Impractical Jokers: Sal Vulcano on Going Broke, Cancel Culture, and Getting Sued

[Music] is that good I read online that you could eat it my favorite snack now why do you think the show is so successful what about it do you think people resonated with between us having a real friendship it is a pretty good reimagining of the genre the fact that we are not necessarily having a laugh at other people's expense but our own that idea was born out of that concept so what is this the punishment for saying no to a punishment there is none you can't say no I God and we do elaborate stuff too but sometimes the hardest stuff is the most simple do people lose it at you our goal is never to make anyone feel stupid or angry sometimes it's a byproduct you're taking me out of the they say if you can make a woman laugh then you can make her fall in love is that true all right thank you so much for coming on the iced coffee hour it is an honor to have you on the show oh that's so nice of you guys thank you it's an honor to be here thank you for coming to New York we're both huge fans so this is like really exciting for us is it is it true that you're both really huge fans I grew up watching practical jokers with my like I called my dad and I was like Dad like we're having on this show he's like he's like no way yeah oh that's awesome yeah everyone we talk to it's just like you have a salon like no way oh of the people that you get on there said that about me no yeah absolutely yeah you you just kind of have like one of those faces one of those presences that people kind of just they they know well this is wonderful already well first question is we have to know have you ever seen the meat Canyon spin-off of Impractical Jokers have you seen that yes what do you think about that wait just remind me what is it it's the animated one about like oh it's the animated one crazy faces okay yeah yeah yeah yeah cuz there was another one that was like you saw the marriage one two crazy ones they lost kid yeah garage sale one that one that's the one you're talking about and then also the cartoon one the cartoon one I for that was the bank robbery one where you guys were laughing in the van you got to go into the bank psychotic it was crazy yeah I I feel bad I I can't speak to the details of it I saw it when it came out I was like what the hell this is crazy what do you think I'm flattered by all that stuff I mean any anyone is going to take their time and creative energy to do something that has anything to do with you know and it's it's awesome I love it I mean I do remember seeing it cuz I gets sent everything immediately like if someone sees it or we we in a lot of memes like our our show is perfect for a meme when like something in terrible happens or something like crazy happens they'll cut it in and they'll put us like all right now tell them to say this and then they'll put the thing in the middle then the three of us like laughing at you know so I see that we're we become a lot of like pop culture zey stuff just because it's like it's the perfect meme for it yeah but uh I mean I'm always I'm always flattered if anyone puts any type of energ en into something like that I noticed that you you have your Like official YouTube channel the one with like a few thousand subscribers that no one's found out about yet you posted like 15 shorts is that actually you it is it is me I just never had one so when um when I came to YouTube I should have made my own name but instead I made a the no press network uh which would house two of my podcasts and I just was like you know I don't want I was starting two new podcast up and I was like I don't want people have to go to two different places for them so I'll put them under one umbrella and so figured oh you know if if I call it a network then I could use it for production and other things and grow it so I called the no press Network that's the channel on YouTube that I use that's the one that end up getting hundreds and hundreds of thousands and then the special was coming out and I'm like well I want to release this under my own Banner or whatever and I was like so let me make an account but there was nothing there was no Runway to Fe feed the content to it so there's no reason for people to go to it so I haven't really promoted it at all so you mentioned on theovon that you had six jobs yeah what are those six jobs so I tour with the guys so that's one whole entity and show live live show and then I'm a standup comedian so I have you know I tour myself new tour right now actually and then I have the television show and then I have two podcasts and then we have a production company called badwoods Productions which develops and pitches and makes shows so how many is that so far that's I think that's if you individual podcast as one then that would be six yeah there are two different jobs though Al yeah pretty much wow so when did you realize that you were funny were people telling you this as a kid as a kid I was in school I was like the class clown kind of guy um at home I was the I was a clown really I was like I've said this on a podcast but I used to like memorize my favorite shows and then like put on put on like perform for the family on like the holidays and stuff like The Jeffersons specifically is like my favorite show of all time when I was little I used to like watch I don't even know if you you guys know what I was thinking of the Jetson but the Jefferson is uh Norman leer podcast like that was a spin-off of all in the family that was big in like the I guess I want to say early 80s uh moving on up you know George Jefferson he owned the cleaners he might know better than I would I've seen it but I don't remember all well it's it's like old school sitcom like where it felt like little plays like the studio audence there really like studio audience there and like and I just just like like like write down like like just in real time try to catch as much of the dialogue as I and then I'd like go into school and like and for my family I'd like act it all out and everything so it's like and then like as my parents didn't really censor anything that I had to watch and so I was watching like Eddie Murphy at a very young age oh Eddie Murphy's hilarious his early standup was amazing yeah I mean he was 19 20 years old doing Delirious then raw whatever and so I I mean I watched those vhs's until they broke so like I I just was like and he was like you know Trading Places and and coming to America and 48 hours all those like Eddie Murphy was huge for me as a kid and uh yeah I just kind of like from from that point on I just Bill Cosby I mean like we used to watch it it was familyfriendly you know good cont I mean Eddie wasn't but he was a Storyteller and the the best of its kind you know uh if you don't know that story took a turn Google it uh Bill Cosby if you haven't really been up on anything but uh yeah back then I'm sure yeah I'm sure people know so we got to we got to know you got a finance degree yeah you don't want to talk about Cosby anymore uh we could keep talking about Cosby have you have you ever met the guy uh no I've seen him live with my dad this is how was that was that he was great I mean you know I sat in the second row with my dad and he did two and a half hours of and you're just like holy cow I'm watching a living legend I don't feel the same about him now uhhuh but I could I could isolate just you know him the material when we were little we used to Cote it all the time you know two and a half hours so is that like mostly like rehearsed and then just regurgitated on stage or like because I can't imagine two and a half hours is like I think he's just up there going off the you know the seat of his pants I think he has a lot that he does but I think he's like is always working on that type of like it's like a like a Chappelle Chappelle gets up on stage in a club and will stayed up there for three hours and just like right on stage you think you can separate the art from the artist with someone like Bill Cosby or you think that's just uh I mean like you know I mean look I I mean when when when when himself was out I was like five or whatever and I watch it a million times so that has nothing to do with that like I still eat Jello mm you know I'm not stop eating pudding he was the spokesperson for for Jello pudding I had no idea yeah got it yeah he was like you know like the whole like jello thing that he used to do haven't seen it yeah yeah that's crazy I like to look at the books now the financial books Jello and see if there was a residual hit that was a long time ago too and I wonder if people are able to eat pudding now or not that's a that's a good question actually not take a look into that so why did you take Finance like what was the purpose of that one dude I was 17 and they said what do you want to do and I was like I have no clue what I want to do at all and I know that I want to make money and finance literally deals with money right and so I have a bachelor in finance I think didn't like it while I was doing it I didn't retain a lot of it I it's a I have I have as much retained knowledge of this subject as a child I don't it it was a complete waste what was your plan going into it though like investment banker wealth manager you didn't know whatever Finance me what were you doing in college then were you ever thinking about like okay what am I going to do with this Finance degree or was it just like kind of a byproduct or like a no it was like a lot of my friends were like oh I took accounting I took this I took that and then you go interview and they'd get you a job you know right out of college and I just figured I'll do that I'll just go to a financial institution and I did I went to presedential Securities my first interview I was hired and I worked for presedential Securities for over four years after credential yeah huh yeah and I were doing what were you doing exactly so I started in like back office operations for mutual funds and then I transitioned to a business systems analyst for the mutual fund trading system so I helped build the trading systems for the Brokers well that's like a legit it's legit it's insane for me to say that so how did you even but you said that when you were in college it was kind of ah you know the finan I didn't know anything about mutual funds in college either I just learned all this on the job how did you get the job easier back then I just went and I interviewed I had a my friend's dad was pretty high up there okay and gave me a reference but I'm sure you still can't go in and be a dope you know but I think they were like I remember cuz they were I remember the guy who interviewed me was very taken that I was a comedian and so like it was like a 40-minute interview and most of it he was asking me about comedy and writing comedy and all that stuff and you know so like he just made him laugh so he's just like I want to H this guy around you know I had my resume which was like pretty good I did well in college and then I don't think I people go into that like very respect I was I was referring to him as Mr this and I had met a woman coming in and I remember her name was Irene mcis and I was like oh miss mcus told me and he's like Miss mikakus and I was like yeah and I I think he was taken with the fact that I just was kind of um you know just you know respectful in that way or whatever I remember like that I remember he like like did name yeah just that I was saying Mr this or Mr that I guess people don't do that I don't know they hired me it wasn't also it wasn't like some it was a off back office operation well so I don't think you needed a degree for it you know so I think I always came to the table with a degree with a reference you know no no it was uh $28,000 a year oh wow so that's this was 1998 okay so proba or so just for inflation yeah I don't know we'd have to crunch the numbers there but it wasn't good I remember like with overtime I made my first year I made 32,000 wow yeah and uh I worked there I was also the freaking clown of that office yeah I mean they we used to have like these mixers and these things that would like be team building they had this day where I like oh today the whole office is going to play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire s will host it or this or that or like and we had things that we went out and there was all these events and they always made me like the host of it so I would just be like literally practice Yeah I was just like I was doing comedy already I was cuz I was doing sketch and improv since 1999 so right around that time so I was performing in the city so my whole office used to come see me and everything so I was just like the guy that like was liked at the office cuz I was funny a funny comedian you know the work I didn't love it but it was like did it and I I started to to like get promoted MH and I didn't want to be in that space it's like by the time I left four years later I was an assistant VP of this department and um I got a raise and like some stock options and the way that you're like relaying this it makes it seem like you kind of just stumbled across I did I did I I I didn't know what I was going to do when I went there I didn't know anything about mutual funds and then I was like everyone like transferred into office I saw that happening and like people became programmers and like the pay was better in these other departments and so I was like where can I transfer and it was mutual fund related and so a business systems analyst for people that don't know what it is is I was the go-between between the Brokers and the programmers so I had to know the language of code and The Business of mutual funds so that when they needed something done uh I I was basically a translator right I could explain to the programmers what was needed and then I would help write that code and make the manual for whatever that like that project was going to be that then they would follow the programs would follow to make the the acttion so we built a trading system for mutual funds for Brokers of credential while I was there it sounds like impressive and I guess in hindsight like I did work a lot I was working really long hours but I was like figuring it out as I went the entire time the entire time and I never took it serious but you know what before we go into that this year I've taken my health extremely seriously I've gone to the gym four to six times every single week I've really cut out a lot of foods in my diet some foods that were really unhealthy that I wasn't even thinking about and our sponsor Factor was there to help when I'm trying to decide what to eat I take into account three things which is the affordability how quickly I can get it and of course the nutrition and Factor fortunately checks all three of those boxes Factor meals are incredibly easy to eat in Just 2 minutes with no mess or cooking involved all you got to do is take one of the meals 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tastes like go ahead to factor meals.com IED coffee 50 and use the code iced coffee 50 at checkout for 50% off your first box plus 20% off the next month again that's code iced coffee 50 at Factor meals.com IED C50 for 50% off your first box plus 20% off the next month while your subscription is active thank you factor for sponsoring this episode and now let's get back to the podcast did you ever pull pranks people at the office like just prank them no i i people ask me like you know oh so so when did you start doing pranks and what were you like as a kid and like I tell we needed an idea for a pitch meeting like I didn't I'm not the prank guy I don't do joke like I none of that was me at all but um we've been a comedy troop since 99 and uh we got an agent in 2007 finally and then we they set us up with a bunch of meetings to pitch shows and um so we had to think of ideas and we sat down and this was one of the ideas we thought of uh and I told this story but not to your audience it was like we had a these meetings set up for a week in a week and we didn't have any ideas and we went to lunch one day and thought of three ideas that we would pitch days later one of them was Jokers and MTV and True TV offered to buy it in the room which is very rare like immediately immediately immediately why you true TV over MTV yeah so MTV offered first and when we went into True TV we already had an offer oh so he shopped it well we were going already it wasn't like you know we were pitching it to everyone already so that was already going to happen but MTV wanted to make the show a game show a strip show which is like basically a game show that is every day of the week like Monday through Friday and they wanted different contestants to compete and just have it like just make it a game show where we were like no the whole Secret Sauce is we've known each other for 30 years we want people to invest in our characters our different personalities and have favorites and that's the hook of them you know coming back and then true was like that's the show we want to make I remember they said to us they're like like we have an offer we were transparent and and I remember Marissa Ranka was the name of the executive and she was like is it MTV and I'm like yeah she's like I knew it and she's like don't go with MTV she's like they don't pay they have no money they will not pay you they will not the budget won't be great we're like all right I know whatever and she's like but we'll make the show that you want to make and I was like we were like all right that's the show we want to make so I mean at this point I was 35 years old you know and I had already had a lot of failure and we've you know we thought of you know plenty of things we we tried to you know we were in festivals we made short films we were doing other television shows uh single camera script that shows everything so we were like all right this is finally like this is lightning in a bottle and we you know we got an opportunity it's just crazy how that happened because everything before it was arduous and failure and not nothing clicking and we just said we want a show that will showcase our relationship and our skill set which is improvising and so that idea was born out of that concept and we thought well we can thrive in this like even when we were writing single camera scripts it was still like we're still new writers and we're still like not steeped in that world and and so it was like we were finding our way through that just like I was finding my way through mutual funds so when all of you met was it an instant connection so we met in high school um before any of this so you know there was it was an all boys Catholic High School it was it was small it was like maybe 1,200 kids total so there's only 300 kids in our class so I knew everyone so we weren't like a click that walked around together we were all friends but not like together and then in like uh junior year there was an improv class or an improv show and so we joined up for that and did it again in senior year and all of us were in that and then that's it we went and left for college and when we came back I bumped into James on the show and he had started the Improv troop at Georgetown where he was so he had been doing it and I had started going to acting classes and and and improv classes we were all still doing it and we were like you want to get together and just like you know just mess around and so we would go to Joe gad's mom's basement of her townhouse and that's what we would rehearse and we rehears three times a week for six months before our first Little blackbox Theater show it was pretty and we were just learning we were reading books on it and like teaching ourselves we would go down to UCB and watch all the shows there and study it surround ourselves and steep ourselves in it and we would like oh my God we would like tape the rehearsals and then when we finish rehearsal for like an hour or hour and a half we'd play the rehearsal and watch it like football players watch tape and like just pause it and be like oh why did you make that choice or I could have done that better or this or that like we really dove into it so we were like well we can make a show where you know we are ourselves and we are improv like we don't have to learn how to we have to learn how to make the show as production wise but we didn't learn how to we didn't need to learn how to be ourselves you know and so that's what ended up I think being being like was really fortunate is that we didn't come across Green in that respect you know what I mean when we were pitching it and you know so we just went to uh we had the idea we went to Times Square the four of us with our cell phone cameras like two nights later and we filmed like four five little bits uh with a little lav mic just the four of us we cut the cell phone footage together that was a Sizzle tape that we show showed in the room like the show didn't exist conceptually like five days before it and the tape didn't even exist till like three days before it and uh we got so lucky it was just like preparedness opportunity luck at the same time so when they buy the show what does that exactly mean do they commit to paying for a certain amount of episodes and how does that work yeah I think what they did was um they were they they bought a pilot and then as we were filming the pilot they watched footage of it they liked it immediately and so they ordered Eight Episodes and then as we were ending in episodes I think by the fourth episode they liked it so much they made it to 16 episodes and we end up doing 17 there was a special 17 episodes in the first one and then I thought we were done I really did I thought like I told the guys like I I think that we've done all we can here you know like how many how much can we do in this you know and I was like it was nice while it lasted and they didn't renew us until like six months after that so we did not come away from the first season really knowing if we were coming back and then they did and then then they we bumped to 26 episodes in five specials and we did 31 episodes for the next like eight seasons or whatever so we're approaching 300 episodes now if we haven't passed it already now how does it work with negotiating individual salaries on a show like that do you have someone else doing that yeah well our our agents will negotiate that you know we'll you know we have candid talks and what our bottom lines are and what we're going for and they'll try to get us whatever they can and actually in the beginning it wasn't much at all like we didn't have any PLL only in success comes the PLL and so we kind of didn't make a lot of money it's funny people think that if you're on television you're rich or something like that I I was making like a regular salary we were the first few years you know what I mean it just it wasn't anything outrageous um and you know with success we were able to like you know finally like turn the tables a little bit and make up for cuz in the beginning it was criminal what they were paying us what were they paying you can you say it was like it was nothing it was like um I mean not nothing but a couple Grand what you would think yeah what you would think it would be on television you know like and like it was 16 episodes it took us a year to make like you know because back then now we are a well old machine we can write a manual on how to make this show we're we run very efficiently there's not a lot of burn our days are shorter um you know and so we can make the show in like probably like you know 30 40% less time than it would take in the past but back then it took it consumed a lot of time so we were working just crazy crazy amount and uh yeah we were making I remember my weekly check was like 1,00 bucks after taxes wow yeah or that might have been a bi-weekly I don't really remember it was like we got like three grand in episode or something like that and you were still working 60 Grand what was was that were you still working at credential I had left credential so I had left credential in um so the show happened no I had long left credential they were having layoffs I knew I didn't want to be there and I wanted to save someone's job they were given Severance I just took it R and I became a bartender because I wanted the flexibility of schedule to to do comedy and so I I was I bartender for 10 years after credential before I got this show and uh you know whole time learning that business and I eventually my backup plan or the plan was I didn't know this was going to happen so my plan was to buy a bar and and and and own a bar I could see you as a great bartender it's great practice for apprciate that for the comedy but the comedy bit of like you know interacting with people very charismatic thank you I order a drink for I I take every job I've only had like five job four jobs in my life actually and uh I take everyone really seriously I was I loved bartending uh I I finally I bartended in every scenario you could think of I did weddings and and whole wall places and nightclubs and all that stuff I settled in at a neighborhood like an RT neighborhood bar uh where I am where I live the only place I would really hang out at so it was like a place that I would go to anyway and uh I was there for like eight nine years and I loved it I I I mean I I made some of the best relationships I've had still to this day half the people that work on my show I met at that bar they're just my funny friends who are very capable um Casey Joe directs the show now he he came on as a pa uh because I knew his talent but I couldn't just he had to prove himself and I knew PA to writer to headwriter to director of the show um and a handful of my other buddies who had never written for television or comedy before are writers on the show The the camera guys are are my friends from home too like we just took everybody with us so the bar I I I uh I ended up buying a bar after like eight years I had an opportunity I left a place I was at I bought a place and like a month later I got the show and I had just sunk my life savings like into the bar how much how much is it to buy a bar well I went in with two friends and they had gone in just before me and they offered me to come in and so I put in tens of thousands of dollars you know at that at that time right um I I think probably maybe like 30 grand I think I put in uh and you know that would then require my 100% dedication as a new business would you know 247 you got to live and breathe it so then I get the show which is the same exact scenario I'm not gonna I got a show now after you know 15 years of being in this you know so I had to do that too so for the first two seasons two years I did both and so I would go from the uh filming from like eight to five and then work from s to 4 wow so for like two years I had like four hours sleep at night it was crazy but I had no choice I had to I had no choice I so I it it it caught up to me big time so in season 3 uh the show really became a an even bigger hit in season two we were getting these great numbers and we knew we were coming back and so I just made a leap of faith to be like all right I'm gonna go into entertainment fulltime and I kind of like conceited my my you just gave them the equity of the bar yeah wow yeah I just literally just just gave it back like I didn't ask how was it doing how was the bar doing it closed a year later oh you were the Special Sauce man I don't know what I was must have been yeah like a year or so later whatever did people go in and see you and recognize you from the show and yeah it was not fun cuz it was on Thursday nights and so my friends would be like put it on we want to see you so that was a real weird humbling experience to like be bartending while the TV show was on but I feel like that could have blown up the bar like more people yeah people came people came to watch it for sure you know um but it is weird you know for it to be on in the background people are like yo get me a you know Shirley Temple you know like no problem buddy hurry that is so funny yeah huh that's really cool and why why do you think the show is so successful what about it you think people resonate with I think that um it is a a pretty good good reimagining of the genre of hidden camera I don't really think uh anything like that we you know there one element of the show and it's the way that people explain the show the most because it's the easiest way to explain it is that we have an earpiece in and we have to do and say what we're told or we lose that's like a third of our show maybe two-thirds of the show are another like hundred things that we do literally like I could probably 50 different types of games and angles and things that we play that aren't like do and say exactly what you told so I think it's between between us having a real friendship and I mean we've known each other since we were 13 years old I'm 47 you know and and then us like kind of like reimagining the concept of hidden camera and then turning it Inward and making the fact that we are not necessarily you know having a a laugh at other people's expense but our own it's like more of a social situation scenarios like social faas and it was more like I think that it was more like we wanted in the beginning they wanted us to make a lot of jokes like they had wanted five or six bits per episode which you know without commercials is 22 minutes so to do five bits six bits you're getting three minutes a bit it was four of us everyone had to take a turn so in the beginning it took and we film one bit in a day basically and so we had to film so much more in a day to cramble that into 22 minutes and it and in the beginning if you watch it I don't love this show in the beginning although knock going what people responded to it because it's it's different than it's way different than it is now it's like quick in out oneliner like that kind of cut out Swipe next thing cut out joke swipe like for that you know for this new generation of like no people don't have any they can't have a Time SP like they can't focus on stuff you know but as we got more success we Whitted it down to just two bits and a punishment so that we can have these moments where these people breathe because I think the magic is also the time that we spend in the moments with these people it's not just solely about oh you know Candy just go goes to pick up a dollar and we yank the dollar or you know you know it's not punked where it's like you know 30 minutes just on Justin Timberlake getting his house repossessed like it's these moments with real people and every single one of them is unique and we don't know where it's going and we spend we can spend two three minutes with one person and I think like that was new to people you know what I mean and so I just think the combination they they then made our show in 30 other other countries and they cast the show and does do you guys get royalties or something from that yeah I mean we get like it trickles down a bit by the time it gets to us it's not like people think oh the show is uh you know syndicated or all these other versions it's not like Seinfeld you know what I mean it's like we we split ownership with the network with the production company and then you know of course we have to pay agents and this and that so but yeah but the shows all went a a season two seasons maybe three but they failed because they were uh they weren't they they cast people people yeah so that's that 30-year friendship wasn't there and then also oddly they used our show as like a literal manual so they were recreating our bits and the jokes in these other countries and so you know we licensed the formula out but it it just didn't have that didn't have the sauce that sauce yeah so um yeah so it's kind of like it was just it's kind of wild that that happened too that all of a sudden like I'd go on a vacation in the country and just see I would see two things our show with my voice dubbed which is hysterical to see like I'm in Costa Rica watching my me dubbed and then I just all these other casts which was it's it was wild to see that like an idea we had over lunch is playing in Brazil you know it's like it was kind of crazy now I know that you're like a germaphobe right because you you get sick easily and stuff like that is that the hardest punishments that you have to do are ones involving some form of like you know unsanitary environment or is it other things that are like socially you know anxious or what's what's for you personally the most uncomfortable totally allart CU it's like it's they both it's hard for me like yes I'm not a germaphobe like I live in a plastic bubble yeah but I I'm constantly working and touring and I I can't afford to get sick I'm on stage having to perform I'm on camera having to perform I have to travel to 100 cities a year getting sick is my worst enemy and I and when I get sick I don't have the best immune system and I can have a cold for like eight weeks and so I'm hyper aware of like people sneezing around me or disgusting things and you know on the show everything is real like those the people are really familiar with us cuz I but it is heightened you know I am like it's not I'm not putting it on but you know we're performing it's a comedy show so I don't walk around like oh my God that's you know whatever but um but it is I I really am you know like that I don't really you know if you sneeze i' be like f my head like let me inch your way or just I won't touch stuff on the subway and I have hand sanitizer on me at all times like that was me before this because as a bartender I kept hand sanitizer under the bar for Anytime someone shook my hand so they would make fun of me because they're like you're killing all the I can't stand when I shake someone's hand and their hand is really sweat really sweaty and then can't help it though and they don't like it either do they not acknowledge their hand is sweaty like if it is you fist bump it yeah well I fist bump for the most part fist bumps are good but uh yeah but so but but then again it's also hard to tell someone that the tip that just gave me is [ __ ] like I didn't do it at the bar I did like I I one time I played a a delivery guy and I was delivering lunches to Office Buildings and when the people came down and gave me and I gave their lunch I had to like be like this tip is a garbage tip like it is so hard to muster up and we do elaborate stuff too but sometimes the hardest stuff is the most simple simple thing but before we get into that a big reason why Graham and I love doing this podcast is because we get to have really transparent conversations with people that are doing incredible things and are willing to share their thought processes strategies and decisionmaking that help make them successful and I'm willing to take a bet that you're here for the exact same reason to learn improve and get actionable advice that you can apply into your own life and what better place to find that than with our sponsor masterclass master class is the only streaming platform where you could learn and grow with over 200 of the world's best for only $10 a month an annual membership to Master Class gives you unlimited access to every single instructor for instance you could learn key communication skills with FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss turn your wildest dreams into successful businesses with Richard Branson or even take your basketball shot to the next level with Steph Curry and I got to say guys James clear the author of one of my favorite books of all time Atomic habits has an incredible class that teaches you how to build habits that stick he made a point that absolutely revolutionized the way that I think which is we do not rise to the level of our goals but we fall to the level of our systems and master class is easy you could use it on your phone computer Smart TV or even in audio mode not to mention the classes really do make a difference with 88% of their members saying that master classes had a positive impact on their lives that's a lot of value for only $10 a month and you could get an additional 15% off an annual subscription when you go to masterclass.com that's 15% off at masterclass.com slist masterclass.com thank you so much to masterclass for sponsoring this episode and now let's get back to the podcast what would you say I know this you know you've done over 300 episodes now the one thing that comes to mind when I say the most uncomfortable thing that you've had to do on the show oh my God uh the first thing that comes to mind so I know you because you're you're probably juggling 30 things right now but yeah um I mean there just so many I went to a business mixer once and I only had one business card and I would have to get into a networking conversation give them my business card and then go back and tap them and say I'm sorry I found someone better can have my business card back I played a uh you know a a audio guy on a on a on a on a studio for television show and as I was miking people I had to tell them that Brett smell like [ __ ] um I I was a judge at a kids talent show I had to rip the kids to shreds I mean it just goes on and from those to the then to the physical ones like when they put me in the swamp in the bayou for the day like it just it just is it's just awful you know what I mean but it's fun but it's just like those little ones are the hardest ones like I they just had me do one I was at a bowling alley and they were like you're going to just play a douchebag that throws money at all all your problems and I was walking around to people like I would I knock someone's drink over or whatever they made me do so punishment I can't say no so they made me so like I would knock someone drink over they look at me and I'd be like sorry and I just I had a wad of ones and I would peel out and just drop it on the floor and be like and just walk away like those are really cuz I'm really actually shy and pretty polite in in real life and so like those moments like dude and people might know you too as like the guy you know they assume you have a show you have money or whatever you're just a total deag in real life yeah well most of the time if they know me they think they're on the show right so like most of the time in my real life so most of my most of the time I spend is my real life like the show is a half hour a week but when people see me they think they're on the show so as I walk around all day everyone who sees me thinks they're on the show so that's one of the things that comes along with it I had to accept you know but um sometimes people it is rarely but sometimes people see me and they don't think that they just think they're seeing me and that does happen like I like sometimes they just like sometimes they're like what are you doing here and I'm like yeah the show's over I work at Best by now you know like and they just don't they just believe me W you know what I mean like do people ever freak out though like let's say the $1 bill example or any of those pranks do people lose it at you yeah I mean our goal is never to be like to be our goal is never to make anyone feel stupid or angry sometimes it's a byproduct but it's always like I want bemusement I want people to be befuddled I want people to like like it's it's a it's you know escapism so it's all always on us you know but you're going to cross it's law of averages you're going to cross paths with people that are already locked and loaded or have that personality or you know are just dramatic or whatever so every once in a while you'll get someone that'll get in your face or like it's just not having it or just like screams at you to the point that it's so uncomfortable and that's even that's just terrible do you ever have security have to step in on some of these we got one guy cuz it's it's he's a nice guy he's our buddy but uh it's it's contractual so he has to be there for insurance purposes but it's just one guy and and and it's the illusion of security there's no security you know like even I mean sometimes like goes down and it's like he's not going to do it you know what I mean it's like luckily like the show and the people now are our family we've been with these people over a decade we have like 60 people or more I think on the show and so these people like are my family and and that's everyone from whatever position you could name and so like you know what people don't see when we're doing the show is yeah we're on camera but there's there's 40 of our friends on the other side of the camera watching laughing doing what they got to do we're very collaborative with them so if anything El every Everybody kind of steps up and kind of like guards us if anything ever happens I'm curious I know you get asked this question a lot but I feel like we just have to ask because our audience this is a little bit different than a lot of the comedy shows that you've been on so far when you get recognized on the set I am I there's no way that you guys film and not every single bit people are recognizing every single time how do you isolate then the people that you know don't know you into something like a focus group bit or something like that so in the public it's just um you know we just need to be in a densely populated area you know because if you know me he won't know me in New York City's Perfect Right you'd be surprised how many people don't know you more than just as much as that know you you know what I mean like I don't watch Game of Thrones if the cast walk by I wouldn't know them it's the most famous show you know what I mean but when we're doing focus groups we have so many techniques and um first we when we when these people respond to these ads we give them questionnaires they have to fill out that are like Telltale so we'll it'll be buried in these questionnaires like oh you know what are your favorite television shows what networks do you watch you know what you know what kind of Comedy do you like and if anything comes even anywhere near orbiting us if they say True TV they're not getting called if they say hidden anything they're not getting called so that's the the first step and then we also like let's say we're doing a focus group we go into the holding area as one of them okay yeah and so normally what'll happen is they'll isolate us like if there's a room of like 30 people that we have for the day we'll be like we'll call like a few people out at a time and like I'll be out so I I don't want to go in the room with the 30 because I don't want to contaminate the room if someone knows me but they'll bring them out peace meal and so if someone comes out or two people come out we're going to walk them and they and they and they walk out the door and they see me they cannot contain a reaction until right there we cut them right there and so how often does that happen we're vetting them it happens like half the people of the day really yeah or you know at this point yeah like season one was a breeze you know no one knew us but yeah but it's built it's built in you know you know it can be it depends like and also there's more Geographic locations or neighborhoods oddly that would know us more than others you know what I mean so yeah so we build that all into it even on the street we have eyes we have so many cameras we're watching everyone we're doing multiple things out there we're trying to be in the moment for the comedy and for myself I want to play everything as real as possible right and I and I want to be in the moment that's like the most important part of the performance um but also I we produced the show we edit the show we D you know so I'm also wearing a bunch of hats out there and so I'm also like looking for a person after all this time I know who I might think would make a better Mark or you know than someone else and so I'm also looking for these people a lot of times I'll be like this guy approaching here in the call in the call like with the you know whatever and then like we'll they'll hit him with the camera we'll watch him and then if he comes up to me if he notices me we catch it on camera oh now he noticed you so like we also like have eye in the sky like you know this this the whole bunch of stuff and people you'd be surprised people can't be themselves because sometimes people notice and they don't want to say anything because they want to be on the show because they love the show that sucks cuz sometimes when they do dup us um at the end of like us investing our time with them and if something go they'll be like ah I'm a big fan of the show I love the show and then we like we can't include it and we're like well can't be on the show we don't put anybody on the show that knows the show you know like I I I appreciate what you did but I I just wish you would have told us because now we wasted you know you know but but we just were like oh thank you so much but you know we we can't be on the show so what is this the punishment for saying no to a punishment there is none you can't say no you can't say no what I was going to say before is people can't be themselves once they know sometimes they try to be themselves and play it cool but they it's so funny to watch someone try to be play something cool when they know what's going on yeah like they just it's so funny like like if they're like if we're behind a counter and they'll they'll like step up and be like hello you know like I'll have one Smoothie Please you just like dude why you acting like that but yeah know though that's the one rule we can't say no to a punishment and that's why like honestly it sucks it really does like there are it it does suck like I'm they're punishing me tomorrow um and a lot of the times like I'd say like 2third of the time it's a secret mhm and tomorrow is a fullon secret I have literally not one iota of an idea what's happening tomorrow for me and so you know your brain goes everywhere and that's still to this day like I I still don't know what they're going to do to me or what's going to happen tomorrow and so now like that legitimately hangs over my head today you're nervous thinking about it because it could be something that suck what's your worst fear for a punishment if you're like if they did that I don't know if I could do that gross out stuff I I probably can't physically bring myself to do eating insects or something like that yeah and if I had to I have to so I'm I always fear that but also again just the minutia of an exchange with someone that is just mortifying because it's so like this is not how people act you're breaking a social contract it's just like you we still get a pit I get a pit in my stomach in these moments to this day and I think that's another reason why the show still works cuz every person is new we don't know how it's going to go with this person we don't know who they are what they're about what's going to be said and so it's just a clean slate with every single person and we've done enough to know that like holy [ __ ] sometimes people are wild cards or you never realize where this is going and so that that possibility is always there and so I think that keeps us on our toes you know it's it's good that I'm nervous about tomorrow still can you say no though if you if you see what the punishment is and you just say I can't do that the reason also we can't is like uh that day is produced those people are there our crew is there that location is rented those people have been brought in you know like whatever it is so a day is very expensive and so if you can't do it I mean it's maybe twice happened in in 12 13 years like one time I'm afraid of heights and Q was this guy in my show Brian Quinn he used to be a fireman and so they brought a fire Tru and they extended the ladder as high as I can go and they wanted me to walk up the ladder to the top of a building and I got an embarrassingly amount I got like I would say maybe 20 fet are you strapped in though like you're not no no isn't that danger that's dangerous yeah I believe so especially from someone that's going to lock up I locked up my legs locked I couldn't physically move move my arms and legs to get up cuz also it's like you know what I hate I hate see through stairs as well I'm afraid of like like you know when you go or even like you're going on a roller coaster and you're walking up all those like whatever and it's like the stairs are like and I just looked at them and I was like I I got I was like I felt so bad I don't know what to do I can't I can't move and so they just hit me with the hose right there at the 20ft Mark they kept me up there I was already scared and then they' hit me with the hose and we kind of like had to you know just kind of call an audible there like and then sometimes you don't even get that how do you get insurance to do that though without being locked in because I see on Fear Factor like they still have like you know something at the bottom where if you fall you fall on you know a net or something like how how like insurance-wise you think you would have to get strapped into the thing and move it up I you know sometimes it's funny with insurance it's like it's subjective believe it or not just like standards and practices we come to them with an idea sometimes they be like there's no way you can say that and sometimes we're like they said we can't you know what I mean and sometimes we have to barter and we got to you know the way that we also learn how to present stuff that's also learning how to make the show too because it's like you know you learn like where the litus test is like where the barometer is of what they I already know what insurance or standards might or may not say and so we go in already with a strategy you know we'll ask for something that we didn't even want so that we can make a concession to the thing that we really would have asked they would have said no to you know we do stuff like that um or I point to other shows I'm like well they did it like we we're just really really pushed sometimes and nowadays because we've been there so long we've been there there's been a changing of the entire guard at uh our parent company four times since we've been there so we're there you know this is year 13 so when all the new people came in last year you know we're a well-oiled machine they're not going to come in and yeah you know put a a stick in the spokes right so a lot of times they'll afford US like if we push they'll give to us but uh like sometimes I don't have the opportunity to say no like in the movie they pushed me into a a motel room um I was talking to my buddy Joe I didn't know this was about to happen and he and we're at a roadside Motel it was a road trip movie and so I thought we were stopped down I knew we were filming something there later I didn't really know when or what and he's like can I talk to you we went for a walk and it was one of those motels where the doors are outside and we're standing by a door and then like after like a minute of talking he just shoved me and slammed the door behind me and I was like what the hell and I looked and the inside knob wasn't there they removed it and so I couldn't open the door and so I knew immediately that I you know I got got I just didn't know exactly I knew the camera was on me I just didn't know it was going to happen and I turned around and I heard a growl and a a a white bangal tiger walked out of the motel bathroom and I was alone with a tiger in there it was on a chain but the chain was tied to the shower bar you know and so and I swear to you I've never I've only felt like that maybe like maybe three or four times in my entire life and I like pressed up against the wall it's it's I was speechless because you can't the fear is such that you can't get I don't know if I should speak or move an inch because I don't want to call any attention you know and you're Frozen with fear I was literally Frozen with fear but then it's like they spent all this money this is a bit I'm supposed to play into this and I couldn't and the first thing I I was very very mad actually and I the first thing I said was how could you do this and like how how do we get insurance for this and in my head I'm saying to them adoring it I'm like this will not be usable this is not funny I cannot play into this I don't know what to do that's a hilarious reaction though it and ironically that's what went right into it because that was funny but in the moment I was telling them this is unusable I can't I'm I I I I can't speak that is so good yeah yeah and that was wild I mean to this day I was like that you shouldn't have done that you know what I mean is there a panic phrase or something you could say that like gets you out of the situation we did uh one time we made up one for Q because he has a legitimate phobia of spiders and we chained him to the ground and like put tarantulas all over him and we said to him listen when we when we said it he had a like a an a panic attack and so we said you know listen if it really does get to be too much this say will think of a a word you know and so we we told him to say pumper nickel if it gets too much and pumper nickel really meant nothing to us we were never going to stop it and so he's literally tied down he turned like purple with fear and he's screaming pumper nickel over and over as these spiders are like crawling like on his chest and face and everything and we were just crying laughing just cuz he was like pigle he was like crying just yelling pple and believe it or not a lot of people thought we went too far with that one cuz it's like you know we test the limits but we're not jackass you know what I mean everything is through our lens and like a lot of it is not I would never do 99% of the things that jackass does and if if there is any type of um or you know if there is any type of DNA connected to like something like oh like you know they got bit you know they they let a dog attack them like I'd say over 300 episodes and a thousand bits maybe there's like an overlap of maybe 10 things or 15 things that you know we jumped out of a plan you know whatever but it's like they just got attacked by a dog but we put Q um against a young girl in a spelling be on stage and every word that he misspelled he got attacked by a dog each so we we put we go through our you know like I don't I normally will immediately say no if like someone's done something before but if they can pitch me an original angle on it uh or we we can come up with an original angle on it then I'm like all right that's our version of this I don't think I could ever do that like the jumping out of a plane one to me I wouldn't do it yeah um and Murray's afraid of heights and we I again these are examples of ones where we really pushed it but he he locked himself in a bathroom uh at this place and he was crying and he called his family cuz he knew he had to do it but he really didn't want to do it it was like 45 minutes before he came out of the bathroom and so like we felt bad about that and this isn't always the case it's like hardly ever the case yeah but we threw him out and he cried the whole so we called cry diving cuz he literally a pitch came out of his mouth that was like operatic like it was like glass would have shattered if he was holding it he just came down the whole time like and like his voice kept giving out cuz it was so high and that's what he did the whole way saw and it was like you know it was it was bad you know it was pretty bad oh my you know but I have the same reaction yeah couldn't do I I'm terrified of heights yeah yeah but you know it's it is people always like I you know me and my friends do that all the time I or I want to try it and they're like I I would kill on this show you'd be surprised like we get our friends on it sometimes that are Comics or celebrities and and like they're like oh this is cuz when you're right in the moment like you know we have to do stuff like like Q took a cover charge at at the Knitting Factory for a band that was playing $5 it was sold out so it was like a couple few hundred people there he he and then uh he was the door guy and he checked IDs and he took all this money he didn't know what was going to happen to him and then the show started the doors closed and he was amongst them in there as the security guy or the door guy and then we had someone come on agent sorry we just got word that there was a guy collecting money at the there's no cover charge tonight and so 300 people looked at him cuz he took $5 from all of them and they just went at him you know what I mean so like that's hard to do you know it's just I had to kick kids out of the pool uh out of a public pool I was the Lifeguard I had to kick them out for rough housing but they weren't doing anything and they families the parents were there and I was like blowing the whistle and taking kids out of the pool and making them sit in the corner for like a half hour I like it's just like you don't want to do these things you know in hindsight it's funny but it is in that moment it is really really do you compensate the people who are on the show like that no I mean not really I mean it's like you know usually they're good it's a good they're good natured about it um for the if something goes really really well and we see that the person may want to sign cuz if they say no that it's got to get blurred we usually you don't use it cuz that doesn't make the reactions are a lot of the comedy but sometimes if you see a blurred person we thought it was good enough even though the person said no but like sometimes we'll offer a little bit of money if if you know and we'll like sometimes it's like at all costs you know that person has to because we have we do have a budget and so like you know sometimes we'll like rob Peter to pay Paul if like if something is like this person has to sign and we get up to a number that we would never spend then like that comes out of the location budget like for another bit you know you know what I mean so it's always a weighing you know if the value of the joke and the laugh and things like that so one thing I always wondered is like if you're playing a part of a cashier or something like that and then you get instructions to say something egregious to like an old lady that's placing an order and then you you're like oh gosh like and you kind of like stumble a little bit like what is that lady thinking when it kind of like you just kind of seem like you um what's that term for someone who hears voices in their head front yeah yeah I mean to this day it's so funny because Murray particularly he'll just talk to us and I'm like stop talking to me you look like you you it look like like you're unstable you know but um you'd be surprised like how many people aren't paying attention or just just give it to you like they're not it's the last thing they think is that I they're on a television I'm wearing an ear piece and I'm giggling because I had to say something to them I could just have had a thought or anything really I mean anything at all and so you you'd be surprised how many times cuz another thing we have to do is listen while we have to listen to them and the people talking at the same time and that still to this day is challenging because listening is the most important part of being in the moment with someone comedy is about timing so you don't want to miss the timing and you don't want to miss something important because then you can't use that as a joke so there's this jigsaw puzzle going on while we're out there of listening to to them listening to them so they don't when you're listening to someone else and I'm looking at you I have to make it look like I'm listening to you and I have to listen to you as I'm listen more important is probably this yeah yeah but then I sometimes I go excuse me you know say that again but you don't want the tell of it you know and then also sometimes what they say is good for that exact moment and so you don't want to miss what they're saying you know what I mean and then sometimes they also you get it and you're like all right I'll pick the moment I know have to say this but I'm going to pick the moment that unfortun I know I have to say it I don't want to but I'm going to pick the moment that's the right time for it yeah and then sometimes they start giving me more stuff and I'm like you know but we know now the the dance that it is like if they give me something and I don't do it they'll kind of hold off a little or they'll say something like this one I want you to do at some point you know so keep it in the back because when the opportunity presents itself and then we'll we'll give you others so you have one in the pocket and one it's it's very involved like a lot of people watch and they think it's like friends hanging out and stuff but we have to conceive of the idea and then make sure that it's not a dud like because we have to do all the permutations of what is the best possible scenario for this and what is the worst and is it worth it and what are people liable to say or do and and and and and if they're going to go this way I think instinctually they're going to do this that kills the bit how do we make that not happen you know how do we tweak this idea to make it you know and then so we're working out this like literal this formula to each and every bit and then once we have the idea and we all sign off on it we have to think where would it play what location would it play best in and then we have those people go out and look for locations I mean everywhere and then the location has to agree to it and then we have to go by that location schedule and then they have to scout the location then they get their hours before us to put in all the hidden cameras and you know and then so like there is just technically and creatively there is so so much going on there's so much experience with these guys that are hiding these cameras and working on like these Robo Robo you know like cameras and then there's also guys like handheld and they have to be very inconspicuous of how they're shooting us because they'd give it away and you never want to be the crew member that gives it away yeah you know and then we're also dealing with people like if I'm talking to you on the street at any given moment someone could recognize me and they could walk right up and then blow the whole thing so we have it's like CIA Jans we have people like literally out there that if they see someone they'll intercept them no so there is just it's a lot going on it's cool though it keep it's like there's an energy to the set because everybody to make the show everybody every counterpart has to be focused and so you know when you have 50 people focusing there's an energy to that you know what I mean you could probably sell tickets to show up to the set to watch from afar where you can listen and watch High ticket tickets that would be interesting and sell like 20 of them that could that could pay I'm going to uh I'm going to do reaction videos and I'm gonna sell take IDE guy over here okay okay two last really quick questions about the show yeah you don't have to first question is who do you think is the most daring on the show when I I I watched it just a copious amount of the show growing up with my dad and I always kind of thought Joe when he said no to do something that was pretty extreme yeah I don't think it's Joe I think the most daring is is Murray really yeah I would not have agreed with Joe plays daring he is Joe is bold he is bold but Joe knows his limits and he is he's very smart like that so he will be very bold in a situation he knows he can be bold yes he will and he will also steamroll and so that comes across as bold because of me I'm very I'm much more measured and I like to feel stuff out and I like to soft serve things he it and so yes in that way he's second I would say but when it comes to something that oh I would never want to do that he also like Murray does things none of us would ever want to do and sometimes there's an idea like that that you got to it can't be a secret because you don't want to spend all the money and get everyone there so we're also you know like like the like the ladder and then they say no so sometimes you just got to come right out with it and be like will you do this you know and then we do what's best for the show you know and so Murray were like that sucks I don't want to do that but I I'll do it and we're like yes you know but we got to get creative to sometimes if we want to make it a secret but it is one of those things we'll pitch an idea like I'll go to oh okay I'll go 2 Q if I think this is 4 q yeah and say I got this idea what do you think of it him thinking it's for one of the other guys and if he's like oh that's a good idea but he wouldn't do it but said it's a good idea All is fair and so then sometimes we turn it on each other and I'm like you you you approve this unwittingly you know what I mean that's F what what's the one thing like M's done that's like that is so gnarly that you wouldn't have even considered doing it like you're saying he's doing the the most extreme things D I mean at in the punishment in the movie they tied him standing upright to a prop plane and it took off and flew in the air and was doing Loops in the air as he stood on the wing of the plane tied to a pole and the the plane was flying in the air and doing loops and and curves and everything and he was standing there I don't know what would have happened if I lost the movie um we tried to play those things very real in the show we don't shoot the show in uh linear order it's impossible because of the nature of locations and availability so what we do is we just film a bunch of bits and we start keeping track and we know we're all going to in 20 something episodes we're all going to lose here and there so in the beginning we just think of punishments and do them because we know you know sometime in the next 15 10 15 what we're going to lose yeah but toward the end we have to get specific because it's like all right now there's only a certain amount left we have to really you're only getting one if you're if you're definitely know we know you're going to lose um and so uh so so I don't know what I would have done uh in the movie If I lost because I I probably would have I don't know how my body yeah I you would have been tied in which is nice probably would have passed out I I don't know I I I can't even imagine it like that's I'm saying it to you right now and I I can't even imagine it so you know I don't know man but really quick if you run your own business then you know there's no better sound than hearing and if you want to hear a bunch more then it's time to get started with our sponsor Shopify Shopify is the global e-commerce platform that is already helped transform millions of businesses worldwide for example Shopify is an endless list of Integrations third part apps and flexible templates to help you customize your online store exactly how you want and what set Shopify apart from their competitors is their ability to turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout that's 36% better on average than other leading e-commerce platforms not to mention Shopify also Powers 10% of all e-commerce in the United States supporting Brands like rothy all birds and Brooklyn and in over 175 countries in fact if you want to check it out for yourself my coffee company bankroll coffee is run exclusively through Shopify and when we we were first starting out we did a bunch of research and Shopify was the best by far plus they also have an award-winning support team that's there to help you every step of the way so guys you can sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com all lowercase you can grow your business no matter what stage you're in for $1 per month with the trial period at shopify.com thank you so much Shopify and back to the podcast is there something you always wanted to suggest for a punishment but you knew it would be just too far something you've always kind of been like ah this would have made such a great bit well there's there's ones that we wanted to do that we we couldn't end up producing like Joe was a big Gambler he's a big Gambler he loves playing Blackjack he loves going down to like Atlantic City Vegas he's the guy that sits at the table joins the tournament is there for like seven hours and we wanted to go down to the casino for a weekend when he was just going on vacation and work with the casino to have him go on a crazy Blackjack run and win like 50 Grand and then like he doesn't even know that we're there at all and then come out after he thinks he won that kind of money and just take it away from him oh say car counting good yeah uh you know it's it's that would have been hilarious tricky when you're getting into the those gambling legalities there's things that we you know we just can't make happen but there are ones that are like years in the making they told me the thing I'm doing tomorrow they've been thinking about for almost three years so I don't know you and sometimes I think of something today and we'll do it you know next week but that's crazy they did one where they went back to an old bit that we filmed when we were on public property in a city park and I went up and like I was messing with a statue and they sent a letter from the city to my home that says I vandalized like I was I I wasn't allowed to touch that property I vandalized it and I would need to come into a hearing about it and I did this and they referenced the episode and the thing and everything and I was like this is insane that I got to do this and I went on my own time into a government building and I met with people and they had this whole thing and they're like yeah well you are going to get we have to sit here and they grilled me in this like deposition for like three hours and then I left and it was on my own time and then I got home and I got a letter in the mail that I was going to be fined $100,000 something like that I swear to God and this went on for months and the whole time they were behind all of this and I had no idea I was to say they started saying why like the thing was how do we make the show when we don't know we're on the show too let's start doing that dude they had cameras pinhole siiz cameras in water bottles on the table like our our camera guys and sound guys have uh made Innovations in the space because of having to you know meet our creative ideas and they go on other shows and work and people say to them oh my God like how did you do this how did you do that like you have to teach us like that's never been done before and they did that and then and then one day on set we were filming another bit the agents that I the government agents that I was in this deposition with they walked in the park and they were walking at me and I still didn't connect it and I thought oh my God they're coming here now cuz I didn't pay this fine and they're come you know I'm in trouble and they came up and it was like jackets and official and they were like we you know you're going to have to come with us and everything and I was like like I'm in the middle of the fil I can't believe it and then they just all started laughing and like they revealed it yeah I got one more question about the show and we we got so many other topics we want to hit but how often in your real life do you go about thinking this is a skit when in fact it's just your real life meaning like you get pulled over and your like you got to laugh or mean like I think they're doing something you think you're doing something like in your real life like you get pulled over or something like that something happens on the subway and you're like where the cameras it's it's happened here and there it's happened here and there but but now I'm so aware of it I'm so cuz they did it to me a couple times one time I was in an elevator that got stuck and I also didn't know I was on the show and I got stuck in this elevator with a guy that had a terrible cold and he was and I'm gerap phob you know and he was sneezing his nose was red it was just and then a woman who had her cat her pet cat and I I don't like cats and this cat pissed in the elevator I don't know if they knew that was going to happen but it started pissing so and I was in the the elevator for like you know I would say like maybe an hour with them and they said like oh we're the fire department we're working on it and so I just in this and I'm a little claustrophobic as well so that was a nice concoction of things and I'm in there for an hour and I'm just like and I had to get to work and I was in an elevated bank and I had no service so so I I couldn't tell them that I where I was or what what happened and so that was like another one where I was like I can't and then when when it opened up and they were all saying there I was like oh my God at this point they they'll never get me again because if something like that happens I'm just not going to believe it you know what I mean but it is you know it's a challenge to think of those things where we could still get one over on each other it was still we're still trying you know but yeah that's hilarious so how do you write and test comedy to make sure it's funny um for the show or in general just in general well testing it is simply just I mean as a comic you're performing every night mhm there's no so you just secret to it you know I'm on stage you know at least you know at least three nights a week sometimes four sometimes every night you know and that's two three four five sometimes six spots in a night and it's just you know that grind and the audience is going to tell you what's funny and what's not it's a lot of you know in the beginning beginning it's a lot of bombing uh then when you get your legs under you you get your voice you get confidence and you've been doing it a while you still have stuff that doesn't hit I mean every comic even the best Comics bomb because that's part of the process of getting a joke to be as good as it is it's just a different type of bombing like you can bomb but then like it's not like going to go horribly South you can make fun of that and then like you know what I mean there's ways to understand you know like you know yeah so but um you know it's just like it's like anything else I've been doing it for so long that I have my own experience you know like whatever what got me here was was going with my gut of what I think is funny and that's how I mean I'm not going to get on stage with anything that I don't think is already funny and I'm not going to like think of a bit that I don't think do just do I think it's funny it's the only gauge I can use I can't write for anybody else I can't think I can think something hysterical that you think is not funny at all you know and some people tell me like I've had such wonderful comments on the special that's out right now terrified on YouTube um people like this is the best one of the or the best one I've seen in so long or you know and then some people you know inevitably Trolls but you know just like I don't get it you know what I mean but that's all I do is just um I'm a fan of Comedy I love laughing you know and so I just if it would make me laugh that's it and that's how that's that's really it how has comedy changed over the last 20 years because it does seem like comedy has has softened a little bit that it used to be a lot edgier yeah and now there's a lot of jokes that people say you can't say anymore like the Eddie Murphy is a great example of of in 90s he get away with saying all these things whereas today like he would just be cancelled yeah well in that respect it has changed right you go back and look but that's the same for anything throughout history at all yeah it's uh you know it's uh office politics it's it's anything and everything and so it's hard to look back and Cha and judge someone as wrong as it may seem now or like out of pocket as it may see now for something that they did when collectively the world wasn't like coming down on that it just it's a different time you know and so we still have that now you know like it's people can say what they want as long as it is it's it's not gratuitously offensive like you can you know that's the difference between a really good comic and and or or not is someone that can get on stage and talk about a hot button touchy subjects and make it and make it funny there's a dance to to you know tow the line and and it's it's just got to be clever and it's just ultimately have to be it has to be saying something you just can't get up and just make fun of that's just lazy ignorant comedy you know what I mean but if someone like an Anthony jelnick will talks about like his whole thing is a Gallows humor and it's very like you know I think it's one of his specials like fire in the nursery whatever you know talking about topics like that right if someone has had an experience in their life where that's a triggering thing it's it's going to happen you know what I mean but that doesn't mean that he can't touch the subject that is what he does amazingly no one can do it like him and that's what he found after so many years of doing comedy you know and so that's his that's his skill set and so and you know people that watch him for it yeah know that it's a joke like you know so his huge fan base are people that are fine with it you know that's just great comedy they're not looking at it like the person that might might have been triggered so you know I don't think that's ever going to go away you know but I think I think that comedy is as prevalent As It Ever Was I mean ever like you talk about the Golden Age of comedy and the when people had sitcoms and when a special meant something because it was only like a few specials a year and Johnny Carson was a gatekeeper like that was a very special time in comedy but we have more comedians than ever before right now ever and even that is only a few thousand out of like billions of people seems like comedy's made a huge Resurgence lately it seems like in the last few years part of it was the pandemic I think the pandemic catapulted comedy to a space it's never been before people need content television was not giving content and you know people were the they can output whatever they wanted everyone was Stir Crazy and every comic was like I'm going to tape everything I'm going to put it up and people consumed that content and found so many new Comedians and then now people know let me go mine for comedy I'll go on tonight on YouTube and find someone new whereas before that wasn't the way you consumed comedy right um and and that's good that's good for comedy you know what I mean so it depends on on what handle you want to pick it up from it's like yeah there's this whole thing of like you know cancel culture or you know over sensitivity but a comedy is thriving you know why do you think dark humor is so attractive to people yeah anything taboo you know is going to be like it's just like a negative headline is going to be you know the news uses negative headlines to stoke you know fear or not that is stoking fear but it's like it's taboo you know like it's just like oh this is edgy you know it's people are attracted into that you know to begin with like should he be saying or it's like I would never say this or to hear someone also like in a in a club or in a room when someone is saying something that is edgy like that laughs come from different places you know and different emotions and if someone is like embarrassed or like uh you know like shocked or whatever like a laugh can come from there and um a lot of times it's like you know I just think that people respond to that because it's not like also how people speak in regular their regular life some people just have a generally a dark sense of humor you know I'm saying but um yeah I just think it's like let's see them make this dark thing funny you know or also the way people are consuming comedy is clicking you know and and and surfing on the internet and what is going to get more clicks something that is more salacious and edgy or people that you know that's just inherently it's just going to get more clicks it's just the same thing as cult like creating the perfect headline for the PO for the you know the front page of the paper or whatever it's like what's going to to sell and a lot of times things that are edgy like that Peak Interest more than you know things that aren't like I have a four minute bit on moths you know and and you know for my audience people that I like really like look I would I'm a fan of George Carlin and Eddie Murphy and Bill Burr and those aren't my style those are my heroes and stuff but like you know I people like Seinfeld and Larry David and Brian rean and Sebastian and things like that like you know what I mean those are the people that I I associate with myself as far as like the style of Comedy that perform and there's an audience for everything really you know what I mean but you know someone you know like you know I banged you know some some if you're going to click on something they clicking on that before they click on you know mo let's talk about mothballs I thought moth The Moth spit was hilarious because I had never spoke to anybody in my entire life about me always thinking that moths were going to be a big problem when I was getting older like like as a kid I always thought for some reason I had it in my brain that I'd be walking around with shirts with a bunch of holes in them everywhere and I and I forgot about that memory until you brought it up and I like that was years of my life that I spent thinking oh God like when are they going to come you know yeah that's that's the highest compliment I can get really CU again it's like I don't know everything has been said has been said right it's or every topic I should say it's like am I going to talk about airline food you know like you can if you have an angle on it that has never been said before you can you know otherwise it's hacky you know so it's all about like what is the original angle on this you know what I mean and so that was mine you know and then even better if people can relate to that but it blindsided them and they're like oh my God I relate to that so much but it's not like something that everyone thinks like oh my God the post office you know or you know I wait so long at the DMV like we all already think that you know but if if I come out something with an angle that you never really think of but then it's like holy [ __ ] yeah that's kind of really I guess the the best result I guess is there anything that's off limits when it comes to Comedy that like all comedians say oh we don't really talk about that or there's something that pushes the limit too far as a comic I think no I think nothing once something is off limits anything can be off off limits and that's way worse than nothing being off limits and like I said I think any topic could be spoken about as long as it's done the right way comedy lazy comedy or comedy that doesn't cut you know just doesn't make the mark like it's just not you know it just didn't get there it was an attempt maybe but it was a swing and a miss that then people could say well this is you know this is Bullit but we're not going for that we're going for the best possible result right and the thing about comedy is is that we have to do it in front of everyone like the the result the result of the things that you're seeing on my special there was a joke in there that was 9 years old you like it now I mean you know but but like it wasn't like that when it started and so like the only way to get to the place where that topic that seems crazy is like oh my God that was one of the most clever well-crafted jokes I've ever heard that person threaded the needle and they they I mean you look not everyone could do that and then you watch someone talk about this topic that everybody else is up in arms with and then no one could say anything because it's so clever it's an art form it really is you know and and and like that's the goal but you see every single step to get there and so like a lot of times people will be videotaped or judged on something that is literally Half Baked you know what I mean and so like that's another reason why like I think people might be like this is this is you know what I mean like it's just like all right but it's a it's it's the middle of the process right now and the the regular person doesn't really know that you know it doesn't understand and because so many people are consuming comedy than ever before there are people that are Nation like new comedy fans or not comedy fans you know if you see someone who's a comedy fan they're an educated consumer of it you know what I mean but a a large portion of people now aren't and so I think that you're you'll get people that are quicker to judge and because the online is an echo chamber you know you can have a a minority of people say something but the headline is that one because CU that's going to get the most clicks you could have someone 100 people say that was the funniest thing ever and five people be like I'm offended how dare you and then that's what sticks out or unfortunately when people write about it nowadays like media and and and news outlets are using tweets and things as sources and so they can create whatever story they feel they want out of something so if they want to pull the the thing that says I've never been so offended in my life and that's what's going to get them the clicks you know it's like oh Dave Chappelle makes joke people never you know and it's just like whatever you know that's what I was kind of thinking it's a bit like a group think Behavior where if if one person says something then everyone else could latch on to it yeah and even if someone's never had that thought before they see one comment wait a second that person's offended maybe I should be offended too and then if you see two comments wow two people I'm definitely offended and it seems like that infects people per a lot of times people aren't really offended either they feel like they should be offended or they know that this could be offensive to others you know or whatever they say they're off because gets it gets Applause like oh great I'm glad you're standing up for being offended at that yeah well a lot of times a bit a bit in a room in a club everyone in that place is enjoying it laughing no one's having an issue there and then online people have an issue but why wasn't it an issue to any other thousand people out in that theater is you know they contextually understand what's going on and because you know it it really isn't offensive sometimes if you'll challenge someone to be like well what exactly is it that offended you they're not really offend they're not they're just protecting I think they're rewarded for being a victim online that's what it seems It's also better to be offended than to support something that could be offensive correct yeah and exactly and and it's like and also online is completely fake everything about it is completely fake people are the percentage of people well I'm saying the percentage of people on social media that are representative of their true selves even like even if it's you know you know 80% it's not a 100 and a lot of times you see something play it online and as Comics we live it in real life and it doesn't exist in real life no one is saying that to you on the street no one is coming coming up to you that's not getting to people in real life people are embolden or like you know can be and say things that they wouldn't say in real life online and like one of the one of the biggest you know uh areas that that affects comedy you know how do you separate the two between the comments that you read online versus the perception that you have in person yeah I mean first of all I just judge immediately if I think the comment has Merit if something is a constructive criticism or makes a good point I'm I could be aware that that's making a good point you know what I mean uh other than that like mostly it's trolls or people not understanding something you know what whatever it is and I also don't really read comments like I you can you know I have this es and flows like when my special came out I was so interested I wanted to read it in the beginning when I started my podcast I kind of wanted to read it you want to get a sense of your audience what they're thinking totally you want to like dip a toe but like then you at a certain point you get it and then it's redundant and then it's like just wasting my time it's not that I won't like respond to someone or look a couple times but I do not Doom scroll scroll you know it's like it's just too much and at the end of the day I actually like cuz cuz what do I do as a IC it's the same thing that I'm on stage if I'm on stage and I'm performing at a club or a theater and there's 500 people laughing and the one there's one guy here not laughing I can't we can't take our eye off that guy you know like he he's the one I'm focusing on and on stage it's annoying me or it's or it's bothering me or it's like I got to get this guy to laugh even though everyone's rolling you know what I mean and that's the same thing online you know by human nature which one is going to resonate with me more that was wonderful thank you so much or you're a piece of [ __ ] you know what I mean it's like all what the hell man you know and it's just like well I don't need that I got a real life I have a family I got stuff to get and you know I just and and I get sucked into it sometimes but at a certain point you realize like oh like this is wasting my time so we only have a few more minutes but we have a couple more topics that I so wanted this to be a bow laughs this this whole entire thing but it's like I'm approaching it so seriously like I this not even this isn't even like a 2% Bobby Le of a Bobby Lee I'm concerned that you know if a comedian comes on the show they feel feel like they have to be funny no no I never feel bad okay that's but I wanted to BU I wanted to bust balls with you guys but I'm like I feels like I'm giv a t talk on I want to know in the hours of research that I did it seems like you're a hopeless romantic they say if you can make a woman laugh then you can make her fall in love is that true is that true probably right well you're the comedian I don't know I you tell us I think my wife thinks I'm funny you know I think so I think music and and and humor like laughing and like are the two most power like if you could play music for a woman yeah you could be that guy that put breaks out the guitar and got the party no wonder wall jack that's all got it no um yeah no I mean like yeah for sure I think that anything I think that's I think like that's a connection with anybody I right I mean laughing is uh Universal like like someone that doesn't know the same language we could both laugh at at Buster Keaton you know what I mean it's just like I'll bond with someone that doesn't even know my language because we you know a sh to Shared experience I you know so I'm even giv a a TED Talk answer to this question but I I think music and comedy are the two most powerful things and that that's why I do think it is really important that comedians are left to to tackle these subjects because it's it's one of the only people left these days that are like trying to unite people through the goal is not to a off I mean look having anyone talk about you is good yeah if you're polarizing fine but the goal for me is to unify people like I don't want people it's all the politics in the last like you know decade or whatever it is like it's become so divisive that it's like no one lived like that I was a bartender you didn't talk politics or religion you know my my parents were like weren't put politically forward I mean it's fine to be but people are judging people instantly now like you might love someone now people and oh who do you oh don't ever talk to me again that's absurd that's lunacy you know and and it's like it's it's so prevalent and I just feel like my God what what what the fu is everyone doing like we don't have to agree on anything and I could still think you're a terrific person of course there's extremes you know but most of us are you know are reasonable people and I just can't stand it now because that it seeps into comedy to when people come to my show I'm I'm I want anyone and everyone to laugh at that [ __ ] you know what I mean so it's like anyway I think it's supposed to unify so I do think laughter is just like it's it's a human nature type of Attraction so I would say that might translate that's like the that's like the go-to line for women it's like I just want a guy that can make me they're like I want a chiseled you know model which is probably what they want you know but what they actually want I want a guy that can make me laugh yeah speaking of judging people I've dated out of my league because I'm F just consistently I believe so yeah I don't you know I I I okay so how do you way more funny than I am handsome you see a woman well you have a great hairline I appreciate that I will take I will take the compliment on the hair I will take that cuz I I I even I could admit I have some good hair yeah yeah if you see an attractive woman out on the street now I know you're married you have a beautiful family yeah but let's just take us back let's take us back you know 20 years I don't they don't even exist okay so you see an attractive beautiful woman on the street you want to go up to her what goes on like like how do you how do you do that as a comedian what joke do you say yeah do do you I don't laugh or something I don't approach beautiful women on the street okay I don't that was never that was never in the I I don't do that I uh most of most of my relationships have just come from meeting some and knowing them already or be you know like it's not I I I'm not like I'm not that guy that's like can I excuse me can I'd love to take you I don't I don't know how people do that but I see it happen all the time and I'm got popular now yeah I mean no there are guys that just like are socially have game you know what I mean and it's it's it's it's cool they're just cool I mean there are you know there are and then there's guys that are like you know sleazy about it but that doesn't mean like that then there's just dudes I know that are just good with the Ladi you know what I mean I mean I I like to you know I like to feel it before I I go that like I I follow that feeling you know what I mean like I have a friend that I had an attraction to or this or that reassurance a platonic or whatever it is I just perfectly know someone if if I feel it I'll I'll and I'm into it I'll then I'll pursue it but I really am I the guy that's like let me holl out you for a second yeah you know what I mean I'm curious are you now like super confident like very easy and most uncomfortable social situations because you've just had like a backlog of you know a decade of experience being horri horrifically like uncomfortable no no no you would think I got a thicker skin uh in the context of the show MH even though I still get nervous but no cuz real life the cameras are not there and it's like it's it's this weird thing I actually was just talking about this some the day I I don't think I could do some of the stuff I do on the show in real in real life it seems the cameras in some way give me this little safety net like sure this person is feeling the emotions of what I'm saying in this moment so they're living it for real so this is a real exchange but I know that you know momentarily in five minutes they're going to be at least told it was a show it doesn't help 100% because I still have to live this in real time with these people but it helps and I in real life when I think of some of the things I would do I'll be like I would never do that because then I walk away from that person with them believing that that's the reality and I would never want to do that and so no it does not translate I'm still as immediately shy uncomfortable or you know whatever cringey in real life nothing from the show translates to real life really or even hitting on a girl like a woman like they made me hit on in the show I do in the show when they tell me to like you know flirt with a woman or you I had to go down and sit at a table of three three women that were in the middle of eating dinner and I just had to sit down were smooth not get K I pulled that out of my ass man I just was like I got to do this and it gave me this like you just ride an adrenaline rush and I don't know how I pulled that off but if cameras were not there I would never have done that so sometimes you surprise yourself you know I'm like oh man I had that in me the whole time but like it's you know but I yeah I can't do it what I do on the show and you know what's crazy a lot of times the females on the show in INF flirtation situations or situations where like there's an energy like that they respond favorably which is kind of wild because it's like I can't believe that like cuz you know life you just think you just think oh rejection Mor I'm going to be mortified like I can't put myself out there like who do I think I am like you know but it's crazy that how many people are just if nothing else polite and and receptive and not and and not making you feel foolish about it you know what I mean but it is it's like oh wow I guess maybe like you can be forward but you know that's just not me I'm not real I'm pretty damn shy in real life on stage not at all you know but but in in real life I'm I'm not that forward I'm outgoing with friends and you know it's not like I'm like you know I'm very outgo but like in a in a social situation around people I don't know in a new environment whatever I am quiet so I've always wanted to ask because I know we have to wrap this up as a bartender are there any drink stereotypes that you find to be true like if someone orders a Corona you know oh that's this type of guy vodka Red Bull or vodka Red something like that what have you noticed uh vodka Red Bull wants to dance and uh yeah they want they want to dance and they're in for the Long Haul of it the long that's for sure they wanted it's an all nighter vodka Red Bull um it's so funny in my decade of bartending I had one person order a glass of gin uh just gin no ice uh no it was Jin on the rocks it was like I feel like that's a common Jin on the rocks I've never seen it it tastes like Pine salt it it's the most grotesque thing one man he was 90 that's my wife's drink of choice is Jin on the Rocks I'm like 10 years of mar I'm talking about a million people one n0y old you're right Jin and tonic is what I was think you need the tonic just drinking the Jin is bad [ __ ] crazy your wife likes Jin that's her favorite drink just Jin on the Rocks she doesn't drink a lot but that is you know what and I'm just like how do you even one sip I'm like this is not an enjoyable yeah I honestly can't believe when people say that they like hard like hard alcohol like just the taste of it without any sort of mixer or anything like I just I just can't believe it it tastes abhorent yeah I can't get into like ipas and all those like yeah you know and I believe me that's the biggest thing but like if if someone's ordering a like oh a pale Al IPA with a you know they like you know they could be a beer kind of it's not I'm just a give me a Miller High Life give me a you know give me an AM light or something like that you know I'm not but you know or if someone orders a paps at least in New York that's definitely someone that's wants to conserve some cash cuz that's like a two $2 beer maybe like a hipster type of guy or just a guy that's like budget conscious which is great because that that's where I go because there are drinks now at a bar like a drink that used to be like six bucks when I was Bart is like $18 right now I do not know how people get drunk anymore or I don't know how people go out to to a to a bar anymore like you know you to youed have to go a bar with 30 bucks M and for the night you know like a couple of shots a bunch of beers and you know it's wild dude so like that's always me I'm like do you have Miller High Life you know like yeah all right s thank you so much for coming on the show to watch my TED Talk I appreciate absolutely everything all of his information linked down below including his new special thank you so much for making the time thank you guys for watching until next time