No Principals, No Student Teachers with Joel Walkowski

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He's also got a book coming out very, very soon called Honolulu Blues, How Loving a Losing Team Created a Winning Man. It is out right the fuck now. And y'all need to go check it out. Welcome to the show, Joe Walkowski. What's up, guys? Good to be here. Good to be with Devin. And it's so weird to be sitting in it because we, when we're, normally when we're around, when we're around each other, we're mildly irritated at each other. It's true. Just to give people a little bit of background, Joel and I have known each other basically as long as I've lived in the city. I moved to the city in 2018, probably pretty shortly after that, got into a basketball game that Joel runs. And Devin is the most aggravating person in the world to play basketball with. He's the only guy I have ever met in, like, years of playing basketball, decades of playing basketball, who shows up being like, yeah, I just want to play defense. Which is insane. It's an infuriating trait. I've been matched up against Devin for nearly a decade now. We only ever get matched up against each other. It's, I could really count on one. We've probably played, let's say we played a hundred basketball games with each other. I could count on one hand the amount of times we've been paired up as teammates. It truly, it never happens. And I don't even, you like going against me. I do. You're excited. I understand it. And like, I'm good. Yeah. But not against you. You're physical with me. I can tell you grew up playing D-tackle. Yeah, I did. And you tossed me, like, I'm a big, strong guy. Yeah. You are the same. Yes. Except you grew up in Texas, which is a strength. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I grew up in Texas, so it's a lot of, I played a lot of offensive and defensive lines. So I like, I, this, and this is only for a certain subtext. We have a lot of women who listen to the show, and this won't resonate with a lot of them. But I'm just going to tell you, it's the truth. I love playing down low. I love playing basketball down low. I love, I love elbowing. I really, I'm not really good at. I'm not really good at shooting the basketball, and I know that. I'm not really good at layups. It never really made sense to me. I can't do, like, cool layup moves. I can hit, like, one or two baskets a game probably, but you know what I can do? I can hold whoever I'm guarding to way less points than they're used to scoring. I played against Cerulli one time, didn't score, and he's legit good. And I bring, and I take pride in this. I take pride in, like, oh, you're used to scoring seven points. You're scoring one today. And Devin, it's 2026. Women love basketball now. My comp is insane. Angel Reese. Like, I go down low. Stretch. I rebound, and, like, you know, he pushes me around. Yes. I do think women love basketball now. I don't think women love two adult men talking about their pickup basketball journey. Well, it's about their expression of love, and it's a building of community. And, you know, we build these connections over time, and then sometimes the New York Time comes out. That was cool. And releases a video of me hitting a jump shot on you. Did that happen? Yeah, absolutely. In the web version. That's crazy, because it's not even representative of what be going on. Yeah, because it is, like, the New York City comedy game. Yes. And, you know, Devin's got my number for years, but in the digital edition, I throw up my hook, they put it out there, and that's all the news that's fit to print. Sure. Joel scores a basket on Devin. You do, you do do that, though. You will get me, like, one good time a game, you will hit a shot that I can test the best that I can, and you still put it in. Joel does this thing where he will put his body into you, kind of create some space for himself, he does this hook shot from, like, as far out as it could possibly go, swings it up, like, it's an unblockable shot. You literally, you can't, you really, like, cannot get to it unless you jump, like, 12 feet up in the air, and he'll get, he'll get one of those on me pretty much every time we play. Yeah, and I get the kind of feedback, like, no one's like, oh, that was nice, that was so good, like, like, I was playing in a league game, and someone pulled me aside and was like, yeah, you know, playing with you reminded of learning shooting from my dad. It is. It is a shot, it's such an unorthodox shot that it, like, doesn't make sense when you see it, but it is also, it's effective enough that you can't argue it. It's not a fluke, you know what I'm saying? I've seen you do it enough times that it is like, oh, this is skill, but it is, it is unlike most basketball shots that I've seen. Yeah, and, you know, my book's a little bit about, like, having, like, a special needs father, and, like, it's, like, you, you could tell, like, a special needs man taught me how to shoot a basketball. Like, it's like, you watch Joel, you watch Joel play, you're like, well, this is clearly a man who sees the world a little bit different, taught him the game. Yeah, he was loved, but, like, not in the normal way. And let's, yeah, let's, let's, let's talk about the book a little bit. It's, it's, I know it's about being a fan of the Detroit Lions. Who you steal valor from, a lot. You're always wearing that Detroit hat. I have a Tiger's hat. And then, when you had that NBC promo, you're wearing all Lions gear, and I was like, you know, my cousin Lindsey was just like, hey, Devin shouldn't be wearing this. Like, I know, he's an Eagles, Spurs fan, you know those. That common combination. But, like, I do think, like, your sketch, where Kenan's your dad, and, like, you're just telling him these feelings, and he just talks to you about, like, the football team. The Eagles, yeah. Based literally on my father. Yeah, that's what this book is. And I think, like, a lot of male emotions, we filter them through the specter of games. And, you know, I've been, I'm sober, I've been, I haven't, I started playing, really, like, when I stopped drinking in 2016, like, right before I met you. Oh, wow. And so, like, then I started organizing. I was in a basketball game every week. So, like, it's kind of like sports allowed me to be a better person, and the book's about that. Whoa. Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah. Buy it for your dad. Buy it for your troubled teen. Like, it's the whole spectrum of just maleness, and, like, I think it, like, uses sports to, like, trick bros into, like, a wellness conversation. That's really, really interesting. Yeah. Because I think sports, sports can be an outlet for a lot of negativity in a lot of men's lives. And, I mean, you go to a random pickup game, people are just, they're fighting, they're fighting, they're fighting. And, like, you know, our game is just, like, a lot of hugs, a lot of high fives, and there's only one person who everyone hates who randomly works in this office. It's so funny he's out here. It's so funny to see him in, like, another context. It's so funny to, like, see him wearing, like, khakis walking around and, like, having a, but that is a thing that I legitimately really enjoy. I pretty much only play basketball with comedians because I like it. I like the fact that, like, most comedians, like, don't take themselves seriously, and most comedians are like, yeah. Like, we're okay. We're decent to okay. And every, there's a few guys who legitimately are good, and, like, it's fun to watch them do their things. But even them, they're not taking themselves too seriously when they do it. But when you, as you know, when you hoop with guys who, like, when you hoop with all hoopers, like, guys who maybe, like, played, like, high level high school or, like, played some college ball, they get really mad at you when you're not good. And that kind of stuff is, like, I don't have any time for that because it's, like, I'm not trying to prove myself. I'm just kind of trying to run around, get some exercise. And my take is you can tell someone. You can tell someone's entire personality from how they conduct themselves on a basketball court. Not necessarily skills, but, like, watching you play for years, like, I have it on good authority. I think you're going to heaven. Like, selfless, bought in, you know, great team. I'm passing the ball. I really, I'm a ball movement. I will say this. Like, I've found, as a Spurs fan, any time that I play ball with another Spurs fan, we know exactly how to play with each other. There is something about watching the way. There is a way that that team plays basketball that, like, has seeped into my mind. And I never am holding onto the ball for more than, like, two or three seconds. Yeah, and being a Spurs fan will shape you in some way. You're inclusive. There's character. You're in that fraternity forever. And, like, same way as, like, being a Lions fan is, like, I'm kind of a loser. Sure. The Lions of, um, I respect, one, I like pretty much everybody that I meet that's from Detroit. There's just Alex English, one of my best friends. The best. The best. Everyone from Detroit. Super welcoming. Detroit dance floors are second to none. Oh, okay. You're going to see people of all ages, all races, all socioeconomic backgrounds, and they're all just going to be, you know, just getting it on on the dance floor. It's great. I do like that. I will say, I've told this story on the pod before, but the one time that I went to Detroit, it was the wintertime, and I went there with some audience members, and I set my coat aside, and then a guy stole my coat and then was wearing it on the dance floor. Welcome to Detroit. It was such a, I have a stand-up bit about Detroit. I have a stand-up bit about this, because it's so crazy, because I'm in another city. Fully, I see him on the dance floor, just like grooving. I tap him on the shoulder, thinking like we're about to scrap, and I literally was like, hey man, that's my jacket. He just goes, all right, man. And he just like. He's just trying it on. He just gave it back to me. I was like, what kind of, what sort of half-assed criminals y'all got in this city? And every person I've talked to from Detroit was like, well, you shouldn't have put your jacket down. Yeah, I mean, you see, you put something nice down, you're going to try it on. And really, it's just about feeling what it's like to be Devin Walker for just 15 minutes. - It's okay. It is all right. I think it's pretty good to be Devin Walker. I mean, you're door-dashing hot dogs. That's an unhinged behavior. I door-dashed 12 hot dogs in my house for the 4th of July. I did just do that. You know what it is? I moved into a new apartment, and I have this big patio outside. It's made to host people. I can fit probably 10 people on this outdoor thing. Yeah, and there's no way to cook with an outdoor space. We all know that. What I'm trying to say is I have not yet purchased a grill. And so I was like, all right, I could buy hot dogs and make them on the skillet, but that doesn't feel like it's in the spirit of the holiday. And so I was like, I'm getting dogs to the crib delivered. The individual packaging for the hot dogs, it just seemed like every guest was allowed exactly one. I mean, there were still dogs left over. I ordered 12. Probably 8 of them got eaten. And so I also ordered Shake Shack. I try to make it nice for the friends. But, like, yeah, I do need. I need to purchase a grill before the summer's up so that I can, you know, properly grill. Devin, I will buy you a grill. Oh, my God. Yeah. Thank you so much. Once I get my bus money, you know, first purchase. So I got hit by a bus. I was telling them off air, but, like. Can you tell the people the story of you and the bus? Yeah, and, like, really, I was just biking. And the sun got in the driver's eyes, and he just passed me in the same lane. Like, I got hit by a bus. And I don't know if you know this. There is a policy. Every time a bus hits someone, the bus has to stop. And everyone has to get off the bus for an investigation. So you're hit by a bus, and then 60 people are so upset with you. That's so far. You're really injured. Yeah. But you also prevented, like, a Jamaican lady from getting to work. Yeah, and then the Jamaican lady let me hear about it. And as, you know, and I understand her side of it. Yeah. Because she also doesn't know. She doesn't know how hurt you are. Yeah, like, I broke my arm. I wasn't really sure. You know, you get that shock where you're like, oh, I'm fine. I'm alive. You know, but that's it. But, like, I'm getting berated laying on Park Avenue in Brooklyn, where it's just, like, kind of, like. Yeah, there's some things going on. Yeah, Park's busless. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's people there. So, yeah. Like any route that a bus is on, there's people. Yeah, and, you know, I had a basketball with me, so I had to bring a basketball to the ER. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that you didn't let it go. Yeah, and, you know, I mean, I'm not going to leave it in the street. I've been through enough. I need my comfort basketball. And then, you know, I was, I had, like, my girlfriend Diana was, like, our first week together. And she came to the hospital. We got kicked out of the ER for laughing too much, which, good sign for the relationship. Hold on. What? You have a pregnant plot. What? It's. Hold on. Hold on. Okay, we can, we might, you can cut this if we need to. You could go there. We can cut this if we need to. I'm an open book. I just. What? Weren't you married? I was married. Fuck! Yeah, no, I was, I went back to be my dad's caretaker as my dad was dying. Yeah. And then my dad died, but my ex, she was a Broadway star, and she got her big break, and that was her, you know, that was her premiere. So, like, she went to the opening of her show. I went through my dad's funeral. And, like, if that's where your values are, there's no bouncing back from that. I see. This is, this is a podcast first. This is a podcast first. I've never had someone recount their divorce on the pod before. I've also never realized in conversation with somebody on the podcast that that happened. Well, you don't, with divorce is weird, because you're like, I'm not going to put out a press release for it. But some people do. I have seen some people, I've seen comedians be like, hey, just so you know, me and blank are getting a divorce. Yeah, it's no. It's like a conscious uncoupling. It's like, I'll get a stupid earring and a couple more tattoos. I started posting about having a sauna in my living room, and I feel like that was the way I let the world know. Something's going on. So, yeah, I am divorced, got a great girlfriend, but, like, in a two-year span, everything bad that could happen to a person happened to me. Yeah. But, like, I think it kind of showed me who I am. Like, dad died, closest family member died, dog died, got hit by a bus, marriage dissolved in real time. And, like, I had sold the book. Like, right before, but, like, every day, it's just like, oh, you have to work on this. Well, yeah, this stuff, yeah, it's got to go in there. But it's kind of like, you know, I have two hours a day. Something's demanding my best. So, like, regardless of what was going on, it's like, I'm not taking anything into the writer's room with me. Like, I'm going to be locked in. I'm going to be focused. And, like, I'm ADD as fuck. I don't know if you can swear here, but, like, I'm that ADD. I have to swear. So, I would, like, trick myself and be like, I'm going to put on records. I can't do anything until I have to flip the record. I'm going to write my book until then. So, like, this book got me through everything. And it'll get you through the same. Come on. Come on. Check it out. Honolulu Blues. So, yeah. Wherever you purchase books. Yeah, so, yeah. That's the way I tell everyone I'm divorced. Yeah, this happened in buying my book. You know what's so beautiful about this, though? Well, depending on the way that you look at it, I feel like this is, we were talking about this off mic. But I feel like you and I have known each other for years. I've been in New York City for almost a year. Almost, it'll be eight years next month. And actually, my anniversary, depending on when this comes out, it might be right around my, like, eight-year anniversary. We've known each other. We've had conversations. But, like, so much of it has been through the lens of basketball. We see each other for those two hours. And then we go about our lives. I've had so much shit going on. I didn't even know you got hit by a bus. We've known each other for a long. This is what male friendships can look like. And we consider each other friends. Yeah, and, like, I know your opinion on Stephon Castle. That's about it. Yeah, exactly. And there's a lot of, there's, like, I don't know. There's a usual rotation of guys, you know, who I, like, see in this game that I have, like, played with. And it's, like, gun to my head if one of them was like, hey, so, like, how many sisters do I have? I'd be like, all right, well, you got me. Yeah, like, that's not why we're here. We're here to play ball. And it's very exclusive. It's about letting other people know you get to play in the game, honestly. Yeah, that's true. People have asked me how to get into the game. Yeah, and you're a VIP. But you are a late emailer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. I almost never, there's, what happens is Joel sends an email out at, like, what is it, on Tuesdays? Tuesdays, 11 a.m. sharp, fills up at 11.01. Yeah, so you need to do it immediately. I will normally, I'm normally hitting Joel probably about 12, 12.18, 2.45, 6 p.m., be like, oh, yeah, man, if you, and it's like he doesn't have a space. By the time I ask him, I know there's no space, but I'm always, I got to throw my hat in the ring just in case. Yeah, that's kind of like. Like, oh, yeah, I went to the gym, but they were closed. That is, that is me as hell. No, I tried to work out this week. I knew it would be full. And, like, I think that's, like, my legacy is, like, I believe the SNL writer's room stops for five minutes every Tuesday morning. Absolutely. No, that's Tuesday morning. Actually, you've got a lot of time. Tuesday morning is one of the few days that's, like, really all for you because you don't really need to be in to the afternoon. So, like, yeah, today, I really could do it. And also, I don't even work there anymore. So, it's like. Well, I. I mean, evoking the greater Devin mythos. Like, people know you work there. It's not just like, yeah, we just found our way in the studio and set up the lights. It is, it is. I forget that I did that sometimes. Because you're just so, like, it goes so fast, right? It's really like a flash. It really is like, I don't think I'll ever, I don't think there's another experience that can, like, mirror it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'll work on other TV shows. I'll work on whatever. I'll work, like, in the industry. But, like, it is. It is so singular. And, like, I'd had friends, like, Gary worked there. Alex worked there before I did. You can have people describe it to you. There is, like, you cannot understand it unless you're in there. It is, like. No, I think I get it. There is. Like, you work a lot. You play a lot. And you're not allowed to do drugs since 1980. I don't. People. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'll just say where there's a will, there's a way. I will say working there, it's like everybody's, everybody's leaning on something. No matter, you know. For some people, that's yoga. And for some people, that's other stuff. Yeah. And, like, I work with addicts a lot. And I'll just tell them, like, yeah, you're quitting. Eat a lot of candy. And, you know, I would just be eating candy in there. What did you get through it with? Realistically, legitimately, I drank every single day of the week. That's great. I drank six nights a week. And that was what I leaned on for sure. Because it's, like, you're so stressed all the time. You, like, you need to blow off that steam. And there are also, like, a thousand places to go drink nearby. If you have, like, an extra hour, you know, before you need to go do a thing, you're like, all right, you just want to, do you want to go in the basement? There's literally, like, a nice Italian restaurant in the basement. We go to this place called Jupiter in the basement. And we became regulars. That became our cheers bar, this, like, little Italian restaurant in the basement of 30 Rock. Yeah, and that's how you, you're not a New Yorker. And I know that's the dialogue now. You're not a New Yorker. You've got to be a regular at five places, I feel. Yeah, yeah, of course. And that's, like, the real rule. Like, sorry, J-Lo. You know, that's, like, but, like, until, like, a barista knows your name, you're still living in the suburbs of Chicago or Kansas or whatever. Sure, sure, sure. Where are you a regular? I can't say those. I can't say because it's, like, no, I can't. You blow up the spots? I can't blow up my spots. Honestly, like, I'm, my homie Sam runs this restaurant, Golden Diner. Oh, you know, the pancake king of New York City. Honestly, yes. I met him through games. and Golden, like we used to go there before the pandemic and we could just kind of, kind of pull up at any time then right as soon as the pandemic ended uh it got blown up on tiktok and now i need to like have somebody's phone number to go eat there and uh ever since then now i'm like i'm gatekeeping every establishment i'll tell you off mic where i like to go but i'm not y'all never fucking know where i'm sorry i am interviewing you as like devon where do you eat what's your process uh what's your astrological sign are you you know when's when did you first fall in love sure i come here to turn this circular table come on and it's like and you know what i don't mind it sometimes people will grab the reins and start asking me questions i'm like sure i'll go there with you yeah i'm a curious person and you know i think it's weird that like as adults new yorkers we fetishize pancakes yeah there's so much dialogue about where the best new pancake is honestly go people the golden pancakes are as advertised they are incredible they're incredible and they've got the other locations golden hoff yeah which i will blow up that spot one because because my homie runs it also two because it's incredible uh and and obviously they got a big ass space and it's it's it's it's not as crazy to get into uh go to golden hoff it is in midtown it's actually like two blocks away from 30 rock incredible uh korean fusion spot it's so fucking good yeah you can get pancakes and pork bell and have the time of your life like i will literally no they do they do korean barbecue and pancakes and soft serve and all kinds of other shit like rigatoni yeah no that that was my exact order actually it's all delicious i got pork belly pancakes rigatoni ice cream and like they have a lobster roll that's also good as fuck yeah and like i'll just tell them i go there today i learned what the concept of an artist date is where you like you go and you do something that's supposed to inspire you and i'll just go out and spend a hundred dollars on lunch easy easy a hundred dollars goes like that golden hoff but worth every penny oh no i was just saying in new york in general golden hoff very reasonably priced shout out sam um but uh joe i mean before we before we move on to the bars is there anything else anything else book related that that you'd like the people to know the book related i mean i'll say i got a five-star review this week people are actually really loving this but i think it's really accessible and like i think it's a way of like talking about serious themes that's also a comedy like this is yours you can hold on to it i want you to read it give me your thoughts we'll do but i think like it's addiction it's male emotions and like it's kind of framed through like i love the detroit lions but my dad was special needs and loving a special needs parent is a lot like loving a losing team like you want you see other people you see their relationships with their teams or their parents like oh i might not have that so you eventually you make it enough so that was my that was my process and that's my spiel did you ever did you make it around in the book to present day uh detroit lions who are actually good and like a contending team yeah and like the book so my dad was on his deathbed as we got good and we went on that playoff run and like he said he told me go to san francisco tell me about the game and that game yeah we'd never been a super bowl we had the super bowl in our hands and we blew it and my dad like his our last conversation was hey i know they lost but like think of the conversations we had this year yeah like it got us through the toughest time of our life so like do i need the super bowl i don't think so like we're if i were a packers fan or a patriots fan or someone else like i don't think i would have the resilience i have to like get through life with an upbeat attitude so is i i built it up to more than it was but like it's kind of like i was sitting in sobriety meetings right and they're like what's your goal and i was like because i don't know if you know this before i was a comedian i was a writer first thing i ever wrote got published and i decided i was gonna be great you know and so i wrote a novel i locked myself in my room i drank i boozed i pilled and i drank myself to death i needed 14 blood transfusions oh my god so really he was going up i was going oh i didn't time my life i thought i was hunter thompson as like a 22 year i was living in a van and just like taking everything i could but like getting sober is just like oh i can i make a piece of art sober i thought like i'm not creative anymore i'm gonna move on so really i think it's a reflection of being a different person putting all going all in on one thing and if you guys give it a chance i think you will enjoy it if not venmo me i'll refund you that's risky you gotta show me a receipt yeah i'm not just gonna send you 30 27 27 you know it's not even 30 that's 20 that's a reasonable amount that's one cocktail if you live in new york city do you have a favorite number um good question probably probably 13 me and my brother were both born on the 13th of our respective months oh so it's coming up carhartt's holiday gift guides were built in collaboration with the greatest gift giver of all time santa claus himself old saint nick counts on carhartt's durable gear to have his back through rain sleep and snow on the biggest night of the year because when everyone is counting on you to do your job what else would you wear to work tap the banner to grab a gift for every hard-working person on your holiday shopping list or head to carhartt.com some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to no cd.com to learn more also wait a second i just remember this speaking of your father your father i played um the comedy attic in bloomington yeah i played the comedy attic it was me and britney carney went to bloomington and you messaged me and you said hey just a heads up my dad's a comedy addict and i'm gonna come to the show and he's gonna bring you a switchblade and and he he did exactly that yeah like he grew up in detroit and when he was getting like his he had a crisis like no i'm a weird country person so he moved to the country he started playing his own banjos and every every time i had a buddy play the addict he would show up give him a knife sometimes loaded dice and a brass knuckles brass knuckles of course and i was like oh my god i'm gonna bring you a switchblade i was banned from the comedy attic without ever stepping foot and that is that like we know who's responsible for this you can't be like dear booker i'm the knife guy son i i will say i i found it to be whoa you don't know this but like i i found it to be so cool and sweet like anytime anybody gives me anything literally this bracelet that i'm wearing uh a fan of snl got me this is like based on a joke from this british rap character that me and james austin johnson did we referenced this soccer player named jan wooders and somebody made me a bracelet like i i have such a deep appreciation for when anybody like takes the time to give me anything nobody has ever gotten me any sort of a weapon or a blade of any sort your dad i i you know it's so crazy i like appreciated it so much uh and then literally i had a flight at like i don't like 8 a.m and they have to drive you from bloomington to indianapolis which is like an hour or something like that and so it was so early in the morning and i literally uh he gave me a bracelet and i was like oh my god i'm gonna give it to me in like a leather like a nice leather pouch it was legit nice and uh i literally like got out and i was like oh wait i got to the airport and i was like wait a second i only have a carry-on bag i can't i can't bring a knife and i can't bring a knife and brass knuckles on a plane and so i was like oh i have to like give this to so i like gave it to the like the like opener the person who opened for me was like hey here can you take these weapons but i will say i still have the i still have the pouch it's a great pouch i i uh i use it as like a toiletries bag he made it it like comes with me it's like good leather so i still have this thing that even though i couldn't keep the blade and the brass knuckles i still do have these these things that your dad gave me yeah his legacy is this book and devin's toothbrush you know you know two two of the two of the greats i mean it's i bring it with me i'm on the road a decent amount i bring it with me everywhere i go that's a very sweet story and like i'm sure that's common we're like no comic checks their bag comics are great at traveler traveling you're trying to travel the fastest way you possibly can yeah it's just like you're not trying to spend extra time in indianapolis and switchblades aren't cheap he he had he didn't have a penny to his name and he's buying every comedian who comes through the attic to switchblade and brass knuckles where did he get those brass knuckles from i mean he had his sources he took him to the grave he grew we're we're detroit people devin you think we don't know where to get brass knuckles fair enough and i wonder i wonder where that like 21 year old opener kept those brass knuckles i wonder if she has still has them i i hope she is we need more women with brass knuckles you know more women basketball fans more women with brass knuckles you know it's an inclusive podcast that's true this is this is for everybody this is for everybody as is this book honolulu blues it's so sweet you remember that that must have been like years ago maybe your first snl years uh it was it was after my first season so that was that was three years ago and then 2023 and then we had the job i will i'll give you your shine yeah devin won the big walkowski when he said he won it's 16 teams it's single elimination and Kevin won, and then I think the next day it was announced that you got SNL. Something like that. And you know what I will say is, like, at that point, I already knew that I'd been hired, but it hadn't been announced. And so I was already kind of riding that high. And then to also win the basketball tournament, I almost was like, well, now I really don't want to say it. Like, now I was like, I was like, I was like, when this comes out, like, in a couple days, people are going to be mad at me. I was like, I just took the tournament. And also, like, kind of, like, I had a buddy in town, and he played. So he wasn't really in the pool of, like, people. And I feel like I was like, people are probably going to be mad at that. Now I just had, like, a big career moment. That's probably, this is, I was like, damn, this is kind of, I'm kind of piling it on thick right now. But you were the king of New York City for a week. Got in as SNL, won the big walkout. And, like, people fly in for it. And, like, I will say just for, like, our own vanity, it's a good cause. We raised about $10K for organ donation. So we're not just, like, competing and, like, we, you know, palling around. Like, we channel this energy to do some good. So it's not just like, look how great Devin is. I'm okay. He's great. I'm okay. Shout out to Carlton. Shout out to my boy Carlton. And you won it with, like, your best friends, right? I won it with my boy, my boy Carlton. It's like my old, like, Austin comedy buddies. I was in Austin doing comedy before Joe Rogan ever got there. And there was a scene before that. People need to know that. Austin in 2016. Austin in 2016 was the best place I ever did comedy. It was incredible. You would do, like, an outdoor show and get paid in barbecue. What could be better? And this is, like, and that's anybody who was there knows, like, it was fucking lit before. And now there's this perception that now it's good. It was always good. It was always good. It was always incredible. I used to run that outdoor show probably a little bit after you got there. Was it Mike Wiebe? Mike Wiebe worked there. Oh, good memory. Yeah, that's a deep cut. Yeah, Mike Wiebe. Shout out Mike Wiebe. It used to be run. It was run by this woman named Katie Pingra. That used to be her show. And then she passed it on to me. And I ran it for, like, two years. And now Carlton's been running it. Carlton's had it now since I left. Carlton's had it for, like, shit, like, seven, eight years at this point. So shout out to Carlton. Also, Andrew Dismukes was also a teammate of mine. And the real MVP, Brian Booth. Brian Booth. But, you know, he's not famous. So fuck him. Brian Booth, you might be good. But since you haven't been on SNL, you're nobody. Nick Walkowski history. We would not have done it. We would not have done it without Brian Booth. Shout out. He truly was. He was, like, truly, like, it's like Dylan Harper. It's like, hey, we need a bucket. Can you go get one? And he was like, absolutely. He's like Dylan Harper, except people asked him for a bucket. Sit on the bench. We're paying De'Aaron Fox a lot of money. Don't get me started. I could talk about this for a long time. Look, we've got secret texts about the Spurs that will never see the light of day. It's true. We are the two most controversial men in New York, because I was the only one rooting for the Spurs. And thank you for that. Of course. Not many of us. Joel, you brought some lyrics to us today. I brought some lyrics. I think I might get in some trouble here. Okay. And really, I'm a diehard Prince guy. Okay. I got into music. I found a box of my godfather's records when I was 14. So I got, like, 1999, Dirty Mind, like, very early Prince. But there's one lyric, and I'm so happy you asked me this, that keeps me up at night. Okay. Get off. 23 positions in a one night. Stand. So many. Doesn't that sound terrible? It doesn't sound like something that I'm capable of. It sounds like there's no chemistry. And I think if you look at Prince, the way Prince talks about sex, it's kind of the way a virgin would. I've said this about Ariana Grande before, the exact same thing. Like, it's almost innocent. Like, he's imagining it. And, like, everyone's like, oh, yeah, Prince, he's so sexy. And, like, Prince was so prolific. Yeah. Like, Nick Hornby wrote a book comparing Prince, not to anyone in music, but to Charles Dickens. That's how big his output was. And, like, we only know what he wanted to release. And the family's going pretty wild with what he's releasing. Yeah. You know, I can't wait to see the Purple Rain Broadway musical that he would have. But I don't think Prince was a very, I think Prince was an intellectual who was so focused on music. And when he was first coming up, he opened for Rick James, someone who definitely. He was fucking. Yeah. Rick James was fucking. One of the freakiest men alive. So I think he took a little bit of Rick James's personality. How could you not? And made it part of his stage persona. 23 positions is just the number that, it's just 23. If you can't find it after four, if you can't find where you need to get after four or five, then maybe that's not somebody, maybe you guys, maybe you're not supposed to be fucking each other. Yeah. How many positions are we trying? Both of them. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. But if you. If you left me, if you were like, all right, Devin, go get to 23, I think it would, I don't know if I could even make it to that number. Yeah. And you know. I don't know if I've done 23 positions in my entire life. I don't think there are. Because Prince also says in one, one lyric that he would rewrite the Kama Sutra with half the words. That's not given the Kama Sutra, one of the ancient hallowed texts in all cultures. It's true. A lot of credit. Yeah. Jack you off. I can only do it for a worthy cause. Because virginity or menopause, you'll have an instant heart attack if I jack you off. Oh. Huh. And first of all, we know even if Prince is the sexual dynamo, which he might've been, I could be wrong here, but we know it takes a second and it takes some drive and some patience and some listening ability to get there. You got to work together. You don't do it in your mom. You don't do it in your mama's car, naked in a Cadillac. That's not how you jack them off. It could be. It could be, but I don't think it works. Sure. You don't think that's, you don't think that's the way it's going. And of course, Prince also wrote sister. Prince decided he was going to write a sexy song about like what the hottest thing is. And then Prince wrote, my sister never made love to anyone else but me. Oh. She's the reason for my sexuality. Oh, Prince incest isn't sexy, but he was a little bit ahead of the curve there based on like global porn hub searches. You know what I, you know what I think is happening here and I could be wrong. You know what I think is happening here is I think he's saying, I think he's not saying sister. I think he's saying sister, this like this sister, you know what I'm saying? I think he's saying it like, like, like how you say it to like a community member at the church. And that's a valid argument. But the last line of that song is incest is everything it's said to be. So that implies that there's these conversations like, yeah, you know, you've really got to try incest. Oh my God. I got to hold on. Yeah. No. Cause before Prince was super famous before like 1999 hit, he put out dirty mind, which is just like the filthiest album he ever had. Yeah. And he's going wild with that. But like, it's the sort of wild where it's just like, I don't think this guy's had sex before. Or if he is, he's doing it very different than, than the average person. Yeah. And like, I don't know. I think it's, it was like, Oh, Prince is so cool. He has so much sex. Like, I think it's cooler that he's a guy who, if you follow, like, there's like a book that followed him every day of writing the purple rain album. He lived in the studio. And when he hung out with women, he was just arranging compositions and writing songs for them. Wow. Where like, I think Prince just knows that music's about sex. So he applied his real love to sex. It does. He does seem like the type of guy, like many great artists who are like so singularly focused on the thing that they are like, well, I guess what I'm trying to say is he sounds autistic. He sounds like clearly like all he could focus on is the thing that he liked and anything else was like secondary. So I would imagine like, like he seems like somebody who like, even when he was having sex, like he was, he was humming a rhythm as well. Yeah. And I can't imagine him being present with anything but the music. That's right. Yeah. His first two albums, he played every instrument, recorded them himself, 22 different instruments. So you think he's interested in another person when that's his level of like love for the music? It's hard. I don't know. It's hard to believe. People are going to be commenting on this one, huh? Yeah. People are going to have a lot of stuff to say. But we're going to find someone like, no, Prince made love to me. He was the best I ever have. And like slide in my DMs, send the picture. But. I will say, have we ever heard, have we ever heard anybody like, have any like Prince's like ex-girlfriends or wives? Yeah. Have we ever spoken out? A little bit. I feel like we haven't really heard from these women. A little bit of like vanity and Apollonia, but they're also people whose careers he helped a lot. Cause like he kind of built a lot of like female pop stars who are like, he gave, he built those stars. He gave songs to Cyndi Lauper, to Madonna, where like, I think he was just kind of lifting women up artistically. Speaking of which, I've learned recently off mic that as a writer, you've also, you've ghost written projects. For women. Can you, can you speak, you're kind of the Prince of the literary world. Yeah. I'm the Prince of books, you know, like, cause I, cause what I do is here's, here's why I have this take about Prince. So I wrote a book for a woman. Yeah. She's a prominent person. I won't say her name. Sure. But like her story is she, she learned business skills from her madam. So I, I would interview her and like, you know, being a ghostwriter, you learn to know someone intimately. Yeah. Or it's just like, okay, I'm going to know you like one of your family members, but she would talk about shocking a guy with electric, you know, pads, selling men, her breast milk, lactating on him, and like, I'm alone in my apartment, your show's playing in the background, and I'm just like, yeah, you know, I approached the man, I had a look in my eye, he didn't want me, he wanted me to be in control. Outside in the world, he's powerful. A man people look to respectfully, but not here. Here, I'm the boss. Outside, he's a CEO. Inside, I'm zapping his nuts hard. Yeah, and like, I think you just like get in a mode where you're like writing sexual stuff from the point of view of someone else, and you know, you don't, it's not sexual, where you're just like. You're just telling a story. You're just telling life as this person experienced it. Yeah, where people will get the hook there. Yeah, interesting. That is fascinating. I would be so happy to have the book come out, and then somebody be like, all right, hey, just so you know, and they show a picture of you, and they're like, this is the guy who wrote it. I'm like, get the fuck. Honestly, I bet you if people found that out, they'd be like, this guy's one of the best writers I've ever heard from. This guy, if he can do that. And the thing is, she'd never read a book before, so when I was done, I had to read the book aloud to her. What do you mean she'd never read a book? She'd never read a book. Like, you know, she's a prominent person. She has a story to tell. She got a book deal, and like, she wasn't gonna write it, so I wrote it. Sure. And then like, when I sent it to her, I was like, hey, what do you think? It's like, well, I'm not going to read it. I was like, well, we're gonna have to do something about that. Sure. You're gonna need to know what's in here. So I would like, clear my Sunday mornings, I would read it aloud to her, and I would incorporate her notes. It was the most challenging experience of my life, but we got there. God bless. If there's two things I know about, it's being a woman and styling hair. Hey, you know, female celebrities, if you're listening and we know that you are, let Joel write your book. Hey, Devin, if you need a ghostwriter, I'll make you the world's best hairstylist. You know, I gotta have a couple more things happen in my life before that's on the table, but we're working towards it. Absolutely. You know what I mean? We're getting there. So sorry, Prince. I didn't mean to offend any Prince fans here. Like, Prince is my number one end-all be-all. I think he's the greatest cultural contribution America has ever had, but I think there's just so much music that it's hard to imagine him giving his life force to anything else. This is fascinating. I've never heard this take, but it makes so much sense. You're like, Prince was too on the spectrum to be fucking like that. Like, he released, he recorded like 10,000 songs. Sure. I'm sure we haven't even like scratched the surface of like hearing all the music that he did. No, there's like a literal vault full of unreleased songs, and like, there's a great book about like, I forget the author, but like it follows him through the Purple Rain recording. Like, you're halfway through the book and you're like, I haven't heard of any of these songs. Uh, yeah. I, he also put out, in my mind, like as a kid, I only was really aware, like I thought I kind of had a hold on like what all Prince had had going on, but I didn't realize he released music like up until the end. Like there was, and there was so much that happened that like wasn't like a big hit song that I was aware of. Yeah, and like, I didn't realize how long his career stretched. And even in like, Lady Cab Driver, he dedicates each pump to a different entity. Wow. This is for the cab you have to drive for no money at all. This is why I wasn't born like my brother, handsome and tall. This one's for Yosemite Sam. Whoa, shout out. Imagine. What if that was his last pump? What if he was like, Yosemite Sam! That's how you learn about yourself, right? You picture that mustache and it's over. Turns out you just like that mustache. Sure. And then he goes back, tourists at Disneyland, and then he's talking about, this is for the sun, the moon, the stars, the tourists at Disneyland. Two times during this song, he mentions the tourists at Disneyland. I wonder what kind of tourists that he saw. Like, what type of tourists did he see that he was like, you know what, I gotta make sure that they know that they're loved and respected. I gotta think about the sun, the moon, the stars, and this family from Duluth. He's thinking about like a, yeah, a kid who made the, like a Make-A-Wish kid. Yeah. Actually, that'd be kind of nice. Yeah, I'm gonna take my lady out to some scallops, and I'm gonna take her back. I'm like, we're doing the lady cab driver. One pump, Yosemite Sam. One pump, tourists at Disneyland. Another pump, tourists at Disneyland. Come on, just in case, just in case you didn't hear it the first time. I don't know. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for. At Ross, discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. Ross, expect the unexpected. Observe the North American dad. 50s. Great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Pick up fees, mail, and apply. Joel, you brought some more lyrics to us. Let's take it wherever you want to go. I was visited by the podcast gods on Saturday. I'm driving back. I was swimming in a pool out in Long Island. That's what I did this weekend. I hit up my rich friends. Can I swim in your pool? Some said yes. But I heard a song, and this isn't really my type of music. I listen to like 70s, 80s, Stevie Wonder Prince. That's what I listen to. But I heard a song, RKX Nephew, American Terrorist, which is, maybe the greatest array of opinions that I've ever heard. There isn't an opinion that isn't in this song. So, you know, what if Adam would have never fucked Eve? That's why I don't eat bitch food now. And then we go from religion, and then he stays on religion. Okay, I fuck with Adam, but I'll beat the shit out of Eve. How the hell they live at the forbidden tree? Somebody show me the forbidden tree. How the fuck they got a picture of Jesus? There's no pictures of Jesus. Well, some people have drawn and painted them. And then he stays on religion. I printed out these lyrics and it's nine pages long. It's quite a bit of stuff. It's quite a bit. He's going in on a lot. And then, I do like, he touches on the pandemic, but then he questions, explain to me why the fuck Benjamin Franklin stood his ass up on the roof. That's true. How he discovered something out of the sky. If that's the case, T-Rex discovered it, which is him mixing up electricity with a meteor. Yeah, that is true. T-Rex discovered it. Also, the way that he addresses the pandemic is he goes, and I've heard this song and it is, it is captivating. I will say, even despite the fact that he sounds insane, you are like, even in the stuff where you know he's wrong, you're like, all right, I'll hear you out though. I'll hear you out. Let me see. I'm interested in his line of thinking. He goes, they said the world would end in 2012. I was selling crack in 2012. They talk about the calendar ended. Eight years later, a pandemic. You're trying to find it. You're trying to find it because you're like, honestly, if I heard this song and I was high and I was a teenager, I'd be like, yo, he's opening up. He's thinking in a brand new way. Now as a man whose brain is fully developed, I'm like, this don't really add up. But he's saying it with an amount of passion that he's got. And it does make you want to believe him. And I think you're right. He does have the right passion. And I do think that he's getting it right. Who the fuck is that white man, Santa Claus? They said he was eating kids. Why would I let that man lie to my kids? Shit. He climbs through my roof. I'm a beat his head and his ass in the head with a hammer. That's fair. You eat my cookies, beat you with a hammer. Yeah. Drink the kid's milk. I hit you in the head with a hammer. Let's get back to the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's brilliant. Yeah. And then, you know, he fits it all in. He talks about Santa, Jehovah's Witnesses, government wrote the Bible. I never liked Simon off of American Idol. But that's what I'm saying. A lot of these things he's saying, you're like, I do see how you ran into this conclusion. I see how you landed on that. Simon's not pleasant. He's absolutely right. Simon is rude. Yeah. The government wrote the Bible and Santa, he had it coming. And then like. One that I like a lot. Who the fuck is Christopher Columbus? If you would've came to my block talking about he discovered my trap, his ass would've got shot. It's like, yeah, for sure. And that's, you know, and that's a reasonable way to respond to Christopher Columbus saying that he discovered your shit. Like that's, you know what I'm saying? You see, you see it. He's right. He's trying to come to your environment talking about, he's renaming it and telling you what shit's called. Shoot him. Like, I think he's correct about everything. That's the thing is like, even when he's wrong, like he still feel kind of right. Yeah, like I wanted to prepare for this podcast so I put this song three times on loop in the gym today and like, I think it changed me as a person. Yeah, there's something special to it. We're like, I'm out on the Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm out on Santa Claus and I'm out on Spongebob. What does he say about SpongeBob? - Oh, I used to feel like the Chum Bucket i used to love the chum bucket i've been new spongebob was a bitch that's why i fuck with the chum bucket that's tight actually you know i i'm anti-worker sure that's that's you know nobody's nobody's talked about plankton's plankton side of things everybody plankton's always the bad guy but nobody's thought about the fact that it's like he lives a pretty lonely existence and everybody else is always trying to fuck with him yeah and i mean there's also great vulnerability every time i watched i am legend i cried especially the part where the dog died that was sad these are human truths yeah this is our our greatest artist oh also i i didn't realize that he said shit the government wrote the bible they knew who was going to win american idol i never really liked simon off american idol i didn't really like how we talked to black people i'm not arguing with none of this all this this adding up to me let's get back to the jehovah's witnesses wow to fuck all y'all awake why the fuck y'all church so small but it's a million of y'all every day and if only 44 000 why are there so many you know what i'm saying and then jehovah ties back to the prince conversation like a little bit more is going on than we thought yeah well he does get into some shit he said niggas move like vlad tv these niggas look like vlad tv they get indicted on vlad tv homie got five years for a tv so what they thought what the fuck they thought was gonna happen they talk too much they ar abbott i see i really i really actually do see what he's got going on and it's so stream of consciousness that he is just kind of like connecting the dots but also i think about vlad all the time vlad is you are you familiar with dj vlad what he's got going on he's he's bad for the black community people literally do he'd be glad be having people come on and talk about like gang affiliations and like crimes that they've done he's been he's getting them to like expose some of their like foulest shit and like cops have used that information to like fuck people over he's a snitch he really is being called out in it in this song they say there's 77 sextillion stars in the sky i ain't even heard that number before they told me that lie i'm like how the fuck hold on which telescope and what person counts that with their eyes fair yeah how you know that number talking about god mathematical truths like i think we should take this printout and staple it to the declaration of indignation independence there's something really special in here what i never think gucci was a clone they like how the hell he got so skinny when you in that cell shit they feed you wrong come on three meals a day three meals a day get a nigga right six pack come from being hungry at night nigga came home and he fixed his teeth then they changed the subject about a week i mean you know what i'm saying we came here we came here really kind of ready to be like isn't this guy saying some silly stuff every with every new line with every new bar i'm actually i'm in i'm in and i'm sorry this man's actually a prophet he sees things a little bit differently but i don't i'm not prepared to say that he's wrong yeah and thank you for addressing the lines that i can't you know what i'll say when when caleb heron pulled up he brought lines with the n-word and he just sort of he's sort of self-censored which no other white guest has done no other white guest has ever uh i feel like every other white guest just sort of avoids the word altogether i do like the fact that caleb was like he would say he'd say a line and he'd just sort of pause and then he'd resume okay shout out to caleb i need to be more like caleb heron yeah why is it my special on delta shout out shout out caleb i was just on a delta flight and i was like man this is an option i'm not gonna watch it right now but i love you caleb and all this leads up to cardi b mouth look dumb bitch talk like she's always chewing gum end of the song shit and and i see i yet again i see where he's coming from she does talk like she'd be chewing gum even when it's not in there i mean he's one of the great artists of our time bro nephew if you are rkx nephew if you're listening we know that you are um we'd love to talk to you we'd love to talk to you um if anybody is in touch with any of his people i'd like to just run run through these bars with them yeah and like this is pure appreciation like yeah we're sorting through but like i like the logic i like what you have going on i'm someone who builds narratives and you build a narrative really well quite a few unlimited narratives yeah and like i will say no chorus no just nine minutes straight bar after bar after bar put that on after this episode and you'll have the greatest weight room session of your life i promise you literally the last time i heard it was i was uh i heard this song at where was i was at the gym i was on the treadmill i was like jogging on the treadmill and this song came on and i listened to it for nine minutes straight and it it brought it brings up both questions and answers it makes you it makes you think you know what i'm saying in a way that i think not that many songs are and uh so go go get involved with that american terrorist with two t's yeah to terrorist and it did great art it changes the way you look at the world you feel me this song is great art it does that um joel you brought us one more song and this has bothered me for i do like it yeah i love this song gwen stefani yeah hollaback girl classic and i do like that she shouts out where you might have it better than me because i i have the nephew lyrics that i'm sorting through sure but we've got some of it right here is this yeah yeah so that's right dude meet me at the bleachers no principals no student teachers and i love that because it's student teachers it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it recognizes me as a student teacher and i love that because it organizes that they're working towards something and it's the only time in music that i think student teachers get a shout out that is very true because that's the student teachers are like a recent college graduate or like an upcoming college graduate they're just trying to get some credit they're just trying to put their feet in the water just trying to be like hey what do i what do i do if if a fight starts how do i how do i teach ap us history yeah and if you know if you're like a bushy-tailed student teacher you're idealistic about the world you think you can change it oh this fake japanese woman believes in me this is wait was she this i know this is before she was pretending to be japanese this is when she was being uh latina this is when she was pretending to be mexican and everything was in old english font yeah she's like the world cup every a different nation gets her every four years she's getting passed around by she's a citizen of the world shout out glenn and her republican husband yeah and see you know what i'm saying now she's come full circle you know what i'm saying she was like an alt rock like orange county girl then she becomes she goes chicana and she's like doing that for a little bit she's riding around in low riders then she goes to japan she's a full harajuku girl using accents that never felt quite right saying that she was japan or japanese now look at her right wing and all the country music star and you can be all these things without ever leaving orange county that is so i think that's okay so maybe she's just very representative of where she's from yeah and like i did feel like i got the got the content in the first two but like the student teachers since i heard that i was like huh you never hear student teachers mentioned in song no and i'm also like when you're not fighting you're not you're not fighting she goes into a little queen but you know if you're going to school you don't quite have a job you're working in the classroom only one musical artist sees you and that's glenn that's going to and that's how we're going to remember her not as a latina or a fake japanese as someone who affirms your career journey that's beautiful uh joel before we get out of here we're going to get into a voicemail really quick i'm going to grab those headphones carhartt's holiday gift guides were built in collaboration with the greatest gift giver of all time santa claus himself old saint nick counts on carhartt's durable gear to have his back through rain sleep and snow on the biggest night of the year because when everyone's counting on you to do your job what else would you wear to work tap the banner to grab a gift for every hard-working person on your holiday shopping list or head to carhartt.com this episode is brought to you by txu energy if you're looking for a better way to save on electricity both night and day look no further than txu energy free nights and cool summer it gives you free energy all night every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use every summer it's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings so all nights are always free summer days are always free and you can save on electricity both night and day are now always discounted with savings like that you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again learn more at txu.com rep number one zero zero zero four uh hi devon i guessed i love the pod this is uh mave from philadelphia not a philadelphia accent no not a philly accent at all maybe a transplant okay sure from gold link uh disgraced rapper are you familiar with gold link are you okay gold link is an artist who probably started popping off a little over a decade ago probably like 2014 or so um really was had built a lot of momentum up has made a lot of songs that i really enjoy has made albums that i enjoy but then when mac miller died uh he basically posted this whole instagram post about how like mac miller stole his sound for one of mac's albums and uh about how he always resented him but like has like come around to like forgiving him and it like actually ruined his career and i think that's a really good thing about him and i think that's a really good thing about him and i think that's a really good thing about him mac miller's such a beloved figure that like mac miller's such a beloved figure that like mac miller's such a beloved figure that like it kind of turned everyone against i've it kind of turned everyone against i've it kind of turned everyone against i've literally i've i never met mac but i've literally i've i never met mac but i've known people who have known him i've literally never heard anyone say a negative thing about him except for gold link literally every story you hear about him is like him being like the kindest sweetest person i've heard about people who used to like go to parties at his house and he wasn't even there and he would like make sure that like everybody had everything that they needed he sounds like the best guy all to say that's what happened to gold link and gold link honestly still making some decent music but like his career like literally got tanked for saying something negative about mac miller yeah so what was gonna happen to me with that prince thing uh remains to be seen people people start burning your books because you said prince couldn't fuck honestly the best thing that could happen to me is if people start burning my books that's the dream everybody wins um all right we continue in the song kokomo freestyle he says legging with the clip we dump it off like the red monovic sorry homie you know we're not friends it's all for politics um so obviously the first part he's talking about uh vladimir matovic who was a basketball player um he mispronounces his name in order for it to rhyme with politics um but then he says you know sorry homie you know we you know we're not friends it's all for politics it's rare that an artist gives you such an honest look into their their personality their psyche we now know that gold link that's really how he how he operates you know he doesn't so yeah and also i just want to say regardless of of you know of that i think it's time to forgive gold link i think we need to welcome him back into the fold i think he's he's done his uh he's done his service you know i i love cancel culture i think it's great um but i think he's uh he's tired enough that's right he was just mean to a white rapper so yeah but i mean in most cases being mean to a white rapper is an honorable thing to do this is the one time where it's not a good thing i mean and it's also like there are so many there are so many white rappers that it's uh totally fair and acceptable and that i would personally encourage people to make fun of and like say negative things about i think he picked literally the one white rapper that he shouldn't have done that about and it kind of it it shit went really left for him because of that yeah and it's also vlad rodmanovic you're just trying to seem like a basketball fan that's a little bit try hard like i know i don't even i don't even know who that is he played for he was like ninth man on the lakers a couple of years he was one of the original like stretch fours i think he wore number 77 maybe played in seattle a bit as well but there's so many other vicks you can go through who would be prominent and i know there's like a lot of serbian guys you want to like show off and put in like a journeyman basketball player but work in pages stojakovic that would make so much more sense yeah there's so many other vicks that you can go through and it still would have worked the syllables still would have lined up page so y'all go play something and we dump it in petrovich there's so many bitches yeah yeah yeah i got all these bitches yeah i sold my book because i you got a spell from the witches i'm sorry i know i'm the white rapper i didn't expect joel coming out here to promote his book in freestyle well every line does rhyme uh okay yeah this guy was a real journeyman i had really yeah i have no recollection of this basketball player at all and i pay attention to basketball yeah but i do think like just throwing it as an aside like i think cancel culture is good that was honestly one of my favorite parts of the email you don't ever hear anybody be like oh no people should get canceled that's good yeah and i think cancel culture is good because i got i there was like a tweet going around last week about kevin spacey was selling his own kevin spacey ring where like 250 you get it says f you and you kevin spacey signs it i was so entertained by that like all the machinations of kevin's of cancel culture are worth it for me to see that kevin spacey ring ad that's i i'm gonna need to look that up immediately but i gotta do it on incognito mode because i don't want you don't want whatever that algorithm is to get into my phone i'm up on kevin spacey he's playing night clubs in greece he's um fucking one time uh my buddy and his girlfriend were in north carolina and they were staying at a hotel and they were like having like a nightcap at the hotel bar and like somebody started like playing music and singing and they look over and it's kevin spacey practicing for greece playing at this like random bar in like wilmington north carolina just like just like singing yeah i think it's more it's kind of worse that like he it's worse for him that he's not in prison because he's a pretty bad guy but like you just have to find gigs now kevin spacey so like he's just got to go wherever he can and like listeners i know you're out there look behind you kevin spacey might be doing an act right now who's to say anybody could be kevin spacey if you look closely enough and and maybe maybe that's who he should that's who you should drag not mac miller no drag kevin spacey because people they're gonna go back to support you and like it'll keep his name in the news just enough for him to do something weird uh because that's coming because that's if you let if we give him the spotlight again he's gonna do something weird it'll probably be a new type of thing but it'll somehow be worse yeah i just want to hire him i want to direct a movie hire him then like wheel him to set like he's hannibal lecter and then just keep him in the corner he's not even allowed to have lines he's just like yeah he's a pa yeah he's just kind of off to the side um you know mave really interesting take i would have to agree with you i do think it's time for us to collectively forgive gold link uh i do think that what he said was in poor taste uh given the timing but i also think like you can you can come back from this i will say gold link did put out a song where he was not really that apologetic and enough time has passed that it's like he should have been able to be contrite but like he actually uh he kind of was like oh like y'all don't understand the full story like there's more information he tried to bump tyler the creator into it it it does seem as though the peaks i don't really know a ton about gold link the peaks that i do get into him it doesn't seem to be like an awesome guy it doesn't seem to have like a cool personality and like he said in this line he don't do friendships it's all for politics and uh man that is a most most people bring like silly goofy bars in this person actually just brought like a really a really serious kind of meditation on what happened to this man's career in his life and all this is to say musicians are supposed to influence each other that's part of the agreement like i would i would agree with you can't take a line from someone as a comedian but if you hear someone play music like oh that will i'll change my style to accommodate that like there's no copyright on like the different notes i mean that's also what happens happen i mean that happens in comedy that happens in everything right like everybody all kinds of people you watch you know there's a shout out detroit boys shout out timmy uh i can't imagine how many people have like watched his stuff and then like on some level that influence like oh i would i liked i think you should leave like i'm gonna even if it's not intentional they're like oh yeah i'm making stuff that is clearly like that that clearly seeped into my mind no i was wearing khakis and screaming first you know what i mean that's just if you when you make something like uh when you make something that like resonates like that is just what happens you like have you have people who get influenced by that like there's a that's the process and maybe goldling's bad because influence works that way like there's probably 20 guys who could have the same take and could be a piece of it but they didn't sure and he put his platform out and be like nah this dead guy borrowed from my style and he happened to be the most beloved guy of that generation that's the thing like you just just you couldn't have and i'm like that's honestly the way that he felt i was like completely reasonable and valid to have that to feel kind of weird about it especially i have like a tip in his mind he's like oh this white artist kind of took my sound and then probably was more profitable with it i can understand feeling a way about that but i'm also like that's for your friends that's for behind the scenes and i'm like i'm not gonna do that i'm not gonna do that i'm not gonna do that that's for like that's for your mental health professional but he's so beloved like when he died it was like gen z lost their michael jackson totally totally like not a charm was put on any crocs that day i like that people took charms off their crocs that's that's their half mass that's them flying them flags i have mass um joel thank you so much for pulling up um one more time y'all make sure to go peep this book honolulu blues go find it wherever you find books um and yeah do you have anything else you'd like to plug for the people before we get out i'm gonna look into the camera i'm gonna say this devin is the best defender in new york comedy basketball come on i'm in the conversation pop dunk if you're watching this come on come on you know i see the knicks giving a lot of people we know great treatment yeah you've ridden for the spurs for so long so hard why aren't you courtside in the fiesta shirts brother can i can i tell you i've been working on this for years as soon as i got on snl i was like how do i get in touch with this person they're a loctite organization it's really hard to like get into what they got going on but trust me when i say i i think i might have found the right person to be in touch with it is it is my dream to be there like jack nicholson i want to be the guy like in all the big games i want to be their chalamet which admittedly substantially less famous but enough people know who i am that i do think there's a there's a charm to it it feels san antonio for me to be the guy absolutely and i'm i'm really working on that and uh you know come next playoffs i'm i'm putting it out into the world come next playoffs i'm gonna be courtside at these games let's go thank you so much for having me this was a real pleasure yes sir thanks for pulling up my favorite lyrics is a production by disco nap if you guys like what you hear leave a review and tell a homie about the show and make sure to follow us at my favorite lyrics pod on all social platforms except for twitter we offer that you can learn more about this week's guest and the my favorite lyrics team by checking out the show's notes and thank you to the guys that made this show happen executive producer lauren mandel producer carmen kerrigan our editor nicole lions and yeah that's all the people that i'm going to thank for now does checking your bank statements feel like digging through a dusty attic full of forgotten subscriptions and old free trials experian can help take the pain out of canceling by handling it for you think of it as operation get your sanity back over 200 subscriptions are cancelable so get started in the experian app and see how much you could save results will vary not all subscriptions eligible savings not guaranteed paid membership with connected payment account required to see experian.com for details my life is booked and busy i don't have time to try on a million outfits that still don't feel right that's why i get styled with stitch fix my personal stylist sends outfits picked for my size style and budget so i can get dressed and get on with my day feeling 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