Transcript
Speaker: It's the first episode of the year.
Speaker: Celebrate, everybody.
Speaker: You have made it through another one.
Speaker: 2024 is upon us, and whether or not you have resolutions, you are going to make this year as magical as possible.
Speaker: I just know it.
Speaker: I know you are.
Speaker: Thanks and welcome back to Dirty Briefs, everybody.
Speaker: And honestly, this episode is going to be a little tough, but I'm going to try to find the good in all of it.
Speaker: The fact is, December has been a month of loss for me in many ways.
Speaker: Two members of our comedy community, Kenny DeForest and Neil Nanda, are both no longer with us.
Speaker: And anytime a comedian dies, I am affected by...
Speaker: very personally by it.
Speaker: I knew both of these people, but even when I don't know them well, there's an understanding among comedians that we just get each other.
Speaker: And I understand when this life is so difficult and we're connected in ways that we don't even fathom sometimes.
Speaker: I get there's this camaraderie
Speaker: Among us.
Speaker: Of people that are in the trenches.
Speaker: That have chosen to live in this way.
Speaker: Where we're constantly on the road.
Speaker: By ourselves.
Speaker: Saying table for one.
Speaker: Having an amazing show.
Speaker: And amongst all these people.
Speaker: Feeling elated.
Speaker: And then going back to a hotel room.
Speaker: And being by yourself.
Speaker: Being a traveling vagabond.
Speaker: Just going around.
Speaker: Spitting your musings.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: Kenny DeForest, hilarious comic.
Speaker: Please look him up if you haven't already.
Speaker: He had Comedy Central sets.
Speaker: He had sets on The Late Late Show.
Speaker: Just really so funny and such a genuine dude, a light in your life.
Speaker: He was one of those people who every time you saw him, he was happy to see you.
Speaker: And he just made you feel a little bit better.
Speaker: And then Neil Nanda...
Speaker: Him and I toured together for a week in 2015.
Speaker: We went up all the way to Northern California, all the way up to the tippity top to Humboldt County and then back down.
Speaker: And it was a great experience and we bonded a lot.
Speaker: And again, anytime I saw him, he always seemed like he was in a great mood.
Speaker: You can watch his stuff on Jimmy Kimmel.
Speaker: His Instagram is still thriving with a ton of clips.
Speaker: He had a Comedy Central set as well years ago.
Speaker: These people really met.
Speaker: a lot to me.
Speaker: And that's why it hurts when they're gone.
Speaker: You know, it's really, really tough.
Speaker: And I was dealing with both of them.
Speaker: And then this week, my dog died.
Speaker: My sweet little kimchi slipped away.
Speaker: And, you know, she was a senior pug.
Speaker: She led a beautiful life.
Speaker: And that one hurts differently than the other two.
Speaker: The other two were friends.
Speaker: You know, we weren't extremely close, but we were comedy close.
Speaker: And that is its own thing.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: I didn't cuddle on the couch with Kenny and Neil every single night.
Speaker: I didn't hold them and stare deeply into their eyes and watch generations of a life fly through them.
Speaker: I didn't hold them and sing to them.
Speaker: And what I've thought about a lot this week is it's good to hurt.
Speaker: It's good when someone is not in your life anymore and you feel it so deeply.
Speaker: Like there's so much pain in it.
Speaker: But at the same time, the reason why that hurt is so deep is because the love was so deep.
Speaker: And the deeper the hurt, the deeper the love.
Speaker: And I'm going to choose to feel that hurt every single time.
Speaker: Because that means that I was there with them.
Speaker: When your heart is open, you're going to hurt.
Speaker: It's necessary.
Speaker: It's important.
Speaker: And I'd rather feel this way than the alternative, which is that I didn't let myself love them enough.
Speaker: That there was still love on the table.
Speaker: I want to know that I gave everything to this dog, these people.
Speaker: I want to know.
Speaker: I want to feel the pain because that means the love was real.
Speaker: That's what it means.
Speaker: And you have to feel it.
Speaker: You should honor them.
Speaker: You should write about them.
Speaker: You should talk about them.
Speaker: You shouldn't refrain from watching videos or listening to podcasts where they're speaking.
Speaker: You know, in your own time.
Speaker: Some people don't want to do this immediately.
Speaker: Some people need a break.
Speaker: But in your time, honor.
Speaker: The fact that they were here with you because you are so fortunate to have shared their energy.
Speaker: Your journey is affected by every single person you meet.
Speaker: And that's a positive thing in this world.
Speaker: And when their physical body is gone, a piece of them is still with you.
Speaker: The energy of everyone that I have ever had an interaction with is in me for the better.
Speaker: I was about to say for better or for worse, but I know it's for the better because just the fact that I got to interact with these people, that I got to call them friends, that I got to take care of this beautiful dog.
Speaker: I am forever a better person.
Speaker: And I don't, to be honest, I don't know if I believe in reincarnation.
Speaker: I don't.
Speaker: I think when I looked at kimchi, I,
Speaker: that she had been around in many different forms, many different iterations.
Speaker: And I really feel like this was not her first time in this world because she taught me so much.
Speaker: There was this calming presence to her, a Zen that she just seems so comfortable in this world that she didn't need anything.
Speaker: She gave her love.
Speaker: She gave that feeling of peace.
Speaker: And Kenny and Neil gave me a lot of laughs, a lot of smiles, a lot of warmth.
Speaker: And I want to, why I say it, I don't know if I believe in reincarnation, but I know that people live on just through our memories.
Speaker: And that can be enough.
Speaker: That is enough.
Speaker: And when they're gone, I want to know that I gave them the same parts of myself.
Speaker: This week, I've spent a lot of time crying.
Speaker: I put myself in that state.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: It feels good.
Speaker: It feels good.
Speaker: Like I put on goodbye to you by Michelle branch and songs by Adele, like someone like you.
Speaker: And I just sat in my car and I just belted out tears, filling up a river with my salty discharge.
Speaker: And it felt good.
Speaker: It feels good because it means that they were here.
Speaker: It means that they meant something.
Speaker: And if there's one thing that I can tell you to take into this new year, it is to never be ashamed to tell people you love them all the time.
Speaker: Be unapologetic about how much love you have for them.
Speaker: Tell them, smother them with it.
Speaker: Just rub it all over them.
Speaker: Even if they're trying to be resistant to it, do it like just get it deep into their cells and massage it in there so it cannot escape.
Speaker: Because you never know who needs it.
Speaker: You never know who needs to hear how you feel.
Speaker: But also that feeling will resonate inside of them.
Speaker: Always.
Speaker: And I think that's one thing I can take away from this week is it is not easy to lose people or animals.
Speaker: But they are forever with us.
Speaker: And their love is
Speaker: will energize me moving forward.
Speaker: It feels weird to promote this week, but you know I have important shows coming up.
Speaker: So go to HooperComedy.com.
Speaker: But how I want to promote this week, how I want to end this specific podcast is for you to tell you that I love you,
Speaker: Thank you for being here and for soaking up some of my energy and to know that my energy is unlimited.
Speaker: And if I'm passing some on to you, I would like you to pass it on to someone else.
Speaker: Tell someone you love them.
Speaker: Give them a giant hug and hold it a little bit longer than you thought you were going to.
Speaker: Surround yourself with people who inspire you.
Speaker: who make you feel important, who make you feel connected to this planet and this universe.
Speaker: Those are the people that are going to carry you forward in life and in death.
Speaker: So tell them.
Speaker: I love you all so much.
Speaker: Let's have a really fucking good year.
