Greetings From the Garden State

Embracing Dystopia with John Poveromo

February 06, 2024 Ham Radio Productions Episode 115
Embracing Dystopia with John Poveromo
Greetings From the Garden State
More Info
Greetings From the Garden State
Embracing Dystopia with John Poveromo
Feb 06, 2024 Episode 115
Ham Radio Productions

This episode is full of laughs. Mike and guest John Poveromo explore various topics, from reflections on New Jersey geography to John's intriguing upbringing marked by frequent moves.

Discover John Poveromo's unique journey into the world of comedy and podcasting. Gain insights into his early interest in humor, influenced by his parents, and his initiation into stand-up comedy, navigating challenges in the vibrant comedy scene. The episode concludes with a glimpse into John Poveromo's diverse career as a comedian and host.

Learn about the origins of John Poveromo's podcast, "Dystopia Tonight," initiated during the pandemic. The name, conceptualized years earlier, finds inspiration in a fictional talk show set in a post-apocalyptic world. Explore John's involvement in organizing a massive benefit event during the pandemic, sparking the creation of the podcast.

Delve into the evolution of "Dystopia Tonight," featuring a range of guests from musicians like Frank Turner to comedians like Bobby Slayton. John Poveromo shares his experiences podcasting during the pandemic, including losing track of time while recording and the joy of connecting with guests who are his heroes.

The podcast transcript reveals John Poveromo's journey from a real estate-focused show to a more diverse and engaging format. Learn about his unique approach to hosting live episodes at different locations, such as diners and restaurants, adding a lively element to the podcast. The conversation touches on the challenges of editing and finding suitable editors for the show.

Towards the end, explore John Poveromo's involvement in a short film called "Dupp It," centered around the theme of depression, gaining attention and leading to meetings with the Henson Company. Gain insights into future projects, plans for returning to LA, and creating new content for the podcast. The episode concludes with a discussion on stand-up comedy, upcoming gigs, and plans for an album and special.

Join Mike Ham and John Poveromo in this laughter-filled episode, making "Greetings from the Garden State" a unique and evolving experience for both host and audience.

johnpoveromo.net
@johnpoveromo

GET YOUR JERSEY FEST TICKETS NOW! https://www.seetickets.us/event/jersey-fest/588283

Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
jacksonpines.com

Thank you to our sponsors:
New Jersey Lottery: njlottery.com

New Jersey Innovation Institute: njii.com

Make Cool Sh*t: makecoolshit.co

UCS Advisors: ucsgreatness.com

Albert & Whitney CPAs:  awcpasllc.com

Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org/events-calendar

Contact the show: mike@greetingsfromthegardenstate.com

Support the Show.

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Show Notes Transcript

This episode is full of laughs. Mike and guest John Poveromo explore various topics, from reflections on New Jersey geography to John's intriguing upbringing marked by frequent moves.

Discover John Poveromo's unique journey into the world of comedy and podcasting. Gain insights into his early interest in humor, influenced by his parents, and his initiation into stand-up comedy, navigating challenges in the vibrant comedy scene. The episode concludes with a glimpse into John Poveromo's diverse career as a comedian and host.

Learn about the origins of John Poveromo's podcast, "Dystopia Tonight," initiated during the pandemic. The name, conceptualized years earlier, finds inspiration in a fictional talk show set in a post-apocalyptic world. Explore John's involvement in organizing a massive benefit event during the pandemic, sparking the creation of the podcast.

Delve into the evolution of "Dystopia Tonight," featuring a range of guests from musicians like Frank Turner to comedians like Bobby Slayton. John Poveromo shares his experiences podcasting during the pandemic, including losing track of time while recording and the joy of connecting with guests who are his heroes.

The podcast transcript reveals John Poveromo's journey from a real estate-focused show to a more diverse and engaging format. Learn about his unique approach to hosting live episodes at different locations, such as diners and restaurants, adding a lively element to the podcast. The conversation touches on the challenges of editing and finding suitable editors for the show.

Towards the end, explore John Poveromo's involvement in a short film called "Dupp It," centered around the theme of depression, gaining attention and leading to meetings with the Henson Company. Gain insights into future projects, plans for returning to LA, and creating new content for the podcast. The episode concludes with a discussion on stand-up comedy, upcoming gigs, and plans for an album and special.

Join Mike Ham and John Poveromo in this laughter-filled episode, making "Greetings from the Garden State" a unique and evolving experience for both host and audience.

johnpoveromo.net
@johnpoveromo

GET YOUR JERSEY FEST TICKETS NOW! https://www.seetickets.us/event/jersey-fest/588283

Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
jacksonpines.com

Thank you to our sponsors:
New Jersey Lottery: njlottery.com

New Jersey Innovation Institute: njii.com

Make Cool Sh*t: makecoolshit.co

UCS Advisors: ucsgreatness.com

Albert & Whitney CPAs:  awcpasllc.com

Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org/events-calendar

Contact the show: mike@greetingsfromthegardenstate.com

Support the Show.

0:00

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1:51

greatness all right what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of GRE with the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery I'm your host Mike ham


1:56

we're here with John overo John hey what's going on man to the show by the New Jersey Lottery it's a powerful statement yeah right that's why did you


2:02

make that up or you just do one every like you just like throw that out there every epis they're a sponsor of ours that's [ __ ] awesome yeah they're our


2:08

title sponsor so that was like part of the deal when we got that set up was like it's GRE that's the official name of the show oh wow okay greetings from


2:14

the Garden State it's greenard say powered by the New Jersey Lottery that's [ __ ] sick and the powered by I think


2:21

I I don't want to do brought to you by or like greetings from the or the New Jersey Lottery presents I just wanted it


2:27

to be powered by because like you said it has that Jena to it yeah you know dude does each


2:33

guest get like a free thing of scratch off no but you so quickly said no we're not doing that [ __ ] someone asked if


2:39

they could win the lottery and I was like yeah but that's like you can't do that you can't say it on air anyway no definitely not you're like yes yeah this


2:46

side yeah yeah that's I could um but well so


2:51

first off we'll give a shout out to a shared Universe podcast studio uh main Christians back there uh on the ones and


2:58

twos uh so so we're here because we live basically on two opposite sides of the


3:04

state and though it's not that big of a state no and you're in LBI right like that area which I didn't even know


3:09

people actually lived in LBI beyond the summer yeah yeah go down there when it's


3:14

not the summer it's dead yeah yeah the poorest live there I mean there some we you know and then there's like empty


3:21

vacant [ __ ] mansions for miles and miles Yeahs are blinking yeah that's the


3:26

best part that is the best part that makes me feel it's it's nice like November de like October November


3:32

December like when everything kind of shuts down but things are still a little open then you get those blinking lights and you get the Christmas lights and all


3:37

the [ __ ] it gives like a homey vibe from here on out it's just like like a countdown to will you kill yourself


3:44

before the summer like it's dead there it's [ __ ] there's nothing going on yeah like what about like like the


3:49

restaurants and stuff are those a couple of those are open the check's open 24 hours okay well that's no no no no not 24 hours but I think they're open like s


3:56

days a week but then the summer then it's 24 hours yeah something something something to eat yeah something to eat it's good the che's still there um


4:03

there's a few restaurants that are still there 72 is got some good [ __ ] um you know the Staples Applebees Friday blah


4:08

blah blah but even those like you still walk into those places and you realize you're just in an area of new J like the


4:14

state that just is not like heavily populated by Ian either that they're all ins I have no idea yeah they're all


4:20

saying it I mean they maybe that's their that's their like you know winter winter thing yeah just hibernating in the LBI


4:26

but no I I mean like I like LBI it's it's not my go-to Shore town or Shore


4:31

area right I'm an Asbury guy myself nice uh well there's more to do in Asbury yeah there's never it never stops right


4:38

I love in the offseason that's where we like to go especially because like you said it's you know a full year round


4:43

Town there's like always things going on there's always people people live there yeah uh but yeah so and it does feel


4:50

like shit's happening there like there's there's like a uh there's a definite night life there as opposed to even like


4:56

I mean I like coming to Red bang too and I like spot but asy as feels like when to the city


5:03

anding there people walk as feels like that yeah with like the shows and all


5:09

the stuff friends are you a jersey guy from the beginning no I uh lived in New York


5:17

I was born in Brooklyn um and lived there a couple times a couple different times yeah um throughout my life


5:22

obviously with my parents cuz I was younger I was between jobs sure uh 5 years old couldn't get you know you can't get work when you're five it's


5:28

rough um but yeah uh but I lived I was born there um you know grew up there for a little bit and


5:34

then also lived in Arizona okay um and then lived there for like four years


5:39

came back to Brooklyn uh lived there for a little bit again and then started going to school in New Jersey cuz my mom


5:45

didn't want me to grow up in Brooklyn uh interesting so you a little bit all over the place uh so when you


5:52

came to Jersey initially was the Shore area the spot what you guys started at


5:57

yeah so when I first God where the [ __ ] we came I lived in New Jersey I think we came here in


6:03

'92 uh my brain told me to say the blizzard of '92 and I was like you're not 80 yet so don't talk about the


6:09

weather 96 96 there was another yeah 92 96 yeah I was2 so I don't oh yeah yeah


6:15

yeah no six and 96 oh yeah there you go you know I remember that one yeah that was a bad one too um but yeah we came


6:22

here then and yeah we lived in Seaside Park I went to um actually no that's


6:28

wrong uh I went to elementary school in um at em Haven's


6:35

young okay and um shout out I know I don't know why nobody [ __ ] class of


6:42

yeah whatever the [ __ ] it doesn't matter it's not a it's I don't I don't remember if it was I think it was a good school I


6:47

have no idea yeah I know we it was um we lived in ortley beach for a little bit


6:55

um and I think that's when I went to Emma Havens I can't I don't I didn't realize we also lived in Manalo here's the thing I'm going to tell you I lived


7:01

in a lot of different places and the subtext of that is that it was because of my dad my dad you know uh he passed


7:06

away um a year ago uh this November but um you know he was


7:13

uh uh you know just a he's con artist kind of guy uh never you know um grew up


7:21

in Brooklyn all his life and then you know had two marriages before he met my mom and then um you know he was just


7:26

that type of guy so we lived I didn't live basically here's here's the trory of that I never lived in the same house


7:33

until they got divorced and I was in sixth grade so it was a new house every


7:39

year because he'd either stole from somebody or something was going on or something Shady happened so we did move around a lot so I lived in Mani lived in


7:45

ortley um and um went to Emy Haven young wasn't even supposed to go there my


7:51

parents had used somebody else's address because I think where we did live initially was not a great like the school system wasn't great sure so we


7:58

just used this other dude's address and said there so I can go to a better school naturally um and then which is


8:03

shout out to my mom for always taking care of me and doing [ __ ] cuz she was yeah she didn't give up like she was like yeah we'll just say you're at


8:10

another like we'll figure this out um and then uh then I went to Seaside Park Elementary School in like God I think it


8:17

was like the third grade is when I started there yeah and then I loved Seaside so we lived in a few different places in Seaside um and that was like


8:24

from 3rd to sixth grade uh and the Seaside Park Elementary I don't know if you know anything about the school it's


8:29

gone now no um I'm not super well versed on any elementary schools besides the one I actually went yeah okay yeah that


8:36

makes a lot of sense I don't know why I said it like you should be like obviously you would know about the


8:42

elementary schools uh we haven't gotten to that part of the state shout out restrain for this um no no no for this


8:49

show can we delete that no um but it was um it was cool it was only one grade per


8:55

uh or one class per grade yeah you know um so it was everybody knew each other


9:01

it was really fun it was a great experience growing up there and then from there we moved to Tom's River okay


9:06

and then so because uh I think the option if you went to uh I think Seaside


9:11

Park was you had to go to like I don't know whatever the high school was [ __ ] uh garbage yeah I don't remember


9:16

what it was sure so but then we went to Tom rer and I went to South for a year then went to high school East for Soph


9:23

more through a senior yeah what as a kid was it like not even thinking about it just moving around that much or was it


9:29

more just like this is just what we do this is what everyone does um it was a bummer I think the moving from Arizona


9:37

to Jersey I like I think I pitched a [ __ ] like I was not happy about uh


9:43

moving because I had a bunch of friends um you know and I really liked I mean my I had some family in Arizona that was


9:49

there that's why we even you know pieced out and moved there in the first place um and then uh so yeah that was a bummer


9:55

but then moving around a lot like it was I don't remember sure and I think I again I credit that to my mom cuz like


10:01

she just kept it you know fun I guess you know what I mean for the most part I'm sure there was probably some like


10:08

moments where I was like [ __ ] are we moving again but also I you know it was like new room yay you know what I mean


10:13

like you could get a new room and we're going to get this and we're going to do that and this is a nice house because blah blah blah so it was you know it was


10:19

a bummer because of that um and I think moving from Seaside to Tom's River I


10:25

don't I think I was bummed that I was leaving my friends sure but I think I was just used to it but this


10:32

is just what we do yeah yeah and I didn't know oh oh and I think after that it was like um my parents had gotten


10:37

divorced when I was in sixth grade so when we're moving it was very much like we're moving for the last time right so


10:43

I was like [ __ ] a great yeah that's fine by me and then from that point on we stayed um in Tom's River off of fiser


10:49

Boulevard on Windsor cool yeah uh and then so maybe we should tell people like who the [ __ ] you are at some point I'd


10:56

rather not on in this episode they can guess no good uh so comedian podcast


11:02

host dystopia tonight is so yeah uh is there another thing that I'm missing are those like the two big ones that we're


11:08

talking about yeah that's the two big ones we can we can cover I dabble in a lot of different [ __ ] sure um but yeah


11:13

no comedian been doing stand up for um close to 20 years it was 18 this past


11:18

November and then um yeah started doing dystopia tonight during the pandemic cool so we're going to get to those sure


11:25

uh but how so like you have this kind of unique upbringing bouncing around a lot


11:31

moving all that kind of stuff like what activities did you find yourself doing


11:37

and did those lead you to life of Comedy or something different yeah I was I I


11:45

um I was always like the funny kid in class but I wasn't like there was two of


11:52

like there was always like the kid he would drop his pants sure and it would be like this guy's [ __ ] BR like I


11:57

don't know where he came up with that one yeah and then there was like I would you know just try to make like people


12:04

around me close like it would sort of spread like I'd be like if I can get like you know these four people to realize I'm kind of funny sometimes or


12:09

whatever and then like it was Branch out and then if I can make the teacher laugh that was like the best thing in the world because one they would get


12:15

distracted as [ __ ] yeah you know it would be a break in the day um it would kind of lighten the mood and also you got an adult to laugh yeah so like that


12:22

was like yeah yeah yeah that was like oh man I'm doing this on another and I don't even know what I said they're probably just walking away like this


12:27

kid's [ __ ] [ __ ] you know like I have no idea what I had said at the time but it was it was definitely like one of those things um but also that was like


12:35

my you know my mom um again you know and my dad my dad was funny in a very silly


12:42

like you know life of the party kind of way you know what I mean and I picked up a lot


12:47

of like I noticed a lot of like my personality traits coming from that because I would everywhere I would go with my dad everybody knew him yeah you


12:53

know For Better or Worse sure uh you know just don't give him money um uh candy Mo's Dead uh but um so uh but he


13:01

would you know that's so good so he would um you


13:07

know he but everywhere he went and it would kind of get annoying when I was a kid because we would stop somewhere and people would say hi to him and want to


13:12

talk to him but he was very much like people loved him for that you know what I mean and he knew who you were he remembered everything about you um and


13:19

so when I was a kid I kind of noticed that and I was like oh you I can do that but my mom um loved comedies like always


13:25

introduced me to all her favorite movies TV shows and stuff so I would just pick up on things like that the weird thing


13:32

was I I do remember as a kid like okay you know this particular humor probably


13:37

won't translate over to your friends and I would have these moments where they'd be like what the [ __ ] are you talking about and I didn't want to be that guy


13:43

but I would you know you'd pick up on the timing and stuff so you'd be like okay I can just pick up on the timing and apply it to my life and yeah it was


13:49

weird and I could draw so I would use those kind of skills to like make friends and stuff cuz I was I mean I'm


13:55

short now but I was like super short like Flathead bra acne you know what I mean like like that was like like hor


14:02

yeah horrifying yeah I mean you know they've somewhat improved but like it's just like it's it was a it was a freak


14:08

Show sure and then uh so like you start doing this stuff as a kid and like what I think is interesting because we've had


14:16

a bunch of different people like we've had another comedian on the show musician how dare you I know sorry


14:21

[ __ ] up man I thought I was going to be yeah I thought it was going to well I didn't know you then I think you followed me first I did yeah yeah and I


14:28

was like it's the name of the podcast it's good I'm like oh I got it sings you know readings from the Garden State nice


14:34

little Liberation in there it makes you feel good A little alliteration that's hard to say but uh yeah it does make me


14:39

feel good so I I got a follow from you and then I was like all right cool then I you know kind of going down that rabbit hole but uh with and then


14:46

musicians the same way even like chefs like people that are in like a creative space and kind of like how it starts to


14:53

kind of where it is now but I think like what's also interesting especially to me


14:58

in like the comedian world because like I love watching standup specials and things like that because it's just like


15:04

to me it's such an interesting art form because like you could be a funny guy and be awful on stage as a standup you


15:12

know what I mean because it's such like a different kind of funny humor you know uh that's where the art part comes in


15:17

right exactly and like figuring out how to put like a whole set together and starting with a few minutes and then growing it out into longer yeah yeah um


15:26

so when did you first like get on a stage as a standup oh man that was in


15:31

2005 uh at Carol how old is in I was 20 okay yeah and uh it was carolin's on


15:38

Broadway in New York and uh it went well oh and um yeah it's but it's it's


15:45

interesting because when you have those like you get a a a weird amount of confidence when your first show hits


15:50

yeah and it and you know I could I could tell then and I can especially tell now it wasn't like I was just like who I


15:57

wanted to be as a comedian then but it was it was close to it because


16:02

um every time afterward you're chasing that initial high like it was so much fun and I was super nervous but I went


16:09

with it and I was very much present in the moment and I think that's what I've like in the very beginning what I was like I got to get back to that yeah so


16:15

you know it was hit and miss after that I I did that one I think the next show I did um somebody had like not shown up so


16:22

they were like can you do 10 and like an idiot I was like can I fores yeah exactly I was like I could do that no


16:28

problem and then of course different setting different place you know um tanked and of course my friends were


16:34

there because it was a bring when I was doing it it were they were bringer shows um and I didn't do them for very long but they were [ __ ] horrible for


16:41

comedians yeah and just a terrible experience you know you have your friends come into the city that [ __ ] sucks yeah sure they pay a ridiculous


16:47

amount of money the drinks they have to pay for too some of them might not show up and then you get five minutes to [ __ ] eat it like you're like you're


16:54

learning in real time they don't know it they just know you're funny and then you have to like you know there's there's a


16:59

bunch of layers to that where it's like they know you personally they've known you for years so they think you're funny they've always thought you should do


17:05

this thing then you go and do this thing and you do well once so they're like I got to come out and see you sure and they don't you know there's that whole


17:11

process of like you're still [ __ ] learning in real time yeah and you can either I've noticed some people do that


17:17

where they if their friends are there they play to their friends and their audience will laugh then but then you're


17:24

just not really developing as a comic either you're not trying out any new [ __ ] yeah so when you're trying on new [ __ ] though you bomb right and


17:30

especially when you're that new so you you those choices you have to make are like man do I appeal to the people who


17:36

paid to come out to see me sure or do I do my [ __ ] this is the career I want to do and it's a hard it's hard to


17:43

explain that to people because you always want to apologize and be like hey listen I'm really sorry about that yeah I was doing this for me I didn't know if


17:49

you knew that yeah this is this is I this is my dream but um I thank you for coming yeah but yeah it's it's weird


17:56

yeah and then that like and I feel like that's just NeverEnding process like even though you've been doing it for 18


18:02

years it's like what's funny today you know or like how's this crowd going to react or what's the all those things the


18:07

beautiful thing about it is I think if you've been doing it long enough you do know like there's stuff like you know uh


18:12

I'll know if a premise will lead to something and I'll know what kind of reaction it might get from an audience also it depends a lot on you like it I


18:19

know it depends a lot on me I don't know um I know some people work you know with


18:24

a very strict like I'm going to write from you know two to four or whatever the hell it is and then and then they're


18:30

like and they write one line or that or whatever but mine is very much like the mood I'm in the you know if I write a


18:37

joke or whatever I'm like that's great I'll throw it in there somewhere or I'll leave it in the mix but um yeah it's


18:43

it's definitely different but you can tell like the longer you've been doing it you're like this is going to work this is going to be rough um and then


18:49

you can also tell if you're not like why you're not doing well sometimes it's sometimes I just [ __ ] suck yeah and


18:54

that's yeah and not not know come and see me because I've got shows coming but also like hey um yeah yeah I know I was


19:01

looking at that too and I'm like we look good uh but this is the actual I are you yeah but no I think


19:07

um yeah I think that's like one of the main things is I you know you know why and I to me like the not doing well part


19:17

and I don't mean to keep harping on this no no do it are good but like for me this is like as a podcaster and you all


19:24

are also one so you would understand this like this is also kind of like its own art yes you know and if you or I or


19:32

whatever record like a really shitty episode like you know kind of like I know if like halfway through or even


19:38

earlier I'm like this is going to be a rough one you know we like you know 10 minutes in I'm like this is going to be


19:44

one of the best episodes we've ever produced but then at the same time like I'm going to put it out but then it's


19:51

like here you go everyone and you never have to see a reaction feel the reaction


19:56

like all that kind of stuff and to me like that is one of the most terrifying things about what it is that you do and


20:03

like you know I think it takes like a special kind of person to kind of like get up there and do that like a lot of


20:09

times night after night after night after night to try to like find that little you know twinkle of something yep


20:16

and it and it is like it does you I I can't like whatever happens you know


20:22

with my career whatever I'm always going to be thankful that I did this or just grateful for standup in general because it does like


20:28

um you know give you this kind of hard layer and I think you can either choose


20:33

to like I've seen guys get really bitter about it I've seen guys become dicks you know like there's a lot of you know or


20:39

whatever but I think you can kind of have that where like not a lot of stuff bothers me like you know um if if a show


20:46

doesn't go well you do kind of leave and you're like ah [ __ ] that suck we recover much like in the beginning when the


20:51

show's been go well you're like you know driving home and you're like you know what looks good oncoming traffic I think I think now might be


20:59

those lights look appealing to me now might be the time uh and it and it's it's yeah exactly yeah exactly and


21:05

you're like what am I doing why am I doing this what did I give up and the craziest thing is too is like you're you're going along the same path as your


21:12

friends so your friends are like I didn't go to college yeah so like I did for a year and then dropped out but like um hey uh but there's like you know your


21:20

friends are doing these things but the funny thing is is like your lives you realize your lives just s and flow like when you're you know not doing that well


21:26

you think everybody's crushing it yeah not that you want anybody to do bad but it is one of those things you can't help but compare like did I make the right


21:33

because you're betting on yourself too and not that you're not doing that when you're going to college but you also have the full backing usually of society


21:40

your parents or you know or you somebody's telling you like hey you're doing the right thing you have no


21:46

[ __ ] clue yeah like there's no school there's no you know uh and and also the


21:52

figures that you do meet in clubs you don't really want to be them you know what I mean like you're not you're not running into these super super stars


21:58

that have made it immediately so you're like holy [ __ ] [ __ ] this guy's got Gout he's got uh you know like


22:05

intestinal problem like okay and they're like back in the day when I was doing MV griffi and you're like yeah yeah was


22:11

that the last show you were on Jesus [ __ ] Christ you know so it gets there's it's hard to juggle that yeah


22:17

for sure and then but they're also it's like it's almost like golf right and I'm


22:23

going to put it in now I can't I love I don't know anything about sports so I can't wait for that I suck at golf but


22:28

every now I'm I'm athletic athletic enough that I can like get on and not super embarrass myself because like


22:34

every few times I'll have like a couple shots that are like wow that was really good yeah yeah and then like it's like


22:40

you just keep going back yeah no I get that completely yeah I don't know if it's exactly like that no no no but I know exactly what you mean because if


22:45

you enjoy the thing as a whole like you're like yeah there's um you know uh


22:51

I went to Top Golf uh not to keep talk but I did go that but I know exactly what you do mean cuz you are St I mean


22:56

it's not golf but like it is one of those things where like like my friend took me yeah yeah yeah my friend like


23:02

took me and he was like we're going to go to Top Golf cuz he does golf but he's like this is more your sweet but it's one of those things where I was like I'm


23:07

just going for the food and the drinks kind of fun but when you do hit one and it goes in a thing you're like I'm a goddamn like you know what I mean like


23:14

maybe I got something he's like you don't got anything you're drunk yeah um but uh yeah it is it is kind of like


23:21

that because the reason why I knew I definitely want to do it I think the time when I started I was working full-time at a bank so I was doing the


23:28

Bank thing which I sucked at by the way sure there no reason I had Financial Consultant written on a card with my


23:33

name on it and I was like I flunked alge like I don't have any right to do this but you know that's what I you know


23:39

that's also one of those things where you realize everything is kind of [ __ ] like they sent me for training but I'm like oh this is like a sales


23:44

division this is [ __ ] ridiculous you know everybody's like you know different age groups or different whatever different periods of their life and I'm


23:50

like this is just hor like none of you are Prof like I you know you think of a bank you think of like Mary Poppins with


23:55

the dude like you know the [ __ ] not dancing but you know you you think of that kind of [ __ ] and like uh little bit


24:01

of Dancing Yeah Yeah you got to get those accounts you know what I mean you got to do what you got to do yeah um but uh


24:08

yeah but then you're like oh okay none of this is really real every is kind of winging it but I did that and then um


24:14

you know you you would bomb or You' bomb so badly or you not have a good set or whatever the hell the deal was but like


24:19

the only thing that made me want to do was keep going yeah which I thought was like that's when I was like okay I think


24:25

I really [ __ ] like this yeah because I would just go I would get bummed out and then I would book 10 more shows


24:31

because I'd be like one of those the averages of something being good enough again something's going to hit someone's going to hit yeah and it did so what


24:38

were those moments like because obviously like you said if you have like a bad set that's one thing and you kind


24:43

of like push harder from it but then I'm sure like the positives are nice too so like and doing it for 18 years is a long


24:51

time to do anything really um but doing it it's the longest thing I've ever done like I don't that's a weird way to


24:57

[ __ ] say but we'll work that out in but you know like certain moments or


25:02

like maybe like a show or whatever like oh like lightning ball you're just like yes this I can kind of so there were


25:10

definitely a couple moments like that um one was never having to do bringer shows again I had gotten to do this thing in


25:15

New York um met a guy who I'm still close with the day he doesn't do standup anymore but he was headlining all over


25:21

the place and uh he just took a liking to me and we became friends cuz he was running this uh one room at the Improv


25:27

when it was the in New York and then they sold and it became Broadway um but I would just go in every week and uh do


25:34

his shows and it was a lot of fun and he would run him and get on and close the show um at night and then I was always


25:40

in the mix somewhere and he was just like you're you're a lot of fun to be around you're funny you know I think you got something and that meant something


25:46

to me you know um because I respected him and I thought he was a good comic and then he was like I got this gig you


25:52

know in the cat skills if you want to come and then I was like that sounds [ __ ] it wasn't but I was I like that


25:58

sounds [ __ ] great yeah the cat skills I'm like buddy hack and Bobo you know that meanwhile it's like [ __ ] overalls they're roasting a pig I'm like


26:04

what is going on um they don't know where the city is you know that kind of [ __ ] now um but uh we did that and then


26:10

I never had to do a bringer show again because he would just get me road workk yeah and I was like oh cool I don't have to you know suffer through that that was


26:17

one and then I'm sure there was like a couple others like getting past at certain clubs in New York but in


26:24

2009 um I got to open for Jimmy Fallon before took over for Conan the first time yeah and that was like a nice thing


26:32

like that was um uh one of those moments where I was like okay cool this club that I've been


26:38

working at uh recognizes my ability um and and at that point I left the i' been


26:44

only working part-time jobs that okay so I guess that was another moment when I didn't have to do the full-time then I could just go down to part-time job and


26:50

I was like great because now the stand Up's making me some cash on the road um and then yeah so they asked me they're like do you want to H for Jimmy Fallon I


26:57

was like great great did five shows with him his family was there he was [ __ ] awesome super nice guy um the shows were


27:04

great and also taught me like there's another level like because you know you're doing all these shitty gigs here and there and even the club dates


27:11

sometimes they you know would have and flow but it showed me when you have when you build your audience yeah because


27:17

there was like you know uh I don't know 500 people or something like that in that room he went back to his old home Club in bipy New York it was bananas


27:24

Comedy Club at the time um and I was like is beautiful because they listen they're comedy fans like it was a


27:30

[ __ ] game changer and then of course you know after that weekend I'm back at the [ __ ] Library like you know asking


27:36

if I can go to the bathroom you know what I mean there's like that way where you're like but it it was a high that carried me for a long time and then


27:42

doing a good job there they let me keep opening for National acts that came in yeah so I was like cool now I got this


27:48

for a while totally and I think that's really interesting too because like you know you said like the the next level of


27:54

things like the next level of shows and different things like that right um also I forgot they asked this before uh as


28:01

you could tell I have a very strict question style um but like right there with you buddy you first started uh and


28:07

like this another thing I ask a lot of like I said like people that are creative in their own way that come on


28:13

the show yeah like influences and stuff like that like that you were listening to like comedy albums different things


28:18

like that you were like I really like this one this one this one kind of thing um yeah my when I was a kid um my first


28:26

two comedy albums were Jerry Seinfeld's um I think it was live on Broadway was the name of his show or whatever and


28:32

then Robin Williams live at the Met okay which were two polar opposit seriously


28:38

end of the spectrum yeah and really loved it I was always a fan of Robin Williams loved um like I always say he


28:44

was like the Gateway into comedy for me because when I was a kid I'd watch like reruns of work and Mindy that my mom would show me or um you know I think


28:52

Fern Gully was the first like movie I saw where he was a voice of something didn't know who the guy was sure but but


28:57

like was like this is the same like you know you put those connections together and you see Aladdin and stuff and then


29:03

I'd found out that he was a comedian just from like you know Library looking him up yeah I was like what the [ __ ] you know what is that and then even you know


29:09

I think they showed me some of his stand whatever they could yeah you know from like the 70s or whatever and then from


29:15

there I was like oh cool this is a thing you're you're a comedian and then you get to do this [ __ ] yeah that's [ __ ]


29:21

awesome right and then the other thing that was cool about that too was I found out there were just like all these things and all these people I liked to


29:27

move were standups so any old movie that had like buddy hacket was in you know like Herby the love bug buddy hack is a


29:32

comedian he started out doing standup his standups yeah same thing with any of those old guys and then moving up like any of the guys who had sitcoms so


29:39

everybody that was at uh doing a sitcom at that time you know Tim Allen Paul Riser Roseanne uh Brett Butler alen


29:46

degenerous Jerry like every [ __ ] TV show was home by Drew Carrey yeah and I


29:51

was like oh my God they all started in standup that's and then also they wrote books so it was like this cool thing to


29:57

me that it was like okay cool you're a comedian if you hone your craft and get good at that they kind of let you do


30:03

whatever you want you know what I mean like and I guess like to a certain degree of success but also that's that's


30:09

been semi true man I like there's stuff that I've done because I'm a comedian


30:14

that I probably if I were just to go do that specific thing right would not have worked out it's not to say that I don't


30:20

do those other things well but it's just you know you get those opportunities to do like I wrote like uh you know for


30:25

Newsweek for like just cuz they had liked something I had done and then they were like we could do interview or you


30:30

could write for the magazine like a couple articles or whatever and I was like done you know I'll do that and then you know all because I [ __ ] tell dick


30:37

jokes on St you know what I mean like which is like you know lesson's it sorry you had the question I don't even know if I [ __ ] answered it yeah you did


30:43

influences oh influences yeah yeah yeah but yeah those guys John Stewart was always great on The Daily Show you know


30:49

my friends and I grew up watching that um Conan like was the like R like love


30:54

Letterman you know what I mean um but was like I think my generation's like late night guy you know what I mean that


31:00

was like loved didn't miss an episode of that um so yeah


31:06

yeah the male Performing Art Center is the heart of arts and entertainment in Morristown New Jersey empac presents


31:11

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from theeg garden state.com


32:32

as we're talking about like new things that you're getting yourself involved in like for news week and doing different things like that I think it also is


32:38

interesting like going back to what you're talking about when you open for Fon yeah how like if you grow your own audience you can kind of get to do more


32:46

things yes you know and I feel like as the story kind of like continues to meander down this River for us in this


32:52

episode like eventually getting to a point starting the podcast and doing different things like like that I think is there another yeah you know a whole


32:59

other window to start doing more stuff grow an entirely different audience that may not yeah be super familiar with your


33:05

standup work but it kind of one handwashes the other kind of yeah yeah hoping to bring that together like that's that's an interesting thing too


33:12

is bringing those two worlds together because I think you know uh don't ever hide that I'm a comedian but I do think there's people who follow the podcast


33:18

that probably like will sometimes be like oh my god I didn't even know you did stand they following me on a completely different platform even


33:23

though I'll [ __ ] say it or like but it's not like a focus of the thing yeah um but yeah standups that's another


33:29

thing too like even to be able to do that uh the podcast and call those people also comes from the fact that I'm


33:36

just when you're a comedian you're like yeah I can do that yeah like you know and and thankfully it's been going well


33:41

and I do it well you know not to toot my own horn but whatever two the way that's yeah yeah um but yeah it it it went


33:48

really well and we got like really great guests and people seem to like the episodes and stuff and um blending those


33:54

two worlds is fun know that's like the challenge to do it yeah for sure so take me through starting the podcast it's


34:00

called theia t i we said that yeah beginning uh but talk to me a little bit about it how it got started what it's about all that kind of stuff so dby


34:07

tonight that the I had the title um years before uh the pandemic hit um


34:13

trademarked it like the whole thing or whatever because I was going back to LA back and forth pitching [ __ ] and um


34:20

after just either constantly getting like so close where a series was going to get picked up um something I had


34:26

written was going to actually get bought whatever the [ __ ] it was and then it not happening I was like in my head at the


34:31

time I was like this is not going to happen for me until like the world is


34:37

about to end and they want and no one else will like everybody else has died off sure and I'm going to be the last


34:44

guy like they're going to find my head shot under a pile of rubble and be like we still want to make money so we could use this kid you know uh so I thought


34:52

yeah yeah cut to yeah cut to the actual end of the world what we're living in now um so I was like I wrote this whole


34:58

thing called the stopy tonight and I was about a talk show host that was literally just still doing a talk show


35:03

but at the end of the world and the and the and I had a bunch of episodes written for that and um the the premise


35:09

was we'd still have real guests um but they would always be um like really big


35:15

guests but problems they would die on the way oh so be like Hey listen uh half of Florida gone they were going you know


35:22

whatever and then like each episode like the the whole thing you know how like U Jimmy Kimmel Fallon show has like the


35:27

city in the background like that's their whole thing mine was just going to be a blown out wall with like fire and de


35:34

like just [ __ ] like happening or whatever and then i' written one episode thank you I'd written one episode where


35:39

uh the studio floods so each time they come back from a commercial break the water level's higher and like the


35:46

cameraman's dead you know like so this whole thing so it was just like you know based on that never got to pitch it


35:51

because the pandemic hit and I still love the name and then me um mark kodana


35:57

Richie burn a few other comedians did this gigantic um like


36:03

benefit for um oh my God CB uh children uh children's brain tumor Foundation CBF


36:10

and um star treatments and star treatments is amazing I don't know if you know what star treatment is but um


36:15

it's uh made it's built by you know uh rock stars and it takes children to and


36:20

from treatment centers um like a rockar so they get picked up by a limo they got


36:25

candy in the back they got a movie the whole thing sometimes it's a bus a t whatever so that was like awesome so we did that we broke like a world record


36:32

doing 93 straight hours with each of us taking turns like hosting we had over 300 comedians on so we had all kind of


36:39

produced and like done that thing and then it kind of clicked like I'd met um a friend of mine Tom Banis I don't know


36:45

if you know Tom no um he's another you okay there you go I love the immediate dis pointing you


36:53

guys can't see it but when you'd laugh right um so uh so he was like you know he's one of


37:00

those guys that could kind of like whatever you can just do anything so he's like I I do podcast he didn't but


37:05

he's like I do that like and he kind of had like a little bit of the background you know what I mean like he knew a little bit of it and I was like let's do


37:10

it like I have the name and I've been thinking about doing it I didn't know what it was going to be and then um it


37:16

was just mid pandemic and I decided if I was going to do it though cuz I talked


37:22

to a couple different people and even some like agents of people that I had known to see what they could do and they were like you got to start low and get


37:28

your friends on and like whatever and I was like no yeah um yeah I was like I so


37:33

I went and had this the first episode was um there's this movie that hit


37:38

during the pandemic called velocipastor shout out to come on it do you know it you I know I I [ __ ] I made everybody


37:47

I mean this is before like I made everybody watch I think we had like streaming nights where I would like did


37:53

you really it was tell me this movie I'm like shouting into the mic write it down velocipastor is a is I [ __ ] loved


38:01

this movie it's it's lowbudget as I mean you can't even I think it's lower than low budget but they know it right yeah


38:08

so um and the first like 10 minutes of the movie it's his priest he's you know


38:13

doing whatever it is I think I don't remember exactly how he winds up he gets winds up getting um [ __ ] something


38:20

happens in the woods it gets B whatever the hell it is so it's a priest that turns into a velociraptor ah and um and


38:28

as at at one point in the movie oh there we go that's the come on that is that's the priest that is yes that's what he


38:33

turns when he's the velocipastor those ninjas also yeah there's of course dude there's there's a vampire there's ninjas


38:41

where can one find this there's um oh I think it might still be on Prime I'm not sure okay um mean I know what I'm gonna


38:47

do if I haven't pirated this by now I mean I'll send it like if I got it send it over yeah I don't give a [ __ ] they're working on the second one and I Begg


38:54

them to let I was like let me be anything I don't know if it's finished yet or if they've got so anyway so um I


39:00

was like I'm obsessed with movie I'm call I'm going to get the director and the and um the actress that was in it on


39:05

there uh Melissa um I think her name is Melissa I feel bad if it's Alissa uh is it go down a little bit I think Alysa


39:12

yes Alyssa kinsky yeah Alyssa so um so shout out Alyssa yeah shout out Alyssa


39:18

sure she listens to and the direct yeah she will um I'll harass her uh and and


39:24

the director but anyway yeah they came on and we just had a blast and like we had we did it live yeah and then from


39:30

that point on the next guy I had on was Frank Turner huge fan of his um we had started talking a little bit during the


39:35

pandemic because I was like hey man like I listen to your music when I was on the road all the time hope you're doing well you know because he had posted a song


39:41

that like a you know anniversary of one of his albums or song that and then I was like hey I've got a podcast you want


39:47

to come on and he was like ABS [ __ ] LLY yeah so gave me a great review too like it didn't even like he was just


39:52

like you know good luck you know blah blah blah and then I had him on and then from then I just started having bands


39:58

and comedians on so I was like who can we get I like I love Milo green um lead singer Milo green came on um and then uh


40:06

I had Bobby Slayton come on and then I had L Black come on like so it was just like this constant thing and it just kept building from there but I would do


40:13

it during the pandemic Monday through Thursday live every night at 8:30 that's


40:19

and commitment to I because it was like it was also that thing of like um we


40:25

were like the comedian thing of like having to perform at night so it would get to that point where like I was kind


40:31

of losing my mind because it would get to be like nine o'clock and I'd be talking to my friends like hey where you from what are you doing and they're like


40:36

are you okay I'm like no yeah yeah hey I the kids would you leave him at home we are home get [ __ ] John right like oh


40:44

okay they're right here yeah yeah exactly yeah I'm like I'm like God what do they do for a living you know like I didn't know what to do but I had all


40:50

that energy to like around that time so I was like that'd be cool and I would have like you know um Sometimes i' some


40:55

Tom would co-host it with me for the most part and then I would have sometimes other people come on and co-host and it would just be like I'd be


41:02

like I'm having this band on and it would like from the 60s or 70s or the 80s or whatever it was and some other comments be like oh my God that's


41:07

[ __ ] awesome [ __ ] come on because we're not doing anything else and it was just a great interview and a great time


41:14

and I'm an artist so I drew like like a lot of the stuff for it and then my friend Diana Drew like I mean lately


41:19

she's been drawing like most of the graphics and stuff for it so that's really nice I've had decent help with it and um it's just been [ __ ] blast it


41:27

yeah and I made a lot of friends doing it too which is something I wasn't expecting to do because these guys are


41:33

mostly my heroes you know what I mean like I had like to you know Glenn Phillips from Toad the W rocket came on um um Stevie VanZant yeah you know and


41:41

then to just also still be communicating with them later because I W up doing an MS benefit too and um we do it every


41:47

year we're doing it again this year the 27th I think in of March okay 24 hours I


41:53

just stay awake for 24 hours straight and it's usually I think last year was like 88 guests so people come on


42:00

sometimes we have like nice blocks like last year we had different blocks of people we try to do while mixed in with


42:06

like randos you know what I mean sure because you can't I don't know everybody's schedule's different also who's coming on at 3:00 a.m. but it's


42:11

like who's in England who's in New Zealand or whatever um but we had this 90s alt Rock block where it was just


42:18

Glenn Phillips from toad um Steven paage from Bare Naked Ladies uh Ken Block from Sister Hazel um T Bachman the J like so


42:26

it was just like this nice mix but also one of the guys that stayed on from the previous one was Billy West who does the


42:32

voices of like fry from F drama and a couple things so it it's just hilarious like all these other dudes and then Billy was just kind of hanging out and


42:38

that's the kind of it's just a lot of fun to like do that [ __ ] and see who who's a fan of who you know that's really cool yeah and I just love because


42:45

to me like so I started podcasting during the pandemic also but I had a


42:51

full-time job back then that was like you know up until October of this past year nice uh


42:56

yeah they got laid off but [ __ ] them oh yeah [ __ ] them yeah [ __ ] them but here we are doing amazing great things yeah


43:02

but uh but so the original show that I had was like all geared like real estate stuff because that was what job was


43:09

after a certain point I would start just like having on just like other guests like I meet other podcasters sure


43:14

athletes or musicians like same kind of thing be like hey I got a podcast and it's like the show was called the


43:20

morning Spotlight so it's nebulous enough that's just like yeah it's like it could be anything wait when it was


43:26

about real estate not to interrupt you but I got to know was it like were you guys talking about like worst spot like crazy [ __ ] you've seen in the house


43:32

people so I sold title insurance okay uh so it was like I would basically use it as kind of like a value ad to clients or


43:40

or whatever that's smart my whole job pre pandemic and post pandemic once everything opened back up again was to


43:45

like go out for lunches go out for drinks go out to events and just like smoo people and then once everything shut down you couldn't do any of that


43:52

right so I started doing like um virtual networking events which I had already been doing like uh in person but real


43:58

estate young professional all that [ __ ] uh so started doing those and then I was like I'll start like a LinkedIn video


44:03

thing with all these people that are coming like i' get like 45 50 people a week right to come to these virtual


44:09

networking things to like sit on a zoom call and just like [ __ ] for hours you know we get wasted you know cuz


44:15

we're all by ourselves in our houses yeah yeah exactly what are you going to do the best business ever done uh but


44:21

then the uh when So eventually like I was I'll start this LinkedIn video series I would just be like in a suit


44:27

jacket tie you know like slick my once hair back cuz I was like all mang mangy


44:33

from not being into a barber in a long time y uh and I'd like read three questions they would read answers back


44:40

to me so obviously it was like sick electric yeah yeah people [ __ ] loved it yeah and it was like I did I was like


44:47

I'll do two weeks 10 episodes c will be flat sure we'll go back to normal and then obviously and never did did 60


44:54

episodes of that for 12 weeks nice you know and then transitioned into a more traditional show and now and then like


45:00

two years later started this one basically and then here we are just doing this what's cool about that and I think I sometimes certain things I miss


45:07

about that period of time is that people you're like oh it took off people had an interest in it I think people were just kind of letting themselves get involved


45:14

with stuff that they either thought they would never like or didn't have time for right so you did have that there was


45:19

like a pristine time where you were just like oh yeah I could check out everything because there's nothing


45:24

weighing me down right and I love you know when you were talking about when you started dystopia tonight when they were like oh you know start with your


45:31

friends and then you know start start low and like in a sense that's kind of like how I did it cuz I didn't even


45:37

listen to podcasts before I still don't I still don't either I don't listen but you know what I don't really watch I


45:42

don't go to see comedy either no that's interesting well I guess it's like you know I don't know well for me for the


45:48

not listening is like I'm editing my own shows oh yeah and like editing other people's shows I'm not gonna listen to Somebody no I get else you know um I'll


45:56

listen to like do you listen if it's somebody you're interested in like if like somebody like okay that's what I'll do I'll like if I if I get like an itch


46:02

I was like all right let me listen to a podcast today I'll like search out certain guests I'm fascinated by like


46:07

Mike Tyson you know yeah that dude's everywhere now fascinating and like he has his own show like I don't like


46:13

listening and a cartoon yeah but like what if he does like Rogan or something I'll like that and listen to him talk


46:19

for three hours right just like people like that you know I like I like trying


46:24

to find when Jerry Seinfeld's a guest on stuff which that's always the best you know it's rare I feel but it is because


46:31

he doesn't want to do it exactly so you know he's gonna be kind ofly yeah right um but stuff like that so I will search


46:37

out plus if I know someone like like when Clubhouse was a big thing and I'd


46:42

be on I was like I would do a daily Clubhouse room at noon uh called the


46:47

podcast lunch hour me and my friend [ __ ] that's awesome wish had known about that yeah we would do it every and we it was


46:53

probably like the probably the longest running like consistent podcast like room for a year so like we would do it


47:00

every single day would not miss noonies so what would you guys do hold a podcast or just talk about podcasting we talk


47:06

about podcasting oh that's I was like I literally just really just started maybe a year before I could have benefited


47:11

from that I had no idea what I was doing yeah neither did I was like there's so many people here that know stuff yeah so I'm like I'll just start a room people


47:19

will think that I know stuff but really I'm letting everyone else Stu that's literally what it was and people that's


47:24

[ __ ] genius you know but really did help me kind of like explore the whole like podcasting world and the community


47:30

and like all that kind of stuff and like how it works and then like once I kind of thought that I knew enough to like


47:38

but then my show was at that point like a year and a half old it was already kind of like stuck in its yeah that's


47:45

and like work knew I was doing it and [ __ ] hated that I was doing it really yeah cuz they were like this is too well


47:50

produced like you can't be focusing that much on your job if you're spending that I'm like oh my God it was it was always


47:56

like a fight so then I'd be like all right I'm doing I would do two episodes a week like hourong episodes two


48:02

episodes a week sure and I do like one for them but then one for me kind thing


48:08

you know so we do like smart multif family syndication or like commercial property taxes and I'd be like okay and


48:14

then what do you do you like just see if it pencils out like that kind of thing right right um and then the you know the


48:20

Thursday episode would be like you know Marty Ray who like went viral because he sung a cover of Ice Ice Baby Style and


48:28

it got like millions of views and he's like this big southern guy from Tennessee like long beard fat dude I


48:34

remember see that going around yeah yeah he was in clubhouse quite a bit really yeah yeah I did Z Clubhouse for a little


48:41

bit but I just I'd forgotten about it like I would pop into a couple rooms here I think I got tired of um the tech


48:47

Bros that were in there that were like to cuz I think that's where I wound up stumbling into [ __ ] I didn't see too


48:53

many I think there were some comedy ones I think um um oh my God the [ __ ] his


48:58

name Tim Dylan oh yeah would burst into a couple rooms here and there do that [ __ ] I think he I think he was always


49:03

breaking into the Bitcoin ones so if you like found him like in the crypto ones just tearing people apart or like pretending he was interested or whatever


49:09

yeah that was always kind of fun um but yeah I think I I got it was one more actually I think when I got invited to


49:16

clubhouse I was like this is one more thing that I'm not going to do well yeah you know what I mean and I'm like it's


49:21

going to let like it's like followers and this and that and I was like I just can't so I I probably


49:26

uh avoided it but I would have loved that podcast one though would have been cool yeah and it was just yeah it just became like a thing that we did and like


49:33

I got to meet a lot of cool people through that um and some that are like still friends of mine that live in just


49:39

different parts of the country to this day so that that was always a positive but back to what I think I was talking


49:44

about when I went on this long tangent of Clubhouse but like starting with you know like people that you don't really


49:51

like people that you know to start and that's like what I did with the people that were on my video show but then like when I started this show I was like [ __ ]


49:57

it like let's just swing for the fences why not exactly and then you never know


50:03

yeah so like like we started you know candra's Bakery was like one of our first was our first episode we ever did


50:09

nice and they like sponsored four episodes right out of the gate I was like see this is you know this is what


50:14

we have I love that you go from place to place and actually can you know do it in a diner or in a restaurant or something like that that seems like a lot of fun


50:20

I've never done I've done them live but only like as an addition to my standup gigs sure so like I did uh uh the New


50:27

Hampshire theater uh the Rochester theater in New Hampshire um a year I


50:32

think for Comicon okay uh no Com free comic book day and then they had like this big event or whatever but I tied it


50:38

in with a dystopia thing so I did a live episode on the stage I've never done one like remote like at a you know I got I


50:43

mean I guess that's remote but you know what I mean like I've never done with like at a restaurant well that's like so that's why I like that 24-hour you know


50:49

for the the MS benefit that you're you're doing because it's like to me pushing the envelope of like what a show


50:55

is yeah yeah like this is great like having a studio is awesome having someone else run the board besides me is


51:02

also great but at the same time like when I started my show it was like I have no money for a studio and I did one


51:08

episode in person in my buddy's Studio down in Trenton and that was like I've been doing virtual like like [ __ ] 40


51:14

episodes at that point and I was like oh this is what like a real sit down interview with someone is like I was the


51:22

guest and I was like I want to like chase that high a little bit sure and so I had no money for a studio so I was like I'll just get like a mobile setup


51:28

so I have Road pod mics and yeah you know like a couple cameras and we just kind of go and for me it like worked out


51:35

so perfectly because it's like another like a whole other element to what the show is like right if we do a diner and


51:42

they're open you hear like the clanging of the forks and it creates a lot of like uh outside noise which I'm sure


51:50

like if you're like a true blue like you know NPR podcaster that's like talking into the mic like this you know like it


51:57

would [ __ ] freak you out but like it's just kind of like how we do things I think it's that for me like um it


52:04

would be funny my friends and I would be on Discord we be all watching a movie or something like that during the pandemic some like do you want me to mute my mic


52:09

while I'm chewing I'm like no dude that makes me feel like we're like like chew away man [ __ ] what are you eating let me eat something too like I like that


52:16

kind of [ __ ] yeah we did one sorry we're like not even talking about you now but um I don't give a [ __ ] where I'm here we


52:21

did one uh at donkey's place in Camden which uh Anthony Bourdain did it when he did his like oh I know yeah yeah I know


52:28

what you're talking about best cheese steak in the world he said which is it's also really good so we show up we drive


52:34

an hour and a half down to Camden and Camden's its own yeah yeah unique World yep and uh we get there and he's like


52:41

I'm really sorry he like I had two people call out he's like I got to be working the grill oh I was like okay the Grill's right behind the bar so I sat at


52:49

the bar he was on the grill like with his back to me most of the time but then would turn around and like we'd that's


52:56

great questions and [ __ ] in and then he'd go like we need three so that he' like make three cheese steaks come back to me and he I'm really sorry he's like


53:03

this must be hell for you I'm like I really don't give a [ __ ] like it's honestly let me ask you this though how was the editing afterward uh a pain in


53:09

the ass yeah um but we did it I like set it up well enough that like it worked


53:16

fine you know like I cut it the right way and it we just kind of uh like that


53:21

was I probably had more notes for that episode than I did but still it still did okay and what was also really cool


53:27

was like everyone was so into what we were doing like all these cam locals that are just like hanging out at a bar


53:33

like 1:00 in the afternoon just like chilling eating cheese steaks and drinking beers that's the best and


53:39

they'd be like oh like what's your website like tell me about this show like how can I follow you like we want to hear this and that was but that


53:45

stuff's just cool it like adds a whole other element to the show you ever do one at Lucille's no I would love to do


53:50

one there okay we should we should do some because they're like you know lucs is like the Jersey Devil they got all that but it's a great place good food um


53:58

and it's on 70 it's creepy amazing yeah we'll talk about that all right great uh let me ask you this I don't know if any


54:03

your people are going to be interested in talking shop but I'm going um there's the editing thing to me is probably the


54:11

I edit like everything which is just [ __ ] exhausting whatever but there has been times when I've tried to like


54:16

ask people to do the editing yeah I don't know if youve ever had anybody edit your own [ __ ] no okay um to me like


54:23

a couple times like not really worth the money I don't understand like I'm sure


54:28

there are like finding one is the most frustrating [ __ ] thing to me in the world yeah that's one but the other


54:34

thing is like there's episodes that I've had where like glitching like you know because you're doing it online so


54:39

there's like that that stuff or whatever but like I find it like frustrating because like it can be done so like I've


54:45

talked to people where I'm like oh yeah can you make sure they and they're like oh we we can't do that I'm like yeah you


54:51

can you have to [ __ ] actually do the work separate the audio Yeah like clip this [ __ ] together make it look good you


54:57

can make them make sense and then then you just realize that people don't want to put in the time is there anybody that just enjoys that work because like I F


55:03

you do you okay I'm gonna talk to you because like I don't like it yeah I'm


55:09

good at it right but I also know I'm dumb at it too because I'm like because I'll be editing something I'm like


55:14

somebody could been done with this and I'm five hours in my ADD is going crazy you know what I mean I'm like I don't want to do this anymore but like I do I


55:21

have like a uh I feel like just have responsibility to the guest yeah they came they their um I know it could be a


55:27

great episode I've got all these little benchmarks in my head of like good stuff to CP or whatever the [ __ ] it is but it is a very like frustrating thing so as


55:34

long as I know you don't enjoy the EDI thing either I feel okay I don't but I also this going to sound really bad but


55:40

like my bar like I'm not going to like so we we never run into like technical


55:46

glitches because we don't like yeah you sure you don't have to do know so you're not going to be like the what oh sure


55:54

that never happens or like there's not a huge disparity in like my mic and your mic because they're the same [ __ ]


55:59

thing we're in the same room yeah you know so that stuff's fine but I also like I mean this whole episode we've


56:05

done we've been recording for almost an hour now so we're getting close to the end but like what it's a whole


56:10

conversational thing yeah yeah like I mean I know shows that like they'll clip question by question you know what I


56:16

mean oh yeah I know like yeah I'm not like a fan of that but I also think that like really what makes our stuff unique


56:22

is that it's just like real people like a lot of my guest a any kind of news


56:30

radioing but like any kind of they've never been on so we just want want to be


56:35

real people and tell like real stor yeah the only time anything and like I don't really care oh yeah yeah just as much as


56:41

anybody I don't give I don't give a [ __ ] about that either the only time that the editing is like a thing is like when I know like okay their their thing went


56:48

out or like we had a little bit of it now the cool thing that streamyard does is what this what the thing I use is


56:53

they'll let you record locally which is a huge [ __ ] step up from like you know whatever they were doing before


56:59

like all the [ __ ] that I was happening when I was going live they didn't have any of that [ __ ] and now that I don't do it live anymore and it's all


57:04

pre-recorded they're like hey you can [ __ ] you can do all this other cool [ __ ] I'm like well [ __ ] you now like i' you


57:10

know I don't do you know nobody's home yeah um okay let's bring it back yeah you for the last like five minutes or so


57:17

um but uh so doing the show or podcast


57:22

doing uh standup uh uh like what's next like you are those like your two main


57:28

focuses or you're working on more stuff that I'm still working on more stuff um pre pandemic I did a um short film


57:35

called DPP it and it was on Amazon Prime U for a bit um and it was just basically


57:42

a script I had written um with a friend of mine based on a little bit based on my life whatever but it's just about


57:48

depression and uh it's called dupp it because we did it with a puppet um because I'm a huge you know Muppets guy


57:55

sure a classic yeah love Jim Henson um and uh so the whole premise is that this


58:02

my thing was like we know when you have when you're depressed it's basically like living with a shitty roommate sure that just reminds you of everything


58:08

you're trying to avoid in life yeah uh and then we didn't I think at the time we were like it's too hard to get


58:13

somebody else to kind of play me because I wanted it to look a little like me or whatever like but just worse um and then


58:21

uh that was a weird compliment to myself you know but worse um so then uh got make yeah yeah um and


58:29

then I was like that's gonna be a pain in the ass and then we like you know my buddy and I are just huge H and fans so we did it with a puppet and then we


58:34

called it dupp it it a depression puppet and then so basically it just manifests his depression manifests itself into this adorable little puppet yeah who


58:41

just is an [ __ ] follows him around the whole time telling him all the worst [ __ ] all this other crap so that um went


58:48

like really well to the point where the Henson company actually called me flew me out and I had meetings with them um


58:55

the uh the dude like directly under Brian Hensen wow and then the pandemic hit and everything was like on pause and


59:01

it's still there was never a no I'd written like um you know outlines of two seasons for it um because I wanted it to


59:08

be a show and then uh yeah I don't know so but now we're starting to do new stuff with it because now it's been out


59:14

there for a while I still get messages about people watching it finding it on YouTube yeah um and all this other [ __ ]


59:20

and um we even had this whole like um we did like a viewing of it too during the pandemic and Gary Gman um as a friend he


59:27

came on because he had just done his HBO special depress mode yeah was it depress mode or just depress the great depress


59:33

was what it was um and then you know Jud abow directed that so he came on we had a therapist on we had some other people


59:39

on and a couple the comics it was a lot of fun yeah and then um so yeah now we're going to make some new [ __ ] for


59:45

That Sweet um got a bunch other shows I'm kind of working on writing I'm going to go back out to LA um in the spring um


59:51

and that's about it I'm just working on the standup got a bunch of dates booked um a couple local gigs uh not to brag


59:58

sure um but yeah there's a couple local gigs um also doing an album and a special this year and a special I mean I


1:00:05

say Loosely sure like specials are you know of it doesn't know you're right it well it's special to me right exactly


1:00:11

sure other people it's so weird that specials used to be the only difference between specials then and now is basically none of us had cameras yeah


1:00:17

you know what I mean so now it's like you know you'll be like oh HBO is going to film with an HD it's like yeah I got one in my pocket now I'm G to do the


1:00:23

same thing um but you know so but I'm but I am going to work on my first album which is very nice so I'm think we're


1:00:28

going to do it in DC awesome DC comedy Loft in uh [ __ ] March I think I don't


1:00:33

know where I am but you can find it at john.net not that I'm wrapping up but know you know John poveromo do you're


1:00:40

like please for the love of [ __ ] god get to a point or stop talking um john.net is my website uh dystopia


1:00:47

tonight.com is for the podcast got a bunch of new episodes coming out we're in our fourth season awesome um yeah so


1:00:53

it's going to be fun yeah yeah well I really appreciate you coming up to thanks man meet here yeah yeah um this


1:01:00

was great usually fun fact we take a break about like a break I use again I use that Loosely about like 20 to 25


1:01:07

minutes in just so that's where I like cut the camera oh put the ads in uh we


1:01:13

change clothes we yeah we switch clothes that'd be [ __ ] hilarious you get a break and we just swap clothing come


1:01:19

back everyone's like the [ __ ] yeah yeah yeah uh but yeah we didn't need to well


1:01:27

we couldn't at any point because we were rolling no we just talking I want to clip it but get it clip it later yeah


1:01:33

that's what editing's for exactly comes back to that oh you just gave away gave it away people going to be like what


1:01:38

yeah they didn't take a break yeah how how how is that possible you should cut me off right in the middle of a


1:01:45

sentence which is like easy I feel like it's I'm I didn't stop so yeah yeah yeah uh yeah well I'll try to find a place


1:01:52

good luck I'll try to find the heaviest sentence that you said today yeah yeah yeah and or just in like incriminate me


1:01:57

somehow sure yeah yeah we'll start like and then I killed it I mean on stage but it sounds like I killed a guy yeah yeah


1:02:04

um awesome so we'll put your links everything so people can just go click them we'll put greetings from theard


1:02:10

state.com which obviously is the website for the show so you can check out all of our other episodes this is episode 115


1:02:16

so5 congrats man great yeah good dude uh appreciate it appreciate you thank you


1:02:21

to a shared universe and Christian and camera there the best shared Universe Ming yeah Ming thank you wish you could


1:02:29

be here but you know you're at some ComiCon someplace and like did he die no let's play the game kiss where in the


1:02:35

world is Ming Chen yeah yeah yeah where is he look he's in like SP wheel he's in Kentucky yeah like the oh is he I don't


1:02:41

know I just made oh okay yeah like the most random State Kentuck is a sad place right now yeah actually know you know what they did in Kentucky they sent out


1:02:47

a [ __ ] message to aliens to come to Lexington oh and I was like I'm actually


1:02:53

going to Kentucky in June it's not I've done the University of Kentucky like how I backtracked ra nice oh okay oh that's


1:02:59

awesome it's not it's not bad the University of Kentucky I did was actually great that's cool yeah yeah uh


1:03:05

yeah so again all the links will be in the show notes yeah uh shout out Kentucky uh but this has been the green


1:03:10

g State podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery we're here at a shared Universe studio with John poveromo I'm


1:03:17

Mike cam thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time [Music]


1:03:23

awesome you all myab do you are


1:03:30

right oh tell me before you go all the way do you want to


1:03:37

[Music]


1:03:53

ride [Music]