The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - Dan Cummins - HoneyDan

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

My HoneyDew this week is comedian Dan Cummins! (Timesuck, Scared to Death) Dan Highlights the Lowlight of his adverse childhood and mental burnout. SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE and watch full episodes of The Dew every toozdee! https://youtube.com/@rsickler SUBSCRIBE TO MY PATREON, The HoneyDew with Y’all, where I Highlight the Lowlights with Y’all! You now get audio and video of The HoneyDew a day early, ad-free at no additional cost! It’s only $5/month! Sign up for a year and get a month free! https://www.patreon.com/TheHoneyDew What’s your story?? Submit at [e-mail] CATCH ME ON TOUR https://www.ryansickler.com/tour SUBSCRIBE to The HoneyDew Clips Channel http://bit.ly/ryansicklerclips SUBSCRIBE TO THE CRABFEAST PODCAST https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crabfeast-with-ryan-sickler-and-jay-larson/id1452403187 SPONSORS: The Farmer’s Dog -Get 50% off your first box of fresh, healthy food at https://www.TheFarmersDog.com/HONEYDEW PLUS free shipping! BetterHelp -The HoneyDew is sponsored by BetterHelp, get 10% off your first month at https://www.Betterhelp.com/HONEYDEW Ritual -Now until January 31st, get 40% off your first month at https://www.Ritual.com/HONEYDEW

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you or someone you know has concerns about gambling visit connectsontario.ca the honeydew with brian sickler welcome back to the honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the Night Pants studios. You know I'm RyanSickler.com. Ryan Sickler on all your social media. I want to say thank you like I do every week. Thank you for supporting this show.

Thank you for all you do here, whether you've been here or whether you're new here. And if you've got to have more, listen to me. I say this every week, Patreon, the Patreon is the way to go. You got all these, we're sitting here talking about it with our guests. Now,

all these, uh, you know, flags and red marks and censored words and everything, not on Patreon. And the Patreon is called the honey do with y'all. And it's the wildest show on Patreon. It's your stories.

And I promise you, you've never heard anything like it. All right. And if you're looking for a new podcast to listen to, my old podcast, The Crab Feast, which our guest today also has an episode. Look, that has been gone for five years. And the library did 1.1 million downloads this year. It's insane. So thank you for that. And I'm telling you, it's all your same favorite guest in podcasting with different stories you haven't heard before.

It's called The Crab Feast. I did it with Jay Larson. Go check it out. All right. Make sure you're subscribed to my new podcast, The Way Back. It's right here on this YouTube channel. It's a fun new podcast we way back. It's right here on this YouTube channel. It's a fun new podcast we just started and looking forward to you guys enjoying that one as well. All right. For all dates,

all that stuff, Ryan Sickler dot com. That's the biz. You know what we're doing over here. We're highlighting the lowlights. I always say these are the stories behind the storytellers, and I am very excited to have this guest on today. First time here on the Honeydew, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dan Cummins. Welcome to the Honeydew, Dan Cummins. Thank you, Ryan. Long overdue, bro. Good to see you again, man. Same. And congrats on all your success. I love it. Thank you. And same to you, brother. Ryan's a good dude. One of the best reputations in the business as far as just being a solid guy. Is that right? Yes. That's what people say out there. I don't know.

No one has a bad word, truly. That's not true. No one that I've talked to. Seriously. All right. I'll take it. Look, before we get into whatever we're going to talk about today, please plug, promote, everything, anything Dan Cummins.

Yeah, just Time Suck Podcasts. If you like deep dives on conspiracies, serial killers, interesting historical figures and more. And scared to death. If you like paranormal kind of campfire ghost stories. I do that with my wife. Try and scare her every week. And then I got a special trying to get better on YouTube.

All right. That's it. So I was saying, like, I know you. You did the crab feast. Great episode back in the day. And Time Suck was taking off at the time. And you really popped. Yeah.

I was like, yeah, lucky. This motherfucker's doing good. Good for him, man. Yeah. I love seeing people like, look at Matt Rife. You got a new TikTok. And then, boom, he takes off. I love seeing people figure out something.

Yeah. And then run with it. Yep. We're all here for, some people take stand up and parlay it for a morning DJ. Drive time. Some get a talk show. Some get a this, a that, a this. I love seeing what comedians are able to do.

Me too, man. I think we're some of the smartest, hardest working hustlers and creative when it comes to what has to be out there. Actors didn't do these podcasts. It is. Comics. Joe Rogan and these guys all got in. Segura. Comics did all this.

Yeah. All this. And it's fun to see how things are morphing and changing where it's like, you know, when we started, it was just very traditional. My apartment, my crab feast was in my apartment at the kitchen table. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like we started, there weren't all these options. It was just like, there was gatekeepers. Or I mean, you can stand up. Oh, yeah. Like we started sitting there. What? There weren't all these options. It was just like there was gatekeepers. There was you do this open mic. You hope that you can get to MC. You hope that you can feature. You hope that Comedy Central or one of the late night people take a liking to you and, you know, give you airtime. So you can so you can get on the morning radio and Peoria or Wichita because you were on

the Tonight Show or whatever. I mean, it was like this very linear, this is how you do it. Regimented, this is the way it goes. And then I'll just talk about these 20-year-old kid in there. We're not going to be talking about this, everybody, the whole time. But this 20-year-old kid in there is a phoenix. I let him open for me. Yeah.

I let him do a guest spot. And I was like, dude, you're fucking really good. You're strong. You're funny. You're 20. You actually have shit to talk about. Yeah. spot and i was like dude you're fucking really good you're strong you're funny you're 20 you actually have shit to talk about yeah and um he's like what advice do you have and i was like let me tell you what advice i have when we started yeah we had to bring a goddamn vhs

camera okay record our shit yeah then go to a dub house and get a bunch of made pack them up mail them hope that fucking made it. Hope that somebody over there had a VCR that they put it in. And why? Like, are you kidding me? Tonight? You can take your phone,

pop it up on a set. It can look shitty and you can go out tomorrow. You can go home tonight, upload it and go viral tomorrow. Yep. Tomorrow. It's so different. It's beyond it.

And then you're in the driver's seat. You know, when you go viral now, it's like you have the power to draw. You can make deals with clubs. And it's like so many more people. You don't even have to work the clubs. You can just pick any venue that you can make a deal with that your fans will come to. You can skip the whole comedy club industry and just do stand up outside of it. It's just I love it because they love you or whoever. It's not the building. There are very few buildings.

Comedy Works, Comedy Store, The Mothership. There are very few buildings that people are like, let's go because of that place. All right, Dan Cummins, let's get into you. Because I really don't know your whole story. I really don't know where you're from originally, your background. You had mentioned you had a little bit of a different upbringing. So let's talk about it.

A little atypical. I was born in Grangeville, Idaho, a little town. I didn't live there, but only born there because my town didn't have a hospital. So I was born in Riggins, Idaho. Is that right? Yep. And Riggins is about 400 people now. A little logging.

It used to be a logging town. Now it's 400 people? What the hell was it when you were born? It was a little more. It's kind of dying. Oh, more. Okay. It's gone now. But 400 people what the hell was it when you were born it was it was a little more it's it's kind of dying okay but not much more it was like 500 wow it was like it was a high school class oh yeah my high school i graduated with 23 kids yeah 23 that's one classroom when i was in high school oh Easy. There had to be more than 23 in some of our classes. Yeah, probably 30, typical 35. No shit.

Okay. So you had to go to another town to get born. Yep. If you grew up in Riggins, if you weren't born at home or in the car on the way to the hospital somewhere, which happened to my aunt, you were born in Grangeville or McCall. They were both about an hour away in either direction along this little canyon highway. It's just like a, it's a, it's a very, like the town can't get big. There's no room for it's in a very steep, just river Canyon in the middle of Idaho. Yeah. So it's not only small, but it's not like, it's not like small Midwest where yes. Okay. You have 400 people, but if you just drive 15 minutes, there's a town of 6,000. And then 10 minutes away

is a town of 20,000, like one of those peripheral small towns. It's a small town, not near anything. You have to drive a long way to get to other tiny towns. Like it's super remote. And because of the, because it was so remote, you know, like cable TV, all those kinds of things, it was not a priority because there was not enough financial incentive for those things to exist there so we were like 10 15 years behind technology wise is that right oh yeah like way behind you're how old now i'm 46 so when did you guys get cable out there not when i lived there didn't exist didn't exist yeah no shit we we had the thing that you could get was an illegal satellite TV configuration, which there wasn't like Dish or those places.

But what people do, and it cracks me up looking back that I guess just no one cared about regulating this. You would get a massive, if your family had the money, you'd get a massive satellite dish, like a NASA type dish. Giant thing on a huge, you know, 10 foot by 10 foot concrete slab. And then you would get this thing called the black box to scrambler, and it would give you

all of the channels. And I don't know how it was configured, but so either had no channels or all of the channels, but if you didn't have one of those, then you had to depend on the airwaves. And my grandpa was actually one of the ones that put this reflector up on this mountaintop on the edge of town because it's so down in this canyon that the airwaves wouldn't reach it. So they like hiked up, like dragged this thing up. Yeah. Your grandfather was responsible for TV in that town. And then you get like three channels. That's great.

Or three or four. Three, I'll take it. Right. It was, yeah, really very different. So very limited, like you're separated from the rest of the world and you can't even connect with them tech-wise. And are you an only child? No, I have a sister.

Older or younger? Younger. Okay. Yeah. And what about- Donna is five and a half years younger. Okay. What about your parents?

Were they together? No. Together when I was born. Okay. Yeah. And what about five and a half years younger? Okay. What about your parents? Were they together? No. Together when I was born. Okay. And then when I was, I don't know, two or three, my dad moved to Anchorage, Alaska. He was a logger. Oh shit. Okay. And then he went up there to work with his brothers in construction. A couple of his brothers had moved there. And then my mom and him followed him. So when I was like three or so like that, we went to Alaska as well. And so then I went to kindergarten, first, second, half a third grade in Anchorage. My sister was born when I was like in kindergarten. Then my parents split up. Dad stayed in Anchorage. And then we went back to Riggins to live with my grandparents. Okay. So let me ask you this

question because this is interesting to me. Anchage is not the biggest city in the world either but no but is it an is it an upgrade in tech and everything compared to where you just left in idaho oh yeah i mean i you know it's like i was pretty little then but i have memories of like you know you're not supposed to watch hbo you know like like that kind of stuff like we actually we had it yeah yeah yeah uh and i Yeah. Yeah. And I remember like, you know, we had a mall. It just walled me to think that Alaska, you think this frozen tundra is dialed in more than that little town. I remember we had Fred Meyers. We had Taco Time like around us. And then we went back to Riggins and just nothing.

Like there's no fast food there. Really? Nope. There's no chains. Still? Still. Yeah, for a little while after I left. You put a Papa John's in that motherfucker, you're going to be rich, bro.

I know. You just should franchise a Papa John's in there tomorrow. What's a weird thing, too? Like, nobody supports. It's a weird local mentality, too. It's like, no one shops local. Even though it's like this tiny little town, what people will do is they'll go to Costco. They'll go two and a half hours away. Is it that far?

Yeah. Like there's Lewiston, Idaho or two hours. Look, between, depends on how you drive, two, two and a half, go to Lewiston, Idaho, Lewiston Clarkson, go to the Costco. Everybody has like a deep freeze. Like my mom does this and then just stocks up for like a month or two worth of food. and then when one of the local businesses dies again they're like oh man just towns dying i'm like yeah because none of you shop at the local places right like i can't believe anything still exists there so your parents are still there uh my mom this is so ridiculous but stepdad, so my mom gets married again when I'm like, I don't know, 10 or 11 to this guy, Tim,

my stepdad's still Tim Hinckley. Well, Tim had lived in Whitebird, which is even smaller than Riggins. It's like a hundred people, 30 miles away. He moves to Riggins and then he convinces my mom when I was like the end of high school to move back to Whitebird because Riggins seriously is too many people for him. Yeah.

He didn't like all the neighbors. He didn't like it's just too many. There's 400 people. This motherfucker called him Nate. That's a parade. Right, right, right. So now they're in Whitebird and not even in Whitebird. They're like just outside of Whitebird.

So you really got to want to be. First of all, you better love the shit out of your partner. Oh, yeah. If that's all. You'll be around them all the time. All the time, right? Yep. And you really got to want to love to live out there like that, huh?

Yeah, you got to love the outdoors. Yeah, and be quiet. Are you playing sports or anything like that? Is any organized what like what the fuck are you doing there was sports but not a lot of them we didn't have baseball um for like you didn't have fields or just not enough people to coach we had a field but not enough people and and also it's like it's small but you have to drive so far to get to other communities. It's like, you got to go to a half an hour to another town called new Meadows is about the same size as us. And then another half hour pass. So there's like, and it's kind of like

a dangerous, like these little highway Canyon roads. And so it was tricky to, um, to get to other places. Our school didn't have baseball, but we did have like American Legion ball for like two years. And then, but then that went away it wasn't enough people uh we had basketball track um volleyball all through the soccer football no soccer um and we had eight man football eight man yeah and everybody played offense and defense yeah yeah and you know what's crazy we had a first round draft pick well after my time there. What do you mean? Leighton Van Der Esch for the Dallas Cowboys played in Riggins. Nah. How the hell did they find him?

Kudos to the scouts on that guy. He went from Salmon River High, where I went to high school. I'll have to tell you about our mascot. It's so inappropriate. And then walked on to Boise State, if I remember right. At the Blue Turf. And then played so well there that he got attention. No shit. went to walked on to boise state if i remember right the blue blue turf right yeah and then played so well there that he got attention but yeah we came out of i mean i don't know him or anything he was after my time but like yeah i came out a little old riggins no shit salmon

river savages savages is what you guys were uh are painted on the gym wall yeah uh american indian guy wild eyed on horseback with a tomahawk race like he's about to murder people the savage to this day it's still that isn't yeah ain't nobody telling them to change and not the most inappropriate mascot in our league who's the most inappropriate or or maybe they're just maybe they're out of our league but we would play them once or twice but orfino idaho which is a little bigger their Their mascot is the maniac. I believe still it was growing up. And I, last I checked, it still was.

Norfino maniacs. Yeah. And what represents the maniac? Crazy eyed, hair going everywhere. And I believe, I think they changed the painting maybe to act like it wasn't what they were doing. But when I grew up, it was like a dude in a straight jacket. It was like a maniac. And next to the high school was one of the state mental hospitals.

Nuh-uh. Yep. Yeah. The high school, the maniacs. The mascot. Just get him to come home. Get a new mascot every night. Yeah.

And they tried to say when they got, you know, people later got mad about it. And they're like, no, no, no. It has nothing to do with the state hospital. They acted like it was just some announcer said, oh, they're playing so hard on the court. They're playing like a bunch of maniacs. And that's all it was like, no, I saw the painting. It's clearly a nod. That is Joe over there. Yeah, that's Joe. Yeah. But yeah, tiny, so tiny little sports, sports teams, but we did have, we did have sports, but, but other than that, I mean, what would you do? A lot of kind of like dinking around in the woods.

Do you have four-wheelers? What do you have out there? Not when I was growing up. My mom does now, four-wheelers. It was mostly like, God, I mean. Just walking then? Yeah, just bike riding. Playing hoops at the little outdoor court in town or just um uh swimming in the river like

outdoor stuff i mean some people it was normal back then to like you know just walk out in the woods with a i don't know 22 rifle and shoot squirrels but like real backwoods stuff yeah yeah like my stepdad like i have so many memories of weekends him and his buddies it was very typical they at the time they would just like we'd go camp on the weekends so we're already living in a small town and then we'd leave the small town go way further out in the woods camp and it was basically just a bunch of dudes drinking keystone lights and shooting at small creatures like they would spend an entire afternoon just doing that shooting at groundhogs and if you're like if you, why, why are you doing that? Why not? It's just something to do.

Yep. Yep. So how often are you seeing your dad then when your mom, you said your mom followed him up, but then left. Right. So, so what age do you stop seeing your dad regularly at least? So I was third grade. So I think I was eight, eight or nine, but I think eight.

And then I don't. And then for a few years, I just don't see him much. He's up in Alaska. We're down there. I saw him maybe like once or twice a year weekend or something like that. Talked to him on the phone usually once a week. And then he moves down to Arizona. And then I, I don't know, seventh or eighth grade is when I first spent like a summer or half the summer with him. So then I'd spend half the summer with my dad and then he moved to Las Vegas. And when I was a freshman in high school, so the summer before freshman year in high school, I went down to spend part of the summer with my dad and then just didn't come back. I like,

I was kind of a dad's boy and wanted to spend more time with him. So then I went to live in Las Vegas, my freshman and sophomore year of high school. him so then i went to live in las vegas my freshman and sophomore year of high school and so then went to a high school where there was like 650 kids in my class and yeah what's that huge culture shock about that yeah you went to vegas went to vegas why vegas that's where my dad was living for construction so you just and so you want to be with him he was wanting to be with him and that's where he was living. And so my sister, now my sister and I kind of split. So she's living with my mom primarily.

I live with my dad primarily. And it was, we were living in this anchor village apartments off of like rainbow and Durango. It's been so many years. And I went to a Bonanza high school. What was their mascot? What's I don't remember.

Actually, I don't even know what their mascot is. It's not a cowboy or some shit? I know, probably a cowboy or something. But it was, that was like my introduction. Like, we had kids at the school who supposedly were like in gangs, like the Bloods and stuff. And I would see like crazy fights.

Yeah, talk about that, dude. You're going from 100 kids to, or your graduating class was 23, you said, to this? Yeah, and our high school there had about, I don't know, 24, 25, 2600 kids, something like that. Yeah. And it was huge culture shock because I was like very much, and we were poor too. Like both dad and mom, very poor. So I'm like getting my clothes at like flea markets and stuff.

But that was the first time I knew I was poor because in Riggins, everybody was poor. Tell me about that. So it's like, and then all of a sudden in my freshman year of high school, you know, I distinctly felt like for the first time, like a massive outsider. It's like, you know, I got these, these kids with their Z Cavaricis and all that kind of stuff or Hugo boss or whatever. And I'm like wearing like a Bart Simpson fucking flea market t-shirt. And, and like, cause we live next to this kind of rich area it was like our apartment complex but then next this area called the lakes where it's like

an artificial lakes and these mansions and those kids went to my same school but then also kids from like rougher areas went so it was like the first time i'd been around like clicks and i didn't really fit in any of them. And I'm also guessing everyone in your town in Idaho was white. Yep. Anchorage, maybe not so much. Except for like one kid, maybe. Anchorage, not so much. But in Idaho, it's like, like you would have maybe one family. Like we had one, literally one Asian girl in town, in the whole town, in my class, Jenny Beto. Her dad was Japanese. Her mom was white. She lived with her white mom and Riggins. So it was like literally just Jenny. And then what was it? Garcia's family. It was like we had one family, Joey. I remember his first name, it was Hispanic, like literally one Hispanic

family. And that was it. I feel like as far as ethnic diversity and then, you know, like Las Vegas, it was, you know, everything, everything, Latino, Asian, white, black, everybody's out there. Yeah. Yeah. And I, uh, so yeah, so I went from like being a kind of a popular kid, I guess, in Riggins as far as everyone's kind of popular there for the most part. But, uh, one of the more popular, I was kind of like a little jock played basketball, uh, baseball, you know, when it was going anything I could and then in and good for there for like for Riggins go to Vegas and I am beyond like not even gonna like ride the bench like not a whiff of playing on any of the teams that's what I wanted to say about the guy that got drafted oh it's crazy the leap he made that's what I'm saying like you think in a hundred people like even the top guy and then you put them it's like the heisman trophy winner in college you put them in the nfl sometimes they don't even do shit yep best college

guy can't even be anything in the nfl right it happens so for you for that guy to go from there and be like well it is insane to not be intimidated right and just speaks to his like raw athletic ability yes i did not have that. Blessed. Yeah. Oh, totally, totally. And then I just became kind of a delinquent. Oh, really? I was going to say, how'd you fit in?

So you become a delinquent? So I don't really have many friends. And then looking back, kind of like analyzing myself, I don't know that I would have thought this at the time, but like I went there to spend time with my dad. My dad was busy with construction and just like with my stepmom and just not like a real interactive dad at that time. And so looking back, I think I was pretty pissed about it. And so I'm just kind of stewing in my room. And then, you know, like I meet this kid named Chris and he's just like anarchy. He lives in the apartment, actually his condos, this complex of condos next to our apartment complex situation.

And his mom, single mom, no dad around, and his mom is usually at her boyfriend's house every weekend. So if I would stay the night at Chris's on the weekend, we had free reign to do whatever we wanted. And whatever we wanted tended to revolve around trying to make explosives and and burning a lot of shit yeah so we were like starting fires we were breaking he had a lock pick set we were breaking into places breaking into cars for real oh yeah trying to blow shit up no i was the only it was chris me uh russ and i can't remember this fourth kid but like out of all of us they all had records and i like barely avoided getting caught every, but like out of all of us, they all had records. And I like barely avoided getting caught every time somebody else.

What kind of places like businesses? Craziest place we broke into that I could have gotten a lot of trouble. We had these fucking all these convoluted plans. We played basketball at this either grade school or junior high, like half mile down the road. And we came up with this plan. We were going to break into that into the school. The school. Take computers and then pawn the computers

for money for video games. Just some fucking dumb 15, 16-year-old plan. And so one night, we're staying at Chris's place. We had a, Russ was supposed to be our getaway driver.

And he drops us off. We push this dumpster over the edge of the building, climb up the building. There's an access thing on the roof. We're able to like break that, get in. And then we're able to like break door locks. It was like the handles that you grab that are horizontal to the floor.

And if you just stood on it basically and pushed all your weight, you could kick it and break it and get into these places. And then we walk out. I don't know. Alarms are going off. We walk out. They're going off for real? And you're walking? And we walk out. You're and we walk out like with computers with computers in our arms but you know it's middle of the night kind of a quiet residential we still thought we could get out of well then some security

guard has you know been alerted and is coming to our place and you know gets out of the car but he's like i don't know 50 60 70 feet, put the computers down, yelling at us, you know, walk over here. And I tell Chris, it's like, like that time in Vegas where we were at, there would be like a block of developed, you know, track houses, apartments, whatever. And then next to it, a full block of just desert. So totally dark. So there was like this grid of, you could just kind of like weave through these darker areas and be a little sneaky. And I was like, no man, let's just go. Well, Chris thought he could talk his way out of it he sets his stuff down walks over to the security guard i stand in the darkness and just yell for like a

minute of like fucking push him fucking go push him fuck that guy he doesn't i do and so i actually made it back to chris's condo and then i just stayed at his place by myself that night russ got spooked and never went picked us up he just fucking left us yep this motherfucking just left away driver gone but there was like incidents like that so chris got in trouble yeah didn't he didn't rat no nobody ever ratted me out but i had like little things like that yeah we had a ton of just the dumbest how how do we not get caught? The craziest one that I should have gotten caught for, we had another really dumb plan where we were going to steal bicycles

at another apartment complex across the street from Chris's condo. And middle of the day, and I had, I was such a dork. I was into rollerblades. So I had rollerblades. It was Chris and one of Chris's friends, I can't remember his name this other dude we were gonna get those guys bikes and then they're gonna bike downtown to this uh like computer game store i'm gonna rollerblade we're gonna uh steal shit from there god it was the fucking dumbest plan what was i think yeah we're gonna steal shit from there and then take, just ride our bikes back and stuff like that. Return them to whoever we stole them from and then just go play these games.

We didn't make it very, we never made it very far. We were very unsuccessful in all of these plans we had. We go middle of the day. It's like these big apartment buildings where there's maybe eight units on a side. And so there'll be like, you walk into, and then two little, I guess, entrances where you walk into an entrance and there's an apartment on your left. It's like two story apartment on your right. Or you can go up the stairs, one on your left, one on your right. And then, but all of those have balconies and like screen doors and stuff. So if anybody's in there,

they can just be looking out to see who's coming in this main entrance. Middle of the day, don't even check to see who's there there's like two bikes next to one of the doors chris this other guy just walk in just grab straight up fucking grab these bikes start walking them out and then the guys were home like they just saw them walking away with their bikes i'm like being my little fucking rollerblader in the parking lot out in front doing little circles waiting for him these two guys come out and they're jacked they're like dudes in their 20s and they're like what the fuck yeah that's our fucking bikes and now chris and this other guy like throw the bikes

down they start running well i'm on rollerblades and i'm rollerblading with one of the other guys who's running now during this let down this like next to him so i'm in front at first like i'm doing great i'm leaving him in the dust i'm fucking rollerblading way in front of him. I ain't never heard anybody tell a story about getting away on rollerblading. Oh. This is, I wish I had visual of this just for my own memories.

Like a video. In my mind, you're in short shorts and a half shirt. Oh, it's probably not far off. So, I'm fucking, I'm'm rollerblading and at the edge you know in the desert there would be these big like i guess what where the water could drain off into the desert out of the parking lot so these big concrete things where you rollerblade and then i made it to the end so it's like a wall like a six foot you know concrete kind of block wall and we get cornered like there's nowhere to go me and this other dude on foot well he's on foot i'm on rollerblades this other guy chases

he's on foot we climb over the wall through ourselves well now it's one of those desert blocks rollerblades you did that at me dude oh yeah i pulled myself over well then check this shit out i dropped myself on their side i have a full block of desert now now it's just sage brush and i'm gonna fucking rollerblades so i'm like you're all roading in your oh yeah so i'm running as fast as i fucking can and that and now the dude who i was way ahead of well he fucking passes me because he's on foot and so and then the other dude that's chasing us jumps over the wall. And now I have like this crazy adrenaline where I just have to make it to the sidewalk.

And if I can make it to the sidewalk, I'll fucking beat him. I wish I had video of how fucking hard I was running in these heavy rollerblades. And then how I did make it. And I was so happy as I'm fucking rollerblading down the sidewalk. Like I barely made it to the sidewalk in front of him. But then I was gone. It's like so many close calls. You got away on rollerblades, dude.

But can you imagine? Like there was a busy street next to us. I just picture somebody my age now driving and seeing this skinny ass kid on rollerblades. And this big jack dude chasing him. If I could just get him before he hits that pavement, man. Oh, he would have beat the fuck out of you. He would have beat the shit out of you. And so many incidents like that of almost getting annihilated.

Oh, God. And rightfully so by people I had done shitty things to. Oh, fuck. God damn. That was hilarious. According to the CDC, fewer men than women meet the minimum daily intake recommendations for fruits and vegetables, and men are more likely to overvalue exercise and undervalue nutrition.

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I mean, that's my question. Did you enjoy living with your dad? It was not what I thought it was going to be. My dad and I have a good relationship now, but we had definitely some rougher years, and part of it was like, no, it was not. My stepmom was a psychopath. Oh, he remarried as well. Okay. And check this.

This is the craziest as a parent now. And again, I love my dad now. Like we're good. So I don't want to throw my dad in the bus, but I just can't believe he did this looking back. So he's a divorce guy before I moved to Vegas, two kids. He made this blackjack dealer at one of the casinos downtown Vegas. They get married two weeks after they meet.

Two weeks. And in that interim, during that two weeks, she tells him, not only does she not want to have kids, I don't like kids. Did she know he had two before they got married and these fucking idiots. So he marries a woman as a guy with two kids who does not like kids just straight up. And she marries him. Both of them fucking idiots marries a guy who she knows has two kids. And so she was not overjoyed when I went to live with them. And it was just so it was it was not a great like you

know living with somebody who actively does not like you but you're a high schooler is that considered kids still for her just in general period not not some toddler she had to help take care of or she doesn't really even need to be a mom no you got a mom no and she was kind of like you know absent she just wasn't a good person. Like, they ended up getting divorced later. But she just like, there was, I don't know what the fuck. The sex must have been amazing. Must have.

Must have been amazing. Because I don't know, other than that, like, what he saw in her. Like, nobody does. Were they together for a while? They were together for about 10, 15 years. So quite a while. I got to say, off of a two-year. Oh, my God. Two weeks. I mean, 15 years, so quite a while. I got to say, off of a two-year. Oh, my God.

Two weeks. I mean, it made two weeks. Sorry. Yes. Thank you. Two weeks to 15 years. Even unhealthy. It wasn't a good 15 years, but they fucking kept it together.

Oh, paid for it big time. But then randomly. So, okay. So, we're down there for two years. Well, he's not making a ton in construction. And in Vegas at that time, he just feels like they're never going to be able to kind of get ahead down there. And he did like, in Riggins, he moved all around. He was like a pastor's son.

His dad took various gigs at different Pentecostal churches. And so they moved around a bit. But he liked Riggins, where he met my mom. Still had friends there. Liked that area of the country. Just thought it was around a bit, but they like, he liked Riggins where he met my mom still had friends there like that area of the country. Just thought it was beautiful. He's a big Hunter outdoors guy and randomly was just kind of looking back at the area. And so 12,

13 miles outside of Riggins is a little community called Pinehurst. And I mean, I don't know, 15, 20 people live there. That's it. It's like a gas station. It's like two families.

Yeah, a gas station, a church, and then just a couple families. Oh, shit. So it's not a town. It's just like there's these little communities along the river. He finds a piece of property there that is super cheap. And just end of my sophomore year, he's like, hey, we're going back to that area. And it was like, if he would have moved 10 miles further away from riggins i would have been a different school system i would have been like with new meadows so i ended up just happening to

to go back to my original school so you now you're reuniting with people you already knew and that was super fun so then junior senior year it's like yeah i didn't want to stay in riggins forever but it was just nice to have like my old friends and stuff yeah so that was good uh but then it was just a weird living situation because I didn't get my driver's license before we left. I missed driver's training in Idaho. So I had a full year when we got back where I'm just kind of stuck out in Pinehurst.

And it's funny. I showed my mother-in-law, she was curious about where I grew up. We drove to like the, the area where I was a little kid and Riggins and then took her out to Pinehurst. She literally cried at like how sad it was. literally yeah right now and it was worse then that's what i'm saying she's crying today she's like i can't believe you got out of here because it's like rural poverty

my fucking room my junior and senior year of high school was essentially a shed like i basically lived in a shed because there was like the main house, which was a one bedroom, one bath. One bed, one bath for your mom, dad. That was for step mom and dad. Yep. And then sister's still at mom's most of the time. Well, there was this.

Oh, wait, this is when you went back. This is when I go back. Okay. So now there's this outer building on the other side of the property that was no real insulate. I mean, it was built like a shed it was like concrete floor and no real insulation in the walls and no uh sink i mean we had a toilet out there but that was it it was just like a it was like a fucking room where you would you would feel like you take a hostage like uh like some fucking sex dungeon where you're

gonna trap somebody and like hey you can shit in the toilet that's all you got yeah you gotta stay in this locked room that was the bathroom and then there was just uh kind of two rooms there was a wall in between but it had a doorway but no door you never put a door in so there was just like a curtain separating my sister's room in my room no like ac heat none of that and that that's where i lived fresh earth junior senior year damn and just out in the middle of fucking nowhere like so then when do you get out when do you decide to move out of there uh after i graduated senior i luckily no i had to uh i worked for my dad in construction that summer to save money but um just because i needed money for for college and i worked at the grocery store as soon as i got a a, when I turned 17, I was able to get a license.

I got a little truck. Then I worked at the grocery store in town to save money. And then I got a scholarship or a series of little scholarships and grants to Gonzaga. Did you? Mm-hmm. All right. And that's what got me out of there. Okay.

Yeah. So I was, college for me was less about like, oh, I got this plan. I'm going to do this. And then I'm going to get this kind of job. It was just, I just fucking need to get out of here. And college was the way to do it. And my family was very supportive of that, too. They wanted me to go to college.

So what is your relationship like with your sister? Good. Yeah, really good. So was it did you and did you two like enjoy getting back together when you moved back? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, she's five and a half years younger. So that age it's a pretty big gap you know but um but no it was really good like i like try to look out for her and you know kind of mentor her a little bit i guess when i got to college and and then as adults we become like really close you mentioned your mom remarried

too was he a good dude yeah he's a good dude like good to you and stuff unlike the step mom yeah yeah he's great and and tim is uh still are they still together oh they are yep he's a solid dude okay yeah super chill yeah big uh big big gun guy i like i like guns you know uh a fair like whatever it's fun to shoot him listen if you live out there you better be a fucking gun person you don't just have people you got animals You got all kinds of shit out there. Yeah. Yeah. We did a little hunting and stuff. My dad's really big into that.

But my stepdad, he was like a logging equipment mechanic. And yeah, just a cool dude. It's a job you don't hear often. I know. Right? Yeah. Yeah. What'd your mom do?

She worked at, when we first moved back, she worked at like the pizza place and a variety of little places. And then she got a job at the grocery store kind of doing their bookkeeping. And then she went from there to like, there was like one bank in town. So it was a pretty like coveted job because it had benefits, you know, decent pay. And then so she worked as a checker at the bank or teller, I guess. Yeah. checker at the at the bank or teller i guess yeah and my my grandma and my grandparents my mom's parents my grandma betty and grandpa they were like the real glue that were like provided the most stability so no matter where i was i always had a super good relationship with them local as

well they lived in riggins we lived with them we first moved back from alaska my grandpa built a series of little rental houses and so actually the places we live with my mom were places he owned okay and super helpful to his two daughters and they both were and uh but like he worked at the sawmill before it for it burnt to the ground and wasn't rebuilt and my grandma worked at the post office so they had like good jobs for that little town yeah post office that's a government job oh yeah town hell yeah So she worked at the post office for like 30-some years. So you had a little bit of family, but you have no cousins or anything like that

that you know of up there, just you and your sister? Yeah, cousins in other little towns, an hour, hour and a half away, but nobody else in town. Yeah. Were you an introvert, or were you just forced to be an introvert at first, and then you realize you're not when you get to Vegas? Like, what were you like growing up?

Are you spending a lot of alone time? Yeah, but I think I've always been an introvert, you know, where it's like it's weird. Like, you know, I love conversations like this, but as far as like you want me to come hang out at some big get together, like no part of that has ever sounded fun to me, really. Like when I was hammered in college. I'm an extroverted introvert. Yeah. Yeah. I can turn it on for a moment, but I need to recharge.

I can be in front of crowds and I don't want to go fucking hang out at the anniversary party or whatever. I'm not interested. Yeah. Me too. I'm good. Me too. And so I did. I think it helped, honestly, my imagination.

I just like, you know, read a lot of books, played a lot of like stuff, you know, just games by myself. Like when I was little, it was G.I. Joe's and that where you're building scenarios and all this stuff. And then in high school, when I came back, you know, got into like Dungeons and Dragons for a little bit. But just a lot of time to think and a lot of time just to, I don't know, daydream and stuff, I guess. So I do think that shaped me somewhat. Yeah. Yeah.

I want to talk. I just want to switch gears for a second because we were talking before we recorded about, you know, you start to get a little bit of success and then you got to keep working. Right. We all have that. Like, I don't know. I just come from that. It's fine. I just saw this clip the other day that was like, yeah, it's like I worked five jobs at one point wow you know i i never worked less than three you know yeah yeah doing something and i was always broke right and then you hear all these other people i'm working three jobs they're always broke and i was like there's got to be a smarter not harder way right and when you just come from that you know i'm very blue

collar background and come from that just work and you don't even know why it's go to college and you'll make something yourself oh yeah totally i'm just supposed to go to this university and then magically i'm going to make something myself like it was that's what everyone the answer to success was college yep and i no longer feel that way at all um i'll go back and forth my daughter's mother on this because she's like are you gonna save for a college fund and i'm like no no she's like but what if she wants to go to college i was like i'll deal with it once she wants to go to college like i had nothing yeah so just because we have i don't want to just throw my well then you could just give her the fucking forty thousand dollars where i'm like

yeah i'm good on that i'm good on that i'm gonna use that motherfucking money you know yeah yeah yeah so you actually hit a little bit of burnout is that right yeah for the first time because like you i was raised you know very you know poor and and like blue collar and same thing like in high school you know as soon as i could drive i'm working before i go to school doing like i started seventh grade started working in seventh grade like when i was in when i go to school doing like i started seventh grade started working in seventh grade like when i was in when i was in grade school stuff i mowed a bunch of lawns that was like how i get some extra money and then uh you ever shovel snow for people you gotta we didn't have enough snow there really yeah it's like it's in a weird little microclimate if you go uh half

an hour in any either direction i've been to quarter lane idaho and it's just lots of snow yeah but where we yeah not much there but yeah, do this, do that, work for my dad, go to job sites, you know, construction. Then work, you know, the before school, after school, when I got to college, always had a job in, like you said, usually two, never had more than three, but I would have like multiple jobs. You know, got out of school, had my full-time job. It's kind of like a low-level counselor-type position, but then also worked at a gym, always working lots of hours, and then just carried that mentality into comedy, doing stand-up, but then trying to sell spec scripts

or working in reality television as a consultant while doing stand-up, while hosting this other thing, just always doing a lot of things. Stand-up, always present always doing a lot of things. Stand up, always present, doing 10 other fucking things. Yep, and then carry that into podcasting, launching all these podcasts, but then, but yeah, but I also do standup.

So, you know, when you're offered like tour dates, especially once you start to kind of sell some tickets, you're like, oh man, now I'm, after 15 years, I'm finally making more than 1500 a week, you know, doing this and then saying yes to all that. And just in the habit of just always saying yes. Yep. There's an opportunity. I'll take it. And then pretty soon I'm working legitimately 70 plus hours a week, every week. And then that

just becomes normal of like never having a day off, even on vacation, wife, kids, they'll go do something. I work half days and then I'm hanging out with the fam in the evenings. And that just like became our like normal way of life. And then it was just this last year that I just started to get like so tired and just, yeah, just really, but I, but I didn't even interpret it as that at first. I just felt like depressed. And I'm like, why am I not enjoying all these things that I've been enjoying? When did you, when did it like finally click? Like, man am I not enjoying all these things that I've been enjoying? When did you, when did it like finally click? Like, man, I've just been, cause, cause for a while you just get in that work mode, work, work, work. When did it hit you where you were like,

Hey, it was when my son went to college. It was like, I think I had this end goal. Like, cause then I got divorced, you know, later and really struggled for a few years after the divorce, like worrying about, am I going to be able to help my kids go to college? My ex-wife, she's killing it in the corporate world. Great job. Am I gonna be like the deadbeat dad and not be able to help? All these things were coming up in my head,

like worried about like, am I gonna be a version of kind of how my dad was for a certain period and not be able to help? And that was like a big fear of mine. So then once I started making some money, I'm like, oh, cool. I'll be able to like help my kids like I wanted to. And then that became my whole focal point was getting the kids to college. And my wife and I moved back to Coeur d'Alene to be close to my ex. Like we didn't move there because we wanted to live back in Idaho. Okay. So you were married once.

Right. And got divorced. Got divorced. You had two kids? Two kids. Okay. Yep. My son and my daughter moved to LA, flying them back and forth, trying to make something here. Wow. You know, so it's tough.

So it's like, you know, when you're not working, you're also getting on planes to make sure you're a present father, all these things. Well, if you want to be a good father. Totally. Which, you know, very much could have been a deadbeat. Could have been a piece of shit. Could. But wanted to be a good dad.

And then we moved to Coeur d'Alene thinking that was going to fuck our careers. It definitely fucked my wife's career. She worked in film and TV production. Said goodbye to that. So then all our focus became just on the kids up in Coeur d'Alene and making sure that work, making sure the sacrifice we took. So wait, you actually did the opposite of your father. You married a woman that liked kids? Yep. Good for you. Oh, that was dead. Good for you. making sure the sacrifice we took so wait you actually did the opposite of your father you married a woman that liked kids yep good for you oh that was good after that way to not replay that

oh my god when she first met him i remember being so nervous because i was super into her can i ask you how long you waited before you introduced your new wife to your children it wasn't super long because when we started dating the kids were with me for the summer and they were about to go back. And so I wanted just to test the waters. So we all went to a Dodgers game and that was like the introduction. We go to a Dodgers game with my friend and I was just curious how the kids would take to her. And I was super nervous because if it didn't click, I was like, well, then that's it. It's over. But I was like really into her and thank God, like they adore her. Like she's a super mom.

And vice versa. Yep, and vice versa. Oh, yeah, good. She's very, very nurturing. She worked at like, what, I guess the synagogue, daycare and stuff. So she was like worked with kids and liked that and was a nanny for a couple families early on when she was getting into production. So I knew that she was good with kids. But you don't know that's going to translate to yours. So luckily that

works. But then like, so Lindsay and I, so my wife and I's focal point becomes, we're living here for the kids. We're busting our ass for the kids and everything is like getting them to college. And then when my son, when I dropped him off in college and come home, it was like the most unexpected depression just hit like so hard, like, you know, miss him a ton. I was going to say, as you're an empty nester. Yeah. Well, you have one kid partial halfway. And then, but it was also like, I didn't realize that I crossed this finish line where I'm like, well, I was just focused on just getting them to college. Now one's there and we're doing okay financially.

It's like this thing. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm not poor anymore. And then it was like, and I go right back into the grind of the 70 hours a week. But then I had this lingering feeling like, why are you still doing this? Like, why are you still working this many hours? And this awareness of you only have three years left with Monroe and then she's going to be in college. Like, you know how that hits now. Don't you want to like be around even more because now you can. And then that, that voice is just kind of in the background. And then I have this special come out on YouTube and we're doing these press for it.

So I'm doing the podcasting, the tour dates, flying to New York, flying to LA, taking these trips. And when I was in New York, like a month or two ago, Lindsay was, my wife was trying to get me to come up with a tour name. And she's talking about, hey, we got to make plans. We got to get these things together as far as when you're going to announce certain things on the podcast. And I've been dragging my feet on that stuff. And she just said, she's like, honestly, she goes, I don't think you want to do it. I was like, what? She's like, every time I bring it up, you want to push things off and you don't seem excited.

Do you want to do this? And I just thought for a second. I'm like, I don't know. And then she said, you don't need my permission. But she's like, you don't have to. And just so you know, I'm not going to be upset. I'm not going to care that we're going to lose that money. She's like, I care about you. I want to make sure that you're healthy. She's like, I'm worried

about you. And there've been months of people being like, Hey, I'm worried about how much you're working. Yeah. They were saying, and in the family, like my dad and stuff, years of people being like, you're working too much. And like you, it's like, I always prided myself on that blue collar work ethic. And that was like how you have kind of worth and value is you're a hard worker. That's like the best thing you can be in life is a hard worker, a hustler, a grinder, so much respect for that. And now I'm having more people being like, yeah, but you don't have to grind this hard. And then when Lindsay was like, you don't need to do this. And I'm like, you promise you're not going to be mad. And she's like, no. And I'm like, I don't think I want to

do it. And then that led to this domino effect where I fire my agency, cancel this tour, also cancel some of the bonus content we were doing on Patreon for Time Suck because it was just a lot. It was like a lot of weekly things. Explain that to the fans. And I'm kind of panicking internally. I know I need to do this, but in my brain, I think all the fans are going to go away. People are going to think I'm a fucking huge pussy. The concert promoter will never want to work with me again because I'm a fucking baby. Like all these old school tough guy voices being like, up your fucking pussy. And now you're being exposed for that. And it's all going to go away.

Nope. Everybody was cool. Everybody was like, good job, man. You got to take care of yourself. Agent left the agency, like still with him. Cons promoters, like whenever you're ready to come back, we support you. We love you. Actually, Andrew Dorfman, one of the Dorfman brothers, he's like, he was worried seeing me in Nashville about my mental health a little bit too, I guess. It was this weird thing where it's like after I said like, no, there was a lot of people coming out of the woodwork being like, I was pretty worried about you. Like as far as, kind of things I'm talking about on stage, you know, maybe doing psychedelics and things a little too much, you know, like talking about drugs too much on stage.

And then I kind of analyze that too. And I'm like, oh yeah, it's like, it's not that I was going to become some fucking addict, but the reason i was trying to do that stuff more is just to have an escape just to like it's the only way i could shut my brain off from like being in work mode so it was a it was a weird week i felt embarrassed you know telling people that i needed time off i don't know it was like emasculating almost i i can understand that yeah but yeah that's that old fucking yeah grind whatever meant that dude meant out walk it off totally you can't cry no you're not hurt just

fucking walk shut up and walk it off exactly yeah put your head down and work you just push past it when did when you made that shift and finally accepted it did you start to feel different at first i felt really like embarrassed and weird and it's funny i'm a huge mental health advocate and talk about it all the time on the podcast i just had to reschedule a weekend in illinois because i had to go have another back procedure and i was so worried yeah i'd never like i've missed the weekend but only because of flights canceled and didn't make it. I've never, ever shut a whole weekend down and had to reschedule. For health stuff.

Well, that's not true, actually. I was headlining the Brea Improv and collapsed in the shower with kidney stones the first night I was ever going to headline. I had to call them. I had to call them from the hospital and be like, I am just FaceTiming you from the hospital to let you know. Right. But this was the first time, and I was so worried everyone was going to be they couldn't have been nicer

they couldn't have been nicer they get it they get it that was my experience too and it's like i had this weird thing in my head where it's like i'm advocating for everybody else's mental health but not taking care of but not taking like and uh and that also felt weird too like i started feeling more like a hypocrite where i'm like oh oh, I want you to take care of yourself, but I'm tougher than that. I don't fucking need that. I'll keep grinding. And then, but yeah, but then the fans,

like they were like, yeah, man, like you're always telling us to do these things in our lives. How shitty would we be if we didn't give you that same grace? And it was really touching actually. And just like everybody being cool. And then now that it's settled in

and now that I have, like, I'm not going to be doing all these dates next year, I'm still gonna be working plenty on the podcast, but then I'm just gonna be working like what feels like a light 40 to 50 hours. I feel like this crazy weight was lifted. I feel so much happier and, uh, and more creative. I feel like the most creative I've felt in, I don't know, a year or two. To be creative. Right.

You're not just in this regimented schedule of we got to get on here, fly there, get on this car, go to this place, go to that. You know, you have time to be creative. You ever do mantras in the morning, like wake up and repeat phrases to get your mind set? No. Should I? I journal. I write a lot. You know, I do that,

but I don't wake up and my mantra every morning is like, come on, Stella, get up, let's go. Come on, we gotta get to school, girl. That's my mantra every morning. I would do like, what do you call it? Like giving yourself intentions for the day. Yeah. And it did, it was effective,

but also looking back kind of sad where it's like, I would have these mantras and one of them was like, I would literally tell myself I was a robot. Like you're, you're a machine, you're a robot. Like you can power through, you can outwork anybody, like all these crazy things. And I put myself in that mode and I would, and I would go into that mode, but then it was very regimented and I was able to accomplish a lot, but I had to have like basically no emotions and then just no time for like reflection, creativity, just like,

nope, I'm going to do this for two hours. Then I'm going to have a 15 minute lunch. Then I'm gonna do this. I'm going to eat this kind of thing. Cause it's light. It's not going to make me sleepy on this plane. I should be able to get two hours. I mean, so regimented. And after a while, I'm like, that's not a fucking good way to live. Like, what am I doing? Like I got into all this cause it's fun yes and now i've become this uh machine that is trying to create fun for others while not having fun myself and i'm like that is fucking crazy i'm a big uh that's a big fuck up of mine too is taking care being a people pleaser yep taking care of everybody else and yep i'll do that for you i'll do that for you yeah yeah yeah and then i don't take care of

myself isn't it or yeah they won't do what you know what i'm saying like reciprocate yeah the reciprocation i'm like that's tough there was some oh like warren buffett it's like that guy i've been fascinated with him forever and i'd read like quotes of his for a while and years ago i read something about him saying and other people have this, but how no is the most powerful word you can use. And that he said like the most successful people he has ever kind of worked around and met are people who are really good at saying no. The people really good at like, nope, this is what I can handle. This is what I'm good at. This is what I'm doing. Boundaries.

Boundaries. Get away from you with everything else. It's great advice. So Gora taught me that a while ago there's power and no because i was like yeah i called him up like i want your advice on this i don't remember what the hell was years ago i'm like did it and he goes you know what say no you i can tell you want to say no yeah and you're only saying yes because you think there won't be another opportunity if I say no. Yeah. Fear of everything, you know? And just always in that survival mode. Survival. I got to say yes, because God forbid, where am I going to get another $1,500 opportunity in the next month or whatever, you know?

And then when he said that to me, there's power in no. And it wasn't just saying no to bad deals. It's also saying no to overextending yourself and doing all these things. It's great advice for mental health. Yeah, it took me until I was 46 to really figure that one out. I'm 50 and I still don't have it figured out, bro. But you get habitualized, I think, in like, I don't know if you, well, I don't, I shouldn't assume you do this, but I do this. And I imagine you do this where you kind of internally maybe think of yourself as Ryan from 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, not Ryan today, because like today you're a very established

figure in the comedy community. You have a very successful podcast, a very successful standup, like people starting off. I would love to be ryan sickler like you are a known figure but you probably think of yourself as the guy the 16 year old that has no parents and has no fucking income and no outlook on life and has no idea what the fuck he's gonna do panic panic panic yeah that's where i'm at yeah isn't it crazy thing we do to ourselves yes yeah i have yet to like just take a deep breath and be like all right you know so i try to practice that too like hey tomorrow we're fine everybody wants to focus on today today we're good but also tomorrow we're gonna be good too yeah no matter what happens today when we wake up tomorrow that day is also going to be just fine

yep yes we're sitting right now where but i I couldn't think that before. You know what that's like. Oh, yeah. I lived in my car for a while. I could not say, hey, today's good and tomorrow is also going to be okay. So for me, that's leaps and bounds improvement, you know? Totally. Yeah. And I'm saying this stuff now, but I still have those days too. Like right now I feel good, but you know, a week from now I could be, I mean, my wife, she's such a saint that way.

But Lindsay will also openly tell people like, oh yeah, he's crazy as shit. It's like, you're like live with him. Like he's a fucking maniac, like just all over the place. And I'm working on it,

but it's like, I'll have a day like this today. And then a week from now I might be like telling her, I'm like, it's all going away. We're going to fucking lose everything. She doesn't even get rattled anymore when I say she's like that. She's like, okay.

Maybe you're hungry. Going through. Hungry. Probably a little tired. Pull it together. Dude, thank you for doing this episode. This has been very, very insightful. Your first time here on this podcast, so I ask everybody.

Yeah. After whatever we've talked about, it's interesting because you had that high school shift too. Advice you'd give to your 16-year-old self. Oh, man. What I would tell my 16-year-old self is- You'd say wear sneakers and get off those motherfucking rollerblades. Stop trying to burn everything. Stop trying to burn everything.

Stop trying to blow shit up. But I would tell them, like, things are going to get a lot better. Like, you're going to be okay. Like, you're a fucking angry dude right now. Like, a very destructive guy. But I'm like, I know you can't see it, but there's going to be a path for you, and you're going to be fine. Like, you're going to be okay. So just ease up.

That's great advice. And your stepmom's going to die of cancer when you're about 30, and it's going to be fine like you're going to be okay so just ease up that's great advice and your stepmom's going to die of cancer when you're about 30 and it's going to be fine she's going to be gone she's going to be dead and you're going to be okay dude this is a great episode uh Please, again, plug, promote, all of it. Yeah. So if you just go to, you can find Time Suck. If you want to, you know, I try to make learning fun. You can learn about, you know, various cults, historical figures, historical moments. Or if you like campfire ghost stories, I got a bunch of them with Scared to Death. Or you can find a bunch of my stuff online, stand-up-wise,

including Trying to Get Better on YouTube. Oh, yeah. Thank you for doing this for real. Yeah, as always, RyanSickler.com. Ryan Sickler on all social media. We'll talk to you all next week. I'm out.