Senses Working Overtime with David Cross - Tommy Tiernan

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Tommy Tiernan (The Tommy Tiernan Show, Derry Girls) joins David to discuss punching down, comedy after Covid, and more. Catch all new episodes every Thursday. Watch video episodes here.Guest: Tommy TiernanSubscribe and Rate Senses Working Overtime on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review to read on a future episode!Follow David on Instagram and Twitter.Follow the show:Instagram: @sensesworkingovertimepodTikTok: @swopodEditor: Kati SkeltonEngineer: Nicole LyonsExecutive Producer: Emma FoleyAdvertise on Senses Working Overtime via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Shelby van Pelt. Find what piques your imagination. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free visit audible.ca to sign up I'm going to give you your choice. I give everybody their choice. Your chair. That chair seems moved over a bit. Am I right? We are experimenting with some studio changes and resetting everything. Chair or couch? I'll go with chair.

Chair? Okay. And would you like something to drink? I'm okay with water. Thank you. Chair or couch? I'll go with the chair. Chair? Okay. And would you like something to drink? I'm okay with the water, thank you. I have the book. I sure do.

This is your Bible. Yeah, I'm not. That's a while ago, isn't it? Yeah, it's a long time ago. Back when I wasn't a very good writer. You had volume at least. Yes. I had enough volume to get paid. It was not easy. Have you written a book? No.

It was one of those things that... You don't need the headphones if you don't want to, that was so, I was so naive about, I just thought, I'm a writer, I write stuff, I write all the time, and it'll be relatively easy. And I was also in the middle of, when I said I'd do it, shooting this movie that was like four months long. And I wasn't going to be on set every day. I was like, I'll do it, but I'm in the trailer. I'll do it on my days off. And not a fucking word. It was just garbage. I probably wrote a cumulative seven pages over the, it was all shit and I had to get rid of it. And, and slowly but surely the deadline started approaching and like, this is, it was not nearly as, it was really stupid, naive, just nah, I'm a writer, all right.

So what did you do then to get it done? I just stopped doing other projects and finished it up. And I don't know if I got an extension. I might've gotten an extension because that shit's so arbitrary. How long did it take you to do it? I think the actual writing was probably a year, but the, the time I was given was probably a little longer because I think I asked for an extension, but I, until the very end, I didn't really sit down and say, this is my work. This is what I'm doing.

And when you get up in the morning, have some coffee, jerk off, walk the dog, then start writing on the book. Jerk off again, watch my soaps, and jerk off again, have another coffee, write some more, walk the dog, get a chopped salad. Very strict on structure. No, this was all very loose. I should say not in that order.

But I think, you know, take my medicines, do my charity work, pray. I pray during all of those activities. No, praying is happening internally. All the while. While I'm jerking off mostly, that's when I pray. I find it to be the most effective. At least it has a definitive result that you can point to say, well, that's real. And I'm done. How about that? It's a finite process. I'm done praying.

Well, that's prayer for today, God. Hope you liked it. So, I'm here with Tommy Tiernan. And I was wondering when I was on the subway coming over here, I was wondering if because your name is so lyrically alliterative, if when you were younger, or even currently, if people called you Tiny Tommy Tiernan, or there goes, there goes, titular Tommy Tiernan. Tiny Tears was my nickname in primary school. Because there was a doll called Tiny Tears. They made this thing for kids that wept. I think I remember that vaguely.

I don't know how you made the doll weep. You slapped it. Really? Yeah, I think you just slapped the shit out of it. Shouted at it? Yeah, you tell it it's worthless, it's not, you know, you've got no soul. And it started to crawl.

You are, I wish you were never born. You were a mistake. And mom and dad going, where does he pick up this stuff? So tiny tears. Just in terms of names, though, it's my if I was starting stand up again, I would definitely use a pseudonym. Why? Because I think that the it's such a character that we play. I know it's in a sense, it's us when we're on stage,

but there is a sense of playing a role of the kind of the. The anti-social, you're kind of. And you're not unpleasant. But you're kind of prickly and you're a little bit. You're a provoker. Right. And I think that the the product, I don't like when the the the results of the provocation follow you home. So how would having a mask, I forgot to say it, and a mask as well.

But everybody would know it's you with a fake name. No, say if I start again, I call myself. Oh, I see what you're saying. If you, I thought you were, I thought you were applying. You've taken a break from standup. I'm going to go back with another name. If you went back, it would be with another name. Yeah.

Though that's kind of a cool thing to do. And, and everybody's like, why did you do that? We know it's you. No, starting off again, I definitely do a fake name. I think that that difference between I have this notion that standups live in a sense on on the edge of the village, almost in the jungle on the edge of the village. And every... So this village is in a kind of tropical area, very loamy, lush, a lot of...

Specifics will not help us here? Really? It helps me with my mind's eye. Your mind's eye. Picturing it. Do you have ADD written like that or any of those? No. Things? No, no conditions? I do have, I have anxiety, but it's manageable.

Okay. And it used to not be, but now I've gotten better at it. But I don't have like, I don't have to, you know, knock three times if I say the word knock. I don't have to do that. Thank God that would be awkward. And I don't have to do that because I said it once and then I had to say it again, again. No don't.

I have to double it, Tommy. You don't understand. It's not I'm not happy with it. Don't make fun. Don't make fun of the numbers happy with it. Don't make fun of the numbers. It's specifically don't make fun of the numbers. All right. So then the question on everyone's lips is what would your pseudonym be? Oh, it would be something like, um, um, the, the bomber.

Bomber. I don't know. That's not for an Irish comic. I don't know. That's not for an Irish comic. I don't know if that's a good idea. The bomber? That's probably not. Is he the actor or is it a warning? Stay away from that imagery. Yeah, because I think the function, the role we serve is kind of, is it's not domestic.

When you're on stage, you're not a domesticated being. Freedom for the comic is being able to, being able to mock anything. So are you implying that there are, there's subject matter and a way to approach that subject matter that you wouldn't be comfortable with as Tommy Tiernan but the bomber would be. The bomber it would be totally that's that's where the bomber lives.

Also the bomber lives in that. Bomber is one of the few universally understood terms, even outside of the English language, of a guy failing at, or a person failing at their craft. Oh no, no it's not. That's specifically an American term, phrase. Really? The bomb or something, totally. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that, I think...

But meaning you would, you know what it means. You know the reference. Yeah. Oh yeah, totally. Like, it's like, yeah, like fail again, fail better. Like a Beckett clown or something. I just, that would be my general sense of it is that of, we've ended up in a situation now where the entertainers also live in the village that years ago they just passed through.

Does that make sense? Interesting, yeah. So we now, so you do a gig and then you live in the same place. And so people, hey, you're the, and people see you at the school the following day. And, you know, people know who your children are. And it's just. I was going to say it would be if, because if you didn't have children, that would be weird.

If they saw you at the school the next day. Wow. After your show where you were being provocative and then you're at the- What the fuck is the bomber doing here? The elementary school. Storytelling with kids and stuff. So that's my sense of it is that in terms of names,

starting over again, I'd use a pseudonym. And well, so if the implication is that it would free you up to do certain things, what have you either done that you've regretted because you went home with you or that you haven't done? Really? Like what? Oh, I don't want to summon up those bastard ghosts again. In, I mean, I'm really curious in a way that you felt, because of what reason? Well, I'll tell you a few things. I think part of it is to do with alcohol. And I think that part of it is there's a, there's a kind of a flush of good feeling when you're drinking. And I don't even know about drinking to excess or anything.

I just think the general kind of mood of alcohol most time is one of kind of pleasure. And then it kind of frees your nerves a little bit the following day. Not to not to talk about huge hangovers now, but just kind of. You're not as confident in your thinking. As. You would like to be, I think there's a direct connection between that and alcohol. And for me anyway, and so for me, it would be stuff like saying something really

funny on stage. That's kind of. It's earthquakey in the sense that you are you're you're not saying something that's forbidden, but you're in territory because the ideas just come to you. You're not entirely sure where you are. In the moral world, you know, you're off kilter, you know you're saying stuff that's a little bit crazy, but it's so crazy it gets a laugh. See that's interesting because what you're describing to me is a positive. I want, and that's part of what alcohol, a big part of what alcohol does, is if you're not going to excess and going to blackout drunk,

you are participating in physically and mentally, verbally, things that you might censor yourself, edit yourself, if you were straight sober. Yeah, but I don't mean that I'm drinking, I would never take a drink before I go on stage. I'm talking about that you do this on stage and then the habit of having a drink or two every night after the show,

what it started to do for me was the following day, I'd start go, oh, I can't believe I said that. Oh, bad, bad boy. But what was bad about the hypothetical thing? You said because it's all I guess because you were laughing at something that involves somebody suffering. Oh, OK, sure. And that's just a good rule to have. Not not not in a specific way.

You're pointing at somebody going. Imagine being that poor fucker or that you're what you're doing is you're pointing at somebody, imagine being that poor fucker or that. What you're doing is you're, it's, my sense of it is that it is all coming from a good place. That it really is. It's all coming from a great heart, not my mind specifically, but the arena. It's all good. But once you start shaking and being full of doubt, then there's just too much

anxiety involved in that for it to be sustainable. So something has to stop. So I remember it happened to me recently. So I'm on stage and I'm talking about anxiety in teenagers. Now, it's going to sound weird when I say it here. Yeah, of course. I mean, a bit sound weird when you. So it's a bit about anxiety in kids. And the usual bounce from it was, some of you may have children who suffer from anxiety. They'll be fine when they reach their 20s.

And maybe the suffering that they had in their teenage years will make them stronger as young adults. It was a bit. The whole bit is about drugs and how every generation takes drugs. And sometimes it can actually be making slightly more robust when you get older. Maybe. So this one particular night, I'm on stage and I go. Anxiety and they'll be fine when they get to their mid 20s.

If they live that long was the line that came into my head. That's a good line. And people laughed. Okay. It's okay. line. And people laughed. OK, it's OK. OK, OK. So I do I do the show in two halves. I'm at it happens just before the interval. And I'm backstage with my head in my hands going,

the fuck would say something like that? It's a joke and it's a good joke. I hear that now and I know that in the moment that's where it was coming from. But I'm talking about that thing of that. Where is that voice coming from that is saying you're an awful person and then catastrophizing and kind of going. You're not saying they're an awful person. No, I'm saying they're an awful person. No, I'm saying I'm an awful person for saying it.

And you see that internal voice as ridiculous or...? Impossible. It's horrible. So for four days, I'm catastrophizing going, Oh, somebody was recording the show. This is going to be in the papers. Oh, dude. Jesus. They're going to phone up people now whose kids have committed suicide and they're saying he's laughing at. Tipsy, Tommy, tearin' in. Now listen to me.

So, no, so hang on, so. I said, and that's happened to me a lot. So I've said, okay, how do I stop this? So I decided the following night. And just to be clear, the this that you wanna stop is the going to the bad place in your head. Is the anxiety after it. I got it. OK.

So the following night, I'm going, OK, now it's going to be about control. There are no more lines to be improvised on stage. It's all going to be about control, comic performance, pauses, shapes, timing. We've got this nailed. You're an actor playing the part of a stand-up comedian. Do it. And it wasn't possible for me to do that on stage because whatever energies are set loose were bigger than my ambition to control them.

So I started thinking, how am I going to stop this? Because for four days my stomach was on, like my diaphragm was on a frying pan. It was horrible. Couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. Did you talk to anybody about it? No, because I didn't know you're the first. Jesus. Well, I wish you had called me sooner. I didn't. Can you help? Yeah. I am telling you it's a severe overreaction to it.

Due to? I don't know. That you're going to have to maybe talk to a therapist, maybe get some... No. So, anyway, I decided I'd stop drinking. Right. Drinking is not the... Of course. No, it's not. This goes deeper. I mean, I... It's anxiety. It is part of anxiety. And the part that I would recommend you work on is to do the work where it doesn't spiral. And it's life saving. If you can, if you know what's coming, if you know where you end up going and you can figure out the ways to, you know, as that plane is nose diving to pull up and kind of reset.

That is the absolute most important. That's too vague. It's a skill. It's vague because you don't know how to do it yet. But if you can discover the things that you need to do to get yourself out of that before you get deeper and deeper and deeper, that is the best gift you'll ever give yourself. Do people have recurring dreams? My one is of surviving plane crashes. I had one this morning where I was on an airplane. Can you tell me what the make and model was? Because I fly a lot. Oh really? Yeah. It was.

Don't tell me Boeing. Don't tell me Boeing. It was a small plane. I can't remember who made it, but I do. I do remember I, my dream is always, uh, I'm in a big plane crash and I survive. So you go through the plane crash in your dream. Oh, that's horrifying. Yeah. Oh, that's really. The stomach dropping, everything, the plunge towards the earth.

But 10 minutes later, I'm always in another airport looking for another plane. That's the life. You just summed up standup comedy. Isn't it? And the one I had this morning was... Oh, boy. I'm sitting beside this woman on a plane

and next thing the whole side of the plane flies off and we start lurching down towards the ground. And the last line I hear before I wake up is, we're gonna lose some lives here. And then I woke up. That's my recurring thing. Oh, that's terrible. So I actually think that the problem,

the reason for the anxiety and all that is, I think it's my domestic, it's the fact that the comic is now domesticated. And I think it's an outlaw profession and I don't want to make something grandiose or, I mean, you're kind of, you're not part of the herd. You're trying to stand outside the herd and. So when you say domesticated,

do you mean like tamed and neutered in a way? What do you mean by domesticated? We're pets? No, in an ideal imaginative situation, comics should always, they should be, always be together, always going on raids into the town, but that they should protect each other psychically. So I said that joke to you, okay?

And you're saying, Tommy, come on, fuck like, relax. I think most people would say that. Really? Yes, I do. I do think that. I think that most people would say that. I think, I mean, I honestly was thinking, it was expecting something more

punching down harsh graphic than that. I think it is important to punch down as well as up and sideways. I don't like punching down. I don't. I think it's important. Why? Because I think that the,

I think to attack the weak is essential. I ought to be even attacking the powerful. Now you're losing me on attacking the weak. I mean what about the... I don't mind, and I wouldn't say attack, but I wouldn't mind making people uncomfortable or getting a laugh at them for like ignorant people. Maybe that's punching down like. I think I think what I'm talking about is being being amoral. Okay. Amoral.

So that you're kind of you're you're you don't take morality seriously. You don't take morality seriously. I think that's one of the great strengths of stand-up, that it can be that. So yeah, that would be my... Okay, let me ask you this. It's impossible to live with, but that would be in an ideal situation, that's what a stand-up is to me.

It seems contradictory, your anxiety at saying some things and then, so you're acknowledging it's contradictory. Absolutely. Okay. The very last thing I would want to present as is consistent. Okay. So, where do you draw the line at Punching Down then? I would draw...

I really do have a strong sense of everything coming from a good place. I guess people can sense meanness. Yeah. And I think everybody withdraws meanness. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think everybody withdraws from that, everybody. So as long as it's not mean. I, okay, that's interesting. I know I had a friend who was very dark, very funny, very acerbic, and then he went,

he lurched way to the right. And before, as that was happening, but, uh, to something ugly started with, it's the first thing I noticed was the, all the jokes were not as funny and they were really mean. And then it became just mean. It was just mean and, hurtful and laughing at people. But without any kind of joy, joy or funny, it was just the lack of. And, you know, it was it was a it was a. Shitty thing to watch and that person like because there is a place for anger

in comedy isn't there there is a place for sure for destruction he's not a comedian this guy all right it wasn't me but it was you know friend yeah and and And just like, and you see it a lot in America on the right, the humor is meaner and crueler. And without, it's just, I don't know, there's no- Can you give me an example of a comic who might be like that without... Yeah. It's like, when you see, there's a show on Fox, and it's called... And it's this, I think it's a very similar font to the Garfield movies, the cat, the animated CGI cat, but it's Gutfeld. And maybe that was intentional that because it's sort of sounds like Garfield, I guess.

Anyway, it's like that with an exclamation mark. And it's anchored by this guy named Greg Gutfeld. And then he has, you know, kind of rotating folks on there. And he does a little monologue and. You know, there's not much of an audience, but, but you can hear when they're laughing so you know that they're there. And, um, they certainly wouldn't mute their laughter, but the jokes are so. Uh, certainly wouldn't mute their laughter, but the jokes are so obvious, unfunny, the same thing, you know, exactly what

it's going to be basically, you know, 90% of the time, it's, it's and there's like a meanness to it, like a kind of gloting, he gloating and also kind of condescending. Totally. I think I've seen it. Yeah, it and it but just devoid of like solid jokes or of joy or of playfulness. No, no, their their whole thing is like winking and, you know, nudge and smiling at the, you know, and just obvious lame

schoolyard humor, you know? Yeah. Anyway, that's an example of what I meant by the, there's just an undercurrent of cruelness and there's kind of pompous as well. Sure. And I would never want anybody walking out of a show feeling as if they'd been picked on

or that they had been singled out for anything. But I do believe in just following the instinct and the mouth when you're on stage. For sure. That's why I drink when I'm on stage. I do. Hey guys. So real's why I drink when I'm on stage. I do. Hey guys. So real quickly, we're conducting an audience survey

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The survey is a quick, easy, and free way to support this podcast. It'll take you two minutes and you'll be helping us out so much by doing it. Okay, go to gum.fm slash senses to fill out our audience survey. That's gum.fm slash senses. What's your tip of, what do you drink?

What I've started, I've kind of been experimenting and I found the best. I started roughly 40 years ago with an experiment where I drink a couple gallons of beer a night, every single night. And then I did a 10 day master cleanse back in 2000, I want to say two or three. So that was a period where I didn't drink. And then I got COVID. And I couldn't drink for, even though I was like fine after two days, I couldn't drink for a while.

That was probably six, seven days. But outside of that, I've had a couple gallons of beer every night. And I'll know the results of the experiment when I went right after I die. But you've got this far. I got this far. But in all seriousness, I used to drink a lot on stage.

Then I decided to not drink to see what that was like. Then what I came up with is, oh, I'm sorry. What I came up with is to not drink day of the show. to not drink day of the show. And then once the show has started, opening act is on, I will crack my first beer. I like to keep them low ABV and it's in my rider, 4.5 or below. So I don't go, you know, with these like hardcore 8.7.

And what does it do to you in terms of thinking and performing and finding words? It makes me clever and funny and people like me more. I'm attractive every time I drink. I'm more attractive and people like me. It just, going back to what you were saying early on, it makes things a little looser. It's the same thing that drinking does outside of the stage. It's the same thing. I will maybe not think in such a linear way. And again, I'm not talking about getting hammered. I'm talking about, if I'm doing- A little juice.

Yeah, like an hour and a half, right? Yeah, yeah. Although that's, I gotta stop doing that. I do way too much time on stage. I have to stop. So have you tried other things? Like have you tried, like, did you ever say, smoke a joint before you went on stage?

Or do- When I was- A lot of I was like yes or a Red Bull or treble espresso or a cup of tea like what have you tried all those things would not be good well unless I was drinking I and I just know this from you know years and years decades of doing all kinds of things and I do not do well with weed. I get way too paranoid. I probably, I'm gonna say five, six, seven times, when I was younger, I'd get high and go on stage and then every single time, and I mean 100% of the time,

at some point, I'm gonna say three minutes in go Anyway, I I got really high so I don't know and people wouldn't know they would they wouldn't know And then I'd say it and I just fuck everything up and then I'd be in my own head the confessor Because I felt like this isn't I just had no real Realistic I just had no real, realistic idea of what I was saying or what I, not what I was saying, but how it was coming off. And I just felt like everybody knows I'm hot. So just get, that's just. Seriously, every single time.

And I did mushrooms once. That was, if it was in a different situation, if I was on a different bill, it would have been a disaster. But because I was in San Francisco with a bunch of other comics and we'd all taken mushrooms, it worked and I was being really silly. It was fun, but I also know that that wouldn't work. I don't know that I've ever done a show on Coke or, but I would

be, if I wasn't drinking, it would not work. I'd be too jacked up and- Oh really? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think so. But if I, I used to do Coke all the time, but not like big fat rails, I would just do bumps to keep drinking. You know what I mean? And to stay sharper than I might if I, you know what I mean? And to stay sharper than I might if I was nine years. I'm always trying to find the playful zone and we're trying to find the part of me that's fluent and that can hop from idea to idea and is thinking clearly.

And the first time I've tried all those things, it's always worked out. The first time I had a few drinks, I went, I've nailed it. I have this down. And then the second time, ah, first time you go on stage with a bit of cocaine. Oh, this is and then no. So what's what I used to do this on the lot for, say, the past two years. I've been doing this. It's called a holotropic breathing or something or it's

like hyperventilating where you for 30 minutes you know that's hyper that would make you hyperventilating yeah sure and then every three times during that you hold your breath for as long as you can so it's like ten minutes hold ten minutes hold minutes hold. And I would feel the architecture in my brain change. It was like going into some sort of a trance and I would have an idea or a persona or something that I could walk out on stage with. And it would work. And I did that for about two years and it stopped working.

How long did it? How long did you do it? Just before? Just before. So you're kind of you're on in three minutes, but you're still. And it's especially the holding the breath thing. Hold your breath for a minute or two minutes or something. You get these strange visions in your head and you get inhabited by these strange... What are the visions? The only one I can remember was

there was one specifically where it was big in the news that a girl had been murdered that day in the country. And it was Ireland. In Ireland, yeah, and Ireland is small, you know, so. Yeah, yeah. Big news. And there was no way of walking out on stage and not addressing it.

But how do you start off? How do you start with that? You know, so I was worried about that. So I did this thing. We don't have to start with it. You could get up in 60 seconds or so. Say hi. Thanks for coming.

And I just what happened during the thing was. I said, I found a way of not mentioning it, and this is going to sound weird as fuck now and slightly melodramatic and megalomaniac but it is what happened. I had the sense of okay this is going to be a celebration of laughter to send her into the next life and that's not rational or anything like that, but that's the kind of thing that was in my head and I went out and I was able to do the show without mentioning anything about about her at all so that that kind of playing around with those ghosts and then that stopped working anyway after about two years and what I do now is I meditate for half an hour right before I go on.

And that's working at the moment. But that's yeah, it's all about. I think I'm not I'm specifically talking about Bob Dylan now. I was thinking about him and I think I think genius needs something to play with. And I think that it helps performers to have something to play with that you might necessarily share with everybody else, but you've something going on between your ears that is not declared to the audience, but in some way works. I don't know if that makes sense or sounds a bit weird, but that would be my approach to it.

And as well, I think the way that I'm. Man, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Hang in there. We're nearly at the end now. What in the goddamn. Motherfucker comes down here going, hey, you got to meditate, breathe, hold your breath, then do a crazy puppy on cocaine thing. And then dead people in the heaven.

Yep. All right. So I've lost my thread of thought now. It doesn't matter. But that's what... Oh yeah. That's my thread of thought now. It doesn't matter. But that's what...

Oh yeah. Part of the way I work now is that I often don't go on stage with a plan. So I will go on stage and whatever story comes into my head... Really? Yeah. Now that's fucking ballsy. So you don't have a set? Now this isn't the way I work all the time, but it has been the way I've been working recently.

Okay. And again, that's inspired by somebody. So I heard that that's what Billy Connolly does. Mm-hmm. So this is, okay, well, I'll try that. I have to say that there are so many comics that I've been influenced by and who I admire. And I admire them even more so

after I tried to do their thing. I'm like, that's them. That's like, I can't, you know, like I don't, I'd like to be like Daniel Kitson, but I don't have that kind of, I mean, the guy's naturally, you know, not saying that he hasn't worked very hard or, or, you know, there are certain people who have that skill and as much as I admire it and, and go, I want to try that. It's just not what I'm good at, Yeah. You know? Like, you know, and some people can do that,

that Billy Connolly kind of riffing. And it's great. And it's- Yeah, but I don't have his skill. He's got, he's also such an affable guy. I don't think I come across like that. Well, you come across as fearless when you're doing stand-up.

It's kind of like... Yeah, but that's not a thing where you sit with a big smile on your face. When you see Billy Connolly, you just... And he also has that great skill, and Louis CK has this too too of like, it can be an arena and there's 16,000 people and you can be way up in the bleachers and it feels like he's talking to you. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't, that's, I went and saw Louis in the, in Madison Square Garden in the round of like, it's like he's talking to every, it's like every single person is, it's not a guy just throwing jokes at you, you know, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But some of those guys and Billy Connolly is

one of them, you know, has this connection where you feel like you're just sitting at the pub with them. Totally. You know? The gift of intimacy. Yeah. The gift of intimacy. That is going to be the name of my rivaled romance series, The Gift of Intimacy. So yeah. That does sound like one of those like bullshitty 80s kind of new age sex things. I think the hotel I'm staying has sex things for him and for her. I think it said on her one, The Gift of Intimacy. There you go. I think that's where I got it from.

Yeah, it's pretty good. So, yeah, it's so when I'm going on like that, if I'm going on in that kind of mindset of whatever story comes to me at whatever time, that's what I'm going to do. Then wait, Tommy, what else is in the intimacy packet at the hotel? OK, there was a sewing kit? Yeah, I don't think that's for, I mean, look, I don't want to kink shame, whatever you're into, but probably that was probably separate than the intimacy. It was a, some sort of a lube.

I like how you pronounce it. Some sort of lube. I didn't open them. But isn't it like the romance kit or something and then you get like, of course, a sewing kit because that's nothing sexier than that. If you're into the trad wife thing. Here you go, honey. So you saw me. So so my socks and I'll jerk off to it. And we're both going to have a great time. I'm the husband.

I'm dominant. Yeah, as long as I can see you from the bathroom. Yeah. Yeah, lube. It's on the lube. Fagra gives me headaches. Oh, yeah, I think that's part of the the the understood. Really? Is that? Yeah, it's all the blood flow, right? Yeah. So the blood I'm not exact. Emma? Google. Head rush. Head rush. Wait, erection, Viagra, headache. Question mark, parentheses, two more questions marks, close parentheses, exclamation mark.

So yeah, so. She'll get back to us with the information. Something's dripping on me, is it the aircon? Oh yeah., is it? Oh, that's not good. So anyway, that's- Great job rearranging the furniture. Underneath the dripping air conditioner.

But yeah, ghosts, to go on stage with ghosts, important for me. Yeah, that's part of my, that's part of the, you're the same as me, we've been doing this a long time. So you're almost doing it to the point where the career thing kind of comes and goes in a sense or something. It becomes a matter of finding the petrol to keep going. Yeah. The outside world and their reaction great this show is good that show whatever and oh you know X Y & Z but it's the thing of okay this course has to keep galloping. How do I do that? So if it gets a bit freaky.

And if he's saying, you know, if he spends three years, you know, channeling dead comedians, then that's what he has to do to get through those three years. Do you know what I mean? It's just that how do you keep yourself excited by it? And it might sound really weird to other people. You know? Well, I... But that's the truth of it.

It's something that I used to say in a... You know, as an observation, just kind of general truth. But that I'd say all the time, didn't really, I didn't really truly understand the severity of it until COVID, but I would always say like, oh, I love standup. And quite often I'll get this dumb ass question

when I'm doing stuff like, if you could do only one or what do you like more, acting or writing or stand up or, you know. And I've always said stand up is a is you can't. Like I can write in my head, I can act when I'm going down the street or whatever, but you can't replicate standup in that way at all. You can't do it over Zoom. You can't, you have to. And it's the thing that I'll, the only thing that I feel, I love doing all that stuff,

but it's the only thing I feel in need, a compulsion to do a standup. And sometimes reluctantly like, ah, I gotta do a set tonight. But I still love that thing. And then when, you know, I didn't do a set for one year and seven months, which is the longest I've ever gone since I started when I was 17 and, and it was really depressing and hard. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. And I was, I was in Toronto for six months and

they were completely locked down and, you know, it was here when COVID started, you know, it was really bad in New York city. Yeah. And then went to Toronto where they locked down and as New York was opening up and just my timing was terrible. And yeah, I didn't do a set for a year and seven months. And did you notice, were you reluctant to summon up that energy again?

No, I mean, that was part of what I wanted to talk about. I remember the first set I did back was at a place here in Bushwick in Brooklyn called the Sultan Room, Great Room. And I nearly started tearing up. And I was telling, and you know, they don't know, that you could say the thing, you can say that to them, but you don't really, really know. But I'm I mean, I was yeah, I was starting to get pretty emotional and had to, you know, on stage, on stage. Yeah.

Like it was it was a big deal because there's a point where you're like, Am I ever going to get to do this again? We all talk about and think about or reflect upon COVID and lockdowns and stuff and like, yeah, that was tough. The thing that has to be remembered in when you're describing anything like that is during that time, nobody knew if there was gonna be an end to this.

And to have a year of this and fucking Trump, you know, with his, and then all the anti-mask, anti-vax fervor, and all the just craziness and stuff, people, you know things being locked down you're like I You don't know part of what we talk about when we talk about those tough times is the The awful Pessimism and anxiety and, uh, uh, the sometimes resignation of just like, oh, this may, this is what may happen, especially if people aren't getting vaccinated

and it's never going to go away. And it's, this could be a thing that happens, you know, every 18 months we have to do this. And then, and, and there wasn't a cure. There wasn't a vaccine yet in the beginning. And, and, you know, scores of people were dying, especially here in New York city. They're fucking body bags and the, they had freezer trucks, you know? And, uh, and you, you just, it's unsettling.

You don't know what the future holds. you just, it's unsettling. You don't know what the future holds. And you know, you read about a war that lasted for, you know, a generation, right? And there are people growing up and not, it's awful and you're, it's constantly awful and life-threatening and scary. And you, every day, you don't know if or when there's gonna be an end to it. And, you know, so that was part of the emotion I felt when I was on stage. Like there were months and months and months and months

and months where I didn't know if I'd ever get to do this again. Wow. So you had a very different feeling. You're like, yay! I was so relieved. Thank you, COVID. So about the same, maybe 17 months or two years or whatever.

And I had to stop halfway through an English tour. So there was about 25 dates left that we didn't get to do. We all went back home to Ireland. I just felt. That it was a side of my personality that I was kind of afraid of because it's slightly chaotic. Like off stage, you know, I'm quite a thoughtful, you know, I can talk a lot sometimes,

you know, I'm lo-fi. And I was just glad not to have that energy in my body and in my brain. And I was, I started to think. On stage, staying lifted. Yeah. So the restrictions started to be lifted. And my manager phones me up and says, OK, we've got to finish this English tour. And I says, no, you don't understand. I'm done. I am.

Tiny tears is not going back on stage. That that I'm not summing up that personality again. I'm done with standup. Retired. I'm going to work as an actor where I'm in total control and other people have to take responsibility for what I say. So my manager says, OK, you want me to cancel the rest of the English tour? And I said, yeah. And then she says, well, it's going to cost a lot of money because the tickets

have been sold and there's some kind of insurance. And I says, I don't care how much it costs. I don't care. I'm gone. And she says, I'll come back to you later on with the figure for how much it costs. Now, to just for people to know that the amount that Irish standups earn, I'd be a successful one. It's not the same as successful American standups. It's on a whole other level because there's only four million people in the entire country.

You know, so we're not you're not talking multiples of millions. You're talking about tens of thousands rather than than that, you know. So so my manager comes back to me and she says, OK, I got the figures. It's going to cost you forty four thousand pounds to to cancel the rest of the tour. Wait, I don't understand because there wasn't in advance, was there? I have no idea why, why, where that number came from. I didn't ask for the specifics. Right. She, she, she, she's a truth teller.

Yeah. Uh, so I said 44,000. I said, that's not a problem. That's not really, that's what I said. You were going to pay $44,000 to not work. As I was speaking to her, I was sure that that was what I was going to do. That's okay. And I hung up the phone.

Um, I, I was sure that that was what I was going to do. That's okay. And I hung up the phone. I said, fuck. And then I phoned her and I says, okay, fucking I finished the tour, but then that's it. And it was in getting back on stage after I retired. Well, it was only 20 sets, right? Only 20. Is that what you said there 20 left? 24 25 yeah but I had to get ready for I had to kind of build up momentum. Right sure it had been a long time. And I just found that okay I said okay now I remember when I got when the adrenaline and the love and the

electricity and the lights and the drama of the moment all happened again, and I felt it in every fiber, I went, okay, I'll get it now. Yeah, there's nothing like, especially because it's at this point, it's your fans and there are people that are familiar with you and want to see you and have paid and come out, got a babysitter and you know that there's a there's a an obligation. Also there was there was a nature to the audiences back then and I remember the when the audiences came back after lockdown they were charged. Oh it was crazy. They were so excited. Yeah. Yeah, it was. That was a very positive thing. And, you know, it was everyone. It was understood unspoken in the room. We're all there to, you know, have this thing because, you know, in the in the inverse situation, these folks were going like, I don't know if I'll ever see a stand up show again. Sure. Yeah, you know,

And like, I don't know if I'll ever see a stand up show again. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and or any show for that matter. And and so, yeah, those, you know, first couple shows back were really special. But we still so everybody. So there's that the realization of the super charge that goes through your body. OK, and that glee and and delight. And but we still haven't figured out how to deal with the. Consequences of summoning the Joker.

Do you mean I mean the bomber and I'm so happy to be on stage and I love it. But there is a strange psychic. I'm not. I'm telling the truth. I'm not trying to over dramatize it or I'm not trying to say, you know, I'm not presenting stand up as a heroic thing or, you know, some of you've seen these documentaries about stand up, it's where, you know. It's where it was a heroic enterprise. For people who can do it, I don't think it's where, you know, it's where it was a heroic enterprise. For people who can do it, I don't think it's heroic.

It might, for people who can't, it might seem like- Well, the, it's not heroic anymore. It was at a certain point in time, culturally, I think, you know, you look at Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, you know, it was, it was heroic, what they were doing. But nowadays it's not, I mean, there's so this shit about guys on their fucking third Netflix special getting millions of dollars,

bitching about how they're gonna get canceled. It's just the most ignorant, stupid shit. I like really funny people, but like, shut the fuck up. You're not a victim. You're whining. You're whining. You're whining about also a thing that isn't true because you're whining about it. I'm watching you whine about it from the comfort of my couch and, you know, paying for the privilege.

Shut the fuck up. God, those fucking guys. Yeah, it's definitely raining on me here now. It's nice. Okay. No, no, no, say we are. No, no, it's, if it gets, if it reminds me of home. Is it?

Oh yeah, I see it's a condensation. It's okay. Yeah. It's all right. It's okay. But anyway, yeah, there's a good idea. What do you have a hat for? If not to protect you from the air conditioners.

My beard? Yeah. And eating with a beard and and all that, because that's one of my big problems is is trying to eat in public with a beard. Boy, I haven't had that issue. I mean, I clean up after myself. Every... Do you trim it every week? No, no.

Monthly? I just, just got it trimmed because I went to, had to go to LA yesterday or two days ago. Just came back last night, but to do this premiere. So I kind of cleaned up and I will let it go until kind of the next thing. So are you kissing somebody at the moment? Not currently, I'm talking to you.

I'm not sure what you're seeing, but I'm- In your mind. But I'm not, is this microphone in the way? In your life, are you- Yes, I'm married. You have intimacy in the way? In your life? Yes, I'm married. You have intimacy. And does the person you're kissing every good day, please? No, not really. Really?

Yeah. All right. No. And do you trim it yourself? No, I go. It's so cheap. I just go down the street. There's a ton of barbers in my neighborhood. What do you ask for? I just say, well, they all know, they pretty much know. And I go to this one place and I think I've been to

every person there like multiple four or five, six times. But it's in the summer, skin, just shave the head. The head, yeah, yeah. I don't need summer skin, just shave the head. Oh, the head, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't need a razor, just the, the electric thing. Yeah. So shave that down or if it's, uh, colder, I go zero eight. Okay. So it's, which is the only, it's the next thing that's not skin.

And then blend, uh, neaten it up and, um, all natural, no lines. And, uh, that is that. Wow. Blend all natural, no lines. Yeah. I like it. Because I, because I'm bald. Yeah.

So, so you, you gotta, you gotta skillfully blend this and, um, you know, it, it, the, the, does it flake on you? Mm. What do you mean? Like dandruffy things? No. Wow. I have problems with all those things.

Problems kissing, problems eating, problems flaking. So when you say eating... Mine is big as well, you know. Yeah, well this will get really big. But I'll take care of it before I go out on the road. Hey, this is a great time to remind everybody, Tommy Tiernan, that I'll be starting my tour, the end of the beginning of the end,

in mid-ish September, something like that. I think the first, where's the first? How are you fixed first? How's the show? Oh, I'm ready. Oh yeah, I heard you, I was talking to somebody earlier on and they said you're in great form. Oh good. Oh that's good. That's good to know. You said you're, yeah. The stand-up mean? Meaning?

I was talking to a stand-up and they said oh I went to see David Cross he's in great form. Oh good. I really got lucky as any comic would where this kind of crazy thing happened maybe six months ago and so that is my opening big bit. Oh, yeah. Okay. And it's really fun to do. It's still relatively fresh, you know, and it's all true. I rarely, rarely exaggerate even on stage. I'm gonna pretty tell the truth, but,

and it gives me like an opening 10 minutes, because it's this longer story that's just so great to have. Without getting into it, was it a trauma? No, no, it was a comically awkward. But it's all about all the stuff Was it a trauma? No, no, it was a comically awkward. But it's all about all the stuff that surrounds the thing that happened

and what was going through my mind. And it's really fun to do. And it's just a fucking gift, you know, that this thing happened. And I also said, I'm not gonna tell anybody. I'm not gonna tell my friends or my wife or anything. The first time I want to talk about it, I wanted to be on stage, which I did. Yeah, there you go.

And and and told them that like this is so this crazy thing happened. And and it's really it's not that crazy. It's just a thing to talk about. And you get to. Diverge into different kind of ideas. But it's a long, it's like a good 10 minutes long and it just sets up. And were you in the, again, I don't want to know the thing, but in the moment, were you embarrassed?

Yes. Yes, I was. Emma, do you know what I'm talking about? Have you seen the set? No, right. But... Very embarrassed? Uh, it was more awkward than embarrassed. Uh, but I found myself in a, like, oh, oh dear. Oh no. And it continues the thing. So, and, but again, it's like this, it's like fairly recently. So it's, it's a fun thing to do. It is real. It is,

and it's still kind of fresh and it's fun to tell the story. And it's, and it goes over really well. And it just, you know, sets us up for, for fun. I will say this show, at least in the beginning, it'll, it'll evolve eventually. I mean, when I go out, I do like 60, 60, 70, 80 dates. Wow, wow. Well, here's the thing. Concentratively or like weekends or? No. So after the last tour, I have a seven and a half year

old daughter. So that is things have changed. Also, I'm not I used to sell out theaters. Yeah. And I don't do that anymore. I have scaled it down a little bit and it's just different, it's different out there. And so that dictates how I travel and have to amortize things.

Yeah, yeah. To make sure I'm, you know, not losing money. And now that my, so because last year was so difficult cause I would do like four days and come back to be with the kid and my wife and help out. And, you know, when she was going to school and stuff and I was just, it was really, really grueling and hard.

Totally, you're tired all the time. And you're also like, the routing wasn't, it would be fine if I was on a tour bus, but like, oh, I have to get up at 7 AM so I can get to Spokane airport to make a connecting flight to Minnesota so that I can go to Madison, Wisconsin. I mean, just the routing and the, it was fucking grueling and it was hard. And my wife said, you don't have to do that again. You know, if you get, you know, we're at the point now

and my daughter's fine, you know, to, she'll be, you know, getting close to eight by the time we go back out. And, um, uh, and my wife's like, yeah, you don't have to do that. If you go out, go out for two, three weeks, come back for some time, go out again. So that's what I'm doing. I go out and it's an easier, it's, it's routed with, um, it was, it was so crazy. I mean, I, uh, something I'd never done before. I ended up doing a lot, which is flying into a place, getting a room, a hotel at the airport, hotel room, then because there's not a direct flight from

wherever I was coming in and then driving, you know, so flying to Albuquerque, New Mexico, then getting a room at the hotel. I mean, I'm sorry, a room at the airport. Then getting a rental car, driving to Santa Fe, doing the show, driving back after the show. So you're not getting in until, you know, midnight one in the morning. Go to sleep, walk to the airport and go back.

It was a lot of that shit. And it's a hard, it's a bummer, especially, you know, I'm doing an hour and a half on stage and I'm drinking and I'm drinking after the show with people. And you know, unless you're, it was really tough. So I'm not going, it's not gonna be that grueling this time. And that allows me to do more dates kind of put together. And it allows me to go home for like a larger chunk of time.

Are you looking forward to it? Very much. I love it. I love it, love it, love it. And do you know Sean Patton, comedian? Patton Os, um, his last name is the first name of Patton Oswald. That's all they share in common. Um, the same guy, no, Sean Patton Oswald. But uh, anyway, Sean, uh, I see, uh, Sean opens up and he up and he's a great comic and a great hang. And so it really makes it fun. I've got the same tour manager I've been using for,

you know, several tours and he's great. And that element makes it fun. And I just, I fucking love doing it. I love going out. I love going to the people. I love going to, you know, Asheville, North Carolina and Missoula, Montana, and, you know, Madison, Wisconsin and San Diego.

I love going to those places, doing my set. And I might, I know everybody says this, but my fans are fucking awesome. They're so smart, hardcore, fun. And we have fun. It's a fun night, you know? And you can like, with all the shit that's going on, you can just come down and have, you know, you've got 90 minutes or two hours of not thinking about shit, not worrying about stuff and laughing. So it's a great thing to have in your life. Like it's brilliant.

You know, and I love traveling and I'll, I'll do a, a run through Canada. And then I'll do Europe, which I also, which in Europe, you don't make nearly as much money. I mean, it's, I'm, I'm, I will walk away with money, but not a lot. But it's fascinating, isn't it? But I love it. I love, and there are certain places I really look forward to performing. I mean, you know, there's a handful that I just,

even though I'm in much smaller, usually like music venues and like Ever Do the Or and More in Glasgow. Even though I'm in much smaller, usually like music venues. Like, you ever do the Orrin Moore in Glasgow? No. Great. It's like this music club, you know, and it's like hot and sweaty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really fun. And there's a place in Baltimore I do a lot of shows called the Auto Bar. Super packed, standing, I'm on, you know, it's how I used to do it.

I would have a band open up for me and I did music venues. Yeah. And then just went until I had a pee and then the show was over, but I would go for hours and just drinking and, and it was really fun, you know, but I was younger and I don't have that kind of energy or, uh, I just do pretty, I do a show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do enjoy it a lot. And again, my fans for the most part are pretty awesome.

Yeah, wow. Now Tommy, I like to end every show by asking my guest a question. Oh yeah. From my daughter. It's true, it's true. Don't phony, don't. All right, sorry, my phone tends to be sarcastic sometimes. Okay, so this is-

Is the question specific to me from your daughter or just- No, a question knowing she'll say, I have a question for your podcast, knowing that I present these questions to the guest. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's see, which can I give you?

I should have, oh, I love this one. Okay. This is a good one. Tiny tears Tommy Tiernan. This is from Marlowe seven year, seven years Marlowe Marlowe. Marlowe cross Marlowe cross. I guess, Tommy, my daughter asks, when you're sad, why do you look down? Oh, trying to hide my face, I guess.

Is that it? Well, I think so. When I hide your face, think so, because because I don't want all the happy people to see me. You don't. okay, this actually, this question came up when she was very sad. I can't remember what she was sad about. This is fairly recently and she was upset and I don't know if it was a behavioral thing

or like something she learned or something, but she was very sad and there was some crying, but not like the tantrum type crying, it was sad crying. And then, and then she, when she was kind of coming out of that, she said, um, when you're sad, how come you look down? Yeah, it's a phenomenal question. And your answer is you're trying to hide your face.

Yeah. So maybe it's about, and I don't like to jump in on these questions, but I'm gonna say maybe it's about yourself having in the moment as much as you can create a private moment for yourself and by doing that you by looking down and looking at your lap or you're tuning out and yeah visual stimulation you know did you ever have the thing of when you're in your late teens and early 20s crying and then having to, while you're crying, just to have a look in the mirror

to see what you looked like while you were crying. Yeah, I've done that with not just crying, but, and then I'm like, is that what my smile looks like? That's the name of the smile. I think I'm smiling, because I've, since I was young, I got a lot of like, you know, you're, you know, you're unapproachable and you're, you always look, uh, whatever.

And, you know, you've got, uh, you know, you look like you're judging me or whatever. And in my, in my head, I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm, I thought I was smiling. Was I not smiling? And that sometimes I would smile and I go, Oh, I got to get to the bathroom and take a look at it and see, Oh yeah, I gotta get to the bathroom here and take a look. And she's, oh yeah, that's not a smile at all. It looks like a frown to me, you know,

but inside I think that's funny. And it's funny as well, the way when people, you know, when they're crying, their hands also, their face goes down to hide in their chest and their hands come up. Yeah, I think it's less about hiding and more about I'm, or yes, it's hiding hiding, but I'm creating a private moment for myself. But if you're an actor and you start crying, you want everyone to see it.

If you can manage to squeeze a tear when you're acting, you're kind of, you're looking. When you're acting, sure. Yeah, it's the opposite. It's the same thing you do, summon the tears. For sure. I had an interesting thing about kids questions. So I've got six children. Oh, Jesus.

And a granddaughter. Oh, you better finish up those dates. So and they're all they all flower in their own directions. OK, so one is a carpenter, one is a basketball coach, one is a philosopher, one is a photographer, one is all these, they're all kind of gallop on their own road. When one of them was six, we were coming back from driving home and he said to me, he said, everything is either nature or imagination.

What he says? Yeah. He says, right now we're in somebody's imagination. This is what we're talking about. He says, well, a tree is nature, but a car is imagination. So right now we're in somebody else's. Somebody designed it. The tree is nature, but a car is imagination. So right now we're in somebody else's imagination. You mean somebody designed it, somebody created it.

Somebody had to think of it, you know? And I thought this was the most profound thing that a child had ever said, ever. And I was kind of, I was- Oh yeah, because it's your kid. Stunned by the insight. I can tell you it's not, yeah. Is it what?

What? It's not that good? What? What? What? What? It's not that good? What? What? What's that? Is it not that good? What? What?

Hey, I can't. Dave? No. Hello. Hello. I seem to have lost the connection there. You're cracking up. Really?

Tom, do you have anything you want to plug? I don't know when this will come out. Is this? So I'm doing, so the bomber will be on the road October through November in Canada and America. Really? Can you name some places?

So starting off, I think in Toronto and then going to love Toronto, Philadelphia, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Chicago. Yeah. New York. Philadelphia, meh. Chicago. Chicago? Yeah. I don't know what that is. Where are you playing in Toronto?

I don't know. You know? Toronto's great. Really good shows there. Where are you gonna be in New York? The town hall. Yep, okay. And then the West Coast, Portland, Seattle.

Oh yeah. Vancouver, New York., Vancouver, LA and San Francisco. That's going to be great. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. America has such a bad reputation on television. For? When we see America on TV, it's always disastrous. Yeah, when I see America on TV, it's I mean, it's certainly the reality show. There are terrible people.

The news and everything is division and everything is is particularly bad now. Yeah. But yeah, when you're here, physically, it's lovely. Yeah. Well, those are great, especially the Canadian cities, too. Yeah, that's all. I mean, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, New York. You do in Boston? Yes. Yeah. The Wilbur. Oh, the Wilbur's great. Tell those guys I said hi.

They're they're great. There's like a family. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the Wilbur's great. And yeah, well enjoy, man. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And good luck with the road.

And I was delighted to hear today that you're flying, that you're in good form. Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that too, because you never know. You're about to embark on this tour. Is this going gonna be good? I actually just did some warmup stuff. Two nights in Milwaukee. I was supposed to do two nights in Omaha, but my wife had to go to the hospital, emergency, appendectomy,

and I had to fly home and cancel the show, and, you know, to help out with that. But after those shows, I was like, oh, okay, I got it. Cause I've never been ever, ever this close to being going out on a tour and not having the sequencing down, which is, uh, I wouldn't say hard, but it takes work. This is the latest I ever got into it where it was like, I don't know how to fucking sequence this set. Then I finally figured it out and I ran through it

in those Milwaukee and Omaha and I was like, okay, I'm good to go. But that's pretty late before you, you know, usually I'm, I've got, I've got it down at least two months prior. And compare that to Billy, no sequencing, no decisions. No, no, no, wait a minute. No, I... No, wait a minute.

Just a minute. I would argue, and I don't know Billy Connolly personally, that he, you can say, oh yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm winging it, but you as a professional, you know, you have these options. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's I don't fully believe that I'm just winging it.

No, no, it's not a completely improvised show every night. Yeah. What it is, it's a non sequenced show. So he goes on, he says, hello, how are you? And in the process of saying hello, he think of a story that could be. A year old could be from a show 20 years ago, could be from last week. I appreciate that. But he's pulling from these.

From the canon. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Anyway, it was a pleasure talking to you, Dave. Thank you for. Yes, you too. Thank you.

Thanks for listening. Sense is Working Over Time is a HeadGum podcast created and hosted by me, you too. Thank you. Thanks for listening. For more podcasts by HeadGum, visit HeadGum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and maybe we'll read it on a future episode. I'm not going to do that. Thanks for listening. That was a HeadGum Podcast.