Meet The World’s Funniest Comedian Who Almost Died

Welcome or not. Welcome, Michael. Y [Applause] I interview celebrities all the time. Are you ready to play? My pal Blake Shelvin. Welcome back to the Ice Coffee Hour. My name is Michael Yo, and this podcast has made $3 million. No, no, not not quite. We're close. $225,446. See, see, not a bad guess. But, you know, it's okay, though. You know, like I I want to like aim higher and I want to make great things happen. So maybe by the end of the podcast it would make $3 million. 3 million. Yeah. Maybe. We need something to sell. We need something to sell. But you know what? We got uh we started a Patreon. See? And I'm half black and Asian, so I'm very in right now. Like ambiguous is the way to go. I can be in anything, you know. And I'm non-threatening. There we go. Okay. Well, you know what? If you want to see uh well more info, our Patreon is down below in the description. You know, when you walked in, I got to say you had the nicest just like look like Yeah. Your your characteristics like your your facial structure and everything. You're just so smiling. Are you attracted to me? Are you Are you hitting on me? I'm not I'm not explicitly, but you know, it's a kind of like I mean, I can I can talk to my wife, you know, but I mean, she's okay. Cynia ring. Oh. Oh, you know what? That's interesting you brought that up. So, so I uh I passed out on an airplane. This is a crazy story. So, I'm I'm I got food poison. I was flying from Austin, Texas to here and I got food poisoning and I was on the window seat and I got up and I'm and I passed the two people and all I remember is taking two steps and I woke up and a guy had my legs over my head and he was looking through my legs and he goes, "Are you okay?" And I was so confused. I go, am I? I have no idea. So, I passed out in the middle of the aisle of a plane and I landed between two nurses like each my head fell in between two nurses on the aisle and it was the craziest. I was out for like 45 seconds on a plane in the middle of the aisle. What happened? Food. I I guess the I was dehydrated, food poisoning. I wasn't taking in liquids and I just finished performing like five shows. So, I was exhausted, I guess. And I always take the first flight out. And I you know what I I I don't want to sound morbid, but I always think about how death would feel like. And that's what it's like cuz you I didn't I'm just out. Two nurses standing over you. Yeah. Yeah. Two nurses, but you're just out. You don't know you're out until you come back. And that I mean it was the weirdest thing that I've never been knocked out or passed out. But it was something, man. It was crazy. It was crazy. Holy. And so But what does that have to do with the ring? Oh, so when I fell Okay. Yeah. I was just trying to shift gears. No, when I fell, the ring came off and went on like and I didn't know. Did you get it? No, because I didn't never knew I didn't have it on because I was so out of it till I landed and I was gone. So, my we're trying to get uh I told And also another reason the ring I have a um what's it called? Uh my finger locks up because of my ring jammed into my nerve cuz I slept I sleep on my hand and so I have trigger finger because of the ring. So, I have to get a plastic one now. So, we're looking for that. So, my wife I had a gold one, but now I have to get a plastic one. Yeah. Now, what do you think about Jack wearing a ring? Is he wearing a ring today, Jack? Wow. Jack usually wears a ring on his ring finger on my ring on the right hand. And I said that's bad. If he's dating, he shouldn't be wearing a ring. Especially there. You shouldn't be wearing a ring. I'm not. I'm I'm searching. You know what I mean? Oh, you said So, you're a player? No, I'm not. No, you're a player. Certainly not. No, no, no. Far from it. I am searching at the moment, you know, looking for my lucky lady. Okay. And I wear a ring of my favorite musician. So I Who's that? Rex Orange County is his name. Yeah. Yeah. So I just wear a ring that he it was like part of his merch. It's weird, right? So you just cuz you like him. You wear a ring. I like Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And Okay. Yeah. I like weird. You know, I think it's pretty normal. You wear a ring, too, right? Yeah. But I'm married. I'm married and I wear the day we're both wearing rings. What if someone wore a ring that said Jack Selby on it? That's pretty weird, right? How do you feel about that? Honored. I would feel honored. Be honored. Yeah. Honestly, I think it says his name on it, too. No, it's just it's it's just a logo. It's just a logo. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, you know what? Good for you, guys. Maybe I should cut in here and we should say who Michael Yo is and how the heck we met him. So, Greg, take it away. Me? I'll take it away. So, Michael Yo is a comedian. Um I the first time I ever saw him uh was on YouTube from AGT and my first reaction was me and my uh girlfriend at the time which is now my wife. We were sitting there we were looking through all the auditions and it was during the um pandemic time and we saw this comedian go on and we were like we looked at each other and we were like dang comedians have it tough this year because there are no crowds. So imagine going up to a stage performing uh and not having a bunch of people laugh. Uh so that can sound pretty intimidating. But aside from that, uh Michael I believe also does shows here in Vegas around the country. Um I believe did you have a show on Sirius? Yeah, I have a show on SiriusXM. Uh it's a radio show. It's on Pop 2K. So we play like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and all that fun stuff. And then uh have a new TV show uh on Apple coming out called Amber Brown where I play ex-husband. So that's July 29th. Who's that? Huh? Who's that? Amber Brown. It's a fictional character and I play her dad. She's the daughter. So and my wife is Sarah Drew who is on Grey's Anatomy or was and she was uh I forgot her name on Grey's Anatomy, but she was a big deal on Grey's Anatomy, but she plays my wife and yeah, so it's struggle of me getting back into their life and she's already engaged. So, and it's a family show and it's on Apple, so that's huge. So, that's going to be fun. Yeah. Have you always been funny? You grow up and like you're not funny. I'm not funny. Like my friends, you're comedian. I know. But I'm not funny in real life. I'm funny on stage. Because my friends, the first time I went on stage, they were like, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Cuz I I toured and I went to Houston. It was the first time all my friends saw me in Houston. They go, "Dude, you're not funny, though. What's going to happen?" I go, "No, I'm funny on stage. I'm just not funny in I'm a serious guy. Not serious, but I'm kind of just like mellow. I'm chill in real life. But when on stage, I don't know. I just love to tell stories and things like that. So, you know, on stage, I'm great. But So, you're just really clever. Like, you're able to tell good stories in a funny way and like come up with good jokes and stuff when it's when it's calculated, but like off the hook that maybe Oh, I'm terri like uh what? Off the cuff. Off the cuff. Yeah. Like I do they invite me to do all these shows where you got to think of stuff real quick and I'm terrible at that. Really? Yeah. But there's a lot of people that like that. I'm more of a I don't write anything, but I'm more of here's a whole story about something that happened. Like I have a whole story about me almost dying from COVID. Like I got that big story in my special that's out right now. And it's a 12minute story, but it's funny because I thought it through and I know the beats and all that stuff. So how does that work when you're writing out a script for this? How do you insert the jokes in a way that you wouldn't be able to do like on the cuff? I don't write a script. It's I tell a real story and then heighten it. Joe Koy, he's a big comedian right now. He was my mentor and he goes, "If you ever sit down to write a joke, stop. Sit down, write a real story, and heighten it." So, I just tell real stories. So, I that's why I never write down stuff because I know the story is true and I know all the beats to it. Then, I just got to find the funny parts in the story and just heighten those, you know? How do you find the funny parts though? Like let's say you're telling a serious story about you almost dying from CO. At what point are you like, "Hey, I've got to slip a joke right there." Okay. Well, well, I like to get a laugh every 20 to 30 seconds. So, for instance, this really happened and it's not even joke for him, but it's just funny when I told her on stage when uh the paramedic put on um you know, they gave me oxygen and they told me to say goodbye to my family. So, my wife is holding my son at the door and there's a window separating. I got CO. I can't touch him. So I put my hand on the window by my son and I'm gasping for air like and my son puts his hand on top of my hand looks at me and goes to see and that really I was not expecting a joke there. No blind see nobody does but that's what really happened. So the truth sort of is funny and then of course I heighten it where I'm like this little dude making fun of me man screw you man. But the comedian image like his timing is incredible. So, it's kind of like I find those moments. I I talk about how the doctor tested every drug on me and I have jokes about that. How they told me I was the first patient in LA with CO. I had jokes about that. So, I I just take a real life situation. If something happens or if I make somebody laugh, I go, "Okay, what made him laugh?" And I go back and then kind of write around that. When did you realize you had a talent for that? I guess when I was on Chelsea lately, her show was really big. I was a reporter on the show because I worked for E, so I would interview celebrities. And then once we got to uh once I got to know all the comedians, Joe Koy was like, "You're really funny. You remind me of myself. You should try standup." And I tried it and at Miami improv. And the first time I went on, I did 15 minutes. And that's a long time for your first time ever going on. And I fell in love with it. I got off stage, called my mom, and said, "This is what I was born to do." And my mom was like, "Really?" You know, cuz you're not funny, basically. You know, that's a they they don't they've never seen me as that. But on stage is just something different. It's fun. Now, how do you improvise on stage if you're not funny in person? How do you shift to character? If like, let's say something happens and you have to stop crowd or something. Okay, so crowd work I'm terrible at. Like, I know what I'm like, I know what I want to accomplish. I know how to make people a part of my show, but I know exactly where it go is going. Where there are some comedians that can just my friends like I think you saw one of them at Mad Apple, Harrison Green, he can just riff with the crowd. like that's what he specializes in, you know, and like I've known him for 10 years and he's so amazing at that and he's a great storyteller and he's a great comic, but he's more of a boom boom boom boom. He's hitting you with jokes fast. I'm more of like, so this happened to me today and I'll take you through a story and you'll get emotionally attached to it and then I'll give you a joke. So he's a different style of comedian, you know, but he's a crowdwork comedian and I love those. Joe Koy was a crowdwork comedian. I Ian bag is a crowd word comedian. Me I kind of I know exactly where I'm gonna get you. I'll I'll go to you and say, "Oh," and ask you question, but I know where I'm going with it. You know what I mean? It sounds pretty crazy when you say like, "Oh, you were interviewing celebrities at E and then you won an America's Got Talent and performed in front of like no crowd or whatever Alex said." And then, you know, now you're a touring comedian. Can you walk us through like where you started and how you got to where you are now? So, I started on radio. I was a radio DJ. a huge show on radio in Miami. I was on Y 100 and the show did so well and I never did TV before. So the president, from what I understand, the president of E at the time was in town. His name was Ted Harbor. And he heard my radio show because his daughter was thinking of going to the University of Miami. And he heard me interview I interviewed Nick Lachche when he just broke up with Jessica Simpson. That's how long it was. And he goes, "Nobody could get that interview." And this kid got it. How did he do that? And it was a great interview. So he goes back, his casting people come out to meet with me. They offer me a job on TV. Never been on TV. Never wanted to be on TV. And I said no for like six months because I love radio. I was like, why would I want to be on TV? Because I got to move. And your first TV contract they ever give you, they can let you go every 3 months, but you can't leave. And I built up this huge show in Miami. I was like, I'm not going to leave where y'all can fire me in three months. So finally six months went by where I said no and they called me and go, "Okay, what can we do to get you here?" I go, "Let me keep my radio show. Build me a radio studio." I'm like, I'm like, "They're never going to do that." So they built me a radio studio. And it was right across from Ryan Serest. So Ryan Serest was across the hall. This is when American Idol was huge. And I was like, and when you see somebody from afar, you're like, I could never be that. And then when I moved here and he was p I knew him, he would pass me every day go, "What's up, man?" It makes it a reality like, oh, I can do what that guy does. You know, it may take longer to get to where he is, but I can do that. And that's how it kind of all took off. And then they put me on TV and it just kind of took off from there. I was on the Kardashians. I did um uh Chelsea Lately, and I was at E when it was huge. And then I and then I worked for Extra, Insider, ET, uh Access Hollywood. So I worked for all those shows and I would just my specialty was interviewing people like celebrities. Yeah. What were some notable people that you had interviewed? Well, I mean, Tom Cruz. Tom Hanks is phenomenal. Tom Cruz is awesome. Will Smith before all the trouble. And I I don't care what people say about him. The nicest guy you will ever meet. I know he had a breakdown on stage or I don't know what he was going through. Always treated me with respect. Was so nice to everyone. And he uh Yeah, he messed up. Yeah. You keep his name out of our pocket. I'm kidding. I was going. He uh he's always been great. But then I mean The Rock, Kevin Hart, Will Frell. I mean just about There's not one person that you could think of that's, you know, has a big career that I haven't interviewed. Leonardo DiCaprio. Amazing. So I interviewed him. I interviewed him. Um it was what was the movie? Um uh God, what was it called? Started with a D. I can't remember the movie. Jango. No, no, actually. Well, I've interviewed him for that one, but it was this No, it was the one that was It didn't start with a D. Inception. No, it was the fancy one. Boss Lurman did it, I think. Oh, Great Gatsby. Yes. So, it was We were at The Great Gatsby. Interviewing him. And man, let me tell you, the dude, it's so interesting interviewing people like him because you sit down, you go, I'm interviewing a legend. I mean, he's not one, but when it's all said and done, he's a legend. And that's where I get kind of like stoked about it because you're interviewing a person that when history is done in acting, he's going to be a legend. And he's great. He's nice, you know? I mean, he's not like going to make you laugh or anything. He's a serious actor where like a Ben Stiller, a Chris Rock, or Kevin Hart, they'll make you laugh during the interview. He's all about the work. You know what I mean? I mean, you'll have cute moments with him, but it's not like you're breaking anything with Leonardo. Do you come up with your own questions to ask or are there preset question that they know ahead of time? Well, this is why I got out of it because there are some things they want you to ask and it's your job to ask but you could ruin relationships. You could piss off actors and because you got to ask about their personal lives because really honestly nobody gives a about the movie. Nobody cares about your movie, you know, really. Honestly, nobody. Maybe Top Gun, they care about it, but they don't care about the shots and they don't care about, oh, so how long were you in the plane shooting? They don't care. Tom Cruz, who are you dating now? What's up with you and your like, that's what they care about. And if publicists don't say, because when you get there, publicists give you guidelines. They go, you can ask. You can't ask about X. But if a publicist doesn't say that, you have to ask because your your boss will call and go, "Well, they didn't say give you regulations. You so you could have asked. Why didn't you?" And I just got tired of I don't care about your personal life. I don't even care about your movie. You know, I just do this because I love interviewing people. And then it got to it got to a point where it was just I would think of the fun questions and then they would have the gossipy questions, the ones that's on the front page of magazines. then that sucks to be that guy that breaks the story about somebody's past relationship or if somebody died in their life or something like that, you know. So, what was like a question that you asked where it really didn't go over well? So, Anna, what was her name? Uh Anna Ferris. No, Annaway. Yes. How do you do that or The Great Gatsby? Look, but so uh she was in Rio. It was it was a cartoon called Rio 2, right? This is when Kanye West and uh Kim Kardashian were on uh like Vanity Fair or one of these big magazines. It's the lady that wears the glasses that double wears Prada uh Merryill Streep. No. Yeah, but she was playing this lady. Okay. I don't know what as that lady Jack name double glasses. What? She has the big butt. She's like huge. She does the Met and it was the first time they ever put like a reality star in the industry was like, "Oh, this the the magazine's going downhill." But Anne Hathaway was on the magazine. So my boss was like, "You got to get her to talk about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the magazine." And in my mind, I'm going, "That's the dumbest. Who cares her thought?" Because she was on the magazine doesn't mean she cares about that and it didn't have anything to do with it. Nothing. Yeah, that's not that's like me asking y'all about a person that podcast when y'all podcast it's like well what do you think like you're like I don't even know them. Why would I care? I asked her that question. She was really nice. So you had to climb you had to kind of walk up to this platform where she was and I'm walking down the platform and can I curse on this? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. She goes, "Why the [ __ ] would he ask me that question when I don't give a [ __ ] about the Kardashians? I don't give a [ __ ] about who the cares on a magazine blah blah blah blah blah blah and I got really angry and I was about to go back up and then I go no she's right cuz that's what I said to my boss before I she he made me ask that question why did you defend yourself because she was right like so why don't you say like I agree like well because I was already down the she was on a platform so I was walking down she thought I was already down but I was midway did she think you could hear her she had no idea I So, she was just like blasting me. And then the problem is her publicist calls our boss and we never ran it. So, I asked this stupid question for nothing. And I got tired of doing that. You know, I thought they were going to twist to be like Anne Hathaway doesn't care about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. I mean, they could have. Yeah, that's what I was saying. and they could twist it, but they're not going to give you the footage because when you do a junk it, they keep all the footage and if they say it's okay, they give you the footage. They wouldn't give me that. They didn't give it to our team, so we couldn't run it. And that's like, so you ruin a relationship, a future relationship to interview somebody because just like I would imagine, you know, finance or whatever you do, it's all about contacts. And if nobody wants you to, my contacts were celebrities. And if nobody wanted me to interview him, I lose my job. And so you could scratch Anne Hathaway off the list, you know. And uh after a couple of those, so you were worried about like damaging yourself to the point where you've ruined connections with people, ruined connections with publicists because now you're that guy. Yeah. You become that guy. Oh, when he he he's not going to do a fun interview. He's going to do it, but then he's going to ask crappy questions and make the celebrity mad. Do we want to really put him in a room with Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie when he's going to be that guy? I became like for a little bit I was that guy. But I worked for the biggest entertainment outlet so they had to take me anyway and the publicist like you could just feel it. I was at and you and that sticks with you no matter where you go. Even when you're not working, I would go I lived in LA. I would go to places where celebrities were and you could see them kind of like, "Oh, is he going to rat on what we're doing?" Really? They'd notice you and just like recoil and Yeah. You saw Jack. I'm very I have a look to me when I walk in the room. I mean, no, but they they would Yeah. Because they knew that, oh, if I do something, this guy could report it on TV. And I hated that feeling. I had that moment with Rihanna where she was like freaking out. I was in this room. We were in this VIP thing. It was only about 20 people. was backstage at a concert and you know I could tell you could just feel it. She was like I saw I walked in I could see her just kind of roll her eyes and literally I went up to her and go yo I'm not I'm not here for that you know and I just got sick of being that guy where and also it's wasn't my dream to interview these people my dream is to have my own podcast interview people where I own everything and I wanted things to you know I was living everybody else's dream it's interesting to interview everybody and they're living out your dream and this is not your dream at all and then that's why I said, "Okay, I started comedy. Let me go on AGT." Uh, there was no audience. They called me the night before like, "Do you want to wait till next year?" And I go, "No, I'll just do it." And then I did the first episode and then I got COVID, almost died. And then that was like, so I was sick the whole time. It took me 10 months to get well. So, I was sick during the second round and then I wasn't I didn't move forward and it was this weird situation. But it's more about now moving forward for me, betting on yourself. Mhm. And I never really did that before. Yeah. Because my job was not to bet on myself. It was being told what to ask, going to somebody, hearing about their life dreams, and then going back and go, "Oh, I got your question." Like that was the big deal. If I asked got a great answer to a question my they wanted, you know, and it's like like, do you ever keep in contact with those celebrities after you interview them? Like maybe you hit it off and you're just like, "Hey, let's hang out sometime." You know what? I I've never been that guy. Really? I mean, I have my phone is loaded with celebrity names. But I've just never been that guy because I I um I always want to be the guy when I do go to a celebrity. It's for they're not ever going to say, "Oh, I was partying with that guy and I don't want him to work. I don't want to work with that guy." I always want to keep a certain image with people that when I do call, they're like, "Okay, let me listen because he's never asked me for anything. This must be serious." Like like for instance, The Rock. I love The Rock. And it's a thing where if I ever call The Rock, you know, hopefully it'll pick up and it'll be like, "Okay, he never reaches out. What's the deal, Michael? You've always treated me well in press. I've treated you well. What What project do you have?" You know, so that's that's the kind of situation I want to be in with these celebrities. Wouldn't it be better though to get buddy buddy with The Rock and just say like, "Hey, let's if if he's free, hang out, go to the gym." Not his gym. Have you seen that dude? I mean, I don't I don't really And here's the thing. It It's very interesting. I don't like people. Like, I I mean, I love performing. I love doing my thing, but I'm not a big hanger outer. Like, I have my close friends, but they're all in Houston. So, I mean, I'll do poker night and things like that, but me going out, like, I'm married with two kids. I don't go out anymore. Like, I I got to watch these kids. My wife is so awesome. So, that's my life right now. And since I travel so much, I got to when I'm in town, it's kind of just that. Got it. I know I sound like this boring married guy, but it's crazy. You know, it's it's it's a very exciting life because we get to do a lot of stuff, but it's also, you know, it's like once you're at home with kids, it's that's your focus, you know. I figure we should mention cuz I don't think we mentioned this before, but you guys are neighbors and that's how this whole thing like occurred and how you, you know, you met each other and what Yeah. How was it? I was walking to the gym and I think I saw you unpacking some stuff and I wanted to be neighborly and go say hi. were you came up he introduced himself to me and I was and I was like oh that's awesome. So, a couple days later, um, you know, I I knocked on your door and just said hi and asked had some questions about cuz I knew you were in the podcast world and just had some questions and then it kind of just went for you in automatically invited me to poker night which was Oh, yeah. That's right. I couldn't make it cuz I was performing. But it's it's awesome the more you learn about where we just moved, how it's just phenomenal. First of all, I I when I look back on LA, anytime I land in LA or go back, I want to get out cuz I love the space here. I love I just love the lifestyle. I love performing here. I love flying out of here for my job. It's the best. Yeah. Now, I got to ask, why did you leave California? Got to get that little audio clip in there. Oh, yeah. So I left California because we lived in Studio City and after COVID after I beat it, I was walking my son in our neighborhood and a homeless person like we lived in a really nice neighborhood threw something at my son and he was three. So that's when I told my wife and she said, "Let's go visit my parents in Vegas and we fell in love with it. rented something for two years till they built our house here and then just moved in like two months ago or three months ago. And man, talk about a difference. Everything's easier out here. Everything's cheaper out here. People don't care what you do. You know, the hard thing to me personally about LA is I tell people is if everybody everybody does the same thing if you're in my industry and you live around and you talk to those people all the time. It's almost like if everybody worked in the same restaurant and everybody wanted to be the general manager of that restaurant. So every conversation is like, "Oh, who's on fries? Who's on the cashier? Who's on?" So it's like, "What audition? What'd you do? What did you do today? What' you do?" So that's a heaviness that that's on you. And once I moved here, after I do an audition, I won't get asked by anyone. Nobody cares about my audition. Nobody cares about anything. And that's what I love about Vegas, you know, like people. It's the first time in a long time they talk to you about your they ask you about your kids, your family, and it's pretty cool. And like our neighborhood, this neighborhood is like great people and like my kids have met so many other kids and the parents are like there's some amazing people that live in this neighborhood and I'm meeting all of them and it's like like this is a hot spot, you know, for talent, for connections, for everything. Who else have you met here? Because I I've never introduced myself ever to the neighbors in LA. Who else do you do you want me to say? Who Yeah, sure. The governor lives like three houses away. Really? The Yes, the governor. I heard that that he lived in this. I know. He lives like right up the street. Really? The governor? Yeah, I see him at the gym. He's at the gym. Wait, which one is he? Cuz I I go to the gym. I go to the gym. Well, he he goes at like 5:00 a.m. Okay. No, I definitely certainly not. Yeah. Whe And whether you're a Democrat or Republican, Sisilac, he he lives here. The No, I definitely have not seen him. Yeah. The guy that created the Dune video game lives here right up the street. Really? Oh, dude. He's a He's a massive like See the guy with the Corvette I always see. He lives If you were to go straight up from your house the where they built all that stuff in the front of their house. Yeah. Yeah. He lives right so he's created all these electric companies and he sells them. I mean it's it's it's crazy. Like football players, basketball players for the Raiders for uh the hockey team live here. That's nuts. Yeah. And because they all the great thing is I meet them because we all have kids, you know. So I think that's what gets me out more than you is because our kids play with their kids and it's all this it's and it's So you're saying kids are good for networking. Great. And I think Jack, you should have a kids and I think and I think that's the most important thing you're going to learn on this podcast for this neighborhood. Kids in Vegas are great for networking. Before the podcast, we were talking about like how people put certain like societal or like restrictions on what comedians can or can't say. And you being a comedian, I know that this is a kind of like a controversial uh and debatable topic. What do you think about comedians making jokes that maybe could be seen as like too far or feeling they can't be too edgy or anything? And are we moving in that direction? No, I don't think we are. I think certain people are. The here's the problem today is a very small group can make a lot of noise and get people cancelled, you know, because most people don't care what other people say. They just they live their lives, you know, and that's one thing when I lived in LA, it's very left. So all you hear is that, oh, you get really like used to hearing one side and then when you move here where it's 50/50, you're like, oh, people don't really care. You know, you I people like, "Oh, when you move to Vegas, oh my god, people going to go nuts. They're going to be waving Trump flags in front of your house." No, it's not like that. So, you learn that it's just a very small group of people that do that. Now, there are certain comedians that will push the envelope. You got Dave Chappelle talking about transgender and he gets in a lot of trouble for that. And I feel that it's interesting comedians, bigger comedians, will always say nothing should ever stop you from saying what you want to say. The comedians that are saying that are loaded making 2025 million dollars a special, right? People like me coming up, I I watch what I say. I always say what I want to say, but I'll try to find a less offensive way to say it because I'm still trying to come out, you know. And so I think that's the that's where we are. The people that have made it, the Bill Birds, the the uh the Dave Chappelle's, the Sebastians, the Well, Jim Gaffigan doesn't push that line. Jim Jeff is one of my personal friends. Like he will push it because he doesn't care. But now, don't you think that these people all made their careers coming up by saying those things and now that we've moved in a direction that's against it, they could get away with it only because they're so big by doing that already? Is it is it that we're more sensitive or we're more involved? See, this is where I go back and forth is if you watch Eddie Murphy's Raw and Delirious, it's so out of out of tone for what we're mean, he drops F-word. He's talking about all kinds of things you could not talk about today, you know? So, I think I think he shouldn't apologize for that back then because it was very acceptable back. You look at it today, you go, "Oh my god." If you've never seen Raw Deliver, go back and watch that and it will blow you away. Was that the one in the 80s? Yes. Yeah. I've seen clips of He's hilarious though. But if you watch the whole special, you'll be like, "Whoa." Like, there's no way, no way you could say that today. You talk about cancelled, nobody would put you on TV. You would be thrown out of the United States of America probably if you said the things he said in that special. And he apologized for it. But to me, you shouldn't apologize for it because you filled up movie theaters with people wanting to see that, you know, and it was acceptable at the time. what what people the cancel culture gets confused with things were like when people have to go back and apologize for things a lot of times whether it was right or wrong it was acceptable you know I'm not saying really getting super racial and just being wrong at all periods of time what I'm saying is certain words were acceptable at a time it's not right but at a time it was very acceptable you know uh talking about certain certain genders were okay at a time today. It's kind of like, okay, I'm going to say this, but I know I can get backlash. So, now it's on the comic. Mhm. Is it right he's going to get backlash? It depends what he says. You know, I I believe in freedom of speech. And what people forget is if I say something to you and you don't like it, you have the freedom of speech to go complain. So, people always take the other side out of the equation. They go like when you hear news anchors, they're trying to cancel me. It's like, no, you said what you had to say. Now these other people are saying what they have to say, you know. So if you look at it that way, cancel culture is normal. Because at is it? Because it seems like a new thing. I don't remember this being a thing like six years ago because there was no 24-hour news. There was no social media. Somebody somebody if it took work to cancel somebody, nobody would do it. It t it's harder for me to cancel my gym membership than to cancel a person. Like literally, you have to write a letter to your gym. You have to bring it. They have to meet with an adviser. Advisor tries to keep you to stay. You say no. They're like, "All right. Well," and they try to work out the exit deal. This 10 seconds. If it catches fire, the person gets cancelled. If not, no big deal. They move on. Yeah. Don't you think that's dangerous, though? It's terrible. Yeah. It's terrible. But also as a comedian, you can't stop what other people do because now everybody has an opinion. You know, you remember when you used to have to actually know what you're talking about. You remember those days? I don't remember. Yeah. Yeah. No, but if you specialize in finance, specialize in comedy, if you like these people work years for people to trust them to even get on TV. Now you hold up your phone, you're an expert. Like when people when people go, I do my own research. That's very dangerous, especially about medical stuff. Like, no, talk to a doctor that actually does it as a profession. I actually went to school for it. But you have people just googling whatever Corona virus, reading what they want to read, and then that's what they go with, and then they get mad if you don't agree with it. Right. So, I recently went to a Bruno Mars concert, and they took away all our phones. And I heard some comedians are doing this, too. And uh, you have to. So, yeah, I was going to ask you, so do you agree with this? And if so, why? 100%. You're seller. Not here, but in New York, they take away everybody's phones. They put them in a green bag and you got to tap it to leave. Because this is what frustrates me. When you're on stage as a comedian, when I'm at the comedy seller tonight, what I'm saying on stage is not the final product, but you're judging what I say like it's the final project product. Like my special that's out right now, that's the final product, you know? So, it's kind of like me going to a writer that writes all these negative stories about comedians, turning in their first draft and going, "This is your first." Well, no, I got to correct all the mistakes and then an editor has to read it and then he sends it back to me and then I got to do it again. I got to rewrite some of the stuff. But comics don't get that leniency. It's kind of whatever you say, it's done. This is what you think. It's like, no, that's why we go up in practice cuz you could say anything and somebody now you could say anything and people take it wrong. You know, I have a joke about my son and my daughter and I go, "My son uh bumped my daughter once, right?" You know, and she was playing with a toy and I got really angry. And then I make a quick joke. I go, "But my daughter could hit my son in the face with a brick." And I'll be like, "Oh, good job." You know, because it just shows the the father thing versus the mother and son. People are like, "This is right after Johnny De like this the nicest Jo. I'm the nicest human." And they're like, "You're teaching sexism. Your son's going to beat women. Your your girl's going to beat up men." Like they're going bonkers about it. Like Like this is Why do they even show up to the comedy thing? No, it's on YouTube. They So, oh, it's just reposted and it's the YouTube comments. It's the YouTube comments. Oh, man. The comments. like people go and I'm never like to be honest with you my YouTube when I my special came out three months ago I had 3,000 people on YouTube like I it was a dumping I never even I never looked at it and then they go you should really put together your YouTube if you're going to put out a special so for me I put out the special and then three months later you know I I've gone from 30,000 views for a channel like for the eight years to now in just three months I got 120,000 people and over 37 million view so for me That's great. And because I never had anything before, but I got to get used to just random people getting really pissed off about I'm not used to that, you know? It's just they really get upset and I'm not even a canceled type of comic. But to see people overreact about a joke about my son and daughter. It's a joke, but they take it as real. But you could use that as content 100%. And I am for my next special. read some of the comments and let them know how freaking ridiculous they are and how dumb they are. That's good. I like that. Yeah. And I'm getting so much material from that. I mean, these people, you know what's amazing to me that people have time to write paragraphs and paragraphs to you on a comment who does that? Do you have no life? I mean, I've done that before. Not negative, not negative. It's all never negative stuff, but like sometimes I'm really deep involved in the video and I just want to like I've I've written long long things too, but it's usually in No, it's it's in response to someone saying like some sort of critique to me and I try to like understand what they're saying and then I give them a nice, you know, a wellthoughtout message back. But why? You don't even know these people. Because I I don't know. I'm sensitive. Maybe I But the thing is your response is public. So even if you don't know them, other people who see that comment will see your response because like they're talking to hundreds or thousands of people. one person has like they have a misread on what you said or whatever and then they comment about it other people can see that and just latch on to that. But if you don't respond and defend yourself then that will happen and it will be like an echo chamber. But if you do respond people will see your response be like you know that's reasonable and then not like get that thought themselves. I responded I go this is a joke and I said first of all my daughter is one she be funny if if you commented back my daughter will beat up your daughter. Yeah. Right. But yeah, so that that's the thing is like I found humor like when people say I don't like that. I'll just Oh, you know, me neither. You know, you write cute stuff like that, but it's just amazing like when people just sit down and just write and write and write to I but it's a new thing for me on YouTube, you know. Yeah. What was it? I was listening to a podcast um and uh they they mentioned something about how the news cycle changes completely every 36 hours. Yes. And so 36 hours from now, unless there's an update, like no one's going to care anymore and people stop running the story. And that is true because 24-hour news changed the whole game. I I I'm older than y'all, but I was in the day when there was you waited till 7:00 to hear your news. And whatever they said that night, that was it. That was the news. And they would run one story for a month if it was a big story. Now news outlets hype up stories so much and put all these experts on that will disagree with what they say and fight with other people and that's what it's become just opinions you know and they got to do that to keep people interested because if a news anchor just comes up and tells you the facts you're like okay so what am I going to do with that I want to hear people argue about that you know and that's where we are so and what proves what you just said there's presidents that'll do stupid things and say crazy things and 36 hours later they could say something else and you totally would forget about the thing they said before, you know. So, there's ways to take advantage of it, too. If you are that character, you know, where you don't care and you're going to say whatever you want to say, they'll forget about you. You know, you're you're one natural disaster or one hurricane or anything away something bad happening from people totally forgetting Yeah. about the dumb thing you did. Do you have a review process for your jokes? Like do you do you have a person who maybe says, "Hey, Michael, not a good idea. Soften this up a little bit." Do you do you have like someone My wife kind of, you know, and I have a couple comics that travel with me and we always throw stuff off of each other. Like my wife is very sensitive to topic matters. So my last special, I didn't let her see it till I shot it and then my family, my mom, dad, they they tried to cancel me. So I'm not worried about outside. Oh yeah, cuz what happened now? We got to hear it. Tell us. You know what? I I had a joke where it's not me saying it, but I call my wife a bee in it. But I don't mean it wasn't me. I said the joke is I survived COVID. I'm going through that. And I go, my wife is taking care of my kids. I'm hearing my son ask where daddy is, and I'm getting breakfast, lunch, and dinner delivered to my room. And then the crowd starts laughing. I go, man, CO ain't that bad. I feel like a husband in the 50s now. I said I feel like a I'm like, get those kids away from me, [ __ ] Where's my dinner? You know, now you're not calling me. Oh my god. But but I get I get what you say. You know what I mean? I'm like I'm not if I was 50 like if I was in the 50s. You're making fun of these. I'm making fun of what they call women. But my wife didn't hear it like that. She was like, "Oh, you call me a bitch." And then my mom watched my first special four years ago and she was there and we watched it together. Now that all these reals are coming out, people making reals and in one of those I called her a [ __ ] but it wasn't it wasn't me again. Similar similar situation, you know, and then so you got to and then the biggest mistake I made in this comedy special and my wife told me not to do it. Yeah. And I did it. I call my kid uh a [ __ ] What's the No, but I should. That alone's enough for Alex just to Alex is laughing. Alex is laughing. Alex finds funny. But it's funny in this in the bit. But I had a clean version where I don't say that. And I was like, man, [ __ ] is so funny, dude. But I was like, now that I watch it, I go, "What if my son gets old?" He says, "My dad called me motherfucker." I don't think he's going to care. Hopefully, he doesn't. But I didn't. But I guess my thing is I didn't have to say it because I could I could have said this this little like it goes uh it was when after he touches the window. And I go, "This little [ __ ] making fun of me, man. [ __ ] you, dude." And then I go, "But the comedian says his time is incredible." I could have said I had a version that worked just as the last word of saying I go, "This little dude's making fun of me." Cuz the joke is the thing. And then I go, "This little dude's making fun of me. Screw you, dude." But the com So I had the clean version. But but that's not as it doesn't have the same punch. Yeah. It's showing that like, you know, he's not your kid. It's like disassociating that he's not because I'm not making fun of him. I may will you go talk to my wife and let her know right two house just go talk and that's the thing and then you worry about oh if my wife is like that she must have heard outside noise from other people that's saying he called you a [ __ ] in his special I don't think so I feel like I would never want to offend her family right now but I didn't call her that I was like if this person in the 50s no I I get it you get it right yeah like if you say this little kid is making fun of me I feel like that comes off is even more genuine as though like there's tension between you and your son. But if you disassociate you your relationship from this like you know the silliness of the situation by calling me an MFer, you know what I mean? Then it's like it's completely detaching it. You're just talking about the I find the extreme so much funnier. Like you have to take it to like that where it's it's it's like obvious. It's so obvious but it's so extreme. Like that to me is where the humor lies. So that's the thing. I was watching my special back. I had both version. I go man [ __ ] just hits. It does. It just fits, man. You could have done it the other way and got 90% but it was like more 60. But when you say the mfer man, they're like when you say this little guy, they're like that's I I agree with you on that. You know, so it's it's I'm not even worried about getting cancelled from the outside. I'm worried about like now I have this new joke I'm working on for my next special where it talks about how women can't make men great. I mean, how men can't make women great. But then I get to the point where I talk about women, how you make us great, but you drive us [ __ ] crazy, right? So now I'm kind of like, okay, what can I talk about? What how can I dance this line where my wife's not going to get offend? Because now obviously I'm talking about that side. Yeah. You know what I mean? This is I'm talking in real time now. So that's where I'm like for my wife. I'm like, okay. You know, like my wife, the thing I'm talking about now is my wife loves to set traps for me and every woman does in a relationship. They will ask you questions where both answers are wrong. No matter what you answer is wrong. My wife was like, "Miss Wyoming, blah blah blah." So all her friends are like like beauty Miss USA's, Miss Universes. That's all her friends, right? And when we lived in LA, they would come to the house and they would look at the screen and go, "Oh my god, she's beautiful." Any answer I say is wrong. If I say she's beautiful, you're like, "Oh, you think another woman's beautiful." If I go, "She's ugly." Like, "Oh, he's lying. He's lying to me." So, like those So, those are the elements I'm trying to beat out now. Like, what or people I've dated in the past, but I don't like to talk about people I've dated. So, it's basically my wife, what she does to drive me crazy. You know, like when you first get when you first uh start dating, when they say your name is sexy. Then when you get married about after seven years when they say your name you know you're about to do something you know like take out the trash you know like at the beginning it's like Michael you're like oh this about we're about to get it out and later when they say it like after years go by they go Michael I was like what I got to do now what is it now it's funny that's that's funny but you got to remember there's a real woman attached to that in real time you know so it's now here's the thing can You make up stories so that she doesn't feel like you're you're talking about your own relationship? No, I never make up stories. What I will do is put it in other people's words. Like I I Yeah, I will do that. I was like I don't want to say almost got in trouble right now. I setting you here as other people. But if you guys are watching every based on a true story. No, it's true. Cuz I was about to say my wife would watch and go really. No, but uh it's uh 5:30. Oh, got it. Okay. So, that's Michael's heart out. You have a heart out right now. I have a heart out because I got booked on a TV show. So, and they're going over the final and I'm very happy about it. So, they said they're going to call like any second. So, that's why I got a bounce. But, it's uh this has been awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much. We could keep this going longer. But, you know what? Another time. Let's do it again. And then next time we won't get into the house thing. We can keep it I want to hear more about your wife. Oh my god. She's last he wants to talk about you just got engaged though. Yeah, dude. That's awesome. Yeah, thanks. That's awesome. Yeah, I could start making jokes, too. No, no jokes. I'm kidding. That was a joke. Just wait. Oh my good. We We'll talk off. But it's it's awesome. Yeah. Just let her do everything. If she's into weddings or whatever, if she's into that, like my wife was really big into no matter they'll ask you for your opinion. They don't want it. just be supportive like you they'll be like do you like this color or this color and you'll pick a color and they'll be like oh I don't like that I like this one like okay that's what I told him and he said and he said he will stand his ground for the wedding now I got to defend myself on this there are certain things that I feel like I I would be inauthentic to myself if I back down there are other things that uh you know I'm totally fine with whatever Macy wants uh I'm good with that like for for a wedding for example if you don't care about or if I'm indifferent. It there are certain things that I I'm really passionate about and I feel like I will stand up for those things and other things that I care more about uh you know Macy being happy for a wedding. I think this is about her and you know creating that that day that she's always wanted. Um for me it's uh you know I I care more about her being happy in that moment. So if she's like between I'm not talking about the wedding. No. What are you talking about? I was just talking in general. Yeah. When we were at the gym, it was funny. I asked Graham the question like, you know, are there certain things that you that you stand for where if Macy did something that you necessarily didn't agree with, but it wasn't the most important thing, you know, do you stand your ground or do you ever give it to Macy and just say, you know what, I'll let you have this one. And then you said, no, I will not not be myself. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of the truth. I mean, I don't even know if there's a necessarily a right and wrong for this, but sometimes for me personally in my relationships, I like to maybe take some things to the chin and maybe step outside of go outside of like what I truly believe just in order to avoid an argument, which I know sounds, which I know sounds extremely unhealthy to like bottle that stuff in, but in my opinion, certain times you could do like a cost benefit analysis and say bottling in causes this much damage, but also the potential argument causes this one that I've worked on. And I'll be personal here. That's something I I really worked on. Uh in the very beginning, I took that approach and I bottled things up and I it's not worth it. It's not worth it. I did the same sort of risk versus reward. Within a few months, it got to a point where where things were just bottling up and I just wasn't happy. Mhm. And I got really good at being honest and open and and sharing my thoughts and and if Macy will ask me a question um instead of either skirting the issue or just not bothered eh it's I'll be completely honest. So if she ever asks me something like Graham did did uh are you upset right now? I'll just flat out say yes. Um and why? And I feel so much better about it and I think our communication is so much better. Uh that does mean of course that there is some conflict if there is something that you know either we disagree with or it's not worth it. I do the same thing Grim. Yeah. Yeah. There's very little that is not worth it. Um it's just you know on a magnitude of 1 to 10 usually it's minor stuff. Um it's stupid stuff too. I mean, really stupid, but uh I just feel better about sharing my true thoughts and if we disagree, we'll talk about it. But that sounds that sounds healthy. And I'm sure that there's a healthy balance on both sides of like, you know, maybe I'll just avoid this one cuz you got to pick your battles. And then other things maybe where it matters a lot more to you than you know, you could choose to engage in this. Yeah. So, sure. There are some things for me where it's, you know, let's just say I'm um frustrated or something like that. There's certain things for me where where I know internally not even worth bringing up. Like I'll be totally fine. Uh it's not worth discussing. But anything that it is of any significance for me I'll always be honest. I think you got to rephrase it, Jack. I don't think you can, you know, be like, yeah, you know, not worth it. You got to be, you know, you I think the way to phrase it is like you got to really look at the difference that you're having and really think like is this really important in life and like completely let it go versus like bottling it up as like Graham was saying in the beginning. Um because sometimes when I think about those little things it's like yeah really doesn't matter. Let's get over it and then that's that's basically what it is. Yeah. I don't mean bottling it up. I just mean just like you know what letting it slide. And because for me I No, no. Not letting it slide, Jack. That's worrisome. For sure. Like you're saying that that's bad. No, but I personally if I accept that I am letting something go, it doesn't bottle up for me, nor does it build resentment. And I I I'm able to determine when if I do bottle something up, it will build resentment versus when it won't. You know what I mean? And obviously, it's a net negative if I do end up choosing the building resentment side. I don't know. I think our communication's gotten a lot better uh for for both sides. Uh you know, and and me being more open is something I've really worked on and like trying to uh hear another person's side in general. I do remember that actually in the beginning of the relationship how you kept on like like I I could see it on a personal side where like you know like obviously there's there's something that bugged you or whatever. Yeah. You know, don't worry about it because you like avoiding the arguments. So, and it does seem a lot you know healthier or whatever now. Yeah. Or whatever. I All right. Well, any where Wait, where did Michael go? So guys, Michael had a call because he's going on a show, so he had to leave and we are extremely grateful that he came on the ice coffee hour. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We have a Patreon link down below. Michael, yo, Jack, tell us about the uh the Patreon. What happened? You just completely redid it. So, yeah, we restructured the entire Patreon and uh we changed the perks around and I think it's really cool. Let us know what you guys think down below. Oh, we got some really, really cool and interesting ideas I think you guys will really like. Yeah. So, check it out to see what those are. And I also told Jack, is it a jacket too expensive? And he lowered the price. That is the exact opposite of what the truth is. That is exact. So, that's not No, no. Okay, with that said, guys, thank you so much for watching. Yeah, just make sure to get your free stock down below in the description. When you sign up for public, use the code Graham. Check out Michael. Check out my Instagram, JL SBY. Also, big big thank you to our sponsors of this episode. And with that said, you guys, till next time. Till next time. Cool.