The Cheat Code For Black Comedy w/ Gary Owen | Your Mom's House Ep. 826

Welcome to another episode of your mom's house, as always, I'm joined by my beautiful co-host, Christina. And joining us for the first time long overdue another Cincinnati native. You can see his special no-s available right now on YouTube. You can get tickets to see him live at GaryO and dot live. It's GaryO and everybody. Thank you. Thank you for coming in, man. No, this is awesome. This is cool. We're both Cincinnati guys by birth. And I've heard that probably 100,000 times in the 20 some odd years have been doing stand-up and I can't believe I've never met you. That's why. Everyone's always like, oh, you must be good friends with Gary. I mean, I'm a fan. I know who he is, but I've never met him. Yeah. I've never met him. That's wild. How comedians will just be in circles and you'll you'll see your name at a club coming a couple weeks later, but then you never really met that dude for 20 years. I've never met that dude. That's wild. Did you start? Where did you start doing stand-up? Dude, I started in LA, which is like the bedvice, everyone would be like, don't do that. You move there to be a stand-up? No. I moved there because I wanted to do movies. I wanted to do comedy movies. And I thought like in my research, I was like, oh, you know what the trajectory that like makes sense? I saw that people would go to the groundlings, go to the school they have, make it into the Sunday company that performs. And then I was like, oh, and then SNL just pulls people from that and then those people end up there and then they end up in movies. I was like, I'll just do that. That makes sense. So I moved there. I started the groundlings. I started going through the levels of the school. And I met some of the guys in like the class, just were like, you know, you would like stand-up. And I was like, I've never thought of doing stand-up. And so they took me around, like showed me how they did spots. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, what do you, like how do you do this? And then because of that, they introduced me one day and like one of these small rooms, they're like, oh, he's a comic. And I was like, yeah. And then they're like, do you want to do a show next Thursday? I was like, sure. Yeah. And then I just threw myself at him. What year was this? 2002. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of already out there a little bit. Yeah. That's when I started. Yeah. And then I just kind of, as I started, oh, I fell in love with it. And then I started to like pull back from the other stuff, like go into these, you know, improv school and all that and just focusing on stand-up. And then it just, you know, took off, like just kept going. Huh. Yeah. That's interesting. Everybody got a different story. You started in Sensei? Oh, I started in San Diego. Oh, in Sensei. So I thought, I thought you had to start in LA. I didn't think you could start in whatever city you was at. So I thought, you got to get to LA. I also thought the whole state of California was LA, something in David Lee Roth. California goes, I didn't know there was a Eureka in a Fresno. Yeah. It's a big ass state. Yeah. Yeah. It's my first day. I got stationed in San Diego. So I joined the Navy because I was in the trailer park in Hamilton, Ohio. And then I was like, how do you get out of here? The military was the one place, like, oh, they're going to fly me. They're going to actually get me out of this place because I didn't know where I wanted to go. So I went to B. So I was like, all right. I said, if I could just get to California, I could start stand-up. I just got to get there. So first year as I'm in DC, we're in the honor guard. And then they gave me a shot to get stationed in San Diego. Yes. Yeah. In San Diego, the plan is all in my brain, like, this is it. So I call this place. I mean, the phone book, mid '90s, I call this place called the comic castle. And I said, hey, you guys got open mic. And he said, hold on. Let me check. Let me check. Yeah. He comes back. I don't know what we do here. It was a comic book store. He was looking for a superhero named open mic, I guess. So he calls me. He goes, can't find him. Can't find him. What? He goes, and I'm kind of dumb found the phone. He goes, man, what are you looking for? I go, no, I'm a comedian, man. I keep on, never been on stage, but I'm saying I'm a comedian. Sure. He was like, I'm a comedian. He goes, oh, it's a comic book store. Nah, you got to call it comic store in La Jolla. And he gives me the guy's number. And then that's where there was open mic on Sundays. Yeah. It's the only day you can get up. So I called. I went up. Didn't go well. And Bobby Lee was on that show, though. He wasn't there. Bobby Lee was open mic and back then. We started open mic and together, really. He's probably year in before I started. And then it took me about another, God, probably seven months, eight months, to get the nerve to go back up after that first night. After the first night? Yeah, it was. I thought that was it. Wow. There's more. I got kicked out. I got banned. From that one night? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What'd you do? I was 20. And there was like 10 people in the audience, but like 20 comics in the back. And they weren't heckling, but they were doing what comics. They were giving me the loud. Ah, yeah. Before the punchline, you know, I got this five minutes I've been working on my whole life. I got, I can't turn right or left. So I'm getting flustered. So I just went, I just ran out of beer, my hand, I go, hey, all your comics in the back. Go ahead and keep heckling. I go, I'm 20 years old. I've been drinking in this club all night. Why don't I call the cops and shut this motherfucker down? So that's all the mic went off. The lights went off. Two of the bouncers just grabbed me by the back of the shirt and threw me out the front door. And I did like a front roll. And then I'm dusting myself off and there was a guy named Fred who won America's funniest home videos. He had the crutches. Something was wrong with them. I told him he came up with his crutches and he stood on me and he would never come back. You're banned. Right. So I was like, let's suck. They think go like I thought. Yeah. And then. So it took me like a few more months to figure, oh, there's other places I can go up and see an ego. Okay. So then that's when I really got started and I had to go back and apologize eventually how long was it for you went back to La Jolla's club? It was probably not a year but close to a year. Okay. Cause I was starting to do, you know, I took me a couple of months like, fuck, and you remember David Arnold passed away last year. The name is familiar, but he was just, it sucks. He was just starting to bubble up. Really? Got a Netflix special. He wrote on a lot of stuff. Oh man. So yeah, he passed away. He said, yeah, dang, three years, three years ago already. I had ACL reconstructive surgery and his first wife was my, the girl doing my paperwork on my knee and I went to her cubicle and she had all these articles at David about a comedian in San Diego. I go, who's that? And she goes, oh, that's my husband. So I'm a comedian and I keep on man the Navy been up that one time. And she goes, oh, I got to get you in touch with my husband. So I called him and he said, all right, man, this is what you got to do. You got to get a headshot, you got to get a resume, you got to get a bio and you got to get some time on a VHS tape and you got to send out to the clubs and I go, so I get a head shot, I get bio, I got a fake right, everything's fake. And I'm still in the Navy and I'm sending it out to all these clubs all across the country with no VHS tape, hoping they'd call back. And so I kept calling him every week and he wouldn't return my calls. I'm like, man, so then I started going up a lot in San Diego and then I started to build like, you got your little, you know, the, the open mic is its own community. Sure. So I started getting in with everybody and then they was like, you know, Gary's pretty funny. He's doing his thing. And so finally, David answered like six, seven months later and he goes, hey, man, I purposely was voiding your calls. He goes, cause you were just going to spin your wheels and I answered all your questions. So he goes, but now I see you're doing it. So then we start talking and then we start hanging out a little bit. That's really where it all got started. And then I had to apologize to the comedy store because all my buddies was over there. How long did you stay in San Diego before you went to LA? Uh, where's that where you went? You went to LA? I was going to LA probably three, four days a week once I start open mic. And you make that dry. Yeah. That's a serious commitment. And most of the times I wasn't going up, but I just wanted to be around it. Be around it. Yeah. So I was sitting in the back of the comedy store. I just pay, sitting in the back of the original room, just watch and then, uh, and then I started to go up a little bit, get some spots, you know, it was a kind of shitty rooms and all that. And then it just kind of, I won the funniest black comedian San Diego contest. It's insane. So wait a minute. Hold on. Because like everybody knows in stand up that you have a huge black follow up and that, like that's, you know, it's a remarkable thing because here's the thing. When you, when you start doing stand up, there's this thing about doing rooms that are outside of like who you are. In other words, there's gay rooms, right? There's black rooms. There's Latin rooms. Like, so it's always a thing to be like, Hey, are you going to do this, this outside room? And there's always more pressure on it because you're not one of whatever group. So you always have like a little more anxiety, little more like focus, right? You're a little like, Hey, I mean, fucking, I hope this goes right. And people would always do this thing. Like, are you going to do the black rooms, especially felt like they were always the highest stakes because you know, you already knew instinctively that there's a standard that they're You're going to let you know if you see. I mean, it's gonna feel different than a white club. It's gonna feel different. And then if it goes well, it's gonna be euphoria. It's gonna be a whole other level. And it's like, I did, you know, I just, in LA, you know, I did the comedy union, which some Pico-- - Oh yeah. - Yeah, ends, that's his name. And, you know, all black rooms. And then I would open sometimes in the club system for like black comics who had all black followings, basically, you know, like, everything, like, witherspoon, Tommy Davidson. I went out with Charlie Murphy a couple times. So you were always like, all right, like, fucking dial in. - Yes. - But you from the, was it from the jump? Like, you were just like, I'm in these rooms, I'm just doing this? - Well, when I got kicked out the comedy store, that first time everyone went up. - Yeah. I was telling like some black eyes I was in the Navy with, how it went, I go, man, I did not go like I thought. I thought I was about to get discovered that night. - Right, right. - And you were funny amongst your Navy friends. - Yeah, yeah, I was like, I never had no way to be like, you're crazy. It was all like, I can see it, you're funny over. And I could always make the black eyes laugh too, which was key, especially on the ships, because when you're in the middle of the water, everybody, everybody sits in groups. Like the Filipino guys are here, the Mexican guys are here, the black guys are here, why I got, I always sat with the black guys, 'cause I like football basketball. I wanted to talk, I didn't want to talk race cars or how I hate it, you know, I hate it my wife shit, I shit. I like that shit. - The white guys were really bad at that. - I was like, I'm fucking well, man. - And when I get home. - Yeah, yeah. The next great touchdown is coming and thanks to Draft King Sportsbook, you can bet on it. I've teamed up with Draft King Sportsbook to give new customers a massive offer this football season. Right now, new customers who bet just $5 would get $300 instantly in bonus bets. And $200 off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. 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Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources. C-D-K-N-G.co/audio. - That's like, I don't want to know part of this. So I'd always hang out with the brothers. We could talk shit about basketball. And if you're the one white guy, obviously, I would always dig on 'em, Larry Bird or Joe Montana type shit. So they're the ones that told me about the black nights in San Diego. They go, dude, you can go here, you can go here. So with the mainstream rooms, which is the comedy store, and I didn't know anybody else over there, I didn't where to go. But the black guys told me where to go. So I was like, oh, I can get up three, four times a week. I just want to go up. And I was so naive. I didn't realize I'm in a bad neighborhood. I'm just driving in, what's the address? Going in? - So put all these window bars. - Yeah, I'm not, I'm not. - No, there's nothing, you know? - Yeah. - There's a lot of liquor stores out here. (laughing) So then that's what really got me into, quote unquote, the black world. And then at the same time when I started going to LA, I did the whole wait in line for three hours to open my, get the comedy store. And though when I finally got selected as a showcase for Mitzi Shore, the time I went up, I'll never forget it was four girls of me. We were the five. And I was the fifth at all of them. When I went up to do my five minutes, I looked in the back of the original room. And Mitzi's like talking to the other four girls, and paying no attention. - That's how mine went by the way. - And I know it sounds conceited, but I clearly had the best set that night, right? So I was like, I should be good. And then when they called me a couple of the day, yeah, Mitzi doesn't think you're ready. I went, what? And then like, I don't know what happened to the girls, but I was just like, I told myself, I'm never going up there. And I never have. - Never? - It's just the black nights. I would do the comedy store. I would do a main room on Fat Tuesdays. But Guy Tori was running Fat Tuesdays at the time. So he'd always give me a spot like once a month, once every six weeks. So I'd drive up and then I'd go do it. And then finally end up moving out there. But that's really how I started doing all the black rooms. And then San Diego head were looking for the funniest black comedian San Diego contest. And I won it. But it was a, it was a fiasco. It wasn't like the top of the top. It was really bad. Yeah. And everybody was doing jokes I'd heard. I was like, I've heard towels. - I've heard towels. - A lot of music cues. - Yeah, yeah. - So I was like, oh, this kind of, it was a landslide. It was, it was bad. And then there was a guy named D. Militant. Darryl Littleton, who was a producer of Comic-Cue. And he also went up. So he's one that got me out there for Comic-Cue. I got on. And all this is like within the first two years of me doing stand up. This is like 96 to 98. And then I got on Comic-Cue and it ended up winning the whole thing. So that got me the host of Comic-Cue. - That's insane. - And that's when I started going out the nightclubs and headlining it. So I was still in the Navy when all this was happening. - Still in the Navy? - Cause I was, I was driving up to LA. - Yeah. - I wasn't doing any road gigs. And I remember my, the only time I ever featured for somebody's name was Chaz Ellsner at the El Paso comic strip. And they said we're gonna pay you $500. Wednesday through Sunday. - Nice. - You gotta get here. - Yeah. - And we've got a Comic-Cundo. You know, the three of us, me, Chaz, and whoever the host was, we had this Comic-Cundo. And I thought, how are they gonna make money? That is so much money. - I really thought that like $500? Are you guys gonna make money? I drove, I took a couple days leave. I got a, I drove Wednesday morning, drove straight to El Paso. Got there like a couple hours for the show. And I just remember to make it that week. Arby's had $2 beef and cheddar and you get two of 'em. That was lunch. I bought a box of cocoa puffs and gallon of milk. That was breakfast. And then I ate at the club. I went back to the room, I was like, I came back like, four hours to the good. - Yeah. - I was like, oh, this the life. - This is, I'm living good, man. - Dude, I was driving. That whole drive felt like five minutes. - That's incredible. - 'Cause you just wanna go up in a new city? - Sure. - But that was the only time I feared somebody and then Comic-Cundo called. And that was the only time I really left town for a week while I was in a Navy. So then they called and said we wanna make you the host. And I was like, oh shit, I still got like, a couple months left in a Navy here. How's this gonna work? But they weren't filming for another three months. So I just, my base and my command got creative. And I, so I was Larry Host and Comic View an active duty military at the same time, but my base was real cool. - They were? - I'm not gonna throw one to the bus, but they worked away for me to go record. - They're on your side. - Yeah. - Come back down for a couple days. - You could've had some. - And I'm on the gate. I'm waving cars on the, I'm a cop. So I'm waving cars on the base and I want TV at the same time. That's insane. That's crazy. And your CEO was just like a cool, CEO didn't know. - Oh, he didn't know. - Chief knew. - Okay, okay. - The chief was looking out. - That's cool. - He basically, I can tell now, he put me on a part of the base that nobody was really paying attention to. - Yeah. - And it was like, people were like training to do something and I was supposed to be grain papers. - Yeah. - So I was supposed to be in this office all day on this building that nobody's paying attention to on the base grain papers. I wasn't doing that. - Yeah. - That's what they thought I was doing. - I wonder, as somebody who has conquered this in doing these rooms and stand up, what would your advice be to like a white comic who's in it for a few years? Like he has his act together, has his time, whatever, 10 minutes, whatever it is. And he's like, I'm going to do a black room tonight. Like, do you give him any advice in any direction? - No, I say be you. Just do yourself. I saw, when I first started coming up and doing fantasy, he didn't see a lot of white guys going up. I was like the only one. I saw Sebastian go up and destroy. - Being himself. - But he did the Jamie Fox thing from Ray. He turned the spotlight on him. Like all the lights was up. He goes, no, when I go up, all the lights go out and you hit me with that spotlight in the main room. And I was like, I think this before Ray came out. So when I saw the movie where I go, man, that's a shit that the guy did at the conference room. I didn't really know who Sebastian was. This is probably 2000, I'm guessing. I saw him just destroy. And I was like, I think with black audiences, and the biggest difference between white audiences, black audiences have no skeletons in their closet. If you're cousin special needs, talk about it. If your cousin's gay, talk about it. But don't try to snowball us. - Right. - You know what I mean? And I did cheat. in the beginning, 'cause I would dance. So I come out and put on some, I don't know, Destiny's Child or Hip Hop, hit 'em with a cup of dance and they're like, "Oh shit!" - And I got 'em, yeah. So it was a little bit of a cheat code. - Bro, I had some dance moves, yeah. But then when you hit like 35, you're like, "I should probably stop dancing, probably, yeah." I remember thinking, when does this end? When does the dance moves end to get 'em? - Yeah. - 'Cause you know, could you come out, and they're like, "Oh, it's a white dude." And you hit 'em with a cup of dance move, they pop the answer to like, "All right, yeah." - I think I heard of funny, I did, I swear this is, I heard this from Louie, I think, once, where he was, I think at the improv, the Melrose improv, and it was like whatever, you know, whatever night, the-- - Monday night. - Monday night show. - But Monday night was the ghettoest of all of 'em. - Well, he's on this show and they go, they intro, they're like the writer-director of Pudetang. So the whole audience is like, "Oh, like, they don't know who that is." Yeah, we know Pudetang, and then he walks up, and they were like, "Huh?" And then he did like, you know, like a Louie, I forget what the joke was, but he said that, you know, he did like some throw away kind of line, and that people were like, "Nah, hell no." (laughing) Go. - Well, I will say, to go there, like, you know, someone like Ralphie May, or Louis, you know, some guys are like, I don't know, they kind of go there with the race stuff a little bit. You do have to build some kind of rapport. - You have to build something. - Before you go in, like I could get away with a lot more than a lot of people. - Yeah, they know you. - Yeah. - They trust you. - Exactly. - Yeah. - I think sometimes excited, there was always a story about Ralphie May on this thing called the Tom Joyner. Tom Joyner Morning Show had this big cruise every year. It's just all black people on the cruise. And I did it five or six times. I always went great. One year they brought Ralphie, and it didn't go well at all. And it's one thing to get boot, but to get boot on a ship. - Yeah, yeah, you don't even know where to go. - And it was-- - You're not parked in the back. - Oh, I don't know what Chokey said, but it was something the extent of, I wanna miss quote 'em 'cause he and I hear no more, but it was along the lines of, I'm shocked to see this many black people on a ship after all you've been through. Along those lines, right? (laughing) - It wasn't like this. - It wasn't like this. - Yeah. - What? - And keep in mind, the Tom Joyner cruise is nothing but college educated. Black people, they're not a part of that. We don't have W2 crowd. You know what I mean? They're like, what? They said it got, they say phones don't work on ships. Bullshit 'cause my phone was ringing. Really? (laughing) Why'd they bring him? Where you at? Like, why am I the only way they can do that? That ship, they said. But I had to come back the next year, and that's the first thing I said. I said, I already heard what happened last year. (laughing) Y'all know me here. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, but I heard it didn't go well. But that was like one of the things that if Rafe would've had enough rapport, it would've been fine. - It could've got a wave of something. But when you go up as they didn't know who you were, - Yeah. - I said it was bad. - Well, especially if you like that, that's a funny joke. It's a funny obviously. - Yeah. - If you're unknown to that, like if you don't have the rapport and like you open with that, that can set you aside. 'Cause it's different to drop that like 40 minutes in. - Yeah. - You know, like if you have something going and you make that joke, everyone's like, yeah, that's funny. But if you like out of the gate, like nice to meet you. It's funny that you're here. - I mean, I was like, what I heard, that was it. - Yeah, yeah. - It was like, and they said, oh, and then they said he came, 'cause on this Tom Jones cruise, you don't go up once. You go up like three, four times over the week. They said he came back the next night to apologize. My baby last night, and then he did another like boom. And they was like, yeah. And it was something about, I don't wanna repeat it. It was something about what a black woman's vagina looks like. - Nice. - That was the gist of it, right? - My apologies. - And the only thing I know of that is 'cause some black girl came up to me the next week, next year and said, yeah, that dude last year. I don't know what he was talking about. What a black woman was pushing. What the hell, he knew what a black woman. I know you know Gary. I know you know. (laughing) You could have said that 'cause we know you know. - Yeah. - But yeah, he never seen no black pussy. (laughing) - I was like, they said the apology went bad. They said the crowd went, all right, yeah, what? - What dude? - Fuck. - Yeah. - Well, rest in peace, Ralphie. - I thought, yeah. - You know, for me, I like dark humor like most comedians, but I can see where I went left, and I was like, yeah, it was kind of, it was kind of ballsy. I kind of gave him respect. - Yeah, that's really, I did it. - To go there. - To go for it. - I was like, to go there out of the gate is different too. I mean, I think we've all had it where you're like, I'm gonna open with this. - I mean, that's literally, that's a boxer. - Yeah. - It's like Peter McNeely and that might tie some fight. - Yeah. - He just said, I'm gonna go out and swing him. - Yeah. - I'm coming in just throwing haymakers from jump. So. - He also said he was gonna wrap him in a cocoon of fear. - Yeah. - Like before, he was like, I will wrap him in a cocoon of fear, and you're like, what? (laughing) I think that was the best pre-fight interview was Peter McNeely in the locker right before. - Oh, yeah. - He was from a family, the midfielder. - He was about to cry, like he was. - He saw his dad go. - Pete, not me. - No, I'm not. - This ain't good. - Have you ever seen how this show normally opens, by the way? - Uh-oh. - This part. - Okay. - So we usually play an opening clip to start-- - I just started. - I just started hot, didn't I? - No, no, no, it's perfect. - Okay. - But I'm just gonna play you like what normally happens here. Just that we find a clip and we play it as the opening of the show. - I'm Ryan, and I want to be part of it on Barbarizadian cutie with a big booty. - I mean, there's something magical about Game of Pink, guys, that way. - And then this is the, how the show officially opens. - Oh! - Yeah. - I think we did right. - I think it was great. - 'Cause Ryan wants to fart, Brazilian fart. - I think Ryan should be happy anybody. Farts are okay. - We've played clips of him and then-- - Is he a stand-up? - No. - Okay, good. - I think he works in safety. - Okay, good. I didn't want to see him on the road, but-- - Hey, bitch. - Yeah, I think he has like orange, you know, like, like an orange vest on and putting cones down, that kind of thing. - Is he, oh, is he the guy you play him a lot? - I mean, we've found a few videos of his where he just keeps talking about how he wants a big ass in his face, which is cool. - It's fine. - Yeah. - I don't know if it works, but we try to help him by promoting his message. - Now he's saying he wants to get farted on. Which is different. - You know, you can get that done. - Definitely. - Yeah, I mean, for the right price, people do a lot. - Yeah, I mean, I've seen videos where people were like, "Yeah, this guy pays me 200 bucks to shit on him." - I mean, have you seen the rumors? There's always these only fans and Instagram models that go to like the Middle East. - Yeah. - And it's supposed to be just wild shit going on. They're getting flown. Private, coming back with like 300,000 or bank account. So they want to get pissed and shit on. - I go, "I'm just gonna try to be funny." - Just for me. (laughing) - Also to try to tell jokes. - The mindset of like being some middle Eastern, you know, multi-millionaire. And you're like, "Yeah, I've done all the stuff that you guys turns you on. It's boring to me. Can I shit on a model, like a beautiful, can I get a 10 over here and I'll shit on her face?" - Yeah. - And maybe I'll get up now. - Once? - Yeah. - Like me, like Jesus Christ with broken spine and limbs. Oh, you guys went dark. - Holy shit. She's 20. She's gorgeous. This is a gorgeous Ukrainian girl. - This is for 10 days. - Yeah. - Some guy like you come here to give you 100,000. - Dumped on the side of the road and Dubai. - Holy fuck. She went on, including a broken spine. - That's a lot. Take it to the hospital, she underwent several surgeries. The officials have explained, they said the model entered a restriction, a restricted construction site alone and fell from a height. Okay. That's what beautiful 20-year-olds are usually like, "Hey, are they making a building here?" I'd love to see what type of concrete's being used. - Yeah. - She's gonna be all right. I've heard that last one. Get a medical treatment and everything will be all right. And she's going back. She's going back. - Big bank account. - Come on. She looks like AI, bro. - Yeah. - That's insane. Some guy just fucking was like, "I wonder how hard I can hit someone." (laughing) - She had probably had to sign an airtight NDA. - Holy shit. - She declared it and read it. - No. - And then probably said, "If your spine breaks, still can't say nothing." - You were visiting a site. - Right, you fucking crazy. - I like how the family's saying they believed that she did not fall at a construction site. Like, "Yeah, I know." (laughing) That is the least believable lie. That girl was like, "What are they making here?" This is cool. Is this a condo? Can I get a tour? This fucking so insane. (laughing) - So you think the Eddie Murphy girl died? Remember that? The girl that is. went after Eddie Murphy, like a '97, on Santa Monica. - Okay, yeah, yeah. - And then it was a transvestite. And then he or she, I don't know which one it was, fell off the roof of the apartment building. - Really? - Yeah, I don't remember that. - And it was like, the paper said she locked herself out and she tried to swing in from her shawl from the roof into her window, but the window was closed. And she, she fell to her death. - Yeah, that's a normal. - Yeah, right there. Look, 1998. - Wow. - Sex worker being a, please give me a message of these. I don't know where the John Murray's pulled over. I'm a police. - Oh, there's a say how she died? - There you go. - On April's, and they found her down the sidewalk, discovered where only her brawl, pants, and a towel, because she was locked at her apartment and tried to use a towel as a rope to slide down her swing from the roof to an open window. Instead, she fell five floors suffered head trauma. - Yeah, that happened. - Yeah, nothing shady there. When I read that, that was when used to get newspapers, right? I'm literally in LA at the time and looking at the LA times. It's like on the fifth page and I go, what? And even I'm like, what? How is this the fifth page? And you've never heard nothing about it? - Ever, no. Till right here. - That's really crazy. - Have you ever met Eddie? - I did a daddy day care with him. - How was it? - It was cool. He's just like, I was just, first of all, he really does seem ageless. You know, like, you're like, this, I mean, basically looks like kind of the same as when you. - Nah, and he was the coolest. And Grant, this was 20 years ago, we did daddy day care, but we did the audition, got it, did the table, he wasn't there for that. We blocked the scene that morning, he wasn't there for that. And then when it was time to shoot, he showed up. And I remember my first interaction is I come around the door and I'm in this big carrot outfit and Eddie's standing there. And for literally 30 seconds, I was listening to him talk, but I wasn't registered when he was saying. 'Cause I'm dissecting everything, it's his nose. - Yeah. - That's at his ears, his teeth. I'm like, 'cause I'm this close. And then he did it and he goes, "Hey, man, you're funny dude." And he quoted one of my jokes, I go, "Shut up." You know one of my jokes. But he would always be in the back of the comic store on Tuesday's a lot. - Yeah. - And so, he'd always find out later. Eddie was here tonight. And so then the fact he knew one of my jokes, I was like, "Oh, kind of validated it." - Yeah, that's so crazy. - I mean, that has to be the best feeling. I mean, I have a friend that knows him, that said that even now he loves watching, he watches specials a lot. - He sits around watching. - He knows everybody. - Yeah. - Everything, he's up to date with all that shit. - I just can't believe that in standup, like in comedy especially, one of the things that the trade-offs is like, you can be cool, but you're not that cool, right? - Like Eddie Murphy cool? - But Eddie is like the exception of remarkably funny. And he has the coolness of a leading man action got. Most of the time, if you do standup, you're just, you're not that cool. You trade off a little bit of coolness to be funny. - Yeah, that's my first time meeting. - That's right there. - Right there. - That was right there, he comes down the corner. You know what I'm talking about? Nervous, holding that goddamn carrot. Like, say Eddie Murphy about to rock around the corner? See what the walk around the corner? - That's wild. - Oh yeah, and Steve's on Jeff Garland. - Yeah. That's crazy, dude. - Yeah, that was awesome. - I've been lucky in my career. It works with every A-list black comedian. I got Jamie Foxx, we're off the bat, did held up with him and then we did Rebellum Martin Lawrence and did Little Man with the Wayans. God, he's done four, four or five movies of Kevin Hart. Like it's been like, as far as like black Hollywood, I was like, I got to work with all of them. - On the tops here, dude. - Yeah. - I feel like Martin doesn't get celebrated as much as he should. - All that Martin show, Jesus Christ. - To this day. - Now I love how social media clips pop up now. They still hold up. - They still hold up. - Also, when Def Jam was the hottest show, it was crazy 'cause you would see really funny people, but I always had this thing where I was like, I couldn't wait for him to come back. I was waiting for the host, even if he was gonna do something transitional. Like, hey, give it up, 'cause he was so charismatic and so funny that even 15 seconds of him, I was like, yeah, that was awesome. - He was the original crowd work, dude. - I always said like, the Def Jam that struck me, like, oh, the media can portray somebody one way, they can be completely different. Remember Derek Coleman from Syracuse? And then Detroit and all that? They always act like he was the biggest asshole. And like, he always had a skull on his face. And then he was in the audience at Def Jam and Martin went off on him, like talking about his girlfriend or something like that. - Yeah. - And this guy's hitting, guy next to him and dying, I go, wait a minute, I thought he's about to get out of the seat and beat Martin's ass. And I was like, he's laughing at that? Oh, I can't believe everything I see on TV and how they-- - You can't. - How they show people. - Do you watch the one where he lit up Anthony Mason? - Oh my god, him and John Starks was in the audience? Oh, fuck, yeah, I don't know that. There are so many good ones. - There are so many good ones. But he was like, dude. - It wasn't the same as you left. And this is how they respect the Joe Tory or then they brought it back years later with Mike Epps and DL. It was never like the first three years. - No, that was incredible, dude. - That was the best run. - Where'd you shoot? Because you've done a bunch of specials, but the, sorry, what's it called? - No S. - No S. - Where'd you shoot it? - San Jose at the improv. - Oh, that's a beautiful room. - Yeah. - Well, this one came about, it's crazy how it came about, 'cause you know what, Stan, I saw you work so hard for your hour when you're gonna get it, like, all right. So Friday we shot this one called Broken Family, that's on YouTube. And then Saturday morning we did two episodes, I mean, we did two shows Friday, and then Saturday I woke up, I was talking to my manager, where he was like, call the shop, and I go, you know, did we get last night clean? And she goes, yeah, I go, I think I got another hour. I think we can do it. - What the fuck, man? - So she was like, yeah, she goes, all right. Let's write it down. So we're at the college out, and we're just writing bullet points down, right. I go, I got this, I got this, I got this. I said, I think I got it. So she, we taped, I remember, it was one through 12. We taped 12 words, so on the stage, case I got lost, 'cause I was so focused on the other hour. - Sure. - I know it's new hour, but I knew I had like a, I only had to get through like 45 minutes, 'cause I had this joke about undercover boss, that was like 15 minutes long, and it's in this special, and I had shot it for my special like two, three years ago for Showtime. And Showtime said, you gotta take that joke out because they're Showtime and undercover boss are both under like the CBS umbrella, and that was one of their most profitable shows. And they said, she got, I go, really? I'm not even, I'm making fun of it, but I'm not putting it down. - Yeah. - I thought that was a little much. - Yeah. - So I told least, that's what made me think of it when I woke up, so I said, yo, I still got the undercover boss bit. We never aired it, I can do it. And then she was like, she's all right, so we just came with the other 45, and honestly, it came out way better than what I thought. I thought, let's just wing it, and if we don't use it, we don't use it, but it came out, I got done with the hour ago. That felt good, you went into the second time, it felt good, so I ended up getting two specials for the price of one basically. - That's insane, it's insane as a comedian that you were capable of doing that. That is, I mean, unbelievable, dude. But here's what's funny, yeah. It's the same outfit, it's the same stage. 'Cause you wear the same shit on both? - Yeah, that's funny. - Because I've only brought, I brought that shirt twice, I brought two pair of jeans. 'Cause you got a switch price there, I was like, if you watch Broken Family and No S, it really could be a two hour special. - Sure, sure. But that's still so impressive that you could do that. I mean, that's why you just had another hour sitting in your head, like, yeah, I could do this other tonight. - Yeah. - Crazy. - Yeah, well, I mean, it came out because I undercover boss bit, I was like, that's what the catalyst was, I can do that too. - Oh, yeah, the reality show, right? - Where the boss goes in, they hide out. - They put him a wig and a fake nose. - Yeah, but that was the, just so the joke was like, the, going through COVID, you start watching a bunch of shows you wouldn't watch. And I go, it ruined undercover boss. I used to like it, but it always ends the same. It's the same. It's always a sob story. And then they're gonna overreact, they're gonna give me. - I know you work in the warehouse and you have three kids that are in college. (laughing) - We're gonna pay for them to go to college. - And then they have to do the thing to the guy that was kind of a dip shit. - Yeah, there it is. - The way you talked about women's tits was really offensive to me. - Here at Hooters, we have a standard. - We have a standard. - And you didn't meet that standard. - Don't disrespect them, so you can get fucked. And you're like, oh wow, what a great guy. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, look at this fucking guy. Jesus. - I don't think the show's on anymore. - Is it not? - That a good run. - Yeah, that's a great run. - I think we had a, we auditioned for a movie, I think you got the part. 'Cause I got called back like two, three times. You know how you go up for a movie and then you watch it and you're like, I think that's the part. Did you do a movie of Mark Wahlberg? - Yeah. - Some family movie? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yup. - Yeah, they kept calling me back. And then they go and then you know you do an audition and then you're like just put it to bed Yeah, but then when they call you back, you're like what? Yeah, that's Yeah, yeah, that's us there. Yeah, that's on the set Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were the dad, right? Did you have babies me and Alan Rachel the girl there? We were a couple that was I was I was Mark's brother-in-law like her the girl and It's the family. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah the that's your audition tape. I have no fucking idea hysterical I didn't mind in my basement. I was living since an idea at the time. I found out that they also almost cast God Paul Hauser for that role. Oh really? I can see that. I was like. Oh, yeah, he's way better choice That was like David you know David Kekner. Yeah, so I did a movie with him and When I sat down with him, I go dude, you know you've like killed my movie career I go I go he's got like three parts, bro Yeah, like iconic parts. Yeah, that I that I went in for at the time like like anchor man Sure whammy and then when you watch her like why didn't I think of that? Yeah, he's great. He's really good really good Yeah, super funny guy, but yeah, you've had a great running movies - man like it's awesome Yeah, it's funny when you talk about think like like think like a man was probably a big one Mm-hmm, you know, but it was funny like I remember when I got the call for that I didn't have to audition That's the best You know what sucks is when you do do auditions you're like, you know you can just give me it Yeah, cuz I've gotten shit given to me right to offer. Yeah Well, Packer was a producer and I don't forget he called me goes. Hey, Gary. I got this movie man Steve Harvey book he says I need a white guy. They can hang out black guys, but not try to be black He goes, but I need somebody they can kind of give it to him a little bit on the love like all right Yeah, but I remember and I could be wrong, but I remember We were talking about cancer. There's there's two white guys Chris Pratt was in the running For one because he wasn't who he is now. Yeah, cuz I remember when his name came up I went who's that and they were like the guy's not like modern family or not modern family Parts of wreck parts of wreck. Yeah, there's these own parts of raggo. Oh, and I looked at my go. Oh, yeah guys funny And then I went he looks a lot like me though, and then they were like Yeah, we're we're going back and forth with the studio He goes, but what was like I'm going to bat for you. All right, so I think Chris ended up all right. Yeah Things worked out. Yeah, he's good. He's he's real good now. Yeah That's incredible, bro Like you you want to play a game with me real quick? Sure All right, throw your throw your headphones on So this is um, so many people have done this game. Okay, it's called Tom or black and it's a Voice that you'll hear and you have to vote whether it's me or a black guy Okay, I should crush this. I mean there's a lot of pressure. I should yeah, you should just Okay, here we go. Well, this is the intro to the game Let's see this episode I'm the one that had the elephant's roost and intrigued shit man. That's Tom Segura. Okay, so here we go I left a wallet there You can also ask for a repeat something. Did you speed that up? No Say it again, okay. I left a wallet there That's a black guy. So you the hill he'll keep score in there. Okay Don't compliment that bitch. That's a black guy Okay That's not a day's to pal. I would say black. I'm not you. That's Tom That's you Crying through play guy That sounds you but I'm gonna go black. I think you're trying trick me. I mean, I'm always trying to trick. Yeah. Yeah And then Here again, yeah Again, I think you're trying to trick me. I'm gonna go black. I okay Josh How do you do hold on? I gotta calculate the score or should we go through one by one? Yeah, let's go one by one That's a good idea. Okay. So you want to you want to play the first one back? Sure. I left a wallet there. He said black That's me. I've I was gonna change one. It was that one. Mm-hmm. Okay, second one. Don't compliment that bitch. He said black That's a black guy. Cool. Good job, man He said Tom. That's a black guy. Was that should pal? No, it's a homeless guy in the street But a character he would have done, okay Said Tom. That's a black guy. I Really fucked this game up. It's okay What do you say black that's me He said black that's a black guy. That's too right and then He said black Who was that? Is that me or the black guy? That's you, right? It sounds like me. Yeah, that was me Well, I get two two out of what six seven two a seven. I got to tell you it feels good not playing a game of work I've had I've also had black people go we did we've done ten and they've gone oh for ten I've been thinking that you're trying to fool me though. That's how it's like yeah, no, I mean, I'm definitely trying to those are But those aren't sped up or nothing. They're not sped up. They're not manipulated. Yeah Is this bits from your act? I mean, sometimes we throw in bits like clips from a bit and then sometimes it's just you know I don't know like I went to the Florida State Bama game this weekend So I heard a lot of stuff and I'll probably fucking unbelievable. It was great because they won at home They were playing they were unranked playing a thranked Bama as Bama Bama coming and they went If as you went two and ten last year, so you're like they're gonna get the absolute like that's what everybody but the place was energized They have a renovated stadium like it was just there was energy palpable energy at the game in every room people were just vibrating. Have you ever been to Colorado yet since Dianne got there? No, have you? Yeah, well, I didn't go to a game I went and did his talk show on To be he's got talk show and then Dion so cool. I'm known Dion for 20 some years, but he the next day I caught a late flight because I wanted to see the facilities so we go down there and Dion comes out and just like Like classic Dion just walks you around the entire place you go through a suite It looks like exactly how you think of Dion sweet like there's I think there was a throne I mean everything's in gold. Yeah, and God just golden God and Nike Yes, and then even his even his dressing room was just like all these Dion shoes lined up look like a like a trophy case of shoes And it's just it's all prime everything's prime prime prime, but he is he is the best. He's the reason he's a big reason why We was talking about earlier like you can't judge the Derek Coleman thing. Yeah, like I'm not gonna throw it into the bus But I'll tell you off air, but he came to one of my shows at Caroline's 20 some years ago, and he brought a white NFL guy And everybody knows and not to the white NFL guys being a dick But he clearly just wanted to get to a seat and I'll be bothered Yeah, I went to the kitchen. What's up, baby? I five in the cooks to chef. You know, all right, man And then he sits down. I was like just complete man of the people. Yeah, you know what I mean? And then people are like, I was just like look, I tried to sit down. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? And there's nothing wrong with that either. Well, I was like this. I go, but now I saw and I go The the news of me think Dion's a prima donna and a dick Yeah, and it would have been the other way around. Sure. I go. That's not what happened here. He's so cares I did I've never met him, but he did a podcast with me via zoom Like a couple years ago, and it was awesome like because I I'm a big FSU fan and the foundation of that is being Yeah, and watching prime for sure. You're so you got it's got a suck that you guys had Randy Moss Oh, dude, and because he's did you watch some people don't know that the the the story that Randy Moss first went to Notre Dame got kicked out for For nothing for it was a that was the fight at and West Virginia. I know Then he goes to it because like by bad. I was like you can come down here. Yeah, take guys to fight right and then he's on the team that would have been I guess it was 97 or 97 and that fucking team was already God damn Loaded and they said he was torching your DB. Oh, dude. It was like who is this dude? This dude's crazy and then he gets booted from there for smoke and a joint. Yeah, he when I've gotten really close to Randy over the years I did his when he got in the Hall of Fame He brought me a Minnesota to roast him. It was a real private event, but Randy's the best, right? So he that ran university on ESPN when he said he went into Bob Bound's office and Bob Bound's like yeah, they're gonna You violate your probation and you're gonna get killed team and yeah, you might go to jail for a little bit and Randy goes for smoking a joint - What a thought, he completely like robbed the bank and fired the parole like that. He goes, I just literally went home. My boys was sitting on the corner of this gas station and I took a hit of a joint and then it was so ridiculous the way they treated him. - For people that watched games in that era, that means it would have been Peter Warwick and Randy Moss running routes. I mean, they were already dropping fucking crazy points on people. - They were so dominant in that era. - You had the old quarterback back then, right? - Yeah, yeah. - Shit, that was a winky, was it? - Yeah, Chris Winky, is that his name? - He was like 30. - Yeah. - He's got three kids. - He's got a mortgage. - Yeah, Randy's the best boy. - I met him at the Brady roast. He was fucking, yeah, he was awesome. - Nah, I told a buddy of mine one time, when I go to Charlotte, oh, he'll come scoop me, we'll go get something to eat, right? 'Cause my buddy's a, my opener's a football fanatic. And I said, I didn't tell him who it was. 'Cause I knew he'd bike freak out a little bit. So I was like, hey, my buddy's gonna pick us up for lunch today. I go, he's gonna be in a lobby at like one o'clock. All right. So we're out in front of the marry out there in Charlotte. And then he goes, I said, hey, he's gonna be in a big pickup. I said, I'm gonna tell you who it is now. So don't freak out when you get in a car. I go, it's Randy Moss. He goes, what? I go, that's what I didn't tell you before. And then he goes, he goes, dude, you start moving. Yeah, he goes, I'm gonna go check my shirt. What's gonna be driving? I go, I guarantee you, he'll be in a pickup. I go, there'll be fishing rods in the back. There'll be dirty gym clothes in the bed of the truck. I go, it ain't gonna be like Hall of Fame Randy. This dude is country. So we get in the truck. It was like Randy heard me talking. There was shoes and gym clothes that were dirty. There's lures and earthworms in the back of the truck. And he started talking, they started talking fishing. I want to stab myself. Oh yeah. I go, can we talk football? Yeah. I'm boys. What kind of lures you like? You know, you like deep sea fishermen, Randy? Like, I hate deep sea fishing, man. Nah, you know, I'm from West Virginia. And I moved to Charlotte 'cause I got a lot of bodies to water. He goes, I like to put my pole in the ground like that bobber going under. (laughing) He's really country. Yo, they talk fishing, I go, yo. And Randy goes, and they're like, I never can get to go fishing, I go, I'm gonna catch one fish. I'm not taking off the line. Yeah. It's one fish I'm gonna hold up, and then I'm done. You're not touching it. I don't want to do any of that. I'm all good too, dude. Yeah. That's him and Brady talking fishing. I was like this. Randy didn't talk football at all. You ever see those clips of him playing basketball with J. Will? Oh, ridiculous. And then Jason's like, yo, he was unbelievable. That was his quarterback. Yeah. Who, he also was like, I wasn't he player the year one year too? I think Jason was. Well, I wonder why. Look who you're throwing to. It's just fucking. Hey, I'll heave it up 12 feet in the air. Yeah. Yeah. That's just wild to me. Like, Randy Moss is the most country redneck black guy you ever meet. Yeah. Jason Williams is the most flavorful white guy you ever meet. But if you get him together, the same person. To the same guy. Yeah. That's what's wild. Some West Virginia shit right there. That is. Yeah, that's, I just, I don't know. You see, like, Randy's one of those guys where you go, like, oh, there really are, like, aliens amongst us. Like right now. Something like that. You just go, there's the guy, the guy who can run a 4-3, can't cover him. Yeah. It's really other level, man. He was. He never looked like he was running hard. No. Like casually. I'm casually doing a 4-2 right now and I'm 6-4. Yeah. Fucking unreal, dude. Then he ended up at Marshall. You know, I grew up and we was talking before the air. He was in Fairfield in Hamilton, you know, why, where I went to high school was Oxford. That's Miami of Ohio, you know, back then Marshall played Miami. They were in the same conference. Oh. And they was like, that was the one game that Stadium was overpacked because Marshall came to Oxford. And they were like, we got to see this shit. Yeah. I think Miami beat him that year. I think Miami beat Marshall that year. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it is crazy that he ended up at a one AA program. That's wild. Yeah. Yeah. The arguably the best player in the country is like, I'm going to go to a different division school. This guy could have started anywhere in the country. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. You still a big sports fan though? Yeah, yeah. What's your sky football? NFL football is my thing. So I'm die hard since I had Bengals. That's nice to hear. You don't know. You hear that a lot? Bengals? Yeah. I mean, then we got J20. I always pull for the Bengals because I still have that affection. Oh, that was my first thing. Yeah. My dad's favorite sport was football. So we watched, we watched a lot of college ball and then NFL. And Cincinnati, like that was the first game I ever went to. And then when we left Cincinnati, we left in like the winter, I guess, I think it was a winner of 88. We left the year they went to the Super Bowl. Yeah, boomer-size in team. Yeah. Ike Woods. Yeah. Who I ran into out of the way on a flight. Oh, really? It was surreal because I'd never met him and this is like 30 years later. Yeah. And I was like, that's fucking Ike Woods. Yeah. And he never got paid. No, he never got paid. People always be like, he's selling meat door to door. I go, you realize he was like a fourth-round pick, right? Yeah. He only played like two years. He never got paid. The knees. His knees went bad. Yeah. He only played like two, three years in the league, but that rookie year was ridiculous. Crazy. Yeah. And if you're a kid, I mean, I had his poster up. Yeah. Inky Shuffle. Come on. He left and like, we went to Minneapolis and I remember I went because my parents were pretty Catholic and they're going to play in the Super Bowl. And I went to like the big downtown cathedral in Minneapolis and I prayed, like, please let the bangles win the Super Bowl. Like that. They were like, what are you praying about? I was like, nothing. I just want to happen. Happy life. And you don't even know, like the guy Stanley Wilson got, they found him in the hotel. Yeah. Coked out of his mind. I was like this. That was when that happened, I go, I think we're fucked. Yeah. But then we still have the opening kickoff go back nose a kickoff went back, not the opening ball. Okay. Stanford Jenny's brought. There's like in the third quarter. Yeah. He took one back to the house. Like, boomer didn't have a good game that game. No. But also they put the San Francisco put together that it was a it was a fourth quarter drive. John Taylor. Like yeah. And like two passes before that, Lewis Billups had the ball right in his hands and dropped at the DB. And I just went, I mean, it was Joe Montana. He doesn't do that. No. He threw it right to him. And he dropped. I go, we're done. Yeah. It's like one of the things you saw coming. I go, we got the lead. Two minutes left. I go, this is Joe Montana. This is what he does. Yes. What he does. And then I, it's crazy because. I was in Syracuse at the funny bone about 10 years ago. Joe's son was playing at Tulane. And they were up there to play Syracuse and I saw Joe in the lobby. And I went up to him. I said, hey, at first I went through to wife. I said, hey, what's up, man? Big football fan. I said, you know, I got it. I know there's nothing to do here tonight. The games at noon. I know you're not flying out after the game. There's a king get out of Syracuse. I go, I'd like to invite you guys to a show. So they said, yes, I was shocked. His wife calls, yeah, I think we're going to come tonight. I was like, awesome. So I leave and take it. He comes and hangs out in the dressing for a few minutes. I don't think you really knew who I was really, right? Get down with the show. Ask if I can get a picture of course. We get a picture. And then his guy took a picture too. And then like a month later, I get this blown up picture of me in Montana and he autographed it. And he's got like his seal at the bottom. He has to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Why you got me nice? Yeah. I hate it. I hate you man. Yeah. Why you got me cool. That's funny. I was like, that's pretty bad. Oh my god. Like it just cannot left his guy called and was like, yo, Joe wanted to send you a thank you for, for getting him in the show every day. The show seal on it. Yeah. It's got the Montana thing at the bottom. I still got, I got to hung up at the house. I'm like, I can't hang it up in the main room because people are like, I thought you like the Bengals. Yeah. No. So I got in the back. Yeah. It's pretty cool though, dude. I remember being a kid because I'm only like nine or ten when this happens and I was obsessed with Jerry Rice. Like I loved Jerry Rice and I, it was like the first time where I was like, oh, I actually, the feeling was I can't believe I want Jerry Rice to lose. Do you know what I mean? I get some angles. Yeah. Cause like in the game, I was like, he's like an idol and I was like, oh, but I don't want him to win. And that was like a conflicted feeling because I can't believe I want as a kid. I want this guy that I admire to lose and I, I mean, you understand our business. Like you go to cities and some guys might come out on another team and you're like, I, I, I know. I'm a Bengals fan. I can't root for you. I know. Especially when you do well in cities like Pittsburgh is a great comedy market. Fantastic. Cleveland. Fantastic. And they, you know, the guys coaches will play with the come out and you're like, I'm not supposed to like you. Yeah. I know. And then when they invite you to the game, yeah, you're like, shit. I'll tell him I go, dude, I'm not, I won't wear a bangle shit, but I ain't wearing, I'm wearing your shit. Yeah. And I'll golf club. Yeah. I went to the AFC title game, co-beers go to the Bengals, play the chiefs and sat in Travis Kelsey suite. Uh-huh. Cause you know, he's a Cincinnati guy though. Yeah. So a lot of guys are from Cincinnati that I was, I sat, I just sat in the corner. It was sweet. I was like this. And they was all me though, cause they knew. Yeah. They want us like and then Travis was cool. I go, "God damn it. Why'd you gotta be cool?" - Yeah, I know. - Fuck. - Yeah, both of them are rad. They're good guys, man. - Yeah. - I like him a lot. I've been invited to games where they go, "Hey, don't wear the opposing teams colors and gear." And I was like, "Well, not a fucking asshole." - I know. - And they go, "You'd be surprised." - I couldn't imagine. - Yeah. - Some guys do it like as a badger honor. - Yeah. - Like, "I don't go full." - Yeah, you know, like, "No, I want to get invited back." - Yeah, no. - Be cool, dude. - Yeah. - Be very cool. Dude, this was a treat. I really love the meeting you. - Yeah. - It's like it's been literally 20 years of people being like, "You know Gary, right? You guys are both since then. I'm like, "No, I don't." - And it is wild in our business, 'cause you just think we all know each other. - Yeah. - And like. - And it's literally like you said, like you look on the calendar and you're like, "Oh, he's coming. - Yeah." - Coming in a week. I won't be here. - Right. - But yeah. - What made you make to move the Austin before we get out of here? - It was during the pandemic. I always felt like, you know, I have a lot of, I lived in LA 19 years. I have a lot of affection for LA. There's things I still love about LA. But like during the pandemic, when it was like chaotic, well, you know, in the city, I'd never, my wife was raised, like since she moved her, which is two, she was a lifelong Angelino. And every time, you know, sometimes you do weekends, where like, I would always get back from like Denver and be like, "Damn, that was awesome." Like, I love Denver. She'd be like, "Yeah, we're not gonna fucking move there." Yeah, I was like, "Yeah, okay." And then it was during the pandemic, where everything was shut down, where as it was progressing, she was like, "Hey, I'm okay to get out of here." I was like, "For real?" She was like, "Yeah." Like we can do what we do from anywhere. Let's look. So I just kind of was like, okay, started to like check out different cities and came here. This was one of those cities where every time I'd been on tour, I would go, "Oh, awesome was great." It was like a great week. So it was just like on the short list. It was only like four cities we were considering, all over. - Yeah. - And then when she was like, "I like this one," it was kind of like, "Okay, we're gonna look there." - Huh. - Yeah. - It's been over four years now. - Yeah. - But you live in Texas? - Houston. - What made you choose Houston? - I got a divorce. - How was that? - And I was like, "All right, well." - That was leaving where? Where did you live? - San Francisco, Oakland. - Oh. - Okay. - So I was like, we had, we had, we still had a house in Cincinnati. And then we had a house in California too. So it was like, I was kind of back and forth. And then when the divorce happened, I said, "All right, I gotta be, I need a city with a hub." 'Cause I'm still flying out just about every week. - Yeah. - Like, no state taxes. I was thinking where I could save money too. - Yeah. - 'Cause you know, hopefully you'll know if you go through this. But then the attorneys getting your brain, you'd be thinking, "You about to go broke." - Yeah. - You have to get out of here. You can't have a divorce guy in California. They'll share all the horror stories. I was like, "All right, so I just need a place with a hub." It got down to Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston. And then I met a chick. And I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna go to Houston." - Yeah, yeah, that's all right. That's still the deal on those three cities. - Are you happy there? You're working on that? - I love it. I mean, obviously it's like awesome. The summer's a little rough. - Yeah. - It gets a little hot. But I mean, I love it. It's funny. I still have a city I got my car broken into. - Yeah. - I still was like, "All right, well, yeah. It's all good." - Welcome to the city, baby. - Yeah. - It just happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not like you. But it was like you always thought Dallas, Houston were a great stand-up town. - Yeah. - You know, I always felt like I was tapped in socially with the right of friend groups. I was like, "Yeah." - This is a good time. - Yeah, Houston was always a good city. - Yeah. - I don't know what is, most urban comics, that improv is usually one of their biggest money weekends. - Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. - 'Cause it's big. It's usually sold out. You're not in shows. - And sometimes, yeah, you'll see. I've, it's been a while since, but I remember being online and being like, "Oh, look who's at Houston." And they're like, "It's doing 10 shows." Like, this guy's like, "Add and add and add and just kill it." - Yeah, I mean, also, some people don't realize how big of a city that is. - That's a fucking huge metropolis, man. - Oh, Houston is un-real. - It's massive. - Yeah, you can be an hour from your friend. - Yeah. - Never see him. - Yeah, pretty much. - When you got three comedy clubs in one city, and it used to be even more, I think. Like, if you go back 20 years, I think they had like five at one point. - Yeah. - I think we're definitely in a comedy, like, resurgence right now. I think we let the Kansas culture have their time. And then we kind of had, "All right, we're, I think people are done with that." And then it, the ticket sales right now are just through the roof. - That's awesome. - That's so many people though. I'm like, "All right, everybody's getting back out there "for trying to laugh." - Yeah. - Have a good time. It also means that people are spending money, which is usually encouraging. It's fun. - Yeah. - I think I've always heard the one thing that recession does not affect the standup. - Yeah. - 'Cause people still wanna spend money to get away from all that shit. - Right. - They wanna forget about it. - So when you're reading the news and everything and people are freaking out, we're like, "Oh, we're still good." - Yeah. - Go see the standup show. - Yeah. - And go see Gary if you've never seen him. Gary Owen.Live. Don't forget to check out NO-S, his special available on YouTube. But there's also, you have like, six, seven, I forget how many, you have so many specials. - Yeah, I can't tell you. - Yeah. - Well, just like Google them. - Yeah, we got two on YouTube this year. We got Broken Family and NO-S came out this year on YouTube. - Incredible, man. - Yeah. - Real pleasure to meet you. - Yeah, it was fun. - Absolutely. We'll see you guys next week. - Please tell the audience so I can have a record that you're impressed with my water consumption. - So you do water now. - You're the water champ. - It's been the water champ for as long as I've known you. Pound the water, pound the water. Even the water champ for as long as I've known you. Let's go, let's go, let's go water champ. - That's what I'm talking about. - That's pound of water champ. - Boom! - Get it! - Running away! - Let's go, let's go water champ. - Pound the water champ. - Pound the water, pound the water. - Water champ. - You're just drinking that much water. It drinks water. - It's just water. - He's the same type of city. - He's not as a team, while he's treating. - Oddly enough, my wife also competed. She came last, but you ever seen you drinking water? - This might overwhelm the urge to consume my water. - You understand? - I'm not a water champ. - You understand? - Water champ, water champ. (upbeat music) - Let's get drinking and no one's had a word. (upbeat music) - Pound the water, pound the water. - Let's go, let's go, let's go, water champ. - Pound the water. - Pound the water. (upbeat music) - Is this effectively water, too? (upbeat music) - People were discussing who's the water champ. - No, no. - Let's go, water champ. - Let's go through those. - And they have four, 16 ounce of water. - Who are the water champ? - I've never seen someone drink so much water. - Drink such a short glass. - Pound the water. - Pound the water. - Pound the water. - Pound the water. (laughing) - Just a mad man.