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Carmedy
Episode 9 - Frank Martinez
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Dave talks with special guest, Frank Martinez.
Frank is the owner of the Above the Iron Comedy Club in Menifee, CA. He performs regularly at comedy shows all over Southern California. Please make sure to give him and my socials a follow <3
Kill Tony Golden Ticket Winner, Jack Shaw, will be at Above the Iron this Friday June 19th! Tickets available at the link below!
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@iecomedy
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And my special guest
@uselessfrank
Oh, it's working on my end.
SPEAKER_00Is it really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm doing it right now. Do you want me to record it and then I can just send it to you?
SPEAKER_00Uh sure. That works for me.
SPEAKER_01Alright, well, we're recording right now.
SPEAKER_00We'll have to keep up with the freaking what the time is at, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00So we're okay. So we'll start at exactly where our phone is at 2 30, which is right. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Comedy Podcast. We're comedy meeting or slash my community. I'm your host, Dave Thompson. This is episode number nine. And I told y'all I was gonna get a super special, super wonderful, super fantastic, super friendly guest, ladies and gentlemen, people out there in the multiverse. I have. Some might say that. This guy, he owns an entire brewery. He owns it. He owns the club, the above the iron comedy club. If you guys haven't been there in Menifee, you guys are absolute sicklos. Everybody, everybody's giving up with a wonderful Frank Martinez. Frank, what's up, buddy?
SPEAKER_01Hey man, uh, thank you first and foremost for that intro. That's insane.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. He's about as insane as you are on stage. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_01That's wild.
SPEAKER_00Frank, Frank, so let's just be honest with each other. Okay? Let's be honest with each other. I need to know this from one Mexican to another. Wait, you are Mexican, right?
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm half, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, praise God. Um, from one from one Wexican to another, because I'm half white. Are you half white?
SPEAKER_01No, I'm half Mexican, half Peruvian.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so from one Wexican to one Pexican, okay, just tell me what it's like just to have all the ladies love you. I need to know. I need to know what it's like to have all these ladies spawning over you and have comics asking you for stage time and being as popular as you are. I need to know how do you not go insane, dude? The paparazzi is real out there in Menaphy. What's up, dog?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's real hard, man. It's real hard, it's real difficult having to bat people off of me. No, no. Uh, first of all, no, that's not happening. Uh but I appreciate it. But I appreciate it. But absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Well, Frank, I wanted to have you on here. The people want to hear from you. I do have some faithful listeners, Frank, and everybody wants to hear from you because you decided uh X amount of time ago, which we're gonna get into, you decided, hey, I want to open a space where comics can come and get stage time, where I can give myself stage time. And you've kind of done this this crazy thing. And I say crazy because, like, if I wouldn't have seen it with my own two eyes, it all happened before me. It's kind of wild. Like, there is a brewery. I'll just say a little bit of the story and then I'm gonna let you get into it. I'm not gonna talk the whole time, I swear. Yeah, no. But there's a brewery that had a space above where they were using it for anything but like storage and trash and freaking sex parties, and and you turned it into an actual freaking like a place that looks like an actual comedy club. Yeah. And it's just it's freaking mind blowing. So, Frank, first and foremost, let's start off with this as we get into this whole thing, because you're a very interesting person. I've really, I really I've been looking forward to this. Okay. How long ago did you start comedy, Frank?
SPEAKER_01Uh, I want to say it's been 14 years, 13, 14 years, something like that.
unknownWoo!
SPEAKER_01Yeah, long time ago.
SPEAKER_0014 years.
SPEAKER_01Wow, yeah, no, it's been a long journey, man, but it's been fun.
SPEAKER_00Well, can I tell you, can I tell you, it shows?
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I appreciate that a lot.
SPEAKER_00It shows 14 years, very freaking funny guy. Now, out of the 14 years that you've been doing comedy, at what point did you decide how many years in? Like, hey, I would love to help run this space and open a space to where not only myself but other people could come in and get stage time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, you know, it's kind of been one of those things where since the beginning, like when I I started out at the club called Aces Comedy Club and Marietta. Uh, unfortunately, it's no longer there, but when I started, I always said, like, oh, uh a dream of mine would be to own a space where um I can create a place for comics to um nurture and then grow and start comedy. And I just saw a lot of things at not just that club, but at other clubs that I felt were lacking. Um not in like a like I I think the internet really would played a big role when I was coming up. Um and they weren't they weren't doing certain things that I was just like, oh, they should be pushing the limits uh or you know, pushing what comics do and and really like growing them marketing-wise. And um I feel like at the at the time I was coming up, development wasn't as um like prevalent anymore. And so that that's something I always wanted to do. So it was it was a dream of mine. I just never thought I would actually get the chance to do it.
SPEAKER_00Well, now here you are. You're not only doing it, but you're doing it well. Uh I and just like I said at the beginning of the episode, guys, if you have not been to the Above the Iron Comedy Club, you need to freaking go. There's a bunch of amazing comedians that are there that are locals that you'll see at the open mics, and you'll see them opening and featuring and the work there as door guys. And then national touring headliners come through, sometimes even through the open mic, just to get a couple minutes on stage, because the open mics be popping. But also, too, the the shows have been amazing. You know, like this this this Friday, for example, we have Kill Tony golden ticket winner Jack Shaw that's gonna be out doing two shows, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. By the time this gets uploaded, you're probably not gonna have too much time to get your tickets. So get your dang tickets and come on down. It's gonna be a sick show. Frank's performing, I'm performing. It's gonna be an amazing time. Uh, but yeah, like uh Frank, what is kind of like the vision that you have for the club? Maybe what's something that you would love to see happen in the next like year with the with the local scene and the club?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my big vision, I guess, is like I really want the club to be a content forward club. Um, being that social media is so such a big part of our thing now. Um, I really want to be able to help comics have like a place where they can like launch themselves. And so trying to create opportunities for comics to create content, whether it's us doing clips, whether it's us doing original content there at the club, um, blogs, or anything, just to kind of help you know get people out there. I think there's a lot of funny comics. The problem is we don't have enough eyes on them. And so if I can create that atmosphere, um, and then also just creating culture. When when I was coming up, I was fortunate to have a club and we had uh guys that were wanting to be comedians and going after it, and for a long time the the IE hasn't necessarily had a independent club that's really nurturing that, and if I can be that, you know, I that's what I would love to be.
SPEAKER_00Frank, you sound so selfless, and it's really hard to pay attention to what you're saying because it's so romantic, everybody's saying. Thank you. Um, how how are you not married? My lord, somebody marry this man! He's so selfless. If you think he's selfless in the comedy community, wait until you get into a relationship with him. Let them love bomb you, you freaking sickos. All right, so Frank, let's move on. Let's move on. Okay, we've heard about when you started, we've heard about the club. And for those who haven't seen you, you Frank, you're a very, very funny guy. And so I would love to think your brain about this. What is like the origin story of you finding comedy? What is like the first experience where you're like seeing stand-up? Maybe it's a special, maybe it's a show. What where did you first find comedy?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I you know, I when I was younger, we didn't really have you know, comedy central was the only way to really watch stand-up. But Limewire was a big thing at the time to download music. You could also illegally download movies, and I remember my cousins had downloaded the only thing you could download illegally.
SPEAKER_00That's also true.
SPEAKER_01Uh, but my cousins had downloaded uh my cousins had downloaded, I believe, um, some clips from Pablo Francisco. I think he had a DVD out at the time.
SPEAKER_00Oh shoot.
SPEAKER_01So I got to check out Pablo Francisco, I got to see George Lopez, you know, through through this medium. And even I think uh Dave Chappelle, um, his his uh Comedy Central half hour was so, you know, I think everybody knew that half hour, you know? Yeah, so I had always loved stand-up comedy. Um, I just never thought it was like a real job, or I had zero clue on like how to go about it.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's still a fake job, it's not real. Yeah, it's so it's so funny. I love um, I'm a big fan of uh Maddie Smith, and there's the thing she says, and you'll notice if you ever see her on podcasts or on stage, whatever. She just she she just always says, like, comedy is literally the best job ever. It's literally the best job ever. You just go on stage, be yourself, talk about stuff, and then just make jokes, have fun. It's literally the best job ever. And that's something I know that we're all striving to do, you know, at some point. If that's if that's a possibility for us to make full-time money, for us to be able to be comedians, that would be like insane. And to hear that you're not only pursuing that yourself, but you're also helping others pursue that in helping provide this space for their content and for and for um like a place for the community to hang out and and to create this culture of people that are really serious about it and can come ask questions and work out material and be around other people who are better than them. Um, I think it's amazing. And that kind of transitions me into the next part. So you had mentioned the Aces Comedy Club. Um why why isn't that around anymore? Was it like a money laundering scheme or prostitution, or what was that?
SPEAKER_01A little bit of both, no. Oh shit, dude. No, it was just um uh it was a few things, honestly. Uh the the Mirieta town, um, they're very much like they just want to keep it very family oriented. It's very hard to have a business over here. Um, they only have a few bars, so and I think all the bars have to be closed by midnight. So it just makes Murietta a hard place to have like a really thriving nightlife. So that was part of it, right? Uh the other thing is we ended up moving to uh Old Town Temecula under a different branding, under a different name called Third Street Live. And so we were we we had both clubs for a little bit and we were trying to make them both work, and it just wasn't really working. So we closed down Aces and went under Third Street Live in Old Town Temecula. I want to say we were there for like two, three years, something like that. And uh it it's just Temecula is one of those places where like people just love to go and drink and party, and that's totally fine, but it is a little bit harder to have like shows constantly going on. Um, I think that's that's definitely changed now. I think in a post-COVID world, people are looking for much more like different experiences than just going out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I do think now it would the opening a club in Temecula or and the surrounding areas would be very different, you know, same thing with like what we're doing. Um but uh you know the the to answer your question as far as like why we actually shut down, the we had a city official come in and tell us that like part of the inside of the bar was built illegally. And when we went to the landowner or the the owner of the actual building, like, hey, what's going on? And they basically were like, You guys can either pay a crap ton of money to get that fixed or get out, and so we were like, Well, we have to get out. So unfortunately, yeah, things like that just kind of happen. Business stuff.
SPEAKER_00Well, shout shout out his name, we'll have a hit man, we'll get him right now.
SPEAKER_01No, I can't I can't I can't do that, but uh you know things do happen, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I g the reason I'm saying it, first of all, isn't to bring up something negative because obviously I know that that was probably a bummer at the moment, but now you have this space and you've seen you know a club thrive and then close. And I'm so hopeful, considering the experience that you have with the previous clubs that were in that area, for this to be a continued success and for the community to thrive. Because what I see now is how long has it been open for? How long have you been over there?
SPEAKER_01Since January, so roughly we opened at the end of January, so roughly five months.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, five months. So since the start of that, I've definitely noticed a kind of a re-energized local scene of comics that are coming out for each open mic and even the surrounding open mics, and also seeing new people kind of step up that have had that idea of wanting to perform, and then kind of just coming out of the woodwork and then they just stick. You know what I'm saying? So we're seeing this community kind of get cultivated there, and then it's drawing people with all the clips and all the people seeing the the stage, and especially the new stage, what they're gonna be seeing. Uh it's drawing people down from Riverside, it's drawing people from the desert, it's drawing people from all over the inland empire, even coming up from San Diego to come check out the open mics and to come perform there at the club. So I'm really excited for it just to see what you end up doing with everything and how everything progresses and stuff, because uh that's really exciting for all of us out here to have uh an opportunity with somebody like yourself that is actually like looking out for our best interests and trying to not only get a stage time, but also you know, paying people for shows, which is like insane, even if it is like freaking eight dollars or whatever it is. Yeah, you know, I don't know if you know this the eight dollars combat extra large shake jack in the box.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if you know that two two cherries, cookies and cream extra large, extra whip.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Dave, I know all the prices of all the fountain drinks in the Tri-City area, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. All right, well, Frank, let me just tell you that I'm a fatty, we want to talk a little bit. I want to get into some bits for sure, but I I would love to talk about what are some of your other interests besides comedy. I'll tell you my interests, I love food. I don't know if you want to start with maybe some of your favorite foods, but what are some things besides comedy that really interest you so that people can get to know you better?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we could we could talk about food. Um, it's so funny. Actually, my love of food besides just eating it um comes out of working at uh at 3rd Street. So when I was there, I actually not just worked the club, but I would work in the restaurant portion as well. And it really taught me it really uh make like showed me like a love of for for cooking food and like doing different dishes that I wouldn't have normally made for myself or you know, finding different ways to make food. It was just something I really another way to like express myself, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Wow. So do you think there could be a documentary made or a movie made about a a comedy club that has a restaurant inside?
SPEAKER_01I think it's definitely possible. I think anything where it's like the bear, yeah, stand-up, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Fozzy bear, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Fozz, just you gotta make you gotta make us uh a medium rare steak and then you gotta go do a tight 10.
SPEAKER_00Okay, let's go. No, you gotta make an eight ounce and then go to a tight eight, dude. Yeah, you know, um that's cool. Okay, so like gun to your head, you're about to die, you're gonna go stand before the one true God, which is not what some people want. And what do you eat it?
SPEAKER_01Oh, ooh, that's uh honestly. Um, maybe this is like the easy way out, but tacos all the way.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Uh real pex again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_00Tacos all the way.
SPEAKER_01Tacos all the way. Like it, they just they're so good no matter what. Like, tacos are just one of those when you when you have a place that is just like they make the best tacos, you have to go there. Every single time I'm in San Diego, I have to go to tacos el gordo, even if the line is gonna take me an hour and a half.
SPEAKER_00Let me tell you something about tacos del gordo. Okay, let me tell you something. Every time I go to the gas lamp district in San Diego, every time I am lining up to get the tacos. Yeah. Uh, yeah, it's insane. If you guys have never been to Tacos El Gordo, you need to go there. Downtown Gas Lamp District in San Diego, right across the street from where all the comedy clubs are. Absolutely insane tacos. You can't go wrong. Doesn't matter what meat you pick, it's all freaking insane. Um, but pick the stupid. Um my gosh, yeah, I love the tacos. Uh, favorite meat, taco meat.
SPEAKER_01Oh, a pastor.
SPEAKER_00Oh, oh, Frank, I knew I liked you. Hell yeah. That's my number one, dude. That's my number one. Yeah. 100% my number one. I love us, I love Asada. Yeah. But if the pastor is good, oh baby.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I get it. Yeah, asada is my number two. Asada used to be my favorite, and then I had a pastor, and I was like, where have you been on my life?
SPEAKER_00You know what I'm saying? That's like now asada is the side piece. You know what I'm saying? Asada was your first wife, and then now asada has to look in, and even though you take good care of the kids, asada just has to see you without pastor now. It's just satisfying you more than Asada ever could. You know, Asada doesn't have the amount of flavor that pastor has. You know what I'm saying? Yep, not as flexible. So alright. Talking about bits, dude. Yeah, talking about bits. Uh what are some bits that you're working on right now that you're trying to wow and bedazzle the people with?
SPEAKER_01Wow, okay. I actually just wrote this bit on Wednesday and I I really, really like it. Um, the idea is that I I keep getting ghosted for uh for you know while dating, it's just not working out for me. And I think it's just you know, I just don't understand women, I just don't. Um, and so I want to put together a team of elite lesbians to like get me through the trenches of dating.
SPEAKER_00You want lesbians to lead you through the trenches?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I want yeah, I want I want my own counterintelligence of SEAL team six lesbians just just taking me through the trenches, man. Taking you.
SPEAKER_00I love that now. So let me ask you this when you start writing a bit, how far do you go in the writing process before you bring it on stage? Because some people just have an idea or a premise and they go on stage not even really knowing what is gonna be said, and then some people not only go through the bit, but they write the whole bit like 17 times and then recite it to themselves a million times before they go on stage and it like seems polished already, even though they haven't even done it once. So, kind of where are you at within that of how you do yours?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, it's kind of a mix. Like sometimes I start with just the idea, and I think for me, what helps is I I really understand who I am on stage, so it's not hard for me to understand, like, okay, if this person's willing to say this, I understand the the extent that they would go to make this to you know as uh unbelievable or believable. So if it's just a premise, um, I can usually just kind of go with that. But like this joke specifically, I it's a little more comprehensive and it's a little there, there's a lot of moving parts to it. So I wanted to write out more of it just so it had more context um for people to understand to like go with me because the bit is a little bit, you know, kind of exaggerated or maybe it is a little tough to believe. So I wanted to write out more. So I actually took the Beginning portions, and then I was like, okay, I want to have like three setups or uh three jokes in between the the two setups inside of this joke, and so I kind of wrote out the different parts, but I definitely leave room for flexibility or room for adjustment because I do do a lot of writing like on stage.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and I think that's the best, honestly. I know for me that that's what works for me is that I'll I'll bring the idea to the stage, and then maybe I've kind of hashed out how I want to get into it, but I kind of let it take on a life of its own because I know it's gonna form and move and morph into something else, probably by the time it gets to the point where I'm like, okay, I like this now. Um because I don't ever think a joke is really done. I I do believe that, and I think a lot of people that I looked up to and respect that are professionals in the industry also kind of say that that a joke's not ever really truly done. Um, but there is a point where you can get to where you're like, okay, this is getting a good amount of laps, and it fits in my act. So um, considering that being said, how do you how do you work with jokes that maybe don't fit in your act or jokes that maybe don't really um portray your voice the way that you would have it? Maybe it's like not really you, but you kind of like break the barrier of what you would normally say. Maybe you say something a little outrageous, you know what I'm saying? How do you how do you how do you handle something like that? Do you do you just cut things like that, or do you kind of make room sometimes for things that are a little outrageous?
SPEAKER_01Well, I I I try to write all kinds of stuff. I do think I have a like a very clear identity of what would make sense for my my person, like the person I am up there to write or to say. But and I know when I was coming up, you would write that stuff and you just kind of either give it to a friend, or maybe you, you know, it just you get rid of it. But I think nowadays, again with social media, we're so privileged to have an outlet, like why not put it out there? You know, why not use it if you're not gonna if it's only gonna be the one-off thing and you're not really feeling it, but it gets lapsed, like why not use a bit of content to just generate that, or you know, hey, maybe there might be somebody that does resonate with it, and then maybe that inspires you to write more for it or change something, you know? So I I I think for me, that's kind of the new answer, is I I would like to put it out there because we have dude, I it's it's so hard to have new content every week, so why not use it if I already have it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. And so, like, let's let's say, for example, with like posting clips, so this bit that you're working on right now about the the lesbian squad, um, which by the way, it's so funny, lesbians helping you get a woman, yeah, it's hilarious. Um, so that's so unbelievable. Yeah, they're like, I want the woman, yeah, right. Um, like at what point of like previous history for you posting clips, would you kind of generally think, like, how long would it take you to work on this joke before feeling comfortable posting it? Like, is there a certain goal of like I want to hit this amount of laughs per minute within the joke? Or is it like a certain feeling maybe you have where you're just like, I think this joke is done for now, um, before you post it and kind of put it out there?
SPEAKER_01You know, I think when I first started posting clips, I would have been a little more reserved about it. I would have been like, this needs to hit a certain level before I really post it or get it to a certain place. But I think nowadays people are watching so much content that if I posted a clip where I know I'm just getting laughs on it and it's the beginning, if I post that same piece of content in three months, but it's obviously gonna change in three months of me change of me doing that joke, it's gonna be so drastically different that the people that did see it and do remember it are gonna go, oh wow, look how different it is now. And the people that haven't seen it, they're in for a treat, and maybe they go back and check out that first version. You know, I think things are changing so much and in ways that we never would have imagined. And people see so much content. I I have a friend who released a special and has over like six million views, and he still gets people that haven't seen it yet. That's insane, you know? Wow, yeah, yeah. You know, I think I think you should we shouldn't be scared to put stuff out, and we shouldn't be scared for people to see the quote unquote hits, or or you're like, oh, you know, this is the thing, it's an act at the end of the day, and so sometimes you people want to see it again. I know people do that with big name comics too. They go to their shows and they say, Can you do that one joke? And the ones that are happy to oblige sometimes will do it, and the ones that don't don't, and there's nothing wrong with either or, you know.
SPEAKER_00You know, Fluffy just had another viral clip where from his recent special, he did the joke about the you can smell it with the donuts and the police officer. Yeah, and and the whole audience was saying it back to him. And he started it off by saying in the clip, he's like, for those of you who don't know me, like this was for you, and then he started the joke, and everybody word for word is saying the joke in like a stadium or an arena, and it's absolutely nuts to see somebody like that that has a joke so um, and and to see even now, years later, repost the clip of the same joke, but in a context of like, hey, for the very few of you in here that have never heard this, and then kind of see it come back that that's just such a beloved joke by people from his I don't know if it was his first special, but definitely his most popular special on his rise to stardom um was the special where he had that joke in it. So that's pretty insane. That's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um well, Frank, we're winding down here. We only got a couple minutes left. We've kind of talked about you and this club you're doing, a little bit about writing, a little bit about freaking just you, dude. And and so I I would just I kind of want to end this off because I love to end on positivity. You know what I'm saying? I'd love to end on some positivity. So how do you see this local scene in the next few years? What are kind of some hopes that you have for the local IE scene? Um like if like like let's say you could choose a few things to happen. Uh, what are what are some things that you would love to see happen in the next few years for the local tonics?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what I hope is that not only can we grow it, I I I like you touched on earlier, we I'm really big on getting new people into the scene. I'm really big on helping people that want to start comedy come and do comedy. And I hope that we can grow that and have like a good culture here. I hope that all the producers in the IE can come together and do stuff together and really grow the scene as a whole.
SPEAKER_00You know, that would be beautiful. It would that would be beautiful. If everyone could sit down and break bread together, that would be beautiful. You know what? If anybody doesn't want to do it, we're gonna grab a baguette. We're gonna hit you right on the earlobes until they turn red. That's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, threats.
SPEAKER_00Super, super speed round favorite movie, go.
SPEAKER_01Oh, um, what dreams may come with?
SPEAKER_00Ooh.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yogurt flavor, go. Uh uh strawberry, ice cream flavor, go. Uh Rocky Road. Uh boobs or butt. Oh, uh uh boobs.
SPEAKER_00You didn't your mind didn't know what to say.
SPEAKER_01I like both.
SPEAKER_00Amen. And with that being said, ladies, hit this guy up. Frank, plug your Instagram.
SPEAKER_01Uh my Instagram uh at useless frank or at above the iron comedy club.
SPEAKER_00Ladies, he might say he's useless, but I've seen this guy in person. He is anybody useless. Frank, I'm dying. I have hiccups and I can't breathe. And I'm and I'm driving, and it's a lot of traffic, and I'm gonna die. Praise God. Frank, thank you so much for coming on the comedy podcast and talking about you. Please, you got you got TikTok. Guys, please follow follow him. Follow the comedy club in Metaphy. Get tickets for the upcoming Jack Strawsaw this Friday, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. And if you don't come out, we're gonna find you. We're gonna track you down through the location tracker in my podcast app. And we're gonna come and kiss you right on the forehead. All right, sickos. All right, you guys. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time. Uh bye.