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00:00:02
Speaker 1: This is a HeadGum Podcast. What's up, shitheads? Welcome back to another episode of High and Mighty. It's me, your boy, the number one fuckboy. The number one fuckboy. The number one fuckboy. All you gotta do is trust me, Johnny G. Joining me, as always, in the High and Mighty studios, my nearly silent co-host, Arthur Gabrus. Arthur, not currently present. Also joining me in the High and Mighty studios, longtime friend, first-time guest, Johnny G. Phil Augusta Jackson! What's up, dawg?
00:00:42
Speaker 2: What's up, my dude? That was special. I love it.
00:00:47
Speaker 1: I toned it down a little bit because my upstairs neighbor is currently either recording or practicing music. So, you know, in the most LA shit ever, we're podcasting, your roommate is playing the guitar, my upstairs neighbor's jamming out. He is. That's right.
00:01:03
Speaker 2: That's the way it's supposed to be. It somehow feels different than New York. New York would just be like, just something different.
00:01:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, New York would be like, my upstairs neighbor is banging a trash can with a hammer. And it's like, why?
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: I don't think it's music.
00:01:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: It's art.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: It's his first new art show. Yeah. There's nuance. There's nuance. Yeah.
00:01:26
Speaker 1: LA has that vibe where if you see someone doing something crazy, you're like, oh, they're filming something. In New York, someone's doing something crazy, you're like, oh, that person's having a rough go.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're having a rough time and they're making art out of it.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're an art collective. They're a part of something. No one, including their family members, knows they're an artist, but they consider themselves.
00:01:46
Speaker 2: They're getting it done. Exactly. So you're the number one fuckboy.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is something I did as a bit like 150 episodes ago and I managed to tie myself to. I don't know when that gets– that was like when the word first came around. I was like, oh, that's such a funny word. And now I'm like beholden to it. But to be almost 40 and married and call myself a fuckboy is like a weird.
00:02:09
Speaker 2: I think that's why it's perfect. Like a fuckboy doesn't get married for like over a decade or however long you've been married. You are exhibiting the anti-number one fuckboy tendency, which is long-term commitment. So I think in that way, you're flipping it on its head, and I really appreciate that.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been fucking the same woman for 17 years, which I'm sure she'd be proud that that's how I'm referring to it. Yeah, that's what it is. I'm arguably too into commitment. No one would argue that except for maybe 22-year-old gabers.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: So, Phil. Yes. What's going on? Man, we haven't seen each other. Our usual catch-up is ASCAT at UCB. Yep. Live performance is not a thing. UCB, potentially, not a thing. Who fucking knows what anything is currently. But you've been staying sane out there. I know you work, so that takes some time. But are you staying sane out there?
00:03:08
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm doing the best I can. I feel like this year is like, and I don't think I'm alone in this, this year is just like a weird, It feels like we just got thrown into a time hole where time isn't the construct that I believed it to be before the pandemic. So maybe I'm not okay. But for example, the days before 2 p.m. tend to be perfect. normal days and then i don't know what happens between 2 and 8 p.m but it's all of a sudden just 8 p.m do you know what.
00:03:45
Speaker 1: I mean oh i kind of feel that i can feel that yeah.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: Bro and then on the other side of that i'll be like what the fuck it's monday it's only monday but literally the next time i have this thought it's going to be sunday night yeah do you know what i mean i feel like the weeks go slow fast and the days go slow fast in a way that i've never.
00:04:02
Speaker 1: I heard someone i heard someone rephrase it as the days are long and the months are short Yes. And I kind of dig that. I'm kind of like, fuck, dude, I can't believe it's three. Oh, I got this thing with Phil at six. Okay, well, it's one now. Oh, what time is it now? 1.15? Like, holy shit, time's not moving. And then I'll blink and it'll be, it's August. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like it was fucking, I feel like every time I talk about the pandemic, I'm like, I don't know, like a couple of months ago, my wife's like, bro, it's been like 150 days now.
00:04:28
Speaker 2: I really hope that was verbatim. Did she go, bro, it's been.
00:04:33
Speaker 1: She's like, bro, what the fuck, bro?
00:04:36
Speaker 2: I love that.
00:04:37
Speaker 1: I love that.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: I also had this thing happen and I wasn't high at the time where like I had like 10 minutes before I had to start work, but I had like five things I wanted to do. And then I was like, I'm going to get these things done. And in that moment, I was like, I'm in control of time. I made the time go slower somehow. I obviously didn't. Do you know what I mean? But in a weird way, I was like, I wasn't supposed to be able to get those five things done in 10 minutes. Time is crazy right now.
00:05:04
Speaker 1: That's funny you say that, because before when you said time is crazy, I almost interjected with, do you remember rushing? I think I had to rush. Before March, there were times in my life where I'm like, oh, I have to rush. I better quickly get dressed and get in the car. It's like, I better pay for valet because I'm running so late. I got to do blank or I'll meet you there or text that I'm running 10 minutes late. I remember a time in my life when I had to rush. Now, if there's a positive of this pandemic, it's having not feeling that. Although every
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once in a while, I'm like on the shitter and I got like 40 seconds to a podcast. It's not the same.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not the same.
00:05:42
Speaker 1: I'm one minute away.
00:05:43
Speaker 2: Stakes are much lower.
00:05:44
Speaker 1: Yeah. The stakes are much lower and you're still going to be on time. Right, right.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: I thought when you started that, you were like, do you remember rushing? I was like, Gabrus, we didn't go to the same college. I never pledged. I... Remember when me and you were freshmen at Mizzou?
00:06:01
Speaker 3: I was like, man, I've missed a whole block of time.
00:06:06
Speaker 1: That's when you got to look at your email and go. all right, what is Gaber's podcast? Yeah, what is his podcast?
00:06:11
Speaker 2: I guess I just agreed to memories that don't exist. That's the podcast.
00:06:16
Speaker 1: That's always my shit, too. You're like, yeah, I'll do your podcast. That sounds fun as hell. You sit down, and they're like, great, so do you have your top 20 favorite things that have ever made you cry? And I'm like, oh, no. So much homework. I should have read the email.
00:06:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I feel you.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: But no, yeah, I was not a fraternity guy either. I was... for sure, had all the trappings of it. I was a party animal dressed like an asshole and lived in a house with 10 straight dudes. But we weren't a fraternity.
00:06:42
Speaker 2: You weren't certified.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: We were proud to not be a fraternity. We were like that level of scumbaggery where we're like, we don't even want to organize our alcoholism. That's great. Yeah.
00:06:52
Speaker 2: Why organize it?
00:06:54
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why pay dues to do what we're doing here? We're just getting fucked. We're going to do the same shit except... Now no one cleans the house rather than pledges. Instead, we live in trash. Well, the shit I want to talk to you about, because you're a guy I know who has multiple things going on at any given moment, but I want to talk about side hustles because this feels like, and even more so now, I'm like, and side hustle means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I don't mean necessarily the side hustle where you make money. I mean the side hustle that keeps you feeling good about yourself or keeps your brain free or scratches an itch that creative itch or whatever you know fitness itch whatever it is because for a long time comedy is our side hustle i think you were a copywriter when i first met you or.
00:07:42
Speaker 2: Some shit uh i was working in advertising i was a brand strategist so i was the guy who told the copywriters and art directors what who the target market was what the client wanted or whatever what the client wants the demographic and all that insights and all that stuff cool.
00:07:56
Speaker 1: Yeah so at that time comedy's your side hustle eventually you start becoming a comedy writer TV writer performer was so thankful yeah it
was so awesome and then eventually you start doing comedy and then you're like well now what's my I mean you've always been a musician and a poet and shit but like now don't you get I find now that I'm doing comedy was so freeing when I was just a PA or whatever but comedy was what I always wanted to do Now that I'm doing comedy, anything else I do I know is not for my career. So there's like this energy where I'm like, oh, this is just fun that I'm into blank right now. Whether it's like I just fucking, you know, like when I trained for a half marathon or get into this side project or try to do this shit on the side, like learning Spanish, all these like weird things I want to do. It feels so good to not do anything. comedy for some reason. I love doing it, but when you're not, when you're choosing not to do it and not thinking about it, it's a whole nother fucking headspace.
00:08:52
Speaker 2: A hundred percent.
00:08:52
Speaker 1: I totally agree.
00:08:53
Speaker 2: I think it is one of those things where like, when the thing that you love becomes a thing that pays you, your relationship with it irrefutably changes. You know what I mean?
00:09:02
Speaker 1: Holy shit. Yeah. That's the realest way, simplest way to say that.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: That's, I mean, and it's like, you know, I remember, you know, back in the day doing, you know, indie shows that like dreamboat and shit like that. And you, you, You coached us a couple of times. You're like, you guys are you guys are pretty good. But that was just us doing it like just because we love to do it. We were paying to do it.
00:09:20
Speaker 4: Right.
00:09:21
Speaker 2: And, you know, and I think I actually think, you know, improv wise, it's still at least the way that we're talking about a side hustle. That still is a side hustle because we work. We never have and never will get paid.
00:09:33
Speaker 1: Right.
00:09:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:09:34
Speaker 1: I will say my relationship with improv has not fundamentally changed upon receiving my one Torco paycheck or whatever.
00:09:41
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? But I totally agree with what you're saying. It's like, I think, especially for creative folks, and I think everybody has elements of creativity to them. It's just nice to have the thing that you can do without the fear of, oh, I'm going to lose a job or I need to satisfy boss X, Y, and Z. I think that's the thing that people need. I'd almost say irrespective of what industry you're in, you need a thing. And some people's thing is like, I'm just going to go take my aggression out on the golf course. I don't know why that was my first example.
00:10:16
Speaker 1: Or on the heavy bag or like I'm going to run. I'm going to fish. I'm going to knit. I'm going to rebuild this car. I'm going to– learn outdoor survival. Give me three more.
00:10:29
Speaker 2: I need three more.
00:10:31
Speaker 1: This is crazy how you're able to do this.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:10:33
Speaker 1: This is me just missing initiation.
00:10:35
Speaker 2: It took me 15 seconds to say golf and you were just, you just rattled off like 10.
00:10:41
Speaker 1: Trust me. I'm, I'm so obsessed with hobbies and cause I find that my comedy and everything, when I have my brain off and I'm just like, Oh, I have to do a six mile run today or, yeah, Me and the guys are going to play Frisbee or I'm taking a surfing class, a scuba class. Like when I do that stuff– and it's true. Like it's the fact– it's got that meditation element where you're taking your brain off. You're not thinking about the story that you have to crack or some kind of– you're not thinking even in comedy bits or you're not even worried about how you come across comedically, which is like kind of– like I– when we met I was playing rugby in New York at the time while I was doing comedy and it was the most freeing I ever felt because like rugby people thought I was funny. Uh, comedy people thought it was crazy that I played rugby. I wasn't very good at either, but I just like was when I was playing rugby, I didn't have to think about comedy. And when I was doing comedy, I could be like, well, worst case scenario, I get to fucking play rugby and get drunk on Saturday. Yeah, exactly.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: And you know what ends up happening? At least for me, it's like, OK, I want to get into traveling a little bit more. You know what I mean? So, oh, after years, I get to go to Spain with my fellas. I'm in Spain just taking in the culture, the food, things of that nature.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: I get back.
00:11:56
Speaker 2: I got like hella ideas. Just because I took that trip, you know what I mean? Just because I did that intramural sport, like to your point, I think all that stuff. And my other thing is like that I've been on for like longer than I think I even realized personally because I would do this in New York. I would just walk everywhere in New York. And I think now it's like I'm still walking like, you know, 15, 20 miles a week in between other exercises. But just walking and unplugging helps me.
00:12:22
Speaker 1: Yes, dude.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: I would almost consider that... It's not a hustle, but it's hustle adjacent in that it is an escape for me that I think ends up fueling the creative elements that I do actually have stakes on and responsibilities and the stuff that does pay the bills.
00:12:35
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Bro, I just got into... I've never been a real... I would always go for walks if I was in a new place or when I'm on tour or something just to sightsee that way or when I'm back in New York.
00:12:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:46
Speaker 1: But I haven't been a real... I've always been just, oh, I'll exercise for exercise. But in this quarantine... I'm not getting the exercise that I want to get. And then also my wife's working from home. We're just home all day. And I'm like, fuck, I'll just go for an hour walk just to get like, like I'll take a, you know,
I'll take a little hit of weed, throw an audio book on and like take off. And like, The sunshine, the not looking at my phone, the getting a little sweaty, the seeing other people, seeing street signs, seeing what's changing, seeing weird cars, seeing weird dudes, seeing like 40 teens on fucking electric bikes and shit. It's kind of beautiful. It's like, it's cool. It's an experience. It's cool to see shit, not through a screen too, is like part of what it is. And it's like, you don't get to like, you can find yourself trapped inside. It's pretty easy to be inside all day and be like, even when I wasn't working, I watched this fucking amazing movie on this beautiful screen and stuff. But then you'll be like, Oh, I don't think I saw a person that I don't live with today, except on zoom or whatever.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: It is a weird feel. It is a weird feeling, but I totally feel you on the walks. I'm in the longest walk that I've taken here in Los Angeles is 16 miles. I went from Los Feliz and I walked to, um, What's that? It's like Beverly Hills Park or whatever.
00:13:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I walk there and then I walk back.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: Where it says Beverly Hills, like right on there on Santa Monica?
00:14:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I walk from Los Feliz to there. And then I walk back.
00:14:07
Speaker 1: I got friends that live by you that won't drive to see me. And you're walking past my place. That's fucking wild, dude.
00:14:15
Speaker 2: And then I had the biggest seafood dinner ever.
00:14:18
Speaker 1: And you earned it. Later that night.
00:14:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:14:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:14:20
Speaker 1: Dude, I actually remember, I think we talked, I was talking to you at ASCAP a while back and you were telling me, yeah, I go out for like an hour plus every morning, like every day you were going for long ass walks as long as I've known. Yeah.
00:14:30
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I, so I've, I've kind of like, I've got like a set of like things that I do as like an escape now. So like as a mental escape. So the walking is still a big part of that. When I was talking to you, I think at that ASCAP, that's when literally like Monday through Friday, uh, 7 30 a.m. I go out for a five mile walk every day and then do like a longer one on the weekends if I had time but now I do that and I got this I got this spin bike this indoor like soul cycle bike so between those two those are like the two things that I do to like keep my cardio up but I didn't know walking is like like old people walk and like old people that walk like it just like I think there's studies it just like helps it's like your body's like meant to walk yeah we're meant to be like walking around which is kind of Nice.
00:15:14
Speaker 1: Well, it's walking doesn't feel like real exercise for when, if you're a runner and a lifter, but then if you're a runner and a lifter and you have to walk five miles one day, you're like, this fucking kills my legs. Yeah. And yeah. Walking is like that shit that like, uh, talk about old people walking is that thing that's like just being ambulatory is a very good sign of health. Like being able to walk as a sign of health, getting up and off the ground is It's a very good sign of health. And, like, that's shit that, like, even when you're in your late 30s, early 40s, you're like, ugh, gotta, like, try to get up, gotta go, you know, your feet start, and, like, that walking shit is for real.
00:15:51
Speaker 2: I'm all about that low-impact shit. And also, Apple Watch don't lie. Like, you do five miles, it's like you burn anywhere from, like, I think minimum, like, 350 calories to, like, 500 calories. If you're, like, a calorie-counting type of person, that's, like, your last meal. Do you know what I mean?
00:16:08
Speaker 1: So it's, like.
00:16:10
Speaker 2: It's, it's like, it's, it's weird that like, cause to your point, it's like at first it's, you think about it, you're like, that's, you're not doing anything. That's not real exercise. But if you're out there for an hour plus, like that's even a half hour is like really good.
00:16:23
Speaker 1: But just also the, and this is where I get into like old man, first world, first world problems. But like, the fact that you're walking for an hour and, uh, or a half hour, whatever it is, is like, you're not on your phone. Or even if you do look at it, you're not fucking bent over it the whole time. Cause that'd be dangerous. You're, you're seeing new things. You're getting fresh air. You're getting sunshine on what, like all this shit that is like sec, like, you know, secondarily healthy or tertiary healthy for you. It's just all passive elements of like, just stimuli of seeing flora, fauna people. And, Yes, we do happen to live in Los Angeles where- Beautiful. It's beautiful all year round. All year round. You could just fucking- Even our cold is hot. Yeah, right.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: Yeah. Everybody's got a dog. So I look at everybody's dog and I'm like, oh, that's a cute dog.
00:17:11
Speaker 1: Hell yeah.
00:17:12
Speaker 2: There's another cute dog. That's a cute small dog. That's a cute big dog. That's a cute mid-sized dog. Yeah.
00:17:17
Speaker 1: That's an ugly dog, cute owner.
00:17:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. Ugly dog, cute owner.
00:17:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's another thing too, is in pandemic, without going out to drinks or work things or shows it's like just going for a walk you're like look other people other people you're like look at this stud look at this magnificent beautiful woman and they're just like people you're like I'm just so happy to see someone new.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: Yeah I mean I get that from my parents my parents do a lot of walking too and they like people watching so I think that's part of it they just get to like just be like oh they just finish the story of those people in their minds you know what I mean and just kind of keep it moving so.
00:17:53
Speaker 1: That's some
healthy ass shit relationship wise too yeah yeah So here, podcasting became my side hustle when I was doing comedy because I was like, I just want to be able to catch up with friends and talk for an hour with friends. And why not record it? Maybe make some money on the side. And now, in that way that you were discussing, now I'm getting paid for podcasting and not getting paid for comedy. I mean, granted, it's sort of a semi-similar... I'm learning that it is, but in the beginning, I didn't treat it as such. I treated it as like, this will be a fun project. And now I'm like, is this my career? I don't fucking know.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: Well, you've been the consummate host for as long as I've known you. I saw, I used to, I'm not even, I mean- I remember Blackout Drunk at Chelsea, Many an Ass Cat where you do the opener. You are very, very, very comfortable hosting. I feel like you have. Did you ever do a show that's just like gay hosts and then you just do crowd work for like an hour? Have you ever done that?
00:18:50
Speaker 1: I did a version of that, but it was too negative. I did one where I bullied the audience. But I should. I should. That's my dream is like just talking. And that's pretty much what. uh, what's where I'm looking for extrapolated out into podcasting. Cause I was like, I was going to say, you've always had the skill. The highlight for me of doing improv is like the five minutes of talking to the audience beforehand.
00:19:11
Speaker 2: We are so different in that way.
00:19:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:19:15
Speaker 2: Anytime where it's like, I'll feel you want to, it's your, you know, you're up. Like let's me and you host tonight in my head.
00:19:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, can I get a suggestion please?
00:19:23
Speaker 4: Honestly, honestly like hey what's up y'all how's this side feel how's this side feel all right you trying to you trying to see some improv and shit it's like as far as i ever want to take it i don't have that muscle i don't know what it is.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah well there's like it is in the same skill set but there's also an element of like you have to be you have to have that part of your personality that i have where i think like they definitely want to talk to me like you know what i mean like that's like what's broken about my brain where i see someone i'm like they could benefit from talking to me but they.
00:19:53
Speaker 2: Do but they do with you do you know what i mean so like i think and i'm not even look i know i've been doing improv long enough that i'm like i know i'm good at improv i know objectively you are very good at thank you so much and likewise but all that to say i say that just so that it doesn't seem like i'm self-deprecating where it's like i i if I.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: Tried to turn it on in that hosting way that you did, people would be like, what? It would ring false. The fuck is this guy doing?
00:20:21
Speaker 2: They'd be like, this dude needs to sit down, sit all the way down. So I think in that way, people do want to, people, I think people know, people know and see how comfortable you are and how quick you are with that hosting shit. And I think when it's good, it's really, really good. Do you know what I mean? So I think that's, So I think that's why– I don't think you're delusional in your interpretations of your ability to win over a crowd just by asking them questions and commenting on their lives and stuff like that.
00:20:49
Speaker 1: The part of that you said, when it's good, it's good. And when it's bad, the trick is that you have to just be strong enough ego-wise to handle it being bad. And that's all it takes for me is like, well, this is going absolutely poorly. But sometimes– When an improv scene goes bad, you're like, well, this is fun. Me and Phil are fucking dropping the ball here together. When hosting goes bad, you're like, all right, let's get started. And everyone's like, you asshole.
00:21:13
Speaker 2: But there's also that funny, there's also, it's interesting because if I feel like a crowd, an audience also knows when they are not like being a very, a super dope audience. Sometimes you'll have like a crowd where it's just like they're laughing, but kind of not really laughing. And sometimes you just can't. It's just the combination of people that are in the crowd. You just it's just an energy you get. But the thing that I think often helps is like you have that bad opening kind of talk with the crowd. You'd be like, well, that was bullshit. And you guys must be tired. And sometimes just telling them that they aren't. being very dope is the thing that makes them dope in like the ninth I was gonna say the twelfth inning in the ninth inning do you know what I mean and that gets it on board so there is a way I feel like that sometimes just commenting on that also helps.
00:21:57
Speaker 1: Yeah a little a little hosting just teaches them like what you want for them too like for the improv set where you're like this is all you gotta do is like just laugh and like interact like just relax you're gonna be okay yeah but yeah so podcast that's long story short, well, long story long, but, uh, podcasting became my side hustle for a while. I was like, Oh, this is a fun thing I do. And then I started being like, well now it doesn't, it's still very fun to me, but it does feel more like my job. And the pandemic made it even more so my job. So now I'm like, okay, what's my newest side? Like now I got to get a side. I'm on like my, I'm like eight side hustles away from doing comedy now at this point. Eventually when this, when this world opens back up, we'll be like, all right, well, I'm no longer training for the lifeguard test. I'm like, I just forget all the Spanish you learned. Yeah. Just all the way back to like, here I am auditioning to say, what's up motherfucker on superstore. Fingers crossed.
00:22:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:22:52
Speaker 1: Yeah. And so for, for you, I mean, and it's not like
you're like, I want to be successful in all of these elements. Right. It's not about getting success in the other. It's like, I do like, like you like music. You've been doing it for a long time. It's obviously, uh, writing for award winning shows is, is the, is buttering your bread currently, not necessarily your music game, but, but what brings you back to wanting to do it again and again? That's well, yeah.
00:23:22
Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting because if we go way, way back, like to, um, Like when I was at the University of Virginia, like in my head, I was going to go to law school and then I was going to like use that law degree to parlay into like being a manager slash like I wanted to be like a mogul of like an indie record label and like write music for artists and produce for artists. Then I woke up one day, I deferred a year and then went to New York to do advertising. And so right around the time we met and then I deferred because I woke up one day. Oh, no, I didn't defer. I decided not to go because I was like, oh, I don't want to be a lawyer. I think like my creativity is more interesting to me than doing something more formal and then adjacent to the creative actual creativity that takes place. So all that to say, like music was like the priority for a while. And then I think I just honestly to the conversation about side hustles while I was doing advertising. you know, a friend of mine was like, you should, you should, you always talk about like, you should, you should have had a cameo in these movies when we go see movies, you should take an acting class. So then the side hustle becomes an acting class. And then from the acting class, they're like, you should do improv if you want to book commercials. I was like, well, I guess on the side, I wouldn't mind auditioning for commercials, even though I work at a commercial agency. And so then UCB becomes a side hustle. And all the while, like I'm, I'm still making albums and EPs and stuff while I'm, while I'm, you know, traversing and figuring out the UCB landscape. So I never felt out of love with it, out of love with it, excuse me. But I think what brings me back to it is just that I, I tend to like live for a couple years and then I just want to, I just want to write about it. You know what I mean? And I just want to see what energy the music takes shape in. And so that's kind of, that's kind of why every couple of years I'm like, oh, let me just, Let me see where I'm at musically. I know this isn't the thing that I'm trying to super break through, but I think I put together pretty good melodies and I think I'm growing as an artist. So let me just keep it going and see how people react to it. So that's the long story long of why... of the side hustle with the music.
00:25:28
Speaker 1: So you're not like working on like one track at a time over five years. You're kind of like, uh, not, it's out of your head for a little bit. You're focusing on some other shit and then you're like, all right, I'm getting the itch. It's about time to start laying some shit down.
00:25:40
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's exactly the same as when Drake says he's in album mode. There's no difference. I'm just kidding. I'm not. Drake is amazing.
00:25:48
Speaker 1: I'm immediately texting 17-year-old actors. Oh, no. I used the wrong example. That is not what I'm doing. I'm in full R. Kelly album mode. No, no, no. Kevin Spacey. I can't find one.
00:26:01
Speaker 4: Oh, jeez.
00:26:02
Speaker 1: There's no one. No one is good. Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick's good. Yeah, Kendrick is still safe. But yeah, I.
00:26:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I, but when I'm, basically I'll like, some time will go by and then I'll be like, oh, you know what? I haven't done a project in a while. So around this time last year was when I started thinking about putting together this EP that's about to come out. And then I don't rush that. So over a year, I put together six songs. Some things make it. Some ideas fall through the cracks. And then when it feels like it's done, it's done. And I'm already thinking about what the next one's going to be. But that's just the energy that it feels like right now. But who knows how long that's going to take. And I'm not going to put any pressure on rushing it.
00:26:44
Speaker 1: Right. Does it coincide at all with free time for you? And you're like, oh shit, I'm in between things. Or like, looks like I'm not going to have a gig for a few weeks. Maybe I'll bust out the.
00:26:53
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:26:54
Speaker 1: I think the answer.
00:26:55
Speaker 2: To that is yes and no. Because I was living in Redondo. That's the Redondo tape. And I.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: Which is the name of the new EP that is either already out or coming out shortly, depending on the release. Depending on the release. Yeah. What's the date? Let's just say the date. September 4th. September 4th. Okay. So whenever this episode lies, probably before September 4th, get yourself the fucking Redondo tape. Yeah.
00:27:18
Speaker 2: And either way, no matter when whoever is listening to this right now is listening, there will be two singles out. So you can check it out on all your streaming platforms, Spotify and all that anyway.
00:27:27
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. Wait.
00:27:29
Speaker 2: So I was living in Redondo. I mean, I had a very full-time job in Insecure, but I wasn't living near any of my friends.
00:27:38
Speaker 1: And so I think- You were sort of like on location more or less.
00:27:42
Speaker 2: Kind of.
00:27:43
Speaker 1: People who are like thinking about LA is like, what? Los Feliz to Redondo? It is like an hour and change, but terrible in traffic time if you're trying to commute that. So you straight up just posted up there for the season. I just moved. Yeah.
00:27:57
Speaker 2: I mean, it would have been like an hour and a half each way. It's like at a certain point, it's just like, what are we doing?
00:28:02
Speaker 1: Like, you know what I mean? And if
you could buy that three hours back with a monthly rent on like a temporary place, then hell yeah.
00:28:10
Speaker 2: So much time. It's so much time. It was so worth it. And so I think it was a mix of like having a job that I really, really had to focus on. It was my first season on the show. I really wanted to do a good job and make sure that I was contributing to the show in the right way. But I think It was having the time, but also kind of needing a little bit of a creative outlet and a release to your point where it's like, oh, the writing is now a responsibility. It's so much fun and I love it, but I am answering to a creative, a beautiful creative machine in this show. But it's still a job with pressure. So I think the music is therapeutic. It just helps me focus on something else when I don't have to be focusing on a job that I'm really.
00:28:48
Speaker 1: Trying to do. You don't want to come home at 8 p.m. and open up Final Draft and look... Like that shit... It gets hard when that's what you do all day. I had a hard time Zooming with friends on Friday because I had Zoomed podcasts and Zoomed writer's room shit all week long. I'm like, I'm going to get fucking... I hate looking at the screen after a while. Yeah, you got to switch it up. for you working in a comedy writer's room, doing all that shit and then coming home, you're like, I'm not going to sit here and be like, well, I've all your friends. No one's around. No one's like, Hey, let's grab a bite in Redondo. Like everyone, you know, no.
00:29:18
Speaker 2: One says that. Yeah.
00:29:20
Speaker 1: So you're like, all right, I guess I'm just chilling at home. And it is like being on location for the, if anyone, like I've had to do that for gigs too, where it's like, all right, well, I don't know anyone here in Albany, so I guess I'll, Watch all of Six Feet Under. That's like my... I'll pick a project like this to do in the hotel. So that's when you start... fucking around with some music while you're there.
00:29:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's when I started getting back into it and then got busier and busier. But then the pandemic hit and I was about three songs in, two and a half songs in. And then, you know, had this pilot and that kind of like got put on pause. So I did for a small window before Insecure started back up. I did have time. So I think to your point, I did lean in more. I was like, I would love to finish this before my schedule is kind of not completely in my control again.
00:30:09
Speaker 1: Now, there's something low key great about that, because for a lot of people who are, you know, have like our gig to gig. That downtime then can become terrifying if all you're thinking about is like, when can I start again? But if you're like, ooh, if I could just get a couple of weeks down to work on the album, then it's like now you're looking forward to free time, which is such a weird... I know a lot of people might have a hard time understanding this, but I feel like for
creatives or freelancers, you don't want free time. You'd rather have just your time booked, being paid or working or... meetings or whatever just to feel like constant progress progress because progress is also this ephemeral thing that you can like misinterpret it of like do i'm making a lot of progress and a lot of shit and then feel like you're just you know spinning your fucking wheels.
00:30:57
Speaker 2: And still yeah exactly yeah so it's nice to be able to be like oh well even though i don't know when the next thing's starting or i'm waiting on this thing to come to come to fruition well if i could just work on this and i so i'm not dwelling on the the parts of your brain that could be a little bit cynical with, with, with what's coming next. And, and especially in the midst of a, you know, this fucking.
00:31:19
Speaker 1: The parts of your brain, 85% of my fucking brain.
00:31:23
Speaker 2: I mean, but who's not, who's not kind of looking at the world and things right now and being like, what the fuck? Yeah. So I think anything that could just help you not, take a little of the what the fuck down. I think anything like that would be helpful.
00:31:35
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It's like seek out, like if anything can make you 1% happier right now, like every little fucking tick counts. So like, yeah, if this is the thing, it kind of what we're kind of what I'm describing a little bit with the, uh, with the idea of the side hustle too, is we talk about this on action boys. I think you're a little younger than me, Phil, but you might understand this 36.
00:31:54
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
00:31:55
Speaker 1: So not, not, not too young that you wouldn't know what this is, but back in the day when you had channels, uh, You would often have, because shit had commercials, you would often have a show on, as we called it, on the switchback, where you'd be like, I'm watching TGIF, but anytime there's a commercial on TGIF, I hit recall to channel 36 and watch some of ESPN until I think that my show might be over.
00:32:21
Speaker 2: That was your switchback? That was your switchback?
00:32:24
Speaker 1: It would always depend. I would have to find a new switchback every time. So I'd be like, ooh, this movie's on. I could watch this in four-minute chunks while I'm waiting for Simpsons to come back on or whatever.
00:32:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:32:35
Speaker 1: You know what?
00:32:35
Speaker 2: My switchback, the one switchback that I– I definitely did this for sure.
00:32:40
Speaker 1: Right.
00:32:40
Speaker 2: But the one that I definitely remember is the fact that Mad TV and SNL used to– like Mad TV started at 11 p.m. And SNL started at 11.30, right?
00:32:52
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:32:52
Speaker 2: So I think I would watch the first half hour of Mad TV and then I would go to SNL, depending on the host, and then switch back to Mad TV for the last half hour and then do the rest of SNL.
00:33:05
Speaker 1: SNL's a great switchback because it's just chock full of commercials and you're watching it live.
00:33:10
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:33:11
Speaker 1: And also when I was a kid, I didn't care that much about the music guests as much as I cared about the comedy. So I would be like, when it was gonna be.
00:33:18
Speaker 2: For me i don't know i don't know why i don't am i a comedian.
00:33:25
Speaker 3: I don't know but i used to when it used to go commercial commercial musical guest commercial you'd be like that's nine straight minutes yeah i'm gonna see what's on hbo at.
00:33:38
Speaker 1: Midnight and it'd be like oh hell yeah you know jade or some shit.
00:33:42
Speaker 2: Oh, that was a deep, deep pull. And I caught it.
00:33:49
Speaker 1: That movie was on HBO. So intense. And as a young straight man in a pre-internet world... Jade is like the honeypot. Yeah, Jade is like, ooh, Jade's on? There's going to be three sex scenes. Hopefully, when I switch back, I'm like eight minutes away from seeing Linda Fiorentino bang out CSI up against... What's that dude's name? The redheaded dude up against a chain link fence.
00:34:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't remember anything about that movie. I just remember being young and hearing this like, yo, this movie Jade is like.
00:34:19
Speaker 1: It's sexy as fuck. Yeah, it's sexy, bro. I think she does sex work on the side because her husband cheats on her, but then someone gets murdered. Oh, shit. Yeah, it's the redheaded dude from fucking CSI, the sunglass emoji. I can't remember his name. And then Linda Fiorentina.
00:34:38
Speaker 2: Linda Fiorentina. It's got a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.
00:34:42
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, that's tight.
00:34:43
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. That means it's probably amazing.
00:34:46
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:34:47
Speaker 2: When the score is that low, it's almost like, all right, so this is what you're saying is it's just.
00:34:51
Speaker 1: Like, there's a lot going on. Yeah.
00:34:54
Speaker 2: There's a lot going on. It might be like good to get high too. And just kind of like watch it.
00:34:58
Speaker 1: It's written by Joe Esterhouse and directed by William Friedkin. These are guys are like legends, but they're on their way out with this movie. This is like the last of both of their quality stuff. So it's like, it's got an interesting vibe that way. Um, So like, yeah, the switch, going back to the switchback analogy, like having that, having that thing where you're like, oh, I don't have to watch commercials. So I don't get that gross feeling of like lame commercials. When is Simpsons coming back? I'm just here living this. And then when Simpsons comes back, you're like, what a surprise. Simpsons is back. And I feel like that with like having that thing on the side of like, all right, well, I'm playing rugby now. Like, oh, cool. Nothing's happening in my career. Nothing's happening in the comedy front. well, here's what I'll do. I'll try to get better at rugby. Oh, I'll make sure I'm getting in extra sprints. I'll
make sure I do. I'll work on this element. And then because shit takes time in every other field, it's like just to put that shit on the back burner and worry about something, you know, like whatever your version of busting out the fucking Redondo tape file on logic is like whatever that version is for you, where you can take a couple of hours from work and let your brain go in another direction. That's only going to, when you come back from that, you're only going to be in a better headspace.
00:36:10
Speaker 2: I feel a hundred percent, a hundred percent agree. I don't know what I do if I didn't have music just from a personal standpoint, just to make it for myself. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
00:36:17
Speaker 1: And, and I just like, if you didn't have the ability to express yourself that way, if you didn't have like, like this feels good to get in there and do. Yeah.
00:36:24
Speaker 2: I can't paint even though I love art. You know what I mean? So that's not, that's not the ticket. the poetry stuff is almost like when I feel like writing, but I only feel like writing something short. You know what I mean?
00:36:35
Speaker 1: So some comedy writers go down to Twitter. Some of them go to poetry.
00:36:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. I go to poetry for that.
00:36:43
Speaker 1: So I think it's, yeah.
00:36:44
Speaker 2: And it's also like, what are you, what are you feeling in the moment? You know what I mean? So sometimes it's like, I just need to walk right now. Sometimes it's like, let me just write some music. And the other times it's, it's just other stuff though. I, you've got a lot though. I need to like, I haven't gotten like, I don't have like a classic one. Like, um, I feel like I was talking to somebody and she was like, I'm like into ceramics now. I'm like, oh, you're like making like tactile things. Like that's pretty dope. When I think like when your side hustle is like making shit, that's also kind of tight too.
00:37:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, that's that shit that's real too because it's like, sometimes like a creative career can feel like no progress. Like, you know, you could be like, I did this shit for a year, like, and 2020s, like 2019 was one of my best years in my career, but I can't place as to why, like I was in a movie, I had a one line in a movie and, uh, I was in a TV show for one episode. Yes, that's not a great year, but on the scale, it's a fucking better year. But if you can go like, yeah, my comedy career went, but look, I made fucking 12 ashtrays. Seth Rogen's on Instagram posting, mad ashtrays he's making vases and ashtrays like crazy off ceramics and this is a guy who's got busy as fuck yeah.
00:38:00
Speaker 2: I just watched his pickle jar movie yeah.
00:38:02
Speaker 1: Same i i really dug it i thought that was fire dude don't miss man he he is got a high hit.
00:38:09
Speaker 2: Rate impeccable impeccable taste great writer so when he writes his own shit it's great like uh what's the last i don't know if he i don't think he wrote this one but um the one with charlize their own.
00:38:19
Speaker 1: Oh, Longshot? That was the best rom-com of the last 10 years. Yeah, bro.
00:38:23
Speaker 2: That's the best rom-com to me since Proposal. You know I'm a big rom-com guy.
00:38:26
Speaker 1: I'm a big rom-com guy, and I low-key love The Proposal because I'm a Ryan Reynolds apologist, and I'm a Sandy Bullock diehard. I love The Proposal. Sandy Bully in Proposal, Ryan Reynolds in Proposal. They're gems. Perfect. I fucking love The Proposal. The Proposal is so dope.
00:38:43
Speaker 2: People need to stop sleeping I don't know if people are sleeping I don't know why I'm getting so angry like people aren't respecting this.
00:38:47
Speaker 1: Movie people need to stop sleeping that's the problem with this nation I'll solve the fucking pandemic we gotta watch The Proposal together yeah I will say my favorite rom-com and it's more a rom-drom is In Time the the Jennifer not what's her name Rachel McAdams and Donald Gleeson like time travel love it's awesome That's my favorite one of my favorite ones. What year did that come out? Yeah, I might be wrong about the name of it. No, In Time is the Justin Timberlake, like, we have to pay with our timing left. Hold on.
00:39:25
Speaker 2: Also, Gabrus, gotta say, didn't hate that movie either.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: No, I didn't hate that one either. That movie was kind of tight. It's not a rom-com, but I also fucked with that movie. About Time is the Rachel McAdams movie. It's so good. It's a Richard Curtis movie. You might have. I highly recommend it. Okay.
00:39:42
Speaker 2: I don't think, no, I did not see this. I gotta get into it.
00:39:44
Speaker 1: This is my favorite. I think it's on Netflix for free.
00:39:46
Speaker 2: That's your favorite rom-com?
00:39:48
Speaker 1: Yes I think so yeah so wait what were we going off about oh Longshot Longshot is very very.
00:39:56
Speaker 2: Funny so funny And Seth Rogen, he doesn't miss. And so I think it was Sam Rich that wrote this movie, which feels very much of his style.
00:40:05
Speaker 1: I think he did... Yeah, yeah. Simon Rich. Simon Rich, I think. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:40:08
Speaker 2: Simon Rich.
00:40:08
Speaker 1: Sorry, sorry.
00:40:10
Speaker 2: He did that TBS show about God, and then it's like... And then the second season's with Medieval Times.
00:40:17
Speaker 1: Miracle Workers.
00:40:17
Speaker 2: Miracle Workers. Yeah, yeah. Which is very funny.
00:40:19
Speaker 1: So he like.
00:40:20
Speaker 2: It felt like of that tone, and Seth Rogen playing those two characters, I was like, these feel like two different characters. This is cool.
00:40:26
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe... Seth Rogen is very funny, very talented. I wouldn't say in my head he's a masterful actor before. I wouldn't say that's his number one skill set. But then putting on American Pickle, I was like, damn, my guy's two different characters in this movie. My boy's flexing.
00:40:42
Speaker 2:
The whole time, I was like, did they block shoot this movie? Because they both have a beard in the third act, but then Seth Rogen has a beard, which appears to be his natural beard, for the first act and second act. So does that mean they had all these locations?
00:40:58
Speaker 1: And then went back and shot it off?
00:41:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's what I wanted to know for most of the movie. But other than just thinking he did great. I assumed the beard was a prosthetic, but I couldn't find it. It looked so real. That's what I was thinking. I was pausing it. I was literally pausing it to try to see if it was a fake beard. Because he can grow a mean beard. So that's my thing. So I was like, I think he made it.
00:41:18
Speaker 1: It could be week to week. He could just blow it out. Who knows? He might be that hairy of a dude.
00:41:23
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, wait.
00:41:24
Speaker 1: So what are some other favorite rom-coms?
00:41:27
Speaker 4: All right.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: So let's talk about it.
00:41:28
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:41:28
Speaker 2: Let's get into this.
00:41:30
Speaker 1: Because saying you like The Proposal is not even like a cliche classic rom-com, which is very– and I love The Proposal. So it was wild. I mean– Yeah. Alaska is beautiful. I'll just say that. Oh, my gosh.
00:41:45
Speaker 2: The movie is good. I say it without any caveats or anything. The Proposal is a great rom-com. Hold on.
00:41:54
Speaker 1: Okay, wait.
00:41:55
Speaker 2: I might have my list here.
00:41:57
Speaker 1: Okay, here it is.
00:41:58
Speaker 2: All right, so here's my top 10. Is this okay to do?
00:42:01
Speaker 1: Let's do it.
00:42:02
Speaker 2: This is my top 10 list of rom-coms. Now, some of them might be rom-com adjacent. Some of them, I'm not sure exactly if they all age that well, but at least for when I saw them and I can still rewatch them, they struck a chord as far as being poignant for what they are. That's the caveat I'll give. So the number one is The Graduate.
00:42:21
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. Classic, too. Classic. Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker 2: Number two, and this is in no particular order, I don't think.
00:42:27
Speaker 1: The Proposal. Hell yeah.
00:42:29
Speaker 2: Number three is Hitch. Ooh.
00:42:31
Speaker 1: Ooh, Hitch is good. Yeah. Not in my top five, but I like Hitch.
00:42:35
Speaker 2: I got to watch it again. It's one of those that, like, I saw it. I feel like I saw it in the theaters, and it was always on, like, TNT and stuff. And then I'm not... I feel like I was talking to someone, and they were like, I don't know if it aged that well. But I'm like, Will Smith, Black Lead, rom-com.
00:42:48
Speaker 1: He's like... I don't know.
00:42:50
Speaker 2: There's something about it. I was like, I think I still rock with it. Do you know what I mean? For sure.
00:42:54
Speaker 1: I mean, Will Smith is almost infallible. That's the word I'm looking for. He's almost infallible to me. I don't think he could do anything. I didn't like Another Earth, but that's about it in the Will Smith. And I didn't even hate it. After Earth.
00:43:07
Speaker 2: Didn't hate it. Love seeing it with his son. Also, my issue with After Earth was that it's like Will Smith playing against what makes Will Smith Will Smith. So it's a guy who is successful because he doesn't emote and he isn't expressive and he's not charismatic. He's like very stern. I'm like, as much as I love this choice, it's like, Will, baby.
00:43:27
Speaker 1: Will, keep in mind, you might be one of the most charming human beings alive. Of all time? Why not lean into it a little?
00:43:34
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, just give me like a splash in the third act or something. So number three was Hitch. Number four, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
00:43:42
Speaker 1: Oh, great, great fucking movie.
00:43:44
Speaker 2: You know, and I think you could also, I'd say number four, I reserve for Judd Apatow and his camp. So I could put Superbad in there. I could put 40-Year-Old Virgin in there. I could put 50-50. I could put a bunch of other Judd Apatow. I'd say number four, I include Judd Apatow in what he's done for the game. Right. The milieu of what I consider to be.
00:44:01
Speaker 1: Because it would be crazy to have a lot of those movies in your top 10 because they do eat each other's lunch a little bit.
00:44:06
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:44:07
Speaker 1: But you're right. And I think that was low-key a lot of what people didn't realize why those Judd movies were successful is like, It's bro humor, it's nasty, it's about getting laid. An element of it is like, it was like a sort of aggressively hetero rom-com. It was like from a male point of view. So it was like, that is, 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up are great rom-coms. They just don't get that title because it's like gross and has dudes in it and stuff.
00:44:35
Speaker 2: Exactly, but then he still does a thing, I feel like, in every movie where, and Judd also doesn't really miss-miss, you know what I mean? He doesn't really miss.
00:44:42
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:44:43
Speaker 2: But he also does a thing where I think that's what broke him in a good way out to the masses. Yeah, taking this from the male point of view and then inserting the heart into it. But he'll insert the heart in a way that I feel like is pretty cool. He'll let a movie breathe an extra 20 minutes just to get dark.
00:45:08
Speaker 1: Right.
00:45:09
Speaker 2: And just to let them live in their emotions for a little bit, which I think is a nice way to cut the spice of what his bread and butter is. You know what I mean?
00:45:16
Speaker 1: For sure. So Spanglish... Spanglish top 10 rom-coms for sure top one sandwiches depicted in a movie.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: When he makes the sandwich at the end yeah and then the egg starts running out the sandwich and then he pours the beer doesn't even look at the beer I'm like my man Adam was on one in that movie yeah in Pasvega I mean just everybody in that movie was incredible great
daughter made in Manhattan the J-Lo one yeah Oh, shit. I don't know if I've ever seen this.
00:45:54
Speaker 1: I believe you.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: You got to check it out. It's a great, great, great, great rom-com. And this is like J-Lo, when you watch it, you're like, oh, J-Lo's a fucking star.
00:46:06
Speaker 1: She's just... And it's like pre-her being fully J-Lo.
00:46:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is like, oh, she's special, but she wasn't like... She's Jennifer Lopez. Yes. She's actress Jennifer Lopez. You know what I mean? She's like Anaconda's Jennifer Lopez. You know what I mean? This isn't like waiting for tonight, like world tour Jennifer Lopez. At least I don't think so.
00:46:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker 2: So I'll be quick about the rest of it. Before Sunrise... Please, take your time.
00:46:29
Speaker 1: Before Sunrise. I have to re-watch. I haven't watched those since I've been a grown-up, really. So I think I have to go back and watch the Before trilogy.
00:46:39
Speaker 2: Love Before Sunrise. Last Holiday with Queen Latifah.
00:46:44
Speaker 1: Oh, shit. See, I love The Holiday. Now, I'm not just going down the white and black differences here. But The Last Holiday, I don't think I've ever seen this one.
00:46:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:55
Speaker 1: Um, she basically, I love Queen Latifah.
00:46:57
Speaker 2: She's great. I mean, she, she basically is a, she works at like at a mall, I think like selling like, uh, selling like, uh, appliances and stuff, but she has dreams of being like a restaurateur. She, she faints or something like that. Doctor tells her that she's basically got three months to live. So she takes all her life savings and like goes to a fancy resort in Colorado just to like live out her dreams and, But then, anyway, so that's, I don't want to give out too much.
00:47:23
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, yeah, no, no. Because I'm going to watch this. Yeah.
00:47:26
Speaker 2: It's like, it's a legit, funny, heartfelt movie. Great performances. Can't recommend it enough.
00:47:34
Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome.
00:47:36
Speaker 2: And then Jerry Maguire. I put Jerry Maguire in there.
00:47:38
Speaker 1: Oh, hell fucking yeah to Jerry Maguire.
00:47:40
Speaker 2: I mean, just like, what moment do you want to pick? There's at least like 10 quotables in the movie itself. And I think, people forget that that movie's a rom-com. Like, that's a, and it's like, it is like a rom-com at its heart. Do you know what I mean? It's like the, the, the relationship with, with him and, um, uh, Renee Zellweger, Renee Zellweger is, is, is Trump. Uh, I want to say, uh, basically is more, is more pivotal, I think, to the arc of the movie than what he has with Cuba.
00:48:09
Speaker 1: Sports agent shit.
00:48:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker 2: And in fact, it's, it informs his relationship with, um, Cuba. Yeah. Anyway, and then the 10 is just like a bunch that I would just consider honorable mention.
So we got Rachel Getting Married, which isn't totally a rom-com, but I love the indie feel of that movie.
00:48:27
Speaker 1: That movie's beautiful.
00:48:28
Speaker 2: Big Anne Hathaway fan too.
00:48:29
Speaker 1: Whoa, whoa. We're finding a lot of shit in common here. I'm a diehard– I'm a Stan Hathaway over here.
00:48:37
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, then call me Stan Jr.
00:48:38
Speaker 1: Because– I feel like she's one of those people who's like weirdly I don't understand why people dislike her. I'm like she's like a talented smoke show. I guess I get because she's like a little bit theater campy. Annoying is probably what people– But that shit doesn't affect me. She seems like the best version of that, though.
00:48:55
Speaker 2: She's passionate. And she's legitimately good. Yeah, exactly.
00:49:00
Speaker 1: And fucking Devil Wears Prada is maybe one of the best... I mean, one of the best movies of all time is Insane Hyperbole. But I fucking love the Devil Wears Prada.
00:49:09
Speaker 2: It's a great movie. I'd say if we're going off... I would include a movie like that if I didn't consider it to be more of a coming of age film do you know what I mean right right yeah but her performance in that movie look you gotta you gotta know how to you gotta know how to box if you're gonna get in the ring with Meryl you know what I mean yeah you gotta know how to box she could hang she could.
00:49:29
Speaker 1: Hang she's doing scenes with fucking Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep and hanging.
00:49:34
Speaker 2: Going from the tooch to Meryl like she's ambidextrous.
00:49:40
Speaker 1: Like, she can just, she can shoot with both hands.
00:49:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:49:43
Speaker 1: I fucking love Anne Hathaway. I think she's a great Catwoman. I think she's a great Selina Kyle, too.
00:49:48
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:49:48
Speaker 1: She's very good. Yeah.
00:49:49
Speaker 2: Not about that. Yeah. And then, oh, sorry.
00:49:52
Speaker 1: No, no, keep going, please. I can talk. Great.
00:49:55
Speaker 2: I love this. I mean, literally, I love talking about rom-coms. Love and Basketball. Oh, hell yeah. So there's like the black rom-coms that you just got to include in there. Love and Basketball is one of them. The Wood is like a coming-of-age film, but I almost consider it a rom-com because it centers around them getting to a wedding, such a good movie.
00:50:12
Speaker 1: Um, love the one. Yeah. There's a long time.
00:50:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. Movies like poetic justice that are, aren't like squarely rom-coms, but like there's a whole set of like nineties black movies that are just so fucking dope. And that's just a couple of, and then when Harry met Sally, which I think it's just like, you know, it's great. You got, you know, classic, you got to include it. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:50:33
Speaker 1: Um, I haven't seen Poetic Justice in a long time. And the last time I watched it, I didn't consider it a rom-com before I watched it, but my wife, Tiffany, who you know, had a crush on Tupac her whole life.
00:50:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:50:47
Speaker 1: Well, his whole life and her whole life. So watching that with her, I was like, I didn't even think of this as a rom-com, but when she's watching, I didn't think of it as romantic. And I was like, okay, I see it now. It's definitely a love story.
00:50:58
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
00:50:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely a love story. Yeah, the comp... I was fucking around for a while trying to play this game with Tiffany where we were going, rom-com's a thing. Now imagine rom-drom is a thing. So it's a romantic drama. So it's not fully dark and upsetting, but it is... there's you know romance is the goal at the end then i say there's calm roms and that's where i put the judd apatow movies where there are comedies where romance is sort of like a kicker and so i was like i was this is how much i was getting in the weeds with rom yeah no i've.
00:51:29
Speaker 2: Got an opinion on all this so let me just tell me yeah i want to hear it all because i've got thoughts already I've already got thoughts on what you're saying right now.
00:51:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'll watch a movie, like for example, I just watched Atonement, and that movie is not a comedy at all. But that movie is... Wait, is that the... It's a horror, right? Wait, no.
00:51:48
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of a different... I was thinking The Apostle or something like that.
00:51:51
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I was like, Gabriel, that's a horror movie. Atonement is James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, I think, and they're... And it's a love story and it's really fucked up and heavy duty and like terrifying. But there's like, that's where I came with the term rom-drom because that movie is still uplifting to me, even though it's absolutely depressing and brutal. Just the idea of like these movies that are so about love are uplifting to me.
00:52:17
Speaker 2: So here's, here's my, I agree with everything you're saying. I actually love the delineations between rom-com, rom-drom, uh, com-rom. And was there a fourth?
00:52:28
Speaker 1: We could argue that drum-rom would be the fourth.
00:52:30
Speaker 2: Drum-rom, and then drum-rom.
00:52:31
Speaker 1: I think that's great.
00:52:32
Speaker 2: It's interesting because my deep analysis of it is a broadening statement. I think that what ends up happening is if the movie nowadays, this has happened slowly over time, and I don't know why, but if the movie is actually good, they will not call it a rom-com. And if the movie has extra cheese and it's just not a good film, because it's hard to make good stuff. If it's bad, then they'll say, oh, this is just a rom-com. Rom-com has become a dirty word, I think.
00:53:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, like 27 Dresses is good for a rom-com. For a rom-com. Yeah, and that's added as a derogatory label.
00:53:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like... Also, I don't know if I've seen 27 Dresses. I hear it's actually pretty good.
00:53:18
Speaker 1: It's fine, yeah.
00:53:19
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? But I think it's like... Yeah, it's become this weird thing where it's like a sign of quality. Whereas I'm like, Silver Linings Playbook, for as Oscar buzzy as that movie is, let's be real, that's a rom-com. That's Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence doing rom-com tings. You know what I mean?
00:53:38
Speaker 1: They're falling in love and you laugh at times. That's like, what else is a rom-com at that point? What else is a rom-com?
00:53:44
Speaker 2: Especially if we're going off of your subcategories. That means that so much dope shit actually fits into the world of rom-coms that I think people aren't willing to acknowledge. And it's so interesting because everybody has a perspective on relationships. Either you're in one, you're not in one and want to be in one, you're not in one and don't want to be in one.
00:54:05
Speaker 1: So it's like you can position yourself. You're in one and like it. You're in one and want out.
00:54:09
Speaker 2: No matter who you are, you have a point of view on what it is to be in a relationship. So to me, rom-com should be the biggest genre of them all. And I don't understand why it's.
00:54:18
Speaker 1: Become a bad word. It's funny that however, whatever percentage of movies you can slide under comedy, but I think an even higher percentage of movies can be slid under romantic. For sure. In whatever way. And then there's so many movies that feature romance and comedy that you would never call a rom-com. You would never call Indiana Jones a rom-com. It's not, but it's got romance and it's got comedy. So some of the... best movies have these elements in it. And then these movies that really focus on the romantic comedy elements gets like derided for some reason. It's so interesting. It's so interesting.
00:54:58
Speaker 2: And it's like, you know, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a big fan of like, um, you know, like, uh, you know, Noah, Noah Baumbach.
00:55:05
Speaker 1: Love him. Love all that stuff. Yeah.
00:55:07
Speaker 2: But like squid in the whale, Francis Ha, like, uh, uh, while we're young, while we're young, especially I'm like, yes, this is like coming of age, but it's like a, this is, this is a rom-com. This is a really well-written rom-com. You know what I mean?
00:55:21
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah. I could see that you can make a case for all it's, it's very easy to make a case for almost anything. And I think like rom-coms got like that porno vibe, right? Like, I don't know exactly how to articulate it, but I'll know it when I see it.
00:55:34
Speaker 2: Right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
00:55:36
Speaker 1: It's so weird.
00:55:37
Speaker 2: I'm hoping, I'm hoping that it's just like, I'm hoping that there's like a comeback for it. Cause like, like some of the things on my list, like Made in Manhattan, like we don't even get, we don't even get really rom-coms like that anymore. But they are like, they hold up and they're a nice time capsule and a way to look back. Oh, that's how things were. Like jokes about like cell phones as opposed to like a rotary, you know what I mean? Just like spotting the differences in like culture on top of it just being well-written and well-acted.
00:56:02
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that there's like a resurgence. And also, there's something to a rom-com and I don't even mean, I don't mean this in an offensive way to rom-coms, But there's something in a rom-com where it is very blanket and tea-like. It's like you're sliding into– you know that it's going to have a happy ending. Yeah. And you know that it's going to be about love and you're going to giggle and you're going to feel warm at the end. Yeah. And there's that vibe going into it. And I feel like using Made in Manhattan as an example, who is our J-Lo now? Would they do a rom-com? I don't know. Are there going to be big budget comedies and big budget rom-coms at all anymore? I'm not sure. Like the Lovebirds is probably the most recent sort of big rom-com that came out. Did you watch it? Yeah, and I enjoyed it. It was great.
00:56:51
Speaker 2: I thought it was so funny. I thought they were both so great.
00:56:54
Speaker 1: They're both very good in it, and it didn't blow the doors off the world when it came out, but I don't know if that's the rule of rom-coms. I don't think that's the rule of any movie. No, anymore. The movies that are going to blow the doors off, we already know about, because they're systematically designed to blow the doors off of... you know it's like Lovebirds doesn't like Mulan is like what everyone's talking about Lovebirds comes out and you're like this is a romcom this is what we're talking about this is a fucking fun and like I think Longshot is like a great example too it's like those are mega stars in like Charlize and Seth Rogen doing a romcom and like I don't think people want to do.
00:57:36
Speaker 2: Those anymore you know what you know what and now that you say that though I do think what is happening is there's not a lot of One, I think the big budget movies are reserved for like, what's your existing property?
00:57:50
Speaker 1: What do they call that? IP. You know what I mean?
00:57:53
Speaker 2: What's your IP? So they're not going to bet on someone's original rom-com. But what is happening, I think, is that artists and actors are taking smaller indie movies that aren't being called rom-coms that are actually rom-coms.
00:58:12
Speaker 1: Yes, that's a good way to talk. Yeah, yeah.
00:58:14
Speaker 2: I just watched Chelsea Peretti in The Spinster.
00:58:19
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I haven't watched that yet.
00:58:20
Speaker 2: So funny. She's so great in it.
00:58:21
Speaker 1: She's the best.
00:58:22
Speaker 2: She's so funny. Every one of the movies is great. Small budget movie, takes place in Canada, coming of age rom-com. Movies like that, do you know what I mean?
00:58:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
00:58:32
Speaker 2: It's got a super indie feel to it. Or
Britney Runs a Marathon with Jillian Bell.
00:58:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was great. Which was so good.
00:58:40
Speaker 2: Like, so I think that's, maybe that's the sweet spot now where it's like the, it's the era of like the indie rom-com that's not called a rom-com where these actors that are, are basically on their way to a trajectory where they're probably won't be doing big budget rom-coms or just be doing bigger roles. Do like these indie stops.
00:58:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:58:56
Speaker 2: That are, that are rom-com like, you know what I mean?
00:58:59
Speaker 1: That makes sense.
00:58:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:59:00
Speaker 1: I could see. Oh yeah. Britney runs marathon was a good one. And that was weirdly like a motivational movie. Yeah. I mean, obviously it's got the storyline to motivate you, but it like worked on me.
00:59:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:59:11
Speaker 1: That movie worked on me for sure.
00:59:12
Speaker 2: I thought it was really, really funny and just really well done.
00:59:16
Speaker 1: I want to fucking be in a rom-com, dude.
00:59:17
Speaker 2: You should be in a rom-com, dude. What was the movie you booked last year and the show you booked last year?
00:59:23
Speaker 1: I did, funny enough, I was in the, I was a guest star in the season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and I had one line with our the aforementioned Charlize in the movie Bombshell. Bombshell. Those were big things for me. I haven't seen Bombshell yet. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Bombshell's good.
00:59:41
Speaker 2: I am so embarrassed that I didn't know that you were in Brooklyn. I mean, I worked on that show for four years.
00:59:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I was on it. Turns out you were the one preventing me from getting a fucking guest star. Yeah, man.
00:59:54
Speaker 2: Once I got up out of there, we took the Gaber's block off.
00:59:57
Speaker 1: They're like, maybe now that Phil's gone, we can bring Gabrus in. He's been so anti-Gabrus.
01:00:02
Speaker 2: I swear to God, I'm not coming back to this damn show if you keep talking about bringing this guy, Gabrus, to my fucking.
01:00:10
Speaker 1: The megalomania that I'm coming up in the writer's room at all is so funny.
01:00:16
Speaker 2: I mean, you'd be surprised, though, how much we talk about people, how much we would talk about people that are just purely funny people. And you were definitely one of those. I mean, in all honesty, you were definitely one of those people. So I'm not surprised that you ended up on the show. I would have thought it would have happened maybe sooner while I was there, considering how much history we have.
01:00:34
Speaker 1: But... But that's my sweet spot, though, and I'm cool with that. When a show has been out for five... When a show has 80 episodes is when they're like, we've already had Matt Walsh, Patton Oswalt, and these guys on. It's like, now it's time to start digging around. All right, staff writers, who are you guys friends with? You're like, this dude right here.
01:00:56
Speaker 2: Can I ask you something?
01:00:58
Speaker 1: Yeah.
01:00:58
Speaker 2: Have you ever booked a... I don't want this... You know how I feel about you. I think you're one of those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So have you ever booked like a multicam?
01:01:10
Speaker 4: No.
01:01:10
Speaker 1: I guest starred on a multicam and I tested for a multicam, but no.
01:01:15
Speaker 2: I just feel like, look, I mean, you could do anything. I mean, I feel like I've seen you in a ton of shit. I saw you on Younger, right?
01:01:21
Speaker 1: You're on Younger.
01:01:23
Speaker 2: I know what you got going on. For some reason, I just feel like that live stage aspect of the multicam, you would just like, it would almost be too easy for you.
01:01:32
Speaker 1: I would feel very comfortable there. Because I would feel like if I bombed the line, I feel like I could get the crowd to still laugh at me. You could just do it. You know what I mean? And I would feel so alive. I'm more comfortable in front of a crowd than I am in front of a camera.
01:01:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:01:45
Speaker 1: And I feel fucking old school. You do a scene in one of these single cams, and the person's like, that was great. And you're like, okay, thank you. I guess I trust you. You're like, I hope people... I'm not going to be able to watch people watch this ever. So I hope people tweet that was funny or something, but like with a multicam, at least the one time I've done it, uh, I was like a guest star and a pilot and it's like getting laughs live was very exciting. Although the one time I did shoot a multicam pilot, uh, uh i had one scene in it and i did have to like be making out with.
01:02:18
Speaker 2: A girl oh really how many times did you have to do it.
01:02:21
Speaker 1: Like eight and it was like but it was like a lot of just like you know because because it wasn't yeah it was it was a lot of like how i thought kissing really was like eighth grade shit where you just put your lips together and move your heads back gotcha gotcha But it was like, oh, this is pretty exciting. Oh, no, never mind. It's instantly nerve-wracking instead.
01:02:40
Speaker 2: Well, just, I mean, not that you haven't heard this before, but I'll say here, at least I'll say it myself first. If you end up in a rom-com taking over America with just reinvigorating, or not rom-com, in a multicam, just reinvigorating that platform, just know that I will be the least surprised person of everybody. Multigames used to be, where was that? Martin, like, the list goes on. Like, just like, I don't know. Like, that's another one of those where it's like, when did they become, like, not cool? Anyway, I don't know.
01:03:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, because, no, I think you're right. There's, like, a vibe to them that they're not cool because I think... creators enjoy the freedom of a single cam more of like more locations and stuff yeah but there's something like uh mutual friend adam pally was just he just did a
multi-cam uh hopefully more but like talking to him about it i was like he's like yeah there it's the energy it's the like the fact that it's like everyone's there that day you know what i mean it's not like all right phil you come in at 5 30 a.m and you're we're shooting your one scene and then everyone's Like there's just the energy of like, we're all working. We're all on set. It's Friday. It's shoot day. Like that kind of shit gets like, there's an energy to that, that it feels old school and it's cheap. And. cheaper and it's pandemic, I think we might see more multi-cams.
01:04:03
Speaker 2: An uptick, yeah.
01:04:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's like a studio is a safe space and if you don't bring an audience in there, it's even safer and you could like fucking lock it out and be like, we're shooting a fucking post-pandemic sitcom.
01:04:14
Speaker 2: I'd be curious to see if, I bet you're right. I do, I mean, look, who knows how the precautions for filming are going to come to fruition and all that stuff, but I agree with you. I think it makes perfect sense. Small cast, don't even have to have an audience to have a laugh track.
01:04:29
Speaker 1: Right.
01:04:30
Speaker 2: But hopefully there's a resurgence, but they're like dope. You know what I mean?
01:04:35
Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be great? Yeah. Let's be super specific. I hope there's a resurgence and it'll be dope. And they're giving a lot of people their first crack at being a lead in a sitcom.
01:04:43
Speaker 2: Boom.
01:04:44
Speaker 1: There we go.
01:04:45
Speaker 2: Boom.
01:04:46
Speaker 1: While we're making requests, let's actually go for it. I'd watch that shit.
01:04:50
Speaker 2: I'd watch Gabrus.
01:04:53
Speaker 1: We got the title, dude. Yeah. It's got a fucking, people are going to be like, I don't know what that word means. It's like, I think this guy might be international in some way.
01:05:01
Speaker 2: I'd be lying if I said this is my first time having this conversation. This is the first time I've had the conversation with you about you having a multicam. I've fully had this conversation before. I appreciate that. I do have an idea for a multicam. So when you're fucking, you know, at Phil Jackson Studios or when you're, you know, just checking boxes of what you can green light. Yeah.
01:05:22
Speaker 1: You know, reach out to your boy. After you fucked me on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
01:05:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:05:27
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:05:27
Speaker 2: Well, I think I'm almost, I've almost forgiven you for, you know what you, you know what you did. Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker 1: You want to activate someone's anxiety is just be like, you know, I finally forgiven you and not tell them at all what that was about. Oh, that would kill me. Yeah, I know. I would blow my head out. What the fuck did I do to them?
01:05:45
Speaker 2: I freak out when, like, if you were like, if you texted me and were like, yo, Phil, you got time to like talk? And like the next day or so, I would call you immediately.
01:05:57
Speaker 1: And be like, what's the matter? I would just, I need that.
01:06:00
Speaker 2: Even if you, even if it's a type of thing where you'd like, you need an hour to talk to me. You got to give me the top line so that I don't have an anxiety attack.
01:06:08
Speaker 1: Oh, I feel you.
01:06:09
Speaker 2: So I can relate. I'm just like, oh, man, what did I– did I do something? Tell me. Come on.
01:06:13
Speaker 1: Did I?
01:06:13
Speaker 2: What's up, man?
01:06:15
Speaker 1: I can't relate to that more and especially because I feel like I have a different barometer than most people for what's considered rude or offensive or something. So like I'm always afraid that like– there's a part of me that I'm like, oh, yeah, that person actually might hate me. And it's like, why? It's like, I think because I behave in a different way than they like. And they're like, no, not at all. And I'm like, oh, but if someone were to be like, Gabrus, you know who Phil wants to talk to you? I'd be like, yeah, I probably pissed him off. And be like, really? I thought you were in Phil or Boys. I'd be like, yeah, but I could see how I could potentially piss him. Like, I can get myself in the headspace where I explain. I'm like, no, I can see how I'm annoying. And then you're like, wait, no. You start apologizing for stuff that I don't even remember.
01:06:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:06:56
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can see what this is about. This is about the time I emailed you and you were like, no, it's not. But that's fucked up now that you remind me. And also, why'd you send me that?
01:07:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
01:07:07
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
01:07:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're all just trying to, we're all trying our best.
01:07:12
Speaker 1: Oh, dude, that's like been my fucking mission statement in 2020 so far. It's just been like, don't forget what everyone else is going through shit too. Like, that's all I keep saying to myself is just like, when i get mad at someone driving and i'm like everything now is just like fuck we're all just dealing with what you never know what else someone is dealing with but right now you do know at least a couple of things everyone's dealing with so there's like for the first time ever you're like yeah all right dude there's fucking insane injustice and fucking transmittable diseases and on top of like who knows what my man is going through in his personal life and so like give everyone a fucking pass for a couple of months.
01:07:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I, I totally agree with you, especially with this year, but even like last year before the pandemic hit. And I think part of it is being like well into my thirties. And part of it is being in the entertainment industry where like, it's, it's hard to just have surround yourself with people that you can really fuck with in that fuck with you. Do you know what I mean? Just finding your circle. I think having a theater community definitely helps
you find your tribe and stuff like that. But like, I found myself, even before this pandemic, being just a little bit more intentional about what makes me happy and tracking a little bit more closely. Honestly, it kind of brings it right back around to the side hustle conversation where it's like, okay, who are the people in my life that I actually feel better when I spend significant amounts of time with them? What are the things that I do that actually, when I finish doing it, I feel mentally better because I feel like You know, I feel like, you know, I had a great time in New York, spent my 20s in New York, found UCB, did advertising. But it was like it was like in a lot of ways when I think back on that, it was like um, a lot of like searching, you know?
01:08:57
Speaker 1: Oh, for sure.
01:08:58
Speaker 2: A lot of like creative searching, professional searching, and almost at the sacrifice sometimes of like the things that I, there are things that I would say no to. I think now being the person I am now that I would just be like, oh yeah, I'll do that. I'll do, you know, you know, I don't know if that's making sense, but like, I feel like I'm just a little bit more intentional.
01:09:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think, and that's funny you say that because tying it back to the side hustle thing, I'm with you on that. And I think it helps that when you get that little bit of success in the real hustle, like now that you're a working writer, you're like, I don't have to do the things that I used to think I, I don't have to do everything that I thought I had to do.
01:09:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:09:35
Speaker 1: Like, you know, like you could be like, Oh, actually that doesn't actually bring me as much joy. And I, I feel like maybe I was just doing it cause I thought I had to do it. Yeah. And now that you're kind of old, like you, you got some experience and you, and you're not like, you're not craving some sort of lick of success or a lick of progress in some way. You're like, well, you know what would make me happy? It's just fucking taking out the keyboard and, you know, fucking around right now. And it's like, like, this happened to me like four years ago here with the beach like i didn't go to the beach when i lived in new york i grew up going to the beach i grew up working at the beach all that shit then when i was living in new york i was just caught up in the hustle never got myself out to the beach it was too annoying then when i first moved here i was kind of caught up and like gotta make it in hollywood you know this that the other thing and then i started just going to the beach once a week and i'm like oh this is my favorite place and like you were talking about like uh, you like art, but you can't paint like same for me, but I don't take photos, but I just like to go and just like, look at what the fucking world looks like when you're standing on the end of a country and when you're standing on the end of the land.
01:10:39
Speaker 2: That's a cool way of putting it.
01:10:40
Speaker 1: I love that. Look what the fucking world I'm looking at the rest of the world. The rest of this flat earth is just visible as I go out here. But the beach for that was for me. And I'm like, I can't believe I wasn't doing that. But yeah, in my head, I had to get to a level of success where it was like, it's okay if you go to the beach.
01:10:57
Speaker 2: Once a week. Yeah. The beach is an amazing resource. I totally agree. I mean, and also moving to Redondo, my appreciation for the beach went up a thousand percent. And now I'm like, I would go every, you know, almost every, weekend do you know what i mean i would go to the pier almost every night just to watch the sunset and stuff like that and and then.
01:11:16
Speaker 1: You see why you see like a lot of people in la don't understand the west side or especially in our world of like all the uh comedy people that live on the east side yeah you don't understand like oh none of your friends will ever visit you and then you start you go there you hang out with someone who lives over there and you're like well do you need friends if you live in the fucking marina and you got friends the real ones will find you yeah and that's why like a lot of my friends that move to the west side they're like yeah I just kind of have these west side friends now and it's like oh okay well I'll see you at a friend's birthday they're like yeah hopefully but on Saturdays I do stand up paddle boarding and on Sundays I play softball then go jump in the ocean that's.
01:11:52
Speaker 2: So tight well fuck yeah dude yeah that's a good life I also think in like a small like to what you're saying I think it's like the things you do and it's like the things you don't do it's like there's an example that I think was like a turning point for me I was at I was working. So my buddy and my buddy was having his bachelor party in Las Vegas. He was there like from like Wednesday to Sunday. I can only go on Saturday and and stay until Sunday or something like that. And I went on Saturday. We stay up all night. It's Saturday into Sunday. My flight's going to be at like the next day at like five or six p.m. So I can spend more time. But we get back to like the place where everybody's staying and like I would have had to like sleep on the floor. I'm like, oh, I don't love that. And then like, oh, we could share the bed, like whatever. I'm like, I'm not really into sharing. I don't need to share a bed. I'll just sleep on the floor. And then I started to like set up my things to sleep on the floor. And I was like, or I could just get an earlier plane ticket and leave. And so I just left.
01:12:52
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
01:12:53
Speaker 2: And I think there's like a younger version of me that's like, oh, man, but my homie whose bachelor party is going to be upset that I only came for a little bit and blah, blah, blah, blah. I booked the ticket. I booked the earlier ticket, told
him that I was going to head out. He was so thankful that I made the time to come. Didn't give a shit. Nobody cares. No one cares about me in a good way. Do you know what I mean? It's not like I wasn't doing like an egregious thing. Um, so I think like that was such a small example, but in addition to like the activities that I like, it's like learning to say, that makes sense.
01:13:21
Speaker 1: Cause you're like, you start to be like, Oh, I got a maximum. I gotta be there. I gotta do this. I gotta do that. You're like, technically you don't have to go to this at all, but, but it's nice of you to go. And if you're going to make the sacrifice to go do it on your own fucking setup, you know what I mean? Like, I truly, you could have made one of five choices there. You're like, I went downstairs and got my own hotel room and said, it's worth it to spend $ 300. Like that's that adult shit where you just go like, this is going to make me happier right now. I'm just going to, and whether it's money or just like the choice of being like, you know what? I actually can't do this dinner tonight or like do this. I'll miss, I'm going to have to miss today's FaceTime. Like just those small things, you know, are going to make you happier.
01:14:00
Speaker 2: It's the power of no.
01:14:03
Speaker 1: .
01:14:06
Speaker 2: recalibrate yeah and you gotta start focusing and yeah and it's like those same that same attitude isn't necessarily going to bring me the same success like the metrics for success and the means by which to get it almost change as time goes on so.
01:14:41
Speaker 1: Yeah and that and that saying that saying yes to everything is because it's fun and then when you start to realize like oh it's not as fun because i'm worried about this or stressed about that and then all of a sudden when it's not as fun is when you've got to say to yourself, like, oh, then what the fuck am I doing?
01:14:53
Speaker 2: What are we doing? Yeah.
01:14:54
Speaker 1: Yeah. If I'm like... That moment when you're like, oh, I do not feel like going to go to so-and-so's to go do two lines in this thing or do... You know? And you're like... The moment you decide that, oh, I don't have to do that at all, and you're like, oh, shit. I'm so... I say this way too much on the pod, but this guy whose podcast I listen to, Tim Ferriss, back in.
01:15:16
Speaker 2: The day, he said....
01:15:19
Speaker 1: He said, use the this Tuesday principle. If anyone ever asks you to do anything, because it's so easy to say yes to something that's a month away, two months away, three months away. He goes, in your head, say, imagine they're asking to do it this Tuesday. And do you want to do it? If the answer is no, you don't want to do it in six weeks. If you don't want to do it this Tuesday, you don't want to do it in six weeks. And it's like, that's the realest shit because eventually it will be this Tuesday. And like, and that's, that's what triggered to me to say no. Cause it'd be like, Oh yeah, I'll say. And then eventually it'll be like, alright well now it's the third week in August where you punted everything too and you have 40 podcasts that you agreed to be on and now you're driving all over you make zero dollars you're stressed about everything you're like and then by the end you're mad at the person that's like you someone asked you to do their pod you're there and you're mad at them that you had to drive to Silver Lake to do it but it's you did your whole schedule yourself yeah.
01:16:12
Speaker 2: And the funny thing is the way you know per our conversation about how time moves in the pandemic you book it six weeks from now it's already here six weeks is tomorrow in a pandemic.
01:16:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, yeah, you can close your eyes and wake up tomorrow and it's fucking God knows what.
01:16:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's New Year's Eve already, basically.
01:16:29
Speaker 1: Oh, Phil, thank you so much for coming on High Might. This was worth it just to fucking catch it up.
01:16:34
Speaker 2: Man, it's so good to see you, man. You look good. You look happy. I said this off camera. I said this off mic, but I got to say it on mic.
01:16:41
Speaker 1: Phil's in a closet with a do-rag and headphones and mic, and he looks hard as fuck. He looks like he's about to spit something. dangerous like you look like the homeboy he's like the guy who's like yo let let phil get a time on the mic he's like that guy i thought he was just a straight like ex-prison killer dude no he's actually got some fucking uh bars let him on here.
01:17:00
Speaker 2: Yeah i'm in my do-rag era even though i have a bald head the do-rag just feels right you know what i mean so i.
01:17:05
Speaker 1: Had i i've been cleaning out my office as i'd nest here more and more and i was opening a drawer and i i was like I think I had like four do-rags in my drawer from back when I was wearing them on Wild N' Out. I was like, now is not the time to get fucking caught in a do-rag and like peak cultural appropriation. And I'm like, let me retire these bad boys. These aren't going on for me.
01:17:29
Speaker 2: I mean, but I love that you have a do-rag collection and that you're doing the right thing with it.
01:17:34
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Yeah, my guy.
01:17:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:17:39
Speaker 1: Hey, you know, we all have to learn what's cool and what's not cool anymore. Yeah, man. We're all works of progress. Only one way to find out. That's right. You just remind me, while we're talking about works of progress, Desus and Mero, just a long time ago, they were like, are you ever worried about someone getting canceled? Or like, you guys used to say shit like this. And they're like, when you find out that something is not cool, you just stop doing it. You stop doing it. And they were so real. And those guys are raw as fuck. They say
whatever they want, do whatever they want. But when they realize like, oh, that is something that people... are offended by when you say.
01:18:15
Speaker 2: Alright I'm gonna stop that.
01:18:17
Speaker 1: My bad I'm done yeah exactly I'm not who wants to die on a hill of like I should be allowed to wear and no one is even telling me I'm not allowed to wear do-rags I should say but like I'm not gonna die on the hill and be like no I gotta be able to say this like no you're in the wrong place.
01:18:33
Speaker 2: It's I mean some people will die on that hill and it's like that's their thing and like I'm just like not that's not my style per se yeah.
01:18:43
Speaker 1: I'm arguably gross and offensive, and that's not even my style.
01:18:47
Speaker 2: No, it's not your thing.
01:18:48
Speaker 1: Bro, you can't do that. I'd be like, oh, fair.
01:18:50
Speaker 2: My bad yeah thank you for the teachable moment I appreciate.
01:18:54
Speaker 1: You yeah your opinion in this case matters more than mine because it offends you and it doesn't offend me yeah so here we are So Phil, tell us people about where they can find you online or where they can follow you on Spotify and become Spotify followers. Thanks so much. Yes, yes, yes.
01:19:11
Speaker 2: You can follow me on Spotify. That would be amazing. The Redondo tape is coming out September 4th. We already got a couple singles out at this point. So go to Phil Augusta Jackson on Spotify or Tidal or Apple Music or wherever you listen to music. I would love it if you took a listen to what we got out there. You can also follow me on Instagram at philagustaj. That's just the letter J, philagustaj. And I update all the different stuff and poetry and all the side hustles that I got going. And it's where I pretty much push it out there on Instagram so people know what's going on.
01:19:43
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. Fuck yeah, dude. And I mean... Check out Insecure. Yes. I mean, that goes without saying. I feel like Insecure does not need my boost on the podcast as much as the Spotify album might. Insecure is, fuck, this last season was so dope, dude.
01:20:00
Speaker 2: Thanks, man. Yeah, I mean, look, I think I've lucked out with the writers' rooms that I've been in, and Insecure is just another amazing one. You know, the top leadership there, you know, Issa's vision for what she wants the show to be, Prentice Penny, the showrunner. And everybody I work with. It's just a really dope room. So I'm thankful to be there. And I was so excited with how this season came out. And we're writing up season five right now. I think it's going to be another banger.
01:20:21
Speaker 1: Dude, that's awesome. I can't wait, man. Thanks, man. So, listeners, I'm at Gabe Brisson on all social media. Listen to my podcast, Action Boys. Download Phil's album. Follow him on Spotify. I'm sure this guy's got a few more EPs under his belt. We'll see. Who knows? Maybe you'll get full length with fucking features, you know. I still got some bars. Hey, man.
01:20:44
Speaker 2: If you got bars, you got bars. Then we got to talk.
01:20:47
Speaker 1: I would like nothing more than down the line, when you record another EP, let me just do one of those Maybach music or one of those station tag type shit.
01:21:00
Speaker 2: DSO is the name of the click, so we can get you on there.
01:21:03
Speaker 1: Let me just get a blunt rip into DSO or some shit into the mic.
01:21:07
Speaker 2: Put a little auto-tune on it.
01:21:09
Speaker 1: Yep, yep.
01:21:10
Speaker 2: TSO is a new Maybach. I like, I, I, I like this.
01:21:15
Speaker 1: I just want to be, I like hanging out at Syphs and I just like to smoke weed and listen to rap. I can't do it. But if you ever need a guy to just be keeping the fucking, uh, keeping the lights on, keeping people, keeping the vibes right. I'm, I'm around.
01:21:28
Speaker 2: Well, look, man, if this shit opens up, you know, I, you know, I enjoy, I enjoy a good, a good smoke session. Good. We're taking a good edible too. So I, I'm, I would love nothing more than for the pandemic to be over so that you can just sit in the studio and get high with me.
01:21:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, fuck that, dude.
01:21:46
Speaker 2: That sounds like a dream that is so far away right now that I literally love it.
01:21:50
Speaker 1: Bro, I was going to end this. It's funny you said that. I was going to end this with, I hope to see you outside the fucking back door of UCB sometime soon, man. Likewise, man. Likewise, my dude.
01:21:58
Speaker 2: It's always such a pleasure.
01:21:58
Speaker 1: Get to hang out there on Saturday nights. Yeah, man.
01:22:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
01:22:02
Speaker 1: All right, well, thanks again, Phil. It was good to see you, man.
01:22:05
Speaker 2: You too, man. That was a HeadGum Podcast.