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Starting Standup in Maine with David Walton
This is an audio journal of actor, David Walton (Fired Up, New Girl, About a Boy, Bad Moms, Power:Ghost) as he builds a standup comedy set in public with the help of comedians and friends. New episodes every Thursday.
Starting Standup in Maine with David Walton
#27 Casey Watson Interview
Casey Watson is one of the fastest rising comedians in Maine. In 4 short years he has gone from open mic newbie to featuring for many big comics including Ari Shaffir and Big Jay Oakerson. He performs regularly at the Empire Comedy Club in Portland Maine.
Casey stopped by my house and we hit record. We talked about joke writing, clam digging as a day job, and how important it is to find a woman who won't dump you after watching you bomb. And much more.
Great dude. Great chat.
Find him here:
IG: @caseywats
https://www.instagram.com/startingstandup
https://www.instagram.com/davidwalton
https://x.com/davidwalton
Email List
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What happens when you combine professional clam digging with stand-up comedy. Meet Casey Watson, a 6'3 former basketball player who spends his days knee-deep in Maine's mudflaps and his nights crushing it on stage. In just four short years, casey's gone from open mic newcomer to featuring for comedy stars like Ari Shaffir and Big Jay Oakerson. Today we dive into his unique journey from the clam flats to the spotlight and why Casey's about to trade it all for a shot at New York City's comedy scene. Welcome to the Starting Stand-Up Podcast. My name is David Walton. I am so happy you're here.
Speaker 1:Casey showed up at my house. I'd never met him. We began some small talk as I met him in the driveway and then I quickly told him to shut his mouth because I wanted to record everything. So please enjoy this hour-long chat where two men truly meet each other for the first time and get right into it. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Casey's a lovely man, full of talent and dreams, and I now consider him a friend, and I hope you will too. Please enjoy Casey Watson oh man, that's rubbish.
Speaker 1:That's rubbish all right, we're cooking. Casey hello nice to meet you, man just for context uh, for those listening casey, we have never met that. We just met three minutes ago yeah okay, three minutes. Caleb, our last guest, and you are good friends, right? Yeah, yeah okay, now we're gonna live, get to know each other for you, and the first thing I want to say is just my impression you're a, you're a handsome big man well, thanks yeah, you're so, yeah, so give me your weight like you're a boxer, or height and weight.
Speaker 2:Are we going? Division III basketball stats.
Speaker 1:Start with that, because I know you're a basketball player. That was 6'4" 225. Realistically 6'3" 235 probably Now in your age. How old are you? 28. Sweet, so what? What year you born?
Speaker 2:96.
Speaker 1:I was december of 96, okay I was a junior in high school.
Speaker 2:Oh geez so I'm a wise man?
Speaker 1:yeah, I'm gonna teach you some things and the reason you're on. Well, I'll tell you what caleb said.
Speaker 2:He loves you, by the way, and he also said that you started doing stand-up how many years ago, uh 2021, so four years ago, yeah, that's and you've been very quick, meaning you're, you're headlined something at the empire comedy club empire, the other club and smaller club in maine, and then one other show around here that like, that's like in the last month, in the last month, so would you say that you are at the apex of you know you're rising and you're at the you're.
Speaker 1:You haven't started. There's no dip yet.
Speaker 2:I don't know I haven't wrote a good new joke in like a month oh, we're gonna get into that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so you're having a hard time finding a good new one I had last night.
Speaker 2:I finally got a premise where I was like all right now we got something.
Speaker 1:Can you share it or no?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, I mean I've wondered if it's been done before, is my probably, but uh, basically, you know the song the gambler by kenny rogers, of course. Well, the whole song he like sets it up like you get this great gambling advice and the only advice is like no one to hold them and no one to fold them, which is like that's not advice, that's just like, like, if your chef friend was like, if you.
Speaker 2:you were like oh, what's the secret to making good chicken? He's like you got to know when to turn it. You're like right, but how do I know? Man, that's what I want to know.
Speaker 1:I like that, I like that. So tell me, well, let's just get right into it, because I don't want to, I don't want to have a pre-plan and we're already into joke writing. So four years ago you begin. What is the impetus to? To begin writing and telling jokes?
Speaker 2:so uh, in college, like I, I always watched stand-up like growing up like that we loved it yeah, I always liked comedy, like my dad always just like, no matter what, would throw on like some sort of not that I don't like action movies, but it was like always that and I was like dude, let's watch something funny here, we need to like relax a little, and then uh, but he liked george carlin a lot so he showed me carlin, when I was like young, okay, and then we always would watch.
Speaker 2:You remember the blue collar comedy tour. Yeah, foxwood yeah, yeah, yeah uh, we my family loved that they loved uh, the guy with the jeff, uh, jeff dunham uh-huh my parents were a huge jeff dunham does props, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he does puppets, yeah, yeah yeah, um and like.
Speaker 2:So I always watched that stuff and then, like in middle school, I got super into dane cook, of course, oh, wow that was the perfect age for me, and then like, yeah, when I moved out to la dane was a, he was the peak right, yeah, yeah, yeah and uh, and then I always, and then like I fell in love with like new york comedy of like attell and you know sam murrell is like one of the big people I got into it joe list, normand, all those guys you know amazing um, and then?
Speaker 2:yeah, and then the pandemic happened and I was graduating college so I graduated on zoom uh humane farmington you went, you into humane farmington and you had to graduate on zoom, we like yeah, the end of school was basically I was in my internships, so I was working at a school and a hospital the two places like they're not gonna let you keep going as like an intern yeah it started, uh, and then and then. Yeah, I just didn't know what I wanted to do. Like, what am I gonna do with my life?
Speaker 2:like graduating school and then just nothing happening yeah, because you're 24, yeah, yeah and I was like this is odd. And then, and then I like I just watched stand-up all the time because, like we were doing nothing. I was like I need something positive here. And then, uh, I was like man, I really should do this. Because at one point in college, like a friend of mine was like, have you ever thought about doing stand-up?
Speaker 1:and I was. Are you the? You don't have to be humble. Were you always your funniest in the friend group, like so?
Speaker 2:I mean depends in, like my hometown friend group like when I grew up in yeah, yeah, we were all funny though like yeah, everybody was right and like I don't know, but in college I felt like I was more like comment to the side, funny, yes, we're like I would say something and it would be funny, but I'm like I don't want to say it in front of everyone right.
Speaker 1:Well, there's this big thing that I find weird. Is that some of the funniest people in the world when you hang out with them like I, I hung out with will. I don't like will ferrell, my friend, uh, wife was their nanny right, so I like I was hanging out with will ferrell at their wedding, you know, and it's like there's no funny coming right, he's just like and then.
Speaker 1:But then he stands up to give a toast and it's unbelievably funny and I find that the stand-ups like the the problem with stand-up almost is like the person who's always bidding and always like on just intolerably intolerable. And so you're like already sensitive to that. You're like kind of like I'm going to do an aside here. These are hard jokes Also.
Speaker 2:I always thought, like the class clown, like the one that would like get in front and like do silly stuff. I was like, all right, dude, that's like you never get laid. Yeah, that was my problem, because I was like the guy who's like doing like fart jokes in front of everyone.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh come on, yeah, yeah, oh, that's amazing, okay, so so yeah you start to oh, and then, yeah, the pandemic happened and then an open mic started there. I saw an open mic In Portland At the time I was living in Phippsburg still, but in Bath, which is the town right next to where I grew up and it was like a booked open mic which I didn't know. I just emailed them and was like, hey, can I sign up? And they were like, sure, but this one's booked. But we'll give you like five minutes up top.
Speaker 1:And this up top, and then and this was popping your cherry- this was the first one and were you prepared? I wrote down stuff. I mean, yeah, do you have a recording of that first five? I don't do, I don't, actually, I remember what you said?
Speaker 2:not really, uh, did you get laughs people? They were very nice and like I still know them and like, oh, because they still do the open mic, that's in a different town now. But uh, I, there was like four people there, like there's a I tell this all the time but like, uh, john, do you know Johnny Ader? By any chance, he's a local main comedian.
Speaker 2:He's been doing it for like 30 years but he was at that open mic and I was just randomly yeah, he just he's, he goes around a lot just trying to like get new stuff. But he, uh, I was just like so nervous and he just kept. He was like barking people in, cause there's a restaurant upstairs. He was like trying to get people down.
Speaker 1:And I was like this guy's nuts.
Speaker 2:I don't want more people here Like that's insane, yeah, and then uh, yeah, but now I see Johnny everywhere and I'm like dude, I like now I fully get it. Now I'm like if we could just have way more people.
Speaker 1:This would be great like actually useful, but well, that's something is so hard about.
Speaker 1:It all is when you have all this, these jokes what sort of material that you're excited to perform. And then you look at the audience and it's like four surly, uh angry comedians and like two drunk people and you're like, do I waste? Like cause, cause. I have this problem where, you know, I feel like I'm making progress, but there's it's, it's minimal, but sometimes I'm like, oh, this is going to be good. And then you sort of feel like if I do this right now, and obviously it's not going to work in this situation, what's that going to do to my I don't know like confidence about this material? Like how do I not let it affect whether I think it's funny? You know?
Speaker 2:I said that last night I did the, I did the open mic and I was like oh, at empire, you were there yeah, I was like do I even tell this new joke, because I guess I'm just gonna like it works so tough.
Speaker 1:Oh, sometimes, guys, everyone's just looking at their phone.
Speaker 2:Oh, everyone's well, that's the problem with like an all comedian mike, is you're never going to get anything out of it, because the comedian is either going to be looking at their own jokes, thinking about what they're going to say, or they're going to go. Ah, I see what you did you know what I mean, like they're not going to be like haha, like right.
Speaker 2:I mean people probably think that I come off like an ass because I will purposely fake laugh, because I'm like that's a good joke, I'm just trying to show it to you.
Speaker 1:But like.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to like laugh.
Speaker 1:I've been on television sitcoms and I was always confused because they'd be like oh, that one got a laugh and I'm like the writers would huddle together and be like that joke got the biggest laugh.
Speaker 1:I'm like this audience is like on methamphetamine and being paid to laugh like they're. We said that joke six times in a row and the loudness of the laugh didn't diminish. Like these are crazy people. Why are we trusting them? Yeah, and that's why seinfeld is. If you listen to seinfeld like, that's all I don't. They're not piping or or picking up the laughter. I sometimes think for this podcast, now I'm going to digress, but like I want to hack the development process of stand-ups, like I I think it's right for some sort of change and like I was thinking about going on instagram live and just being like do an emoji when you really laugh in your home, you know, like just weird things where you're even like somehow get a better sense of what works, rather than these open mics full of angry standards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I will say that's like a like, um, I mean, new York has the same problem, but New York.
Speaker 1:I've done, have you done open? Mics yeah dude, it's even yeah, right, yeah it's the.
Speaker 2:But there's like clubs around the country like, uh, my friend brendan there who's a yeah, we're gonna have him on the pod.
Speaker 1:He brendan, you don't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah yeah, he's at go bananas in cincinnati, a club, this weekend and he did the open mic the night before because he was in early, uh-huh, and he was like dude, it's. He was like it's so much better. Like these clubs have an audience that comes to the open mic, really like people will come out to watch people work on jokes and like that seems ideal yeah it's how do you get there and build the audience?
Speaker 1:and then it's also there's a lot of bad at open mics, that's yeah it's almost like the audience has to know, like they have to have some sort of masochistic joy of kind of watching incredibly uneven comedy yeah, right yeah, all right. Well, we'll keep working on it, we'll spitball ways to improve, yeah so, um, all, right back to your story. So you get going, you, you try it out up in phippsburg. How far away is phippsburg from portland? Maine?
Speaker 2:45 minutes oh, it's not that far up near bath.
Speaker 1:Okay, so two and a half hours from boston, for those of you who are.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so you do it. And then is a bug caught, or are you like? I didn't like it?
Speaker 2:What no In fact, I was like like I knew part of it. I was like, oh well, I'm still new and like I know that wasn't actually good. And these people, yeah, you didn't trust their life right, but I was like well, that was fun, I did like it went better than I thought it would. It was kind of like one of those experiences where, after I got off stage was like what did? I just say like yeah uh, I've been in a dream or something.
Speaker 2:And then they let me do it again in like a couple weeks, and I was like sure, and I wrote like new stuff uh, and that's where I met my friend alex temple. He's, uh, another local stand-up is he? Coming on the pod. You could probably get him.
Speaker 2:I'm sure he's a new dad alex, if you're listening, you're coming on um, but he, uh, that was like the first friend I met in stand-up because we're the same age, and he talked about like an idea that I had also written down and I was like, oh, this is great, like this is someone I know. Is he a? A comedy buddy?
Speaker 1:Like do you guys help each?
Speaker 2:other. Yeah, we used to do when we first started, cause there wasn't a ton of mics right here. We would drive to Boston, like all the time.
Speaker 1:What's the open mic scene in Boston, like there's more.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I saw that there's that website. I forget the name of it, but it has. But what is it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah yeah, that has all the open mic lists, like everywhere right, yes all over the country there's more. And when you go to someplace different, like instead of that feeling where the comics know you and they just go, ah, whatever, and they don't listen to you, they're like oh, we don't know this guy, let's listen.
Speaker 1:You know like oh cool.
Speaker 2:There's someone new, yeah, and like we started figuring out like all right, well, let's do open mics here for a month, We'll go down there and do a couple, you know, at the end of the month, where we bring material that we've worked on all month to be like is this actually ready?
Speaker 1:Oh, cool, and you how? Many open mics. Do you think you've done?
Speaker 2:in Boston.
Speaker 1:Total 50. 50. Probably yeah, okay. Over the course of a year or, two, two years probably.
Speaker 2:I haven't gone down and done the open mics down there in a little bit, because now I'm doing shows down there, so it's like I might as well so you've been hired to do shows in boston yeah amazing, just so you know, like, or listening at home this is fast, like.
Speaker 1:This is a nice.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, you're you're going, you're on a, I've got a. I don't want that to sound like I've met, like of course, no, no.
Speaker 1:Casey's going fast here. This is let's not call it meteoric, but it's definitely way, way way above the normal, and so it's really cool. And that's what I'm sort of fascinated by is let's get right into this. When did you feel or let's call it a break, like in acting, we call it our first break, the first thing you get hired for but when did your confidence start to build or click in a real way? Was it pretty immediate?
Speaker 2:No, oh, if I go back and listen to early tapes, it's a lot of me going. What was I going to say? It's so awkward and and it's just not good and uh no, I don't know if I even still have confidence.
Speaker 1:Well, I have to say I've. I've watched whatever you know, the stuff you have on instagram, which is always just a taste and you know, and it also you don't get a sense of like the room. But I'll tell you what I notice and this is in keeping with this weird thing. Now that I've watched so many people perform in open mics, even if the jokes aren't working, you can tell when someone's a professional. You can tell that they know what they're doing and they're just.
Speaker 1:You know they're still trying to work it out, but there's a, there's a confidence, there's an assuredness, there's it's a, it's intuitive, it's almost like blink, it's like a subconscious thing. You're like that person has a lot of experience and knows what they're doing, even if they're not killing or right right and you?
Speaker 2:you feel that too right like oh for sure, when you watch, uh, that's like like johnny is my favorite person to watch, not do well, because he handles it so well, but it's also just so funny because he's acknowledging how it's not going, like, yeah, some people acknowledge it and you're like all right, dude, we get it. Like this room isn't fun, yes, but then like he does it in such a fun way that it's like a very professional thing where it's like, yeah, we all know this isn't going well, but it's fun, we're all still he kind of like brings the room almost up, but like, yeah, like, yeah, I think there's a weird thing like if you can stand up there, not do well and and somehow still be full of like love and enjoyment, like people are just like okay, yeah, you know, and and and your and and your mind is working.
Speaker 1:I find when I'm up there now, when it goes poorly, it's like I'm slow, I'm not ahead of my thoughts. You know, I'm kind of behind them and I'm playing catch up to what I'm supposed to be doing. And that's when I watch you and clearly I think these were bits that were you done before and they're tight, but there's just the assuredness of language there's, there's a crispness to professionals or to people who are doing it, that I'm still not there yet and I'm like fuck, is it just? Am I just under rehearsing? Is it? Is it just, should I be treating this like a, like a monologue that I would do, you know for for Steven Spielberg, do?
Speaker 2:you know what I mean. Yeah, so some people. So I don't, I'm not very like, I don't like I'll write it down, but I won't practice it before saying it beforehand when I go to open mics or anything.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:I, because I like the, the looseness kind of of like. Okay, I know the idea. If I just read it, I'm going to be so rigid it's not going to be funny.
Speaker 1:I agree reading it, but I mean the jokes, like from Seinfeld's point of view, right Like every word is incredibly important.
Speaker 2:That's the, that's the flip side. Is that then? So that's why I don't do it when I first say it. When I first say it, I go all right, let's just say it, get the idea out, feel the beats of like what I like of this joke, because I go up with, like what am I going to remember from what I wrote down? Do what I like of it. And then I go back and write oh, I listened to it. And I go okay, this word needs to change. This is what you should fix.
Speaker 1:So your first attempt at the joke. There's no attempt to make it perfect, it's the exploratory phase.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will write down like. So how I write a lot of times is like I walk around my apartment pacing with a microphone and just like are you clothed or yeah?
Speaker 1:well, it depends on the day.
Speaker 2:I suppose you have a mic like you have something like that one, yeah, and then I just walk around and we'll literally just like riff on the idea out loud and you're recording it. No, no, I just say it out loud and then I go oh okay, let okay, let me write down. Oh, that's funny. It usually comes from one idea. I listened to the Gambler and was like, oh this, yeah, let me rant about the Gambler.
Speaker 2:And then I will think about it and I go, oh, that's funny. And then I'll go back, I'll look at the song. Maybe it'll be like oh, that line's also stupid, like you know. No disrespect To the man that wrote the gambler, but uh, yeah but uh, and then I just yeah, then I'll write on ideas, I guess, I guess, I guess that doesn't yeah I'm a mix of writing and then riffing and then bring that on stage of.
Speaker 2:I also will forget half the ideas, and that's part of my issue but yeah, I mean me too.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think I do the same thing. I've discovered I, sitting in front of a computer and trying to write something funny, is definitely not the I can't do, yeah. So, uh, the the ranting which I've, you know, shared some of them is usually where you find something and as an improv someone who's always loved improv that's it like oh yeah, and it makes you, it keeps you alive. I mean, I think I wanted to talk to you about this. It's the biggest challenge I have with stand-up is that once you say it and it works, I it loses the magic for me as far as the joy of saying it again.
Speaker 1:I'm like now I'm a parlor trick, yeah you know, now I'm just like, so it's like, and it's making me think, like what the hell are you doing in stand-up? And that's stand-up, you basically hone it and and you deliver it over and over and over again. The same material so do you have that struggle or do you like, once you hone it, to keep?
Speaker 2:repeating it. So I like, once I hone it, I still am like trying to figure out oh, is that?
Speaker 1:is there another word that I could?
Speaker 2:use. Is this funny? Oh, now that that part's done, yeah, it makes me think, oh, why don't I like one of the videos I posted on instagram? Once I posted it I was like, oh, how did I miss this? And then I like wrote a whole new angle on it just because I watched it, watched me do it myself to post it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I listened to stuff from a week ago I'm like, oh my god, I just listened to a five minute. That when I recorded I thought it was great I listened to it and I was like not only am I never doing that again, but I cannot believe. I just shared that with them.
Speaker 2:Right, Right, but no, I I mean definitely that's how I get like tired of. That's honestly what I get tired of, like doing the same material, Like when I have. If I'm booked for 15 minutes, if I do the same 15 minutes for like three months, I'm like, all right, let's throw. I love to throw a new joke in. Caleb will make fun of me for it all the time Because, like I did, Brendan and I are great friends, but I feature for him at Empire. When you say feature for him, what does that mean?
Speaker 2:So it's a host features the middle comic and then Brendan will headline to 45. So features like anywhere from 15 to 30, depending on the show 15 to 30, depending on. Oh okay, on the show, um and caleb was like you were just doing a big show in front of one of your good friends in stand-up and I watched you throw in a joke that I know you wrote this week and he's just like they love it and I was like, yeah, but did it work?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah yeah, of course it was like a new joke where I was like it was a quick one, where I was like it the all the beats connected and it already connects to something else I already talked about. See, this is what's crazy to me.
Speaker 1:We have to stop for a second, because if I hadn't been trying this and doing this and learning about this, I'd be like why is that crazy? For a comic, a week is plenty of time to to come up with a joke and say in front of a live audience no one, I think, understands the level of crap like building a fucking car engine that you're doing this thing. And it's weird that a week ago you have a new joke that you added that's nuts.
Speaker 2:So for for the lay person, it's like wait these guys, yeah, so the thing is like stand-up you can't really practice unless you're in front of people. Yeah, so that's part of what makes it so hard to like. It's what takes it so long. Yeah, it's like a musician can play wonderwall in his room all day and then know if wonderwall sounds good you don't even like whereas, and then when he goes in front of people, it's already perfected.
Speaker 2:Whereas, like you go and you say this joke, you're like I think that'll work, and then everyone's like dude, what yuck like yeah, you know what I just.
Speaker 1:It's such a cool thought and idea. It feels like surfing. Why I hate surfing. It's like you can't practice surfing unless you're out there and it only lasts two seconds yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great comparison, yeah so it's like all summer.
Speaker 1:It's like I surfed all summer. How many seconds were? Yeah, so it's like all summer. It's like I surfed all summer.
Speaker 2:How many seconds?
Speaker 1:were you on waves? It's like 42 seconds, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know it's like stand-up. You're right, you can practice at home, but it's not the same thing. The energy, and that's my thing. I've been practicing, practicing, practicing. Then audience is hostile.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Now are you a bachelor? Are we in love? I have a girlfriend that I've been dating since, I mean, I was six months into stand-up maybe, so like she's basically been around for the whole thing. She watched me pretty early and the fact that she stayed was astonishing. That's huge.
Speaker 1:No, there is nothing that's more vagina repellent than seeing your boyfriend try stand up and bomb. I mean honestly, I don't think there's anything that uh will put ice in the bedroom like that so most couples break up after that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, it's so funny. Okay, good for her. What's her name? Cena. Okay, cena, good for you. You really love your man, don't you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's great, she's awesome okay um all right, so oh, she told me this is gonna be mean. She told me she likes your wife more than you, so oh good, good.
Speaker 1:How does she know, my wife uh like because?
Speaker 2:I was like, because she loves new girl, oh okay, so when you you started standing where I was at empire, yeah like one of the one of the first times I saw you and everyone was like, oh, that's the guy from new girl. And then I was like, what do they know? And so I texted my girlfriend because I know she loves it yeah hey, is this guy from new girl?
Speaker 2:and then she was like yeah, and I knew it. And then I, uh, I was like oh, I'm doing his podcast today, so I googled you, because she was like why does he live in ma?
Speaker 1:And I was like I don't know.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, like your wife pops up and I was like, oh look, this is his wife, and she was. She was like, oh my God, I love her in that show.
Speaker 1:So she didn't actually say she loves her more than you. I just thought, no, that's great, I love it. She's definitely worthy of more love than me. So, um, okay, so that's cool. So Sina, yeah, sina, all right, shout out. Sina, yeah, now do you have a side hustle or a side job?
Speaker 2:I dig clams for a living. Excuse me, I dig clams yeah.
Speaker 1:You're a clam digger. Yes, this is amazing. All right, so I love steamers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, streamers, yeah, yeah, yeah. So when did you start? Is this a family business?
Speaker 2:so my dad doug claims my whole life. He's doug claim since he was what's his name terry. Shout out terry, yeah, yeah, he'll love that. Uh, he started. His dad died when he was 18 and he had two younger brothers and a mom who couldn't drive or anything um her mom. His mom couldn't drive yeah, she my dad's like 68 years old and like so his mom was older and didn't drive.
Speaker 2:It was just kind of like the way of the times in that time. Okay, so yeah, he started digging clams at 18, just to make money. And was like I'll do this until I figure out what I want to do. And now he's been doing it for 58 years. I mean 50 years, 50 years of clam digging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how's his 50 years of clam digging? Yeah, houses lumbar back, houses back. So clam digging, I see them there's. I live near a place called the clam flats. Yeah, and there's got. And these giant rubber boots paint the scene of what a clammer looks like.
Speaker 2:It's rubber boots up to your, up to your hips, okay up to your hips like, yeah, up to well, yeah, yeah, that's insane um, and you just go out in the mud and then dig little tiny holes where the clams like blow water up through the mud you look for a little bubble, it's like a. It's just a hole in the sand, you know, or?
Speaker 1:like mud.
Speaker 2:Whatever you're in, okay um, and then, yeah, you just dig down and pick them up. That's basically. It's very much exactly the term, that it's that so.
Speaker 1:So what makes a skilled clam digger versus a chump clam digger?
Speaker 2:uh, speed, I guess, speed with which you can also not hurting yourself is a good, so using your body correctly, yeah yeah, like that's one thing my dad has always done is like actually take care of his body pretty well is his back just made of iron?
Speaker 1:oh, this is what I was gonna say so.
Speaker 2:My dad fell off a roof when he was like in his 20s, like he did carpentry on the side or whatever and fell off a roof and they were like, ah, when you get older, like there's probably gonna be a time where you won't walk, you know, because you're back, like because he's sorry to laugh.
Speaker 1:No, no it's fine.
Speaker 2:And he like crushed a bunch of discs in his back and they were like don't dig clams, that's a horrible idea. And then he just kept digging clams because he had nothing else to do. And then then he went back to the doctors like in his 50s and they were like it's a great thing you were digging clams this whole time because you've like actually like stretched it out. Based on the fact that he's been bent over his whole life, it's actually like helped him. Yeah, I mean his back's like super strong. One time the uh, my parents own like a, a clam, a small like retail clam business in our hometown. Um, but one time the, the world's strongest man, just happened to be in town and stopped by in pipsburg yeah yeah, and then he just like touched my dad's back and was like that's insane like he was really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I want to touch your dad. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I'm sure he would. He'd love it. Oh, my goodness, so so you? When he does he still clam dig. Oh, yeah, oh he's 68.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he goes out with me. I dig with him actually and how many pounds, what's? A good day in our town I mean a great day is like 150 pounds 150 pounds of steamers. Yeah, and what are they wholesaling per pound depends on the time of year that changes like a lot summer is obviously summer, summer you get paid more. Um, and they also want like a better clam then obviously.
Speaker 1:But are the steamers always the same amount in the beach or are there like? Is it fluctuating year to year? Year to year?
Speaker 2:yeah, and like also in the winter, it's a lot harder to find because there's snow and all these other do you ever have vacation?
Speaker 1:is there a natural steamer vacation?
Speaker 2:no, no, not in, not really here so just some people don't dig during the winter. But we do, you do yeah so did you dig this week?
Speaker 1:I dug yesterday, yeah, and how many hours uh, that depends on where you are.
Speaker 2:Where we dig, it's like six max, probably because you have to go.
Speaker 1:Are you listening to?
Speaker 2:tunes, I listen to podcasts and stuff. Oh, great. If I don't, it's usually just me writing in my head oh, that's cool, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Just kind of over. Is it meditative clam digging, do you?
Speaker 2:get in the zone Some days, then some days. I'm like this is the most miserable experience. What the hell does your dad think about when he's clam digging? I don't know. He loves it out there. He loves it. Yeah, he says it's like he's like all of your. My problems come when you come back to shore.
Speaker 2:He's like like that's when, like money's a problem anything's like an actual problem oh, it's peaceful out there, yeah and he's like it's the same way it was when I was 18 out here, like it's just the sunset. You know what I mean gorgeous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, so that part is cool and I like being out there like seeing. I love steamers. They're so delicious and I remember, just as a brief digression, I remember giving my kids steamers for the first time and I'm circumcised and my son is not and uh, as they pulled off. For those of you haven't had a steamer, it's a really interesting animal because basically there's a, a penis in ball, sack in a clam shell right, and then I get what you're saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and it's like you become an instant. Is it a a moil? Uh, you basically become a circumciser who can just pull the sheath off the penis and then you toss that yeah, that part's nothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is that an accurate description? Yeah, yeah, some people won't eat the stomach, which I think is what you're calling the ball. Yeah, yeah, it looks like. Yeah, no, it does.
Speaker 1:Old man's hanging sack, so it's delicious by the way, I'm not making it sound good but no, it does sound disgusting.
Speaker 2:And you're, and then you dip it.
Speaker 1:For those who don't know, you dip it in generally some hot water to clean the mud and sand. So that's actually that's bad.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, that's actually my dad had this idea, so my dad never went to college or anything, but he created the first uh, recirculating wet storage system on the east coast. What does?
Speaker 1:that mean.
Speaker 2:So basically they don't have the dirt in them. In his clams, the ones he sells, uh, from his shop, they pump water through the crack through. No, so it's like a. He has a system of water that recirculates and goes through uv light and a bunch of filters and will pump through and it get.
Speaker 2:The clams will pump all that dirt out eventually and they stay alive because they're in the water and they still feed on stuff in the water and then so do you have giant tanks yeah, they, they do at their retail shop, yeah and like when I was a kid they used to do a ton of business and then they kind of as they got older. My dad was like, ah and yeah the retail.
Speaker 1:You're done with the retail. They still do retail.
Speaker 2:You could go down and buy like clams, just like retail. But we used to. They used to do wholesale more too, and like actually in scarborough, we used to. We still sell to the clam bake restaurant oh, no, that is yeah, we used to sell to bailey's lobster pound too.
Speaker 1:Oh, cool, um, all right, so you guys have a proprietary system for no dirt so you just go straight to the butter. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I gotta get me some of these clams I didn't come over with.
Speaker 2:I didn't know. You like clams, some people don't like.
Speaker 1:Next time like I, absolutely love them. I have these great steamer pots. I can. I can batch, cook a ton of clams all right, so um, that was a my favorite digression of 2025 there we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, take that caleb do you do clam digging bits? Yeah, yeah, a little bit not a little bit. It's one of those things where, like, I feel like I'm too close to it right now to see why it's like I get that it's funny and yeah in name and also what I'm doing is crazy yeah um, it feels like a shakespearean. Can't like character, like a clam digger, uh, but yeah, I do have some of them, some some jokes about it for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, shout out clam digging. And how many clam diggers do you think there are in maine? We're gonna just stay on.
Speaker 2:Uh, how many, I don't know, because so there's like in our town there's 20 licenses. So if you go every town on the coast, I don't know 2000 what's crazy to me is you know they have oyster farms, right are.
Speaker 1:Are there clam farms?
Speaker 2:Steamer farms. They grow in the mud so it's hard to like have a Right, and I mean so do oysters, but oysters can survive on the coast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. But what's shocking to me is that steamers aren't that expensive.
Speaker 2:No, not really no.
Speaker 1:It's like in the effort and the circumstances to get them. It's pretty. I don't want the prices to go up, but I'm kind of shocked at the way yeah, they go up a little bit during the summer. I mean, they've got what's a pound. What's? What do you like for a pound of steamers?
Speaker 2:I think like I mean during the summer, it's like seven bucks, seven bucks a pound.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that took you what 15 minutes to? To take you like two or three minutes, two to three minutes you get a pound, do you? Do you come on like you're digging for gold, like you come on like a a giant vein of steamers, or are they just sort of like equally scattered everywhere? Uh, are you ever like, holy fuck, there's 7 000 pounds of steamers in this.
Speaker 2:I wish I found that more. Yeah, yeah, but no for sure. There's definitely spots where it's better, like there'll be patches where you're like, oh, this is great, and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, cool, this last bucket has taken me 45 minutes. This is horrible, which sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Now one last question. There's no pearls and shit in steamers right, Not the precious gems precious gems, not the kind you would like use for jewelry.
Speaker 2:There's not, I guess, usually. I asked this to to my dad. Apparently that's usually like placed in there in an oyster. Yeah, they'll place like a whatever mineral it is in, like oysters and it'll yeah, to try to get it going.
Speaker 1:Okay. Oh man, I'm gonna eat steamers in a whole new way. Um, fantastic, all right, so that's your. So five days a week, you're doing that.
Speaker 2:I do it. I do it as much as I can. I mean weekends. Now, luckily, I'm being booked more, so then what are we getting?
Speaker 1:paid now to to do standup, but what I mean? I will preface this by saying I've been going down to new york and going to the comedy cellar and just loving it and all the I mean I've seen sam morrell, david tell all the time and all these guys, uh, dave chapelle, the place is amazing and but it's 75 bucks for for a spot, probably for a spot, uh. So like a guy will come down from their harlem apartment like take it down, go do their 15 minutes and get like 50 bucks to 75 bucks.
Speaker 2:And then yeah, but they get to do like eight of eight spots or whatever they can do like a million spots. Yeah, that is true, but I mean what I'm?
Speaker 1:yeah, I guess what I'm saying is like that is the apex of, that's the preeminent stand-up club in, uh, america, right, and that's what they're getting well, so then they make more money when they go on the road for the weekend, yeah that's where, like the, have you done? Have you? Have we started to do that? No, I I'm no, no obviously that's the goal.
Speaker 2:I don't think I'm close, but uh, don't think I'm close.
Speaker 1:I don't think I'm close. Yeah, like what? What is what? Why don't you think you're close?
Speaker 2:one. It's hard to get any sort of name up here, which is why I want to move to New York.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's also I mean, I've headlined a couple times I want it to be tighter. I would rather be. I like trying to be the best of the. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, small pond, big fish, small pond and then move that energy.
Speaker 2:Yeah hopefully I can. Yeah right, I would like to, because, like, I go down to new york tonight and I'm like, okay, I'm holding my, I'm holding my own with some of these people, but there's people that are significantly better. Are you going to open mics? Yeah, and I also went down to austin.
Speaker 2:I did a bunch of shows in austin okay, that's got a good scene because of yeah, the whole club, rogan club and everything, yeah but I did the creek in the cave which used to be a new york club, and they moved it down there, um, and I did a couple shows down there and again I I held my own. But I was like, man, these guys are better. Like they're getting up more than me so they can practice more than me too. So I want to be at the level of those guys. So like, when I came back I was like, oh, nose to the grindstone. Like you're, you're falling behind because I'm not in a scene where, like they can do 100 spots in a week whereas like we get five. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:So like, yeah, that's the biggest thing, I think is not being in the environment where you're just like. All you're thinking about is that right and that's what I like.
Speaker 2:Having like brendan, having brendan like a professional is like okay, brendan's ahead of me, so I'm trying to like catch him almost in like a friendly competition way, where I'm like all right, I want to be as good as this guy is.
Speaker 1:So let's break it down. You want to, and if there are other comics listening if, if you became the ceo of your life and you just could step outside and get rid of all you're not attached to any emotions, you're not attached to any circumstance if you could just like, channel a ceo that would say you want, that's your goal, and in the next two years, this is what you need to do. Do you know the answer to what that CEO would say to you?
Speaker 2:Not really Cause that's, that's one of the other things, but like I feel like that's a all artists thing, is there's no like map, like with anything like a. I mean, obviously being a doctor is harder, I'm not saying that, but like there's. You know, I go through school, I get good grades, I go to, you know, grad school, I go to med school and then like, work through the residency and do all that stuff, whereas, like with comedy, you're like I get better, but how do I get followers that make it so that I can tour, or how do I get better and then seen by a like into clubs, or how do I get? Yeah, yes, you know, like if you're in new york, you just keep grinding and eventually, hopefully, you keep getting better, but it's just a weird like yeah, it's not an actual map like no the only map that has ever been told it seems is right and perform that's it exactly right perform right, perform, right, perform and keep going.
Speaker 1:and I would add one to that, not that I know anything, but I would say that you got to live, you know like you got to live life and you got to, you got to become a full person, you know, with all these layers, cause then, then your material gets more interesting. And I think I'm always shocked when a 16, 17 year old can be good.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause. Like you haven't, what do you?
Speaker 2:know what's your perspective.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, can be good. Yeah, because, like you haven't, what do you know? What's your perspective? Yeah, yeah, and I weirdly, starting at 45, 46, it's like I have. There's so much richness in your life, whether it's marriage or kids or home. Like you've done all these things and and humor can be extracted from all. You've got tragedy, whatever, uh.
Speaker 2:So I've always like huge props to really young comics who are somehow that I will say that's I got this tip from from a comedian when I was young. Like young and stand up, I mean like I mean not that I am, I'm still am but was like if there's ever experience versus an open mic. So like someone's like hey, let's go to some sort of metal show, I don't like metal. But like they're like let's go to some sort of metal show, I don't like metal but like they're like, let's go.
Speaker 2:You do that over the open mic every once in a while because it's like I have this experience now and so I go to that that thing, I go. Oh, that's a weird thing I'm never in this situation and you almost get like more material out of doing an experience than you do. Yeah, like I'll say. Yeah, I say yes to like like I. I did an old folks home show I do like I do like any show, because I'm like well, worst case scenario, this goes really bad, but then it's funny so like.
Speaker 1:Do you remember any of your jokes at the old folks home?
Speaker 2:I have a joke in my act about doing the old folks home because it went so like bad. Because, like I mean, I, what do I? Like? Yeah, my parents watched the andy griffith show and that's the most I can relate to these people. Like I have nothing and like, yeah, it started off well because I just made fun of the fact that, like we're not, you know what. I mean, Like I'm sorry to end up here.
Speaker 2:But once you went into your actual set. Yeah, once there was material, it was not good and you're just getting. Well, you don't even know if they can hear you. Yeah, no, exactly one person just gets up and starts walking at me on stage like walking toward you, yeah, and like a walker which, like she walked with her walker coming towards stage and I was like it was like a long enough time where I was like is anyone gonna like, do I don't know?
Speaker 2:where she's going like just start doing crowd work with someone who is losing their mind Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, poor old people, man, we treat them so awfully.
Speaker 2:It's so bad.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's hilarious. It reminds me of I would at my school. I was, you know, everyone had to be in the glee club and we would tour and go to old folks homes and be singing like these. You know songs all and go to old folks homes and be singing like these. You know songs, all the prepubescent boys voices you know, and they'd be like the old folks homes, probably the one you were in. It's like 85 degrees in there because everybody's cold.
Speaker 1:So they would warn the kids. They'd be like do not lock your knees while singing. And sure enough, literally at every old folks home, be like hallelujah, oh god, and it's like little jimmy just fully kills, like full timber dude. And uh, you'd have to stop singing because little little timmy lock yeah, that's not to say don't do open mics to any community yeah, definitely go to open mics, but you know what I mean if there's an experience every once in a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean my my issue really is I know the ceo thing is kind of a.
Speaker 2:I know if your goal is to get as good as stand up as fast as humanly possible, it's to go to austin and new york, surround yourself with these people right every day and grind and go up every every single day I mean, it's just simple yeah, I always think about it like in like a basketball sense of like if you, if like let's just I'm not disrespecting people up here but like, let's just say this this scene in basketball would be like, if I'm just playing eighth graders every day, I'm gonna sure you do well, but it's like, am I gonna get as good as if I was playing nba players every day? You know, I'm like, yeah, if there's better people around you, you're just gonna have to like raise, rise up or fall.
Speaker 2:I guess yeah but like yeah, or like, or like a a brain surgeon.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't want the brain surgeon who's done 10 brain surgeries, you want the one who's done 10 million yeah, like yeah, and and I think, uh, that's the sort of hardest thing about stand up in maine, right? I mean, we have one or two, we have one, you have five a week, six tops maybe seven tops and, uh, you're just not around you're not around it.
Speaker 2:The, the, the. The good point of being in maine is that you get. This can be good and bad is there's uh, a lot of like, uh, independent shows, like people put on their own show, and you get time longer time than you necessarily have. So, like, you get to do longer sets early, which isn't a great thing in the sense of like you're probably not going to well, but you can kind of like, do more material versus like in New York your first spot might be a two minute set you know like, and that's great because you're going to get the best at two minutes.
Speaker 2:But then, like up here I've done 20 minutes quicker than a lot of like comedians who are 10, not 10 years in but like like, five years in in boston haven't like done 30 minutes where it's like sure they probably they're five minutes might be the tightest five minutes, which, like I, try to also have a tight five minute. I also know that, so I try to keep it tight too, but like they don't get to expand until they, like, are super deep. Yeah, does that make sense? I'm not explaining that very well.
Speaker 1:No, no you are, it's perfect. I, my experience is like I did. I really worked hard on a tight five. Yeah, I realized that what was holding me back was I just didn't I. I was placing value on just me, thinking I was being interesting, and I was placing no value on just how to cram as much funniness into the tightest window as possible. And so I worked really hard and got what I thought was a tight five. I performed it and it was an immediate feedback of like three guys came up and they were like, will you do our show? Or, like you know, we do a show once a month. And it was like, oh fuck that. I asked you what your break that was. I would send her my only break, okay, yeah you know, it was like.
Speaker 2:It was like okay I, I just figured something out, you just have to like, oh okay, yeah, so if we're gonna say I do remember my first show, the first show that they ever had me on, they asked alex to be on. The guy like asked me, asked alex, in front of me, was like hey, we're gonna give a spot to someone at this open mic, asked alex. And then he like saw, he was like ah, we could probably give you a guest spot. And I was like, all right, I'll take it whatever. And then did the show and it like went well and it was like it was perfect, like somehow it went well. Like listening back to that material I'd be like ooh, that was one of those jokes, maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it went well and that was where I was like oh, all right, so I can do this, this is what it is, yeah, yeah, and I think they. And then they said so do you have? 10 minutes after and I was like no, I just have Very.
Speaker 2:That's a very good thing that you did, because so many comedians will go. Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 1:When they don't have yeah, yeah people assume they have way more material than they do so I I went out to la I have, you know, very, some well-known stand-up friends and I did a terrible open mic at the comedy store, yeah, you know. And we went out to dinner and he and I was like, is it crazy that I'm doing this podcast and I've stated that I'm gonna have a 20 minute set at the end of a year? And he was like, absolutely, and that's an insane goal and I and I was like what is less insane?
Speaker 1:he's like 10 minutes like max by that standard, which is that it's just fucking razor tight, right, all 10 minutes is just crammed, yeah, as opposed to, like you know, the two minutes of crowd work and then some sort of half-baked meandering story, correct, you know? Uh, so I've always I ingested that. I was like, oh shit, like I gotta, I gotta get at least 10 where I feel like it's tight, it's tested and then I'll go up and have my first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some comic was just talking about that last night, about, like I was like, yeah, you get, you have to have your first 10. That is so tight that it's like undeniably like, if I do this 10, it's gonna work, uh-huh. And then you build a second 10, you know what I mean? Like that's kind of. And then first 10, that is so tight that it's like undeniably like, if I do this 10, it's gonna work. And then you build a second 10.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean like that's kind of, and then you end up just yeah, two years, yeah, right, 100 yeah yeah, because I went right when you restarted and you were like I haven't been writing, I finally got this premise and it was about the gambler. I'm like, oh yeah, this guy is he knows he's being serious about it like he knows what a real working joke is and sometimes it takes forever to get one right like one line yeah, right, like 10 seconds.
Speaker 2:I I have a I had this joke that I was working on that I like I can't get it past a lot, like I want it to be longer. I'm like this should be. This feels like a vein that I should get, yeah, and do a good a minute long joke. We'll say and it's a 10 second joke and I'm like, well, I guess I'm just gonna add it into a spot where it and see if I build on it late, like can build on it later because it's like the line works.
Speaker 1:That's so I have a one line joke.
Speaker 2:That's great. I mean like, can you share it? Uh, basically it's about so the. The problem that I'm also having with it is the setup is super convoluted. There's too much information. In the town that I went to high school in is Bath, maine. Bath is the home of Bath Ironworks, which is the largest Navy ship plant in the country Big time. Also. Everyone in the town works there. Our mascot in high school was the shipbuilders, which just tells everyone exactly what they're going to do after graduation. Uh, and like the that I. The joke that I have is like that's like if an art school had the mascot of the baristas is we know where we're going, dude but like you can't tell us like that, and that's the line yeah, this gets a chuckle, like it always will get a chuckle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'll always get a chuckle and I just have nowhere, I don't really have a place to put it. Or like anything, so it's just like okay, cool, I'll figure that out later, I guess yeah long set up one thing not connected to anything else. Yeah, exactly, yeah. So I'm like well, what was the point of that? I just wasted.
Speaker 1:It will come in handy. That thing ready to fire there's, someone else will set up the context in the crowd and you can have that.
Speaker 2:There's a uh, I actually did get to use it the other day. I did a show in bath and I was like, oh, finally, this is great, um, but I feel like that's another thing of like don't be afraid to throw a joke on the back burner and also don't be afraid to like just lose a joke like oh my god.
Speaker 1:Well, I forget them all. I'm lost. I have no short-term memory anymore.
Speaker 2:I I have a joke that, like I for so long would get. Like I was like this part, like for some reason, like there's something here and it kind of works, but I never had anything to it. And then all of a sudden, like I found another premise and I was like, oh, if I just like frankenstein, this all together, all of these like random joke ideas that I've had. Now it's like a five minute bit of mine and I'm like, oh, like this is what I was waiting for. I just never had a spot for any of this stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I wanted to. I sort of have a few set questions because I think about, like, why I'm doing this. One of the reasons is I think it would be super cool for maine to get more energy into the scene. And do you what? What would you say? Is the, if you could change anything about maine comedy scene, what would you change besides just more people coming? You know, do you think there's any sort of like thing that we could be doing or the community of comics could be doing?
Speaker 2:see, that is tough, because I don't like. Part of it is that portland only has 60 000 people, so like yeah, you know I mean it's hard to get like we can't have another club really there's not space, there's not like is there anything you wish? Empire did differently I empire has been huge for me I think, that's honestly been.
Speaker 2:What kind of has like again, I don't think I'm good, but has got me like further along is just the opportunities there have been, like they have the last call showcase where you get to go up at 9 pm, so it's like almost like an open mic where you get to go. All right, this is what I worked on for the last month. I'm doing 10 minutes in front of six drunk people but it's like, ah, they're here for fun. They came to a comedy club. They know what they're here for.
Speaker 2:So it's like kind of a I think Empire really has like. And then obviously I've gotten opportunities to open for ari shafir, you know like you opened. Yeah, I, I featured for ari, wow open brag. Brag for us open for yannis poppis, cam patterson, big j, uh, uh, featured for mike cannon and caitlin palufo, which was huge. Those two were incredibly nice to me and shout out to them uh. And then, obviously that's where I met brendan and then brend. Brendan and I have become friends.
Speaker 1:And this was all at Empire.
Speaker 2:Those were all at Empire yeah, oh great.
Speaker 1:So you're like a, you're a tried. Your status at Empire is very solid. I'm a house comic in quotes yeah, they don't really have like a set up thing.
Speaker 2:Do they pay you for those? Yeah, oh yeah, for all the feature sets and everything is what do you get? 100 bucks for featuring, 50 for hosting? I believe, is that like four hours of clamming, depends. I got paid the other day. I got paid, uh. I did a show in bath with john ranitsky, the from. He did snl, uh, but they paid me 200 bucks because it's like a chocolate is the chocolate church, it's like a performing arts center and I the day. Every time I went digging. After that I was like, if I don't enough, if I don't make the same amount of digging clams today, I'm quitting, which is also false. I don't do stand up Like. I don't get paid 200 bucks, enough to go yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't need to do this, but I was like, man, this is like. That was the first time. I was like, wow, it is like crazy that I'm not making as much doing my day job now, like in a day where I'm like, oh, wow, I did 15 minutes on this show and got 200 bucks is crazy.
Speaker 1:Like yeah, and 200 bucks and 100 bucks feels good in your pocket when you've done something you really like. You made people laugh and now you're 100 bucks the first time that I ever got paid a three digits.
Speaker 2:I was like for that I was like I did like two jokes about my dick. I was just like getting paid for that.
Speaker 1:That's crazy you have uh, I I I'm not saying this in any kind of you seem like you're a very authentic guy. I feel like if we were in high school you'd be acting the exact same way. You do remind me of in your voice and timber of shane gillis. Oh yeah, you get that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah I know, and it's a problem, because I remember my, I don't think it's a problem, but my point is I remember going to my first open mic and I was like, oh, everyone's trying to be shane gillis, like they were doing, like the fucking thing, this thing, yeah, yeah, I know it caught on crazy, crazy, the uh, I also put my hand behind my back a lot when I'm on stage and everyone's like, oh, that's shane gillis, and I'm like, no, no, that's nate bargatze.
Speaker 2:If I'm really stealing it from anyone, if we want to be true here, like watching nate bargatze especially, he's doing it the whole time with the hand behind I think that's where I got it from.
Speaker 2:Oh, cool. So the shane thing is like people are gonna trash me probably for this, but like love it. I do think that I like shane a lot, like obviously you can tell, but like I do think part of it is like I was just an athlete who grew up being in the locker room situation and again I'm just who I like, I try to be just who I am, grew up in like a blue collar town, blue collar job. So it's like, yeah, we have similar stories growing up. So it's like, yeah, we're gonna act, kind of similar yeah to.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I know I don't think, yeah, and I I would, and that seems to be one of the greatest challenges with stand-up is just like doing something new. Yeah, right, because you know, and my way of dealing with that is the only thing that I know no one has is like deeply personal I do I'm.
Speaker 1:A lot of my stuff is just either something that's happened to me or about me, or you know what I mean it's all I only do, I can't like, I don't have that like observational thing I mean that's, I guess, the gambler joke I do but like yeah, but but that's okay, like you don't need to no I, I think that's like. It's what makes it personal, like you know like I want to hear, like I want to get to know, right, yeah yeah, I think that is like a like.
Speaker 2:It's good for the audience too, because then you almost and like I think it's part of you get like a little cachet if up top they learn about you. And then you try like a kind of a darker joke. They're like you know, I know this guy like he's nice. He doesn't, you know he's kidding like it's almost like a. This is like how I've always looked at. Stand-up is like everyone's funny with their friends, right, yes, so how do I get the audience to be my friends essentially?
Speaker 1:beautiful way to when I joke around my friends.
Speaker 2:They never take anything. They're like oh, he's obviously kidding, like no one gives a shit. Yeah, so like that's kind of what I. What you want with the audience is like this is a big friend, hang.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like I want it that is a beautiful and I've been trying to do that and I remember doing a set. I was the most confident about it because it's, and I love it because it's. It's basically like my son asked me if I'd ever done cocaine and there's just a very funny conversation that ensued and I and I really got it's full of jokes. But the final joke, which I love, is like when I'm explaining to what it's like and it's like you know, at halloween, you see your friend and he's got more candy than you and you're just like I will suck your dick for another snicker, like.
Speaker 1:I said that and everyone was like, like, and I was like, oh, clearly like, no, everyone was loving this yeah, but that was too far and I was like that's the only line I like, right you know and and um, and there's a book I I read that it was basically like if you're gonna be dark and it's like you just don't want to shock the audience, they, they need to know, kind of at the top, that that's what you are you know if you're a nice guy, yeah you know, if you're just a kind-hearted clean dude and then you drop this son sucking a dick like they're just like. Who are you?
Speaker 2:right, it doesn't work and that makes me.
Speaker 1:Do you have? It seems like those crit I'm talking to caleb. The critical moment is that those you know the first 30 seconds, right like showing them that you're funny right away, do you have when you go up? What is, how do you handle getting that first laugh, the?
Speaker 2:first laugh is when my anxiety is like po, like it's gone, like. But when I'm walking to stage I'm like oh shit, dude. Well, you don't even know your jokes. Like, what are you doing? Like yeah well, you're about to like freak out and then, uh, I've, I'll sidebar with this. I did a comedy competition one year and did forget all of my jokes, so I had the worst thing happen to me, just forgot them all well. Well, just where I was going. I like stuttered and then reset.
Speaker 1:I was just my last open mic. I was for 11 seconds. I was silent on stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As I was just going through the Rolodex and being like this is full blank error code.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. But so the other thing I've noticed is like it's the. What gets you to that point is like the panic. What? What gets you to that point is like the panic. So you forget and then you panic, that's when you like and then it's gone. But if you can just realize that that first forgetting no one in the audience is real, like it's a half a second that you forgot, they don't know it was 11 seconds right, right, but that's once you start to go uh-oh, what is it?
Speaker 2:you know what I mean whereas like when you first forget something, you just go like if you just it's almost like no one notices because it's in your head, it seems so much longer, and then like once you panic and then you go uh-oh, it's gone. Like that's when you get to like a longer where it's like uh-oh, it was 11 seconds of, but also with the open mic, that's where that's where you should do that.
Speaker 1:Like that stakes. Yeah, I've said it before, it's like because I'm recording and I'm because I'm reporting on these open mics, the stakes are needlessly high for me yeah, where they shouldn't be it is, I mean it's. I think I'm probably developing faster because of it and I because fear is a good motivator. But um, oh, so anyway, back to the yeah quick on stage.
Speaker 2:That's also a thing of why I write so many jokes. I'm scared I was scared of the silence for so long of like I knew if I could just keep firing jokes. It's like well, eventually like that also comes from like doing I did a lot of bar shows is like if, even if they're not listening, if they get a bunch of jokes like, eventually I'll be like oh, I like that one. Yeah, even though these guys are drunk, they'll like turn around and be like oh, that one was funny and then they'll start listening, kind of thing yeah, so uh, but yeah, scared of the silence is what.
Speaker 2:But when I go on stage I have a joke that I go to now, usually pretty quick but the more comfortable I've gotten on stage. I love doing a riff about something in the room or like when I headlined Empire, like I had Caleb feature for me and Caleb does this like joke. I'm sure they'd be fine.
Speaker 2:Caleb does this joke where they get like an ass chant going like we love ass and through the through the audience and my uncle was at the show, and so I opened being like I get to find out my uncle loves ass like who is that? This is perfect right and like that's the stuff I like the the room riff at the beginning, just because it's like everyone's involved and they go okay. So he is funny have you have.
Speaker 1:You have you read Gary Goldman's like 366 tips.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have them saved. I sure do, attaboy.
Speaker 1:I've been sort of on some of the podcast episodes. I'll just riff on three. I'll just literally recite three of them. But yeah, it reminds me of what he does, he goes. I just try to make an observation that's honest and true about something in the room, something on the stage, something that's happened that no one's just addressed. It's usually an elephant in the room or something. We're just like wow guys, we're all pretty depressed right now you know like it's just like. If it's true, they'll laugh.
Speaker 1:And so you just got to find something that's true, I was just listening to I forget his name, but it was on Instagram and it was this podcast where he was just like he was just ripping he hates crowd work like he just hates that this is happening. He's like this poor, like fucking armenian dude and you're just gonna rip on him, or you're? You're gonna take some couple that is having like they don't know where they stand in their relationship and you're just gonna humiliate them and make them have a fight on the way home like it's awful.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh, that's he had. It was almost like coming from a heart forward place, see so I don't really do a ton of crowd work because like yeah, I, that's how I when I would go to stand-up shows.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to be talked to like you know like so I know the anxiety that they're feeling like. I don't want to make that on so.
Speaker 1:But now, like matt rife and stuff, like people, like people love it, he'll go for it too, and like if someone is a problem in the audience, I will.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean If they're being obnoxious. Have you been heckled, not a? I mean, like I said this on. I'm sure Caleb will be fine with this, but I'll text them after. But so I said this on a. Uh, they interviewed me for the newspaper. They did this like five questions with and they asked have you?
Speaker 1:ever been heckled.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice. So they asked. They were like have you ever been heckled? That's like the big fear a lot of people have and I was like a lot of times. Heckles are usually people being positive, but they don't know like. It's usually like a, a drunk woman or an overzealous guy who just like are chiming in and almost just like they don't realize how disruptive they're being. They're having fun. Their intention is good.
Speaker 1:Yes, the outcome is not right. And they're like trying to. They think help, but it's like we don't realize how disruptive they're being. They're having fun. Their intention is good. Yes, the outcome is not.
Speaker 2:Right and they're like trying to. They think help, but it's like we don't need to know, like yeah, you're delusional.
Speaker 1:And I yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's usually like a lot of times it's someone in the front row will like comment back to you, like to whatever you're saying, but the problem is you can, can't be like hey, would you shut the fuck up? Like you're just gonna seem like a dick, and also no one else in the room can hear them. So a lot of times, like people in the front will say something or be talking like slightly and like no one can. It's why, like on crowd work clips, you see them repeat what they say a lot. One, because it gives them time to think, but two, it's because no one else can hear what these people like say half the time because they are facing away from everyone and they're also sitting in the second row and they're 100, whatever you know like um, but yeah, so like a lot of times it's not like this you suck.
Speaker 2:And then, literally the next show I did with caleb, some woman got hammered.
Speaker 1:It was like you suck to caleb and I was like oh my god I'm so sorry, I jinxed you yeah, you did.
Speaker 1:Caleb is great, by the way don't take that they just oh, man, yeah, I haven't dealt with that, I don't you know? You read this book of, like, how to really be a stand-up and and how to be prepared and and a lot of it is just like having a set list for hecklers, like having a set list for every situation. And I remember going to a bar open mic and I was like I don't have the right set for this scene.
Speaker 1:Like this scene, it should just be ripping on maine and people in the army and alcoholics and you know, people who are spending sunday at 2 pm at a shitty bar in maine, like I need that material and and it almost feels like the whole thing. I I would think the a superpower you could have in this business is an incredible memory. You know where you have like total recall of like everything you've ever written.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like that is the opposite oh, I don't have it at all. I don't have it at all. And uh, one thing I think this is just a good. This is like a. It kind of comes from, you know, dan soder yeah so it kind of comes from a dan soder tip.
Speaker 2:I heard once where he was like he read that book uh, how to win an argument by cicero. And basically he takes everything, every angle of a joke, like if you were trying to win an argument of like in a lost law room.
Speaker 1:But you would like take every angle and explore every option, right right, you would be able to articulate everyone's point of view better than they can so kind of my angle on this when I'm writing a joke is where would someone disagree and heckle like so, like what?
Speaker 2:like, if I'm gonna do a joke where it's like okay, I know some people aren't gonna agree with this, but it's just the setup, and then I'm gonna turn it so they like like it's going to be a funny like it's not going to be. They're going to think they're going to disagree and that's going to be some sort of silly joke, but like it's, where are they going to heckle? So like, why would they disagree?
Speaker 2:let me have a line where I agree with those people too, like I almost kind of like, oh, that's a cool wayled because, like also the longer. I've got into it. I'm more like well, I'll just sit and like let it be awkward for a second, and now I can like yeah, there's a like I know what you're thinking, yeah, and really know, yeah, I, you, I know you guys are thinking x and you don't have to say that of course, right, that's the exercise.
Speaker 1:what, what are the tricks? What do you think you've learned? This is a hard question, but what have you learned in four years, Like if someone is just starting out, like, what are some of the things you know? What are the Casey?
Speaker 2:Watson tips. I would say get over, before you try to write a story which I write. Learn how to write a joke. Yes, so right, learn how to just write jokes first and how did you learn?
Speaker 1:where did you learn? Did you read any good books? Is there anything that's helped you? Why?
Speaker 2:uh, I listened to like every podcast I could, or anything where comedians were talking about doing stand-up like what are the good ones? Have you ever heard hot breath? No, hot breath is this. Uh, he's like a. He's a clean comedian but he interviews comics about like coming up with stand-up, kind of uh-huh uh, and like dan soda that's where I heard the dan soda cicero tip was like read that book. Uh, he has the one with nate bargatze, andrew schultz, like he does like a million hot breath.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, cool, I'll check it out.
Speaker 2:That was a good one. And then um me writing like mark norman like it's a very. You know, he has like a like learning joke structure. Essentially it's like that guy's incredible jokes, so it's like that's kind of where I paid for.
Speaker 1:He has a video uh on his website that 15 minutes to stage that, yes, yeah, page to stage.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I paid, for he has a video uh, on his website that 15 minutes to stage that. Yes, yeah, I think I paid like two dollars, yeah, yeah, that's an incredible. Like I love that stuff too because, like to me, that's so interesting to watch, like the one of the best, develop a joke and like get it on to yeah and he tried it like 28 times before he figured it out yeah and then yeah and then.
Speaker 2:It was like he had to come back from wherever he was. Tried it there didn't work like yeah, and what's what I found?
Speaker 1:I was watching, I was like, by my standards, every single time he said this joke has worked because the audience is laughing, right right, but by his standards he's like, nah, nah, it's not there and I'm like that was a good laugh, yeah, yeah. And then, like, when he finally thought it worked, it was like, uh, obviously a great laugh, but I was like it wasn't that much better than the other laughs that he's been yeah, one like story I always heard was david tell would he'd write a joke it would work and then he would just keep changing the punchline.
Speaker 2:And each time the punchline is working, like whatever word he was using, he would just keep changing it. But he's like everyone's like yeah, but it's working. He's like yeah, but it's not the. I want the best one.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna keep trying yeah, it's that engine and sam aurel's like that I heard like he's just a tinker, he cannot stop. Yeah, and I think that's my biggest dilemma. No, it's not even a dilemma, but doubt about this whole thing is like I just don't enjoy tinkering like I just want to come up with new stuff. Yeah, I just like I'm a novelty hog, you know. I just want, like that's the juice for me.
Speaker 2:Well, but that's like I mean joe list, I mean louis ck for whatever, but like they do a special a year you know.
Speaker 1:So they are always doing new material. It's like they're putting out this material like yes, there's a way to do it right, yeah, yeah. So what's the plan? Where? Where are people where? Where do you see yourself in in? I would love to move to new york.
Speaker 2:That's my plan, I'm hoping by the end of the year. Hopefully it would be my, my goal nice but what? What would keep you from not financially? I don't make a ton of money now, so you can become a barista, yeah right um, yeah, it's basically just figuring out how to afford new york and get a job down there, because I'm not gonna dig clams in new york.
Speaker 1:Well, let me say as your wise elder you're not gonna have a plan, of course, you just go right, just gotta go.
Speaker 2:So that's actually that's one thing. Like that's where I'm very inspired by my brother. Is he just moved to new york? Yeah, do or do not. Yeah, he just like, he went to school for stage management, did it up here a bunch, did it in lewiston and then just was like can you stay with him? Yeah, that's what I want to do. That he's moving soon and I was like he's like, can you help me move? And I was if I could stay whenever I want? Yeah, what the hell? He's your brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what you gotta do I mean just on a couch for two weeks, yeah, right, and then you.
Speaker 1:I think the comedy cellar is the coolest place ever, because you can just go up to that restaurant oh yeah, and you can just hang right and like hang at that bar, yeah, and like I don't know what kind of serendipity would happen for someone who's driven, like you and clearly knows what they're doing already, like man and, you know, be a waiter there. I don't know. Like right, yeah, just figure something out. Yeah, yeah, and it's dark. I mean I lived in new york and that's where I got started acting and I was 22, 23 and you're 28, yeah, yeah, I mean you, you're. If I, at the end of the year, you're not living in new york, I'm gonna be upset.
Speaker 2:Good, yeah, yeah, I just don't think I, I think you just do it no, yeah, I uh brendan unsolicited annoying advice I keep bringing up brendan, but he's been like I think brendan has also like helped me a ton, just as like hey, we're just good friends, which is cool, but like he's a professional, so I get to like ask him questions about like hey man, how do you reach out to someone Like like?
Speaker 1:what is the? Professional way to do this. What did he say?
Speaker 2:That, that he, he's like he just do it. Yeah, you just kind of do it and then you know and follow up. Yeah, and do all the right things and have a good and all that stuff and uh but, uh. So. But like writing, I always feel like in writing I'm like this sounds horrible like this sounds so stupid. So he's helped me with like reaching out. But, um, he has also been like dude, just go to new york. Oh good, it'll never be a good time, never be. Just just go it'll be, like it'll be fine.
Speaker 2:He's like, yeah, the first year is gonna really suck like. He's like, oh well, like whatever yeah, it will be, you, you'll yeah, no brainer dude.
Speaker 1:All right, so? So when I text you, jan one, yeah, yeah, you will not be here. I would like to hope, but we'll see.
Speaker 2:I mean no, the answer is yes, sorry, there you go, you know and if you come home, let's just give me a call yeah, I'll come back over here. Yeah, yeah, you go home. Yeah, yeah, you've got the back, yeah, right dig some fucking clams right? Yeah, I could always four days and then head back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right, man, this has been awesome. Any um you can be found at. Uh, your handle is at casey watt w. Oh, with an s yeah at casey watts w-a-S. Yeah, just without the O-N yeah check him out, Follow Casey. He's on a fast trajectory by stand-up comedian standards, and he's moving to New York at the end of the year, so you're going to start seeing a lot more of him.
Speaker 2:I think I sure hope so. Yeah, All right, man Thank you.