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Brat Diary: Dec 26, 2024
5 Plays6 months ago
Salman soliloquizes on the good things: Kiddo starting to speak and making people laugh!
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Transcript
Salman Qureshi's Journey: Identity and Comedy
00:00:00
Speaker
I grew up confused about my culture and identity and felt out of place most of the time until I found comedy, which forced me to be honest with myself and I realized mostly I'm just an expat brat.
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to my show.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm Salman Qureshi.
00:00:15
Speaker
All right, guys, it's the end of 2024.
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Speaker
Here we are having achieved all our goals and made our life amazing, just like we promised ourselves at the beginning of this year and everything went well and everything is just perfect.
00:00:36
Speaker
It's been quite a year for me.
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Speaker
Some of the lowest lows and some really nice highs.
00:00:45
Speaker
It
Reflections on 2024: Growth and Gratitude
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Speaker
just makes me realize as I go every year into this, and I think because I'm podcasting more and recording these, I'm more conscious of the conversations I've had.
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It's really funny how we look at things and
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how we constantly think everything is improving or not improve, like life is shit or bad.
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And there's no absolute is there.
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There's just some good days.
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You sometimes are on a roll.
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Speaker
Sometimes you're not.
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And then because we mark our lives in time periods that were created by, I don't know who created this, right?
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And it's a year long.
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And at the end of the year, I feel compelled to look back and go, ah, this is what happened.
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And that's where you notice some things have really improved, even though some really bad things have happened along the way.
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And I don't know.
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Speaker
I'm just at a place where I kind of go, all right, look, there'll be...
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We're never at a final destination until we're dead or whatever.
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And even after that, I don't know what's going on, right?
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Who can say for surety?
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Speaker
But that's the day-to-day thing.
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Speaker
And for me, it's ending at least on a really high note because...
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Speaker
There's
Milestones in Zayan's Communication Journey
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a lot of stuff about my kiddo, Zayan.
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And if it's the first time you're listening in, Zayan, he's just turned six end of November and he's autistic.
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And so his speech has been delayed.
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And that's one of the areas we've been working on this year.
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And in the last couple of months, he started saying sentences and words and and not just like parroting them, but repeating them, making small demands like I want this or I want that.
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And that's been.
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really amazing.
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It's kind of crept up on us.
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Speaker
At the same time, you know, it's like we've just gone, wow, this is incredible.
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But something happened just today, actually.
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It's like a post-Christmas gift.
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And it was him reading some stuff.
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And I didn't know when we'd get here or if we'd get here at some point.
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You got to go with your own kids.
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As a parent, you got to go in general.
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You just go.
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It'll happen when it happens in its own time.
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And today he read a couple of lines with his speech therapist.
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And initially I thought he was repeating something she's saying.
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And then I watched the video closely and spoke to her.
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Because she sends us videos of his session.
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And I realized, oh, yeah, he's looking at the words and he's reading it.
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And she said he's hit all the marks I had already put down for him a while ago.
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And that's why I've jumped into reading because the other day, a couple of weeks back or whatever, she noticed him read a word out from a sign.
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It was the word family.
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And I guess very meaningful word in that sense as well.
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Thankfully, it was family and not some awkward word.
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So I can always tell the story to people now.
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Speaker
And
Balancing Parenting and Personal Goals
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Speaker
she looked at it and she was like, yeah, he read the word.
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He recognizes the letters.
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He put them together.
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And so she started testing him on and she realized he reads, he can spell out a few words and he's reading a few simple sentences.
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And man, you know, it's just for me, it's like the best gift I could have had to end this year.
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He's, you know, when you have your kid, first of all, he's got the cutest voice in the world.
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And anytime he does speak up, it's really, really cute to listen to him.
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And I just want to do whatever he's asking me to just because, you know, I'm like, hey, you ask me with words.
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It's awesome.
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You must really want it.
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And.
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And I think it's, yeah, it's just incredible to see that.
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So I've just been over the moon about it.
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And as a parent, like what I was going to say was you kind of, a lot of the times you want to have conversations with this little, with your little kiddo.
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In some way, I wouldn't even mind sign language at this point for him.
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I'd learn whatever way he wanted to communicate.
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And I guess we have been communicating in his own way.
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And I know that.
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But to have him tell me something or me talking to him and knowing 100% that actually he is listening to me and he gets what I'm saying.
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Those things are so awesome.
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It's such a cool thing as a parent to have that conversation.
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experience and to connect with your kid.
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You know, when he wasn't saying words, one of my biggest fears was when he goes out and does things on his own and gets independent, how do I know how to have a conversation about things like being safe or if someone tried to harm him or something happened to him, for him to be able to tell me and not, you know, and not just like...
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Just let it slip.
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And so that's one of the reasons I'm really happy as well.
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But, you know, he's just a really funny, fun kid, too.
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His personality is really cute.
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And from that perspective, I'm a nice, positive as well.
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I just love this.
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Like I said, it's one Santa Claus really delivered.
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I thought I'd be on the naughty list, but I think after the year my wife and I have had over the last couple of years, I think Santa was due to give us something nice and boy, Santa's delivered.
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So,
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So yeah, I hope you have something really cheerful to end the year with as well.
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It sounds like I'm ending this podcast episode.
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I just started because I don't want to go into this whole goal setting thing.
00:06:37
Speaker
I've done it the last couple of years on these podcasts and I just feel like
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I set these goals and stuff, but I can't help myself.
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It helps me stay focused.
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I'm ADHD as well.
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So anything to kind of really listen carefully, that helps me.
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Like marking things out and keeping me on goal.
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What's the word for this?
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On like...
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the hell, man, I've run out of words, like staying on course.
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Yeah, staying on course.
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That's what I'm talking about.
00:07:07
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I got to do that.
00:07:08
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I have to do those things.
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But I, the more I've looked over the last few years, the more I've kind of gone, this isn't a goal.
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I'm just putting this goal down for the heck of it.
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This is what I really want.
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This is what I've actually worked through and concentrated on in the year.
00:07:22
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And I think from that perspective, I got to tell you, I know sometimes people make fun of
Taking a Break: Avoiding Burnout in Comedy
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New Year's resolutions and stuff.
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Don't
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Don't let it happen to you.
00:07:31
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Like over the long term, it still helps, man.
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So keep going at it.
00:07:36
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I think you just get more clear about what areas you're working on, what is most important for you and what you actually want to do as opposed to things people kind of tell you you should.
00:07:48
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And sometimes it's not too different.
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It's just the importance might be different or the particular specific of it might be different.
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Who knows?
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And life changes.
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You change.
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People around you change.
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So you got to stay flexible around those things as well.
00:08:04
Speaker
And from that perspective, I have I'm not going to share it here.
00:08:07
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I'm still working on them.
00:08:08
Speaker
I've got a few days left to kind of go, this is what I'm going to do next.
00:08:14
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But yeah, looking back again, I think one of the other things I really enjoyed this year was stand-up.
00:08:20
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I've been doing stand-up for a while, but this year was fun again.
00:08:24
Speaker
Towards the end, I ran out of gas.
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I haven't gigged in the last couple of months.
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I was just so tired.
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it's been hectic work-wise in a good way.
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You know, I'm happy to make money and be busy.
00:08:35
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But the last couple of months, I really, you know, I was like, I'm done.
00:08:41
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And I've taken a break.
00:08:42
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And also, you know, from an artistic point of view, I think I've worked on these jokes.
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I've done them.
00:08:49
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I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over.
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Speaker
I want to travel with them.
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So I kind of had a few nice gigs and I thought, let's take a break.
00:08:58
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I tried signing up for a few more gigs, but I just couldn't get myself out to do them.
00:09:03
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And that's important too.
00:09:05
Speaker
You burn out.
00:09:06
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I don't want to do stand-up or anything artistic for the sake of it.
00:09:09
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I enjoy it so much that I think sometimes as an artist, you got to go.
00:09:15
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If I don't step back for a few days, I won't have something new to say or I won't let an idea evolve enough and you get stuck in that.
00:09:23
Speaker
So it's tricky.
00:09:24
Speaker
The more you perform, the sharper you get and the more better you get at things.
00:09:29
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I get that too.
00:09:30
Speaker
So it's a fine balance between on and off.
00:09:34
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And I think, again, you know, over the last couple of years, I think one of the things that has helped me is not to push too much about the fame aspect of it.
00:09:41
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or how big I am.
00:09:44
Speaker
And honestly, I can't even keep up if I wanted to.
00:09:46
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I can't do the... I see comics who are so sharp.
00:09:49
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These young kids, they'll get these cameras out.
00:09:52
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They'll have it recorded.
00:09:52
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They'll have it edited in the same night and have it up the next day.
00:09:58
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And I'm in awe of how hard these guys work.
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I really am.
00:10:02
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And I think all of them deserve so much success for what they're putting out there.
00:10:07
Speaker
But it's just not me.
00:10:08
Speaker
I can't do it.
00:10:09
Speaker
I can't.
00:10:10
Speaker
I record some stuff.
00:10:11
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I'll get the videos.
00:10:12
Speaker
I have comic friends who like do it for me.
00:10:14
Speaker
Like here, man, I got you the video.
00:10:16
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Put something up.
00:10:18
Speaker
Make sure you put your phone up.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I just forget or I just get busy in the gig and I and I can't do it.
00:10:24
Speaker
I'm horrible at it.
00:10:25
Speaker
And I and, you know, I just I don't want to pretend like it just frustrates me that I'm not able to do it.
00:10:32
Speaker
But at the same time, you make peace with this is who I am.
00:10:35
Speaker
And right now, maybe all I do want to do is just enjoy getting up there.
00:10:39
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There's something I've said it over and over in all my episodes.
00:10:42
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I just love that live interaction with people from stage.
00:10:47
Speaker
I could do that every single day of my life and not be bored of it.
00:10:51
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You know, it's just such an incredible experience for me.
00:10:55
Speaker
And
Achievements and Entertainment: A Year in Review
00:10:56
Speaker
I always feel blessed that I get these opportunities.
00:10:59
Speaker
Like if I was in any other place or if I didn't have such good friends, I probably wouldn't be booked anymore because of my stupid work ethic and whatnot going on busy life and whatever.
00:11:11
Speaker
So I'm grateful for it.
00:11:14
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There's a beauty to it.
00:11:16
Speaker
And we'll get around to it someday.
00:11:18
Speaker
All right.
00:11:19
Speaker
Someday, I'll catch up with all the tech and make things work.
00:11:23
Speaker
We'll figure that out.
00:11:24
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In the meantime, I think for me, I just want to like, you know, I just look at people.
00:11:32
Speaker
You know what?
00:11:33
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There's something I do want to share.
00:11:35
Speaker
This last year, one of the things I really enjoyed about stand-up and I realized it was one of the most meaningful things that happened to me was –
00:11:44
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two, three, three times, three different people, three different audience members from three different shows over the last few months came up to me and said, hey, I was watching you.
00:11:54
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I watched your set and I thought you were the funniest.
00:11:58
Speaker
And I had tears in my eyes from laughing.
00:12:02
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I was laughing so hard.
00:12:04
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I had tears in my eyes.
00:12:05
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I couldn't stop laughing.
00:12:07
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And they, you know, they just went on about how much they laughed that their insides hurt and whatever.
00:12:14
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And I've had different kind of appreciation and people tell me you're good and not.
00:12:18
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But the fact that these three things came up, I mean, the same thing came up from three different people.
00:12:24
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This particular line they used, it meant a lot to me.
00:12:27
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It meant so much to me about how much I enjoyed getting them to that place, to getting them to laugh so hard.
00:12:36
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And a couple of people just inspired to try comedy themselves.
00:12:39
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I always encourage that too.
00:12:41
Speaker
But that meant a lot.
00:12:42
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It meant more than any recognition in a media I've ever got, any award I've ever got.
00:12:51
Speaker
well, monetary gain, I'm not going to complain about that.
00:12:55
Speaker
But honestly, God, these three lines really stood out for me.
00:12:59
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I don't know why, but it just meant a lot to me that I was able to hone my skills enough to get to that place because I don't think people say that lightly.
00:13:10
Speaker
I think it's the way they said it as well.
00:13:12
Speaker
It wasn't like a, hey, you're really funny.
00:13:14
Speaker
I really enjoyed you on stage or your set or whatever.
00:13:18
Speaker
It was a genuine like...
00:13:20
Speaker
They made it a point to tell me that they just were laughing so hard that they had tears rolling down their eyes.
00:13:27
Speaker
And it's crazy because a while ago, maybe five, six years ago, I remember going to watch Michael McIntyre.
00:13:36
Speaker
I love the guy live at one of his specials.
00:13:39
Speaker
And
00:13:40
Speaker
There's this one bit he does.
00:13:41
Speaker
It's on YouTube as well, but I got to watch it live.
00:13:44
Speaker
And it's this whole bit about him going to a dentist.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I sort of got that's the day I understood the meaning of rolling on the floor laughing.
00:13:53
Speaker
R.O.F.L.
00:13:54
Speaker
Whatever.
00:13:54
Speaker
Did I say it right?
00:13:57
Speaker
So old.
00:13:59
Speaker
Because that whole bit made me want to fall down on the ground because I was laughing so hard.
00:14:05
Speaker
And it always stayed with me.
00:14:09
Speaker
I was like, hey, you know, for a comic to be able to get me to this place, that's incredible.
00:14:15
Speaker
And I haven't reached that stage yet.
00:14:17
Speaker
Um, but the tears was close enough.
00:14:21
Speaker
And I guess they also, you know, when you work hard all year long, you just kind of, it's hard.
00:14:26
Speaker
It's easy to forget how far have I come?
00:14:29
Speaker
How good has, has, has my comedy become?
00:14:32
Speaker
And for them to, you know, kind of tell me, Hey dude, it's, it was actually really good.
00:14:38
Speaker
It actually is coming to a point.
00:14:39
Speaker
I can measure it against some things I've said, I've heard before and later and blah, blah, blah.
00:14:45
Speaker
It felt great.
00:14:47
Speaker
So these two amazing things happened to me personally and professionally.
00:14:51
Speaker
And I think
TV Shows and Series Recommendations
00:14:52
Speaker
that's a good way to sign off 2024 to say, hey, there's a very deep, painful personal moment with losing my dad back in April.
00:15:04
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And none of this – no good will help me forget, overcome that bit.
00:15:12
Speaker
But they were two very meaningful things that happened nevertheless.
00:15:15
Speaker
And life moves on as well.
00:15:17
Speaker
All right.
00:15:17
Speaker
I'm going to keep this episode kind of short, mainly because I've been binging on Chicago PD, random TV show.
00:15:28
Speaker
As I grow older, I'm just used to these police dramas.
00:15:34
Speaker
What is it called?
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:15:36
Speaker
There's a word for them.
00:15:39
Speaker
Medical dramas, medical procedural dramas.
00:15:42
Speaker
Is that what they're called sometimes?
00:15:43
Speaker
Something like that.
00:15:45
Speaker
Medical, not so much, but I have watched a few cop shows and a few...
00:15:53
Speaker
first responder shows.
00:15:55
Speaker
And lately, that's been something I've been like hooked on to and Chicago PD, luckily has like nine or 10 seasons that I never watched.
00:16:05
Speaker
But there's if you if you do, it's on Amazon now.
00:16:08
Speaker
All right.
00:16:09
Speaker
If you do, I'll just give you a heads up.
00:16:12
Speaker
They have this strange thing.
00:16:14
Speaker
where you won't understand a couple of episodes, every season, one or two episodes.
00:16:19
Speaker
And it took me a while to figure this out.
00:16:22
Speaker
What happened is they had these parallel shows going on, which is Chicago, the Fire Guys, and Fire Guys, you know, the First Responders and Chicago Medical.
00:16:37
Speaker
I don't know what those two shows are called,
00:16:39
Speaker
But they have three parallel shows in the same universe in Chicago.
00:16:42
Speaker
And I think the whole thing is called Chicago One or something like that.
00:16:45
Speaker
So sometimes they have characters that are in both series.
00:16:50
Speaker
And so you'll see crossovers a lot.
00:16:53
Speaker
It's like the Marvel Universe world before Marvel did it.
00:16:57
Speaker
But for like these particular professions.
00:17:01
Speaker
And every so often they'll have one episode, one bit, one storyline, which starts off in the other episode.
00:17:09
Speaker
series and crosses over to this one so the second part is the police taking over and investigating something and I was just like or something that happened here and then it ends on the fire show fire show fire department show whatever it's called man
00:17:26
Speaker
And so I was like, when did that person get killed or what flashback am I seeing here?
00:17:33
Speaker
That wasn't there in the previous episode.
00:17:35
Speaker
I finally figured it out and then read up online of a lot of people going through the same thing.
00:17:41
Speaker
So it's actually a good fun show.
00:17:43
Speaker
The main character is really interesting.
00:17:46
Speaker
The Hank Boyd character is quite popular as well apparently online.
00:17:50
Speaker
um i like i like the show it's been fun uh season up to season four five is is amazing season six seven onwards there's a lot of new characters and they got rid of this one i'm not going to obviously going to tell you who it is don't worry it's not a spoiler alert but they got rid of one character that was everyone's favorite and it was like a really important character and i don't i don't know why they got rid of it it was just so sad like
00:18:17
Speaker
It wasn't like the actor wanted to go off.
00:18:20
Speaker
Some people have left the series like any other TV show where they want to do something else or blah, blah, blah, whatever it is.
00:18:27
Speaker
This guy, this actor didn't want to leave and they killed him off.
00:18:30
Speaker
And I'm like, why would you do that?
00:18:32
Speaker
He was one of the best characters, the most popular characters on this show.
00:18:36
Speaker
This isn't
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:18:37
Speaker
Game of Thrones.
00:18:37
Speaker
You don't need to do it, man.
00:18:39
Speaker
We want to hear the stories of these guys, of that guy particularly.
00:18:43
Speaker
So that's the one.
00:18:44
Speaker
And that has affected the show a little bit.
00:18:47
Speaker
But I guess at this point I'm hooked and old.
00:18:50
Speaker
And if I found something I can keep watching, then it feels nice to do it.
00:18:57
Speaker
That's what I've been binging on, even though there's some other great shows who have dropped their new seasons like Shrinking.
00:19:03
Speaker
My wife and I watched together and we've just watched a couple of episodes of the new season.
00:19:07
Speaker
It's still amazing.
00:19:09
Speaker
Harrison Ford is so good in it.
00:19:11
Speaker
And I haven't come around to watching all of it just yet because I'm Chicago-ing my way around, man.
00:19:21
Speaker
Look, I'm going to stop this episode here.
00:19:23
Speaker
Just keep it, like I said, slightly short.
00:19:25
Speaker
Had a few nice positive things to say.
00:19:28
Speaker
And I've recommended a TV show.
00:19:29
Speaker
If you get into it, let me know.
00:19:32
Speaker
If you watch it, what do you think about it?
00:19:34
Speaker
In the meantime, I will drop in.
00:19:37
Speaker
I'll probably drop a couple more episodes to close off this year.
00:19:39
Speaker
So keep a lookout for that.
00:19:42
Speaker
Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of your week.
00:19:43
Speaker
Take care.
00:19:44
Speaker
Thanks for listening, people.
00:19:45
Speaker
Thanks for joining us on another adventure with the expat brat proudly brought to you by Capper Productions.
00:19:50
Speaker
If you enjoyed the show, please help us keep the mic running by clicking the link in the description and dropping as little as $3 to support us.
00:19:58
Speaker
Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on our latest episodes.