Andrew Schulz's Flagrant with Akaash Singh - Louis C.K. Was Almost GAY

Episode Date: August 2, 2022

Louis C.K. Was Almost GAY by

I trust AIDS. Do you? AIDS is doing a great job at what it does. I'm not saying it should be doing it. Like 9-11, you had to end the sorrow and the anger and the rage and the sadness. You had to go, dude, fucking bullseye. Bullseye. What's up, everybody?

Welcome to Flagrant. And listen, we are here with the reason why I was able to put out my special. Thank you guys so much for supporting it. And the star of his new film. We got Louis C.K. and Joe Liss in the building. So I was telling you this before. I just got to say thank you so much. Because if you didn't do it, then I wouldn't have been able to do it.

And this has been a really awesome experience for me. And I'm just really grateful. And I believe in giving credit to those who paved the way, man. Well, it's no problem. I thought. Sorry. I just assumed. I just assumed that was for me.

I did a YouTube special. That's why I thought. How did your Rogan go so badly? You're such a great guest. Right before the podcast, we're sitting out there. And we're saying hi to Joe and introducing Joe to everybody. I'm like, hey, man, I'm really excited for this. He's like, me too, man.

Oh, by the way, I did the worst Rogan ever. He's like, I was told by everyone. It's the worst Rogan ever. I think I have like the first worst and like the fifth worst. I've done it too. I'm 0 for 2. Top 10. Yeah.

But I feel bad because I took away. Louis was going to say something very profound, I'm sure. No, this is better. Keep going. I just wanted to do a bit and get out. But Louis, thank you. I didn't do it for you. No, no, no.

I didn't even know you existed. I didn't even have an abstract notion of you or anybody else. Or anybody else. It actually annoys me a little that you're doing it now why is it taken away from me how amazing yours was that's right i want to be the only one to ever do it now now you did immediately please i'm very pleased you're doing you immediately

asked how much money i made of course i did and when when you found out i made less you were like i'm really proud of you. Is that what you think? No, but you wouldn't tell me how much you made. I didn't tell you how much I made. After you asked me how much. That's right. I asked you. Well, it's like poker. It's like, what are your cards?

It's not an exchange. Is that a part of poker? Sometimes people ask people, what do you have? And it's an interesting tactic in poker. They don't expect them to tell them. But you go, what do you have there? And then they look at their face after they ask. That's interesting because he thought this was friendship and you thought this was poker.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were playing poker against me. It's all poker. Yeah. And you're the worst negotiator ever. You didn't say, are you going to tell me? You just told me. You just told me. You gave me fucking industrial data. You gave me industry data with no prior, you know, agreement.

You just said, I asked you, you told me. It's astonishing. You said. How a person does that? I go, you go, how did it go? Now, you're not asking emotionally. No, that's right. I said, how did it go?

And then you said you wanted, do you want to know how much? I did. I did lift my hand. You did. I did. Which means nobody over here. No. He heard it, but not. But not.

I heard it and tweeted it out. I hope that's cool. That's totally fine. It's out there. Totally fine. It's on my Insta stories. And I did not share with you how much I make. But then I asked you in the same way. I was like, do you feel comfortable with me asking you? And then you pause for a moment and you say, no, I do not.

Well, you see why you rewrite things a lot. Because it's not about what happened. Yeah, that happens. It's interesting. And it's not because you're lying. It's because you hear yourself differently. You just said that you said, do you feel comfortable with me asking? Yeah.

That didn't happen at all. You just said, do you mind if I ask you? Hey. That's very different. Do you feel comfortable with me asking? Yeah. That didn't happen at all. You just said, do you mind if I ask you? Hey. That's very different. Do you feel comfortable with me asking? Which is a dumb question. Yeah. Because you're going to ask somebody that before you ask a question?

Do you feel comfortable with me asking you about your childhood? You know? No, I don't. Then I won't. It's fucking stupid. It doesn't make any sense at all. You asked, you said, can I ask you? I said, I don't know.

What if I was like, yo, it'd be super if you didn't tell me how much you pay. What if I said that? Would that be a little bit better? I would have told you immediately. I don't want to be super. We can't say this. We got to cut. Cut everything.

Edit. Are you crazy? Yes. Oh, my. Yeah. Cut everything. Edit. Are you crazy? Yes. Super. Jesus. Yeah, I don't want you to know how much I made on my shows. That's corporate data.

I know how much you made at least. Do you? Yeah. What do you mean? How do you know that? I don't even care what you think you know. Well, you tell us how much you know. I know you made more than me. So I know at least how much you make. Why do you think you know?

This is more interesting to me. I don't even care if you're filming this. I'm so interested. Why do you think you know that I made more than you? You have a bad poker face, bro. That's interesting. Sometimes people ask people things knowing they're not going to get an answer

and then they just judge by the way you look at them. Based on outfits, Andrew made a lot more. Based on outfits? Oh, yeah. But, you see, it's even dumber than having a bad poker face is believing that you know somebody's poker face before you've even seen their cards.

This is the third time you've called me dumb. I'm saying that things you're doing are dumb. I'm going to keep counting them. I'm saying that things you're saying are dumb. Okay. That doesn't make you dumb. Ah. Nobody is stupid.

You understand? Wow. I don't know about that. That's sad. It's like I said something racist. What? That's sad. I don't know what I said. That's sad. That's something racist. That's so upset. That was super **** right there.

That was super duper ****. How is he super duper? Everybody's smart. Everybody's ecstatic. That's not what I mean. Nobody's stupid? That's not what I mean. Nobody's stupid.

What about the people who are like clinically? You mean retarded? Retarded people, yes. Like, yeah, they're on the spectrum or something like that. Guys, spectrum is not stupid. It's called Down syndrome. Yeah, Down syndrome. Down syndrome.

Downsies. Yeah. Jesus. The Downsies. The spectrum is not about intelligence. The spectrum is about social, being able to connect. No, no, but the retarded spectrum is about that. There's a retarded spectrum.

Well, you think they're all the same IQ, Louis? Yeah, but also the IQ test. Every one of them is the same stupid? Yes, I understand what you're saying. And an IQ test, objectively, there's a low score. That's a stupid person.

Yeah. It's like a tested thing. This is science here. Oh, okay. I guess he's right. Do you not trust the science, bro? Yeah, no, I don't trust the science. You can't trust science.

Keep going on that. Science isn't about trusting. Science is about questioning. Oh, shit. Trust is about religion. Trust is faith. You don't trust science. You look into it, and you test it, and you criticize it and scrutinize it.

Are you that? You trust science. It's fucking, that's bullshit. Somebody does an experiment, and then they go, here's what this means, and then everybody goes, all right, we have to trust that. No, somebody needs to keep redoing it and redoing it. Yeah. All the greatest theories in science have been like, you know, like Stephen Hawking, the guy with the. Yeah. You know that guy?

Downsy. Yeah. He's so stupid. He's the stupidest man alive. That guy, he had a whole theory that he created that changed everything. Relativity. No. He was relativity, actually.

Yeah, right? Everything's relative. Wasn't that the name of the movie? That was Einstein. A sitcom? Well, whatever. He wore the same thing every day. I thought that was Steve Jobs.

He did too. He took it from Einstein. I like how that's your... Well, that's a uniform. Still smart. As you were. So Hawking had this...

Hawkins? Hawkins? He had a theory you were? So Hawken had this Hawkins. Hawkins? Hawkins, Hawkins, Hawkins, Hawkins. Hey, Hawkins! He had a theory that changed everything and now he had students and he told one of his students, just try this formula. Prove this just for fun.

And then the student couldn't do it. Kept coming back and then he realized, oh, my theory is totally wrong. And he had to admit it. His theory was flawed, had flaws. He had to redo it. But if everyone trusted his theory, it would still sit there wrong. And there'd be spaceships, you know, crashing into moons.

Now, is that how you feel about the vaccine and, you know, and AIDS and stuff? Like, how do you, yeah. What and aids and stuff like how do you yeah what about aids and stuff well i trust aids i trust aids do you aids is doing a great job at what it does i'm not saying it should be doing it right i'm saying it's it's a fantastic virus you know yeah like 9-11 you had to in the sorrow and the anger and the rage and the sadness, you had to go, dude, fucking bullseye. Bullseye. Bullseye. I'm glad you said it because I can't.

You know what I mean? Thank you. Bullseye. Both? You got both? Two. Fucking two. And the Pentagon.

And the Pentagon. Are you fucking kidding me? Crazy. Boom, boom. And Building 7. Building 7. Yeah. I mean, just, oh. and the pentagon and the pentagon are you fucking crazy boom boom and building seven building seven yeah you know i mean just oh lord have mercy they were masterpiece would you say yeah yeah yeah i wish they hadn't for sure i wish they hadn't sure but because of all people that died they really nailed it they fucking nailed nailed it, dude. Yeah. And I think they see it that way. They can appreciate it. One of my favorite stories about it was there was a documentary about it on PBS after.

And they tried once before with the truck bomb. The one Notorious B.I.G. sang about. I think it was 96. Like 95 or 96. Yeah. I remember it. I was living here. 93. So one of the guys that remember it. I was living here. 93.

So one of the guys that did it, they were taking him... They talked to a cop. This was a great interview. He just had a fucking Rain Man moment right there. I think it was 93. It was 95 or 96, I think. What was 93? Wasn't that the Somalia?

Black Hawk Down? It wasn't 93. I think Kuwait. You're thinking of Kuwait, I think what was 93 wasn't that what was that the Somalia Black Hawk Down it wasn't 93 Black Hawk Down you're thinking of Kuwait I think when did Biggie die 97 okay

1993 1993 was the bombing let's go list let's fucking go okay the fuck oh I know my bombing

and then 2004 was 9-11 he knows when was the when was the guy the guy that gets Fuck. Oh, I know my bombing. And then 2004 was 9-11. He knows. When was the... The guy that gets the 93 bombing but nods at 2001. Okay. That's a great Galifianakis joke. When he says, someone said, where were you on 9-11?

And he says, what year? Funny guy. Oh, man. Very funny guy. PBS. PBS. PBS did a documentary. So they interviewed a marshal, a federal marshal, who escorted one of the perpetrators of that first bombing to his trial in Manhattan.

And they had him in a helicopter, and they're flying to the courthouse. So he's next to the prisoner. Oh, shit. And they're flying right next to the World Trade Center. My God, this guy. And the federal guy and the federal guy the fed marshal is just a cop he says i pointed at the buildings and i said you didn't get him did you and the guy just coldly said we'll get him wow whoa what language and they did those

buildings are no longer there yes they no longer they're no longer there they are no longer there that might be where he got the idea flying up there he was like oh this is the way that federal marshal probably was the inspiration for it

he was the muse you know that might be true he was the muse for 9-11 from the air fuck from the thank you buddy from the air

he's probably asking how do you fly that thing he's probably asking little questions right there it's his fault I don't know if he was thinking of using that helicopter

it could have been a helicopter. I think it was more of a week from the air. Yeah. You started out really smart. You got stupid at the end. Oh, now they're stupid. What?

Yeah, see, that's what I'm saying. People go in and out of stupid and smart. You like to let people know when they're being dumb or stupid, Louie. What they're saying is stupid. Yeah, it's a good word. It's a good, valuative word. Are you projecting something, maybe? Do you feel stupid? Yeah, a lot of times yeah yeah tell us about that i feel stupid all the time um every day really when did you feel

stupid today you big dummy i'll tell you last time i stupid, I was in a swimming pool on a paddleboard, teaching myself to paddleboard in a swimming pool. Okay. Wow. And I was starting to really nail it. And somebody was watching me and I was showing off. And then I wanted to jump off of it. I wanted to dismount and splash. But I had gone into the very shallow part of the pool. so I cracked my fucking knee on the bottom of the pool, and then I couldn't do anything for the rest of the day.

That was stupid. Yeah, that was dumb. That made me feel stupid. That's why I call him stupid, too. To get it off. Get it off of me onto him. You've got to cleanse the palate. I'm comfortable.

Why not? I don't know him. I had a scary moment on a stand-up paddle board in Aruba. When you do the stand-up paddle board, if it's really windy, you become like a sail. I'm comfortable. Why not? I don't know. I had a scary moment on a stand-up paddleboard in Aruba. It was like really wind. When you do the stand-up paddleboard, if it's really windy, you become like a sail. It's bad. If it's coming at you, it becomes really work. And I couldn't fucking move. And I was really struggling. And a guy that was swimming went, hey, just step off of it. I was in like three feet of water. So I just got off and like walked back with the paddleboard. But I was like doing fucking this and I couldn't get anywhere.

And he's like, yeah, you just get down. Now, Joe, can I ask you a question? That's the last time I was stupid. That was it, huh? 2005. And then it was there. The year after 9-11.

Nailing it. Nailing it ever since. Are you a great actor, Joe? Are you kidding? No. Give me an emotion. What do you want me to do? I'm going to do

Asian veteran. Asian veteran. Oh, I fought hard in the war. That's beautiful. I survived the war. Asian veterinarian. Can you do that?

Hey, give it a shot. Wait. I fucked up. I fucked up. That was Italian. Oh, oh, your dog is sick, eh? But I made a choice, you see. Good actors make choices.

He makes choices. He's a great actor when it comes to making choices. That's a thing, 100%. Joey's a really great actor. He's a great natural actor. And as evidence of that is the movie that we made. Well, that's what we were getting in there. Was he your first choice for this movie? He's the only choice. Not my

first choice. I argued to not play me. I wanted Chalamet. Because of the resemblance. Yeah, exactly. I see that for sure. Right? Yes. Chalamet would have been fucking great to be honest. He's a better actor than Chalamet. Say that again. I think that he's a better actor than Timothy Chalamet.

Have you seen Dune? Yes. That is the third worst movie I ever saw. Oh, that's great. Yeah. I was watching it. I don't get it. It's a huge piece of shit movie.

I love that movie. It's just people. Just sounds and then. Why are we off my brilliance so quickly? We're chiseling out your brilliance by saying what isn't good but what isn't bad okay okay

so you think Dune sucked yeah I hated it are you a fan of anything good yeah I'm a fan of all the good things

okay did you like Top Gun Maverick I enjoyed the shit out of it it's a big silly movie but so was the first one but I enjoyed it. You can't just give it up.

I just loved it. The best part. You can't just give it up, huh? The best part. No, that's accurate. That's accurate. Towards the end, when somebody says, like, you're back, Maverick, where you belong. And you hear all these bald, fat guys.

You just hear all the dudes are crying. Yeah, we're back. They hurt us for so many years. We're back. No, it's beautiful. That movie is beautiful. Yes. Top Gun Maverick.

It is a great movie. Another, like 9-11. It's like they shouldn't have done it, but boy, do they fucking nail it. They're fucking nailing it. There's suffering and there's sorrow. And I'm sorry for the family. But wow, guys. Yeah.

Well done, Maverick. Now, after you saw Top Gun Maverick and you have this film with Joe that you guys are putting out. Yeah. Right. Do you see is there a resemblance between Tom Cruise's ability to capture emotion and really kind of like hold a scene and Joe. Joe List. A hundred percent. And as a matter of fact, when I saw that movie and I thought about this is being enjoyed all over the country.

People are loving this movie. And I thought about this is being enjoyed all over the country. People are loving this movie. And I thought our movie is a perfect like companion for it. Also, Fourth of July, patriotic name. That's right. There you go. And born on the Fourth of July. I mean, look at all this. Oh, my God.

It's a Tom Cruise movie. But whenever it's Tom Cruise movie. So I'd help him out. He's in a wheelchair. Downsy. Physical Downsy. Downsy from the upsies. I'm an upsie. He's a Downsy. He's a Downsy. That's what we should call him. They should have been called Downsy. Physical Downsy. I literally got Downsy from the Upsies. I'm an Upsie, he's a Downsy.

He is a Downsy. That's what we should call him. They should have been called Downsy. Okay. Yeah, whenever there's been a big blockbuster, there's been a little movie that came with it, like a little movie that everybody really loved. For example.

I have no examples. Okay. I had a feeling. I had a feeling. So like with Terminator, there was like another movie that everybody really loved. For example? Like a little funny. I have no examples. Okay. I had a feeling. I had a feeling. So like with Terminator, there was like another movie that came out. I think probably something like that. Maybe like a Labor Day.

Let's just say so. Like a holiday movie about a holiday. Yeah, or like Sideways. When Sideways came out, I don't know what the big blockbuster was that year. 2004 was actually a couple months before. That's right. There you go.

Look at the big brain on Akash. Yes. Smart motherfucker. Smart. Pulp Fiction 94 okay is there anything are you like a guy

like it's hard for you to celebrate mainstream successful things not as long as they're good I I I like when a movie kicks ass

when everybody digs it yeah I don't like when they just push just push push marketing yeah and it's just bullshit. And say, we swear to God this is good.

And they spend tons of money on the movie. Dune. And there's just an inevitability to it. Dune is an interesting midway because it's not just a dumb piece of shit that they're like, everyone's going to like this because people are stupid. It's supposed to be smart. It's supposed to be cool. But you didn't find it's cool. Does that bother you more?

That tends to bother me more. I think it does. There's just more pretension in it. But then I do have to respect that people love Dune. They love it. I have to respect that. That means they're right for them. Have you? It's just for me.

It makes me feel isolated because I'm like what is that? But everybody digs it. You've got to respect that. France. Do you ever go and spend time there? I know where he's going with this. You're like a French guy. You're a very French person.

And on the surface, you're not. I feel like you're complimented. No, we. No, no. I'm not trying to joke around. I'm being serious. You're a very thoughtful person, but you can point out the kind of almost like, what did you say about Top Gun? It was, it's a fun time, but it's also silly.

Yeah. That's the French attitude? I think the French are skeptical about very incredibly successful things. They like to, like, pull out the—they're like food Jews. Food Jews? Yes, exactly. What's a food Jew? Well, it's like a Jew, but it also likes food.

So it's like—so, for example— Food Jews. Food Jews, yes. I think I still know where he's going with this. Does that come from your world of people say food Jews? Do you think I'm a Jew? What? Do I think you're...

Schultz? Yeah. Schultz is like the name of the guy in... The other guys. Yeah. The other bad guys. So, yeah, I think you're thoughtful. I think you're interesting.

Why don't you just bump him for it because he's a Nazi? I think so. No, he's not a Jew. Not a Jew. That was your fist bump. Oh, you don't know? Okay, I see. Yeah, yeah.

You worry about that because of your nose. You said that, not me. Whoa, you made that observation. I did. Who else has big noses? Italians. Italians have big noses. Italians.

Yeah. Also food juice. And Arabic girls sometimes. And lion. Women with big noses are sexy. You're into a big nose. That's a sexy attribute in a woman. Really?

Would you be gay? Right now? From French to gay, I don't know which one I would choose. Well, that's the gateway. Would I be gay? Be gay. Could you say more words so I know how to answer that? What?

Would I be gay? Mm-hmm. Come on, more. If, would I be gay if? Would you be gay? Mm-hmm. Come on, more. Would I be gay if... Would you be gay if... Would you be gay if... I actually like the philosophical... Yeah, we're being French right now.

Would you be gay? Yeah. We're in a cafe, dude. Given the opportunity, given the... Hey, that's for you to... Whatever. Yeah, sure sure why not you don't need circumstances no like if you just had an emotional and like romantic attraction to

a guy would you just would you indulge in it i would be scared and i would contemplate going towards that fear because of public scrutiny i'll tell you a moment that i felt i almost became gay so see see, sort of like... Let's go. Okay, I was 16, 17, living in where I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. And my friends and I did a lot of drugs. And a friend of ours took us to a downtown Boston loft show. It was like a concert in somebody's loft apartment.

Okay, pretty good. And it was super cool, and I felt so cool being there. And a friend of mine knew some of the bands, so I got to meet them. I'm 16, I'm 17, smoking pot, you know. And so we're leaving the loft. We're going down these stairs that are going like this, and some guys are going up because it's continuing. And one guy goes, hey.

And I look up and there's a guy at the top of the stairs. And he goes, he's wearing like Buddy Holly glasses or something. This is the 80s. And he says, hey. And I go, what? He goes, where are you going? And I said, well, we're leaving. And he goes, you're cute.

And I said, thanks. And he said, come back up. And for one second, I thought, that's a choice up. And he said, come back up. And for one second, I thought, that's a choice up there. That's just going, going back up,

letting my friends go back to Newton and being gay. That was a choice. But I looked at him and then I went forward in my head to the big, you know, cock coming all in my face. Yeah, yeah.

I was like, nah, let's go home. The homosexuality is a choice is what we're taking from this. For me at the moment, it was. A homosexual act

would have been a choice. That's always a choice. An act is always a choice. Well, it was like, what's my nature? Is that my nature? Is that what I want? Is this, you know?

I like things about the moment. I like that he was invited, that he was a grown-up and I was reaching out to want to be a grown-up. And he validated that. And I like, yes, that he validated me and that was reaching out to want to be a grown-up and he validated and i like yes that he validated me and then he said i want you to come up and hang out with these grown-ups that you don't even know yeah that was interesting but then when i added the gay sex

angle in my head yeah i thought that's taints the moment for me i don't want to do that because the sex part i don't want to have sex with a man i don't desire men sexually but we want validation from men sure and we want to feel cool and you're. I don't desire men sexually. But we want validation from men. Sure. And we want to feel cool. And you're at the cool loft party. And then in that age, you just, if someone gives you that, you know, you go, oh yeah, I want to hang out with you. You made me feel like that.

Do you think if you weren't already. I liked him too. I liked the way he talked. He was assertive. Something about him, he seemed open and cool and like. Fatherly. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. He's like, I'm going to fuck that kid. Come on up here. This is French. Good for you. You're French, man. You have a French honesty, dude. I think you're from where you are from in the world.

Where am I from? Like stupid land, is that what you call it? I know that you're a lot smarter than you seem. I'm a dumb guy. Yeah, you act like a dumb guy. I don't know. You make money acting like a dumb guy. Okay.

But you're smart. You're educated. You were raised with a lot of money. I went to a party school. Yeah, intelligent people with money go to party schools. My parents didn't have crazy money. Wow. That's true, right?

Fuck. My parents taught dance lessons for a living. How much money can you make doing that? You tell me. I don't know. I won't tell you. Millions of dollars. Don't tell him.

Again, you always tell him the money. Come on, you got to get him to say something. No, but I grew up in the East Village. You know? Yeah. You grew up in the East Village. Aster Place. Wow.

And there was a French influence. Yeah. Yeah, sure. At Starbucks. Did you just question whether it was the fucking east village yes i did i didn't dislike you until that moment of this podcast and i almost wanted to punch you in your head you looked over at joe like joe was gonna know what the fuck the east village was i confirmed you guys it wasn't joe it was anybody what the fuck do you know about new york you moved to the

west village you're right around at loft parties 100. You're right. You're right. 100%. Okay? You're right. Jesus Christ, these hipsters. Bushwick is the real place right now. Do you see how important it is to him that he's from the East Village? Nothing if he's not a New Yorker. That's it.

That's my identity. For a New Yorker, East Village. Yes. That's how important that is to you. No, it was just a unifashion. That's what the hell is of growing up on Astor Place. But can I be honest with you? Is that you're not quite there and you'll never fucking live together.

No, you're close. Right now we're on Lafayette. You're close. You're in the fucking border. You wish you were. Well, no, this is in Eastville. This is like Nolita Soho. You wish you were Eastville.

You wish you were like with Leonard Cohen and people like smoking hash. I don't know who those people are. But you live in Eastville. I don't know who. You had nice parents. You were sheltered. You had a good life. It was beautiful.

It was a great life. You're a Mexican. I am. I'm a Mexican. Explain. But real quick. You're a Mexican. I am. I'm a Mexican. Explain. But real quick, you were right about the insecurity wasn't, it's what the East Village is now. East Village has moved over. People who live in Alphabet City go, oh, I live in the East Village.

Before, that wasn't. But now that it's moved over, now where I grew up is like no-ho, and now I've lost my East Village identity. Yeah, I understand how that feels. And that's what you were tapping into. So you were right about that. I understand how that feels. I get it. That insecurity came out.

I'll be honest. I think insecurity is not—people always want to get rid of it. You're like a French investigator. But it's from somewhere real. Yeah. Yeah, I'm like Cousteau. You're a fucking jock. You said Cousteau.

I said Cousteau. He investigated underwater. Yes, he did. Yeah, don't judge. He went up to fish and he said, what neighborhood do you think you're from? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mr. Marlin. Yeah.

Yeah, the Alphabet City used to have its own character, its own. It was its own place. Yes, it was. And now it's kind of been gentrified by you people moving here to follow your dreams. Yeah. To our great city. Yeah, me and the Mexicans gentrified. Yeah, the Mexicans coming in.

That's right. Now, you lie a lot about being Mexican. You're a big time liar about being Mexican. Can you cut that shit out a little bit? Why do you think it's a lie? Do you speak Spanish? Claro que sí. No, hablas español, wey.

¿Hablas español? Claro. Go ahead. Yo, yo, yo, he was struggling. Yo creo que no hablas español ¿a dónde aprendes español? tú no hablas español cierra esa mierda viví en España

viví un año en España y también trabajé en muchos restaurantes y ahí aprendí español ¿entonces estás español? no eres español no estás And then I learned Spanish. So you're Spanish? No. Of course you are. No, no, no. You're Spanish.

You're not. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's grammar. That's what makes a person a person, isn't it? Don't be defensive. Don't be defensive. Yeah, you're really e-villaging this right now. I know, you really are.

I own it. I'm defensive about it. But you don't even know anything about why I'm Mexican. I mean, why do you think... Do you really think I don't know why you're Mexican? I don't know anything'm defensive about it. But you don't even know anything about why I'm Mexican. I mean, why do you think... Do you really think I don't know why you're Mexican? I don't know anything about what you know. I hope this ends in a fist fight. Yeah, right?

Way more. You guys just kick the shit out of each other. I do my research. Yeah. I know about these things. Research is me-search. Mm. Ooh.

What? Now... That's a saying. What? Talk about it. That's a saying. When you're doing research You're searching yourself

Yeah It's like when you're writing You're always writing about yourself Even if you think You're not writing about yourself That's true I'm a smart motherfucker too I'm French

I want to be French I'll make out with a man Right now Mark is giving the opportunity Invite him upstairs Come on. We've got some spiral stairs. Yeah, we do.

Did you feel when you walked up those stairs? They weren't spiral, but I liked the image better. It's a half a spiral. Don't tell people what's on the back end. I didn't go back there. I don't know anything. I believe in that. I trust that.

If you tell me that's a spiral staircase. Yeah. You want to go for a walk up the staircase? No, but it's there. Can I try again? Hey. Hey. Where are you going? If that guy had done that, it would have been like, so you guys don't know how to act. You don't know how to pick up a teenage boy.

Damn bro. Okay. Okay. You don't act sexy with a teenage boy. You act cool. Hey, what's up? Come on. Is that cool? I mean, it almost worked on me. That's why I know it. Right, right, right, right.

Cool's changed, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it's all good. We all get old, bro. Okay. Am I the oldest person here? I think so, right? What do you mean?

You can't ask that question. What do you think? What do you fucking think? Oh, my to ask that question? What do you think? What do you fucking think? Oh, my God. Break out the font on your iPhone again. Also, when you talked about the bald fat guys crying at Top Gun, I was like, was Louis crying at Top Gun?

I cried at Top Gun Maverick. I did. I knew it. I knew it. I can't believe how they preserved this fucking character and how Tom did yeah and brought him to I mean as soon as it opens

with the shots of the aircraft carrier and that and the guy's pointing and all that you're like I can't believe they did this I can't believe they did this

did they really do it and then you see Maverick with his older but still cool arms as he's you know doing this on the thing. And you're like, go, man, go.

This is so fucking good. And then you meet the other characters and you're like, all right, let's get through this. Like, I'm the tough girl. I'm the guy that doesn't ever give it up. I'm the guy that's kind of, I don't know what anybody's doing.

You got to watch that for a while. And they keep cutting to Maverick, which means nothing. But in that first scene in the bar, because they're like, it's okay, he's here. It's okay, he he's here maverick is here he's here he's it's for me so the young people are meeting these characters that i hate but they're mavericks it's okay jennifer connelly's over here she's okay they cut to the two of them constantly they they're it's not important that they're listening to these kids it's important that you as a viewer see them when you're watching

yeah sorry go interested that's all i'm done When you're watching, yeah, sorry, go, go. That's all I'm done. When you're watching, or you know when we're watching standup, but you're like seeing if you could see where this joke is going, et cetera. And when you're watching film, is it like that? All the time.

I stop and go back all the time and see how, why the cuts were what they were. And yeah. And this is always? Always. And you can see why they did stuff. They fixed it. You can tell they fixed something. You can tell they cut something here. You can tell they cut something out. were what they were and yeah and this is always always and you can see why they did stuff they fix so you can tell they fix something you can tell they cut something here you can tell they

cut something out it's an awkward transition and you know yeah i'd study old movies all the time that way okay you're studying movies obviously stand-up is exploding i'm talking about earlier in your career right yeah you did you notice that there were like certain stories that just exploded and what it was about like story that we're so drawn to? Like, why is it like, I don't know, there's something just about human beings. Why are we so engaged by the story? I can give somebody a hot take or a hot premise or whatever, but the story is the impactful thing. The story is when everybody's sitting around in a group and you're telling a thing that happened, everybody shuts down. That's right.

Why? sitting around in a group and you're telling a thing that happened everybody shuts down that's right why movies stories is big it drives it grabs your interest and it drives and then you relate to it and you want to see what happens and it's suspenseful when a movie is about something like an issue it lays there because you feel the way you feel about a movie and i'm out of an issue and maybe they maybe they're on your side maybe they're not but you're like it's just laying there so these political movies they don't they don't grab a viewer but if you're watching a story by the way you can get to an issue by driving through the story and do you think do you think hollywood has an inflated sense of self or do you think it is uh because of how impactful certain movies and stories are do you think there are certain people in hollywood they're going listen

we're going to change the course of American history with this movie. It's not that highfalutin. It's cynical. A story works, so they go, let's do that. Let's do that story. They just keep doing it. Every story has a reverberating effect on a bunch of movies. So somebody comes up with a story nobody's quite told before, and then it gets done again again and again everybody's just chasing yeah they're just chasing other people's stories around okay

and some people are actually good at some of those are okay you know some b movies are actually you know good on that level it's a rehash of some other thing and they put a prettier face on it and you know you get and then yeah it's style you have a style of filmmaking yeah get that there's a are you a fan of the Nolans at all? I know this is like mainstream. Christopher Nolan. Yeah. Not them.

I mean, I don't get grabbed by those sort of like, this is time is twisting. That was really, really weird. But I almost feel like, and maybe this is because I'm a fan of, of their work.

I almost feel like that's. Are you saying they? Well, Christopher and Jonathan, his brother, Jonathan writes it with him. Oh, I didn't even know that.

Yeah. But I just, I wonder if that's them like trying to flex their storytelling ability i do think that those movies are sincerely interested in what they're doing i don't think they're like but it doesn't gravitate to you or that's yeah it's not my thing but they're good they're great movies and some people absolutely if anybody loves a movie it's not my thing, but they're good. They're great movies. And some people absolutely, if anybody loves a movie, it's a great movie. What is the best movie you've ever seen? It's impossible to say that. I don't really know.

So many that, there's a movie, the ones that just pop in my head, like Hard Times is a movie everybody should see. Charles Bronson? Charles Bronson and James Coburn. should see it's charles bronson and james coburn and it's just about a guy who's a bare knuckle you know uh brawler where they go to like a factory and they get two guys and they just and guys throw money it's like a cockfight with men yeah it's during the depression and it's set in new orleans and somehow they made new orleans they shot it in the 60s look like new orleans during the depression and it's funny as fuck and it's strange and it's beautiful.

And there's just Charles Bronson just fist fighting with dudes. Long fist fight scenes with blood everywhere. And it's super fun. Great movie. I heard a cool story about you. And you can tell me I can't say it,

but it is really endearing. I heard you're about to be a good guy. Okay. For once. endearing. I heard you you're about to be a good guy. For once. I heard you gave a bunch

of money to a boxing gym in the area because they were going through tough times during COVID. Yeah. Alberto. It's really close to here. He has a place called WTF. Work, train, fight.

Yeah. Alberto was a boxing trainer at just a crunch gym years and years ago. Somewhere on YouTube, there's a video of me boxing with him. Was it on Lafayette right there on like 4th or something like that? Yeah, yes, exactly where. And he's wearing a SpongeBob costume because it was Halloween that day. And he and I sparred, and he really went at it. He hurt me.

So there's a video of that on YouTube somewhere but he used to train me back then I love boxing training yeah and then years he's just a very unassuming guy yeah and you come with train and then I got back in touch with him and he had started just humbly said I started a gym I went there. It's a fantastic gym. And all kinds of people go there. And Manhattanites, you know, boxing. And he makes a lot of money with those folks. And then he dedicates a whole other time to bringing kids into the gym for free to use boxing to help them get off the streets and have, you know, the ethos of boxing is a great way to get to teach young people to make an effort and to have some structure in your life. So during COVID, he was taken aback. You can't do it. And they didn't give him a cut on the rent or anything. He was paying like $20,000, $30,000 a month.

That's right. It's an elite place. But he also, he's so smart. He makes WTF gear. Gloves, everything. And people love it. He's got a podcast, WTF. Right.

He has a whole podcast. How smart is that? Then he puts on glasses and he had the president on. He talks about anxiety and depression. It's pretty amazing. It's a big show. But he also has fights

on Friday or Saturday nights where people pay to come and watch the students fight each other. They have little grudge matches and he makes videos. He started shooting videos and promos and and stuff he's a brilliant guy and a very sweet guy and he helped me a lot and when i came back to boxing i really needed it at the time yeah and he had started this gym and he let me use it so it was an easy call for me i just think that's really cool it's like uh... I mean, I gave him $800. It wasn't that much.

So you're telling me you made $50 million in your specials that you put on your website? At least $50 million per day. So $75 million a day. Yeah. And you gave him $800. That's right. And he told me you demanded three reps. You're like, I'll do it, but I need three hand reps. Three hand reps.

Because I have three hands, yeah. One number you shouldn't have used. That's three. I gave him some money. I gave him some money, yeah. Okay. Oh, this is you guys boxing. Oh, this is hilarious. Oh, wow. I was in my 40s then. I was already...

Look at you, hopping around. Trying to. But when he hit the body, you see those body shots are destroying me. Yeah. You got hands though. I see you.

Okay. Have you been in a street fight? Not really. I punched a kid in the face once and that's about it. In Mexico? He started crying. Yeah.

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July 31st, that was the last day that we were selling it. It's been unbelievably successful, all because of you guys. I'm incredibly grateful. Thank you so goddamn much for spreading the word about this and just telling everybody you fucking know, posting on your Instagram, posting on Twitter. It's been awesome. We're going to continue to get out a few more links for those of you who couldn't afford it. And we sent out a bunch already. I hope you guys really enjoyed it. But once again, thank you so much. We made a fucking comedy pay-per-view event. We held on to the conversation for two weeks. I mean, there are comedy specials that go up on

Netflix and then people talk about them for a day and it's fucking dead. For two weeks, people were talking about this. And we did that shit. And I'm incredibly grateful and I'm incredibly proud. So thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. And that's all I want to say. Now we can get back to the episode. No, back to the Mexico thing. I want to clarify this. You did live in Mexico. Yeah. And you spent formative years in Mexico. Your father, I believe, is Hungarian and Mexican? Well, he was raised in Mexico. His father was Hungarian. And then came to Mexico.

Moved to Mexico in the early 1900s. Married a Mexican Catholic woman. And had a huge family of all my uncles and my dad. My mis tios y mis tias. Okay, okay. And my dad. I think it's an American thing where we're surprised that people move to other countries

that aren't American. That's right. Well, it's not so easy. I mean, at the time, there was quotas for, he was trying to come to America, my grandfather, my abuelito.

Yeah. And he was a Hungarian Jewish doctor. Oh, you're Jewish. Yeah. Well, I'm not Jewish. I wasn't raised Jewish, but heritage.

But it's in you. The IQ and everything. A quarter. The IQ. The love of the big nose. My grandfather's love of the big nose. I thought you were just trying to get back in the industry. Back home a little bit. Only donating 800 bucks.

Okay, yeah, okay. So to clarify, you are Mexican. Yeah, yeah. I was born here. My father came here to go to school, met my mother here, who's American, Irish, English, you know, Michigan girl. Very smart woman, my mom. And they met at a – she was going to summer school, and he was at school,

and they met, they married, and then they brought after my sister. When my sister was born in Mexico. Was this a visa thing or like to get your dad to be able to be here no he was here to get an education oh okay yeah so they're still together to the no my mother's dead and he's just in a fucking some shit hole home that i paid for 800 bucks a month will get you a long way put him to work that's right okay fights on friday nights yeah 800 bucks a month will get you a long way you make them live at the fucking boxing studio put them to work

that's right fights on Friday nights when somebody's 54 you don't ask are your parents still together I didn't know they divorced when I was 10 but we before I was even one we moved back to Mexico City

he got a job there at a bank and we lived there until I was even one, we moved back to Mexico City. He got a job there at a bank. And we lived there until I was about seven. So I moved to, we came here. And I remember coming to America. Speaking New England, I only spoke Spanish. And you have full red hair. You're in Boston. And you only speak Spanish.

You know Canelo Alvarez? I looked like that. But I can't imagine with people in Boston, where there's already Irish redheads everywhere, seeing an Irish redhead and then you not being able to communicate. It was weird. We moved actually to Framingham, which had a big Puerto Rican community. Okay. So there were Puerto Rican kids in my school that spoke Spanish but wouldn't.

I had to adapt really fast. And I had to learn English really fast. My sisters all still speak fluent Spanish. Everybody in my family but me speaks fluent Spanish. Do you think that helped you become a comic? Yes, it did. Adapting did help me. And just kind of feeling on the outside?

100%. Good question. Yes. I did. Did I ask any good questions? No. It's been tedious. This has been impossible.

Oh, damn, damn. I was really trying. You asked if he would be gay. That was your big question. No, that's a great question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, damn. I was really trying. You asked if he would be gay. That was your big question. No, that's a great question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. What do balls taste like?

Balls, what do they taste like? Yeah. A little bit like chicken if you eat them. If you lick them. Skin. An elbow. At the end of the day. It tastes like balls.

It's an elbow. Okay, something I've always wondered about you is you reach the mountaintop of the industry, right? Like you're going to be humble about this. I'm going to tell you what it felt like from the outside. It's just outside looking in, right? We're all looking

at this guy who we know is hilarious and then all of a sudden the world finds out that he's hilarious and he's doing whatever he wants to do. You do a show. It's critically acclaimed. You have this weird thing where you're like beloved by like working class mainstream people and Hollywood. Even your face is uncomfortable because I'm complimenting you.

This is like a comic thing. I've realized it's hard. It's okay. And then you go independent. I think a lot of us went independent because we didn't have the opportunity to do these things, right? You chose to go independent.

Why? I never understood it. I imagine everybody's like begging you to produce shows. They're going, please, can you write a show, Louis? Oh my God, can you make this movie? Can you do whatever you want? Well, it always seemed like the smart thing to do to me because it felt good.

I liked the way it felt more than anything else because you see so much waste in the way things are done and so much stuff that's about why are we doing this? Yeah. Oh, God, I wish we didn't have to do that. And also, I like guys like there's certain guys I really admire like Floyd Mayweather. The greatest, in my opinion, not the greatest boxer. Yeah. He's the greatest great of all time. Meaning he's better at boxing than I think Stephen Hawking's was at science.

Yeah. Or anybody was at anything. Yeah. I think he perfected his craft more. He really did. Guys like him and also Tyler Perry is another guy who I really admire. Oh, what a fucking beast, dude.

Great fighter. I fucking admire that. I admire Tyler Perry. Yeah guy who I really admire. Oh, what a fucking beast, dude. Great fighter. I fucking admire Tyler Perry. These guys who just... What's your favorite Medea? I've never seen any of his work. Family reunion. I've never seen a single Tyler Perry.

I watched a little bit of a live one. He started by doing these live things. Oh, the plays, yeah. And he'd make a house and there's people upstairs and downstairs. He loves upstairs. And they're wearing the weird headset. the gay guy upstairs yeah yeah and so i saw how that worked and that he's just getting selling tickets but another guy that's just like him just as much is john waters um who wanted to make movies had no way he lived in baltimore but he thought straight lines he didn't go like somehow someday they'll discover me he

just went to a movie theater and asked them how who decides what gets projected on that screen very basic and they said well we get him from the studios and he goes and he sees that there's shows till 9 10 p.m he goes do you have a midnight show and the theater goes why would we do that he goes let me have the room at midnight. I'll pay you rent. And then he goes with a shit camera and really poured a lot of work into and made his movies about his community and made them mean so much to his community. Crazy people, you know, Divine, the transvestite and all these people. And then he'd show them in this vault and give out flyers and pack those fucking places.

It was a huge thing dolomite dolomite is another guy who's just like if i'm this and i'm the only one who does this thing that i do i can find the people who dig it yeah and so i didn't do that ground up like these guys did i came up through the industry comedy club hammering at comedy clubs then i went to television learned television learned how to write tv and tried having my own show in different places and stuff but when I got all of that upstream battle is not much you can do except keep trying and you don't have any control over how you do it but when I got to be big when I got to the place where I'm like um I've I put on sale, it sells out. It's guaranteed, right?

When you get to that place, that when your show is announced in any, and I was at a point where it was like, any building on earth will take my engagement. I can book it. And if I announce it, it will sell out. It got to that, not like giant stadium. I'm not Kevin Hart, but you know.

Yeah, but there's also very, for us, it's always, all right, he sold out Radio City. Fucking amazing. Garden next. I'm selling out comedy clubs now. Now theaters. You, it's like, I'm selling out Madison Square Garden. I don't probably want to do the next bigger thing.

So like, I'm set. Well, when I got to that place where it's like, we put a show on the sale of the garden and then another one and then another one. What do you do with that power yeah what do you do with that so you can go to the big companies and say write me a huge check because of the power that i have but to me it was far more interesting to figure out who are these guys how did the who books this place how does this happen and wonder if i can do some version of it

myself and also when you sell your own tickets when you go directly to fans you get the glengarry leads you get their if ticket master and live nations sell your tickets for you yeah they get those emails they get this context they have control over your audience yeah yeah but if they have come i have a email list that's people they have comes, I have an email list. That's people that have been coming to my live shows and buying my specials since way back. Yeah. You said two things that were interesting. One is somehow you managed to do the garden without Ticketmaster.

No, we didn't ever got without. We, we, I did this one year where I was like, I'm not going to use Ticketmaster. Not because I think they're evil. They're fucking smart.

Yeah. They cornered a market. Yeah. But I saw that there was a way to get, we found E-Tix, this company that would do white label ticketing that looked like it was just our tickets. Yeah. And their Ticketmaster's fees were $12.50 a ticket. And E-Tix was $1.50. Yeah.

And there's no difference between what the two companies do yeah so i used etix so i could bring the fans tickets down i had it was 50 bucks anywhere you saw me in any seat yeah and we hired guys to kind of stop scalping so that really fans were only paying 50 bucks that's great and the garden said we're not going to take you because we use ticket master and the ticket master was run by a guy named Irvin something. And he, we would go, this is a long story. I don't know if it's that interesting. I think this is.

Well, we went, like, we'd go to a city like Kansas City. And a Live Nation Ticketmaster has, those rooms belong. They actually own those rooms. They're doing what I want to do. I respect it. They're buying the whole room. Fuck selling tickets. We own the room. Yeah, yeah. They own the venue're doing what I want to do. I respect it. They're buying the whole room. Fuck selling tickets. We own the room.

They own the venue is what you're trying to say. Right, they own the venue. And so you pay them rent. And they're your fans paying the ticket. All that stuff is going to them. Double dip. And then you get whatever's left and your fans pay too much

and you get too little. So we would go to a room that doesn't have a live nation. You like a run down shithole room and would say, we'll do a show with you and sometimes they'd agree and then the next day ticket master would make a deal with them and rub us out because they saw what we were doing and they went around i thought there was a garden thing where you know so what happened was that i couldn't play the garden so like i did the city center here which was the only room that was not controlled yeah um it's about 2,800 seats i think and i did it for two weeks every night like two shows i did something like 30 shows there and it was a lot of money a lot of work yeah but so then the next

year ervin what's his name left ticketmaster and went to msg and he kind of wanted to stick it to his old boss. So he gave me a deal. He wanted me in the garden. So he put, I didn't even know it was legal for me to say all this, but he, he, uh, he made a deal with me that the garden would pay Ticketmaster half their fee and I would pay half. So he paid six and I paid six. So I paid my fans fee so that they could come to the garden to see me for 50 bucks. To me, this was fun and interesting and I would have made less money than I would have, but that's enough. Yeah. To me, that's, I've always, I have a cap to how much I want to earn. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Past that cap, it gets fun. What fun can I have? How can I earn money differently than gets fun. What fun can I have?

How can I earn money differently than other people? And how can I bring more benefit to the fans so that they'll keep coming and be happy they came and not feel like it was a good show, but I fucking I couldn't eat that week. So you have your fucking number basically. Yeah, exactly. After that, it's money to play with either to reinvest in work. Yeah, yeah. And that's the other thing. That's why I like when I made this show Horace and pete and when i'm this movie i have self-financed that's what i do with my extra is make stuff without having to ask anybody without having a is just start making

it write the script and then look for a cast and start making it now i wonder if you are so popular and you're starting this trend of independence. And I wonder if there are people in Hollywood that have animosity about that. They're like, fuck this guy. Cause everybody thinks they did everything for you. Right? Like literally if this movie is the most successful thing ever, he made you.

Now you might not think that because you're a beta, but an exec will be like, this story came from his heart. He gave me this story. He gave me the most important story of his life a beta, but an exec will be like, we made that. This story came from his heart. You know what I'm saying? He gave me this story. He gave me the most important story of his life. Some executive is going to go, we made that person. And we need a little piece of it, right?

Yeah. And so if you're going to take that success and go fully independent, I wonder if there are people like, who the fuck does this guy think he is? He's just selling his shows. You can hear us flying by in the helicopter looking at your towers. Right. That's all very abstract. I happen to know all these people. So like Live Nation, for instance, would be

the company you'd say, fuck Live Nation. Live Nation is run by a guy named Jeff Wills who I've known since he managed the Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco. He started way back then. He's a great guy. And during all this stuff going on, there's a ton of times where Jeff Wills would call me and say, can I help

you out? And he has helped me out in like key ways. Like when, when I just shot my last special called, sorry, we didn't know where we were going to do it. And it was pandemic and it was tricky getting venues. And Ricky Gervais had to cancel at the Hulu in the garden. Oh yeah.

Yeah. And so Jeff Wills and his folks called me and offered it to me and they helped me make it work. They're great folks. And then also in the industry, FX was with me. I was at FX for all those years. They let you do whatever the fuck you wanted. Yes, they were great, great people.

John Landgraf that runs it. FX is such an interesting place because I feel like if they had a streaming platform, they would succeed. They do now. They have Hulu. Now they're putting things in Hulu. I think people don't understand what Hulu is I think there needs to be

like an education process on do I watch old TV do I watch network TV do they have their own scripted I think Hulu's gonna maybe be the big winner because we talk about

changing behavior Al and I talk about it you always just go to Netflix first instinctively I've started going let me see what's on Hulu first because they have

the modern family all the legacy shows but then they have shows from like FX like what we do in the shadows is a all the legacy shows, but then they have shows from FX, like what we do in the shadows is a show a bunch of people love. Yes, that's right.

And they're part of it. They got more cool stuff for kids. And they also, I think, are smarter about what old stuff they keep. Yeah. And people get really frustrated

at Netflix because it's kind of narrow. Also, I think Netflix was trying to replace TV. We were talking about this a little bit before, but we don't want TV replaced, right? We just want the best stories.

So instead of making a million different shows, make a few that we're really interested in. Make a couple movies and then have enough like what I call like laundry TV, like friends. Like I already know friends. I've watched a million times. It's just on in the background

while I'm going to sleep or something. No, that's what I remember when I was a kid. And I watched Friends. Andrew watches Friends. And listen, fucking nerd. Motherfucking loser. Pivot, pivot's what, I remember when I was a kid and you was Andrew Watch's friends. Fucking nerd. Mother fucking loser. Pivot, pivot. Right, Andrew?

Pivot. Yikes. Ticket sales is plummeting. Could you be more lame? I knew when I said friends. I love friends. I love friends. Fuck, man.

How do I be cool, Joe? Friends. Thanks. Seinfeld. Fuck, man. How do I be cool, Joe? Friends stinks. Seinfeld, that's how you be cool. Seinfeld stinks. Seasons three through seven. Oh, wait, you're like picky about which seasons. I'm a Seinfeld cunt. When Larry left, it just became very silly.

It's very frustrating. When people reference seasons eight and nine, I'm like, I can't be friends with you. You stink. Gotcha. So you're a Larry fan? I'm a Larry. I mean, Larry's my guy I can't be friends with you. You stink. Gotcha. So you're a Larry fan. I'm a Larry. I mean, Larry's my guy. Yeah, he's the best.

He is the best. He's just trying to get you to say you don't like time. With respect to Louis, he's the true king of comedy. He is. I opened for Larry David years ago when he was a stand-up. What was his stand-up like? Brilliant and impossible to—I was the emcee, actually. Okay.

And a guy named Bob Shaw was the headliner. He was a great comic. And Larry was the emcee, actually. Okay. And a guy named Bob Shaw was the headliner. He was a great comic. And Larry was the feature act. It was in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Catch Rising Star. And so they told me, you have to watch this guy's whole set because he blows up and leaves a lot. He walks off stage a lot. A lot of times he won't finish his set because he gets angry. So they said, you have to stay in the room and be ready

to jump on and oh not for joy no no yeah in case you just leave i thought it was like you got to see this they're saying we need you to be stand by okay and i didn't know anything about him i never heard of him and he i he instantly became my favorite comedian. The audiences didn't know what to do with him. But he had these great bits like he says, if I was complimented by Joseph Mengele, I would have liked him. Like if he gave me a compliment.

And he does this thing, Larry David, your hair looks good today. Oh really, Dr. Mengele? Oh yeah, Dr. Mengele, thank you. Mengele's not a bad guy. And he does the thing about anti-Semitism at country clubs. And he says that where he's experienced it was that sometimes when you're putting, they'll say stuff to put you off.

The guy's like, hey, Larry, how about the six million? That's pretty excessive. No, go ahead. Putt, putt, you know, just weird stories. Very funny. Some of them that became episodes. Oh, really? He did a story on stage about leaving a message for a woman that was so embarrassing on her answer machine that he had to break into her apartment and steal the tape.

That was a bit of his. It's an episode of Seinfeld. Yeah. So, but anyway, he was, but he would get really angry. Like, some guy would be quietly ordering a beer like really people were very polite and he'd go how could you be so rude what kind of person you need to start screaming at them and he'd throw money at people take your money back and leave you fucking animals and he just gets so angry and after a few shows one night uh he

really bombed and the crowd was great they were like the best crowd we'd ever seen that's his problem and after the show he said uh he said what'd you think of that crowd they were awful weren't they were they awful they were rude and just noisy and bad and it wasn't true but i said yeah yeah guys just being polite he goes well why didn't you do something about you're the host you're supposed to no no you don't control the room yeah it was a nightmare have you talked about him uh to him about that since yeah i i auditioned for the show once okay and he said i remember you i remember catch rise i remember we worked together i didn't recount to him all right how impossible he was i just said yeah yeah because i was trying to get a job. But I love Larry.

He's great. He's like, to me, it's like the most pure. It's like he can't help how irritated he is. I like that. That's the kind of comedy I like is folks that can't help it. Yeah. And if I can say something about yours, which I really appreciate, please don't feel uncomfortable.

You're already wrinkling the brow, is that there's this feeling that it's falling out of you. There are certain people that like, like Chris and I love Chris. I grew up on Chris and Chris is like, this is how it is. This is how it is. That's right. And yours is almost like, it's like, I just can't. Yeah. And there's something about it where, and I've watched, you know,

obviously you're coming by the cell or something like that. And like, I kind of watch and especially live when you watch something that's, you know, taped, you're like, I know that this was prepared. But watching it live, it feels like it's just happening. This is just happening now. And that's a bit of fakery. That is precision.

We all have it. It's a skill. Yeah, because you, and the tricky thing is when bits start killing, because a lot of stuff that I do is uncomfortable when I start saying it. And I'm uncomfortable because they are. But I push through it and find a joke

and together we find joy in a scary place. That's what I like to do. But when bits start killing because I know mechanically how to make them work and I know this path, I get a little smug and I start doing jokes that are super offensive about pedophiles and just talking about, hey, this is going to

kill. It always kills. And then the crowd how it's looking me like what are you why are you so confident and i readjust to like oh yeah this isn't easy to talk about but let's get there together um so that's that's my tricky thing to manage yeah yeah i wonder if it was that authenticity that kind of cut through the mess like when when people found you, they're like, this guy's just kind of like talking right now. Like this, I'm going to make a weird comparison. Go for it. But do you know, when I first saw Kings of Comedy, I don't know if you watch the Kings. Great movie. Yeah. Great. And I was so young. I didn't know that Bernie was telling jokes. And I was like. You're just watching a dude fall apart in front of you.

This is the funniest human. He was the best. He was the first year I ever did. The first year they ever had the Aspen comedy festival, which came and went. Yeah. The first year they had it, they didn't know to segregate the shows.

It's a funny thing because comedy festivals are always like they have urban nights, but they didn't just, it was a new festival. So like, let's just just put comedians together and there was one show that was like an all-week show that was me mark maron bernie mack and cedric the entertainer all four of us and it was one of the best shows i ever was part of to be in with those guys and bernie i mean force the one of the best comics ever to me is b. Have you seen the five-minute set he did for Def Comedy Jam? I ain't afraid of you, motherfucker.

Yes, it's the best. So Mark and I were talking about this. Is it the best just five minutes of a performance in comedy? No, I mean, there's been a lot of great five-minute performances. There has, but it wasn't even the jokes, right? It was him reacting to this thing that happened it was just this energy in the room yes he walked into he made def jam into something interesting i mean def jam was powerful it was like if but he turned it he turned it into something else yes it's like if bill burr philadelphia was an audition set

that's right you know i mean because def jam made your your career. Bill Burr Philadelphia was a one-off that got captured on camera and then blew the fuck up. That's right. He just thought, this is the set, I'm in it, let's get the fuck out.

Bernie's like, this makes or breaks my career, people are bombing, fuck everything, this is what I'm going to do for five minutes. That's crazy to me. Just call the audible

on the biggest moment of your career and say this is what it is and then bury it. Yes, and both of those had something in common which is not comfortable feeling attacked not happy to be there yeah but in control of it yeah and and and weapons great great jokes yeah that's an enormous that's and

that's lightning in a bottle it's very hard to yeah it should be hard yeah it should be a hard thing to achieve yeah you should yeah i don't want to say like you shouldn't be able to recreate it every time but the magic of doing it yeah that's the tricky thing about comedy is you you it's it is a live thing yeah i think that's and one problem that comedians have when they make specials i think is trying to get it trying to be slick and trying to be in control you want it to be your great night you want to be like a rock star you want to be like perry como and just be like. You want to be like Perry Como and just be like, hey man, watch me work. And I want to show that I'm killing

and there's smoke in the room and it's beautiful. But that's not what comedy is at its best. Sometimes it messes up. Sometimes people interrupt. How do you make it organic? How do you make it pure in that moment? Even if it's a little less funny. But also you want to be good.

You want to actually do it well. Yeah. But I remember I was getting ready for a special once and I thought, and I was talking to Chris Rock, who's a great mentor. He's always giving me great advice. And I said, I think I'm going to take a month off before I shoot so that I'm fresh. I'd been working really hard.

And he said, that's a really dumb idea. He said, you need to be prepared. And I go, but I want to be fresh. And he said, it's bad. I don. He said, you need to be prepared. And I go, but I want to be fresh. And he said, it's bad. I don't even, I think he made this up. It's better to be prepared and pretend to be fresh than it is to be fresh and pretend to be prepared. Do you agree? A hundred percent, but there is, you can move the line somewhere where it's just where you want it to be. Cause it's just different. It's a be because it's just different it's a different product that's all yeah yeah it's great to watch a guy master a set yes but it's also super one

thing i used to love listen to is jim um florentine on xm radio i like listening to xm comedy because they just anyone can send a tape in yeah and you hear some really fucking rough stuff yeah and he was and some of them are just don't there's just somebody who sounds really unsure and they're talking about their family and the crowd's not with them yeah but florentine is in some place in jersey and he's getting heckled he's oh is that right sir is that right i'm a shit what well fuck you sir and he's just he's always sounds like he's like, there's a lot of beer. You can smell the beer in the place.

So yeah, I like, I like comedy that way too. What do you think of Sinbad? Real quick on Florentine. Florentine had an amazing joke at the Rich Voss roast. Did you see the Rich Voss roast? Yes. He stole the show. He's amazing.

Bro, one of his, one of his jokes was, he goes, Bonnie really lived the American dream. She moved to America and got stupid rich. Yeah. That's the best joke in the whole thing. So amazing. That's the best joke. That's a great joke. That's a great roast.

One line. Bonnie goes, Bobby Kelly, you're up next if you want to start making your way up here. That's a great roast. Oh, dude, it is so good. You can get it at richvossroast.net I think it's on YouTube now oh they put it on YouTube well you're going to hate me

for saying that buy it buy it there and support it but yeah I love Rich he's fucking great but yeah Florentine has some amazing fucking roasts man

that's good I love that we complimented Bonnie and Jim but we were like and we love Rich also his name's in the website you can get it there yeah

you were saying about Sinbad? Sinbad, I think. Why do you think it's Sinbad? Because it's always fresh. He'll go up. I think the way he got his start is he just had somebody read the newspaper, and then he did a whole five minutes on that. And then he said, I want the joke to be different every single time.

If you come to two shows in a row, the joke is always a little bit different for you. Yeah, that was my goal when I started doing stand-up. When I found out as a young, I wanted to be a stand-up comic that the people tell the same jokes every night. Yeah. I was a gas. Heartbroken. Such a bummer. So sad.

It was stressful. It really is. And I had a goal to do a different show every time. Yeah. I never got there. Chris broke that for me. Rock broke that for me. Oh, yeah, because when I got more into it, I like watching guys. Yeah. I never got there. Chris broke that for me. Rock broke that for me. Oh, yeah,

because when I got more into it, I like watching guys watching how it works. But that's because we're inside of it. But when you're a child, it's all fresh to you. It's all like a thing.

That's why I don't think any comics should do the thing that they all can't stop doing, which is I told that joke in this place. You're not living enough. Yeah, it's just a big mistake. They go, what?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've said this to other people it explains for the people maybe who don't know as much some comics will tell a joke and it's to make fun of a place so they'll make a joke that's one version of it there are many yeah they make a joke about something intelligent i don't know what the joke is that they think is intelligent and then they go i told that joke in mississippi and this guy was like what yeah or they have something that happened that was funny in the moment. A funny exchange where they were clever to the person.

So they're like, I told that joke one time. And this guy said this. And I said this. And guess what I said? You're just in a mess of what are you doing? Why are you doing this? But I think that's an example of when you're not like living enough yourself. Right?

Like I think that we can get so obsessed with stand-up and only going on stage and not actually your story is about last time i was on stage something's wrong you're going dry yeah but sinbad i remember brian regan was another just electrically great comic one of the best of all time sinbad he worked with sinbad once like open form at a club for a week like way years ago he told me this story that they were hanging out in the daytime it used to be like work at a club with somebody and then you'd hang out all day. And so like they're waiting

for a bus and it's taking a long time and Sinbad's like, man, this bus is never coming. And then he goes, oh, and he writes it down. Okay. And so then that night

he watches Sinbad and he goes, you ever been waiting for the bus? It's like this bus is not coming. Damn, man. The bus never comes. And that was it.

That was the whole joke. Well, Norm McDonald... That was the all day he would write jokes and the jokes were just what he said during the day. Norm McDonald said when he did Montreal with Sinbad, and again, Montreal is another thing that makes your whole career.

He has like his tight seven minutes. Norm does it. He's worked on forever. Him and Sinbad are going to buy socks the day of the show or the night before the show. And then it's like super hard to buy socks. And then Norm goes out and does his tight seven minutes, gets in, gets out, does it like he rehearsed it a thousand times. Sinbad goes up. He's like, yo, why is it so hard to buy socks in Montreal?

Whole set on socks, crushes. Yeah, yeah. That's what he had what something that these stories tell you in common is that sinbad hangs out he's a nice guy yeah hangs out with other comics says you want to go back you know he's one of the most underrated was that harder for you as you got more famous and there are more people like wanting things from you like in your heyday was it hard for you you're the big guy right now. No, no. I dominate most of that.

Yeah. I mean, I don't give much space for other people. No, no. But I just feel like you were in a different position because I think you had more platforms to give opportunities. Yeah. You know, like when you have a show, I think every time there's an interaction, it's like you're almost auditioning.

Oh, am I going to be on this new season? Yeah, I mean, I did give a lot of guys parts in my show. A lot of people in my show were comics I love using comedians why? first of all I like stand up comics it's my community I love them and I care about them

I mean it's goofy but I do and so and I like seeing somebody and thinking what if you gave them a shot and seeing what happens like I remember I was in Australia it was the only time I ever went there and I went to Melbourne first like seeing somebody and thinking, what if you gave them a shot and seeing what happens? Like I remember I was in Australia. It was the only time I ever went there. And I went to Melbourne first and I went into a comedy club and it was the only place I'd been for a long time that nobody knew who I was.

And there was a young kid there named Rob something, Thomas. Anyways, a young, really, really nerdy, nervous guy. And all his jokes were perfect.

And the crowd was like, what is this shit? But then they started loving his jokes. And I was going the next night to Sydney to play the big opera house. And like the only building in the whole country that anybody recognizes. And so I said to this kid, why don't you come with me to Sydney? Open for me. He lost it. And he was like, I don't, I don't. He said, I have a gig in Adelaide, you come with me to Sydney Open for me? He lost it. And he was like, okay.

He said, I have a gig in Adelaide, but I'll try to get out of it. And he got out of his gig and I took him. And I loved being in the wings. And he was looking at his set list. And I said to him, I've been in this position a lot. I've given somebody a shot. And I said, don't worry about the spectacle just these jokes just think about your jokes yeah and and he destroyed another person like that was lynn

coplitz who was a woman who i love she's so funny and she spun her wheels for a lot of years just she's a seller comic works hard yeah but nobody was going after lynn coplitz for a big perspective too yes like lynn's comedic perspective, I think, is really interesting. Really unique and very raw and real. Yeah. And I didn't even know her that way. This is how we became friends. I was doing The Garden, and I had a couple openers,

and I thought I wanted one more. And I just told somebody, get Lynn Komplitz tonight to open for me at The Garden. And she came to Madison Square Garden, and she was serious and nervous. I had hope for her because she wasn't nervous talking. She was just serious.

Locked in. And she went up there and it was like a star is born. She was wearing this flowy thing and she was just out to the crowd. And they were in love with her and it killed me. It made me so happy.

It's like the best feeling ever. You get a little emotional even thinking about it. I me. It made me so happy. It's like the best feeling. Emotional even thinking about it. I do. It makes me want to cry. It was a beautiful feeling. We've been very close since then. Yeah. But that is so rewarding to me.

It's almost in a sense, it can be better than personal success on stage because you don't get to enjoy your work that way. You're in the middle of it. You're in the middle. You got to deliver. Yeah. You can't go like,

this is great. Yeah. But you can do it when it's somebody else. Yeah. Yeah. All right, guys, we take a break for a second because I need to tell you all about athletic greens. Okay. Just listen up for one goddamn second about athletic greens. Okay. With one delicious scoop of this right here, AG1, you're absorbing 75 high quality vitamins, minerals, whole food source, superfoods, probiotics, and adaptogens to help you start your day right. This special blend of ingredients supports your gut health, your nervous system, your immune system, your energy, recovery, focus, and aging.

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keeps.com slash flagrant. Also, first month free. K-E-E-P-S dot com slash flagrant. Also, guys, Big Dizzy Energy Tour is still moving, still adding a few dates here and there. But in the meantime, important announcement. This weekend's dates in Atlantic City have been moved. We are doing some really cool podcast shit. You guys will see what it is soon. But in the meantime, those dates in Atlantic City are moved to November 4th and 5th. So the next show I have is August 11th through 13th, Tempe, Arizona, the Tempe Improv. Then September 9th and 10th, Orlando. Mark, he's coming home. We're going to be at the Orlando Improv. September 15th through 17th, I'm going to be in Nyack Upstate at Levity Live in Palisades.

September 29th through October 1st, I'm going to be in Raleigh at Good Nights Comedy Club. Raleigh or Raleigh or however the fuck y'all say that goofy ass shit. October 6th through 8th, Pittsburgh Improv. And every other date that I have, we're adding some more.

I'm telling you, it's going to be fucking, we got some cool shit happening. So go to akashsingh.com for tickets. Now let's get back to the show. Okay, so that brings us to Mr. Joe Liss here. And Joe, this is going to be uncomfortable

because I'm going to compliment you a little bit. Oh, yeah. But you're another person that I would watch at a cellar and I would think is absolutely hilarious. And I've told you this before, but I don't know if you recognize it. But one of the more fun people for me to watch because everything that you're talking about, not everything. I don't want to put that. But a lot of things you're talking about are like kind of like painful. Yeah.

And it can be like I'm talking about like, oh, I had this really traumatic moment. It could be something like somebody of like painful. Yeah. And it can be like, I'm talking about like, oh, I had this really traumatic moment. It could be something. So like somebody saying something about your teeth. But I remember like watching you go up there. Right. You had a great joke about it. Right. Fucking what was the. Oh, maybe the rate of veto. So this I said, I'm really self-conscious about my teeth. And he said, you should just get some crest whitening strips. Yeah. No, I meant that they're crooked. But now, and then there was a tagline, but thanks, now. I forget how the rest of the joke goes.

But it was just, it was like, I'm watching this person up there. And it was like, I had two feelings. I had one feeling, which is like a hyper focus on the things that you're insecure about. Like, how does that affect the rest of your day? But also, I was like, a crowd watching you can't not laugh if the jokes are funny yeah like it is like they don't have to experience this if you're comfortable with it and i'd watch you every single time they're out and i literally sit there and think i'd be like wow man one that's really difficult to do because you have to be painfully honest with your fucking self and the things you feel most insecure about and then find

a way to be funny about it. And I wonder if that is kind of what drew you to Joe. That's what I love about Joe, yeah, is that he's very vulnerable on stage and it's a very generous thing to invite people to laugh at you, at the things that upset you more than anything in the world. Not things that you're mad about, I'm sick of this shit, but like, I can't handle this.

And then he is a jokesmith. He makes, he crafts great jokes. He's gotten better and better at it. The first version of Joe I ever saw was more rhythmic. And there's a joke, and then there's a joke, and then there's a joke. But then he got out of that and started to really breathe and talk.

That's when you get more comfortable up there, right? When you lose the formula a little bit. But is it- But so yes, it made me very happy to take this kid to Israel. He opened for me at the Garden. He opened for me at the Forum in Los Angeles and in stadiums all over the country

and all over Europe, all over the world. And it was a great, and he's from where I grew up. Yeah. So that makes me very happy. Okay, is there ever a place that you went to that like maybe was foreign and they don't understand the self-deprecation?

It was a ton. I mean, I ate shit a lot in Europe. It was tough. Israel. And then he kept being like, I want you to do that thing you said on the plane today. And I'm like,

but there's like 12,000 people. And then Louis would be like, you fucking bailed on it, man. You bailed. And I'm like, well, this is unusual. I'm doing a joke for the first time in front of 14,000 Israelis. Cold.

Going up cold. And he'd always be like, say that thing, the shit you said on the plane. That's really funny. And I'd be like, the Wizard of Oz. What? And I'm like looking, what did I even say? I don't know. It's like Dance Moms.

I remember the joke. Czech Republic, we ate shit i ate shit the wizard of oz joke was a i didn't know cause bill cosby was in the wizard of oz it was a yeah they sing a song because because because because which is a joke i came up with i was six and he's like do that yeah no because for me my openers i don't need them to kill i'd rather if they do the same 10 minutes that kills every night i'm just getting bored i like to watch something before I go on stage, and it doesn't matter what they're going to do. It doesn't matter if they...

When I go up there, it's just that they stirred the pot and got things going. Right, right, right. I do like following people that kill, because it makes a better room. Keep you sharp. I kill also. I don't want to make it sound like... No, you make it sound like I just... He was killing. He had a killer set, and I would ask him to break it down and add new stuff and

change it and try things yeah for your own personal it's also terrifying yeah for him because it's also like yeah but i don't want to do this fucking story in front of 14 000 people bomb my ass off yeah that's right but i didn't care how he felt about that yeah and i knew it was a better road to him getting for girl i also had one at the garden so we did the garden oh yeah you did eight in one year i think and we did i did three shows at the garden so we did the garden oh yeah you did eight in one year i think and we did i did three shows at the guy i did eight total i did five five one year i did three one got snowed out and then the next year i did five and so i did over the same yeah whatever i did three of them he was using three openers doing seven minutes and one of them we

started to become close he said it's just you and i want you to do 20 and i think my suspicion is that it was the last show to go on sale. The drags of our audience. It was the people that were finally like, all right, I guess I'll go see Louis. Fuck it. And then he had a tough set also, which made me feel better. So I did 20 minutes at the garden. 20 minutes.

I'm almost at 25, I think. And I was eating shit. And I almost, you know how sometimes you do a joke and one person laughs and you go, this guy got it. I almost did that and caught myself in the garden because I did a bit. And there was a guy in section 430 that went, ha ha. And I was like, I'm not going to say that guy got it. But literally 14,000 people and one guy up there fucking chuckled. And I ate.

I wanted to kill myself. You got the Groupon audience. And I went out of my way. 25 in front of the Groupon audience. Yeah. And then afterwards he. I had a hard set I fucking chuckled. And I ate. I wanted to kill myself. And then. You got the Groupon audience. And I went on a diet. 25 in front of the Groupon audience. Yeah. Yeah. And afterwards he. I had a hard set.

He Louis struggled. But. Yeah. And then we were like miserable after. But. But. I don't know. I guess you can see in the garden.

There's going to be certain circumstances. But I think humor also like evolves. With. The country or culture that's adapting to it. Right. So like stand up is like newer for certain places. Yeah. So I think the first version is like,

they use puppets and shit, right? Like you look at like a Russian humor. They're still like, even early on, they're still using like these characters. And then I wonder if what eventually happens is like they'll catch on to self-deprecation and they'll catch on to like more, I don't want to call them like

sophisticated versions of humor, but I think it takes a little bit for audiences to get. Well, it's cyclical. In America, it's cyclical. I mean, comedy is here to stay. Right. But it does go in cycles. So there's some times where sarcasm gets very popular.

And then there's times where joke jokes get more popular and you get guys like Hedberg and Stephen Wright. There's always a little of something. I have a theory on that. I think it's a reflection of how do I say it? When you can say anything, absurd things

are funnier. When you feel restricted in your speech. That's true. Comedy fills a need. Comedy is a need. It's not just like music or something. Comedy is a need. It's not just like music or something. Music is a need. Obviously, for some people, they just die without their music. We always need love regardless of what's happening in your country.

But comedy is something that people need that fills a void and it heals. So yes, when people need more escape, they want more absurd humor. When people are feeling confident they want to go what's really going on and then they dig down deeper yeah so and i think that's natural so i mean and i i think the thing you have to do is keep being the same kind of comic

and just let hope it hits you let the sun go up and down yeah there's sometimes where it's like right now or it's got it's coming back but there was a time where being a contrarian, I'm going to talk about something you don't want to hear, became very unpopular. And the thing to do when that happens, for me, is not to spend your time saying that these people are wrong. It's just you're out of the sun for a while. But you keep it going because there's always also there's somebody who, if you're, some comedians get very greedy for love. They're like, if I'm not in love yes like if i'm not in the big if i'm not in the zeitgeist yeah i'm failing yeah but you still got your crowd yeah they're still coming to see you and hear it and so you do it for them and at some point maybe the goofy people

who give out awards and stuff will go this is good comedy now but that's what that's seasonal this can come and go but if you chase it around you're not yourself anymore I'm always curious about those ebbs and flows do you find like Joe do you find that it it wanes on you a little bit like that hyper focus

on these things that are difficult for you do you have to balance that emotionally yeah I guess I mean sometimes it's hard it's so hard to talk about comedy, I think, without sounding like, well, Andrew. I don't know. What's the question? I'm sorry.

It's so uncomfortable talking about it. Like the hyper-focus on the vulnerable things in your life. Does that make you maybe insecure? Does that make you? Well, I start to run out of them. And then what's weird now for me is like I used to be so anxious. My whole life was about being anxious. And I got that together through sobriety and meditation and stuff.

So I don't really have that anymore. So now my act is more about taking shots or like sex or something. And so it's a different kind of thing. And that's anxiety inducing. Yeah. Because you're like, do I not have the thing that I cared about? It's like, this is not it,

but like a fat comic that loses weight. Like I think there are like big comics that are like scared to lose weight. Yeah. Because they're like, am I going to lose the thing that I'm good at? Yeah. Right.

Yeah. No, look, I made my first splash with stuff about my kids. Yeah. And I'm not in that role anymore. My kids are growing up now. So I had to, you know, you got to let go of stuff that's from a certain part of your life. Yeah.

The basics are still always there. That life is hard and it's lonely. Yeah. So you find it through different. But yeah, the stuff I've been doing is more abstract now than. Yeah. Yeah, sure. But you had abstract even early.

Yeah, I started out with goofy, strange jokes. Yeah. And then I didn't like it anymore. I didn't feel like it was, felt limited. It wasn't as fun. Can I piss? Will that be a problem? Yeah, no, go, man.

Will the show tank if I leave? Dude, dude, dude, it's a flow. You think the show will be all right? Joe, Joe, go pee. There's no rush. There's no anything. Great. Oh, God. You think that, dude, dude, it's a flow. You think the show will be all right? Joe, Joe, go pee. There's no rush. There's no anything. Great. Oh, God.

You think that, okay, so like Larry found his calling, right? It was like these ideas didn't work on stage, but they worked beautifully. On film, yeah. On film. Yeah. Can you look at a comic and go, oh, fuck. Another example, and Chappelle was like you in that like

he was masterful in two mediums right sketch sure but also in stand up beautiful yeah

but can you like see certain guys on stage and go oh fuck those are brilliant ideas and on film they would work

but he can't well not just like the voice what would that person be like on film I think of that you know there's people like that like there's a comedian in New York Marina Franklin yeah Marina Not just like the voice. What would that person be like on film? I think of that, you know.

There's people like that. Like there's a comedian in New York, Marina Franklin. Yeah, Marina. Marina is great. Works out at WTF. Yes, she does. And I think that she should be on film doing something. She has this wonderful musical voice and you just love her.

And she could be, I think, a big star if she was on TV or movies or something like that. So I look at people like that. Or like this kid, Ian Finance. Finance, yeah, yeah. He's great. I mean, his act is just so frenzied. And he kind of runs through an idea and then dumps it. And so he's kind of a mess on stage. Yeah.

But you just, I want to see him in a movie like Dog Day Afternoon or something. I want to watch him rob a bank or something like that. It's the energy. He's a great voice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's great.

But that's another reason I like using comics and film because. You can put them in their strong suit. Yeah. Actors are cool because they're an empty vessel. So you can give them instruction and give them a story and a character and they can mold it and make it into a person. It's a great art. But comedians are what they are. And if you can take them

and then kind of guide them through listening and through getting through scenes, and some are good at that and some aren't. But I love doing that. That's really fun. That's why I like using that. And also they're good pressure players. What do you mean?

If you tell an actor, if an actor's tanking, you can't tell them. They'll fall apart. Yes, they will. They will fall apart. Yeah. You got to say that was great. Yeah, build them up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was so good. Yeah. And just let's try this. Yeah. And this was awful. You're trying to get them to the thing. But you can go up to a comedian and say, dude, you fucking stink.

That was not it. And they oh yeah okay fuck because they don't want to fail yeah and they're facing failure all the time on stage it's like every single show could go bad like this so you just go no that's bad it's bad man i work better with positive reinforcement with acting because i'm so insecure about my acting so like if if like the key grips and shit are laughing like I'm looking for like the people yeah that's no good that's no good you gotta get off that it's not I don't care about acting because the grips are just bored and they're not gonna help you they're not your they're not your friends I'm literally treating it like an open mic I was in a movie that with uh that Woody Allen directed and I did an ad lib and when he said

cut everyone dead, I got applause because it was so funny. I felt really good and then I saw him walking towards me and I was like, no, whoops. He was very nice but he was like, that was good. That was funny. Let's do what I need here. Let's do what's needed. I was like, I got it.

I got it. He goes, no, it's good. Maybe I'll use it. But give me the one that i want it's that i need do you think woody allen did it none of my business about time we asked some fucking good questions yeah i mean what are we talking about over here there's a guy uh very funny comic, Stavros Hokeas. Do you know Stavros? He's great. You've met him at Ari's house, yeah. He's a hilarious guy. He had a hilarious bit about Pythagoras. Yeah.

And he's like, he's like, listen, I separate the art from the artist. I go, what do you mean? He goes, listen, I still use that Pythagorean theorem all the time. What did Pythagoras do? A squared plus B squared equals C squared. What did he do wrong?

Scandal. Oh. He thought he was asking the theorem? You know, the hypotenuse, Louis. I thought I was going to be the smart one for one moment. No, he was probably fucking little boys like they all did back then. I guess, but everybody was.

Everybody was. Even the little boys were fucking little boys. Is that true? I don't know. No, they were fucking adults. I'm not that old. They were fucking the adults, actually. You're right.

Which is wrong. Kids shouldn't fuck adults. No, fucking little bastards. They're complicit. They're complicit in the crime. I wonder if that made the kids feel better. Like if you were like

Michelangelo's boy and like you got to look at the, you know, the Sistine Chapel. Yeah, could have gone anyway though. You don't have to fuck

Michelangelo to see the Sistine Chapel. No, but like you saw the work and you were like, that's me. Like, yo,

you helped him get there. I'm the muse. Maybe that was fulfilling. Yeah. And if the work was bad, it was like... I got fucked in the ass and that's what you mean? The big reveal to the boys. Just all six of them walking. Are you fucking kidding me?

On the ceiling? Fucking dude. You should watch Star Wars Special. It's amazing. Yeah, check it out on YouTube. I will. He's really funny. He's great.

Fourth of July. Yes. It's our movie. I don't want to do the, hey, tell us about it, whatever. But can you tell us about it? I want people to know about it. I want people to go out and support it. And they can buy it now.

That's another thing, right? It's going to be... When is this on? Ideally, we put it out tomorrow. Okay. So then Saturday, August 6th. So this coming up. Okay.

It drops on my website. Perfect. Yes. LouisCK.com. That's right. And can you give us a breakdown of the story? How this even came to be? Why should people go see this?

It's a family movie. Well, it's about a family. It's about a family movie. It's not for family. Yeah, we say cunt and... Yes, cunt, fuck. A lot of fuck. A lot of fuck.

That I will pay for. In character, we say it. Yes. And what is the story? The story is about a guy who... I'm much better with just zingers, you know? It's about a guy... I got you.

It's about a guy who's a New York young fella, and he's anxious, living in a river of anxiety. Just never stops coming. He's just, is this okay? Is this all right? No, just living that way all the time. But he's living that way. He's kind of on a cruise control of anxious living. Yes.

Sober. He's sober. He's, you know, working at it. He's in AA. He's got a sponsor who he's not doing a great, he's late to a sponsor meeting. And that's also a little tough for him. And he's married. And he has a nice, easy relationship with this woman that he just, that's his light.

That's his nice. That's where he's confident and happy when he's with her uh but the rest of his life is kind of a mess and he's also a jazz pianist and he succeeds there he feels good when he's playing jazz piano um and uh he goes to therapy and i'm his therapist and um he so anyway he um he just he's he asks his wife when he sees i'll tell the main scene because i think it's the turning point he sees his wife, I'll tell the main scene because I think it's the turning point. He sees his wife texting with her friend while she's in the bathroom, but he sees it on her computer screen. And he sees he's about to see something and he closes it. But it makes him anxious.

And he asks his wife, he goes, do you say something to your friends about me? Is there something that you don't that? And she just says, I am not fulfilled because we don't have a kid. That's what I really wanted and we never did it. And so I'm not happy. And he just, he says the last thing he expected was that it was something very real, not about him and his quirks, but your wife, your wife, the light of your life is not okay yeah and he says what but why did you

stop talking about having a kid she says yeah because and he sort of gleans from it you don't really you don't think i could be a dad and it's a horrible realization to him and he comes to his therapist and he says what do i do and i kind of go well yeah you know it's okay and he realizes his therapist and his wife everyone gave up on him ever stepping up and being a father, being a man, and that life is passing him by. And so what he keys on is that he has this terrible fear and anxiety about his parents, that they showed him no love, that he doesn't know how to be loved. So he's going to go back home to Maine where his parents are from Boston. And they go to Maine every summer. And he's going to confront them. He's going to confront all this shit.

And he's going to get it out of himself. So he goes there. And it's just his family. It's just this melee of just fucking Boston ego-id people that just say whatever they want. And they drink like crazy. And they're offended that he doesn't drink because he's sober. And he's trying to find a moment where he can claim his manhood there.

And so that's really what it's about. It's about him going home and trying to do that. Confronting the demons. Yeah, and then those people are, you know, Nick DiPaolo nails this character as his uncle. Nick is. Tony V is. These two guys are like the twin towers of like fucking

Boston hate and but love too they're mad at him for being sober because they love him and they miss when he was a loser like they are

which is what it is to grow up in Boston really and so it's that it's him trying to deal with that and it's all just flailing and fucking up and hijinks ensues and it's funny

and it's sad and it's did this happen to you because you're married yeah this sounds very autobiographical it's all very real therapist basically it's all very real there's a lot of stuff taken a lot of actual dialogue from my real life and then we heightened the family of course and then the mother in the movie is more like sociopathic louis kind of created the mother character the mother was sort of like women in boston that I grew up around that fascinated me these powerful women

that say things in lyrical they use big words sometimes like what the one I pointed out when we were looking at it yesterday

that she says by the grace of God you're in this family and by my wrath you'll be out you know that's how Boston women talk so that mother character

was an opportunity to create these. And the mother is a great actress. If you populate a movie with comedians, let them sharpshoot, but then you have actors that can really drive it home. And Robert Kelly, he's both. Because Robert's a great comic,

but he's actually a virtuoso actor. He could do anything. So he plays his sponsee. It's a great comic but he's actually a virtuoso actor yeah he could do anything yeah so he plays his sponsee ah it's really it's a good movie it is damn good i'm damn proud of it and it's feels and it's not from me it's the thing i loved about it was i was sort of in service of joe he really wanted to make a movie i didn't have a story in me at the time and so we had we mixed some ideas that we both had, but it was really his story. So I got to just direct and get

his vision up. I feel bad that I didn't see it before you guys came. Mark saw it. He went to the theater. Did you like it? I did. I thought it was wonderful. I saw it on the, I don't even remember, on one of the cinemas. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was great. Is that the East Village, Lou? Yeah, Village Cinemas, and we premiered at the great. Is that the East Village, Lou? Yeah, Village Cinemas.

And we premiered at the Beacon. There was like 2,000 people. Yeah, we got to watch with 2,000 people. So Joe's telling me that, and I think that's the craziest thing. Like seeing a movie with 2,000 people, seeing an action movie when there's a couple hundred people in a movie theater feels great. Seeing a comedy. I remember seeing the first Hangover at a sold-out theater and then laughing with other people in it. It's a great feeling.

It heightens it. It's awesome. It's fucking amazing.. It heightens it. It's awesome. It's fucking amazing. Well, that's what we discovered with this. We got a very small distributor. We just went out to each place. And first, we did these big premieres where we got to be there and watch people laugh. Yeah.

But then the great thing was hearing. Because what we would do, we were sort of in the middle. So, like, AMC Theaters gave us, like, 72 cities in one night. Seven o'clock on a Wednesday all over and then done. But we packed all of those screenings and then added shows. And we kept getting reports and he got a lot of feedback on Instagram, people saying that they were there, that they loved that they were there and they all laughed together and people would applaud at the end. This is what's great about film. And people keep saying like, well, the movie theaters are dying.

Well, if you give them a little blood, it all comes back. Because that experience is unmatched. Yeah, we were supposed to do like one week. But we were there. We just kept holding over. The Lemley in LA kept getting held over, kept getting held over here. And then these one-night screenings kept moving around to different cities and packing the places. Joe said that they were blown away by the amount of money it made,

and I won't say the number because I know how sensitive you are with that, but it was like multiple times what they spent. It's not a lot of money, but theaters aren't a lot of money. For a theatrical release. For a theatrical release, we did way better than we expected. And this is with really, we didn't really advertise very much. No promo, your email list. The email list and his social media stuff and a few podcasts.

But it was word of mouth. The thing that was crazy was watching the theaters where it was in consecutive nights. It would increase every night. And we realized that we hit on something for people that they're into. The guy who distributed is a very old school guy. He said he was like, because it's the non-algorithmic movie. It doesn't have a thing like a person's name or an issue. It's just a movie about failing people.

And you can work, this algorithm is supposed to be so genius, but it is limited because it only knows what it knows. Yeah. It doesn't know anything outside of itself. It doesn't have the ability to include something like, well, no one thought that was going to work. And it's all an experiment for me.

I'd never done a theatrical release independently. And this is the first time I've put a movie on my website. And it's the first time we've done those two, both things. It was theatrical first. So I don't know how it's going to do. Was it cool to see laughs? Oh, sorry, go. Yeah, probably similar question.

What's it like watching your movie crush versus crushing as a stand-up? It was weird because we found, first of all, it's about my life. So it's drama to me. And the whole time we were writing, Louis was like, we're writing a comedy. And I'm like, no, we're writing a drama. It's a classic thing. It reminds me of the Mel Brooks story about, you ever see, they asked him the difference between comedy and drama. And he says, drama is i get a

paper cut on my thumb and i'm bleeding and i get a band-aid and i call my wife and i keep pouring peroxide on it and i'm checking on it that's drama comedy is you're walking down the street you fall in a hole and die what do i care so that's how i felt i was like this is a drama and it's all very dramatic and we cut out a of jokes, and then we played it at the theater at the Beacon, and there was huge laughs in places that I thought were— And this is thousands of people. That's another thing. You don't watch movies in front of thousands of people anymore.

Well, and the Beacon Theater was a movie theater. It was open as a movie theater, and it was a movie theater all the way until the 70s, from like the 20s to the 70s. So that's how people used to watch movies together, and the rich people down there, the poor people up here and everybody watched together. Now that's how they watch stand-up.

That's right. In my theater, I got a laugh before the movie even started. Like just from the text that comes up on screen. I won't say who it is but there's just a text on it

that comes on like in the very intro. I got a big laugh. I think that's cool because sometimes those moments like, and it's in edit really. It's like an editor's choice

to like put a reaction here gets this big explosive laugh that you would never fucking think because you're like painstakingly looking over every line that you say and every delivery of this and sometimes people are just engaged by the character sometimes the character just being themselves in the moment is what's going to induce it

that's right and I didn't know what I had with Joe I thought I was prepared for needing to teach him how to the basics of acting and how to not just be waiting to deliver your funny. Yeah. And he's the lead character, so he can't be a sniping comic just with moments that you can cut around. He had to carry the movie. Yeah.

And so I had no idea how it would be, but I was dug in for I'm going to have to, you know, because my thing is it's not we're going to get it. It's going to be good, but how long is it going to take? That's all. So if you suck, my movie's not going to be bad. You're just going to be here all day. So I'll figure it out. I'll use other people, and I'll figure out how I'm going to cut it, that I'm going to get around that you suck.

How much does it? But I just want to finish this so you know why I said it. He was an automatic. Oh, really? He was an easy automatic. It was such a, first of all, a huge relief. And it let me put attention on everything else that was going on.

I'd just be like, yeah, he's got it. He's got it. Every take. A virtuoso, if you will. He was just there, but not just that he was playing himself, which isn't as easy as it sounds. It's harder.

It is, I think, in a sense, but also just the way he listened to folks. It made me comfortable knowing I can always cut to him if nothing else is working because he's really in it. Yeah. And I feel for him in every shot. Yeah. And he's funny. I wonder if it's easier for comics to do drama because when we're on stage, a lot of times we're being serious about these things. They just happen to be funny. Yeah. A good comic is a comic who's believable, who's really in it. So that, yes, they are better as dramatic actors. Which, and then being a comedic actor is being serious about something that you know is absolutely ridiculous. Like the Will Ferrell is, he's playing a character, but the character believes everything.

The character's not trying to be funny. He's not trying to say like a quip or whatever like that. So I think sometimes you see comics do these like dramatic roles. You're like, how the fuck did they pull that off? And it's like, well, that's closer to standup. And it also probably removes the,

I don't need laughs. Where we always have that need. Like if I'm not getting laughs, I'm getting insecure laughs I'm getting insecure I'm starting to whatever overact or whatever if it's a drama

and I don't hear the key grips laughing who cares they're not supposed to laugh so all that weight is off me now we're just in this thing and living in the moment

like we would on stage yes yeah and my I'm like a straight man essentially in the movie how annoying is that though it was fun for me, because

I've been there. I've been to dark places. I was just trying to recreate these dark things. It's easier to act. That's a famous quote from Peter... Sellers. Peter Sellers said, it's easy to pretend to be serious. You can't pretend

to be funny. So it's a lot easier to pretend to be serious. You can't pretend to be funny. Yes. So it's a lot easier to pretend to be upset. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Does that make sense? I have a question for you. The industry acceptance, when you were like on your mountaintop, the industry, you, especially

because you worked your way up through the industry and that's the only way to get in, in the industry, you were the darling. Everything this guy does is amazing, groundbreaking, et cetera. Is that addictive? the industry and that's the only way to get in in the industry you were the darling everything this guy does is amazing groundbreaking etc is that addictive because after 2017 it's not there anymore but you're still putting out the same product the fans still like it the same so is that something that you feel like man fuck i missed that or is it like no i'm still putting out the same product good question and i it it was a very, one of the better. Yeah.

Fire him. Fire him. I'll never get his approval. What if you switch seats? That might be better. Please try. That's a great idea, John. Yeah, that way you could kind of. Yeah, I'm going to be over here.

I like the question from over there better, though. Oh, it's the chair. It's too late now. It might be the chair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who is that on your? I get sent sweatshirts, and then shout out to Alexander Pappas.

He sent me this. Oh, I thought you meant who are you? It's Akash. He's a comedian. Who's in there? I don't know who he was. He's a comedian.

But is he funny? He's very funny, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for just signing on about me. More than just good questions, dude. You've got to stop. You've got to watch Akash.

You've got to watch Star Bros. I do. There's a lot of guys I don't know. A lot of people. There's more than SiriusXM. Sure.

With comedy. Yes. Your question was, oh, yeah. So it was actually a great discovery for me because I didn't know what it would be like. Because when you're there and we're taking private jets to do stadiums, which is kind of a grind. It's not really what got me into comedy. It was the big stuff. And I've also never been comfortable with big big fame the big like oh my god fame is

just it doesn't make me feel like a per I like feeling like a person yeah so when somebody treats you bigger than that or less than that both stink to me yeah it just makes me uncomfortable I don't I can't I don't identify with that and the industry I knew it from I mean it's I've been doing this for 37 years so that I was in it long enough to know that when I was getting a lot of acceptance from there, I was like, yeah, right. Like, I know this is short-lived. I know this is conditional. Yeah. And I know a lot of it is just wind.

You know, it's not really. But again, there's actual human beings involved. I had partners in the industry who I had really meaningful relationships with who I'm really grateful to, like FX. I mean, FX, even after my series, Louis, is on my website now. They let me have it. And I mean, I paid for it.

I paid them. But they did, that's an unusual thing. They took it down from every other service and they gave it to me. And you can only get on my website now. That was a really great thing. And they did that for me. So there's a,

that's a human thing to do. Yeah. But anyway, what I found out was when I just needed to just work again and sometimes just comedy clubs, there is this fear when you're up there. If I ever had to just go back to the funny bone sitting next to the soda machine as a out into the room,

the smell of fried food, what I may just have to kill myself if I go back. But I got back there and I was so happy. I loved it because I just love telling the fucking jokes. And I'm closer to the crowd. And the money you make as a standup selling out a comedy club over a weekend is ridiculous. It's that it's close to to my that's enough point.

Yeah. It's just, I mean, they give you the whole fucking door. Yeah. And it's insanely good money. Yeah. So money-wise, I was like, I can live on that. Yeah. And then make it.

And the fans pay less, which is something that's important to you. And then when you make, and then you make, and then when you get little bumps, like, hey, I'm back in the theaters. This is so fucking fun. Didn't know if I'd'm back in the theaters. This is so fucking fun. Didn't know if I'd be back in the theaters. But it's just doing the work was plenty. I don't miss that shit at all. The being, the mountaintop, a mountaintop is a place you visit. You don't fucking live there.

You don't live in a tent sucking oxygen. It's actually not fun up there. It's a goal. Yeah. But it's not a life. It's a place to visit and it's a place to be seen from miles around. So you can collect. I have fans now from a lot of different places.

I have fans all over Europe. I play all over the world because of the opportunity I was given by those people in Hollywood to get up high. But now I've got, they're with me. I was smart enough to collect them on my own to find a way to get directly to them. Yeah. Did you do that? I don't miss being like shit red carpets and being on lists and that kind of stuff. I think comics are too self-aware to enjoy that.

To enjoy that stuff? That like red carpet treatment. A lot of them love it. A lot of them love it. Some people need that. That's their indicator that they are alive. That's their indicator that they're doing something. I think that's sad. That's not sustainable. And it alive. That's their indicator that they're going, that they're doing something. Yeah.

I think that's sad. That's not, that's not sustainable. And it's also not based on you. It's based on a trend. I got a lot of attention that didn't, I didn't have coming to me. Yeah.

I, I, I'm proud of the work I did, but I'm, it's got, it was like, are you kidding me? Like when I saw comics looking at me going like,

dude, enough, I agreed with them. I'm like, it's, I was like, yeah, I'm sure you were. It's just like it was enough already. And it was like, oh, you know, you don't want to be that guy.

Right. You know, so. There's a Jerry Seinfeld, to quote your boy. Jerry Seinfeld was accepting an award. My boy. Yeah. Accepting an award for something. I forget what it was.

Peabody Award or something. That's a great video. It's like the Philly bird thing. It was. And he's up there and he goes, I don't want to be here. I want to be in the back with a bunch of comics making fun of this whole stupid thing that we're all here for. Yeah. And yeah, that's what you have.

And I think that's what we have. I mean, it's stupid. The red carpet thing is dumb. All of it is dumb. If the people love you, what the fuck else do you need? You don't need these five guys. You don't need that. You don't need the press. You don't need them saying that. There are good versions of all of that is dumb if the people love you what the fuck else do you need you don't need these five guys you don't need that you don't need the press you don't need them saying that there are good versions of all of that yeah it's cool to read a review of your work that's well written

that's thoughtful that's positive sure that feels good but i would if it's between that and the audience getting off on it not even the audience loving and coming but the audience get knowing that you're hitting them yeah then the rest of it can go fuck itself it's. I have a follow-up based on what you said about getting your own emails and not liking the mountaintop. Did you do that knowing I don't want to be here for long? Did you do that with like, I'm getting the fuck out of this whole thing that I'm in right now? I know that people don't stay up there. That's always been clear to me. I always knew that was temporary. You said it in an Anthony interview. They were like, you're doing private jets, you got all this kind of

stuff, and you're like, yeah, it's not going to last for a while. It can't. When I first got my show at FX, which wasn't dead right. Dead right. When I first got my show at FX, John Landgraf, who became my friend who runs the place, he asked me if I'd ever seen The Shield.

It was their first big success. Great show. So he sent me 10, it was DVD place he just sent me he asked me if i'd ever seen the shield what was their first big success great show so he sent me 10 it was dvds then sent me all of the 10 seasons and i lost my mind watching the shield yeah yeah i watched all 10 seasons and i was obsessed with every character and every actor and you can tell when they're making the show the way they walk on the set they're like i'm on'm on a hit. I'm on a hit. I can do anything after this. None of those people are working anymore. None of them. Michael Chiklis is a monster. You can't even see his face.

And all those other ones, they were like, you know, I mean, some of them, Walton Goggins is like, keeps finding work and he's a great voice. But they're not what they were on that show. And they were winning everything and they were all anybody was talking about.

And that's not a bad story. That's a good story. You get to be this shining thing, but you gotta give it up. You gotta be willing to give it up and dismount. Like, you know, I was dismounted.

It's a little different than dismounting. And I'm grateful for that. Cause I don't know. I don't know what I, I don't know what it would have been like. I don't know. I did prepare for it. Well, that's what it would have been like. I don't know. I did prepare for it well. That's what I thought.

Yes, I did. But the trip down, no matter how it's done, I think is rough for anybody. Is it cool? Nobody gives it up on purpose. Nobody goes like, that's enough. I've had enough. Yeah, only George Washington. That's right.

Pearl Jam. Did they give it up, though? They actively stopped doing interviews, stopped making music videos, and made themselves much smaller. And now they're a huge touring band. They can still do stadiums here, and they'll do Fenway Park or Safeco Field. Yeah. But a lot of people, I'm a big Pearl Jam guy. I've seen them 42 times.

And I'll say, yeah, I'm going to Pearl Jam. They go, Pearl Jam? Are they together? Because they have a very small thing. They sell out. We go to all the shows. You meet people that go, oh, I'm seeing six shows, eight shows. But they're not. They're out. We go to all the shows. You meet people that go, oh, I'm seeing six shows,

eight shows, but they're not. They're putting out records that kick ass, but there's no Grammys. There's no platinum records. When I learned that from guys that I,

like Stephen Wright, I came from Boston and he was the first phenom out of Boston in the 80s and everybody loved Stephen Wright. He was in Tarantino movies. He was, you know,

he got an Oscar for a short film. He was just Tarantino movies. He was, you know, made it, he got an Oscar for a short film. He was just, you know, shit and gold. And then he found this perfect cruising altitude. He still today goes out to all the best cities, works really sweet theaters and makes a damn good income just doing that. And it's about his fans and his voice.

And, you know, so he got big enough for that cruising altitude to be pretty decent. What comic needs to be straddling both worlds well is Burr. Burr's got the love. He's got the industry. But he also doesn't seem to care about any of it. He's doing his own thing. Got his podcast.

Still got his Netflix specials. But just like, I'm doing me. All this shit. It seems like he's right out of the crosshairs of mainstream news. And I think that's kind of where you want to be. Like when you become the thing that gets clicks for a headline, like that's what, I mean, it was, Rogan goes through all the fucking time.

Now Elon's going through it, but it's like, when you get to operate and I want to make my cool shit and put it out and people enjoy it, that's the best. It keeps you going. And the other stuff is you live or die by it. And it's very tumultuous. It's like heavy turbulence. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so it's not a good way to live. It's a good thing to ride for a minute, and then people remember, man, that guy rode that for a little while. But I did also, when I was up there, I did say no to stuff that I thought would be like, that's going to put me beyond where I can get home from it. Oh, really? Like what? Somebody asked me if I wanted to be George Jetson in a live-action movie. That's my one impression

I'd do, the Jetsons vehicle. That's fucking so good. That's a great impression. It's also Eclipse. There's a rumor you were going to be in the new Wakanda movie, the new Black Panther movie. Yeah, you were going to replace Chadwick. And you said no to that for the new Wakanda movie, the new Black Panther movie. Yeah, you were going to replace Chadwick. And you said

no to that for some reason? I don't like black people. I thought that was the reason. No offense. Listen, I know you guys probably got to go. I don't want to take up any more of your time. Nothing? Okay, Black Guy has no questions. But see the film! See the film! Fourth of July.

Fourth of July. August 6th. We're obviously huge fans, both of you guys. And thank you guys very much for taking the time. It see the film. See the film. Fourth of July. Fourth of July. August 6th. We're obviously huge fans, both of you guys. And thank you guys very much for taking the time. It's so fun. I really do admire what you guys are doing

and I'm really grateful for what you did. And I know it's uncomfortable, the brow's furrowing, but I mean this sincerely that I wouldn't be able to do it without you doing it and that means a lot to me.

So thank you very much. Well, you're doing that for somebody else, so good for you. Hopefully. Thank you. All right, man. This has been

Luis and K and Joe List, everybody.