Duncan Trussell Family Hour - 339: Jay Larson
Episode Date: June 1, 2019Jay Larson, host of The Thruline and one of the funniest storytellers walking the face of the earth today, joins the DTFH! This episode is brought to you by Squarespace (use offer code: DUNCAN to ...save 10% on your first site). Check out David Nichtern's meditation teacher training program here.
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Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now.
You can get Dirty Angel anywhere you get your music.
Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now.
New album and tour date coming this summer.
Greetings to you, friends.
It is I, Dee Trussell, and you are listening
to the Dunkin' Trussell Family Hour podcast,
and we have a glorious podcast for you today
with a great Jay Larson.
We're gonna jump right into that,
but first, some quick business.
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Before I forget pals on June 7th,
I'm going to be doing a...
I guess you could call it a podcast.
It's a conversation with David Nickturn,
who's been teaching me...
who's my meditation teacher
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I'm going to be there on June 7th,
but he is doing a mindfulness
meditation teacher training program.
If you want to get your mind blown
by someone who's in one of the wildest lineages
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then this is definitely a great course
for you to take.
Okay, loves, without further ado,
I present to you one of the funniest storytellers
walking the face of the earth today.
If you want to see a great comedy special,
check out Me Being Me.
You can find that by going to jlarsoncomedy.com.
Now, everybody, please welcome
the host of the through-line podcast,
the great Jay Larson.
My friends.
Jay, welcome to the DTFH, my friends.
Baby, I love it.
I love you.
You're so awesome, man.
I did your when I did your podcast.
You left.
I felt happy for like a week after hanging out with you.
Me too, bro.
Cool.
You know, it's funny as I was like talking to a buddy of mine on
the way here and told almost come with you and I'm like, God,
he's like, he's like the most peaceful creature.
And then we're walking in together and you're like, you know
what fucking makes me mad?
And I was like, Duncan, you get mad.
Dude, I mean, this is a good this is like a thing that is like a
danger because if you like, yeah, you some people don't want
to admit that.
Yeah.
For some reason.
What did they get mad?
Yeah.
Or that they're people want to like peaceful people.
They get home and their assholes.
I was just reading about this.
It's like on stage and off stage.
And so like you can never believe the way someone acts on stage.
You got to be a fly on the wall.
Yeah.
When they're getting weird male or bad bills or you know what
I mean?
What's a weird male?
You know what I was like, you know, some unexpected massive
fucking bill or a peanut or whatever the fuck because it's
like on stage.
Anybody can act like same as like online on social media.
Yeah.
Everyone can look beautiful, but just I always have to
constantly remind myself like that's not everything.
No way.
No way.
No way.
And it's tricky and then you'll start going nuts.
So like any time I can, I try to admit like, oh, no, man,
I get fucking pissed just to make sure that like, you know,
like in the old days of media, this you would have static
personalities in the sense you'd see like Jay Leno and he's
pretty much the same Jay Leno every night.
David Letterman, same David Letterman every night.
A little more grumpy than Leno, which was awesome.
Totally.
Because you'd see him go being a bad fucking mood and it was
cool.
Like it made people excited.
But then you watch Sean Hannity.
I don't know if you watch Fox.
I I I hate watch Fox all day fucking long and like and I
love it.
Like I when I say hate watch, I mean, I love it.
It's like it's an inner.
He's an entertainer.
But when you see Hannity O'Reilly, Rachel Maddow, I don't
care what side of the political spectrum, you only see the
same persona pretty much true.
I've seen some guys switch over like Don Lemon.
He is just totally, you know, Don Lemon.
Yeah, sure.
He's totally just throwing the towel and be like, I'm not
a journalist anymore.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I'm on the left and I'm gonna be he's like, huh, you
know, take, take a look at the clip.
Yeah.
And you're just like, oh dude, remember like journalists used
to be in the middle.
They were to report the news.
That's just not the case anymore.
They were like robots.
Yeah.
And they would say in this kind of like we and I think that
was the idea of the journalistic pattern was that it was to
not convey bias.
You were just supposed to be like, but about about about
about about about about about about about about about about
and then they started conveying bias and then the whole thing
got split apart.
And now you don't know what the fuck you're watching because
on one side, it's like all representing one paradigm on
the other side.
It's another and everyone's like, oh, fuck it.
It's all just entertainment.
Yeah.
No shit at this point.
But you know, anytime anybody breaks their character for the
world, it's usually a gift because usually I've noticed like
this shit I'm embarrassed about or I'm trying to hide anytime
I finally admit it.
That's when people be like, thanks for saying that a hundred
percent.
That's when people relate to you because you're being vulnerable
and I saw I was with my buddy the night who's an architect
and I go, uh, you probably don't go through this, but I'm
like, and as a comedian, I have certain I had like a bad day
the other day and like you ever have those days where you just
start off and things are a little off like even as much as
like you get to an intersection and you go to wave someone
on them and they look at you like, go ahead, Dick face and
you're like, what did I do?
Yeah.
And then for the rest of the day, it's like that and I was
like, I get to the the comedy store and I had a weird
interaction with two comics.
I'm like, oh, no, is this going to happen on stage and I went
to the green room and it was a weird.
I'm like, I'm I'm a little off right now and I was telling
him about this and he goes, no, yeah, I have those days.
What do you think?
It's just you because I have days that I'm like, do people
see me?
Am I even alive?
You know, and he's an architect and I'm like, oh, all right.
Yeah, we're all going through the same stuff.
It's just a matter of being willing to admit it and be
vulnerable so people can let themselves in and be like, oh,
thank God you feel that way.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's like the people do not trust or the people who
seem to be universe like universally enlightened and
that's when you like quite, you know, people get disappointed
all the fucking time.
Like how often do you hear about this?
But Tony Robbins, for example, that just came out on Buzzfeed
about Tony Robbins.
What?
Oh, I don't like him.
It was a like a me too thing.
He was taking showers in front of people according to Buzzfeed.
Not I don't.
It's like, you know, he hasn't been to court yet.
I don't know how much of it's real or not.
But it's, you know, and so what ends up happening is like
a massive disappointment because people when they see Tony
Robbins, when they see so anybody like that, they hold
them to this expectation of being perfect or God like.
Yeah.
And if they if you let people do that to you, you are fucking
up man because you can only disappoint them unless you're
actually God like like if you were a God, then you have to
let people know I am like I'm not fallible.
I am like a perfect being of love and light a transcendent
entity channeling the cosmos and I don't I don't you have to
tell you can't do you can't what I'm saying is theoretically
and I really mean theoretically if you were to get enlightened
Jay and you probably will you would have to be honest about
that too.
Yeah.
You wouldn't get to lie and be like, no, I don't I get pissed
off.
I feel horrible.
Sometimes you have to like I actually am happy all the time,
which is the other side of it, which is weird.
You ever get to that point where you're like getting like
some you're hitting a stride.
You're in the fucking zone.
You're hit.
You're like crushing it.
You've got some fucking heat and you are maybe around friends
who are not necessarily there and you want to lie or summon
up negativity to harmonize with their reality because you
feel like you're you're successful offend them.
Yes, 100% and I also have been on the other side of the coin
me too, where you're like I can feel people pulling away for
me that are doing well.
Like ever have a friend who's like crushing and got something
really good going on and you're trying to you can see it like
it took me a long time to see that though because now we're
at the point where we're talking about before, you know, we
have friends that are like everyone's on all your friends
at this point.
We've been in the game this long are on a show have a show
we're trying to like four of us are trying to figure out a
golf date and everyone's got a TV show and I'm like the only
moment on a TV show and I'm like, all right, but I don't I
can so I've been on both sides.
I've felt myself being like, oh shit, like I can't talk about
what's good for me right now and then I've been on the other
one where I'm like, oh man, I start bringing up like what
sucks and I see them kind of like pull away or adjust and
you're like, oh God, just don't bring it up Jay.
Just like don't bring it up like you'll get there, you know.
Well, this is to me.
I remember once I was in New York with Ari Ari was is
crushing it usually and I realized he was padding his
description of what was happening to him because he
recognized that he was crushing it and at the time I was not
yeah and it made me feel so bad because I'm like motherfucker
but he could sense that like, you know, I would I hate having
to exert a magnanimous attitude towards a friend who's having
success and it's hurting me and you're like, I don't the fact
that this is hurting me shows that right now I am like in a
weird spot.
Yeah.
So what do you do in that?
Do you like just back away and give them space?
Because I did this happened to me recently with a friend and
they got a show and there was kind of like this promise that
I was going to get be involved and I never asked they came to
me about it.
You're going to be this you're going to do this and I was
like cool and I never and then they got picked up and then
they went radio silence and then I was like hey is there a
thing there and they're like oh blah blah blah and I didn't get
it and then they wrote me this long apology that they didn't
need to do you know what I mean?
I was like yeah I never expected anything.
Yeah.
And then they got there and then all of a sudden their life
becomes consumed with that that thing because it takes so much
time as I'm sure you're I can't I can't you can't say that
well I'm you mean the my my the my seashells I've been
collecting consumed with a collection of seashells you
know when you have something that consumes you like that yes
you've seen our friends go through it and then I kind of just
like so I was like before they went to go do this show I sent
to like a long email saying like yo crush this you earned this
like just gave like a motivational thing and saying like
congrats and then we talked once and then like we just I was
like I'm gonna let them do their thing I know they're busy
and then they reach out to me like hey you round tomorrow to
like talk and I was like yeah and then like we talked and we
talked for like a half hour and he's like yo I just wanted to
like catch up and like touch base and I was like kind of like
had to like leave it on his terms to call me because I was
just like I don't know wasn't that I didn't know where I fit
I just kind of want to give him space to do what he need to
do and not feel like I was like padding in a way to think I
don't want him to think I don't want to get in his head while
he's doing what he needs to do to think that he may owe me
anything you know I'm saying yeah so when he reached out as
soon as he reached out was like yeah I'll call you but and
then I called me wasn't there so I called three hours later
like I'm like I'll stay on it to make sure the call happens
and we it was awesome yeah there's a wall it's like the
problem is it is really hard to not be selfish like you you
know like we're stuck in a body and and you look down and
you see your body and you look in the mirror and you see your
face and you no matter how you try to get out of it if you
have a body then you are literally at the center of
your own universe there's no way to not be like self centered
and then we live in a world where like that self centered
attitude is like taught as the way to be yeah like our foot
how many like one and ran live by it and thinks every artist
should live by it do you what do you subscribe to that
philosophy I don't subscribe to and ranism or anything like
that but there's another name for it philosophical I'm not
very familiar I'm not sure I just you know I love the
fountainhead I love that damn book it was amazing to me I
never got through it like I started every time I start
reading it but it's it's some kind of like it's capitalism
right it's like the no yeah but like almost like self
capitalism you know what I mean like you do whatever you
need to do and we see it with artists like you become your
art becomes more important than anything else and no one excuse
me around you is gonna matter you know what I mean like
you're gonna be like oh yeah sorry it's my art or it's my
passion for her it was like artists and people in general
you should pursue whatever your ultimate goal is and I think
it had something to do with her idea of like you know of karma
for her like karma wasn't a thing that was you know dependent
upon how you act towards other people you just go for what
you need to go for okay yeah I've heard this before this is
kind of like your desires or the thing or your dreams it's
like that's the the same thing that like makes a caterpillar
turn into a butterfly and that's not a thing to be ashamed of
it's not a thing to like the worst thing you could do is
subvert that impulse to please someone else because the
universe wants butterflies it doesn't want mushy fucking
cocooned up things it yeah yeah I'm on the fringe of all that
I think I'm not full on to anything I look at it like yeah
that's 100% true and recently I've been finding the more I
just focus on my own constitution and my family and what my
goals are without like stepping on people to get to those
things you know to still be considered to still be mindful
to still look at situations and be like oh you know be careful
about that person because they're in a fragile place right
now so maybe you don't bring up X and I'll always say it to
my wife like hey just a heads up when we go there today will
you do me a favor and make sure to say to so and so's wife
because I know he told me she's been sensitive about stuff
and like I just think I always metal a little bit because I
think that's what love is it's like you see something that
someone's going through and you make a point like hey maybe
it's not organic for you to ask them to go to yoga together
but like I think she could really use it just by something
that she told me because I look at it I'm like well I hope
people do that for me you know like every now and then I'm
like I wish my wife would tell my friends like hey jay's been
going through a tough a tough time you know maybe you you
know what I mean and because I think that like we all need
someone to like keep an eye on us you know yeah because it's
kind of like okay the whole and ran fucking like art thing
or whatever the fulfillment of your own personal desires and
all that stuff on one level it totally makes sense but what
comes to mind to me is my new experience being a dad my new
experience being a husband the living in a family and that
fucking shit does not fly in that situation if I'm started
if I you know what I mean if I'm like in any time I've tried
to exert that energy is like listen I need to like this this
thing's got to get done I got to go down and play on my sense
yeah it's so embarrassing and it hurts it doesn't feel right
whereas like the moment I kind of like give that up and just
hold my son or try to help a little bit more than my selfish
fucking ass in my habits and instincts tell me to yeah it's
like instantaneous lightning up to the point where whatever
thing I was trying to shit out whatever my fucking idea of
like some half baked idea of making some like pseudo radio
head synth track when I was high and fucking ketamine or
something seems like some dumb basic essentially misunderstanding
of what it means to exist in the world in a happy way yeah
well I think at the same time there are times when my wife
will say stuff like hey do you want me to like take the kids
tomorrow morning and then you can just like you know have some
time to yourself and I'm just like oh yeah yeah I love that
yeah and that's not luckily when you have a really good
partnership that's her being unselfish and allowing me to
be selfish without me having to be like selfish at the same
time I still think it's healthy to be like to ask for that
time you know I mean like hey you know what like I need some
space and I need some time like my son was a perfect example
where at this like kids fair on Saturday at their school
we've been there four hours that's a lot they're like run
around Kate and I volunteered two hours each and then we're
with the kids and my son like asked me to pick them up which
he never does and he's like daddy I guess I need some alone
time I was like you got it bro ago can we get out of here
most like yeah and like you know never times with my kids I
say it all time like I need some space dude I'm gonna need
some space you gotta go right over there just go over there
and play I need a little space and they're like okay and they
just they the great thing about the kids at that age is they
don't take things personally especially if you tell them
don't take this personal I just need some space dad needs to
breathe and then I wait like my 20 minutes and then I go over
and grab them hug them kiss them be like what do you want to
do and then we do something but he knows hey did you have fun
that whole time I was taking my space and of course they were
you're a great dad I I appreciate that but I try and I still
have faults fuck yeah I mean you gotta have thoughts if you're
gonna be a great dad yeah he wants a perfect fucking dad a
perfect dad is a recipe for for disaster what did you did did I
tell you when we did the podcast so I don't know if I told you
this but like one time my wife is out town I'm with the two
kids I'm giving him I had this plan for how the night was
gonna go and I had the house set up and it just kept I just
kept hitting obstacle after obstacle with the kids and like
they were in wacky moods and my son just kept getting grouchy
and then he cried cuz he was upset about like he just wanted
to go his way and I had this plan that was gonna be perfect
for the night and it just like then I snapped and I yelled at
him and then he cried even more and then I was like I go you
know what come over here to the couch before dinner and I go
listen I'm sorry I shouldn't yell at you like that I I had an
idea and it didn't go that way I go but something else you need
to know about dad I go dad runs a little hot every now and
then I'm gonna I'm gonna yell or I'm gonna get upset I go but
it's not about you I'm working at it and he's three years old
mind you and I'm telling him all this stuff and I go so you
understand I'm not mad at you this is just something with me
and he goes okay dad and now the other day like now they know
like there are times that I like yell and they go okay and
they do it but they never take it personal and I don't know if
it registered or not or if it was right or if it was wrong but
I'm just like man I wonder if anyone in my family have ever
just accepted my dad for who he was and said to us like your
dad just being a loon right now give him space get away from
your dad he's being a dick you know what I mean if we would
have just if everyone might have just reacted differently to
him fuck yeah I don't know but that's how it's going to my
house if you if my dad had said that to me at any point in my
life yeah it would have been so empowering to our relationship
and I would have felt so much more comfortable around him yeah
so much more connected that that kind of display of vulnerability
but also mixed in with like but I'm your dad yeah and this is
the way it is you know and this so that you're not like going
to them as a therapist or some are not burdening them with
having to be more than a three year old you're just saying
this is the terrain we're on right now yeah and you know
I it gave me this flashback when I was like I've been in LA
for like two years and I worked at the cheesecake factory in
Brentwood and all the dudes there would like play hoops at this
like gym on like Tuesday mornings and I would get heated
because I'm super competitive like I would get heated and so
finally I went to my buddy I'm like hey man I'm not coming
anymore and he's like why not I'm like I don't like who I am
when I play I get too aggressive and it's like you know
I just don't feel good and he goes that's what we love
about you like we love that you get heated like that and it
was the first time I'm like oh they're not asking me to
change they're like yeah we know that about you it's like
having a friend that's a dickhead do you have any friends
that are like just a little bit of a douche yes but you know
they're a douche and they're not hiding it and you're like
yeah that's what we kind of love about him yeah you're a douche
yeah this attitude is when I'm trying to adopt more and more
because my one big fault I have is this weird like trying to
fix people thing yeah and so and nobody wants that like nobody
wants to be fixed people just like to be listened to yeah
that's what I've like noticed and it seems to be kind of the
ultimate ultimate if you're around somebody to just listen
yeah and not just listen with your ears but with your eyes
and listen with your whole body yeah and just listen just
that that seems to be and that means so that someone's you
know a douche or whatever the fuck it is if you just let them
like you're saying allow the space within which they can be
that it's like paradoxically suddenly their douche quality
kind of like begins to dissolve because and it's them you
know it's just like sometimes people you can't have you can't
when you when you say you're at 70% energy in your body right
and you get a Snickers so you go up to 120 yeah you're coming
down to 20 now because you went up 50 now you're going to come
down 50 yeah you need it there's got to be a balance in the
world there's going to be douchey people yeah why do we need
to change everyone there wouldn't be humor without douchey
people there wouldn't you know there you have to have negative
quality no one's going to be perfect and the second we put
that expectation for the which is why I think like Yelp is a
huge problem everyone being able to have an opinion is a huge
problem when we were kids you would go to crappy restaurants
you would just do that with your family and you'd like my
why do we come here and she goes I don't know it's close this
is where we go and now it's like if people don't have like
the ultimate experience they take a place down and you're
like no one can be held to this level of perfection no what
I mean what are you doing it's never gonna happen like the
whole game of Thrones thing everyone was like what a terrible
season and you're like what do you want them to do and why are
you turning on them now yeah they gave you glorious entertainment
for years and they're like we gotta end sometime yeah sorry
Seinfeld the last two seasons of Seinfeld those characters were
written for the characters that developed over seven years
right you know so they came a little hammy and everyone's
there was and you just like all right yeah whatever yeah man
it's just it it's just what it is it's like the the you ever
hear this this so like the amount of energy the brain
apparently exerts to filter out shit seventeen point eight
percent yeah seventy boy maybe more than that because so much
extraneous stuff is going down that you have to spend all this
energy ignoring shit right and that's why I do TM do you do
TM yeah did that happen after Twin Peaks yes but it wasn't
because of David Lynch okay well we'll put a pin in that and
get back to you real quick but yeah it is connected to TM and
and the which is essentially the idea is that the so if Game of
Thrones is seriously upsetting you that's painful yeah that's
just basic pain so like a show that was meant to be something
entertaining is hurting you yeah and so it's hurting you to the
point that you're going online and you're signing petitions to
get it redone and you're emailing people and if you just sit
still for a second and feel what that feels like you'll realize
like oh my god this is burning me like I'm being burnt by an
expectation and that's called being caught and interesting and
so yeah and so the idea is like from every we all have it
it's not just Game of Thrones it's like a good God the fucking
speaking of Seinfeld man I can't watch Seinfeld why because of
that bass lick in it that I don't know what I like I've thought
to myself like did something happen to me when I was a kid
where there was like a Seinfeld ass bass lick happening
simultaneously so that I have some repressed memory connected
to that fucking sound because my reaction to the Seinfeld bass
does not match a Seinfeld bass it means like something happened
to me when I was hearing about but the bow I don't know what
and I don't want to know right now what it is but what I mean
is I don't get to enjoy Seinfeld not because Seinfeld sucks
but because I'm stuck there yeah right and so the more of
those things you have in your life the more pain you're going
to be in and the less of those things you have in life the
more you're going to fucking love your life that's like
shit where'd it go oh man I had it right here hold on what was
it it's the Zen book well anyway the there it starts off with
this what's the name of it the problem is that's the problem
I can never remember the name of these books the Zen in the
art of motorcycle maintenance you can make it you know river
and stream there were the dude have you ever seen rivers and
tides no documentary rivers and tides I'll remind you
if everyone out there rivers and tides as well as artists
who goes out into the wilderness and this is what his art
is he takes he takes things in in the world and then just
turns them into art and some of them only last like at one
point he goes to this river and he collects it goes around
and forges for this red clay that's like buried in the river
yeah and then he collects it all turns into a big ball right
yeah and goes to the top of the river and drops it in and when
it lands the water just goes turns like metallic red from
the clay and it lasts I don't know 20 seconds and then it's
done wow but he does other things like builds these
structures and like he's just he's fucking right so he's
like working with impermanence he's like that's his medium
I don't know but I that's the name of my new my new autobiography
working with impermanence working with impermanence well
this is the is the medium I guess that we're dealing with
and this is why our brains get so fucked up when a friend
is like having some success or when we're having some success
and a friend isn't is because we can so easily forget this is
not a permanent experience it's like when you run into someone
and it's very rare whenever I run into it man I kind of enjoy
it but when you run into someone experiencing a little
temporary success who's managed to get a big fucking head and
you realize they're like acting I rarely see this it's a
stereotype yeah the person who's got some fame and turns into
a deep hard-baked fuckhead right yeah you know what I
haven't seen that really that much either I've seen I was a
talent coordinator at the comedy store I remember once during
the entire time yeah and it was shocking to the point of being
like I wanted to be around it because it's like wow it's a
real dick like someone whose fame is actually gone to their
head they're actually alienating people imagining that this
is going to last and it's like man it doesn't it can't last
similarly you run into people in the opposite situation where
there's a little drought happening and it is going to
their fucking head because they think this is going to last
and so now they're also acting in an imbalanced way completely
out of fear not realizing like oh no man you'll get some
success don't worry it's going to come it'll happen and then
that's going to go away too and so this is the nature of the
beast so to speak and the more I get caught on either side of
that fucking spectrum the more I'm not able paradoxically to
do the activities or to do the creative output it would make
anything worthwhile yeah because my brain is trying to hold on
to one spot right yeah well you know what when you said earlier
I when I was saying you I had that that day where everything
seemed a little off I had been like two months so not since
I had like had an off day you know I mean for like two months
I've been like good moods everything was going well even
though I wasn't like work things weren't popping or whatever
I was content within my world you know what I mean family wife
everything I was content and then I had this day and I'm like
oh I haven't felt one of these days in a minute whereas
there have been other times where you know you go months with
like horrible days and you're like what the fuck man how do I
get out of this and then you get out for two days and then
you'll come back to it and so yeah you have to find it's for
me when I find the balance within myself and I'm just focused
on what I can do within myself you know what I mean that's all
that's when everything seems to like straighten out fuck yeah
yeah and that is finding that spot is the that it's always
there it's like you know like you know so for me I'm anxious
I get anxiety and I can distract myself from the anxiety
and even imagine the anxiety is not there but it's still there
it's an undercurrent would what what gives it to you do you
know. Oh my God. I'll tell you on the next time I do your
podcast only because here's this too much it will go on and on
yeah but but one of my teachers Ramdas says it's these levels
are happening all at once yeah so on one level you are maybe
absolutely terrified about losing everything for me you
know like the paradox of having a baby is like you know we put
him down and he stops crying and he goes to sleep yeah and then
you're like oh my God is he okay yeah for sure you know what I
mean and it's under there it's under there and you have to sort
of like divert your attention from that level to the next
level which is like actually he's sleeping peacefully and if I
go into check on him neurotically it's going to create tears
dude one of the first things ever when I was having a kid
so like you know people family members send you like gifts and
stuff like that you know cribs changing table all that kind of
shit well my my mother-in-law's friend sent us this mat you put
under the mattress and if the baby doesn't roll over or move
every 20 minutes it beeps and it like prevents it's right wow so
we're like we're getting the room ready and I'm putting this
thing in and I'm sitting with my wife and I go what are we
doing? She's like what do you mean? I go are we really going
to live in a world where we need something to help us feel
safer about the fact that we're not going to lose the thing
that we love? I'm like get this in the fuck out of here I don't
I don't want that why are we ever going to why don't we just
get a rubber car you know what I mean like what are we doing?
Yeah life is going to happen and let's live it freely and let
things whatever happens to us happens and we'll deal with it
but I would rather live freely than and she was like hundred
percent I mean she doesn't always agree like sometimes I'll
leave the house unlocked at night and she'll be like you know
you left the house unlocked last night and I'm like I go yeah
and she goes that doesn't concern you and I'm like we're
still here they didn't get us last night we'll lock it tonight
in case they come by but we're good. I will realize I haven't
locked up the house I will be laying there yeah thinking like
about forensic files knowing the alarm isn't set the house is
unlocked yeah and then I'll just drift off to sleep thinking
like well hope we don't get strangled roll a dice tonight
hope I don't wake up tied up yeah like that the the what the
golden state killer you know that motherfucker would tie up the
husband and like put plates on his head so that if he moved
in the plates dropped in the while he was like raping the
wife you know Jesus don't get that's neither here nor there
I'm sorry to bring it up but that's definitely set your
security so I gotta get a better chair every time I move it
sounds like I'm farting so this to me is is like one of the
amazing things about you is that you have the most
simultaneously edgy personality and this like amazing wild
comedian true comedian self that seems really well balanced
with being a dad and a lot of times comedians are not so
how would you say family oriented some are but you seem to
have really in some way or another like you just seem to
have a natural talent for being a father and I can't think
of anything better than that to be on the planet like if I had
to pick between being the funniest person that ever walked
the face of the earth and being a good dad I've become so
fucked up that I would rather be a good dad and that's a mess
isn't it no I think that's exactly what you want to be you
know what I mean I would always want to be a good dad instead
you're saying it's fucked up for you to want to be a better
dad but you know but that's that's the selfish thing you've
been talking about like letting go of because if you want to be
the best comedian of all time you're going to be selfish if
you're going to be even if you're going to be remotely
successful you're going to be selfish if you look at all the
top comedians right now do you think Kevin Hart I'm not saying
Kevin Hart can't be the best dad I'm not saying that but how
much is he doing so how much are you home you know what I mean
now granted we have FaceTime he's clearly providing financially
but at the same time you're just like well how much are you
able to help your kids with a tiny problem that will help them
deal with giant problems down the road right you know I mean
so for me I put it this way the other day my son we did a trip
to Boston together three weeks ago just me and him first time
ever and he never takes showers he still takes baths and like
I we kept saying like hey when you turn five you can take
showers he's like yeah daddy and he never did so we went on
the trip I'm like you know what we're gonna do this trip
because we'll go showers bro and he's like okay dad and now
he's taking a shower every day since he loves him so the other
day we were home and my wife was with my daughter and I was
like hey bud you want to grab a quick shower and he's like
yeah so we hop in there and I'm sitting there and he's like
I'm standing on the water with half the water getting on him
and half on me and he's like you know this toys and he's
standing there just playing talking and I'm looking at him
and I'm like not only have I never did I ever take a shower
with my dad I never learned how to shower from my dad I never
learned how to shave from my dad and I never that I can
remember because he left when I was two slept under a roof in
the same house with my dad whoa my son in the morning will get
up come in the bed at like 715 be like hey dad and I'm like
hey big boy sometimes we'll just chill you know my wife's
there sometimes he goes to my wife like whatever they wake
us up which is the greatest thing in the world that never
happened ever in my life wow and I was just sitting there
taking a shower with him and being like God how amazing is
this like I'm so I love that we get to I taught him how to
shower and now we're just chilling in here and he gets
to like the idea of being comfortable around his dad with
his family I mean we're not gonna take showers together
forever you know and I took a shower with my dad until he
passed we took showers every day that I was with him are you
for real no I was really fucked up to fuck with me like that
I'm like Jesus Duncan how old were you and your dad passed
you know what I mean but like so for me when you say that I
have this new philosophy that at least for this like idea
that I'm working on that parenting skips a generation
whoa you know what I mean because like I'm sitting there
looking at it and I'm like oh I didn't have anyone to parent
me my dad didn't parent me my mom's a single mom of four
she's doing her best and now I'm coming in and I'm looking
at my kids and now granted my wife came from a super solid
background her parents are still together they and I'm not
saying parents need to stay together they they just still
need to be parents and be communicative and I'm not
saying my mom was an amazing woman and parent and a lot
of things but I think I said this when we were chatting on
my podcast is like my mom never said hey today's your dad's
birthday you need to give him a call you know and that would
be her being unselfish that would be her no matter how bad
she hated him that should be an element of parenting and being
a mother is saying you need to have a father in your life
right you need to call your father you need you need that
to be that was never a case in my house and what I don't know
my dad's birthday you know I don't know I never knew his
birthday I never knew their wedding anniversary I never knew
any of that you know like it just wasn't something that like
ever came up that means my dad was having birthdays by himself
somewhere with his wife or whoever whatever he was doing
and we were off living our life not a part of his day and
that to me if you look first of all I'm a firm believer that
every single one of us is connected through somewhere
else I would tell you this vision I've had I had this vision
one time.
I had this vision of this big giant orb right in space yeah
with all spinning balls around it yeah you know may almost
looking like an atom and then I just had this imagine this
thing came to me that when we're born or become you know a
human one of those balls goes and shoots down inside one of
us becomes our soul we live when we die goes back to the
ball and feeds back into this one universal thing yet so
almost like we're all a part of each other because we're
living and it's so I always think of it is like you're just
here to hopefully try to be your best you're going to make
mistakes and have faults but you just whatever that knowledge
is that you're going to gain positive negative feelings
successes failures you're going to take back and put into the
the greater good again you know what I mean of the one thing
that we all exist from you know whoa man that is so beautiful
so I have a constant like like when I see my kids I don't just
I don't just see them as my children I see them as humans
and I'm like well the first responsibility I have is to put
a good human in the world which means you're going to carry
your lunch in the school because you need to learn
responsibility and you need to take ownership and you need
to feel pride and you need to be someone who uses a turn signal
when you're switching lanes right so carry your lunch I'm not
carrying it for you and I don't do it in a mean way but I'm
like you carry your lunch to school that's part of going to
school and for me it's like you know when I tell you know it's
because I know this is for your good down the road you might
get mad at me right now and be upset at me I don't care you
know I love you like if I'm like if if I'm with the two kids
and one needs a little more attention than the other one I
give it but then I always make sure to go over and give a
little like pinch or a little kiss and be like who's my big
boy and then go on because and I mean that's just me being
sensitive to the idea that I don't want either of them to
feel left out also knowing that there are times when one needs
a little more and it's okay that I give him more you know what
I mean so it's again what we talked about earlier about like
hey are you just looking out for people without sacrificing
your own self I'm not sacrificing of my my need to be a dad to
one child against the other one and at the same time it's no
skin off my back or energy taken away to go over and make sure
the other one knows like yo I just talked to them and did this
thing that they need to do and told you to wait a second but
now I'm giving you a little little bump on the butt to say
hey I'm here to you know wow I want to so this is what's really
fascinating about you many things are fascinating about you
but so here you have on one side this like I don't even a
savant or something when it comes to parenting and you in
that and you're blowing my mind for a few different reasons
because you're kind of saying things that so like my meditation
teacher has said to me literally it skips a generation except
he was talking about like sometimes like in anyway the
transmission of some like Buddhist ideas sometimes actually
skips generations anyway and then another thing that Ram Dass
says is he you know I was asking him like what's the bad you
know how to be a great dad what's the best way to be a great
dad for for us my son and he goes first of all such a great
name thanks man he goes first of all not he he's a soul yeah
not your son's soul first and then your son so soul overall
as they say soul overall so the idea is like first year the
spinning beautiful sort of very temporary manifestation of the
whole that's taken a birth in the human incarnation but from
from your own free will you decided to take the birth you
wanted to come and swim around in this particular part of the
resort of the universe so to speak and you picked your parents
and you picked these experiences is that real well that is it
real but that's what Ram Dass says yeah because that's God
I that was another thing I used to always think when I was
really young not really young maybe it was like when I got
into my twenties where I was like I think before you're born
you pick the life you want to have because you want that
challenge so like people that get like Tiffany Haddish for
example you take Tiffany Haddish and she's she's had a she's
had a tough road to get to where she is as a person and you're
like yeah but only her could have got through that right you
know what I mean and I always think that I'm like I think I
picked these things you know even though all I maybe I picked
having a dad that was gone because all I ever want to do is
be built into someone that could be a dad you know even though
I I was like I would I mean I don't know sometimes like I do
I'm working on a bit right now where I'm like man I love being
a dad it's my favorite thing in the world but when I see people
without kids I'm like oh what a good life where are you going
Italy where are you going are you doing anything get away you
can go wherever you want you know so I definitely that's
refreshing to hear that you know the idea that you picked it
and you you know embrace it you need that fucking clay to drop
in the river man like you know that's the concept is and if
you forget that things can seem really fucked up because you
start feeling like you know when you find yourself in a pickle
you're like and you and you lose track and you don't realize
like listen you have been human incarnation is like in the
shout in the like kung fu movies when you get welcomed into
the temple and then you get your fucking ass kicked like having
to do those weird Shaolin exercises or whatever like pouring
water while you're like standing on spikes while you're
about all that shit that's what human incarnation is considered
it's like you've been allowed into this very advanced training
place which is our lives and you're given these opportunities
to basically begin to sand yourself down and and and
become something really beautiful and wonderful see this is
where was this so this ties back into what we're saying way
earlier and I want to get this out.
Another problem with this business or anyone who's
chasing a dream or a goal is you came here to LA with an idea
of what you wanted and so then you pursue it and you pursue
it and you pursue it and either it happens or it doesn't and
either you stay in the game or you don't but if you stay in
the game then you start to be like was I wrong did I pick
the wrong did I I said I was coming here to do this and I
haven't done it yet so am I wrong or am I not good enough
or did I pick the wrong thing am I just can is am I clouded
am I supposed to be a chef but I picked this because I don't
know or you know I have tons of friends that came to be actors
and then they now they produce reality television you don't
mean like what is it so that's another thing that can get in
the way is you're just constantly like well if I'm going to
abide by because we live on a spiritual level you know not
everyone does by the way we live on a spiritual level so if
we believe that we picked our life and then we're living
the life that we're living and it's not going the way that
we always thought it was going then you start questioning
like am I not am I wrong was I wrong in this choice I'm 17
years into this you know what I mean yeah that's something I
battle a lot because especially when you're seeing your other
friends like move forward you're like yeah what is that they
wanted I wanted to do this to what why is it you know what I
mean and then you just like you know you question it so like
knowing that like maybe you pick the life that you wanted to
lead and you picked where you want to be and then you start
seeing what's happening around you and you see the things
that are out of your control because you try and control and
then this is where I've been lately is I'm letting go of the
control and just trying to like be like all right I'm just
trying to find contentment in my life and then thinking once
I do that the things that are supposed to happen will come
to me and that's what I've been telling the universe like I'm
just going to go and work my as hard as I can like we were
saying off mic earlier you at some point you just can only
work as hard as you can and then I'm just hoping that the
universe is going to then reveal itself to me instead of me
constantly trying to be like I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do
this why isn't this work you know Jay first of all I like
it so when I came when I started working at the comedy star
I remember talking to one of the sclar brothers yeah because
they were on TV a bunch and I said to them what's it like to
have made it and he laughed I can't remember which sclar is
talking to you but he laughed in the best way he's like what are
you talking about look you made it he's like what do you know
like we're doing and then the other day I was talking to
somebody who is so successful and they were expressing to
me how insecure they feel all the time and then you are you
gotta be one of the best storytellers out there man and
like you've been you're on fucking Twin Peaks you have
like these incredible special you're brilliant and you have
a but but but you because you're in your body and you are
using a different relative gauge I guess to measure where
you're at you've always been to be here like fuck Lars it's
like killing it I've never two things one if I stopped right
now and never did stand up or acting or anything else again
people would look at him like wow he had he had a really good
career because you gotta look at it like that you like look
at all the things you've done if you look comparatively all
the time like if I compare myself to like younger comics
they would kill to have what I have but then I look at friends
and I will I would kill to have what they have and then if
you really get down to it it's like what do you ultimately
want and if you ultimately want happiness and you decide
that to let go of all this shit we've been pursuing and just
trusting that whatever decision you make will be the right
decision because you're you're making a decision or you're
trusting your gut or you're following a path and it's going
to open itself up to you like if I decided to quit today and
open the bodega that I've always wanted to open I bet I could
have an amazing life but I'm just trusting in the idea that
I haven't yet and that's because I'm I'm doing what I'm
supposed to be doing dude I was reading your story about and
you're a great writer so I'm reading your story about working
with David Lynch which for a lot of people would be like the
apex of their life just a chance to get to work with him or
be around him or whatever would be like like in your story on
your website is so fucking cool and so well written but I got
really excited when you were talking about how you love the
beat poets yeah and you know why they were called the beats
no well now this could be wrong but what I read is I used to
think it was because like you know like a beat yeah yeah I
think Kerouac and one of his poems kind of says alludes to
that but then I heard another interpretation which is they
were beat they were beat meeting they lost they just decided
yeah we've been beat we're the beat generation we've been
beaten down we've lost we've given up we've completely given
up because we we we okay we we we lost like Maria Banford's
got a great joke which is when people ask like so what are you
up to I'm sorry anyone listening is a fan of this joke I
fuck every joke up I pair it I'm so sorry but her joke is so
long the lines of where people are like so what are you up to
these days and she's like oh I stopped that's tight yeah man
and not that attitude to me is so crucial to for me to be
happy which is that the moment I put it down the role so to
speak or the story that I told myself years and years and
years ago about oh how here this is how it's going to be or
when I realized like I'm comparing my career to like
Rogan's career yeah just why don't I just get to pay someone
to crucify me yeah pay someone to like get some fuck just
like hang hang me on a fucking crucifix are you going to
compare yourself to someone who's existing in the top one
percentile of a particular industry yeah and not expect to
be like suffering it's so this to me it's like the moment I
and it's not like I give up it's not like I'm like oh I'm not
going to do anymore I'm going to go find some other way or any
of that shit the moment I'm just like I don't know yeah I don't
know there's just this right now and I know I like to make
stuff and then the more I connect with that that's where
it seems to start happening but anytime I'm doing the game of
either like looking back to a me when I was like just out of
college or or me like 10 years ago and try to like be the thing
that would please that person 10 years ago I'm literally trying
to please a person 10 years younger than me that did that
had a mom that had a dad that didn't get cancer that didn't
have a baby and then anytime I do that shit I look at my now
I'm so lucky because I have this beautiful kid and I look at
him yeah and I'm like this makes it all make sense if I fucking
had a time machine I wouldn't use it man for fear that I would
mess something up and that little boy wouldn't be on the plan
anymore sure you know what I mean so what I'm saying is these
games we play with ourselves their self torture yeah I
rewrote my story but my whole life was defined by the fact of
my dad bounced every single thing I would walk around the
world as if he was always watching like if he was behind
like I used to I remember walking across campus in college
I was on the right side of the quad it was wintertime yeah and
I was like he came up here he knows you're here and he's he
wants to he can't talk to you but he's watching and I would
walk with this like confidence and bravado that he was watching
every time I would play baseball every time I would do stand
up I'm like he's gonna even to the day when he died and I went
through his apartment like I went back home and I went through
his apartment and I looked around his apartment looking for
things about me you know what I mean that's all I was looking
for but it defined me so much of my stand up there were jokes
about you know my dad and stuff like that and then I realized
I'm like he you don't know what his path was you don't know
why he wasn't around or what got in the way or and like you
know I found out these different things anyway the other day
I said to my my son I was like he said something about his
papa that's my father-in-law and I go yeah your papa your
grandpa and he goes who's my grandpa and I go you know my
dad and he goes Norman and my dad's name was Norman and all
his friends called him Normie and I decided like two years
ago that he was gonna be Normie to my kids you know I'm like
yeah your grandpa Normie and he's like my daughter who's
hardcore three years old she goes yeah he's dead and I'm like
yeah he's not here but they're gonna know him is in that same
thing that I talked about earlier how like I wish my mom had
like made us call him birthdays or whatever they're gonna know
him that yeah he was your grandpa Normie and he was an
antique dealer he played trumpet he only listen to classical
music he was an artist that welded and he loved to be
outside he loved to work with granite and cast iron and he
was very creative and he was big and he had big blue eyes
and he was he was mystical and he was he was into like wisdom
and and I'm gonna tell him all the positive stuff and then
when they get older when they have questions like yeah you
know I don't know what it was about my dad but he wasn't
around you know what I mean and which is why I you know and
then just I'll tell him everything else but they're
definitely that's their I'm not gonna leave him out of their
story you know I mean like yeah I'm gonna fill you in on what
I know about him and like they have stuff in their room that
he gave to me and I'm like yeah your your grandpa Normie gave
us that you know what I mean because I'm like time for me to
rewrite it instead of being the dude who's abandoned how about
being the guy that had this so much of me when when I got in
touch with him when I was like 25 we start emailing and I
remember reading his emails being like holy shit this is how
I write I write just like him like he would I remember he was
like up to snowy day today in Hamilton or not I forget this
town next to Essex he's like a snowy day I'm up in the you
know you know I live in an 18th century old house and I'm in
the attic it's cold up here there's no heat when I look
outside all as I see is snow and I'm gonna trudge down to the
Richdale and drop two antiques in the mail and then come back
for the day and I was like Jesus Christ this is how I like
think this is how I write and I was like that's when I it's
like I finally got a chance to identify a part of myself that
I didn't know where to place so like when I take showers with
my son or I teach my daughter how to use a drill or all the
things that I wish I that things I taught myself taught myself
how to shave I remember being in college freshman year and I
was shaving right and I I would shave and then shower right
and there was this kid Eddie Hannon who was like a fifth year
senior transfer was like big hockey dude awesome kid from
Maine and he's like what are you doing? What do you mean?
He goes what what are you you shave and then you shower?
I go yeah he goes no you shave you shower the hot water and
air gets in your skin makes it easier to shave you shave
after and I was like oh all right and I never know I just
never knew and I'm like all these little things I'm gonna get
to teach my kids which is again not only does parenting
skip a generation but all the it took me so it took me to 20
or 18 years old to learn how to shave he'll learn how to
shave it I don't know 12th you know what I mean so that's
our he's already got a six year head start on me with that
I'm gonna teach him how to use money I'm gonna teach my daughter
how to use my I'm gonna teach them how to like drill saw
build how to be respectful of they've already been teaching
them how to shake hands at this young age I'm gonna teach
him how you look in an eye I'm gonna dude I took my daughter
on Saturday to the self realization you know that place
in the palates and I said to him like hey this is a place
where people come and meditate because they know I meditate
and then summer reads teachers meditate and sometimes I find
him in the backyard with his legs crossed and him just
sitting and his eyes closed and he'll do it for like six
seconds but he's like I'm meditating and like meditation
is gonna be a part of their life they're gonna know it and
when they get old enough then I will get them into it where
they can like take a class and learn TM or whatever form
that they want to learn but so we're walking around that
self realization I was like hey that you know we gotta you
have to be quiet we're here there's not like yelling and
screaming and my daughter who's three we were there for an
hour the whole time talk like this daddy daddy come over here
and whispered the whole time and there's a there's a chapel
there you know and we went in I go do you want I go we can't
go in I held him like looking she goes can we go in and say
a prayer and I go yeah and we went in sat down I was like
she sat I sat she's got her hands like together and like did
her own little prayer and she's like let's go and I'm like
hold on I'm in the middle of mine give me two seconds and
it was like amazing and I'm like oh the more the more before
you have kids you challenge yourself to learn the more
you can offer and feed into that next generation so that
they know more they're more awake you know what I mean
there have more knowledge they have knowledge of like I want
my kids to have a knowledge of money because it's something
I never had like how to save yeah you make a dollar you put
at least twenty five cents away that's just start getting
used to that yeah you know so that they can like be financially
set it's like it's like that guy who just who did the the
graduation address at Morehouse College you see that guy
now you know what he did oh we paid off everyone's everyone's
student loan and he said to the alumni and he goes and all
the alumni here today goes this is my class two thousand
nineteen is my class I'm going to pay for all them basically
saying the alumni get off your ass and someone else sponsored
the next year and like if they can start especially you know
I'm white but in the black community I've always had this
like I always had a passion for Judaism and I always had a
passion for Native Americans and African Americans because
I loved I always felt as a kid who had nobody and felt like
as waste and discard and having a dad that didn't love me I
felt like only felt connection to like Native Americans being
ripped away from their place being African Americans just
like being beat down and you know not being able to vote like
Martin Luther King was an idol of mine OJ Simpson you know
Hank Aaron these were all my idols they're all black men and
so when I saw that I was like oh that he's like supporting
the young black men in America and giving them a head start
and as a dad I'm going to I say to my wife I'm like the only
reason I want money is to be able to give them a head start
not so that when they turn twenty five I can be like here's
two hundred thousand dollars but so I can say yeah you don't
have to pay for college right or you know what you do have to
pay for it you give it to me and then I take that money and I
put in a savings account and then when they're twenty five
and they're like moving to a city we say hey how about we go
to that city and you buy a condo and you can start having
an investment so that there's money in your life and you
can start you know building something that's going to help
you succeed so that you're not forty three like me don't own
a house and have student loan debt you know what I mean this
you are the answer man you know I'm making you my father
guru know I am like I don't have it like every like it's so
funny everything you're saying I'm just like soaking it in
because it's so like it's so on the level it's so good and
I like we so many people went through the divorce boom and
like so many people are children of divorce they didn't have
a father figure maybe they didn't have a mother figure in
there they have no idea how to do do it they have no idea
how to be in a relationship that last they have no idea how
to be married then certainly have no idea how to like be a
good father they're self-absorbed self-obsessed and and
within that there's so much room just to continue this
never ending shit snowball that's been rolling through time
yeah and the moment someone like you like grabs the energy
that very easily you could be better very easily you could
just better yeah well I have been forever yeah and I
constantly working and I still get it but I just like you
know it's the same thing we're talking about I wouldn't sit
here and talk about my bitterness but I do get it and I
work at it of years dude I want to therapy still do for years
because I'm like oh I constantly need to work otherwise
you just fall into old ruts and old habits and when I have
bad days I just have to be like all right man you got to work
this you have to like you know do something to mode like
and I've also learned lately to give myself breaks yesterday
afternoon I was like take a break dude like it's not happening
today go go lay in the hammock for an hour I want to know
man is how are you like how are you balancing your your
stand up your writing the fucking hard work you're putting
into your projects and how do you balance that with being a
dad how are you making these two things coincide and also
how are you staying funny you know that myth or like a lot
of people say once you have kids you're not funny anymore
it eats me alive man I haven't been on stage in six months
I'm terrified to get back on stage because what if it's all
gone like what if I can't be funny anymore yeah well you
will be you're a funny person in general so it's not going
to matter I first of all I don't know the way I balanced it
was I just said the kids are more important you know and I
was like dude trust me you know as a stand-up you got to be on
the road and I always said like I just don't want to be on
the road because I knew I was going to want to be home with
my kids and now I'm looking at like guys like you look at
Segora remember how much road Segora did way before he had
kids yes he was always on the road I remember thinking like
what's he doing like don't you want to get on a TV show or
something like that and it's like oh no Tom did all that
work on the road built a fan base built an act built the
ability to write stand up continuously so that now all
that stuff just came to him because he worked on that one
thing yes and that was just never the route I took with
and I always look at it and not an envious way but I'm like
man I wish I kind of had done that but it's okay I picked
this road so I feel like the balance hasn't been first of
all if you're able to conceptualize the idea that balance
doesn't have to be 5050 it could be 7030 then it becomes
you know if your balance is just putting 100% into your
life whether that be 70% here and 30% there but 100% into
that 30% into the 70% then you're going to be balanced so
like I could be doing way more work in stand up and being
getting up I could be getting up every night if I wanted to
but then I have to pay for a sitter because my wife is out
of town and I just started looking at it like this is all
you can do because like my wife is out of town last night
and tonight right but I have to get out tonight I have to so
I got a sitter for tonight but there's no way I want my kids
to go two nights in a row without me being there last
night we did we hung out of my neighbors for a while after
we ate dinner at a table by ourselves listening to music
because that's what we do went over and played in my neighbors
then we came over played out back everybody had to get in
their PJs then we sat and read six books we like read six
books and then we go into the room and then hang out what do
you mean you read six books we read six books I picked two
that each each one of them pick two I mean but the kids like
these books five minutes each or something yeah something
like that but I mean we read books for like 40 minutes
sometimes we do eight sometimes it's two but a lot of it on
average it's at least four I like to just like for me it like
winds them down and my friends like they're like you know God
that you know finally we got the kids working just put them in
their room and say good night and I'm like yeah I just kind of
like having 40 minutes I always block off seven to eight
o'clock is going to be the time for like starting to like do
the bedtime thing because for me I like it like I like we brush
our teeth together we we go in there will clean up together we
might go for a walk around the neighborhood is part of that
then come home and read some nights they watch TV some nights
it's like okay you get TV tonight and they'll watch TV and
then they you know they go to bed but I just don't like to do
it as far as the balancing thing is I've just put I feel like
I've put part of my career on the back burner to focus on
them and part of that is that my wife her job calls her to
travel as well so I can't I don't want to life where before
kids used to be she would go away we went through a stretch
one time she went away on a Monday came back on Thursday
I left Thursday to do clubs Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
I came home Sunday she left on Monday I left on Thursday and
we went like a month and we had been in the house you like
three times and I just kind of looked at it like my wife is
in sales you can't just leave sales and get another job at
the same amount of money you make so it was like family is
number one and right now she makes more money keeping that
job than she would as if she left that job and we focused
on mine you know what I mean so I was like hey I'll keep
hitting singles and swinging for home runs and you keep the
doubles up and eventually like you said it's going to settle
into my spot you know this is your spot yeah well this is
like yeah for sure but I still am hoping that we hit something
where like I'm able to take my comedy and my love for parenting
and being a dad and put that into a show and then and where
the show comes into our world have to yeah that's what I mean
that's what we're trying you got to man because it's we don't
like it's so cool yeah I don't know what it's going to be that
you that like the it's it's like really cool listening to this
part of the like the matter as it's beginning to like form
into something and and I don't know what your the details
what you're working on but holy shit you know is someone who's
a fan of the beat poets yeah you care whack Ginsberg you know
show him Trump or Rinpoche my teacher's teacher was Alan
Ginsberg's teacher and he was this great Buddhist teacher real
real controversial figure but you know they met arguing over a
fucking cab like Ginsberg got in the cab and Trump or Rinpoche
got in the cab at the same time and they like for a second
were like arguing over who and then they shared the cab and
then it's still craziest coincidence because this is
like a in Tibetan Buddhism which is known as is known as a
Tolku reincarnation the Dalai Lama is one so it's one where
they go to the child and they show all this stuff to the
child and the child like picks the items that he had in the
previous oh yeah and you to pick the Dalai Lama right well
yeah and they do it for other the other Tolku's as well like
other but as a side note if you want to add to your list of
people to connect to you that have been that are refugees
the Tibetans man they got fucking kicked out of their
homeland by the Chinese and they like it's a really beautiful
story man but anyway Trump or Rinpoche his advice for how
to like create what he called an enlightened society is to
create a sacred home environment and that is what you're
doing and I just heard this recently someone else and
politically my whole thing has always been like why are we
not just taking care of Main Street we spend six trillion
dollars a year on wars if we put that money into here like
why are we not doing that and then again if you build that
home then you build the kids will you know yeah please continue
sorry that's it that you just said I mean that like all these
plans and all the stuff that we all want everyone wants a
world to be a beautiful harmonious world yeah but in the
moment you decide okay I'm going to fucking you know I'm
going to try to become a famous this or a famous that I'm
going to exert my ego into the world and try to get this very
temporary success at the cost of abandoning my children
abandoning my wife what ends up happening is okay great you
made a million dollars and you've got some great comedy
albums but you had three children who are severely neurotic
because they were overshadowed by you and they had a feeling
that they were unwelcome visitors into their own home
because they were getting in the way of your art and then
now those three kids are going to have kids and now we have
this never ending sort of fragmentation in society that's
happening whereas the moment someone like you gets lucky
enough and smart enough to like pull it together into like
focus on the actual like fundamental the heart of
society is the family then people like me or just like
well I'm an aw man like I did not do this like I I mean
I'm like I'm soaking it in and then then that you know we
all have a different path we all are going to be learning at
different stages and different times you know and at the same
time I also look at some people that might not be as present
at home with their family doesn't mean they're not a good
parent and ultimately at the end of the day like they might
be doing stuff for the greater good of the world by you
know being able to you know do their art you know I have no
idea I just know for me this was like even though I fight
with it like man I wish I was working more I wish I could
be doing more you know and then you know what that happens
during the day and then like 445 when I'm going to pick up
the kids and I get there and I'm with them I forget about
all that you know cuz I'm just like well this I love that I
get to pick them up and I love that I get to go in their room
and they can show me what they did and I asked them and I
challenge them I challenge the fuck out of my kids not not
to like be anything just to think differently you know what
I mean like if they say something some way I go no that
what if it's this way or I go hey get up there and call out
to so and so like we'll like I'm like roll down the when I go
ask that guy where he's going like just a strange like where
you're going and they're like huh and I'm like and they're
like why'd we do that dad and like why wouldn't we do that
cool you know just because what ifs this is so cool man I'm
like I'm not joking man I'm gonna like make you're my dad
guru now like I'm gonna do you mind if I reach out to you
and this is the coolest thing ever there's no person on the
planet that would see Duncan Trussell calling on their phone
that wouldn't be stoked to pick it up brother thank you this
is so good man I really hope and we I mentioned this on
when I was on your podcast I saw that you write this book man
because it's like for you it might see I don't know what it
seems like but for someone like a new dad like me yeah this
is shit that like you know it's so useful because my dad
similarly to norm normie normie similar to normie my dad
was more present in my life and he's a wonderful wonderful
man but there was some as many fathers that were in Vietnam
you know there's stuff and like I don't have like I I'm I'm
really like playing it like I'm spitballing so to speak when
it comes to being a dad and I don't want to spitball you know
what I mean like I like so I just think a lot of people like
me need people like you because also I don't need some
sanctimonious motherfucker who's like blurting out some moral
like corrective bill O Riley style bullshit about how to be
a good dad or some hyper masculine motherfucker like talking
about it somehow you're like balancing all of your comedic
skill and your talent in with this way of conveying like
fatherhood it's really bad thanks man I appreciate that how
can people find you Mr. Larson J Larson comedy on Instagram
and Facebook J Larson comedy dot com my podcast the
through line you can get on all your podcast venues what do
you call it all I don't I have no you know I mean all the
podcast if you listen to podcast you know where just look for
the through line THR you and they can listen to your episode
that you do with me.
Why did I think your podcast was called the crab that was I
did that for a long time but now it's just that was with me
and Ryan and now it's just me doing the through line cool man
yeah man cool.
Howdy Krisha.
Thank you Jay.
All the links to find Jay are going to be a dog at Drussel
dot com.
I'll see you again soon.
Yeah much thanks to Jay Larson for coming on the show definitely
listen to his podcast through line with Jay Larson and much
thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode of
the DTFH don't forget subscribe to us at Patreon Ford
slash DTFH give us a nice rating on iTunes won't you until
next time.
A good time starts with a great wardrobe next stop JC
Penny family get togethers to fancy occasions wedding season
to we do it all in style dresses, suiting and plenty of color
to play with get fixed up with brands like Liz Claiborne
Worthington Stafford and Jay for our own and their abouts
for kids super cute and extra affordable check out the latest
in store and we're never short on options at JC P dot com
all dressed up everywhere to go JC penny.
A good time starts with a great wardrobe next stop JC
Penny family get togethers to fancy occasions wedding season
to we do it all in style dresses, suiting and plenty of color
to play with get fixed up with brands like Liz Claiborne
Worthington Stafford and Jay for our own and their abouts
for kids super cute and extra affordable check out the latest
in store and we're never short on options at JC P dot com
all dressed up everywhere to go JC penny.