Ep 22: "Did you learn?" with Carlos Rodriguez

Jay welcomes Carlos Rodriguez to bomb his first theater and competition.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Oh what's up everybody? Welcome tofucking boo bombing Stories with Big Irish Jay
Hollingsworth. And today I have oneof my dang one of my oldest friends
in comedy, dearest friends in comedyand uh uh former now Nevadian? Is
it? Nevadan Nevadan Nevadian las VegananYeah, dude, and uh and I've

(00:35):
known you for so like fun whenwell, first let me finish introing you
and then no, no, youdidn't do uh uh yeah. This gentleman
has his own podcast called Life inRambles or my life is in Rambles,
right, my Life in Rambles,sorry, which I just did today and
it's great. Uh so check thatout, my good buddy, Carlos Rodriguez.

(01:00):
I No, I was trying tothink did we meet? I'm thinking
we met? Was it when Imoved from Seattle to l A And I
stopped and stayed with you? AndRoger? Uh no, No, No,
I met you before that, Okay, because I met you when you're
because you were walking down the streetand that's when I was like, it

(01:21):
was in Seattle because I came todo a U the open mic on a
I want to say it was aTuesday at the Underground. Was it a
Tuesday Underground? Monday? Monday?Usually Monday? Okay, it was Monday
then, because I remember we weredriving down the street and I just was
like looking, and I've seen thiscallow dude just walking across the street.

(01:41):
Fat even fat too. It justcaught my eye and uh. And then
Roger goes, he goes he's acomic too, and I'm like, well,
why don't we pick him up.He's like, we're in a fucking
versa. We can pick this guy. Roger Man, fuck that fool.
Let him walk. You can losesome weight, he needs it. Yeah.
Oh, I met you when Iwhen I got to that, I
was like, I was like,hey, dude, we see you walking

(02:04):
and he don't want to pick youup. You're like, fuck Roger.
And then I remember, actually itwasn't. Maybe it was when I was
moving to LA. But I rememberI came down and I stayed with you
and Roger when you guys were roommatesin Sacramento. And I asked Roger,
I don't know if I keep goingback and forth as if it's when I
moved or if I was just goingdown to LA and stopped and chilled with

(02:28):
you guys. But I asked Rogerand you to see if you'd give me
guest spots at laughs unlimited because atthe time I wasn't in and I was
doing guest spots all weekend. Andthen that Sunday the headliner called out he
was sick or whatever, and soJenny calls and goes, hey, you're
in the right place at the righttime. I'm going to have you and
Roger co headlined at night on whenthey were doing Sunday shows, which are
the worst. I'm so glad shedoesn't do those anymore. And then I

(02:52):
was, I was, and Ifucking loved Jen. I mean, Jen's
probably she's up there. She's definitelymy top three favorite fucking books and owners
and you know people in comedy.She's just the fucking best. Yeah,
it's amazing. She's she she's she'smy number one. She's my number one.
Yeah. Now I have you onthe Bombing podcast, So what tell

(03:14):
us what is your best bomb Carlos, the best and the worst or whichever
bombing story. So so I comeback in the stand up after we're taking
like a seven eight year hiatus,and I come back in two thousand and
two thousand and eight and in Augusttwenty twenty eight, twenty eight. That's

(03:35):
so fucking crazy. Oh yeah,yeah, that's right. It is the
same day. And but I wasin But I so this one kid was
like you should because this is likesix months later, six seven months later,
he was like, you should getin this contest that they're having.
And I was like, oh,okay, and he was like yeah,
man, he goes it's gonna belike a thousand dollars prize or I think
it was like a thousand dollars prize, and uh so you submit and I

(03:55):
got picked and I was like,oh cool. So we all go down
to Modesto at this like State Theaterin Modesto and like it's it's one of
the shows that has like twelve comicson it. And at the time,
it's like, oh, these motherfuckersare are killers, like these fools are
like it's it's Mikey Winfield, it'sJesus, it's it's Kirk McHenry. I

(04:17):
don't know crushers. Yeah, it'slike, you know, I have no
business being there. And I didn'trealize this until later, but oh,
you know who else was on dollBoy was on it. Fucking so do
Boy Insane Wayne from Stocking. Theseare all fucking you're naming killers insane Wayne.
Fuck and I'm about six months backback in These guys have all been

(04:40):
fucking hitting roads and doing open mics. Someone else is there too, DJ
Murvin. There was another cat,Oh, this school, this kid,
this guy, his name is AnthonHustler. He's passed away though, but
he was a character because he wasone of the cats where it's like he
would always ask for a ride afterthe open mic or after the show.
He's like, yo, let meget a ride home. Bruh. It's
like, all right, you givehim ride home, but you never dropped

(05:01):
him off at the same spot twice, like every time he gave him ride.
His name was Anthe Hustle, andit was he'd always have the blank
DVDs burnt like he have like awhole sleeve of just poorn on and like
the whole sleep of regular movies.And she was a character, man,
it was he was the biggest characterand he he uh so it was him
a man. There was another guy. It was just killers there and you're

(05:24):
you're in this competition, but I'mtrying to think because who it doesn't matter.
I was just because the Transformers,That's what I was trying to say.
There was a I can't remember whathis name was anyway, So anyway,
right, and so uh because hejust got Transformers. I was like,
oh ship, this motherfucker's here.And and so uh before before I

(05:46):
before I say about the be bombing. So dope Boy used to always take
his shirt off and win competitions.That was his thing. That's how that's
how he were getting upset about it. So Doe Boy goes up and he
takes his shirt off, and he'slike, he's like before in the lineup,
and uh, Insane Wayne is next. He's like, men, fuck
that shit, I'm tired of thismotherfucker winning. Would take his shirt off.
So Insane Way takes his shirt offand then starts doing his set.

(06:10):
Then then after that DJ Mervin doesit. Then after that, like five
or six comics all take their shirtsoff, so it could be a wash.
It was so funny. And thenbut I didn't take my shirt off,
and then I go up, I'mso glad you didn't, fucking yes,
And then uh so I go upand it's the first time I've done
it like a theater, like atheater that's full, and I want to

(06:32):
say it seats about five to sevenhundred, I think or something like that.
And that was like a big likefor me, it was big because
I'm just usually doing open mics andlike just you know bar shows, right,
and so I go, I goup when I do my first joke
and it hits, Okay, ithits I'm sorry I'm interrupting you, but

(06:53):
I I think I might have metsaid this to you earlier today. But
when I have people on that aren't, I have to I have to tell
them you already do it though,And I was, and I wanted to
ask you about it, but Iwas. I tell people that are non
comics when they're telling their bombing storyfrom whatever, I'm like, I really
want you to get across the feelingsthat were going on when this was happening.

(07:16):
So so, and that's why Ipopped in, is because I was
going to say, so, youdo your first joke and probably in your
head you're like, oh, okay, I belong here, I should be
here. No, what happens isI hit the joke, Cause like so
it's a stage too. It's likeit's not the get up and this is
where you just got bands as youplay, or it's carpeted and it and

(07:39):
it it's would you know, andit sounds going to feel good and it
hits. The joke hits and I'venever heard that many people in Unison laugh.
And it was such an interrupt andI know we're used to it now
because like you know, we've doneso many shows or whatever whatnot we get
over, but like it was aroar and it kind of like I kind

(08:01):
of could I kind of could feelmy shirt like you know, do a
little like a ripple like like ohship, And it scared the funk out
of me. I was like Iwas like, oh uh yeah. And
then I couldn't get my timing backand I and I'm like, you know,
I'm so used to the audience beingso close to me, and they're

(08:22):
not being so many people that theycan see my general reactions. So I'm
like, oh, they've seen thatI got shook right right right? I
mean in the water too. I'mnot I'm losing confidence and if I lose
confidence, they lose confidence in me. Right, humming, I'm hummings cracking,

(08:43):
and then I if you ever seea guy with the bicycle, it
sounds like then I could hear myselftalk to So for for anybody listening to
this that's not a comic, knowthat, like we we may be talking
about something, you know, shit'scoming out of our mouth, you know,
a joke or whatever, but inour head we're like steps ahead.

(09:05):
We'm also you know, if we'renot being in the moment, you know,
we might be like, oh fuck, did I pay my car?
And shure. You know, thousandsof things are going through and I know
you have ADHD, so it's probablya million shit going through your head at
once. It's so bad, andI'm like, I just I remember just
thinking like you know, like heyman, you should leave now, you

(09:28):
should leave now. And I'm like, you know, but there's no way
I could get get out of here. And then it was funny because like
I'm you could tell my first show, kid, but everything else wasn't hitting.
I didn't know what to say.I was oh, humming and stepping
over, you know, running throughthe punchline and just trying to get to
the next joke. So I wouldn'teven give them time to laugh because you're

(09:48):
just trying to get it over with. Huh. I'm trying to get it
over with now, Yeah, I'mtrying to get it over I'm trying to
get the fuck out of here.And yeah, because I wasn't even thinking
about being funny Moore. I waslike, let me just get the fuck
out of here. It's survival.Some one took a picture, and when
they took a picture, I knewthat that was my out. I go,
all right, you guys, that'smy time. I got the light.

(10:09):
I'll see you guys later. Andthen someone will go, okay,
walk up to me and they go, no, one gave me the light,
and I go, oh, Isee the light flash over there.
I know it was a picture,but yeah, see again that Like I
just said, ship going to yourhead. So you saw that and you
you know it's not the light,but you're like, I got an excuse.
I can just be like, oh, I thought that was the light.

(10:30):
My bad. That's my out.That's my out. And as soon
as I get off stage, Iwalked down and you know the steps,
just the steps on the side ofthe stage that were there, and waiting
in the wings is Mikey. He'sgoing up next, and Mikey just has
this big smile, you know,and he was like, damn, yeah
and learn something. And I goyeah. He goes, well, then

(10:52):
you had a good set. Thenif you learned something, then you had
to that's cool. Yeah, AndI was like, yeah, yeah,
I learned I learn or something.And then uh, I was just like
fuck it, and we I wentback there before I was back there before,
I was in the green room withall the killers and you know,
you know, hanging out. Butthen that was that green room was so
long. I was no longer acceptedin that green room, and you had

(11:15):
fucking ebola. Nobody's getting around you. Nobody wanted to catch this. No
one wanted to catch a bad comedy. And I was very like, yeah,
you know, I agree, Igo, I totally agree. I
was like, I'm I just cameto get my jacket, I'm going out.
I'm gonna go be part of theaudience. Just fucking give him a
piece, all right. Guys.Now, when you so you do the
first joke, it hits, andyou you had that opposite reaction to what

(11:37):
I was thinking, where you're like, oh, fuck, what the fuck?
Now as you're doing the other jokes, and I know you you're just
trying to get through this and fuckingget them out so you can be like,
Okay, I'm done. Are anyof those those follow up jokes hitting
No, because I'm not I'm notsaying them like no, not at all,

(11:58):
not at all, Like no tenorthere's no no nothing, no,
no nothing. It's it's monologue now, and it's and it's very there's no
tone inflection, there's no it's justlet me hurry up and get to the
I'm not even stopping to the pointwhere it's a rhythm where it seems like
it's a joke, like you know, and it's it's so bad, like
people look just like this is areally long setup. You just keep going,

(12:22):
don't pause and uh and is doesthe place echo? So as you're
telling the jokes and there's no laughter, you're just like yeah, yeah,
so that's just it just goes outinto the ether and there's no response.
People weren't even talking to each other, you know, so you can hear
yeah, so there's not even like, uh, I was so bad.
It was that was like, yeah, that was the worst one. And

(12:43):
I was like I was six monthsback in and I was like, dude,
all these dudes now we're gonna seeme as just you know that one
motherfucker that bombs. Remember remember thatone fool you should come through. Remember
you ate ship and uh but youknow it was so much fun though afterwards.
Oh, Ellis was on it toothere too. Damn. Yeah you
had fucking dude, you were atthe All Star game. Yeah, and

(13:05):
you were the bad boy. You'relike trying to fucking get on there now.
Uh you Mikey asked, which isdope? Like, because you could
do we we all bust balls andhe could just shit on you and left
of that. But that was thatI actually I might tell him I might
use that. Uh did you learnanything? Well? Then it's a you
know, yeah, what's That's whatConnor McGregor always says. He goes,

(13:26):
you either win or you learn,you know, So that's a that's cool,
And I'll ask you when he askedyou about what you learned. But
before that, what would you lookingback on it now, what would you
have done different? Like would youhave not even taken the gig or would
you what would what or could youhave prepared somehow? What would you've done
different? Uh? To not havethat reaction and then eventually that leading to

(13:50):
bomb. And you know what's funnyis like I think I had to do
that. I had to, hI had to go through that because like
like that taught me, like justeven stage timing for theaters, like yeah,
it comes in as like I waslike, oh, that's it comes
in as a delayed response because itbecause when I said the joke, nothing

(14:13):
happened, so I thought the jokedidn't land. Then it fucking all came
in and I'm like, oh,it worked, and then all of a
sudden, whoa shit. I couldfeel the laughter, I could feel the
row on the I could hear it, I could feel it, and then
I was like, oh, fuck, okay next. And so when I
went to the next, it fuckedthe whole timing because then I'm not I'm
doing it like I'm at a barshow. It's still I'm still not get

(14:35):
in the whole timing part of likethe rolling in and out. So I
learned the waving of the waves ofof a of a theater gig. And
also I think I had to dothat. I had to. I had
to eat that ship because there's nothingthat could prepare you for that unless you
do it, like I don't know, man, especially on the theater thing,
you know, you need. Ithink I think that first show for

(14:56):
everybody at a theater gig is likethey're not they're not ready for it because
it's the it's not what it's notour usual, our usual playing field,
you know. Yeah, different differentpacing cadence. Uh uh, longer wait
times you know for the role andin and out and yeah, and possibly
you know it depending on how youare as a comic, like really playing

(15:18):
the stage if you walk a lotof you know and all that shit.
Uh, it's like using a woodenbat and using a metal bat, you
know, like type of you know, how the ball hits off of it
and how you know, And that'show it felt. I was like,
oh, okay, this is thefirst time I've ever used the metal bats,
so now I got to know that, you know, pull to the
left because it's yeah, and you'reused to playing at the park and now
you're a fucking Fenway. Yeah yeah, it's it's nuts, man. So

(15:43):
I had to like definitely figure it. So I think I think that I
I kind of wouldn't change anything becauseI needed to to know, there's no
way I could have just learned thatanywhere else other than doing it for the
first time and probably not do it. And I feel like if if I'd
have did that two years later ata theater, I still would have had

(16:03):
that learning curve because I wouldn't haveknown the theater thing. I wouldn't.
That's actually I think that might bethe the first one when I asked people,
you know, like what they wouldhave changed or what they learned.
I think that's the first where somebodywas like, somebody said, no,
I think it was good that Ifucking bombed in eight shit, because I
you know, you learn, butno, seriously, you know, like
I mean, you you learn whenyou bomb. You know you're I mean,

(16:26):
if you're a good comic or you'reself aware, you should learn from
Okay, why did I fucking eata fat one? Like this wasn't a
bomb? But uh, I justI was doing the cellar one week and
uh, you know, like wewere talking earlier today about the jokes I
have about my mom and my popspassing away, right, and the joke
about the jokes about my mom passingwere we're pretty new and you know,

(16:51):
like you're it's your new shiny toy. And I knew, like all week
I was doing other shit, andbecause when you're at the cellar, it's
a showcase and you you get liketen to fifteen minutes. But I just
I was like one show, Iwas like, you know what, I
just want to fucking do this shitabout my I want to do these jokes.
You know, I'm really feeling goodabout them. I'm liking them,

(17:11):
They're doing well, and it's myfavorite shit I'm doing right now. But
it pretty much every every minute ofmy thirteen minute set was about my mom
dying, so you know, whichwe all know. You know, put
that ship sandwich it, you know, don't don't have that be your whole
set is just about death because there'slike no warming them up or getting them

(17:33):
laughing about other shit and then gettinginto that. And the guy exactly,
dude, And it was like thesound guy who's also a comic, he
was like, he was like,dude, I actually respect that you did
that shit. And it wasn't thatit bombed, but it just it definitely
my other sets. It was thelow of my sets through the week,

(17:53):
you know, But that's that's thehigher risk, high rewards of man.
Yeah, when that gets done,it's gonna be fucking murder. It's gonna
be Yeah, it's a favorite ship, all right. So uh, give
everybody your social media ship. Thankyou for coming on doing the podcast,
and uh, if you ever haveanother bombing story you want to tell us,

(18:15):
if you like, think of somethingyou're like, oh fuck, I
should tell in this one, letme know and we'll do another one.
But uh, give him all yoursocial media you know, if you want
to plug anything. This should goout tomorrow. I'm at Carlos Comedy on
everything pretty much except for like ifyou if you look it up though,
you'll find me because this other kidjack some ship too uh for Carlos comment

(18:36):
like on YouTube, and so Ihave to do Carloscomedy dot Carlos Comedy Dash
if you just do do you haveCarloscomedy dot com No? Some guy,
some guy doesn't even he's out ofhe's this cruise comic and I don't think
he's even done comedy in years.And usually I keep checking hoping that give

(18:56):
you them the fucking domain. Bitch. Yeah, hopefully that he doesn't renew
his bill. He must have iton auto renew or something, but he
doesn't his name is Carlos Guerrera andbut it's actually his name is Charles Gerrera
or something that he didn't even goby Carlos. But he has Carlos Comedy.
I have Carloscomedy dot net. Dotnet. Yeah, that is that

(19:18):
is the u r L. Thatu r L is what you were in
the green room. That's how theother domains look at that, like,
what does that fucking dot net?Yeah, this guy just fucking ate a
fat one. He's got a dotnet, he said. The standing room
is is to the left. SoCarloscomedy dot net. Yeah, and Carlos

(19:41):
Comedy on all social media except forYouTube. But just search Carlos Rodriguez and
you'll find Carlos and uh, ifyou if you're ever in Vegas, he
performs here in Vegas. We bothdo all the time. And then uh
you can also catch him out onthe road from his website. And thanks
Carlos for doing this and uh youlike how we had this until next time

(20:02):
bomb voyad fucking boom