The Problem With Fake Entrepreneurs | Trevor Wallace

So, Trevor Wallace is one of the funniest people on the internet. He's known for his parodies of people who own AirPods, drink White Claw, and who are named Kyle, among many others. Today, we get to sit down and talk about the business behind some of the most viral sketches on the internet, where he finds his inspiration, and how you're able to do practically anything that you want on today's episode of Smash the like button. Sure. But first, we got to thank our sponsor, StreamYard. People always say they want to start making content, but for most, it's hard to get the ball rolling. And when you've never made a video before, it could be very difficult to know where to start. I've seen firsthand that post-production could be one of the most daunting tasks for new creators. That's why I recommend for anyone thinking about getting into content creation that you start by using StreamYard. 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In a karaoke room of all places. You think so? I think plenty. Copious amounts. Yeah, dog. Yeah. Karaoke in Vegas. Well, that explains it. Uh I think we got to start because Jack has a funny story to tell. Oh, yeah, yeah. I didn't think we'd start off with this. Okay, but uh Jack introduced himself twice to me today. I introduced my It was horribly embarrassing, but I did introduce myself twice. on, so Oh, thank you. I literally just got this. My grandma got it for me, so I appreciate that. Yeah. Grandmas love sweaters. They do love sweaters. Did she make that herself? She did not make this herself. No, unfortunately not. She did. Put a lot of love Yeah, yeah, the funny story. So, you actually performed at UCSB. I think this was like 2 and 1/2 years ago, probably. And I remember I showed up, the line was way too long. It was a free show. I knew I would not make it in. So, I was like circumnavigating my way throughout the throughout the line trying to figure out if I can make it in. I definitely couldn't. I went around the venue. And while I was walking around the venue to try to find a place to sneak in, I found a door with a crack in it. And I looked through this crack and I saw you. I remember this. I remember I saw you. No, I remember the crack in the door. And I remember people like because what it was is like there's this comedy club with this at I do it at Santa Barbara called Laughology. Students put it on. And I was and I would do it when I had like no nothing. I would just do like 10-minute sets and then there'd be a headliner. I would just do it just to do it cuz I was early in the stand-up career. And then they booked me for this and then it's like the stuff started taking off for me. And then I was like like you guys want me to do this? And they're like let's do shows. I'm like no, let's just stick with one. And then the word got out and like my demo is frat. My demo's college. My demo's UCSB. It's like that's Isla Vista. That's my Those are my people right there. So, it sold in seconds. Yeah. Not sold, it was free. Right. I got paid like 20 bucks, but That was it? I don't know. At at that point, I'm just doing comedy to just stay sharp and just do like you know, just work out longer sets. And I forget how much it was. It wasn't a lot, but it's it's a really fun all Los Angeles comedians have probably done like Laughology. It's it's a really fun show. So, I remember I was in the back pacing just going over [ __ ] in my head. And then there's like cracks and there's like windows. People are like And then this guy shows up. So, what happens, Chad? Yeah, yeah. It it wasn't weird, right? But I just I was like yo, Trevor, Trevor. Trevor. And I was trying to get your attention. You looked at me, you smiled. I think you like got up and walked away. And then I continued walking around the venue, found a place in the back, couldn't make it in. I wait, no, I could not make it in. The line was huge, dude. Like there were so many people that couldn't make it in. You You a lot of fans there. I think a lot of people it was in a um like a uh lecture hall. Yeah. And I think a lot of people didn't know how big the lecture hall was. It wasn't very big. It it maybe held like 200 or 300. So, there was like 600 people in line and mathematically That doesn't make sense. Right. Unless you're sitting on laps, but Right. Lucky for you guys I have a show at the Mirage tomorrow. So, come on out. I got you tickets. Full circle. All right. Cool. cool. Thank you, man. Yeah, the the Santa Barbara was great. But then you met you met up afterwards. met you afterwards, right? So, there was like you were doing a meet and greet. You were so gracious. Yeah, you were saying hello to everybody. You came outside. Shook the hands of the fans, took some photos. And I went up to him like, "Hey, man. I was that guy." That like that whispered to you and you were like, "Yeah, that was a little weird, but uh cool." And then we took the photo and I was like, "All right. Cool." I do have the photo. it. I I I was looking for it this morning and I think it was on my other phone which I transferred my laptop. I'll send it to you, okay? I got the photo. You know what? We'll put it up on screen. it up on the screen. You're reacting to it right now. I just generally want to know like would I remember you like with the outfit or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, there was people out front. met you three times. Wow. Not just two. Yeah, three today. Yeah. Yeah. How'd you get started in all that? I got started I've always just loved comedy. Like it's wild to say, but my mom found like something in like third or fourth grade. It was like, "What's your dream job?" And like with the spelling like DoodleBob spelling like I wrote comedian. I spelled it wrong. I think I spelled it with a K. It's funny. It's pretty on brand cuz I forgot how to spell it, but I like always just loved comedy. I grew up on like Jim Carrey and Robin Williams and I just like to It's all I cared about. I never All my friends were like, "Did you see Braveheart? Did you see [ __ ] Titanic?" And I'm like, "No, it's not funny. It's sad." Yeah. You know? So, I always was just in to that. And then when I was 17 my mom It's very Disney Channel story. My mom cut out something from the paper and it said stand-up comedy workshop classes. This was in Ventura which is like 20 minutes away. I recognize where that is. up there. Really? Yeah. 805 boy? Yes. 805. 805 boy? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Camarillo. That's what I thought. I thought I knew that. Yeah, yeah, cuz people would talk about you in Ventura. Yeah, I was a big deal in Camarillo. Yeah, it's me and somebody that was on Big Bang Theory and two baseball players, Delman Young. Ventura Comedy Workshop classes. Uh and then I would cut it out of the paper. And then anything your mom tells you to do at that age, you're like, "I'm not going to do this [ __ ] I'm not going to do that." And then eventually some time went by and I was like, "You know, maybe I should check this out." And I show up to this comedy club on a Saturday and it's like me and like six other people trying to get into comedy. And there was a guy there, this guy Randy Lubitsch. He owned the comedy club but he was teaching it. And there was like assignments. They'd be like, "All right, here's a newspaper, write some jokes on it." And then I was writing some, he's like, "It's pretty good. How come you've only been doing this?" I was like, "Today." And like I've never done this. And then he just kind of was like, "Oh, you kind of have like a knack for it." Then he helped me build like a 5-minute set. And then from there I did that set on like the showcase, which was essentially like a dance recital. It was like all of our friends and family for me and the other comedians there. And like I just had this rush of energy. Like I I was like I never played sports really growing up. Or I did but I wasn't good at it. Like I shot at my own goal twice in soccer. You know, friendly fire was on that game. Right, right. But that was the first time I felt like I had like a game-winning catch or like a home run like it felt like this like this rush and felt right. So I did that and then I started doing stand-up. And then when I went to college, Vine came out. And then my buddy Jorge, shout out Jorge, great guy. Just got married. This is your wedding gift to me shouting out his coffee. Um and he's like, "Dude, you got to make Vine. You got to make Vine. That's That's where funny people are." And I was like, "I don't believe it." And I started scrolling. I Sure enough, I started seeing funny people. And I think I was just like, "All right, I'll [ __ ] around." And I lived in a frat house at the time. So it was super easy. What year was this, by the way? This was in like 2013? Uh 2013, I believe. Okay, sure. Yeah. And I think I just like I was making videos and then like other guys in the frat house would see me like make a Vine. They'd be like, "Dude, I want to be in one." So, I had just like a disposal of just like roaming just a revolving door of frat guys. They'd be like, "Yo, Kyle, I'm going to cop one. Cop And then I had one kind of hit and it didn't do anything for me, but I got recognized going to class one day and I was like, "Papa's made it. San Jose State legend." Um but like I was happy that Vine never got really big for me cuz it just showed me how a video can work. You have an idea, you post it, bombs. You have an idea, post it, bombs. Oh, but this one gets a little bit of attraction, gets a share. You see how the internet works, kind of that snowball effect. So, at that point I was a sophomore and I was doing Vines all sophomore year, junior year, and then towards the end of junior year is when I got really back into the stand-up and I was doing like open mics after class and um senior year moved out of the frat house and I was like doing a good amount of open mics and then just moved straight to LA right after and just Yeah, were you getting paid for doing stand-up shows or were you just doing it for experience? No, you just There's really not a lot of money in stand-up in the very early days at all. You just get like $7 or like a chicken finger and like I literally invented it one time I got uh paid with a bread bowl. Clam chowder. No way. Yeah, right next door there was a place called like What was it called? There's a place with clam chowder essentially right next to the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club back then. And the guy was like, "I'll get you bowl of chowder." And I was like, [ __ ] And what was it like your first time going up on stage? I like blacked out. I remember like the first laugh and I always try to get a laugh as quick as possible on stage cuz that like sets the anxiety and like the anxiousness. It just kind of locks you in. Sure. So, the first time I got a laugh I was like shocked on stage, like I said. I I forget what it was. A quick joke. Yeah. I get this like little laugh and I was like, "Oh, fuck." And then like I just picked my head up and the 5 minutes flew by. So, how does it work? Do you have a whole set that's just memorized or do you kind of wing it? Do you ever wing it? Yeah. in my head there's like picture like a Spotify playlist and there's you know, 40 songs and I stick to these, but sometimes I'm like, "Oh, let me pull from here. Let me pull from here. But, in the back there's like a skeleton of like starting to middle to finishing jokes, and then kind of like I can Like if somebody in the audience yells something out about whatever the horses, and I go, oh, dude, I I have a horse bit from 3 years ago. Now, I can you know, you make it seem seamless. Somebody's like, horses, and then you do your bit on it. People like, this guy's [ __ ] Shin Lim over here, dude. That's smart. Yeah, so it's just all keeping it in your head. But, I mean, I essentially have like what I normally start with is like this chunk, and then I end with this chunk. Um but, I think the on the fly stuff is the most fun. Yeah. And what kept you motivated to post on Vine when you probably weren't making any money from it, and uh it was probably a grind? It's just addicting, I think. It's just fun. I just like I mean, it's literally like the same reason you walk into the casino. Dudes are just on the slots. You pull each pull is a video, and you go, what's it going to be? A dud. What's it going to be? Ooh, this one kind of hit. We got one of the We got one of the slot machines to light up, you know? It's like when when you don't get jackpot, but you get one of the big ones. You're like, oh, close. It's funny you described it like that. That's exactly how it is for me with posting videos. It's like you see how it ranks one out of 10. You'd be like, got a one today. I was like a 10, be like, got to do it again. That's what the difference between standup and uh and videos is for me uh feeling-wise is standup is instant. You say something, either crowd's like, we [ __ ] with it. It's not like somebody's like, they get together, and they come back, and they're like, that's a seven out of 10 joke. So, standup instant. You feel it. It's reciprocated. There's no faking that. But, videos it's like you post something, and the algorithm's like, is this go against guidelines? Is this good? Is this bad? Um uh sometimes [ __ ] pops immediately, but now like I have a video that'll like kind of like do okay, and then I'll like pick my head up, and then a couple days later it'll like kicked up in the back end, or flopped in the beginning, or hit right off the bat. Like, there's too many There's too much waiting for videos to to really feel the response from the audience. It's interesting. comments like always are good, though. You know, if you want your mental health to get good comments. Okay, no, I absolutely stopped reading comments. I I am done reading comments. Yes, for any YouTubers watching I read the comments. What do they say about what is a Cuz podcast fans are the best fans in the world. What do they say about you? touchy about some of the guests that we've had on in the past. problematic people? No, it's just maybe people that like we've definitely we have had problematic people on the podcast, I would say. But the thing is just because someone's problematic, I don't think like there's any reason to just like not let them speak. You know what I mean? Like I Well, to a certain to a certain extent, but I still think that it's good to challenge your opinions on everything. That's why I mean the edgy guests get the most traction and the most views. We've had some of the clips get like 5 10 million views and people are like I hate this one. Well, people are commenting because they agree or disagree. But if somebody's just a wholesome guy, you know, if you have Neil Patrick Harris on here, everyone's like I love this guy. You know, that's all the comments. But if you get somebody who's edgy, you're going to get the people that are like I love this guy and then all the people are like what the [ __ ] did you have this person So you get both sides. Mhm. But I'm curious for you cuz you mentioned YouTube in the videos, how do you balance what you want to make with the YouTube's algorithm and pushing the content that might be, you know, little on the line? I essentially just make the stuff I want to make and if it gets demonetized, in my head all views lead to something greater. So if the video gets demonetized, all right, somebody who's a fan of that video might now want to do a brand deal. You know, I I I try not to let the the little green dollar sign next to your video or the the yellow like demonetized or like limited monetization get too much in my head because I have such a catalog of videos over the past 5 years if not more that it's like if one video gets flagged then you go But now what if it's not just getting flagged, but what if it's not getting recommended? Cuz now it seems like that's that's a big thing where YouTube is just deciding not to push certain videos. And so you have to tailor that if you want to reach the audience. I I mean it's unfortunate because you put a lot of work into it and you never really know until you hit post or publish how it's going to do. Um sometimes it's unfortunate. You're just like, "Damn, all right." But I'm always like, "What's next?" You know? That and that's what's what I like about Sam O'Nella videos is like if the joke bombs you go, "Okay, I'm not going to sit in this moment and be like, damn." I'm not going to just You just be like, "What's next? How do I keep going from here? What's the next joke I'm after?" So if a video doesn't do well or if it's not getting pushed I go, "All right, whatever. Maybe it'll get picked up in 3 months. Keep going." But also I just, you know, if the video's 5 minutes you have a couple clips for TikTok you can post from that. So I'm like something will hit. Sure. What was that like for you moving to LA? How were you supporting yourself back then? Was it just through comedy? So I had a day job. I lived in a pool house in Studio City. A Studio City. Uh yeah, it was a pool house. It literally my my best friend's older brother's friend. Let's see if I got that right. Best friend, older brother, and then he has a friend. yeah. Was living at this house and then one of his roommates was recording just guitar stuff in the back in the pool house and just ran and was like, um I think I went to go and just go out with him one night and they're like, "Yeah, dude, you could rent that for like 350 bucks if you want." Hm. And I was like, "Sold." Because my other two friends that I was going to move in with were like, "We're down, but we won't be there for like 8 to 9 months." So I was like, "Let me just get out there already." Slept on an air mattress, but I had a inflatable headboard. There you go. Nice. Yeah, I never brought a lady back. Crickets as literally would come over at night. Literally there was a gap this big in the door crickets would just come in. You didn't think to close that off, like put a towel in there? No, I liked it. It was like the free combat. Right, right. Some homies. Yeah, so What was the question? How did I get here? How was I supporting myself? Yeah. So I was doing that, but I was also working two internships. One of the Groundlings, which is an improv theater. A lot of uh big actors and stuff have have come out of that. Um and then I was also working at All Def Digital. Do you know them? They're a big YouTube channel. They're not as big anymore, but they they did a bunch of It was all comedy music. It was ran by Russell Simmons. So he did like Def Jam comedy back in the day. This was his version. It was All Def Digital. So they would put me in videos, too. It was like comedy stuff and it was some like unscripted stuff, just like kind of debates and stuff like that and then also sketches. So I was doing that. I was doing the two internships. All Def Digital eventually brought me on full-time. Then I was a paid intern and then I was salary. Stop working at Groundlings and then I was just work I think I was making 40K a year at All Def Digital and I was pumped cuz my rent was 350. So I had like some money. And then I was just doing open mics every night. And Vine had died at this point. I wasn't really making too many videos. It's like 2015. And then Facebook. I was like Facebook's going to be big for videos. Facebook and YouTube. So I started making videos again in like 2016, 2017. That's when I had this one character about Zumiez, the skate shop. Kind of hit. And it hit on Facebook and YouTube. Then I was like, all right, is that same feeling I had when Vine hit? I was like, time to double down. All right, here we go. I'm feeling the momentum again. And then things just took off? Like or was it more gradual? No, but it's I also think about my career as like a fire and it's like you want to keep throwing logs on the fire. So each video is a log and I was like, okay, I have a little spark here with the Zumiez character. Let's just keep you know, keep throwing wood at it. Let's keep growing this. So I did like probably seven or eight videos as it's like Zumiez character, but then I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I don't want to be like kind of like cornered as that. So then I um I started doing a little bit different ones, but I do a few and if those didn't hit, then I'd go back to the Zumiez ones as like a fail safe. But at that point, like it was a slow growth and then December 2018, I think. It was right when the AirPods got big. That video. That video So that video got posted on like yeah, it got it blew up. It was on like Reddit front page and then WorldStar reposted it. And I was like Yeah. at a coffee shop in Camarillo when I saw a WorldStar Hip Hop video and I was just kept refreshing my Instagram. Each time it'd be like a couple more hundred, couple more hundred, couple more hundred followers. And that that video gave me like I went from like 60k to like 85k on Instagram. And at the point I'm in a camp I'm in Camarillo at a coffee shop. I'm like, "Somebody give me a latte." It was on WorldStar. But uh Camarillo, California isn't the demographic for WorldStar, I imagine. So But it is for AirPods. It is for AirPods. Yeah, so come up with that idea? It just like everybody was kind of like I was just tired of my friends just being like You know, it's just kind of Walk us through the the the the bit a little bit. So if anyone viewing doesn't know. AirPods were really the first kind of like Bluetooth headset or headphones that like really it wasn't even about the quality. It was just the look. It was the short white stub that was like it was a fashion statement. You know, people were just wearing it and not even on the phone, not even listening to music. It just it was earrings for goofs. Every [ __ ] tech guy had those. And like it That with a vape and a Patagonia vest, couldn't tell me nothing. On a bird scooter with AirPods in Oh my gosh. unstoppable. Yeah, yeah. So I think I started to just hear people talking about it. There was a few like memes here and there. And then I was like, "Dude, I can make a character out of this." And then I just I just did that. And then I just pictured like what would this bag It And every character is just an accentuation for me. All right. You know, people see me like this bag. You're right. I'm not hiding it. I was in a frat. I've had the same haircut since I was like nine. Like Very much. I understand what I am. So I just accentuate that. And then I go, "What is me at a 10? If a three-level bag is me just vibing, posted up with the air mattress, how do I accentuate this?" So I had like I had like a jean jacket with like a turtleneck on. And you know, I'm just riding I was in Santa Monica when I filmed that video. I had AirPods in, just riding around. I just was like, "How do I just keep going with that?" And then that did well. So I did um like a parody after that. And then what was great is they kept dropping AirPods. Mhm. Year later they did AirPods the Pros. Mhm. So I got all right, same guy, we're doing Pros. Year goes by, AirPods Max come out, guess what's going on. And look, I it's it's fun because it it's you know, people almost like look to me. I would get tweets and people would be like, "The Pros came out today. Are you When's the Excited for the video?" And that's the best thing is like when people think of you before the video's even out. Yeah. Like it's dropping, when are you dropping? So you know, it's fun. Uh and I did it for all the AirPods and you know, in 2024 when they drop the new ones that are exact same but have a different shape like octagons now. Yeah. I'll make another video. Do you remember how much you made off the first video? I'd imagine like Facebook would pay pretty well on something like that. I do. Um I I I remember my first Facebook check. Yeah. I was like, this isn't real. I didn't believe it. And then I look I feel like this is a clip coming. I know how this works. This is the clip. Subtitles right here. I remember the first Facebook check I ever got was for $30,000 and I was like I was driving and I had the biggest smile on my face. I was like, there's no way. There's no way that this like all these videos equal to this. Like it like I thought it was going to be like like a like a Facebook was going to be like roughly 30K and then you get it and it's like $14. You're like, "What?" And they're like, "Taxes." You're like, "How the [ __ ] But I was like, mine alone. I was like, "How is this And I remember the song Paid in Full came on. It's by this guy Safe and Cardi. I think it's Safe. And I was just blasting the song just because it's so it it felt the theme. Like it literally came on when I checked my account, Paid in Full, and then that was And that was like when things were on on. My Facebook does not make that now. But this is when things were on on and I was just ecstatic. So when When you quit your job? I quit my job in 2018. I worked at All Def Digital for like 3 years, 3 and 1/2 years. Sure. And I remember I like asked my parents I didn't really ask them but I like told them. I was like, "All right, Mom, quit my job to do comedy." And I was like very nervous to do that. Uh because I had mentioned it before and they were always like, "Yeah, for sure. But definitely stay with health insurance. Stay there. Kaiser, gold, platinum, good stuff." Uh and then I when I told them in 2018 they were like, "Yeah, we knew this was coming." And then after that I was just like, "Let's, you know." And what was the catalyst to you quitting? I had a friend, Kevon Stage, my mentor. He's the guy that worked at All Def Digital, one of my favorite comedians, funniest guy. He was um he was about to leave and I was like, "Kev, I want to leave, too. How much money should I have in the bank before I leave?" You know, people say that you should have like 3 months' salary or this or that. Then I told him how much I had in the bank and he's like, "And you're still here? Like leave. You're fine. You'll be all right." And I remember that moment after. I was like, "Yeah, this guy has a wife and two kids. And if he's telling me that that's enough money for a single guy living in Santa Monica, like I'll be all right." How much were you making from We got We got to know how much that was. I got to go ahead and brag a little bit. It wasn't even an insane amount for What will you guys guess? How much do you think I had? I'm going to guess single guy. Yeah, I was going I was going to say like 60. 60? Yeah. 60K. 60K in my bank account. And that was when that was after months and some months of YouTube and Facebook and also just saving up money from All Def Digital. I didn't spend money. I I when I moved out of the pool house with my friends and I lived with two of them and one guy paid 900, one guy paid 1,000, I paid 800 for my room. And I that's I was on my only car. I had that and I paid off my car. I had a Mazda 3, flex. Paid off my car and I paid 800. Um so but everything I did was either YouTube or stand-up. So I was working and then doing YouTube and stand-up. So all three of those were generating, not a lot from stand-up, and some from YouTube, but when I saw like checks coming in from YouTube, I was like, this is the same amount I'm getting for 2 weeks paid at Old Left Digital. Like, I think I'm good. Uh I left, and then this I think I was I was starting to tour with some, and then it was the summer of 2019 where like three videos back-to-back-to-back just all like hit. And then I was like, let's Which videos are those? It was the Kyle video, uh just making fun of a dude named Kyle. I remember that. I like that one. The hometown bro video, and then of course the infamous white claw video. All three of those were like Me and my friend Chad Chad Hurley, if you know him. Yeah. Best guy. It was like this era when I bleached my hair, and like every video was hitting. So, whenever it's just bombing on YouTube, I'll like text Chad and be like, [ __ ] I'm going blonde, That's funny. It's It's like I just felt like But that summer is like got to do frosted tips. Yeah. I feel like that would really like take you to the next level. Yeah, for sure. It really would. I'd be down. Frosted tips go hard. Like the guy stuck in the '90s, I think would do so well. Yeah. Young Lance Bass. Yeah. player I have I have an NSYNC t-shirt. I bought it at a thrift store. I think that I think that's a banger for you. Oh, then yeah, guy stuck in the '90s. Get the JNCO jeans. Yeah. It's crazy how much those three YouTube videos must have blown you up though, because when you did like I said, when when I came to the UCSB thing, I did not expect it to be as big as it was. There were hundreds of hundreds of people there. It was crazy. Yeah. Well, what it is, and I tell this to every YouTuber, is like the the fact that And this goes for the same thing for music, is like I had a back catalog. I've been making videos since like 2017. So, we got 2 years on me of making videos, and I was doing a video every Monday, right? So, there's 2 years. So, when these videos start popping, they can now watch these videos, but then also backtrack, and they listen and they watch, and they just binge. And that's how you lock in a fan, cuz if I no other videos, people watch one video, they go, "Hmm." That's it. There's nowhere to go. But the more it's like when you find an artist. You you find one song there's, you listen to a album, then another album. All of a sudden you're three Steve Lacy albums deep, you're like, "I [ __ ] love this guy." But if you just had one song, you'd be like, "That's cool, but when's his next project?" And then there's a lot of pressure on that next project because it's you know, but if there if I have 50 videos behind me, you can click through 50 of them and sure you might like 12 of them, but those 12 you'll love. But I think it's just it I So so keep creating and you don't want your first to hit. Build that catalog, build that library so when [ __ ] does hit, people have [ __ ] to pick and choose from. I'm curious, what's your creative process? Like how do you come up with these ideas? I think it's being observant of what's going on around you. The trends are all around you. It's just really you know, the White Claw thing came to me because I used my buddy Jason as like he was he worked he got fired from Deloitte for drinking too much. Like he's like my demo. Deloitte finance whatever the [ __ ] he was doing over there. I don't really know, but he's like he was a guy who told me about like pickleball. He was a guy who was like Pickleball. Jack loves nutted for that. crazy. Zoom in on that. But he was like he was the guy who's first started drinking White Claws in the Santa Monica apartment. I remember he was the way he was describing it to me. He was like, "Dude, these are sick. They're like epic. Like you feel like drunk, but you feel skinny. You feel like lighter." And he like he he went Santa Barbara. He went he What frat was he in? Phi Sig, I think. Yeah. But uh interesting response. in I wasn't in frat. Oh. No judgement, Jack. I believe that word is GDI for that. That's what the frat guys would call you. I forget what it stands for. Anyways, but he was like he was my barometer. He was the dude he had a Hydro Flask. He's the reason I made a Hydro Flask video. He was like my like perfect bro, right down the center of America, you know? Cuz he cuz he he felt just like he felt like what the a mixture of just all the people in Los Angeles, but also kind of just like Central America. Like he just felt like like like he was a guy I could base anything off of. So, he always had a Hydro Flask, boom, make a video off that. He always was drinking the White Claw, and I was like, all right, let me try one of these. And then I started getting more into it, and nobody had made a White Claw video, and that was like it felt like I think a trend is like uh catching a wave. I don't surf, but I would imagine this is what it would be like. It's like it's it's building up, and if you get in at the right time, you ride the out of it. But so many people jump on when it's already breaking. There's a lot of people paddling paddling paddling. The same thing, I made a video on Tiger King. And I was a I was a one of I'm not to sound like [ __ ] Soulja Boy over here saying I did it first, but I was very early in the Tiger King parodies. And then that hit, and then people put it out like two or three weeks after the series was big. And it it you know, it's all about just getting in right before it breaks, you know? Yeah. And what's your team Well, that was your creative process, yeah. So, just watching this guy. That was my That was Whatever this guy does, he's the money maker. You got to hire him full-time. But now it's like is he up to now? Uh he lives in Austin, Texas. As most guys who live in Austin, Texas video Texas, and he's starting a brand, and I swear this is not a lie, uh he's starting a brand about uh uh What's it called when they when they ship stuff to you on a regular basis? Drop shipping? Oh, no, but Subscription type Subscription base subscription base uh jerk off lotion. I swear to you. I swear on my life. He I swear on my life. I swear on my life. So, it's a lube or is it specifically for saying I don't know what it is, but he's like he's so funny, man. He he'll like text me and be like, I got an investor meeting coming up. This guy was on Shark Tank. And I'm like, this is all for lube? He and like he'll send me like the photo of like the product and the branding. He's like, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? So, he's making jerk off lotion in Austin, Texas. He's doing well? I think so. Huh. You know, he's definitely moisturized. I can tell you that much. Yeah. But um This guy is your ticket, man. Yeah, yeah, he's he's he's great. Yeah. Um I love him. I was one of his um groomsmen at his wedding. But um so he was like the gold mine. But I'm like, "Where do So his name is Jason." I go, "Where do I find the Jasons in the world, you know?" Um when does this come out, by the way? Uh could be this Sunday. Okay, cool. Well, I'm I have this video coming out and it's just about like guys with like dangly cross earrings, right? Uh-huh. It's just what I see. You look at them at the club Funny, I see them everywhere now. What is so able to pick these things out? Yeah. Your reaction is exactly what I want in the video. Cuz I've noticed it everywhere, but I've never like put the two and two together, yeah. bring it out. Correct. That's the reaction I want on all the videos. It's like, "Dude, people do do that." What is Oh, I mean recently uh Tesla. They all all these And I have one. I'm a idiot. But every Tesla owner, for the most part, I'd say an 80% of them have a custom license plate. And I've been sitting on that idea for so long. They're all customs, like LOL gas. Oh, dude, I got to show you my license plate. What do you have? What car do you have, by the way? How much money do you have? Uh guess. Well, what? Like liquid or liquid or what? I don't know, man. right? that you said liquid alone lets me know that you have millions racked up. Strobe lights are going off over here. So, here's the license plate. Elon Musk, god Wait, this is a Tesla? Yeah. It's the Roadster. It's the Roadster. Is that new? It's the old original Roadster, 2010. out with that. 2010. Elon Musk, dude, I would take a photo of your license plate if I didn't know it. I'd be like, "This [ __ ] guy." I would In the video, it has like Elon I'm about to bust. You know? Oh my god. But I essentially made a video just because I kept seeing them everywhere and I worked it into a stand-up bit. Then I go, "This is funny, but like the visual of this is That's how I decide if it goes stand-up or video. I go, "Is this more visual or is this more of a story?" And the visual aspect. And then now people tag me and they'll be like, "No gas here. Gas, LOL." And it's just like And now I see them everywhere. And then And then people will tag them in me. That wasn't a sentence. People will tag me in it and be like, "Yo, I [ __ ] see this [ __ ] everywhere." So, it's like the you're bringing something that people have seen but haven't talked about out and they go, "Yo, I have seen that." That's incredible. mil or what are we talking? I need to know what it What's the context? Like I don't know. I I I get everything. Assets or net worth? This [ __ ] to get details here. Can we just get to the question? what the question is. Everything. If if you had to Net worth is Net net worth. There we go. Yeah, 18 million. What the [ __ ] Yeah. We're in the karaoke room. I don't know, man. we not record in the Steve Aoki room? That's why it's 18. You don't spend money like that. That's a good point. Yeah, that's a really good point. What's your net worth? Not that. I don't even know. I I wish I knew. Oh, you know, man. to know, man. You got to know. Here's what's [ __ ] up. You're going to clip the part where you leave yours out. And I'm over HERE LIKE I DON'T KNOW. PART. Um I I'm buying a house in in like a week, so I'm nervous. It it it's fine, but after I buy the house, it's not going to be fine. Well, how much is the house? The house is uh like 1.7. LA or California? LA. Okay. How much How much are you putting down? Uh it's a cardboard box. Yeah, 20%. Okay, that's about standard. We can do some math. We can do some math on that. Run the numbers backwards. So, you get a 1 and 1/2 billion dollar loan on it. No, it's about 1. 1.3, 1.4. Your background is all housing, right? Yeah, it's real estate. So, seven So, your real estate payments Yes, your payment's going to be probably around seven, six 6,500-7,000 a month mortgage plus property tax. Yeah. So, that's going to make it about eight. I just I So, I pay So, you're making more than $25,000 a month. Oh, yeah, it's which was obviously without Yeah, bro. Which was right. I am. Technically from the lender's perspective, right? Dude, I'm wearing Kith shorts, bro. I'm out here. What do those cost? I don't know. These were sent to me. Didn't look. I'm kidding, dude. I'm not I don't spend crazy. I'm not like Every anytime I have like I wear something, like Julia, I go, "This isn't me. I'm not you know?" Like anytime I like post anything nice, it's a character and I'm like like being like "Yo, guess who got it like that?" And then the next thing is me at a [ __ ] Norms eating steak and eggs, but the steak is like $8. Right. Like everything I post is like a joke. Like I like I never share like personal life stuff. I never share what I'm going through. I'm always just like, "How can I make this water bottle funny?" Why don't you share like more personal People don't care. stories? I think they would. they listen to my podcast, they're very tapped in. They're very in the now. Stiff Socks, 18 mil, it's crazy. I think people, if they listen to my podcast, they know the full versions of me. They know what I'm going through. They They I've had my dad on the podcast. They know exactly who I am, where I come from, but I just like I've when it comes to social media, I just want people to land on my page and be able to laugh. And the second they land on there and I'm over there being like, "My cat Mittens was my everything." They're like, "Cool. Now I'm sad." You know? So, I just I I keep that stuff and and instead of posting it and getting uh likes from people about my life stuff, I just go to therapy and I [ __ ] crush at therapy, you know? So, I just I don't know. I It just feels like when um it just feel and this is not a great stance, but it feels like when you go to like an Instagram model's page and you're like, "Nice ass." Then you click the next one, she's like, "Here's what's wrong with Biden." You're like, "Ah, damn. What is going on here?" I just want to see I get it. I just want to see some pictures, yeah. Yeah, you know? I What does Tulum look like? Why is every girl in Tulum? I want to go to Tulum. I agree with what you're saying and that's kind of an epiphany that I had in the past few months is like like try to be a force for good and like optimism and happiness just in general. Like even if the negative stuff, okay, I know I'm saying this right next to Graham, but like even if I could say some like negative stuff or be mean or whatever and it would be funny. negative stuff would you say about Graham right now? Well, I wouldn't say negative stuff about Graham. Yeah, cuz he makes $50 million. Papa's keeping it real though. knows better. But just in general, like like being a negative person for for comedy or whatever or like if I'm with my friends, I feel like even if it's funny and it gets a laugh or whatever, like at the same time, like it's probably better just to be a force for good and just try to be an optimistic guy. It's like There's no right or wrong way to do it. Like like I'm not saying like if I go to a some chick's page and she's expressing her political thoughts, that's not wrong. It's her page. I Who am I to say that she can or can't do any of that. I'm just saying me personally, I don't want to involve any of that. Plus also one thing I think Marshmello is the smartest DJ in the world because he has zero personal identity. He's just a a figure, right? You don't associate any thoughts with him that are like oh, that's just a this guy from that place or he looks like this so he gets like you you just see it's just a guy like it's not even a guy, it's just a character. It's a character. So when people go to my page, I want people to have the same thoughts. They're not like, "Well, this guy's leaning left. This guy's leaning right. Like, oh, this guy hates this or they hate that." It's just like you just smart. It's just one It's just a comedy page. Um and I think that yeah, I don't I don't I don't know. I like post like random stuff, but like I'm not going to like I'm always curious, do you ever feel like you have to uphold this character that you've kind of like presented yourself as for example coming on this podcast? Do you feel like you have to be funny or if you get recognized by a fan, do you feel like you have to be that character? Uh no. I think you just have to be nice human. Just personable. Cuz I think like I was at some event last night here and this girl said, "What do you do?" And I was like, "I do comedy." And then the best response that every comedian loves is, "Really? Tell me a joke." No. to I was going to say that. I was going to be like, "Make me laugh." I know, but I'm that sounds like very like you're a king and I'm a jester and you'll kill me if you don't laugh. Like, "Make me laugh, funny boy." And I think if you just give me some time and you talk to me a little bit, you'll find a way to laugh. You'll find something funny, but like "Make me laugh" is very like knock-knock joke. What do you say to that? Uh I just say, "No." Or I'll be like, "Dude, it's a I'm at a [ __ ] We're at a karaoke bar right now. This is not a good setup for this." Right. Um Yeah, I don't know. It's just every comedian is like least favorite. Do you ever worry about the jokes that you're saying and maybe it it gets you in hot water? Cuz it seems like comedy in general is moving more towards like a safer place where you can't make certain jokes anymore. Like it seems like the jokes that were made 20, 30 years ago are just unacceptable now. Yeah, I mean I kind of err on the side of like you know, in the same sense of like what I was saying a little bit ago is like I don't pick a side where it's like Like you could watch me I think anybody could watch me and find whether they like it or not. They they don't watch me and be like, "Yeah, this is funny if you're blank. This is funny if you're blank." You know, "If you're Republican, you'll love him. If you're this, you're that." Like I just I'm right down the middle. I don't talk politics. I don't talk anything that would like make people feel a certain way. Um cuz again, my whole goal is for people just to laugh. Just take their mind off of what they're going whether they're on a 5-minute break, whether they're on a breakup, whatever the [ __ ] Like the amount of messages I get of people like that are deployed in like Afghanistan or they're going through a breakup or they lost their dad or something like, "Hey, your comedy helps get me through that." That's all I want. I don't I don't push the envelope in a sense of like, you know, tackling crazy issues or saying wild stuff. It's not for me. I just I all I want is laugh and the second you get too too edgy, you know, there's people who will love you. There's people who are very successful at that, but that's just not for me. I think I'd rather go broad audience and just cast a bigger net. That's fair. What's your team like? Is it just you? Do you have an editor? Uh I have me, a main editor, John, best editor I know. Uh I used to edit all my stuff until like 2019. John came on, and then it's me, John, and then another guy, Kyle, who tours with me, and he films all the stand-up. And those are those like the three that kind of make it work. And then uh I have an assistant. That's really it. I had been wanting to do one, and I was with this guy, Michael Blaustein, who's the other co-host, and we were at an open mic in LA, and we just hit it off. We were just talking, because this was right when I was about to quit my job, I think, or I just quit my job, and he was doing a bunch of college gigs. And as a stand-up comedian in the early days, college gigs pay the best. They're I mean, they're they're like they just for whatever reason. They don't know how to price comedy. They're like, "Here's five grand." And at the time, you're like, "That's insane." So, he was like doing he was doing colleges. And at that point, I was so young at stand-up. I was like, "Dude, like, you know, how do you get these college gigs?" And then was starting to pop on YouTube, and he goes he goes, "Well, how do you get these views?" And we're going back and forth, back and forth. He's telling me game on like the stand-up side. I'm telling him the game on videos. And we had like a 3-hour conversation at this coffee shop in Koreatown after this open mic. And the next day, he called me. He goes, "Do you want to start a podcast?" And I was like, "Yeah." And I'd already been thinking about it, so it was a perfect storm. And then we just met at a coffee shop in Culver City, and then we just pitched ideas back and forth, back and forth. For some reason, Stiff Socks just stuck. Who came Who came up with that idea? I think I want to say Michael. I think it was I think we were going back and forth, back and forth, back and like like I said like like sticky socks, and he was like, "What about stiff socks?" Like it was an alley-oop type thing. Okay. Um but yeah, that's always funny about the name. It's like people will like get close. They'll be like, "You're sticky socks, right? Come Come Nikes. Come socks. What is it?" I'm like, "I'm with my father right now." My dad's like, "Stiff Socks! Check out my episode." Can we break down the uh business of things a little bit? Like if you were to have a pie, you're going to make each piece, assign it each a percentage, where is your what's your income look like on that pie? It's a great question. I would probably say podcast I do it's pretty like I'd say the big three are podcast, touring, videos. And I would say podcasting and videos is about the same and I'd say 40% videos no no no. I'd say 50% is videos and brand deals in one category and then 25 touring, 25 podcast. It's pretty good for the podcast. Podcast is doing well. Yeah. It's awesome, man. But I again podcast fans are the best. They they're just supportive. Uh we have a Patreon and you know that's got got some people on there too and it's just uh just people who really enjoy listening to us. Yeah. That's what I've noticed. I think podcast listeners like they connect with you on a different level than just like watching like a YouTube video or something like that. Someone will like come up to me on the street and be like, "How was the dentist uh today?" I'm like, "What?" Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I heard in the episode today you went to the dentist. Was it in Culver City? Yeah. And yet you they thought it was a cavity but it wasn't. How was that? And I was like I forget that I just project my entire life right for hours upon hours every week on Apple and Spotify and everywhere and then I just forget that people listen. So when people reference that and even when shows all like on a show I'll be like or on a podcast I'll be like, "Dude, I love sour Skittles." Next show people are like, "I brought you sour Skittles." The it's just That's cool. It's the coolest thing ever. It's the most amazed at people that wait at 9:00 a.m. we post every Sunday. Yeah. And if we end up posting like at like if we posted at 10:00 a.m. there are people like, "Yo, where's the podcast?" I'm like, "I'm waiting for it." I feel so terrible because I'm like, "You're waiting for lunch." It's always Jack's fault. I'm ready. It's it's Jack usually that Yep, it's all my fault. It's Jack's fault. a.m. on on Me? Sleeping. No. I it sucks and grinding. Every I've never said this publicly on on the podcast but I have to be up every single Sunday morning at like usually like 8:15, which is unfortunate cuz it's the morning after Saturday. Come on, Jack. 18 million subs. It's the morning after Saturday, which you know, this has been the last what? 2 and 1/2 years. Something like that. So, I've never been able to do that. Both of us are Uh well, we work together on it. Yeah, so like we're up like talking title, thumbnail, and everything. So, it just it's like I've never slept in on a Sunday, which I know sounds like I sure I'm I'm complaining about nothing. else is sleeping on Sundays? The Christians. That's true. Yeah. All right. Well, maybe I should Yeah. I love how you're like, "I've never said this publicly, but I don't sleep in on Sundays." I wish I could, man. It's like that. For me, it's like I want to sleep in on a Sunday. You want to sleep in on Monday? You're going to blame me for [ __ ] Bitcoin you earn from a brand deal. Then everyone's going to be like, "Graham doesn't let him sleep in on Sundays. He's such a controlling person." Like everyone's going to do that. It's a mutual decision here. We were in this together. either. It's Jack and I 8:00 a.m. every Sunday morning going back and forth on title, thumbnail. We could do this the night before, but there's something about like the morning of where it's like There's a deadline. Yeah. good. The day before, there's not that sort of urgency to like make it perfect. But when it's like 15 minutes before and we're going back and forth over text over like what It does feel kind of nice. It does. And then you get it and then you just anxiously watch to see like how it performs. Mhm. And then we tinker. This one will bomb for sure. This one's going to blow up. No. The cliff Yeah, the cliff hangers are crazy that I Morning, I think for videos they either do best in the bright early morning before people are checking their phones at breakfast or right after work. You know, like 6:00 to 7:00. And there's times where if I want I need a video to go up, it's like yeah, it's the same thing. I wake up at 7:00, I click post on Facebook and YouTube what cuz you you know, if it's like getting out there because sometimes I forget which one you can't uh you can't schedule on Instagram or TikTok yet, but I'll get it out on there, go back to sleep because I would rather the people on the East Coast see it versus it's like okay, I get up at 10:00. People on the East Coast are like, "Dude, dude, it's 2:00 I don't even math. It's 1:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Cut that. 1:00 a.m. It's 1:00 p.m. They're like, you know, they're on their lunch break. They're at a meeting. They're seeing the video, but they're not watching. There's no subtitles. It's like a whole, you know, I always think about like when are people listening and watching with sound on? Early morning, end of the day. Yeah. Middle of the day, people are at work. So, you have to if you want Lunch. Yeah, but even at lunch, it's loud and they don't have headphones. If they don't, you know, you so it's like is it subtitled? Is it not subtitled? I always just think about like Like yeah, just just watch people's behavior as they scroll. They're on a subway, they got headphones. Sure, if they do, might be loud. Is it subtitled, you know? If somebody's just eating at a Sweetgreen by themself, they don't want to play it out loud cuz that's insane. So, they're just kind of scrolling just right. You're like, how do I When do I want to post? What's best for people around the world? Sure. Yep, early morning, later night. Yeah. It's interesting you post and then go back to bed. Of course. What's your schedule like? Um Do you have a normal like a work schedule that you have to like I mean, it's Yeah, Monday we record the podcast. Tuesday, I'm usually writing or doing like pre-production stuff for whatever we're filming that week. Either film Wednesday or Thursday. I mean, there's just like miscellaneous stuff. But like every week, I try to put out a video and a podcast. That's like bare minimum. So, everything that gets plugged in around that is either like meetings or collabs or filming with other people. Tours tough because there's a lot of traveling. So, your week is like really Monday, Tuesday. And you like fly out Wednesday or something or varies by a day or so, but It's just that, you know. Do you ever get the feeling that you could be doing more? Of course. I I mean, yeah, it's like you know, you watch one interview with Mr. Beast and you're like, what? Do I even try? Yeah. You know, and and the I think his Rogan episode, if you if you're a YouTube guy, listen to it. It just [ __ ] dude, he's got I thought I had good insight on videos. Dude, this guy is getting people from different countries to voice over what he's saying, but he's getting like popular actors in that country. He's got different channels for different countries. He's just like global. Yeah. And that I I think he says in there it's like 10% of the world speak English. I don't know what that is. Don't quote me. You should never quote me. I don't know much. I learn from Snapple lids, but he's like 10% of the country speak English. So like dude, that is 10% of the world, sorry. You're like you limit yourself to so little stuff. And then I just like I the second I watched an interview I hired another editor and I was like I was like talking I was like do I need a producer? How do I Do I need a writer? Am I good enough? And it just made me want to expand. So every time you know, I see something like that or Airrack, he's great, too. He's [ __ ] blown up right now, but he's doing the precautions. And you meet him, he's got a big team, he's hustling, he's doing everything. He and they found the formula. So I see guys like that and I go I need to one up it. But But it's a different side of YouTube. I think sketch comedy versus what they do is like they're just meant for the masses. It's just like it's very clickable. It's just you know. Yeah, do you think some of your videos would translate well into other languages? I'd imagine it's maybe only a a sliver that another, you know, language could understand or or another country could relate to. Well, it's interesting because like for example, when the White Claw video came out, I did a show in Canada. They didn't have White Claw there yet. People are like we've heard about this thing. What is in the States? But then once they got it, I started getting messages like Yeah. like like a small bump of views went up and people are like dude, we finally got it. Now I relate. So that's a good question. I think something global like AirPods maybe, you know, that would translate, but um Yeah, I don't know. I I I think I just make what I know best and I I think whenever I try to go too big or too like out of my element, I feel it. So do the viewers and so does the video, you know, it doesn't feel authentic to me. So um Could always do American stereotypes in other countries. Of course. Yeah. And And I think, you know, And America is also a massive place, too. So I'm very fine if somebody in Brazil is like I don't understand this [ __ ] I'm like, well, I guess somebody in Connecticut does, You know, I'm not trying to like obviously global the better especially with like reels and shorts because they push that all over. So, I do try to keep it somewhat relatable and all that, but you know, I'm I'm doing as best as I can. You know, I'm doing what I know. Yeah. You know, I did a video a while ago I was like uh when people from LA visit New York. And I'm like, that's great because it encapsulates both, you know, East and West Coast and everything in between if you're if you've been to one of those cities. So, like that to me I was like, cool. I'm I'm getting both sides of the country. Yeah. And what about for stand-up? What's your process like for like writing jokes and test How do you test them out to make sure they're funny? So, I write everything like a notes app or the voice memo. And I was like talk it out. I think I mean I've been doing stand-up for like 9 years now. Like at this point I at least know an idea could be funny. It's just finding how to get it out. You know, it's like the idea might be funny, but the execution's not or it's like the idea's whatever, but the you know, like flip vice versa type thing. So, I I think I just like I'll usually put new stuff in the middle of my set. If I'm doing like 50 minutes at the Laugh Factory around 7 or 8 I get throw out a quick premise. If it bites, keep going. If not, then I'll be like, okay, do I want to battle this or but sometimes it's like what I what I think is funny isn't funny and what I don't think is funny is funny. Like I'll say the premise and it doesn't really get anything and then I say the next line and then that pops. And you're like, oh, I was wrong. I was betting on myself here, but the audience was betting on this. So, there's no way to know unless you really try it. Yeah. So, I always just throw up new bits and I I I think I just as long as it's in my voice and I'm passionate about it people listen. Yeah. You know. It's interesting you're kind of coming up with a lot of stuff just off the dome when you're on stage. Like you try to see something, see if it bites and then you know, if it does you can proceed which is fascinating. Does it ever make you like nervous whenever you're on stage? And you no, I I think it's like I'm not It's It's like It's I just like It feels like the same thing you would ask and I'm not comparing stand-up comedy to the NFL, but like you wouldn't like It's like asking an NFL player be like, "Do you think about the 70,000 people in the stadium watching you?" You're like, "No, they're just locked in." Huh. Like there'll be moments where I'm performing and I look up and I'm like, "Damn, there's like 2,000 people watching me right now." And then I get right back in it. Because I can't I don't think I'm just like in like this like mode where I'm just on. And it's just like like nothing matters. You know, I'm not worried about taxes. I'm not worried I pay mine. I'm not worried about anything else but performing in that hour. So I Does that make sense? Yeah. So I'm not like There's no like outside thoughts and I'm just like It just feels like I'm just like Did you ever get stage fright? Of course. Of course. And you'll The only way to get rid of stage fright is just by By bombing. reps. Just doing it, you know? Of course, dude. I I stage presence is so much of I Somebody told me this. I wish I remember who. It's like, "If you don't believe in your own jokes, why would the crowd?" You know, like if you're up there being nervous, the crowd's going to be nervous. Unless your energy and your jokes give off that like kind of like nervous shy guy like Mitch Hedberg or something. Like that's would make sense. But if I'm up there and I'm like hiding behind the mic stand, fumbling over words, there's no confidence. But if you walk out there and you like own it, it's going to help a lot. People are going to be like, "Okay, this guy at least knows what he's doing." Yeah. He's bombing comfortably is what's happening, you know? But he knows it. So But it just takes reps. It just takes time to figure out your And And again, I don't think I'm some stand-up guru, but I I do think it's just just repetition. That's like a message. I always look for answers in life and I think when I was coming up in stand-up, I would like email big comedians. I'd DM them, be like, "Dude, what are the answers? How do I do this? What What is the secret?" There isn't really one. It's just And I'm sure you guys have found this in really whatever, whether it's podcasting or just really anything. It's just doing it. Just getting out there in the reps. You've bombed before, I'm guessing on stage. What's that like? I've always wondered. I could imagine that It's really hot, you get sweaty, time slows down. I mean, it feels like an edible is just hitting just on repeat. It's terrible. Jeez. It's dude, I have bombed. In front of my own crowd, too. Like And and you just said it's just like How do you recover from that? I feel like then it's a downward spiral where it's like, "Oh [ __ ] I just bombed." there's two ways feel all like anxious I'm going to bomb again. Well, I mean, it's kind of like there's two routes you take. And I did this very much so in the early route of my stand-up days. I'd be like, I'd blame it on the crowd, which is not right to do. I'd be like, "Oh, well, that's Golden Doodles aren't funny?" But Chad laughed at that. Yeah. And that would get like pity laughs, but honestly, the thing is, only you know how the joke goes. So, if you just go to the next joke after, the crowd won't know. And you ask somebody after the crowd, "Hey, how was the show?" "Loved it." "What was your favorite joke?" And there's like a You said something about like pop schools or something. That was like What people remember out of an hour versus what the performer remembers is so different. We'll always beat ourselves up. I'll be like, "Show was great, but this one fell flat." So, now if something doesn't hit, I just keep going. And But now I'm curious, could that be the audience or could that just be the joke? Like, could you retell a joke to a different audience and they'll love it? Cuz there's a vibe of the audience, too, right? Yeah, and there's like literally there's like um I I think there's almost like a beginner's luck with a brand new joke. Like, you'll like tell a random joke at a somewhere. Like, you'll do it on the road in like Des Moines, Iowa, and it murders. And you're like, "We got a heater." Then you go back to LA and you do it and it doesn't hit and you're like, "Is it the crowd? Is it a bad joke? Did it only work in Idaho?" Like, I have this joke that I do about Amish people that I cuz I just saw some in Indianapolis and I was like mind-blown. And dude, it murdered in Midwest cuz they have Amish. But you do it in LA, people are like What? Do we have those here? Amish people? Wait, which ones? Honey, do we have those here? So, it's really just about trial and error. Sure. And I don't know why jokes get knocked out of my set or jokes get put into my set, but every once in a while, that's what I was saying earlier. It's like it was huge reper- huge repertoire of jokes. And then, sure enough, I'll probably stop doing that joke at some point. And if somebody somewhere is going to yell something that correlates to the Amish, then I go, "Boom. Got a zinger for you." If I'm just starting a show and I like walk out on stage, and somebody's like, "Fucking bitch!" Like it's so startling. I think if I'm in the middle of my show and I'm like Like I'm I'm moving, I'm grooving, I'm in the energy, and I'm feeling it, I'm locked in, and somebody yells something, I'll [ __ ] fire back. Yeah. Some of them miss, some of them hit. And when it hits, it goes crazy because like because the crowd is watching you Everybody can script their stand-up, and then you do it, but that's all off the dome. That's all raw in the moment. That's why those moments get the biggest pops. And the clips that I post on Tik Tok of crowd work moments are like those sometimes go crazy because people are like, "Damn, that's Like the funniest thing I had was recently in San Francisco. On our podcast, we talked about how do blind people watch porn cuz it's an educational podcast. And somebody, I'm finishing up the San Francisco show. Maybe like 5 minutes left, taking a sip of water. And this girl goes, "Blind people do watch porn, you know." Crowd gets tense. And I realized that the lady who yelled that was visually impaired. And I go, "Okay, how do we address this?" And then I just go back and forth. And I I I just think if she yelled that in the very beginning of the show, I would have been like What? What Where do I even go from here? But I think I was just like warmed up and that happened, and it just like this it just you couldn't expect that. And it just like I had so much fun with it. What did you What did you say? Uh well, she said something and I said, "Oh, no, I'm over here." And that that got a big pop. But, I was very respectful about it before I did it. How do you think she said that? I don't know. I don't know what goes on in her about like offending her, like saying the wrong thing. And so, and I think I I always do it without malicious intent. Like, I'm not like doing it like like rude or like And and I preface the clip. I say like, "Hey, I I'm dumb. I do not know what's going on. Are you visually impaired?" And then she said something. So, I I I'm putting myself out there being like, "I don't know. I'm dumb. Are you?" And and then she said the thing, and that's when I said, "I'm over here." And that just hit. Yeah. And now everybody And that laugh is nice because everybody's like, "Oh, we're having fun here." You know? If the crowd is laughing, she's laughing. Uh, and and I talked to her after the show, and she was like a sweetheart. She like loved it. But, I'd be so tense in that moment because I feel like if you said the wrong thing, like Well, that's that's the whole thing. cut everything, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, and it's not like I And again, I'm not like attacking. Yeah, sure. Like, she yelled out at me. It's kind of like a volleyball. It's like, lob the ball, it's in your court. And I And I I say in the clip, I'm like, "I feel like this is the Lord testing me right now, you know? Like, do you want to have another show tomorrow night?" Um, so, I kind of like preface it, preface it, and then And then what happens, it just The clip is crazy. I mean, it's Afterwards, a guy goes, she's explaining how visually impaired people watch porn, and then this guy in the balcony goes, "Too long." Like, saying her explanation was too long. And then I start getting on that guy. I'm like, "She she's blind, not deaf, you idiot. Like, she can hear you." And at this point, it's just utter chaos. And it's just like I After I got offstage, I was like, "That was insane, right?" And then I was like, "How do you [ __ ] Yeah, that like that You can't Like, that moment you can't recreate. You got to start putting blind people in the audience so that they can heckle like that. That's rude. Is it rude? I don't know. No. We're going to clip just that. Jack. please. Please, yeah. Do that. Don't clip that. I didn't Slenderman talks about blind people. Cut that out, man. No. Could you plant hecklers? And then like, do people do that? I'm sure people do. I Yeah, but like, dude, you couldn't. There's no way you'd feel good about yourself after that. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's not a good crutch. Cuz then what if that person gets COVID that day and your big closer? You're like, "Anybody on a crutch here?" And then they're not there and you're like, "I said, anybody on a" And then you're looking at your tour manager like, "Where's Reuben?" Yeah. "Oh god. You in the back. You're on crutches, right?" Like it's just it's it's it's Yeah, you could make it up. Yeah, I mean Sure. I mean, there's I think bad idea. Sure. I mean, comedians lie all the time. This happened this week. That happened 4 years ago. They'll be like, "Well, today I was" No. How often do you think that stuff's actually true? I've always wondered. Yeah, I hear some crazy stories from comedians. I'm like, does that actually happen? I think something close. Like something like like a guy will have a wild story and it's like like a kernel of it is true. Like the a beginning thought. Somebody sparked that thought and then they accentuated it. Mhm. Um or some of it is. Some guys are like Joey Diaz. I believe everything that man says. You know, I don't know if you know who he is. Just like a Jersey mafia guy. And like you hear him and you're like, "I believe it." And you can usually tell by the logic in people talking about it. You're like, "This seems like it has a little logic flaw in it, but" So, I mean, it's all accentuated. I got one final question I want to I've always wanted to ask a stand-up comedian. blind people, Jack? It does have to do with blind people. Good. It's uh cuz I love them. I've always wondered because I've been to quite a few stand-up shows with a few comedians that I like I adore, right? And who are these comedians? Should I say? I'll say. Yeah, sure. I went to a Chris D'Elia show and I went to uh a Theo Von show. Love Theo. Yeah. And um I'm at these shows and they're funny, right? Like they're they I I laugh and everything, but when I listen to their podcast, it's just like a whole different type of laugh. pressure, no crowd, no audience. You think that's what it is? I've always thought that comedians in podcasts are like 100 times funnier than they are on stage. Theo's one of my I love Theo. He's one of my best friends and he's just so talented and he gets in his head a lot because when he's at in the studio, he's just with himself. Right. He's comfortable, he's in his own space. And then there's 2,000 people, you it's hard to be yourself when you're performing your performative aspect. So, I think it's just that. I think it's also like the calculatedness of going up on stage and the fact that every joke is like pre-written. So, it's I mean, dude, imagine this podcast if there's 2,000 people here, it'd be a totally different podcast. Imagine recording any YouTube video when there's 2,000 people watching. Right. You know, you're if somebody sneezes, you're you're now thinking about that. If nobody laughs when you tell a joke, you're thinking about that. If everybody laughs, now you're thinking about that. Yeah. So, the podcast was like You're not doing it for the laughs, you're just talking to talk. You're just talking from what you know best. And then you don't know those people, you know, in their car or at work or at the gym laughing to it. You don't know. Like I like we post our podcast, you guys post your podcast, nobody knows when they're laughing. Sure, you can read comments, 3701, hilarious. Mhm. But then that you're not performing, you're just talking and that's what makes people connect to podcasts so much is they're not putting on a performance. They're like, this is just me speaking from the heart. Yeah, it makes sense. Let's talk about your house really quick. Um what made you purchase the house? I was done with renting. Yeah, I was done with renting. I just It's like I've never loved the idea of just throwing money at a landlord. And like my landlord's like just a chill Venice bro and I'm like there's no way my money's going to good use. It's going to Adderall and just longboards, just Sector 9s, [ __ ] He's a great dude. But I just I I don't know. I I just turned 30. Everyone thinks I'm like 21, just turned 30 and I'm like, dude, I just, you know, if this is the one big change I make at 30, is start you know, a mortgage and having some just some assets. Yeah. Big word. I just, you know, that was it. Sure. And I was looking, I was looking, and the tour just ended, and I was like, you know, after the tour, I want to focus on that. And I saw one house, the first house I looked at is actually this one. And then I checked out like 15 or 20 more, and this one was like, I would always relate it back to that house. I'd be like, this one's sick, but it doesn't have what blah blah blah had. Got it. And how long did it take you from the time you saw the house to make an offer? It sounds like you saw 20 homes. It didn't happen like a weekend or so. like that week. We lowballed the [ __ ] out of them. Really? Oh, yeah. What were they asking? Probably two something? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then we went in like 1.5. They got like, no. But the lady I'm working with is like the the the real estate lady I'm working with, she's great. Who is she? Give her a shoutout. Jessica. Jessica what? I don't want to say her last name. Why? She's mine. She'd love it. Jessica Felix. Jessica Felix. She's great. Okay. But she she's like, it's all like kind of dating. She's like, you put in an offer, the seller immediately says no. Ghost. Go away. Three weeks. Then he's going to be sitting there like, why the [ __ ] would they put that offer in? They did they did but they they did put an offer in. They're interested, right? Should I Is this Should I respond? Should I DM back? Should I be seen? And you kind of meet back and forth back and forth back and forth back and forth, and then it's like then you kind of three weeks go by and you're like, Hey, just wanted to know if you guys have that offer. Here's new offer with slightly more money and more asks. And it's just like this back It's all a mind game. But you did that over the holidays, right? Like Thanksgiving through Yeah. a really slow time for real estate. So sellers basically to have a home listed at the end of the year like that usually means they have to sell or they really really want to sell. Yeah, which I don't know if it's good or bad. Works for you. Mhm. Works for me? No, it works. It works for you, yeah. I love how you just looked me dead in the eyes. I thought you were like, yeah, works for you. They really got to dump that property. everyone was like, it's it's going to drop. Housing's going to drop. Housing's it drop. Everyone's saying like 2023. I think it's a risk. Uh the luxury market in LA, so like above 1 and 1/2 is taking a huge hit. So, that's It's going to drop pretty low? No, I could see it I could realistically see like a 10 to 15% drop. I think the luxury market, like 25 million and up, I could totally see like a 20%, 25% drop in the really high-end market. Uh but I think over 1 and 1/2 I think probably a 10 to 15% drop is probably the worst of it. But the thing is But like you think it's fine to buy right now? Like it's not insane to buy? you're planning to keep it for the next 10 years, I don't think it makes a difference. If you were just going to say, "Well, I'm going to live there for a few years and then sell it." I said, "No, it's better to rent." No, no, no, no. And um But the But the issue is that it's the interest rates. Is that right now you're the monthly payment is still higher than it was at the peak. So, when real estate was at its highest, it was earlier I really a year ago. Yeah. But when you account for interest rates, the payment now is still higher even though housing prices have gone down. Yeah, and that's kind of like the the trade-off. So, but like you can buy now, houses are cheaper, the interest is crazy. And then keep waiting and I just I don't know. I just I just don't want to stop paying Yeah. for my lease and uh I don't think it makes a difference. If you like 10 years from now, chances are you'll make money. Yeah, I I I mean I you know, I'm a pretty simple guy. Like if I find a place that I like, I I like I'm not going to be like, "This is cool, but like I need to be closer to Nobu." Like I just I don't care. Like I just need a place where I can work out of. And that's what I loved about this place. It just had this dedicated spot. I was like, "This is a great office." I can have That's all. me and uh the three people I work with like meet up here. We're writing, we're editing, it's collaborative. Cuz all my friends where I work now, I'm in the west side of town in Los Angeles, they're all in the valley. And it's like it's I'm done with WeTransfer and and and and Dropbox. No. I need to I need to be over the shoulder like trim that, add this, do that like that. It's something about that in person that I do feel like is incredible. and forth is that's how it's like when me and John meet up to edit, like we'll just meet at our podcast studio and it it the ideas are just bouncing back it's so much faster versus me writing it out hoping he understands my notes. I'm like 301 make make her uh come in sooner but this and then this and then louder car Ferrari vroom vroom. He's like what what is this? But if I'm there I'm like okay let's have a car command it like it it just bounces off. It's like it's so much better just to be collaborative in the same space. Yeah. Cool. I think I think we're out of time, right? We're out of time? We're good. Okay. I actually got one more question. All right. Trying to catch a title right here, okay? Trevor, what is the most that you've made in one day? You know I made a few people smile. And that's all that matters to me. I'm not a money guy. What's up? Yep. Meet the man who makes people smile. The man who makes people smile. 12 mil. I I honestly have no idea. All right, there's your title. look at money every day I'll also lose my head. Like cuz I'll be like oh my views are down my views are up I got to you know. Mhm. As long as I can pay for my rent and uh Now your mortgage. Yeah. Which is scary. Scary. I like how you Now the bar is so much higher. I don't know. There's there's got to be something in the title in the episode talk about. We got it. Yeah. Cool. Still make it too click baity. Cool. Oh well now we'll go We'll run it by you. We can run it by you. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Let me know. Thank you so much for coming on Trevor. Nice re-meeting you. And uh Fourth time. Yeah. Fourth time's a charm. Thank you guys so much and until next time.