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8. Sean Patton - Honing Your Craft as A Stand-Up, Touring Globally, and Collecting Knives
18 Plays1 month ago
Sean Patton is one of my all time favorite comedians. He currently stars on FX’s hit show English teacher. As a standup, he’s performed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2011 and 2018, Just for Laughs in Chicago and Toronto, along with many other incredible festivals. He's recorded sets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and The Half Hour. He's featured on At Midnight and This Week at the Comedy Cellar. He's also released a number of records including "Scuttlebutt," "King Scorpio," and "Number One."
On this episode, Sean shares invaluable advice on what it really takes to be a top stand up, starting from New York City and working his way around the globe. Sean and I start off shooting the shit about his knife collection before discussing traveling through Asia and across the globe as a stand-up comedian. Sean shares his philosophy on writing jokes and his own journey to finding his voice as a stand-up.
Sean is one hell of a man, and this one hell of an episode. Enjoy!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Big F U'
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Big F U. I'm your host Erica Cantor. This is a show all about fucking up and failing up.
00:00:11
Speaker
I'll be interviewing comedians, artists, entrepreneurs, and generally speaking, people I find interesting about the early parts of their careers to learn how they fumbled their way into various measures of success.
00:00:23
Speaker
Today i am unearthing a very old conversation that I had. Very inspirational conversation. One with the great Sean Patton.
Spotlight on Sean Patton's Career
00:00:34
Speaker
Sean Patton is one of my all-time favorite comedians, okay?
00:00:38
Speaker
He's performed at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2011 and 2018, which was around the time that I first saw him perform while he was on tour in Hong Kong. Other festivals he's performed at include Just for Laughs in Chicago, Toronto, and Montreal.
00:00:56
Speaker
and many other incredible festivals. He's recorded sets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, and The Half Hour. He's also featured on At Midnight and this week on The Comedy Cellar.
00:01:10
Speaker
He's released a number of records including Scuttlebutt, King Scorpio, and Number One. You can now see him starring in English Teacher on FX. And he is just a sensation on that show.
00:01:23
Speaker
And that's really just the tip of the iceberg for Sean Patton. He is incredible. I am thrilled to finally share this episode.
Regrets and Apologies
00:01:31
Speaker
Sean shares invaluable advice on what it really takes to be a top stand up starting from New York City and working his way around the motherfucking globe.
00:01:42
Speaker
Okay, you heard the man's bio. We talk a lot about his travels through Asia, performing stand-up, and how people across the globe receive humor differently. We get into his philosophy on joke writing and performing longer sets, as well as his comedy origin story.
00:01:58
Speaker
Some of the advice that Sean shared with me in this episode, I think about every single time I go on stage. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that. And that brings me to my next point.
Accountability and Passion
00:02:09
Speaker
I feel genuine shame to have flubbed so drastically in front of one of the people that I really look up to around the fact that I have not released this episode yet.
00:02:20
Speaker
I feel a lot of shame that I embarrassed myself so deeply by having this talented, busy fucking man come onto my podcast and I didn't have the chutzpah or the self-discipline to release the episode and then I came up with a million and one excuses about why I was too busy and how work was too blah blah blah blah blah and it's like so so Yeah, this is my earnest attempt to hold myself accountable and to dust my shoulders off, to just stand up and walk it off like a big fucking girl and get my shit together because I love this podcast and I have missed doing it for years.
00:03:07
Speaker
I disappointed myself and I also am genuinely sorry to Sean Patton because I'm sure I disappointed him in some way. Maybe he doesn't give a shit. He probably doesn't give a shit.
00:03:18
Speaker
i have made this more of a thing in my head i've literally thought about it so often but here we fucking are and we're doing it it's the big f you and the premise is obviously about fucking up and i am not immune to that i am the biggest up of all and if i can get my shit together ish if i can attempt to get my shit together then you can too all right we're on this journey together baby you're not alone we're back this is the big f you thank you so much let's dive into this conversation with the one and only sean patton
00:04:04
Speaker
Sean, I want to start off by asking you about your knife collection.
Sean's Fascination with Knives
00:04:08
Speaker
How did you get into that? I guess like most young men, you just think knives are badass when you're a kid.
00:04:15
Speaker
So you're just like, wow. And actually learned about knives. I learned about different steels that people use to forge different types of knives. And I learned about the grind of a blade, which is from the spine of a blade, which is self self-explanatory, right?
00:04:34
Speaker
I think I have a knife. Hold Yeah. Here. Pocket knife, right? Pocket and knife. if It's a classic. This is the spine of a blade. And this is the grind.
00:04:45
Speaker
Right? So this is a Scandinavian grind where it's like thick and then it kind of dips into the actual curvature of the blade. I just think knives are like a tool, you know, that every human being should have on them. I mean, not just for protection, but for like what if, you know, like, what if what?
00:05:06
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe someone's ah fucking tries to lasso you, you know, and you have to you have to cut yourself out. Right. Maybe the plants come alive to take us down for destroying the planet. You got to cut some wild vines that just grab you. Or maybe you're walking around on your birthday and you eat a bunch of Thai food and then you drink a bunch of coffee and then You're like, I think I got a fart.
00:05:32
Speaker
Oh, wait, that might not have been just a fart. And you find yourself in the bathroom and you got to cut your underwear off and flush them down the toilet. Right. Rather than the traditional down around the ankle.
00:05:46
Speaker
Well, ah you know, a public bathroom in York. get messy, yeah. Right. Fair enough. Take shoes off, take pants off, put it back over You never know when you're going to shit your pants. That's the thing with shitting your pants is you really can't predict it.
00:05:59
Speaker
It just happens. If you could, it wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't exist. That's so true. There'd be no such thing as shit in your pants if you could. mean, I think at this point I'm sold. I'm going to get a knife.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I need multiple knives. but I don't have that many. i I've only got like a dozen or so, but like. You know just different. Just a lot of them are it's just for show. like It's kind of funny how many people immediately get weird about it. They're like, whoa, why? And I'm like, what do you see? That tells me more about you than you think it does about me. Because like if you see a knife or a person with a knife and you immediately think like murderous weirdness, it's like, ah, probably something going on to your head a little bit. more Or you're a woman. I get it because, ah you know.
00:06:43
Speaker
A murderous woman. women have to have that first like, ah is this person a murderer or are they friendly? Well, we we women, I think are a breed of pepper spray carrying, carrying individuals.
00:06:58
Speaker
Sure, sure, sure. So I think our weapon of choice is always from a distance. I carry a taser before I'd carry a knife. can't taser your underwear off after you shit your pants down. No, but like I could foresee myself in a scramble, like reaching for a pepper spray and being like, stay back.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, i'm sure. Sure. Hopefully you never have to do that. But yeah, I'm also, I'm a runner. I've always been a runner. Like, do you, like as in recreationally, like you jog or you. Recreationally, but also like even as a kid, if I was walking down the street and I got scared or even scared of a flock of pigeons.
00:07:38
Speaker
I would just start sprinting. Wait, I'm remembering you grew up in New York, right? h Yeah. Yeah. There's lots of, I can imagine when you said afraid of a flock of pigeons.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah. i was like, okay, that's a. that's a very common That's a very common, everyone knows you grew up terrified of, oh oh no, unless you grew up on the Upper East Side or Upper West Side. Upper West, Upper West. Grew up on the Upper West Side, terrified of pigeons.
00:08:03
Speaker
I'm Jewish. I used to go to Hebrew school and on the block of my temple is this post office and all these pigeons would post up on the sign and I would walk three or four blocks around so I would avoid the pigeons.
00:08:18
Speaker
Wow, you were really scared of pigeons. I was really scared. My dad at one point had me on beta blockers, which I didn't enjoy. I'm still scared of pigeons, but I'm better with it now. Wait, what does a beta blocker do?
00:08:29
Speaker
Basically, it stops your fight or flight response. PTSD patients take it. like People will return from serious wars and take this, and then I'm taking it because I was attacked by a flock of pigeons when I was five.
00:08:41
Speaker
So you were attacked by a fuck of pigeons. Yeah. I was feeding them Cheetos in Montreal. And then I remember so clearly. Canadian pigeons. Yeah. Canadian. wow Pigeons.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah. they Not yet. They were French Canadian pigeons. o Yeah. I know. I'm fucked for life. Yeah. Scared of pigeons forever. Well, now now you've just given, you've just given up your.
00:09:07
Speaker
If anyone wants to fucking get you, like, send pigeons. oh no. if you ever get the chance. Would you eat a pigeon? If someone served you a pigeon? Yeah, I would eat almost anything.
00:09:19
Speaker
Like, I've eaten live squid before. Live squid? Yeah. Oof, that's okay. Why? Because I was in Seoul and live squid was what the people were eating and I was like, let's fucking go.
00:09:36
Speaker
now You could like feel the tentacles on your throat. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's interesting. I didn't eat as much crazy shit as I thought there would. i didn't think there was. There wasn't as much crazy shit when I went to Asia. i was like, that's all.
00:09:47
Speaker
Right. Well, the first time I saw you perform was in Hong Kong. What is it? Kung Fu comedy or takeout comedy? Takeout. Yeah. Some name. ah Yeah. Oh, course. It's so racist. I'm like, well, it wasn't a Hong Kong citizen named it that. A guy from. ah His name is Jimmy. He's from Hong Kong.
00:10:06
Speaker
He's Cantonese. Wait, that was the first time? Yeah, that was the first time. It was 2018. 2018. Did
Comedy Across Asia
00:10:14
Speaker
we talk afterwards? no We talked because I saw you perform there.
00:10:20
Speaker
and then two years later, or i guess a year later, i was visiting LA. And I saw that you were performing in Irvine. Right, I remember that. I drove to Irvine.
00:10:32
Speaker
and i saw you perform there where you also slaughtered i remember meeting you in irvine because i was it was a like a sunday night or something or maybe a wednesday yeah but it was like me and ryan o'flanagan and jeffrey balding i remember that i remember and i remember yeah um i remember that okay you're like and i was like in hong kong yeah i saw you in hong kong yeah no take out comedy that was an interesting how did you end up there So I was in Australia doing gigs for the Melbourne Comedy Fest, which is awesome.
00:11:04
Speaker
And one of the bookers of, there's like a whole tour you can do through Asia, right? Right. And the guys who run it, one of them is an Australian dude.
00:11:16
Speaker
And he reached out was like, do you want to do this? It's like a three week trip. You do Hong Kong first and then go into mainland China and do Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing.
00:11:31
Speaker
Then you go and do Singapore and then Kuala Lumpur. I was like, yeah, fuck you. I'm totally up for that. That's fucking cool. Did you have a manager at the time that was helping you book that shit or was it just between you and this dude?
00:11:45
Speaker
No, I'm a manager. I had a manager and an agent that stepped in and like made sure it was all above board and chill. And it was, the guy booked all the dates and like handled all the, you know,
00:11:56
Speaker
he ah you know, had someone as a liaison in every city. Cause you know, it's like, I I'm really glad I got to see Hong Kong before China decided recently or last year. It's like, Nope, sorry. You're under our rule again.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah. I'm glad, I'm glad I got to see it before that happened because i so that was my favorite place on that adventure. And it's so funny whenever fucking pretentious, uh, you know, travelers are like, oh, ah Hong Kong is your favorite. So you like the most westernized city. That was your favorite. I'm like, yeah, the place where you can be gay and not be murdered for it. Yeah, sure. The place where books don't get burned or are prohibited from, you know, oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, the place where you can openly talk shit about the government and not just disappear.
00:12:42
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. I like that's whenever whenever people yes, America's got some real fucking issues for sure. But at least you can openly talk about those issues and not be afraid that one day you're just gone.
00:12:55
Speaker
Right. Tamed. and they like that was Mainland China was weird. I'm glad I went, saw some beautiful shit, met some very cool people, but there were moments where you're like, oh man, this is... i don't know about this.
00:13:09
Speaker
This is not... and and Like you can't say Taiwan, Tiananmen Square or Tibet. You can't say those out loud. Like yeah it's punishable.
00:13:21
Speaker
Like you can be fucking. Wow. It's insane. that you're And people are like, well, just don't say it. And like that. but But just the idea but you can't is fucking weird.
00:13:32
Speaker
Right. Because they're trying to pretend like Tiananmen Square never happened. Right. They denied Tibet's existence, really. um and i forgot what Taiwan, or Taiwan, they denied Taiwan's existence.
00:13:43
Speaker
And I forgot what Tibet was all about. But ah yeah, it's just it was weird. But I loved Hong Kong. I loved Kuala Lumpur. Singapore was interesting. Singapore's cool. It's cool, but it's also backwards because you're like, yeah don't bring drugs. We'll just kill you without question.
00:13:59
Speaker
Chew gum and spit it on the ground. we're go to flog you to pieces. But oh, you want to have sex with a 14-year-old? Right there. No big no big deal. ah Go ahead. Yeah. That's fucking backwards, right? that I think they say it's like a benevolent dictatorship.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was very pretty. It was very like, wow, this is clean and futuristic, but it was also like... Bougie as fuck. Bougie as fuck. And, you know, I met a couple of comics out there who were like, yeah, it's, you know, you can't always just say certain things on stage and you're like, yeah, it's... Did you have to adapt your comedy?
00:14:35
Speaker
No. No, I found, I don't ever, I never do that. It depends on what kind of comedian you are, but like, I talk about just highly personal shit. Right. Emotional, you know, mental disorder shit. And like, that's global.
00:14:49
Speaker
Yeah, you're not talking about Tiananmen Square. No, exactly. Or I'm not just being like, the subway, right? Or, you know, it's not, don't know. Right. I mean, wait, what what were you doing in Hong Kong?
00:15:03
Speaker
I was studying abroad there. So I was just I fucking loved it there. I mean, it's a place I would go back to in a heartbeat. It's so interesting because I always felt like even while I was studying there.
00:15:17
Speaker
i took this one class that was U.S. China history. okay And we had this incredibly interesting professor who was basically saying that.
00:15:30
Speaker
China had control over Hong Kong the entire time, and the 100-year lease was pretty much... not a farce, but it was theatrics in a lot of ways.
00:15:43
Speaker
And so even in Hong Kong, you know, journalists would get in some serious trouble for saying the wrong thing. And this professor was often like, you can't repeat that I'm saying this in this classroom. Like, I'm going to say this only to you guys and I'm taking a big risk.
00:16:00
Speaker
He also framed things in a way where you look at the US and you're like, that's pretty fucked up too. Like yeah every single thing that we've done, i mean, Western culture in general, since like the 1300s has always been for financial gain.
00:16:19
Speaker
You know, like we caused insane opioid epidemics over there and crazy shit. It's a complicated history, man. Oh, yeah. It was, yeah, it was definitely cool to go over there, though. I enjoyed the shit. I was, it was, I mean, the flight was insane. It's a crazy city. Super fun. I mean, I don't know if it's possible anymore, but we were smoking weed there. Huh?
00:16:42
Speaker
Did you buy weed there? No, I'm not. See, I'm not. Right. yeah You talk about this in your comedy, actually. I wish I could smoke weed more. I wish I was, like, a good at it. But, like, I'm not. I can't.
00:16:53
Speaker
It's just my brain does not vibe with it. I already think, like, I'm high all the time. Yeah, it's very much like a what is this? Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot.
00:17:04
Speaker
But do i mean, do you? Yeah, obviously. I do. And buying weed in Hong Kong is one of my favorite experiences of my whole life. Was it fucking freaky? Was it like follow this guy down an alley?
00:17:18
Speaker
It was, you'd think that, but I got this dude's contact from a friend and this guy pulls up in the fanciest type of black Mercedes and you get into the back of his car and he takes off the horn of the car and it's stacked with weed where there would be the airbag.
00:17:41
Speaker
Sure. Okay. Yeah. Which is like getting an accident, bro. Then you got to flee the scene. You're fucked. But it's like he's taking that risk. So I also loved how the thing I loved, I mean, I think this was the mainland China too, but in Hong Kong, all the scaffolding on buildings was bamboo.
00:17:59
Speaker
The first time you see it, you're like, what? but like Oh, it's actually ah flexible, sturdier wood. And actually, when when stacked like that, more safe than steel, I guess it it doesn't rot. It doesn't rust. It doesn't... Ah, interesting. like It's really strong.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yeah, it But that's, don't know. That was cool. Where else did you wait? What did you start what what did you study specifically? and I studied, so I was studying engineering in college. I like made my own major in project management engineering.
00:18:34
Speaker
And then when I was in Hong Kong, I took like probably one or two kind of higher level technical courses. You needed a C to pass. It was definitely a time where I was not being very academic, but yeah.
00:18:47
Speaker
I did that US China class was one that I would have never taken at college and would have never been taught it that way at college and that to me will always stick with me. because That's the only class that matters. man ah go How did you get into comedy?
00:19:02
Speaker
And then how did you figure out how to make that work and support yourself? I got into it young. Once I figured out it's what I wanted, I just went for it kind of thing. You know, 22 years old, started going to open mics in New Orleans after everything else in my life had sort of fallen apart.
00:19:18
Speaker
What were those things that fell apart? I was a terrible student, right? And I was a shitty teenager. And I just kind of like, had no options. I had aspirations, but that's the thing about growing up in a small city like New Orleans and growing up in the South.
00:19:34
Speaker
You're not really encouraged to do much with your life outside of the standard, you know, the standards. You know, get married, but to call go to college, Louisiana State University, go to LSU, dude. You know, fucking general studies or marketing or, you know, if you're really out there, communications, you know, something fucking just basic.
00:19:53
Speaker
Not that, you know, not saying people have those degrees are basic. I'm just saying like those are very. You're just saying that they're fucking basic. Yeah, it's it's standard degrees. And then like, you know, and then get a fucking job and get married, have kids and bam, or or get into the culinary world. You know, my family has a catering business and like I was just sort of expected to jump in line and take and get into that business. You know, and I was like, I'm not doing that. i don't want to do that.
00:20:17
Speaker
I just kind of had nothing going. for me, but I knew what I wanted. I knew I always knew I wanted to do something, something bigger. It wasn't until I was like ah in my late teens that I realized it was stand up and it still took me a few years to like build up the courage to try it.
00:20:35
Speaker
And i went to an open mic at a place called Amber Jack's that was wiped out by Katrina, but it was just like a seafood restaurant that had a bar. And they did an open mic. And it was, i I remember I went the week before to like scope it out, like watch how it works and watch the other comedians.
00:20:54
Speaker
And then the next week I went and like just did it. And I specifically remember the thing no one told me, ah I wasn't, I was hearing my voice amplified. It was like, whoa. I remember that being like the first thing of like, holy shit, this is real.
Beginnings in New Orleans and the Move to New York
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah. And then I just kind of never looked back. Just sort of just like, fuck it, this is it. And, you know, ah but there's been a lot of trials and tribulations and there still are, know, there always will be. But like, you just kind of roll through them.
00:21:21
Speaker
I don't think it ever gets easier. I think you just get better at it. Yeah. You know I mean? And don't think that goes for anything. Really, life itself. doesn't get easier. You just get better at it. And and i did it in New Orleans for a few years and then decided, like, time ago.
00:21:36
Speaker
New Orleans is an amazing fucking place to be inspired, but it's a very European city. Well, there's not a huge comedy scene in Europe either. There's this laissez-faire sort of like, I just want to live and be happy and I don't want to pay to watch a stranger tell jokes. Me and my friends are telling each other jokes right now.
00:21:52
Speaker
We're just living. It's got a very, like, you know... that sort of vibe to it. So eventually it was like, yeah, gotta go. How did you land on comedy? Were there comics that you were watching as a kid that you were like, I want to do that?
00:22:09
Speaker
be honest, no. I mean, like I wasn't getting, I'm not, you know, you talk to some comics who are like, I was watching Seinfeld at 11 and writing jokes by 13. I'm like, you know, good good on you. First of all, I didn't watch much network TV ever because my parents paid for cable.
00:22:26
Speaker
So that meant we watched cable. Right. you understand? Like, my parents are not rich, but they paid for cable. So if we were not watching cable, were like, what are you doing? And they'd put on. So i watched a lot of movies, a lot of HBO, a lot of my biggest my biggest comedic influence is the show. Mr. Show.
00:22:43
Speaker
um Mr. What? Mr. Show. OK. so on HBO now. You can watch it now, but it came out in the 90s on HBO in real time. And it's, I mean, everybody was on that show. Jack Black, fucking Sarah Silverman, but David Cross and Bob Odenkirk were the main guys.
00:22:59
Speaker
And that show was just, I still to this day think it's untouchably the best sketch comedy show ever done. I don't think anybody would have to watch. You there's been that Key and Peele was really good.
00:23:12
Speaker
You know, ah that guy and Michael Che I thought was really good. some sketch shows have come close. But to me, Mr. Show, it's still the one. It's just brilliant. It's only four seasons. It's only 30 episodes.
00:23:24
Speaker
But every episode just like, fuck, it's perfect. Is there a specific sketch you'd recommend checking out to dip my toe? This is the thing. it all of the sketches weave into one another.
00:23:36
Speaker
Right. And like like seamless transition. So like, I could tell you one, but I'd say just watch it, start watching it. Okay. You know, it's fucking great. The comedy is about jokes and all that stuff. I'll be, but for me, it was always about like sharing the human experience and making someone laugh through sort of acceptance. And I say this a lot, but it's true. Like,
00:23:59
Speaker
For me, it's all about flaw. Every human being is flawed. It is the one uniting factor. The one thing every single human being experiences is flaw, right?
00:24:12
Speaker
So comedy to me has always been about exposing my flaws and not just the ones that are there forever, you know, through experience and through ideas and through perception and through like opinion.
00:24:24
Speaker
Flaws are everywhere. And for me, I'm like, if I can just openly talk about my flaws in a way that makes you laugh, then maybe you have an easier time accepting yours. And, you know, we improve the human condition.
00:24:39
Speaker
That's kind of always been my thing. So I knew it was comedy because i was 18 years old and just such a fuck up. But the way I would talk about being a fuck up, the way I would share my experiences, of it just made it, it was just, everyone would laugh.
00:24:55
Speaker
and it was And it was always coming from a real place. I think there's a type of comic, like, ah like i mean, you Seinfeld a again as example, but like, you know, a very observational, never really talks about themselves, writes jokes about the world around them. Great, that's a great, I think that shit's hilarious. I love that kind of comedy too. But I think like what I do is more like, nope, I'm just going expose my, the inner workings of me.
00:25:16
Speaker
And, you know, you identify with it or just be amused by it or hate it, whatever you need to do. But if you laugh at it, I think you'll feel better about yourself.
00:25:26
Speaker
And that's that's what I've always that's the kind of comedy I've always gravitated to. So whenever I started like really getting into standup, you know, 16, 17 years old, then it was always comics. It was like, I remember Chris Rock.
00:25:40
Speaker
That was the first special. Bring the pain. That was one of the first specials where I was like, holy shit. Like this is just. And then from that, you i went back and listened to prior albums and Carlin albums, et cetera. What was it like finding your voice as a comic and figuring out the right way to mine things?
00:25:58
Speaker
Maybe not that trauma, but whatever that inner insecurity is that you were trying to expose. And it's it's a journey. you know There's a lot of failure, a lot of picking yourself up, a lot of a lot of lonely walks home by choice, a lot of detachment from people, you know a lot of sacrifices. You just kind of have to go through it all. And along the way, it's you know it's worth every step eventually, but it's hard.
00:26:23
Speaker
There's a lot of fucking... hard you know moving to new york was a was an easy decision but it was hard you what i mean like it was fucking from the moment i got there i think it was just like good christ i moved to new york in 2007 i had a thousand dollars how fucking stupid that is you know mean it's but that's what i did because it was that's what i tell anyone like Whenever I meet younger comics who like want to move and they're like, I want to you know i want to give myself, i think I need this much money or I got to do it for this much longer. i'd say the same thing everyone.
00:26:58
Speaker
You will never have enough money and you will never have enough enough experience until you arrive. Then it doesn't matter. However much money you have and however much experience you have, it'll do.
00:27:12
Speaker
It doesn't matter. And you you could have $100,000 saved up and be doing comedy for 20 years. But if you've never been in the New York comedy scene, it will take you to your fucking core.
00:27:22
Speaker
And vice versa. At the time, I had four years four and a half years of comedy under my belt, five years almost, and $1,000. I said, fuck it, I'm going.
00:27:33
Speaker
And I did. And it it was hard, but it worked. It worked out, you know? It's like, You just got to do it. And i see a lot of people wrestling with that idea of like, no, I got to, I need to get past at this local club first, or I need to do a festival first, or no, I need to say, no no, you don't have to do any fun. You don't have to fucking do any of it.
00:27:56
Speaker
Just go. Yeah. Just do it. And i say, pick, like, if you want to leave and move to New York, pick a date. And no matter what However much stage time you got, however much fucking money you got on that fucking date, go.
00:28:13
Speaker
That's that's um um It was hard. It was fucking hard. If you get through that first year in New York, throw yourself a party. ah so That shit's hard. Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard.
00:28:24
Speaker
And it wasn't like, you know, you hear all the bullshit stereotypes of, oh man, yeah I had to live with 17 roommates. And no, it's like, no, i lived with two roommates, but I lived in a cubicle. I could tell you that it wasn't an actual bedroom.
00:28:39
Speaker
It was a wall built in the living room. of a railroad apartment in Bushwick. And like pre-HBO girls Bushwick, when Bushwick still had some fucking edge to it back in 2007, where like, you know, you'd get fucked with too. That was the other thing. You'd get like...
00:28:54
Speaker
Like I never got was coming out. Right. I never got like jumped or mugged or anything like that. But I got fucking harassed and fucked with for sure. By like, the you know, the local kids.
00:29:07
Speaker
Some of the shit. The local kids. The local kids. Oh, yeah. It was always kids on tricycles and always nine year olds just taking you. yeah Just always lunch money.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's like, you know, fucking a pack of 16 year old, 17 year olds. So they got something to prove you're in their neighborhood. Yeah. Fucking eight of them. You're like, I'm not. OK, I'm just going to keep walking here.
00:29:30
Speaker
They're going to throw shit at They're going to yell, whatever. Fuck it. Just keep walking. And you have an old joke that you'd wake up on a Monday and take a fuck ton of sleeping pills because you could only afford to live for six days a week.
00:29:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was broke, dude. It was crazy. like i look How did you sustain yourself? I mean, you just keep going. There were times when I could borrow money from friends and hopefully pay them back within a month or two.
00:30:00
Speaker
I called once and asked my parents if I could borrow 500 bucks. And my dad was like, yeah, but this is it. but We can't. Yeah. you know And I was like, thank you. I'll do what I can. I definitely had no food days.
00:30:12
Speaker
Definitely a couple of those in that first year. I'm just like, well, I'm just not going to eat today. I'll be all right. I'll eat tomorrow. I definitely had some pretty fucking dark moments that first year, you know, where you're like, because but you go do these open mics and You go do three or four in a night.
00:30:32
Speaker
And if you bomb at all of them, then you're then you're thinking like, what's the point? Jesus Christ. Like, fuck, what am I even here doing? And then like, you just push through and, you know, do your shit day job and you're fucking just do, you know, eat your fucking slices of pizza.
00:30:49
Speaker
I was just like, I lived off pizza and falafel. those were Yeah, that's the New York diet. Yeah, those were the just the two main staples of my diet. Every now and again, I'd treat myself to grazed papaya because they used to the recession.
00:31:01
Speaker
Well, back then they had the recession special, which was... Remember that? Grazed papaya? I would go there for hot dogs as a kid. ah um Yeah, it was it was the recession special was two hot dogs and a drink for like $6.50. Oh, sick.
00:31:20
Speaker
You know, and you're like, oh sweet, what a feast. yeah And then you fucking do these shows, but then all of a sudden you go and you do that one bar show and you have an amazing set and it it's all worth it again. You lean on your friends a lot in that first year or so and they lean on you too.
00:31:35
Speaker
So it's it's equal. But finding your voice, you just gotta to the thing that I don't understand that people don't understand. A lot of fucking people have this problem is like just just be good.
00:31:50
Speaker
Just challenge yourself and get better. It's hard. Yeah, it's fucking hard. And it can really kick your head in sometimes. But like, if you so do that, you'll be fine.
00:32:02
Speaker
If you just consistently challenge yourself to get better, or not rest on your laurels. not Don't keep doing that same fucking 10-minute set for three years. Like, push yourself, write more, get better at being on stage, have more presence on stage, take little risks, you know, be more...
00:32:19
Speaker
present be more aware be more alive on stage love the material if you don't love it rewrite the ship don't do it just because it works do it because you love it and like rewrite material to where you like saying it better even if it means the way you used to say it now it doesn't get as big of a laugh but you like the direction you're going better stick with it it'll get a bigger laugh eventually It's a challenge, but you do it. You just like, it seems like so many people get confused at a certain point in their career where it's like, why aren't I getting things? It's like, maybe you're not pushing yourself enough. That's why.
00:32:54
Speaker
Maybe you're not fucking as good as you thought you were. yeah You know, that's a thought no one likes to have, but you got to have it. And then you challenge yourself and then you get better. And then you're better than you thought you were. And it's like, it's cyclical. You bomb.
00:33:07
Speaker
You'll always have rough sets. You'll always have those those moments of like, what the fuck was that? That will always exist. But you fear it less. And you start to use it when it happens. When you're like, okay, how can I improve?
00:33:23
Speaker
Right. It becomes more casual when it's more daily. And eventually, you know, you start making money when you're ready to make money. When you start to actually make money doing this as a career, comedy chooses that moment for you.
00:33:36
Speaker
But it only chooses that because you're good enough.
Advice for Young Comedians
00:33:39
Speaker
So you do have the control you have is how good you are. And you can't control when you're going to start getting paid. But if you're good, you will eventually start getting paid.
00:33:51
Speaker
And That's the best advice I can give to anyone. Just be good and stay I've seen it happen before. I've seen people get good and then get lazy and then get complacent, then get bitter and then get worse because now they don't love it anymore and they're pissed off and they're fucking taking it out on everyone else around them and they're just constantly shit talking and no one wants to be around them anymore because they're just this negative vibe all the fucking time and then they just fade away and it's like I've had those times I've had those dark years those times where you're like ah man everyone around me is doing better than me fuck what am i doing what is the point how old am I now Jesus but then
00:34:40
Speaker
You still love it. You still find ways to be like, okay, well, you know what though? I got a set tonight. I'm going to fucking enjoy this. And then you have an amazing fucking set. And then the next thing you know, you're right.
00:34:53
Speaker
You know, at all it's all cyclical again. Now it feels like you're getting stuff. Now it feels like you're taking off because you're happy about it. You're loving it again. You're writing more. You're performing more. You're in the zone. And now shit's happening because you love it again.
00:35:08
Speaker
And That's the core. That's the truth. If you don't love it, don't do it. And I say that's for everything, but like, especially this, I think that's the thing a lot of young comedians, it's a, it's a question you got to ask yourself early on.
00:35:23
Speaker
Do you actually love this? And are you willing to love it forever? Because it's a lifelong journey. It's a journey. It's a lifelong journey. It's not, You know, I know social media makes it all seem so attainable.
00:35:35
Speaker
Social media makes it seem like all you got to do is, you know, trick the algorithm, get the algorithm on your side, your set. Problem is the algorithm is artificial. It's not real. It doesn't actually have taste.
00:35:49
Speaker
So it'll put anything out there. The way people do now where they're like, dumbing down the subtitling and sort like instead of sex, it's like sex. Yeah. And it's stupid, but you know, it it's, you're feeding this algorithm. The algorithm is only going to change towards that.
00:36:06
Speaker
Like it's only going to start trending towards that shit. And then it's just going to start promoting people who do that with their subtitles instead of, you know, actual quality content. I, I, I'm a personal believer that all of that is going to fall apart relatively soon.
00:36:21
Speaker
I was listening to this conversation recently between two people who were saying that the number one thing that they've done for their careers is start an email list because everything on Instagram and TikTok or whatever, like that could go poof in an instant.
00:36:38
Speaker
But email is like you are sure to reach your audience and that can't be taken away. And so it's like kind of archaic, but it's also probably the safest tool to have.
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's very smart. I do believe at the end of the day, comedy is a meritocracy. And quality does rise. it may It may take longer, but that's what I'm saying. it's a It's a lifelong journey. And so many people, you know, when I hear, I had this, I had this, so this was in North Carolina. This was last year.
00:37:13
Speaker
had this young comic after a show or at a bar, you know, like, can i buy you a drink and pick your brains? I was like, you don't have to buy me a drink because they give me free drinks. But yes, pick away.
00:37:27
Speaker
And his very first question was, which club pays more, the seller or the state? Yeah. and and And I had this moment my head where like, that's your question.
00:37:39
Speaker
That's your question. Not. how hard is it to get into the cellar on the stand? Not, if I moved to New York, where should I start? Not, what were your favorite open mics back in your day? Were they still around, you think?
00:37:51
Speaker
Not, as a new comic, can I get into these shows for free and watch? No, he wanted to know how much they paid, which told me everything I needed to know about this kid. I'm like, I don't think you're doing this for the right reason.
00:38:02
Speaker
So I was like, oh, you know, the cellar pays the most. They pay about $1,500 a cent. And, you Stan pays about a thousand dollars a set. And he's like, wait, really? I'm like, yeah, dude, new York's expensive.
00:38:15
Speaker
I'm like, so, you know, and you're doing, you know, anywhere from 50 to 60 sets a week. So, you know, you're making good money. And I just kind of left it at that, which is, by the way, a lot. Nothing pays that much.
00:38:26
Speaker
That's insane. But I hope I fucking fuck this kid's head up. He shows up to New York thanking people and making 50 grand a week. But like, that's to me, it's like if don't
00:38:39
Speaker
Don't worry about money. Worry about being good. And then about money. It baffles me when I meet these younger comics who are like, so do we get paid on this show? And it's like, but hold on.
00:38:51
Speaker
You're not even fucking good yet.
00:38:54
Speaker
This is kind of a burning question I have for you because this is relevant to me and how I've been thinking about what I should be doing right now. I feel like just reading off your credits You've performed in so many different places with, I'm sure, so many different audiences and such a diverse type of feedback.
00:39:17
Speaker
For me right now, there's one stage in LA that I have become very comfortable on. And I feel comfortable to take risks on that stage. And then sometimes when I go elsewhere, i kind of lose that a bit.
00:39:32
Speaker
yeah And I'm wondering, i think the answer is clear to me that I have to get out there and try more types of audiences and just become comfortable in more types of environments.
00:39:44
Speaker
But I'm wondering for you in that first year, how you thought about putting yourself out in front of different types of audiences and then what role that played in how you built your career and tested out your jokes.
00:39:58
Speaker
I mean, that was the beauty of coming up in New York, you were, there was a very diverse options, you know Right. This is such an insane thing to say out loud, but it's true.
00:40:09
Speaker
At a certain point, you have to trust yourself over the audience. Meaning at a certain point, you should no longer need the audience to tell you if that was funny or not.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah. That's a crazy place to get to, but you got to get there. And You know, if one stage you're comfortable on, great.
00:40:31
Speaker
You got one under your belt. Fine. Most people don't ever get comfortable at all. So remember that. So if you got at least one that you're comfortable on, cool. Start there. And then just build from that.
00:40:43
Speaker
You know, like, what what are you doing on that stage that you're not doing on other stages? You know, what what is it about other places that you're more reserved, where whereas on the comfortable stage, you're like, ah, fuck it. I'll do it the fuck ever, dude.
00:40:57
Speaker
don't even give a shit. You know, I'm um um i'm fucking Erica Cantor. don't know why I made you from Mississippi, but I did. You just got to figure out what is it Because i know that feeling where like there's that one club where you're like, oh, yeah, this is. Yeah. And then i just want to keep going back there over and over again because I have so much fun.
00:41:17
Speaker
Tap into whatever that is, you know, tap into whatever that like whatever's happening in that moment, whatever's making you show like, oh, this is amazing. find it, identify it, and try and spread it.
00:41:30
Speaker
Try and put yourself on that stage on every other stage. That make sense? Yeah, totally. I rewrite my material a lot, even though stuff that works. And the reason is because I have to love it.
00:41:43
Speaker
And if I love it, they love Usually goes hand in hand. Even if they don't like it, they still they'll still roll with it because I love it so much. And I think that's any performer, every performer.
00:41:56
Speaker
If they feel how much you feel it, you know then you're truly in the moment. And Fuck yeah. You know, find that moment of like, what is it that makes me excited to say this again?
00:42:12
Speaker
Something I've said so many times. How can I find ways to make exciting to say again, do that. Then every stage becomes that one stage. What's like the balance for you between honing ah joke and then also making it new? Like I know, for example, you have a a joke that always stuck with me. And I've actually I've seen you do it multiple times just in, you know, research for this.
00:42:38
Speaker
And I remember you doing it in Hong Kong, which is your glow stick joke. Yes. Human beings are like glow sticks. We can't truly shine until someone cracks us. There it is, baby.
00:42:50
Speaker
the and So for that one, when you like repeat that oh over and over again, it's just like. Are you finding that you're getting similar reception in different places or is it more that it's just like a joke that you fucking love so you're going to keep using it?
00:43:10
Speaker
a combination of things. I mean, that's a joke that taught me to, this this is going to sound so new agey. That taught me to feel laughter more than hear it. Because think huh that's a thing that too many comedians are obsessed with, is like decibel level.
00:43:27
Speaker
And like quite lot of American comedians don't like performing in England. Because they're like, they don't laugh over there. No, they do. They're just a quieter, more reserved society.
00:43:38
Speaker
And like, you just got to feel the laughter more than so more more than you hear it. So like, that's a joke that like, oftentimes, don't really do it so much anymore because i recorded a special. But like, a lot of times, it would not necessarily get like a big booming laugh.
00:43:55
Speaker
It would get more of like ah people coming up afterwards and being like, oh, my God, that was so funny. And, yeah you know, laughter takes different forms. It's not always ha, ha, ha, ha. mean, that's the that's the kind we want the most because it's the most immediately rewarding.
00:44:11
Speaker
But there's also, you know, you can make people laugh at a point where they're not actually making any sound. You've got to feel it more than you just hear it, you know, because you can see it You know, you could see them moving around. You could see them physically laughing.
00:44:26
Speaker
You can obviously hear it. If they laugh hard enough to where they shit themselves or vomit, you can then smell it. And even taste it in certain situations.
00:44:36
Speaker
But like feeling it is the hardest part. You got be able to feel that people reacting to it. A joke like that, it's how it's how I try to make all my material. It comes from a place of like, no, that's, I believe it.
00:44:50
Speaker
You know what mean? That's a belief of mine. Oh, we don't have time. don't have time to get into that. But like, but like it, you know, that, that bit specifically, that's a belief.
00:45:01
Speaker
So when you're saying something, you truly believe It never gets old. Yeah. Ever. That's so well said. How do you prepare for longer form sets?
00:45:14
Speaker
And also, i think, what did it look like? Prepare for that first, maybe like half hour or that first hour long set, especially when you're coming from doing sets that are probably, you know, 10, 12 minutes max.
00:45:30
Speaker
Well, first of all, so yeah i share I'll show I'll show you my phone. So that like, that's a set list. That's from last night. Right? So cool. but i mean How long is that? Like 30 minutes?
00:45:41
Speaker
An hour? That's an hour set. Yeah. And how many bullets are in there? I make this set list. I got every set. Wait, hold on. This is my set list. Let's see what... This goes back to... want to see.
00:45:59
Speaker
Holy Holy shit. but This goes back to, if you can see that right there, that's Whiplash. 2012. 2012. Oh, my God. I wonder if you could find the Hong Kong set in there.
00:46:12
Speaker
bet I could. Hold up. 2018. No, but I mean, the name of that place was... Take Out Comedy. Take Out Comedy. and ah October 2018. Yeah. That sounds right. Yep. Found it.
00:46:24
Speaker
Oh, fuck. Holy shit. Look at that. That's dope. There you go. Gregor Carver, racist thoughts, question mark. Yep.
00:46:36
Speaker
Loud, loud Americans abroad. Wow, fuck. That's crazy. I can't believe it. Of course I still have that. Do I always follow that set list? It's debatable.
00:46:47
Speaker
I'd say about 90, 85% of the time, yes. But sometimes I just go completely off. It all depends on what's the moment. Because sometimes you get up there and they're like, all right, this is it. dumb, drunk, rowdy audience, or this is a, you know, quiet, reserved, you know, sometimes you need to apply a different tool set to them.
00:47:05
Speaker
The good thing about starting in New Orleans was it's such a tiny comedy scene that I did my first ever like headlining half hour set a year in the standout.
00:47:17
Speaker
Wow. Now but it was probably mostly dog shit, but I was getting a lot of longer sets at a younger time because there just wasn't that many comedians.
00:47:27
Speaker
And so for me, long ah doing a longer set is easier than doing a five minute set for me. Because I'm a very, just the way I write, the way I think, the way am, I'm a very long winded fucking meandering loudmouth on stage. So like a long set's no big fucking deal. I love that.
00:47:47
Speaker
I love a long set. It's writing a shorter. It's like condensing it into 10-minute sets. Like sometimes sets in New York can be more stressful than a set like, for example, here in Philadelphia, Helium Comedy Club, Fantastic Club, you know, doing an hour...
00:48:02
Speaker
Two hours a night, not a big deal. yeah Sometimes in New York, it'll be more stressful just doing a 15-minute and a sold-out comedy seller just because, like, every other comic's fucking great and you got to condense everything into 15 minutes.
00:48:16
Speaker
So you're like, ugh. But, you know, you do that too. You get good at that. But I don't know. Preparing for a long set has always been very easy, not easy, but doable for me.
00:48:28
Speaker
Like, I just... I spend, I'm a loner. I spend a lot of time alone by necessary. Like I need it. I fucking need it, you know, and take a lot of walks. And during those walks, I just sort of like get my head in the right place. And like, you know sort of half say the material to myself consciously, half sort of unconsciously. I like wake up that side of me, which is we, you know, every performer has that like internal truth, that internal I don't know, call your inner child, call it what you have to, but like that thing inside of you that's like, now I am here. I have come to dominate, you know? just got you gotta to wake it up sometimes.
00:49:10
Speaker
And that's, I always do that. Do you journal at all? I used to, but I just, now I just write. Yeah. You know, like most of my experiences in my day just become material.
00:49:21
Speaker
So Are you looking for it to be funny or does that just happen naturally? Like, are you looking for joke structure when you're writing that material?
00:49:34
Speaker
Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah. I let the structure find itself. I try and find funny. i kind of like try and find funny moments that are naturally occurring and then build around.
00:49:47
Speaker
That makes sense. And then like, I don't ever try and force it. until it needs to be, until you're at where you're like, wait, hold on. If I just really lean into this, it'll, and this is the outcome I want.
00:50:02
Speaker
And it's never going to be exact outcome. I think it's like writing a bit is like growing a tree. It's going to, the branches are going to go in ways, you know, you're going to, it's going to have a, it's going to bark. It's going to have a trunk and it's going to have leaves. It's going branches, but you never can really predict which way the branches are going to go, but you just, you know, it's a branch and,
00:50:22
Speaker
You don't know how many leaves it's going to have. You just hope it has a lot of leaves. You can oftentimes not even predict what kind of tree it's going to be. Is it going to be a sycamore? Is it going to be a magnolia? Is it going to be an oak? Is it going to be a pine? Is it going to be a redwood? Who knows?
00:50:36
Speaker
You just sort of know. It's like it's going to be a tree. You got to let it be the tree it's going to be, but you got to fucking plant the goddamn thing first. Plant the tree.
00:50:46
Speaker
Get it in the soil. Water it. Give it sunlight. And then then let the then let it grow. And trim it. Trim it if you need to. trim those branches. Pine it if you want to.
00:50:58
Speaker
But like, You know, maybe there was a bird nest in there. You don't know. and that's Those the best bits. Or suddenly, like, oh, there's life in there, too. It's life on top of it. Anyway, so now I'm just.
00:51:08
Speaker
That's beautiful. yeah Well, so I noticed with some of your longer sets that you have on Spotify, for example, those bits are cut up into pretty bite-sized pieces. Mm-hmm.
00:51:23
Speaker
So are you working on, let's say a topic about your grandma's Alzheimer's and trying to get that into like a five minute or three minute set, or I guess those bits range from anywhere from like three minutes to eight minutes long.
00:51:36
Speaker
Are you thinking about it in that way? Are you imposing those topics on it after the fact? I don't like imposing restrictions on yourself like that. don't. Right. I just personally don't like got it.
00:51:48
Speaker
yeah It's like, it's, it it ruins it for me personally. If you like, put too many like oh this can only be two minutes and whatever but I mean you know because of things like Spotify and because of shit like you do kind of have to do that a little bit you know yeah you kind of have to give yourself but I don't best don't do it i so I will still write a bit and the bit's going to be as long as it's going to be and I will find ways to make versions of it that can be chopped, you know, you chop it down and you can have a 12 minute bit that you can then have a four minute version of it if necessary. When I'm originally writing the bit, the original draft of the bit, I don't even think about time.
00:52:32
Speaker
I'm just like, however long this is going to be, it's going to be, you know? And sometimes it's short. Sometimes it's like, oh, that's three lines. Great. Then sometimes it's like, oh, that's four pages. Yeah.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah. How did you find your first manager? Montreal. And have you had the same manager ever since? No. My first manager i was with for nine years, they were very, you know, I give them respect.
00:52:58
Speaker
I gave them a shout out on my special, but you know, at a certain point we just kind of grew apart, you know, just different. So we parted ways and I had the same manager, but ah you know, and then I got a new manager. I'm still with her.
00:53:12
Speaker
And, you know, you got to let management And agents, all of them, they got to find you. Don't seek them out. Yeah. Don't seek them out because the moment they catch a whiff that you're seeking them out, they are immediately no longer interested.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah. have to just hunker down. Don't even think about that shit. I feel like that's the problem with being in l LA it's that the industry is here.
00:53:38
Speaker
and because I come from this background, that's very much like, education and then the people go and they work at the agencies and then they like do this and this and this and it's very plug and play i feel like that sort of mentality is ingrained in me so deeply but it's also been something that i've been learning to let go of but it is definitely something that people ask me about and then i'm like do i need that like do i should i be seeking that out are there things they should you know
00:54:11
Speaker
That's the thing, like seeking
Navigating Management in Entertainment
00:54:12
Speaker
out them. But that's that's where the point becomes mood again. Like the moment again, when you the moment you start seeking them out, they don't care. You don't want to. You just I'd say my advice there is just lean into your career yourself.
00:54:25
Speaker
Do as much as you can on your own. take as much control as you can of it when they find you then it's like cool but never forget they work for you yeah that's a big thing and it becomes this bullshit status yeah everyone's sucking each other's cocks and it's like a whole thing they work for you yeah they are your manager not like in the traditional sense of like at a job, like, Oh, that's your manager. You got to report to them. No, no, no.
00:54:51
Speaker
They are your, as in why are you all like you're, you, you have ownership of them. They are your manager. They may manage your career. They belong to you.
00:55:03
Speaker
So you've got to find someone you can work with who you can treat with respect and they will treat you with respect back. And you can have a good working relationship, but, Don't find a, don't just sign with a manager because they're a manager.
00:55:17
Speaker
yeah That's, that's a mistake. Everyone makes that save you a lot of time and a lot of fucking anxiety. Don't sign with someone just because they're a manager. they're going to, they're going hit pocket.
00:55:28
Speaker
They're just going to keep you away from all the other managers hoping that you blow up and they can take all the credit. Right. Just don't do that yourself. Just keep going. Keep going and sign with someone you vibe with.
00:55:40
Speaker
Someone who obviously gets what you do and believes in what you do and sees the path. The amount of times I had managers early on being like, what do you want? And I'd tell them what I want and they'd be like, oh, you know, I mean, what about this? What about, like, no, you see, I just told you what I want and you're not seeing it.
00:55:58
Speaker
What was it that you were saying that you wanted? i wanted to be me. I wanted to be, they were like, you want to be the next Jack Black? You want to be the next Jack Galifianakis? I'm like, no, I want to be the first Sean Patton.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah. And these are the steps I want to take. And they were well, but, well, yeah oh don' go yeah yeah, we get there and they're on their phone. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah. ha ha ha But, you know, it's, but there's some good men. There's some really good managers out there and agents and shit. like,
00:56:30
Speaker
You know, they know who they are and they find good people as well. so you know So, you know, just stay the course. Right. And it's stand up for you. That was always like the main thing. Like you were never interested in but mean writing and acting or anything like that. I mean, writing and act, sure. But stand up the main thing.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that checks out. That's super cool. I'm going to ask you two questions. Rapid fire. Before we close out, can you give me two things that you're grateful for?
00:57:00
Speaker
I'm grateful that I have forgot my health. yeah everyone Everyone should be fucking grateful for it. Yeah. Because nothing else matters without it. And I am grateful to have a passion.
00:57:13
Speaker
Yeah. You know? These are two things. If you have your health and a passion in life, you are going to live live it to the fullest. I enjoy that.
00:57:23
Speaker
Thank you. there's a Japanese term called Ikigai. and it basically means that as long as you have a passion or something to like get you out of bed every single day, you're going to live not forever, probably, but like when you lose that, that's when you die.
00:57:40
Speaker
Right. I agree. Yeah. And then can you, yeah, Ikigai. And then can you give a big F you, a big fuck you? ah Catholic church. Actually, most religion.
00:57:52
Speaker
I think i And I'm not an atheist. I'm not. I believe in higher power because I just think there are things out there we cannot understand and don't know. So to believe that we are the end all be all of intelligent being, I think it's just naive. But I also think that religion is exclusively the root of all evil.
00:58:12
Speaker
everything sexism racism classism greed all of it like it all stems from some sort of religious beliefs and i think if you eradicate religion and just had people believing in what they believed in and allowing each other to believe in what each other believed in and not giving a fuck then it'd be great but the moment it becomes religion the moment my god is right your god is wrong my ways are right, you're right, your ways are wrong, you have the Middle East. You have that. You have thousands and thousands of years of war over Jerusalem, over a city that apparently a guy who none of us can prove ever existed hung out and millions of people have died and people millions of people will forever hate each other based off of scripture written by manipulative people who claim to have known
00:59:08
Speaker
the source of life it's just i religions i don't like it so fuck you yeah fuck you religion i totally buy with that i'm like a ah pretty spiritual jew i did a mushroom trip a while ago and i just like was like looking at the stars and like felt like i became one with the sky and i kept saying adonai which means god is one yeah so i think that maybe some of the ogs kind of new spiritual Jew is a great album title so remember thanks maybe I'll use that all right thank you so much Sean this was awesome thank you for having me Erica you're awesome you're awesome no you're awesome okay you're awesome no you're awesome
00:59:58
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening to The Big EFU. Thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to The Big EFU. This is your friendly reminder to just keep doing your best. And if your best sucks, you'll get them next time.
01:00:11
Speaker
Later.