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Episode 1: JC Sibala
4 Plays10 months ago
Tom chats with friend and stand up comedian JC Sibala. Topics include conspiracy theories, xerox printers, Malort, the election, the Super Bowl, college, human shields, Middle East solutions, the Germans, his special Vanillapino, what Eagles fans drink, comedy mentors, and everything else in-between
Recommended
Transcript
Intro & Podcast Title
00:00:00
Tom Brown
So, yeah, you just knew was going to be called What's That About? And you joked about it. And you were right. I didn't tell you. And you just, yeah.
00:00:08
JC
Yeah, it was obvious. I knew it wasn't, guys!
Podcast Inspirations & Omaha Performance
00:00:11
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:00:11
JC
like
00:00:12
Tom Brown
Yeah, I don't think Michael Collins-inspired podcasts do really well in the podosphere.
00:00:26
Tom Brown
But, yeah, you were you were on the road in ah Omaha. Yeah.
00:00:30
JC
Yep, last night I was in Omaha. And then a couple nights before that I was in Decatur.
00:00:36
Tom Brown
okay so uh which sucks more decatur or uh omaha gotta take a hard stance right now what what's that about what's that about
00:00:46
JC
other They were both great, actually.
00:00:49
Tom Brown
okay yeah i was in sanford michigan
00:00:50
JC
you like and Any place that pays me to tell jokes is pretty fucking great.
Comedy Booking & Performance Anecdotes
00:01:00
Tom Brown
on friday night ah it was
00:01:02
JC
What's that about?
00:01:03
Tom Brown
ah Well, it was about ah my first booking with Bar Comedy USA as a feature act.
00:01:09
JC
Oh, with Jer-Bear?
00:01:10
Tom Brown
Yeah. So it was good time. I enjoyed myself. I do this bit ah sometimes where i ask people what their favorite beverage And comment on some guy. I was like, I like Malort.
00:01:24
JC
yeah
00:01:25
Tom Brown
Yeah. And I'm like, ah no one's ever said that before. Well, on or jet in general, no one says, my favorite drink's Malort.
00:01:33
JC
Yeah, not unironically.
00:01:35
Tom Brown
Yeah, no, the guy was already fucked up. ah ah But it was fun. He bought me a shot of Malort and I did on stage.
00:01:44
Tom Brown
With, I'm very proud to say, no Malort face.
00:01:48
JC
good for you.
00:01:49
Tom Brown
Yeah, ah which only says I've had way too much of that crap and I've developed some sort of weird immunity.
00:01:57
Tom Brown
Gonna die young.
00:01:59
JC
Yeah.
00:02:00
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:02:01
JC
I forgot which. There was a show that I did. and was in Kansas City. This was, God, it must have been like 10 years ago. But they had gotten some really terrible alcohol and you had to like take a shot like on stage of it and then try to tell your joke.
00:02:19
Tom Brown
Yeah. Jokes, yeah.
00:02:22
JC
Like it was brutal.
00:02:24
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:02:24
JC
And it was it was awful. Like you felt sick immediately after drinking it.
00:02:29
Tom Brown
ah so is it There's some sort of like East Asian liquor that that's I'm thinking of with that.
00:02:35
JC
That's probably pretty great. Like every everything from East Asia in general, especially the Southeast.
00:02:37
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:42
JC
And if it's like an island nation, it's probably awesome.
00:02:44
Tom Brown
yeah This was from an island. I think this was from an inland that made its way to a coast.
00:02:49
JC
Oh, okay. Well, then that probably sucked.
00:02:50
Tom Brown
I forget the name of it, but it it's involves like a petrified something inside of it. And it's like, this guy here is absolutely disgusting and makes Malort seem, you know, palatable.
00:03:04
JC
Hmm.
Social Media & Conspiracy Theories
00:03:05
Tom Brown
Yeah. and for And for the three people who who might might listen to this who don't know what Malort is, it's a ah Swedish liqueur made of wormwood and sadness made in Chicago.
00:03:16
JC
Yeah, I knew was from Chicago.
00:03:19
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember your first time having Lord?
00:03:24
JC
no
00:03:26
Tom Brown
Yeah, that's about right.
00:03:27
JC
yeah i mean, I've had it, but it was like one of those, like I knew it was going to be bad, and then I drank it.
00:03:34
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:03:37
JC
Oh, washed like washed some Washed the taste out with something else right afterward.
00:03:42
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:43
JC
That was about No.
00:03:43
Tom Brown
You have some sort of lighter fluid or, you know. Yeah.
00:03:46
JC
No.
00:03:48
JC
so
00:03:49
Tom Brown
So. How's St. Louis without me? I bet it's pretty great.
00:03:55
JC
It's doing all right.
00:03:57
Tom Brown
All right, good.
00:03:57
JC
well it's a You know, we got, you know, younger comics are coming out and starting to make their own shows and stuff. It's just the cycle.
00:04:12
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:04:12
JC
You know?
00:04:13
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:04:14
JC
Like, half of them will be done in a couple of years. like
00:04:18
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:04:18
JC
there'll be a couple that really stick through it and probably get pretty good. There's a there's a couple of that have a lot of potential right now.
00:04:26
Tom Brown
Oh, good. Good. Yeah. A couple preloaded questions. um Because, you know, this is a podcast ah and the the popular ones get popular because of, you know, conspiracy theories.
00:04:37
JC
Yeah.
00:04:43
Tom Brown
So I got to know what is JC's favorite conspiracy theory?
00:04:43
JC
Okay.
00:04:49
JC
Oh, I
Cultural Discussions & German Festivities
00:04:50
JC
don't really subscribe to conspiracy theory.
00:04:52
Tom Brown
Or which one you think is the dumbest, but you're like, that's my favorite because it's so fucking stupid.
00:04:58
JC
um Flat earthers are pretty dumb.
00:05:02
Tom Brown
Yeah, because, you know, planes and satellites.
00:05:11
JC
yeah I guess if i I had prepped for this, I would have had one there.
00:05:16
Tom Brown
We're doing some, I didn't even tell you the title of it because I'm slightly embarrassed.
00:05:22
JC
Yeah. The, you know, the whole thing with, like, stealing the election and all that and saying that that was this big conspiracy was, like, it felt like a confession.
00:05:35
JC
Like, we're gonna, we're gonna rig the next election is what it felt like.
00:05:35
Tom Brown
yeah
00:05:39
Tom Brown
and
00:05:39
JC
yeah
00:05:39
Tom Brown
wait I'm not saying it happened, but I'm saying it totally happened.
00:05:46
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:05:46
JC
look, just so you know, these elections can be rigged.
00:05:47
Tom Brown
Like, there's this...
00:05:50
JC
Like,
00:05:51
Tom Brown
And we're working on it very hard to do so.
00:05:54
JC
I know.
00:05:55
Tom Brown
ah There's this thing I heard where Elon just like looked at his phone like 10 o'clock at night on election night. ah Well, we won. I'm going to bed.
00:06:03
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:06:05
JC
I mean, it was pretty early.
00:06:05
Tom Brown
As I do the act out, and I'm not going to, like, post a video of this.
00:06:07
JC
They call it pretty early.
00:06:09
Tom Brown
Yeah, super early. Yeah, it's like, oh, it's over. We're going to bed now. Come along, Axe, my human shield.
00:06:15
JC
Yeah. So...
00:06:17
Tom Brown
Yeah. That's my favorite one. they're They're using their children as human shields now.
00:06:25
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:06:25
JC
Yeah.
00:06:26
Tom Brown
Yeah, like, you I always carry my my child wrapped around the back of my head. What? What? This isn't weird.
00:06:35
Tom Brown
I always take my child to work with me, strapped to my leg.
00:06:42
JC
It is weird.
00:06:43
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:06:44
JC
I've been doing
Comedy Scene Reflections & Tourist Humor
00:06:45
JC
my best to stay off of social media and
00:06:48
Tom Brown
Yeah, no. I did dump Twitter, finally, which was a hard hard thing for me, but then I realized whenever do log in, it's literally only to find a right-wing a-hole and be a troll to them.
00:07:04
JC
Yeah.
00:07:05
Tom Brown
the the irony of it all yeah no
00:07:07
JC
Yeah. I don't know. It's just not enjoyable. like not Like, it's... And, you know, like, even ah even like more progressive sides of the internet sometimes can be their own echo chamber.
00:07:23
Tom Brown
oh yeah no for sure that was my push back against yeah yeah uh i
00:07:24
JC
It's like, like we use that can we use this for something else, guys? Yeah.
00:07:32
Tom Brown
I thought we all like to share titties and beer stuff, right? That's what we started the internet with. Yeah, we got a couple of people still selling me sending me some good fit pictures of like titties and beer and inappropriate shit.
00:07:46
Tom Brown
They're holding the line.
00:07:47
JC
i think but okay so I think my favorite conspiracy theory, um Marjorie Taylor Greene talking about Jewish space lasers.
00:07:56
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah. No, for sure. That's a good one.
00:07:59
JC
like it's just
00:07:59
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:07:59
JC
It's so absurd.
00:08:01
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:08:01
JC
and also, like in my head, the sound that the laser makes is... Yeah. But...
00:08:13
Tom Brown
yeah kind of is yeah oh red the bush is on fire that's ironic it's not talking me though
00:08:21
JC
yeah but
00:08:24
Tom Brown
which is really yeah it's really weird seeing like though there is like a perfect circle right now with some on the left and the right with with the Jews with the whole thing in the Middle East that I don't want to get into but it's you know yeah yeah
00:08:36
JC
No, I think your listeners want to hear.
00:08:41
Tom Brown
Oh, shit, let's do it. Yeah.
00:08:42
JC
so
00:08:42
Tom Brown
buts Let's get into, like, what will get me canceled on episode one.
00:08:44
JC
but
00:08:46
JC
yeah let's dive into something ah highly controversial, and you know which whichever direction you go.
00:08:47
Tom Brown
But, yeah, one could possibly solve. Yeah.
00:08:54
Tom Brown
Yeah, exactly.
00:08:56
JC
the
00:08:56
Tom Brown
It's just, yeah, I, yeah, it's trying to gather my thoughts on that one ah to to speak cogently on it.
00:09:07
JC
Right.
00:09:08
Tom Brown
But then we'll obviously fail. So hard.
00:09:12
JC
yeah
00:09:12
Tom Brown
but it was just, yeah, it was just always interesting. uh, I guess the whole situation is there. It seems like everyone's a victim and everyone's a perpetrator at one point or another. And there's no, there's no good answers. There's only wrong answers. And the only one answer I know for sure isn't right is turning Gaza into a resort casino.
00:09:35
JC
right
00:09:36
Tom Brown
Yeah. I think most, most I would have liked to have think most of us would have thought that was the route not to go.
Medical Humor & Personal Stories
00:09:45
JC
Wouldn't it be it'd be wild if ah the most like it was like the most popular tourist attraction for Germans?
00:09:57
JC
like you
00:09:58
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:09:59
JC
Constantly.
00:10:01
Tom Brown
ah we kind of responsible for all this in the end ons v yeah
00:10:01
JC
but like, oh, we gotta go.
00:10:05
JC
So you have to go to the Gaza. like
00:10:08
Tom Brown
yeah
00:10:09
JC
I've got the worst German accent. like like It's like... Whenever I try to do it, I can't do it.
00:10:14
Tom Brown
um Germans have the worst German accent. that's that's the it's It's not the worst accent, but it's up there. Because no matter what you say, it's going to sound scary.
00:10:25
JC
When ah about a week ago, I was in New Braunfels, Texas, which has a ton of ah German history in Texas.
00:10:35
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:10:35
JC
It's in between.
00:10:36
Tom Brown
Little brown sounds, yeah.
00:10:38
JC
And so they... Like the lady at the theater that owned the theater, she's telling us all about New Braunfels and ah starts talking about how they have what's called the worst festival, but it's W-U-R-F-E, like the sausage.
00:10:52
Tom Brown
Oh
00:10:57
JC
And it's like 10 days, a 10 day festival of just sausage and beer.
00:11:03
Tom Brown
oh my god. i think i I think I know my next trip I need to make.
00:11:09
JC
10 days is excessive. But I was also really slap happy because I'd been driving for like 10, 11 hours.
00:11:11
Tom Brown
Oh, man.
00:11:15
Tom Brown
Yeah. St. Louis to the Tex is a long drive.
00:11:20
JC
Yeah. I'd been driving for like 10, 11 hours that day. So I was little slap happy.
00:11:23
Tom Brown
no
00:11:24
JC
So after the show, was just constantly going, we have the first festival. I just kept like doing it.
00:11:34
Tom Brown
yeah over and over again yeah it reminded me I was working on this political campaign back in the day and like the the client the candidate his his friend was in from Germany he's not German but he lives in Germany he's married to a German woman was talking about his son um ah learn toilet training.
00:11:57
Tom Brown
And, you know, the child was like, look dad, I made a vest.
00:12:02
JC
yeah
00:12:03
Tom Brown
A poop. It was a poop.
00:12:06
JC
Yeah.
00:12:07
Tom Brown
Yeah. But, you know, we've we've talked a lot about, say I know you're you're not from St. Louis originally. You're from Kansas.
00:12:13
JC
Nope. I grew
Career Changes & Comedy Influences
00:12:14
JC
up in Kansas City. Well, technically in Kansas. So Overland Park, Kansas, which is about 25-ish minutes south of Kansas City.
00:12:16
Tom Brown
Yeah. Cool.
00:12:24
Tom Brown
I see you you grew up there. what What brought you to St. Louis?
00:12:30
JC
I went on a ah football scholarship to Lindenwood University.
00:12:34
Tom Brown
Oh, home of the My Wife's alumni. yeah
00:12:37
JC
Yeah.
00:12:38
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:12:39
JC
ah The Lindenwood Lions.
00:12:39
Tom Brown
um Yeah. Yeah. Play, what is it, cornerback?
00:12:44
JC
I played corner, or I got recruited as a corner.
00:12:45
Tom Brown
right.
00:12:48
JC
Then we had a new defensive coordinator my sophomore year, and I put on 30 pounds of weight. So they moved me to outside linebacker and in the new system.
00:13:01
JC
I was a terrible linebacker. ah Then I got injured. And then by my senior year, we had another... new defensive coordinator.
00:13:13
JC
So by that point, where a few d coordinators removed, I wasn't who they recruited.
00:13:19
Tom Brown
yeah
00:13:21
JC
So I was, ah was a safety, but by that point, I was pretty much considered like a walk-on in their eyes.
00:13:30
Tom Brown
Yeah, at that point, you're who's this guy we didn't recruit him? He's here, though.
00:13:33
JC
Yeah.
00:13:34
Tom Brown
Warm body, it's NAIA, right? That's that was the level it was at the time.
00:13:37
JC
Mm-hmm.
00:13:39
Tom Brown
think they've gone to the NCAA.
00:13:41
JC
They're D1 now.
00:13:42
Tom Brown
yeah um but I'm assuming the sub-champions, they're not in the bowl stuff at all, right?
00:13:49
JC
ah They're in the Ohio Valley Conference.
00:13:51
Tom Brown
Okay, so.
00:13:52
JC
So it's not even AA. It's
00:13:54
Tom Brown
Yeah, it's... We're D1!
00:13:56
JC
it's more
00:13:58
Tom Brown
Please don't hurt us!
00:13:58
JC
they're yeah They're just not a power five.
00:14:01
Tom Brown
Yeah, okay, so they're like, so in theory, they could make it to a bowl game.
00:14:06
JC
ah Yeah, I suppose.
00:14:07
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:14:08
JC
It's highly unlikely.
00:14:10
Tom Brown
Yeah, no, I've ah followed their hockey team a little bit since they went Division I, and they are not good.
00:14:10
JC
what
00:14:16
Tom Brown
ah But of course, I don't know if you know this, my school, the Northern Michigan University, has at one time had a national championship, and now is probably worse than Lindenwood.
00:14:28
Tom Brown
and Complete, utter collapse and failure uh is what has happened there and i have a streaming subscription to watch the games because i'm just it's like well the lions are good i have to have something terrible in my life um yeah
00:14:40
JC
yeah
00:14:50
JC
That's funny.
00:14:51
Tom Brown
yeah but yes uh my condolences to your your chiefs for uh whatever yeah uh
00:14:57
JC
And my confluence is to your lions.
00:15:02
Tom Brown
That was hard. That was that was hard. I just got drunk and slowly went to bed.
00:15:04
JC
Yeah. and
00:15:08
Tom Brown
Just like, what the fuck happened?
00:15:11
JC
Yeah. ah So, ah you know, Jake Beckman here in St. Louis.
00:15:18
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah. I know Jake. Yeah.
00:15:19
JC
So he's a ah he's a huge ah Eagles fan.
00:15:23
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:15:24
JC
Yeah, he actually did drink his piss like he said he would online.
00:15:26
Tom Brown
I saw his video. He drank eight. Yeah. I mean, he didn't really drink. He immediately threw up.
00:15:33
JC
i didn't watch it.
00:15:34
Tom Brown
I don't know. Yeah.
00:15:35
JC
and just I just heard that he had posted, like, if the Eagles win, i'll I'll drink my own piss again. And everybody's like, again?
00:15:42
Tom Brown
Eight ounces piss. It was specifically eight ounces of piss. He drew a line on the cup that would be eight ounces.
00:15:47
JC
yeah
00:15:49
JC
And then I get, yeah, I was told that he really did it, but I w I was dreading going up to funny bone that week and having to deal with him.
00:15:52
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:15:57
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:15:59
JC
And he was a surprisingly classy about it. like
00:16:03
Tom Brown
Well...
00:16:04
JC
Jake is not typically a classy guy, but he was classy about it.
00:16:04
Tom Brown
oh it No, no. Well, I mean, after you've consumed your own piss in support of your own team, you can't shit talk with piss in your mouth.
00:16:14
JC
Yeah.
00:16:18
JC
It's true.
00:16:18
Tom Brown
Yeah. yeah You can't do it.
00:16:21
JC
yeah it's It's not the flex you think it is.
00:16:24
Tom Brown
Yeah, no, it's really not. Like, alllthough you you were never going see, it's like Lions and Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Lions win, I'm going to eat my own shit.
00:16:34
JC
Yeah, that'd be rough.
00:16:36
Tom Brown
Yeah. oh it's It's been rough lately back there, so yeah, it'd be even worse than most seasons.
00:16:44
JC
Oh, dude.
00:16:44
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:16:45
JC
anyway
00:16:47
Tom Brown
Sorry, just catching up. It's been a while, man.
00:16:49
JC
like why are you going to put that on the internet?
00:16:52
Tom Brown
but
00:16:54
Tom Brown
Tom Brown talks about his poop and J.C. Cibala.
00:16:58
JC
but
00:17:00
Tom Brown
Seventh caller gets my coldoscopy video.
00:17:06
Tom Brown
I did just get a ah the phone number to call to schedule my colonoscopy. So, got i got that.
00:17:11
JC
Oh, well, that's great.
00:17:13
Tom Brown
looking I got that looking forward, too. ill I'll post some stuff on my Instagram.
00:17:16
JC
Yeah.
00:17:18
Tom Brown
yeah
00:17:21
JC
Yeah, usually you only get that on your anniversary, don't you?
00:17:24
Tom Brown
ah Not even, really. Yeah. um So, I get, up you know, you're comedian. we've We've established this.
00:17:36
Tom Brown
who's Who's the comic that you saw and you're like, I i want to do i want to do that. How do I do that who's that? Who's the guy or girl? I don't care who inspired you.
00:17:48
JC
a You know what?
Comedy Special Production
00:17:52
JC
I don't even know their names. ah I was seven, like seven-ish, six, seven, when ah Comedy Central was called the Comedy Channel back then.
00:18:05
Tom Brown
Oh yeah.
00:18:05
JC
so It was, you know, 87, 88. We had just moved to Kansas City. And the reason why we moved there is to help take care of my grandma because my grandfather, ah he was terminally ill at the time.
00:18:22
JC
So we were over there a lot. And because everybody's trying to spend time with him and all that, I was just watching TV, like a lot of the time.
00:18:29
Tom Brown
What does Yuju do?
00:18:31
JC
And I was always watching the comedy channel. And I was like, memory like back then all the shows were kind of like, not necessarily like yeah TRL, but like the they were like,
00:18:44
Tom Brown
It was like
00:18:45
JC
Yeah, they were just clips of different portions of people's sets. Right. And ah or sometimes it'd be like a showcase and it would just be like five or six comedians doing 10 minutes.
00:18:57
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:19:01
Tom Brown
Yeah. Kind of like a proto premium blend.
00:19:06
JC
Yeah. But basically every show was like that back then.
00:19:09
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:19:10
JC
And there were a lot of. There's some bits that I still remember. um And I don't know who the comedians were.
00:19:21
JC
Like, so there was this guy that...
00:19:22
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:19:25
JC
that he used to have like these little signs that say this and that and then like something and nothing. They were just little signs. and they like He'd hand one out.
00:19:33
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:19:34
JC
I was like, oh, see? that like You've got nothing right now. They've got something. You guys want to switch? Of course, because you want something for nothing. That's what everybody... like he does like it He made like this whole thing.
00:19:44
Tom Brown
Yeah. A very 80s band.
00:19:46
JC
and then i also remember...
00:19:46
Tom Brown
very, yeah.
00:19:48
JC
I remember there was this one guy that had this joke that you can make everything sound perverted just with the right.
00:19:55
Tom Brown
Inflection, yeah.
00:19:56
JC
Yeah. And he was like, i can even do it with a gum commercial. And then he starts singing the juicy fruit song. It's like, get your friends fired up. Grab a stick of juicy fruit. The taste is going to move you.
00:20:08
JC
goes, take a sniff, pull it out. The taste is going to move you when you pop it in your mouth. Yeah. like
00:20:17
Tom Brown
Yeah, it's all about how you say things.
00:20:20
JC
Yeah.
00:20:20
Tom Brown
i I feel that was definitely an influence on you on a couple bits. That sounds familiar very for very much.
00:20:25
JC
Yeah. Correct.
00:20:29
Tom Brown
But yeah, you had, ah you had since we last spoke, you've had a special come out. You've put out a vanilla pino.
00:20:35
JC
Yeah.
00:20:37
Tom Brown
Am I pronouncing that right?
00:20:37
JC
yeah
00:20:39
Tom Brown
Did I write inflection?
00:20:40
JC
correct yeah
00:20:41
Tom Brown
All right, cool. how how Let's talk about that like from like, all right, I'm recording a special now. How did that... start to finish.
00:20:53
JC
Um, well, so a buddy of mine, ah he's also a comic in, I would say he more or less dabbles in doing standup, ah but he also produces a lot of shows in Southern Illinois. And i had done a couple of his shows.
00:21:13
JC
One of the other things that he does is he has ah this partnership group, this company that he has that
00:21:21
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:21:21
JC
does a lot of, I feel like they do a lot of corporate videos, but they also do like commercials and stuff like that. And ah they had shot a special for another one of his friends years ago, but they were
00:21:40
JC
they were talking with some comedians. i i don't I don't know that I'm at liberty to say who these comedians are, but they're bigger names than me.
00:21:50
Tom Brown
you know
00:21:51
JC
that had considered using them to do their next special. ah But they needed more of kind of a sizzle.
00:22:01
Tom Brown
maybe there's like a proof of concept
00:22:03
JC
Yeah. So this guy, after he got all of his ducks in a row and had all the people in the right places ah in their in their group, then he reached out to me He's like, okay, I think we're ready.
00:22:19
JC
And so then I was like, okay, ah so let's let's do it. like he And then he starts asking me what kind of you know what kind of venues I'm looking for. And I wanted to do it in Kansas City because I hadn't really done a big show in Kansas City in a long, long time. And since I'm from there, I knew I could bring more people out.
00:22:41
Tom Brown
Yeah, makes sense.
00:22:42
JC
<unk>s It's easier to bring... to get people to come out to a show if they haven't seen you perform in eight years than it is doing it in your hometown and it's just the same shit over and over again.
00:22:49
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:22:51
Tom Brown
yeah um to Yeah, I'm putting something together in a couple weeks up in my college town, and i already seem to have like a lot of momentum building towards it. so
00:23:01
JC
That's cool.
00:23:01
Tom Brown
oh So that's that's exciting.
00:23:04
JC
Yeah.
00:23:04
Tom Brown
So understand I so understand that concept.
00:23:06
JC
Mm-hmm. So I pointed... Like, he... This guy, he sent, his name's Nathan. He had sent me a couple of venues that he was looking at. And I'm like, yeah, that's not really what I'm looking for. And I kind of pointed out. And then we we stumbled across Record Bar.
00:23:25
JC
um i looked at the inside. I'm like, this is about perfect. This is the vibe that I want. Because I don't want it to look like it was at a comedy club. Because there's just so much of that.
00:23:35
Tom Brown
yeah yeah
00:23:36
JC
Right. There's just there's so much like it looks like it was done in a comedy club. All right. And so this is a even though they have comedy shows, of this place is primarily ah music venue.
00:23:49
Tom Brown
yeah those are cooler places for like comedy shows like ah like it's philomena special in my head anyway
00:23:50
JC
ah
00:23:56
JC
Yeah. So it it just had a little more character, i felt like. And it was just the the right vibe. ah They gave us a really solid deal as far as to get the room, ah fit the budget,
00:24:13
JC
um you It was kind of like everybody was helping out. You know what i mean? Like it felt like the venue was like on board with this idea of, oh, an independent special for for an up and comer.
00:24:19
Tom Brown
and
00:24:28
JC
Yeah, we'll we'll help you out. What do you need from us? we're We're all for that. yeah That was cool. All the guys that were recording, ah all the people that came out, all the audience members, like it would it felt like everybody understood the assignment.
00:24:44
Tom Brown
good that's great uh i oh good good i've watch i've i've watched it a few times i watched it uh with me jenna myself and then i was visiting my mom like hey watch this and she liked it as well so she thought you're very my mom thinks you're funny so yeah and you're happy with how everything turned out
00:24:45
JC
So. It was a really good experience.
00:24:59
JC
Awesome.
00:25:02
JC
Well, good.
00:25:07
JC
Yeah, you know what's funny is once you've kind of solidified some of that stuff,
00:25:14
Tom Brown
Yeah. Oh,
00:25:15
JC
ah Like when I go back and listen to it now, there's things I'm man, I really, I would have done this this way.
00:25:19
Tom Brown
I should have missed. Yeah.
00:25:21
JC
I wouldn't like, like I normally, i normally I tell the joke like this for whatever reason that night I slipped these words in or whatever.
00:25:22
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:25:29
Tom Brown
Yeah. And was it like ah just a single-page show, or was it a couple shows you did and just, you know...
00:25:36
JC
I just did one. Yeah,
00:25:37
Tom Brown
Oh, that makes it more impressive, actually. Because everyone those like four or five shows, and then they all
00:25:40
JC
I think.
00:25:43
Tom Brown
splice it together and oh
00:25:44
JC
Yeah. Well, I think that that really only works if you're you've got a ah like a fan base and you're a draw.
00:25:53
Tom Brown
yeah oh yeah
00:25:54
JC
and So i could have done two shows, but I would have rather have done one show in front of 130 140 people done mean?
00:26:10
JC
two shows one to like eighty and one to sixty
00:26:13
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:26:13
JC
you know what
00:26:13
Tom Brown
Or how it would turn out to be like me 65, one show 65 tops and then the next show three. Yeah.
00:26:22
JC
And so I've seen people try to split it up and I'm like, yeah, that just kind of doesn't work.
00:26:26
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:26:27
JC
Cause you just don't bring it up. you Like you're just not at a level that you can bring enough people out for it to really look like you're actually doing a special.
00:26:36
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:26:37
JC
um And then so in instead, cause I knew I was going to cut a lot out.
00:26:45
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:45
JC
ah Instead was, did a full hour but we edited it down to like 38 minutes.
00:26:56
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:26:58
JC
So I still have a lot of leftover stuff that that I still use.
00:26:58
Tom Brown
so ah
00:27:05
Tom Brown
yeah
00:27:05
JC
and has And I'm glad that I cut that out because I actually improved those jokes that got cut.
00:27:14
Tom Brown
yeah
00:27:15
JC
Right? Like, because I've attacked people
00:27:15
Tom Brown
Yeah, I know. For sure. Because, like, now, like, I don't know what your philosophy is, but my thought is if I put something, if I'm ever, i've not that I've ever put anything out there like that, but if I'm putting it out, like ah like, a special special, that old shit for me would be would be dead.
00:27:31
Tom Brown
Retired. i Like, well, this is what it's, I had this, this had its run. Now I got to come up with a whole new whatever. And, yeah, you're in that, well, you have you have a seed.
00:27:42
Tom Brown
You have, it sounds like you have a seed to start with.
From Corporate to Comedy
00:27:44
JC
yeah Yeah.
00:27:44
Tom Brown
And now, helps re rebuild the what you got.
00:27:47
JC
I've got, I've got like 30 minutes that I can do now that none of that was in the special.
00:27:52
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:27:55
Tom Brown
Cool.
00:27:56
JC
Um, but also, um It really kind of depends because it's not like it's not like it did huge numbers or anything. So it its it it would be pretty likely that I could tell a joke that was on there and I'm not going to get called out for it.
00:28:08
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:28:15
JC
You know what I
00:28:15
Tom Brown
Yeah, more more than likely, yeah. If you're like, sit here. And then there's one person, you didn't do your special vanilla pito back in October of 2024, and you're reasoned again.
00:28:23
JC
mean? Yeah.
00:28:26
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:28:28
JC
yeah it's so more it's more or less like you know now if i do a if i do a joke or if i do a set and i pull from some of the pull some jokes from that uh if i'm talking to people afterward like yeah if you really liked it go check if you if you liked my material tonight go check out vanilla pino online um
00:28:40
Tom Brown
yeah
00:28:50
Tom Brown
yeah
00:28:53
JC
you know You'll hear a lot of jokes that I didn't tell tonight. Some of them you will. Some of them you'll recognize.
00:28:57
Tom Brown
yeah
00:28:58
JC
Some of them... you know
00:29:00
Tom Brown
yeah
00:29:01
JC
so
00:29:01
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah. You but you travel seem to be on the road a lot more lately. ah ah Is this becoming your main thing?
00:29:08
JC
It is my main thing now.
00:29:09
Tom Brown
Fuck yeah, yeah motherfucker.
00:29:10
JC
Yeah.
00:29:10
Tom Brown
Hell yeah.
00:29:11
JC
I quit the day job back in October.
00:29:15
Tom Brown
Good for you.
00:29:16
JC
Thanks, man.
00:29:17
Tom Brown
Good for you, man.
00:29:18
JC
So...
00:29:18
Tom Brown
Living in the dream.
00:29:19
JC
yeah It's been going well.
00:29:21
Tom Brown
Oh, good.
00:29:22
JC
You know what I mean?
00:29:22
Tom Brown
Good.
00:29:23
JC
I mean, it's not like I'm making enough money to go get the dream house or whatever, but it's enough money to live the dream.
00:29:29
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:29:34
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:29:35
JC
You know what I mean?
00:29:35
Tom Brown
No, for sure.
00:29:36
JC
Yeah.
00:29:36
Tom Brown
That's, that's awesome. Yeah. I'm, took a job, uh, to continue doing my dream of having a roof over my head, uh, that was not standup comedy.
00:29:44
JC
Yeah.
00:29:47
Tom Brown
ah Because maybe I get paid a little bit here and there, but it's pretty few and far between. Yeah, working on it still.
00:29:53
JC
Yeah.
00:29:56
JC
Well, I mean, it's a like in my case, um you know, my wife had already kind of planted the seed of, because it was it was always kind of a trying to do both at the same time, trying to keep a career, like a ah career, like a corporate career and try to pursue a career in comedy.
00:30:14
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:30:18
Tom Brown
yeah
00:30:22
JC
couldn't really be all that good at either one of them because your attention's torn between the two.
00:30:27
Tom Brown
yeah yeah
00:30:28
JC
could You could be I could be okay at ah both of them. And, know, the kind of job I had really didn't, it wasn't the kind of, because I was in sales, so I had a monthly quota and
00:30:43
Tom Brown
yeah
00:30:45
JC
and you could use PTO to go do some traveling. I had a decent amount of PTO allotted to me, but that's also not the kind of job where you can really do PTO.
00:30:51
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:30:58
Tom Brown
Yeah. No, especially when got a quarter, you got to save your own.
00:30:59
JC
Cause whole time you're on the top of the customers.
00:31:02
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:02
JC
Like, yeah, like it's, so, ah you know, she, she had mentioned that, you know, she is doing very well in her career
00:31:02
Tom Brown
Oh, good. yeah i yeah
00:31:16
Tom Brown
ah good
00:31:17
JC
and
00:31:17
Tom Brown
And she's he's doing ah she's doing work for good like a good cause, too, if I remember correctly.
00:31:21
JC
Yes. Yes, she is.
00:31:23
Tom Brown
ah so when She's kind of on the opposite at the spectrum. She kind of goes against people who are in my profession,
00:31:31
JC
That's true.
00:31:32
Tom Brown
which I'm fine with.
00:31:34
JC
Yeah.
00:31:34
Tom Brown
There are certain bad actors and in my profession.
00:31:37
JC
She, she protects, she protects people from the shitty people in your industry, essentially.
00:31:43
Tom Brown
Yeah. Essentially. And That needs to yeah
00:31:47
JC
she doest she look She does a lot of different types of law, but that is one of the one of the areas that she practices in.
00:31:56
Tom Brown
happen. Yeah.
00:31:58
JC
Mm-hmm.
00:31:58
Tom Brown
Yeah, genuinely applaud her for that. Yeah. But there are the nice thing I do, I have talked to my current boss and about it, and there is an ah option for me to do some work from work from home stuff.
00:32:13
Tom Brown
well
00:32:13
JC
Mm-hmm.
00:32:15
Tom Brown
Travel anywhere for this. that option has been opened for me. So, yeah.
00:32:20
JC
That's cool.
00:32:22
Tom Brown
Except there was one thing I was going to do in a couple of weeks that I'm not going to do anymore. Cause like, Oh, by the way, I'm going to be in town. Oh, great. Guess I'm not doing that thing anymore.
00:32:32
JC
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:32:33
Tom Brown
Yeah. And she also mentioned that like, so I'm part of a team that's scattered throughout the country and we're coming together and a couple months for a big leadership summit, they call it.
00:32:40
JC
yeah
00:32:45
Tom Brown
And she's like, yeah, you should do stand-up for our team. i'm like, they need to sign some forms for us and say they are cool with whatever I'm going to say and not sue me or the company or cause me to lose my job.
00:32:53
JC
Yeah.
00:32:58
JC
yeah Yep. You definitely need to talk to HR.
00:33:02
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:33:03
JC
okay
00:33:03
Tom Brown
And I don't like doing that because h r sucks.
00:33:08
JC
Yep.
00:33:08
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:33:09
JC
core Corporate gigs, man. They pay well.
00:33:11
Tom Brown
Yeah. I pay very well, yes, yeah.
00:33:12
JC
a they They don't pay the soul as a comedian.
00:33:17
Tom Brown
No, no, not at all.
Merchandise & Mentorship in Comedy
00:33:18
Tom Brown
No.
00:33:18
JC
Yeah.
00:33:18
Tom Brown
No, hard no. I mean, I got a lot out of, like, having to leave leave and work on Friday night, driving two hours, showing up to what's basically a bowling alley, hanging out for a little bit, doing a half hour of comedy, getting off, waiting for the ah the headliner to come off, and then wave goodbye to everyone. Hey, please buy some merch for me. Oh, cool. I've just made another $5. That
00:33:45
Tom Brown
that
00:33:45
JC
Yeah, I've had to, I've really had to hawk merch as part of this.
00:33:49
Tom Brown
and and what are you what are you What are you selling?
00:33:53
JC
I sell t-shirts.
00:33:54
Tom Brown
Oh, man. That's T-shirts I'd like to do, but like I don't feel like I can spend the money yet for that.
00:34:01
JC
Yeah.
00:34:01
Tom Brown
um
00:34:02
JC
I sell t-shirts this that have a silhouette of a woman rearing back to slap a man. And says, my mom could whoop your dad's ass.
00:34:11
Tom Brown
Nice. I can see how that's selling well after a show.
00:34:13
JC
Yeah, and so obviously that's a joke from the special that that I kind of have to tell.
00:34:17
Tom Brown
Yes.
00:34:21
Tom Brown
Yeah. To sell some shirts. Yeah.
00:34:23
JC
But there have been honestly, there have been times that I didn't tell that joke and still sold shirts afterward because it was it if if fit enough for people.
00:34:31
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:34:37
JC
like without
00:34:38
Tom Brown
I get that shirt.
00:34:39
JC
Out of context, they liked it
00:34:40
Tom Brown
Yeah. I got, yeah. I, uh, there is one existing in the world. What's that about t-shirt that I've, uh, Designed and on one of those like t-shirt websites and got one for my wife for Christmas.
00:34:54
JC
ah Nice.
00:34:55
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:34:55
JC
yeah
00:34:56
Tom Brown
She's worn it once.
00:34:58
JC
So you you should have a t-shirt that had like a necktie t-shirt with the piano keys and then what's that about?
00:35:07
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah would yeah ah my yeah. Oh, it's so much better than every idea I've had so far. So, yeah.
00:35:15
JC
but
00:35:15
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:35:18
Tom Brown
Yeah, so we don't need to provide the listeners of this with any context. Just look up a YouTube clip of me. and Come on.
00:35:27
Tom Brown
Yeah, let's see here.
00:35:27
JC
So,
00:35:30
Tom Brown
um ah Do you consider anyone to be like your comedy mentor? Someone who's like kind of shown you the ropes and guided you along the way?
00:35:39
JC
um, her I would, I've had a lot of people that have given me nuggets of information like along the way.
00:35:52
JC
Um, you know, people that I found really helpful early on in my career were some of the veterans of the St. Louis comedy scene, like Dan Chopin or O'Sullivan, who I think have both retired from comedy.
00:36:05
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:09
JC
um You know, lately I've been touring with Ben Bailey ah from Cash Cab. And...
00:36:21
JC
He's a, I look at it more like an internship. I was just telling Kendall this, my wife, Kendall. ah but I was looking at, you know, getting to be the traveling opener with somebody and for them to take you around other cities and stuff and get you gigs.
00:36:37
Tom Brown
Yeah
00:36:43
JC
You know, I look at it like a, like a paid internship, like an apprenticeship where,
00:36:43
Tom Brown
Yeah Yeah
00:36:49
Tom Brown
yeah
00:36:50
JC
you know, you're learning little things about how, you know, so there's a lot of venues that don't even read writers in a contract or ah like I found out this past weekend is a some like, especially if it's like a theater,
00:36:59
Tom Brown
yeah
00:37:10
JC
um some venues, if you want to sell merch that has to already be negotiated into the contract,
00:37:18
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:37:19
JC
And the theater takes a cut of the merch sales.
00:37:23
Tom Brown
Oh.
00:37:24
JC
ah This particular theater this past weekend in Omaha, they didn't do that.
00:37:29
Tom Brown
Oh, good.
00:37:30
JC
They didn't. They didn't. take In fact, they actually gave me somebody there at the merch table to help out if I needed it.
00:37:37
Tom Brown
Oh, nice. That's great.
00:37:38
JC
and
00:37:39
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:37:39
JC
It was really cool.
00:37:41
Tom Brown
Yeah. Because, like, that's, I mean, i know what features can make on the road, and it's not a whole lot. So, like,
00:37:47
JC
Right.
00:37:48
Tom Brown
Merch can be, you know, like I said, I sold five bucks worth of stickers and pins and crap um this last Friday. I'm like, all right, you know what? It was $5 more than what I had, ah but, you know, help pay for a third of my McDonald's order on the way home.
00:38:07
Tom Brown
So, yeah.
00:38:07
JC
So, but, uh, yeah, I can't say that there's been any one person that is like truly like, um, like has been an active mentor.
00:38:22
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:38:22
JC
Like there've been people that I've worked with and for that weekend, they were giving me a lot of really good advice.
00:38:29
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:38:31
JC
Right. Um, But not somebody that like, you know, just over the years has like checked in on me or anything like, you know what I mean?
00:38:39
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:38:42
Tom Brown
Yeah, I mean, personally, I don't because I don't have anyone like that in my life, but I was seeing if you did.
00:38:49
Tom Brown
was other other podcasts like oh this guy was a mentor to me like oh that that's cool you had one of those yeah I mean I've got i mean much like I've got like a little bit drips and drabs of advice some of it good a lot of it bad through the years the biggest one I hold on to is like you do your second best joke at the front your best joke at the back and that's your closer that's kind of how I try to set my shit up half the time so that's
00:39:14
JC
Mm-hmm. Yep. yeah
00:39:17
Tom Brown
best advice I get only of a mother few things. I get asked for advice a lot myself, which is weird because I don't think I'm like, I should be a guy handing out advice to comics.
00:39:28
Tom Brown
It's almost 10 years in and I do a little bit of feature work here and there. Clubs are practically, might as well not be existent in my, in my, where I am right now with how things are going. I've done club work. It's just been a really long time ago and they're all,
00:39:45
Tom Brown
Anyone who has hired me club-wise is closed.
00:39:50
JC
Yeah.
00:39:51
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:39:51
JC
Yeah.
00:39:52
Tom Brown
I don't like to think I'm cursed. I'm just, you know, unlucky. ah But ah the I used to get, like, there's, ah it was really, i think back on it now, there's some guys in the St. Louis scene who, like, I started around the same time as who would, like, come to me for advice.
00:40:09
Tom Brown
I don't know what the hell I said to them, but they're doing well now. ah Obviously, I should have listened to myself
00:40:16
JC
yeah
00:40:16
Tom Brown
A little bit more because they are maybe like, oh, Tom told you that. Forget all that. Someone told him that like Tom said that. No, no, no. That's stupid. That's just. Yeah. He seems like he could tell like a good joke, but he's not going anywhere.
00:40:30
JC
When I first started getting bookings as an MC on the road, instead of asking people for advice, because like everybody does that.
00:40:44
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:44
JC
And when you ask that, a lot of times you get canned answers because they've had to answer that question so many times.
00:40:49
Tom Brown
Hell yeah. oh yeah
00:40:52
Tom Brown
That's
00:40:53
JC
Instead, what I started asking people was like, and when You know, when were coming up in comedy, what was the best advice someone ever gave you?
00:41:05
JC
And that ah totally put it in a different perspective and in their mind. It's like, oh, somebody gave me this advice and that has really stuck with me through the years.
00:41:15
Tom Brown
that's a good that's a good question. i they'll ask that's That's a smart question to ask.
00:41:19
JC
Mm-hmm.
00:41:19
Tom Brown
Um, I, uh, I was doing, uh, uh, I've never been asked by my, the university, I want you to come back and do standup, but they did ask me to come back and teach a class in standup.
00:41:32
JC
All right.
00:41:32
Tom Brown
ah Yeah. And someone asked me, it was a question about like, uh, how do you find like agents and managers and all that that sort of thing? And you're like, when you find out the answer to that, please tell me because I'm trying to figure that out too.
00:41:48
Tom Brown
it's like ah is a It felt like a gotcha question. like That's the the way it ended up. it was I think it was heartfelt. you know actually cause This person who asked it was a mentor to me at one point of my life.
00:42:02
Tom Brown
and just like
00:42:02
JC
Mm-hmm.
00:42:04
Tom Brown
As soon as I figure that out, I will tell you. got to figure that out myself. I still don't have the answer to that. ah i I got the the thing with Bar Comedy because I did World Series of Comedy and
00:42:17
JC
hu
00:42:18
Tom Brown
Jeremy's a ah ah judge for it. I just got off stage and by the time I pulled my phone out of my pocket, I had a text from him.
Print Design Challenges
00:42:26
Tom Brown
Hey, do you want to do like, you know, work in the, you know, one nighters? I'm like, yes, I do.
00:42:34
Tom Brown
And then it took like eight months to get booked on one, but yeah.
00:42:37
JC
Yeah.
00:42:40
Tom Brown
But that, yeah, sometimes um been waiting for things to happen organically, I guess.
00:42:40
JC
Yeah. I met him briefly.
00:42:45
JC
Yeah. I met him briefly.
00:42:47
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:42:47
JC
um The MC c that week, I don't know if he was trying to throw shade, but it felt like he was throwing shade at me.
00:42:59
Tom Brown
Oh, that's awkward. Oh,
00:43:01
JC
In the moment I got there.
00:43:03
Tom Brown
yeah so wow.
00:43:05
JC
I was like... i don't know who the fuck you think you are, dude. Hmm.
00:43:09
Tom Brown
Yeah, that's super weird. i So yeah, I was like the MC and feature for this show. So there was no one to throw shade at me. And other than I guess the headliner and he was pretty cool. So so that worked out pretty good. One, two,
00:43:27
Tom Brown
So in the spirit of what's that about, um what is something that you feel you are an expert on and mansplain it to me like I have no clue what it is?
00:43:42
JC
ah
00:43:46
JC
hey You want to talk about ah how copiers work, how printing works?
00:43:52
Tom Brown
Yeah, let's talk about Predators.
00:43:52
JC
Yeah.
00:43:53
Tom Brown
Yeah, let's do this. I know enough to get me in trouble. And mostly i've get mostly yelled at a various copy every machine representatives in the last few months, at least, because it wouldn't help me.
00:44:08
JC
yeah um Okay, so when it comes to like the print industry, ah I think what a lot of people don't understand is like when they want to like take something that they designed on their computer or on their phone or whatever, and then they want to take it somewhere to get it printed, there's a lot of times they don't understand that what it looks like on the screen isn't necessarily what it's going to look like on printed paper.
00:44:38
Tom Brown
Oh, yeah.
00:44:39
JC
because there's so many different factors that go into into that.
00:44:44
Tom Brown
Oh, for sure.
00:44:44
JC
And then, you know, one of them being the quality of the actual artwork itself.
00:44:52
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:44:53
JC
So a lot of times people will get, i guess the the biggest one i would say would be resolution. Okay. So people that like will sometimes take some artwork and import it into Photoshop and then jack up the resolution to be like 3600 by 3600 or something like that.
00:45:15
JC
Right? And they're like, well, how come I can't make this thing any bigger? Why does it look, um why does it look all pixelated when we try to print it out?
00:45:25
Tom Brown
why like a zilin my Why does it look like my dad took out Xerox, scanned it onto the internet, and then printed it again and scanned it and put it on the internet?
00:45:25
JC
and
00:45:35
JC
So resolution is probably the one that people mess up all the time. It's like, that's great that it has, you know, this many pixels per inch on your file.
00:45:38
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:45:45
JC
And yeah, that's way more than it needs to be. Right. But, but you're trying to take something the size of a business card. The actual artwork is the size of a business card. So it doesn't matter what the,
00:46:02
JC
resolution is if you're trying to put it out to like 18 by 12 you're still gonna you're still yeah
00:46:05
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:46:08
Tom Brown
Yeah, it's gonna stretch the whole thing out and make it look goofy as fuck.
Political Campaign Experiences
00:46:12
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:46:13
JC
so um i think that's kind of the the biggest one with that because garbage in is garbage out much like anything when it comes manufacturing so
00:46:20
Tom Brown
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:46:25
Tom Brown
Or podcast.
00:46:27
JC
Or podcasts. People who are like, well, we'll just fix it in post.
00:46:30
Tom Brown
Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. Yeah. I mean, want to listen back to this.
00:46:34
JC
yeah
00:46:35
Tom Brown
Hopefully I'll post it. We'll we'll see. if it If I'm like, I don't know. Maybe. We'll see. Hopefully by the end of the week. By of the week.
00:46:45
JC
so But I see that all the time, especially with people that ah like comics that are putting flyers out. That's kind of the only time I see it now where that used to be.
00:46:54
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:46:55
JC
I was in that business.
00:46:56
Tom Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:46:57
JC
Right. ah Not only did I like I sold the machines, for I sold Xerox.
00:47:01
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:47:02
JC
And then I actually worked for a commercial printer for about a year. And then I sold a Xerox competitor with Kanaka Minolta. And i I worked for them for like five years and I was selling production equipment.
00:47:16
JC
So all the little things like. that the people don't even realize, like there's a lot of people who don't realize that no machine will print all the way to the edge of paper.
00:47:29
Tom Brown
oh no no there's got to be able grab onto something i'm assuming yeah oh yeah
00:47:30
JC
So
00:47:34
JC
yeah, so there's always that little white border. And so people are like, well, how does it, it was like, well, you print it on paper that's bigger than what your finished product is.
00:47:44
JC
You make the artwork go outside of those bounds and then you cut it.
00:47:45
Tom Brown
And then get it.
00:47:48
Tom Brown
Yeah. I used to work on political campaigns, so I worked up made a lot of lawn signs. So, yeah.
00:47:55
JC
Mm. No?
00:47:57
Tom Brown
or add order lot So I get it. i get it. had to be in a certain thing.
00:48:00
JC
Well.
00:48:02
Tom Brown
Vote for Ed.
00:48:04
JC
Well.
00:48:05
Tom Brown
Actually, one was, like, it just said, vote for Ed.
00:48:08
JC
well
00:48:09
Tom Brown
Yeah. we We lost that one. Buy a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. Like, and embarrassing a lot.
00:48:18
JC
well
00:48:19
Tom Brown
Like, we should have done better, but we did worse.
Tour Dates & Past Performance Reflections
00:48:26
JC
The fix was in. Damn.
00:48:27
Tom Brown
Yeah. It was a bad year. It was 2014. It was my last year I worked on campaigns. like, you know what? I'm done with this. but We're done. um i don't I don't need this anymore. It's too much stress, not enough money. I have gone way into too much debt for this.
00:48:41
Tom Brown
Yeah. i yeah I somehow did so bad. ah that year with expenses that the government, I paid nothing in for taxes and I still got a refund.
00:48:54
Tom Brown
Yeah.
00:48:55
JC
yeah
00:48:55
Tom Brown
Actually, that's thanks to Obamacare.
00:48:59
Tom Brown
I didn't use the full stipend or whatever for my my policy I had. and I paid a little bit into it on top. And so like, I think there was like a chunk of money, like, well, you get this.
00:49:10
JC
Hmm.
00:49:11
Tom Brown
You've made negative money. You need this more than we do.
00:49:14
JC
Hmm. That's funny. Yeah.
00:49:17
Tom Brown
no But yeah, ah so hey, thanks so much for coming on with me tonight.
00:49:22
JC
Yeah.
00:49:23
Tom Brown
I know it's a little bit late. on it You just got off the road.
00:49:25
JC
know
00:49:25
Tom Brown
um but like I said, I'm going to try to have this posted by the end of the week, which is February 21st. ah what what You got any dates coming up that you should think people should know about?
00:49:40
JC
um Let's see, I'll be in Bristol, Tennessee next weekend.
00:49:46
Tom Brown
Yeehaw!
00:49:47
JC
Yeah.
00:49:47
Tom Brown
of the the little tiny restrictor ah yeah
00:49:48
JC
I didn't realize how far away it was. Hold on.
00:49:56
JC
Yeah, everything that I got coming up is pretty much local and and or um they're like private shows, like corporate events right now.
00:50:06
Tom Brown
ah
00:50:08
JC
But like i'm I'm booked up right now through the end of March. And then in July, I've got a lot of dates and then I've got got stuff sprinkled out April, May and June.
00:50:20
Tom Brown
but
00:50:24
Tom Brown
Let me know if you're ever in Michigan. All right.
00:50:27
JC
Will do, man. I need to make a trip up there.
00:50:30
Tom Brown
Yeah, it's beautiful. Not right now.
00:50:33
JC
Yeah, I don't want to go when it's cold.
00:50:34
Tom Brown
Yeah, it's it was nothing but lake effect snow all day long, and it's like 10 degrees. Yeah. And um by the way, I'm still here for it.
00:50:42
JC
Damn.
00:50:44
Tom Brown
Still totally here for it. After like 15 years of St. Louis summer, i am like totally on board with this.
00:50:51
JC
That's cool, man.
00:50:53
Tom Brown
Though Jen is like, okay, if we don't go to the beach every day this summer, we're out.
00:51:01
JC
that's cool