Transcript
Speaker: So what's up? did just waking up man
Speaker: so the nice thing about being on the west coast you just kind of like you know we're always kind of we always kind of sleep in late you know we wake up we're like hey what's the rest of the nation
Speaker: By the way, speaking of consuming material, I've been doing the three o'clocky thing. Oh, you get three. You're at restricted feeding? I have. How's it going? I have. You know what it it um I have seen i have seen ah encouraging results, which i haven't which I haven't before. So right now I'm kind of easing into it.
Speaker: like yeah if i if If I have the opportunity to do it, then I do it. Right. And then if i if I don't, like let's say if there's a lunch or something like that, then I'll choose. Like yesterday, I had a kale salad.
Speaker: which by the way Which, by the way, for listeners at home, just want to let everybody know that everything worked out okay. I was a little concerned that you know eating a full, very, very large bowl of kale might surprise my lower GI, but it didn't.
Speaker: It was like... My body was like, excuse me, what is this delicious and wonderful thing that you're putting into your body? delicious? Was it delicious and wonderful? Oh, man, it was so good. Really? Yeah. Had a dressing on it and everything. Oh, yeah. It was kale and quinoa with minced- Quinoa. Oh, excuse me.
Speaker: Excuse me. It's quinoa. Excuse me. Yeah. Excuse me. a cultured foodie. Sheesh. What did say? Quinoa? what did i say kenwa Quinoa. You know, I got me some quinoa in my salad and I was healthy.
Speaker: i like to eat healthy every once while, so I get me some quinoa and put it on my plate.
Speaker: It is good. It is good. No, but it was... And it's good for you. Really good for that's what i'm saying. It was like delicious. So, um you know, enough banter.
Speaker: and enough Enough chit-chat, Rush. Like... Let's get down to business.
Speaker: I think this is exciting today because this is a guy that is from the town i live in, in Ohio. Oh, serious? And yes. So we don't normally get very many because it's hard to find people out in real the real world that want to do this. Yeah, because people, in general i in general, I have found when I walk up and I'm like,
Speaker: Hi, I'm Joe, my buddy Russian. We have this podcast. There's got like this stranger danger type look that that happens, you know. Off-putting. Charming. Charming. ah Yeah, winsome.
Speaker: But off-putting. A little bit. So anyway. This is a guy, and but still, the rules apply. I really don't know anything about this guy. I know just a little bit. So I've had very minor interaction with him around town, and but then I somehow connected, I don't know, through the algorithm or something on LinkedIn, and I can see just a little bit of the stuff that he does. So he likes to do stand-up comedy,
Speaker: I do like these some stand-up comedy. I do too. He's a big Seinfeld fan. Golly. Which, it makes sense. Sure. Seems like he would call himself maybe a Seinfeld authority.
Speaker: And then he also really likes to, and maybe this is part of what his job might be. I'm not sure. He likes to um coach people. In particular, I think, rabbis.
Speaker: on how to communicate to their congregations in their sermons. So. That sounds incredibly interesting. It is.
Speaker: That's Daniel. Daniel Steinberg. So, yeah. And and again, I think this is this is kind of how connections get made. you you You either interact or you're in the same space, whether that be digitally or around the neighborhood.
Speaker: And then there becomes ah there becomes like a connecting point at at some place where correct you're able to do that. And I think we're exploring kind of what it means to connect with strangers in a post-COVID world.
Speaker: and Absolutely. and the one of the things that was interesting, actually read an article about some of the implications of relationships in terms of COVID and those things that they actually, this research that i was reading was saying that the the casual interactions was was essentially lost.
Speaker: Just the the same person that you see in the ah the grocery store checkout line, the the The guy who works in the convenience store, the the people who are like if you're a ah student, the the students that are that are kind of in the cafeteria at the same time that you are that you just say hello to or you acknowledge that that that they're there and maybe say hello or kind of have a common conversation.
Speaker: a common thing like, oh, hey, we both go to the same gym and we use the same kind of equipment or we like the you know we walk in at the same time and get smoothies or whatever.
Speaker: that That those kinds of interactions the have been essentially um were lost during COVID and that And that picking that back up again has been has been slower than anticipated. Like people aren't saying, oh yeah, i can see yeah let's hang out whatever. Here's another fascinating thing. Tell me. Is that I've realized that...
Speaker: is that tell me is that i've i've realized i've realized that
Speaker: you know when When we're recording this, that I've started to think about Halloween in particular, and that Halloween is really the last remaining social event where it's not only acceptable, but welcomed that you can walk to all of your neighbor's houses and knock on their door and say hello.
Speaker: Isn't that fascinating? That is fascinating. Again, there's there's a lot of people that have a lot of different thoughts about Halloween, and and certainly there's some really kind of dark parts of those things that you have to be wise about. sure And in some ways, Halloween's also jumped the shark too, a little bit.
Speaker: but it's but apart from Did you just say jumped the shark? Yeah, jumped the shark. What does that mean? Seriously. I've never heard anybody say that. No, I've never heard anybody say that before. Oh, yeah. Jump the shark. Yeah, go ahead. I know you're Googling it right now because I can see. I'm going to Google One, because this is one of the many reasons why I deeply enjoy and love you is because of this little thing that happens.
Speaker: You say something that you don't know where it goes, and then all of a sudden it just like connects in. Oh, look it. Hey, Daniel's coming in. i There he is. Look it here. Daniel.
Speaker: Let's see. let's Let's see if we can get you connected in here, man.
Speaker: Good. Oh.
Speaker: Yeah. If you use headphones, like some of the basic Apple headphones are great. That'll
Speaker: really improve our audio. Yes. and We were just. I don't think it matters because it's going to record everything actually on your computer and then it's going to pull it off. So just as long as it's got a good, you know, connection to your computer.
Speaker: So I think wired headphones are great.
Speaker: Are you there?
Speaker: Not to not to get this off on the
Speaker: We can hear you now. We're good. Okay, good. Perfect. We're good, and ah and and we're recording, so we can just talk together. We're grateful that you have given this time to us. We were just talking before you came on ah just a little bit about how um it's it's a little unusual for us to have somebody on our podcast from the town we live in, because obviously we live in the same town in Ohio. sure A lot of times people that we meet out in public are not super excited ah with about this idea. It's kind of frightful to get on with strangers and just talk about life. And so it's really great to have somebody that we have met out in the real world.
Speaker: and And at the same time, i you know I really know very little about you. You probably know very little about me and Joe knows nothing about either of us.
Speaker: Why you give me a little bit of a snapshot as to what life is for you, Daniel? How would you, if I was somebody, well, literally I am a stranger, but if you're trying to describe to somebody, what, what is it like to be Daniel? How do you, how do you describe that to people?
Speaker: Oh man, it depends on the day that you ask. Cause it's true a lot of different things going on, but we, ah we just had a ah four month old baby, baby girl.
Speaker: Oh, congratulations. Thank you very much. and that Hold for applause. Hold for applause. Yeah, that's ah that's been consuming a lot of my, you know, if you ask, you know, what's going on today, you know, we're changing diapers, we're sleep training, we're we're doing a lot. And that's just really consumed a lot of my ah my life for the past four months.
Speaker: um And it's, it's, different because it's the first one to come down the pike in 11 years. So, uh, so we went through this, my oldest is 20 and we went through this already, you know, four times.
Speaker: Uh, so the youngest span to young from youngest oldest is 20 years. so So, you know, we were we were on the conveyor belt towards grandparenthood. Wow, yeah. We just reset the clock.
Speaker: So that's becoming like identity is, you know, kind of thrown back into fatherhood again. that That's probably like first and foremost my identity right now. So do you do you notice big differences between your ah you know last child and all of those things, the sleep issues and you know just the energy it takes to raise a baby? And now just being older, being a different stage of life, is that different?
Speaker: It's definitely different. I blocked a lot of it out. You know, I don't really remember a lot of it. It was, you know, those sleepless nights and those, you just forget it. But we went through it four times already, and this the fifth time already. And, you know, definitely less energy than I used to have. That's for sure. But also the wisdom that comes with, you having been through it bunch of times, you don't get so scared every time the baby's crying that, like, you know, maybe something's wrong. really wrong or exactly yeah yeah exactly the benefit of that wisdom so um there's less there's less anxiety there's just but there's also less energy
Speaker: Yeah. That's a really great way to describe it. Yeah. Because yeah, you know, for those of us, for those of us who have children, the first one, it was like, you know, how do you put them? You know, i remember driving out of the hospital and with the car seat in the back and just terriff terrified, you know? Yeah. And then, you know, and then after a while, after a while, you kind of pile them, pile them all in the backseat and, you know, just make sure they have their seatbelt on, you know?
Speaker: Right. Like you feel like in the beginning you're carrying like, like, like a raw egg, you know, like like what's, yeah. like like yeah I walk too close to the wall, you know, it's, it's going to crack, but now it's, you know, you're right. Just throw them back in the backseat of the van and, you know, let them sit on each other's laps, no seatbelts. That's right. That's right. That's right.
Speaker: How long, so give us, give us a sad side. So how long, how long have you been married and how long have you lived in this neighborhood that, uh, and the general city that you are where Rush lives?
Speaker: So we just celebrated our 21st anniversary this past summer. Congrats. Yeah, which is ah is amazing. My parents got divorced when I was seven, so I always joke that you know you make get it to eight, I'd consider us a success. you know Even when we got divorced you know eight years in a day.
Speaker: we've been around the track three more times than my my folks have. um And it's great. It's it's it's wonderful. we've We've been married 21 years and we've been in Ohio for fifteen almost of those.
Speaker: so so yeah So I was telling Joe i was telling joe earlier ah ah just the the few things I've observed about you um you know online. And ah the three things I mentioned, which are fascinating, and we really want to hear how they work together, is that you are a big Seinfeld fan.
Speaker: I've watched a ton of Seinfeld in high school and college. yeah In fact, every night I had a little TV with ah with a VCR a recorder built into it with a timer and it would record, I'm embarrassed to say this, it it it would record Seinfeld and it would record Mad About You. That's funny. And when I came home, I would watch both of those. Back when I came to my dorm room, I would watch both of those. So if that tells you anything about what my college experience was like. but you are probably like an authority on Seinfeld and you do standup comedy and you consult with um public speakers, rabbis, others on how they can communicate. And so how we are really interested to hear how that works together and how that became part of your life.
Speaker: Sure. Well, when, when we talk about Seinfeld, just to clarify, I, I'm, I draw a distinction between the show, which was amazing. I love the show. Uh, but I, I don't really watch the more, so so much more, and I don't really have a strong recollection of, except for the the famous episodes.
Speaker: But, uh, for me, it's, it's Seinfeld as a, as a comic. It's the, it's the approach to the joke writing, the craft, the discipline. Uh, that's what's really, really, um, uh,
Speaker: you know, in coursing through my my blood. um You know, when I would do stand-up comedy, which, you know, i'll tell you about that I used to been doing off and on since I was 18. You know, so what I would do is I'd listen to him before I'd write. I'd listen to him before I perform.
Speaker: he he was kind of like this invisible mentor of mine. And there's a certain rhythm and certain things that he stands for that that I picked up on and, and, and,
Speaker: again, from afar, this this kind of invisible mentor that I've been able to really, really ah absorb his is style. And it' it's not it's not the same style of joke, per se. I wouldn't say it's, you know, my my jokes are not necessarily observational like like his are. But there's a certain approach, certain angle that you that he comes from that that I find is very interesting it's like over and out and in and upside down and left and right, taking an angle apart from, taking taking something apart from all different angles. I think he describes it as like a drone. You know, you have a drone just kind of circling around something. So you take you take ah ah a subject that seems somewhat kind of funny, and then you come up with a lot of different angles of how to approach it. And you try to find the one that's,
Speaker: least intuitive, the least one that people will see coming so you can maintain that misdirection. ah And then what I love about him also is his wordplay. You know, he's really, really that wordplay. I'm trying to think of an example.
Speaker: um he has one of his very earliest jokes. Um, doesn't, he doesn't do it anymore, but he talks about how, how this was one of his first jokes and he's left handed. So he always used to say about how, um, you know, left people always use left and in, in, in a pejorative and negative type of term, you know, like, like, uh, he says, you you know, um, you know, uh, I forget what, what, what he says. He's, The the upshot of his punchline was like, yeah you know where'd everybody go? you know They left. You ever see a criminal? Left right right you're right there's nothing there's left is always is is a negative term. But it's funny, he he picks up on these little nuances in the English language, and i love them because there's so many of them. And ah and the origin of that, I think, is from from George Carlin. I think that's where he gets that from.
Speaker: among other places. but But that's something that I really, once you start to notice the nuances and idiosyncrasies of English language, you can pick them up out of anywhere. So I find myself, sometimes I would write jokes and I would say, you know, he would have loved this. you know If he would have heard this, he would have loved it. I had this joke about that the fitting room. You go into the fitting room you know and it's and how women, whenever they come home, they buy something in the store. As soon as they come home, you know it doesn't fit anymore. you know you know I don't wear that anymore. it doesn't fit. and it's like We just bought it an hour ago. It fit in the fitting room. it's like That's why it's called the fitting room. It's the place clothes ever fit you know once you get out of the fitting room.
Speaker: you know So those kinds of things, you know those those little you know nuances of why would it be called that? it's just so So I love that. and And it's just a very comedic type of, ah I guess, a lens to look through the world in. And I love it. And I love everything that he, the discipline, you know as soon as the show was over, he went straight back you know throughout his whole act and did you know the most the most basic minimalist type of thing, which is just you know stand up in a crowd by yourself in front of people and entertain them. And I think I just just love that. I just love love love all everything about that.
Speaker: So that's Seinfeld. Do you like Seinfeld, Joe? What is it about? Oh, yeah. ah Me, personally? Oh, yeah. Do you like Seinfeld? actually do, as a matter of fact. is this I'll listen to um one of my... I have i have like a top five audiobooks, and one of them is Is This Anything? Because yeah Jerry actually reads he actually reads them. And it's a it's a very, very unique book in that there's no real narrative. it's just It's just the material. And you really enjoy it. i I'm interested. If you listen to that book on Audible, if you listen to that for like, I know it's like a six hour book or something, you listen to that, yeah you will start looking at the world like he looks at the world.
Speaker: you'll just You'll just start getting that voice, that that idea will kind of roll around in your head. So that's what I would do before a writing session. I would i would just listen to like that that Audible book and listen to 40 years worth of his jokes. And you just start, you look at everything. You're like, you know what's going on with that? you know like you just You just start to look at the world with those eyes.
Speaker: So it's interesting to me, Daniel, because I, again, thinking about standup comedy and I mean, I just, I'm, I'm captivated by it. I think it's a, think it's a very, very unique art form. And, and I full disclosure, I think the, the, the pure craft of being able to tell a joke without, um,
Speaker: profanity or gratuitous sexuality or those kinds of things, which to me, sure to me you can, you can, yeah. Yes, Daniel, exactly.
Speaker: It's just, it's a, it's a, it's it's too easy of a, of a laugh or something to have somebody giggle. But the craft of being able to storytell and to connect in a way with a group of people that brings joy is um is is a ah a really wonderful and, um yeah, I enjoy the craft of the craft of stand-up comedy and listening to comics think about how they craft. Because what you've defined, and I want to ask this question about you, is that when you think about –
Speaker: how you think about the world and that shapes the comedy. How would you describe Daniel, when you're crafting, what is the, what is your particular voice, right? Every comic has a vantage point or they have a, they have a way in which that they are a, how they drive the drone around the, around the area of which they're looking. What is it for you that shapes ah kind of an interest in the world where you find contrast or comedy?
Speaker: What is it for you that that you bring to the table in your own voice? Yeah, good question. that Yeah, really good question, Joe. That's ah a great question. And it changes, it evolves over the years. you know In the beginning when you're first doing it, you just you just want to be able to make people laugh. like That that's to you know that that is such a hard thing to do to begin with.
Speaker: ah you know not necessarily informally, but I'm saying on a stage when people are expecting you to make them laugh and they're they're standing with their food with their arms folded over and saying, okay, well you know show me what you got. Just to be able to be able to produce a laugh on demand is very hard.
Speaker: So in the early years, there is really no persona you You just try everything you can and whatever it sticks and you start to build off of that. As I matured over the years, you know, I look back on jokes and then I would, they got laughs, but I'd never do anymore because they just, they're incongruous. They don't they don't really fit who I am as ah as a person.
Speaker: um and ah And sometimes they're they're unsophisticated. ah i like to do a lot of humor about my ah experience, my life experience.
Speaker: so And I don't mean my past experience. I mean what I'm going through currently. So if I'm raising kids, it's a lot about family road trips. It's a lot about you know spats with with your spouse. it's ah It's stuff about the Midwest. It's stuff about...
Speaker: um you know, ah growing older, those types of things, little little things that you didn't expect. Those kinds of things I really like to joke about. And underlying it all, and I don't think I ever would have been able to put my finger on this, but I heard an interview with a a comedy writer. i forget what her name was, but she said that that all comedy really is is it's it's justice.
Speaker: that that That's what you're trying to achieve. it's not very, it's not articulated very well. I don't think many people are conscious of it, but what it is is that, is that there's something that's not right. Something that is just, just is, it shouldn't be the way it is.
Speaker: And the way that a comic deals with it is to kind of like Rapunzel to kind of spin it into gold and say like, okay, well it's not right, but in a perfect world, this is how it could be. Or I'm going to kind of shake my fist against it until and and have people laugh at it. And it's it's the pathos. it's the It's the pathos of it that that you're you're stuck in a world where ah you know there's things that irritate you, things that are not right, things that shouldn't be this way, not fair. And you just you thumb your nose at it and you find a way to to deal with it. Whereas ah other people just get frustrated and upset and you know might might you know cut people off or do other things. like yeah We you try to spin it into gold.
Speaker: uh, and it's a nice outlet. It's good outlet. It's, it's socially redeemable. And, uh, growing up when I was growing up, I loved to listen to Gallagher.
Speaker: Did you, uh, did you watch Gallagher? Yeah. when you to listen It's kind of funny because he's not really a comic you listen to as much as you watch. No, he's, he's really, yeah yeah. You watch him. And, um, but in terms of kind of the logic of things now, so, so Joe likes to say that I,
Speaker: I'm the straight man. I think it's important because I have a lot of process questions. So let me ask you couple of process questions that are coming to mind. And they're uniquely interesting to me and to Joe because we do a fair amount of public... All of our listeners just shut off the podcast. I'm just saying, here's Rush's podcast. Here's his process section now.
Speaker: So tell me, do you alphabetize all of your jokes and file them or do you scan it first and then file them? But you see what happened here? Do you see what just We're a great match.
Speaker: No, no, no, no. Go ahead and ask your question because the four people who are listening right now. Yeah, Joe joe laughs at my expense and I let him. That's why it works. refer forris is a oh This is about Daniel. This is good because this is going to help all of us. So we do a fair amount of public speaking. And one of the challenges is to ah connect with the audience. And the audience is always a little different. So there's a kind of skill in the midst of presenting what you have to give them of ah being able to connect and evaluate them. And so I would like for you to take us kind of into when you do stand up,
Speaker: take us into the room and what is it like for you and what's your experience of engaging with the audience? Maybe what the audience is like, where is this happening? i would love to hear more about of how that works for you. Cause it, that part of, you know, like standup stuff is really not very familiar to me.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, there's this, this part of, at i at least this is my experience. I don't know if it's every comics experience, but, but you're conscious constantly being introduced to new audiences of strangers all the time.
Speaker: And so it's it's ah there's that this this moment, and and when you're starting out, it's ah the moment is much longer. it's It's moments, and sometimes it can even last up to half an hour where you're just like, I don't know if I can do this. like I don't know if I can get through to these people. I mean, the how am I going to...
Speaker: look at a group of of assembled strangers and somehow bring them into cohesive unit and and bring them all into my world and have them laugh and trust me and and and follow my lead. And it's it's it's like walking on thin ice. You know, you just you just don't know how it has such a thing is possible.
Speaker: And ah and and yeah it never really goes away, at least for me. But when you walk into a you You walk on stage, you feel there's there's this like us, versus me versus them. And you feel that. And you and you just like, and and and it's it's like this little, it's like a heart palpitation. And you have to try to not let it get the best of you. And then comes in the confidence from the reps and the experience knowing that, well, okay, I know I can do this. Like, but, but there's, there's always that moment. They're like, I don't know if do this, but yeah it's, it, it never really goes away because it's, it's a frightening, frightening thing. So like you're, you're walking on, don't know if saw a documentary about the guy who walked across the twin towers with the tight rope. what mean? That's what it feels like. You know, you're like, die at any moment, you know, and and and it's just it's it's the odds are so much against you of making of this working. But as you get more skilled at it, you you realize that you can do it. But but it's so unnatural. It's such an unnatural environment to be in where you have one person, you have a room full of anywhere from
Speaker: you 30 3000 people or even more in a stadium where you just like, how can this one person do this? How can one person against all these other people who he's never met before, pull this off? So it's really, really, ah it's a crazy type of thing, but that's the skill. I mean, even more than the joke writing, it's the skill of the of learning how to establish a connection extremely quickly with a room full of strangers. And ah sometimes they'll know you sometimes you'll have the luxury of them knowing you or knowing being familiar with your persona.
Speaker: And but most of us for most most non mega comics, they're they're going from from night after night, they're going to all these these places where and people are drunk people have, yeah, through all sorts of stuff in their in their lives. And and you know, they sometimes they want to take it out on the comic. And your your Seinfeld calls it being, you're kind of like a lion tamer. but You have to learn how to be a lion tamer and it's not, not a simple thing. and And you have to wield this, this balance of, of, of, of you're trying to control them, but at the same time, having them be able to trust you. And there's this push and pull and it's, it's, there's nothing like it. It's a very, very interesting dynamic.
Speaker: So what's the room like when you, when you do stand up, what's your audience typically like? Yeah. So, so these days i don't really do, I don't really practice anymore, which is, ah ah you know, we we could address that if you want. But the last time I practiced was COVID. It was right before COVID hit. and And then I took a break and I haven't gotten that back up since. But, but for me, i have a footnote, footnote. yeah I think you should.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I should. I think think you should. I I'm really enjoying, I'm really enjoying hearing how you think about the craft of it. it's And I say for whatever it's worth, even if just this conversation today sparks a deal, we go, honey, let's grab, let's grab, let's grab the four month old and, uh, you know, me and we're going to go I'm going to be up at one o'clock in the morning anyway. Might as well as do the last step before last call, you know? Right. Right. I'll send you some, uh, some clips. If you want to include it on the podcast, you can, I would and i would enjoy that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just said a second ago, we can address that. What do you mean?
Speaker: Well, I'll tell you why why I intentionally stopped, but why I don't do it anymore. But but i just answer a question quickly, is that, so so for me, i have the when when I was was performing over the last couple of years, I had the luxury of having, it was my community. So it was people that knew me. I was self-producing shows. I got to a certain point where people, like,
Speaker: people liked me enough to, to want to come and pay 25, $30 to see me. And I would book a room and I would fill it with 80, 90 people of of my community that were interested in seeing me perform for them. And it was great because everyone who was there wanted to be there. They were ready to laugh. They were all in the same station of life that I was, you know, I was was in my forties and, and, uh,
Speaker: had, you know, child rearing right in the thick of things. There were some older people and, you know, they enjoyed the parts about my my parents and and myself getting a little bit older. And so it was, it was a really, really sweet spot. And it's not something that, that I guess, I guess it it could always have been done, but but the typical route, you know, the 80s were that you'd go to clubs. And clubs, you never knew who you were perform in front of and you really had to kind of win them over. Whereas these days, I would pass, you know, since like 2014 till the about 2020 i was just self-producing shows and i was giving giving a uh you know charging i don't know 25 30 a head i'd hire a caterer yeah i'd book a room i'd walk away a thousand bucks for for an hour's worth of work you know i mean it was a lot of coordination and stuff it ended up being like you know probably a day's worth of work but uh but it was fun and it was all people wanted to see me and enjoyed being there and it was it was great it was you know i performed the jewish community center or different synagogues and things like that and uh and then that that in turn led to some corporate work and stuff like that so um so that that it got easier for me as i as i went along i i feel like i bought that once you achieve a certain proficiency ah you can really kind of call your own shots if you can
Speaker: garner a community around yourself. And that that's the beauty, ah especially nowadays with like social media and the internet where the clubs really have kind of, you know, they don't have the same stronghold as as they used to have. You know, it's anybody can it's It's much more democratized now that people can kind of make their own audience. And think there's a comedian who he goes from campus to campus and he just has ambassadors at every university. and he says, listen, if you guys want me to come out, this is how much costs.
Speaker: Get this amount of people and I'll come. And he just and he's and he's he's like, I'll even give you a cut. I forget what his name is, but it's it's a really smart way of doing things. He's basically in charge of his own career.
Speaker: You know, will he make it on stage? The Tonight Show? I don't know. he But he's making a living doing what he loves. And ah you know and and The Tonight Show isn't what it used to be anyway.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So and so i'm so I'm interested, the you know just to explore a little bit further, that you know you had passed by just saying, oh, I don't really do that anymore. that was ah That was a season of life for me. Yeah. And I don't really do that anymore.
Speaker: Could we, could we understand a little bit of that story? Cause it seems, it seems so significant and you do a lot of coaching now and helping other people. yeah What was the pivot point? So, so COVID was a forced break. It was for the first time in history, I don't know, maybe since, 1918 or something. don't know what was going on the world stand-up back then. Yeah, at least in our history. Yeah, for sure. You could not get an assembled crowd. You couldn't get a crowd in a room. It was just unbelievable. I mean, no one ever could have seen this coming. There was a force break. All the clubs shut down.
Speaker: Everything. i couldn't self-produce a show. there's nothing that you just couldn't get... four people in a room together without masks and and and social distancing. It completely killed live entertainment to the point where i have a friend who's, ah um yeah he I think he does like ah like live entertainment, you know, he's a ticket reseller or something like that. And he, I mean, man, did he go belly up, you know, like all, everything was shut down. It was, it was impossible to have live entertainment. And so you had people, know,
Speaker: doing things from zoom and their living room and all sorts of stuff. And, but it just, that wasn't really my style and, and, uh, really wasn't into it. So it was a forced break and there was a lot of, um, introspection that went on during that time period for myself. And I think maybe for a lot of other people where I just started to think about the purpose of my life and why I was doing standup and what I was getting out of it. And, um,
Speaker: My wife was never a huge fan of it, um even though you know made us some money. and and ah but and But because it was a personal – it wasn't personal sense that I wasn't specific about stuff, but I think that she just felt uncomfortable with me kind of – For better for worse, like ranking on our family.
Speaker: you know And it again, it it really wasn't personal. i love to say that that anyone could – if you could switch the the words wife and husband in my act, then it would still be just as funny. You know, it it really had, it was very nondescript, but it was very relatable.
Speaker: um so, but she didn't, she just made her uncomfortable. She didn't, she just didn't feel that it was, um I don't think she she truly respected it. And it was something that that I, you know, if if you're a comedian, you you just, you can't suppress it. You have to perform. And there's been times that I've, all different times that I've tried to suppress it. and ah And it always comes out and it just has to come, it has to express itself. And and any comedian will tell you the same. You know, you can, you can,
Speaker: You know, there's comedians that that are telling jokes on their deathbed because that's just that's who they are. yeah You're either born with it or, you you know, you don't you don't usually find something you just pick up. You just have to do it. And and it's not it's it's almost not a choice. And so there are people that will throw up before they perform because they're so nervous. And so my wife would say to me, you she's like, why you doing this if you're such a wreck? And you're like, yeah it's it's just what I do.
Speaker: I can't not do it. I just can't not do it. yeah So do you think it would be different? Yeah. Right. right do Do you think it would be different if the audience was not so connected in with your local community for her because it wouldn't have the same connection to people that she might see or you know if you were just like always out somewhere else you know with an anonymous crowd, would be different?
Speaker: Yeah, that that was a part of it. But it it really, I think it boiled down to her... Her identity, her relating to my identity, I think that she didn't ever truly was able to, um I guess, respect the ah what what I have enormous respect for as craft. I think at at its base root, I think she just saw me as like a clown. Yeah.
Speaker: ah And, you know, which which is a valid. You know, everyone has is entitled their own viewpoint. You know, to me, it was it was something, it was a noble profession. You know, I really loved it. And and I think it brought joy to a lot of people. um i I have to be honest, I wasn't doing it to bring joy to a lot of people. That really, you know, I'd be lying if I said I was. It was very much...
Speaker: I love being able to make people happy, but that wasn't what was driving me to to do it. ah And I think that if a lot of comedians are honest with themselves, it's there's there's a certain ah flaw, a character flaw that that is... It's a void that's filled by being able to control people's perception of who you are. You're you're showing the best version of who you are. know Sometimes let's say someone will insult you, but you can't think of something...
Speaker: you know you can't think of a good comeback on the fly and you're kind of like, you know, you know you'll look stupid and you'll feel stupid and you'll be angry. But like, imagine being able to show a perfect version of of yourself where, where you win in every situation, you look witty, you look, it's, it's a way to control people's perception of you at the same time. ah you know, you're getting a lot of attention, you're getting a lot of kudos. It feels very powerful to get laughs, to to be able to elicit that involuntary response out of people on demand. Yeah.
Speaker: And it's it's a very self-adjustment. You know, we thrive on that. You've talking.
Speaker: Yeah, you've, um again, just so, so um enjoying, Daniel, the way that you think. and And honestly, just the the way that you two were also, you've have these, the way in which that you engage with your world.
Speaker: And even the way in which that you know that you were willing to set that set that expression aside yeah um out of ah out of, candidly, out of care and love for your wife, which I just think is honorable.
Speaker: you've You've used a lot the word identity and and not a lot of people use it. and And you've used it you've used it and ah several times as we've talked.
Speaker: yeah When you talk about your identity, how would you describe your where do you find your identity? um A lot of my identity, I think comes from what my external behavior. So so the more that i think a lot of people are like this, too, that that if you whatever you're engaged in, you're involved in wherever you put all your energies in that that's who you are. So if you're if you're a lawyer at the office all time, so that your identity for the most part, you could be a family person also, but, but if most of your activities are, are in the office so that, you know, you, you will identify with, with, uh, what you do for the bulk of your time. So, okay um, at this point i would more identify with as uh, as a a spiritual, uh, i think. that that that's where I am these days and we can talk about that transition if you want um and uh a spiritual a teacher an educator ah and and a searcher in my own right um you know all the other things that I do family the the um the coaching and everything like that it all it all kind of
Speaker: falls under that umbrella, I believe. Got it. so So when you use the word identity, the your you use it in a way saying that that in this current state, the the way that you the way that your person relates to the world is how someone would, i ah their identity is what they're expressing at that particular moment.
Speaker: well it's Am I hearing you right? Relate to my how I relate to myself, I think. My self-identity. It's really more for me. it's something There could be people that would relate to me, would would ah classify my identity differently, and and that's that's valid too. But in terms of my identity, that's how I perceive myself.
Speaker: Got it. Got it. When I talk about identity. Yeah, so it's how you it's it's it's the way in which that you're able to express and to relate to to relate to yourself. Yeah. let me Let me ask you this, Daniel. so so when when when one expression or one um yeah one expression by which you identify yourself, that that's...
Speaker: that that's removed or that expression is taken away does your core identity adjust as well or does it just find a new expression does the yeah spiritual teacher does is is that is there is that a new expression very disorienting when when you know when i when i couldn't do stand-up comedy anymore and I didn't see any end in sight to it, ah I felt very, very disoriented and not able to, you know, if i if I'm not funny, who i who am I? Or if i if I can't joke or if I can't can't perform, who who am I?
Speaker: ah And I've been through that a bunch of different times and different periods of my life. But, yeah, it's ah it's I find it extremely disorienting to not be able to... to have a label at least at least for in my own mind of who i am at this moment you know whether it's i'm a i'm a performer or i'm a teacher or i'm a rabbi or i'm a whatever or a writer or whatever marketer whatever hats i wear when one of those that i i threw myself into and and and
Speaker: shaped who I am for myself, if if one of those pieces gets gets pulled out of the puzzle, there's there's a void there. you're I'm looking at a puzzle with with an empty piece missing, and and it's very disorienting to me. so so it cant And i and i don't sit well with it being vacant long. So I will usually attempt to find something to fit into that puzzle.
Speaker: ah And so for me, after COVID, it was a forced break and I couldn't perform. and And I really had to stop and think to myself, okay, well, well, you know, where's this train headed? And, and, you know, at what cost? And, and,
Speaker: What do I really want out of life? why what What am I here for? our jokes the be all and end all? And so it really forced me to to think a lot about, you know, when that puzzle piece was out of the puzzle.
Speaker: should I leave it vacant and just wait to put that same piece back in, or should I look for a different piece to put back in that will fit just the same? And so during COVID is when I kind of arrived at the, the, you know, it went on long enough that i didn't have to make an impulsive decision. It was a decision that sat with me, uh, to decide that, uh, I was going to devote the same energies and attention and create creative muscle towards, uh, discovering, uh,
Speaker: learning, ah you know, Hebrew texts and and and Talmud and things like that and and trying to arrive at the truth by using the same creativity and same same disciplines that I had applied to stand-up comedy.
Speaker: Yeah, it's really fascinating the way you have um shifted tracks. were you say, Joe? Oh, no. I mean, no, go ahead. because oh i Because there's a lot of questions. that Sure. By the way, Daniel, thank you so much for so clearly communicating that that there is a core of who you are and and you're wanting to see that expressed in time and space. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah And when when that expression isn't there, it it it is disorienting at times because I would think in my own life, I get confused when when I actually think that the expression is my identity.
Speaker: you know when i and And then when that's taken away, I go, wait a minute. Wait a minute. i I thought that I was that instead of, no, my identity is found in something other than what I do.
Speaker: My identity is who I am. and then and then it gets expressed in what I do. and but and it was really humbling. Yeah, it was really humbling to hear you to hear you articulate what I think a lot of people experience where they go, wait a minute, I thought I was that.
Speaker: yeah But then when that's taken away, you're like, wait a minute. No, I need to understand that who I am who i am is not what I do. right and and And then to be able to go, okay, well, let me think about who I am and how can I how can i develop that in an arena that that is before me?
Speaker: yeah And so when you're talking about moving into the um the the the spiritual world, I mean, I just want to just want a name for our viewers, you do have you do have a yarmulke on, right? am i Am I seeing that right? Yes. Okay. All right. So you're rocking the yarmulke. That ain't here. so So i want I want to just at least acknowledge that, that that you know you're...
Speaker: you certainly are communicating a level of ah level of commitment and communication right that people i i know of but And to be honest with you, i i don't know a lot about current current Jewish culture, but I do know enough to know that not everyone who would be an ethnic Jew wears yarmulkes, right? and And not every practicing, every practicing, um,
Speaker: a Jewish follower or believer also doesn't wear yarmulke. maybe tell me a little bit about, it's communicating something, right? So maybe help me, help me to know ah how that, how that all works.
Speaker: Yeah, well, it's it's definitely a joke. It's definitely convenient now. I didn't always wear it. There were there were times I didn't wear it, but it's definitely convenient now because, ah you know, you can tell it it covers up a lot.
Speaker: It protects the sun. It protects the sun from the bald spot. I see that. It's convenient to find God in your middle age.
Speaker: So, yeah, so so for me, you know, this is just quite this part of ah part of my identity and part of my practicing ah Judaism is, you know, I identify, again, with with Orthodox ah Jewry. And so that that's what, you know, they'll either they'll wear some type of head covering.
Speaker: That's part of the The head covering itself is ah is is, it's meant to be a, ah An awareness that there's something above you.
Speaker: um i don't know if I'm consciously aware of that when I put it on, but if when I don't have it on, I definitely feel naked without it. um You know, it's it's like having your zipper open, you know, if you you walk out and you don't have it on, you're like, oh, well I didn't realize that. But but yeah, it's it's it's ah yeah its it's supposed to be a sign of humility. It's just not quite right.
Speaker: Yeah, it's supposed to be sign a sign of humility. And and ah on my good days it is. And other times it's just another piece of piece of clothing. but But it also is, again, it's it's an identity and it's something that, you know,
Speaker: I've been through different stages of in observance. I grew up observant and I lapsed in the middle from like 19 to, don't know, maybe 18 to 25 or so. And then I kind of bounded back. ah And, um,
Speaker: You know, it it was hard going from not wearing one to wearing one and because you feel very conspicuous. And so sometimes I'll wear a hat like like you're wearing Rush and, you know, things like that. And and and now in the current climate of ah with a lot of anti-Semitic stuff in the air, it it feels conspicuous to wear. definitely it definitely feels like you're drawing attention to yourself when you're wearing it. ah But at the same time, i do feel that it gives ah it gives people who see it, it's good to be out and about with it because i think it gives people some courage and and it gives people gives people a sense that, you know here's a guy who's willing to to draw attention to himself for for what he believes in.
Speaker: so uh and sometimes people come up to me say give me a blessing or you know i i support you or things like that and so uh i rarely i rarely experience anti-semitism because of it uh even though it it's on my mind a lot and i get nervous about it sometimes when i walk out the front door especially in the last couple weeks but uh but i i think the good outweighs the bad for the most part so i'm i'm uh, these days, despite the climate, I actually am more likely to not wear a hat and to wear something, you know, just, uh, just ah send, send a signal out, not, not a signal to, uh, to say like, you know, Hey, you know, you want to start up. I don't want to start up with anybody, but a signal that, that it's, it's, it's okay. You know, we're, we're country and, uh, it was based on the freedom of religion uh, And there's people here that, you know, that are, that are, have a right to, to exist.
Speaker: Yeah. So before our time runs out, I wanted to ask you, um i think Joe and I would both like to know, so you've shift shifted tracks yeah ah to ah some work where you're helping other public speakers now benefit from your experience and the lessons you've learned.
Speaker: And so I was just, I would really like to hear what you're doing and, and how that's going for you. Sure. So, so it took took a while to to take an expression.
Speaker: What ended up happening after COVID was i ended up being hired as the interim rabbi at one of the synagogues over here. um And that was, it was an interesting, I've never been a pulpit rabbi, i've never been a congregational leader. It's always been more of a teacher, spiritual teacher. And,
Speaker: This was the first time i actually led a congregation and I spoke on a weekly basis from the pulpit on Saturday mornings and it was surprisingly akin to stand-up comedy. Not in terms of the jokes, you know, there there were jokes and I know how to manage an audience's attention, you know, that that was kind of a no-brainer for me, but it was it was a it was this tightrope walk. where you really want to try to you want to try to find people that a connection point with people. you want to You want to maintain their attention without just being a clown, you know a joke teller and or or something like that. You don't want to just entertain. You also want to to impart some some inspiration and education. And to find that way to connect with them and to inspire them and to ah to be able to to motivate them and and and and call them to action, to help them grow, it it became like a platform and and people started showing up to hear me speak week after week. And and and it just kind of grew and it was amazing. And it was the first time actually felt as fulfilled doing ah this type of speaking as I had been doing stand-up comedy. And and at the same time, I was really enjoying the fact that I wasn't just distracting people, but I was actually helping them grow. So that to me was was really thrilling. And I realized that I had a lot of experience in managing audience attention 21st century attention spans are really, really hard to, you know, it's just hard to get anybody to to pay attention to you for for more than a couple moments at a time. but But I knew how to do that, not necessarily with jokes per se, but I understood when when I had people, when I'd lose them, where where things were going. and uh how to get people invested and and i kind of went backwards after the was a six-month gig and afterwards i went backwards and i kind of documented what i did and i said i i'm pretty sure i could teach this to somebody to teach somebody how to do this and and uh and i kind of turned it into a five-step template um and believe it or not rush some of it's based on um
Speaker: Andy Stanley. you know him? Do you know who he is? Yeah, I know. I know you. Yeah, we both know who you're talking about. Me, we, God, you. so So I was very intrigued by that.
Speaker: And so I started to watch some of these these preachers and i was like, these guys are really good. They really know what they're doing and they know they know how to manage and crowd. And they're not just joke tellers. Yeah. They're not just storytellers. They're they're really inspiring and and motivating. And so I cobbled together the best of ah my my professional experience in managing attention through through stand-up comedy,
Speaker: speaking to people's needs, wants, and desires through my experience as a marketer and and and some of the stuff from from the from the ministries. And I put together my own method. And it's five-step method, and and it draws on a lot of these different things. And ah so that that's what I – as soon as I – it took me about two years to really to really nail it down to a concrete – template and yeah well uh i i helped before the high holidays i helped a rabbi temple israel work on his sermon and helped a few of the the community rabbis work on some of their presentations and and it really just boils down to five things and and once as long as they contain these five elements uh you're really good to let's hear them uh they are let's hear them quickly the five elements connection copyright copyright pending yeah yeah Connection. Well, this is how I describe my connection over content. Connection over content. People tend to prioritize the content, but it's really more about the connection because you could greatest content in the world. But if you can't connect with people, they're not going to retain it and they for sure won't remember it.
Speaker: So connection with content. ah The next one is investment over interest. Instead of just being interested in what you have to say, people really need to feel an investment in it, that there's some stakes involved. Third one is transformation over information, which is that you you're not just there to share something. you You're really there to change people, to move them from point A to point B in ah in ah in a positive direction. So you should always aim for, you know, you swing for the fences, you aim for a transformation in people's lives.
Speaker: Vision over what I call vapor. I know it sounds silly, but no that's not silly yeah you have to kind of paint a picture and how you make it realistic for him and show how, you know, kind of chart out the the course to to show him what would it look like.
Speaker: This, I think, is is is Andy's, ah he calls that the, uh, Maybe it's the we, it's and it's the last we, but it's it's the it's the the worldview of what what a world will look like if if you did this.
Speaker: And then the last one is is ah is action over inaction, which is that, it and and to me, this this part's one of the hardest parts that I struggle with is is challenging people to to do something, no matter how small, on the spot, put it into, i guess you guys would call it like an application section, right? Yeah, yeah for sure. yeah yeah Yeah. You have to give them something to do because if you don't concretize it, even if it's ah you know even if it's small, even if it's a little thing, but but you got to make it stick. Remember, one one of the best ones I did was ah I challenged people not to use their phones in the bathroom for a week. That was their thing. I was like, you know, because the phone, the phones assume consume so much of your attention.
Speaker: and I was like, you know, you don't have time to think you don't have to. yeah If there's one place you don't have to use it, it's the bathroom. You know, you just don't have to use your phone in the bathroom. You can, you can go the bathroom without your phone. And and so I said, i you know, I challenge you for a week. I come up with some of my best thoughts in the bathroom. Right, right, right. So, so shower, bathroom, you know, you just give yourself a moment to think, you know, a couple moments a day. Well, well, listen, I, and so,
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so so Saturday night, someone texted me. He says, you're never you're not going to guess where i'm texting you from. And I know it was like you know like the Seinfeld episode with the ah the challenge. you know he' He's like, I'm out. you know like you know Right after the silence, the guy's like, I'm out. Sure, sure. So that's the five steps. And and they work. and And you just have to just make sure. It doesn't matter the order. i mean So, Daniel, so daniel let me let me ask you this. look Yeah.
Speaker: okay Yeah. I was just going to say, it doesn't really matter the order. It doesn't really matter. You know, the connection really is important. yeah let me let let Let me ask you this. Thank you. Thank you for sharing those things. I, I, I haven't, I think we're on a delay.
Speaker: sounds like little delay, but go ahead.
Speaker: There's a little bit. There's a little bit of a delay. That's that's why, unfortunately, i felt like I was talking over you there for a minute. But I do the, I mean, all of those five things and the way in which that you're leveraging that, I just, um yeah, thank you for sharing that with us. i If there was one thing right now, and maybe maybe even wanted to give you an opportunity just to, yeah,
Speaker: you know as we have to close up here because our time went really fast, Daniel. Yeah, it really did. yes can thank you. Thank you for being generous with your time. It's really been... ah it just we've really i mean Seriously, i mean I know that ah that as Rush and I, as we enjoy, i the hardest thing about this podcast is actually it's actually um ending the podcast because we're we're just so intrigued by the people that we meet and certainly Daniel.
Speaker: ah that you have been one of those for us do you maybe um what is What is one action step? What is one thing that you've been thinking about in your life that you feel like that we could maybe um make this little podcast moment ah maybe transformational for our listeners.
Speaker: What's something that is that as a father, as you know as a as ah as a speaker, as someone who cares about how he thinks in life, ah what's something that you've been thinking about recently that you would want to maybe maybe communicate to our listeners that that would be inspiring and helpful to them ah they that you could give to them today?
Speaker: ah Well, there's there's a number of things. And one one thing, I don't know, that just floated in mind while you were while you were talking is yeah yeah yeah AI is is is big now. AI is going to be the biggest change on the horizon that this world's seen since since the internet.
Speaker: And it's it's it's exhilarating, and at the same time, it's a bit scary. i know a lot of folks are going to be impacted job-wise by that ah because...
Speaker: You know, it's it's machines can do things better, faster than a lot of people can do. I know even from a marketing perspective, some of the stuff that it can do, that my secret sauce that I used to provide for clients when I was freelancing, I mean, that that stuff is... is incredibly good at what I used to do. I see the writing on the wall.
Speaker: So the one thing though, that I think that is is safe, and I think that it's important for people to focus on, and not just in terms of career and and and livelihood, but but just in terms of humanity is is to is to develop the human side of themselves. You know, the empathy, the the the
Speaker: the connection, ah those those types of things, I think, are are really, they're going to be skills that are in short demand. ah And people will, ah you know, people can really, the world's going to need it, you know. So so the more that people can focus on understanding, you know, communication,
Speaker: connection, empathy, like I said. most Yeah, what yeah what it what what it what it means to be human. Yeah. that one but i think And I think that's a part of that. Yeah, that's a that's a part of that's a part of just our ongoing conversation is just saying, what what does it mean to be human and how do humans interact? And especially in a world of AI,
Speaker: ah to be able to not to lose and that actually even to to recapture and to think even deeply about what does it really mean to connect as a human being yeah and how does it mean to create and to live yeah it's a good word daniel yeah this was uh this was super enjoyable i really enjoyed it i'm glad you reached out and uh i really enjoyed it and uh yeah success to you guys and and uh it sounds like a fun fun endeavor
Speaker: We do need a name though. what should we call him? Daniel. Daniel from the neighborhood. ah ah How about Daniel from the block?
Speaker: Like J-Lo? Daniel from the block. No, I mean, is he he's in the same city or the same neighborhood? He's like he's lit less than a mile away from me.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like, I'm just saying, like, right just go dexley daniel dan Daniel from the neighborhood. Because each one has a each one has a thing.
Speaker: By the way you got to update our website. I mean, it's Ultra Andy. It's 20-something Lexi. It's Verizon Vaughn. It's... ah Dedicated Daniel.
Speaker: Dedicated Daniel? Yeah. All right, that's it. Yeah, I mean, the guy's dedicated. isn't he Is he not? Yeah, he is dedicated. That's true. all right. Dedicated Daniel. And I think that's honoring Tim, too.
Speaker: Yeah. mean, he's dedicated.
