From Arkansas Roots To A DIY Comedy Special W/ Nick Moore

A $200 room. Sixty seats. One comedian who refuses to wait for permission. We sit down with Nick Moore to unpack how a DIY special can punch above its weight when the writing is tight, the venue fits your voice, and the hustle has roots in barbershops and trunk sales rather than budgets with too many zeros.

Nick takes us from Little Rock to Memphis, where silence taught sharper timing, and into Portland, where a small theater turned into a perfect canvas for Stay Black and Dad. He explains why nine years on stage distilled into three or four years of focused material, how the “funeral bit” graduated from closer to opener, and why rewriting old notebook lines can turn a dusty premise into a clean kill. We dig into influences ranging from Dave Chappelle and Ali Siddiq to Michael Che and Red Foxx, not for name-dropping, but to show the throughline: calm control, patient pacing, and jokes that carry their own weight.

We also get candid about money, festivals, and tape. Not everyone has $150K for a special, and most don’t need it. A modest room with hot energy records better than a cavern, and festival weekends can cover cameras and audio if you ask the right way. Nick’s barbershop-era DVD run proves physical media still builds community, while a brush with America’s Got Talent reveals the ruthless clarity of a 90-second set. Through it all, the theme holds: write like every bit could close, choose rooms that serve your rhythm, and publish even when a giant drops the same week. Craft over clout, presence over noise, and laughs that travel farther than your budget.

If this conversation fires you up, hit follow, share it with a comic who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review telling us your favorite DIY tactic for getting from open mic to special.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the No ID Podcast. I have here comedian. The man lives by this title, Stay Black and Dad. If you have not checked out the comedy album, you can check it out. YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you get your streaming services at. This is a dope special. I'm telling you right now, from start to finish, this man is not lying about some of the things that he is going through. And he is with helling from Portland, Oregon. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Oh, I filmed in Portland, Oregon. I'm from Arkansas, man. You from oh okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

So this man is filmed from Arkansas from Arkansas, but he filmed in Portland, Oregon, because it was a cheap venue. Yes, sir. The one and only Nick Moore. What's going on, boss?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

What's going on, Rom? Good to be here, man. Thank you for having me. Um, you said you're in New York, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

I'm in uh North of Virginia.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Oh, okay, my bad. I just went off the time zone. I didn't even consider where you're in. North of Virginia, okay. But that's that's still Eastern time.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

It's still Eastern time.

DIY Hustle: DVDs And A $200 Venue

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Okay, okay, gotcha. So yeah, I've um I filmed important, but right now I live in Oakland, California. But uh, you know, you go, yeah, yeah, that's where I live, because um, you know, I'm trying to like get I'm I didn't want to, I'm not in LA. I know a lot of comments go there. I go there sometimes, but right now I'm based out of Oakland. But uh while you call in, I'm in Arkansas visiting home for the holidays. So, you know, we got the nice country background back here. We out in the dirt, but yeah, man, good to be here. Good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Man, I appreciate you coming on, man. I know the holidays coming up. You just had your album come out, which was fire, bro. Like it was I went old school because I don't know how old you are, but I went old school. So let me just go ahead and download.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

You download it. Well, you know, I you know I was selling DVDs, so I took it old school too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

And that's another thing that I was actually real like proud of. You was doing the old school masterpiece DVDs order.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Because people forget. So people forget. What it happened with that was, and you know, man, you know how it is back now. You'll go in a barbershop, you're getting your haircut, and somebody got some on bootleg, somebody like, hey man, look, we got the DVDs, CDs, somebody was selling a mixtape. So that's really what inspired it, you know. And I had like the little skits where I'd be going around barbershops passing them out, just like back in the day, even though it's 2025. And yeah, you can stream it, but you know, people did buy the DVDs. I like that. It was they were very receptive of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

DVDs, where is that though? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like back of the trunk, you flipping DVDs, like exactly.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

See, all that old school stuff just inspired them, man. But that the picture that you used. Man, so I don't even uh I might smoke a black and mouth every now and then. I don't uh smoke cigarettes. And I know my mother, what I like did to like the um the photo shoot, and I revealed the cover. She's like, my baby's smoking cigarettes. I'm like, Mama, them movie cigarettes, just relax. They're not real cigarettes. That's not even real uh whiskey. I like whiskey, but that's apple juice right there. Like you cuff right there. That's just just some good apple juice.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I was weak, bruh. This you you released an album, and probably when he is up with one of the ghosts out there, and I ain't trying to blow no smoke or get no clout or nothing. But your comedy album came out, and then at 10 o'clock after Jake Paul.

Portland, Oakland, Arkansas: Finding Stages

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I actually I've been making jokes about it because of my um, you know, Chappelle, he his came out the same as I did. So you know I'm getting old, like I'm being paid, you know, because I like Chappelle, so I'm I'm busting jokes. But I'm like, oh, he released the same album as me. That's a rookie move on his part. I know y'all gonna watch my stuff, not watch his, and you know, but I did see that actually. So I think that's I think it's pretty cool in a sense. He's one of my favorite comedians, so I ain't mad at it. But I think it was very poetic in a sense. Like he's one of the first comedians I watched before I even like stand up. I used to watch a pal show as a kid. And for whatever reason, the day I release my very first special, he just wanna come out with his 15th one and just, ah, well, don't watch that nigga. Watch me. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

But uh, that's pretty cool. Hey man, crazy thing is what he he does a lot of stuff out in Portland. He got a club out there, I believe. Yeah, he clubs.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Chappelle, he got stuff in those rural areas. He mentioned in this special he has a club in Ohio. That, you know, that's his home state to old firehouse. He turned into a club. So yeah, I think a lot of comics, you know, when they do like the recordings and stuff, they go to LA and New York and DC, all the fancy places. When they work in their material, they go to Portland, they go to Arkansas, they go to them little small towns in Texas, you know. So that's where they work bust their chops at.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Now, how long did it take you to record an album? Because you know, some comedians got their material ready for like years. And then they're gonna drop an album.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

So I've been doing comedy for nine years. And uh everything, like you and you know how like how you how long you been doing stand-up, man? Six. So you so you know, like the stuff you did six years ago, you don't even do those jokes today, right? So when I actually Or you or you rewrote it and it sounds ten times better, one or the other. So a lot of the jokes that are in the special, even though I've been doing comedy for nine years, those jokes might be three or four years old or less. Like, you know, because I feel like I have a bunch of older material, it's just outdated. I started when I was 19. Some of my materials was about living with my parents, being a teenager. I couldn't, that couldn't make it all the way to the special, you know. So the actual like special that I just released, maybe about, you know, three or four years. But it wasn't like I was writing it for three or four years. I just decided I need to have a special. I'm nine years in. I need a body of work. And then I just went through and picked all the stuff that I've been working on, and some new stuff that happened within the last year. So just like crafting of the special, just you know, it just came together over time, you know what I'm saying? But there was no actual starting point. I just put in my head last year that it's something that I really wanted to do, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Catch it, man. Cause I I think a lot of well, I've been doing it six. I tried to do a special probably like month six. I'm like, yeah, it ain't gonna work.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

So not and you know what's crazy? It's so weird because like that first special, you it takes forever to get, and then that second one, now you a better writer, you know what I mean? So if you drop one today, you probably could have another one in six months to a year, but that's because like you understand comedy. But yeah, six months in with no experience, ooh, that's rough. I don't know about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

They would have had a commercial break for every I barely had five minutes in six months. So no, no, that was just that was young now. But I I I was inspired by what you did, man, and just want to shout you out for that one. Because I you came on my explore page, and I was like, yeah, I can at least try and shoot because you had 11,000 followers. I was let me just try and shoot, see if we're gonna get that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

That's nothing, man. I like working with I I know like in the social media age, we worry about just 11,000. Then there's somebody else with 100k, somebody else with a million, but uh I feel like no man, we all comments at the end of the day, man. We got the same passion, chasing simple doors, man. I'm willing to work with everybody, man.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

So man, it was fire though. It's it's fire. I told you earlier, like my favorite bit was the funeral bit with your grandfather. Yeah. But first, let me just start with the intro. Let me start there. Because you just openly got honest. You was like, Yep, that's how we ended up here. I forgot how much you paid. He's like, Yeah, we paid$100 again.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Yeah, it was it was a very small amount. So I accidentally um there's a there's a comedy festival called the Northwest Black Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon.

unknown 7:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Every year. When we get off the phone, I'll tell you about that separate conversation. But they have a venue there that I went to in February, and I saw the they got a big theater, but the little theater while I filmed it, I was like, dang, this only holds about 50, 60 people. That's what I need for a special. And then homegirl told me the price, yeah, like$200. Oh, I'll be back. I'll be back for sure. So that's really, yeah. I saw it when I went to the festival, but yeah, that price definitely played a factor in it.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I can believe it, man. Cause I I shoot mine in April, and I I yeah. I got a festival I'm doing it, and I was like, you know what? They gonna record it for me too and do the audio? Oh bet. And I ain't gotta because you be hearing all these comedians, like I think Ryan Davis like, yeah, I dropped$150,000 on a special. I'm like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

You like, where Nick Moore and Ron Davis are gonna get that kind of money? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

I don't like I ain't dropping no$150. If anything, I get a Tubi special before I drop$150.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

$150K.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

That's crazy. Hell man, I ain't tripping, bro. But you've been doing 11 years and you've been doing festivals and clubs and stuff. So how's that experience been?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

So when you start so young, because I started, I was like a year out of high school. I was long to, and I went to open mic with my homie because you know he was interested in probably. I mean, Steven does come here. That's my guy, JP Field. But I had no interest until we went to open mic together and had the time of our lives. And since then, you know, it's just been progressive evolution. That first year, it was mostly open mics. I got a show here or there. Second year, I started traveling hitting festivals. I started comedy in Little Rock, Arkansas. And when you're from Little Rock, you go to Memphis a lot. It's like yo, like you know, you got a city probably near Norfolk when you bust your top tip. For me, uh, it's just out there, y'all just by yourself because. My bad, my bad. But for me personally, um, Little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee. That's like the first because I was in college the whole time. By the time I got done with college, I was more of a seasoned comic. I was ready to hit the road. But Little Rock and Memphis raised me. This is my second, like Little Rock is my home city. Memphis, Tennessee, that's my second comedy city. Um, so yeah, man, after that it just went from there. I traveled for work, so that's giving me the option to travel and do shows everywhere. So it worked out good.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

That's what's up. Nah, we uh We got clubs. Uh we got one, two, three in Virginia. Well, two in this Norfolk area, and then one in Richmond. Anything after that is DC or North Carolina, so that we DC is what, a four-hour drive for me? No, three hours. Baltimore is like a four-hour drive for me. So yeah, man. Okay. Yeah, we fighting, we fighting over here.

SPEAKER_02 10:36

I've uh I've never done Stanford DC. I did Baltimore Comedy Factory once.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

I just happened to be in town and uh I knew the headliner. I knew somebody knew the hairliner. It was Dominique. I think her last name was Witty. Oh, old school. She's funny, yeah. So that's the only time I ever uh worked like out there. Like I never I never did DC. I watched some shows in DC, but I didn't get to go up. That's yeah, that's the only thing I can think of as far as over there. But what what clubs are there? Is it like a punchline or what's out there?

Festival Strategy And Budget Reality

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Nah, we got funny bone and houses. Yeah, like I did Baltimore Comedy Festival over the summer. And they know how festivals do, they'll say festival, and it's like two-on-one. So for me, I get the credit for doing a festival, and then they get the credits for actually performing at the club. So they put us at yeah, yeah. I was like, oh, this this good right here. So no tripping. So yeah, we did that. Man, and you said is Dave Chappelle. So let me get my words right.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

So Dave Chappelle is probably like your goat of all goats on your list since you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

Um I would say yes, just like on a longevity sense. Because like I said, I've been watching his comedy probably longer than anybody else, but once I started doing comedy myself and started exploring, this is a it's a few different people I've taken a liking to. Like um, Ali Sadiq is one of my favorite. I love Ali Sadie. Um there's this guy I've been following on social media for years. He's very knowledgeable by stand-up. I only saw his don't tell, but then he released a special this year. His name is Jay Jordan. Um I believe, I believe he's from Mississippi, but he lives in New York. He's hilarious. I've taken a liking to him. Um, there's one more name I can't think of right now. Oh yeah, it's old. I think my old school, old school is Red Fox. I love old Red Fox. Like everybody loves Richard. Richard Pride was cool. I love Richard one of the goats, but I love watching old Red Fox.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Okay, okay. Man, you see, you see, you said Ali Siddy. I think Allie got a uh special job.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

He got one job. Everybody trying to fuck on my weekend. Ain't that some shit? Everybody trying to mess up my weekend. You can't win for losing, right? Two of my heroes dropping albums two days apart from me. What kind?

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Only followed you on the ghost account. Like, yeah, I see him.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

I see. So this is what he's gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Why? Is popping out with the blue. I got two for five stuff. He said old school. Yeah. I mean, Red Red was solid. Now, my my old school was Mom's Baby.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah, you take me back, yeah. Well, I'm a little older than you, brother. I ain't gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm a little older, but mom's was mom's hits, and I got to perform at her club uh up in Baltimore, and that was that was a different experience. But Red was solid. Red, people don't know, but we all of us didn't grew up on Sanford and Son. So but the albums was fire.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Like And see, that's the thing. Me being so young, like I don't think I knew he was a comedian, like stand-up comedian. I was probably like a teenager. You know, you watch Sanford and Sun. It was on for years on TV Land and watching at your mama's house, your grandparents' house. But when I started like learning about his standup, I'm like, oh, he he got crowd control and hanging on to every word he's saying, you know? So you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

All that wearing the most expensive suit, jewelry, smoking a cigarette.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Oh, yeah, he was fresh. He was fresh.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Oh man, one of the things I liked about him, he took everybody with him from the circuit. Like everybody on the show, I think outside of Lamont did something prior to um actually being on San Francisco. I think one of them invented the zoo suit, another one was danced with Fred Astair. Lawanda Page, who was uh Aunt Esther, she was a comedian and a singer as well, too, because I got his album. I actually got his vinyl in my closet.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Oh, okay. You got an old one then. I got a um, I collect vinyls, mostly music vinyls. I have an old Richard Pryor. It's the one with the smoke bowling at his ears. I can't remember the name of, but I found that at a pawn shop a long time ago. That's the only like, don't take it back. I have a what's homie's name? He used to dress up like Geraldine.

unknown 14:52

You know?

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Flip Wilson.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yes, I got a Flip Wilson too. I found that that same day. They still work too. They still work. They might be from like the 80s, but they they sound a little, you know how vinyl sound after a while, but you can still hear the words. You can hear the laughter. It's like, oh damn, this is this vintage. So, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Now, you've been doing it for nine years, man. I know you gotta work with different crowds and different venues and different comedians, man. What was that one time that you had a bomb? Like you bombed so bad, you're like, you know what? Maybe I might rethink this.

Bomb Stories And Tough Crowds

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I remember. I remember that perfectly. You never forget that. I mean, you know, it's gonna be times you have a man. I said an okay said, you know, you wish you could have done something different. But that one bomb, it was Memphis, Tennessee. That's how I was gonna, because I thought, man, that's my second point. Because what it is, when you start doing comedy like we're uh we're in Little Rock, you know, you might get like a little pity laugh or something. But you know, you do that same joke in Memphis, cricket. And I did five minutes of silence. There was nothing, not a laugh. You could hear a pin drop. It was terrible. But what made it worse was um your old cat, Clevetus Allen. I know you heard of him. He's been on like DT comedy. He's over here for Memphis. He goes on stage right after me. And then that nigga had to DJ play on because you had a bad day. That star playing the whole crowd fell out, bro. I just put my head out. I'm like, I need to get out of here. This is embarrassing. I'll never forget that. I had to be about 19, 20 years old. Or it's like, anytime I have a bad set or a rocky set, I think. Well, at least I didn't do that again. So that's all that. And that was so the cleanest part of me. Remember that. I've seen him a few times since then. He but like I said, I was I was damn near a kid back then. But that's the only time I can think where it just went terrible. It was awful.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

I hate when you bomb and you gotta sit there and finish out the rest of the show.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Oh, yeah, boy. That's the thing. You don't want to leave. You don't want to leave. We gotta, it's like you gotta tough it out and just, you know, what I can't leave. Then they gonna then they gonna think I'm in the car crying. That's gonna be even worse.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

And then they come to you like, oh, you do all right. It's gonna be alright. I'm like, no, it's not. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Oh, it's not. They ever like do that when they tell you good set and they know you did bad. Like, you wouldn't even watch my set for me to say you did good. Get your piss away from me. You don't get me.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Black people have a way of using good words to make you feel bad. Your set was cute.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Cute? What the fuck? They would tell you, uh, I like your confidence.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

I ain't had that one yet. I ain't had that one.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

I thought they told us he had a he had a bad set too. This was I don't think this was whipping, but I remember he walked up. This was a younger guy, like, I like your confidence, baby. I'm like, dang. I would hate to be that.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

I never I ain't had that one, man. I had a chicken bone thrown at me, but though. Chicken bone.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

I ain't got none thrown at me yet. I feel like every comedian should want that at least once. It ain't happened to me yet. What happened? Did you did you say something okay?

SPEAKER_01 18:07

So for I went to this old mic at a bar, and it was like a clean mic. You could not cuss. If you cuss, you had to buy whoever had the mic a drink. Okay and where the stairs was at was right beside the bar. So it was this lady. And for three weeks, she just stayed stuff and for broke. Like it seemed like she just came off work, got drunk, ate chicken wings all week, like every Monday. I had enough of it. I said, Something, yo, your hair little, your legs look like too rolled up, sleeping bags or something. Cause she kept, you ain't gonna be funny with that one. You ain't I'm like, yo, she called me the B-word. Next thing you know, I felt that chicken bone just wow. Oh, ooh. Fresh chicken bones. It's like damn.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Did they kick her out?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Nah. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

I left. Just like just let I'm leaving, so I was like, I'm leaving.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

I was like, nah. That's crazy. I think it was a flat too, but it is what it is. You knew what's broken.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

You ever go back to that mic?

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Nah, the mic actually ended like probably a week after that one because nobody was hardly showing up. I can see why too. It was like like Virginia's comedy scene is is different. Like they really like like they're not laid back. Like, you gotta watch what you say, but they want you to be nasty but clean at the same time. Like it's it's different. But when I but when I travel, I could just let it off the uh I feel that.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

So what's the um you already mentioned like City was in Virginia? Outside of Virginia, like where do you where do you normally go? Like when you got time, hit the road, you go up north or you go south, or hit you?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Both. So I go to North Carolina, I go to Baltimore, I go to DC. Yeah, I've been to Connecticut a few times. I did California California. I did pass then. I was at America's Got Talent like two years ago.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Oh, okay. How did that go?

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Man, I if you do it, it's interesting, bro. It's it's interesting. Because I'm a I was in a room with a bunch of people. I think a lady had like a dog she was doing trips, trips, tricks with, and it was just it's different. But you only get 90 seconds, bro. Like, that's it. That's okay, yeah.

Regional Scenes And AGT Auditions

SPEAKER_02 20:24

I've I've heard stories. I've never um, even though I've been in camp, like it just never occurred to me to try AGT, but I've I've heard it to me that's like just different. It's it's it's like that audition period is just where like they don't know if they want you right there or not.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

It's a it's a process. I'm glad they got something separate for us comedians. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm because like that variety act stuff, that thing was tearing me up, bro. But I tell you that. I tell you that one, bro.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

I can believe it, man. You know, you got jokes, and jokes will be funny, but then you got somebody in here doing magic and juggling fire and shit. It's like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

But yeah, let me go ahead and spit a joke about my dating life, but meanwhile, I got somebody with a whole tiger doing push-ups. I'm like, I ain't yeah, I lost. It is what it is, man. Is there a comedian? I know you said like Ali and Chappelle, right? Is there a comedian that you look forward to working with or working with?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I don't know. And that's not like a slight of anybody, it's just I don't know because I'm always um I see so I see like, you know, famous people, semi-famous people, these clubs and stuff. I can't just off the back say who I would like to be on a show with. I have to think about it.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Like some of one of them comedians hit you and was like, yo, nigga, why don't you go on tour, I mean, be my feature.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

I think if um and this is just more of a um Because he Okay, so a long time ago, like I was like middle of my career, I may have been like 22, 23. Club Booker compared me to what he described as a young Michael Shea, because he saw Michael Shea way back when he had first started doing stand-up. And the only reason I'm saying this is really because uh Che has been on um, you know, he's been on SNL for years. I don't even know if he tried to do a stand-up anymore. But if for whatever reason he went on tour and was like, hey, I need a feature, Nick, come do it. I would love to do it. That's the only comedian I've ever been compared to ever. And you know, I've watched some of his stand-up, I kind of see the singularities. You know, he he maybe has like what, three specials. So off of that comparison alone, that would probably be the only thing. He's another one of my favorites. Like, I I think I like Chappelle and Sadiq a little more than him, but he's the only one that anybody has ever drawn comparisons with me to him. So, you know. That would probably be it. But like I said, yeah, I know it's a big reach because you know he does, I don't think he does stand up tours. I think he's strictly SNL. He'll pop out do a show every now and then. So you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yeah, yeah. Che's dope. Che, I saw a special a year or two years ago on Netflix. And y'all got that laid-back style, like y'all can just sit there, like literally sit there and just cook for like probably like an hour and just Yeah, and that's kind of um, I don't really know where that's.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

I think that's more about how I am as a person. When I started doing comedy, and I don't know if this is a universal black experience, but I think we taught that we supposed to be animated and loud because that's what all the goats did before us. But um, and I was kind of like that my first couple years, but it don't really feel comfortable the older I get. I prefer like that laid back style. I used to be way more animated, run around stage. It was still funny, I was just more active, but I'm a little more seasoned now. I've learned how to tell my jokes, and you know, the facial expressions speak for themselves. The jokes are so good they speak for themselves. I don't have to do certain things I did when I first started.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah, man. That explains the Brett, the hitman heart hoodie, man, because he was not animated at all.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Hey man, hey man, sharpshooter, excellence of execution, man.

Heroes, Influences, And Style

SPEAKER_01 24:08

That explains it. No, I'm I'm I'm like I I'm being I'm so serious. If you think about it, when Brett was coming up, it was more like cartoonish clownish than you know, he was in WWF for a long time. He was a technical specialist, and like he was a sharpshooter, like you said. And he had he had it, he had it. You know, he couldn't win the WCW, but he had it. But he had it. It was like just that, like, all right, I know who I am. I'm gonna make my interest, I'm gonna keep it simple, but it was even though it's simple, it's more effective. Like I told you, I I joke with you about that funeral bit because it's funny, because I have an aunt that's 105, and they told him she needs to eat healthy. I'm like, we made it to 105. What are we trying to do? Like, we trying to put another 105. At what point does this get old? She gotta watch her weight. No, she don't. She been eating pig feet and drinking for years. Like, what we're about to die.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

That funeral bit was that was my closer for the longest. That's probably the oldest joke in that special. It was my closer for the longest. And then my the the first part of my city, it was, you know, it was like it was when I had to build like a really good type five. And the old head told us something he was like, hey man, if you write all your jokes like they closers, anything can be your closer, anything can be your opener. So then to challenge myself, I moved the funeral bit to the front. So like if you listen to the the tape, the funeral bit starts like right after the intro. But if you watch the special, I there's a the jail stories in the front because I just like to do the jail story first because it's a really good story. But in most sense, in recent years, I opened with that funeral bit ever since he told me that. Because I really love that joke, but also I agree with um, I think that's them right there. Yeah, I agree with that um that sentiment. He told me it's like, hey man, if you write all your jokes, like it's supposed to end the set, you know, you go you gonna have a bunch of good jokes. Everything's gonna feel like a poster, everything's gonna feel like a five-star bit. So that's probably like some of the best comedy advice I got. I know you were talking about that specific joke, but that joke has like history is how it fit into my sets, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

But it and the crazy thing is it all ties in because when you went to the An Jemima, like I'm saying, what?

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Yeah. So I actually I played with that. This is why I always tell comedy to rewrite bitch. You know, Anjamima, it ain't been a thing for like five or six years. I forgot about that joke. I wrote that joke, and it didn't sound as good as it did when I put it in special. I wrote that joke like five or six years ago. Played with it open mic, I didn't like it. But as you do comedy, you become a better writer. It's just it's just like playing basketball. As long as you play basketball, you get good at it. And I'm like, I'm so good, I can rewrite bits that were bad back then. So that's kind of, you know, well, that's why I just I got I got all my old joke books. I got about three or four drowbooks piled over with old-ass jokes and ink marks and shit all over them. But if I flip back through them, I'm like, I can make that funny now. Now that I know what I'm doing, I didn't know what I was doing back then.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Thanks. Yeah, especially when you want to be a red Power Ranger.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, yeah, that's just a true story. Ain't no joke about that. The only lie about that is my mother did not work at Radio Shack, she worked at Fred's. Everybody don't know where Fred's is. You might know where Fred's is. I know where Fred's is because we from the country and everything go away. You know, we we we last on stuff, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

But like I had to change the Radio Shack for the joke. Because I was doing, I was like, yeah, my mom used to work at Fred's. Nobody would laugh because everybody was too young to remember what that was. Older people would get it, but you know, everybody knows a radio shack was, so you know.

Closers Up Front And Craft Notes

SPEAKER_01 27:53

For sure, man. Hey man, I'm uh I'm gonna end it off on this one, man. I I one, I appreciate you being patient and and and us doing a podcast interview. I appreciate the the the game that you actually dropped in this in this in this 30 minutes, and um I'm gonna uh take you my number.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

That black comedy festival. We'll talk about it now.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Sure, sure. If anybody wants to get in contact with you, how can they get in contact with you and follow you?

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Yes, uh, everything across the board, the YouTube, the Instagram, the TikTok, that's the main things I use. It's comedian underscore Nick M. M like, you know, first uh letter, initial. Comedian underscore Nick M. And then the YouTube is just Comedian Nick Moore. Facebook is Comedian Nick Moore. Nine times out of ten, if you type in Nick Moore or anything, you'll find me other than Apple Music. There's a when I made my Apple Music for the special, I tried to claim the name Nick Moore. There's some white guy with the name that's an amazing RB singer, so I just started listening to his music for three hours. I'm so serious right now. But uh, I am on Apple Music and Spotify as Nick Moore as well. It's just it's it's two of us. It's two of us.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Yeah, man. Nick Nick Moore got five music, man. I had to go to your stores or your link in your bio to get your album.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

You gotta get, yeah, you're gonna have to go to the source to get that.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Appreciate you, bro. Y'all take it easy, man. Enjoy your holiday too, bro.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Of course, you enjoy yours too. Like I said, don't forget to send me a number. We'll talk, we'll talk some more after this. I do so, bro.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Bye.