If I Were You - 141: Chivalry (w/Ben Schwartz!)
Episode Date: March 16, 2015Comedian/Actor/Friend Ben Schwartz joins us to discuss courtship and comedy.This episode is brought to you by RetailMeNot.com, TrunkClub.com, and MeUndies.com!See omny.fm/listener for privacy informat...ion.
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In the middle, she wants to be in the middle She wants to be in the middle of us
Come take your picture with us both Where you stand, nobody knows
She'd get a mirror if I were you With Tommy Needs, that's what's in crew
She wants to be in the middle She wants to be in the middle of us
That's you
That was amazing
You sang the chorus
That was unbelievable
Who is responsible for that?
Thomas Middleditch
No, who made it?
That would be amazing
Thomas spent 12 hours on a punk remix of your song, Alex Sexton
Alex Sexton, that was amazing
I'm just reading this email, it works as my sister-in-law
He works with your sister-in-law?
Yeah
Is that why you got the red stripe?
Your sister works with red stripe?
No, it's blog stripe.com
What's stripe.com?
It's an E, it's like a money transferring system
So if you want it to set up an online store, you can just use stripe
And then they can do the transaction
Unless they pay to advertise with this
Unless they pay to advertise with this
Did they pay to stripe pay?
Yeah, they did
Oh, okay, then finish up
She wants to be in the middle
Did you remember singing that song in an old episode?
You mean when it was happening and I said, is that me?
Yeah
I remember singing it, yeah
I remember one time after a show Middleditch was like, everybody's singing that song to me, man
I was like, oh, what song?
He's like, are you kidding?
I was like, no
He's like, you know, she wants to be in the middle
I was like, oh my god, it made me laugh so hard
Because for you, it's a small part of your life
But if you come on, if you come and talk about it on the show
I remember it, because then the second time we did it
It stuck with me for a very long time
And also people would come up and sing it
I remember when Middleditch and I, we do a show called Middleditch and Schwartz
What is that based on?
It's based on Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz
Oh, yeah
And it's all made up so long from improv
And then afterwards, you know, we'll take pictures with whoever needs it
Whoever wants to take pictures
Whoever needs it
Whoever needs it the most
Whoever really needs it the most
Just one person
We look around the room and see who really needs a hug
And any time after the Middleditch and Schwartz show
I'll say at least one person, you know
Like, oh, where do you want to stand?
And she's like, I want to be in the middle
And then you're like, that doesn't, I don't know
That rings no bells
No, the second time we sang that on this podcast it rang all the bells
Ben Schwartz, thanks for joining us
Hey, thank you for having me
Name?
What?
What's your name?
He doesn't know your name
What is his name?
I don't even know him
Come on, Marty, what's his name?
Oh, hey, come on, that's enough
It's fun when we make fun of him
For whatever reason, it's not good to me
By the way, we have a guitar
We have Jake and we have you and I
And we didn't shoot
We didn't do a beginning or end theme song
We'll do an end one
Alright
Thank God
Jake has a great guitar and Amir is great at watching Jake
Strum those strings
You're better at guitar than I am
And you're a better singer
Me? I'm absolutely not better at guitar
How dare you try to downplay a good guitar
You can play Blackbird
So can you?
You can play Backbird behind your back
Bird
Black
Bird
Yeah
Sing
In
In
The
He's dead
Of
Night
Night
Yeah
In
The
Dead
Of
Night
Have you ever tried to sing one song's melody
with the other songs?
Can you give me an example, please?
Give me something to the tune of
If she wants to be in the middle
It's hard
Okay
What's a
Oh
She wants to be
In
The
Middle
With
You
She wants to be
Yeah
That was good
Why is that the song that you chose?
That was insane by the way
You got it
It's true
I got
What is it?
I got my mind
Said
On you
I got my mind
Said
On you
Couldn't think of any lyrics
I don't know
I couldn't know the lyrics
So I just sing any old lyrics
But just sing words child
I'm gonna sing them
Oh
And over and over and over
And over and over and over
To do it
That's right
To do it
To do it
To do it
To do it
Right child
Take it a mirror
Um, this is If I Were You
The only advice podcast on the internet
Hosted by us
I'm Amir
I'm Jake
I'm Ben
And together we're
Antacid
That's so
A-N-T apostrophe
No
Why did you say antacid?
I can't for the life of me understand
Why you did that
I did
I wonder if I'm allowed to talk about this
I think I am
Yesterday I did the first ever test show
For the late, late show with James Corden
So I was a guest, the guest
There's the two guests
And they're
Oh, when does this come out?
Uh, sometime in March
I can't talk
Just in case he uses bits that he uses in the test show
I don't want to call him out
Oh, gotcha
But I guess I'll tell you guys the story later
There was a moment in it
Where someone asked me a question as a joke
It was very funny where they go
Like, I want to ask you a question
In 1492, Mesopotamia
And a very specific history question
It really made me laugh
And then I answered it
For two and a half minutes straight
On this test show
And committed so hard
My hope is that
If you don't know much about history
You would think that everything I said was true
But it wasn't
But I like committed so hard
And took up way too much time
Knowing it was a test show
But it was so fun
Was it 1492 or Mesopotamia?
Because those two things seem like
They're tens of thousands of years apart
They probably are
Mesopotamia, I think, was a piece of it
But I remember 1492 being in there also
I wonder what happened
You just said everything you've ever learned in history
I went crazy
1492 in the war of 1812, of course
In the Gilded Area
Jackie, what are your likes and dislikes?
Like, what's your biggest dislike?
What's your biggest dislike?
When you meet someone if they do this
Like, one of my friends hates when he's snap gum
Like, what's yours?
When I meet somebody?
Not meet somebody
What's the thing that will be an immediate turn off?
Guy or a girl for you?
Personality trait
I can tell when people don't listen
Like, if they're looking at their phone
That would be a huge turn off
Just for anybody in general
People who aren't thoughtful
That's pretty much it
What about messiness?
Messy?
Well, not when I meet
Are you messy? You're not messy, are you?
No, I'm very clean
But I wouldn't reject somebody as a friend
If they're messy
But as a mate
Oh, but he's a guy or a girl
I see a guy or a girl like a friend
Like, oh, God, this is so annoying to me
I could handle a messy mate
That's so funny, it's not like you're from Australia
But my question is as follows
You already asked me one question
Yeah, but I have a follow-up
Is that fine?
Is it two-parter?
Of course
Is there somebody in your life
Don't name names, obviously
Obviously, it's probably a mirror
But that every time you hang out with them
You're like, why do I hang out with this guy?
You'll kind of give him or her another chance
And then you hang out
You're like, oh, this is so annoying to me
Why do I keep doing that?
Like somebody that you shouldn't be hanging out with
Because you don't like them
Not like a bad person
This is like a loaded question
This is just how you feel about both of us
But they show up at your house with microphones
And you have no real choice
We are at my house
Or my apartment, rather, right now
And I'm doing my laundry
So in approximately 25 minutes
You're going to hear a loud beep
And that means my dryer is done
And I can unload it
And the real question is
Will I go unload it while we're doing this podcast?
Otherwise, the clothes will get wrinkly
Y'all, thank you
Give me another Weird Al song
I don't have enough dishes
That's not a Weird Al song
Yes, it is
This song is just six words long
It's Weird Al
Wait, to the tune of
Do I got my mind set on you?
Yes, that's it
Are you kidding me?
No, I didn't know that
Oh, my God, one of my favorites
What is that?
How does it go?
This song?
Are you doing it better now?
I'm not
This song is just six words long
This song is just six words long
Wait, let's go
This song is just six
Maybe this is not considered a word
This song just couldn't think of any lyrics
I did not know that
I didn't write no lyrics
You knew it, you sang it
I just knew the tune of the song
I didn't know that you
But just six words
Oh, my God, yeah
I wonder how many people are weird
We talked about this before
This song is just six words long
Yeah, someone sing it to Amir
His email address is
WeirdAl at gmail.org
I'm going to read one question
And see where it takes us
Can I ask a question before we do that?
Sure
Do you guys think?
Oh, no, this is what happens
How does it end with wireless internet?
What do you mean?
Isn't there always going to be a faster speed?
When are we ever going to hit that faster speed?
Terminal velocity
Oh, wow, that's a good name for a movie
Yeah, it's already a movie
What about The Rock?
That's a wrestler
Oh, that's a movie and a guy
Yeah
Alright, that's your question
Alright, we need a fake guy's name
Oh, can I ask a quick question
Before you guys ask it?
No
When you guys do backpacks
Do you go two arms or one?
Two
Do you?
Yeah, it's bad for your back to do one
That's what I thought
In high school, would you do two or one?
I was never that cool
So I would probably still do two
It was cool to do two
When I was in high school
Oh, not for me, it was one
But I heard my back
Did you ever use the buckle in between?
Like some sort of
You had like an REI weekend pack
With like the metal exoskeleton
Yeah, I was like
Basically, my yearbook photo is the poster for Wild
With the Whisper
Yeah, do you want it to be similar to a real person's name
Or do you want it to be really crazy?
I think I want it to be really crazy
Really crazy
Alright, I'm going to start with a real person's name
Carl Salabach
S-A-L-A-B-A-T-C-H
And Carl is spelled T-C-K-L-I-A-R-L-E-E
T-C-K
It's Carl Salabach
No, it comes from Carl Salabach
Right
Hey guys, so I recently met a girl on Tinder
Can I ask you a quick question?
Sure
Wow, we almost got there
When you play your acoustic guitar, Jakey
Do you do steel strings or nylon?
Steel strings
Now, why do I prefer nylon?
Because it doesn't hurt my fingers?
It doesn't hurt your fingers as much, yeah
So I'm just a pussy
No, well, I mean like you got, you know, there's also
That has a wider neck
Thank you buddy, thanks
And then my other question is what's your go-to song?
You know like how when I pick up the guitar
There's a song that I always play first
What's the one that you pick up and play first?
I don't think I ever play a song first
But I always
You're so pretentious
I just, well, I always play the same two chords first
C-D, C-G
G-C
G-C
Well, I said the right ones
You didn't
You said C-G, I said
You said D
And let's hit a commercial
Sure
This episode is brought to you by
No, alright
Stamps.org
Carl Salibach writes
So I recently met this girl on Tinder
And I've messaged her quite a while
We seem like a perfect match
I can't find any cons
I want to take her out on a date
ASAP
Not meeting this girl yet is killing me
However, she's on spring break right now
And visiting home
Which is still local and near where I live
But I am 21 years old
And I feel like I'm past the phase of my life
Where I have to pick girls up from their parents' place
Meet the dad and promise to have the lady back home by 10
I would much rather pick her up from her apartment
Is it wrong for me not to want to go to her parents' house?
Am I allowed to ask to pick her up at her apartment instead?
Or should I say nothing and just wait until spring break is over
And she goes back to school?
I appreciate all the advice
Thanks, guys
Alright, well, first of all
You don't even know if she wants to go out with you
Yeah, but what if she does?
Well, things are going well
I would say ask
Ask what?
Ask
I would say go
By the way, you don't have to go inside and say hello to the parents and everything
You could just honk?
Well, I mean, you don't have to honk
I think this is 2015
This is so neurotic
You text
This dude's inventing problems six steps away from where he is right now
By the way, maybe not Jackie
But I'm sure Mia and I have gone through that in our heads many times
Like figuring out
Or just thinking like, oh, god, you know what?
I probably shouldn't even do it
Because in two years we're going to break up
That is what happens
It's like a disease
You just get further and further
Yeah, spiraling
I do that all the time
And that's why I just honk
Ask the girl out
What I've learned is if you mesh, ask the girl out
And by the way, maybe she's on spring break, by the way
Maybe now's not the time to go out with her
Maybe you wait for her to get back
But it'll still be like, you know, I can't wait to take you out
I want to take you out
It's like one step at a time
I want to take you out
Then she says, yes, there's a good chance
She doesn't want you to meet her dad either
I know that would be so weird
I agree
Do you want to go out?
Yeah, let's meet somewhere
But first of all, good for you for asking the question
Let's stop just shitting at this guy
He didn't ask the question yet
Oh, what do you mean?
That's not the question?
No, to submit to jaconamere.org
Good for you for writing the email to us
There you go
And that your instinct is correct
That you should ask her out
You are overthinking a little bit
I can't imagine a world where
Although 21 is so young
I can't imagine a world where she's like
Well, come inside of me, my folks
That would be such a big jump
For me, at least, I'd be like
Oh, that's like date number
Well, here's a question
What if you're like
Alright, let's go on a date
She's like, great, can you come pick me up
I'm staying at my parents' place
On 155 Sunset Boulevard
I don't know why you told everybody
You're real address if you're going
You just roll up and honk the horn
Is that what you would do?
Yeah, of course
No, I don't think you would do stuff
I don't think you have to go and
You could text that you're outside
I would say like, I would text like
On my way, I'll be there in 10
And then you get there and either she's
You want to write here, outside
You want to write here, outside
I don't think I would
You would knock on the door
Yeah
First of all, that exact address on Sunset
Is too much traffic
You're not going to find parking
You know that for a fact
Well, definitely not between 4 and 5
4 and 7 p.m.
Yeah, you can't make a left
You're not allowed to park at a meter
Spot at that point
That's what I'm saying
So am I, Antiquity, am I
No, I guess it's the opposite
Am I doing something wrong
If I pick up a girl
I usually just text when I'm outside
Unless I'm thinking
I'm going to come inside beforehand
You never bring the doorbell?
I mean, I
Do you get out of, so if you write here
Do you at least get out of the car
I feel like that rush, I feel like that rush
Yes, but I feel like that rushes
The person
Like ding ding ding, ding ding ding
Ding ding ding, ding ding ding
You know what I mean?
I think as long as you come
I'd rather someone text me than fucking
We're allowed to come, I'm sorry
Text me then
Knock on my, ring my doorbell
100% for me at least
Cause I was like
Cause then I respond, hey be there in a minute
As opposed to their
What happens if she's not ready
Which many times you know
Everybody's busy maybe they aren't ready
And then she's like has like put on jeans and quickly be like, oh, I'm so sorry
I need like 10 more minutes as opposed to I'm so sorry to make you step out of your routine
I've rarely even picked someone up that's I that seems like an old-school thing to me like
It matters how far away I feel I usually meet someone there
Matters where they live if they live close by to you
And then you both you you pick them up and then you drive
I think maybe not the first one if that makes you feel a little bit if you don't know the girl at all
Right, I feel like yeah, why not right? No, I don't know
It's like you have to drive an hour and then a half an hour than an hour back
It might be a bit much and she would be like, what are you doing? I was scolded for that. Remember what yeah?
I went on a date with a girl and then I said for the second date
We should go to this play and I was like all right. I'll meet you there and then she's like okay
I was like all right, and then she's like actually is this a date or just a friendship meetup
I was like, I guess a date. I don't know. What was the first one?
Whatever that one was. She's like I only asked because of the lack of the offer to pick me up
Like usually people like decide to pick me up like when you say meet me there. It just seemed like very cold. I am
My my shut up. I'm gonna shut up. Jake, you say something. Sure
So Ben is dating somebody
No, no, no, no, no, I think
That I don't know everybody over things everything
So you think the lady was overreacting to me
This is what this is what the point I was trying to make I'm trying to think of a
Sophisticated way to say it because I understand both points of view, but there's that's there's this old idea of
Being a man, so you open all the doors you you're going to front or additional courting correct court by the way
Yes, but oh, it's it's true that almost the phrase courting makes more sense to me where it's like by the way
I will always open the door first and stuff like that, but like
When let's say I'm dropping her off sometimes
I won't have the mindset to park my car get out of my side go to her side open up her door
You know what I mean? Yeah, some do you do that? Well, that's like old-school shiver chivalry
I don't think I do like a lot of old-school chivalry. I feel like what I would do is I play this is what I was gonna say
I think you'll be surprised at how often you have done it because it's maybe your instinct to do so with any girl that you've dated
Do you stand up when your date leaves the table?
By the way when I say hello to people for the first time I make sure my ass is not in the seat. Oh, that's good
Definitely, but that's a thing like a lot of manners. I've never seen madman. Oh, really?
That's when I started changing it. Here's what I would do wait
I heard madman was like he cheats on a woman and beat somebody or yeah
Manners with who he's cheating. Yeah, he'll like put his sweater down on a puddle so that man fuck someone who's not his wife
Yeah
Raceway Park, I feel like what you do is
Bantickled me. I think this is what you do
You just are really really nice like I would open the door
Yes, always be nice or a girl and I would open and I wouldn't necessarily jump out of my seat run around and
Open a car door for a lady, but I would open my door get out and hug her in front of the car
So that's why I'm saying like when you text here at the very least you're waiting on the hood of your car like James Dean
When she comes outside that's not a bad idea smoking a cigarette flipping a coin and having a leather jacket
I think it's almost not as taught to us as it was to the generations before us
It's not as prevalent. So it is something we have to search out almost to find yeah
There's manners schools basically that teach you like oh, it's that's would you ever in a million years go to something called manners
This is like you just be a little more
Conscious to edit this together. I nailed conscientious the first try much
You so you have to be a little considerate, but not like treating anybody like they're helpless. Oh great
Point I by the way will always go out of my way to make sure that I'm trying to be nice
I'm one of my favorite things in this city. Maybe I said this on the podcast before
I think I've done this podcast for three three times four times. Yeah, there's your time, right?
No, once we once you're alone with a mirror, right once you're alone alone
We never aired that episode. Oh god. It was so good. It was me singing weird house on
Um, you didn't record it. There's this thing
I forgot the press record button and I didn't have any mics and I was naked
This is the thing that I thought was so funny when I came here at the beginning
People be like cuz I was an intern a bunch of times in a page or never and then started
You know as we all start to do more and more work. They're like like I'm always so kind to
Waiter, you know, I sold sneakers for also kind of waiters and any anybody right anybody because that's what human beings do
But people around here would be like for like the mailroom person at some agency or some company
They'd be like you should be nice
You should be nice to him or her because that person may one day become president of Warner Brothers
Right. I'm like, you know, you should just be nice them because you're a human being
I always hated when people said that you go you should be nice that person because like that you're so you're thinking about it
So wrong you might get cash
literally
He might pay you money in 30 years. Hello you a favor then I hated I hated that way and people still say it all the time
You never know that person, you know, don't shit on that person because that person bow
So are you nice like we were talking earlier today
Somebody asked us a question about you and we said that you're nicer to our crew than we are. Oh
You should be less nice because you're just like a star
This is when we film. Yeah, when we shoot Jake and Amir videos, you will that's you any time
We should I say hello to every single person. Yeah, and then you guys are and then Amir goes
Oh, I guess we're gonna have to do it literally out loud and tries to make a joke of it
Then feels bad for a second and then Jake hates it. What are you talking about hates it?
I think it is trailer for this entire time. I think it's because first of all, I feel so lucky
To be doing what I'm doing
You have done so many of those shorts that maybe feels although it's kind of I've done many other things
But you've done maybe 700 you said maybe done so much that it just feels like
It's such a rhythm and routine you don't do it as much but for me
It's like I've spent so much time with crews, you know for different things and I see how much harder they work than all of us
So I'm always so appreciative and my assumption is if they're doing it for a web series
The money is probably pretty low and you know to make their experience a little bit better by not being assholes
Well, that's what you that's what you tell them
They're like how much do you get you're like how much do you get paid? Is it better that I'm being nice to you right now?
I feel so bad
No, put your hand on the sound guy's shoulder and be like I'm so sorry like is this
Bank account. Yeah, I want to see how much money you have. Jake is trying to get a new credit card. I
also think
They're like us and the fact that three of us are still doing comedy because we're huge nerds about it
Huge nerds about it. Those guys if you're doing web series just like we did you're probably so in love with it
They probably love doing sound or running boom or you know
Or like when you find a cool DP for the first time off of a web shit like them doing like a short film somewhere
You're like, oh my god. I just saw this guy do something awesome and I'll even say sometimes
I'll recommend that person to other people sometimes or that's good
Yeah, cuz some people would be like oh, we're looking for a DP
But I was like I did this short film with this person he crushed it. I do you're very
We sent you a cut of the video that we just did where you play all 15 of your characters
Oh, yeah
And I'm like we've definitely sent lots of people and we've like received lots of cuts and you're the first thing
You wrote back was to thank the editor. Yeah, like well that was by the way that short film was but first of all
It's usually a mirror who edits every single one it said of this one for me that I've ever done right mostly me or Jake
Yeah, I'm here and Jake sorry
But it's mostly me. It's probably mostly me, right? Mm-hmm, okay
I'm here. It's very nice
But um that one if you guys saw we did for the finale we did this two-part thing and I played
14 characters
Primor
14 yourself too. It was like right fit
I think it was like fit it think there were 14 or 15 bands, but you also did like 50 or 60
That was the we did not plan out
But also we talked with the DP and I ready beforehand like I was like this might be the right way to shoot it
We all decided the right way to shoot it so we can improvise and stuff like that, but um
They came so prepared and they were so awesome everybody that worked on it
But the editors had to take 15 versions of me and put them into one
It was something that I didn't even think was possible. Yeah, Phil Fox who Phil Fox. Yeah, yes
And like you saw this I said the editing thing has like what they're eight tracks or something the normal what a normal editing
Timeline so as you can tell him here does all the
The timeline would have like I think between I mean our usual videos have four like four layers or layers to video to audio, right?
and then
You know more complicated one might have like five to eight sure one had like
30 right because it had to have like all of all of Ben's layers on top of each other because that's video and sound for each one
Of the characters and there were six of them in one shot and then we were like tweet
We were making tiny little tweaks to this they were like oh Ben like can we have Ben come in here cut to this
Reaction here, right? And it wasn't like you could just add in a little he had to move every single layer like one little thing
Yeah, one domino knocked over the entire set and then he would reconstruct it. It's crazy. How good that editor was
It was something that I've never seen before like in movies. I'll
It happens, but for this where it's like one person. Yeah, it's insane. It was amazing
Well, yeah, it helped that you guys never like touched each other. That's when it gets hard
Well, that's all due to the DP and the camera guys, right?
Because they the three of those people
Set up the whole thing had the whole vision of it beforehand. You regretted that day so much when we were doing it
Well, I remember I pitched the idea remember I pitched the idea. I was like like we got it when Jake and we're told me
They're wrapping it up. They're like would you do two more? I was like 100%
I was like wouldn't it be funny if all those people were actually their own people and it wasn't faking it and they were all in
The same room at the same time. I'm really yeah, let's do it and you're like, yeah, and then you showed up to set that day
We rode it. Yeah, and then we showed to set that day. And by the way, it was fine
It's just that I didn't think through that I'd have to do a big costume pants shirt everything costume change right every character
And then it was different sizes in different places. So I'd do it three different times. I mean that was one of the worst
Costume change days ever for me. That was so annoying
I remember like finishing lunch and I go upstairs and you're like in the milkman costume from the waist up in the
Costume from the waist down
Yeah, I was so tired
When you're the mountain hiker that was one of your last costume changes
It was top that was a and also the funniest part is the whole time Jake is deathly ill
No, you were not and he was on the couch
Wicked to just like diagnose people people who are sick you were you had bronchitis
I said, hey man, and you were like, oh, you're sick. What get away from me. What did you know?
You're sick for the next month or something. Yeah, I know I had been sick that entire month
I was on like the last four days of this. No, but then you kept you kept even getting sicker
I think I was sick for another week or so. Yeah, but then I mean Jake was lying down on a couch doing his lines off camera
So Jake and Amir never were on camera when they were filming me except for when I was playing myself
So for the first seven hours of the day, they're both lying on couches and Jake would miss his line
So like I would like be talking to Jake and I'd be as like a hundred characters at the same time
Oh, I meant you're Amir's dating coach, but I just couldn't get that
Jake couldn't say the one line. I'm like, Jake, you know what? I need to laugh hilariously and then cough at all of us
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
That'd be so funny. Well, we do in between part one and part two. I'll go change. I'll deck the wash up smart
Actually, let's take a break right now and we'll thank some more sponsors and then we'll be right back with
Yeah, I know we'll have to pee. So let's do that. Okay. You just peed
Can I say this online? Jake has a strong piss flow. Really? Oh, it sounded so strong
That's a lot to me. I was down the hall and it was like it like made me rumble
It echoed so much. Well, I filled up your bathtub and I peed in it
So it was deep water that it was hitting. I said you filled it up with your peep
That's not that too. That's alright. Sorry. I thought Amir just helped you out. Yeah, okay
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What was the personal shit the personal shit you were telling us over the break start from the top sure
Um, so I feel like everything in my life is going all right. Can I talk about some things? Yeah, yeah
Uh, I got a question for jake. Sure
Oh
Jake didn't shut off his phone. I'm here Jake didn't shut off his phone. He's getting a phone call
No, he's not you're gonna be pretty happy when I tell you who it is. Who is it? It's a two one two number
Pick it up. Holy shit. Should I get it? This might be tbs pick it up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no pick it up
It's not I'll pick it up
Get it
Oh, I know you ended the call. No, I didn't they miss call means I didn't get it in time
Do you have the balls to put that voicemail live on the air no matter what it is?
Yeah, because we're gonna
Uh, for sure. All right, wait two seconds
I'll let you've been getting calls all day from road island numbers on no numbers. Why I don't know debt collectors
Uh, oh shit. It could be a debt collector. Is that your truck?
No, it's definitely not. Oh, I do have a voicemail. Here we go playing on there. Put it on speakerphone
All right, here we go
I think this is illegal. Hey, jake, it's angie. I have josh and brian for you
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Who's that? Who are those people? Uh, it's our agent. Why don't you come back just in case something good? It's not something good
If it was good news, we'd have the whole team on the phone. Yeah, that's true. Oh my god
That's true. The funniest thing is I'll get real close to getting a role real close to getting like a major role right in something
I don't know why I said major probably not
Good role. I was going to be in the all-female ghost
Oh god, all I wanted to do is be in that movie and then, um
Be really close and I'm getting calls about and emails about it
And then you know, you got the role when you get a phone call from someone's assistant that's like, hey, we have this this this this this
This person on the phone for you and I go yes
And then it's like getting the thick envelope from college. Yeah, exactly right
But then you know, you didn't get it when you get an email that says sorry, buddy
You know, you didn't get it when they email you and say no, you didn't get it
Literally no phone call. Well, you can go through this whole process and all you get is like, ah, they went a different way
Yeah, they're like, oh, what a bummer
You don't even call me and the sad part is like when you have to call them
You then it's like I might as well not call like they don't have good news, but I haven't heard anything
I also, oh
Sorry, we got it. I was gonna email you. You have the role
That's never happened. I also hate when people email me call me when you get a chance
I was like, what then just call me now. You just spent time. Well, I don't understand what power
What's going on? I hate when people do that. Hey, call me when you get a second. Yeah
I was like, what you could have just stepped a minute about a text a text that says that I've gotten text that say call me
It's so weird because well matters if I'm texting with them already
You might as well just call someone and then they know I'm okay. Ben is leaving. This is insane
Holy shit
You said Ben's leaving and then he said no, I'm just getting something over there
That's that's the definition of leaving. It was going somewhere else to get something over there. All right. Can I ask Ben a question? Sure
It's contagious
Oh, we're going to Australia. Let's mention that while Ben's away. He's carving a watermelon. Oh my god. That's incredible
He's making a jack-o-lantern
June 9th
June 9th through the 15th. We're going to be in Australia. Go to ifiriushow.com for tickets and details. Are you serious?
Yeah, we're doing live podcasts in Australia. What? Where?
Uh, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Brisbane, Brisbane, Melbourne, Brisbane, Brisbane. Yeah
That's a mate. Brisbane is where Josh Lawson is from. We're from the house of lies. Oh, shit. Have you ever been in Australia?
No, I can't wait to go. All I want to do is come with us in June
Are you guys but would I lose money on all those flights? No, we'll pay you
I can't imagine you'd pay me. Oh, we'll pay. We'll pay for your flight
I will
Why do you guys going?
June 8th or 9th
Man, I do want to go to Australia. Was there a different trip I almost saw? I was in London working like a week before. Yeah
Your rhythm is terrible. Yeah
How are you a guitarist? I'm not
I'm gonna sing for real. I want you to commit to this. Okay. Do not try to mess up. Uh-huh. Okay. Do you want me to keep rhythm?
Yes, that's all I want you to do. Okay. Okay, put your mic down so people can hear it tilt it down towards your lap
Okay, so now you won't be able to hear Jake's thing
Um, no, no, no, no. I'm just getting practice
Already I'm getting practice. This is like the worst version whiplash
Were you rushing or dragging both? I think not quite my tempo
I know that sir. What song what song should we do? Um, how about this? This will be um
There are chicks
Just right for the picking. Oh, wow. Holy shit. Do it. Do it. Commit for real. Do it. Come in
You do it for real. Not like a dumb dumb. All right. All right. Do a little faster. Sorry. I feel like that was a little slow
Okay, um, what's the fastest give me a name of a person that's a professional
Uh
Great, right
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
I want to be
Be in that number. You're a little bit off. You come very close when the saints go marching in
I'm here. Do you have rhythm? Uh, I think so, but I've never done the test before. Let's do the test. All right. I do it
After one got it
Ready what song what song do we do for him?
um
Something weezer oh, that's not fair. Why the world has turned and left me here
I'll do my voice before you appear. That's right. And in my he did right
Yeah, that sounds wrong to me. That means I have no rhythm
Do you believe what I'm saying now
Do you believe what I'm saying now? How do you get rhythm?
Someone asked me that before can I learn it? Can I learn it?
But you could copy someone so just do just snap on beat
No, but I want to like be able to feel it in my body snap on beat. Okay
Do with a mirror
Great now a mirror stop
A little fast a little fast, but that's good
Give me a meat bowl
Eat all day. All right
Yeah, I don't drum but isn't it about like hitting like you do this every two and then this every four
This is such a like nobody's gonna care about anything. I'm not even talking about like
I feel like at the very least we should be interviewing
We're not answering questions. We're not talking about we're talking about we're not even making jokes. We're not even being funny
We're just talking about rhythm and how you get it. This is the weirdest
Well, how about this is a question that might help for the podcast
I've been asked this question more than once for interviews and let's see how you guys answer it
um
This is the question they present. Are you born funny is funny something that you can learn how to do
Oh, that's an interest. It's sort of like at least we're taking the rhythm question and applying it to our craft
Correct. Yeah, but that's a real question. I was asked in interviews and the first time I was asked. I was like, wow, that's a great question
Isn't it both?
With that the the answer. I don't know if there's an exact answer. What do you think? I think the answer is our daily double
It's probably both just like everything is inherent you can be smart, but then also like you have to gain knowledge
But can you be funny? Can you learn to be if you find someone who's not funny?
Can you learn to be funny? I think you can definitely be successful and not really be funny but understand the craft
Yeah, I think there are like people that aren't necessarily that funny that can write a really funny scene in a movie
Like understand what jokes will work. That's interesting finding the rhythm and the cadence of how it worked the structure of whatever
Right. I actually like I know
Plenty of people like that who I don't necessarily find funny, but I know that they are good writers
Are you gonna make this into two parts? I mean, we're already at the 45 minute mark. Uh, also the uh
What was I gonna say?
You can there's different comedies like how funny you are subjective
So somebody can be funny to some person and unfunny to another person
So it's how do you even say like are you like can you can you be friendly or are you born friendly?
I don't know. Some people think I'm friendly and some people don't that's interesting. That's interesting
I think that you can learn to be friendly, right?
Yeah, you can learn manners you can learn to be friendly and then the same way with funny if you watch a lot of funny things
I wonder though. It's just like
Like I knew growing up. I would never be a professional basketball player
Right, like I no matter how no matter how hard I trained. I can't unless maybe I dedicate my life to I would never be professional
But you could be a very good basketball player
Right, I could be an okay basketball
You could like break into the basketball industry if you need it to but I couldn't like I don't even I could never have gone to a
Division one college
You know, I mean, maybe if I really all day every day all I do is play basketball
Maybe I could have been the last kind of D3 team if all I did was dedicate myself to training and basketball
That's you getting better. That's like
But that's what I would have to get so much better
That's why it's both because you need the innate talent and then also the drive and for basketball
You'll probably need like well, I think with this industry advantage too. Yeah, that's true. Although. There's some tiny guys
I remember how mugsie boges is like a hero to everybody in my school because he was so spud web is like oh my god
Um
There is
Oh, my memory has been terrible lately
What are you just talking about?
Uh
Learning how to be funny learning how to be a basketball player
Subjectivity of comedy. Are you funny? Oh, I think the three of us work very very hard, right? I don't work that hard
Yeah, you do in the end the amount of time you put into comedy
Yeah, the amount of time a mirror makes me put into comedy
I'm a task
But do you think you've got a task master?
Well, the other thing is that it's easy for us to practice comedy all the time
Even if we're not working we're still around people that we want to make right we're doing bits all the time
So it's harder to practice basketball all the time. That's why we couldn't just play basketball all day every day
That's really interesting the idea that I was hanging out and doing bits
Whenever the three of us hang out we usually do bits and are stupid
right
You know we can be real and talk about real things and help each other out as well
But when we're when we're I would say part of the course or what we usually are
We're out to dinner and talk about real things in the second something stupid happens all of us jump on it and go nuts
We like to make each other laugh correct that brings us joy
But don't you don't you feel drained at the end of the day like you would at the end of a basketball game?
Like when hanging out and doing like funny like at the end of the shoot day when we were shooting
That's you're just like emcee. Oh my god. I had nothing left. Yeah, and also there's a scene I do
This short film called um
I'm mitzvill which is online
And there's a scene right to cry in it
And so we did the take like six times and I was like really crying really really crying in it and I remember being like so
Tired afterwards. I couldn't I don't remember the next scene after was but I was like I need to just like
Chill for a bit like that took all your that was the equivalent of sprinting. It's like a comedy sprint all my emotion
Yeah, yeah, but after ucb shows if I do a two-person show
I feel so tired at the end because you're juggling everything if it's me middle-ditch
And both of us afterwards like you have to be like sharp for like 60 seconds straight or 60 minutes
Yes 60 minutes straight and you have to initiate every scene
There's nobody that's gonna walk in and save you and many times we play five characters at the same time
So it's like uh, so what's the warm-up for that?
Like what's the equivalent of like lay-up lines for a comedy show like that
Like they try to be unfunny the whole day just to save your comedy energy or do you like to be like around people?
I'm joking. I'm also like how do you know we don't do any of that. We don't even think about it
Do you just meet each other at the theater? You're like, all right, let's go out
Like I would like you need to just be with him for the afternoon to get in tune and get in
Well, Amir did a snow pants a long time ago
Yeah, but that was different. That wasn't just meet you. I was like along for the ride
When it's just middle-ditch, we'll also know that middle-ditch
And I've been doing improv for a very very long time
I think Thomas might have been doing it a longer than I have
We've been doing it for a very long time at least 10 years
Yes, at least I'm at 11 or 11 or 12 and he's probably at 13 15 maybe maybe 12 13 and then um
We meet and I guess I've never really talked about what we do before and we meet five minutes before in the green room
Five minutes we talk
Are you joking or are you just like, hey, how's it going? Oh, great. Cool already. Yeah, we don't
You're both on your phones like well sometimes there's someone else in the green room and we'll do bits just with them
But uh, we'll usually just talk we'll just chill like but there's not there's no warm-up
I remember when I was on a harrowing team it was such a big deal
And the energy is subdued back there a little bit because there's usually a show going on so you can't be like
He's done ass cat monologues. I did an ass cat monologue once. Yeah
It's very subdued and very chill, right? So you're not like backstage getting hyped up
Yeah
Music and I don't drink any out. Some people drink a beer. Some people have like something for caffeine. I don't do anything
I just fucking we just go you're natural
Well, I think it's just because this is something that I did
Oh, this is something I did a long time ago always whenever I didn't want to
Like a Pavlovian response need myself to have a beer before doing a show. All right
I didn't want to feel like fuck. I'm not gonna be funny. Let's have a beer
I'm not gonna be funny unless I have blah blah blah and also something I do in life
Like let's say you go through a breakup or let's say you don't get a roll and you get really depressed
I never go out drinking afterwards ever and a lot of my friends when something bad happens
They go out and get hammered. They self-medicate a little and I'm like, you know what? I can't train myself to do that
That's such a bad way to drink to celebrate when I get something good
I'll have a drink to celebrate sometimes, but I'll eat cheese a cheeseburger. That's what I do
Oh, it eats eat a nice little reward. I like a like a terrible for me in and out cheeseburger
Or like there are many cheeseburger spots of love, but I'll have a beverage like if it's a birthday
Like I'll have a beverage, but I'm not a guy. You guys know me. I don't really get drunk drunk
I'll have a beverage or two, but I won't go crazy. Yeah
But I'll go celebrate but I try my best
I know I try my best never to get drunk
After something bad happens
So I'll have a beer if you're going out of beers, but I won't get drunk ever
Jake gets drunk every night and a lot of times something bad does happen
How do you deal with something bad happens to you if you broke up the girl or if you if something
What do you do?
Well, I think I would get I it's not like I would get shit-faced drunk because I was sad
If I if I went through a breakup or if I was celebrating or if it was just like a Tuesday
I would be like
I'm gonna have a couple drinks. I'm gonna try to fuck somebody. Tell me how much is a couple drinks. Um
If I'm going out, then I'm gonna have like
Three whiskies and some shots
Are you serious?
How much is a bit try to fuck somebody? No, that's not true. No. Yeah always for sure. Definitely. No, that's no
You don't have that much every night. I'm not saying every night. I'm saying like on a weekend. Oh when you're going out strong
That's your maximum. That's not a lot. It's at your maximum magazine. It's a
What's your stuff? No, I want the nba inside stuff whisk whiskey before we leave
A whiskey at the place and then another another one there and then probably more
Look at your accounting. There's one at home one at the bar realize you have a terrible problem more
So just there's a lot in college. I don't know. I overdo it. You drink a lot too, then
Do you get hammered hammered? It does get hammered. I don't get hammered. I get drunk
But I don't black out. I've never blacked out. I see you get drunk. You don't go crazy. Yeah, I've never blacked out
I've never blacked out
Um, okay. This college is a little bit different when I was in college
I drank we drank that's sort of what like it was my first time away from home
I was like are we drank one crazy? I remember there's a great moment when uh,
I was very close to all my friends. If anybody went to go to union college or went to union college
I lived at the fox basement dorms. Yeah, go sparks connectivity. Shout out. It is 1 2 3 0 8, baby
Uh go dutchman and so we used to love to pregame. It was so fun
And so the showers where you know, you were there are little walls between each shower
But you can put your stuff on top of the walls, right? Yeah. Yeah
So what we used to do is we used to everybody had a different type of alcohol
And while we were taking showers you would your hand would poke up and you would have like a shot of black house
Or you have a shot of whiskey or you have a shot or whatever. So while we were getting ready to go out and pregame
We were already getting the shower. Yeah
Classic. I mean college was crazy. Yeah, but I net but like also when I was done
I was like, oh, I don't I don't get as much joy for well
I think if I was sad, I wouldn't be like I need to get drunk
I would be like I need to have some kind of communal experience with my friends. Is that true
You want to be surrounded by people when you're right and I think drinking is like a nice social
Why don't you call me when you're sad? Uh, I don't know. I'm sad all the time
You have 38 missed calls from Jake
I think I need to how do you split this into two? Where do we stop? We'd have to stop right now. All right, stop it
I was about to tell you guys about what I do. All right guys. See you next episode. Oh wait
That's a great teaser for next episode. Wait get the guitar. We can do a natural theme song. Oh, right
So ben will be back next week. I think on monday
for part two of this episode
If you have any questions of your own that we'll probably get to when ben's not on the show
We have to tune it
Is if I were you show at gmail.com. Thanks again to alex sexton for writing the theme song to begin this episode
And thanks to jake and ben for writing the outro song and here it is jakey. Here we go
You want me to hold the microphone close you? Uh, yeah, that's great
Are you gonna sing too maybe you start off not finishing
All right, well i'm gonna start off. I have to find something else
Why because I'm not I can't sing to complicated things. That was too fast. Maybe that was maybe that's the theme
I can't sing to complicating things
Thank you ben
Thank you, mr. Schwartz
Let's all go to your room. Can I borrow some shorts?
Thank you, mr
A mere bloom belt
Can I borrow a torch? I've got some stuff. I want a weld
My name is jake herwitz
Don't let me meet your mommy because I'll lick her tits jakey to me everybody
I'll do the theme for the next one. We'll do the same song. I'll be back. That was amazing
That was great
Hey all jordan harbinger from the art of charm here
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