The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial w. Tom Papa

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

We’ve got another TCB Infomercial today with Tom Papa, a student of the craft & break-baker extraordinaire…and extremely successful comedian, writer, podcaster, etc. Netflix is a Joke Bryan’s ...kids are actually listening Gotta get those affairs in order! Pandemic pursuits? Tom’s trattoria hater Breaking bread The highly sophisticated digital scam our children are running The podcast life Late night vs. social media Tom on socials Tom Papa’s inspirations He’s a student of the craft! Feeling like a 25 year old Ask TCB Live! TOM PAPA: tompapa.com Breaking Bread With Tom Papa Tour Info We’re All In This Together…So Make Some Room LINKS: Send us show ideas, comments, questions or concerns by texting us   212.433.3TCB text or leave us a voicemail Watch TCB on YouTube Creator: Bryan Green Co-Host: Bryan Green Co-Host: Krissy Hoadley Producer: Christina A.  Producer: Gustavo B.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Is your inspirational quote? We're all fat. So eat more bread. On this episode of the Commercial Break, I wrote him. I said, please, I'm a podcaster. Do you understand? I work for free.
Starting point is 00:00:22 I'm doing boner bill. It's just trying to make a living. They don't pay very good. I work for Frey. I'm doing boner pill hostries. Just trying to make a living. They don't pay very good. And I have to use them in order to get a personal experience. It's a miserable life I live. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Yeah, boy!
Starting point is 00:00:42 Oh, yeah, guys, I'm getting's welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and beautiful co-host of the commercial break. Kristen, Joey, holy best to you, Kristen. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. Netflix, Netflix take note. I just want to say this out loud. Netflix take note. And I think every person who has, it was on Netflix as a joke this year,
Starting point is 00:01:08 is swinging by the commercial break for a little, how you do. That's right. Yes, feels like we're the, you heard it here last. I think Netflix has an order, you know? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, Conan, yeah, get him on there. Ah, Stern, maybe, maybe Stern will do, Conan! Yeah, get him on there. Ah, Stern! Maybe!
Starting point is 00:01:25 Maybe Stern will do a two hour long interview with him. Uh, what about Jimmy Kimmel? Sure, put him on Kimmel. And then they go down the list, down the list, down the list. And then they're like, the commercial break? Ah, I guess. I mean, if we fucking have to, I guess we'll throw him there. And we're blessed to have them.
Starting point is 00:01:43 Don't, don't make a mistake. I'm super blessed. Oh, I, super bless oh i i know just noticing a little pattern that's going on and i'm happy to be a part of it happy to be a part of it but i want them to take note because next time netflix's joke comes around two thousand twenty five i think it just would be appropriate if they would just send us
Starting point is 00:02:01 to some of these places where netflix's joke is happening and let us do the interviews live there where they're actually doing a set, or whatever it happens to be. Netflix is a joke. This is a great idea. Yeah. Some of them are recorded for Netflix, and then others are just shows sponsored by Netflix. Then I guess some people are doing specials during that Netflix is a joke thing.
Starting point is 00:02:21 It seems feels like Netflix is a joke lasts all year, doesn't it? Yes. I don't know. We'll get the low down. Netflix is a joke thing. It seems feels like Netflix is a joke lasts all year, doesn't it? Isn't that? Yes. I don't know, I don't know. We'll get the low down. And Reed, where's the dinner invitation? I'm serious, Mr. Hastings. I should be respectful.
Starting point is 00:02:34 Mr. Hastings, if you don't mind, where's the dinner invitation? The private plane, the limousines, Tom Papa's bread. Yeah, Tom Papa's bread. Tom hasn't sent us any bread. And I'm gonna ask him because this is a TCB infomercial day and Mr. Tom Papa's gonna. Tom hasn't sent us any bread. And I'm gonna ask him, because this is a TCB infomercial day and Mr. Tom Papa's gonna be joining us.
Starting point is 00:02:48 I know, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Yeah, I feel like we're- I love him so much. He is great. I think the first time I saw him- I've loved him for years. Must have been Letterman.
Starting point is 00:02:56 Don't you think? Don't you think it was like way back in Letterman or something like that? Yeah, I've seen quite a few of his specials and I just love his brand of humor. He feels like, I don't wanna say this pejoratively, like negatively, and I'm not even sure those two words mean the same thing,
Starting point is 00:03:09 but they sound fancy, so I'll say them. I feel like Tom is like your best friend, like the dad of comedian, like he's really levelheaded and very calm and cool, collected, and all of the comedians that I have seen him with, and I do listen to his podcast, all of the comedians that come, or stars that come to his show,
Starting point is 00:03:31 they all seem to be so reverent of Tom, you know? He's not like, he doesn't get a lot of ball busting. He's just like a, he's like the guy that everybody wants to go have a conversation with, the exact opposite of the commercial break. So it makes sense that he's on the show today. Yeah, but I do love me some tum-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p a little funny conversation that happened between me and one of my children the other day. I said, hey kids, what's going on at school? You know, I like to check in with them once or twice. Of course. How was your day at school?
Starting point is 00:04:11 Once or twice a year, I like to check in with them, make sure they're going okay. How was your year at school? Yeah, how was your year at school? How's your last year of high school going? Good? Yeah. I'll probably make it to the graduation ceremony if I don't have an interview from someone with Netflix as a joke. And I, and he's, the kid said, one of my kids said, yeah, it's going great.
Starting point is 00:04:32 Today we're learning about things that are alive and not alive. So they're very young. All my children are very young. All 22 of them are very young. They're all under the age of five. Figure that out. It's a good Irish Catholic family. Irish Catholic Venezuelan family. Some of them don't look much like me, but I'm not going to complain. I like them, so I'm not going to complain. So, and I like my wife, he goes, third tax write-offs.
Starting point is 00:04:52 Yeah. He goes, yeah, I said, wow, things that are alive and not alive, give me an example. He says, well, that ball over there is not alive, but my sister is alive. And I go, oh, that's over there is not alive, but my sister is alive. And I go, oh, that's good. Give me another example. He says, the table is not alive,
Starting point is 00:05:11 but the dog, Blue, is alive. And I said, oh, that's really good. And I go, oh, that's really good. So Blue is alive and the table's not alive. And he goes, yeah, but Daddy, I think I've heard you say that Blue's not going to be alive for very long. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he goes, well, sometimes you say, I wish you were dead.
Starting point is 00:05:39 Oh, great. And I was like, oh, no, he's been listening into the commercial break door. Because I really don't talk like that in front of my children. No, no, I just, I just throw the dog in another room and go, go fuck yourself. And I was like, oh, this is it. These kids pick up on everything. They do. They always do. Way more than you think.
Starting point is 00:06:03 Yeah. Dear little nephews pick up on everything. Yes, yes, Luca is very smart and remembers to the memory. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I know. They're like little cages. It's like they throw them in there and they, it's like jail, it's like solitary confinement. Their brains are filled with none of the concerns
Starting point is 00:06:20 that we have. Money, children, right? Time, energy, effort, we gotta go here, we gotta go there, I gotta get insured, whatever the deal is. They're not filled with all of this junk that our heads filled, who's gonna be the next president. Yeah, it's not.
Starting point is 00:06:33 Everything's new. Everything's new. So when they pick up on something, it literally goes into solitary confinement to be let out in the most inappropriate of ways. So we have larger members of our family and I don't think she would mind sharing. Grandma Kiki, Vicky, my mom is a larger lady.
Starting point is 00:06:54 She shared that on the show before. And so we were watching, I was watching my 600 pound life one time. And one of my kids said, why are they so big? Why is their belly so big? And I said, well, you know, it could be a number of things. Maybe they ate too much, maybe they're sick.
Starting point is 00:07:10 Maybe they, you know, whatever. I was kind of going through explanations that I felt wouldn't unnecessarily prejudice him into weird conversations that sounded judgmental, right? I was trying to be like as nice as I could about it. Sure. And so, Grandma Kiki comes over one day,
Starting point is 00:07:27 and Grandma Kiki says, come here and give me a hug, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, oh, I wanna give you a hug on your big belly. And I was like, oh, don't say that, don't say that. And this is like two months after we had this conversation about my 600 pound life. And so I pulled them aside and I said, hey, you can't say that, like you don't say that
Starting point is 00:07:45 to people's faces, like it's really hurtful. And he was like, oh, okay, he didn't understand a word I was saying because he went right back to my mom. And he's like, are you sick? Do you eat too much candy or pizza? And I was like, oh, fucking motherfucker. Here we go.
Starting point is 00:08:03 Here we go. How do we teach these kids? How do we get them? And they're also at the age where they start saying things and you have no idea where they learned these things. Do you know what I'm saying? No idea where they learned them and they start saying them to you.
Starting point is 00:08:14 It's like on a television show or something. They start saying it, like, get the heck out of here. The other day, one of my kids was like, get the heck out of here. And I was like, where did you learn that? Who says that to you? Mommy says it behind your back all the time. That's right.
Starting point is 00:08:31 Good old mommy, you can always count on her. All right, listen, Tom Papa, tompapadot.com. He's got Netflix specials. He's on his fourth. He's got a podcast, Breaking Bread with Tom Papa, which is great. He's on SiriusXM, what a joke with Tom Papa and guests. I feel like in a lot of ways,
Starting point is 00:08:48 our podcast journey has been similar while I don't feel we're as funny as Tom Papa, nor do I think it was as famous as Tom Papa, but I feel like in a lot of ways, our podcast journey is similar. I'd like to talk to him about that. That's right. So many great things, but Tom Papa has done,
Starting point is 00:09:02 including some movies that are some of my favorites behind the candelabra He's also was in the informant with Matt Damon, which is a brilliant fucking movie and he stars alongside Matt Damon, I'd love to talk to him about that and we'll get a chance to ask him about all of this stuff You guys go to Tom Papa calm check out his tour check out his Netflix special check out his new book Sirius XM all that good stuff, we'll put all the links in the pertinent details inside of the show notes so that you don't have to do too much Googling yourself, you lazy bastards, and then, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:33 we'll ask him about his kids too. We'll ask if his kids have little mind traps also. What do you think? I bet they do. Okay, so Tom Papa with us after this, we'll be back. I know you're already on your phone, Tom Papa with us after this. We'll be back. to fabulous sponsors and get back to the commercial break. Think of the last time you bought something to wear, something to decorate your house, something for your family or friends. What if each time you made a purchase, you got a little something back?
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Starting point is 00:11:08 Start your shopping at rackatin.ca or get the Rackatin app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.ca It's after bedtime, the kids are asleep and the moms are out to play. We're Dina and Kristen, the duo behind the Instagram account Big Little Feelings. I'm Dina, I'm a child therapist and mom of two who nerds out on all things neurobiology and psychology, and Kristen is a parent coach who wrangles three kids on a daily basis here to give it to us like it is. We weren't meant to do this parenting thing alone. Consider after bedtime your village.
Starting point is 00:11:41 Follow after bedtime with Big Little Feelings on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And Tom Poppies here with us now. Tom, thank you so much. It's wonderful to have you on the show. Hello, Tom. Nice to see you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for wearing the same glasses that I have. Yeah. Well, I don't know if they're exactly the same, but I did have that paragraph. How long have you been wearing glasses? That's a great question. I've been wearing glasses for like 10 years. For 10? I should have been wearing them since I was about 12 years old, but I took a break and I think one time. A cool break? Yeah, a break and then it made my eyes worse. So now I'll be wearing them
Starting point is 00:12:16 forever and ever and infinity. Yeah, Tom, before we get into the meat and potatoes of you being here on the show, Chrissy and I have a pressing question to ask you. Do you have a will? Are your legal affairs in order? Should you pass away? Yes, they are. Okay. Just wondering because we're going through some family drama with Will's and it states, we have a long conversation about it. PSA for everybody out there. Get your affairs in order.
Starting point is 00:12:47 It is a very uncomfortable subject for sure. You kind of like, you feel like, are we talking about this? I'm putting the whammy on us at the same time. Then there's all of the who's going what to who. And then we did it. My wife and I drafted it. And I was literally thinking the other day, where is it? Is there a copy? Like they literally old school give you the hard copy. Yeah, the bind. Yeah, big hard copy thing. It's like, this should be like a PDF.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Like, why is there should be a why did you give that to me 10 years ago and where is it? I don't even I don't know if my second child is on it. Here's the other one though is okay, you've got to do that like official thing. Okay, we know where everything's going and who's going to take care of the kids when they're little and blah, blah, blah. But there's all these other uncomfortable conversations you should be having, which I know my wife and I haven't had,
Starting point is 00:13:49 which is, okay, so if you die, what do you want us to do? Yeah. Do you want to be scattered somewhere? Do you want to go back to New Jersey? Do you want to be, what, like we haven't discussed that at all. Oh, you gotta have that conversation. I know, otherwise you're just putting it
Starting point is 00:14:06 on the other person and you know, when you're in a relationship for a long time, you love that person and you don't really support all their decisions. Exactly. Or any of them in my life. I can see my wife like, I can see my wife coming up with a horrible idea.
Starting point is 00:14:24 So I, and I do, do you have to write that down? Or can I just tell her? I can see my wife coming up with a horrible idea. And do you have to write that down? Or can I just tell her? You can just tell her that shit. You don't have to worry about like, if you- But what if she gets dementia then? Oh, what if she does have dementia though? Or something like that? There's all these little things.
Starting point is 00:14:37 Oh yeah. You might wanna write that down. Or yeah. Or your point of life- I always thought about- Walking around Los Angeles with your ashes going, where did he tell me? A little here, a little there.
Starting point is 00:14:49 Yeah. I don't, I thought about it and I don't even know if I still have it of having a folder on my laptop saying, you know, this is the final folder you should open. Right. And in there you contain all of the uncomfortable things you don't want to talk about. Yes. Here's where I keep all my secrets. My girlfriend gets paid $300 a month.
Starting point is 00:15:14 Please send it here. The apartment is okay. Don't ask questions. It's over. Yeah. I told my wife, whose name is Astrid, I said Astrid. And I do have a folder on my laptop. It doesn't contain all the morbid details,
Starting point is 00:15:28 but it contains some of the more important details that she may not normally deal with. Has nothing to do with finance because she handles those because I'm terrible. But it says, in case of this podcast could possibly in the future at some point make actual money, So please protect it. And here's the people you contact
Starting point is 00:15:47 who might be able to help you with that. Wishful thinking, wishful thinking, Brian. That's what I should do. I like the optimism, I like the optimism. You've been in the podcast business. Kirstie and I were doing a little comparison because we've shared some guests and then we started to notice that there's a pattern.
Starting point is 00:16:03 You, not necessarily a pattern, but you started your podcast very shortly after us, like a week or two after we did. Oh really? Was this a pandemic project for you? You just felt like, let me do something. Because I felt like we started a week before lockdowns began to happen and that allowed us to get a little bit
Starting point is 00:16:21 more serious about it. Cause what the hell am I gonna do otherwise? Right. I'm stuck in the house. I know. They always kept doing it. Yeah, I also have this, this serious XM show. Yeah, yeah. And we were in the studio and then we shifted over
Starting point is 00:16:36 and kept doing it from our home studios. And that thing was a lifeline. I mean, we were doing that through such a weird part was great. So I know exactly what you're saying. But my podcast started, like, I had different iterations of it. And it, I was always kind of doing it, but kind of like never really focusing on it. It was just like something I did on the side. I went through periods where I'd have great guests and all these great interviews and what was come to Papa. And then I had my buddy Paul who's still open for me. He would be on it. And then it kind of morphed in and then about the time that you're talking about a week from you guys. I really started just dialing it in and really wanting, starting to enjoy it more and kind of had a,
Starting point is 00:17:25 like a clear vision of, oh no, I should really like focus on this and have fun with it. And you know, if I'm going to continue doing it, I should want to get to the mic and have some fun. Absolutely. And yeah, and so that's when it kind of like, when it kind of clicked in.
Starting point is 00:17:41 It's funny, I have a hesitation of saying anything is a pandemic pursuit. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's funny, I have a hesitation of saying anything is a pandemic pursuit. You know what I mean? It's like- Because is it over now? Yeah, it's like- Yeah, exactly. Yeah, like I bake bread all the time
Starting point is 00:17:51 and I started that a couple of years before the pandemic and people were like, oh yeah, cause of the pandemic. I'm like, no, no, I actually do it and like it. Shut up. I had three children, two of which during the pandemic. And someone's like, oh, pandemic babies. I'm like, no, I don't think that was a pandemic project. We were kind of knocking it.
Starting point is 00:18:11 We were doing that long before the pandemic started. But while we're at it, I guess so. But then I can blame all their silliness on the pandemic. I'm like, oh, don't worry about them. They're a pandemic baby. Yeah, yeah, right exactly. When the teacher calls, they're like, they're not D students, they're a pandemic baby. Yeah, yeah, right exactly. When the teacher calls them, they're like, They're not D students, they're pandemic babies.
Starting point is 00:18:27 The teacher calls them and is like, ah, your son tried to gouge somebody's alleys out today. He's a pandemic baby, you got to excuse him. 2020. 2020. The good old days. I think for Chrissy and I, I think we had a kind of a something similar happen to us
Starting point is 00:18:44 in that it was just something fun to do at first. We said, well, if we're having fun doing it, then why not? And then because 2020 hurt a lot of us financially, then we thought, well, maybe we could make this into a business. We're still waiting for that to happen. Right, we're still trying. Yeah, the supply chain's back and inflation's down, but still trying to make money off these podcasts. And that's the case with almost every podcast, or I'm sure of it.
Starting point is 00:19:14 But then it's like, then you start to focus a little bit more on what, what actually is happening on the show. You give it some personality and the show takes on its own personality. And I think yours has a, it's got a, it's a great premise. And then you have these, you know, comedians mainly, and I'm sure you've had others on too, but you have these comedians that come in and you sit at this table, on the YouTube version,
Starting point is 00:19:36 at least you sit at this table, it's got a checkered, red and white checkered table, like an Italian trittoria. And you've got a family of Chianti sitting there, and you break bread with them. And it's just, it's so cool. It's familiar to me, I worked at Italian trittoria, and you've got a bottle of Chianti sitting there, and you break bread with them. And it's just, it's so cool. It's familiar to me. I worked at a trittalion, an Italian trittoria for a long time.
Starting point is 00:19:51 And I'd look at that and I, it brings back memories at the time that I was working at that trittoria with a bottle of Chianti on every table, on every single table. You get so much reverence from your guests. I, you've been doing this for, I don't want to say so long, I don't wanna say so long, cause I don't wanna date you,
Starting point is 00:20:06 but I feel like I might have seen you first when you were on Letterman back in the day. And do you feel, having done this so long, do you feel now so comfortable getting up on stage and doing a set set or do you still get some nerves around it? What's that feeling? That's seven foot walk. Is that what they call it? The seven foot walk to the mic or something?
Starting point is 00:20:34 It depends on the situation. You know, I mean, of course, you know, 30 years in, I'm very comfortable there. I'm as comfortable there as I am other places. Sure. But it depends if it's a new situation. Like I just had to host this award show last Saturday night and you're walking into an environment where they aren't there to see me. They may not like comedy. They may not stop talking. They may, it could go horribly wrong.
Starting point is 00:21:05 So that day is ruined. Leaning up to that. How'd it go? And it went great. They were awesome. They were all paying attention, and I got to kill right off the top, and then it was just, I was a hit for the rest of the night,
Starting point is 00:21:23 which is not how an award show a month earlier went. I just walked the whole time, did not care, you were like a substitute teacher, and that's just a nightmare. So anyway, if it's an unknown situation, if there's factors that are out of my control, of course, the nerves will be there a little more. But if I'm in a theater just doing my thing,
Starting point is 00:21:47 you're not nervous, you're heightened, of course. You're about to walk in front of a thousand people and you're the only one who's supposed to be talking. Yeah, they paid good money to see you. You don't want to ruin their night. Yeah, yeah, so you're definitely heightened, but not nervous. You know, back to the, the way you were describing my
Starting point is 00:22:08 podcast with the table and the checker thing, I had somebody contact me online and say that it's not pronounced Trattoria. It's Trattoria. Trattoria. Oh really? Were you saying Trattoria for a while? She was kind of like attacking me, like you're from New Jersey and you're Italian and how dare you call it a Trattoria. It's a Trattoria. Wow. Well, that's aggressive and I'm not really sure you're right. I don't think so. I had a like a real Italian owner like from Italy Italian. Like he had just been here for like 20 or 30 years.
Starting point is 00:22:45 He was an older gentleman and every one of the managers was exactly the same. Like real Italian human beings that had lived in Italy for a portion of life and shipped over here, I think just to manage the restaurant and give away free bottles of cante. And I think they all said Trittoria. I mean, I don't know. Yeah, that's how I started. I mean, Trittoria sounds cooler, but it also sounds like... Trottoria.
Starting point is 00:23:09 Trottoria. Tour de France. Tour de France. Yeah. I don't know. But she has made me a little self-conscious about it. But I do like the, that aspect of it. I'm hosting in my house all the time.
Starting point is 00:23:23 Is that in your house? Do you do that in your house or do you do it in studio? No, no, I have a studio and we just got this new booth made, which is really cool. Fun. And I really, yeah, and I'm working on like getting all of the bad headshots and stuff behind us and all of that part of it.
Starting point is 00:23:40 You gotta work it out. Yeah, but the breaking bread part, I mean, there is that thing that we're, I'm always hosting and doing and I'm always playing around with like, do I feed bread part, I mean, there is that thing that I'm always hosting and doing and I'm always playing around with like, do I feed them? Do I do this? Do I do that?
Starting point is 00:23:49 But it's really, I think there's something very funny about the Italian grandparent thing of during the podcast. It's hard because you don't want people chewing on Mike that much. Yeah, no, that's the very People get very pissed off about that. But here's an espresso or, and just keep just in, just in the middle of talking, just eat this, eat this, have a bite, have this, have more of this. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:24:15 Like that part to me is, uh, is really fun. I think it's very disarming, you know, you know, do you know Steve-O from Jackass? I know, you know, okay. So Steve-O came on the show and one of the things that he said, you know, do you know Steve-O from Jackass? I know, I know you don't. Okay, so Steve-O came on the show. And one of the things that he said, you know, he's had some very interesting conversations on his podcast. And I find that some of the folks you may not normally think would go talk to Steve-O.
Starting point is 00:24:34 And they're disarmed by Steve-O. He's very, you know, he has a good conversation with him. And he says, you know, the key is Brian, is that I have my dog there. And I roll up in a van to their house. And, you know, I host them inside the van. So they don't have to go anywhere. They don't have to do anything. And then I think the dog there and I roll up in a van to their house and I host them inside the van. So I don't have to go anywhere, I don't have to do anything.
Starting point is 00:24:47 And then I think the dog kind of disarms them. I think in a similar manner, you're breaking bread with them, you're offering them something. And then probably your friends with almost, a lot of these people you've been around for a while. So I imagine you've done something with them at some point. It seemed like when we were listening to you with Donnell,
Starting point is 00:25:04 it seems like you had, obviously you guys have known each other. Yeah, but it's an interesting thing. I mean, from the comedy part of, and you know, I'm trying to expand outside of it. Yeah, us too, but that's... But yeah, but the comedy part of it is like, Donnell and I know each other.
Starting point is 00:25:24 We think we know each other. We think we, we think we know each other even more than we do just cause we've seen each other around for so many years in the club. Like we've never sat down and really talked like we did on that podcast ever. You know, we had maybe a three minute conversation at most, but we'd see each other and just liked each other and liked each other's acts and knowing that you're both come from that world and you've also been doing it the same amount of time, there's just this, it's like when you see a cousin, like when I would bring my kids to see their cousins
Starting point is 00:25:55 and they wouldn't have, you know, they were little and they haven't seen these people ever or only a couple of times, when they get around family, there's something different and they just, it's a different than, yeah, they're seeing a friend. Yeah, yeah, and it's that way with the comedians. It's like, it doesn't even, we don't necessarily have to know each other,
Starting point is 00:26:17 but we are part of that same family. Well, I think there's two, like a journeyman aspect, a journey person aspect to comedy. And so a lot of, there's shared trauma and experiences and joys and highs and lows, even though you may not have shared that with each other directly. It's kind of like there's a commonality. We've been through this. We've seen this and, you know,
Starting point is 00:26:39 then I was been around for a long time too. And so you you even you see each other in the clubs. And then when he has a chance, when you have a chance to take a breath and talk, there's the shared common experiences that you have, the highs and lows of being in the entertainment business and being a communicator. Yeah, it's definitely a shorthand.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Do you still enjoy the travel of the, getting out now? You have, do you have two children? I have two daughters, but they are now in college. Oh, they're in college. Oh, I thought that they were younger for some reason. I thought they were younger. No, they just left. Good, you wanna swap?
Starting point is 00:27:14 Well, we often joke that we have 13 children, but every one of them is under the age of five years old. And so, yeah. And, such a long way to go. I know. And so, yeah. And, such a long way to go. I know. And I think you and I might be of similar age, so just imagine. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 00:27:33 And though, and I was just off to college too, and I'm like, oh, Brian. Yeah, I know. Sorry. I know. It's such an intense experience for so many years. I feel like I'm really kind of enjoying it, but I know it's a break also.
Starting point is 00:27:52 Like I know, like my daughters are coming home for spring break next week. And it's like, all right, the kitchen's gonna be a disaster. Yeah, rooms, good times. Yeah, it's just gonna be, yeah, it's like, it's kind of a peaceful thing when they go. Yeah, it's like, 20 years, I think we're allowed to enjoy it. I don't think we have to be pining
Starting point is 00:28:15 and just like pretending that we're sad all the time. Do they come home and are they like, hey dad, can I have $20? $20, so please. I'm trying to be nice. That's getting off easy. Yeah, no, they, no, it is now Are they like, hey dad, can I have $20? $20, please. I'm trying to be nice. That's getting off easy. Yeah, no, it is now like a highly advanced digital currency.
Starting point is 00:28:34 Yeah, they have access to all of my accounts through all of my apps, all of my things. Venmo, Cash App, Zome, Bitcoin. I went through the subscriptions that I'm paying for. Oh, subscriptions. I'm like, what are we paying for? Okay, so I know we have Netflix and we know we have Hulu. Did we ever get Macs?
Starting point is 00:28:56 Yeah, we have three versions of Macs. We have Stars, we have Peacock, we have the Hallmark Channel, and like in different tiers. And because they just see a show and they're like, I'm gonna watch this now and I can press this on my phone and use my dad's account. Right, exactly.
Starting point is 00:29:15 Hundreds of dollars. Tom, let me tell you, even when they're five and under, my five year old has made more damaging charges on my card than I can tell you because he knows how to work these systems almost better than I do. I walked in the other day and one of my kids is playing like this Hot Wheels game on the iPad and here I come in there, oh cool, Hot Wheels game you drive and build your own truck. That's really cool. This morning I wake up and PayPal, $119 Hot Wheels app. And I'm like, you paid for the Hot Wheels app? And I go, there's a code on there.
Starting point is 00:29:52 And he goes, yeah, it's two, two, one, seven. And I'm like, you're a cool rat. I got more coins. Yeah, exactly. There was one, there was like animal, it wasn't animal farm, It was something like that. Yeah, I think it was called the animal farm. I do remember that.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Was it an animal farm? That was a game you played on iPhone, yeah. And we paid for that for years beyond when the kids, like it was gone, we didn't even know. And then we took a look at it and we're like, wait, we've been, and we couldn't find the password. because my daughter at five years old, her password was unicorn fuzzy lamb chop five, four, three. Right.
Starting point is 00:30:34 And we had no record of it and they would not let us cancel it. And we went back and forth for years. I gave these people money. I'm having a fight with one of them right now. Yeah, you are. Are you? Yeah. You know, I was like, you know, like everybody, I went in my 20s, I went through this like, yeah, reflect in words, self-awareness meditation,
Starting point is 00:30:53 which I took a lot away from, but I got involved in buying one of those apps, you know, I don't know if it's a meditation app or one of these things, and they charged me whatever it was, $19.99 a month, about a year and a half ago. I realized that they're still charging, $19.99 a month, about a year and a half ago, I realized that they're still charging me $19.99 a month. I'm sure I've changed debit cards like 15 times, right?
Starting point is 00:31:12 And they're still somehow charging this same account. So I write them and they say, no, that's not us, it's a similar app with a similar name. So then, you know how on PayPal they give you the phone number? You know, it says, contact these people. So I Goog you the phone number? You know, it says contact these people. So I Googled the phone number. It's the same damn application company. So I write back and I say, no, it's not here.
Starting point is 00:31:31 Look, it's this charge. Oh my God. And they go, oh, well, you have to talk to this department. We'll give you their email address. Did you meditate on it? Yeah, I meditated on it. And I said, I'm too old for this bullshit. When I didn't have kids, I could be a hippie.
Starting point is 00:31:42 But now I'm done with it. Yeah, yeah, no zen. I don't have time for zen. I'm a militant hippie, that's what I am. I wanna be a militant hippie. It is ridiculous. You? I know, go ahead. It's almost like you should just get rid of all
Starting point is 00:31:57 of your credit cards and start new. That's the only thing that's gonna stop them. Yeah, well I thought I did. Is that they can't charge you. I thought I did. Yeah, yeah. I thought I did charge you. I mean, I was 27 when I got this. What's that? So they released the limit.
Starting point is 00:32:09 Yeah, that's true. They were the balance limit. Eventually, eventually, most months, they don't have enough money to charge. Maybe they're just charging me from when I didn't pay them a couple of years ago. Just max me out. I wrote him. I said, please, I'm a podcaster. Do you understand?
Starting point is 00:32:27 I work for free. I'm trying, I'm doing boner pill hostries. They don't pay very good. And I have to use them in order to get a personal experience. It's a miserable life I live. I want to go back, like I want to ask you a question because I do think I, we're all familiar with your work and some of your work is, Christy and I were going over it before the interview. I mean, you were in The Informant, which is a brilliant movie by the way and you're so good in that movie, behind the candelabra, but I do remember seeing you first maybe on Letterman because I was a, you Deadhead Letterman watcher like I loved it had to had to watch it every single night
Starting point is 00:33:09 And it seems like you are on almost every one of those late night television shows I mean you went through all of them Conan Letterman Jay Leno Yeah, when you went I just have a question like about the minutiae of of that. When you would go on those shows where the experience is vastly different from show to show, depending on who the host was or who the crew was, or did you have like a favorite, like was there one show was like, oh, this is so laid back. I enjoy these crowds. I enjoy these people. Or was it just kind of like,
Starting point is 00:33:38 I'm so nervous about going out in front of 12 million people. I don't, you know. Now, they were, it were pretty similar. You're pretty locked into what you do. And yeah. And the crowds are always, you know, pretty great. Pumped up. Warm up guy and they're excited to be there
Starting point is 00:33:55 and all of that stuff. And I mean, the rooms could be a little different like Honan's back in the day was like, the audience was far up in the rafters. There's nothing down low. And the Letterman where Colbert is now that Sullivan Theatre was like Nirvana, it was just such a perfect atmosphere of like real theater seating and the balcony even was like right on top of you and it was only the structure of the room that
Starting point is 00:34:19 changed because you were doing your thing your way way, and it's a great kind of an environment for sure. It was, yeah, they were fun to do for sure. Do you remember Eddie Brill from Letterman? He was one of the guys who I guess coordinated talent. You remember, I don't know if you were ever on Clubhouse, which was a thing during the pandemic for six and a half minutes. It was like a lot of you. Oh yeah, I never did that. Six and a half thing during the pandemic for six and a half minutes. It was like that audio.
Starting point is 00:34:45 Oh yeah, I never did that. Six and a half minutes. Yeah, for six and a half minutes, literally was the hottest thing on earth and then it's just gone away. But I met Eddie on that app and we did some rooms together and some interviews together. And he would tell us about the minutia behind the scenes at Letterman. And that kind of stuff was always fascinating to me. It's like how it all worked and how it all ticked. I think late night as in general seems like it might be going away.
Starting point is 00:35:13 I mean, Kimmel's pretty different. There's still a thing I can see with young comics where they want to check off the Tonight Show. see with young comics where they want to, you know, check off the Tonight Show. And, but it's, it's crazy. The impact of it is just so different now. I mean, it's so like you can go on a great podcast or have your own podcast or just have your own joke on TikTok and more people will see it than we'll see that late night show. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:44 Absolutely. Which is so bizarre because it's still fun to do. Those shows are still great, but it's almost like the infrastructure, even for doing those shows, is so they can get content for social media. For social media. Right. It's such a bizarre, I mean, it's so fun. You get to go in and you're in a dressing room and there's somebody cool on the show and this host is amazing and you walk out
Starting point is 00:36:07 and the cameras and it's show business. It's like, it's so great. Glitzy and glamour. But the impact that it has for your career is so diminished from what it was. And I could see it not being a goal for, I mean, I really truly don't think about it all that much. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:36:27 You know, which is a shame, because I really love the process of it. The great thing as a comedian is to get, to do those five minute sets. It was like 20 minutes of material boiled down to this perfect set. So it always kept you sharp. It always kept you refining and writing.
Starting point is 00:36:43 And it was a good thing that kept you really in shape and really diligent about your act. And that is kind of like, you know, it's not the same. Yeah. No, it's like, just how about do an hour special. And if you're lucky enough to be on the streamers grade, and if not posted on YouTube yourself and see if the audience likes it. That's it. If you can be self produced in a lot of way. We were talking to this young comic Hannah Burner the other day and she was explaining that, you know, the social media is the great equalizer when it comes to comedy now because, you know, maybe not in all cases, but in her case where she's putting out a lot of content, Netflix special and all this other stuff, she's like, I don't
Starting point is 00:37:23 think without social media, I would have been able to go into some of these clubs at two in the morning in Jersey and, you know, knock around sets because it's just a different vibe. But when I reach my audience directly with social media, then I can kind of engineer it backwards where now I can go into the clubs at midnight and be opening for a headliner. And it feels different. She doesn't need the benefit of these late night shows.
Starting point is 00:37:47 I think even John Stuart said one time when he retired the first time, he said, it's just different now. Trevor Noah went on to the Daily Show and killed it because he put those clips on social media and the one in two minute clips are what people saw of the Daily Show. That's how they knew the Daily Show,
Starting point is 00:38:04 not from watching the Daily Show, from the clips on social media. Do you engage, do you find social media to be an interesting process for you? Or is it like, I'm doing it because I want to reach out to my audience and stay connected with them, but it's not my favorite part of comedy. It took some time to get into, to understand understand it just because I was so from the old model
Starting point is 00:38:27 of trained in the way of doing it. So it took me a beat, but I do really enjoy it. I really like... It's insane that you have a TV studio in your pocket. You literally have a TV studio in your pocket. Yeah. You literally have a, like I can literally take my phone and put it on a stand and roll some, need some bread, dough in my kitchen and put it up and 500,000 people get to watch it.
Starting point is 00:39:00 I mean, that's insane. That is kind of crazy. If you don't, you know, as a comedian, you don't get into this business to be anonymous. So the idea that you can do that is exciting. I think it takes a beat to learn how to do it your way. And I think you also, with having your own studio in your pocket, you also need help. You also need people to cut down your clips and, you know, narrate them or caption them
Starting point is 00:39:29 and do all that other stuff. And I think now at this point, I've figured it out and have the right people in place to do it. And I like it. I mean, other than that, like Trittoria lady, most people are nice. Right, I was gonna say the personal interaction.
Starting point is 00:39:44 Listen, we have- Which can be good and bad. Which can be good and bad. And by the way, you said that nobody gets in this to be anonymous. Chrissy and I actually did this to become anonymous. And it's working just great. I'll let you know that. Good for you. I can walk into any store. I'm not fearful of anybody who's got a back and that. It's sweet. But I have a face for radio. So yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:54 It's funny. Like I host Wait, Wait on Wait, Wait. Don't tell me. MPR. I love that. I love that. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:40:03 I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. radio. So yeah. Oh. It's funny. Like I, I host, um, wait, wait on, wait, wait. Don't tell me. Yep. I love that. And I get to guest host it sometimes and also, um, appear on it. And that, that has such a huge reach, that show. And it's funny how many places I'll be in and people don't recognize me.
Starting point is 00:40:21 And then they hear me order my coffee and they're like, Hey, it literally the voice more than the face. It is a very strange thing. It takes it off. Yeah. I mean, that's a huge show, right? Oh, I love that. You must reach, I don't know, whatever, millions of millions of people. Yeah. One of the producers was saying the other day or last time I guess hosted was that when John Stewart came back to the Daily Show and they were talking about how great it was that the Their ratings were up to like a million two or something and they were all so excited that the Daily Show had
Starting point is 00:40:53 Got those numbers again, and that's half of what weight weight. Don't tell me wow That's insane. Yeah, but you can have a podcast and reach millions of people or millions of downloads too. I mean, it's just you're right about it. It's like the RSS feed isn't technology agnostic. You put it out there and if people like it, they'll find you. And that's, I don't know. I think that every one of the, I think every one of the people that we have interviewed comic wise in 2024 at least, everyone has a podcast. And that's because it's just an extension of the brand. It's another place to practice. It's another place to get your voice out there.
Starting point is 00:41:33 And like you said about having 500,000 people watch You Need Bread, you might go on, you know, I don't know, maybe you go on Jimmy Kimmel these days, right? And there might be a million and a half people watching, but the difference is this, a million and a half people, probably not every one of them,
Starting point is 00:41:50 you're their brand, you're their flavor of comedy. But if you do half a million people watching your Instagram reel, it's likely most of those people are engaged in content that is similar or they have directly said, I wanna see Tom Papa's content, right? So it's like you're curating that audience
Starting point is 00:42:07 and feeding them directly as opposed to showing up on a late night show once every three months and saying, oh, there's Tom Papa, you know, I hope I like that. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely more of a conversation. I mean, think about how bizarre it is even to like go through like the search on Instagram.
Starting point is 00:42:24 And you're seeing Anthony Hopkins or Robert De Niro, like these giants, like in their kitchen. They're doing meme videos. The access, yeah. I mean, the access is kind of insane. It's insane. Like if I was a kid,
Starting point is 00:42:44 like I've got that George Carlin painting behind me like if I was Back to when I was 16 discovering Him yeah, and then I could be on my phone and see him talking to me and then hear him talk on podcast And I mean all I had was HBO pop up on yeah Yeah, you special and then once in a while, they do wait night and that was it. And you just walked around waiting for the next time
Starting point is 00:43:07 you got to hear something from George. And as a kid, I mean, it would be the coolest thing ever if I could digest all of that stuff. Absolutely. But it does also, I think. Take away some of the mystique. A little bit of the mystique. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:22 You know, like I love that my friend, Matt Damon is not on it. Like I love that my friend, Matt Damon, is not on it. Yeah. Like I like that. I think it helps. I think when he does a film, people are excited to see him.
Starting point is 00:43:33 You're right. Rather than see him, you know, at the beach or at the mall or in a game. And you know, it's like, it's nice to have, but that's different. I think movie stars is a different thing. I think at comics, it's like, it's nice to have, but that's different. I think movie stars is a different thing. I think at comics, it's like, you, I think the machine is built
Starting point is 00:43:51 that you're supposed to be putting out funny stuff and there's all these places to do it. So you just gotta constantly feed it. I think it's, I don't think comedians really have much allure. I don't think. Well, I think, you know, there certainly are comedians. I'm sure we could say have much allure. I don't think. Well, I think, you know, there certainly are comedians, I'm sure we could say have had allure, like, right? You know, like Eddie Murphy back in the 80s,
Starting point is 00:44:10 George Carlin, like there was just this certain sheen about them, they were really good at what they do, but they weren't as accessible. And I think it does take away some of the mystique because it makes you realize as a fan, just how every day common your celebrity, whatever, you know, the person that you like is just like you doing the things that you do. But you're right about Carlin. Part of the reason why I think of George Carlin as kind of like a comedy god is because there's only so much we know about him, right? There's only so much that's out there and I don't know what George Carlin was making for breakfast.
Starting point is 00:44:48 I have no idea. I don't know what he thought of eggs and strudel down to the restaurant on the street. And I think that's- Yeah, and he didn't even talk about his family. Like in his act, it was all issues. And I think that's why it lasted more than other comics. But we also left you wanting to know,
Starting point is 00:45:05 wait, wait, like when his daughter started her show and we got to hear it, like you were thirsty for it. You wanted to know more about it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's definitely, it is an interesting time. But I think that, look, I think for comedians specifically, it's just our job to create funny stuff and stuff that connects. And you should be constantly mining it and constantly developing it for the sake of
Starting point is 00:45:33 creating it and developing it. And how it gets sold and who all that stuff is extra. I don't think you can go into any of these things. Social media, the podcast, thinking I'm trying to get people. I think it's gotta be, I am expressing this, I'm having fun with this, I'm putting this out in the world. I think that keeps you interested in making it and then maybe people will show up. I don't know if Chrissy feels the same way. We've talked about this, but I feel like the energy,
Starting point is 00:46:07 I think we're best when we're not worried about who the next listener is, when we're, when it's just kind of coming through us, right? When we're here creating the energy is here. It's in the right now and we're having fun with it and it's two best friends, just shitting around. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that doesn't mean you're not going to have lulls and be like, I friends just shitting around. Yeah. Yeah. And that doesn't mean you're not gonna have lulls and be like, I just talked to her yesterday. I'm tired.
Starting point is 00:46:29 Exactly. Chrissy says that, that's actually what she says every day when she comes in. She's like, I just saw you yesterday. You know what would be really good if you could download some kind of meditation app to your phone that you could listen to right before you did the show.
Starting point is 00:46:44 That's exactly right. I'm paying for one. I'm gonna borrow your login. I wish I had my login. You might as well use it. You're paying for it. I adore it. My next email should be not cancel my subscription, but can you get my login?
Starting point is 00:46:58 If you're not gonna refund me, at least let me use the fucking app or God's sake. Yeah. Yeah. Is Carlin, is Carlin a huge influence on you? Is he one of your tops as far as comedy is concerned? Yeah, yeah, for sure. It was early, like before I was a comic, it was Eddie Murphy, it was Carlin, it was Cosby, Steve Martin. Oh yeah? Eddie Murphy, it was Carlin, it was Cosby, Steve Martin.
Starting point is 00:47:25 Oh yeah. You know, those were like the first ones that I really kind of, Richard Pryor, the first ones that like at that age when they were, I was just realizing that was a job. Yeah, right. That there are grownups doing this for a living. It's like the Four Horsemen of 80s comedy right there.
Starting point is 00:47:42 Yeah, I know, it's just so huge. But Carlin, I think was- 70s, yeah. I just think that over his career, just watching his integrity, he could be silly, but the integrity of trying to be great and trying to communicate was really inspiring. I think he was probably the top one.
Starting point is 00:48:06 He had a way of looking at the world and making it all make sense and knocking down hypocrisy at every turn, especially at the toward the end of his career that I just think there's no one sense who has been, at least in my opinion, who has been as rhythmic, as musical, as on top of it, as quick as Karlin was at his best, in my opinion. Well, if you ever listen to interviews, he really treated stand up with such reverence. He really, really was a student of the craft and wording and pacing and different types of jokes
Starting point is 00:48:41 and how he would go about putting it all together. I mean, he really was a taskmaster. Like he, that part of it, I really, I, I gravitate towards the ones who are a little more written, who are like really, yeah, kind of attack it that way. Like that's when I worked with Jerry Seinfeld for years. That was like, that was a perfect, he's of that ilk. And just to watch them like play with words and really just treat it with respect.
Starting point is 00:49:10 Like you put all the stuff into it and you get this great life back was, yeah, those are great. Are you one of those, like, you know, a studier of the craft and you spend a lot of time, you know, kind of breaking down what other people are doing, what other people that you admire are doing and how they're doing it. And playing. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:31 No, I think that was the biggest, the thing that calmed me down the most as a young comic was learning that it was a craft that you could get better at. And then you, that you, this wasn't this just vibe of, you know, you were all funny when you start, but then how do you harness that you, this wasn't this just vibe of, you know, you were all funny when you start, but then how do you harness that into being a standup comedian for your life? And that there was actually rules to it and you could actually craft it. And there was, yeah, that all of that, that there was a working structure to it, was really calm me down and made me realize, oh, you know, I can do this in increments.
Starting point is 00:50:09 And as long as I keep doing it the right way, I should be getting better each year. Is that because there was like, you found a method in the madness? Like, you know, you get out there at first and you're just like trying to find what's funny, but then you realize like, hey, there's like a math to this. There's a science and an art to this. And I can kind of- Yeah, and there's also, I think it's also finding examples of people that,
Starting point is 00:50:32 you could emulate because you work that way. Like there's, when I was starting in New York, there were guys that would just get up there and riff and you know, Chappelle would go up and just be up there for an hour and David Tell would be smoking cigarettes and look like he just came out of his apartment on to the stage and it was like, I don't know. I don't know if I'm that guy.
Starting point is 00:50:53 I don't know him that guy. But when I would hang out with like Colin Quinn and Jerry Seinfeld and it was like, Oh no, these are writers. And even Carlin said like he was a writer before he was a comedian. And like he considered was a writer before he was a comedian. Yeah Considered himself a writer like then I was like, oh, okay So I that makes sense to me that I could take my notebook To the diner and sit there every morning and go over my like that Because I never look cool holding a cigarette
Starting point is 00:51:22 I never did either but I sure did enjoy it for a hot minute there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is, um, it seems like things turned out okay for you, Tom. I'm just sharing that. Everything worked out. Maybe it could all fall apart at any second. Riding the rail though. I mean, that's what I say. I said, we're riding the rail and it sure does feel fun. You know, it's fun while it lasts, right? And I think, yeah, I know it's funny. The thing I'm going through now is like, okay, I've been doing this for a long time, but I have no, I have barely a sense of that. Like I truly, like when I run into other people my age, like that have run businesses or like the, you know,
Starting point is 00:52:05 the politicians, you know, read stories. And it's like, I do not see myself as them. I still see myself as like the 25 year old being like, right guys? Right. Like the things I say, like I don't, Is that funny? I don't think I've grown up yet.
Starting point is 00:52:20 Yeah. I don't think I've grown up completely. Like I have a family, I've pay my bills, I do things. But there's another part of me that truly, truly feels like I just got here and I'm like, is this gonna work? You know what's funny is that Chrissy and I were having this conversation is that I think we see you as kind of the opposite.
Starting point is 00:52:42 Like as one of the statesmen of comedy, one of the people who has made it and one of the people who is consistently on their game and so yeah, but I know but I know that he's like no, it's not true Yeah, I think the part of it I don't know. I mean it could be a mental deficiency, but it could also be a If you're constantly making stuff You know, you're always gonna be a little vulnerable. Yeah, like if you're always trying to make stuff in and feel like
Starting point is 00:53:12 Will this be better than the last time is it? Anybody like it you always kind of have this feeling of uncertainty. Sure. You're never really on solid ground So I think that that makes you feel, may not be youthful, but it makes you feel vulnerable. So as much as you can have things on your resume and all that, you still feel a little wobbly when you've got to take this new dumb idea that you have and think that it's important enough
Starting point is 00:53:43 for all these people to listen to it and respond the way that you have and think that it's important enough for all these people to listen to it and respond the way that you want them to. Yeah, but you know, you don't want to become fat Elvis, right? It's like you want that kind of uncertainty because I think that drives a little bit of ambition. Like if, yeah, yeah, I felt like if I came in here and thought that I was the hottest podcaster since sliced bread, which I know I'm not, but coming in here with a little bit of humility and believing that, you know,
Starting point is 00:54:09 not believing your own hype or not believe, you know, there's an old like, there's an old, I don't know what it is, this is from Buddhism. And it says, don't believe the good news or the bad news, right? Don't believe the good news or the bad news, none of it's real. And I think that that's a good, like kind of mindset to have when you're creating is like,
Starting point is 00:54:26 I think that's part of the ambition. It drives the hunger and it makes you want to be better. If you thought you were the shit, you would say, well, I got nothing left to do, right? I'm here, that's it. I'm Matt Damon. I don't need to do anything else. I'm Matt.
Starting point is 00:54:38 I'm the best. No offense to Matt. Tom, I wish we could spend another two hours with you because you're such a good conversation. I do have one more question. What is your favorite bread? I'm a huge bread fan. My favorite bread to make is,
Starting point is 00:54:59 it's all sourdough base. It all comes from that method and using that starter as your yeast. My favorite bread is this olive loaf. It has like green olive and calamata, olives, herbs de Provence and lemon zest. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:55:20 Mushed into it. Yeah, that bread is like, that one really. That sounds incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta let you go because I have some Wonder Bread in the pantry. I just, I just made a whole batch of sourdough English muffins. So I'm trying to find sourdough recipes. I've never done that, but I, people say that's very satisfying. Oh, I wish you would bring those in here. Sorry.
Starting point is 00:55:41 I know we're eating them all at my house. I thought we were best friends. Yeah. But you liked it. I'm a lawyer friend. See, never believe your own hype. It's not true. Tom, we will have you back because I'd like to finish this conversation.
Starting point is 00:55:59 I'd like to debate cruising with you. That we didn't get to, but I'd like to debate cruising. Yeah, to cruising. Hot pot take. I agree personally with you, Tom.'t get to. But I like to do cruising. Yeah, the cruising. Hot pot take. I agree personally with you, Tom. Brian's a cruiser, though. Well, listen, I also have 15 small children and cruises are a great place to just huddle them all up and what's the worst that can happen?
Starting point is 00:56:16 They fall off the boat. Yeah, and if you get killed by E. Coli, you did your best. Well, at least I'm getting some salt, right? There you go. Tom Papa, he's on tour, he has a new book, Multiple Netflix Specials. He's done it all. And anytime you want to invite us to the Trittoria, we would be happy to come.
Starting point is 00:56:37 We're calling it Trittoria. We're sick of the Trittoria. We're sick of the Trittoria. They're wrong. We're right. Thank you so much. We'll put all of the pertinence inside of the trittoria. We're sick of the trittoria. They're wrong, we're right. Thank you so much. We'll put all of the pertinence inside of the show notes as we all do. Thank you, Tom, we appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:56:50 Thank you. All right, I'll see you again. Okay, thanks. Trattoria. Trattoria. Trattoria. I don't even think those letters are in the word. Like, it makes no sense that it said trattoria. But of course, I'm gonna be think those letters are in the word. Like it makes no sense that it's a trattoria.
Starting point is 00:57:05 But of course I'm gonna be called out on this and we're gonna get hundreds of text messages of people telling me just how wrong I am. But I swear that those managers used to say Trattoria. But anyway, Tom Papa was fantastic. Oh my gosh. I've loved him for so long. I was a little starstruck.
Starting point is 00:57:20 I have to be honest. Yeah, I think I was. But he was like so nice and dis disarming I mean he was down earth Disarming he is the one of the statesman's I'm not gonna say elder statements No statesmen because he's not that old but he's like one of the statesmen of comedy He's been through it 30 years. He's been doing comedy. He's been on every late-night show under the Sun He's just wrote for Saturday night line Seinfeld didn't he do something with a daily show for a little while?
Starting point is 00:57:46 I mean the guy is great and he is Constantly what an honor. Yeah, what an honor and he's constantly on tour and we would love it if you go to Tom Papa Dot-com get his new book, which is I'm sure great. I haven't read it I'm going to read it you are you're you're a reader. Yeah, you have time to do that kind of stuff. I do. So you read and let me know how it... I will. I'll give you the click notes.
Starting point is 00:58:10 I can't even believe I got that far in Reggie Watts's book, to be honest with you. I was like reading pages while my kids were taking a bath. It was kind of insane. Yeah, it's called We Are All In This Together, so make some room. Make some room.
Starting point is 00:58:22 Yes. And he's a great bread maker and I hope that he does send us some bread. The cherry on top is that he makes wonderful bread. Yeah, what? From scratch. You know, I thought I heard him say you have to come to my show to get that bread.
Starting point is 00:58:32 So can we come to your show? That is the goal. Tom is the question that we forgot to ask you directly, but Chrissy pointed out long ago, when you ask them on air, if they'll come back to your show, if you can be back on their show, of course they're going to say yes,
Starting point is 00:58:45 they're not gonna be a dick. I would be honest about it if someone asked me, you know, if I was like a guest on their show, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see how things go with your show. Yeah, it's like parenting by distraction. It's like, okay, let's clean up your room and eat dinner. And then we'll talk about the Mickey Mouse watch, okay?
Starting point is 00:59:03 In hopes that you forget it. But of course they don't because they're like little animals with cages in our brains and they don't do it. And you know what I really enjoyed? I enjoyed when he was talking about George Carlin and, you know, being a student of comedy. I like that. I like that kind of talk. I know it might make bore some of the audience, but I like it.
Starting point is 00:59:22 I like talking like that. I do too, you know I mean in this day and age now everything's kind of Instant it happens quick and you can say some funny things and get traction going viral But can you sustain this school from the from the old school? Which is tried and true quite frankly. I agree. Yeah, you hone your craft for the length of your career Yeah, you have to hone your craft Yeah, it's kind of like us like we managed to be funny enough to get some listeners
Starting point is 00:59:49 But have we really done anything since then that has improved our craft probably not We got a new curtain. We did we did our logo. We updated our logo This is the third room we've been in so there we go. We updated the logo. What else do you guys want from us? How much more can you ask from this stupid podcast? It's free. It's not like going to see Tom and you pay $70 for good seats. Right.
Starting point is 01:00:09 You don't pay anything here. So don't complain if we're not students of the podcast craft because I don't even know what that means. I don't think there's a school. Listen, we're two white people pretending to be funny. There's a thousand of us out there. It's like we multiplied during the pandemic. I like when he said that too.
Starting point is 01:00:26 People asking it was a pandemic project. Not really, I actually thought of that on my own without the help of the pandemic. Thanks very much. Tom was great, man. Tom was great. Fantastic. Tom goes on the list.
Starting point is 01:00:39 I can't think of too many people we've had in 2024 that don't go on the list. I know, everybody's been so good. We didn't have enough time with, you know, sometimes, you know, it's just a little like pull the magic, the curtain back a little bit, and I'm sure it doesn't take a genius to figure this out.
Starting point is 01:00:53 But we have a little bit of conversation, probably two or three minutes before we actually bring them on air. And so during the break. So when we do that, you know, we just say hello, and we don't want to waste all the good talking. Make sure technical stuff works Yeah, make sure that you guys can actually hear them
Starting point is 01:01:08 And so Make sure we actually record the segment we're about to do so you can actually hear it Yeah, but when we were saying hello to Tom, I just Why don't I forgot what I was going to say. There you go. It just flows like water. I am not a child. I thought it was funny in the couple minutes before we actually did the interview that he was trying to, you know, go full screen to see us.
Starting point is 01:01:39 Oh yeah. And said that he was able to and he said, oh, okay, good. Yeah. If it was a bad picture, I was gonna minimize. Minimize. Yeah. I think we should just go with a dark screen. You know how on Zoom, you can just like,
Starting point is 01:01:54 that's a little tile that has- I'll just say Brian and Kizzo. Yeah, it's your first initial, like B. Why me, why? Even if we put this on YouTube, people aren't there to see us. They don't care. Even on YouTube, people are there to see us. They don't care. Even on YouTube, our audio version gets so much more traffic than our video version.
Starting point is 01:02:12 I'm just embarrassed. I'm like, people really don't like the way that I look. I'm sure of it. I like it that way, though. It keeps the pressure down. Yeah, it keeps the pressure down. That way we're not going to become famous, like Tom said. We're not superstars we're not mad damons here well we want to thank tom for coming on top of the dot com for all things tom pop up
Starting point is 01:02:35 uh... tickets to his live events live shows you get the book straight from there i think we should send him a bottle of candy candy classic gold. Chianti classic. The Trittoria. Trittoria. What is that? Tremoria?
Starting point is 01:02:51 Whatever that lady wanted to call it. Yeah, it's not a tremoria. It's a Trittoria. It's a street cafe. I think that's what it means, like on the street. Trittoria means street, I think. Right? In Italian?
Starting point is 01:03:02 You're Italian. I think so. I've been to Italy. And you've been to Italy? I've been to Trattoria. Yeah, it is. I'm sticking with Trattoria. It's your mother tongue. You don't know it? Yeah, man.
Starting point is 01:03:10 All right. Okay. Hey, listen. You know what? We're going to start a whole new segment here on the commercial break. Then we would love you to be a part of it. Ask TCB Live. And I don't mean Live like you'll be hearing it live. I mean Live like you come on the show and we talk to you about it. We'll answer your questions. We'll give you life advice. We live i mean live like you come on the show and we talk to you about it will answer your questions will give you life advice we
Starting point is 01:03:27 want to hear all about you average joe the regular list of not like famous people like us and tom papa i don't know we compared i like this comparing our podcast and he's like yeah actually i've been doing this for a lot of you have that he called me out uh... but anyway we want you on the program and we're super excited about this new segment, so please do us a favor to aisle us up. 212-433-3TCB. That's 1-212-433-3TCB. Text us. Tell us you're willing to come on the show. Give us a little synopsis
Starting point is 01:04:00 about what you want to discuss and we will contact you for future communication. You can also drop us comments, questions, content ideas and concerns right there to that same line or leave us a voice message. We may play it on air here on the commercial break. TCBpodcast.com, that's where you go. You find out more about the show. You can get all the audio and all the video from one location
Starting point is 01:04:25 TCB podcast comm also get your free piggy fronting sticker by hitting the contact us button drop down menu I want my free sticker give us your address will send it to you. No problem. No must no fuss at the commercial break on Instagram TCB podcast on tick tock and YouTube comm slash the commercial break for audio version the RSS feed version you can now listen to it on TikTok and youtube.com slash the commercial break for audio version the RSS feed version you can now listen to it on YouTube and the video version we put all of our interviews up there we love you to death thanks again to Tom Papa Tom Papa dot com okay Chrissy I guess that's all I can do for today I think so but I'll tell you that I love you I love you best to you best to you best you out
Starting point is 01:05:03 there in the podcast universe until next, Chrissy and I will say, we do say and we must say, good bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
Starting point is 01:05:14 Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
Starting point is 01:05:20 Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me.
Starting point is 01:05:30 I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me.
Starting point is 01:05:46 I'm not sure if you can hear me.

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