Donnie Sengstack on Touring with Stavros & Trae Crowder, Starting Comedy at 18, and Overcoming a Stutter

WEBVTT
00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:02.180
I remember trying to make the teachers laugh
00:00:02.180 --> 00:00:04.759
because that was always my goal so that I would,
00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.339
like I learned that, okay, the class clown gets
00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:09.279
in trouble. If you can make the teachers laugh,
00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:11.359
it means it was really funny and you're not going
00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:41.039
to get in trouble for it. Welcome to Overeducated
00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.259
and Underemployed. You got Fedden here. We've
00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:47.020
got a great show today. We got Donnie Senstack.
00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:51.380
Now, Donnie has toured with Stavros, Trey Crowder.
00:00:51.979 --> 00:00:54.079
He's done stuff with the Nate Land crew. He's
00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:56.810
got, he's got. Jokes on one of their showcase
00:00:56.810 --> 00:01:00.189
specials on YouTube. Does stuff with them every
00:01:00.189 --> 00:01:05.260
year at Christmas. Funny, funny guy. We got a
00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:08.420
couple of mutual friends. And one of those mutual
00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:12.129
friends is Drew Morgan. Drew Morgan's on the
00:01:12.129 --> 00:01:15.150
Well Read podcast that has just ended this week.
00:01:15.829 --> 00:01:17.890
We'll have him on the show in a couple of weeks
00:01:17.890 --> 00:01:21.739
to tell his story. I'm heading to Shoals Fest
00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:26.010
this weekend. Put together an amazing episode
00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:28.310
about Muscle Shoals and Shoals Fest for you guys.
00:01:28.689 --> 00:01:34.939
Really excited for it. We've got Sally J on the
00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:37.640
show next week, early next week. She's got a
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:40.340
new album out today called You'll Be Okay, Baby.
00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.579
Please check it out. Hit subscribe. Hit like.
00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.269
She'll be on the show Monday or Tuesday. She'll
00:01:48.269 --> 00:01:52.250
be on the show Tuesday. Here's my interview with
00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:56.760
Donnie Senstack. He's funny as hell. please hit
00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:58.680
like, hit subscribe. Thanks for tuning in, y
00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:03.239
'all. All right, I'm here with Donnie Senstack.
00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:06.959
We're on Overeducated and Underemployed. Donnie's
00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.840
a comedian. We've got a couple of mutual friends
00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.879
that I know of, Drew Morgan, and we're both big
00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:15.020
fans of Drive -By Truckers, so we've hung out
00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:17.139
a few times at their shows and stuff like that.
00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.219
But also, Tommy Sinbazo is a mutual friend of
00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:25.560
ours. But I first... Ran into you when you were
00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:27.879
on tour with Trey when you came through Tallahassee.
00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:30.719
Welcome to the show, Donnie. How's it going?
00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:35.509
Thanks, dude. Good for having me. Thank you very
00:02:35.509 --> 00:02:38.550
much for having me. I'm good. I'm tired, but
00:02:38.550 --> 00:02:41.750
I am making it work. All kinds of shows. I'm
00:02:41.750 --> 00:02:44.830
home in Nashville now, but I have been doing
00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:50.069
shows all weekend. Yeah. I've seen how busy you've
00:02:50.069 --> 00:02:53.319
been. It's been kind of crazy. I'm going to start
00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:56.099
by just asking you the same question that I ask
00:02:56.099 --> 00:03:00.080
all of my guests. And then I ask a small variation
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.539
of that to comedians that I have on the show
00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:06.000
as well. But what's the first song that you remember
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:11.599
loving as a kid? Oh, that's an easy one for me.
00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:15.860
And this definitely ages me, and I'm sure in
00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:18.039
a direction that you won't like, but also will
00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:21.039
make me seem old to younger people. All Star
00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:25.780
by Smash Mouth. Nice, nice. Yes. Did you hear
00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:30.639
that song before Shrek, or was it Shrek? Right
00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.159
around the same time. Yeah, it was in the same
00:03:33.159 --> 00:03:37.360
kind of time. The first CD I ever got was the
00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.620
third Smash Mouth album that has no hits on it
00:03:40.620 --> 00:03:43.520
whatsoever. I remember getting that for Christmas.
00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:47.699
It's orange, and the first track is called Holiday
00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:51.969
in My Head. vaguely remember that but i i had
00:03:51.969 --> 00:03:55.930
their first record that that also i i don't think
00:03:55.930 --> 00:03:58.490
really had many hits on it was called like fushu
00:03:58.490 --> 00:04:01.909
mang or something like that is that not not the
00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:04.310
one that's like the planet with the neon sign
00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:06.650
and and it has might as well be walking on the
00:04:06.650 --> 00:04:10.430
sun on it is that that one or is well i i can't
00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:14.990
i think it was i feel like they they put that
00:04:14.990 --> 00:04:19.139
on a couple of records oh well So they had the
00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:21.819
one with all star and then there was the one
00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:23.699
that you're talking about that was after it.
00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:27.040
And then this is the one before, I guess, I guess
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:30.259
walking on the sun was first on that record.
00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:35.310
Yeah. But I remember, I don't think I knew it
00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:37.550
as like, I don't think I knew that song above
00:04:37.550 --> 00:04:41.410
any other song though at the time. Um, but yeah,
00:04:41.490 --> 00:04:44.740
that was the, yeah, yeah, yeah. it's coming back
00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:47.899
to me now it was that was a long time ago donnie
00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:52.560
that was like 30 years ago it was like the i
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.839
remember being a little kid and it was like the
00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.439
first time our like local baseball league like
00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:01.199
the little little league baseball team i was
00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:05.259
on had an all -star game and i i made Like, the
00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:09.079
team and they let you pick walk -up music. It
00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:11.980
was the first time I'd ever even conceived of
00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:14.579
that as being a possibility, like, walk up to
00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:17.199
the plate. Or, like, now with comedy, you walk
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:19.420
on stage and you can, like, pick the song you
00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:21.759
walk out to. But back then in the year, like,
00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:26.620
I think 2000, 1999, maybe. Yeah, that sounds
00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:31.370
right, yeah. Like... Eight out of nine kids picked
00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:34.230
All Star by Smash Mouth as their walkout music
00:05:34.230 --> 00:05:38.930
to walk onto the field. And yeah, it was awesome.
00:05:39.389 --> 00:05:43.610
I'm still chasing that high, honestly. So what's
00:05:43.610 --> 00:05:47.079
your walkout song now, then? I like to go with
00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:54.839
a band called Hamel and the Sniffers. The Australian
00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:58.100
punk band. They have a song called You Should
00:05:58.100 --> 00:06:02.319
Not Be Doing That. I was like a fun, like bass
00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.100
and, and guitar riff at the very beginning of
00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:08.620
the song. That's that, that's kind of fun and
00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:11.620
gets, gets me in the mood. Is that how you feel
00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:13.319
about, do you feel like you shouldn't be doing
00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:16.199
it when you go up there? Kind of. Yeah. I never
00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:18.240
really put that together, but, but yeah, I mostly
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.259
just like, I like the song overall, but yeah,
00:06:21.339 --> 00:06:23.180
I guess you're right. That, that does make sense.
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.980
So the variation of that question that I asked
00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:31.339
comics is. What's the first joke you remember
00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:35.560
retelling or telling your friends or your family?
00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:40.220
For me, I was a big fan of who's on first, so
00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:43.439
I would act out who's on first with my friends
00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:48.120
and things like that. For me, I remember Will
00:06:48.220 --> 00:06:54.399
Ferrell was also big when I was a kid. It was
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.759
either a musical or, like, a middle school play
00:06:56.759 --> 00:06:59.220
or a high school. Like, to audition for it, I
00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:01.839
did the whole, like, get off the shed monologue.
00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:04.889
I remember doing that. Remember when he's, like,
00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:07.470
shouting at the kids, like, get off the... No,
00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:10.230
they're screaming at him while he's, like, just
00:07:10.230 --> 00:07:13.009
barbecuing burgers without having a very pleasant
00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:15.569
conversation. I remember doing that entire thing.
00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:20.750
But I started comedy when I was 18. And I, like,
00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:22.829
started writing jokes when I was in middle school
00:07:22.829 --> 00:07:25.730
because I just always wanted to do stand -up
00:07:25.730 --> 00:07:29.170
before anything else. Where do you think that
00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:31.850
came from? Like, do you think it was, like, a,
00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:35.850
like, did you have, like, comedy heroes as a
00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:38.649
kid or was it more of a personal thing or how
00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:41.189
did that come about? Comedy was just always on.
00:07:41.310 --> 00:07:46.189
It was on TV. I watched Comedy Central. All those
00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:49.050
premium blends and the half -hour specials and
00:07:49.050 --> 00:07:51.290
everything. I would watch those all the time.
00:07:52.310 --> 00:07:56.149
I remember putting comedy albums on my iPod back
00:07:56.149 --> 00:07:59.660
in the day, and I would just listen to Jim Gaffigan
00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:03.480
and Dimitri Martin and all those. Mitch Hedberg.
00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:06.399
Anything I could find that was just kind of one
00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:10.290
-linery and silly. clicked clicked with me back
00:08:10.290 --> 00:08:13.550
back then and i really liked it my my grandfather
00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:16.149
was also like very into stand -up comedy and
00:08:16.149 --> 00:08:19.089
just every kind of comedy in general yeah he
00:08:19.089 --> 00:08:22.649
he had like a hundred plus joke books at his
00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:25.649
house when he died we like cleared them out and
00:08:25.649 --> 00:08:27.990
it was just all kinds of jokes jokes jokes jokes
00:08:27.990 --> 00:08:31.550
like you already heard like oh i remember him
00:08:31.550 --> 00:08:34.129
telling this well they they like went all the
00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:39.460
way back to like 1846 like Really like an archive
00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:44.100
of comedy that's kind of amazing. Yeah, he had
00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:46.879
old Bob and Ray tapes. He gave me a Lenny Bruce
00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:51.000
cassette deck when I first got a car that still
00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.779
had cassettes in it to listen to. It was never
00:08:55.779 --> 00:09:00.409
a thing that I was rebelling. to do it was like
00:09:00.409 --> 00:09:03.370
this is the family this is what we love here
00:09:03.370 --> 00:09:06.710
that's awesome yeah yeah sick that's not something
00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:09.990
i hear very often either like i hear it a lot
00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:13.750
about music like in fact more like more almost
00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:16.570
more often than not i would say it's like people
00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:18.870
who grew up to be musicians it's like embraced
00:09:18.870 --> 00:09:23.289
by their family at least on some level but comedy
00:09:23.289 --> 00:09:25.509
is like a whole different animal do you think
00:09:25.509 --> 00:09:28.850
that comes from just like where the field was
00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:31.399
at the time because you talk about things like
00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.259
comedy like it seemed like it was a very possible
00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:38.720
thing at the time too I feel like you know like
00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.340
I'm thinking back to that time period in like
00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:44.059
the 2000s and all the things that you're talking
00:09:44.059 --> 00:09:47.879
about premium blend you know like they didn't
00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:54.090
they didn't seem like so far away the way comedy
00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:57.629
did before that I feel like no yeah like you
00:09:57.629 --> 00:10:00.779
you just kind of knew like Sirius XM satellite
00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:04.700
radio kind of started around then. I don't remember
00:10:04.700 --> 00:10:08.659
exactly when it started, but it was 20 -ish years
00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:12.419
ago, right around that same time. Early 2000s
00:10:12.419 --> 00:10:15.039
is when Sirius and XM were the two competing,
00:10:15.340 --> 00:10:19.799
and they both had comedy channels. It was accessible.
00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:24.679
Every city had a comedy club. Magoobies in Baltimore
00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.440
is actually where I met Tommy Simbazo. That was
00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.039
where I... Right. Right. University of Maryland.
00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:35.440
Right. Yeah. Yeah. I was there. I'm from Maryland
00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:39.279
originally. And OK. OK. But now you live in Nashville.
00:10:39.500 --> 00:10:44.179
Right. I do. Yeah. So growing up with like a
00:10:44.179 --> 00:10:46.399
really supportive family. So I interviewed Shane
00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:48.340
Moss and he had, I feel like, kind of a similar
00:10:48.340 --> 00:10:51.500
experience where he wanted to be a comic, a comic,
00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:55.279
like really young. Right. But he kept it a secret.
00:10:56.389 --> 00:10:59.009
he didn't tell anybody and I don't know that
00:10:59.009 --> 00:11:00.789
it was not necessarily because he was afraid
00:11:00.789 --> 00:11:03.909
of his family like rejecting it but but he kept
00:11:03.909 --> 00:11:06.490
it to himself like how open were you about that
00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:10.139
desire as a kid I think I also kind of kept it
00:11:10.139 --> 00:11:12.120
a secret because I knew from middle school on
00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.500
I have like a spiral notebook of like the first
00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:18.659
jokes I ever started started to to write when
00:11:18.659 --> 00:11:21.220
I was younger and I I don't think I told anyone
00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:23.679
then I think high school came around it was like
00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:27.149
time to go do an open mic and I was just like,
00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:30.649
hey, I'm going to go do this kind of thing. So
00:11:30.649 --> 00:11:33.190
our listeners may have noticed if they don't
00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:35.870
know you already and you talk about it, embrace
00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:38.169
it, lean into it with your comedy. You were born
00:11:38.169 --> 00:11:42.169
with a stutter, a speech impediment. And do you
00:11:42.169 --> 00:11:47.570
think comedy was kind of a coping thing for you
00:11:47.570 --> 00:11:49.870
at a young age? Or do you think that's just kind
00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:52.830
of a coincidence? Yeah, definitely. No, it was
00:11:52.830 --> 00:11:56.269
absolutely a thing that I... these kids are mean
00:11:56.269 --> 00:11:59.789
you know self -defense yeah absolutely you've
00:11:59.789 --> 00:12:02.049
got to be a little little self -deprecating you
00:12:02.049 --> 00:12:04.330
have to be able to kind of like punch back as
00:12:04.330 --> 00:12:10.009
well and i was always funny and so just always
00:12:10.009 --> 00:12:15.070
kind of leaned into no never shied away from
00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:19.190
the fact that i had it and you know needed to
00:12:19.190 --> 00:12:21.029
explain it and and the town i grew up in was
00:12:21.029 --> 00:12:23.879
pretty small like By the time I got to high school,
00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:27.700
everybody knew who I was and knew that I had
00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:31.039
a stutter. And so I kind of had like forgotten
00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.600
about it. And like all those like middle school
00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:36.860
jokes, everything I wrote initially was not about
00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:41.240
stuttering. And then I went to college and I
00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.899
went to start doing open mics and stuff. And
00:12:44.899 --> 00:12:47.860
you meet a thousand new people every day and
00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:49.840
you always have to introduce yourself to them.
00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:54.629
And like I... I've got a stutter now. And that
00:12:54.629 --> 00:12:56.929
like was reintroduced as like a thing that I
00:12:56.929 --> 00:13:00.529
had to address. And so comedy kind of like leaned
00:13:00.529 --> 00:13:03.389
into that as, Oh yeah. Okay. Here's like some
00:13:03.389 --> 00:13:05.509
of the awkwardness I deal with from having to,
00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:07.970
to address this. Yeah. I mean, I feel like I
00:13:07.970 --> 00:13:10.450
even like, there's certain things like just even
00:13:10.450 --> 00:13:12.750
just using a stage name that I feel like I have
00:13:12.750 --> 00:13:16.090
to address if a crowd has no idea who I am or
00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:18.210
something like that. There's just like, it's,
00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.789
there's like kind of sort of like a small checklist.
00:13:20.850 --> 00:13:23.980
Like if it's, this thing that's obvious if you
00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:26.940
don't address it right away you it's like okay
00:13:26.940 --> 00:13:29.360
why the hell is this guy going by one more like
00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:32.220
what is fed in what the fuck is that you know
00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:33.960
oh this guy's gonna stutter like is he gonna
00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:38.210
talk about it how have you been able to get because
00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:40.789
i've seen you perform pretty long sets a couple
00:13:40.789 --> 00:13:43.049
of times now and and you know some of your material
00:13:43.049 --> 00:13:45.149
especially in the first five minutes or whatever
00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:49.429
yeah it's still about that but how did you kind
00:13:49.429 --> 00:13:53.720
of break away from Because I imagine it sounds
00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:55.960
like your material, when you get back to Baltimore,
00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.379
you have to start writing about that just to
00:13:58.379 --> 00:14:03.750
tell people who you are again. Yeah. How did
00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:06.629
you kind of break away from feeling like you
00:14:06.629 --> 00:14:09.169
had to write about only that, only writing about
00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:12.799
your stutter? so i do think that it comes with
00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.899
the longer sets now and like when i get to open
00:14:15.899 --> 00:14:18.259
for trey i get to do as much as half an hour
00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:20.899
on stage sometimes you know plus and that's great
00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:23.600
but i still take the first five minutes to be
00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:28.210
like hey everybody i have this thing i'm comfortable
00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:31.350
with it it's gonna be fine i'm not worried y
00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:35.179
'all shouldn't he worried let's move on to this
00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:37.200
other material I still have to do it in like
00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:38.980
a shorter set when I'm performing for people
00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:42.220
who don't know who I am on a regular basis and
00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:44.720
so if I only get five minutes it's not that fun
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.980
for me because I kind of am just running through
00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:49.980
the motions of like explaining that I have a
00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:54.580
stutter and then leaving yeah like who the hell
00:14:54.580 --> 00:14:58.980
was that guy I do feel like you know You should
00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:02.320
get an extra 30 seconds just because there's
00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:08.740
30 seconds or so in every set. You can't make
00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:11.759
up for it. You'll never get that time back. No,
00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.799
nobody ever gets mad at me for running the light,
00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:19.460
which is kind of nice. I didn't even think of
00:15:19.460 --> 00:15:23.710
that. That makes sense. Right, yeah, I'm sure
00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:26.230
they're pissed. Secretly, that's what you're
00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:28.149
known for. What are they going to do, tell me?
00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:34.879
Yeah, tell on me? Come on now. Did you, so you
00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.240
said you kind of kept it to yourself as a kid,
00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:40.080
but you were funny, you were like openly funny.
00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.759
Were you like the glass clown, or was it kind
00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:46.320
of different than that? A little bit, I, yeah,
00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:49.960
I was... A mix, I think. I think I did both,
00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.559
where I, like, was the class clown, but also
00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:55.299
I remember, like, I remember trying to make the
00:15:55.299 --> 00:15:57.740
teachers laugh, because that was always my goal,
00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:00.120
so that I would, like, I learned that, okay,
00:16:00.179 --> 00:16:02.460
the class clown gets in trouble. If you can make
00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:04.279
the teachers laugh, it means it was really funny,
00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:06.299
and you're not going to get in trouble for it.
00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:10.379
So I kind of, like, went to that. I went that
00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:13.789
route. and i think like especially in the climate
00:16:13.789 --> 00:16:16.649
that starts to arise around the time you go to
00:16:16.649 --> 00:16:20.129
college like that probably became a super useful
00:16:20.129 --> 00:16:24.970
tool um and and also i think it allows you know
00:16:24.970 --> 00:16:28.269
like i i feel like i kind of have that same skill
00:16:28.269 --> 00:16:30.889
a little bit where i can joke about something
00:16:30.889 --> 00:16:32.870
without getting in trouble or and it probably
00:16:32.870 --> 00:16:34.590
comes from the same i was kind of a teacher's
00:16:34.590 --> 00:16:37.919
pet you know I didn't start doing comedy until
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.340
much later in life, but I was very much kind
00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:45.740
of the class clown and that sort of thing. I'm
00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:51.039
wondering, I feel like that's a skill that it
00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.340
takes comics a long time to get, right? You have
00:16:54.340 --> 00:16:56.120
a lot of young comics, you see them, they're
00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.940
trying to be edgelords, they're trying to be...
00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:03.480
Because I think the thing about comedy, it is
00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.670
kind of forcing people into a... discomfort zone
00:17:07.670 --> 00:17:11.289
sometimes right but it's really hard to do that
00:17:11.289 --> 00:17:15.589
in a way that doesn't get you in trouble definitely
00:17:15.589 --> 00:17:19.910
do you think that i mean do you do you feel like
00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:23.289
you had an advantage like going into open mics
00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:27.190
with kind of that skill and also like knowing
00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:29.410
oh i have to talk about this for a few i mean
00:17:29.410 --> 00:17:32.250
sometimes it was probably a detriment too but
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.799
Yeah, in a way, yes. In a way, no. Where, like,
00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:38.339
one, it was a place to write from. Like, because
00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:43.359
if you are an 18 -year -old just little white
00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.359
boy with a, like, without that, who gives a shit?
00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:48.759
Like, you really have to be coming with some
00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:52.200
heat to get anyone to pay any attention to you
00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:54.319
at all and, like, care what you have to say.
00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:56.099
But if you have something that makes you a little
00:17:56.099 --> 00:17:59.299
unique, okay, this is, all right, what is this?
00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:01.099
This is a little bit more interesting, though.
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.440
I also looked tiny. I always had, like, a boyish
00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:06.960
face, and I had a stutter. So I kind of knew
00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.759
how I was being perceived by crowds often, where,
00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.839
like, I looked like a child. I looked like everyone
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:16.759
in the crowd's, like, kid. And so they really
00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:20.079
didn't like it and tensed up if I got super dirty
00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.920
on any kind of set or anything. So I was always
00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:27.400
a little bit more careful to, like, not, like,
00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:30.019
upset the apple cart, but also make them all,
00:18:30.059 --> 00:18:32.799
you know. It still kind of makes people laugh
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:37.579
and think, but I knew what a lot of the crowd
00:18:37.579 --> 00:18:42.119
was... Like, playing off the, here's what I'm
00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.460
doing, what are they thinking in this moment?
00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.440
Okay, how can I, like, change that up? So, like...
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.079
I play into their expectations, but also kind
00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:53.359
of violate them at the same time. That was kind
00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:57.180
of a good like path into writing jokes and like
00:18:57.180 --> 00:19:00.500
what, how, how I could get reactions more, the
00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:04.220
reactions I wanted more easily, you know? Yeah,
00:19:04.299 --> 00:19:06.759
no, that makes a lot of sense. And I think some
00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.339
of what you said is part, part of why I just
00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:13.900
didn't try to do comedy on in any like real formal
00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:17.599
way. until much later in life because i not necessarily
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.559
because i i didn't think people would care what
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.400
i had to say like i think it was more from like
00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.440
a like a comedy fan snobbish like oh my comedy
00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.619
would just suck like because i got nothing to
00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:33.039
say you know what i mean like at what point did
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:38.450
you feel like you had more to say uh and and
00:19:38.450 --> 00:19:40.690
you didn't feel like you had because i i imagine
00:19:40.690 --> 00:19:43.710
like like you said, it was like, you know, a
00:19:43.710 --> 00:19:45.650
blessing and a curse. So, like, you had this
00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:49.670
thing you could kind of use, but also, like,
00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:51.670
eventually, like, you want to be more than that.
00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:53.670
You want to talk about more than that. And you
00:19:53.670 --> 00:19:55.730
had already talked about more than that. Like,
00:19:55.769 --> 00:19:59.869
it seems like you fluctuated between... I actually
00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:01.490
want to back up, and I'm going to probably, like,
00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:03.430
edit the hell out of this last 30 seconds. But,
00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:07.859
so in middle school, you're... You're not joking
00:20:07.859 --> 00:20:10.420
about your stutter hardly at all. You're writing
00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:13.160
all these jokes that you have in this binder.
00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:17.069
What were you writing about back then? I was
00:20:17.069 --> 00:20:20.349
just enamored by the Mitch Hedbergs and Demetri
00:20:20.349 --> 00:20:22.569
Martins of the world, so it was just a lot of
00:20:22.569 --> 00:20:29.289
one -linery, puns, observational stuff. If you
00:20:29.289 --> 00:20:33.559
look back, it's terrible. It's really bad. It
00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:35.220
was, like, things I would have, like, tweeted
00:20:35.220 --> 00:20:37.599
if Twitter had been around back then, basically,
00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:42.299
like. Ah, yeah, yeah. There's one of the, like,
00:20:42.380 --> 00:20:44.299
if you just flip to an open page and find a thing,
00:20:44.299 --> 00:20:48.880
it wasn't recent, but it just sticks out in my
00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:50.440
head as, like, one of the things that's in there.
00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.019
It's just, like, a line that says, like, when
00:20:52.019 --> 00:20:55.240
bobby pins grow up, they like to be called Robert
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:59.359
pins. You know, like. I actually kind of like
00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:02.000
that one, dude. It's fine. It's kind of funny.
00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:06.240
It's clearly not about having a stutter. It's
00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:10.920
just me trying to do that thing that the people
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:16.180
I like do. It does remind me of a Mitch Hedberg
00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:21.240
joke, for sure. That's a good one, man. That's
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:26.359
solid. I like that one. I'll tell 15 -year -old
00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:30.940
Donnie. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Well, that kind
00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:34.220
of brings me though. Like, did you have the sensibility
00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:37.180
back then to know what was good and bad when
00:21:37.180 --> 00:21:41.980
you were writing? No, definitely not. No, I think
00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:46.089
also like when you, when you're that age, you
00:21:46.089 --> 00:21:48.269
do have kind of like a healthy delusion where
00:21:48.269 --> 00:21:51.730
like, you need to kind of think it's all good.
00:21:51.809 --> 00:21:53.990
Otherwise you're not going to write it. You know,
00:21:54.009 --> 00:21:58.539
you need to kind of think you're great. otherwise
00:21:58.539 --> 00:22:01.200
you're not gonna write it you know so you the
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:02.900
whole time you kind of do think you're great
00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:08.950
i don't know i just saw the new the he knew anthony
00:22:08.950 --> 00:22:11.630
bourdain movie called tony oh yeah i've been
00:22:11.630 --> 00:22:14.170
dying to see that i haven't seen it yet it's
00:22:14.170 --> 00:22:17.690
great and it it's like and stavi's in it which
00:22:17.690 --> 00:22:20.069
yeah yeah stav's in it and it's like he just
00:22:20.069 --> 00:22:23.960
plays stavi it's very good but the I wasn't sure
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:25.940
what the movie was going to be going in. I'm
00:22:25.940 --> 00:22:31.059
a big Anthony Bourdain fan. I didn't know if
00:22:31.059 --> 00:22:32.579
it was going to be his entire life or anything.
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.220
No, it's just one little chunk of his summer.
00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:37.960
One summer he had that was kind of foundational.
00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:43.829
I didn't think it would be as relatable as it
00:22:43.829 --> 00:22:45.589
was. It's one of the most relatable movies I've
00:22:45.589 --> 00:22:47.690
ever seen because it's about when you're that
00:22:47.690 --> 00:22:51.450
age and you don't have anything, you do think
00:22:51.450 --> 00:22:54.109
you're the shit. still and you're kind of like
00:22:54.109 --> 00:22:57.950
a shithead and like it's okay that you are nothing
00:22:57.950 --> 00:23:00.390
at that point like i just thought it was it was
00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:02.750
really really cool it was like kind of with love
00:23:02.750 --> 00:23:06.210
you're nothing right now but you know it's yeah
00:23:06.210 --> 00:23:10.230
and and you like i know you think you're everything
00:23:10.230 --> 00:23:12.690
but it's okay and you're not and that's okay
00:23:12.690 --> 00:23:15.650
you know it's time to to be the thing is to go
00:23:15.650 --> 00:23:19.930
be the thing and do the work I'm also a big Anthony
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:22.069
Bourdain fan, and I'm really excited to see that
00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:25.210
movie. Did you get to see it? I don't think it's
00:23:25.210 --> 00:23:28.529
actually out yet, is it? Yeah, I think it came
00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:30.329
out last weekend. I don't know when this came
00:23:30.329 --> 00:23:34.170
out, but I saw it on Friday. Okay, yeah, maybe
00:23:34.170 --> 00:23:41.589
it's not in my lame -ass city yet. Can we talk
00:23:41.589 --> 00:23:43.089
about Anthony Bourdain for a minute? Because
00:23:43.089 --> 00:23:46.289
I think I'm kind of fascinated by him as a...
00:23:48.180 --> 00:23:54.000
His whole story, his whole arc is kind of horrifying
00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.960
to me in a way. Yeah. I mean, first of all, do
00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:00.799
you struggle with depression or anxiety or anything
00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.119
like that? Is that something to deal with? Yeah,
00:24:03.180 --> 00:24:09.259
I think as much as anyone else. At least anyone
00:24:09.259 --> 00:24:12.359
else who's paying attention to everything. Well,
00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.329
there's that. Yeah, there's that. But I think
00:24:16.329 --> 00:24:20.859
there's also like this internal kind of depression
00:24:20.859 --> 00:24:25.980
that Anthony had that no matter how good his
00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:30.180
life was. Right. Right. Like and I think that's
00:24:30.180 --> 00:24:33.900
what's scary about it to me is like this guy's
00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:37.700
literally living what I would consider to be
00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:40.039
like one of the best fucking lives you could
00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:43.589
live. I like. that anyone has ever lived of all
00:24:43.589 --> 00:24:47.369
time. Like, I truly think it's like one of one.
00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:51.029
And then to intentionally end that. Uh -huh.
00:24:51.450 --> 00:24:54.430
I mean, first of all, I mean, do you think it
00:24:54.430 --> 00:24:57.730
takes a depressed person to even strive to live
00:24:57.730 --> 00:25:00.089
one of the most extraordinary lives of all time?
00:25:00.309 --> 00:25:03.470
Yeah. I think so. I don't think you do that if
00:25:03.470 --> 00:25:07.329
you're content. Yeah. I don't think you do. It's
00:25:07.329 --> 00:25:10.890
such an interesting... It is such an interesting
00:25:10.890 --> 00:25:16.099
case study, too, because so much of his thing
00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:20.160
was connecting with people in a way that nobody
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:24.559
had really done before. It's absolutely fascinating,
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:28.380
the way that this movie kind of tells the story
00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:31.259
and then... And then he goes on and has like
00:25:31.259 --> 00:25:37.460
25 full years in kitchens. And then he becomes
00:25:37.460 --> 00:25:39.880
kind of the Anthony Bourdain that we all know.
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.720
Right. It's like there's a quarter century in
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:46.339
the middle there where he's, you know. And that's
00:25:46.339 --> 00:25:51.720
all in the book. But then he becomes the guy
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:59.319
we all know from TV and travel. there is that
00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:02.680
work. There is that quarter century of like becoming
00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:05.980
the person. Yeah. Yeah. And it's almost like
00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:10.740
no matter what, he could never escape whatever
00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:15.720
that darkness was that drove him to all that
00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:18.819
amazing stuff to begin with. It's, it's, it's
00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:22.839
really incredible and tragic. And like, he was
00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:24.500
one of my favorite people when he was alive.
00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:28.549
And now I think like the way you put it, a case
00:26:28.549 --> 00:26:30.950
study is like, you know, it might be a cold way
00:26:30.950 --> 00:26:33.730
to think about it, but it really is like, I had
00:26:33.730 --> 00:26:37.930
a friend in grad school who wrote his dissertation
00:26:37.930 --> 00:26:45.450
on suicide and evolution. And like, how can suicide
00:26:45.450 --> 00:26:52.259
be freight that emerges in... like you know because
00:26:52.259 --> 00:26:55.059
it's it's literally like the opposite of natural
00:26:55.059 --> 00:26:58.079
selection right like yeah you're self -selecting
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:01.839
yourself and so it's it's always been like something
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:04.400
that kind of like fascinated me and then i i
00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:07.740
think when you look at someone like anthony bourdain
00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:10.660
it it makes that question even more perplexing
00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:15.119
so do you think that and i'm guessing there's
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:17.599
you know we've all been through long periods
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.059
of time where you know things weren't great especially
00:27:21.059 --> 00:27:23.579
like living in the times that we live in and
00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:26.180
during covid and stuff like that do you do you
00:27:26.180 --> 00:27:28.240
see like a direct correlation between your mental
00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.839
health and how often you get to perform comedy
00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:39.740
yes thousand percent i like i am very did i say
00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:42.930
to say like i start to get itchy if I haven't
00:27:42.930 --> 00:27:45.910
like done stand up in a while like if it goes
00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:49.609
even like a week plus I'll get kind of an itch
00:27:49.609 --> 00:27:53.279
to like I have to get up and do this thing because
00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:57.240
it is like a drug like it is really just a endorphin
00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.160
rush it's a yeah I know instant gratification
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:02.240
kind of from an audience when they like a new
00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.279
thing especially like when you have a new joke
00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:07.039
that's working there's no better feeling in the
00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:11.480
entire world and I think I mean, that's why we
00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:16.599
do it. Because, like, it's kind of awful otherwise.
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.380
Yeah. In a lot of ways, right? Like, it's like,
00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:21.680
there's no reason to keep doing it if you're
00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:25.619
not totally addicted to it. When did you realize
00:28:25.619 --> 00:28:27.700
you were totally addicted to it? Like, how old
00:28:27.700 --> 00:28:31.259
were you? I mean, I think I got hooked on, like,
00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:35.240
the first open mic. Like, truly. I actually went
00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:38.339
to D .C. for the first show I ever did. And,
00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:41.750
like... I just Googled, like, DC stand -up open
00:28:41.750 --> 00:28:44.809
mics. I went to an all -black room with, like,
00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:47.789
60 people, and I brought two of my friends who
00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:50.849
were also, you know, like, high schoolers. And
00:28:50.849 --> 00:28:53.769
it was, like, three of us and 60 black people.
00:28:54.130 --> 00:28:57.529
And so the host got on stage, like, before the
00:28:57.529 --> 00:28:59.250
open mic even started and goes, all right, there's
00:28:59.250 --> 00:29:02.089
a lot of white people here tonight. And there
00:29:02.089 --> 00:29:05.009
was three. And he goes, okay, on the count of
00:29:05.009 --> 00:29:07.009
three, we're all just going to shout the N -word
00:29:07.009 --> 00:29:10.170
to make everybody more comfortable. And then,
00:29:10.190 --> 00:29:13.309
like, none of us did it. Yeah, no, that's a trick.
00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:16.029
Don't ever do that. All right, you pass. You
00:29:16.029 --> 00:29:21.069
pass. And then they proceeded to let, like, everybody
00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:23.390
else go up before me. I showed up at, like, 6
00:29:23.390 --> 00:29:25.829
.30, and I didn't go on stage until, like, 11
00:29:25.829 --> 00:29:28.569
.30, and I actually did pretty well. Like, I
00:29:28.569 --> 00:29:32.710
did well on the first open mic. I had, like,
00:29:32.750 --> 00:29:34.890
my friends bring a giant, like, cue card. Like,
00:29:34.910 --> 00:29:38.170
it's just a big sign that that said, don't stutter.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:40.920
And, like, my first joke was, like, all right,
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.039
I just got to give my cue card guy a moment to
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:47.700
get set up. And then, like, they were in the
00:29:47.700 --> 00:29:49.420
front of the room, though. They weren't in the
00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:50.920
back of the room. So nobody could really see
00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:54.400
what the sign said. And I hadn't really even
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:57.359
set up that I had a stutter yet. So, like, I,
00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:00.240
like, just held it up. A big, like, blank sign.
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:02.619
And he kind of, like, turned it around. And I
00:30:02.619 --> 00:30:04.599
was like, all right, I guess that's kind of funny.
00:30:04.700 --> 00:30:08.019
I don't know why. Why would that? it's funny
00:30:08.019 --> 00:30:12.200
now you know yeah but the rest of it did did
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.380
well because i like and it was just kind of hooked
00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:18.200
right from the jump where it went it went good
00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:21.440
and then they were like you should come back
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:23.539
next week you know you were great you should
00:30:23.539 --> 00:30:25.359
come back next week so it was like okay great
00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.980
i come back the next week and i bombed so hard
00:30:28.980 --> 00:30:33.059
because it was like i i wrote an entire new set
00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.339
I was like, all right, I got to write all new
00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:38.119
jokes for this. You know, I can't do any of these
00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:40.519
again. And, like, I wrote a brand new set. I,
00:30:40.539 --> 00:30:44.819
like, titled it all into Word doc of, like, comedy
00:30:44.819 --> 00:30:49.380
set one, comedy set two. And I wrote all the
00:30:49.380 --> 00:30:52.880
jokes, like, word for word. And comedy set two
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:57.259
did not. Not so good. Yes. You got that sophomore
00:30:57.259 --> 00:31:02.480
slump, huh? Yeah. So what made you want to keep
00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:06.059
going after that, though? I did another room,
00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:08.839
and I did comedy set one again at a different
00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:13.039
open mic. And, you know, set one was the one.
00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:16.640
When did you start to feel confident that you
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.900
knew what was funny? Like, when did you start
00:31:18.900 --> 00:31:21.660
to feel like you knew before that you had to
00:31:21.660 --> 00:31:23.900
test a joke, that something was really going
00:31:23.900 --> 00:31:27.380
to work? Was it before you started doing open
00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:30.269
mics? No, I would say that that took a minute
00:31:30.269 --> 00:31:33.549
that that definitely took a while to to get to.
00:31:34.589 --> 00:31:39.779
But I think that I knew I thought that I knew
00:31:39.779 --> 00:31:42.180
it at the time kind of thing. Like there's so
00:31:42.180 --> 00:31:45.299
many things where you think you are doing so
00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:47.380
good and then you like watch it back or you hear
00:31:47.380 --> 00:31:49.740
other people like I remember specifically at
00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:55.299
movies like. maybe six or eight months into it
00:31:55.299 --> 00:31:58.200
i did a set on on the main stage room and apparently
00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:00.940
i thought i crushed i thought it went so well
00:32:00.940 --> 00:32:06.799
but when you watch the tape i'm like swinging
00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:10.380
back and forth like this the entire time and
00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:13.299
it's just like very unconfident just fully like
00:32:13.299 --> 00:32:18.640
rotating and swaying just as a nervous tick and
00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:21.839
we got seasick watching you huh Yeah. It was
00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:26.359
like, what is he doing? But, but in my head crushing
00:32:26.359 --> 00:32:30.420
it in my head, I'm like, this is perfect. Yeah.
00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:33.319
Yeah. What have you ever, have you ever like
00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:36.839
really like relied on like drugs or alcohol when
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:39.099
you, when you were doing comedy or was that something
00:32:39.099 --> 00:32:41.819
you were, you kind of steer clear of? No, I was,
00:32:41.819 --> 00:32:45.720
I was too young. to drink at a lot of these shows
00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:48.000
and like when you're that like all you want is
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:50.579
for the bookers to like you and so like you don't
00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:53.180
want to put them in any like you you like don't
00:32:53.180 --> 00:32:55.519
want to put them in any kind of that's how i
00:32:55.519 --> 00:32:58.420
was with concerts as a kid man yeah this because
00:32:58.420 --> 00:33:01.000
like they would let me into shows like long before
00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:03.779
i was allowed to be there usually yeah and i
00:33:03.779 --> 00:33:05.359
would never like i didn't start drinking until
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:09.279
i was 21 and stuff like that but uh but yeah
00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:12.690
so but that's not anything you even got into
00:33:12.690 --> 00:33:15.210
later or no, I never really started drinking
00:33:15.210 --> 00:33:18.130
like before shows or anything. I'll like have
00:33:18.130 --> 00:33:21.670
a beer before shows sometimes, but I don't really,
00:33:21.730 --> 00:33:25.250
I'm not a, I know people who are like, I got
00:33:25.250 --> 00:33:27.549
to drink before I can get on state and I'll get,
00:33:27.589 --> 00:33:30.450
get the liquid courage. And that's, that's never
00:33:30.450 --> 00:33:34.309
been me. I like to drink after, but yeah, I heard,
00:33:34.329 --> 00:33:37.569
I heard Nate talk about it one time where he,
00:33:37.650 --> 00:33:41.380
he just said he wanted to, quit not because he
00:33:41.380 --> 00:33:45.019
thought it was like a super big problem for him
00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:47.119
but he was just sitting he was like in the car
00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:51.140
after a gig he was just like if i don't quit
00:33:51.140 --> 00:33:53.940
i'm never gonna get to where i want to be and
00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:57.500
then i've talked to to jason thrasher who's a
00:33:57.500 --> 00:34:00.099
photographer and he pretty much told me the same
00:34:00.099 --> 00:34:02.940
thing it was just like i was you know if i didn't
00:34:02.940 --> 00:34:05.420
quit i'd never get to where like i want to be
00:34:05.420 --> 00:34:10.300
yeah that's like it's it's a lot easier to quit
00:34:10.300 --> 00:34:12.800
when you've hit rock bottom i think than it is
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:15.920
to like right when you haven't ascended high
00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:21.519
enough that's crazy i'm not as ambitious as i
00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:24.079
thought i was i really don't think i'm like as
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:26.719
driven as i thought i was well i feel like real
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:29.420
real alcoholics learn how to manage their drinking
00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:31.719
yeah you know what i mean they don't quit no
00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:40.869
anyway so donnie You do still work a day job
00:34:40.869 --> 00:34:44.769
from time to time? At what point did you realize
00:34:44.769 --> 00:34:47.610
you were still going to have to do other stuff,
00:34:47.869 --> 00:34:54.769
I guess? You do an IT work, right? Yeah. When
00:34:54.769 --> 00:34:58.530
I moved from Baltimore to New York, I did a bunch
00:34:58.530 --> 00:35:03.309
of odd jobs. I was a tour guide. I walked dogs.
00:35:03.710 --> 00:35:11.340
I moved furniture. too and in new york that was
00:35:11.340 --> 00:35:14.340
awful that it was a bad job but it was it was
00:35:14.340 --> 00:35:17.119
fun and it paid well and it was like just a bunch
00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:19.519
of other comics too so it was like a good time
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.869
but i i think there's a rule where like walk
00:35:22.869 --> 00:35:25.190
-ups aren't legally allowed to be more than eight
00:35:25.190 --> 00:35:29.079
floors if you have like a walk -up building And
00:35:29.079 --> 00:35:32.320
so, or six floors. And so some of them were eight
00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:34.780
and they were not legal buildings, like not up
00:35:34.780 --> 00:35:36.920
to code. And so there'd be eight floors in a
00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:39.579
building for six. And the staircases would be
00:35:39.579 --> 00:35:41.639
tiny and you would have to carry couches like
00:35:41.639 --> 00:35:45.000
up and down them. And the staircases were never
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:48.679
air conditioned. So it would be so hot in the
00:35:48.679 --> 00:35:50.559
middle of summer. And your knuckles would just
00:35:50.559 --> 00:35:52.860
be bloody from all the like stucco on the walls
00:35:52.860 --> 00:35:55.219
that they would scrape when you were carrying
00:35:55.219 --> 00:35:58.420
stuff in and out. it was always goofy because
00:35:58.420 --> 00:36:00.219
it was other comedians with you. So that was
00:36:00.219 --> 00:36:03.880
fun. I mean, that sounds, it sounds smart. Like
00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:05.599
it's like, all right, the comics get together
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:07.920
and start this other job. So at least they get
00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:11.320
to hang out, you know, what, what are some of
00:36:11.320 --> 00:36:15.400
the other like odd jobs that you did? And, and
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:18.889
you, you, you were, you were all right. So let's
00:36:18.889 --> 00:36:20.829
get the, let's actually back up for a second
00:36:20.829 --> 00:36:22.530
and let's just get like your whole timeline.
00:36:22.730 --> 00:36:27.170
Cause you started college. University of Maryland
00:36:27.170 --> 00:36:29.730
in Baltimore, went to D .C. to do your first
00:36:29.730 --> 00:36:31.550
open mic, but then you started doing it pretty
00:36:31.550 --> 00:36:33.969
regularly at that point? I did comedy before
00:36:33.969 --> 00:36:36.190
that. I did it, like, my senior year of high
00:36:36.190 --> 00:36:37.909
school, right around, you know, the end of my
00:36:37.909 --> 00:36:41.300
senior year of high school, yeah. Was that, like,
00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.059
at, like, a club, or were you... No, it was,
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:48.860
like, bar shows, restaurant shows, just open
00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:52.280
mics around. but they would let you do it even
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:55.199
before you were 18 or yeah yes some of them were
00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:57.679
just like fish restaurants like some of them
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:01.780
hey i've seen jason isbell at a sushi bar back
00:37:01.780 --> 00:37:04.000
like right after he left the truckers but oh
00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.079
really that's awesome yeah it was crazy he used
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.019
to play a barbecue restaurant in jacksonville
00:37:09.019 --> 00:37:14.079
too wild shit wild shit so there's a very funny
00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.909
story like You know how comedians sometimes play
00:37:16.909 --> 00:37:22.989
VFW halls or any club, like an Elks Lodge or
00:37:22.989 --> 00:37:25.909
a Moose Lodge, like a group where people pay
00:37:25.909 --> 00:37:29.170
dues and some of that has to go towards entertainment.
00:37:29.170 --> 00:37:32.369
They'll sometimes book comedians. And they can
00:37:32.369 --> 00:37:37.239
be tough gigs. But in Maryland, there's another
00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:41.730
circuit. There is a Yacht Club circuit. And it's
00:37:41.730 --> 00:37:44.409
because it's basically the same as like the Elks
00:37:44.409 --> 00:37:49.130
Lodge or the Moose Lodge or the VFW halls, but
00:37:49.289 --> 00:37:53.090
they're yacht clubs. And you find out that what
00:37:53.090 --> 00:37:55.369
you thought in your head a yacht club was is
00:37:55.369 --> 00:37:59.469
not what these places are. Like, I swear to God,
00:37:59.530 --> 00:38:04.929
one of them was a converted Wendy's. And it was
00:38:04.929 --> 00:38:07.929
just near the water. And they all have the same
00:38:07.929 --> 00:38:10.949
sign on the wall that says we're a... We're a
00:38:10.949 --> 00:38:14.349
drinking club with a boating problem, and they
00:38:14.349 --> 00:38:17.210
think it's hilarious. Right, yeah, yeah. And
00:38:17.210 --> 00:38:22.269
maybe 20 % of the people who belong actually
00:38:22.269 --> 00:38:25.510
have a boat. Every football town says that, too.
00:38:25.550 --> 00:38:28.030
They say they're a football town or a drinking
00:38:28.030 --> 00:38:30.409
town with a football problem, right? Yeah, absolutely.
00:38:31.809 --> 00:38:35.590
And there's usually a guy with a sailor outfit
00:38:35.590 --> 00:38:38.929
who thinks he's hilarious. who, like, does time
00:38:38.929 --> 00:38:41.769
at the beginning or the tops of these shows.
00:38:41.909 --> 00:38:46.010
But, yeah, one of them was a... I remember how
00:38:46.010 --> 00:38:48.530
Wendy's, like, 20 years ago would have, like,
00:38:48.570 --> 00:38:51.710
that glass thing that kind of curved down around
00:38:51.710 --> 00:38:55.289
the side. This had exactly that. And the bar
00:38:55.289 --> 00:38:57.289
for the Yacht Club was where the, like, cash
00:38:57.289 --> 00:39:02.639
register would be at the Wendy's. And they let
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:06.150
you do stand -up there. Yeah, it was not what
00:39:06.150 --> 00:39:08.010
you think of when you think of, like, yacht clubs
00:39:08.010 --> 00:39:11.170
at all. It was really... Some of them were kind
00:39:11.170 --> 00:39:15.170
of fun. One of them was a shrimp feast for Vietnam
00:39:15.170 --> 00:39:18.750
veterans at, like, 2 in the afternoon. And they
00:39:18.750 --> 00:39:22.829
left the Orioles game on behind you. And so you
00:39:22.829 --> 00:39:25.530
could tell all these, like, 70 -year -old veterans
00:39:25.530 --> 00:39:29.449
were peeling shrimp and not paying any attention
00:39:29.449 --> 00:39:34.039
to your comedy. And... One of my buddies, I remember,
00:39:34.099 --> 00:39:36.059
he was doing like dirty jokes. He was talking
00:39:36.059 --> 00:39:39.760
about like BDSM and stuff. And so a lot of people
00:39:39.760 --> 00:39:41.820
left because they were mad. But they went outside
00:39:41.820 --> 00:39:44.880
and they didn't... What we didn't realize at
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.739
the time was they were piping the audio from
00:39:47.739 --> 00:39:52.900
the comedy show out to the outdoor area. And
00:39:52.900 --> 00:39:57.780
so these people were furious. They walked by
00:39:57.780 --> 00:40:02.489
and it was a husband and wife. he goes up to
00:40:02.489 --> 00:40:05.789
my friend he goes hey the wife goes that was
00:40:05.789 --> 00:40:08.289
awful and the husband come on it's like come
00:40:08.289 --> 00:40:10.489
on honey let's go let's let's just go come on
00:40:10.489 --> 00:40:12.909
honey and he goes oh yeah i'm sorry that just
00:40:12.909 --> 00:40:15.250
like wasn't an ideal setup for comedy i didn't
00:40:15.250 --> 00:40:18.869
you know sorry sorry about that she goes no you
00:40:18.869 --> 00:40:23.789
can't say that stuff in the daytime i mean comedy
00:40:23.789 --> 00:40:29.460
in the daytime is weird A very specific rule
00:40:29.460 --> 00:40:33.630
for the sun being up. That was the only thing
00:40:33.630 --> 00:40:36.750
she was mad about was that the sun was up. Then
00:40:36.750 --> 00:40:39.090
they like ran to her car in a huff. It was awesome.
00:40:39.389 --> 00:40:41.889
I actually kind of, I'm kind of on her side,
00:40:41.949 --> 00:40:44.610
man. Comedy before the sun going down is just,
00:40:44.630 --> 00:40:47.690
is kind of, it is a lot weirder. It is a lot
00:40:47.690 --> 00:40:51.869
weirder. Especially when you can see out the,
00:40:51.909 --> 00:40:55.210
and you can see out the window and it's a nice
00:40:55.210 --> 00:40:59.449
day. it's yeah it's devastating you have no chance
00:40:59.449 --> 00:41:04.190
on stage yeah yeah it is that is like yeah i
00:41:04.190 --> 00:41:07.110
could that lady it's it's really funny that that's
00:41:07.110 --> 00:41:09.190
that was like stuck in her she could have been
00:41:09.190 --> 00:41:13.449
nicer about it yeah she kind of had a point oh
00:41:13.449 --> 00:41:17.429
man so you finished college you moved to new
00:41:17.429 --> 00:41:21.710
york but you ended up in nashville At what point
00:41:21.710 --> 00:41:24.650
did you decide to leave New York and move down
00:41:24.650 --> 00:41:30.269
south? And why south? My family moved to Nashville
00:41:30.269 --> 00:41:34.869
because my mom got a job here. Like 10 years
00:41:34.869 --> 00:41:37.690
ago, they moved. They've been down here for a
00:41:37.690 --> 00:41:43.039
minute. And so I was doing comedy in New York
00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:46.119
for a while, like for three years, then COVID
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:50.309
happened. And like... My income was from tour
00:41:50.309 --> 00:41:53.030
guiding and walking dogs and moving furniture.
00:41:53.670 --> 00:41:56.940
There were no tours. There were no tourists.
00:41:57.059 --> 00:42:00.519
No money there. Dog walking. Everybody was at
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:03.280
home walking their own dogs. No money there.
00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:05.920
And it was March, so it wasn't really moving
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:09.019
season yet. People weren't even moving. Because
00:42:09.019 --> 00:42:12.380
of COVID, people weren't moving apartments. Everybody
00:42:12.380 --> 00:42:14.510
was just kind of like... staying put and writing
00:42:14.510 --> 00:42:16.750
things out so there was like no income and I
00:42:16.750 --> 00:42:20.230
just wrote out my lease and moved back in with
00:42:20.230 --> 00:42:23.329
my parents so you moved back in with your parents
00:42:23.329 --> 00:42:25.869
and at the same time like Nashville actually
00:42:25.869 --> 00:42:30.119
starts to become kind of a hot spot for comedy
00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:32.199
and now like really is a hot spot for comedy
00:42:32.199 --> 00:42:36.920
yeah I mean I Didn't hate the shows here. I made
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:41.239
friends here. And I had already been coming down
00:42:41.239 --> 00:42:46.199
here off and on. I came down for the holidays
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:49.920
and stuff. And that's Trey, Corey, and Drew,
00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:54.539
the well -read, did their Christmas show at Zany's
00:42:54.539 --> 00:42:57.519
right around that time of year. So I would always
00:42:57.519 --> 00:43:01.219
be at Zany's. I just kind of... knew there was
00:43:01.219 --> 00:43:02.960
a comedy club and knew i would be in town so
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:05.340
i just like messaged people and said hey i'm
00:43:05.340 --> 00:43:08.099
a comedian i'll be in town and they were like
00:43:08.099 --> 00:43:10.400
those guys are the nicest people so they're like
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:13.380
sure yeah yeah come come hang out and then it
00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:15.780
just kind of became a christmas tradition so
00:43:15.780 --> 00:43:17.960
i spent almost like 10 christmases with it with
00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:21.400
them oh that's that's fucking awesome yes it's
00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:24.619
great it's kind of how i ended up on a show with
00:43:24.619 --> 00:43:28.139
with drew last month is like i go to athfest
00:43:28.139 --> 00:43:31.460
every year in athens drew actually just moved
00:43:31.460 --> 00:43:37.360
there. Um, and, and I, I've got, I, so I go to
00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:39.480
Athens for a lot of concerts and to do a lot
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:43.059
of interviews for the show. And I started while
00:43:43.059 --> 00:43:44.760
I was up there, just like, Hey, what's going
00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:47.800
on? You know, when, you know, let me perform
00:43:47.800 --> 00:43:51.070
up here too. And that's exactly what happened
00:43:51.070 --> 00:43:54.190
with that fest is I just now, and now it's like,
00:43:54.230 --> 00:43:56.869
I've been doing shows with Lanny farmer pretty
00:43:56.869 --> 00:44:00.010
frequently for, for some time now for the same,
00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:03.539
Just kind of the same thing. And you're right,
00:44:03.619 --> 00:44:07.510
man. Like, Drew, Trey, Corey, those guys are
00:44:07.510 --> 00:44:11.610
just the fucking nicest. So my favorite band
00:44:11.610 --> 00:44:14.409
is the Drive -By Truckers. And I've been going
00:44:14.409 --> 00:44:18.170
to the homecoming shows at the 40 Watt since
00:44:18.170 --> 00:44:23.329
2010. Like, even before Trey and Drew came and
00:44:23.329 --> 00:44:26.429
opened. But that's how I, like, got introduced
00:44:26.429 --> 00:44:30.469
to Trey. Long before I even... I think in the
00:44:30.469 --> 00:44:32.309
back of my head, I kind of thought I might always
00:44:32.309 --> 00:44:34.849
do stand -up, but long before I even was, like,
00:44:34.849 --> 00:44:40.130
planning on doing it, right? And so they've just
00:44:40.130 --> 00:44:42.469
been, like, I met them as a fan before I met
00:44:42.469 --> 00:44:44.750
them as, like, fellow comics, and, yeah, they're
00:44:44.750 --> 00:44:48.010
just the nicest dudes on every level, man. They're
00:44:48.010 --> 00:44:53.030
really down -to -earth sweethearts, and it helps
00:44:53.030 --> 00:44:55.489
that they're some of the funniest motherfuckers
00:44:55.489 --> 00:44:58.909
on the planet. Totally, yeah. That doesn't hurt.
00:44:59.289 --> 00:45:02.050
But they really are just the nicest guys. No,
00:45:02.150 --> 00:45:04.630
yeah, they crush too. And it's like, they're
00:45:04.630 --> 00:45:07.050
also like fun hangs and everything too. Yeah,
00:45:07.070 --> 00:45:11.570
yeah. There's some comics where, yeah, like that
00:45:11.670 --> 00:45:13.849
I've even heard or experienced where it's like,
00:45:13.909 --> 00:45:16.329
man, I love your comedy, but I'm going to stay
00:45:16.329 --> 00:45:22.030
home after the show. So what's been kind of the,
00:45:22.190 --> 00:45:25.969
I mean, at this point, you've been doing comedy
00:45:25.969 --> 00:45:30.260
for at least 15 years, right? 10, 13 years? 13
00:45:30.260 --> 00:45:32.739
years now. 13 years, okay. Yeah, it started in
00:45:32.739 --> 00:45:37.460
2013. So, like, where do you kind of see yourself
00:45:37.460 --> 00:45:40.920
now? And, like, what kind of position do you,
00:45:40.940 --> 00:45:43.719
like, I feel like you've been in a really good
00:45:43.719 --> 00:45:46.869
position the last few years. Getting out there
00:45:46.869 --> 00:45:48.530
more and more and more. It's weird, you know,
00:45:48.550 --> 00:45:50.550
you leave one of the biggest cities in the world
00:45:50.550 --> 00:45:52.369
for comedy and then that's when you start to
00:45:52.369 --> 00:45:55.710
get really recognized. Yeah, it just kind of
00:45:55.710 --> 00:46:00.429
happened. That way, which has been awesome. But
00:46:00.429 --> 00:46:03.130
like I left there and I got better at comedy
00:46:03.130 --> 00:46:05.269
while I was there, you know, because there's
00:46:05.269 --> 00:46:08.550
you see so many good comedians all the time.
00:46:08.610 --> 00:46:11.769
And it is it's kind of like a pressure cooker
00:46:11.769 --> 00:46:14.610
of getting better at comedy. I loved my time.
00:46:14.670 --> 00:46:17.989
I really love living in New York and doing stand
00:46:17.989 --> 00:46:20.889
up there as much as I possibly could and take
00:46:20.889 --> 00:46:24.250
taking it all in. Like some some open mics, there
00:46:24.250 --> 00:46:27.860
are two minutes. Like, and you have to get your
00:46:27.860 --> 00:46:30.940
jokes tight and you have to like really pack
00:46:30.940 --> 00:46:32.760
a punch because you want to make an impression
00:46:32.760 --> 00:46:35.739
for all these comedians that, that you look,
00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:39.429
look up to and respect. And so I think it really
00:46:39.429 --> 00:46:43.170
just, it was motivating and it was helpful. And
00:46:43.170 --> 00:46:46.250
like, I just think that that made me a lot better
00:46:46.250 --> 00:46:49.869
so that when I ended up here, I was good at standing
00:46:49.869 --> 00:46:53.210
and I was able to hold, hold my own on pretty
00:46:53.210 --> 00:46:56.309
much any show. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
00:46:56.489 --> 00:46:59.900
Yeah. And you think about, like, the great musicians,
00:46:59.960 --> 00:47:02.639
like, the really good bands, it's not because
00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:05.119
of one dude. It's because there's, like, three,
00:47:05.199 --> 00:47:09.110
four, five guys, girls, bouncing off of each
00:47:09.110 --> 00:47:13.780
other and really, oh, it's almost like this competitive
00:47:13.780 --> 00:47:16.099
spirit. And I think about even, like, the drive
00:47:16.099 --> 00:47:18.260
-by truckers, right? Like, you have got this
00:47:18.260 --> 00:47:21.679
competitive spirit between Patterson Hood and
00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:24.099
I don't even know how competitive it is, but
00:47:24.099 --> 00:47:29.010
it's like, Their greatness each prompts each
00:47:29.010 --> 00:47:33.420
other to be great. But I'm sure in New York,
00:47:33.500 --> 00:47:37.199
there was a lot of competitiveness too. Did you
00:47:37.199 --> 00:47:42.980
experience that much? I really don't. I think,
00:47:43.019 --> 00:47:47.019
yes, there is for sure. But I think it's a little
00:47:47.019 --> 00:47:50.440
bit overstated because most people really are
00:47:50.440 --> 00:47:54.460
much nicer than I. kind of had a even thought
00:47:54.460 --> 00:47:56.460
that they would be going in because it is not
00:47:56.460 --> 00:47:59.139
easy to live there and everybody's kind of in
00:47:59.139 --> 00:48:01.820
the same boat of it is difficult to live here
00:48:01.820 --> 00:48:04.639
and people were generally very helpful and kind
00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:07.510
you know and fun and there's, there's big communities.
00:48:07.590 --> 00:48:09.510
There's also, I think something to be said for
00:48:09.510 --> 00:48:13.110
there's, there's so many people there doing comedy
00:48:13.110 --> 00:48:15.670
that you kind of find your people within your
00:48:15.670 --> 00:48:18.989
people. Yeah. You know, you, you find the groups
00:48:18.989 --> 00:48:21.489
of comedians that, that you like within the overall
00:48:21.489 --> 00:48:23.269
groups of, it's like going to an alternative
00:48:23.269 --> 00:48:25.989
high school instead of just like finding the
00:48:25.989 --> 00:48:30.010
weirdos at your high school. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
00:48:31.070 --> 00:48:37.159
So, um, Sorry, I distracted myself with. Oh,
00:48:37.260 --> 00:48:40.579
OK. So the two minutes, though, the two minutes,
00:48:40.619 --> 00:48:44.369
I think like that's an important thing that I
00:48:44.369 --> 00:48:47.550
think. So there's I think there's like two two
00:48:47.550 --> 00:48:50.010
big kind of camps right now in comedy. Right.
00:48:50.070 --> 00:48:54.949
There's like the Kill Tony, Joe Rogan, Spear,
00:48:54.949 --> 00:48:56.929
whatever you want to call it. And then there's
00:48:56.929 --> 00:49:01.639
like everybody that rejects. you know, just being
00:49:01.639 --> 00:49:04.000
an asshole to be an asshole or whatever. Right.
00:49:04.789 --> 00:49:07.969
But I do think, and I think Tony's the worst
00:49:07.969 --> 00:49:10.510
part of his show, but I think that there is something
00:49:10.510 --> 00:49:13.929
to be said about that one minute tight format.
00:49:14.610 --> 00:49:16.929
There's something about the format of the show.
00:49:16.929 --> 00:49:20.150
That's super fair. The bucket poll, you know,
00:49:20.150 --> 00:49:22.829
like there's something there. There's reasons
00:49:22.829 --> 00:49:27.269
it's been so successful. And I think like, recognizing
00:49:27.269 --> 00:49:29.829
the importance of like doing a tight set doing
00:49:29.829 --> 00:49:32.469
a tight minute and building that doing tight
00:49:32.469 --> 00:49:35.289
two minutes and building that no matter where
00:49:35.289 --> 00:49:36.929
you are you don't need to you know like that
00:49:36.929 --> 00:49:39.889
that's actually like it sounds harsh but it's
00:49:39.889 --> 00:49:42.989
also it doesn't leave a lot of time for crowd
00:49:42.989 --> 00:49:46.110
work though does it no i mean it does doesn't
00:49:46.110 --> 00:49:48.829
leave time for anything that that's the i like
00:49:48.829 --> 00:49:51.469
didn't do any crowd work that i i still don't
00:49:51.469 --> 00:49:53.730
really do any crowd work i've never seen you
00:49:53.730 --> 00:49:56.750
do crowd work Kind of what I was getting at was
00:49:56.750 --> 00:50:00.750
like, is that a conscious thing? No, I also just
00:50:00.750 --> 00:50:07.539
like, yes, I'll do it if somebody says something
00:50:07.539 --> 00:50:11.500
and interjects and stuff. If it's brought to
00:50:11.500 --> 00:50:14.699
me, then I'm okay with it. And I think it took
00:50:14.699 --> 00:50:17.039
a while to get there. But I also just have the
00:50:17.039 --> 00:50:20.679
like, I can't really antagonize people because
00:50:20.679 --> 00:50:22.460
I'm stuttering. And the crowd is still trying
00:50:22.460 --> 00:50:26.639
to figure me out. And then at the point of they've
00:50:26.639 --> 00:50:28.679
gotten to know me, I'm already like 15 minutes
00:50:28.679 --> 00:50:31.079
into my set and feeling comfortable. I don't
00:50:31.079 --> 00:50:32.559
want to just be like, what do you do? You know,
00:50:32.619 --> 00:50:36.460
I kind of want to get to work. It's weird. It
00:50:36.460 --> 00:50:40.059
doesn't flow. Like when I do crowd work, it doesn't
00:50:40.059 --> 00:50:43.340
really flow well. I can't figure out the right
00:50:43.340 --> 00:50:45.659
spots to put it in. What do you think of crowd
00:50:45.659 --> 00:50:48.960
work in general, like outside of your own kind
00:50:48.960 --> 00:50:52.539
of like approach to comedy? I think there's definitely
00:50:52.539 --> 00:50:56.239
people who are good at it. It's a skill. It's
00:50:56.239 --> 00:50:58.539
like a completely different thing from what I
00:50:58.539 --> 00:51:00.860
can do. It's almost closer to improv comedy.
00:51:01.559 --> 00:51:06.059
Yeah. And it definitely is fun. There's kind
00:51:06.059 --> 00:51:09.219
of a comedy math to it in the same way that roast
00:51:09.449 --> 00:51:12.869
battles have a comedy math. Or even like a magician.
00:51:13.309 --> 00:51:17.650
Yes, right. It is very like... Here's my trick
00:51:17.650 --> 00:51:20.510
kind of thing that I know when this... And a
00:51:20.510 --> 00:51:22.989
lot of people... It just comes with time and
00:51:22.989 --> 00:51:27.769
work. And I do respect people who are very good
00:51:27.769 --> 00:51:32.110
at it. And I just... I can't figure out where
00:51:32.110 --> 00:51:35.090
to put it in in a way that would not feel a little
00:51:35.090 --> 00:51:38.110
bit forced. You know what I mean? Yeah. I like
00:51:38.110 --> 00:51:42.030
when it feels natural. I think I could do it
00:51:42.030 --> 00:51:47.139
in a way that brings that... I like it a lot
00:51:47.139 --> 00:51:49.780
when it like leads into other bits. Like when
00:51:49.780 --> 00:51:52.820
you have it and you ask her out a question, somebody
00:51:52.820 --> 00:51:55.420
answers it. You talk with them about that for
00:51:55.420 --> 00:51:57.940
a little bit and then it leads into your bit
00:51:57.940 --> 00:52:02.159
that you're trying to like get to. I like that
00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:04.840
and have thought about potentially trying to
00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:08.159
do something along those lines. But the most
00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:10.300
I've done like that is like a poll by applause.
00:52:11.099 --> 00:52:13.739
Yeah. But, like, that's as far as I'm, like,
00:52:13.800 --> 00:52:16.460
I haven't wanted to turn over the reins too much
00:52:16.460 --> 00:52:20.059
with the audience. No, no, I, yeah, see, I, like,
00:52:20.199 --> 00:52:22.480
don't want to open up that can of worms. Like,
00:52:22.579 --> 00:52:24.639
I just want to keep that. I don't want to open
00:52:24.639 --> 00:52:26.579
Pandora's box. I just want to leave that closed
00:52:26.579 --> 00:52:29.179
and do my material because I've worked so hard
00:52:29.179 --> 00:52:32.440
to, like, win this crowd over in the beginning
00:52:32.440 --> 00:52:34.960
that I'm like, all right, I've got them. Now
00:52:34.960 --> 00:52:36.900
I can do the material I want to do and I've,
00:52:36.920 --> 00:52:40.079
like, written and worked on. So is that really
00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:42.340
how you feel about your first five minutes now
00:52:42.340 --> 00:52:44.820
a days is like, it's just like a hump you have
00:52:44.820 --> 00:52:48.000
to get over every night. Yeah. I would say first
00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:50.679
like two minutes, but yes, that is kind of a
00:52:50.679 --> 00:52:53.719
hump I have to get over. I have a newer bit that
00:52:53.719 --> 00:52:56.500
would, that's working really well. Like every
00:52:56.659 --> 00:53:01.280
now and then I change out like the way the, the
00:53:01.280 --> 00:53:03.619
like first thing I do to introduce a little,
00:53:03.679 --> 00:53:06.960
like, I think at the, the VF hall shows, I say
00:53:06.960 --> 00:53:10.489
like, I'm like, People assume that you stutter
00:53:10.489 --> 00:53:14.489
because you are nervous. I can't say I'm particularly
00:53:14.489 --> 00:53:17.309
nervous to be at the VFD Hall in Tallahassee.
00:53:17.409 --> 00:53:19.690
Like, that's kind of the way that I've been opening
00:53:19.690 --> 00:53:23.630
shows, especially, like, those. But then sometimes
00:53:23.630 --> 00:53:27.190
you're on a show, like, at a big theater, like,
00:53:27.190 --> 00:53:30.269
a decent -sized venue where it would make sense
00:53:30.269 --> 00:53:31.769
for someone to be nervous. So I have to, like,
00:53:31.789 --> 00:53:34.489
think of something else. And I have a new bit
00:53:34.489 --> 00:53:38.619
talking about Waymos now that, like... is a good
00:53:38.619 --> 00:53:44.480
way into the... Whenever I can add something
00:53:44.480 --> 00:53:46.900
to that beginning piece, I'm, like, happy about
00:53:46.900 --> 00:53:49.780
it because it changes up what I get to do off
00:53:49.780 --> 00:53:54.059
the top, and then I can kind of work into the
00:53:54.059 --> 00:53:58.340
meat of the set. So that's what I'm working with
00:53:58.340 --> 00:54:02.099
now. When I interviewed Shane Moss, he was like...
00:54:02.429 --> 00:54:05.389
Because I had just seen him headline the night
00:54:05.389 --> 00:54:07.929
before, and he probably went like 10 minutes
00:54:07.929 --> 00:54:11.860
without even trying for a while. Which I think
00:54:11.860 --> 00:54:14.440
is a really interesting approach, because it's
00:54:14.440 --> 00:54:17.360
almost like you're just listening to a lecture
00:54:17.360 --> 00:54:21.199
or a monologue for a little bit. But I think
00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:23.659
his philosophy is the same. He's like, I want
00:54:23.659 --> 00:54:26.579
to bring you into my world, and then we can play
00:54:26.579 --> 00:54:29.300
in it. And we don't have to worry about all this
00:54:29.300 --> 00:54:31.199
other stuff, because I've already brought you
00:54:31.199 --> 00:54:34.079
in. um have you noticed a difference like when
00:54:34.079 --> 00:54:36.199
you when you headline or when you're in a show
00:54:36.199 --> 00:54:38.480
in your hometown and when the crowd knows you
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:42.739
is like i imagine it's a lot more freeing oh
00:54:42.739 --> 00:54:46.929
yeah yeah yeah i just got to do a show in in
00:54:46.929 --> 00:54:49.230
my hometown it was it was awesome but it was
00:54:49.230 --> 00:54:53.150
very funny like i could like point to everybody
00:54:53.150 --> 00:54:56.610
in the front row and be like t -ball coach cousin
00:54:56.610 --> 00:54:59.150
next door neighbor like that's when you do crowd
00:54:59.150 --> 00:55:04.050
work yeah it was wild i did a bit that was like
00:55:04.050 --> 00:55:08.010
this like headlining a sold -out show in my hometown
00:55:08.010 --> 00:55:11.989
is a dream come true like you know because obviously
00:55:11.989 --> 00:55:13.730
that's a cool thing but it's also a dream come
00:55:13.730 --> 00:55:15.789
true in the same way that like dreams are weird
00:55:15.789 --> 00:55:18.750
yeah like i had a dream last night i had to do
00:55:18.750 --> 00:55:21.840
45 minutes of stand -up for my like high school
00:55:21.840 --> 00:55:25.079
math teacher my t -ball coach and my old neighbor
00:55:25.079 --> 00:55:29.679
i gotta stop taking nyquil you know like i'm
00:55:29.679 --> 00:55:35.179
taking nyquil before bed like oh man so you still
00:55:35.179 --> 00:55:38.219
do your day job but you're you're also touring
00:55:38.219 --> 00:55:41.360
a lot you travel a lot to perform like at what
00:55:41.360 --> 00:55:43.900
point would you quit your like a day job and
00:55:43.900 --> 00:55:47.280
just do comedy um because i think tommy's in
00:55:47.280 --> 00:55:50.300
a similar boat like In IT, like the money's really
00:55:50.300 --> 00:55:52.980
good. It's really hard to walk away sometimes
00:55:52.980 --> 00:55:55.880
from something like that. Right. And I don't
00:55:55.880 --> 00:55:59.460
sit like my work thinks it's cool that I do comedy
00:55:59.460 --> 00:56:01.800
as long as I get my work done. So I don't see
00:56:01.800 --> 00:56:04.199
a reason to ever leave until they tell me it's
00:56:04.199 --> 00:56:08.780
not cool. You know, I'm just not I'm not in a
00:56:08.780 --> 00:56:11.179
position to stir the pot or anything. I'm just
00:56:11.179 --> 00:56:13.579
going to kind of keep my head down and get my
00:56:13.579 --> 00:56:16.900
work done. even if it's like off hours and I'm
00:56:16.900 --> 00:56:19.800
working from an airport or something. And I,
00:56:19.800 --> 00:56:22.780
as long as it's getting sent along and hoarded,
00:56:22.860 --> 00:56:26.889
it's, they don't really care so far. Yeah. I
00:56:26.889 --> 00:56:28.750
guess the other side of it is more what I'm curious
00:56:28.750 --> 00:56:31.650
about. Like is touring full time to where like,
00:56:31.690 --> 00:56:33.369
that would be impossible. Something you're even
00:56:33.369 --> 00:56:35.570
interested in. I know you recently got married.
00:56:35.730 --> 00:56:38.849
You're like, you've got a fam, you know, you
00:56:38.849 --> 00:56:42.090
live with your family and is that even something
00:56:42.090 --> 00:56:46.610
you want to do? Yeah. I mean, enough it's it's
00:56:46.610 --> 00:56:48.530
kind of nice where it is right now but i do see
00:56:48.530 --> 00:56:54.840
like the the dream but then when you boil down
00:56:54.840 --> 00:56:56.360
the dream it's like yeah but i'm also getting
00:56:56.360 --> 00:56:59.280
paid to go to a new city and travel and stay
00:56:59.280 --> 00:57:01.739
in a hotel and do my stand up and everything
00:57:01.739 --> 00:57:03.940
like it's all here like everything's kind of
00:57:03.940 --> 00:57:06.179
here right now so you have like a pretty good
00:57:06.179 --> 00:57:09.360
balance it seems like everything yeah Yeah, well,
00:57:09.500 --> 00:57:11.780
why add more stress? Because then, like, I see
00:57:11.780 --> 00:57:14.199
the people who are moving up to headlining and
00:57:14.199 --> 00:57:16.639
everything now, and it's like, no, you're kind
00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:18.880
of a ticket salesman more than a comedian. Like,
00:57:18.940 --> 00:57:21.780
your job is to promote yourself online versus
00:57:21.780 --> 00:57:26.059
to, like, just do the comedy. Or you look at
00:57:26.059 --> 00:57:29.460
somebody like Stavros, who's gotten so, he's
00:57:29.460 --> 00:57:31.960
blown up in so many different ways now that he's
00:57:31.960 --> 00:57:33.820
probably got people doing a lot of that stuff
00:57:33.820 --> 00:57:37.619
for him. He's still doing his podcast and, you
00:57:37.619 --> 00:57:41.090
know. everything but and tommy's still a regular
00:57:41.090 --> 00:57:45.679
on there but he's also more stressed he says
00:57:45.679 --> 00:57:48.119
that he's more stressed out than he's ever been
00:57:48.119 --> 00:57:51.559
in his entire life yeah it's like he keeps getting
00:57:51.559 --> 00:57:55.159
offers he can't refuse and like it's kind of
00:57:55.159 --> 00:57:59.840
hard to envy that no i do think too like i was
00:57:59.840 --> 00:58:02.500
on the road with him last fall which was very
00:58:02.500 --> 00:58:07.360
fun i got to do stops like southern run of theaters
00:58:07.360 --> 00:58:12.480
for a bit so that was cool um but like when you
00:58:12.480 --> 00:58:15.219
have that kind of money you're able to it all
00:58:15.219 --> 00:58:17.139
kind of snowballs because you're able to like
00:58:17.139 --> 00:58:20.059
invest it in like a film guy and like you know
00:58:20.059 --> 00:58:23.039
producers and tour managers and stuff so like
00:58:23.039 --> 00:58:27.159
you're able to by making more money you're able
00:58:27.159 --> 00:58:29.630
to make more Content and able to make more money.
00:58:29.650 --> 00:58:32.110
It kind of, like, builds this stream of, you
00:58:32.110 --> 00:58:34.889
know, influence and marketing and content that
00:58:34.889 --> 00:58:38.130
you don't have if you're, you know, just kind
00:58:38.130 --> 00:58:42.610
of doing your own thing and paying your own way
00:58:42.610 --> 00:58:45.590
with the nothing you make, you know, from comedy.
00:58:45.670 --> 00:58:48.869
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, no, I mean, it really does
00:58:48.869 --> 00:58:51.409
feel like there's a sweet spot in all of this.
00:58:51.710 --> 00:58:54.570
Yeah. Where, like, if you can, like, make a good
00:58:54.570 --> 00:58:57.909
living and, like, do it enough to not... go crazy
00:58:57.909 --> 00:59:03.440
like we talked about um but not have to be parasocial
00:59:03.440 --> 00:59:08.460
in this way and not have to like give up having
00:59:08.460 --> 00:59:12.340
a family or your health goals or like because
00:59:12.340 --> 00:59:14.539
stavi does that whole that whole podcast about
00:59:14.539 --> 00:59:16.760
losing weight and like every season he gains
00:59:16.760 --> 00:59:19.320
weight the more successfully gets he just gains
00:59:19.320 --> 00:59:22.820
more weight so donnie it's been really awesome
00:59:22.820 --> 00:59:25.289
talking to you man Is there anything you want
00:59:25.289 --> 00:59:27.269
to talk about that we didn't get to before we
00:59:27.269 --> 00:59:29.090
wrap this up? I don't want to leave anything
00:59:29.090 --> 00:59:36.340
out. No, man, I'm all set. I just think, yeah,
00:59:36.360 --> 00:59:39.940
I don't know how to promote myself very well.
00:59:40.039 --> 00:59:43.400
I think so much of the game is online, and I
00:59:43.400 --> 00:59:46.440
do not do a good job of the internet, but I'm
00:59:46.469 --> 00:59:50.769
starting to put out more clips. I just don't
00:59:50.769 --> 00:59:54.130
know what. to what end and at some point i hope
00:59:54.130 --> 00:59:57.030
to get a special out so yeah when i know you've
00:59:57.030 --> 00:59:59.269
done some some of the couple of the nate the
00:59:59.269 --> 01:00:02.050
nateland presents special as well the showcases
01:00:02.050 --> 01:00:05.389
those are on youtube you brought up something
01:00:05.389 --> 01:00:07.190
that i do want to touch on before we wrap this
01:00:07.190 --> 01:00:10.360
up if that's all right it's harder i think to
01:00:10.360 --> 01:00:13.579
let go of your material and put it online sometimes
01:00:13.579 --> 01:00:17.019
than it is like a musician right like a musician
01:00:17.019 --> 01:00:19.639
puts a song out and then like people want to
01:00:19.639 --> 01:00:23.170
hear that song over and over and over it's really
01:00:23.170 --> 01:00:25.670
hard to put a joke that you want to keep telling
01:00:25.670 --> 01:00:31.530
out online, I think. How do you, is that kind
01:00:31.530 --> 01:00:33.130
of part of what you struggle with, do you think?
01:00:33.960 --> 01:00:37.800
I think so, and just the, like, act of putting
01:00:37.800 --> 01:00:40.900
it out there, it doesn't make as much sense in
01:00:40.900 --> 01:00:44.300
the context. Like, with the context removed,
01:00:44.579 --> 01:00:47.619
it sucks. Like, I just think it's so much worse,
01:00:47.639 --> 01:00:50.500
and you find yourself almost telling jokes for
01:00:50.500 --> 01:00:54.809
the clip. Like, I... i also it might reach people
01:00:54.809 --> 01:00:57.570
who don't know who i am or what my entire deal
01:00:57.570 --> 01:01:00.730
is so i want the clip to be like i have a stutter
01:01:00.730 --> 01:01:04.769
here's the rest of this joke so like it's gotta
01:01:04.769 --> 01:01:07.949
have context and be able to exist on its own
01:01:07.949 --> 01:01:10.809
when it doesn't have that in the room when i'm
01:01:10.809 --> 01:01:13.070
telling it to to an audience full of people so
01:01:13.070 --> 01:01:16.780
i just I don't think it plays as well for me
01:01:16.780 --> 01:01:20.000
personally when it's just a clip, you know? I
01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:23.219
think you are, Lee. That's kind of exactly how
01:01:23.219 --> 01:01:25.159
I feel about it most of the time and how I feel
01:01:25.159 --> 01:01:28.739
about it, like, with most comics, too, that aren't
01:01:28.739 --> 01:01:30.980
comic. You know, I mean, because there's guys
01:01:30.980 --> 01:01:35.559
that can do that. Yeah. But most comics aren't
01:01:35.559 --> 01:01:37.780
that. Most comics are, you know, especially where
01:01:37.780 --> 01:01:41.170
comedy is now. You have to get a lot more personal.
01:01:41.210 --> 01:01:43.570
You have to let the audience know who you are.
01:01:44.769 --> 01:01:47.210
Donnie, who are you on the road with this fall?
01:01:48.420 --> 01:01:52.219
I'm on the road with Trey again, so I'm excited.
01:01:52.380 --> 01:01:54.940
That picks up in September, and then I'm with
01:01:54.940 --> 01:01:59.139
him basically through the new year. We're doing
01:01:59.139 --> 01:02:02.500
some shows down south and stuff, and we'll be
01:02:02.500 --> 01:02:04.840
at Haney's for Christmas and everything, and
01:02:04.840 --> 01:02:08.079
Drew and Corey will be there too. That one's
01:02:08.079 --> 01:02:10.840
always a lot of fun. Man, that sounds like something
01:02:10.840 --> 01:02:12.639
I might have to come to one year. I don't do
01:02:12.639 --> 01:02:14.360
a lot for Christmas down in Florida these days.
01:02:14.360 --> 01:02:16.760
That's always good. It's always a good time.
01:02:17.980 --> 01:02:19.519
Donnie, thank you so much for being here, man.
01:02:19.579 --> 01:02:21.460
I really appreciate it. Of course, man. Yeah,
01:02:21.480 --> 01:02:27.360
yeah. Anytime. See you around, buddy. That was
01:02:27.360 --> 01:02:29.980
my talk with Donnie Sendstack. What a cool guy.
01:02:30.239 --> 01:02:33.360
Great story. Really funny jokes, man. Check out
01:02:33.360 --> 01:02:35.159
his stuff. You got links to his stuff in the
01:02:35.159 --> 01:02:38.860
description. Speaking of really funny, I just
01:02:38.860 --> 01:02:40.719
want to give a shout -out to Weird Al's band.
01:02:41.260 --> 01:02:44.420
I saw them this week. They are still on the road.
01:02:44.539 --> 01:02:47.019
They've been on the road all year. What an amazing
01:02:47.019 --> 01:02:50.639
show. And I encourage, if you're a Weird Al fan,
01:02:50.719 --> 01:02:52.860
go check out my episode with Jim Kimo West. He
01:02:52.860 --> 01:02:56.159
was on the show last year. Amazing guitar player,
01:02:56.360 --> 01:02:58.780
not just with Weird Al, but also a Grammy -winning
01:02:58.780 --> 01:03:01.920
Hawaiian slack key player. So go check that out.
01:03:02.659 --> 01:03:05.139
Thanks for listening, y 'all. Get this out of
01:03:05.139 --> 01:03:05.679
here, Sloan.