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Non Drinking Buddies
Two teetotaling comedians interview dry guests to discover how they find the fun in a booze-free life.
Non Drinking Buddies
JF Harris
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The Non Drinking Buddies talk to stand-up comedian and Rebekka’s Staten Island pal JF Harris about his journey from chaos to comedy.
Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejfharris/?hl=en
Get tickets for his shows: https://www.jfharris.com/#tour-section
Mocktail Recipe: “Mulled Memories… Because You Can Remember Shit Now That You’re Not Drunk”
Brew Hot Orange Spice Tea
Add a Splash of Pomegranate Juice
Add Honey to taste
Stir
Enjoy
And mull over your memories… because you can because you’re not stupid drunk anymore.
Instagram: @nondrinkingbuddies
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0_Z_CJZ3USL7EK6pQ09huQ
JF Harris [00:00:00]:
And I bought, like, a leather jacket. And I remember, like, people, like beautiful women talking to me who never would have talked to me on the subway once. And I was like, sorry, could you take your headphones? And I was like, what the fuck is this? And I was like, I'm never taking.
Anne [00:00:13]:
This leather jacket off. Do you still own that leather jacket? No, he doesn't need it anymore.
JF Harris [00:00:19]:
Like H and M one.
Anne [00:00:20]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:00:20]:
Now I have a personality.
Anne [00:00:21]:
Yeah. Hello and welcome to non drinking buddies. I'm Ann Gregory.
Rebekka [00:00:40]:
And I'm Rebecca Johnson. And this is the podcast where we talk to teetotally guests about how they find the fun in a booze free life.
Anne [00:00:45]:
And today we have a really fun guest who Rebecca has known since he was a kid in Staten island.
Rebekka [00:00:51]:
Yes, we have JF Harris, who's a stand up comedian.
Anne [00:00:54]:
He's currently touring the United States. You can go check him out and see him. He might be.
Rebekka [00:00:59]:
He's been gonna be touring in Europe this summer, and you can find out all about his tour. He JF Harris on instagram. Write it down now, because I know you're gonna love him. He's hilarious. He's awesome. He's from Staten island and he's wearing a satin Mets jacket.
Anne [00:01:16]:
Oh, yeah. All right, let's talk. Give it up to JF Harris. Okay.
Rebekka [00:01:24]:
JF, thank you so much for coming on our podcast.
JF Harris [00:01:27]:
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Rebekka [00:01:29]:
Yeah, it's so exciting to actually. I've seen you grow up.
JF Harris [00:01:33]:
Yeah, literally.
Rebekka [00:01:34]:
Literally, you've seen me grow.
Anne [00:01:36]:
He's like your little brother, kind of, yes.
Rebekka [00:01:39]:
He was really best. He was like, best friends with my little brother.
Anne [00:01:41]:
Really?
JF Harris [00:01:42]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:01:42]:
You guys went to the same school?
JF Harris [00:01:44]:
Her dad used to drive me to high school.
Anne [00:01:46]:
What?
JF Harris [00:01:47]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:01:48]:
You know her dad's moving out here?
Rebekka [00:01:50]:
Yeah, they moved here.
JF Harris [00:01:51]:
That's crazy.
Anne [00:01:52]:
Wow.
JF Harris [00:01:52]:
I gotta go hang out with the Johnsons.
Anne [00:01:54]:
I know. Maybe he can drive you somewhere.
Rebekka [00:01:55]:
Yeah, for old time's sake.
Anne [00:01:57]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:01:57]:
I remember your brother once joking. Cause I gave for Christmas one year. Cause your dad, like, my freshman year, drove me and your brother to school every day. I gave your dad a bottle of wine, and your brother thought that was the funniest thing in the world.
Anne [00:02:10]:
He's like, he doesn't really drink.
JF Harris [00:02:12]:
He was like, he's never gonna drink.
Anne [00:02:13]:
That's amazing. Did your parents tell you that you should do something like that? Cause my parents were always like, if you ever stay at somebody's house, always bring them a bottle of wine. If they don't drink. You get them flowers.
JF Harris [00:02:23]:
I'm going to rephrase this. My parents got your dad.
Anne [00:02:30]:
That's very nice of them.
Rebekka [00:02:32]:
That's so funny. Well, I remember you skating inside our house, skateboarding. You guys built a ramp.
JF Harris [00:02:39]:
Yeah. You had a little half pipe in your treehouse in the backyard.
Anne [00:02:42]:
Oh, yeah, yeah. I was more of an inline skater.
Rebekka [00:02:45]:
Cooler.
Anne [00:02:46]:
Really cooler. Really? Way cooler. Yeah. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:02:48]:
Most people have said it's cooler.
Anne [00:02:50]:
Yeah, yeah. I think universally it's cooler.
Rebekka [00:02:52]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:02:53]:
Rolling on a pair of k two fatty pros.
Anne [00:02:55]:
Yeah. You get it. Yeah. So you were a skater?
JF Harris [00:02:59]:
Yeah, I was.
Anne [00:03:00]:
Did you get offended by Avril song skater boy?
JF Harris [00:03:04]:
No. Though I will also say I was an aggressive inline skater as well.
Anne [00:03:09]:
Wow.
Rebekka [00:03:10]:
He was double cool.
JF Harris [00:03:11]:
So her brother. Yeah, her brother rode a skateboard.
Anne [00:03:14]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:03:15]:
We had an integrated crew growing.
Anne [00:03:17]:
It was nice. Very diverse.
JF Harris [00:03:19]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:03:20]:
Skateboards or rollerblading?
Anne [00:03:22]:
That doesn't sound very diverse. Okay, we'll talk later.
Rebekka [00:03:25]:
Wheels alone.
Anne [00:03:26]:
Oh, the wheels, the wheels. Okay, got it, got it.
JF Harris [00:03:28]:
Four wheels and eight wheels.
Anne [00:03:29]:
That's diversity on Staten island. Yeah, yeah. Okay, got it. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, kind of.
JF Harris [00:03:34]:
Yeah, that's.
Rebekka [00:03:35]:
Yeah, that's integration on Staten island. It is a diverse place, but everyone is pretty separate.
Anne [00:03:40]:
So you guys knew each other from Staten island? Did you enter comedy because you saw Rebecca Johnson doing it and, like, you were like, wow, she's doing it. I'm gonna do it, and you know it. I'm sorry. It's true. It's true.
JF Harris [00:03:54]:
It's 100%.
Anne [00:03:55]:
Oh, my God. That's what. It's great.
Rebekka [00:03:57]:
I didn't tell Ann that. I just said we grew up together. She obviously didn't listen.
Anne [00:04:00]:
I don't listen to. I don't hear her.
JF Harris [00:04:02]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:04:03]:
I just.
Anne [00:04:03]:
It's like. Yeah, and I don't know.
JF Harris [00:04:05]:
You've been around her too long. You've. You're like a man who's lost his.
Anne [00:04:08]:
Yes, yes, yes.
Rebekka [00:04:09]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he saw me do improv, and.
Anne [00:04:13]:
He'S like, I have to do that.
JF Harris [00:04:14]:
At the original UCB. Or maybe the second space that they had. The one before.
Rebekka [00:04:20]:
The one before graffiti, like the main. Yeah, that was the one.
JF Harris [00:04:24]:
And it was the three on three competition.
Anne [00:04:27]:
Oh.
JF Harris [00:04:28]:
And remember. I can't remember who. I could tell.
Rebekka [00:04:32]:
Or did we win? I can't remember.
JF Harris [00:04:34]:
Yeah, I could tell you, like, if I saw the faces of all those improvisers. Now I can still point them out. I remember one of the guys, like, pulled his pants down and you saw his ass at the end of the.
Anne [00:04:43]:
Show, and as a teenager, I was.
JF Harris [00:04:45]:
Like, this is the coolest.
Anne [00:04:48]:
How do I get to do that, really?
JF Harris [00:04:50]:
And I wanted to do it, and I said to all of our friends, like, growing up, like, you know, because we had a pretty big core group, I was like, this would be fun to do. Whatever. It's like, we're not fucking doing that.
Anne [00:04:59]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:05:01]:
Like, all of my brother's friends, like.
Anne [00:05:03]:
As if all of you guys were.
Rebekka [00:05:04]:
Gonna have a improv.
JF Harris [00:05:05]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:05:05]:
Hilarious.
Rebekka [00:05:06]:
And, like, oh, my God.
Anne [00:05:07]:
Impractical dro jokers. I'm friends with.
JF Harris [00:05:10]:
All of.
Rebekka [00:05:12]:
Staten island is a big and small place.
JF Harris [00:05:14]:
Yeah, it's staten islands, 600,000 people. So it's, like, the population of, like, Boston.
Rebekka [00:05:20]:
Just a part of New York City.
JF Harris [00:05:21]:
Yeah, just part of New York City. And, like, if you do comedy on Staten island, there's, like, 15 of us now. There's a couple more stand ups who.
Anne [00:05:29]:
Are like, oh, yeah, Joe. Joe. Yeah. And Brittany. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:05:33]:
Britney.
Anne [00:05:34]:
No. I don't know. I just like Joe.
JF Harris [00:05:36]:
I just assumed you meant Joe Gatto.
Rebekka [00:05:40]:
Well, it wasn't until I feel like Colin Jost and I literally forgot Pete's last name, Davidson. But it wasn't until, like, they're. It's like, they're more, like, outwardly forward facing Staten island.
Anne [00:05:55]:
Yeah. They bought a ferry.
Rebekka [00:05:57]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:05:57]:
But, like, before that, I saw the plans. It looks remarkable.
JF Harris [00:06:00]:
They didn't call me in on that.
Anne [00:06:02]:
I know. They're gonna put the ferry in Miami, maybe.
JF Harris [00:06:06]:
Oh, that makes sense.
Anne [00:06:07]:
I'm like, why put the Staten island ferry?
Rebekka [00:06:09]:
Well, it's nice water. More year round.
Anne [00:06:12]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:06:13]:
It's probably also cheaper to dock it there.
Anne [00:06:15]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:06:15]:
It's a good place to tax evasion.
Anne [00:06:18]:
Yes.
Rebekka [00:06:18]:
Oh, it's a tax evasion thing from Staten island.
Anne [00:06:22]:
Yeah, yeah. True.
Rebekka [00:06:25]:
But, yeah, he started doing comedy, and he actually moved to Chicago and started doing comedy there.
Anne [00:06:30]:
Got it, got it.
JF Harris [00:06:31]:
And I went to England before I lived in Chicago, where I moved to Europe for a little while when I was 19.
Anne [00:06:39]:
Wow.
JF Harris [00:06:40]:
Or 20, like, in that age range. And when I was there, I was already thinking about doing improv, and I went to. I stopped in, boom, Chicago, which is.
Rebekka [00:06:49]:
In Amsterdam, which is Amsterdam.
JF Harris [00:06:50]:
And your name got me far there.
Anne [00:06:53]:
Jordan Peele, dropping that name.
JF Harris [00:06:56]:
Like, I mean, I was like, I know one person who did improv. And then he was, like, hung out with him a bit. Got to go to going away party, stuff like that. And then I went to Glasgow, Scotland or not Glasgow, Edinburgh, Scotland, for the french festival.
Anne [00:07:10]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:07:11]:
And I was waiting for a date outside of, like, the ticket box, because I, like, met somebody while I was over there.
Rebekka [00:07:17]:
Before tinder, you were still, like.
Anne [00:07:19]:
You were like, wow.
Rebekka [00:07:20]:
Every port, you had a ship.
Anne [00:07:21]:
Every drunk morning. That's the Staten island charm. Yeah, that's. You were the David Edinburgh. Yeah. Which Hadid were you dating? Sorry, which Hadid? Like, the Gigi. The Bella.
JF Harris [00:07:33]:
I don't know what that is.
Rebekka [00:07:35]:
They're, like, Kardashian adjacent.
JF Harris [00:07:39]:
Cool.
Anne [00:07:41]:
You were dating all of them?
JF Harris [00:07:42]:
I was.
Rebekka [00:07:43]:
He doesn't know their names, and he just.
JF Harris [00:07:45]:
I just. I treat him like Hadidi.
Anne [00:07:47]:
Oh, my God. Rebecca, your parents listen to this podcast?
JF Harris [00:07:52]:
Oh, no.
Anne [00:07:55]:
It'S all right. They've heard a lot. Lot. They've heard a lot. They've heard a lot. A lot.
JF Harris [00:07:58]:
Yeah, they've seen some, too. Yeah, I. Yeah, so I'm. Yeah, I'm dating all of them.
Anne [00:08:04]:
Okay, great.
JF Harris [00:08:05]:
No, but when I was there, I met. Oh, my God. Rachel Mason.
Anne [00:08:10]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:08:10]:
And Rachel Mason knew you because you guys.
Anne [00:08:12]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:08:12]:
Did, like, a project together, like, some tv pilot where somebody stole all the money or something like that, and they gave me a free ticket to go see baby wants candy. And I was like, this is great. And then I went out with all of them to a bar afterwards, and then one, I was like, I'm gonna go train at second city. And then one of the guys gave me his tour co card and was like, hey, just so you know, I'm in second city. I'm in the touring company. Don't go train at second city. Go to IO.
Anne [00:08:38]:
Oh, wow.
JF Harris [00:08:39]:
And you know who it was? It was. I can't remember the dude's name. He's on that, the soccer show with.
Anne [00:08:45]:
Oh, yeah, yeah. Brandon Hunt.
JF Harris [00:08:48]:
Yes.
Anne [00:08:49]:
Yeah, we know Brendan Hunt, and Brendan Hunt's great. And that's the guy with the beer. 100%. Something like Brendan would do. Brendan came out here and he started writing plays right away. He always kind of, like, just did his. He was part of that crew and also did his own thing at the same time. Always.
Anne [00:09:05]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:09:06]:
The guy with the. He has, like, the beard on.
Anne [00:09:07]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:09:09]:
That guy, he gave me his card, and he was like, hey, whatever. He was like, go to IO. And then I did, and that's how I got in there and started doing comedy at 20.
Anne [00:09:17]:
Okay, so my question is, you're in Chicago. I know that they drink alcohol there. They do. Did you start your career in drinking alcohol in Chicago or in Staten island?
JF Harris [00:09:30]:
Oh, Staten island.
Anne [00:09:32]:
Who are all these? So I was in line skating in Milwaukee. Not drinking.
JF Harris [00:09:37]:
Not drinking.
Anne [00:09:38]:
Driving the rails, doing cross country running.
Rebekka [00:09:40]:
She used to call, like, she told us once a story about going to a drinking party.
Anne [00:09:46]:
Yep, that's right. And it was like, I was bad.
Rebekka [00:09:48]:
I went to a drinking party.
JF Harris [00:09:50]:
Yeah. We were like.
Anne [00:09:51]:
I was a nerd.
JF Harris [00:09:52]:
We were, like, getting picked up by cops for, like, buying forties.
Anne [00:09:55]:
Really? Yeah.
JF Harris [00:09:56]:
Like, 40.
Anne [00:09:57]:
Your brother, too? Yeah. Wow.
JF Harris [00:10:00]:
Your brother never got it.
Rebekka [00:10:01]:
He never got in trouble. He would get away with it.
Anne [00:10:05]:
Oh, yeah.
Rebekka [00:10:06]:
I don't know that. My parents know that.
Anne [00:10:08]:
Oh, well, Andrew never spent enough time.
Rebekka [00:10:12]:
No one's gonna get disowned.
JF Harris [00:10:15]:
Still does.
Anne [00:10:15]:
It still doesn't. I'm pretty sure they've seen him drink. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:10:18]:
He is in his forties. There should not be any fear anymore.
Anne [00:10:23]:
What age was that that you started?
JF Harris [00:10:25]:
I started drinking at 13.
Anne [00:10:26]:
What?
JF Harris [00:10:27]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:10:28]:
Wow.
Rebekka [00:10:28]:
Were your parents big drinkers?
JF Harris [00:10:31]:
No, my mom doesn't drink.
Rebekka [00:10:33]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:10:35]:
My grandfather was an alcoholic, and my dad drinks, but he kind of really doesn't like alcoholics. He doesn't like who can't really handle their booze. I think that's more of a dad thing than a.
Anne [00:10:48]:
It's an age thing sometimes, too.
JF Harris [00:10:49]:
Yeah. And so I grew up in a. Like, he would. You know, I think I've seen him, like, really drunk, like, maybe three or four times, but he would, you know, my fit. My family was big Irish Catholics.
Rebekka [00:11:00]:
Cardio.
JF Harris [00:11:01]:
Yeah. Yeah, I. I'm, like, one of, like. I have. Like. I'm not exaggerating when I say, like, 50 plus cousins.
Anne [00:11:08]:
Wow. Yeah. It's like those nine kid families.
JF Harris [00:11:11]:
My mom. My dad's one of them. My mom's one of seven. Or no, reverse that. My dad's one of seven. My mom's one of seven.
Anne [00:11:17]:
My mom was one of seven Irish Catholic Sullivans. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:11:20]:
Yeah, yeah. We were probably related. I'm a Sullivan.
Anne [00:11:23]:
Oh, really? Sullivans. Fucked.
JF Harris [00:11:27]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:11:28]:
Listen, we could get sponsored by 23 andme and figure this out.
Anne [00:11:31]:
Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. So you had, like, the genetic predisposition. You had the Staten island predisposition.
JF Harris [00:11:38]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:11:39]:
And then you entered the comedy world, which is just, like, full of drinking. Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:11:44]:
But before that, I was already, like, a professional drinker.
Anne [00:11:47]:
Really?
Rebekka [00:11:47]:
They would go to bars.
Anne [00:11:48]:
Yeah, we started when you were 13.
Rebekka [00:11:50]:
Not 13.
JF Harris [00:11:51]:
Not 13. Like, 1516.
Anne [00:11:53]:
Were you rocking this facial hair? I know. We're on a podcast, so you can't see it, but he's got great facial hair.
JF Harris [00:11:58]:
Thank you. This is just laziness.
Anne [00:12:00]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:12:00]:
No, I was like, pretty baby face. I used to have a stand up joke, like early in stand up about how I, like, I used to go to bars when I was 15 and it's because I had the. I had what's technically called a big fat irish dock worker's face.
Rebekka [00:12:15]:
He must have just gotten off a shift.
Anne [00:12:17]:
Yeah, he was an extra season two of the wire. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:12:21]:
I just kind of. But I. Sometimes I look back and I see photos and. But, like, it's. It's a weird thing. Cause I'm 40 and my parents generation, that's disgustingly old.
Anne [00:12:31]:
Can you leave?
JF Harris [00:12:31]:
Sorry, I apologize. I will go hang myself.
Anne [00:12:35]:
Sorry, sorry. No, we're both older than that. We're joking.
Rebekka [00:12:38]:
And no, we're not. We're 22.
Anne [00:12:39]:
Oh, yeah, sorry. We're 23 andme. That's why we.
JF Harris [00:12:44]:
Being from my parents generation, they could drink at 18. And so for them, it wasn't uncommon to go to bars when you were 15 or 16, you get an older sibling's id. And so for my parents, for, I think our parents generation, for their kids to be drinking at like 15, 1617 didn't seem like that big a deal.
Anne [00:13:04]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:13:04]:
It was weird for my parents, but they were unique.
JF Harris [00:13:06]:
Yes. Yeah. I think christians. The word.
Anne [00:13:08]:
Well, and also. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:13:09]:
Just like rule following.
Anne [00:13:11]:
Yeah, follow the rules. That was my parents very much. Follow the rules.
JF Harris [00:13:15]:
To be fair, your brother is a pretty, like.
Rebekka [00:13:18]:
He follows rules.
JF Harris [00:13:19]:
Yeah. He's not like a. Your brother's not like a degenerate. He's straight laced, dude.
Anne [00:13:23]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:13:24]:
And I think it's because of the fact that he grew up with, like, straight laced people. People. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:13:29]:
So funny.
Anne [00:13:30]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:13:30]:
So you started going to bars. So then obviously you were drinking a lot in high school.
JF Harris [00:13:35]:
In high school, I would say I was drinking pretty much from the time I started drinking, which was like, oe forties on the corner in New York.
Rebekka [00:13:44]:
Old english forties. Ann.
JF Harris [00:13:47]:
Slow pop chasers.
Anne [00:13:48]:
Okay.
Rebekka [00:13:49]:
Oh, my God.
JF Harris [00:13:50]:
Just to like, kill that malt liquor taste.
Anne [00:13:52]:
Wow. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:13:53]:
Started doing that in high school. And that was once we saw I started. It was pretty much every weekend until I hit my cinema senior year. And then, like, Rebecca's brother's a year older than me and that whole core group of friends are one year older than me. So they all went off to college my senior year. So by my senior year, I was pretty much like just drinking every day.
Rebekka [00:14:11]:
Because we were just like, even before.
JF Harris [00:14:12]:
School, not before school, just every night.
Anne [00:14:15]:
I was never.
JF Harris [00:14:16]:
I'm the kind of alcoholic that, like, I don't have to, like, I could take days off. My problem isn't I was never, like. I never drove my car. Well, that's not true.
Anne [00:14:26]:
You didn't get a DUI.
JF Harris [00:14:27]:
I never got a DUI. Like, you know, didn't get into fights. I didn't fight. I didn't. You know, I did lose jobs, but, like, that's because I was, like, 20 and I was like, oh, my friends are going to the Poconos. Drink it. I want to go.
Anne [00:14:40]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:14:41]:
You are also an idiot.
Anne [00:14:42]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:14:45]:
You're an alcoholic and separately, an idiot.
Anne [00:14:47]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:14:48]:
I was the. I'm the kind of alcoholic that, like, I don't have to drink every day. It's that once. And I. But I usually did. But I'm the kind that, like, once I did drink, I didn't know how many I was gonna have. So I was this close a bar down there until six in the morning, roll the gates up, go home and get to.
Rebekka [00:15:05]:
Well, that's also what's crazy about growing up in New York City. Cause even though we were in a suburb, bars are open till four.
Anne [00:15:11]:
Oh, yeah.
Rebekka [00:15:11]:
So it's different.
Anne [00:15:12]:
Nobody needs to be up at that point. That's crazy.
Rebekka [00:15:15]:
And if you're friends with the bartenders, you can still.
JF Harris [00:15:18]:
Yeah. Locked.
Anne [00:15:19]:
So. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:15:20]:
And it just is what it is.
Anne [00:15:22]:
Which is not legal.
Rebekka [00:15:23]:
That's not legal.
Anne [00:15:24]:
And you both were, like, the drinkers who, like, closed down the parties. Like, you were, like, both great partiers. Yeah, I was never that person. Yeah. I was like, irish. Goodbye. Bye.
Rebekka [00:15:34]:
Bye.
Anne [00:15:35]:
I just would drink very frequently. My thing was more of like, a habitual alcoholism.
JF Harris [00:15:40]:
Yeah, no, I drank all the time, too.
Anne [00:15:43]:
But also. But you were also fun. I was. I was drinking and I was a real drip.
Rebekka [00:15:51]:
Sorry.
Anne [00:15:52]:
Dropping that. Gen Z, like, 1920s. Okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's it.
Rebekka [00:15:58]:
Because I think when they say drip, they're talking about, like, fashion stuff.
JF Harris [00:16:03]:
Yeah. They're talking about the style is drippy.
Anne [00:16:06]:
Oh, got it, got it.
JF Harris [00:16:08]:
You're using it in like, a 1920s.
Anne [00:16:10]:
I didn't. I didn't know. I honestly, I knew it was the 1920s. I didn't even know Gen Z was.
Rebekka [00:16:14]:
Doing that, was saying drip, but in a totally different.
Anne [00:16:16]:
Oh, I didn't know that. I just threw that out there as a joke. I know, it's just so. Oh, God. Okay. Got it.
Rebekka [00:16:21]:
So. Okay, can you take us to. What kind of led you to decide to stop drinking? Oh, you don't have to get too.
Anne [00:16:30]:
Into detail, you know, whatever. Public. Okay.
JF Harris [00:16:35]:
Yeah, no, I. So I was drinking like that for. From the time I was 13 to the time I was twelve. I got sober at. I think I was 29 when I got sober. So, you know, I put in a good chunk of work in that time.
Rebekka [00:16:50]:
And you were doing stand up by then?
JF Harris [00:16:53]:
I was doing stand up. It wasn't my full time profession. Funny enough, once I quit drinking is when I became a full time stand up pretty quick.
Anne [00:17:00]:
It's weird how. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:17:01]:
Suddenly I can dream.
Anne [00:17:04]:
Actually work on your crafts and all that stuff.
JF Harris [00:17:06]:
Yeah, yeah. Be responsible enough that people want to.
Anne [00:17:09]:
Show up on time. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:17:10]:
You know, I never dream before shows. Or I would have, like, a beer or two beers. But I remember early on, my ex wife once said to me, like, how many beers do you have before we went on stage? And I was like. Cause the show took, like, longer to start, maybe like three. And she was like, I could kind of tell.
Anne [00:17:24]:
And after that, like, I love stand.
JF Harris [00:17:26]:
Up so much that I was like, I'm not letting this fuck up. Stand up.
Anne [00:17:29]:
That's got it.
JF Harris [00:17:30]:
So I would just be.
Anne [00:17:31]:
I love, by the way, though, that's just like, the alcoholic brain is like, I didn't drink before. I had like, two beers. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah. Like, I went. I once saw you went to the Magic castle last night.
Rebekka [00:17:41]:
I did.
Anne [00:17:42]:
And I went to the magic castle once. And there was this woman who. She said, like, the cocktail waitress came around and she's like, anyone want a drink? And this woman who's already just sheets to the wind, just fucking drunk, she said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She said, I'm not drinking tonight. I'll just have a beer. And you're like, wow, that's a special kind of alcoholic. Sorry, resume your story.
JF Harris [00:18:06]:
I just pictured her being very southern, very rooted.
Anne [00:18:09]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:18:10]:
I'm just visiting LA.
Anne [00:18:11]:
Hey, I'm not drinking that. I have a beer. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:18:17]:
I forget what I was saying.
Anne [00:18:18]:
No, sorry, sorry. You were saying that you were. You didn't drink that much during the stand up. During the stand up, yeah.
JF Harris [00:18:25]:
So my life just was shitty. Like in one.
Anne [00:18:32]:
What are the ways that it was shitty? I don't know. That's kind of helpful.
JF Harris [00:18:36]:
Yeah, yeah.
Anne [00:18:38]:
Sorry. I don't want to re traumatize you. What it's about.
JF Harris [00:18:41]:
I'm like, he is being genuine comedian.
Anne [00:18:45]:
What's your worst fear?
Rebekka [00:18:47]:
I said, what's your worst fear?
Anne [00:18:49]:
Failure.
JF Harris [00:18:56]:
No. Yeah. So my life had gotten pretty. I was like, in a bad marriage.
Anne [00:19:01]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:19:02]:
With a. Yeah, that. I just should have never got into that. I made some terrible choices. Nice person, but not the right person.
Anne [00:19:12]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:19:13]:
And my life was like, very chaotic. I was not making a lot of money. I was kind of living on scraps. Kind of like drinking all the time. Big fat piece of shit.
Rebekka [00:19:25]:
Were you in Chicago?
JF Harris [00:19:25]:
No, I was in New York.
Rebekka [00:19:26]:
Oh, back in New York.
Anne [00:19:27]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:19:28]:
I got sober in New York.
Anne [00:19:29]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:19:30]:
And so I. December 24, 2012.
Anne [00:19:35]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:19:36]:
I wasn't planning on drinking.
Anne [00:19:38]:
Uh huh.
JF Harris [00:19:39]:
Cuz I had Christmas stuff to do that.
Anne [00:19:41]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:19:41]:
The way you do.
Anne [00:19:42]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:19:43]:
And then my wife at the time came home, was like, we're gonna meet our friends at the bar across the street. And I was like, I don't really want to do that. She's like, come out of it. So I didn't do any of like. So we went to this bar, 40. It's on 9th Avenue and 45th street. It's called Rudy's in New York City.
Rebekka [00:19:57]:
Oh, I know Rudy.
JF Harris [00:19:58]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:19:58]:
Free hot dogs.
JF Harris [00:20:00]:
Exactly.
Anne [00:20:01]:
Oh, I knew that would gross you out. Oh, just like, that is not an incentive smell alone. I'd be like, nope. Was an incentive for us.
Rebekka [00:20:11]:
I used to live four streets from there.
Anne [00:20:14]:
In my mind, you're gonna say, I didn't drink anything. I downed 37 hot.
JF Harris [00:20:19]:
That's when I knew I had a problem. So, no, then I fucking went there. It was a group of people, and I hadn't done any of my pre drinking. You know how you have like, a routine? You're like, lay a base. I do this, I do that. And so everybody else was like, sharing a pitcher of beer. I had my own pitcher of beer. And I was just like, outpacing people, sharing pictures.
Rebekka [00:20:42]:
Your own pitcher?
JF Harris [00:20:43]:
My own picture, yeah. Why would I share with these?
Anne [00:20:45]:
Okay, okay. Were you drinking straight from the pitcher?
JF Harris [00:20:48]:
I mean, it would not shock me.
Anne [00:20:50]:
Were there hot dogs, like, mixed into the picture? He hollowed out a hot dog and.
Rebekka [00:20:55]:
Used it as a straw.
Anne [00:20:57]:
Oh, that's probably a drink somewhere.
Rebekka [00:20:59]:
Staten island straw. No, it's really a Coney island.
Anne [00:21:02]:
That's a Brooklyn straw.
JF Harris [00:21:04]:
That's the perfect way to put it. Yeah, yeah. And so I was doing that, and then occasionally I'd throw back a couple of dogs. Every time they give you a dog, every time you get a picture.
Anne [00:21:13]:
Oh, my God. I know where this story's coming.
JF Harris [00:21:15]:
So classic New York City bar shuts down at somewhere between two and four in the morning.
Anne [00:21:21]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:21:22]:
And I'm fucking lit at that point because I've probably knocked back six or so Christmas Eve. Pictures of beer.
Anne [00:21:27]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:21:28]:
Next. So I drag my couple of friends next door. We go to the bodega that's right next door, pick up a couple toy boys, invite everyone over to the house.
Anne [00:21:36]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:21:38]:
And then we go upstairs, drink. I don't know what time. People leave. I go to sleep. I get up the next morning because we have to take the express bus to Staten island to go see my whole entire giant irish family for Christmas.
Anne [00:21:49]:
Oh, my God, a bus?
JF Harris [00:21:51]:
Yeah. Me and my wife at the time, fighting. Pretty.
Anne [00:21:54]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:21:55]:
Because she.
Rebekka [00:21:55]:
Port authority.
JF Harris [00:21:58]:
Oh, luckily, it wasn't port authority.
Anne [00:22:00]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:22:00]:
So we took the train downtown to hop on the express bus.
Anne [00:22:03]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:22:04]:
And all I want to do is just get something in my stomach, and I want to go into Starbucks, grab a breakfast sandwich or something, and we're, like, fighting. She's afraid we're gonna miss the bus.
Anne [00:22:13]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:22:13]:
So I skip the breakfast sandwich. We get on the bus in downtown. Wrong move downtown, because it's fucking full. Completely full. Winter. New York City express bus. I have a winter jacket on. I have the next day, alcohol, sweats.
Anne [00:22:26]:
Oh, God, the bus.
JF Harris [00:22:28]:
The heat is turned up to tropical levels.
Anne [00:22:31]:
Oh, no.
Rebekka [00:22:33]:
You're literally in hell.
JF Harris [00:22:35]:
Literally. And I have to take a 45 minutes bus ride, standing, surfing my way in the middle of the rows to Staten island while trying not to drop hot dog soup all over everybody.
Anne [00:22:46]:
Oh.
JF Harris [00:22:49]:
Yeah. And so I do all that. I made it without throwing up.
Anne [00:22:52]:
Oh, wow. Hero. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:22:54]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:22:55]:
That was a Christmas miracle for everyone else.
JF Harris [00:22:59]:
To their, like, Christmas nice outfits.
Anne [00:23:02]:
Oh, disgusting. And you can't do anything, really. They pull over. They try to clean it, but that smell is there. They would not pull over.
JF Harris [00:23:10]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:23:10]:
If you threw up on that bus, there would be no pulling over.
Anne [00:23:13]:
Maybe they'd kick you out. Oh, my God.
JF Harris [00:23:15]:
100% on the side of the BQE.
Anne [00:23:17]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:23:18]:
You'd still be there.
Anne [00:23:19]:
Yeah, they used the pink stuff. Like, the pink stuff, you know, to put on the cleaner stuff. I once puked right after 911. I flew internationally to, like, go abroad for school, and I was so nervous about flying. It was like, oh, it was like, yeah, I had to join the taliban. It was a week later.
Rebekka [00:23:41]:
You shouldn't say that.
Anne [00:23:42]:
Oh, sorry, sorry. Sorry for all of our narcs out there. No, no, no. I was going to a school in England, and I show off.
Rebekka [00:23:50]:
England. That's such a. I know what school it is.
Anne [00:23:53]:
That's why I'm calling you a show off.
Rebekka [00:23:55]:
Fancy, fancy town, USA.
Anne [00:23:57]:
No, I wasn't that smart. But I.
Rebekka [00:24:00]:
So I went.
JF Harris [00:24:00]:
What school? Oxford.
Anne [00:24:01]:
Oxford. Yeah. So I went. So. But I was so nervous about flying that I downed to chardonnays. I've always been a lightweight. I passed out, woke up. There was vomit on that person next to me within the first hour of an international flight.
Anne [00:24:17]:
They evacuated the row. They did? Yeah, they evacuated the whole row. Cause I was, like, just seen as this disgusting person. I puked on my winter jacket. Speaking of winter jacket, I just remember the story, all these alcoholic stories. Like, I was clearly an alcoholic and they put that pink stuff on it and, like, that smell still. I can still smell that pink stuff and the shame that came with it. Anyways, you did not puke, and you weren't the pariah of the bus.
JF Harris [00:24:41]:
Quick. That makes me think of another side. Nothing is worse than waking up clothes covered in puke.
Anne [00:24:47]:
No. Yeah, but, no. I also did it on the lady next to me, which is just like. I was a horrific person.
JF Harris [00:24:52]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:24:53]:
A bad person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:24:57]:
No, that's what everybody on Staten island was wearing their little Christmas tracks.
Anne [00:25:01]:
Oh, my. Juicy. But everyone had the knockoff juicy because juicy was quite expensive. Yeah. Yeah. Was that with a phone?
JF Harris [00:25:12]:
Yeah, the fat farm off female offshoot I worked in demo. If you need. If you need a mecca hookup or an ichi blur.
Anne [00:25:22]:
Oh, yeah. Okay. Got it. So you made it without puking?
JF Harris [00:25:26]:
Made it without puking. So we get there, my dad's waiting. He's furious. I don't remember why he's already furious.
Anne [00:25:33]:
He's just an irish dad.
JF Harris [00:25:35]:
Yeah. And I was like, hey, I have to. Can I get the keys? I forgot something. I got to run to CV's.
Anne [00:25:40]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:25:40]:
Which was gifts for my family. So I go to CV's to get.
Anne [00:25:45]:
Wait, you hadn't gotten any gifts?
JF Harris [00:25:47]:
Alcoholic. Also poor.
Anne [00:25:50]:
You know, I like, like, CV's is gonna have really, really top notch. It's like, you get them gum.
JF Harris [00:25:56]:
Yeah. Go to CV's. And then I fucking throw up in a CV's parking lot. Just losing it. And really, truly, this is. I make this joke every year on Twitter, but nothing says rock bottom like giving your mom a chili's gift card for Christmas.
Rebekka [00:26:15]:
I've seen that joke.
Anne [00:26:16]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:26:19]:
It is really funny.
Anne [00:26:20]:
So you literally gave her a chili's gift card?
JF Harris [00:26:22]:
I don't know, something like that. CV's give, and they're all wrapped in CV's bags.
Anne [00:26:28]:
Wait, you didn't even splurge. Okay, sorry. You didn't even splurge for the little holder or, like, some. Some wrapping paper.
JF Harris [00:26:35]:
Probably not.
Anne [00:26:36]:
It's Christmas day. That's gonna be half off. And you can be half off, but.
Rebekka [00:26:39]:
You can never say again that you're trash because you're from Wisconsin. Sometimes you like, I'm trash because, you know, I drink beer. I'm from Wisconsin.
Anne [00:26:46]:
Well, you know why?
Rebekka [00:26:47]:
Staten island is a new level.
Anne [00:26:48]:
Okay, okay, okay.
JF Harris [00:26:50]:
Let's put it this way. We're the only part of New York City that thinks Donald Trump's a good guy.
Anne [00:26:54]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:26:55]:
That's not him. But the other people that we grew up with.
Anne [00:26:59]:
I mean, there are people everywhere who think.
Rebekka [00:27:00]:
Thinks he's the great.
Anne [00:27:01]:
Like, for some reason they see him and they're like, oh, yeah, he's Christ. And you're like, what?
Rebekka [00:27:05]:
I know.
Anne [00:27:09]:
Yeah. Three. That's it. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:27:11]:
Oh, my God. Okay, so your dad's mad. You go to CV's, you give them gift cards in tv.
JF Harris [00:27:18]:
I'm at my cousin. My cousin's house. I'm sitting in the basement, okay? Everyone's upstairs. I was having fun. I'm in the, like, you know, the man cake on the couch, shaking it with the sweats.
Anne [00:27:28]:
You're in Dennis's. Sean. What. What irish name is this kid?
JF Harris [00:27:32]:
This is my cousin Christie's house.
Anne [00:27:34]:
Okay, that doesn't fit. Sorry.
JF Harris [00:27:35]:
She's half irish, half puerto rican.
Anne [00:27:37]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:27:37]:
That's, as my great grandmother would call her, a mickety speck.
Rebekka [00:27:41]:
Oh, no.
Anne [00:27:42]:
Um, apologies to everyone on the podcast.
JF Harris [00:27:48]:
Who never got to meet my grandma.
Anne [00:27:51]:
Different generation. Different generation. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:27:54]:
Staten island grandmas.
JF Harris [00:27:56]:
Crazy.
Anne [00:27:56]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:27:57]:
And so she. Yeah. Racist. And so they. Yeah. I just remember in that moment, like, thinking to myself, like, there was, like, a moment of clarity that came to me where.
Rebekka [00:28:08]:
Wow, this morning.
JF Harris [00:28:10]:
Yeah. That was literally where I was. Like, this isn't me. This is life. This isn't who I'm supposed to be. This isn't the life I want for myself.
Anne [00:28:17]:
Wow. It was a Christmas miracle. I'm just. I'm just giving you this gift, you know?
JF Harris [00:28:23]:
Is it a gift card from Chili's?
Anne [00:28:24]:
Yeah, it's a gift card from Chili's. No, you should write that as, like, a hallmark movie. Yeah, you should seriously write it, like.
Rebekka [00:28:31]:
As a Hallmark movie. They'll be like, can it be? He's cutting. He's quitting cupcakes instead of alcohol.
Anne [00:28:37]:
I don't know. They're going a little edgier. Sure, maybe do it. But you gotta, like, ditch your wife. Your wife has to be. Your ex has to be, like, worse in this scenario. And then you find somebody who you fall in love with. Yeah.
Anne [00:28:47]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:28:48]:
A sober fellow person.
Anne [00:28:49]:
Sober fellow person. You know? Anyways, I'm just pitching. You just giving it to. Yeah. Might as well try.
JF Harris [00:28:55]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:28:55]:
Christmas miracle.
JF Harris [00:28:56]:
I got a sober movie I'm pitching around.
Anne [00:28:58]:
Really?
Rebekka [00:29:00]:
That's cool. Yeah.
Anne [00:29:02]:
Okay.
Rebekka [00:29:02]:
So then did you immediately, like, reach out to. Did you have someone to reach out to for help?
JF Harris [00:29:08]:
So once in my life before this, I, like, quit drinking or didn't quit drinking. I, like, took a break for 90 days.
Anne [00:29:15]:
Okay. Oh, yeah. Wow.
JF Harris [00:29:16]:
Yeah. Someone told me I looked like a celebrity that I felt found to be a very unflattering comparison.
Anne [00:29:22]:
Please tell us.
JF Harris [00:29:23]:
No, it won't. For that, it's rude to that person.
Anne [00:29:25]:
Okay, got it.
JF Harris [00:29:26]:
And so, Jon Hamm.
Rebekka [00:29:30]:
I am not the guy on mad men drinking all that.
Anne [00:29:34]:
I don't wear suits. I don't work for the ad man.
JF Harris [00:29:37]:
You know what's funny? When I threw up, when I was saying, I was like, oh, yeah. Nothing worse than throwing up in a suit. I picture myself when I lived in Chicago doing comedy in my early twenties, waking up in a suit covered in vomit. It's not because I had a job. It's just because the strokes were cool.
Anne [00:29:50]:
At the time that you just got the strokes. I remember, yeah. Oh, my God.
JF Harris [00:29:56]:
And so. But where did my brain go in that moment? Sorry, I'm.
Anne [00:30:00]:
No, no, no.
Rebekka [00:30:01]:
So I said, did you? So you had to quit drinking for 90 days at one point.
JF Harris [00:30:04]:
Oh, yeah. And then. So in that 90 days, I lost a shit ton of weight. I did the calculations of much money I would save.
Anne [00:30:11]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:30:11]:
By not drinking. And I was like, oh, I can move from a studio to a one bedroom apartment. And at that point, I was drinking mostly. I drink free most nights of the week. And the nights I didn't, I was drinking like, PBR.
Anne [00:30:22]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:30:22]:
It's not like you were drinking.
Anne [00:30:23]:
So you weren't actually spending that much on it.
JF Harris [00:30:25]:
No.
Anne [00:30:26]:
But it does the cost to your life and quantity.
JF Harris [00:30:29]:
Yeah. I was like a 15 to 20 a day beer kind of guy.
Anne [00:30:33]:
Wow.
Rebekka [00:30:34]:
15 to 20 beers.
Anne [00:30:35]:
Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot. It's a lot.
Rebekka [00:30:37]:
That is why you say, I didn't drink before shows. I only had two.
Anne [00:30:40]:
Yeah. Yeah. Because, like, that was nothing. That was probably just feeling normal a little bit. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:30:45]:
You know, you start at. Start drinking at 08:00 and then you drink till six in the morning.
Anne [00:30:49]:
Right?
JF Harris [00:30:50]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:30:51]:
Yeah. Wow.
JF Harris [00:30:52]:
Like saying, it's like, well, I never drank in the morning. Then someone, you know from sobriety goes, were you ever up drinking at 06:00 a.m. From the night before? And it's like, oh, yeah.
Anne [00:31:01]:
Oh, yeah.
Rebekka [00:31:01]:
But that was the night.
JF Harris [00:31:02]:
Yeah, yeah. Going to work. You're technically trying in the morning.
Anne [00:31:07]:
Yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:31:07]:
When you see people on their way to the ferry, when you're on the way home on the ferry.
Anne [00:31:12]:
That's totally. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:31:13]:
You drink in the morning.
Anne [00:31:14]:
Oh, my God.
JF Harris [00:31:15]:
I just got a tall boy on the ride home.
Anne [00:31:18]:
Yeah, they serve it. I'm just wondering why. I mean, that New York, like, the bars being open to four or whatever, must have something to do with shifts and, like, unions or whatever. Like, there has to be a law behind that. It makes sense.
Rebekka [00:31:32]:
It's the city that never sleeps.
Anne [00:31:34]:
It's the city that never sleeps. Yeah, but I'm like, that's just so bad.
Rebekka [00:31:37]:
Like Vegas, right? Vegas is 24 hours. New York is a step back from that.
Anne [00:31:40]:
Okay. Got it.
JF Harris [00:31:41]:
We think you need to be in bed by three.
Anne [00:31:43]:
And I'm like, what union was okay? Like, they were fighting for their workers. That's where my brain goes.
JF Harris [00:31:48]:
Third shift.
Anne [00:31:49]:
Third shift, yeah, exactly. They deserve a beer, too. I don't know.
Rebekka [00:31:52]:
Out at a place they.
Anne [00:31:53]:
Yeah, I don't know.
JF Harris [00:31:55]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:31:56]:
Okay. So you made it 90 days. Was that hard for you?
JF Harris [00:32:00]:
Not really. Cause I, like, I. I'm a person that, like, when I'm like, I'm doing a thing, I'm doing a thing.
Anne [00:32:07]:
So you made the choice? Like, it wasn't like I think I should. It was just like, I'm doing it.
Rebekka [00:32:11]:
But that was earlier.
JF Harris [00:32:12]:
I was.
Anne [00:32:12]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:32:12]:
I was like, I'm gonna take a little night. I'm gonna take a little 90 day break.
Anne [00:32:15]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:32:16]:
Lose some weight. And I got fucking.
Rebekka [00:32:18]:
And you did it to be thin. That's the thing. It's also different to quit drinking.
Anne [00:32:22]:
You got, like, David's skinny.
JF Harris [00:32:25]:
No joke. I, like, not Pete, but bit, like, close and, like. And I. So I went from, like, I'm trying to. But, like, I went from, like, heavyset dude to, like, in, like, not in shape, but, like, skinny for the first time in my life as an adult.
Anne [00:32:41]:
Right?
JF Harris [00:32:42]:
And I remember I went out and I bought, like, all new clothes when I would gotten shit.
Rebekka [00:32:45]:
You're like, this will never end.
Anne [00:32:47]:
A leather.
JF Harris [00:32:47]:
A hundred percent. And I bought, like, a leather jacket. And I remember, like, people, like, beautiful women talking to me who never would have talked to me on the subway once. Yeah, sorry. Could you take your headphones? And I was like, what the fuck is this? And I was like, I'm never taking this leather.
Anne [00:33:04]:
Do you still own that leather jacket?
JF Harris [00:33:14]:
I was just like, hey, I'm a fun guy. I didn't have confidence. I didn't. Like, I got sober. I, like, learned how to be an adult man. Yeah, that's the big deal. And, like, I learned how to be okay with myself. And I've been sober for twelve years.
JF Harris [00:33:28]:
And I got into therapy. I, like a lot of work. Like, I followed my career. I got good at what I wanted to do. Like, I'm not great at everything. You know, taxes, shit like that.
Anne [00:33:39]:
No. Who is great at anything? Everything. Who's great at anything?
Rebekka [00:33:45]:
I saw you post for your ten year anniversary on Instagram, and so I was still drinking at that point, but when you did that, I, like, shoved it in my brain and was like, when I quit, I'm gonna reach out to him. And then I did.
JF Harris [00:34:02]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:34:03]:
Because then it was, like, six months later.
JF Harris [00:34:05]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:34:05]:
But it was really actually impactful to me because I think I knew you quit just because I knew. But it was. Yeah, it just really was, like, the way you said it, and you were like, if anyone needs to, like, yes, okay. Like, there was something so giving about it, and you're a very given person. Non judgmental.
JF Harris [00:34:25]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:34:25]:
But I would never have, like, I'm not gonna call any of my brother's other friends and ask them for anything. Not that, you know, I like them, but I would never normally be like.
Anne [00:34:34]:
Oh, yeah, but he has a lovely carpentry business.
JF Harris [00:34:42]:
Oh, my God.
Anne [00:34:43]:
Have you seen these cheese boards? Wow. You need a cheese board. Go to Gotham. Yeah. So he got a shout out guy. Yeah, yeah. I'm hearing that you kind of. Okay, so Rebecca inspired you with this.
Anne [00:34:56]:
Like, you went and saw her comedy, which was a huge gift to you, and then you inspired her subconsciously with this whole, like, I see somebody who used to drink and they quit. I can do that. Well. And he came to my house. It's full circle. It's a circle of life. Lion king. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:35:12]:
He came to my house when my brother was visiting, and you brought, like, spindrift and dark chocolate and raspberries. Ooh, that sounds like a really good. I love that.
Anne [00:35:25]:
It was great. Delicious.
Rebekka [00:35:26]:
It was great. And I didn't drink that night. That one night, I was still a drinking person, but I was like, I'm not gonna drink. James isn't drinking. I'm not gonna drink. And I still smoked potatoes, but that day. But I remember just being like, I don't need to have a drink. I'll just have a spindrift and the chocolate and the raspberries.
Rebekka [00:35:44]:
And it was like. It was like, in a way, just being like, this is a way you can act as a sober person. You, like, bring spin, drift, and chop. And I have literally brought that since I've gotten sober. I have brought that type of thing where I'm like, that's what James did. And so that's what I mean.
Anne [00:36:01]:
It's like baby steps or something.
Rebekka [00:36:02]:
Or, like, I don't know what that is. Like, mimicry. But I just was like, at that time, I wasn't considering myself an alcoholic or, like, really considering quitting, but it was obviously I needed to quit. So it was like, I was more observant of your. The way you lived your life than maybe an average person because I was like, I was outside your home with binoculars.
Anne [00:36:28]:
But they were just like, you know, like, they were the fisher price ones. They really didn't know. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:36:34]:
I'd hold them the wrong way. And so you were much smaller.
Anne [00:36:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. So you're talking about some of the tools you use. Therapy.
JF Harris [00:36:45]:
I've been in a twelve step program since I got sober.
Rebekka [00:36:47]:
So when did you. So Christmas day then. Did you, like, the next day, go call a sober friend?
JF Harris [00:36:53]:
So when I was on that 90 day stretch, there was a guy who I knew who, through doing comedy, like, driving somewhere, and I asked him about going to meetings.
Anne [00:37:02]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:37:02]:
He said to me, I was like, what's the deal with these meetings? Which, if you're asking, you need to.
Anne [00:37:08]:
Just go get your ass there. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:37:09]:
And he was like, well, why don't you go to one, and you'll know if you're supposed to be there.
Anne [00:37:13]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:37:13]:
And so then when I was getting sober, I called another guy who I knew who was sober through my job, and he just invited me to one, and I just went to one, and it was great. My first meeting, too, was, like, LGBTQ.
Rebekka [00:37:30]:
Like, I like those two.
JF Harris [00:37:31]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:37:32]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:37:33]:
I'm a straight cis dude, and I, like, show up and it's, like, half the room, or, like. Like, it's just was the coolest vibe.
Anne [00:37:39]:
Yeah. Like, I showed up very open minded.
JF Harris [00:37:41]:
Super open minded. Everyone's in there, like, early to twenties, mid, late thirties.
Anne [00:37:46]:
Right.
JF Harris [00:37:46]:
And everyone was having so much fun.
Anne [00:37:49]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:37:51]:
Like, people were like, hey, I'm doing a drink drag king show this weekend. You want to come? And I was like, I don't even know what that is, but, yeah, yeah, awesome. Yeah. And I was like, it was kind of a realization that, like, oh, my life's not actually over.
Anne [00:38:03]:
Right.
JF Harris [00:38:04]:
And it really is. The thing of, like, your life's not over, it's just starting.
Anne [00:38:07]:
It's. Yeah. So it does sound like it started because your comedy career took off pretty quick after.
JF Harris [00:38:12]:
Yeah, yeah.
Anne [00:38:13]:
That's crazy.
Rebekka [00:38:14]:
You went on tour with Joel McHale for a while.
JF Harris [00:38:16]:
Yeah, I've been on tour with Joel off and on for, God, pretty much almost the whole time I've been sober. Cuz I got. Yeah, I got.
Anne [00:38:26]:
I have a really personal question about that. Is he as tall as he seems?
JF Harris [00:38:30]:
Taller.
Anne [00:38:31]:
Oh, my God. Sorry. That's really, really personal. Sorry, sorry, sorry. He's gonna be pissed that I see you said that.
JF Harris [00:38:39]:
Honestly, everyone's like, he plays, you know, his character. Thing is he plays a dick, but he's genuine. Genuinely the nicest.
Anne [00:38:46]:
That's amazing. Great.
JF Harris [00:38:47]:
Yeah. So he's just tall, handsome and nice.
Anne [00:38:50]:
This piece of shit. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:38:54]:
Then how was that transition from. I mean, I know obviously you were in the twelve step program, and now you're thriving and killing it. And I'm sure comfortable going in all these places that serve alcohol and not drinking. But in the beginning, when you were still doing stand up, you did stand up, let's say, December 23, you'd be getting drunk on December 26.
Anne [00:39:14]:
You are not.
Rebekka [00:39:15]:
So, like, what was that initial transition for you, like, in terms of your career?
JF Harris [00:39:20]:
I'm very lucky that I knew that I was done.
Anne [00:39:25]:
Wow.
JF Harris [00:39:25]:
Like, I just admitted to myself, like, I'm done.
Anne [00:39:28]:
Yeah. That's amazing.
JF Harris [00:39:29]:
That made it so much easier. And I don't say I'm the other thing, too, is like, I've learned this. It's like, I don't say I'm never going to drink again. Cause that's fucking psycho behavior. But I just know I'm not going to drink today.
Anne [00:39:41]:
Take it day by day.
JF Harris [00:39:42]:
Exactly. And also, it doesn't actually make my life better. Like, my problem was.
Anne [00:39:48]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:39:48]:
One, my problem was I have a allergic. I'm allergic to alcohol that once I consume it, I don't know how many I'm gonna have.
Anne [00:39:55]:
Right. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:39:55]:
Also, like, I'm an anxious person, and I was using that to feel comfortable around other people.
Anne [00:40:00]:
Same with both of us. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:40:01]:
Which is not an actual solution.
Anne [00:40:03]:
Yeah. And we are. We're getting. So we're like 15 months into this journey. 16 months. 16 months. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:40:09]:
Congrats, buddy.
Anne [00:40:10]:
Thank you. And we quit on the same day for different reasons. And we were different kinds of alcoholics, different flavors, but we are getting better. With going out without drinking, you know, and it's like, it's just like learning a new muscle.
Rebekka [00:40:25]:
It's better to be comfortable.
Anne [00:40:26]:
My whole adult life, I was drunk when I was going to parties, you know, and so, like, learning how to.
JF Harris [00:40:31]:
Actually have deep conversations with people.
Anne [00:40:34]:
Oh, I love full deep ones. Like, I love going. I'm going. I love going too deep with somebody right away.
JF Harris [00:40:39]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:40:39]:
One on one at parties. I love that.
JF Harris [00:40:41]:
How many free cups of coffee I've gotten in my life?
Anne [00:40:44]:
Really? How many?
JF Harris [00:40:46]:
Hundreds. You want to know why?
Anne [00:40:48]:
I want to know the trick?
JF Harris [00:40:49]:
I just go to a barista, how are you doing? And then they respond. And when I tell, can tell that they're not okay. I know. What's that about? Because you can. You. Yes, you've, I've, you know, I. Growing up in an uncomfortable house, I have a high antenna for like discomfort.
Anne [00:41:05]:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:41:07]:
People pleaser kind of energy.
Anne [00:41:08]:
Oh, me too. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:41:09]:
But now I genuinely give a shit about other.
Anne [00:41:12]:
Yeah, right.
JF Harris [00:41:14]:
Scared of other people. So when someone's like, I can just tell they're not okay. Like, what's going on? And I will have long conversations with strangers because I can. And I'm really concerned about people and I wasn't before.
Anne [00:41:27]:
Right. I agree. I do notice that at parties, one thing, a trick that, and I think I've talked about this before, is just asking questions just gets you out of your own head. And it's to that whole point of service being a big part of this sobriety journey. It's like you're just not focused on yourself for a while and you're genuinely focused on another person. It just helps the whole situation.
Rebekka [00:41:50]:
I was even thinking about, you know, something.
Anne [00:41:53]:
And it's interesting. People have interesting stories. Oh, they do.
Rebekka [00:41:55]:
And also like, just the concept of reframing your brain, which is something we're sort of taught to be understanding rather than understood.
Anne [00:42:04]:
Right.
Rebekka [00:42:04]:
And so thinking about, it's not about me being understood today when I'm here. It's about me understanding what someone else is going through. And that's another way of service in a sense. But just like when I reframe that, it kind of takes me out of my like, self brain and more into like, how can I kind of be the person who's listening rather than I need to share?
Anne [00:42:27]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:42:28]:
You know, that's the great thing about twelve set meetings. You go in and you're all like, my life sucks. And then you're in there for about 15 minutes and then you finally start hearing other people, and then someone says something and you're like, oh, my life's fucking fine. I'm in.
Anne [00:42:40]:
Yeah. I mean, that's. It just puts things in context and you ignites your empathy, you know, like, you start like, yeah, yeah, it's similar.
JF Harris [00:42:49]:
Like, with career stuff. I'm doing comedy for a long time.
Anne [00:42:53]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:42:53]:
There's always gonna be some people ahead of you. There's always gonna be people behind you. And if you're. It's important to strive to be. So when I get. When in two things in sobriety.
Anne [00:43:03]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:43:04]:
A lot of people struggle with the God thing.
Anne [00:43:06]:
Yeah, there's a great. Higher power.
JF Harris [00:43:08]:
Yeah, there's a great. There's two good acronyms that I learned when I first got sober. One is a group of drunks for God.
Rebekka [00:43:14]:
God.
Anne [00:43:14]:
Yep. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:43:16]:
The other one is good, orderly. Direction. Direction. Which is my favorite.
Anne [00:43:20]:
Oh, I like that. And so just a guide. A guide.
JF Harris [00:43:22]:
My. My job and my sobriety.
Anne [00:43:24]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:43:25]:
I'm not to be perfect, but I think that when I got sober.
Anne [00:43:28]:
Mm hmm.
JF Harris [00:43:28]:
That moment that I had where I was like, this is not me. This is not the life I had for myself. There's a hot version of myself that my higher power or myself, whatever it is, you know, thought of, like, that's the me and my job is to just walk towards that.
Anne [00:43:41]:
Sure.
JF Harris [00:43:42]:
I'm never gonna get there. I can make whatever plans and goals I want. It doesn't matter if I achieve those things. It's just that I am trying to get to them.
Anne [00:43:50]:
It's like the striving in the process, which is where the joy actually comes from.
JF Harris [00:43:53]:
And it's being present.
Anne [00:43:54]:
Yeah. That's being present. I'm working on that so much.
Rebekka [00:43:56]:
Rather than thinking so much about the future or, like, regretting so much of the past.
JF Harris [00:44:01]:
Outcomes do not make you happy.
Anne [00:44:03]:
No, they don't, because they're so outside of ourselves.
JF Harris [00:44:05]:
And we've all got things in our career where we're like, this is it. This is it.
Anne [00:44:09]:
Yeah. And then it doesn't lead to anything.
JF Harris [00:44:12]:
Else in my phone right now from people where I'm like, this was, you know.
Anne [00:44:16]:
Yes.
JF Harris [00:44:16]:
This person emailed me back.
Anne [00:44:17]:
I've made it. Oh, I know.
JF Harris [00:44:19]:
You're like, it doesn't fucking matter. What matters is, like, when I shot my first stand up special.
Anne [00:44:24]:
Yeah. Congrats. Thank you.
JF Harris [00:44:26]:
And I only would have did it. Only could do it because I was sober. After the show, me, my. Two of my best friends flew into town to open for me for one of my best friends who I met through sobriety directed it for me.
Anne [00:44:37]:
Cool.
JF Harris [00:44:38]:
And then two other really good friends were there, too, who came down. And all of us piled into my 2016 Toyota Prius.
Anne [00:44:49]:
We all have priuses. They do not sponsor us. You can. You can if you want to.
JF Harris [00:44:56]:
Big dudes all piled into my car, like. And after the special. Special went great. And then we drove to Waffle House, and I had Wu Tang blasting, and it was like, oh, we all did it together.
Anne [00:45:08]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:45:09]:
That's the best part about.
Anne [00:45:11]:
That's amazing. Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:45:12]:
And. And also to remember that, did you.
Anne [00:45:15]:
Get into one of the waffle house fights, though it there?
JF Harris [00:45:17]:
They wouldn't let us inside because there was a shooting there recently, so there was.
Anne [00:45:21]:
No, I was joking about that, but that became too real.
JF Harris [00:45:23]:
There was an armed guard outside.
Anne [00:45:25]:
No, no.
JF Harris [00:45:27]:
We got waffles. We had to eat them outside. And she just sat there and roasted my friends.
Anne [00:45:35]:
That actually makes it even better. That makes it.
Rebekka [00:45:38]:
I wish there was a camera on that.
Anne [00:45:39]:
Oh, my God. That should have been the credit. Yeah, it really should have.
JF Harris [00:45:43]:
And then. But also, I get to remember that, like, that's what I'm shooting for. The shared experience with my friends. But also remember that there are people behind me who would murder to be where I am at.
Anne [00:45:53]:
That's 100% it. And, like, when there's someone behind you.
Rebekka [00:45:57]:
Right now with a knife.
Anne [00:46:01]:
Like, another thing to acknowledge in the stuff that we do is being sober makes us more focused, more focused on what we actually want to do. But a lot of this is beyond our control. So giving it up to a higher power is actually a good way to frame even what we do in life, in anything, in all of life, is just. We don't have a lot of control. A lot of it's lucky. A lot of it's just timing.
JF Harris [00:46:28]:
It's all that.
Anne [00:46:29]:
It's all of that.
JF Harris [00:46:30]:
Yeah. It's you. Yeah.
Anne [00:46:31]:
I hate people who are like, I worked hard. I deserve this. Yeah. Like, we all work hard.
Rebekka [00:46:34]:
Right. And there's. And also the amount of talented comedians. I know, it's crazy.
Anne [00:46:39]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:46:40]:
There's so many. But there's just a confluence of luck and hard work and timing and what they want.
JF Harris [00:46:47]:
Self work. Like.
Anne [00:46:48]:
Yes.
JF Harris [00:46:49]:
So much of it is, like, you have to know yourself in order for other people to trust you enough to get on board.
Anne [00:46:56]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:46:56]:
Stand up, specifically.
Anne [00:46:57]:
Oh, yeah. Your voice.
JF Harris [00:46:58]:
But, like. Yeah. And that only comes by being, like, being able to be honest with yourself and be honest with other people.
Anne [00:47:05]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:47:05]:
Like, that first stand up special. It's good. It's really good. And I'm really proud of it, but it's not great. And I'll be the first person to admit that it's not great. And people watch it and everyone's like, that was really good. You know?
Anne [00:47:17]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:47:17]:
I've only gotten nice compliments on it. It's wall to wall jokes, and it all works. But there's moments in it that I look back on now that I'm like, I would never fucking do that now because I've done work around myself. Like, there's a confederate flag joke in it where I go, I don't get the confederate flag. Maybe it's because I'm from New York. I would never qualify. Maybe it's because I'm from New York now. Like, I just don't get it.
JF Harris [00:47:40]:
I think it's.
Anne [00:47:40]:
You know, I used to also. You've seen confederate flags all over the country? Yeah. What the hell? You don't need the buffer anywhere. You can just be worried about, are.
JF Harris [00:47:50]:
These people gonna like me?
Anne [00:47:51]:
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:47:52]:
I'm okay with me just being me.
Anne [00:47:54]:
Yeah, I'm not there yet. I'm the people pleaser. You talk about, like. Like, the irish family. Like, you know, my mom has that too. Like, not very demonstrative with emotions. Like. Like the yelling that was.
Anne [00:48:08]:
I love my mom, but, like, oh, my God. So Mary Sharon Sullivan Gregory, so much yelling. Don't google it. Sorry. Like, I love my mom, but, like, there was that side and then my dad's protestant side, which is more like your side, where there was, like, nobody showed emotion, like, really? Ever. So I would try to, like, tell jokes in front of them and be the happy go lucky one and, like, try to. It was, like, people pleasing, and it was a little codependency. And so I'm still working on that.
JF Harris [00:48:38]:
I mean, how long did you do it? It's gonna probably take.
Anne [00:48:41]:
That's right. Right. It's so hard. It's so hard. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:48:44]:
It's not gonna just change. You know, and all that stuff, everything. Like, all of our. Especially when it comes to drinking, it's like what our habits were, what our thoughts were about drinking, all that. It's like, it takes a long time to deprogram.
JF Harris [00:48:56]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:48:57]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:48:57]:
Like anything else, like, you do and you play guitar long enough, every year you look back and you go, oh, man, I really sucked a year ago.
Anne [00:49:04]:
Yeah. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:49:04]:
It's like, every year you just get better at being a person.
Anne [00:49:08]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:49:08]:
That you're sober or just.
Anne [00:49:10]:
I mean, you can and some people don't. Oh, yeah, I've met a dry drunk. Wait, question. So, like, the guitar, are you playing guitar? Like, what are you doing for fun other than this? You know, stand up and, like, drinking coffee?
JF Harris [00:49:26]:
I love coffee.
Rebekka [00:49:28]:
He's a coffee brain.
JF Harris [00:49:31]:
But my hobbies.
Anne [00:49:33]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:49:36]:
So if I'm being honest, I don't know if I would call shopping a hobby. It's borders on addiction. I'm not really shopping like I used to, but I love clothes and fashion.
Anne [00:49:48]:
Okay.
JF Harris [00:49:48]:
I'm big into that, but probably like, my biggest hobby is I'm a big fan of futur.
Anne [00:49:54]:
Oh, yeah, great.
JF Harris [00:49:54]:
So I watch a ton of soccer.
Anne [00:49:56]:
Yeah, I love watching sports on. I've gotten more into it recently because it's just like, so incredible that humans can do that shit. I mean, just like, I'm in awe and it's something I can't do. And I just love. It's talk about being present. Like, you're just like, in the moment. Like, what's gonna happen? What's gonna happen?
JF Harris [00:50:13]:
I hated sports my entire life, and then at like, 38, I got, like, deep into soccer.
Anne [00:50:19]:
Wow, awesome.
JF Harris [00:50:20]:
Just the funnest thing ever.
Anne [00:50:22]:
It's cuz you met Brendan hunt all those years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [00:50:28]:
It's a long game one day. Plays the long game.
JF Harris [00:50:31]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just, like, got really into soccer, and now I watch, you know, a lot of games. Yeah, I'm watching my arsenal play. I'm watching a lot of Syria, all the italian teams. I follow the american players. I watch the US games.
Anne [00:50:48]:
I love that.
JF Harris [00:50:49]:
Europoli.
Anne [00:50:50]:
Yeah, I love that. Because I think that sometimes, like, when I initially got sober, I'm like, I can do so much stuff. I got, like, all these hours, I can wake up in the morning and do stuff. It was like, productivity, productivity, productivity. And I'm like, I do think. Think we need a time where we're just like, being lazy pieces of shit and enjoying ourselves.
Rebekka [00:51:08]:
Like you are when you watch football. No, I'm just kidding.
Anne [00:51:10]:
Yeah, no, but I'm saying, like. Or when I watch, I watch, like, vanderpump rules, you know, in my house.
JF Harris [00:51:15]:
Listening to records, doing nothing.
Anne [00:51:17]:
Yeah, that's okay. It's good. It's actually good for us. Like, the cavemen didn't do stuff 24 hours a day.
JF Harris [00:51:23]:
It took me a long time to know that, especially, like, to be an artist. Like, you need time to kind of do nothing.
Anne [00:51:31]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:51:32]:
That's like, when ideas percolate or you have to be okay with being bored. The phone is. I have problems with my phone.
Anne [00:51:38]:
We talk about that every single probably episode. We're just, like, dealing with that, like.
JF Harris [00:51:43]:
Yeah, yeah. And because of the fact that my career is so tied to.
Anne [00:51:47]:
Right. And, like, sometimes. Yeah, yeah, that. That. Or, like, for me, it's like, oh, you have a last minute audition and you're like, oh, Jesus. Like, I missed. Like, you have to check it. It just sucks.
JF Harris [00:51:56]:
Yeah, it does. Because sometimes I've, like, gotten jobs through, like, Instagram stories or DM's or responding.
Rebekka [00:52:02]:
Right away relationships with people through.
JF Harris [00:52:06]:
Not for work, but just naturally, like, yesterday I was on. Well, that's. Never mind. Yeah, I want to see what happens with that.
Anne [00:52:17]:
Oh, you're doing a stand up thing for, like, just like, you know, like a saudi prints Arabia or something?
JF Harris [00:52:28]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, there was a period when I was. During the pandemic, I went through a big breakup and I moved back in with my folks in Florida because I was, like, supposed to be there for like, two months.
Anne [00:52:38]:
Where do they live in Florida?
JF Harris [00:52:39]:
Fort Myers.
Anne [00:52:40]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. By Sanibel island.
JF Harris [00:52:45]:
And literally they're right on the other, other side of side.
Anne [00:52:47]:
The house. Nice.
JF Harris [00:52:48]:
Don't go find them. And so during that period, I was, like, waiting to move into my apartment that I'm in LA, that I'm moving out of in two months. And it was supposed to be two months, and then it went to, like, a year. And I did this, like, during that period, I did a lot of, like, I don't, like, pre nesting. I was, like, buying stuff at vintage shops.
Anne [00:53:08]:
Oh, yeah.
JF Harris [00:53:08]:
And I would. The stand up special I have, one of the networks was supposed to buy that I shot. So I was like, I'm gonna pay off all of this. And then, like, it all folded because they had, like, a big merger acquisition thing and people got laid off.
Anne [00:53:21]:
That is going on with, like, just side note, like, stand up specials in general. Like, they're not paying anything unless you're like, one of five names right now. It's crazy. Everyone's self producing. You can make your money back, but that's about it.
JF Harris [00:53:32]:
Well, Netflix for the most part. Unless you're Chappelle.
Anne [00:53:35]:
That's right.
JF Harris [00:53:37]:
Who? You know, we need another Chappelle special about him talking about trans people. Right, guys?
Anne [00:53:42]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:53:42]:
So special about a millionaire complaining about how he's so fucking marginalized while he's on the largest platform in the world being paid the most amount.
Anne [00:53:51]:
Like, that's what I don't get about it. I'm like, why do you, like, say, JK Rowling? I'm like, why do you care?
JF Harris [00:53:56]:
Nothing else to think about.
Anne [00:53:59]:
You don't have anything. You just have to choose this random thing that doesn't actually affect your life at all. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:54:04]:
Anyone who refers to themselves as the goat is not.
Anne [00:54:08]:
Unless you're, like, an actual goat. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:54:11]:
And then you're still not the goat. You're a goat.
Anne [00:54:13]:
A goat.
JF Harris [00:54:14]:
Yeah, exactly.
Anne [00:54:15]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:54:15]:
Come on, goat.
JF Harris [00:54:18]:
It's just weird when Chris Rock is allowed to call yourself the goat.
Anne [00:54:21]:
Yeah, yeah. It's just kind of sad.
JF Harris [00:54:23]:
It is.
Anne [00:54:24]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:54:24]:
It's sad to watch a dude who's.
Anne [00:54:26]:
Like, he was brilliant. He's brilliant. Back in the day, he had one.
JF Harris [00:54:30]:
Really great stand up special. Special. And probably the greatest sketch comedy show.
Anne [00:54:34]:
Right? I love this sketch. The sketch show is a team effort. Right? True. He was a Neil Brennan.
JF Harris [00:54:39]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:54:40]:
Genius. Yeah. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:54:41]:
Five mics or three mics.
Anne [00:54:43]:
Oh, yeah. So great stand up special.
JF Harris [00:54:46]:
Anyway, inside baseball, how bummed I am that Dave Chappelle is just a fucking WWE heel now.
Anne [00:54:55]:
Yes. Oh, my God. Exactly.
JF Harris [00:54:58]:
Yeah. Edge. Lord. Comedy is bullshit.
Anne [00:55:00]:
I just think it's just, like, no one's oppressed. Like, it's not really. I mean, like, people are oppressed. Those people are not oppressed because they're rich and they're, like, they can do what they want. Like, and they can ignore somebody, and not everyone's gonna like you. Like, that's the other thing. Like, they're like, well, I'm not allowed to say this. Well, like, yeah, like, you're not allowed to.
Anne [00:55:14]:
Like, you'll offend people. You can say it, but there might be consequences. Yeah.
JF Harris [00:55:19]:
The job is to be funny, not hurt people.
Anne [00:55:21]:
Yeah. Like, you're punching down. It's stupid.
JF Harris [00:55:23]:
It's easy. If you want to make a joke about homeless people, that's fine. Just make it funny and have an actual point to it. Like, you know what I mean?
Anne [00:55:31]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:55:31]:
Like, you can joke about anything. Just don't fucking be a dick.
Anne [00:55:36]:
Right. Yeah. Just like, yeah.
Rebekka [00:55:37]:
Just shitting on people alone.
Anne [00:55:39]:
It's.
Rebekka [00:55:39]:
Then you're not. It's not a comedy special.
JF Harris [00:55:41]:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's. You know, it's a fucking rally.
Anne [00:55:45]:
Right.
Rebekka [00:55:46]:
This is the most into comedy. We've gone on the podcast.
Anne [00:55:48]:
Yeah. Actually, kind of.
Rebekka [00:55:49]:
I like it that we're like.
Anne [00:55:51]:
Oh, yeah.
Rebekka [00:55:51]:
Because we're all just happen to be non drinking people.
JF Harris [00:55:54]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:55:55]:
Who also do comedy, so.
Anne [00:55:57]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:55:58]:
The thing I think about the most.
Rebekka [00:55:59]:
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Anne [00:56:00]:
Yeah. The same.
Rebekka [00:56:02]:
You know, when, like, sometimes I'll. People will complain about how in LA, like, everyone just talks about their career, and I'm like, not that I don't have family and stuff like that, but I'm like, yeah, cuz, like, comedy. I love comedy. So, like, I think about it.
Anne [00:56:15]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:56:15]:
Like, what else am I gonna talk about?
JF Harris [00:56:17]:
It's like, my child.
Anne [00:56:18]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:56:18]:
You know? And it's a part of myself. I'm an artist.
Anne [00:56:21]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:56:21]:
I grew up wanting to be an artist from the time I first saw, like, movies when I was 13.
Anne [00:56:26]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:56:26]:
My earliest, like, what was your movie.
Anne [00:56:28]:
Like, that really was like, oh, my God, I love goonies. I went to. Have you been to Astoria?
JF Harris [00:56:34]:
Yes, I have.
Anne [00:56:35]:
Oh, my God. Yeah. Okay. I love the Oregon coast. I love goonies. Some of it, you know, doesn't. You know, like. Like, just some of, like, you know, like, at the beginning, some of the jokes, like, you know, you're like, oh, that was the eighties.
Anne [00:56:48]:
But, like, I love adventure comedies so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too.
JF Harris [00:56:55]:
Yeah. Make this movie, God damn it.
Anne [00:56:57]:
Read the script, Joel.
JF Harris [00:57:01]:
You would be great in it. Why haven't I send that?
Anne [00:57:04]:
Send it to Joel.
JF Harris [00:57:06]:
I'm gonna do that.
Anne [00:57:07]:
Yeah. Okay.
Rebekka [00:57:08]:
Sell it to Hallmark. I'm just kidding.
JF Harris [00:57:11]:
Action comedy.
Anne [00:57:12]:
Yeah. The thing, like, you're talking about, talking about comedy. I love comedy, too. And the tricky part for me is, like, they're like, don't. The new thing is, like, don't make your passion your hobby. I mean, don't make your passion. Sorry. Sometimes your passion can just be your hobby.
Anne [00:57:36]:
Sorry, I'm getting this all wrong, because if you make it your career, then you can end up hating it. Mm hmm. And I made my passion my career, and it can get tricky sometimes because we get sad when it's not going well.
JF Harris [00:57:49]:
It's how I pay my bills, but.
Anne [00:57:50]:
It'S how I pay my bills, too.
JF Harris [00:57:51]:
Exactly. Like, I'm both very lucky, and it does put a strain on what I do.
Anne [00:57:56]:
Right.
JF Harris [00:57:56]:
Like, why haven't I made it yet? And. You know what I mean?
Anne [00:57:59]:
Yeah, yeah.
JF Harris [00:58:00]:
And it seems fucked up to say it because I make a living at it, but it's like, no, I get it. I make less, probably, than a teacher makes or what a teacher makes, you know? And I've had years when I've made, like, really great money and you're writing on stuff, and then you have years where you're making, like, a quarter of the money.
Anne [00:58:15]:
Right. That's.
Rebekka [00:58:15]:
We've talked, and you're doing and you're putting in.
Anne [00:58:18]:
That's the career.
Rebekka [00:58:19]:
Not four times the effort of a teacher, but four times. Sometimes. Some years you're going show, show, show. Like.
Anne [00:58:25]:
Right, right.
Rebekka [00:58:26]:
And then you're doing that basically in a vacuum or for free or for low paying, you know? And then some years you win the lottery and you get the big job, you know, and.
Anne [00:58:36]:
Yeah, it's a.
Rebekka [00:58:36]:
It's a crazy roller coaster of a career.
Anne [00:58:38]:
Sweet.
JF Harris [00:58:39]:
2016 Toyota Prince.
Anne [00:58:40]:
Oh, God.
JF Harris [00:58:41]:
Paid for in cash.
Anne [00:58:43]:
What, baby.
JF Harris [00:58:45]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:58:46]:
Wow. Wow, wow. And that's what not drinking can do.
JF Harris [00:58:49]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:58:50]:
Yeah. Get you a full cash Prius.
JF Harris [00:58:53]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [00:58:54]:
Thank you so much, JF, for coming on the podcast.
Anne [00:58:57]:
So great. Yeah.
Rebekka [00:58:58]:
And thanks for being one of the inspirations for me to get sober, because otherwise I'd be wasted somewhere.
JF Harris [00:59:03]:
Yeah.
Anne [00:59:03]:
Hell, yeah. Yeah. And I want to see your stand up. You should do our. We do a comedy variety show. If you could ever be. If you're in town. Yeah, awesome.
Rebekka [00:59:12]:
We do it.
Anne [00:59:13]:
We'll have you in the show.
JF Harris [00:59:15]:
So buy tickets to that. Now. We don't know which one I'm going to be on, so you're just going to have to buy tickets to all of them.
Anne [00:59:23]:
Yeah. All right, thanks so much.
JF Harris [00:59:24]:
Yeah. Thank you, guys.
Anne [00:59:25]:
Yeah.
JF Harris [00:59:26]:
Oh, wait, can I plug my instagram? Oh, yeah, follow me on Instagram. Hejf Harris. I'm on tour now. If you're in Boston, San Francisco, Long beach, or gonna be in Europe this summer, I'll be doing shows there. Thank you. Goodbye.
Anne [00:59:42]:
Woo hoo. Well, JF is a great human being.
Rebekka [00:59:51]:
You know, it's so funny because he's four years younger than me, so I have this weird, like, I'm, like, proud of him. I'm also, like, amazed at how, like, it's like, wow, he's so smart.
Anne [01:00:04]:
He's so. He's just saying all the right things.
Rebekka [01:00:07]:
Like, look at him go.
Anne [01:00:08]:
And it's like, yeah, of course. Big sister energy. Yes.
Rebekka [01:00:11]:
He's a grown adult male.
Anne [01:00:12]:
Yeah, he's a grown, but you can still have big sister. It's a loving energy. It is. I like how he was like, you know what? Being sober means that I talk and I ask about how people are doing, and I actually care. I love that. That's a great thing. That makes him a great person. What I like is that I can get free coffee out of doing that.
Anne [01:00:31]:
So I'm gonna try that tactic. So, like, JF, I can get free coffee wherever I go.
Rebekka [01:00:35]:
And you work at a. You own.
Anne [01:00:38]:
Yeah, I can get free coffee.
Rebekka [01:00:39]:
She owns a coffee shop. I guess, technically you're paying for it.
Anne [01:00:42]:
Yeah. You know what? I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this. If somebody comes in and they listen to our podcast and you come to the lyric Hyperion and I'm here, you get a free coffee. One.
Rebekka [01:00:53]:
Can it be even if they come and I'm here?
Anne [01:00:55]:
Yeah. Great. One free coffee.
Rebekka [01:00:57]:
One free coffee for listening to the pod.
Anne [01:00:59]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [01:00:59]:
Because we're. That's the.
Anne [01:01:01]:
Because we're trying JF Harris special. Yep, yep. But then you have to listen to us talk about ourselves. Oh, wait, you already are listening to. If you know about this special, you have already listened to hours of us talking about ourselves.
Rebekka [01:01:14]:
You can't just say, I'm here for.
Anne [01:01:15]:
The JF special, Harris special, because, you.
Rebekka [01:01:18]:
Know, I have to prove that someone didn't just give you the code.
Anne [01:01:20]:
So I'm asking 42 questions about the 42 questions. No, you don't have to do that. Just the JF Harris special. And you get a free coffee drink because we want to encourage you not drinking the booze, drink the coffee.
Rebekka [01:01:31]:
And we just. We love this idea of community paying it forward.
Anne [01:01:36]:
Yeah.
Rebekka [01:01:37]:
I think he's so great. And I'm so. I always love when we have someone on who is in the same, like, little comedy world as us and has quit, because it just makes me feel less alone.
Anne [01:01:50]:
A million percent.
Rebekka [01:01:51]:
I mean, we have each other, but it's nice to continue to grow the community and our non drinking buddy duo.
Anne [01:01:57]:
A million percent. And so what do you have for us as a drink this week, Rebecca?
Rebekka [01:02:04]:
Some may say, yes, it's spring. Let's have a spring drink.
Anne [01:02:08]:
You know, it hasn't been spring here in Los Angeles. I'm just gonna say it's kind of, like, been a winter. We live in Seattle now. It rains every day, so.
Rebekka [01:02:15]:
Yeah, because it's, like, been rainy and cold. And maybe you're longing for spring. But you know what? Savor the moment. Savor the present. I decided to make a drink once again. Ann, gonna need you to name it on the fly.
Anne [01:02:28]:
God damn it. Okay, you know what?
Rebekka [01:02:31]:
It's one of your special skills to go on your resume.
Anne [01:02:35]:
I'm not very good at it. Let's go. Let's go. Okay. Okay. So here's.
Rebekka [01:02:38]:
Here's the drink. We're gonna do pomegranate juice.
Anne [01:02:41]:
Okay.
Rebekka [01:02:42]:
But it's gonna be a warm, toasty drink.
Anne [01:02:44]:
Oh, okay.
Rebekka [01:02:45]:
And I feel like I saw someone call.
Anne [01:02:47]:
What is it?
Rebekka [01:02:47]:
Like, a mulled wine? Like someone said, this is like a. There's a variation of mulled wine that you guys. Pomegranate juice and tea. And then this is my own version of it without sort of 150 ingredients. So we're gonna do. I already brewed some hot orange spice tea. So it has black tea and orange and some spice in there.
Anne [01:03:07]:
That's three flavors for the price of.
Rebekka [01:03:09]:
One tea bag in.
Anne [01:03:10]:
Ooh, okay. Three flavors for one. Okay.
Rebekka [01:03:12]:
And then we're gonna throw in a little dollop. And a dollop is not a bartending.
Anne [01:03:17]:
Term, but I think it's about a tablespoon. I'm gonna say a splash pomegranate juice.
Rebekka [01:03:22]:
And then let's put in. You can use maple syrup or you can use agave if you're a vegan. But honey, I prefer be spit for this.
Anne [01:03:33]:
Mmm. Loves to make out with bees.
Rebekka [01:03:37]:
I don't care if it hurts me. It hurts so good to make out.
Anne [01:03:42]:
Somebody was mentioning that honey doesn't go bad. Is that true?
Rebekka [01:03:45]:
I don't know, but it crystallizes.
Anne [01:03:46]:
Sometimes it crystallizes. But I think technically you can still have it. I'm just saying that now somebody's gonna die because I said the wrong thing. Don't listen to Annabelle. Food safety. Yes. She's a. She's.
Anne [01:03:57]:
I got fired from the FDA. Is it FDA? Yeah.
Rebekka [01:04:01]:
She's an expert in comedy. And in not drinking. Not in food safety. Not in food safety except for where it comes. Except at her, the place of work.
Anne [01:04:10]:
Yeah, no, no, I know. It's like somebody's throwing a pineapple at me. I got a duck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that food's safe.
Rebekka [01:04:16]:
You could take it in the face for humor purposes.
Anne [01:04:19]:
Yeah, yeah.
Rebekka [01:04:20]:
That wouldn't be safe, but it would be.
Anne [01:04:21]:
I've already broken my nose.
Rebekka [01:04:22]:
Okay, so don't do that. Okay, so then I have a little. Just a little wedge of orange that.
Anne [01:04:27]:
I am scooping an orange wedgie as.
Rebekka [01:04:29]:
Well, probably if you were smarter than me, you'd have a spoon to stir it. But instead we have a little tea cocktail.
Anne [01:04:37]:
Okay, I gotta taste this before I name it.
Rebekka [01:04:39]:
Okay, let's do it. It does have a mulled wine quality.
Anne [01:04:48]:
Yeah, yeah. Mold memories.
Rebekka [01:04:54]:
Mold memories. Remember, because you can remember now because you're not drunk.
Anne [01:05:00]:
Because you're not drunk, you can remember.
Rebekka [01:05:02]:
Well, Ann, it's been a pleasure doing.
Anne [01:05:06]:
Business with you doing business, and it's been a pleasure, you know, having an audience and people reaching out. Please share it. If it's helped you, share it and then rate us, like, give us a rating. Leave a review. Let us know some more mocktail recipes. I certainly need them. Rebecca needs fewer of them, but I.
Rebekka [01:05:28]:
Need some also, if you comment and if you rate us, it actually helps us go up in the algorithm and makes the AI gods spew our podcast out to more earballs.
Anne [01:05:41]:
Yeah, and we need more ear balls to listen to this message that being sober can be fun. Yes.
Rebekka [01:05:47]:
And if you don't have a. A non drinking buddy, let us be your non drinking buddies.
Anne [01:05:51]:
Mm hmm. Please. We want to be your friend. I want to be JF's friend.
Rebekka [01:05:56]:
Yeah, you can.
Anne [01:05:56]:
I might go to a meeting with him.
Rebekka [01:05:57]:
Yeah, he said get. Get my number from Rebecca.
Anne [01:06:01]:
Look at that. Go to a meeting.
Rebekka [01:06:02]:
Yeah, bitch. You know.
Anne [01:06:04]:
No, he didn't say that. Yeah, he said slut. He said slut. Yeah. Bye.
