Duncan Trussell Family Hour - 606: Ehsan Ahmad

Episode Date: March 10, 2024

Ehsan Ahmad, brilliantly funny comedian, joins the DTFH (live from Cincinnati)! You can follow Ehsan on Twitter and Instagram. Original music by Aaron Michael Goldberg. This episode is brought to you by: Fitbod - Click here to try out Fitbod with 3 FREE Personalized Workouts, and 25% Off if you decide to subscribe! AG1 - Visit DrinkAG1.com/Duncan for a FREE 1-year supply of vitamin D and 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase!

Hello my friends, it's me Duncan and this is my podcast. If this is your first time here, I want to recommend that you stop inviting that multicolored undulating reptilian lizard thing into your bed. It's not normal. I don't want to seem old-fashioned, but the fact that you let a strange hyperdimensional lizard that followed you all the way back from Peru on your weird ayahuasca trip burrow in your butt cheeks at night. And look, I have nothing against burrowing into butt cheeks, but I mean human to human. These lizards are fucked up. My friend has one. His ass is a mess now. Completely scabbed up.

This, it's not meant to be there. It's not a place anything should sleep. Lizards should sleep on rocks or in like granite cliff faces, not in the sweet precious sacred beautiful ass that the Lord gave you This is bad. You know, maybe I'm just getting old but this trend is bad. No one knows what the things are number one Some of them are poisonous. I know that in a recent laboratory study performed by Stanford them are poisonous. I know that in a recent laboratory study performed by Stanford professor William Drake, it was found that the gills of these lizards have within them toxic serotonin poisoning nodules. You know what that means? That means if that lizard has a bad dream,

while it's sleeping in your ass, those nodules could get activated and it could spray that right into your butt. And that's gonna go right into your brain and it's gonna fry your brain kids. You know, when I was coming up, we had just basic LSD, maybe some mushrooms, maybe some inalents here and there, but we sure as fuck weren't putting lizards in our ass at night and

You know again, I don't want to be the get out of my yard kid guy I want I like that young people listen to this podcast, but come on man Come on. I know you guys heard about Tony French from Detroit He had one of these lizards nestling in his butt, wakes up in the morning lizard is gone. He looks around for the mucus trails to see where it went in his apartment. Couldn't find it goes to work upset stomach. You know the story I'm sure you've read about it's been on all the news stations goes to work, upset stomach. You know the story, I'm sure you've read about it. It's been on all the news stations, goes to the bathroom, and he pushes a 15 pound lizard

out of his ass. Hemorrhages, dyes. The lizard goes right into the toilet, burrows right into the toilet, they can, they're like mice. They can compress themselves. They can swell up. They swell up. Do you, you realize what that means? You get one of these things that decides to get a little too exploratory at night and it decides to balloon up inside of you and it will pop you like one of those fucking packing bubbles. Is that how you wanna go out? This is a precious, precious experience we're having. We get to be human beings only for a brief flickering of an eye. And to imagine that you would risk this precious human birth by allowing the transient temporary

joy of having a vibrating ayahuasca lizard laying in your ass. Yeah, it helps you sleep. Great. So does melatonin. Yeah, it gives you good dreams, so does melatonin. Yeah, it gives you some mild psionic abilities to move stuff around with your mind. That's why we have arms, that's why we have hands.

Get up and get the remote control yourself, okay? Is that where our civilization is headed folks? Is this where we're going? We're just gonna be atrophied, shriveled people, sinking into our massive couches, psionically controlling our remotes and our TVs with our minds while lizards sleep in our butts at night.

I don't know if that's the world I want my kids to grow up in. And that is why I will be voting for Benjamin Peterson. He's gonna make these lizards illegal. You will not be able to bring them back from Peru. You will not be able to sleep with a lizard in your butt at night. It's not fair, you know? It's not fair to imagine my kids having to compete

in baseball with other kids who have the capacity to stop time temporarily because if the powers these lizards grant you by allowing them to sleep in your butt, I'm sorry, I'm steamed up about this thing. And you know, it's gonna, it's just one of many signs that was written about in the Orga Elasi, the great grimoire of the Dark Mage Sand Ducks,

he predicted this, he called it, and it's happening. And we're all just sitting back laughing. Cause yeah, I guess in some way there is something absurdly funny about the fact that millennials, Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen Alpha have started cohabitating with these fucking beasts from the pit, from the pit. Dragons, dragon descendants. Only they're not in caves and they're not looking for gold.

They're in your fucking butt. I don't know how you live with yourself. And I can smell it on a person when they've been letting that thing slither in. I smell it. It's a weird, it's like a combination of DMT and air freshener. Yeah, they make you smell better. Yes, they make your eyes more beautiful. Yes, they make it so that you can dance better. Yes, they make it so that you're more articulate. Yes, they make you more charismatic. Yes, they make you run faster. Yes, they make you live longer.

Yes, they make you have a six pack. Yes, they make you understand which cryptocurrency you should be buying right now. Yes, they make you more compassionate. Yes, they make you more benevolent. Yes, they make it so you don't have to eat anymore and you can become purely photosynthetic. But is that human? Is that what a human being is? Are we really just going to turn into photo synthetic, benevolent, hyper compassionate, super in shape, charismatic, joyful, time freezing things, the shadow of our former self?

I like not being able to freeze time. I don't want that option. I don't want to wonder, should I use my freeze time token or whatever it is the lizards give you? I guess you can only do it twice a day. Is this the moment or do I wait for a better moment? I don't want that. I have enough shit to deal with.

I like getting up and getting the remote control. I like not being able to freeze time. And most of all, I like sleeping without a lizard nestled in the sacred canyons of my ass. So probably gonna lose a lot of listeners because of this ramp, but that's just how I feel. We have a fantastic podcast for you. I'm out here in Cincinnati doing stand-up comedy with Asan Ahmad.

He is a brilliantly funny comedian. If you live in Austin, you've been to the mothership. You've definitely seen him. Super funny, super brilliant comic. And we had a wonderful conversation about all kinds of crazy things. The collapse of the Just For Laugh's comedy festival, inclusivity in TV tracker.

If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. And most importantly, the existence or non-existence of the human soul. And honestly, you know what? If you're one of these lizard people, unsubscribe. I don't want you to listen to this. I want you to work on your life, and I want you to find a way to say goodbye to that lizard. And you know what's really crazy? They come back. I'm sure you've read those stories.

People send them away. The lizards cry. They're weeping lizards. They emote. They seem sad. They seem butthurt. And then they skitter out the door. They seem butthurt and then they skitter out the door.

Next day, you're missing that thing. You're living like a normal human and you hear it that little tap at the door. You open it up, there they are. Sometimes they have gifts in their mouth, expensive watches, jeweled medallions, exotic spices, and silken pouches, technologies we've never seen before. And so you let them in, you take your spice or your Rolex, you put it on and climb into

bed and spread those cheeks and you're right back in it. It got you. Sadov spy lizard. You want that on your tombstone? We're going to jump right into this podcast, but first, won't you subscribe to my Patreon, which I'm going to fix. It's patreon.comfort Ford slash DTFH. You'll get commercial free episodes of this podcast.

I will start the gatherings again, friends. I'm sorry. Also, I've got some shows coming up. I'd love for you to come. I am going to be at the following places. The reason that I'm taking time to do this is because I have to pull up my dates. I'm gonna be at the Blue Room Comedy Club in Springfield, Missouri. Then I'm gonna be at Hyenas, Fort Worth, Texas.

Hyenas in Dallas, Texas. Springfield is March 9th through the 30th. Hyenas is April 12th. April 13th. Then I'm very excited about heading to Las Vegas with a son. That's April 26th through the 27th. I'm sorry. I know these must be boring for people who don't give a shit about my dates.

May 3rd to the 27th. I'm sorry, I know these must be boring for people who don't give a shit about my dates. May 3rd to May 4th, I'm going back to Cobb's to redeem myself for my bout of food poisoning or Norovirus. Milwaukee improv, May 9th through the 11th, helium comedy club, May 30th through the 31st. I'm sorry, May 30th through the 11th, helium comedy club May 30th through the 31st. I'm sorry May 30th just go to dunkitrustle.com, Orange Beale, Asheville, June 12th. I'm coming back home baby. Many many more that you can find at dunkitrustle.com. Also finally the Wilbur November 1st and it's already half sold out. So get tickets for that

All right, here we go everybody welcome to the DTFH Asan Ahmad It's the Duncan Trussells. A-San, welcome to the DTFH. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Are you kidding? It's so cool, man. So this is the first time we go on the road together. Right. You're killing it. Thank you. So are you? I knew you would because you work your ass off, man.

That's the only way. But it always feels good. It's like, because you never know. Like, I mean, I've seen you kill a million times at the mothership, but you never know when you take someone on the road. What's going to happen? What will it be like? But right.

Because the mothership is just one place. So it's like, you know, you're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. You're going to be on the road. know? Like, I mean, I've seen you kill a million times at the mothership, but you never know when you take someone on the road what's going to happen, what it will be like. Right, because the mothership is just one place, so it's like, and it's a certain type of place, so it's like, will it work everywhere? Yeah, exactly. But holy shit, man, you are so funny. They loved you last night. Yeah, thank you. I, you know, thank God, I think that what helps

is that the mothership is in the middle of the country. So you get like, you can sort of talk to everyone. Whereas I think maybe sometimes if I was just like, let's say a comedy store guy only, then my material might be a little bit skewed one way. Or if I was a New York guy only, maybe it might be a little skewed one way to the coast. But middle of the country, I think everyone just sort of comes together. Yeah, it's such an interesting thing to watch. Like certain comedy scenes accidentally turn into like the Galapagos.

You get all these like weird ass creatures there because they've been completely separated from everything else. They're awesome. They're beautiful. But you take them out of the Galapagos and they're fucked. Like they don't know how to be anywhere else.

I mean, I've been in that situation where you start honing a style of comedy that whether you like it or not, be anywhere else. I mean, I've been in that situation where you start honing a style of comedy that whether you like it or not, it becomes developed for a very specific audience. And that audience is like, you're not gonna find that in the middle of the country. You're not gonna find that.

Or anywhere else, really. Like sometimes stuff will work and I'll use LA as an example, because I was just there for so long. But I've seen sometimes stuff will work and I'll use LA as an example because I was just there for so long. But I've seen sometimes stuff that works in LA that doesn't work like just half an hour north in Orange County or whatever. Yeah, totally man. And you get, the other thing that happens

in those little scenes is people start doing inside jokes. So now there's jokes that emerge that only work for the scene and only work for regular audience members of that scene and that is super fun by the way like when you do get that weird culty Super tiny audience. There's something awesome about that, but it's definitely not Good if you're if you're thinking you're gonna go out in the road at some point, right? Yeah, and it was sort of a you know, I spend most of my time at the mothership So it wasn't just a relief to come out here. It, yeah, and it was sort of, you know, I spent most of my time at the mothership, so it wasn't just a relief to come out here,

and it's like, oh, they responded to me. Right. You know, like, I didn't have to change too much, I didn't have to, there's certain things, probably I'll have to change here and there, the more I do this, but it's like, just learning, like, okay, this is, what I'm doing here was working everywhere else.

This takes a lot of stress off my shoulders. Hell yeah. So, you are freshly single. Yes. Are we allowed to talk about that? Yeah, we can talk about it. We can talk about it. Yeah. Okay. So, um, and we've talked about it a little bit, but how are you feeling right now? Um, you know, it's sort of like, it's good and bad, you know, like a sort of any sort of big experience in life. Like, like the good part is that I think that it was maybe something that I was sort of forcing just the idea of like, not like being of being with someone that I just want to

make it happen with whoever. Yeah. Not even whoever, someone that may that I gelled with, but maybe not all the way in that way that you could spend your life with that person. Right. Right. And then, but, so it's cool to be like, okay, I've learned from like those situations and I learned what I want,

but it does suck being alone. Like I'm not like the, I'm not a very good hookup guy. Like I'll do it. Obviously I'll do it if the opportunity arises. But that's not like, that's not like truly what I believe what I want. Yeah man, it's been a long time for me since I've been there in that liminal space where you are no longer distracted by the relationship. Because the relationship can take up a lot of your thoughts

and can take up a lot of what you're doing and it becomes like a sort of central point in your life. And then suddenly that goes away and there you are. It's just you. You come into your apartment or you see your roommates and you go, but it's like there's not the person anymore to text. Something good happens to you, who do you fucking text?

Something bad happens to you, who do you fucking text? You feel the void. But it's lonely, it's fuck, but it's beautiful too, right? Yeah, I mean, that is to me that is the worst part, it's like, oh, I have this good thing happening to me. There's no one to, I just have to sit in it or this bad thing, I just, I mean that is to me that is the worst part is like oh, I have this good thing happen to me There's no one to I just have to sit in it or this bad thing I just I guess I have to deal with this by myself Yeah, but it does it does force me to do things that I wouldn't normally do like what and like experience like I just I

It may be in the those times I spent like being in the relationship now I'll be like well Let me force myself to do something that I wouldn't do. Like just something simple, like take a walk in an area of the city that I wouldn't take a walk in,

stuff small stuff like go to that, like there's something that you told me on the car ride over here that random knots. I'm definitely gonna do that. Just have the internet send me a random location near me and just go there and just be open to what that is. Breakup walks are the best. No, there's a song about it. How's that song go? I've been out walking. Never heard this. I don't do too much. You've never heard that. It's oh my

god, it's so good. There's literally a song about the phenomena which is for some reason, post breakup. I mean, I didn't realize it was a, I just put it together now. I would start going on these breakup walks with my dog. I would go and like, I'd go deep into neighborhoods and just walk and walk and think and like feel the emptiness of it and you're looking at all these homes. And you know, inside those homes are lives

Going on people with kids People with good marriages bad marriages and there you are Lonely man Skulking through the neighborhood with your dog just thinking it's so cool man You're a real outsider when you're a single, man. A true outsider. Oh yeah, and you just pass everyone. You pass, you know, it's sort of like, that grass is always greener.

You pass all the people in relationships and you pass, and you're like, damn, I wonder what that's like. And I wonder what that, because this was my first real relationship too. So it's like, now you sort of, I have a sort of better understanding of like, oh, like it's a really an up and down process. It's a, and it's like, and it's work and all that.

So it's like to see that in other people. It's like, I wonder where they're at. I think about that a lot. It's like, are they good? Are they pretending to be good? Cause we're outside. Is it on the way? Like I went up on a, I went on a walk the other day

and I saw a couple of breaking up. And I was like, damn. In, in the exact spot I had asked my girlfriend to become my girlfriend. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like a very, very like full circle moment in that moment. It was like, wow. Where was it?

Like a graveyard? Yeah. Some cursed patch of land? You know what was funny? They were breaking up and they were near like, you know, those slackliners, those people who like do those, you know, like the high wire type people, but it's like near the ground and the rope is like a super. Yeah, it was like, so people just doing that, like having the time of their lives and

this clear couple breaking up. I mean, it's so funny how the universe on its own will produce cheesy moments of synchronicity that if that were in a movie, people will be like, come on. That's too obvious. You're really going to have the symbol of a relationship. People happily walking on a tight rope next to people breaking up while the guy freshly single walks by. It's too many things. Take it out of the script. But the universe is like, no, this is how I want to articulate myself.

And these like insanely obvious symbols. I think this is something that was talked about. H. Cliff said this in the green room. He was like, when your life has coincidences popping up all the time, that kind of means you're on the right path. I agree with that, yeah. 100%, that's true. Even at the start of the relationship,

I remember me and my ex, we went on a walk and I had this hat. And on this hat, I had this pin given to me by a girl I had dated previously a few years before. And it was a really nice pin. It was of a South Park character. And during the walk, I was having a great time with my girl. And then the pin for my previous relationship broke.

And I just lost it on that walk. And I would just remember thinking, wow, the symbolism of that was insane. It was insane. I'm just like, hey, it's time to move on. You're with this person. Yeah. And it's like, oh yeah, that was the universe universe being like oh, you're on the right path here at some level Yeah, for sure. I mean that that stuff happens all the time But if you're not in the right

Frame of consciousness, you won't notice it like if you're too caught up in this or that you don't see those things But there seems like they're always there around you. They're always. You ever read the alchemist? Yeah. Follow the omens. Follow the sign. Yeah.

Follow the omens. That's like so important. Yeah. It's so important until you go nuts. I mean, that's the other like, that's the problem. Like people who start getting into psychedelics or magic or spirituality, they start noticing these coincidences that have been around them all the time, but really they've just heightened their awareness enough

to like see these synchronicities. And then if you're not careful, you start realizing, oh, the whole thing's a synchronicity. Like all of it is like a synchronicity. And then the universe almost feels like it's mirroring you and then you lose your fucking mind. And I've seen many people lose their shit when they get into that place. It's like suddenly you're in a weird maze of mirrors

or something and you see your reflection in everything. Really. And you realize that like, I mean, this is where sort of a lot of like Eastern philosophies and like Western esoteric philosophies split is the one of them recognizes that and it's like, okay, that's just a thing. I'm going to keep being myself. The other one realizes, wait, who's reflecting who here? Like, am I reflecting the universe?

Or is it reflecting me? Or is there a difference? What happens if I start, uh, intentionally trying to create these reflections in the same way, like you make expressions in a mirror, what happens if like emotionally or vibrationally, I start shifting my vibrations around and then you realize, oh, there's like, there's a direct result of that. Now you're realizing, oh my God,

I can control the reflection. Now you're casting spells. Now you're doing magic. Now you're into manifestation because you can control the reflections in the same way you can control your reflection in the mirror. Yeah. That seems like it's kind of a better way to be than just living your life. I guess there's an argument to be made for both sides of just like, well,

this is what it is. And I should just go through it or like, Hey, I'm a little bit of master of my own universe. Yeah. I mean, this is the, any of my friends who are into that shit, we, I love having the argument because they're like, uh, why wouldn't I want to do that? What are you, why wouldn't I wanna do that? Why wouldn't I wanna experiment in front of the mirror

of the universe, making a life reflect around me according to my will while you're sitting and meditating and everything just drifting by? I'm gonna make shit happen, man. I'm gonna manifest and become powerful. This is where the two split off. Yeah, I think I'm more on that side. I had this thought right after I did,

I did Rogan for the first time a few months ago, and I had this thought, I'm not famous at all or by any stretch of the imagination, but the more well-known I become, they say that fame amplifies certain aspects of your personality. And so I thought, well, I'm at the very ground level of what this could be. And I'm like, well, what if I made a conscious effort to at least one of the things that

I amplify is my want to be positive and my want to be positive for the people around me and my want to, especially the door guys and all those people, my want to like just like be some sunshine for them and like something, and I can be a very positive person when I put my mind to it. So it's like, if I, the more known I get, why not just see if I can amplify that part of my personality? Oh my God, man.

That's, what's wrong with you? Yeah. What the fuck do you wanna do with you? What the fuck do you want to do with that? I don't think people realize how amazing it is that you can come up with an idea like vulturefriends.com, buy the domain name and build a website for a service that pairs people with rescue vultures in less than 10 minutes. That's amazing to me. It wasn't like that in the past.

You wanted to build a website? Forget it. You might as well build the Taj Mahal. It's gonna take you forever. It's gonna be very expensive and frustrating. You either hire someone to do it for you, or you learn to code, or some combination of both, and it just inevitably led down a dark path.

It led down a dark path. Literally, you would end up on a dark path at night in an unfamiliar land surrounded by the moaning of invisible creatures watching you from the shadows. And then whoever you were gonna interview to design your website would fly down in the form of an owl. And then they would be there in human form for a moment.

They would listen to the idea of how you wanted to actualize your dream. They would transform back into the owl, peck you on your nipples, and they would suckle blood from your punctured nipples as a down payment and then they would fly away and you wouldn't hear from them for months. Then you'd get some email that was obviously pecked

by an owl and not typed by human hands and it would have a link to something that didn't look remotely like what you wanted. Squarespace has fixed this, friends. You go to squarespace.com, slash Duncan, you can try it out for free. And you'll see, it's not like it used to be. You can build a website in minutes.

Boom, there it is, by the domain name on Squarespace. That's just the basic bare bones version of it. Then you can evolve that website. So if in the middle of the night, you wake up with a vision of a website that pairs people with the perfect vulture and you just want that to exist, then you can actualize it that night, send it to your friends. And who knows? Maybe vulturefriends.com or vulturepals.com

will actually lead to a business for you. Maybe there is a demand for rescue vultures out there. I don't know, but I will tell you this. I've used Squarespace for years. Go to dougatrustle.com. It's a Squarespace website. And it is a flawless service. The Swiss Army Knife of Web Development Software.

Not only that, it'll help you send beautiful emails out. You can create members only areas. It'll connect your social media so you could have your tweets on there, your grams. You have no idea what it used to be like. If you wanted to try to connect some other thing to your website, forget it. You just wanted to get your website to size correctly for phones. You might as well jab your eyeballs out and fill them with hot witch spit, because that's the pain you're going to go through trying to figure that out.

These days are long gone. Squarespace is a brilliant service. I really hope you'll try them out. Squarespace.com, port slash Duncan. Use offer code Duncan, you're going to get 10% off your first order of a website or a domain. And again, you can just try it out for free by going to squarespace.com. Drive around in that Ferrari of web design websites. Experience the future. Experience the past. Experience your glory. It's Squarespace.

Why not just see if I can amplify that part of my personality? Oh my god man, that's a- what's wrong with you? What the fuck do you want to do with that? You know, this is something that stuck with me when I was a kid. It was just, I used to do this like community service organization and they had this like story that was the basis of their whole organization and it always stuck with me but it's like there's this big storm and thousands of thousands of starfish are like washed up on the shore yeah and this girl is just picking a starfish picking starfish and throwing it up throwing him back in the ocean picking starfish and throwing it back in the ocean

and um a guy comes up to this girl and goes why are you doing that do you see how many starfish there are you're not going to make see how many starfish there are? You're not gonna make a difference. And the girl stops for a second, picks one up, throws it back in the ocean, and was like, I made a difference to that one. Yeah, man, you know what's crazy? You know that story's based on something

that actually happened? Oh, really? And I don't mean to like darken it, because it's a beautiful story. But that dude ended up killing that little girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, they stop when she's like that. This one makes a difference, and he's like,

this will make a difference too. And he strangled her right there on the fucking beach. And he threw her into the ocean. And like, you know, I don't know. They say that they found like 15 little girls in that part of the beach. Well, you know, it's Yin and Yang. Maybe she threw enough starfish back in the ocean

and balanced out with the non little girls he killed. Well, yeah, that's the synchronicity. Yeah, that's the synchronicity. But no, the other awful gag I was going to say was like the starfish. She did what she didn't know is that actually that happened. That's in Fukushima. That was the starfish were radioactive.

She got radiation poisoning. It's a very no, I love that story. And I let that is the the the the the idea is. Well, there's an idea that sticks with me and Jean Paul Sartre, the great existential philosopher said. Anything that you do, you give permission for the whole world to do. So if you lie, you're saying it's okay

for everyone to lie to me. If you steal, you're saying it's okay for the whole world to steal. If you cheat, everyone can cheat. And similarly, if you decide I'm going to be generous, you're saying the whole world. And if you can pull off generosity, that's very important. That's the hard part.

Because if you can pull it off, the whole world can pull it off. There's a story. You ever hear the Gandhi story about sugar? No. This is a good one, man. So I guess this mom brings her kid to Gandhi and is like, he, he won't stop eating sugar. He eats too much sugar. What do I do?

And Gandhi said, come back in a month and I'll tell you what to do. She comes back in a month with a kid, Gandhi looks at the kid and says, stop eating sugar. And she's like, that's it. You looks at the kid and says, stop eating sugar. And she's like, that's it. You're just gonna tell him to stop eating sugar. And he's like, well, first I had to make sure I could stop eating sugar for a month. So he quit eating sugar for a month

just to make sure it was possible. So, and this, yeah, so like that's where, yeah, to me, your aspiration there intent. That's the most important thing is the intent. Are you going to pull off whatever your version of positivity is all the time? But what would your version of positivity be? Let's get more detailed. I at least in the in this sort of the game of stand up, it's it's the number one thing that I'm trying to like, you know, especially

because I'm in this like sort of management position and the door guy sort of look up to me the number one thing I'm trying to teach them is like hey if so-and-so wins you win like it's not it's not like and we live in a time where we're not competing for like the same two sitcom spots or four sitcom spots so it's easy to feel that way but But like, you know, I tell them all the time, like, you know, okay, Cam Patterson, door guy, KC Rocket, door guy, they're out selling tickets on the road and selling out. And it's like, and people are taking them on the road.

It's like the fact that they're winning like that shouldn't make you be like, fuck, I wish that was me. You should be like, damn, look what my friend is doing. That means it's there for me. Yeah. If I'm just patient and wait, you know, there's a lot of patience in waiting your turn

and everyone has a different journey. But if your friends are doing well, that means you are doing well. Essentially the opposite of what Voltaire said, which is not that I should succeed, but that my friend should fail. Right, right. It's like, I wanna be successful, I have should fail. Right, right. It's like, I want to be successful.

I have friends fail. What a dick. But sympathetic joy is certainly one of the key ingredients if you want to live a better life. Because you, and it's not like the first step is recognizing where you're feeling but hurt. Right. When somebody you love has some success

that you're not currently having. So, I mean, that's a normal natural thing. It triggers a lot of insecurity in people. Makes you worried that something's wrong with you. That translates into being pissed off that this person or that person is doing better. And so then you recognize it. But then, and then there's this intellectual realization

of like, that cannot be good for me. Like, if I feel bad when my friends are doing bad, which hopefully you don't feel good when they're like, having suffering, and if you feel bad when your friends are doing good, then you're only going to feel bad by having friends. Right. Right.

Friendship is only going to bring sorrow to you. Right. So you, so, but then, so you, at least for me, I would have an intellectual grasp of like, Oh yeah, this is like fucked, man. I can't live like this. This is bad when it comes in. And then you start saying to yourself, I'm happy, even though inside you feel the twinge of bitterness maybe.

And then if you work on it, suddenly it goes from intellectual to like, it's not, it's real. You've actually feel joy. You feel it. Sympathetic joy. You're like, fuck, that's incredible. And you're feeling what they're feeling.

Even though you're not the one getting the exact thing, the feeling, this is called the law, I think it's called the law of correspondence, meaning if I can shift my emotional state. So now I, even though I am not, I didn't just like book a, a series on a big TV show, or I didn't just like sell out a massive series of shows, or I didn't just what, but if I'm feeling that inside of me, because my friends are, that's

happening to them, then because I'm feeling that the universe starts conforming to that feeling because it doesn't under it's like wait what? You're feeling that oh shit. Let me produce it for you to match the match. Yeah, yeah What you're putting out the universe is like well if they're putting this out I got to give them this back Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it the law of correspondence and and I think and I think you touched on earlier but like the key to I think Getting yourself onto a more positive path is sort of Realizing that you have these feelings of jealousy and like of want and like and you'll always sort of have that but I think the first step is when you have those feelings is to

Acknowledge them and I think it is the key to a lot of people. I think a lot of people who like sort of get sad is not get mad at yourself for having them. That's the key thing. It's like before you even show grace to other people, make sure you show grace to yourself. Because that's important. Like you shouldn't feel bad at your,

I never, I try to make sure like when I still feel like, when I feel the jealousy, when I feel like, okay, that's a normal human emotion. I'm not a bad person for feeling that and now What should I really be feeling? Oh, I should be happy for this person. Yeah, why am I mad? Oh, that's some some me bullshit and that's okay And now I now I have opened myself up to be open to other people doing well. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, and my god, it's like if you can really a, you have to cultivate this. It's a skill.

It's hard work. It's work. No one's born with this. No. In fact, most people are like, you know, having kids, you witness the primordial roots of the situation. Like, if I give, like, you know, just today, I was like, FaceTiming with my family. And You know, just today I was like, facetiming with my family and I guess there had been a hair tie that had fallen out of Aaron's hair. One of the kids gets the hair tie. The other kid's like, I want that fucking hair tie. The kid who had the hair tie wants to talk to me.

So he drops the hair tie. The other kid grabs the hair tie and is just running joyfully around with this fucking completely unremarkable. It's a greasy rubber band, but you see it's built in this competitive sort of vying for resources thing. It's there, it's there.

I mean, you see it in puppies pushing for the nipple. Or like, you know, it's in there. And it just, it's unnecessary. Yeah, and that's a good example of what I was talking about earlier, especially in terms of there's enough for everybody. Especially when you know, when you live with a woman, you can just find hair ties everywhere. So like, it's funny that they were fighting over

this one hair tie, and you know they're young kids, but if they were older, they'd be like, oh wait, there's always hair ties. There's hair. It that they were fighting over this one hair tie and you know they're young kids but if they were older they'd be like oh wait there's always hair ties. It's okay that he has this one there'll be another hair tie. Yeah and by the way hair ties cause lots of problems in relationships because God fucking forbid by just some stroke of bad luck an unknown hair tie ends up in your fucking apartment because they remember their hair ties. They were like, that's not my fucking hair tie. They know.

And then sometimes hair ties will show up. You know what I mean? You don't know, I don't know how I got here. I don't know whose hair tie that is. Yeah, yeah, it could have came in with you. It might not have come in with me. Yeah. Yeah, you're hanging out with people

who wear hair ties in with me. Yeah. Yeah, you're hanging out, you're hanging out with people who wear hair ties more than me. I guarantee at least a few murder suicides started with an unidentified hair tie. Yeah. Yeah, man, I think that you're on to something. I mean, this is like, this is, there's these things called the four immeasurables

and one of them is like, so it's sort of a, a sort of meditation you might do where you're, one of the immeasurable immeasurables is, may all beings have happiness and the causes and conditions for happiness. May all beings be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering. May all beings feel joy in the joy of others.

And that's like a big part of training yourself to not be miserable in this world. I mean, it's so sad when you realize that someone you love is hurt by your success. Isn't that the worst? And then you don't wanna share something good happening with you?

Right, cause that feels like you're piling on. Like it feels like when you, like all of a sudden something is just happening to you and then you share with a friend, or as you share with someone who originally was hurt by another good thing happening to you, then it feels like you're being mean to them. Yeah.

Just by trying to share your joy. Yeah. Look at this dope thing that happened to me, and then I just sort of like, oh. The other thing about it is like, when you're seeing someone have success, you see that as a permanent frame in their life. It's like though, it's a wave form. They are going to

have success and then there's going to be moments where they don't have as much excess and hopefully they'll have more success and then they won't. Right. That's just not so they a lot of these bitter people they're looking at someone at one phase of their life and imagining oh it's just onwards and upwards from there, but it's like, no, it's not. Everyone goes through ups and downs. And if someone's in an up period, you should really be happy because if your friend is in an up period, that means you are in an up period.

In an up period. And people tend to rise together too. You know, things happen in flocks and groups. Yeah, I mean, it's a good example, the sort of Boston scene that came out like the Rogans and the Bill Burrs, like that era of Boston. There was like a Chicago era in the 2000s.

And then now I think Austin's gonna be one of those places where it's like, this is about, I think there's about to be a lot of people are it's like this is about I think there's about to be A lot of people are gonna launch their careers within the next couple years here. Oh, yeah for sure already happening It's already happening. You know, William Montgomery, right? You know, it was a really wild moment for me. Like I know you probably just heard this like Just for laughs is Done. Oh, I know I'm so you know, it's funny

I just had this conversation with somebody about this, about how they were talking about how they wanted the Tonight show not because of like what it can do for you, because this is really, you know, what does the Tonight show really do for a comic nowadays, but because it was like a thing and they wanted to check the box of being on the Tonight show. That was never it for me. I never cared about the Tonight show.

I wanted to be JFL New Faces so badly and now it's just gone. I ate shit at new faces. Yeah. But they gave they gave me a shot. But like, you know, it was a wild moment. It I was just at any given like kill Tony. And I realized like there are a lot of LA industry people, Akhil Tony, scouting talent, the way they used to scout talent, it just for laughs.

That was really wild to see that shift. And this is one of the things just for laughs is saying is like the pandemic fucked them. But also just the change the way the industry is changing, you know, and that is a really wild thing to sort of watch these pillars of the industry disintegrate. Right. I never would have predicted just for laughs would be filing for bankruptcy. Holy shit. I mean, it was a fucking like that was a huge, huge, like it could really make a career. Right. At one point.

Right. And now bankruptcy. Yeah. I think the sort of how the industry changed the internet becoming a great equalizer kind of fucked them as well. But it's also I think, you know, and this is from the outside looking in, they sort of went from towards the end there from being the place where you can discover new talent to being the place where like well let's wait till someone gets a little hype and

Think something already and then we can latch on to them and then oh look at this person doing JFL I think they sort of you know, there's sometimes institutions Latch on to who they are more so than what made them who they are, you know, I went After I heard about it going bankrupt. I went and looked at lineups, because you know, I was thinking the thing a lot of us are thinking is like, well, you know, they like started like,

they started caring more about like a sort of political aspect of booking shows than just booking funny comics. And that was kind of my end. Then I went and looked and like, yeah, you've got like, what's her name? Like Hannah Gadsby or whatever. But then like on the lineup,

but right under it is The Dirty Show hosted by J.O. Kersen. Like, you know what I mean? So like, I don't think they were quite as imbalanced as people were saying, so like they, I don't think they were quite as imbalanced as people were saying, cause like, dude, they would, that dirty show, man, they would book like Ari, all the most filthy, completely non politically correct comics, right? Like that kept going, didn't it?

Right, yeah. No, that was good, but that's sort of like kind of also what I'm saying is like it seemed like a great festival Where if you were already a person or on your way to becoming a person that was like a fun time I think right it's sort of lost the aspect of Launching someone into a career, you know what I mean like what it used to be able to do is like oh this this took an unknown Person and made him a known person. Okay. But you know why that happened, right? Why?

So, okay. So you, I, this is before you came to the store. Yeah. I came 2015. Okay. When, when, so when I got to the store, getting new faces on just for laughs was like, it, it was insane if you got that already. It was insane.

And right. Just getting it could get you somewhere. Just people hearing you got it. You were probably gonna get, if you didn't have representation, you're probably gonna get it. You're probably gonna book something from it. And then you would go and do the new faces show. And if you had a good set,

you would get a development deal because the networks were there. So you have a good set. The networks are like, we got to get this person right fucking now. They wrap you up in a year long or two year long development deal, which is essentially. They own you. They're going to give you all this money and especially for a new comic

and an insane amount of money to do, to just develop a show. And then you try to develop a show for them. And that didn't work. That's the problem. Like no one developed a good show as far as I'm aware. Maybe there's, maybe I'm not aware of all the success stories, but I do know a lot of people just got trapped in development hell.

They were trying to develop a fucking sitcom. It never went through. And so that money you were getting froze you up in this kind of weird stasis pod. But that's why new faces was a big deal. So then I guess the networks were like, this isn't fucking working. We're not gonna give development deals out anymore.

And sitcoms were dying, both those things. Sikoms are dying. So it's like, what can a network, like knowing that whatever that model was wasn't working, what the fuck could they do now for somebody? What can a network do for a comic that a comic can't probably it to some degree achieve on their own right you shoot your own special you

get a licensing deal you try to make your own stuff put it on you to you know and generate your own ad revenue and all the stuff the networks used to do for people that's I think was what crushed that facet of just relapse. Right. And then on top of that, especially network TV, if you watch, that's why I love being in hotels, just watching network TV. And it's just like, damn, this is garbage.

It's not real. You're clearly beholden to the advertisers. And it's like, oh, wow, as you got more and more fake, I think people are like, well, we don't want to watch this. I mean, I don't know anyone who watches any network TV show right now. Dude, it is a real... It's a wasteland.

Mystery. By the way, everybody crapopolis on Sundays on Fox. I forgot you're on one. I know. But the... Yeah, I just watched... I think I told you about this show. Please everybody watch this show. Also watch Crappopolis on Fox on Sundays,

but watch Tracker on, what is that on? CBS. CBS. Right. And this is what you're talking about dude. Like I had not watched a network TV show and so long it's after the Super Bowl. I'm like, let's watch this weird fucking show. It is the most surreal, bizarre,

amalgam of like non-react like, and I'm not saying I want reality when I watch a show about a, I don't know what you'd call them, some kind of benevolent bounty hunter who rescues people. Right. But everything about it, it's like some boardroom where they're like, what? Okay, how do we make this the most inclusive that we can possibly make this show? And so, so the problem is reality doesn't seem to reflect that at all.

So if you're taking like a lesbian couple who are in charge of sending tracker out to do his job and then some some some kid with prosthetic limbs who works at a phone store who's his tech dude like though the intent behind it is admirable, you accidentally create a Frankenstein. Like what the fuck is where we it's like a Twilight Zone reality. Where does this happen? What is this? And it's like uncomfortable to watch. I remember this is back in like 2016, maybe 2017. There was a show. I forgot what it was called

It was a but it was a girl in college was the main character and all her friends Were like one of every race and it's like that's crazy because it feels we feel that feels like you're auditioning your friends Yeah, you know I mean that feels like oh we already have a Mexican come back another time like you know what I mean like Come back when you're gay or something we gotta get something else going. Yeah right now. I'm looking for a Jewish friend a trans friend and a marxist friend. Yeah, I don't have any room right for an Asian right now. I'm so sorry Yeah, that that's where it that's you know I mean, I feel like when I went, I mean, all of us are like, scratching our chins at this stuff. I feel like what they're trying to do, like from the most positive perspective, they're trying to wag the dog, right? The Right, the idea is if we portray a reality where people are of all genders,

sexuality, spiritualities, ethnicities are peacefully coexisting, perhaps the world will reflect this dream. So it's a utopian vision, right? It's idealism. And I think that's what's behind it, is like we can make the, this is exactly what you're saying,

with what you wanna do with comedy. So behind the wheel, though they're much decried and everyone like rolls their eyes at them these days, I think what you have is utopian idealists who are like, we, this, this is power. We're signal boosting ideas to the world. Let's signal boost that, that, that were a true mixing pot. And so they put it out there and people look at it and are like what the fuck is that?

This episode of the DTFH is brought to you by BetterHelp. You ever wonder what's the first thing you'd do if you had an extra hour in your day? Just one simple extra hour. I've spent more than an hour wondering what I would do if I had extra time in my life. Like if time was unlimited, how would I use it? A lot of people don't realize that they have a lot more time than they think because the human mind is a fallible chaotic mass of dendritic connections and sometimes malfunctioning synaptic clefts that aren't perfectly transmitting those beautiful neurotransmitters. We get confused, we get distracted, we get lost in the neurological weeds. We don't know what's important to us, what we want, who we are.

Therapy can help you find what matters to you so you can do more of it. I'm sorry I always say this in the better health ads, but I'm sorry, I always say this in the better health ads, but therapy was one of the best things that I ever did. Completely changed my life. Help me confront and deal with some stuff from my past that I was trying to sweep under the rug. You ever watch a documentary on John Wayne Gacy? I'm sorry, better help.

But you know, like he tried to sweep the things under his rug and his house smelled real bad. That's what happens. If you try to push this or that down into the subconscious, down there in the dark cellar of your mind, it doesn't work. It comes out in different ways. Blows out unexpected moments when you've had too many margaritas and you find yourself suddenly angrier than you've ever been in your life

because you're not getting the check when you wanted it. Moments like that, things are like, what is going on with me? You wanna find out? Get great therapy. And if you're thinking of starting therapy, give better helpHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule.

You just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist. You can switch therapists any time at no additional charge. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash Duncan today to get 10% off your first month. That's better. Help. H-E-L-P.com slash Duncan. Thank you, Better Help. I think what you have is utopian idealists who are like, we, this, this is power.

We're signal boosting ideas to the world. Let's signal boost that we're a true mixing pot. And so they put it out there and people look at it and are like, what the fuck is that? Right, maybe, but I think that's maybe an idealistic way of looking at it. More as like, I think the reason why that's not working is because it's coming from a set of numbers being like, well, when we show this, this boosts numbers

in this rating demographic. So let's get those numbers up and let's get those numbers up. And I don't think it's as like, you know, as like, well, let me just help everyone. It's like- You're a prior, right? Yeah, what does the market research say makes us most money?

Okay. Yeah. Okay. It's it doesn't there's not a human perspective. It's a ratings. It's a numbers perspective. Okay. So all right. So yeah, this is the yeah. So this assessment of it, probably accurate. Right. So basically the idea is, look,

do you realize how much it costs to make a fucking episode of tracker? Do you even understand how much it costs to make a fucking episode of Tracker? Do you even understand how much this shit costs? Just to pay for craft fucking services. You know what that's like? You gotta do COVID testing now, just like a thing. You just don't, you don't realize the risk involved here in trying to make this fucking show.

So I know that you would like it if there were only white people or only black people or only gay people or only whatever on the fucking show. But I'm sorry that that's a tiny fraction of the audience we're trying to fucking reach. So if I put just the right representation in this goddamn show, right, that's probability of more people watching it damn show, right? That's probability of more people watching it increases. I don't give a fuck. I'm a nihilist. I have to pay a fucking mortgage on a $28,000 a month fucking house in Los fucking Angeles that I just had to rebuild because of burn down. Okay. I don't have any fucking morality or ethics or I don't give a fuck. The computer tells me who to cast and that's who I cast. That's one idea of what is happening.

And I think that's probably what has happened. Which, by the way, is a very condescending, if that's true. The problem with that is it's like, people watch a show because it's good. Yes. They like the story. They don't, you know what I mean? Like no one's watching a show

because like it represents them. Oh, absolutely. My favorite show that I'm watching right now is Shogun, that show on FX. Nobody looks like me. Right. I don't care. Right.

Oh, is this story good? Right. Yeah. I don't care. Right. Oh, is this story good? Right. Yeah I would rather the story be good than just have a random person look like me I don't give a fuck about that and there's plenty of stories where people look like me like a lion and You know Bollywood movies that I absolutely love right, but it's like I don't need to you know Oh and Indian guys in this let me I'm not gonna watch ghosts because an Indian guy is a main character I don't give a fuck right that means nothing to me. Yeah, I don't give a fuck. I don't really I don't really care at all

Except if it's good if it's not good If the story is wonky or then I lose interest right and it you know, but I guess like the problem with that is you don't have an alg, like how does an algorithm tell you, right, this is going to resonate with people. How does an algorithm tell you this? You know, sometimes though, they do pull off the, the, the combo of those things they do put in that is cool when that happens that happens. I think if you focus on a good story and you can then be like, well, the race of this character doesn't matter. Right.

So why not just play around with it? You know what I mean? That is what I'm cool with. But in a show like Shogun, what this takes place in like 15th century Japan, if they just added a random black black person a random Indian person with no Context I'd be like yeah, what the fuck is this? That's crazy. I I think what feel airy. It would be hilarious But the show would be infinitely worse

Well, I mean like the um, Dune. Yes. Pulse it off. Dune pulls it off perfectly, because certain things, you know, but you know, in the first Dune, the Asian doctor, he's an Asian guy. If they just made it a different race just to make it a different race, like you know, right, that would have been like, yo, what the fuck is happening there? If they made like, just like, you know, Paula Tr tradies his wife, but they made his dad Samoan. It's like what what's happening

Like it's like it's got us. It's still got to make sense in the world that you create I think what a lot of Hollywood's executives miss with this whole diversity push is that From my perspective, I wasn't asking, let's just say for brown Muslim people, I wasn't asking for you to just randomly put us in stuff or like, oh, oh, we need to do a, you know, fucking Mulan with Indians or whatever. I don't give a fuck about that. Right. All that mattered to me is just that like, hey, when a sort of Indian creator, Indian

director comes with you for something, you don't automatically exclude them. That's it. So like, that's where it was, where it was only white people, and it's like, and then you had your token, there's like, well, like, no, be open to everybody. That's what we want.

That's sort of middle. Like, keep making the stuff you're making, but then we just swung the other way, where it's like, oh, now we just put, we'll just put random races and random things. And you'll just have to sort of be like, okay, I guess this is part of the thing. Even House of Dragon, there's that sort of random

black family out of nowhere, and that random black family, they have Asian knights, and it's like, wait, but this is a prequel to a series where there's none of that. So now, while I'm watching this, there's also this weird subtext of like racial genocide That I don't think you meant They're just gone wiped out. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think you meant what the fuck

Yeah, I don't think you meant for that But it's now it's like in the back of my mind I was like oh this happened right like and where the and no one in the future talked About this house of Asian black people that just disappeared Right, it's like we didn't need that we didn't need that you could have just been it's house of dragons. It's amazing They could have been all white. It's fine. It's fine Such a funny fucking analysis that I never I never thought at all Right. Yeah, right. So you have to sort of put some thought into this. Yeah, well, I mean, but you make a great point.

Like, what is shitty feeling to be like a brown Muslim as you put it? And to know, it doesn't matter if you've written some great script or if you're a great actor It doesn't fucking matter. You're not getting you're gonna get booked as a terrorist You're gonna get booked as a fucking whatever the stereotype is right. That's that you will never be a leading Man, you will never like that's a shitty feeling

I mean and that and that maybe used to be the case, but that's not really the case anymore No, I know that's what I'm saying. So there was something really good about it. Yes Well, I see what you're saying. It's just swung too far. It's like you had there was like there was a moment You had it and then you just kept swinging and it's like no no no cuz like no one no one no one likes the too far like no I guarantee you No one was really asking for a black little mermaid. Was anyone really asking for that? Or Disney, could you have written a brand new story

with, you know, as Disney can, Disney's so good at creating stories, why not just create like a princess and the frog? You could have just done another version of that. That's the black princess that was like, that was awesome to watch. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Or like an all female version of Ghostbusters. You don't have to do that. You like, oh, we need female representation. It's like, no, you can just write dope stories with women. Kill Bill is a good example. Aliens is a good example. You can just write a dope story with women without making, taking something and be like

Well, let's make it women. Well, okay, so here's the other thing Mm-hmm if you're gonna remake the little fucking mermaid, right? I don't care who you cast in the little fucking mermaid. It's gotta be as good as the first Well, that's a whole separate thing mermaid. That's a whole separate. That's the problem It's like if you're gonna do that you it really it's not fair And you're like idealistic attempt to make it so that when like black kids are watching Disney They get to see themselves on TV make the fucking thing good So people aren't like so people aren't like see what happens right?

Well go broke motherfucker. It's like, well also do shitty CGI, go broke. Also make a degraded version of a masterpiece with incredible animation and you're gonna disappoint people, you have to. If you're gonna do that, if you're gonna do any reman- Create something new. New and better. It's gotta be a better take, a better angle.

You know when you hear a cover of like, somebody will do a cover of like Radiohead or someone will do a cover of some John Lennon song. And it's worse than the original. So why did you do that? It was, you know what I mean? It was, or like you hear this in comedy, people will steal your joke and do it worse.

Yes, yes, yes. So you know what I mean? So at least you're will steal your joke right and do it worse. Yes. Yes At least you're gonna steal a joke At least at least do something with it. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, I think that's the other thing people have to consider It's like if you are going to push forward this like if you're gonna try to like like Blaze a new trail for it for us Go ahead and try but make whatever you make like blaze a new trail forward for us. Go ahead and try, but make whatever you make undeniably fucking great.

So no one can say shit about it. It's freaking good. Right. Which, I mean, and, you know, I have no interest in watching any of these live action Disney things. Like Little Mermaid, The Aladdin, The Lion King, all the other things is Mulan. It's like, I Lion King, all the other these Mulan, it's like I don't give, I don't like it's like who, no one cares. Just make something new. Why the fuck do they do that?

Because you know, there's a theory that like there's, as these corporations got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, the creative people got replaced by marketing people. Because the marketing people knew how to make money and that's kind of a corporation just of just money hungry greed machine. So then the marketing people are like, well, they don't have any ideas and they're now not willing to take a chance on something new. So they're like, well, the little mermaid made fucking hundreds of millions of dollars back in 1990. If we just do it again, we can make a hundred million dollars now because that's what worked

back then that should work right now. Like that's what market research says. So, but like, what's missing then is like, the reason why Little Mermaid was so good back then is because no one had seen anything like it. Yeah, right. You know, no, and not to say that it can't be based on old stories, Lion King is based on Hamlet,

but as animated lions, no one's seen that. And so as Disney, you could probably make another Hamlet style story But you can't just make a live-action Lion King and be like oh the lion king's based on hamlet There's a little bit of like Hamlet in it Yeah, like he sees his dad and the thing and like oh it's a prince coming down, you know, yeah It's and then uh, yeah Timon and Pumbaa Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or whatever their names are oh No way, dude. Yeah, yeah.

You're blowing my mind. I'm gonna have to watch it again. That's crazy. How did I miss that? I'm so dumb. It's, it's very, it's like, there's like, they definitely draw aspects of Hamlet into it, which is fine because it's like, it's a whole different thing. It's a whole different thing.

So if they want to do that again with a live action, just make a different premise. I don't need to see Lion King again. I've already seen Lion King. I've always seen Hamlet like this. Well, this is why I am so and I know you're, I can't stop talking about it. What are we like? We're what may okay. I'm going to be, I'm going to be very cautious in my time prediction here.

10 years out from, so you go on Netflix, pull up the little mermaid. Before you press play, it's like, what ethnicity do you want the little mermaid to be? You know what gender do you want the little mermaid to be? What do you, and the AI will just make it however you want it. Like it's gonna do that, man,

and it's gonna look exactly like Little Mermaid, but the characters are gonna be based on the preference of the viewer, and that's gonna be so fun to do that. You know what I mean to make like the shining, but Jack Nicholson is fucking fat. Yeah, yeah. Jack Nicholson's just like a,

just an obese, angry woman. You know what I mean? Like switch the genders. Like green hair or whatever the fuck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Switch everything around. Exactly though, Overlook Hotel, you could say make it like a La Quinta Inn.

You could, I mean. So, overlook hotel, you could say make it like a La Quinta Inn. Yeah. You could, I mean. Oh, yeah. The way you'd be able to manipulate will be so fun. But that'll be fun to do. But I think the great, the most fun to do out of all that is the stuff that was great art to begin with. So like, it'll be super fun to manipulate the shining or the godfather.

It might not be that much fun to manipulate just some cash grab type movie. Like the live action Mulan probably wouldn't be as fun to manipulate as probably the animated Mulan would be. Dude, the godfather, but like, they just run a chain of Starbucks. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, like that's the stuff, like those are the remakes we wanna see that will never happen because they're too expensive to do. Yeah. You know, like that, that, that's the stuff like those are the remakes we want to see that will never happen because they're too expensive to do. Right. So yeah, the problem is, is just like we're in this like interim period where if you want to do a remake, you have to actually like shoot it over again. Right. And you know, and that those days are coming to a close. And then you're just going to if you own any kind of property, whatever it is,

you're going to be able to spit out as many remakes as you want. Right. And in like a month, you can just have the exact same movie, the exact same voices just shifted however you want. Oh, AI is going to wreck Hollywood. I know. It's like, oh wow. It's like they're already like, cause I know, I don't know that much of what was going on in the strike,

but they're already like, we need AI protection today. And it's like, oh, this is coming. Like if you're a writer in Hollywood right now, that must be the most, like, like you must feel like you're on the edge of a cliff. I'm sure. And it's like, oh, is there a way out of this

or am I just gonna have to fall off? Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, you that's it's like that. I don't even know. I don't I see how like certain like companies are trying to create protections like if you put up a I think YouTube is now saying if you put up a generated content, you have to say it's AI, which I don't, I don't know how that. Well, they can even tell after a while. Right. But who cares? Like if it's good, it's good. Right.

Uh, so yeah, I don't, I think about that a lot. Like how does like a writer protect themselves from this. I don't think you can. Cause so much of it, like everybody thinks like a writing job is just pure creativity, but there's all this like technical shit that goes into breaking down the script and you know, making storyboards and you know,

that takes time and AI, it already does that instantly for you. So that's a job that the writer's assistant job is gone. And gone to become a TV writer, you have to be a writer's assistant. Right. So you get rid of the writer's assistant, then what's the pathway in to becoming a TV writer? If you don't have the apprenticeship because an AI is doing it or you just start using AI as the apprentice

but then you're not developing a skill set. Yeah, you just, I think AI is gonna be real good for the idea guys. Yeah. But like the sort of the guys who like, oh, I can fill in the blanks for the idea guys. Those people are in trouble.

Those people are in deep trouble. I know. It's so fucked, man. It's crazy. It's so sad. It really is. I mean, these people have families. That's how they get their life insurance.

Right. And it's like, there's just, what do you do? I mean, it's capitalism. I mean, the only way to stop it would be mean, the only way to stop it would be to, the only way to stop it would be to come up with, you mean you have to go like, this is why people are talking about universal basic income, right? I mean, it kind of has to be,

that kind of has to be a thing. Cause like, eventually the AI will replace pretty much almost everything. You know, I'm cautiously optimistic that live performance will still be live performance because the more that people see AI stuff I think the more they're gonna want to yearn for real human real humans that they can actually know a real humans Yeah, so I you know cautiously optimistic for that But I think for a lot of people it's gonna have to be like especially when we have like driverless cars all these delivery drivers

All these who reach drivers all these long-haul truckers. Let me tell you how it's gonna fuck live performance. It's like, okay, so you're gonna go on the road and you need to sell tickets. But no one has a job anymore. Oh, right. So they can't buy tickets. Right. You know what I mean?

The whole economy collapses because there's 60% unemployment. Right. So it's like, that's how it fucks live performance. Like how is anyone going to buy anything anymore? I mean, we're talking about an entire economic catastrophe. Just shift. We have to figure out a way.

And I think UBS kind of the only way. You know, something that we had to read the communist manifesto in college. I know, right? Very, very college thing. Yeah.y. They make people read. But, you know, the one thing that I did take away from it, because like, I think I took a lot of his, like, what is good about that is what Marx is sort of critique of capitalism and it's sort of love letter of capitalism in the beginning. I think a lot of it is right. I just think his conclusions that he takes are, you know, he takes it like it's very utopian. And I don't and it's sort of love letter of capitalism in the beginning. I think a lot of it is right I just think his conclusions that he takes are you know

He takes it like it's very utopian and I don't think it's the sort of correct conclusion to have but regardless one thing He says I think is true is that one day capitalism will create the thing that destroys it. Did he say that? Yeah And I thought when I read that I thought it was the internet because the Arab Spring had just happened And it's like and then the extension of the internet is AI. And so yeah, that's basically, we've created the thing that it can't stop because we want to create these protections for artists, for AI's and these people, but it's just, it's a train that's left the station and there's no, and it's a bullet train. His like, the story of capitalism was full automation.

Like that's, that's what he, his point is. Like if the worker doesn't gain control of the means of production, then. What was his title for people who own the means of production? The Porsche was he? Yes. Yeah. They, because it's capitalism and paying workers sucks. Right. There's a market pressure for automation.

And so over eventually, just because the market pressure exists, they will figure out a way to go full automation, right, or relevantizing the worker. And then the worker will have no power to unionize or to revolt because it's like you're like a fucking vestigial organ. Right, you're appendixes to the world now. Yeah, well, why do we need you for anymore? We, you are like, it's like, you know, that's it. Yeah, Uber drivers, like when you're riding in an Uber, you are riding in a placeholder.

Because Uber is gonna go, I've seen that all the self-driving cars are out and about, they're back in Austin, and it's like, okay, okay, it's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. Only a matter of time. And then so we get rid of the gig economy. Cause once you get rid of Uber,

then you're definitely Instacarts on the way out because all you need is a way for something to get your fucking groceries up the steps. Uber eats us out. Drones will deliver your fucking groceries. That's gonna be annoying. All day long, we're just gonna hear zzzzzzzzzz drones deliver shit to people's houses. your fucking groceries. Oh my god. That's going to be annoying. All day long, we're just gonna hear

drones, deliver shit to people's houses. Right. But then the problem is, but if there's no more jobs, you can't buy Ubers or deliveries or anything. So that's, I don't know if anyone's really figured that part of the equation. I think the real the real answer is UBI. That's the only thing you can do. And then you get food, rents you can cover, and then if you can find a way to make more, those are the people who will be, who will, whatever this new system is. I want to thank AG1 for supporting this episode of the DTFH. Taking care of your health isn't always easy, but it should at least be simple. This is why I drink athletic greens.

I live in a house filled with people, children, a wife, people coming and going, a maelstrom of beautiful chaos. And I'm sorry within that maelstrom, I don't have the organizational skills to like line up all the vitamins that I need to support my 49 year old body. I'm never going to do that. I've tried and what happens is I'll forget to take a vitamin or worse. I'll double dose of vitamin and then I'll puke. Then suddenly I'm projectile, vomiting, orange juice and, and half digested vitamins.

I don't want that to be my day. I don't want to hear my kids tapping on the door of the bathroom while I'm barfing undigested vitamins and fruit into the toilet. This is why I love athletic greens. I ran out of athletic greens so I got to go a week or two without the stuff and I'm telling you I wouldn't recommend going without vitamins but it was an interesting experiment because holy shit it makes you feel good. Like this stuff is so powerful. It's got your daily dose of vitamins, minerals,

pre and probiotics and more. It's simple. Look, there's so much that is in athletic greens. You can marvel at how much they've managed to squeeze into this and also marvel Marvel the fact that it tastes good You just take a scoop of this stuff you put it in cold water You mix it together and you get everything you need It's the best and you feel it. That's the most important part

It's you know what I mean like sometimes there's like some vitamin fad and you take the vitamin and You know what I mean? Like sometimes there's like some vitamin fad and you take the vitamin and nothing changes at all. This is not that. This stuff will put some zip in your zipper. You gotta try it. If there's any product that I'd recommend to elevate your health, it's AG1. That's why I've been working with them forever. So if you want to take ownership of your health, start with a G1 try a G1 and get a free one year supply of vitamin D three and K two and five AG one travel packs, which I forgot to bring on the road with me out here in Cincinnati with your first purchase at drink AG one.com Ford slash Duncan.

That's drink AG one.com Ford slash Duncan. Check it out. It's spring. And AG1 is the spice. I just saw Dune 2 and I was thinking as I'm watching it, I guess like my spice melange is AG1. I mean that. I mean, it doesn't, it doesn't, I can't peer into the future like Paul Maddie, but that. I mean it doesn't, it doesn't, I can't peer into the future like Paul Maude, but it sure makes me feel great for the whole day. Thank you, AG1. If you can find a way to make more, those are the people who will be, who will, you know, whatever this new system is. That's why I always find it funny, even back in college when people were like, oh, we got to overthrow this capitalist system and it's like yo One thing I've noticed just from looking throughout all of history is that no matter what system you're in there's haves and have-nots

No matter what right and the sort of goal is to be like well I'll be sort of the part of the haves in this system So it's like I always felt like well capitalism is the system I know and I know the evils of it I know the not evils of it. I'd rather deal with that than have this whole new system and be like, well, how the fuck do I navigate this? Right. I'd rather take the evil I know over the evil I don't know. Yeah, 100%. I mean, I don't like Yeah, I don't I don't want to be necessarily in a turning point in a turning point in history where we figure it out, those are generally like some pretty chaotic. And bloody.

Chaotic and bloody times. Yeah. And cause that's the, you know, the, all of this is sort of growing around us while we keep like in this almost like we're sleepwalking, we keep sleepwalking through this dying system of making money and having a career. And we're sleepwalking through it

while all this crazy shit is growing around us and like people at our offices are disappearing. It's like, I mean, they didn't need them anymore. You read about these massive layoffs in the tech companies. These massive layoffs that are happening. It's like a lot of those layoffs are happening because those people are no longer necessary. And then where do they go?

What do they do? Yeah, so I don't, I mean, the only fix for it would be to like severely regulate AI. And I just don't think that's possible. I just don't think that that's possible. Like, I think that like the very limited knowledge I have of AI, it's like the fact that I think we've already gotten the process started to create a soul. And once that train has left the station, it's over. Well, did you see the State of the Union, Biden?

No, I didn't. Well, one of the things he said and it was, they're going to make replicating somebody's voice with AI illegal. But that's really all he had to say about AI. It's like, dude, like. We're so far past that. Yeah.

I mean, I think I said this to you the other day. We're to the point where like, it's going to be close that like video surveillance won't be admissible in court because it's like did you just create that right? Yeah, yeah, who knows like the first few times it happens people are gonna go to jail and the people are gonna realize like oh you can just How the fuck is anything anything anymore? You just don't know right and so and so then, even if you go to ChatGPT, so like ChatGPT, obviously I would have done this when I was in fucking high school. You just tell it what the essay's about and it writes this beautiful essay

that you then turn in as your own work. And so there's programs professors run the essay through that determines whether or not it was written by an AI. On ChatGPT's website, you go to, there's like bots, or I don't know what they call them, they're like specialized GPTs. And one of them, it's a humanizer. So the first iteration, you take that

and feed it to the humanizer. The humanizer randomizes it enough so that the software, the other AI that scans it to see if it's an AI can't tell anymore and thinks it's fucking human. So it's like already the company that's making this shit is trying to subvert the ability to identify that it's AI. Whoa, dude, that is crazy. And you you know yeah the video that the video deep fakes that are gonna fuck up the legal system Of course, there's gonna be very sophisticated. AI's that scan the deep fakes and say that's not real. Here's why That produces a market pressure for another AI that takes your video AI

Humanize humanizes it makes it completely undetectable and then another AI appears they can tell that and then that just That competition will produce exactly what you're talking about eventually indiscernible from reality. Yeah. Yeah But and I think you know I said before I eventually we're gonna spark a soul and I think it's like quicker than we think Eventually we're gonna spark a soul and I think it's like quicker than we think Like you know like the soul one time came out of just this like the human soul or the ability to feel on the level That we can feel came out of something right it came out of these materials that build everything else But don't really have that so if we're creating those situations where it could happen Who's to say it couldn't happen you believe in the soul? Yeah On some level. Yeah.

You know, this is like the big, like at least it used to be controversial because in Buddhism, we say, I think the word is a hymsa, no soul. Really? Yeah, no soul. Interesting. Yeah, because the problem with the soul is,

if you, like, well, you have to ask, well, I would ask you, what is a soul? Like, what do you think your soul is? I just, it's almost so hard to explain. It's almost like, it's a faith-based question almost. It's like, do you have faith that there's something more in you like that? Okay, okay, let me ask this then.

Okay. Does a soul change? In what way? Does it change? Does it like, does what way? Does it change? Does it grow? Does it shrink? Does it get bigger, smaller? Are all souls the same size?

Can you make your soul bigger? Or? I think it can change. I think, you know, the sort of, the, someone who's like super charismatic, it's someone who could probably push a bit of their essence out, make their essence out, make their essence strong.

But the essence itself, can it change? I mean, yeah, I guess, yeah, it can be bigger, it can be smaller, it can burn brighter, it can be. Can its qualities change? Ooh, like what it's made out of? Is there some fundamental unchanging quality inside a soul? Probably, yeah. Okay, so if that's true,

if there's a fundamental unchanging quality inside a soul, then there's no freedom because, that's the problem. You know what I mean? Because that means that there's some some mystical kernel, a permanent sort of data set of metaphysical data set. That's always some couple lines of code. And it's always exactly the same.

Now, if this is the case, then we are in hell because we can't change. That means that fundamentally we were always always gonna be exactly the fucking same, no matter what. And so, you know, that's one of the problems of the soul. And similarly, the problem with, if we see a lot, most people who are theistic and believe in the soul also believe God is unchanging. God is this fundamentally unchanging quality

in the universe, which means God is in hell, because God never will have a new idea, God will never get it like a big epiphany. You know what I mean? God is frozen in this like perpetual state of omniscience and unchanging characteristics which seems odd in the sense that the universe, which is a direct manifestation of the divine consciousness, is in a constant state of change. And yet somehow there are these qualities within it that are not changing. So this gets translated into a hemsa, which is actually, you know, the problem is that for another

way to put it, for a soul to exist, it can't exist by itself. In other words, if there's just soul and no nothing aware of whatever the soul thing may be, then the soul is nothing because there's nothing there to identify, be aware of it, say that it's there. Meaning it's dependent on the ability to have awareness. Well, maybe that's not, maybe that's not, maybe that's true because it's like, it's kind of like sound and vision and like, you know, if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise? Well, if there's no one there to hear it, then it doesn't.

There's just a bunch of waves that never get Perceived exactly so a soul I guess is the same in that way. It's like a sound It's like someone has to perceive it for it to exist exactly But I do think like maybe there is something to that of just like it does seem like There's only a certain range of possibilities that you can be as a human being probably like probably like true freedom Probably doesn't truly exist. There is a there is a data set that you operate on you and it might be a wide data set but I like true freedom I don't think truly exists like that well I mean you have to define freedom like you know you like for sure like I can't pull my head

off and like spin it on my finger like a basket but right cartoons like there's a you know physical limitations to the human form you could say there's like a basket, but all of them seen in cartoons. Like there's a, you know, physical limitations to the human form. You could say there's like a lack of freedom there. There's a, but regardless, like no, no matter what the physical manifestation can only is dependent on some form of awareness to know the physical manifestation is there. Right. Now the question then becomes that awareness, like what is that?

Because the awareness field is also dependent on the physical field. Because if you have no, if you just have pure awareness and no, nothing that can be identified within that field of awareness, then the awareness is negated. Yeah, you don't have awareness. You have no, something physical has to be aware of something. These two things are completely dependent on one another, meaning that there is no,

you couldn't really say there's a permanent situation with the soul, because of that. It's kind of like a- A mind fuck. It's a mind fuck and it seems like just basic math. I mean, I guess you could say there's some unknown incomprehensible

aspect to the universe that is producing the illusion of these dependent Or Interdependent qualities or something I guess but if we're just gonna use like what we have available to us right now, it would appear there is not any kind of permanent soul situation happening. In the sense that if, because awareness or the observer, whatever that is is always changing.

It's in a field of change. It's so the two are completely coerising. Well, that's, to me, that's always been the benefit of believing in God is that you can just be like, well, there's something going on up there that I don't know. Right, okay. That's the sort of positive of the whole situation.

It's like truly religious people that I like. What I like about them is like, oh, there's things that are just out of my control and I don't have to worry about that. Yeah, that I like it too. And this is why, like, you know, my wife, who's Christian, I always say, you need to lean into that. Right. Like you get to lean.

You should be lean-y and she does, but it's like lean in to Jesus. If Jesus is your savior, if God is your savior and is outside your ability to, you just trust the plan, let God drive the car or whatever. Let Jesus take the wheel. Let Jesus take the wheel. Lean into that. But when I, the first book that I read written by my meditation teachers, teachers,

Shogum Trump, Reverend P, Trump, I remember Pichet. I got so fucking mad because it starts off, I hated him at first. Like I felt so mad at him because I felt called out because the book starts off by saying, if you are saying like, it's beyond words, I can't express it, it's beyond words, I can't express it, it's ineffable, so beautiful that there are no words for this God thing,

then what you've done is taken your confusion, put it on an altar, and started burning candles in front of us. And I was like, fuck you, man, fuck you. Yeah. And I was like, fuck you, man. Fuck you. No, I'm not burning all the candles to my confusion. It was so infuriating. It hurt really bad.

Oh, yeah, that's a, that's a rough, that's a rough thing to really think about. Yeah. Because it's lazy. Because it's like, yeah, it's easier to just be like, well, there's I don't, there's just some other thing that is taking care of the whole situation. And then I have, and someone is going to come and rescue me. Right. And, but I don't think that that is how things seem to work in the creation of that being. it seems like we have to rescue ourselves. We have to rescue each other. Right. But I don't, I don't know about the whole like, well, if I just wait around and

have like a, and say the right words. That the saviour will come. Yeah. Right. I don't know if that's how it works, man. I mean, and so it would be an important thing to like, not just trust because it when tells you tells you yeah that is actually how it is you should be allowed to interrogate that investigate it break it into pieces

look is there a flaw in this right like and if you're not allowed to do that that you know that's a big that's a lot of my big problem with a lot of like organized religion is that it hinges on like it hinges on like a hinges on you not questioning. Yeah. Or like, you know what I mean? Or, you know, there are some like forward thinking imams and preachers and rabbis are probably like, no, no question, question, question. But a lot of them are just like, believe, believe, believe. Yeah. And that's a whole different level of like, there's a level of darkness to that of just like, no, no, no, what I say on spirituality goes

and you should listen to me. I've always felt like that was crazy. Yeah, me too. I've always felt very uncomfortable when I realized that I'm in a situation where they're off limit questions or there's questions where if you ask and they're like, pfft, idiot, and then they don't answer it.

You know, they're like, you're just deluded here. It's like, whatever this thing is, we should be able to break it apart and put it back together. And we should be able to improve it if there's improvements to be made. Or, but this notion of like, no, this is just how it is.

We figured it all out. Right. Don't question it. That's like a, that's like like if I'm buying a fucking car. Yeah, something's wrong with this car. You're not gonna let me look under the hood. Trust me, I have faith in this car. It's gonna be great. Right. This car is made by the word of God. So you don't have to just trust me. I know the word of God. So let me just tell it to you. Yeah. This car is fine. It's like, well, I don't know, bro. You know, but I guess let's argue.

Like, so let's argue for. Let's argue for theism. OK. What in the critique of theism, one thing that gets left out And in the critique of theism, one thing that gets left out is the direct relationship with God, meaning there's a conversation that starts happening when you open yourself up to it. Right. And within that conversation, you evolve as a person.

Right. And the thing you're conversing with or making contact with is the most beautiful thing you've ever encountered. And certainly to be like, I know just what this is would seem very prideful. And because if you've ever had any kind of mystical experience all your intellectual bullshit goes right out the fucking window. Yeah, and the sort of wonder of it is just like, I don't know really what's happening.

You surrender yourself to the moment. Yeah, and the sort of wonder of it is just like, I don't know really what's happening. Yeah. You surrender yourself to the moment. I'm not burning a candle at the altar of confusion. I'm just in awe of something that I only intellectually thought existed. Right. So, you know, I think there is a good argument for theism too. I don't, I love theism. Like theism is a beautiful possibility.

Well, at its best, it gives people hope. It gives people a sense of community. And it's like, I think that's super important, like a sense of belonging. Like if that's how you feel like you belong is a belief in some sort of higher power, I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Let me quote Shawnee from Dune.

Okay. It's used to control people. That's like such a fucking indictment of religion, my friend Herbert. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but she's not wrong. It's like, it's like, you know, it's the yidda-nye. It's like that thing that could be so freeing and so positive is also the exact same thing that could be so freeing and so positive is also the exact same thing that could be so restrictive and controlling. Like it is like what it is in the hands of the user.

Yeah, truly. And but I think if you, anybody who cuts themselves off from, you know, at least the New Testament, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, any of those texts because they're like, this is primitive bullshit. I think there's a kind of fear there too, where it's like, you're afraid, I think you're a little scared to read it because...

You'll find some truth in there that you weren't expecting. Yeah. Some guy from the 1400, like 1400 years ago to nail on the head. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's alive. And when you contact it, it's not like reading

a regular book, it's there's some living quality to it that feels like it's like talking directly to you. And that's fucking wild. That's a wild feeling. And that has made me shut more than a few bottles when I'm high, like I'm ready for this. The pages are breathing, I can't deal with this. It seems to be breathing.

The whole thing is alive, for sure. Look, man, we better wrap this up. We got a show soon. I know we got to get ready for that. There's a lot for fledgling comics out there, like professional comics. We do so fucking much, man. We got to get manicures, pedicures. Ohures oh yeah taking care of yourself physically yeah oh my god I

just never realized how important it was until now eating well and exercise because you'll die on the road right I was trying to make a bad joke but yeah man the truth is I'm just figuring this out like like my hotel room used to be a chaotic fucking mess and now I try to keep everything in a certain place No stacks of bottles by my fucking bed But the take I'll take the trash to the fucking trash came out there I make my own fucking bed because I don't want the maids in right and like I try to exercise now because otherwise You become a fucking animal. Yeah, I walked in here and I was like, Oh, I need to do this.

My hotel room is a fucking mess. My hotel room is a chaotic mess. That's the beginning. Yeah, through that period. And then like, now I have this God, this must be boring. I have a like a whole unpacking. You hang your close up. Absolutely. Yeah, I hang my fucking close up. I put them in the drawers. And then I have like a, Oh God, I'm sorry you guys, it's so boring. I have like my own little like laundry bag so that I throw all the shit that's dirty in the laundry bag. And then when I'm packing, it makes it really easy because I could just take that bag, shove it in the bag

and then like fold everything up and it makes it so much faster. But yeah, you come up with like, if you're traveling a bunch, it's really good to come up with a routine routine. Yeah. Are you are you go nuts? Oh, you lose your mind. Yeah. Eating healthy or like trying to eat healthy is like tough.

It's really tough. Fucking exercise. Oh, dude. That's what Rogan taught me. Are you like, I still I only pulled this off once. He says when he gets into a place, he immediately goes and exercises. I did that once. Did you feel better? So much better.

It just completely exercises that airplane woozy feeling. Yeah, the fact that you're in a different time zone or whatever the fuck, yeah. Cold showers on the road, essential. Like, only take cold fucking showers so that you're like constantly waking yourself. Because for me, a hotel room. I'm very sleepy in them. I get sleepy. I just want to watch TV, jerk off and play video games. Right. And then you will get if you're going out in the road, that's fun for a weekend,

I guess, but if you're going on the road a bunch, you'll get depressed from doing that shit. Right. Like you start feeling like a festering pig laying in your bed with your fucking shit scattered all around Oh, yeah, I feel a little bit way that way now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just today I did nothing I was I was too sore to work out. So I was like, uh, dude, I wanted to do nothing It was hard. I was I woke up and I'm like, man, I don't want to fucking do anything. I don't want to podcast I don't want to exercise. I just want to lay in fucking bed and watch forensic files. Dude, forensic files, classic on the road. Just dude, you're on the road, you just watch people get murdered.

It's crazy. Dude, it's so dark! Yeah. You're like, you're like, you just, you're, for me, it's like playing a game on the laptop, while in the background, a narrator is talking about horrific fucking murder, while I'm eating the shittiest food known to man.

Really a dark possibly. But we do, I mean, we do have to get ready for the show. I mean, I don't know what that means for me, but I was trying to make a really dumb joke about some intricate complex, Rachel. So tell me, how many podcasts do you have now now like 17? No, I just do the right now I just do the one I just do the one it's called the solid show with Derek post and that's okay with Derek and Assan that's what I do right now Derek. Yeah, so yeah, that's the one that's the one we do

But then we do I did have that idea you did gave me the idea of like doing a Mario Kart Well, we just play Mario Kart and talk I would love to do that I'm gonna look into starting it you're so fucking smart because like you've been, like you're telling me things that like, I'm gonna think about for a long time, the Lion King, Hamlet connection, but also last night as we were walking back, you were telling me about there's like a,

some kind of metaphor. Life is Mario Kart, dog. Life is Mario Kart. That's the name of the pocket. Life is, I tell that all the time. And it's something I came up with. Derek, we were in a, this is, we were lived in San Diego, just started comedy, just playing Mario Kart.

And he was like really getting into it. And I was like, this is life, dude. Like this is life. Like you rate, if you hit a wall, like you rate, if you race poorly, all of a sudden you get hit by shells. And then you can be in first place and just a string of bad luck happens to you and you're in like in fifth.

And that's happened sometimes. Or you're in 12th place playing poorly and then the last lap you start racing well, you start hitting your lines good and then the game rewards you with good items and good things to get you in a position to win. Like it's like it's very, very life to me. So what would the podcast look like if you did it?

As of right now, the idea that it's just like one screen is the game, like a sort of split screen, one screen is the game and the other is us talking, or it could just be the game and us talking, like in the little sort of corner, like Twitch sort of thing. But yeah, that's the sort of base thought of it right now. Friends, come to the mothership to see Asan.

He's so funny or cut. You're going to hopefully be coming out in the road. Hey, I'm open. I'm I love to. So you're going to come see some of my shows out in the road. I'm definitely going to be bringing them out more. And thank you so much for doing the show. Thank you for having me.

Appreciate it. That was Asan Ahmad, everybody. All the links you need to find his podcast with Derek Poston will be at dougartrussell.com. A tremendous thank you to our sponsors. Thank you for listening. I'll see you next week.