October 21, 2024 • 26 mins
Join us as comedian Carlos Mencia talks about his career in comedy and lots more! Tune in on thesportsguyspodcast.com!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Carlos Simancia and you're listening to
the Backstage Past podcast powered by the Sports Guys Podcast
dot com exclusively. I'm the home of the Grand Old
Opry WSM AM six point fifty Nashville, Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And welcome inside the Backstage Pass again powered by the
Sports Guys Podcast dot Com and of course out there
WSM Radio, the home of the Grand Ole Oprary every
Sunday morning from five point thirty to six am, and
of course you check us out on iHeartRadio and tune
in wsmradio dot com and the WSM Radio at Brandon
Morele Here many great guests to come and definitely more coming.
Here all a great Sunday morning here in the home
(00:38):
with the Grand Ole Opry. And you notice, if you
guys ever watched the Opry, you get a lot of
great comedians the grease that stage and one of the
best out there doing it today. He's doing a new
stand up tour, No Hate, No Fear, and a new
residency and Harris in Las Vegas, the Stars of Comedy
series headlining every Sunday and Monday. One of the greats
of all time to do it, Carlos Mencia here on
the show, Carlos, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Brother man, I'm loving life right now. Bro, It's it's
it's yea, it's the best time ever. Because the people
that are tired of being told what is funny, what
is not? Like people are being people are getting tired
of being told, Hey, you're sexist, you're homophobic, you're racist,
or this or that, and they're like, no, I'm just
a human being. This laughing at life. I'm not putting
(01:17):
anybody down. I'm just laughing. And those people are coming around,
and you know, the rest of the people just want
to laugh. They just want a place where it's okay
to laugh. Like when did comedy become this thing where
you've got to be worried so much? So I think
a lot of people are really coming back to comedy
wanting it to be, you know, a place where a
(01:39):
comedian can go on stage and talk about being in
a relationship and for that to be a real conversation,
not the comedic conversation of I'm a man and I'm
gonna well, we all know that women are smarter than men. Yay,
well they're smarter man, because men are stupid, like ah,
men are stupid, like that's just ABC comedy. Come on, like,
(02:04):
give me a real like, you know, show show me
what something really happened between you and you know whatever.
Like back in the day, I think the joke that
I remember being very drawn to from a perspective of
relationships was the And many comedians did a version of
(02:25):
this joke, like everybody had their own version of it.
But it was you being in the car with your
loved one, you know, went back in the day. It
was your girlfriend or your wife, and you would say, like,
where do you want to eat? Paid? Oh, wherever? And
then it's just about you saying this and her saying no,
and you saying this and her saying no, and you say,
what about it? Tally? Oh yeah, telling what about Chinese?
(02:48):
I like Chinese? What about burgers? And I like, but
I thought you said anything? You said anything, You're shooting
everything down. Like those kinds of jokes are are authentic
and reel, and people laugh at them because we've all
been in a position like that instead of the hey,
(03:08):
my husband's an idiot, because men are stupid, you know that,
eugh man, Just I don't know, give me something more complex,
give me something more honest, Give me something more real,
and I think that people are starting to gravitate toward
this more than anything else. It's pretty It's a fun
time actually to be a comedian for me anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, you mentioned that we were talking a little before
the show here too on the Homely the Opry too
at the same time, and you're saying you're having much more,
so much more fun now in your career than when
it first started back in the eighties, nineties or two,
because I know, growing up, you're one of seventeen or
eighteen children.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You got to Los Angeles at a young age.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You had the academic background even to be an engineer,
but you chose to go to one of those comedy nights.
To you talk about that and just how much more
fun you're having now as a comedian than when you
first started your career.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, the thing is is that when I first started
my career, I assume that everybody understood were at a
common club, right, Like I've never taken a joke seriously
in my life, like ever in my life, I've never
seen a comedian and listen, I've seen comedians that were
a little racist and unpolished, and so their material came
(04:14):
off as racist and unpolished. But I was still never
mad about that, because, you know, I knew that it
was a joke. I knew that no matter what it was,
it was still intended to be, you know, a joke,
and so I've never seen it like that. But at
some point people started taking some of the stuff that
we say seriously. And yet back in the day, it
(04:34):
didn't bother me because I was like, look, I'm not
gonna you literally want me to tell you that I'm
I'm doing a comedy show when you're at a comedy club,
we're in the comedy store. What do you think is happening? Like,
every single one of us is gonna tell jokes. That's
what we do. I think that the difference is today
I realized that that's just a frame of mind that
(04:56):
some people have, and so instead of fighting it and going, hey,
you're an idiot for taking this seriously, I find ways
to bring them into the fold so that they so
that they laugh instead of being challenged, instead of being
told you know, hey, you're you're you're an idiot or
whatever it is. I'll give you an example of something
(05:16):
that back in the day happened, and happened recently, and
there were two completely different outcomes. I said, in nineteen
ninety six, I think it was at the Improminent Addison, Texas.
I said to some kid, he said, I'm a Mexican.
I said, well, where were you born? He said here.
I said, oh, so you're an American of Mexican. Said
(05:40):
you can call yourself a Mexican American, but you're not
a Mexican. And he said, I am Mexican.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And so then I said, oh it us it is
Mahicano deck parte unless this one young and he went
man and he threw a bottle at me, and I
remember seeing the bottle coming at me.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I dodged it. It hit the back of the wall,
and then you know he got kicked out in at Teteratet.
So anyway, it's because I came at him like, what
are you an idiot? Let me tell you what you are.
So not too long ago, somebody said to me I'm
a Mexican. I go where were you born? He said,
you know, someplace in America? And then I immediately went,
oh the Mexican. For my d he's at Hemmet, like, oh,
(06:18):
the Mexican from Hemmet California, and everybody laughed, and I went, so,
do you consider yourself a Mexican? Like you would live
in Mexico? And he was like no, I would never
live in Mexico. I was like, do you even speak Spanish?
He's like no, So then how Mexican are you really?
And he was like, well, I mean I love tacos.
And then I was like, well, hold on for a second.
(06:40):
Any white people here love tacos? And they all raise
their hands and I'm like, we got a bunch of
white Mexicans here too, bro, And then everybody laughed, and
he laughed and we moved on. And I came at
it from a completely different place because I wasn't trying to,
you know, tell him this is what you are. I
was literally like, hey, you're a fan man, this is
a joke. I don't care what you call yourself. You
(07:02):
want to call it yourself Belgian, fine, you're a waffle.
I don't care, but you open your mouth. I got
to bring you in, you know, because you said something
and they urge you and I gotta make it funny.
So let's make it funny and then move on. And
I think that that kind of describes the difference in
how much fun I have, and the fact that I
don't resent audiences for taking comedy seriously. I resent comedians
(07:24):
for accepting those labels. When people say you made a
comment or you said this, instead of going, WHOA the
comedian was a joke, put it into the context and
the fact that a few years ago a bunch of
us apologized for jokes. I don't want to name names
because then it seems like I'm saying something negative about
those comedians specifically, I'm not. But the minute that somebody
(07:48):
says I'm sorry for telling the joke, you're saying that
the joke should not have been told. And I don't
believe any joke should not be told because they're intent
is to make you laugh. You know, when I do
jokes about my grandparents dying, they're jokes. They're just intended
(08:08):
to make you laugh. They did die. It's a real thing,
but it was intended for laughter. That's where this stuff
grows from. So yah know, when comedians started saying I'm
sorry I told a joke, I remember just being at
home going no, no, no, no, don't do that, don't
do that. Now they're gonna, oh, now we all have
(08:31):
to apologize, and it just began to bother me. And
then I think that's that's when I kind of went, Okay,
let me figure out how to bring these people into
the fold. Let me figure out how to make people
laugh at twelve thirty at night at a bar in
the middle of a casino in Vegas just because I
(08:53):
popped in and a friend of mine had a show,
and then doing one which I did a long long
time ago at the old opery at the you know,
so those are two completely different audiences, and yeah, I
can adjust, but I also don't want to tell two
different stories. You know. I don't want to go over
here and be like, this is just an ad and
then go over there and pretend that I'm something different.
(09:15):
I want to talk about the same stuff. Could I
use different wording to talk to these people as supposed
to those people? Yes, But if my joke is about
a story about somebody that I met, and that that's
not going to change that the story's not going to change,
The emphasis isn't going to change. You know. I might
take away a profanity here and add it there, or
(09:35):
give a little more attitude here, a little less there,
more intellect here, less intellect there, visceral here, not visceral there.
That can change on a show to show basis, but
the crux of the joke will never change, right, the
crux of the joke of and the illegal alien took
my job? Every time I hear that, in my head,
(09:56):
I'm like, how bad was your interview? I will never
change because in my head, you're telling me that you
lost your job to somebody that can't speak English. That
means that your interview was so horrible they pick the
guy that can't speak English over you. I don't even
(10:17):
care about his qualifications. I want to know what you
said in English that made the McDonald's corporation say, no,
we're gonna hire this other lady that says creepy chicken
instead of crispy chicken. Like, how bad were you? That's
never gonna change how I emote those feelings will change.
(10:39):
The words I used to describe this person will change,
but the crux of that will not. Because that's what's funny.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, if you have a lot of great shows,
will take a time on her a second, but a
lot of great shows. Considering your own comedy series out there,
Comedy Central took notice of it too. Mind of Mencia
a huge fan of that series, loved it too, and
I think they're the important party. We talked about this
before the show, so or we went live, is we
got to get back to laughing. In this country, sometimes
we take things way too seriously. I know social media
has a huge impact on that too, But give me
some of those memories of just the seasons that went by.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Mind him and see you. You guys had a ton
of fun on that show.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
We had so much fun because you know, when we
would write a bit that was edgy and they'd go, ooh,
we can't say that, it was like, well, then how
can we say it? Like how can we figure this out?
Because it's more about the premise of the joke, So
we'll figure out how to write it funny. Just tell
us what can be done, what is palatable for you guys,
(11:34):
Like where are you guys okay with this? What bothered
me about sometimes that relationship with Comedy Central was sometimes
it became antagonistic, and I remember one time I had
to say, hey, guys, we need to get on a
phone call right now. I need to talk to everybody
right now, all the big people over there, big people
(11:55):
on the show. We all need to have conversation. And
I sat down to him, I said, I don't know
who you deal with as an artist, and it doesn't care.
I don't care. I don't write stuff to be edgy
or crazy. I rat it to be funny, and I
don't mind if you guys think it's too edgy for
the channel or too much, that's great. But the fact
(12:15):
that you guys are being antagonistic about this, this is
beginning to bother me because I'm not an idiot. I
want what you want, as many people to watch the
show as humanly possible so that you can begin to
charge more for commercials. And when you charge more for commercials,
(12:37):
then I can say, hey, since you're making a bigger percentage,
I would like to make a bigger percentage. You and
I we're on the same boat. We're not on different
boats running different directions. We're on the same boat. So
can our conversations please be less antagonistic and more communal
because we're on the same page. I'm not I ain't
(13:00):
you on this.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
If I tell you I think this is funny, it's
because I think it's funny.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I'm not trying to negate you or what you do
or anything. I literally think this is the funniest way
to do it. But if you say, well, I don't
think so, then just tell me why and we'll move on.
And that's okay. You can even say I'm afraid that
more people are gonna get angry at this, then are
gonna laugh at this good point. I don't agree with you,
(13:25):
but you know what, you're doing it for the right reasons.
That was the one thing that bothered me about doing
work with any of the networks. And to be fair,
Comedy Central was one of the better networks that I've
ever worked with as far as that stuff is concerned.
But they still kind of take on this you versus
us kind of a feel and I had to put
(13:47):
a stop to that. And when that happened, man, it
just became so much fun because when they would say no,
it wasn't angry. No, it wasn't like, oh, well, is
there another way you guys can say this? Give us
about thirty minutes, let me go to the writers room,
figure it out. We'd write, rewrite it, and send it
back and go did you read it? Yeah, what did
you think about that version? You know what this is
(14:07):
great except for this one word. And then it became
so free. There was nothing on the air that there
was nothing that happened in the world that we couldn't
make fun of her, do jokes about it. There was
nothing that was out of bounds. Like everything was something
that we could do, and it just made it so
much fun to be able to do. And you know what,
(14:29):
it was also really fun to do things that I
can look back now and go, oh, well, go check
out season to a minument. See we did a sketch
about that twenty years ago. We did sketch about that.
No you didn't, go check out minument and see a
season two episode four where we did that and we
talked about that twenty years ago. We had fun. Man,
(14:51):
We just did everything and anything that was possible. I mean,
we had a guy go to I think he went
to a Africa, came back and was like, oh my god,
I saw this, and like, let's do a sketch about that,
and we did a sketch about the place where he went,
and we never talked about it like that, but it
was where he went to go vacation and how we
(15:13):
got diarrhea for five days and all this stuff. So anyway,
it was really creatively fun. What it wasn't is slow
enough at the time for me to enjoy it. I
didn't enjoy doing monument Sea the way you would imagine
I enjoyed it because I didn't have time to enjoy it.
(15:36):
It was so.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Overwhelming to process doing the show, being on the show,
being a creator, being a writer, being a performer in
every sketch and every part of the show, and so
many little pieces of it that I love what I
do for a living.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So yes, on that level, I enjoyed it, but I
didn't enjoy it, like, you know, the show was done
for that evening and we'll go to a bar and
have a drink and smoke a cigar and reminisce. I
didn't have time for that. The minute we were done
from the show, you know, I would either go home
(16:17):
and start writing stuff or go to the comedy store
and do a spot, you know what I mean. So
I was always constantly busy. Now all of it has
slowed down, So.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
We'll take a quick time out more with comedian Carlosman
See You, No Hate, No Fear. Check him out his
website carlosmanca dot Comedy residency in Las Vegas, Nevada, and
of course coming to a city near you and get
tickets to check out the show lineups out there too
as well. We'll come back talk about that too and
get into a lot more with Carlos sman See here.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I'll be backstage pass exclusively on WSM Radio. Stay tuned.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
The Caden Gordon Show is a two hour show playing
the best in country.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Music, so check it out at the Cadangordon Show dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Again, that is the Caden Gordon Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And Bacurry comedian Carlo has been CEOWSM Radio, the home
of the Opera the Backstage Past, powered by the Sports
Guys podcast dot com. Sunday mornings out there two five
point thirty to six am, and of course some great
guests have come up over the last few weeks and
more ahead as we get ready for of course, so
many of the things coming up, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Holidays,
all that good stuff out there. No Hate, No Fear
(17:21):
is the current big time residency out there too in
Las Vegas, Nevada. From our guest this week, carlosman Sea,
talking everything comedy of course, background and just a lot
of things that you care to know about here on
the backstage past, and I got to ask you too,
because you do so much as a comedian, and so
many comedians now are on the opera. It's just really
cool to kind of, you know, have a musician come
out there and play a little bit, have a comedian
come in do their set, have musicians come back and
(17:43):
do their thing. Are you a fan of country music
and the grand Ole opry?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I love so every Every genre of music to me
allows me to tap into a certain part of my
emotional being. Right. It's ironic because I was having a
conversation with the friend who is telling me I used
to do this bit about ten years ago about the difference.
What I love being in America is even when it
(18:07):
comes to music. Right, If you say to somebody, what
is American music? Right? If we go to Mexico and
you go play some Mexican music, I know exactly what
they're gonna play. You go to German, you go play
some German music. I know the Umpapa is coming along.
You go to so many countries and you say, play
me what is considered your music. They're gonna have a
(18:29):
very specific genre of music. You say, what is American music.
Is it rock? Is it blues? Is it bluegrass? Is
it country? Is it an influence of all? What I
love about it is they all serve their purpose right
Country for me, serve the purpose of telling stories. Country
is the one place, like from a comedic perspective, I
(18:51):
can literally and it's been done, but I can literally
go on stage with a guitar, have written the song
about a story, about something that you know, happened earlier today,
and if it works right, it fits it, it can
actually work. I can. Actually it's kind of campfire country,
you know what I mean there, I man, So I
(19:13):
love the fact that in country music I can tell stories.
And every once in a while I'll bring friends that
can you know, that are musicians, and one of my buddies,
like we'll start, you know, playing a little country lick,
and then all of a sudden, I'll start talking about,
you know, what happened. So usually he's at the end
of the show, and you know, usually by an hour
(19:35):
an hour and a half, we've gotten to know, you know,
this couple over here, this guy by himself, these two
guys over here, you know what I mean, And we
already kind of discussed and had little moments with them,
and so I can just go through it and just
do a little country song about this lady that the left,
she thinks she thang, and then it just goes love that.
I love that it's able to to go to those
(19:59):
places at its truest, honest, you know place, it's it's
never been shockingly you know what I mean. But but
it's also a genre where you can talk about a
girl's big butt and her padunka dunk you know what
I mean, No, but dunk dunk. I mean it's also
(20:20):
you know, it's also able to go to that place.
And so you know, and then all of a sudden,
you know, some girl doesn't want to drive. She's hoping
that Jesus takes the wheel. Okay, here we go, you
know what I mean. There's there's there's a whole bunch
of different and then you know, there was the there
were the times where the Taylor Swifts came in and
people like her and real country, like the authentic country.
(20:41):
People were like, that's not country, that's pop. What is
that all about it? You know, Shanaya Twain is like
did it years ago? Baby? Like? I love that there's
still those struggles within this, but at the end of
the day, to me, it's the one genre that just
you know, is still honest to its truth and allows
you to talk about, you know, just the story like
(21:03):
I don't. I don't. I don't know any other genre
of music in America where it's so easy to tell
a story.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I love it just being natural out there too. I'm
gonna ask you about this one. So I do a
little sports talking on the show too. Always fun to
talk a little Los Angeles sports because I'm down here
in Houston, so it's a little bit different down here
when I talk to Houston sports. But hey, we got
some good, good franchises down here doing their thing. Where
do you stand? Who do you root for? Is sports
kind of one of those drugs I guess for everybody
out there too, for lack of a better term, that really,
(21:34):
like me, it addicts people, and your your your daily
lifestyle is determined by wins and losses or are You're
not pay attention to that.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So here's what you got to know about Los Angeles.
And please, please please understand where this is coming from.
This is an an arrogant thing, I promise you it's not.
But in Los Angeles. We have so much stuff going
for us, so many great things happening, so many places
to go, people to see, people to hang out with,
(22:03):
you know, every single day of the week. If you
were in town and you said to me, I want
to go somewhere where I might meet a supermodel, I'd
be like, okay, I know, Jackie were to take you.
I want to meet an actor? How famous? What do
you mean how famous? You gotta be specific, bro, because
we could just go to a Denny's and I'll find
you an actor. But give me a level, right, like, oh,
(22:25):
well this level, Oh, that person would probably be a
place like this. So we have all this so we
don't live and die by our teams doing well or not.
But I did grow up a huge fan of sports,
so I'm a first a Dodger fan second, an Angel
(22:48):
fan first, the Ram fan second, a Charger fan first,
the Laker fan, and it goes right. So it's a
King's and then kind of ducks. So all support to
secondary teams that we have if and when they make
it to the playoffs and they're not going against us.
Other than that, I'm you know, I'm Lakers, Rams, you know,
(23:10):
Dodgers and Kings, and I'm split on the soccer because
they're both pretty young. So when we only had one team,
which is the Galaxy, I kind of was the de
facto Galaxy guy. But now that we have LAFC, I'm
really liking them, and I'm still not fully on board
(23:31):
because I feel a little bit like a trader. But
we didn't have this option then, so you know, now
I have an option. But I love sports. I love
sports because they give you something that I can only
pretend to tell myself is true, so that the days
when my ego needs it, it's there, which is You're
(23:53):
the best, right That's why I love the Olympics. Think
about it. There are hundreds of people right now that
know they're the best at what they do in the world.
Not maybe, not possibly, they are the best in the world.
They have a metal to show it. I can't imagine
(24:16):
what it would be like to know that on any
given night, I was the best comedian on the planet
at that very moment. I'll never know that. I'll never
I'll feel it like, oh, you know, if I have
a great set and I walk off thinking I'm the
greatest of all time, I'm okay with that like I
(24:37):
because I have to let it go in like ten minutes, right,
So it's not like I can keep it there. I
know that the next show, I gotta pretend nothing happened
and do it all over again and do it different.
And you know this is a different crowd. I mean,
blah blah blah, blah blah, the whole thing. I get that.
But still, man, the idea of knowing that you are
at that moment in time. The goat man, I love that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Tell you what.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
He's got his way going, no hate, no fear. The
tourists live and he live in color out there too
as well. Getting back to the those comedic groups. I
love it too, the original great materials, some new material
out there. Make sure you guys check out the website.
Carlosmansee it dot Com out there too, Hara's at Las Vegas,
the new residency out there too, and some more great
projects coming up there too. One of the funniest guys
in the business ever to do it. Hey, brother, I
appreciate you being on the program, and uh, let's catch
(25:23):
up when you come to San Antonio, and I'd love.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
For you to be back on every time.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Appreciate you yeah, definitely, man. And to make make sure
you bring your bring your little like zoom or whatever
you do, you know, whatever you do when you kind
of record outside, if not all have one so that
it doesn't sound like we're doing that on the phone.
And after the show you can do a little interview
with me in the green room and you can talk
about the stuff that you saw, you know what I mean.
That way it'll be like very specific about specific stuff
(25:47):
and then you can uh, yeah, so let's let's do that.
And then that way we'll you know, have a drink afterwards,
connect and then you know, have some fun. Man, for sure,
you got it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Carlos men see you here. Carlosmancia dot com. No Hate,
No Fear. The latest tour out there, Hara's in Las Vegas.
Check out the website. It's coming to a city near
you for tickets and all that great stuff out there too.
Can't go wrong here and one of the funniest guys
in the business, one of the best to do it
out there. We're back next Sunday here on the whole
of the Grand ol Oprary WSMAM six point fifty. We'll
see you next Sunday. Until then, take care and God bless.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Hey, y'all, this is you, Buddy John Rich Nash for
a Recording Artists and you're listening to Brandon and Allen
on the Backstage Pass powered by the Sports Guys podcast
dot com on the home of the opry
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Am six fifty WSM
Hey guys, this is Carlos Simancia and you're listening to
the Backstage Past podcast powered by the Sports Guys Podcast
dot com exclusively. I'm the home of the Grand Old
Opry WSM AM six point fifty Nashville, Baby.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And welcome inside the Backstage Pass again powered by the
Sports Guys Podcast dot Com and of course out there
WSM Radio, the home of the Grand Ole Oprary every
Sunday morning from five point thirty to six am, and
of course you check us out on iHeartRadio and tune
in wsmradio dot com and the WSM Radio at Brandon
Morele Here many great guests to come and definitely more coming.
Here all a great Sunday morning here in the home
(00:38):
with the Grand Ole Opry. And you notice, if you
guys ever watched the Opry, you get a lot of
great comedians the grease that stage and one of the
best out there doing it today. He's doing a new
stand up tour, No Hate, No Fear, and a new
residency and Harris in Las Vegas, the Stars of Comedy
series headlining every Sunday and Monday. One of the greats
of all time to do it, Carlos Mencia here on
the show, Carlos, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Brother man, I'm loving life right now. Bro, It's it's
it's yea, it's the best time ever. Because the people
that are tired of being told what is funny, what
is not? Like people are being people are getting tired
of being told, Hey, you're sexist, you're homophobic, you're racist,
or this or that, and they're like, no, I'm just
a human being. This laughing at life. I'm not putting
(01:17):
anybody down. I'm just laughing. And those people are coming around,
and you know, the rest of the people just want
to laugh. They just want a place where it's okay
to laugh. Like when did comedy become this thing where
you've got to be worried so much? So I think
a lot of people are really coming back to comedy
wanting it to be, you know, a place where a
(01:39):
comedian can go on stage and talk about being in
a relationship and for that to be a real conversation,
not the comedic conversation of I'm a man and I'm
gonna well, we all know that women are smarter than men. Yay,
well they're smarter man, because men are stupid, like ah,
men are stupid, like that's just ABC comedy. Come on, like,
(02:04):
give me a real like, you know, show show me
what something really happened between you and you know whatever.
Like back in the day, I think the joke that
I remember being very drawn to from a perspective of
relationships was the And many comedians did a version of
(02:25):
this joke, like everybody had their own version of it.
But it was you being in the car with your
loved one, you know, went back in the day. It
was your girlfriend or your wife, and you would say, like,
where do you want to eat? Paid? Oh, wherever? And
then it's just about you saying this and her saying no,
and you saying this and her saying no, and you say,
what about it? Tally? Oh yeah, telling what about Chinese?
(02:48):
I like Chinese? What about burgers? And I like, but
I thought you said anything? You said anything, You're shooting
everything down. Like those kinds of jokes are are authentic
and reel, and people laugh at them because we've all
been in a position like that instead of the hey,
(03:08):
my husband's an idiot, because men are stupid, you know that,
eugh man, Just I don't know, give me something more complex,
give me something more honest, Give me something more real,
and I think that people are starting to gravitate toward
this more than anything else. It's pretty It's a fun
time actually to be a comedian for me anyway.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, you mentioned that we were talking a little before
the show here too on the Homely the Opry too
at the same time, and you're saying you're having much more,
so much more fun now in your career than when
it first started back in the eighties, nineties or two,
because I know, growing up, you're one of seventeen or
eighteen children.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
You got to Los Angeles at a young age.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You had the academic background even to be an engineer,
but you chose to go to one of those comedy nights.
To you talk about that and just how much more
fun you're having now as a comedian than when you
first started your career.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Well, the thing is is that when I first started
my career, I assume that everybody understood were at a
common club, right, Like I've never taken a joke seriously
in my life, like ever in my life, I've never
seen a comedian and listen, I've seen comedians that were
a little racist and unpolished, and so their material came
(04:14):
off as racist and unpolished. But I was still never
mad about that, because, you know, I knew that it
was a joke. I knew that no matter what it was,
it was still intended to be, you know, a joke,
and so I've never seen it like that. But at
some point people started taking some of the stuff that
we say seriously. And yet back in the day, it
(04:34):
didn't bother me because I was like, look, I'm not
gonna you literally want me to tell you that I'm
I'm doing a comedy show when you're at a comedy club,
we're in the comedy store. What do you think is happening? Like,
every single one of us is gonna tell jokes. That's
what we do. I think that the difference is today
I realized that that's just a frame of mind that
(04:56):
some people have, and so instead of fighting it and going, hey,
you're an idiot for taking this seriously, I find ways
to bring them into the fold so that they so
that they laugh instead of being challenged, instead of being
told you know, hey, you're you're you're an idiot or
whatever it is. I'll give you an example of something
(05:16):
that back in the day happened, and happened recently, and
there were two completely different outcomes. I said, in nineteen
ninety six, I think it was at the Improminent Addison, Texas.
I said to some kid, he said, I'm a Mexican.
I said, well, where were you born? He said here.
I said, oh, so you're an American of Mexican. Said
(05:40):
you can call yourself a Mexican American, but you're not
a Mexican. And he said, I am Mexican.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And so then I said, oh it us it is
Mahicano deck parte unless this one young and he went
man and he threw a bottle at me, and I
remember seeing the bottle coming at me.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I dodged it. It hit the back of the wall,
and then you know he got kicked out in at Teteratet.
So anyway, it's because I came at him like, what
are you an idiot? Let me tell you what you are.
So not too long ago, somebody said to me I'm
a Mexican. I go where were you born? He said,
you know, someplace in America? And then I immediately went,
oh the Mexican. For my d he's at Hemmet, like, oh,
(06:18):
the Mexican from Hemmet California, and everybody laughed, and I went, so,
do you consider yourself a Mexican? Like you would live
in Mexico? And he was like no, I would never
live in Mexico. I was like, do you even speak Spanish?
He's like no, So then how Mexican are you really?
And he was like, well, I mean I love tacos.
And then I was like, well, hold on for a second.
(06:40):
Any white people here love tacos? And they all raise
their hands and I'm like, we got a bunch of
white Mexicans here too, bro, And then everybody laughed, and
he laughed and we moved on. And I came at
it from a completely different place because I wasn't trying to,
you know, tell him this is what you are. I
was literally like, hey, you're a fan man, this is
a joke. I don't care what you call yourself. You
(07:02):
want to call it yourself Belgian, fine, you're a waffle.
I don't care, but you open your mouth. I got
to bring you in, you know, because you said something
and they urge you and I gotta make it funny.
So let's make it funny and then move on. And
I think that that kind of describes the difference in
how much fun I have, and the fact that I
don't resent audiences for taking comedy seriously. I resent comedians
(07:24):
for accepting those labels. When people say you made a
comment or you said this, instead of going, WHOA the
comedian was a joke, put it into the context and
the fact that a few years ago a bunch of
us apologized for jokes. I don't want to name names
because then it seems like I'm saying something negative about
those comedians specifically, I'm not. But the minute that somebody
(07:48):
says I'm sorry for telling the joke, you're saying that
the joke should not have been told. And I don't
believe any joke should not be told because they're intent
is to make you laugh. You know, when I do
jokes about my grandparents dying, they're jokes. They're just intended
(08:08):
to make you laugh. They did die. It's a real thing,
but it was intended for laughter. That's where this stuff
grows from. So yah know, when comedians started saying I'm
sorry I told a joke, I remember just being at
home going no, no, no, no, don't do that, don't
do that. Now they're gonna, oh, now we all have
(08:31):
to apologize, and it just began to bother me. And
then I think that's that's when I kind of went, Okay,
let me figure out how to bring these people into
the fold. Let me figure out how to make people
laugh at twelve thirty at night at a bar in
the middle of a casino in Vegas just because I
(08:53):
popped in and a friend of mine had a show,
and then doing one which I did a long long
time ago at the old opery at the you know,
so those are two completely different audiences, and yeah, I
can adjust, but I also don't want to tell two
different stories. You know. I don't want to go over
here and be like, this is just an ad and
then go over there and pretend that I'm something different.
(09:15):
I want to talk about the same stuff. Could I
use different wording to talk to these people as supposed
to those people? Yes, But if my joke is about
a story about somebody that I met, and that that's
not going to change that the story's not going to change,
The emphasis isn't going to change. You know. I might
take away a profanity here and add it there, or
(09:35):
give a little more attitude here, a little less there,
more intellect here, less intellect there, visceral here, not visceral there.
That can change on a show to show basis, but
the crux of the joke will never change, right, the
crux of the joke of and the illegal alien took
my job? Every time I hear that, in my head,
(09:56):
I'm like, how bad was your interview? I will never
change because in my head, you're telling me that you
lost your job to somebody that can't speak English. That
means that your interview was so horrible they pick the
guy that can't speak English over you. I don't even
(10:17):
care about his qualifications. I want to know what you
said in English that made the McDonald's corporation say, no,
we're gonna hire this other lady that says creepy chicken
instead of crispy chicken. Like, how bad were you? That's
never gonna change how I emote those feelings will change.
(10:39):
The words I used to describe this person will change,
but the crux of that will not. Because that's what's funny.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know, if you have a lot of great shows,
will take a time on her a second, but a
lot of great shows. Considering your own comedy series out there,
Comedy Central took notice of it too. Mind of Mencia
a huge fan of that series, loved it too, and
I think they're the important party. We talked about this
before the show, so or we went live, is we
got to get back to laughing. In this country, sometimes
we take things way too seriously. I know social media
has a huge impact on that too, But give me
some of those memories of just the seasons that went by.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Mind him and see you. You guys had a ton
of fun on that show.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
We had so much fun because you know, when we
would write a bit that was edgy and they'd go, ooh,
we can't say that, it was like, well, then how
can we say it? Like how can we figure this out?
Because it's more about the premise of the joke, So
we'll figure out how to write it funny. Just tell
us what can be done, what is palatable for you guys,
(11:34):
Like where are you guys okay with this? What bothered
me about sometimes that relationship with Comedy Central was sometimes
it became antagonistic, and I remember one time I had
to say, hey, guys, we need to get on a
phone call right now. I need to talk to everybody
right now, all the big people over there, big people
(11:55):
on the show. We all need to have conversation. And
I sat down to him, I said, I don't know
who you deal with as an artist, and it doesn't care.
I don't care. I don't write stuff to be edgy
or crazy. I rat it to be funny, and I
don't mind if you guys think it's too edgy for
the channel or too much, that's great. But the fact
(12:15):
that you guys are being antagonistic about this, this is
beginning to bother me because I'm not an idiot. I
want what you want, as many people to watch the
show as humanly possible so that you can begin to
charge more for commercials. And when you charge more for commercials,
(12:37):
then I can say, hey, since you're making a bigger percentage,
I would like to make a bigger percentage. You and
I we're on the same boat. We're not on different
boats running different directions. We're on the same boat. So
can our conversations please be less antagonistic and more communal
because we're on the same page. I'm not I ain't
(13:00):
you on this.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
If I tell you I think this is funny, it's
because I think it's funny.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I'm not trying to negate you or what you do
or anything. I literally think this is the funniest way
to do it. But if you say, well, I don't
think so, then just tell me why and we'll move on.
And that's okay. You can even say I'm afraid that
more people are gonna get angry at this, then are
gonna laugh at this good point. I don't agree with you,
(13:25):
but you know what, you're doing it for the right reasons.
That was the one thing that bothered me about doing
work with any of the networks. And to be fair,
Comedy Central was one of the better networks that I've
ever worked with as far as that stuff is concerned.
But they still kind of take on this you versus
us kind of a feel and I had to put
(13:47):
a stop to that. And when that happened, man, it
just became so much fun because when they would say no,
it wasn't angry. No, it wasn't like, oh, well, is
there another way you guys can say this? Give us
about thirty minutes, let me go to the writers room,
figure it out. We'd write, rewrite it, and send it
back and go did you read it? Yeah, what did
you think about that version? You know what this is
(14:07):
great except for this one word. And then it became
so free. There was nothing on the air that there
was nothing that happened in the world that we couldn't
make fun of her, do jokes about it. There was
nothing that was out of bounds. Like everything was something
that we could do, and it just made it so
much fun to be able to do. And you know what,
(14:29):
it was also really fun to do things that I
can look back now and go, oh, well, go check
out season to a minument. See we did a sketch
about that twenty years ago. We did sketch about that.
No you didn't, go check out minument and see a
season two episode four where we did that and we
talked about that twenty years ago. We had fun. Man,
(14:51):
We just did everything and anything that was possible. I mean,
we had a guy go to I think he went
to a Africa, came back and was like, oh my god,
I saw this, and like, let's do a sketch about that,
and we did a sketch about the place where he went,
and we never talked about it like that, but it
was where he went to go vacation and how we
(15:13):
got diarrhea for five days and all this stuff. So anyway,
it was really creatively fun. What it wasn't is slow
enough at the time for me to enjoy it. I
didn't enjoy doing monument Sea the way you would imagine
I enjoyed it because I didn't have time to enjoy it.
(15:36):
It was so.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Overwhelming to process doing the show, being on the show,
being a creator, being a writer, being a performer in
every sketch and every part of the show, and so
many little pieces of it that I love what I
do for a living.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So yes, on that level, I enjoyed it, but I
didn't enjoy it, like, you know, the show was done
for that evening and we'll go to a bar and
have a drink and smoke a cigar and reminisce. I
didn't have time for that. The minute we were done
from the show, you know, I would either go home
(16:17):
and start writing stuff or go to the comedy store
and do a spot, you know what I mean. So
I was always constantly busy. Now all of it has
slowed down, So.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
We'll take a quick time out more with comedian Carlosman
See You, No Hate, No Fear. Check him out his
website carlosmanca dot Comedy residency in Las Vegas, Nevada, and
of course coming to a city near you and get
tickets to check out the show lineups out there too
as well. We'll come back talk about that too and
get into a lot more with Carlos sman See here.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I'll be backstage pass exclusively on WSM Radio. Stay tuned.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
The Caden Gordon Show is a two hour show playing
the best in country.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Music, so check it out at the Cadangordon Show dot com.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Again, that is the Caden Gordon Show dot com.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And Bacurry comedian Carlo has been CEOWSM Radio, the home
of the Opera the Backstage Past, powered by the Sports
Guys podcast dot com. Sunday mornings out there two five
point thirty to six am, and of course some great
guests have come up over the last few weeks and
more ahead as we get ready for of course, so
many of the things coming up, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Holidays,
all that good stuff out there. No Hate, No Fear
(17:21):
is the current big time residency out there too in
Las Vegas, Nevada. From our guest this week, carlosman Sea,
talking everything comedy of course, background and just a lot
of things that you care to know about here on
the backstage past, and I got to ask you too,
because you do so much as a comedian, and so
many comedians now are on the opera. It's just really
cool to kind of, you know, have a musician come
out there and play a little bit, have a comedian
come in do their set, have musicians come back and
(17:43):
do their thing. Are you a fan of country music
and the grand Ole opry?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I love so every Every genre of music to me
allows me to tap into a certain part of my
emotional being. Right. It's ironic because I was having a
conversation with the friend who is telling me I used
to do this bit about ten years ago about the difference.
What I love being in America is even when it
(18:07):
comes to music. Right, If you say to somebody, what
is American music? Right? If we go to Mexico and
you go play some Mexican music, I know exactly what
they're gonna play. You go to German, you go play
some German music. I know the Umpapa is coming along.
You go to so many countries and you say, play
me what is considered your music. They're gonna have a
(18:29):
very specific genre of music. You say, what is American music.
Is it rock? Is it blues? Is it bluegrass? Is
it country? Is it an influence of all? What I
love about it is they all serve their purpose right
Country for me, serve the purpose of telling stories. Country
is the one place, like from a comedic perspective, I
(18:51):
can literally and it's been done, but I can literally
go on stage with a guitar, have written the song
about a story, about something that you know, happened earlier today,
and if it works right, it fits it, it can
actually work. I can. Actually it's kind of campfire country,
you know what I mean there, I man, So I
(19:13):
love the fact that in country music I can tell stories.
And every once in a while I'll bring friends that
can you know, that are musicians, and one of my buddies,
like we'll start, you know, playing a little country lick,
and then all of a sudden, I'll start talking about,
you know, what happened. So usually he's at the end
of the show, and you know, usually by an hour
(19:35):
an hour and a half, we've gotten to know, you know,
this couple over here, this guy by himself, these two
guys over here, you know what I mean, And we
already kind of discussed and had little moments with them,
and so I can just go through it and just
do a little country song about this lady that the left,
she thinks she thang, and then it just goes love that.
I love that it's able to to go to those
(19:59):
places at its truest, honest, you know place, it's it's
never been shockingly you know what I mean. But but
it's also a genre where you can talk about a
girl's big butt and her padunka dunk you know what
I mean, No, but dunk dunk. I mean it's also
(20:20):
you know, it's also able to go to that place.
And so you know, and then all of a sudden,
you know, some girl doesn't want to drive. She's hoping
that Jesus takes the wheel. Okay, here we go, you
know what I mean. There's there's there's a whole bunch
of different and then you know, there was the there
were the times where the Taylor Swifts came in and
people like her and real country, like the authentic country.
(20:41):
People were like, that's not country, that's pop. What is
that all about it? You know, Shanaya Twain is like
did it years ago? Baby? Like? I love that there's
still those struggles within this, but at the end of
the day, to me, it's the one genre that just
you know, is still honest to its truth and allows
you to talk about, you know, just the story like
(21:03):
I don't. I don't. I don't know any other genre
of music in America where it's so easy to tell
a story.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
I love it just being natural out there too. I'm
gonna ask you about this one. So I do a
little sports talking on the show too. Always fun to
talk a little Los Angeles sports because I'm down here
in Houston, so it's a little bit different down here
when I talk to Houston sports. But hey, we got
some good, good franchises down here doing their thing. Where
do you stand? Who do you root for? Is sports
kind of one of those drugs I guess for everybody
out there too, for lack of a better term, that really,
(21:34):
like me, it addicts people, and your your your daily
lifestyle is determined by wins and losses or are You're
not pay attention to that.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So here's what you got to know about Los Angeles.
And please, please please understand where this is coming from.
This is an an arrogant thing, I promise you it's not.
But in Los Angeles. We have so much stuff going
for us, so many great things happening, so many places
to go, people to see, people to hang out with,
(22:03):
you know, every single day of the week. If you
were in town and you said to me, I want
to go somewhere where I might meet a supermodel, I'd
be like, okay, I know, Jackie were to take you.
I want to meet an actor? How famous? What do
you mean how famous? You gotta be specific, bro, because
we could just go to a Denny's and I'll find
you an actor. But give me a level, right, like, oh,
(22:25):
well this level, Oh, that person would probably be a
place like this. So we have all this so we
don't live and die by our teams doing well or not.
But I did grow up a huge fan of sports,
so I'm a first a Dodger fan second, an Angel
(22:48):
fan first, the Ram fan second, a Charger fan first,
the Laker fan, and it goes right. So it's a
King's and then kind of ducks. So all support to
secondary teams that we have if and when they make
it to the playoffs and they're not going against us.
Other than that, I'm you know, I'm Lakers, Rams, you know,
(23:10):
Dodgers and Kings, and I'm split on the soccer because
they're both pretty young. So when we only had one team,
which is the Galaxy, I kind of was the de
facto Galaxy guy. But now that we have LAFC, I'm
really liking them, and I'm still not fully on board
(23:31):
because I feel a little bit like a trader. But
we didn't have this option then, so you know, now
I have an option. But I love sports. I love
sports because they give you something that I can only
pretend to tell myself is true, so that the days
when my ego needs it, it's there, which is You're
(23:53):
the best, right That's why I love the Olympics. Think
about it. There are hundreds of people right now that
know they're the best at what they do in the world.
Not maybe, not possibly, they are the best in the world.
They have a metal to show it. I can't imagine
(24:16):
what it would be like to know that on any
given night, I was the best comedian on the planet
at that very moment. I'll never know that. I'll never
I'll feel it like, oh, you know, if I have
a great set and I walk off thinking I'm the
greatest of all time, I'm okay with that like I
(24:37):
because I have to let it go in like ten minutes, right,
So it's not like I can keep it there. I
know that the next show, I gotta pretend nothing happened
and do it all over again and do it different.
And you know this is a different crowd. I mean,
blah blah blah, blah blah, the whole thing. I get that.
But still, man, the idea of knowing that you are
at that moment in time. The goat man, I love that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Tell you what.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
He's got his way going, no hate, no fear. The
tourists live and he live in color out there too
as well. Getting back to the those comedic groups. I
love it too, the original great materials, some new material
out there. Make sure you guys check out the website.
Carlosmansee it dot Com out there too, Hara's at Las Vegas,
the new residency out there too, and some more great
projects coming up there too. One of the funniest guys
in the business ever to do it. Hey, brother, I
appreciate you being on the program, and uh, let's catch
(25:23):
up when you come to San Antonio, and I'd love.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
For you to be back on every time.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Appreciate you yeah, definitely, man. And to make make sure
you bring your bring your little like zoom or whatever
you do, you know, whatever you do when you kind
of record outside, if not all have one so that
it doesn't sound like we're doing that on the phone.
And after the show you can do a little interview
with me in the green room and you can talk
about the stuff that you saw, you know what I mean.
That way it'll be like very specific about specific stuff
(25:47):
and then you can uh, yeah, so let's let's do that.
And then that way we'll you know, have a drink afterwards,
connect and then you know, have some fun. Man, for sure,
you got it.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Carlos men see you here. Carlosmancia dot com. No Hate,
No Fear. The latest tour out there, Hara's in Las Vegas.
Check out the website. It's coming to a city near
you for tickets and all that great stuff out there too.
Can't go wrong here and one of the funniest guys
in the business, one of the best to do it
out there. We're back next Sunday here on the whole
of the Grand ol Oprary WSMAM six point fifty. We'll
see you next Sunday. Until then, take care and God bless.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Hey, y'all, this is you, Buddy John Rich Nash for
a Recording Artists and you're listening to Brandon and Allen
on the Backstage Pass powered by the Sports Guys podcast
dot com on the home of the opry
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Am six fifty WSM
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.