Episode #5 - I Performed At Irvine Improv

Dave talks about performing at the Improv in Irvine at the nice bits comedy competition + more!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What's up everyone? Welcome to the Carmody Podcast, where comedy meets your slash my commute. I am your host, Dave Thompson. Welcome everyone to the Carmody Podcast. Episode number five, but technically, the tenth episode. Technically, but episode number five. Um, wow. Where do I begin? First and foremost, if you are listening to this podcast, just know that I love you. I love you with passion, with vehement passion. Look the word up. Vehement passion. I love you. I love you. You guys, my last pod had over 90 listeners. It's growing. It's growing. And I'm so thankful. And and I and I see that more people around me in the IE are listening. I have almost 40 people from the IE tuning in to my most recent episodes because I see the cities where it says people are tuning in from. So thank you guys so much for supporting me. I love you guys. You guys are amazing, whoever you are. And even if you don't support me, you know, we're doing we're all in this together. Any content that we can make, you know, that pushes the the needle forward, that that rises the tides for us, you know, is cool. So shout out those that are doing content, and I appreciate you guys for listening to my content. I hope you guys enjoy it. I enjoy doing it, and uh yeah, you're amazing. So let me tell you about tonight. So tonight, man, what a freaking night. You just never know what's gonna happen. You never know. I thought my my day started where where I was I was gonna take the kids with my wife to go to the dentist. That's where it started. That didn't end up panning out because my son had like an absolute anxiety attack, an absolute fit. There's the first yawn, yawn count, hashtag shout out to those who have been commenting on the Spotify and the Apple Podcast. By the way, I love you guys, you're amazing. Uh, my son, you say he had a fit. It was really tough dealing with him, and he had a lot going on. He refused to go to the dentist, and it's just a lot of stuff we got to work through as parents, and and we want to encourage him to be strong and to be courageous, even when you're scared or nervous about something, and so that's just a lot of stuff. That's like parenting stuff, which is great. Um, I I love him though. He's just he's he's a little bundle of joy. But when he sets his mind on something, that kid is an absolute force to be wrecking with. Oh me, he was throwing out all the bangers, like you're a terrible parent. Freaking you don't love me, you hate me. I'm like, Brad, shut shut up, stupid. Like, freaking you have Disney Plus. You have an Xbox and Xbox Game Pass, kid. You better shut up, dude. You got all the love for me and your mother. You you got sisters that love you. You better shut up, little nerd. So, yeah, that's how I thought today was gonna start, and then that didn't go that way, and then uh my wife went and took the other kids, and then she didn't get back for a while. She had to go to the store. I didn't even get out till three o'clock, which is insane. Starting the DoorDash for the day at 3 o'clock, and then I was gonna go over to the Irvine Improv for the Nice Bits comedy competition. Then I realized he had to pay $25 to get in. I was like, no way, dude. I ain't gonna pay $25 to go to a comedy competition. Are you kidding me? You should be paying me for bombing. $1 per bomb, you know what I'm saying? $1 per bomb. But uh turns out the tickets were actually free, and the you comics got in for free, and then they could get some cash, and so that was super cool. And there's like I don't know, 50-60 comics that that came, and only 10 got picked. First of all, shout out Kenny Weber, RJ Saints, the judges, uh Evan Cassidy, and Andrew O'Roffo. Very funny, very funny guys. Um and shout out Irvine Improv for putting on something where where open mic comics like myself can get up and and try and do stuff. I was picked, I was picked I think seventh. I think I was picked seventh or sixth, maybe sixth. Um and yeah, it was it was a it was a whirlwind. You know, they have a wheel on the screen where they spin the wheel, and there's so many names on that thing, and when I saw that it was getting close to me, and then I saw that it hit, I was like, that's freaking nuts. That's actually freaking nuts that it hit. And I went up there, I ripped a three, you know what I'm saying? I forgot to bring my water, freaking that was a dummy move. Went up there, ripped a three, instantly got put in a finals chair. Me and Kanan Kaya shout out the absolute OC GOAT Kanon, dude. I don't even know if that's how you say his last name, uh his name, but the dude, the dude's so he's he's so funny, he really is so funny, and I can't beat him, dude. That guy is my freaking crypt tonight, dude. That I've lost all the comedy competitions to that guy. The guy's ripping it, dude. I was last time I was in OC, I did the steady brewing Evan Cassidy's comedy competition Tuesday night, steady brewing Fountain Valley, and cannot beat me there too. I was like, dude, I can't beat this guy, dude. This guy's got freaking superpowers, dude. He's got some superpowers. Uh, but yeah, congrats to him. He ended up taking it. I did get in the finals all the way to the end, and I ripped him in it. I started it off with a funny one with a silly one, the whole room loved it. The second one was kind of dark, it was also new, but I wanted to try it, and you know, it just uh it didn't land the way I wanted to. Like the they were like, oh, like it was kind of like yeah, it was a lot, you know, it was a lot for them to take. Um, and so and then and then I ended it with the Paul Walker joke, and then I was like, oh Lord! So yeah, I I think I signed my own death warrant. I got the least amount there was multiple people that did vote for me, though. It was like 13, 14 people that did vote for me. If you voted for me, freaking shout out, like you're freaking little cutie, you know what I'm saying? Unless you're a woman and my wife is listening, and and I did not say that. I don't mean that about you. And even if my wife wasn't listening, that's not how I am. You know what I'm saying? When I said that, I was thinking I was thinking about saying that to guys, but if you're a girl that voted, I don't think you're cute, I think you're ugly because you pale in comparison to the queen, my queen, my beautiful wife that I'm about to celebrate uh my anniversary coming up here uh in just a couple days. Um, very excited, gonna go out for a couple days. It's gonna be amazing. No comedy, no work, just absolute freaking vibage with the wifey. It's gonna be amazing. But yes, getting back to this, uh, it was a super cool competition. Uh, I was very excited to do it. Luckily, I did record a couple snippets, uh, recorded my thoughts afterward, recorded a little bit on stage, and uh it's gonna be in the vlog. I'm doing a I'm doing another vlog. Um, kind of the prep leading up to Kill Tony, and uh who knows? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get picked on Kill Tony. That would be insane to get picked on Kill Tony would be crazy. 60 seconds, you know. You gotta do your best. You gotta do your best. Um but yeah, so uh I got a vlog uh that I have up on my YouTube, it's called I'm Doing It Mom. The first one was super fun, super cool. Uh I feel like this one's gonna be better. I feel like they're gonna keep getting better as I kind of keep figuring out how I want to do it and just kind of show stuff. And not a lot of us are doing vlogs. So kind of untapped space out here in the community. And I'm gonna fill that gap. I'm gonna fill that hole. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna fill that hole. Uh but yeah, vlogs cool. Uh, I got about uh half of it done. Obviously, uh got the can't remember. Anniversary stuff coming up, uh a couple of shows coming up, and then obviously the Kill Tony mic next Wednesday and the Kill Tony show in uh Los Angeles. Into a dome. Shout out Intuit Dome in Englewood uh on Thursday, so that's gonna be really cool. But other things to talk about. Uh OC. I love OC. I started in Ontario, but everything started in OC. Technically, my first mic was at Ontario Improv, but then I I I went to OC immediately. And and I and if you look back at my Instagram, you can see the mics I was doing. And my second mic I ever did, I did at Noble Ale. Noble Ale. That's where I met Lala Cullums, that's where I met Robin Finch, and and they ended up being two incredible friends that I got here in comedy, super supportive. Um, Robin had a a mic, which was the fourth mic I ever did. Uh, two birds, one mic, which she used to do at the second floor in downtown Huntington Beach. Now, I can't tell you how many times I've been there and I've bombed and I've sucked and I've I've buried my soul and my heart in that room. It was something, you know. I went I went through pain and I went through suffering in that room of just the the growing pains of trying to do comedy. And and that's where I met one of my one of my one of my great friends. My mentor. Shout out Chris Neff. The Chris Neff. Dude's an amazing guy. He's he's a great friend. He has has mentored me in so many different ways. He's always you know willing to pick up the phone and and give advice and give an opinion, and and and he'll tell you if your freaking joke sucks. You know what I'm saying? He's he's real, he's raw, he's uh freaking. I wish he was my dad. You know what I'm saying? I'm just kidding, he's not old enough to be my dad, but no, he's uh he's he's a great guy. He's a great guy. Uh love Chris Neff, shout out Chris Neff. Um, but yeah, the OC scene, I I I love them. I used to do so many mics out in OC when I began, you know. Shout out proof bar, want to show BLT some love. Freaking freaking bacon lettuce tacos over there. I love BLT. Uh, he also, you know, has the room down in San Diego. If you guys don't know what BLT's got cooking, he's got a room down in San Diego. I always heard about it. Finally, last year, I went down to San Diego to see what all the fuss was about. And not only did I get to get up the clubs the very first time I ever went down to San Diego, but he also put me up for almost 10 minutes at the trailer park after dark downtown San Diego Gas Lap District. Shout out BOT, that guy's great. But I've just got so much support from the OC comics, from so many of them. I've got so much support, I got so much love for them. Thank you guys so much. Uh, I didn't really start and grow my roots in the IE. I started doing a lot of stuff in the IE later. I'm gonna be honest with you. You know, I I heard a lot of stories from people about the the IE, and and I found it to be a lot friendlier out in OC. And at the at the beginning, I didn't need people telling me that I freaking just sucked all the time. You know what I'm saying? I needed some, you know, uh a few encouraging people to keep me going and to say, you know, this is good or this not's good or whatever, but they weren't just like freaking saying, Hey, you suck, you know what I'm saying? And I was hearing rumors about that. That's kind of what happened at some of the mics, and I gotta be honest with you, there was a few mics I did go to, because some of them don't exist anymore, but a few mics I did go to that that did feel like that, where it felt like a not great, um not not a great place for someone to start, but maybe a great place for somebody to continue from somewhere else. I'm just gonna be honest, and and that's a bummer because I feel like if if the scene is is welcoming to new people, then that will only help grow what we got going on right here, and then they have family and they have friends that are willing to come out to shows and they can grow. And I just I think there's a lot of opportunity on the table, and I hope that that nobody that help that runs any open mics or any shows takes that for granted because there's just such an opportunity um to help grow the scene even bigger than it already is. You know, it is pretty big, but to help to help grow it and to help everybody get better. And shout out all the producers of the shows and the open mics and the IE. Shout out all those peeps, you know who you are, you guys are awesome. Holding it down, holding it down. I know I I don't have an open mic. People say, How do you do IE comedy? You don't have an open mic. I'm just kidding, nobody said that. That's just in my head. Look, I would love to do an open mic at some point. I don't know where, I don't know when. Um, right now I've just been producing shows, and the rooms I have are for shows. At some point, I would love to produce an open mic. You know, obviously, I have the Kiltoni open mic at Above the Iron, but that's just like a one-off thing. But I would love to do an open mic at some point. I think that would be a lot of fun. But getting back to OC, uh, there's just great spots in OC. If you guys have not been out to Orange County, check out Orange County stand-up. I want to shout out Daniel Zebrano, what an absolute freaking legend of the OC stand-up comedy scene. This guy is not just funny, he's not just handsome, he's not just tall. Ladies and gentlemen, what an absolute masterclass of speech this guy has. One of the best, most well-spoken individuals in the comedy scene today. Man, this is a lot of gas. Please, somebody tell him I said this about him. I love him, he's wonderful. Uh, every day he's posting stuff on the Orange County stand-up page. He he reposts my stuff. He posts all the mics for the IE because I sent them over to him. You post mics from LA, you post mics from OC. He is like the so cal king when it comes to open mics. And and I just gotta say, Daniel, we love you, we appreciate you. All of us look at your stuff, but you probably don't get enough love. But just know I love you, man, you're amazing. And uh, I'll send you a DM because I want to I want you to freaking know that in person, just how much that we appreciate you. And I gotta say, if you use his page or my page, the IE comedy page, send some love, dude. Whether it's our pages or LA open mics or wherever, if somebody is posting open mics and you're going to those open mics, send them some love. Send them, hey, thanks for telling me where that's at. That's it. It's just, you know, just show a little bit of appreciation. We're not asking for money, we're not asking for much, just maybe once in a while a little bit of appreciation would be appreciated. So, yeah, send Daniel some love. That guy's the goat. That guy's the goat. He inspires me every day. That guy's such a hard worker and very funny guy, very funny individual. We love Daniel. Shout out to him. Uh, he runs a bunch of shows out here in OC as well. Noble ale, he does the open mic and uh also does the proof bar Thursday Laughs Underground. Wonderful guy, wonderful guy, we love that guy, wonderful guy. Alright, uh, but yeah, so OC is a is a great spot. Obviously, I've been I've been branching out to Los Angeles a lot more and going to uh the paid mics, you know, the paid mics, some of you agree with them, some of you don't agree with them. But look, here's the thing when you get on stage and you get to get stage time and you get to physically say something in front of people, whether those people be comics or whatever, you can benefit from that. I am so sick of this freaking jargon of people being like, Oh, I don't go to those mics because there's only comics there. Freaking make the comics laugh then, make your peers laugh. You know what I'm saying? Maybe they're not gonna laugh at everything, and you're not gonna get every line out of it. But if you get a few lines in and you get that stage confidence, that stage presence, or you bomb a little bit, get the bomb out of the way for the day, a little bomb a day, keeps the freaking the jeepers away, the little jeepers. Look, you gotta do what you gotta do. I love getting time out there, and then I noticed too that I'm rubbing elbows with a lot of freaking famous people. A lot of famous people I'm rubbing elbows with out there with those mics, people that know the the uh value of it, people that go out there, they got hundreds of hundreds, I'm just kidding, tens of thousands of followers, maybe even over six-figure follower counts, and they're at open mics, and they're doing open mics during the day, they're doing open mics early afternoon, getting ready for their shows. These people put in the work and and they see the value of doing that, and and I think that that is so awesome. And uh, yeah, I would encourage you guys to do that as well. If you guys have never done it, you never checked it out, hit me up, freaking DM me, I'll let you know where are some of the best places to go, and then you can freaking go from there, do what you want to do. Uh, I had somebody talk to me today about how they've taken a break of comedy a little bit, they've been a little on and off, and uh that they haven't taken it serious. And I just want to say something, because maybe this doesn't get said enough from people that have like been in it for a long time or that consider themselves to be like working comedians or whatever, but there's an entire group of comedians in every scene that don't want to be professional comedians. Ones that do not put in the work to be a professional comedian or don't believe in themselves to be a professional comedian and that will not be professional comedians. There's a whole group of those people, and that's okay. That's okay. Like, if you just want to come because you want some friends and you want to say some stuff that you think is funny, that's okay. It's uh it's okay to do that, and I know it hurts because you're like, I want that freaking stage time, I want that stage time, but you know what? For us too, like, we also gotta just keep grinding. There's so many days that I've gone to different mics, or I've gone to potluck, or I've gone to whatever, and I haven't gotten up. There's so many comics that were bummed out today. They did not get up at the Irvine Improv. I know, I know the feeling. Okay, I'm not gonna be made to feel bad just because I got up. You know what I'm saying? It is what it is. But look, here's the thing: you we we gotta keep up. We gotta keep up with with every uh with everyone that's in the group. You know what I'm saying? Some people take it serious, some people don't take it serious, some people are here for fun, some people are here because they want to do this forever. Whatever your goals may be, just be kind to people, try and be funny, and do your best to get spots and get stage time. That's all you gotta do. You know what I'm saying? People will drop off after a month or two, people will drop off after six months or a year. Because maybe they're just not cut out for the um the thing we're doing. They're not cut out to put the work in and and to really try and get funny. I love something uh I heard Adam Sandler say one time. He says, uh, he says, hard work always prevails against talent. Talent has no hard work, and hard work can have no talent. But talent or but hard work will always beat talent every time. And I and I do think, because I I've heard this so many times before from so many people that I respect on different podcasts and stuff like that, that maybe you don't consider yourself to be talented. Uh maybe you don't think you're super funny. I definitely did it at the beginning. And I still and I still don't think I am now in a lot of different ways, you know what I mean? But that's that's a part of the grind. That's that's all that's all a part of it. It's a part of the mental. Are you gonna be able to take the mental bombs? You know, and I'm trying to take them in stride because those bombs happen. They happen, it freaking blows up in your face like you're a freaking submarine out in the ocean. You accidentally ran into a bomb. You guys remember that scene on Finding Nemo where there's a bomb? That's cool. I wonder if that was the very first bomb they showed in a Disney movie. You're like, hey, these were here because of World War II. Isn't that cool? Kids, what do you know about World War II and you know about sea bombs? And then there's just a bomb. That's actually pretty cool that the the the first bomb that was shown in a Disney movie was was in a movie that was underwater. Like, that's that's really freaking cool. Finding Nemo, shout out Finding Nemo. Let's talk about Disney for a second. Let me tell you something I know about Disney. Okay, there's so many good Disney movies that have come out. Can it can we just say like Disney freaking hits? And I know you think like, oh, they get but the they got this from a book and they got this from this person, and they're they're you know they're buying out Star Wars and Marvel and blah blah blah blah blah, whatever. Disney's got bangers, okay? Disney has bangers. Look, let's take this for example. Think about this, right? Netflix obviously has movies and TV shows now that are presented by Netflix, but they didn't used to, and no other company has been able to hold like Disney Plus has whole has held, right? Even Paramount, like that's the name of the company, but their stuff not is not as nearly as good as Disney, and then Disney also includes freaking ESPN and Hello? Hello, hello. Sorry about the accent, guys. I apologize for the uh Asians that are listening. Um look, here's the deal. I think that it's awesome that Disney is freaking killing it because honestly, some of the movies they're making nowadays are just terrible. And I'm not just saying Disney, I'm just saying all around are just terrible, just not great films. So whenever they do make one that's kind of original, like inside out, for example. What a freaking fantastic fairy tale. What a fantastic fairy tale to help explain to children how those those emotions work and how you know your your mind and your memories and everything. I don't want to spoil it. If you've never seen it, I don't want to spoil it. It's so good, you need to watch it. It's actually an incredible film. Man, this guy just got over. No freaking blinker. Get the frick out of here with your heart's freaking trailer trying to kill me out of here. Get the frick out of here. Damn, people trying to kill me. It's 11 o'clock at night. It's about to be tomorrow. Oh Jesus. Father God, please let that guy. He needs to see the light, Father. Um yes, Disney's great. Uh I'm actually going to Disney uh with my wife on our anniversary. In just a couple days. Very excited about that. It's gonna be awesome. They're also gonna stay out there too in the same hotel that we stayed in for our honeymoon. Gotta love a honeymoon. Uh, last thoughts before we uh start getting out of here. Uh, some things that I learned with my bits today. There was certain bits I was doing where I feel like I'm being too uh talky, like not like not that it's like the fat that just needs to get cut off, but like I mean talking, like I'm I'm I'm using not too many. What am I trying to say here? You know, you never I'm gonna slap myself just freaking Ow! I didn't actually slap myself, I just clapped my hands. Let's go! Freaking drink juice, stupid. That's why this is audio only, stupid. That's why this is no video only, driving in the car trying to look at me while you drive and you drink at the same time, stupid. Chill out. Chill out. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, about bits. Uh there's some new bits I worked out that I really like, and some bits that I tried to work out, and they just don't do well. But my question is, and I'd love to hear you guys in the comments, send me a DM, obviously at Dave Thompson Comedy at Carmedy Podcast. Uh, when do you get rid of a joke? When do you get rid of a joke? Now there's certain jokes that I've done that I'm like, I don't think that that's something I want to say. That's clearly not my voice. And maybe I'll give it to someone else if it really is funny and they could try it. If they don't use it, they don't use it, whatever. Scrap it. But the things that I the voice I'm kind of finding myself in is it's very direct, it's very kind of like cunning comedy where I'm like slicing, I'm hitting it. Like I've put thought into this, you know. Like there's a new bit I'm working out about Wendy's. I don't know if I talked about this on the pod before. If I did, I'm so sorry, but shut up. I mean, come on. It's I'm work it's a work in progress, right? Wendy's. So I talk about how people have introduced me as Dave Thomas. I think I have talked about this in the podcast. I don't remember, but we're doing it again. Sometimes I get brought up on stage as Dave Thomas. People in my life have called me Dave Thomas, not Thompson Thomas. And that, my friends, why does it sound familiar? Because that is the billionaire CEO of Wendy's. Of Wendy's. And I'll and I'll and I'll go into this uh thing where I say, like, if I was a billionaire, I wouldn't be here. And if it's a crappy place, I say whatever that place is, and if it's not a crappy place, I would just say like uh I wouldn't be here embarrassing myself for no money for free, you know? And then I say, if I was a billionaire, I'd be on Epstein's Island, you know, because that's where the billionaires go. I'd be like, I'd be on Epstein's Island with Wendy. You know, because Wendy, obviously, Wendy is a little girl, so it's a little bit of a joke. But here's the thing, though, that's technically not a pedophile joke because Wendy's actually his daughter. Oh, I'm just gonna leave that there. Look, here's the deal, right? It's just silly, it's just a joke. It's just silly. Here's the thing. I keep going though, I just did this tonight, it actually killed. I'm super excited. I I say, you you know, it's it's crazy that Wendy now looks so much different from Wendy then. You know, that is a uh a picture of what his daughter sort of looked like when she was six or seven or eight years old or whatever the case may be. But now she's in her late 50s, about to be 60 years old, and she's fat. She's she's fat. And I'm like, Wendy's is the fast food chain that wants to make you the most fat. And you know, you know how I know that because they sell a yearly subscription to their frosties. A yearly subscription, you could get a free frosty every day for a year if you buy a frosty ice cream subscription. I'm sorry, if you buy a frosty subscription, you are being a little fatty. Okay, and I'm only saying that because I have one. Okay, first of all, shout out chocolate frosties. Get the frick out of here if you're a vanilla frosty fan. Frick you! I don't like you. I'm just kidding, that sounds aggressive. I don't like to use the word frick like the F-word, kind of. Sometimes maybe I'm trying to and I'm just not saying it. But look, I love you, okay? I'm not trying to be cursing and doing all that stuff. I don't want to be getting in trouble and I wanna be a good boy. Um, but look, here's the thing, right? First of all, shout out chocolate frosties. You know who you are. Freaking shout out. We love chocolate frosties, we love them, we love chocolate frosties. Sorry, I hated that I did that. Um, but yes, like Wendy's is trying to make you the most fat, and we know that because they have a yearly ice cream subscription. Like, even Baskin Robbins is like, y'all gotta chill out. A yearly subscription to ice cream is insane. Like, I I think that's why they need to change the picture from Wendy then to Wendy now, because Wendy now has been eating Wendy's, and now she's a little fatty, and now she needs to be on the Ozempic. I don't know. I'm still gonna work on it. I think it's funny talking about how um talking about uh how Wendy Wendy's uh sells yearly ice cream subscriptions because I think that's absolutely wild. That's insane that that happens. And that's true. If you guys have one, shout out, get a little uh chocolate frosty for me. Uh but yeah, no, as we as we kind of round down here, as we come to a close. Thank you guys so much for for listening to the pod. Thank you so much for for following me and for and for the messages. Please message me if you enjoy it. If you like it, message me if you're a comic that's interested in getting on the pod. I'm open uh to to to whoever would want to come on. We can obviously talk and see if it's a good fit. I for the road, no way, a yawn for the road. Uh, but yeah, I love you guys. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much for making this podcast what it is. Uh, I couldn't do this without you guys because um it would make you want not want to do it if you didn't have people that enjoyed it, and the fact that I do have people that enjoy it, you know, whether that be five dozen, six dozen, seven dozen people, whatever that may be, ten dozens, maybe a dozen dozen. Uh it really means a lot, really means a lot to me. Uh, shout out the OC comedy scene, shout out Kenny Weber, the Irvine Improv, IJ Sainz. Uh, I don't know if that's how you say the last name. Shout out Robin, shout out Lala, shout out Nick over there at the Blarnies. Thank you guys so much for listening to the comedy podcast, and we'll see you next time. Goodbye.