special, Give me some
lines I have been using. People have been giving me
hilarious tags to my bits and it's been so fun.
Been adding lines that people have given me.
And let me know if you know somebody who wants to be a guest

(01:01:31):
on Trauma D. We will continue to do this as
long as the guests keep coming and they seem to as long as the
universe supports it. So here we are.
Let us know what you need. I'm Nancy Norton, and we'll see
you next time. And remember, no matter what,

(01:01:53):
keep laughing.

All Episodes

S3 E17 - Ron Feingold - "Just a Prick"

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

24/7 News: The Latest

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S3 E17 - Ron Feingold - "Just a Prick"