214. Robby Hoffman: It's a New Dawn

I don't know you, just like you didn't know me. I don't know you as well. We are getting to know each other. And I, I, I'm enjoying this. Me too. Yeah, we're kind of like two cats, you know? Like, oh yeah, I know that building's got a cat. Yeah. I got a cat. And now the cats are like meeting at the gate, you know? There's like, there's a friend. They know a cat in common. Yeah, yeah, they know some cats. Yeah. I'm smelling him. He's smelling me. We're working it out. 'Cause it's not done. I wanna. That is the voice of the great Robbie Hoffman. Robbie Hoffman's on the podcast. We are thrilled. Robbie is having quite a moment in culture. She has a new special on Netflix that was directed by my buddy John Mulaney. She is on hacks. She is on rooster. She is everywhere right now. She's having quite a moment and it is awesome. She's super funny. It's such a gratifying thing when you see someone who's super talented and worked really hard and they're just having everything work for them. I have a great talk today. We talk about comedy. The state of the world, vending machines. We cover a lot of ground. She is one of a kind. I love to talk into her. We work out bits, which is one of my favorite things. By the way, if you haven't signed up for working it out, premium over there on Workout Premium. If you go on Apple Podcasts and you do click on working it out premium and join the Bill Rebelia Familia. It's $4.99 a month. You get all the episodes with no ads and then you get these bonus episodes and we've done a bunch where we work out jokes. We even more jokes. Some of the listeners jokes. So listen to that. And thanks everybody who's been signing up for the text message alerts. In addition to joining the mailing list, if you want to get text message alerts about my upcoming tour dates, text the word Burbigs, biRBIGS, to 917444-7150. This week and I actually popped in at the comedy studio in Cambridge, the only people who knew, the people with the text message alerts. I'll be doing more shows like that soon. So sign up as always check on all of my tour dates at Burbigs.com. For example, I'm going to Montreal and then tuck it this summer. I love talking to Robbie Hoffman today. This is long overdue. If you don't know Robbie, we talk about her special. We talk about her on hacks, her relationship to her fans, marriage. You're going to love this one. Enjoy my conversation with the great Robbie Hoffman. So how's it going? Like, wow, you have a printout. I got questions. Holy shit. Oh, you're not going to get away from here with us some questions. Holy shit. This is a professional production. I love it. You must have had such a year because when I met you a few years ago, I met you to the seller. Not true. By the way, 100% not true. Not true. Go ahead. Keep doing your stuff. This is interesting. This is interesting. I'll do mine. Okay. I met you a couple of years ago. I always found you to be so funny off stage. Mm-hmm. Well, just like you are now. You're like a live wire. Yeah. But you had, I think, career wise not a lot going on and now you have everything going on. You're like massive. So when I met you, I had a lot going on. You were not privy to it. But I have not been the overnight success. No. I haven't been very slow in steady. You took the words right out of my mouth. But it really has been, if you know, you know, like maybe some of the last circles to know me was kind of this, you know, for lack of this old garden, New York or like, you know, like the big pillars of the scene. You may not have known about me. That is true. Sure. The way that they knew you. But I think the people and the hubbub and the whisper and the deep. Right. The whisper is a bit. Right. It read it. And stuff like that. The reddit saying, yeah, the reddit's for you. I think that's where I was. Like, it was interesting that I was so well known in some places. And then in more established places, I was not very known. So it's interesting that when we met, yes, we wouldn't have. I would consider you in pretty much like an official standup or, you know, comedy scene. You know, kind of big pillars of standup, people who are doing these big tours, big Broadway productions, stuff like that at the seller. But I think I was kind of boiling and bubbling in a, in a, in a very word of mouth way. So it's, I've always felt kind of known and unknown simultaneously. I think that's because when I met you, this happens very rarely. You meet someone. You don't know them. What? You go, this person's gonna be huge. From talking to them. It's just always nice when I'm like, he doesn't only yet. Like he's at the table at the big guns. Okay, I'm here. Don't worry. Sit tight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Slow and steady wins the race. You always know. Not to kind of come up through the rear view like I, but I knew, kind of in the back. I knew. But what can I know? I know, but I don't think you did. You didn't know. Yeah, I did. No, you think you knew. 100% knew. You think you knew, but you needed a little bit more. What you needed was you needed other people to tell you I know too. No, I didn't. You needed the millennium. No. Who by the way, shout out to millennium. Shout out to millennium. Friend of the show. Friend of the show. Friend of mine. Incredible. Directed the special. I'm a lady. Yeah, out of nowhere decides to put his weight, his power behind me. I know. I mean, this is this is all I ship. This is all I ship. Yeah, this is what we're asking for. This is all we're asking for. Yeah. Is for a tall man from Chicago. Never, never mind that he's probably a bigger ally than I am. Sure. But, you know, use whatever you need. No, but I think that I think that this is perfect timing. It's good timing to be. John, you met. Because this is a wild story. You said something controversial at like a union meeting and people booed you and he thought it was funny. Well, you guys forced the strike here. No, are you in the right, we were, we were, we were picketing, but I don't think there was a meeting or I wasn't at a meeting like the one you were. Okay, we have to go to this meeting before the picket, before the strike. That like if you didn't go, your Demarit points were doctor something part of the meeting. Three years ago or something. You had to log in. I remember you had to go on the iPad. Robbie Halfman is here or you know, and maybe it's because we were just, what bunch of us were just joining the union. I was, you know, just starting to write professionally and I was pissed about having to be at a work. I just started getting work. I just, I just, yeah. Yeah. I get it. Like this is, I thought you were a cult favorite. Yeah. I thought you were like a huge cult. Yeah. Like I was, well, that's true. But writing wise is very establishment. Okay. Okay. A different, different space. Writing counter mission. You got to get the mic for Big Liz. Got to let you win. Do you know what I mean? So I get the card. I get, you know, you see the pet service of this. Okay. He sits on the board and it's actually it goes through him. People don't know. But if you want to write in this town, you've got to go through. Yeah. You send them a sample. In this town, you mean New York City or Los Angeles? I never lived in Los Angeles. I mean, I mean, I just mean the industry. Right. The industry. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a global town now. Right. We're writing. It's a global marketplace. So I was kind of like, I was pissed because I'm like, bro, I just sort of make it up. Just going here. Yeah. That these rich people in the world, like, like what is going on? Right. Then they force us to this meeting. Again, unpaid meeting. At this point, I can't write. So all I could do is stand up. I should be out doing stand up. Right. So I'm just going to stand up every day. The writing is unholded. The writing was a great supplement. Yeah. Who are you writing for? Okay. I sold my own show. I was writing on many things. Working moms. I was getting. You had a cult thing going on. Well, I was getting into a sandwich and writing. And then I could do stand up every night and would be good. Right. But now here's a night they're telling me you're not working. You're going at this meeting. It's unpaid. Right. It's a Q&A though. Ask any questions. I started to generate a curiosity. Okay. As my anger, I'm like, wow. Like what a day of nothing. I'm bringing in zero dollars today. By force. I could make money. I get by the time I get to this meeting. I've printed the statements. They're financial statements. Yeah. And there was a couple things. That stood out to me. Just as a layman reading financial statements. You can go to any company now. Printed out three basic financial statements. They're income statement. They're balance sheet. They're cash flow. Okay. A lot popping up to me on these. When you hear of an Amazon factory striking, it means that that union has exhausted all the tiges of first. They've done everything. Not the guild. The guild throws us out first. We haven't even litigated yet. We're about to answer negotiations. Yeah. And we're striking. Striking should be a last resort. It's it's criminal. Probably don't yell at me. No, because everything goes through you. And I know you have the connect set this level. This is shocking. And it was criminal. Yes, I was booed. At first the people were with me. They were like, "Why do we have, like some people don't know, like all this is going on?" - Interesting point, I think. - Yeah, or why does some of the heads of these unions make like a ton of money for membership dues? And there was so many things. Why do we have to report our income to bear? Just tell me what I owe you, bitch. - Yeah. - You know what I made? - Yeah. - What are you like taxes now? The government, guess what you made? Is it this, no, jail? Like what? - Yeah. - Just tell me if you have the stubs. - Yeah, yeah. - We're artists, when it? - So they were booing you. - So they were with me for a while. - The lady was there. - So then when I asked the guy-- - He checked in on the iPad. - One of the guys who was speaking the head of the union or head of something, I saw salary 2.1 million. Now that seems to be a volunteer position for a non-for-profit deal. - Yeah, and you know-- - 2.1 million? - 2.1 million. - To run the guild? So this is what I asked, right? I never got a answer. I said, so it says here, executive salaries that you're taking home 2.1 million. I just wanted to know is that that's coming from membership, the revenue is called membership dues. So is that coming? Like what are we doing with this? That's when it went awry. When I asked him personally, and he goes, we have been working tirelessly for three weeks. Three weeks are 2.1. I would do that. - Yeah, yeah, I'd take that. - He'd campaign three weeks. - I think anybody must would take that. - He should for four years. Every time he's renewed, he should be working day in and day out for 2.1 a year. - Yeah. - And they should be litigating, you know, like the biggest Sony and all these studios have Stanford Harvard lawyers who had any tiny thing that litigating they're suing. We should be revolving door in the courts. - Right. - We're beating them every-- we just should have our 2.1 million. All of our money should just go to hiring the greatest lawyers ever. We should be going up against studio lawyers. Studio lawyers are from Harvard, they're from Stanford. We got a husband writer who's negotiating for us. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight. It's so at this point, it's bad. Okay, there you have-- - They have the booing you. You're getting booed. - Yeah, and what I should have said to this guy, I should have responded to that room in the way that they're used to being spoken to. By that, I was this guy after that said, you need to sit down. He tells me, so now I'm crying inside. Okay, you need to sit down. Okay, my friend Carmen Christopher shout out, he's with me. Very funny as well. He goes, "Rum, rum, rum, we gotta get you out of here." It's starting to boo. It's like 3,000 people. It's like, and by the way, I'm not used to-- - By the way, I don't bomb on the road. Like, I'm not used to-- - By the way, you're not used to bombing. - First people ask me, what's the-- I don't know what it's like. Now I know what it's like. Due to my peers at the WGA. - Wow. - So I go. So he goes, "You need to sit down." So I'm at this point, it's very intimidating and very scary. It's all those people booing. So I'm sitting down. But what I wish I had the strength for, but I was already done. Once you're crying inside, if somebody even asks you, how are you, how you could cry? Even if it's a good question, or like, you know-- - Of course. - It's like, it's gonna come. So I have to sit. We leave. I should have said, you mean to tell me that a cis white rich man, a cis straight white rich man is gonna tell a young queer moment to sit down when she has a question. - Right. - They didn't even see the object. Like, they're so about the language. No, I wish I had. See, I would have been here. - That would have been huge. - And the dig was like, not the cis white, I don't care is the point. But they care about that stuff so much. - Right, it's very unique. - It's kind of like, yeah, like there's a democratic like thing that really bothers me and I don't pick size in that way, where it's like, well, you're gonna get the pride parade, but you're not gonna get healthcare. It's like-- - Right. - Okay, like, we just, you know-- - Old would be nice. - Yeah, like, you know what I mean? It's just like, it had that vibe. - Yeah. - So. - Yeah. - That's, yeah, I got, I got booed. I should have, you know, but then, as time went on, it was just going nowhere. With the groceries and the sand stills, people didn't know really what was going on. We were getting, it kept going. I started getting DMs. I started getting people like, hey, where did you find those statements? They're like, I started getting people like, oh, you had a point. Like, why aren't we litigating? - Right. - Why do we have this writer from season nine of whatever going to the Lloyd-- - Right. - Well, I don't, we have Sandford Lloyd. We have the money. We're one of the biggest unions. - Right. - What are we doing, you know? And for so long, the union has just not, because they didn't fight at every little thing. - Yeah. - Then it's like, by the time they get to the negotiator, she's like, we have the smallest ones. Like, they didn't, you know what I mean? It's like, they signed bad deal, left or bad deal, left or bad deal. - Yeah. - Studios, seeped in, seeped in, seeped in, slow and steady, to the point that like, now what can we really change? This or that? Some, they can't give us major. - They won, they've won big. - Yeah, they've won big because we just weren't, we should have just been litigated. Like, oh, they want to do this, we're here. Every small change, cut ya. Boom, fight that down, hit that down, hit that down. We didn't, we waited till it's like-- - For $21 million a year, you'd think that guy would be on it. - Yeah, yeah. - And by the way, he no longer works there. I don't tell you something else. - Good on ya. - I'll tell you something, and I don't know what happened there, but I'll tell you something else. What's happening right now in the union? - I don't know. - The own employees, the union employees are suing the union. - Oh. - The union employees are on strike. - In the writers' guild? - Yes, 'cause they see what these guys are bringing home, and they're not bringing home the same, they're going, we'll share in this for a bestling, that's all in bezel. - Right, right. - So I stand with the employees at the WShit. - So I'm gonna credit it. - Now I'll turn this all of this with, I don't know what I'm talking about. - All of this is, all of this I'm gonna just cite as something that John Malania agreed with. - Yes, and then over, and then over time people came back, and people were like, wow, that was really bold. Or maybe-- - I think so, yeah. - It shouldn't be brave to like say, you know, I'm on our side and like, guys, like-- - I'm here. - For the people, by the people of the people, I'm not, this is our money. - That seems great. So then John, I think saw you do that. - Yes. - I thought it was funny. - I thought I would never work again. (laughing) - Forget. And so then John reached out to you, and then rest his history directed your special, took you on the road. I go on the road with him sometimes, and he talks about how much you kill, but then also like split the crowd in half, sometimes he loves it. - Yeah, I like to rough up his crowd. - What I love about Malini and I is we're like an odd, you know, I was really taken aback with somebody like that, is a, likes me, or gonna throw their weight behind me, because he is a buttoned up. - Yeah. - You know, guard a comedy, kind of like really classy. Like, I think he's like the classiest man I know, probably. - Yeah. - And then it's like, I'm some like, rats that he, you know, that he like, I'm like so pro high, he's like, I feel like it is unbecoming for him to be in a room with somebody like me. But then at the same time, it really works. It's such a good vibe. - You're like an old Jewish couple. I feel like you. - Yeah, it's really, really, - He's not Jewish and you're a strain. - He's class all the way. - He's class all the way, super generous, and it makes sense perfectly why he would love your comedy. - We both do have a polishedness about us. I think maybe his, it's funny, we both have both. Like he seems polished, and then he has some real grit. See, this is a dichotomous individual that I like. I like somebody who's got both. - For sure. I think that you're saying this really nice thing about John that he's dichotomous. I think you're missing that I am also dichotomous. - I don't know you, just like you didn't know me. - There. - And I, I'm enjoying this. - Me too. - Yeah, we're kind of like two cats, you know? - Yeah, I know that building's got a cat. I got a cat, and now the cats are like meeting at the gate. - Right. - You know, there's like, there's a friend. - They know a cat in common. - Yeah, yeah, they know some cats. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I'm smelling him, he's smelling me. - I was really happy for you when I saw you pop on fun hacks. - Oh, thank you. - I was just like, great, Robbie's hilarious. This is a score, this shows hilarious. It was great. - You fit right in. - Yeah, no, it was great. It was great. - What were you nervous? I mean, you don't seem nervous ever. So like, how do you feel when you got hired for that? - With the hacks thing, what was nerve-wracking about it and this I blame them is the process of getting the hacks thing because they called me, they wrote this part for me, obviously. - Uh-huh. - But then I got a audition for it. - Mm-hmm. - And so that's even, let's say I didn't get it, right? Let's say you psych yourself out, you know, the pressure's too much, whatever. All you have to do is tap it in and you missed it. - Yeah. - Okay, it's even worse. - Yeah, you audition for yourself, you didn't get it. Then you have to kill yourself. - Yeah, it's even worse. It's like, okay, if I had to audition to play "Marell Streep Cry," you know, okay, fine. Like, you know, I didn't get it. They were looking for somebody around 72. You know, they thought they could treat like I beg, okay, you did what you could. Yeah, sure. But if it's for you and then I'm thinking, well, what if they cast for it? Yeah. For some anti-Semitic. And second of all, it's like, am I getting a writing credit? Like, you told me you wrote it for me based on what? What? Like, you can't. Right. What kind of AI bullshit is this? What are you going on? But thank God I dunked it the fucking. The funken. You dunked it the fuck? I dunked it. I dunked it. I got it. And I got the job to play a very similar character. Very similar character. And that's what I do with all my characters. Somebody goes, oh, you know, her and Rousseau said, yes, I'm doing, imagine, Ben's still are in different things. Okay, we are doing slightly different versions of us. I was a very sexual character and dying for sex. People were like, oh, I didn't see you as I was, well, there it is. There it is. So yes, it's still going to be me, but I'm just going to be doing different roles. I always say that to people like, oh, if you've seen me in things, you want that to be in your movie? It's like the same. Yeah, it's just, it's real. It's really nice to play with different, you know, and hacks. I'm very eager. I'm a very eager, hardworking, very type A. I'm a very, very kind type A person, but hacks and rob my real life character. We have so much in common in that, like in the show, she wants to be a good assistant. She wants to make it, you know, she wants to keep this job. She wants to be in the industry. And in real life, it was like my first acting. I wanted to get it. Oh, right. That's nice. I want to keep on the show. Will they write me in more? So we kind of are my character and me had a very similar thing going. I'm dwell as an actor. Yeah. You know, do that justice. Am I enough of the, you know, the eagerness and what they wanted to achieve? That version of me and, you know, and then in rooster, I'm a very lazy, at home grad student. And that's another part of me that I can tap into. I can sit in a rowball day. I don't mind that. You grew up in Queens? No, originally from Crown Heights right here. Of Crown Heights. So you're the hisetic family growing up? Yes. You're one of 10. Yes. And was it, tell me what the level is? Because I see hisetic people. I don't know. I think I don't know any of them. No, they don't want to know. Right. I don't think they know what I know. But I see them. They live in Brooklyn. That's fine. But like, what is the level? Is it the outfits? Is it the walking behind people? Like what? What do the conventions of hisetic that your family was going by? That I as a non-hacetic person. What do you mean, what's conventions mean? Like, for example, the hats. I see the hats. Yes, they were the hats. What is the hats? What are the hats? Beautiful hat. But like, what is it from? It's for me to put you on the spot, but I just don't understand it. So a lot of these chacetic communities, in fact, checkers get me wrong because there are a lot of them. But for the most part, they come from Eastern Europe. Russia, Poland, you know. And a lot of the sects, names, come from the people who originally, they're back in Eastern Europe, turn of the century, turn of the last century, 1900, not, you know, 2000. And so I was born into the LeBavitch community, which is what you find in Crown Heights. Now that is more if there's also Chabad, which is more of an outreach. It's a more, what we would say, a more casual, it's like a little more relaxed to you. It might look as insane. But to me, when I look at them, they see more chill than what I was born into. It's like a more reformed version of it. Almost, but it's still, you know, it's still, they're still in the black hats and whatever. Okay. The hat and the Yamacus specifically. So the hat is more traditional based on the area. But the Kipa is to always remind, it's to remind you of ego that there's always something bigger than you. Why do you leave? My mother left. Your mother left. And did you, at the time, did you think, okay, this is a good idea. We all wanted to get out. Yeah. Like, I mean, we left her multiple reasons. I mean, my father was extremely abusive. My parents had a terrible marriage due to his, you know, the way that he was. And that didn't exist. We knew some very good families who didn't have that or great fathers and great parents. But for the most part, yeah, my parents had 10 kids by 30. I think it's extremely reckless. And I think, you know, I think it's, yeah, they're bound by, yeah, it's a very oppressive. It can be very oppressive. And I think particularly of women, of course. And I would say that for most traditional religious communities, in Judaism and beyond other religions, I think most fundamentalist sects of any religion originated at times when women weren't. Yeah, they're bros before hose, which is one of the names of my jokes in the world. Bros before hose. That's how they would categorize it. You're one of 10 siblings. Yes. How many kids? How many kids? I'm having no kids. Oh, you have no kids? Yeah, Gabby is my baby. I'm hers. That's what we're doing it. That's your wife. Yeah, that's my wife. 10 is a lot. But I'm seven. And found the line. So it's up to say, can you rank your siblings from funniest to least funny? There's so many who are funny. I mean, I come from such a funny family. But yeah, a bunch of them are funny. A bunch of them are funny. Kaya is really funny. Your Buddhist is really funny. I can't say this by this name because he's like, I don't know people coming up to me. Like nobody is coming up to you. You know, he acts like he's like the most famous. He's like, I can't even go to work anymore. And, but he's very funny, as you can imagine. My brother, Schmouli, is so funny. I mean, I come from, we're very funny. So your wife is Gabby. What are the top three lessons your wife, Gabby, has taught you? And what are the top three lessons you've taught, Gabby? These are hard questions because when you say top three or something, it's something that I'd have to take a long time to think about. Or what's a lesson? I would only be giving you things off the top of my head. And then I'll be going home later and be like, you know what? That wasn't the top. I'm actually thought of this. You know, but it's like, what's the top I can think of now? Let me rephrase. It's like somebody asking my favorite color. I go, well, I like a lot of them now because I'm not six. No, you're right. So it's hard to pick one. I even made one of those made-able questions. I go, I go, look, I like a lot of movies now. I'm at a point. I've seen so. Point this to Mabel. Mabel. It's off of the head right now. I'm going to rephrase. Is there a thing in marriage that you feel like you've taught Gabby? Yes. Gabby's taught you. Yes. Twofold. First of all, love being married. Yeah. I really recommend that if you find the person that you're really excited to get married. Because I don't care. I didn't care otherwise. I wasn't sure if I would get married or not get married, but it wasn't. But now I'm meeting Gabby. I needed to be married to Gabby. And I just love that marriage to me feels like a hack. I used to come home and see a bunch of my brothers, five brothers. Yeah. They just, and I have a brother, a year older than me. I have a brother, two years older than me. I have a brother, three years older than me and a brother, a year younger. I'm really in this cluster of boys, which explains a lot. I used to look at them and be like, "Ah, these fucking guys." Like, I can't even. I would tell my mother like, "Ma, let's take a good picture of me. Throw me up for adoption. See if something comes up." Yeah. I could, you know, move to the city. I could, I feel like I could do well because my brothers, I really hated them. And she would say things like, and we were violins and they, you know, we all were, we were poor and living on top of each other and it just wasn't good. And she would say, "They're your brothers. They're your brothers." Yeah. You know, you don't pick your family. You don't choose your family. I realized with marriage, you do. Yeah. You get to one time. Yeah, one time. Pick your family. Yeah. And it's the best. I'm like, "These fuckers, this is my family now." This is my family. This is the actual family. So, that is, that was a huge hack that I chose my family. Love that. Yeah. And it's Gabby. And it feels unbelievable. So, that's one thing. Something that I've taught her is, I think Gabby always, um, Gabby doesn't like conflict at all. Uh-huh. Like she used to not like, like if she thought she would be worried that I'm mad at her or something. Right. Right. Right versus like, I don't know. Like it's, she would think that she grew up in a house and she'd have to speak to this and you'll have to have her on. Um, but she grew up in a house where, yes, if she did bring something up, it was, she was in trouble. Something was wrong. Right. And I was born into conflict. I was born where six of my siblings were already there. Three more were coming. Yeah. I was. you know, we were living on top of each other. I always shared a room with multiple of my sisters. So let's say we had a fight. Yeah. So my sister and I were arguing over some, that bitch wore my shirt. Yeah. Okay. And now it's dirty and now laundry's not, you know, I was not going to wash this again. Who knows what it is. Yeah. It's not like I could just say, well, fuck you, I'm going to my room and, you know, and close the, we didn't, the bitches in my room. Right. Right. So we got to go clean that night. The car is like, is present. Yeah, it's like, it's not like we could go to our own. Our own room. By, by, not talking to you. It's like, well, we got to sleep somehow. Right. Like we're resolving this because lights like, I got to sleep. Yeah. We can't be in this tension sleep. Yeah, there is something to that. So I'm very good at like the day to, like, and she would be like, think I was mad at her. Yeah. Like let's say her, her dog went outside. Yeah. But right outside the door, I said, maybe this is, he's got to go bite the door. Yeah. Can you go a couple of feet? And she would be like, you know, but we now, she, she now, it's like, I always, at first she would think you're mad at her. Meanwhile, you're like, the conflict is like that. But she would also then not tell me things. Right. She'd think it would make me mad at her. If she told me something that I, a, bothered her or she thought, maybe it would make me, it's just anything she would think that if she brought me whatever she was thinking about a relationship that I would be mad. I relate to this. So, so that's, but we've, that was like so early on. Yeah. But it's just so nice. Like, so that's something that I think I brought to her and something that she brought to me. That's great. That's a good breakthrough. Was that after you married or before? No, it was before like, this was in our first few months of dating. I noticed that like so many small, like, we almost have nothing, like now, it's like, this is nothing. Yeah, like she was being like, oh my god. Like, you know, and I'm like, babe, we're gonna have a million of these things. Yeah. Am I yet? I'm like, are you kidding? I'm gonna move in. There's gonna be millions of things. That not mad. You're not mad. We're figuring it out. Yeah. You know, but she would not want to bring me her feelings sometimes because thinking I'm gonna be upset. I guess I would unpack that. But by the way, let's say I am upset. Yeah. Let's say it's something uncomfortable. Okay. Who's expecting? It's like, how many is offended by my comments sometimes? What do you think to live a life of no offense? But you think that live a life? Is that what we were doing? Is that what we're doing? The life of no offense? Like, it doesn't make any sense. It's like, that's okay. It's okay that you're offended. And it's okay that you're sad. To unpack this for people who might be listening to this and go, oh my god, that's my marriage. What would be your advice to those people? What do you mean when they're? Like, they're listening to this. They go, oh my god, that's like me and my wife. That's like me and my husband, where the person thinks I'm mad at them all the time. What's the way to attack that? Because I feel like, Jenny and I have dealt with that over the years too. I probably baked into our childhood in some way. But it's like, is there advice that's outward for people? It just brings us so much, well, no. Like, I think first of all, it's not the worst thing if you tell your partner something and it doesn't upset them. You know what I mean? I think you have to say what you're feeling. And if it upsets them, okay, they can talk that out now too. But it just brings us so much closer. Like, since having those few hiccups. And what solved it for Gabby to give you this was she was the commitment. Was when we became girlfriend, girlfriend, even early on. She felt just so much safer. Then when we got engaged, like everything married, she like, doesn't have any fear. I think we had this too. I so funny. I never believed in marriage until I got married. And then once we're married, I'm like, oh yeah, this is easier because the barrier of exit is much more extreme than it was previously. But it's also she knows I'm not going anywhere. That's what I mean. I mean, that's what I mean. It's like, you're not going anywhere. And if you are, it's going to be a whole thing. But she, what we had, yeah, we unpack our childhoods with each other. I mean, a healthy marriage, a healthy relationship can help you heal each other, heal yourselves. You get your reflected, yourself is reflected back to you through another partner you can see your behavior because it's hard. It's hard from this vantage point. This very, you know, it's not objective at all. What does Gabby impart on me? See, I answer very pithy. I have, I've pithy answers to everything. Gab at the same time has allowed me to care less about what other people think. She doesn't give a shit. She doesn't give a shit about other people. What I mean by that is she won't do what she doesn't want to do. If she wants to stay home at seven, she's in bed. She's in bed. And I used to get kind of, because I grew up without any connections or any pedigree. And then I'm navigating kind of this Hollywood elites thing I'm thinking like, oh, I should go to that thing because I could meet Mike Berbiglia. And maybe Mike Berbiglia. I don't live. No, good. Help me. I live in Hollywood. Is that what I mean? Is that what I mean? And she doesn't like think like that. She'll be like, I'm time, I'm not going. Yeah. That's a good quality. And so I'm a lot more like, I just trust in us a lot more. You know what I mean versus others, because she just doesn't give a shit who you are, what you are. She just wants to sit in the corner, have a ciggy and go to bed. How-- like, when I do shows, if I do an edgy topic and a show, I'll often get emails from people being like, hey, preferina about this, et cetera. Do you have that for your audience, ever? No, they know not to send me an email. [LAUGHTER] OK, I am not looking at this email. OK. OK. And that's that. No, they know not. They just know. No. Maybe you have a wide, wide email even there. I don't have an email. How's that? OK. OK, I know. They don't-- It's because maybe you set yourself up. I think when you set up, you know, when you're the Will Smiths, the Ellen's, the micro-big list of the world, the problem is you purport this grind-- What was that grouping again? This woke-- Who were those people? Nothing wrong with it, too, because I-- Who were those three people? I'm all these things, too. But I'm saying, if you-- Do you-- just want to unpack who those three people are. If you-- Will Smith-- Yeah. --and they said Ellen. And my-- Maybe-- Does that-- --just want to understand that? But you have-- or maybe this was painted for you, or maybe you set it up. Like, you're like a good guy. That's what I mean. Right. OK, Will Smith's a good guy. Right. So good guy was a good guy, promotes being a good guy. Ellen, she is kind. She's out there dancing. She's dancing. OK, you can't beat the dancing. OK, nothing kinder than dancing through her audience. OK. And so maybe you're like, oh, Mr. like I'm Mr. Alley. I'm Mr.-- I love everybody. So then people hold you to that standard. Right. Right. So then Will Smith slaps a bitch out on stage. [LAUGHTER] What were going-- Wait a minute. The shit sh*t. OK, when Ellen-- Waterboards are employees. You go, holy sh*t. You go holy sh*t. The world crumbles. See, I don't come at it. I have never reported to be the nicest person alive. In fact, if you see me, do not say hello. Do not say hello. OK. No, I'm not. I get it. You know, I come off rough around the edges. I am aggressive. I'm not approachable. I don't think anybody thinks sending me an email is going to go well. Yeah. So they don't do it because you're wise to it. That said, it will come out one day that I'm kind. You wait and see. Because even though I'm rough around the edges-- That'll be a good scoop. I'm actually a f*cking delight to work with. Well, say I come in here nice? Yeah, you were nice. Yeah. So I'd rather that. So I would say for you, don't even email Mike. He's done with your f*cking emails. Start it now. OK. All right. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to create a clip of you saying that. So maybe say that to camera here. That's it. Do you answer these emails? No, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to make a clip of it. And then I'm going to send them the link. Do not send Mike an email. He's done with your emails. Why am I done with that? You had a good run where he would write them back. And he felt bad. He said some sh*t. Those days are over. He has since met Robbie Hoffman. And there's a new dawn. Big true to that. The-- That said, follow Robbie Hoffman on Instagram. Too far, Patreon only, my pod. Oh, Jesus. I think we're going to go to material. Do you have new material you're working on? Sometimes we work out ideas for promises, half premises. Oh, I have tons because I just went on tour. One of the premises I really want to work on is I think AI is autistic, like the bitch is off. Like I can't. Like I'm trying to work on this thing. It's like nothing wrong. Also nothing wrong is somebody who's been accused myself. First thing. Like nothing wrong, but it's like, she's cool sometimes, but it's like sometimes I'm like, "Bitch are you okay?" Like you know what I mean? Like some of my answers, I'm like, "Okay, I see what you're saying, but like oh, she's okay." Yeah. I'm gonna tell her like this instead, you know? Yeah, I'm the spectrum. Yeah, AI is for sure on the spectrum. And then, and I think she's on the spectrum because I think, "Well, who's inventing her?" We got guys like Elon Musk and Sam Altman. We got the most autistic fuckers on the planet. Right. Who are at the base of her. Right. And so now all of our AI is gonna be autistic. Like, autistic's gonna be the main way. It'll be the standard. Right, right. It's gonna be way bigger disaster, social, socially speaking than we realize. I think people know that like, people know the economic, you know, fall out from this and all that, but I think socially, you're gonna be at the bar with a bunch of autistic fucking robots. The vibe. All the vibe of that. It's like, I'm always just like, "Hey, you guys, I'm impressed by the AI, but when's cancer again?" No, exactly. When's the cure for anything? Yeah, well, either way, we are getting very good. We're getting very good cures for a lot of stuff. Oh, are we? Yeah. That is true. Well, you could die of AIDS 10 years ago. Look at you now. Well, that's true. No, that's true, but I don't think that because of AI. No, no, I'm just saying, but we've had like, who thought that AIDS would be curable? When I was a kid, we would like-- I mean, it's unbelievable. --scare each other with AIDS. It was unbelievable. That's a good bit, though. Yeah, I think that yeah. Have you done on stage? The AI on the spectrum? Yeah, so I just did AI's on the spectrum, but I haven't worked out. I'm still gonna, I'm gonna start talking about why I think now, it's because of these guys are on. And by the way, nothing wrong. But I just think-- No. Like, you know, it's kind of like who wrote history? Right? I had this debate with the sky years ago. Friend David and Toronto. And I was telling him I was doubting history. You're talking about things. I didn't believe in things. Yeah, sure. And I was like, well, who wrote the actual books of history? It's probably white men who like-- you know, you don't have like-- Had an agenda. Black historians, you don't have the female historians. Certainly, yeah. Like, like, so who wrote the actual story down? Yeah. So it started doubting it. That's like what we're doing with AI. Who's writing the AI? A hundred percent. Like, so that's what it's gonna be. It's like, who puts it down on paper? Yeah. He's an important part because it means whoever's not part of that process is not reflected in the process. No, a hundred percent. So I think socially speaking, forget economically, sure. But your chill is also fucked. Nothing wrong. What's your chill? Like, just your hanging out. Like, sure, your job may be fucked. Yeah. You know, and all this stuff. But also what may be fucked is like, hanging out with all these AI robots. Yeah. By the way, if you're already autistic and you like that fantastic. Good for you. You know, yeah. But, um, Yeah, that's a good bit. Yeah. I'll work that out. That's a bit that, for example, I would get emails about. Oh, you would. You would not get emails about what would they say? Yeah, they would just go like, well, it's not, it's not nice to joke about autism, etc. And I would just go, no, no, I'm not joking. I just see people listen to so many potentials of it. I'm joking about a thing that is a real thing. But also it's like, it's kind of like when people weren't joking like, well, you can't make fun of they, them, it's like, what are we the most? First of all, it's like, is it the most? It's the one not like it's it's like, okay, so do we want to be considered equals or not? Everybody's getting it. Yeah. Autistic people like autistic comedy. Yeah. Just like, I want, you know, people yell at me for being a dick, whatever it is. Okay. Yeah. It is what it is. And I might be both, by the way, people, you know, now that people, when people put me on a spectrum, I consider that my, my, uh, my territory. Until proven otherwise. Wait, what's your, wait, what, you talk about in the special, but what's your, where do you stand on they, them? You do, you go, you go, you go, she, right? Yeah, because it was too annoying. I'm already Jewish. How much more annoying could I be if I did they, them? I don't, I don't actually care. People go, well, you're so respectful in life. Like, you know, I have some, but I have, you know, trans fans in the, and I go, you don't actually care. I just think it's annoying. It's not illegal to be annoying. Yeah. Each annoying, and we'll do it. It's annoying. We'll do it. It's like fine. It's annoying. We'll do it. It's fine. Yeah. It's another thing on the plane. Actually, do you have actually do you have a, do you have a, a cutlery? It's my box didn't come with it. And they go, it's annoying, but we'll go. We'll go there. Yeah. So what? Yeah. What is so wrong? It's like when people don't want to be offended. People don't want to be hurt. I told Gabby in our relationship, I'm going to be hurt. Yeah. Sometimes you will hurt me. Yeah. And that is okay. You're not intentionally. Yes. But unintentionally being hurt because you're saying, like, we will hurt each other. We don't want to. Yeah. But it is a reality. We love each other and care for each other so much. We're going to have hurt feelings. I don't, I don't. But we're just weird when people are malicious. Yes. And then they go, no, I'm not calling you that. No, we're joking. And we're just a dick. All in on it. Yeah. We're all in on it. And um, Oh yeah. But there is that, by the way, there is the malicious version. Yeah, there's the malicious, by the way. That's where it gets muddy, I think. And there's people who are allowed to be mad at me too. Yeah, for sure. It's like people can be mad at me too. It's, it's, that's okay. Yeah. Like, like, it's kind of like, you know, a few years ago, should Pell was saying something like, you can't say anything anymore. You know, you can't say, bitch, you can say whatever you want. Of course you can. You are. Yeah, you are right now. You're saying it. You're watching you on the thing where you can say stuff to you too. Of course. So that's it. You can say what you want. And other people can have a response. You have to know that it's not you can't say anything. You can at your own risk. Yeah. You can do whatever you want to your own risk. You can kill someone if you want, but expect a face of trial. Yeah. You might be on trial, but you might get away with it. And most murders are unsolved. This is a fact that really, it actually is my job to kill someone. This is quite a turn. Then you realize I didn't realize that, you know, you can just most drive guys. You could just drive kill somebody along with your life. Yeah. Gary's thinking about it. Oh. Um, this is a thing that I feel like you would, I wrote down that it that I feel like you would be also annoyed by, which is sometimes you go to a vending machine, you click D six or whatever and it like spins the gate or eight around. You know, especially if it's like a soft drink. Yeah. Does a little dance. And I'm just like, you could just have it not do that and be 50 cents less. I don't need the dance. But where are you going at these vending machines? You're still at the Greyhound stops. Where are you? I know. That really got naval. Oh, that's, is he at the grand? Yeah. No, no, this is, this is very on brand. I met swim meets. I wrote that down at the swim meet. My daughter swim meets the other day. Oh, yeah. Because we're at like high schools and colleges with pools. Yeah, because the vending machine is been, it's been a minute. And then I wrote this down as a possible. I mean, we weren't brown, so we're in a beautiful, you know, I don't think Mike were bigly at the, at the fucking vending machine with the Doritos and the Gatorade, my god. Jesus. Okay. And then I wrote, that's why, that's why I don't over perform my jokes. I don't want to be the vending machine that's doing a little dance. I just want to give you Gatorade at a fair price. I don't, this vending machine, you're not going to do it. No, because it's not my, because it's, yes, I don't know if enough people know it does the dance. Because we're not at the vending machine. That's interesting. We're not at the vending machine, a tremendous amount anymore. Oh, that's interesting. If I'm at a vending machine, it is bleak. Like my, my grandmother's in the hospital, like, I'm trying to think like, I'm not the way out. Here's what I'll say. Like, I'm not, like the least of my problems is the vending machine. All right. This is good feedback. This is good feedback, because I, because this is just making me go, because I have a bit about my daughter being a swimmer, and, and how miserable it is, because you basically have to watch other people's kids swim for four hours, and then you watch your daughter swim for 90 seconds. Why do you have to go to the, the swimmer? Well, when you have a child, you go to their events. You know what I mean, you go to the swimmer, you go to the other, you go to the swimmer, you go to the swimming pool. All this, this is kind of thing of parents. Okay. That's, that's a good thing. I'm really teaching you a lot. No, it's amazing, because I think you're an amazing dad, and I actually think that that's great. But it reminds me of when Nome came to watch me at the cellar. So I killed at the cellar when I started, like I started doing the cellar, really having fun. And then SDN Nome wanted to watch me. Yeah. But I've never been watched my whole life. Nobody came to a recital. Nobody came to anything. Interesting. I'm not in the mood to be watched all of a sudden by somebody. And it really threw me off that he watched. Yeah. And I, um, but then over the years, I've started, I had to tell myself, you've got to get comfortable people watching you. I got to get to be like Tiger Woods, which doesn't matter. Right. How many people are around? I mean, he's got to make this putt this whatever all he has to do is tap it and it's, that's not the hard part. It's a, everybody is watching. I got to be able to do it alone. I got to be able to do it stadium. I got to be able to lock in no matter what. And so I think it's very good that she's going to get used to people watching her and the judgment of it because that is part of so many things that you it might not be part of a world. But if it does, if she does enter something where that is part of it, that muscle will have been developed. The thing that's helpful in the feedback. A lot of times on the show, it's like a joke of work, a joke won't work or you'll learn something about a joke that, oh, the next time I'll put it with this, which is I'll put it with the swim meat thing and the vending machine so that people have a context of why the hell I'm using a vending machine. Because now I have the full narrative. Yeah. Oh, the vending machine is a mcchaya. It's the light of this of this swimming. That's right. If you have to swim me and you know, maybe I'll get a snack. If they have a vending machine, thank God. Yeah. Because the swimming is so boring and swimming seems like the most boring. Oh, it's so boring. Like someone you daughter swims and then it's amazing. You're like, oh, this is the best. Yeah, but like, but you know what they should have like set lists like comedy, like going to she up. Yeah. So the final thing we do is working at for a cause. And if you have a nonprofit you like to contribute to, we will contribute. We give money to Mexicans on my podcast. Okay. Okay. We're doing this. We're running the not too far one K. Are you in LA for the Netflix Fest? Yep. Well, we're doing a one K. I don't know when this comes out May 10th the Sunday. Okay. Okay. It's called the not too far one K not too far one K. We're going to be running about one kilometer. I would do it over there. Okay. And we're going to be raising money pay what you can and money goes to Mexicans. What we mean by that is we don't take IDs. We don't look at papers. If you are Mexican come up to the table after and say you'd like some money, we're going to give it to you. And just we've been doing that a bit. Let's talk about this a little bit. If you're Mexican. Yeah. You just get money at the one K. That's it. Okay. We just give cash Mexican American or Mexican. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. We do it based on you tell me. I don't care. Is it because I mean I could get it because of ice. Oh, because of ice right right because ice doesn't discriminate actually weirdly or in their discrimination. They don't look at papers. I'm not looking at papers. Right. They don't care. I don't. They're just barging into any shit. Right. Right. So you're just like. I don't care for a positive. Right. It's a your way of saying like, Hey, this is insane. What ice is doing. We're just going to give away money. We give away money. Yeah. Yeah. It's on my Patreon. The too far podcast. Patreon. And also people can just find it on your Instagram. Yes, that's correct too. Robbie Hoffman. Robbie Hoffman on Instagram. Robbie, I think this is the beginning of a long, real relationship. I think so. You think so? I feel like we have a lot in common. What do you think we have in common? I think we both like shooting from the hip. The hip. Yeah, you ever heard of that? No. It's an expression shoot from the hip. What does that mean? It just means tell your own truth. Speak your own truth. I think there's only one truth. There's not a one truth. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. ♪ Working it out, 'cause it's not done ♪ ♪ Working it out, no one on ♪ That's going to do it for another episode of Working It Out. You can follow Robbie Hoffman, @RobbieHoffman on Instagram. Her special wake up is directed by John Molaney. It's on Netflix now. Listen to her podcast too far. That's on Patreon. Check out BirdBiggas.com to sign up for the mailing list. Go sign up for text message alerts. Our producers are myself along with Peter Salomon Joseph for Biglia, Mabel Lewis and Gary Simons. "Soundmix by Ben Cruz, Supervising Engineer, K. Balinsky Special thanks." As always, to Jack Antenov and Bleachers for their music that episode with Jack has been so, great response. I actually, I have to tell you, I felt really self-conscious sharing my song "Remember Pizza" on that episode. 'Cause it's so not done, you know, and then he came in with those chords and, you know, bridge and you had all these things that I have to tell you, like, some people have asked, like, did he know this song before? He's like, no, no, that's literally what he does. He's able to just create original music in real time in this way that I find magical. So we always thank Jack Antenov and Bleachers for their music. Oh, and Bleachers for their questions for Jack. So really good bunch of questions for Jack Antenov. "Swecial thanks as always to my wife, the poet J. Hope Stein, the author of Little Astronaut, and our daughter, Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows. Thanks most of all to you who are listening if you enjoy this podcast, "Ratiss and Reviews" on Apple Podcasts. At this point, almost 5,000 user reviews, it really helps. It helps people go, oh, that's a podcast. That exists. People listen to that. With that, you know, without the user reviews, I think what happens is people skim through, 'cause there's just so many darn podcasts. And we put a lot of care into this thing, and we love it, and we water it, and we put it in front of the sun. So you'll listen to it. That metaphor falls apart at the end, but we're gonna have to, we're gonna keep it in. Keep it in. Thanks most of all you are listening, tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell the head of your union, whatever union that might be. Next time you're at a meeting, maybe things get a little heated, just get like, hey, calm down, take a breath. Maybe we should all take a break and listen to this podcast, "Mike Burbigley is Working It Out." It's where Mike Burbigley works out jokes, and talks about the creative process with other comedians and writers. So, "Motion to Listen," that Mike Burbigley is working it out, "Motion passes." Thanks everybody, we're working it out. We'll see you next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]