Tour Diary: deep feels in NYC & Toronto

This is my first American headline show ever. >> [music] >> Swipe from right edge to adjust exposure. I don't want to adjust the exposure, Max. I think I've got this working. You may think, Chris, why are you filming yourself? Why have you got a handheld camera? Is that not what Max is for? And you'd be right. Um I also mentioned this to Max. Is this not what you're for? And he said, "You should capture your own content. What if I'm not there?" So, here I am, videographer, podcaster, imparter of other people's ideas. I just I do it all now. Anyway, it's the first day of tour. I'm in Austin Airport. I'm about to fly to New York. I played the Town Hall tomorrow night, sold out in the middle of Manhattan. Then we fly to Toronto for another sold out show. Also, can we talk about the merch? The brand new Modern Wisdom Reaper tee. This is the person who's made me What are you doing? Standing here arms on the uh you know, while teaching about a vlog, you know? Well, why can't I have it here? >> It's a little close. It's a little intimate. What's my line? Yeah. Hey, we're going on tour. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to do it here. This is THIS IS A DUDE, I WANT ONE OF THESE SHIRTS. We've got shirts for everybody. Oh hell yeah. Max keeps telling me that I'm holding this thing too close to my face. He doesn't like the framing of of the vlog, so I'm going to hold it closer. I'm going to hold it like this. This is going to be the way that the entire vlog is filmed. >> [music] >> So, this is the tour bus. Bro, everyone's got to start somewhere, okay? >> [music] >> I did a full lap a full lap of Central Park. That was my prep for Burning on Sunday. Flew in, got a coffee, went to Sweetgreen, did a lot. >> if you think that I'm not going to get some performative coffees going on this trip, you're out of your mind. >> I can get some I'm about to get some performative cappuccinos going. I can get you a a coffee that comes in a [ __ ] bag, dude. No, I sack of iced coffee. No, I want the classic New York coffee. >> to speak directly to the vlog. I am a New York guy through [snorts] and through. Uh-huh. What's that consist of? It's It's getting a hot dog, you know what I mean? And getting that coffee, and getting running to work. I'm late to work. Okay. Always. Always. >> always I've got to get somewhere, you know what I mean? That's me. I am that guy. How did you sleep? Did you sleep well? Yeah, you know, it the noises I deal with them. The city noises, they're part of my blood. Okay. >> what I mean? The honk of the horns. I love it. This city's got a pulse. Yep. And it's you know, the pulse beats inside my chest. >> And it happens to be at 185 bpm at all times. Yeah, bro, but that's the life. You're not You're not a New York guy like I'm a New York guy. >> It's like 155 over 85. >> a show when I'm here. I'm putting on a performance. >> The I'll I'll I'll go and cut the the [ __ ] algorithm. We're staying at the algorithm. >> [music] [music] >> Coming in at 5'5 and 1/2 from Newcastle, Chris Williamson. Come on, runner boy. Come on, runner bean. Doing my third show again. I'm waking up this whole [ __ ] hotel. Ancient hotel? Yeah! So, you know, some people have different uh hobbies and obsessions and stuff. Some people are into Warhammer 40K, some people do like trading card games, Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, [ __ ] like that. >> [snorts] >> I feel like that kind of was a meme of being super uncool for a while, Dungeons and Dragons and stuff. Yeah. And now so few people have got actual hobbies that anyone who has a hobby, even if it's something that used to be nerdy 10 years ago, is like oh, he's got something he likes. Yeah, so Sweet. I feel like liking Power Rangers as an adult male still falls below the lower bound of what is acceptable as your like, that's what I'm that's what I love that's what I'm into. Cuz Power Rangers is pure consumption. There's no active like Warhammer, you have to either paint the [ __ ] figurines and put or play the game. Power Rangers is just being like >> Dungeons and Dragons is storytelling. >> Yes. But I would say that like yeah, a lot of hobbies are getting sucked up by time on the phone. It's very interesting. That's actually I have not thought about that. Like just simple active or brain active hobbies are getting sucked up by doing scrolling. We've gotten too efficient at like it's too competitive. You got to be funny, entertaining for a moment's time and it's cut through everything to be on the main feed of someone's Instagram. So, that way that I mean the main feed of someone's Instagram can keep me occupied for 3 hours easy. >> [clears throat] >> Handheld mic holding your [ __ ] bicep curled for 90 minutes at isometric. I I'm aware that the mic weighs a pound a pound and a half. But what's this? 5 lb. I definitely would not be able to do that. I'm like [ __ ] >> [sighs] >> You want to [ __ ] shake my hand out. It's the more that you're just like the reason why the the mic is so much better in my opinion than the [ __ ] Britney Spears Britney Spears thing Uh is that you can go like this with the mic. You can wave it. You can [ __ ] go like this. You can [ __ ] we sit like this. Like standing like this and talking and then like it's so much more relatable and like I don't know. It doesn't feel like "Hey, I'm Chris Williamson." You know, like I'm like a magician cuz I have my hands free and I [ __ ] got the like you know what I mean? I brought this up to Jimmy Carr. He's the only world-class comedian I know that still uses a handheld mic. Training in a gym with no music Dark. [ __ ] sound of my dark thoughts. >> I'm good. Whatever. Wow. Rips fat vape cloud and the kid turns to camera and goes, "Wow." You know that fine? Wow. Dude, let's get into vape pod. Like let's get into the [ __ ] vape What do you mean get into vape pod? >> Like no no not not Who are you talking to? No, not not not like vaping. I'm talking ripping clouds, bro. Like Like pushing those shits. Yeah, dude. Let's get into the >> Vape tricks. Vape tricks. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Like let's do something for [ __ ] sake. This is the problem. If you [ __ ] grow kids [clears throat] up on Dragon Ball Z, when they're adults, they stop pushing vape clouds. >> [laughter] >> [ __ ] Kamehameha or whatever the [ __ ] it is. Hey, I'll take a I'll take the All right. You don't want the fried fillet of sole? No, I'm getting I'm getting the broiled scrod. Yeah, give me give me half pound of broiled scrod. A dozen oysters. I don't want anything to have seen a flame. I don't want anything to be above ambient temperature. I want my entire meal to be chilled. >> Dude, don't be a coward. Yeah. The The scrod room temperature seafood at the diner. Don't be a [ __ ] 45th Street. >> gas station sushi if you know what's good for you. It's good for your gut, actually. Your gut microbiome. Which is like what? Hormetic stressor? Um do you do a like a burger patty? You know, like a burger patty. Can I have two burger patties, please? And I will have a black coffee. Excellent. See, you thought we were going to be a nightmare, but we're so easy. No no no. No. Oh, wow. We'll make it easy for you today, I promise. >> She did a night shift? Yeah, bro. Dude, there's just like Where? I'm tired. The dressing room's too warm backstage at my show. That is like >> dude. [ __ ] so hard poor. And you're not allowed to talk about it. Like you're She's literally not allowed to be like, "Hey, this sucks." Who is? So, Chris isn't going to say this, but once that lady told us she was on her double shift, so that means she came in at midnight, maybe earlier, and just now it's 11:00. Uh Chris just gave her a $200 tip. It was a $90 meal, $200 tip. He's not going to say [ __ ] like that, but I'm going to say it for him. Such a green flag. Like the moment we heard she's like, "I'm on my second shift." Like we were just like, "Oh shit." Like what we're doing is such a blessing. We're just walking around. Just two friends like, "Hey, look, we're in Times Square. We're going to go play music and talk in front of 1,300 people." Like it's just it's a dream come true. Yeah, high five. I want to bring back the high five. I I want I'm high five supremacy and I'm >> I'm in I'm in I'm in. Dap The dap is done. Dap is done. The dap is dead. I'm [ __ ] high. High fiving is coming back. Bro, I like the upper register. I'm going to jump not that high cuz the height difference. He's so short and I'm only going to jump a few inches off the ground. He'll have to jump two, three feet. It It would depend And um I REALLY LOVE YOU DON'T get that with A DAP. HEY, IRON MAN lost a step, didn't he? >> [laughter] >> Uh My dad My dad texted me earlier on and said, "Has Zach lost weight? He's looking very lean." Uh and it's interesting because that's actually the proportions that Zach used to be. >> Yeah, right there. Boo-boo man. That's the proportion. You have to be accurate. High five supremacy, dude. The dap is dead. #dap is dead. This Saturday the Toronto home game, Toronto Blue Jays baseball game is happening and me and Z were like, "Ah, dude, we're in Toronto on Saturday. We've got the day off. I'll just message the concierge company and just ask how much tickets are." $42,913.20 for a total of four tickets including VIP club access, private entrance, and restaurant. >> That is [ __ ] outrageous. Going to go back to the room, chill out, check over notes, and then we've got to go to sound check. Me and Z have got time to rehearse cuz we haven't rehearsed on the stage yet. And that's kind of it. Hanging around. Look at these doggos, man. I'm going to give it up and just look after dogs for a little bit. [ __ ] this talking on stage. No, it'll be good. I'm ready. I'm ready. What What was your name? Iggy. Iggy. Thank you, brother. You're very welcome. Appreciate you. Gentlemen, how are we? Very nice to meet you. What was your name? >> Scott. Scott. Yeah. Yeah, Iggy, Scott, and Tim. Tim. Nice to meet you, brother. Oh, you [ __ ] You [ __ ] You [ __ ] Only [ __ ] yeah. Very cool. >> [music] [music] >> But I was so sure what I needed was more. Tried to shield out the sun. This place is beautiful, dude. Uh I don't mean this in an insulting way to the town hall, but it does feel a bit British. You know, it feels like esteemed and like opulent. Also, the biggest show of the entire run is the first show. So, start off with the highest difficulty setting, can only get easier from there. That's the philosophy. Two, two. Even in the working progress shows twice. Um every show I've done previously, every tour, every headline show has always been a headset mic. This is the biggest show of the tour and it's the first show. Uh so, yeah, [ __ ] it. Let's Let's use the handheld mic. Let's do a high wire act. Yeah. It It can only go wrong, which is great. Exposure therapy. So, I'd love to know like, you know, how You've interviewed brilliant people and out of the interviews, like, what have what have been some takeaways that you have changed from what you've learned that you've implemented in your day-to-day life? >> Um I guess there's two categories of broadly two categories of things that the show does, I think. One is like tactical takeaways. This is the best toasted sandwich maker. This is the meditation app you should use. This is the training style that's what optimal, whatever. And then the other one uh thinking tools. Um this is a way to frame resilience or a way to deal with low points or the reason that you have impostor syndrome or whatever. Um so, in the former the Norwegian 4x4 which Rhonda Patrick talks about, 4 minutes on, 3 minutes off, four rounds of as hard as you can go on some sort of cardio equipment is horrible, but such a game changer. Um and I've really really loved doing that. I never thought I would become like cardio bunny. Guy. It's not [laughter] exactly what you look like. But um I've really enjoyed it cuz I think it feels like muscle training. It's 28 minutes. You're out. I'm like, "Ah, but I Okay, I can hold up for 28 minutes." So, that's good. Uh increasing creatine consumption, another Rhonda Patrick thing, although everyone's kind of on this now. Like 10 g or I do I'll do today probably 15 just cuz I didn't sleep so good. Thinking tools wise, stuff that sticks in my head like Hormozi's little monologue where he says, uh "This is what hard feels like." Like still it still now makes the hairs on my arms stand up. Like and I think it's because when stuff sucks and it feels like you're just getting kicked in the nuts over and over, you feel like it's unfair and like it's a bug, not a feature. And somebody reminding you, "Oh, this is just the entry price of trying to achieve the thing that you want to achieve." And the reason that other people don't is because of that hurdle that you are struggling with right now. Because if the hurdle wasn't there, everybody would just breeze through these challenges, right? Um I mean, I talk about this uh a good bit this evening. There's another bit from uh Mark Manson where he talks about what pain you want in your life. So, as opposed to what uh to you feels like play but everybody else looks like work. He's like, "What pains do you deal with more effectively than everybody else?" I'm like, that's oriented me so much more effectively cuz I'm like I can't really out enjoy everybody else, but I can out suffer everybody else, right? There are other people that will take way more enjoyment from doing a thing, but they'll get kicked out the bottom of the difficulty because the suck sucks more. I'm like, "Okay, so where can I deal with the suck?" Do not put this on the internet. >> [laughter] >> I wanted to ask, you know, before you met Hormozi, before you met, you know, all these people, when you first started Modern Wisdom Mhm. and you know, I saw part of this in the thousand episodes where, you know, you said that you made every single thumbnail, you kind of did everything. Uh you know, I'm sure when you first started out there were times where, you know, you felt like you weren't getting the traction you wanted or it was going to take a lot longer and you must known that. What kept you going during those during that period and what really um yeah, what drove you forward? This is I I'm actually kind of surprised how frequently I get asked this question. Um and I think the reason Hello. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Good, thank you. Um I'm kind of surprised, I think, because to me it didn't feel like even remotely close to hard work and I think um embedded in the little bit of the subtext of the question is "Well, now it's obvious why you do because 1,500 people come to a sold-out show in New York and you get to have Bernie Sanders on and try not to [ __ ] it up and you know, you do the thing. Isn't this exciting? Uh illustrious pedestalized attention, rah rah." In the beginning when you didn't have that, why were you doing it? And um for me, I didn't find it difficult because I loved the conversations. I was so desperate to learn about myself and the world around me. The reason that I didn't slow down at the start, the reason it didn't even feel like hard work is motivation's highest when you're doing something just for the passion. Very beginning, it's just like this pure artistic expression and I was so hungry. There was so much low-hanging fruit. I remember the first time that I thought about sleeping with my phone outside of my bedroom, it exploded like an atomic bomb in my mind. Like now, in order for me to get that same level of insight, I need to tap into someone who is significantly further I need to get a Pitznauer, I need to get, you know, whoever. Um so, there was lots of low-hanging fruit. That meant lots and lots of like curiosity points that was accumulating like Sonic the Hedgehog or whatever, like picking up these little rings, um which was cool. And then as you start to get better at something, mhm at least in my perspective, it becomes so rewarding. So, yeah, maybe the like innocent isn't this fun, I'm just doing it for the love of it fuel starts to drop off a little bit, but the next thing that comes through is, "Ooh, I'm getting better. I'm making progress. I'm approaching something like mastery." And then now to be honest, the fuel is kind of different. The fuel I've I've had a few uh moments where I'm like not why am I doing this as in I don't want to do this anymore, but just the purity of the question like, "Why am I doing this now?" Because before it would have been good to have got recognition or would have wanted to be friends with Joe Rogan or I would have wanted to like you know, elevate my quality of life or do whatever it was I wanted to do. I've done lots of that now. So, I've had to say I'm doing the same thing but for a different reason. And I think being able to change fuel source. I'm like, [clears throat] "Oh, I want to prove those people wrong or I want to feel validated by the world or recognition." Like you need to let some of those things go and then the other ones come through. What about the phone? What about it? Sign it. Yeah, you're kidding. No. No [ __ ] way, dude. Well, it's weird hearing you and seeing you because you're in my ear all the time. >> But not in front of your eyes. Yeah, I do exist. I know. I I see that. So, this I I've just got stuff in my hand. This is the um exclusive t-shirt for this tour. Mhm. Tour. We don't have any to show. >> [laughter] >> To order. So, this is just fresh off the hot off the press, off Chris's back. And we're going to go and put it up. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, one. Some more is on its way. But, pretty [ __ ] cool. I feel good. Run through everything earlier on, that was great. I just want to do it. I just want to do it. I want to have fun. I got to go backstage. They're about to open doors. Feeling good, dude. The sound was so good on soundcheck. This is a wonderful little gem right in the center of New York. Like, this is what it's all about, bro. Pre-performance, the way that I see going on stage is like left foot, right foot, left foot. That's what I think. And then I go, "Oh, [ __ ] I'm under the microphone." Oh, I might as well sing a song now. And then I start singing and then it flows into the next. If I think, "Oh my god. You got to go sing right now." That'll get to my head. Somehow I just magically appear in front of that mic and I start singing. That's how you deal with nerves, bro. How's it going? No, no. We're good. I was just listening to a bit of your Bernie Sanders interview on the way here. >> What did you think? I thought you did a really good job of like Did you feel like you did a thing that like I don't know one just got where you're like nice enough to you kind of like push back and um in a way that's nice. He's very slippery. Like, it's the first politician I've had Such a funny way to say it. Slippery. He's like a [ __ ] lizard. Slippery eel. Like, ask him a The first thing, I'm like, "Is the left's biggest enemy is the the far left, not the right. The right's biggest enemy is the far right, not the left. The idiots of your own side make you look far sillier than the other side ever could. What do you think of that?" Well, my issue is oligarchy. And I'm like, Yeah. How did you just [ __ ] Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu me into a like I'm Yeah, he is slippery. [ __ ] Wish me luck. Crush it. See you guys. I love you. Yep. All right. You can come down and watch the first song. >> [music and singing] [music] >> Last song. Push 15. Okay. He's dialed this set in. He's done this set tons of times. Practiced it on Practiced in front of crowds, working progress shows in Austin. First show of tour. And because of the pace of getting people through the front door, he's just been told over the PA like his stage wedge monitors. I'll just add 15 on, please. Please going to have to pad out while people get let in. They're doing bag checks and stuff at the front. So, he's going to be like, "What song am I going to play? What song am I going to play?" He had his set dialed perfectly, 30 minutes on the nose, done. Ow. Town Hall, what the hell is up? >> [music] >> My name is Zach Teller and this this is amazing. >> [music] >> Give it up for Zach going in and welcome to the stage, Chris Williamson. >> [music] >> Nope. Oh, false start. I'm going to be [ __ ] punked right now. Is this actually going I can see the front thickness over the far side. This is great. I could just sing to myself. This I sound fantastic on stage. >> [laughter] >> What can I tell you about? I can tell you about how bad I mean, you can hear a little bit, right? Right, okay. I can speak I you know, I'll chat a little bit of [ __ ] and then we'll come back on. Um Bernie Sanders episode that I did on Sunday. This is how bad my people-pleasing tendencies are. Bernie Sanders is 83 years old. He's been a politician for like as long as politicians have existed. And I pushed a little bit harder than I had. I felt like I was obliged to, you know, poke a politician. Especially the guy that's got over half a century of experience. So, I poked. I poked. I poked. If you listen to the episode, you'll know. We finished up. His PR lady shouted at me. She wasn't happy. She wasn't happy with with with how things had gone. My people-pleasing tendencies was so they kicked in so hard, immediately all I thought was I was just mean to a cute old man. Forget the fact that he's a career politician who's debated like everybody on stage. It's like the weirdest game of musical statues. >> [applause] >> We're back on. Two, two. Hey, hey, hey. One, two, three, four. Kyle, are you happy? I can't see if you're nodding. It's very dark at the back. You can hear me? Let's [ __ ] go. All right. Got DVD extra behind-the-scenes Bernie Sanders content. Ha ha ha. Fresh out of the oven. Ladies and gentlemen, I've been Chris Williamson. Thank you so much for coming to see me. >> [applause] [applause] >> Uh like I said, this has been 8 years basically in the making. And if you had told me at 13 years old living in the northeast of the UK doing this in my bedroom that I would be stood here sold out in the Town Hall in Manhattan on a Thursday night, I would have not believed you. For one more time, please welcome back to the stage. This is Zach Teller. >> [cheering] >> Time to reset the board. [laughter] Time to reset the board? >> Yeah, you got You know, it was a little bit tough during the show. >> Okay. So, you're going to This isn't going to be good enough for you? No, no, no. We're just waiting. I'm just waiting. We're just waiting? >> Yeah. Oh, really? Everyone's got their phones out. >> [laughter] >> I did the Q&A a cappella. So, acoustic is not No, I think I think it's going to work. You just need a little bit of I think it's going to work. >> [laughter] >> Right there. Yeah, dude. You could [ __ ] belt this [ __ ] out to everyone. Um FYI, we did this in London to 3,500 people, sold out the Apollo um in in November of last year. And I cried. Hello. All right, [ __ ] OFF. JESUS CHRIST. MY SHOW. >> [laughter] >> RIGHT, GOODBYE. BYE. What I'm Okay, finish the story. But this The story was that I was side stage watching my best friend I was the best man at his wedding and the godfather to his beautiful daughter. I love you, man. Can I tell the story about how you first started recording music? No, I did. I already Did you tell them? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Oh, well, anyway, he did it on a karaoke machine in front of me, my ex-girlfriend, and one of our other friends who was sad emo rapping. Like, the voices in my head, man, they make me cry. I don't know when I'm going to die. Is this a [ __ ] Like, do we need to do an intervention? Unbelievable. Uh and then he played a song and I was like, "Hey, you know that? Can you just [ __ ] record that, please?" Did it and it was [ __ ] amazing. Put your flashlights back up. Give it one more time for Zach Teller. >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Thank you so much. Man, this looks cool. >> [music] [music] [cheering] >> Working through technical difficulties. Come on, man. Come on, bro. You can't stop me. >> [clears throat] [music] >> Your very own custom bra. Oh, let's [ __ ] go. So hot. Thank you. Woah, dude. Cheers. >> [music] >> What do you mean [music] nice to meet you? And this is my mom. >> Hi, Mom. Nice to meet you. How are you? I'm a hugger. That queue looks longer than Bonnie Blue's. >> [laughter] >> Audience is so jacked. I [ __ ] love it. So, I'm 22. Yep. Dropped out of college after 2 years. >> Yep. I'm just working 9:00 to 5:00, kind of just stuck in a loop. >> You will learn more in 6 weeks or like 8 weeks of travel than anything else. What would you do if you knew that you couldn't fail? Okay. I'm going to write it down. >> It's a good question to like just sit with. >> I did lose 15 lbs last year listening to these, so No [ __ ] way. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Bro, you have a way of speaking to like 1,500 people like you're speaking to one, man. Aw, man. I'm so proud of you. Wait. 1 2 3 cheese. 3 >> [cheering] >> Aw, [ __ ] Dude, that show is sick. That show is done. Crushed it. I feel great. Aw, I feel tired, frankly, but I do feel great. Aw, the sound cut out like >> [laughter] >> three, four times. Uh, it was hilarious. And, um, Zack sounded amazing. I got to see so many of my friends here. It's [ __ ] unreal. I I get scared when, uh, I do stuff like this where I'm like, aw, I can watch myself catch the bug of doing this. I'm like watching it unfold that I want to do this more. So. It's cool, man. It's some [ __ ] real living. All right, I'm going to go and get pizza. Love you. Bye. See you tomorrow. >> [music] [music] >> We're going to have so much [ __ ] fun. >> But we do have a guitar that you don't know how to play. >> [laughter] >> In case you want to look at it. It's a nice prop. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah, actually, Chase, you can play like three chords, right? On a guitar. Why don't you go in the background and serenade us while one of the greatest producers of our generation listens [laughter] to this [ __ ] week. Done. I had one that year cuz it it was manual. >> It might be nice to have the swivel chairs just cuz it means like this doesn't feel superbly natural. You a diva about much in your life, John? You don't strike me as a diva. Um, you ask him. I was >> [laughter] >> He basically baby sits me. Nah, nah, he's honestly the man, bro. I worked with him for 8 years and I wouldn't do what I do if he wasn't either. But everybody's Everybody gets to be a diva about a few things. Yes. Do you know what I mean? Like you might be a diva about the specific socks that you wear or like I know I'm a diva about ironed shirts. I [ __ ] hate a wrinkled t-shirt. But I think niche divaism Yes. >> is actually pretty dope. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I I I won't I'll very rarely travel. Okay. Like you're in New York, this is great and I'm a fan and like it all lines up in a way that's like, okay, I can will myself to go from Long Island. Yeah, cuz even even this even this type of stuff is is very, uh, still very unnatural for me. Interesting. Yeah. For sure. Well, I'll go gentle on you today. Please, please, please. Uh, what is it? So, this is >> it? Of course, this is yours. And we've got, uh, let's get the orange in the chamber for, uh, John as well. So, this is >> There's no like THC or anything, right? No, no. It's just a smarter energy drink. So, evidence-based, efficacious only doses, healthy human trials, no rodent studies, and, um, Dude, you're crushing it, man. Thank you. But it's it's been such a cool Cuz I watched you for like a lot of years. I just feel like you're you're there was nothing, um, It wasn't really entertainment, it was like food. It was like I like watched you to get food. If I wanted to get like knowledge about something or whatever. So, I just to see how far you've taken it is amazing. Aw, dude, I appreciate the [ __ ] out of No, I really mean that. I really do. Thank you. [ __ ] town hall last night. Mhm. Um, How long was the chat? 15. Great. It was beautiful. Sold out. Um, Halfway through the set, Yep. but almost exactly halfway through, so 45 minutes in, [ __ ] rolling nice, just about to talk about, um, like one of my favorite ideas, and, uh, all the sound goes in the entire room except for my on stage wedges. I'm like, 1 2 Everyone's like making a little bit of noise. It's funny. I made a joke about, uh, Zoran Mamdani earlier on and I was like, oh, Zoran's come to reclaim his [ __ ] energy bills from me. >> [laughter] >> And, um, I was I just basically did like 5 minutes with just stage wedges pointing at me hoping that they would fill the room. While they were like, and I can see my dude at the back like [ __ ] it and it's his first time as our TM. I bet you the crowd like loves that [ __ ] though. When you get It was probably the best the biggest laughs of the night, the biggest applause breaks of the night. They go home and they say, you know, his mic went out and he was it was great. Should we run this thing? It's rolling. All right, bye. Bye. Love you. >> [music] >> The staples of creative genius were because of the constraints of what it was. >> [music] >> I don't know pop music's formulaic. I think the world is searching for a lot of the same thing. Aw, man. I look The reason that I keep laughing we we've All that from you said is pop music's formulaic. You're like the best sort of guest, dude. I flick you once and you're a [ __ ] infinite content and infinite [ __ ] perpetual motion machine that just ticks away ticks away ticks My man. Dude, thank you so much. I really appreciate you. >> We'll stay in touch. Yes, yes, yes. Guys, thank you so much. All right. We're out. Now, I need to take photos. I have I ran over by ages and apparently Alex has spent more money than I anticipated on a photography studio downstairs. I need to get head shots for the next tour. So, this is for poster. For poster. So, probably quite Let's hit it. Yeah, give me a little side on again. >> [music] >> So hungry and tired. We're doing like equal amounts of starving and fatigued. Uh, going to go get some food and then get to bed and then we fly to Toronto in the morning. I have I I have nothing else to say. I'll be more [music] entertaining tomorrow, I promise. All right, I'll see you then. I, uh, am on a mission to get pizza, but not It's not like a oh, I'm in New York, I got to get pizza while I'm here in New York. I'm a New York guy. This is my natural habitat. Just going to do New York things, bro. Get on the subway. And give it a little bit of a I'm walking here. You know what I mean? Like that's not even, again, people might think that that's cliché, but I've said it five times today. Bang on someone's hood as they're crashing and you go, I'M WALKING HERE. CHRIS IS GOING TO GO READ A book about meditation and, uh, keep his bod tight. Make sure he gets his 7, 8 hours or whatever. >> [music] [music] >> See what I'm saying? You get the beers, you get the pizza. >> [music] [music] >> Chris is having his third serving of AG1 and, uh, topping it off with another element so he can wake up fully hydrated, rested, ready to go. That's it for the night. [music] We love you guys. See you tomorrow. I don't like holding it here. Makes my It makes my arm hurt. We're in LaGuardia. We're leaving New York, flying to Toronto. Show tomorrow night. And the Blue Jays play in well two of the game series this evening. So, we've got a big booth thing at a bar. We're going to sit down and eat food for 4 hours and watch baseball. I'm fired up. Also, if you haven't flown through LaGuardia, it is so nice. I think this might be my favorite airport in America. I say that it's my favorite terminal in America and turn around and see this. Dude, I'm sorry, the British could never. The British [music] could never. [ __ ] yeah, dude. I love this country. All right, so what I'm doing here is establishing a fruit layer. It's a base layer in the stomach. But this is the patented three course breakfast. Yeah. Then I'm going to get a your standard protein savory layer. And then I'm going to come back and I'm going to get my sweet layer. It's a three course breakfast. Yeah. Uh, it was referred to when it was in development it was referred to as the Ratatouille. Yeah. Yeah, if you if you think that I'm not going to get my money's worth, you got another thing coming, okay? I'm the baby and I've got a crippling buffet addiction. I'm the baby and I've got a crippling vape [music] addiction. I'm in Canada. It's [ __ ] freezing. It's so much colder. It's 90-minute flight from New York, but totally different universe in terms of temperature. One thing I'm really grateful for is the fact that all the boys are with me. So much of the work that I do and we do is all on our own and virtual. You know, our offices are Slack channel. And, uh, we're on the plane flying together. People have forgotten their passports or missed stuff or you It's sick. It's so much fun. And, um, yeah, I I It's way more expensive to bring a big group with you, but infinitely more enjoyable. So, I'm really glad that I'm doing it. And memories, man. These are the golden years. Everybody that's at the start wants to make it to the point where they've got the huge tour bus and the private jet or the you the the the company that the bar that can do whatever they want. But when you look at the times that you enjoyed the most, it's when you were slumming it with your friends, grinding, trying to make it work. You didn't know. There's a The reason that that's the case, I learned this from Morgan Housel. He says, um, golden years only ever golden years only ever happen in retrospect. Like people don't have nostalgia for the present. They have nostalgia for the past. And the reason in is that in the past you're able to see what you feared didn't come to pass. And what you took for granted was something that you should have taken for gratitude. So, he tells this story about him and his wife, they're in their early 20s. They're living in downtown New York, I think. And he was saying to her, "Oh, do you not remember when we used to live together in that apartment? It was so amazing. We didn't have the kids. We could wake up whenever we wanted. We go for wine. You know, just stroll around Central Park on a Saturday afternoon." And she said, "What are you talking about? You were miserable. You were absolutely miserable. You were racked with uncertainty about whether or not you were going to get fired from your job. We didn't have enough money. We didn't know what the future was going to look like." And he had completely romanticized what the past felt like because in the present he knew that his fears in the past were unwarranted. So, he saw the past through rose-colored glasses where all of his fears didn't come to pass. So, he saw how he should have felt if he'd had the appropriate amount of safety and self-belief in himself, which is why golden eras, nobody ever believes that we're living through a golden era. Golden eras only occur in the past. And, um, yeah, I think touring bands or startup artists or founders of companies or, you know, whatever. Like James Smith, I'm sure that he will look back at some of his time on the PT floor getting up at 6:00 in the morning grinding it out and doing his hourly clients. We'll look back on that with a sense of nostalgia despite the fact at the time he's like, "Oh, I just wish I could work from home in my pants. Wish I didn't have to come into the gym at 5:30 in the morning. I wish I didn't have a boss. I wish I wasn't in a pure pure gym or whatever." Um, early stuff's beautiful. But I think, you know, I had this big conversation with John Bellion yesterday and he said, "Why is it that every single artist that he sits down with in his studio says, 'I got everything I ever wanted and I'm more miserable than ever.'" And it's that fact that when you're poor and miserable, you've got hope. But when you're rich and miserable, you're despondent. The thing that you thought was going to be the solution to your problems has happened and you're still dealing with the same problems. You can't fill the internal void with external success and the fame hasn't fixed your self-worth and you haven't spoken to your parents and you've worked so much that you've missed parts of your life and you're older now. Is this really the direction I want to go in? [ __ ] did I just get used for a decade by a record label? I just got I just got finessed out of my own life. And nobody wants to hear that. Nobody that hasn't achieved things yet wants to hear that the achievement of the things won't fix their problems. It's so like this unteachable lessons thing, dude, is like it blows my mind how often it comes up and how like robust of an idea it is. And, um, yeah, like another one another unteachable lesson might be uh, the early years are going to be the most beautiful uh, of a relationship. You know, people look back on the first year of like, "Oh, do you remember when we Remember when we were in the van and we had to make it work. Do you remember when we there was just me and you and we had to sleep under the desk and we all did dominoes, but we got the presentation in and we nailed the deal the next day?" Like that stuff is what people look back on with fondness. And it's a different kind of fondness. Um, so yeah, I I I don't know I don't know what I'm missing at the moment. Um, I honestly it doesn't feel like I'm missing anything. I got my favorite people in the world here with me. Getting to talk about stuff that I think people care about and making them laugh and making them cry and what more do I want? You know, I spent the whole [ __ ] year, dude, like feeling so sorry for myself, feeling so sad and down and low energy. And the opportunity to like pull a pin just a little bit and be like, I've still got the opportunity to live life cuz that was it felt like someone had put a a speed limiter on what I could do and it was 5 miles an hour. I'm someone that I I don't actually like going at 70 miles an hour all the time. I quite like slowing down. But there's a difference between choosing to slow down and being forced to always go slow. And I was in the latter camp and that made me sad. And maybe, uh, appropriate criticism would be, well, "If you didn't attach so much of your self-worth to your output, you'd be able to deal with slower periods better." And that might be true. But I also think it's kind of noble that you like to do things. I want to have agency in my life. I want to I want to make an impact. I want to make a dent in the universe. A little tiny micro dent in my corner of the universe. That seems pretty [ __ ] cool to me. Um, the feeling like that gets taken out of your hands through no fault of your own is like a it feels cosmically a bit unfair. So. I'm just trying to enjoy this. I've worked really really really [ __ ] hard this year to not work as hard as I usually do. And now I get to work hard in a different way, which is I get to just take the speed limiter off a little bit. Yeah. Where are you guys stopping from? Like people don't get it. I am a Toronto guy and I've been a Toronto guy. [ __ ] let's go birds, you know what I'm saying? >> How many times you've been here? It's my first time. So. But it's as if I was born here, really. It's very natural. Yeah, look at this. [laughter] A leaf? Leaf. Hang on, is this not the [ __ ] symbol of Canada? >> Yeah. Little maple. Canadia? What do you I've I've only ever seen that word written down. >> [music] [music] >> Playing playing a gig in a foreign country is still a big deal. It always will be a big deal for me. This room Appreciate all you. This room That is so insane. You're the first It's really intimidating. It's intimidating to so much [ __ ] concrete. It's like really not very artistic or gentle. Number one. Dude, it's dead. >> [music] [music] >> Huh? Looks super cool. >> [singing and music] [singing and music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> How you feeling, Mitch? I'm good. Dude, it sounds so great up there. Sounds so good. This is sick. Why do you told to delineate between Z set and mine? If we went to the So, I don't think those those bars are as good as the tens, like the circular ones. So, let's kill those. Switch back into those circular ones. Yeah. Can I switch it Can we preset orange for Z and a blue for me so that there's a a difference between the two sets usually? Uh, little too red. Pull back. Little too yellow. Pull it back between half and half. Yep. Uh, tiny stick ball on the orange side on like the red. Little nudge. Not too yellow. Yep. Yes. We just finished up soundchecking, which is cool. And we can just do a little Q&A. We can talk about whatever you guys are interested in. It's very nice to meet you all. Thank you for coming out. Do you want one? Can you snag a Let's bring Do you want me to grab blue raspberry half strawberry lemonade from the green room? Yeah. Oh, [ __ ] yeah, because they can't get it in Canada. Anybody that does want to ruin their sleep >> [laughter] >> We may need to get some more. What's up with me? You recently changed your mind on it and why? >> [sighs] >> [ __ ] I'm going to >> [laughter] >> It's a really good question. I'm going to sound like I'm making the same [ __ ] pivot that everybody else does. Uh but God. Uh second so boiler plate. You've been doing podcasts for 8 years. Now is the time for the [ __ ] God pivot. This is very very wet clay. So, I did a retreat. You may have heard about on the show. I did um with Joe Hudson from the Art of Accomplishment. I did 12 hours a day for 7 days in Sonora County of like deep deep emotional work. I just had one in particular but a couple of It was all sober. Um one experience in particular that I just like I straight up don't have an explanation for. And uh I've never really felt like that. It's even hard for me to talk. It feels like sacred to talk about. I guess by not being too explicit about what that was, maybe I can hold on to some of that divinity. Huh. Even like I'm feeling a little like talking about it now. It's very strange. I had My mom's a Reiki master. She's a Reiki for 25 years. She just does the healing. She sends me photos of the moon all the time saying that it's the same one I can see and blah blah blah. Like we're connected in that way. But feeling it, it's always been something I've known as a uh Speaking of angels, Zach Teller. >> [laughter] >> Yo, look look at the hat, dude. Oh, wow. It's a relic. Hell yeah, bro. >> [laughter] >> [ __ ] sick. Hey, your fitness content the whole reason why I started Olympic weightlifting. There we go. what that was, how that fits into my life. So, it's something that I'm much more open to thinking about now. I'm still trying to like piece together what what that was. Have you got any piece of advice for someone or for me I'm not going to graduate. Do you have any specific piece of advice? How old are you? 22. I'm not I'm not laughing at you. Anybody else that went to uni and like left and had that sense? Did everyone that >> [laughter] >> Like everyone's like yep, I felt it. You've been in full-time education for 17 years. Yeah. All you've done is I know when to get up. I know where I'm where I'm working toward. I Everything is laid out in front of you. It's like you've been on a train ride and now somebody's said, "Okay, now you get to free wheel drive this off-road vehicle. There's no roads at all. Where do you want like pick your direction, Western man?" You know what I mean? Um so, I would say personally for me uh things that I did that were good, I wasn't worried about work-life balance and I allowed my obsessions and my instincts to drive me. So, if I got obsessed with something, ping pong or video games or writing or or travel or whatever it is, I allowed myself to do that because the uh degrees of freedom you have are going to be constricted as as time goes on. Um I think travel is a really great If you ever feel lost, interestingly enough, like purposefully geographically losing yourself is a really good. So, I would front load travel. I would follow your instincts. I would not feel worried about the uncertainty. I think the uncertainty absolutely a part of it. Like it is 100% meant to be there. And the fact that you're here and asking yourselves these sorts of questions is it blows my mind. >> [music] [music] >> This is literally the reason that we [ __ ] started doing this. This is the reason we started doing this thing. This [ __ ] absolutely rules and these are the golden years that we're going to look back on. Love Have a good show, man. See you. >> [music] >> Thank you guys so much. And give it up for Chris Williamson. >> [cheering] [music] >> Hi, my name is Rachel. I'm trying not to fan girl so hard right now. Anyways, okay, you've been talking a lot about how your you love the chaos. I find personally for me I always feel like I could be doing more. Like I'm not doing enough and I find slowing down is so difficult. And in your recent episode with Dr. K, you talked about how the answers you're looking for might be in the silence you're avoiding. I [ __ ] love that quote. The answers you are looking for are in the silence you're avoiding. And I'm yeah. I It just really resonated with me and it's something I think about a lot and I'm wondering if you could speak to how to stop avoiding that silence, what you did and what it taught you about yourself. >> [sighs] >> You did so good. A busy calendar is a hedge against existential loneliness for a lot of people. If you're permanently busy, well, how can I be a piece of [ __ ] I can't be worthless. Look at all of these people who need me. Look at how important Look at how important I am. If you don't slow down, you don't have to ask yourself the big questions. You don't have to reflect. And that is certainly a really great way to not face stuff that you don't want to face. So, the compulsion for it is obvious but I think it's important to realize why you're doing it in order to unwind that on the other side. So, a couple of interesting questions to ask yourself is um what are the emotions that I'm afraid of sitting with? Right? Like is it um insignificance or inferiority? Um is it abandonment? Do I feel like I need to offer the world something in order for it to love me back? Um is it boredom? There is a wonderful podcast episode called Your Obsession With Productivity Is Killing Your Productivity. And it's by the Art of Accomplishment, Joe Hudson's thing. Joe's been on the show twice. He's coming back on in a couple of weeks' time in LA. He reminds you that especially as you get a bit further into your career, your job is not to work hard. Your job is to have great ideas. But because we have an industrial revolution era mindset, we think that you've got to be cranking widgets and it's how hard you go for how long you go. But work done is not time times intensity in all pursuits. If Zach, for instance, writes a [ __ ] ripping next song and that requires him to spend 3 days lying under trees with his daughter, who I am the godfather of, [ __ ] God help you for doing that. Um and his wife, that can be like the single greatest thing for him. Now, is that everybody in every situation? No, it's not. Like if you're a a checkout operator or you've got to, you know, grind it out and do whatever. Like if you're a bodybuilder, like that's not quite the same way. But even for a Chris Bumstead, it's like do you need a [ __ ] rest day? Actually, you need a rest day and a cheat day at the same time. Or what that it's not part of the grind grind grind type A [ __ ] solution for type A people. Type B solutions for type A people in that way. Um other things that you can practically do, honestly, I think just booking weekend holidays. Like just book a weekend holiday. Leave your phone somewhere and don't pack it. Don't be like, "Oh, well, the itinerary." We might Like cuz it's just more dopamine. It's more I'm going to go from this to that and I'll know exactly where I'm Like allow yourself to get lost and allow yourself to sit in that discomfort. Sitting with that silence is really really tough. But ultimately, the reason that you're working so hard presumably is to give yourself an opportunity to not work so hard. If you work so hard so that when you finally reach the escape velocity, you can just work harder with leverage. Like is that really what you did it for? It's an emotional problem and it's a tactical problem. Tactically, book some like some holidays. Go away. Don't plan out the itinerary. Learn to spend a couple of hours lying in a hammock or doing something like that. Build a beautiful area outside that engenders you to actually relax. Have a hard cut off for work, etc. etc. And then philosophically, what are the emotions that you're struggling to deal with? What is it that comes up? And just be like, "Oh, that's interesting. I wonder where that comes from." Like allow it to move through you. And uh again, like what a beautiful challenge. One more time, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage Zach Teller. Oh, [screaming] let's go, baby. >> [music] [music] >> How many special [music] people change? How many lives are living strange? Where were you our week getting high? Slowly walking [singing] down hall faster than a cannonball where we you while we getting high someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide [singing and music] in a champagne supernova [singing] in the sky someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide in a champagne [music] supernova [singing] a champagne supernova in the sky >> [music] [music] >> Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the stage [music] Chris Williams to the mic. >> [music] [music] >> Someday you will find me caught beneath [singing] the landslide in a champagne [singing] supernova a champagne supernova in the sky You are currently best dressed this evening. I try I try to dress how your voice makes me feel. >> I was going to challenge you to a push-up contest but we got some other people in the >> It's going to take 4 hours. >> What a [ __ ] group of super chads. Holy >> [laughter] >> I I really appreciate you being the voice in my head. Like it's been a really rough year. I know it has been for you but it has been for me too and I keep learning from you. I keep learning from the people that you're with so I just want to come out and say that. Thank you. I appreciate you. Sorry. I thought I saw I wouldn't regret. Um your vulnerability and your honesty >> [laughter] >> I I'm not not saying it's made you cry but um it did make me feel less alone and uh thank you. I was going through a video of ten and a lot of what you said was just really hit me up so I appreciate it. I want to say thank you for being the All right. Uh that's the latest show longest show longest Q&A longest meet and greet um Live Nation's going to kill us. Dude, thank you so much. I appreciate you for waiting. It's my pleasure that's what we do better. Thank you. It's very kind. Thank you for that. One of my favorite nights I've ever had. That's it. I'll see you tomorrow. So I'll see you there. has been cleared. You may return to your normal activities. The emergency has been cleared. May I have your attention, please? May I have your attention, please? Oh, okay. Toronto was crazy. The show was wild and I've got five days back in Austin before I fly to LA to do nine episodes in five days and then play LA sold out. So LA, I'll see you soon.