Ryan Hamilton & Santino Find the Funny in Everything | Whiskey Ginger

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On PrizePix, you can make all the picks you want, all in the same app. And now, PrizePix is available nationwide. Lock in for kickoff, because everyone and everything is on PrizePix. What you want? Download the PrizePix app today and use code SPOTIFY to get $150 in cash. Installing in lineups, if you win your first $5 lineup. PrizePix. Run your game. Must be present in certain states. Visit PrizePix.com for restrictions and details. Hey, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger, a wave series. Whiskey Ginger fans, I am going to be playing Sloan Park. Sloan Park, October 18th. That's where my Chicago Cubs spring train with Dave Chappelle. You might have heard of him. David Chappelle. Famous stand-up comedian. I'm opening for Dave Chappelle at Sloan Park in Mesa on October 18th. I'm so very excited. And also, Whiskey Ginger fans, I got a ton of dates. We're slowly leaking them out. We're playing Vegas on March 27th at the Cosmopolitan. And I'm lining up 10 or 12 other cities right now. So go to AndrewSantino.com for those tickets. And be on the lookout for the new dates that we're dropping in 2027. AndrewSantino.com. I'll see you in Arizona, October 18th with Dave Chappelle. In here, we pour whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. You're that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers. A fugitive. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the whore. Gingers, oh, hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on earth. I say that for all my guests, but I mean once again today, it's Ryan Hamilton. And this just hit me as out on Netflix right now. That's right. And please go watch it. If you haven't seen it, I think I, did I text you and tell you how much I liked it? I think so. I either texted you or I told you when I saw it. Yes, yes. I think you are, I don't like giving compliments, but you're one of the funniest people that I'm, have been lucky to get to know later in my career because we didn't really know each other than we met in New York. Right. And I was a fan from afar. I did hear you or saw you rather the last time I was at a cellar, thumbs down a few of my jokes. It's a good gauge, you know, of what you like. I'm basically, I'm thumbs down until something's good. So it's just. Something like that. Like that. And then once in a while, but it's fast. I never got full. I got like a little baby. You might get something. I'm very tough critic. Very tough. No, you are. You're a great comedian. I loved watching you work too. Cause I think I got to see a lot of this the last time I spent a bunch of time in New York. I got to see a bunch of this stuff. And then also watching you get mad at a late cellar crowd is maybe one of my favorite. Did I get mad? You just got a little, you got a little snappy at someone who's being rude and it's perfect because it was well deserved. It wasn't like a, where do you work? Fuck you scenario, which I'm very much not a fan of. I think you're on the same page. Sure. I just don't like the, what do you do for a living? And then they are mean to them. It's like you asked. I know you started this. Yeah. If they yell something rude. Yes. Fine. But that's how it was. We had, we had this skill. We would handle these scenarios when they came up. It's defense mechanism. Right. It was never like a targeting. Look at what this idiot is wearing. It was never that. And then when the idiot said something mean. I kicked them out. Then people clap. I'm like, it's very odd. It's very like, it's antithetical to like what a show should have been. Right. But whatever. It is what it is. But anyway, you have a new special on Netflix. It's fantastic. People should go watch it. Pause this right now. Go watch it. Come on back or put them both on in the background. That's what millennials do. Oh, is it? Yeah. Have two things playing at once is nice. With the captions. I know they'll like the captions. They love the cap. We're going to caption this entire show. Perfect. This will all be at the bottom. Perfect. That way people don't need to relieve. And it's cool to have the captions. And the closed caption on that YouTube provides. Right. So it guesses what we're saying. Which one? Maybe we should just have all silence and really throw them. Stare at the camera. I'd love to see what it comes up with down below. Where did you shoot this special? Seattle. See, love Seattle. Wait, let me take a wild guess. Okay. More theater. Neptune. Close. Damn. One of the two. Yeah. I love Seattle. It's a great comedy town. I couldn't agree more. I did a bunch of, we started all West Coast stuff because I, I've lived out here for 20 years. We used to just like tour the West Coast the way that you guys do bop arounds, you know? Yeah. And I used to love going up there. They used to have an old club called the Parlor Live. And I think it's long, long gone. I heard of that. I remember that. It was great. The only problem, like the room was amazing, but you had to go through like a nightclub. So it really checked your ego. Wow. Because they would like ID you at the nightclub. Wow. And you're like, I'm going in the back to perform. And they're like, I don't care. Give me the. I'm doing the thing that doesn't make the club any money. Can I? Can you let me through? You know how this club is supplementing the comedy in the back? I'm going to do the thing that, the welfare in the back. Yeah. And I would go do that. And the room was so fun, but that was always hard to go up there. Cause I was like, it's a, it's an ego test, especially back then. You weren't, I wasn't selling that many tickets. And you're like, I'm going through a packed nightclub of like hot, young people partying. Yes. To go in the back to like, you know, retirees who got free tickets. These people are all free to come in. They're all available. They're all available right now. They're right next door. They are as close to customers as you can get and not, and still not there. Just not enough. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. But Seattle's great though. I lived there for a year when I first started comedy. Wait, where were you born though? Idaho. I don't know why I stuttered there. You said it like it was, I was born in Idaho. Like it was a heartbreak. Idaho. Where Idaho? Boise? A little town called Rexburg, which was like a 30 minute drive from where I actually live. That was like the nearest hospital. The nearest hospital at that time. What is, Mormon? I grew up in a Mormon community. I grew up Mormon. You did, but you let it go. I, yeah, I'm not practicing. I'm, I'm, yeah. At one point are you done practicing and you've become a professional? When does Mormon go from practicing to professional? I am curious. I don't know. It's really hard to go pro. It's hard to go pro. It's a hard religion to make money in. It's a, it's, ironically, I don't know if that's true. I feel like there's a lot of money. They are like the, the largest. We're talking because we have, in my family, we have a lot of money. We have a lot of money in our family. People that were past Mormon, you know, grew up. Yeah. And we were talking about the largest, here's some trivia, the largest, what do you guys call it? Do you call it a temple? Mormon temple? Yes, there are temples. By land mass. Okay. Outside of Salt Lake is where? I don't know. San Diego? I have no idea. Oh, right here in Los Angeles. Right here. Oh, I should have known that. Yeah. I kind of laid it up for you a little bit, but that's all right. The one in San Diego is kind of famous because you come around the freeway and it looks like this. It's just like, I don't know if you've seen it. Oh, yeah. You just, it's like a pier. Yeah. They did it deliberately, like right as you pass over a hill. It's like a, and they do play music outside. Right. So if your windows are down. Right. No, the one in LA is in, I guess it's the West LA is what we call it. I don't even know. It's like near the West side, but it's unbelievable. Like, and during Christmas and they light the whole thing up. Yes. Very attractive marketing. Yes. They're so good at that. They're so good at marketing. They're very good. It's very organized. Very organized. It is the epitome of organized religion. Yeah. It's an organized, organized religion. Right. Catholics are a little bit disorganized. Disorganized religion. A lot of slip ups over there. You grew up Catholic? Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. But we kind of removed ourselves from the Catholic church. My parents got split when I was a kid. So like, we did go for a while as a kid. My whole family was. Right. But I think because of that, we kind of scurried off into the woods. Right. Right. And then we bopped around. Then Presbyterian when I was a teenager. Oh, okay. It's like Diet Catholic. Oh, right. Sure. It's like a Coke Zero of Catholics. Right. Yeah. Where they're close, but they're like. No guilt? No guilt. And also the pastor, the preacher, pastor, whatever you want to call them, they're allowed to be married. They're allowed to have families. Oh, right. Yes. Yeah. There's no restrictions towards their. Right. Freedoms. Right. So that, like we had, when I was a kid, we had the pastors were husband and wife. And I remember asking, I was like, I thought that couldn't be. And my dad's like, that's not, that's. That's another thing. That's the old team. That's the disorganized guys. We're with the new team. Here at the new team, they can do whatever. You know what I mean? They can have full families in the church. It's great. It was great. But yeah, I grew up around it and then slithered away from it. Yeah. And now I find myself, I've talked about a little bit more, more interested in faith lately. Okay. More than ever. Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Just interested in checking it out again. Yeah. How old are you? You're 32? See me wink up? Nice wink. Could you catch the wink? I just turned 50. No way. I'm 50 years old. I'm revealing everything I never wanted to reveal This is the spot And what do you do with your skin? What do I do with my skin? Do you have a Korean spa at home? I try to take care of myself You look younger than me I'm 43 this year You look great Brian, stop, it's not even nice at this point Don't patronize me 50 is amazing That's very nice, thank you Never married, no kids That helps And I've been real conscious of it the last, I don't know Five years Ever since my accident I really started taking my body Serious Is that a weird thing to say? Yeah, because it's so vague if people have no idea It's like, they're making it up in their minds At home right now I'm sorry People that don't know, he was for a short stint In his comedy career, decided to leave Because it wasn't going the way he wanted He drove on the Nuremberg, he was training to be an F1 driver And you crashed A A , you crashed a Porsche GT3, GT2 RS, I believe Going 148 miles an hour Flipped it 17 times Oh no, that's not, is that partially true? I can't remember a lot of it Yeah, because you blank it out Right, but, yeah, something like that Something like that There was definitely an automotive element There was an automotive, but it wasn't the Nuremberg It was, not that I recall I think it was LAX And I think it was a Shuttle It's a shuttle bus And I don't think I was driving it Not your fault No, not my fault, for sure And that's, that's it You didn't get a Tracy Morgan check out of it, though No The shuttle bus company went out of business The week of the accident Convenient My attorney said, this is not a coincidence That's incredible The week that they, they're like, you know what We hit a guy, they're like, well, we're moving on We're moving Moving to the seashells We'll be moving to an island where they can't get us That's crazy It's crazy I mean, they still had insurance and whatever But it was, you know, it was This was not a life-changing situation financially It helped pay for the medical bills Yes, you know, I kind of broke even, I think Such a funny way I got into a terrible accident But I broke even out of the whole thing So that's good Yeah, you know, you win some, you lose some Yeah I went to the casino with a couple of guys A couple grand, I went home with a couple grand That's kind of how it went And very, a lot of pain Yeah, yeah Do you still do rehab and stuff like that or no? Kind of I mean, I had this physical therapy that was pretty intense And I just kept it going in terms of like training But it's not like specific physical therapy Sure But I think of it that way Because I'm always trying to get stronger Work around my injuries Yeah It's nuts Yeah And I think it helped you though In some ways it did It was really hard to accept that Because that's what people tell you when you're going through it In therapy is everything This This is a bad thing But good things can come from bad things And you go, well, I just want my life back Really That's all I want Can I just have my life back? But eventually I think like I am stronger now Physically and other ways probably Up here They said no head trauma I think the jury's out But Watch a special on Netflix and let us know, guys Comment down below if you think the head trauma did transfer over into the tape Right, I'd love to hear How many shows did you do? Two? Two in one night, yeah This is always the argument I've talked to I've talked to Kelsey Cook about this Whether or not you do one one night, one another night You do two one night I did four, this last one in Minneapolis Just because I wanted to really like change the set a lot Really? Change the set, that's why you did it? Yeah, the order of, yeah Why? Why, why? I just, the experiment was kind of fun for some reason Interesting Because the other two that I did, I did traditional two shows like that Uh-huh And this one I was like, look, I've got a little bit more money in the budget to play And they already kind of gave me the theater And I was like, I might as well Yeah Have fun with it, I guess Right I don't know, I don't know if it mattered a lot Because I ended up using 75% of one show Right Which is as it goes Right But, I don't know, it was more fun for me to feel loose on a couple of things That I just didn't care as much about because I knew they were locked So it kind of was just like an insurance thing, you know I get that, but changing the order sounds really crazy to me I'm a psychopath Yeah, that sounds I'm also not as astute of a joke writer as you So I need to just like trick them a little bit No, come on No, I need to No, it's really interesting If I can't do three card molly with the jokes, you know what I mean? I like to move it around a little bit Move it around a little bit just because Sometimes if I said a joke before something, order-wise It changes the dynamic of the rest of the set And so I kept playing with it on tour and then I was like, I think I want to do that when I do the taping Right, because that's what you got used to is moving things around a little bit Yeah, I always moved it around I never was the same Which there's no, I have no comment about that I think it works for a lot of people to do the exact same You know, that's like very Seinfeldian Where you're like exactly the same every single time, right? Yeah, I think, you know, I do I end up doing that because like you said, sometimes it works better if you This set I ended up flipping entirely That's why I was interested in this Because I had all of this bus accident material at the end originally And then I ended up flipping it shortly before Which was this huge task in my head Just because I wanted people to see it Yeah, you put it up front Yeah, which is a weird consideration to make That you just go, hopefully people finish this thing But if they don't, then they're getting what I want them to see Right I think Louis, maybe Louis Louis said that Somebody said, I feel like it was Louis That was like when you're really kind of working it out Put your closer at the beginning and see how well you do after that When you're working out Which I thought was kind of interesting Like start with your closer Right, yeah, just to see what happens I was like, but that's so hard to do He's like, well, that's That's the point See what it does Yeah And I think I tried it and I was like, nope Back to the old ways, I'll do it I'll just, I'll use that for the good night 45 minutes of like, well, this is going to be underwhelming in about half an hour Also ending an hour that you're doing at a live, you know, club working out Ending it with, how are you guys doing tonight? That's a tough Oh, yeah To end with a beginning What's this guy, what do you do for a living, man? At the very last Yeah, let's see, what's next? Good night, everybody Thank you so much Let's see What do you want, what do you want me to talk about? What do you, so what do you guys want to talk about? Ask them, they, let them decide what you want to talk about You guys are fun, that's my favorite one You guys are fun You guys are doing fun If you hear a comedian say, you guys are fun You know that something's wrong Yeah Yeah Yeah, when you hear, oh, you guys were having, you guys are, this is great You guys are great Unless it's Dusty Slay, doesn't he say, we're having a good time? Oh, yeah, we're having a good time I love we're having a good time Yeah, we're having a good time Because it's, it's, it's, it's mocking at the same time it's complimentary Because he's being genuine Right, yeah And he's like, we're having a good time Yeah, this is just it Just letting them know, like, this is what it is Yeah If you're not in, you're going to be, it's going to be way worse Right So please just get into this whole thing So wait, lived in Seattle for a year, that was your, that was part of the reason You were like, I need to shoot here I get, it was part of the reason that I was pretty confident in it And it was just, they had the right date That venue, it had some really great shows in Yeah A lot of people shot in that venue It's like an easy venue to shoot in They're used to it, it's pretty cheap Yeah There's just a lot of things that people don't think about A lot of factors That you're like, okay, this is, let's do that I know they all think that we're Chappelle and Rock Where you can literally throw a dart and be like, I'll shoot there Right That's just not the case Right, and when hadn't I been there last And all these, yeah I know, that's, it all goes into the math Of like how this can work And I've talked about this, but, you know When I was in Minneapolis, Shane played where the Timberwolves play basketball Sure And Kevin Hart played at one of the amphitheaters So it was great timing for me to shoot a special The same night Same weekend Wow Yeah, it was awesome Yeah It was all thanks to my agents Wait, where was that one? Oh, the Minnesota Yeah, Minneapolis, yeah, Minnesota So, you know, my team is on it I remember like, emailing and texting and being like Guys, this seems like a A gross miscalculation of the tour Like, you didn't check with anybody else And they were like, this happens all the time I was like, to me, to me it does Yes I feel like to me it happens a lot Right But, whatever, it is what it is It was great though, right? Yeah, no, it was awesome I had a lovely time They showed up We sold out four shows Like, it was awesome But it didn't help my anxiety No, sure, of course When you're on your way, you're like, oh, this is not fun No Shane's like, you're gonna be here? I'm texting him like, let's get lunch Lunch It's the biggest night ever It's the biggest night of my career But sure, I'm here Yeah, yeah I'll come look at the stadium Before I go play the little club around the corner It's so funny To like, walk down You know, like, we were walking during the day To go do sound the day before we filmed And then I look over at, like, where the Timberwolves play Isn't that wild? Yeah And I'm like, that's where they, that's where he is You know, they're rigging cranes and stuff for him Mine's a couple of guys smoking out back They're like, it's all ready to go, man We had to do nothing You wanna go early? They're like, Wrap this up, we wanna go see Shane If you don't mind The entire crew is like, we gotta cut early, so Yeah, we gotta No problem, whatever you guys, whatever you guys wanna do No, but that's great Seattle, Seattle, underrated I love that city Yeah, absolutely One of the best days of my life I had an, uh, Alki Beach I've talked about it on the show Alki, Alki Beach I had a little great day with an old friend of mine Okay And it imprinted in my mind You have these where, like, you have It just feels like kind of a regular day And something strikes you You're like, this is one of the best days I've had And I don't even know why Just like a few things A few things lined up perfectly Yes Like, I met up with a friend at a good time It happened to be this thing We went to the thing Then it was like, there's a dinner party afterwards Let's go to this guy's house I just met Warm It just kind of, everything slotted I know exactly what you're talking about You know? You have one of these? You've had one of these recently? I mean, I don't know, recently, but it's I know what you're talking about Sometimes things just line up They fall into place And you're like, this is And it reminds you of, uh, you know Maybe every day's good and I'm preventing it From being good That's probably very, very true Every day is incredible We're just doing our best at being like Well, this sucks Yeah, maybe. This is annoying. Maybe I got rid of my block that day, and that's what happened. Right, it finally cleared out of your head. Are you on anything? Life, man. He's on life, dude. Thank God. No, I, you know, I started taking, well, no, I did take some, I took some lion mane, lion's mane. Lion's mane mushroom's great. I just started. Good for the noodle. Yeah, I was just walking around the grocery store, and I thought, I'm doing a bunch of podcasts. Let me try this. I need, I don't know, how am I doing? Very lion-esque. Right? Lioness, sorry, like a lioness. Yeah, lioness, which actually is the one that owns the herd, you know. Okay, but it is a female. Does that matter in this day and age? I feel like it matters a little. No, you're very lion, you're lion-like. Yeah, you're lion-like. No one's ever said that. No one says that about you? Nobody goes, who, Ryan? Ryan the lion? Ryan the lion. Well, it rhymes, but I don't know. If that's enough to get me there. Well, it should. Everyone online, please start calling him Ryan the lion, and use the little emoji when you tag on his Instagram and stuff. Let's see if we can start a revolution. Yeah, I think it's going to be hard for people to latch on to that, but I'm willing to try. I don't think so. Listen, you can hold a new fan base called The Pride, Ryan's Pride. Wow. I mean, I think I'm doing all the marketing for you. You're kind of like, it's like you're natural at marketing. Maybe I should join Mormon. Join Mormon. Join Mormon. I think you should join Mormon. Time for you to go Mormon. I could. You know, I really could. I really. What I should join it for, at the very least, is to get rid of alcohol. The soda intake is higher than I thought. They love soda. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, they supplement in other ways. The amount of soda consumed blew my mind the first time I was exposed to the. A lot of sugar and just in general, desserts and sodas. So much. Like soda more than. I'll just grab a water and they're like, well, there's Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew. You're like, oh, any one of those. Yeah, they have now these soda shops that are crazy there where you'd like mix and think. I've never been in one of those. It all became big after I left. After you left. They were like, finally, he's gone. Now we can do that. Now we can party. Last time I was in Salt Lake, if you have any sort of reference to Salt Lake, I had one of the best deli sandwiches I've had in years. We waited forever. It was like a German deli. Why can't I remember the name of it? Oh, the one by the club? Yeah. What is that? What is it called? It's super famous. It's Colin Quinn's favorite deli. Siegfried's. Is it Siegfried's? Siegfried's is right. Yeah. And Roy's shut down, unfortunately, after the accident. Bad joke. Oh. Terrible, terrible joke. I apologize. You know what? And we'll leave it in just to show how bad of a joke that was. Yeah, Siegfried's. I'm surprised you didn't tie it into the lion thing somehow. I tried for a second. I thought you'd help me out on that. That should have been me. I'm sorry. Left it on the ground. You just left it. No, yeah, Siegfried's. We waited for a couple hours, but it was so good. Yes. Because the line, you know, do the line to take to go, sit down? Yeah. And it was next to the theater, so everyone that was going to the theater was going. Right, right, right. Oh, my God. There's some good food there now. Salt Lake's great. Yeah, it's a great town. Every time I go, I'm like, this place is phenomenal. It's a great town. And you can land a 747 on any of their roads at any given time. That's true. They're like nine-lane highways. You're like, this is incredible. Crossing is hard. They give you 58 seconds, I feel like. They have the little flags there. You take a flag, and you're supposed to. Which I now appreciate, actually. Well, that's because for a long time in your career, you were one of those Chinese tourists in Times Square. You would hold up the flag and give guides through Times Square. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that, but I did that for a long, long time. Years. Years. I was a flag holder in Times Square. In fact, you live above the M&M factory, yes? Yes, I do now. Yeah. I do now. I just, I don't know. I got used to the neighborhood, and it's noisy. Yeah. But I have access to everything kitsch. Everything kitsch. Everything kitsch is there. Yeah, and that's what I want. How many years is this for you in New York now? Let's see, 18 or something like that. Wow, that's like, I'm 20 here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And is it time, or are you still comfortable? I don't know where else to go. I know. I like New York. It feels, I used to get a lot of anxiety going back to New York. Just, I love it there, but it was never my default setting. I'm from this tiny place in Idaho. Yeah. So it was like hard. It was hard to just get used to it. But, you know, I love it now. Now my friends are there. You're planted there. I'm planted there. What's your escape pod, though? Like, what's a place where you're like, when you're done really doing the thing? I mean, I have a little land in Idaho, back home. Lovely. I think about that. It's just like in my head, like, it just makes me comfortable to go. It's there if I ever want to just go there. There's a house. There's not a house. Just land. But there could be. Yeah. There will be at one point. And, you know. I'm comfortable there. Yeah. But I don't know. I spent a summer upstate in the Catskills. Very cool. And I rented a house up there just to see what that was like. Yeah. And did a lot of fly fishing and just this beautiful little spot way up in the mountains. And it was fun. But alone, it's tough. Tough. I don't know if I can have an escape pod unless you're married. Yeah. Well, we don't have children. So for us, it's also like. What is the end game? Like, where is that spot? Right. It's hard to pick. Kids dictate most people's lives that have kids. Right. And so they know. My friends with kids know more than anyone on earth exactly where they want to be when they're done. Like, you talk to people with kids. Oh, interesting observation. And they're like, we have the place. We know exactly where we want to go. Interesting observation. Because, you know, I think after they've paid their dues and they've done their time with their children, they need like a, now we get to go here finally. When everybody's 18, they're like, that's our finish line. Exactly. We don't have that. No, we don't. Yeah. We're just running a forever marathon. We're just in a never ending collapse at one day. Our legs are shaking. It just never goes away. Yeah. I met a couple at the airport. That's what they said. They had moved. They find their kids. We were in line to check bags yesterday when I was flying home. And this guy was just chatting with me because we were waiting forever. And he's like, where are you going back to? You know, and he says, yeah, we're recently retired. Our kids left and we just retired. I said, good for you. And I said, where are you? I'm from Minnesota. And they moved out to the desert. And they were like, it's fantastic. Yeah. He was like, no more winter. So I was like, good for you, man. Okay, great. He's like, what about you? And I said, oh, we live in LA. Is he going to be there forever? I was like, I don't know if I have a choice. I'm not. I don't know where else to. Right. Are we allowed to leave? Not with this career. Nah, can't do it. Well, we were on the road some. I mean, are you touring right now? Yes. Yes. I mean, I just announced the actual tour, which in my head starts in November. Awesome. But I have club dates and stuff going on. In preparation, that's how it's working. Yeah. In my mind. November's theaters. Theaters, some clubs. Yeah. You mix them in. Yeah. I like how the agents try to get you to do one or the other. They're like, do some clubs to prep for the theaters. I know. And then when you sprinkle it in, they're like, well, I mean, we can. They make you feel bad about everything. I know. I don't know. Right. And then you check your entire, like everything gets checked in your mind. You're like, well, is that a bad idea? Do other comics do that? Right. This is what, this is, it's like. No, this is how it's done. And you go, oh, well, I've been doing it a while. Never did it like that. Yeah. They make you feel, they make you, meanwhile, they're at their house with their family, enjoying their lives. And you're sitting in, you know what I mean? You're sitting in Toledo about to go to the next spot. Yes. Yes. That's just how it goes. And this is how it's done. Yeah. So November starts at the tour. Yeah. And this is my first time ever doing like a named actual tour. What's the name of this one? Making Good Time. Making Good Time. Making Good Time. In my head, it has this double meaning. Mm-hmm. That it's. You know, it's positive and we're making progress, but we're also making a good time every night. We're making a good time. It's so hard to do this. I know as I'm saying it, it's like, because what they force you to do is like, I feel like that scene in Jason Bourne where he's like, this is what they make us do. Do you remember that? And he's dying in the field. Can you believe what they make us do? Yeah. You see in the flashing lights. This is what they make us do. They make us name the thing. And before we have the material. Yeah. Get a graphic designer, name it, put it all together, and that must be it. And it's going to be put on every website and everything. Yes. Because they go, you have to ride the momentum of the special. The second the special's out, we got to start promoting the new tour. It's like, I don't know what it is yet. We're not there yet. Yeah. And they go, well, just that's why everybody's tour name I realized is like some innocuous. Yeah. It's meaningless. It's like, it's just a general thing. Because they're like, here we go. And they're always like. Are you going to name the special after that? And you're like, I don't know. I don't think. I won't even know until. I hope not. An hour before we post the special. Netflix is calling about the art. They're like, what is it? You're like, I don't know. Yes. That's why I always was jealous when years ago you should be just like live from blank. The specials were always like live from the, you know, Minneapolis, live from Florida. Oh, yeah. Right. Live, live from whatever. Yeah. It's way easier to do. We should all be live from. Yes. No, it's got to be a whole thing. Yeah. And it's got to be incorporated into the art. Yeah. And the background and the lighting and the thing. It's anxiety that I feel like comics never knew they had to deal with. No. Yeah. We are so many things now. We are. I've been an art director all week. Yeah. Bring out this tour thing. You got to be a meteorologist just in case your flight gets messed up. Yeah. You have to be. You have to be your own. Like, even if you have help, he is the greatest. He helps me tour. But it still is like we still have to delegate. Yeah. What's going to work out timing wise. Right. Like, this is all people at home are like, who cares? Are they? No. OK. I don't know. I don't know. They like it. No, it is hard. It's just I think there's so many more pieces that go into the anxiety of. together a tour versus like show up hang out tell jokes it's like it's the last thing we get to do is tell jokes yes you get paid to travel that's what i always say yes jay moore one time in the parking lot of the store said um he was going somewhere i go that might be fun like whatever city it was he goes picking up a check kid and i was like all right well i mean he was being bluntly honest he was like yeah he's like sometimes i'm just picking up a check he's like i've been there 10 times i'm just going there working out stuff trying my best i'm i was still green and i was like oh how great is that yeah you get to go there he's like picking up a check it's one of those things that's stuck in your head picking up a check wow that's a real thing i know yeah but it's still the greatest you know it's like everything's got to have something it's still the greatest now what do you do in your downtime when you're on the road are you like in the hotel like workout or sleep all day or like i try to do something physical just for my mental well-being i'll try yeah even if it's just walking you know through the town yeah just go for a walk whatever get around some sort of nature if i can get out of the hotel get out of the hotel what about your feature host or whoever's with you i mean it depends sometimes i'm traveling with someone often i just have a local person that i don't know so i'm sometimes just out there alone yeah why don't you bring somebody i sometimes i can sometimes it doesn't make sense financially yeah it's just like it i it just seems like we'll see how it goes how many tickets i'm selling please buy the tickets uh so he can bring someone that he likes yes well when i i mean i do i do sometimes that you know just because i'm like i i just want someone with me for the pain ride it's great it's so much more fun if it's someone you love yes it's a huge difference it makes it makes you feel that i always feel like my sets are better than when i have a local because sometimes i don't know the locals and right then you're the outcast even though you're the headliner right and you're like god i feel so uh not a part of the machine right but back back then i used to go because i'm a big baseball fan i would tour baseball season i would just go watch games during the day oh that's good i used to kind of plan it around that my agents were like why here i'm like well there's a couple of home games so maybe i can go pop too that's great yeah and i used to offer it to the local comic i'd be like hey i'll buy you a ticket if you want to come with me 50 of the time i get a yes yeah then the other half they'd be like i don't like baseball i'm like that's not what it says this is that doesn't it doesn't have to do with this yeah do you want to just go hang out for the day somewhere like you don't have to watch the game yeah just get a food being an opener which is not just what you do on stage right it's part of the hang yeah you got to be the hang and it's fun if you i loved it i loved it too i thought it was so free and you did 15 then you got to just it's hard around i mean yeah it's great that's why some people fall into the opener for a long time spot because they're like it's pretty easy making good money it's really fun yeah there's the pressure is zero you can go smash for 15 minutes and then you're like have a good night yeah okay next ryan i guess who is it ryan ryan hamill hamston he's here in here we pour whiskey hey i'm here to tell you about tempo with thanksgiving coming up uh cooking a regular dinner during the week is just not in the cards right now tempo's been what's keeping me fed while everything else on my plate piles up and i'm telling you we've been using tempo for a long time i do love them so very much we actually keep them in the studio in case one of the boys gets hungry and they need something to eat um each meal is perfectly 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know it was younger headliner older guy local guy um you know just like a very disrespectful yes like who cares who why are they here to see you type of thing already your ego is in check because you're like well i don't know i'm trying my best right i don't know why they wanted to see me i had a guy one time just he it was like you know the thing i say to them is like you got to be clean i'm clean because my audience expects it yeah i don't care do whatever you want to do but i'm telling you it's going to be weird if you're uh impression of a goose doing a blow job and did i open for you where was that that's my bit is it yeah are you serious no ryan you're really good i'm good at that you're really good at that the goose giving a blow job i am thinking about it as you said it it sounded like the idea is quite funny i just don't know if it lands it's well it kills yeah it does well it kills it kills really hard but but your audience i'm yeah you know and i'm like this was it was like a at a club a mix of people and i just remember the only reason i really remember it is because he came off and i was like and he was like i didn't say f anything right and i was like that's no that okay well it's like wow i don't even know like we're living in different worlds as to what yeah what what's your rule of clean yeah yeah like i don't have my my only rule for my openers is um this filth if it's a good joke it's a good joke but yeah i was like no no gratuitous just for the sake of right right right and also uh do material i always say that material is helpful i would say do material no crowd work okay i think it's a good test if someone's young and you're like you don't need to do crowd work don't do it right right as many jokes as you can right when you get to a place where you need to do crowd work then do crowd work but and they all kind of respect it i've had no one fight me on it they've all been like okay and in fact some of them have been like it's way better for my joke writing i've had no one fight me on it they've all been like okay and in fact some of yeah because then you they can do two different 15s if they have you know 20 25 minutes then it helps them i'm like just do that just that yeah say hello chat with them warm them up like don't get into the whole thing because then it's going to distract from you getting work done right then it's almost like you just went and played and you didn't get anything done yeah i've been thinking about this you know when i started it was like i remember hearing a lot and we would talk a lot about how how valuable stage time is oh yeah you know that was it it was just like how about we would talk a lot about that i was like wow i really need that five minutes or whatever and i think we got away from that a little bit nowadays i think it's just different because of the internet now yeah it's because it's just everybody's posting everything so it's not even about the stage time it's about the content or the clip or whatever do you start in new york no i started in utah you did wow not a lot of clubs out there to start at though there was one club at the time and it closed and then wise guys opened six months later and there's three wise guys or two ogden let's see there's ogden salt lake there's one in jordan landing the jordan landing yes and um he's got one in vegas that's really great oh yeah i've never done that i've only done his salt lake club uh-huh and he's always been so wonderful and i've every time i've gone down there i've had an absolute great time at that and i think the salt lake club has three different rooms now does it yeah god i only remember being one yes he's the main room he has a small room and then he has like a mid-sized room he's just the basement it's it's next door like it opened up it's really nice space next door yeah i do know this i feel like last time i was there they talked about opening up yeah that's that is awesome no that was i mean that place is always great when i go but yeah that's got to be tough when it's a city with one club it's there or nowhere yeah i mean that's why i went to seattle actually i was just like i didn't feel confident in new york or la but i went to seattle for a year and it was one of the most productive years of my life did you ever think about coming south and going to la i think you are in the west i thought this is where i would end up really my dad was from southern california uh the comedy and magic club saw me really early And was like, just live here, and we'll just, you get spots, whatever you want. You would have run that club. It would have been, it was really tempting to come. And I was like, and then I did a TV spot. My first TV spot ever was in New York. I'd never been there. I did live at Gotham. Oh, wow, yeah. And it was Amy Schumer's first television spot also. Wow. And she came up to me. I was first. I'd only performed in like four states in the West. I'd never even been to the East Coast, really. Wow. The Northeast. And Amy came up, and I had a good set, somehow. And Amy came up to me right after, and just, I'd never met her, had no idea who she was. Nobody knew. She just goes, I'm Amy. You're going to, we're going to live together. We're going to get an apartment together, and you're moving here. Really? I don't know why, but she just had this confidence. Like, she's like that. And this happened. We never got an apartment. So she lied. She's a liar. Amy lied. We did Last Comic Standing like two months later together, and she just skyrocketed. Sure. But I did. It put it in my head. And I moved there, and she did. She looked out for me, and really. That's so nice. Did you ever tour with her, ever, or no? I did. I ended up, I think, just hanging out with her on the road a few times when we crossed paths. She was always trying to get me to do things. I was never the fit for her audience, but she just started to get joy when she had that Comedy Central show. She would call me all the time. She knew how much anxiety it would give me to turn things down, because I really needed them. But she would go, like, do you want to do this sketch? It's called Nutter's. You have to wear prosthetic. You have to wear prosthetic balls. And I'd be like, Amy. And she'd be like, come on, you know. And I'd be like, I'm torn up saying no to this. But she just was really great. And whenever she could put me in something, she would. She's like, it's either that or a KKK member, but you choose. It's wide open. It's whichever one you think fits you more. It's whatever you want to do. Yeah. And no pressure. But just, it is hard to say no to your friends when they ask you to do something. It's hard. I mean, I wanted to do it, but I just, I knew that, you know, I carried around all of this kind of, like, questioning. About what's my audience going to think? Like, all this stuff is really big to me, you know. Really big. It worked in the long run. Whether you're spending the day in the heat, recovering after a workout, or just looking for an easy afternoon pick-me-up, Liquid IV makes hydration simple. And delicious. Shop liquidiv.com. That's P-O-D-2-6. ABC Wednesdays. Abbott is back. It's going to be the best year yet. Thank you. Now we can finally turn this up. Y'all think you run this school? But you don't. It's going great. Abbott Elementary. Right, guys? What you want? Download the PrizePix app today. And use code SPOTIFY to get $150 instantly in lineups, if you win your first $5 line-up. PrizePix, run your game. We'll see. We'll see. I think we're seeing it. Well, you cultivated an audience that, like, respects, appreciates your style. I mean, of the -- I hate to say "clean comics," but, you know, you do live in that echelon now of guys that are notoriously clean comics. And that's a good place to be, because there's -- most comics aren't, you know, like, most guys, you know, work blue, or whatever the old guys used to say. And I always remember being young, seeing cleaner comedians and being jealous, just being like, "Damn." And they do NACA, remember NACA, doing college stuff, because I was like, I never could get those. Yeah. They were like, "Yeah, you can't do it." And I wasn't necessarily ever filthy, but I was never clean. I never worked. Right. I just never -- it was never in my, you know, the way I grew up. Okay. You just don't come from clean people. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's just, like, the language that I grew up around was always very, like, free and dirty, and dirty jokes were always funny jokes, you know? Yeah. It's -- I kind of feel like it chooses you more than you choose it, you know what I mean? 100%. It's just like -- But I have heard you cuss on stage. Yeah? Yeah, I've heard you cuss. I'm not surprised. My audience might be surprised. June 18, 2022, you did it for the first time at a 9:58 spot. Yeah, I wrote it down. And it was probably the hardest-ass shit I've ever heard. The shit that you -- it was just -- It was just heavy. You don't, though, ever. In this special, you don't cuss. No, not at all. Not once, yeah. I mean, every -- you know, I'm a -- I am not, like, some sort of robotic person. You know, occasionally in my life, I have language, you know, but people may be shocked to hear that. I don't know if they're upset if they hear that, but, you know, I feel like if you're 95% something, be 100% that thing on stage, really. Oh, that's good. Because it's, like -- in a certain point, this is something that -- you know, you have to cultivate, and over iterations, you're like, this is what I want to present, and this is what I think is great, this is what I've thought through, and that's what it ends up being. Yeah, it's great, dude. I mean, you're -- honestly, it's -- I think about -- every time I wrote a dirty joke, and my -- you know, someone from my family would watch it, and I was like, oh, gross, my mom has to see that. I thought about that all the time. Like, my grandmother had to watch some of that stuff. Yeah. She's like, we can't wait to see you. I'm like, I really want you to see this. Well, great comedy can happen all across the space. There's no, you know -- I know, I know. It's great. But saying a fart joke in front of your mother is always odd. I'm sure. Yeah. But she liked it. She actually -- that's her favorite joke. That's her one? That's the one? I'm sure. She -- That's by far. So what is your -- so, just 'cause I'm curious. So what is your getaway? Like, what is your -- away from comedy, what's your favorite thing to do, just to get away, to feel like a normal human being? I know. Instead of a workhorse. You know, it's -- I like to get out in nature, if I -- any way that I can. You're a hike guy? I'll go on a hike. I would like to get into, like, backpacking. Really? I would like -- I've never -- I used to get -- as a kid, we would go out camping, and we'd do, like, horseback trips with my friends and stuff like that, you know? And I grew up fly fishing a lot, just going out after work in the summer and just standing in a river for a couple hours. You like that. I -- it's just part of who I am. It's just, like, I grew up looking at the mountains every day, growing up around fields, working in farms, and it's -- I miss it. It's just, like, in -- it's just kind of I need it. You're like a Bruce Springsteen song. Am I? Yeah. Working in the fields, fly fishing in the evening, going to the city at night. Yeah, that's -- It's good. It's very much like a Springsteenian, like, in a river, mountains. I -- my life, I feel like -- when I describe it to people, it's like, did you grow up in the '50s? You know? And it's like -- You do sometimes have that feeling of a -- they time-machined you here. Yes. And I feel like that. I mean, my little town, it was like that. I mean, I rode my bike to the city drugstore to get a malt that my grandmother used to work in at the fountain when she was a little girl. Like, you know, it's like -- The fact you said drugstore. Like, that's just an obvious -- The drugstore. It's the drugstore. The drugstore. Right. You know? Yeah, I slept in my treehouse. My cousins and I would drive our bikes. And then we'd go to Grandma's house. It was like -- Pie. Pie was always around. Sure. Pie or cookies. Somehow pie was there. Whatever. Pie or cookies. Yeah. You don't have, like, stabbings and poop on the subway. This is what you want. There was something in -- my dad was from Southern California, and I just connected to this outside culture. Yeah. And there was this show, A&E's "Evening at the Improv," and that was the thing. Bud Friedman's show. Bud Friedman. And I didn't even really put together -- even though it said "Evening at the Improv" -- I didn't understand it was in L.A. I just knew there was this club where there was, like, funny people who weren't famous hung out. Yeah. And I was like, "What is that place?" Oh, my God. Did they ever. When I first moved here, the improv was still -- I mean, that was years after what you're talking about. But even still, it was bustling. In 2006, it was like -- I mean, the people that would be hanging out at that improv bar was -- it was mind-bending. Yeah. And we would sit at the other -- we'd walk in as Young Comics and walk to the other side of the bar in the corner and just stare, because there used to be, like, a platform, almost like a six-inch raise in the floor, and the old wood was there. And it was raised up, and it had kind of these banisters surrounding the tables. Much like how The Cellar is, where there's a table in the corner, and they used to have all these cool -- the photographs -- you could see some of the photographs upstairs in the offices of, like, you know, Seinfeld sitting with Leno, chatting, and then there's, like, a slew of people around, like Sandra Bernhardt, like, just, like, comics from different time periods. And you're like, "God, they used to just be a -- now everyone's like, 'Good-bye!' 'I'm gonna go home! Good-bye!'" The moment that you're done, you never would hang out. Right. I mean, just -- even when I come to New York, I go hang out upstairs, but most people are gone. Because they've got another spot, or they're out of town, or -- Yeah. I feel like it was just a moment in time where comedy used to hang out a lot, and now it slowly dissipated. Yeah. It's kind of a bummer. Who did it? Whose fault is it? Oh. Blame one person. Blame one person. Or a group of people, because I've heard some of your stuff. Blame a group. Go ahead, if you feel like it. I'm gonna say -- I don't know. I guess it would have to be -- I don't know. I can't -- I'm not gonna target anybody. I know. I slipped -- I was like, "Go ahead. Take one of these. Pick a card. Any card." - I try, people who have won foot bigger than the other that's who i kind of blame it on oh good yeah 11 and a half to 12 you know one of those guys you're very good at this can't trust very good well i sit at night all night thinking about odd scenarios no my brain just works in a very gross weird way i think i just think about um i think we're allowed to see weird things and comment about it and hope that everybody gets it that's the whole it's like i hope everybody gets it you know like i thought the other day at a baseball game do you whistle or do you clap after the um national anthem clap clap but there are whistlers there's whistlers abound yes when you turn around that guy yes he does not clap he whistles yes and i always thought i was a little stoned if i'm being honest sure but i thought am i a whistler or a clapper because i've done both that's very comedian thought but i am a clapper i'm very much a clapper yeah yeah but i don't think and i commented that to a friend and they were like what are you talking about and i was like oh shit i think that's our really your friend said what are you talking about he's like what do you mean who cares i was like i don't know yeah i guess i could talk about this for the rest of i know well that's because we see these stupid little things and we find i think every comic has um what is that adhd no is that good that's great i think we have those things where you just you see something stupid innocuous that nobody cares about yeah i don't really care about i always thought as a kid i was very quiet and people you know were you must have been a class clown and i go no the thing i was was observant yeah i was just sitting back on if i was that guy this is what i would have said i would say i was partially a class clown but also just a um i was a goof around all i wanted was to have the much as much fun as possible so you were that you were kind i mean it it is i was disruptive in a way where i just wanted everybody to have a good time i wasn't like say something rude to get in trouble with the teacher it was more like how could i make the most fun out of it and i was like i'm not going to be the most fun of the thing yeah i get that too yeah because i really wanted to have fun i hated being bored boring sitting through monotony was like that was hell on earth for me right i said why can't we go do something yes i get that too any interactive class was huge uh group work loved a good group work oh because you could just entertain and yeah yeah you get in the group you get to riff and yes you just it just gives you some space to actually be creative i think that's really what it was kids who really are creative have such a tough time and yes in school and so i think that's why i was a cb student okay well that's not very bad comparative to what i should have been i could have been a very good student it was the format and hated it yes i just miss i mean did you go to college i went to college but i had that experience and i was like oh my god i'm in my first job i would say what was it i worked at an advertising agency right every day i was i thought oh this is great i worked really hard i did an internship at this creative agency i worked in public relations and i thought this is going to be fantastic i used to work in newsrooms when i was young what do you mean newsrooms like local news yeah i worked when i was 14 i worked for the local nbc affiliate i would shoot sports they just called me and asked because i had a column in our county newspaper in idaho because this is 1947 i know you're literally saying this is what i'm talking about i found it in the paper that morning i wanted to be a newspaper humor columnist there was a guy named dave barry i don't know if you're aware of him but he had a syndicated column and it would run every sunday in our local paper and i we didn't have a newspaper like a school newspaper so i called the county newspaper and they said yes you can have a column we'll pay you ten dollars a week and i did that all through high school and then the the nbc affiliate was like we are you interested in journalism what's going on do you want to learn some stuff and i go yes so i shot sports and every friday night i would drive around and shoot uh football games basketball games they taught me how i had a camera that they would just let me keep at my house on camera no i would shoot but once in a while they would say my name and the sports guy was a funny guy and he and and he taught me how to edit on reel-to-reel i would drive back to the station mark in mark out the machine to go yeah yeah and we would write copy and he would go this is our local cameraman ryan hamilton and this you know it was i have old vhs tapes of this and it was just like i loved hanging out i was 14 15 years old you can drive when you're 14 in idaho 14 yeah because of all the tractors the farm kids right that's right so i was doing that and i just loved hanging out i loved that that like you said this like everything's going on all at once there's not a dull moment yeah and it's a fun environment you know you're under deadline we got to get this done right now right get this tape to the right person where's your edit and it was just fun the pressure was good the pressure was great and it was creative and and and it was like i was interested in stand-up but i had no idea how to get there and this was like close it was some it was entertain it was entertainment based yeah so you understood like uh feeding the people you're like how do i can feed the people this way yeah what's the first set then where'd you get the balls to do it well i had a little radio show in college at a little junior college uh and i was studying broadcast and for our radio station a few of us were interested in comedy never been to a comedy show never even been to one we've produced some comedy shows for our radio station and i got on stage what was the tag for the was the radio station's call okay i can't remember what the tall letters were it's ryan hamilton in the morning it was a student station we kind of had freedom to do whatever we wanted with our hour you know it's a little dangerous yeah yeah yeah all that yes but you weren't you weren't a you weren't a screw-up so they trusted you no i was a very good kid yeah yeah yeah you never had a lapse huh nothing ever hit you where you where you became a little mess up you never got into drugs or alcohol or no never i mean but you'll have a cocktail here and there i drank for the first time in my life when i was 45 and i probably haven't had a drink in i don't know over a year i don't drink it just wasn't it did i wanted to after my accident i i started going i'm trying things in life i've this is i'm very late in everything very late yes and it's just kind of natural that's how my whole life was and it felt like okay it took a near-death experience for me to figure out that i can do some things that i just try some things maybe that's god being like trying ryan come on it might be he hit you out of your shell he was like he used a bus to get out of your i know we have rules break some of them yeah this is yeah so you do have like a little bit of freedom a freeing moment of like all right i'm gonna i'll try some stuff yeah i think it was that i just got a little more brave and like like dating and stuff too like just a little bit out a little bit a little bit yeah yeah because i just i don't you realize life is very short and you just realize everything's right now and the things that you thought mattered absolutely don't really matter what matters right now right now you and i in this moment and you know the people that you care about that's good outside of that it's pretty slim huh it's so easy to forget my dad died right before my a year before my accident and it is like 10 year situation and i remember having this thought like well i've never experienced anything where um everything fell away except one problem never had that in my life everything fell away except one problem and then i thought this is a really good lesson to remember forever and then a year later i was in the hospital going um wow i only have one problem this is and i remembered that feeling and going that was just a year ago that i had that feeling for the first time and i already forgot about it wow and then i went it's so that's like the human condition to me now is like remembering just remembering that i had that feeling for the first time and i already forgot remembering that really nothing matters it's true except the important things like the things that we get so wrapped up in and it's so hard to just remember that those really aren't that important no they're my they're pretty minute yeah and it's so hard to remember that it is hard i guess i guess you know and not to be woo wooey but also because we're quite privileged we live a very good life we get to do what we like for a living so yes i think it's also very hard because it's it's happening so when you're in a situation where you're in a situation where you're in a it's hard to you know and that's the only way i mean you have to get through life like that like you know there's joy in the process and joy and work and you have to provide for yourself and what else are you going to do but be productive right but in that time you it's so easy to slip out and forget why what re-centers you then when you're like going in the thing do you have anything that's a great question i don't know i mean i think you know just remembering the thing going through it is there a person or a place that does it for you too when i go home to idaho i think i feel i get reconnected i think wherever home is for you there's something about that right now is your childhood home still there it's still there we just recently sold our family home where i grew up yeah but it's okay i mean i just went back and it's all the same i mean i was there for our fourth of july parade the malt store is still there yeah oh yeah that's so funny what did you say the name of the town you did it's ashton i don't people know now but um you know it's do you are you do they have pride for you there i think so yeah have they given you the key to the city there i don't think we do that but i feel like they need to if it's such a small town you know what i mean like somebody makes out of a small town town you're like reward this guy that's they do i mean how many people have come out of ashton that have had some sort of success in a public in the public space i don't know there are i guess i'm sure there are people but there's not you'd know there's not you in a public way alumnus famous alumnus from ashton idaho fame no but it's you right yeah i mean there's only a thousand people in this town okay so give him the key but they do in their own way i mean like we have this little um marquee in our old high school the high school is gone now but this marquee was like you just drive by everybody drives by and you would get community events it wasn't even just about high school years after i'm gone 20 years after i'm gone the marquee will say watch ryan hamilton on the tonight show tonight that's beautiful isn't that amazing no that's beautiful that's amazing to me yeah like because you know the pride of a small town i mean my dad comes from a small town so like i know how important small town yeah you know what i mean like they talk about people like they're they're they still have lore small towns still have lore for people they're like you know what he you know what ended up happening to him yes he went on he owned about 14 burger kings i mean it's like you become this like you become like this this this a store which doesn't happen in places like chicago where i'm from or new york it's like yeah too many people embody this place it's impossible to have any pride i mean chicago treats me great when i go home like you know the cubs organization is incredible like there's things that i get to do now because they're like yeah you're a hometown kid yeah yeah so so that's cool but it's never like uh that's a big point of pride to me when a small when someone comes out of a small town because i would imagine statistically it's impossible most people don't want to leave why would they and i'm not saying they should stay or leave i'm just saying that's most people's life that's where they're from but to branch out to go try something pretty brave so i think i today i'm giving you the key on behalf of the city i'm giving you a key and i'm gonna go erect a plaque i'm gonna go there and i'm gonna get a plaque done imagine i get fined for that for putting up a sign that's illegal here i mean you know there are so many people there who probably don't know who i am anymore it's been a long time but my family goes back there so long that it's you know but they're a hamilton store there well my grandfather had a store it was my mother's maiden name they always have a store really that's that's so interesting you always have a store yeah so interesting if the family if the family has history there they owned a some they had to have a shop it was all farm farmers we were one of the only families that weren't farmers but we had what we called a variety store that i worked at until i was 14 and was around but my great-grandmother opened it who i knew very very well actually and my grandfather and took it over and variety store meaning that's what we call it was like it was like appliances clothing shoes like a department store like yes i guess you would call it a department store that you can imagine in a small town sure and mini macy's yeah it was like what was it called it was called lions that was my mother's maiden name lions and can we oh geez really ryan connect the dots i mean for crying out loud is it l y o n s l y o and this still plays into the whole thing yes you're good with words you understand come on man i mean did we just we put it together that's pretty good we did the lion's den the lion the lion's pride i mean you can do so much with this sometimes you need someone from an outside perspective to really tell you just turning your shoulders towards the light i just want you to find your light i think you've done a fine job but the lions you're just giving me so much i mean i'm we're we know the name of the next special don't we we really do shot from the sahara yeah ryan hamilton live from the sahara surrounded by lions the whole time having a fueled i don't know why i'm here but this is funny travel channel presents ryan hamilton live from the sahara yeah ryan hamilton live from the sahara I see i literally see how comical this could be and how there's a there is a producer somewhere that's like we could do that yes we can actually do that if you want it i could see how you in school was like like really uh smart excelled super creative and it was difficult for you i was just annoying i just was like i hate this class i didn't want like math was just what are we doing yes i just never wanted to sit around i just i think i think i pissed off enough teachers by being like can you explain to me the practicality of this in the real world right it would be very annoyed by that yes and you want to know don't be a smart ass yes and i was like i just don't know when i would ever need this yes i just i'm being genuine right like all i saw my dad was in sales my mom was um in marketing for for property management my my biological father was in construction i was like oh my god i'm gonna have to do this i don't need any of this stuff yeah and they try to trick you yeah they're like no you use geometry every day you know they do this game you're like what no stop sign stop sign is geometric you know it's like they pull these and then as a kid you you you drink it because you're like well maybe i'm stupid and maybe cursive will be a make or break situation yeah if i didn't do cursive i'll go to prison or so you know what i mean like they make you feel as if well i guess i'll die if i don't understand exactly and so yes in class i don't need any of this in classes i excelled it was theory and practice and media production i'm in college is one of my stuff like that i was like this is cool practical comedians are practical well they want to know the application to real world how do i how can this be what i mean if you're speaking to the masses you're the idea is make up something funny that most people or a lot of people would either find funny or interesting or go i know that's right i know yes you know i mean that's what we saw as a like that that took mundane things and then that spun it that way versus like uh you know someone like a you know um like prior who is more like real life stuff of his world being like this is what it was like growing up this dark which i was always kind of more attracted to but when i saw the seinfeld world of comedy of like isn't this insane i was like oh yeah i see that stuff a lot but i could never i was not as good as obviously that's not my style of organizing because most of my stuff is like you know how this is and most people are like what are you talking about i'm like never mind i'll tell you my experience and it's funnier if i just tell you no it's how it's weird for me yes the specificity is everything i mean i mean yeah that's how we get there the one right yeah no yeah school was tough school was always you know and my teachers hated me my teacher said to my mom um is your son on medication and my mom for the first time like defended me it was amazing she's like no why well he should be and she's like i don't think you should tell people what they should do yeah she's like i think you should focus on teaching and my mom also you know i like stood up for me i was so happy on the way home she was also like stop fucking up in school so the two things were happening at once right they were proud of me well i just think they knew yeah it's also when i left uh you know chicago and to go to school they knew they were like he's gonna go try to be a goof for a living in some way because i had written it in my senior paper i was like god i wanted just really well i wanted to be jim carrey really oh so bad he was my god so it wasn't was it him doing stand-up or was it him the idea of a stand-up comedian that could be an act that could act in comedic films so stand-up was in the mix oh it was kind of it was the thing but to me i i always thought um he was like the shining example of like you could do but also because as a kid i got to watch like you know prior was a comedian who acted in comedies yeah so i thought that was fascinating yes i was like you could be your own kind of magician alone and then they'll put you in funny stuff with other funny people right that was my you know yeah i was like that was my north star a little bit okay jim jim jim the most because he got to just literally become a goof character transform i was obsessed with that and then it never came to fruition so what are you talking about well i mean you don't you just don't get to be in a movie and create such a wild character anymore that's not a no that's not a thing but you're doing it the way it's done now sure i just a dream of that like like ace ventura or even like cable guy it's like stuff like that i was like god i wish that that's what i loved as a kid because you got to just uh transform i thought that was really it what about writing your own script and stuff are you really into that they're not interested yeah they're not interested and they've said no a thousand times thank you hollywood i we really want to work you've done you've had this with like we want a ryan hamilton project oh yeah and then you give it to them and they're like we hate this and you're like great i gave you the one i thought okay like have you done the pilot run where they give you your own pilot and all yeah i used to come out here for the pilot season oh yeah before it was all on tape and do all those and uh studied acting for a while and it was always on the side though i always felt like i never gave it a full chance i put it on me more where it was like stand up i gave it everything you know and i never well that's nice but i never i never did that necessarily with the scripted and the acting stuff it was like it's around if you throw me an audition i'm gonna try to nail it see what happens right but it wasn't like how am i going to do it i didn't know how to do it i didn't know how to do it i didn't know how to do it i didn't know how to get my next audition kind of thing and you know i think that's what it really takes to do something like that yeah but i mean the difference is like you're failing live with stand-up and that's part of the reward right is that you're failing as you're working whereas in in the acting world you're just failing yeah and that's it it's just a no no no until there's a maybe yes yeah and the maybe yes is a big maybe yes you have heavily emphasis on maybe with stand-up it's like the no is still a yes that's the that was the great irony of stand-up at bars you're still getting something yes it's so rewarding we're so lucky that way that we can just work the best. That's why I loved it. I used to go to shows, when I first moved here, when I was scared to get into mics, I would just go to shows and sit in the back by myself. Yeah, for sure. And just, just see how, see how they did it. Yeah, oh, it's so, I mean, you can learn something from every, everything you watch, every moment. I watched a lot of guitar, piano, a lot of keyboards back in the day. People were really getting in the music thing in the early 2000s. It was like a. This, and comedy. Comedy music. Yeah, it was huge for some reason. Really? It was like a lot of, well, especially alternative shows were a lot of experimental shit, and I was always like, oh, that's so fascinating. Like, what is that? Galifianakis did Live on the Purple Onion with a piano on stage, which kind of like dictated the art of the. Right. And I was like, oh my god, you get to just try stuff? Yes. Yeah, that's what I, that's. Were you doing the alternative scene and all of that? Were you getting into those rooms? It's funny, I did a lot of east side stuff out here before I ever went to the comedy store. Right. I was so scared of the comedy store. Yeah, yeah, of course. And then, so yeah, we would do mostly east side shows. Most guys I came up with were east side people. Right. Right. Because that's where you could get up. Yes. Couldn't get up at the clubs. You couldn't get into the clubs. Clubs. Yeah. They were like, what, are you here to buy a drink? Right. Also, that was the other thing. It was like, you'd go to the club, you wouldn't get on the open mic, and then you'd hang around until you were like, well, I guess I'll just go try to get on another mic somewhere else. Right. You'd have to do that five, six nights a week. He was with me back in the day. Carlos was around back then. It was just, that's what we did. And you weren't really like, welcome. You were kind of there. Right. You were just a. A warm body. Yes. And then you would have to go back. So most of the shows were east side. Okay. Yeah. Until the clubs kind of blossomed and they started to let people in, young people in, you know? Very restrictive. I mean, is that what it was like? When I moved to New York, I was a full-time comedian, but I couldn't get on stage anywhere really. I mean, because it was, at that time for me, the way I saw it was like, there's this very tight kind of alternative defined world. And it was like, these are alternative guys. These are club guys. It's not like that anymore. No. But it was like that. It used to be that way here. Yeah. Yeah. And I couldn't, I wasn't, I was like a club road comedian and I was new in New York and I would go to the alternative rooms and everybody was cool and nice, but it was like, I never got like momentum in there. And then I would go to the clubs and they'd be like, we don't care about you. We don't, we don't care about you. I just want to let you know that. No, I know. Trust me. I feel it. I was in New York five years and I was ready to move. Were you, you know, back west? I was going to come out here actually. Cause I was like, at least in LA, the weather's good and I can have a bigger apartment and I'll not get on stage in LA. Right. And I'll still go on the road and I'll be closer to home. What kept you in LA and New York? I mean, Um, Amy actually. Schumer kept you in New York. Amy and Anthony. Um, Amy, like just one night I was just hanging around. I would go, I would give myself one night where I would go sit at the bar at the cellar and I would eat and I wouldn't really talk to people, but people knew who I was. And I was just like, I'm just going to go to this once one night a week. I won't bother anybody, but I just want to be around. And, um, I knew lots of people. Everybody's super nice. But one night Amy just texted me, said, where are you? I said, I just got home from a vacation. She said, come downtown. So I came downtown and she met me out front and she goes, we've been talking about you and I want you to come in in like five minutes. I don't know if I should tell this story for Amy's sake, but I went in and, and, uh, ST goes, yes, I've seen you around. Would you like to go up? I'm like tonight. And she goes, yeah, it'll be like one in the morning. And I just thought I was on the road the next weekend. And I thought, yeah, I'm just going to do it. Cause like, who knows if this will happen again? And, uh, I hadn't been on stage in like 10 days. Cause I just got home from vacation. Like I never did this. Never. And I was rusty. So I ran around and did the little rooms around the block and tried to put my five minutes together. And I went up at like really late. I followed Russ Meneve, Dave Attell, who I knew a little bit because I'd done a guest set for him at La Brea Improv for some reason years ago. And he said, I'm going to come down and watch you. And I was like, I'm terrified right now. Wow. And, uh, and you did great. I did. Okay. And I started getting one spot a week and maybe if someone canceled, I would get another spot. And that was enough. And I said, okay, I'm not going to move. And I stuck around. And that's pretty beautiful. It was pretty, yeah, pretty cool. Like right at your very end. I was, I was really like. Packing your shit. She's like, where are you? Like, you're like, I'm, uh, almost, I'm on my way out. You, as you had the suitcases, you turn around to an empty room. You're like, goodbye apartment. Where are you? Uh, on my way. When you say downtown, where'd you live? Did you live on that? Oh, I was, uh, where did I live at that? I bounced around. At that time, where did I live? Like Upper East Side? No, I did live Upper East Side. You did? Yeah. Cause when you said downtown, it's like when a comic's like, get down here, man. It's going to take you a minute. So get here now. I, I think at that time I actually lived, did I say downtown? I, I was bouncing around, but I think I lived in Astoria at that time. Okay. A lot of comics. A rough, rough apartment. A lot of comics lived in Astoria. Yeah, yeah. Gillis and all those guys lived over there. Stavros, yeah. When I moved, I was like, comedians were like, a lot of people lived there. I go, okay. So I lived there for a while. Um, yeah, I bounced all over the place. And now for people that want to know, uh, Joe, my editor, please put up his home address right here. He actually lives on the, uh, at the top of the Empire State Building, which is very, very cool. It's cool. I just said, you know, the M&M's store, the top of the M&M's store was nice for a while. Yeah, which you had to move. Yeah, I just thought this is more iconic. Much more New York, baby. That's so, I mean, well, I'll say this. That is an incredible, thanks for sharing the story. I'm sure Amy would like that. You said, I just didn't know, you know, she said, meet me out front. Yeah, I'm sure she would. It's a beautiful thing. And Estes always goes, I remember who brought you in and I remember how that happened. It's cool. It's cool to help people. Then it's on you to then pass the buck. Yes. And then help someone else out and do the right thing. If by someone you find that's, that's what I do to the people that open. I try to find people that I think are, um, you know, can sneak through and are doing really well that I can be like, hey, look at this, just watch this, watch this person. Yeah. If I can. Right. If they're not annoyed with me. Yeah. And they're like, stop suggesting people. Which I've got a pretty good lay there. My track record's been pretty good. That's great. For the most part, I do try to be like, aren't they pretty good? It's great. I mean, people, it's such an interesting world of comedy. I mean, I'm really proud of comedians in general because we really help each other. Like, if you think about your career, I bet it's the same as mine. So much of what I get is from comedians, ultimately. Always. Yeah. It's not from the machine. No, it's usually from a comic doing. Right. By you. By being like, oh, you gotta. Right. This, you know, you have to. Yeah. This is what you do this and they point you in the right direction. It's almost, yeah. If you didn't have, if we didn't have each other, and now not all of us, you know what I mean? A lot of it's me, me, me. But I mean, you know, it is so funny when I come to the cellar every time. I want to give you another compliment. And I've had enough, by the way, of complimenting you. I've just realized. But every time you do say hello to me in a way that's a warm welcome, instead of sometimes when I go, the funniest phrase I hear, people are like, what are you doing? What are you doing here? I'm like, what do you mean? What am I fucking? What do you get? I'm bowling here. What do you think I'm doing? I'm fixing the lights. What do you mean? What am I doing here? That's a tough open. That might be the third question. What's going on? Why are you in town? Yeah, no, no. They do that because they are. It's also like, are you taking spots from who you got? Right. That's more. That's more the vibe. I think there's comics that are like, what are you going? Are you going on? What are you going on? They want to know what spot they don't have anymore. It's like, dude, I'm not there enough for it to matter. People do get. It doesn't matter anyway. But you've never, you've always been very warm. Oh, good. You've always said hello. Usually you're eating. Always eating. Always eating. I don't know what that is, I guess. Yeah. You know, it's just part of life. Sustenance, yeah. Yeah. You're always eating. Am I breathing too? No. No, I don't. It's very shoveling. Very inhaling. And I always say, where's Hamilton? They say he's a fatty. They call him fatty. They go, fatty's eating in the corner. Yeah. I block it out. I haven't heard it in a long time. I haven't heard it in a long time, but I know it happens. They write in chalk on the table. Fatty's table. Thank you for coming on the show. I appreciate you very much. I could talk to you for five more days. This is really fun. I want to tell you how great you are as a comedian, how good you are of a man. Better comedian than man, by the way. And we'll try to get those both equal. I don't know which one I want, but. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. You already achieved. Please go watch the special out right now on Netflix. Also, go see him on tour. Whether it's now or in the fall, that's a big theater, but big boy tour. I imagine it's got to be at ryanhamilton.com. ryanhamiltonlive.com. Jesus Christ. You couldn't afford the other one? Remember what we used to do? Name our specials live. It's like an homage. It's a really good homage. It's an homage. ryanhamiltonlive.com and watch the special as well. And go see him because he's one of the best working comedians and best humans that I've been lucky enough to know on this earth. We end the show the same way. That camera right there. And you're going to say one word or one phrase to end the episode. It used to be a phrase. It used to be a word. Then it became a phrase. And then I let people choose. So if there's a parting words of wisdom or if it's just one word that you want to leave. And you can think about it for a second. A phrase? Or a word. It could be one singular word that you think defines something to you. The thing I'm going to think about. Let's see. Recognize those moments in your life. Everything falls away and there's one important thing. That's the thing I'll tell you. take from this conversation yeah go see the lion live please in here we pour whiskey oh that creature in the ginger beard sturdy and ginger like vampires the ginger gene is a curse gingers are beautiful you owe me five dollars for the whiskey and 75 dollars for the horse gingers are hell no this whiskey is excellent ginger i like gingers need fast hydration for the summer heat hydrate your wins with the new liquid iv sugar-free ring pop cherry it's the classic cherry ring pop flavor you grew up loving reimagined as a zero sugar hydration mix that's clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone whether you're spending the day in the heat recovering after a workout or just looking for an easy afternoon pick-me-up liquid iv makes hydration simple and delicious shop liquidiv.com save with their buy three get one free offer and use promo code pod 26 that's p-o-d-2-6 welcome back freaking frack welcome to the jungle abc wednesdays abbott is back it's gonna be the best year yet thank you now we can finally turn this up and everyone's going wild y'all think you run this school but you don't it's going great abbott elementary anything can happen in the jungle right guys all new wednesdays on abc and stream next day on hulu football is back and prize picks is bringing out their best offer yet on prize picks you can make all the picks you want all in the same app and now prize picks is available nationwide lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything is on prize picks what you want download the prize picks app today and use code spotify to get 150 dollars instantly in lineups if you win your first prize first five dollar lineup prize picks run your game must be present in certain states visit prizepicks.com for restrictions and details