The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - Jamie Kennedy
Episode Date: October 14, 2019My #HoneyDew this week is Jamie Kennedy! The youngest of six kids from Philly, Jamie talks about losing his parents and the pain and guilt that comes with not being able to say goodbye. He also shares... a story about being cut from the Brad Pitt movie Ad Astra and some choice HoneyDew Hollywood moments! It's a different side of Jamie Kennedy. Subscribe, download and review! Hurry to http://upstart.com/HONEYDEW to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is.
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You're listening to The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler.
Welcome back to The Honeydew, y'all. We're over here at Studio Jeans doing it at your mom's house.
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much um and if you're new to the show these are the stories behind the storytellers.
All right.
We highlight the lowlights over here.
Today's storyteller.
It's a pleasure to introduce for the first time here on the Honeydew.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Kennedy.
Welcome to Honeydew, Jamie Kennedy.
Thank you for having me, bro.
Thank you for being here.
I know we've talked about this for a little bit.
Yes, we have.
Well, before we get into any of your stories stories please feel free to plug whatever you'd like
uh at jamie kennedy on twitter the jamie kennedy on instagram jamie kennedy on facebook jamie
kennedy world.com is my website you know the basic podcast i have a, but it's hard to do. It is.
You need a fucking team.
I've done...
Let me see.
I've done 12 episodes over two years.
A new episode's coming in 2020.
It's fucking hard, man.
It is hard. I know. We have a great team of people. You need people. it's fucking hard man
it is hard I know
we have a great team of people
you need people but it's called
hate to break it to you
and it was all like you know
shit that I believe is honest
like you know how we are
hypocrisy of life we point that out
so it's really like me trying to break down
the hypocrisy of shit
but I did 12 episodes
I'm gonna do another one soon
It's a lot of fucking work
Episode 13's coming
Episode 13's coming soon
2020
It's just cause you gotta edit it
And then it's like you said this
And then I say that
And I look weird
I booger my nose
You know
So but I gotta do it I gottaoger my nose. You know. But I got to do it.
I got to do it.
Because this is the new.
So everything is.
This is another Facebook.
This is not.
This is.
No podcasting is literally.
Then it's it's another handle man.
It's like Netflix and podcasting made comedy.
No doubt.
Yeah.
I say all the time though about podcasting. This might be the and podcasting made comedy. No doubt. I say all the time
though about podcasting. This might
be the only thing in our careers
that you get 100%
complete
creative control.
100%.
No FCC, no
executives, no managers,
no agents telling you can't say that.
Don't say it like that gotta do this gotta
do this gotta do this you know what you should do you should do it like this you should shut the
fuck up let me do my show the way i want to do my fucking show yes that's yeah that's what it is
it's like they try to that's the dude they try to fucking curb you and this is like your creative
stream and now i i used to think that there was so many reasons so many popular podcasts
are blowing up is because these people have always been right they have been funny you know there's
been this wall that's that's the other side and there's only so many people that that these agents
and not everyone works with is oh we're gonna let them they're gonna let the people see him and her
and him and her but the whole time, what about all of us back here?
And these podcasts now have just right over top that wall, and you're out there, and we've been right all along, and people love it.
I totally agree.
It's like there was like everyone, 25,000 people are fighting for two spots.
Dude, I hate the gatekeepers.
And I've had success within the community, and I still hate it.
So it's like I agree with you. It's like about finding your own little fiefdom you know what i mean so let's get
into uh learn a little bit more about you so i know you're from philly originally yes your accent
is even like the the accent i can't stand the most is philly so if you were like gonna throw up
like when you hear an accent it's philly
but the accent that you want to throw up and have diarrhea on top of is baltimore
dude i've got a lot of time in your fucking area what well what did you first of all you're from
philly i mean you're from baltimore so philly and baltimore first of all, you're from Philly. I mean, you're from Baltimore, so Philly
and Baltimore share a thing.
We're your fucked up cousin. Yeah, but you
guys are even more legit.
Like, we, like, threw snowballs
at Santa. You guys, like, threw, like, rusty
screwdrivers. Like,
and, like, Colin Quinn, like,
the first time I ever met him, I don't, the impression
is not right. He's like, oh, you're from Philly?
He's like, oh, fucking, at Philly. He's like, Oh,
fuck it.
At least Baltimore knows it's not a city.
Philly actually thinks it's a fucking city.
At least Baltimore knows it's a fucking armpit.
That's what I think he said.
And I was dying.
I was like,
really?
So,
and then I shot a movie.
I have relatives in Silver Spring,
Maryland.
So I did a lot of time in Maryland,
which is not Baltimore. That's like beautiful compared to baltimore it's outside of dc yes
and then i shot a movie called enemy of the state which is uh an amazing experience but like
it was a time when you would shoot a movie for six months and you you know even if you had like
two or five scenes because they would just like with something called run a picture and so i shot probably three months i would lived at the harbor you did that's where they put you
up they put me up and i that hooters yeah that was i know that hooter that was my commissary
you dated why did you date you just get wings and handle it so that was crab feast all day i mean that was but it was yeah i had
some good times down there in baltimore and uh you know hopefully nobody documented it so philly
uh what's it like you you your parents you said were stayed together you told me yeah my parents were dude they're married for 50 six uh 61 years how
many kids one year six kids six you're one of six i'm the last one you're the baby yeah i'm the
mistake i'm definitely were you really an oops baby yeah i was like five and a half years between
me and my sister and it's like there's just there was no plan have you tried to backdate it to what
might have happened that nine months before that that they were celebrating
and you showed up, ruined everything?
Oh, I didn't really.
Jesus.
What a way to document your existence.
When were you born?
You backdate to when your dad should have pulled out,
busted on the knee?
What month were you born?
I was born in May 25th.
So nine months before may
at september is your five five yeah about that wow that's august summer's end of summer
end of summer labor it was labor day fucking weekend oh there it is right there oh yeah um
yeah i don't know i think they just took what they get you know what
i mean it's like there was what's the what's the age difference between me my sister is five and
a half years older than me the oldest though and the oldest is uh i'm 49 the oldest is 62 wow okay
so are you close uh yeah we you know we're all very very different we're all very headstrong and what we share is
this bloodline but uh we're all very fucking narcissistic you know what i'm saying so but
we're good actually we're closer you know lately so were you um were you just the the being the
baby you're the one they let do whatever, get away with whatever.
They're like, fuck it, we've raised these five kids.
This one's getting whatever he gets.
A kind of, kind of.
Like I was definitely, you know, I was raised kind of by TV.
I mean, that's why I think I became an actor and a comedian.
I was raised, I was able to have a little black and white TV next to my bed, which became color in the late 70s.
And that's where I watched all the Tonight Shows.
And then in the early 80s, I used to watch Jack Tripper, Too Close for Comfort.
That raised me.
So, yeah, I mean, I always said my parents were tired.
You know what I mean?
Fuck, yeah.
I got to do a lot.
And I got to experience the city a lot because of that.
What did your dad do?
My dad, he worked for GE.
I still, to this day, don't know what he did.
No?
Just worked for GE.
He worked for GE.
He's from the South, and he talked for Foghorn, Leghorn.
And my mom would drop him off, and I was with him.
I'm like, Dad, what do you do?
He's like, I work in the air, right in there.
You see that big, ugly building right there with the smokestacks?
I'm like, yeah.
He's like, yep, that's where I work.
That's where my soul dies.
And he was some type of machinist?
What is that?
What's a fucking machinist?
I don't know.
It's like somebody, like somebody makes the machines.
Whatever.
I think he was literally a hardcore blue-collar job of melting down metal.
Making bolts for fucking dishwashers.
All of that shit.
So that's what he did.
He's a beautiful soul.
And he sacrifices life for us.
It's incredible.
And what about your mom? My mom also is a beautiful soul, and he sacrifices life for us. It's incredible. And what about your mom?
My mom also a beautiful soul.
She's very, very smart.
She was a paralegal.
So my dad worked over there, and my mom worked in Philly for a big law firm.
Okay.
So we had a lot of nice things and side stuff because my mom was always in high society
and my dad was always making good money doing a job he hated.
So it was a mix.
I really believe the way I am is because of my parents.
My dad was an extreme dreamer, like amazing dreamer,
and my mother was extremely practical.
So it really fucking, you know.
Gave you both sides. I think so i think so you know this just got really
serious that's what we do over here i like that and what kind of um did you get in trouble a lot
as a kid or were you like into mischief what was your thing you said you got to see a lot of the
city some would you venture out what was up uh i i yeah i mean like i went to catholic school dude you did yeah and was like
it was like i think about why i am the way i am it was like i was born like with whatever energy
i have like a fucking spaz and then i was the sixth kid, not planned, Irish, Catholic, going to fucking that school.
So I felt like every fucking layer of layer of a thumb on a thumb.
And I'm already like, blah!
You know?
So it's like, I just felt like, you know, Ren and Stimpy.
Just always went, blah!
You know?
Like, so it was, it was, yeah, I was always doing voices and fucking around.
And people either loved me or thought I was crazy.
Okay.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But, like, girls would be like, you're weird.
Like, that was, like, the thing.
But, like, eventually they were like, but, like, yeah, like, I'll make out.
He's weird, but I'll try it.
It was like a weird. I'll try weird try it was like that weird pixie stick
one flavor i don't know it's like that coca-cola pixie stick i don't think we got him as much
were you a good student oh i was one year to prove my mom one year one year i made super honor
roll the top of the honor roll in fifth grade to let my mom know i could do it. And I go, there, I did it. She goes, why don't you do
this every year? And I'm like, because it's boring.
She didn't get it.
I hated school. I think school
stinks. I think college is a
scam. I mean, how do I really feel? I think
it's like, unless you go to school for
a certain degree,
what's the point?
It's like bullshit.
Everything I learned, I learned on everything i learned i learned on the
playground i learned on the streets i learned at the basketball court i learned on the subway
i learned at the pizza shop i learned i learned about philly is all about intermingling and jack
jackie um mate no not jackie mason jackie gleason he has a book, and he talks about there was not an unfunny kid in Brooklyn.
And I feel like Philly is like that, and I'm sure Baltimore is like that.
I mean, I know my circle was everybody was funny.
Everybody was funny.
Every fucking person was funny.
And, dude, I mean, I came from a pretty good area.
That's funny.
And, dude, I mean, I came from a pretty good area.
I can't tell you how many people are dead, in jail, or super successful.
Or addicted.
It's like, whoa.
And it's like, you got to look at that stuff. But there was a lot of characters and funny people.
And that's what you did to survive.
And I think that, you know that my path was my path.
But I never wanted to.
I hated school.
It was so repressive.
So were your parents older when they had you then?
How old?
About 42.
Okay.
That might explain some of the mild Asperger's.
I wanted to say more, but you can't say it.
It's 2019.
You know what I'm saying.
So you are 49 now.
Your parents are gone?
Yeah, they both passed away.
And would you mind talking about it?
Who went first?
My dad.
It was the most beautiful thing ever.
How did he pass?
I have zero regrets um
it was uh my father you know like they got to see me do everything i was gonna ask good you
know what i mean like you know my name is you know i'm i'm on many things and my name has been
man's chinese three times in a movie poster i mean that's pretty amazing so it's like especially
if your parent to see your kid like it's one thing to achieve that is you but another thing for your
parents to look at that milk look at that shit right there man yeah and that's like i they were
with me that's great and uh you know like the only thing they ever seen me be is like get married and
win a major award you know and i think i'll probably win an award before I get married.
But my father slowly, he had lung cancer.
He smoked like a wild man.
And he lived a long life.
He died when he was 86.
But he literally died with my whole family.
You were all there.
Oh, my God.
It was like a movie that you don't think is real.
We were literally there oh my god it was like a movie that you don't think is real like we
were literally there playing music every day and every day he got a little slipped a little more
and it was it was beautiful i mean i don't know how he felt poor guy i have no idea what he's
going through but he was talking to us and it was it was very, very, very spiritual. That's great.
It was unbelievable, and I was there holding his hand.
Wow.
I know.
I never said that, man, so it's a lot for me to tell you that.
You held his hand as he passed?
Yeah, my sisters.
Wow.
My brother.
It's the most perfect way ever.
Yeah, I mean, that's dream scenario.
Those are people also say, I want to die in my sleep.
How rarely that happens, too.
But I want to die with my family around me.
It doesn't happen a lot.
No.
In his bed.
In his room.
Oh, it wasn't in a hospital.
It was at home.
Okay.
And how is your mom with that?
My mom.
I mean, this is the band she's been with her whole life pretty much.
She was very strong.
She made peace with it.
Very, very, very...
She was the rock of the family.
And my brother had a great quote.
He said, you know, when dad died,
the family, the house kind of, you it it something loses from the house you know what
i mean the foundation rumbles but when you know mom dies then the house is crumbled because now
your two rocks are there and they're there so it's like your neighborhood is gone your house is gone where
you lived is gone you said you know it's so it's dad was uh that that that was you know that was
very difficult to but it's it was my mom was a little harder because she went you know how long
between your dad's passing and your mom three? Three years. Three years. But she was also very sick, you know, and I got to spend a ton of time with her,
and it was, you know, we did a lot.
It's just, I'll tell you this, I do have, you know, more,
it was harder with my mother because I wasn't as clean, you know what I mean?
She went in the middle of the night.
She did?
Yeah, and I just had left like three days before
because I had shows and stuff.
But I've been going back every other week.
And, you know, you know it can happen.
But, you know, I'll tell you this to anybody out there,
you know, just get that last moment in
because I'm still fucked up about it i'm still
like i wanted to have that moment of like mom i love you you know you know you were a wonderful
mother to me and boom and just get that last yeah you know what i mean bit of in and i didn't get
that but we had a lot of conversations i just wanted to say bye properly and that was that's hard
i didn't get that for anybody in my family my my one actually my one she's my great aunt my
grandmother's sister my aunt helen there was a time where right before obviously she was older
80s late 80s um i was home in baltimore and just at that age, she just wasn't sleeping. She was always awake, you know?
So I stopped by with one of my cousins at like 1230 in the morning, fully expecting
not to get in.
She'd be asleep, wide awake, went upstairs and she was talking to one of her girlfriends
on the phone, hung up and we just laid in bed with her, just sat there and talked for,
I don't know, an hour or two about everything.
And then I flew home and very shortly after that, she passed away.
That's the only person I've been able to do that with.
Everybody else was either I discovered them, I'm giving them CPR,
or I'm getting a fucking phone call about them.
You know what I mean?
It's never.
That's why I say to get to be.
So you had it with your dad, and you wanted that with your mom.
I had it.
I'm so blessed
i mean that is an amazing way to leave this earth i have no yeah like i have no i know
that's like you hear about that like you want to be surrounded by your loved ones movie script
yeah yes when you're 80s he was late 80s my mom was almost 90 and my mom had beaten death about
30 times like there's crazy car accidents and operations, and she's incredible.
So I took it for granted.
She's an iron woman.
So I'm 95% peaceful with my mom's passing.
It was just that one last moment.
But, again, I'm measuring it against Hollywood script, what my dad was.
So I'm very fortunate, man.
I've had my parents, you know, my whole life.
So many kids in my neighborhood, I'm mirroring our existences,
didn't know their dad, never had a dad, in jail.
I mean, you know.
So I'm very, very fortunate.
And then moving through your career after that,
does it change you in a way?
Does it shift anything for you now that your parents are gone?
I know we're going to talk about some of the low lights of career stuff,
but being you and being in entertainment after your parents pass,
does it shift anything for you or change in any way?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, no.
Like, I was thinking about this last night in my kitchen that you say that.
And it's like I was very peaceful.
Like, I had a good cry from my dad and a good cry from my mom, and that was it.
Like, people are like, make sure to mourn.
Get your mourning in.
Yeah, right. And that was it. Like, people are like, make sure to mourn. Get your mourning in. And I'm like.
Yeah, right.
It's like, one day I sat in my house.
I'm thinking of my dad.
And I'm like, like, trying to cry.
And I cried a little bit.
But I felt like, okay.
It was like 30 minutes.
And I was like, okay.
Did that mourn?
You know, like.
And then I did it with my mom.
And I felt like, maybe I made peace with it. You know, because I had such I did it with my mom and I felt like maybe I made peace with
it, you know, because I had such a long time.
I had half of it, like five years each of them being sick and seeing and all of my relatives
coming in and seeing them.
So I was really, I'm telling you, it's like, I don't wish death on anyone, but if you could,
the Jamie Kennedy script.
I don't wish death on anyone, but if you could, the Jamie Kennedy script.
But I'm my own person.
I've been making my living and being this since I'm 20 years old.
And I've always, like I was talking to my last night, and it's like I came to Hollywood for the love and attention
that I didn't get that I feel and i mean i did get it but i
didn't get the way i needed it sure and i don't know child number six yeah whatever i mean listen
i had a great life but you know i we all have our issues right so i realize that and i'm like
i've always been taking care of myself always been been making money. Always living. I have my house.
So it's like my parents, my mom was, dude, said we gave, when she was dying, she said,
always remember this.
We gave you roots and wings.
That's nice.
Dude, I.
Come on.
Yeah.
Like she basically said, like, you know, you know you know your home is but fly away
yeah and um you know and yeah right and i think about that and it's like it is right like and i
always thought like she always was basically saying the nest is open if you want to come back
but i never wanted to go back and it was there so i i think that's why i'm not married i think
that's why i never had like you know ever that's why I never had, like, you know, ever got married yet.
Because I always felt like, well, I always got this pad.
You know what I mean?
And my parents were very good about that.
Yeah.
But they also enabled us in bad ways, like, you know, some ways.
But I'm very fortunate.
Damn, I'm stumbling because you got me all emo.
Well, I don't.
You know what's funny? Because I don't talk about that shit's private like
and i could talk about with you but it's like there's more than just me no but i just yeah i
know i know because it's like this is fucking private man so i don't want fucking people to
be weird about it but it's like people put these pictures on and all this stuff and everybody has
their own process but like i never put any of that on my Instagram or anything
this is my shit it's mine
it's my passing
and it's like that's not
I don't know it's just one of those things for you
it's like everything doesn't have to be
shared is that bad
you know I had a
fucking burrito today I didn't take a picture
is that okay
did you
I forgot what
i was gonna ask you sorry no don't be sorry with um does it i know what i was gonna ask you does
it ever does any moment ever catch you off guard like i know you say you were at peace with it and
you had a good you know uh saying goodbye all that you feel at peace you got to say what you want
to say but like for me even still my dad died when i was 16 this is 30 years ago and still i'll be in
the fucking grocery store and some song come on i'm like oh jesus christ yeah where you don't
you don't see it fucking coming you don't expect you don't even know
your nerves were raw like that yeah do you ever get tripped up like that oh yeah oh yeah what gets
you just um thoughts the thing about death is what i'm learning is and I've talked to other people about it, is that it's final.
You know what I mean?
It's like, yo, you're reaching for a coffee cup that's not there anymore.
You know what I mean?
And so you will want to, I can't stress this enough, get it in.
Do your side of the street.
Keep your side of the street clean.
100%.
And if you know, you you know my mom wasn't
the most expressive person but she was a beautiful human who loved me deeply but you know she's you
know irish catholic you know the drill so i always made sure to tell her how i felt you know and i
just didn't get that one last one right that's it you know the last conversation i had with her was about villanova and she's like they stunk it up they stunk it up in the tournament but she's like jay right is a
beautiful man like literally that's like one of her last things and i'm just thinking like
that so it got my grandma used to say beautiful with a e in there so dude it happens all the time
i'll think about it on a plane.
It's those moments where you have, you know, no Wi-Fi, no nothing,
or you're in the toilet, or you're laying in bed.
It's just the thoughts will come in.
A picture, I have a picture in my house.
There's a song, Danny Boy, the lights are shining.
It was her favorite song.
So things like that you know even like
clovers because my mom was a big irish she loved everything about ireland so stuff little things
like that will trigger me but not all the time but i've talked to multiple people and they said
uh you know it's time i agree though get it in say what you want to say you don't know when it's
coming and here's the other thing too about people like a lot of people talk about their parents like my dad or my mom there.
They weren't very like outgoing or very loving, but. But that's their way.
It doesn't mean that you can't be your way. And what I mean is like you might only get a thank you out of that person after you sit there and tell them
everything you think and feel about them.
But that thank you on their world is maybe as equivalent to all those words you just
said.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Does that make sense?
Oh, totally.
Like they can hear it.
They can process it.
They can feel it.
They may not be able to give it back all the time.
Just some people are wired differently.
But I think, yeah, you should definitely,
if you're even thinking about making amends or.
Definitely.
Yeah, just do it.
Just do it for yourself.
Yeah, and I mean, I did, but it was just,
I just, honestly, I just wanted to be there.
I wanted to be able to hold my mom's hand
and look in her eyes, you know.
But I mean, look, literally she went in her sleep.
At home as well?
At home in her bed. Wow.
I mean it's incredible. Your mom and dad died in the same bed?
Same bed. No way.
I know dude. Dude that's trippy right there.
Same bed.
You know what's crazier?
My sister still sleeps in it.
Jesus.
Bodies are still fucking warm.
She's out there making
snow angels.
I got room.
Please, don't
get mad.
I'm like,
damn.
Sleeping right on top of their ghost.
Right on top of two ghosts.
She's gonna get so mad oh well that's gonna be our promo no but it's uh do you ever talk to your siblings about mom and dad and that stuff do you open up
to each other like that you do yeah we Yeah, we talk about it. Actually, we're much closer now.
Have you found out shit you didn't know,
being the youngest,
that went down before you were born?
You're like, that shit happened?
No.
My aunt, though, who was almost 100,
was incredible.
Is your mom or dad, how's she related?
She's D.C., bro, my dad's sister.
Deep in the district.
Deep in the D? Yeah, she's she related? She's D.C., bro, my dad's sister. Deep in the district. Yeah.
Like, we're the district.
Deep in the D?
Yeah, she's like the stalwart, bro.
Like, lived through all the machinations.
I think it's, is D.C. nice now?
I, you know, it's, everything's nice in certain areas.
Well, she was always where it was like, was popping off, whatever that area was.
And she still lives there.
And I have to go and
sit with her she's kind of like the oracle and she'll tell me stories she's my dad historian
yeah they're my favorite the older relatives it'll start telling you shit you didn't know
but you know it's the only reason i'm like if i'm weird about talking about it's just because i have
siblings and i don't want them to think i'm like, you know, making a fight. Cause I'm not,
but I'm very at peace with it.
I just literally wish I had that one moment.
I can tell you where she had that,
right?
Was anyone with her that night?
Well,
my sister home with her and her nurse.
So someone was there.
Yeah.
Okay.
But it's just,
it's,
you know,
listen,
I don't even know what happens when you go or where
you go or what even happens, but it's just like, I can tell this.
I'm very fortunate.
I know people that parents have been murdered, you know, or people died in accidents.
I mean, I can't even imagine my, my, my heart goes out to people that are just like that.
Yeah.
I can't imagine.
Like and so, you know, everything's comparative.
But literally, like I said, I'm comparing it to like a fucking movie.
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back to the dude well we talked about rejection and stuff too and he came and uh off mic and i'd
love to hear some of these hollywood rejection stories i know there's no sure that's the thing i
about well i mean any probably any business but especially entertainment there's peaks and valleys
and the fucking someone was asking me why do people keep going when the highlights are so few
and the low lights are so many and i think it's part of it is because that moment, that high is so good and so rich and so right
that even though you're only getting a little bit of those and there's more valleys in between
the peaks, those peaks make all the difference.
Dude, the peaks are 10,000 times more than the valley.
You know what I mean?
It's like every time you get a job, it's a lottery ticket.
And it's a much bigger lottery ticket.
So I was thinking about this the other day,
like why you still do it?
Because I've actually tried to quit.
How?
What did you do to make yourself quit?
Just stop doing shit?
Or did you really take a job?
Or what did you do?
There was a time in the early 90s where i was so fucking broke
i this is a true story and it's not going to sound like it is but okay so you do multiple jobs
so i was a i was doing singing telegrams you did i did that are you a good singer? I'm not terrible. I can carry a chair.
I can do a little shower action.
So people would hire you.
You'd go to, like, what, an event, a birthday, someone's house?
Where are you going? They would birthdays, bachelorette parties, anniversaries.
It's called Eastern Onion Singing Telegrams.
That's a real, instead of Western Union.
And it was like telegrams with a little bit of like, you know, comedy to it.
So I did that.
I was a party clown and character.
What do you, like face paint full on?
Ish. I could do some
balloon animals. I had clown
makeup which I really didn't know how to
do so somebody would do it for me.
But mostly I played Bart Simpson.
Like a mask and stuff?
You put a huge Bart Simpson head
on. You don't even talk.
You just wave. I did that
and I was a Sonic the Hedgehog.
Okay.
So singing telegrams Bart Simpsonpson sonic the hedgehog and those are two different companies and i was catering i was living in
korea town right before the riots i had a car that was like lost its transmission. Um, so one night, next day I come out, it's 7am.
My alarm doesn't go off. I'm living literally in a, it's in my book. I wrote a book and it's,
I literally was living in a room behind a room. Like there's a room that was like a one room
apartment and then there was a refrigerator that was in the wall okay i live
with the refrigerator so there was a like a little room housing it and the dude charged me like 80
bucks a month and he was like just put a bed in there and i did i put like a little futon boom
and that was it and go to auditions and and i would wait in line because i couldn't have a real
job because you have to wait in line at the factory.
This is when the improv had 3rd Street, okay,
a location down in the promenade.
And you could go up at 1 a.m. on Monday nights.
Yeah, that was, didn't the earthquake ruin that?
I think so.
Dude, this was the early 90s, bro.
This is where A&E Evening at the Improv was shot.
And you would go downstairs and you'd be doing a set at 1.30
and, like, you're 20 years old.
And you could sign up and get on.
It was amazing.
But you had to wait in line.
So you needed your time.
And one morning I came out.
And I didn't realize any of the fucking signs.
Because in Philly you didn't take them seriously.
In the suburbs.
Maybe you got a ticket.
My car was being towed.
You see it happening?
I'm seeing it happening on 3rd Street.
The fucking window, dude, was smashed
because I left my wallet in there in the glove compartment.
I don't know why.
I used to do that all the time.
I don't anymore.
And my fucking wallet was gone.
Everything was ripped out of it.
My license was gone.
And there was gone. Everything was ripped out of it. My license was gone. And there was shit,
shit smeared
on the seats,
on the glove compartment,
and the back seat.
And half of my clown shit was missing.
My wig,
my nose, my nose,
my balloons,
and one shoe.
So I'm thinking, there's a homeless
dude or a meth head that broke
into my car, punched
the window, grabbed the shit, grabbed
the clown, is half clowning
it up, he's half crusty,
as my car's being towed.
And I'm like, what the fuck is my life? Like, literally car's being towed and i'm like what the fuck is my life like literally
car being towed no money i go back to my hole and the dude's like dude you gotta fucking get your
money anyway i begged this couple people i knew for money like 200 bucks and i'm just like this
i this is i'm not getting anywhere. Like I, this is the worst.
I hated it.
So I didn't do open mics for like a few days and I, and I just like looked for jobs and
I just tried to cater and I thought, well, what am I doing?
That's any more than quitting because when I'm quitting i'm just being unsuccessful which is
what i was being anyway so i might as well be unsuccessful doing what you audition because
that's we're all kind of quitting until we get a job right so it was like and i just literally kept
i had nothing else like anybody who says this backup plan please turn off your tv or your
whatever don't ever talk
to me with the backup plan that's so fucking disrespectful to our business to art like you
know how hard it is it's like you want to be a fucking star you want to fucking be great well
i'm gonna do this backup plan of maybe being a lawyer okay if you're trying to be a doctor do
you have a backup plan to be a real estate agent? No.
I don't want my fucking oncologist with a backup plan to open a yogurt shop.
Fuck you.
It pisses me the fuck off.
There is no backup plan.
It's this or fucking death or a needle.
Comedy is one step away from a fucking bad liver.
You know what I mean?
It's like, give me a break.
And you learn that by having nothing.
You have nothing and you fucking just, what else do I got? I always say to make it in this business, you have to have an insane amount of, not balls, but...
Ego?
No, when you do something a lot.
What the fuck is the word?
Drive.
Motivation.
Motivation.
Hustle.
Hustle.
And you have to have an insane amount of delusion.
I agree with that.
So I would always work so hard,
and I would wait at any donut shop to get two minutes.
And then I would bomb for six minutes.
But, like, in that six minutes, if I got one chuckle, just a, I was fucking Rodney Dangerfield.
And I'm like, yes!
So I thought I was so good.
Like, just the time.
So I had this extreme drive and this stream amount of self-delusion
and that's kind of what helped me you know what i mean and i needed that i needed that fucking
feedback from a fucking stranger in a laundromat you know what i mean so that that's what i tell
people and that really helps me but it's like these people that go in i was like well i i'm
scared to fail well you're you're done like don't even don't ever try i mean don't ever try anything in life and life forget
about comedy or entertainment and life forget it if you're scared to fail yes life is failure life
is exactly yeah and it's also just like don't even yeah like this whole business is just a try
like there's so many things that are just a try and And it's just like you look at it and you go,
I could have did that differently, I could have did that differently.
It's a fucking try.
That's all it is.
What's one of the worst auditions or what's a,
well, we'll come back to today's movie.
Okay.
But give me some of some terrible fucking honeydew moments
during auditioning or getting a part, losing a part, any of that stuff.
Because I know you've been around.
You've been in this business successfully for a couple decades now, which is not only impressive, it's fucking damn near impossible to do.
It is.
It is, man.
It is.
It is.
Getting a part or losing a part.
Well, let's just talk about the movie today.
Yeah, let's talk about that.
So there's a movie out now.
So, yeah, I mean, you wanted a honeydew moment, so I was reluctant to share, but there's a
movie out today.
It's called Ad Astra.
It's the Brad Pitt movie.
Brad Pitt movie.
I saw trailers for it.
And it's incredible.
I haven't seen it yet,
but working on it was incredible
and seeing what it is is incredible.
And...
So walk me through.
So how do you...
You auditioned for this?
Were you contacted for this?
What happened?
So I had two callbacks that day. So I had a callback
for I believe
Murder in the First
or no, True Crimes.
It was the one on TNT. Major Crimes.
Major Crimes. It was like
the seventh season of that.
And it was like a character
who was like a
director who was like a cokehead
and he was like really loud and obnoxious.
And he was always having sex with strippers.
So I'm like, this is in the bag.
Right?
Yeah, I'll just need to show up.
Right?
That's pretty much.
I think we can get this done.
I think they wrote this for me.
Right?
You know.
Cue Brett Ratner.
I'm kidding.
No, I don't know.
Am I?
So. Am I canceled So am I canceled?
Am I canceled from a cancel?
So I'm like, I go in and there's like eight people in there.
They're like, thank you for coming in.
They're so respectful.
I go in.
I fucking destroy it.
And I'm like, done.
I'll do a nice guest spot.
Fucking get a piece of tape.
An agent calls me like an hour later.
He's like, yo, you were amazing.
They love you.
You're not the guy.
I'm like, not the guy.
I'm like the fucking guy.
I'm the guy.
Like I fucking let residue.
I'm kidding.
But so I didn't get that.
Like an hour later, I go in for a movie called Ad Astra.
And I have the meeting with the director and uh
casting and i do the scene five six different ways amazing experience because it's where are
you where are you doing this in the casting office and what's great about it is is what i call this
is the uh late 90s way of auditioning.
Something around the early to mid-2000s, the whole business changed
where you could get in the room with an auteur like a Tony Scott
or James Gray who is the director of this or Baz Luhrmann or Wes Craven
and they'll play with you.
And you don't have to be what they call off book.
You could kind of know your lines and they get an essence of you and they ask't have to be what they call uh off book okay you could kind of know your lines
and they get an essence of you and they ask you a personal question and you try it again then they
tell an anecdote then you try it again and then you know they go you want to have a cigarette and
it's like the way it should be right they're getting your essence they're feeling that they
want to hang with you you write for this character but i've gotten so many amazing
parts that way you know like like a chill session you know what i mean like we're doing well a lot
of people have told me too that some people just cast like all right we're gonna be spending six
months the next six months together do i want to hang out with this motherfucker for six months
can i put up with this asshole for six months yeah that's real and i realize that more and more now
as i've done this that it's like that is a big
part of it sometimes i would just overlook someone's personality for their talent and to
me the talent is everything but you're right if somebody could blow up something that's not great
either but yes that is a big to do um so i go in and i and then i audition and I I don't have any idea so I thought I got
major crimes in the bag and then
I thought I have
no idea about
this movie and
I leave and I go to Tampa
and I do side splitters and then
another week I do Jacksonville you know
down there and then I get the call when I'm at
Jacksonville it's like yo you got the Brad Pitt
I'm like what you know like dude and I'm fucking like you know like down there. And then I get the call when I'm at Jacksonville. It's like, yo, you got the Brad Pitt. I'm like, what?
You know, like, dude.
And I'm fucking like, you know, like it's so because it's just, you know, it's like Brad B.
I don't even say Brad Pitt, you know, he's like BP.
You know, I mean, it's like to say the name is like, you know, blasphemous.
I don't even want to, you know, he's so royal to me.
He's one of the last movie stars.
Yeah.
And I'm saying he's he's like one of the true pandas of our business, like those rare movie stars.
And so I get the movie.
I work on it.
I have three, four scenes.
And where do you go for that?
We shoot it all in L.A.
Okay.
And, you know, the movie's about Brad, his journey with his father,
and he goes to three different planets, and one of the planets is Mars.
I don't want to say too much.
People should go see it.
But Mars was, you know, in the script is like a, you know,
kind of like a wasteland, and a lot of crazy shit happens.
So who better to meet on Mars?
I was going to say, that's where you're showing up right i mean it's it's good it's perfect for me because it's like you know it's like him running
into like something that he wouldn't run in so it's like me being in the movie is like something
you wouldn't expect and so i'm like fucking jazzed and like people are writing about it they're
talking about it there's like articles you can look it up
and it's like boom boom boom and then
um
I guess there was a big screening
in like the middle of the summer
and when the trailer dropped
and then the next day
uh I look at
IMDB Pro and my
name is not in the credits anymore
and I'm like what the
who fucking hacked my account I look at IMDb Pro, and my name is not in the credits anymore. And I'm like, what the?
Who fucking hacked my account?
This is how you started to find out shit?
Yes.
Yes.
Well, I thought, that's odd.
Right?
That's a little weird.
And it's quick, too.
It's like, that's a weird one to pull.
It was literally after the trailer.
Yeah. So I have a publicist, and I'm like, yo, my name ain't in there.
You know, unless my name is, you know, Tommy Lee Jones, I'm not.
And so she's like, well, let me call.
And then she called.
And then they were like, there's a process I'm finding out.
Like they're still editing and blah, blah, blah.
Long story short is this happens all the time.
It's happened to me a few times and they just called and they were like, listen,
those scenes got cut.
And those were the only scenes you were in?
Yes.
And they were all with him.
So you did work with him.
Oh, yeah.
He's the man.
I don't even want to talk about it
because it's so royal.
That's another podcast.
But let me just tell you,
everything you believe
and you think you know
is yes.
Yes.
If you're going to send a human into space to be the face of Earthlings.
It should be Brad Pitt.
Yes.
Yes.
Amazing human, like beautiful, smells amazing, everything.
He's just salt of the earth.
I can't even go in.
I only got to work a couple of days, but he was, you know.
So, you know, and so it and so where are you when you get this
news i'm fucking i'm in bed like literally like sleeping in and like i'm looking at it and
it's in and this is what i wanted to talk about on my podcast when it comes out in 2021
but i might as well do it here since you're fucking... Give us the preview. Because you guys will do it better.
You'll edit it.
But like, what it is is that
is that it's...
It's...
Being able to work with BP is amazing.
James Gray, amazing.
It's like, there's not these type of
projects that are made. This movie will be nominated
for Best Picture. There's a very good chance
it'll win. It'll be nominated for Best Director,
Best Actor, Best Cinematography,
Best Score. I'm predicting right now
at least eight nominations. Best Original
Screenplay. Okay. These are things
that are very good
for one's career.
I love doing
sets at the Ha Ha, but these also
help.
I love driving to the 818 and eating chicken fingers.
But I'm just saying.
Okay.
So I'm fucking.
It's getting to work with these people and him is one thing.
And it's amazing.
Being part of something that when the earth blows up a million years later,
this will be a top 100 movie.
That's another thing.
It's called a legacy play.
I've been fortunate to be a part of some of these things.
I've also had some things that are coasters.
That's part of the career, right?
I don't want to say it's the biggest thing,
but one of the biggest things about this,
and this is why I want to talk to you about it,
is it's the biggest thing, but one of the biggest things about this, and this is why I want to talk to you about it, is it's the fucking perception, man.
It's the fucking perception of the bullshit of fucking the wood, Hollywood, okay?
It is no different.
It's all art.
Being an ad astra is no different than doing a honeydew.
Being an ad astra is no different than doing a honeydew.
It is no different than being in a red box or doing a $500 million Avengers.
It's all beautiful.
It's all art.
It's all expression.
But Hollywood picks and chooses, right?
What it likes, what's important, what's not important.
Let's send this out to get tested by a bunch of people.
Whatever that group's opinion is, we'll listen to that.
Yes.
So this, so, you know, there's people in the podcast world, as we know,
some of them being right here, that are huge,
that are bigger than mainstream, you know? And there's people in mainstream that are also huge.
And what I'm saying is it's just the perception of Hollywood goingwood going you know what why because no one in hollywood likes you
until someone else likes you that's what i oh that fucking kills me dude like like this is why i
always do comedy because comedy always liked me comedy has has always invited me in. We are the home of the degenerates,
the fucking forgotten,
the fucking underdogs.
I mean, comedy accepts everybody.
Theater people don't even accept it.
I've had theater people be like,
I got kicked out of theater.
I'm like, I mean, you got to do a lot
to get kicked out of fucking comedy.
No, no, but it is like the clubs,
no matter how hot they are,
you know, or how cold they are,
how hot my career is or how cold my career is,
they're always like, do you want to come and do a set?
And that is why I will be loyal to it and respect it till the day I die.
And that's what I'm talking about with this movie,
the play of all the things I said, but how the town looks at you.
You know, that's what kind of hurts a little bit of all the things I said, but how the town looks at you.
That's what kind of hurts a little bit because the town would look at you different.
And it's like,
whether I got major crimes or this,
they all matter to me.
But you know how it is.
And that's fucking...
What was it like?
Hope to God there's deleted scenes on this DVD.
That's what I'm fucking hoping for.
This director, he's a real auteur, man.
He's going to make an amazing piece of art.
It might be an extended version.
It comes out later, too.
He might just say, I don't want those scenes.
I'm praying to God.
I've got to run into him.
It's going to be called the Jamie Kennedy fucking cut.
It goes out on Blu-ray.
Let me tell everybody, go see it. I'm going to go see it. I haven't seen it. I'm going to see called the Jamie Kennedy fucking cut. It goes out on Blu-ray. But let me tell everybody, go see it.
I'm going to go see it.
I haven't seen it.
I'm going to see it on IMAX.
I'm not in it.
Maybe my foot's in it.
But, fuck.
But, hey, this happened before.
I was in As Good As It Gets.
You got cut out of that?
I had a bigger part, and then I ended up saying one word, which was, yo.
had a bigger part and then end up saying one word which was yo um i had two scenes with jack nicholson um that i was in and then like a word or two to him that got cut um i had i had it was supposed
to be in boogie nights were you yep so you don't know the guy that has sex with heather graham
yeah uh in the limo yeah burt reynolds limo pulls up in the valley yes yeah
i would have that was supposed to be you it was supposed to be me and i got as good as get burt
reynolds nephew oh and then the scheduling didn't work out so i had to pick and i mean i would have
loved to done them both um but you know i went it was good as gets because my agent was like
pushing me that way and it was amazing experience too i I love that I got to do it so these things happen you know I've done pilots
they don't go
but this one you know
this is going to be one of the
this movie will be around forever
yeah
this one's going to be in every highlight film
for like the greatest movies of all time
I fucking
I passed four posters here
and I was like fuck
It's like a bad breakup
I'm like Jesus
We get it Brad's in space
But I'm just
I'm thinking about the bullshit
Of my privilege though
If I'm watching this screen you should be mad at me
Because it's like honeydew moments are like
I had that needle the air bubbles going in.
I'm like, my honeydew moments I cut out of a movie is Brad Pitt.
My life is terrible.
I mean, that's part of it, bro.
That's tough.
Fucking awful.
To get it and then to not be in it.
Not like it was given to you and taken away.
You were in it.
Dude, I have a lot of baggage.
Do you understand?
It's like, let me explain this to
people at home and you'll get it you come here you're this fresh little fucking thing nobody
wants you then people start laughing people start downloading oh ryan ryan what's he got
oh what's it you know that's how the business is you gotta get on ryan it's not talent very few
people look at talent point point point five percent like
it's like they all look at your heat right so then ryan's over here oh he's getting it oh ryan ryan
oh ryan getting jobs right oh we love ryan love right oh ryan's getting cold oh bad ryan i always
told you about ryan ryan ryan's got a drug problem oh ryan fuck ryan he's got a drug problem. Ew, Ryan? Fuck Ryan.
He's got fucking APSB.
He's leaky pants.
And then Ryan.
Oh, how is Ryan?
Where's Ryan been?
Oh, Ryan did that.
He did that.
Will you see Ryan?
Fuck.
All right.
I'll give you a fuck.
You know what I mean?
That's the trajectory.
So I have a lot of baggage good and bad not bad but
just like people like what have you done lately like if you haven't done a fucking if you do a
podcast at two a fucking guest spot at four and a set at eight at nine o'clock if you don't do
something you're out of the fucking business i mean it's like yeah right so i mean i've done
some shit to get in this movie is a big deal because of like you know i'm not
expected to be in it that's why well i you know look i hear you on your privilege or whatever you
want to say about that bullshit but you had the jamie kennedy very fortunate yeah i mean what a
fucking show thank you what a fucking show before it's time money you were so fucking good at it so
what i want to ask you about is it was
so big and so how many seasons you get like four three three okay after that what happens you talk
about this cooling off and all this so what happens right after that show and and beyond that
so i do that show uh i'm very hot and there's something called syndication in our business where if you go
88 episodes you're golden you'll recycle your episodes forever um like this movie that you
got cut out of yes it'll be up forever yeah i saw four posters up on the way here um okay so fucking you i did my show and what were you wb back then right wb decides to rebrand
to the cw yes so they take paramount and the wb and they that's right that was when they had all
that like uh uh charmed and and yeah superman or whatever, Smallville.
And so they decide they're going to make it more like young adult sexy.
You know what I'm saying?
Like YA.
It's called young adult fiction.
And so Jamie Kennedy did not fit into that because he was funny,
wild prank show.
So we ended.
And then Comedy Central really, you're gonna love this this is another
fucking honey pot i got a lot of honey pot fucking doo-doo pot whatever i'm in the doo-doo
cut out the mom stuff so I'm in the doo-doo pot
so they got fucking
Comedy Central
I'm an owner of this show part of it
they're really
wanted the reruns
really wanted the reruns
and so the production company said
we'll make a deal if you do all episodes produced
and Comedy Central said
no we're just going to take everything you've ever done.
And then if we do future episodes, maybe.
And they said, no,
you have to take the potential of the new ones.
And they said, no.
And ABC Family said, we'll do that.
Okay.
So, now this is right before Chappelle blew up,
but he's in mid-blow up.
We go to ABC Family
and they've got reruns of Drew Carey
so it's like we're behind that
we're on it for
two weeks
and they're like
ABC Family is
fucking being
rebranded
and we're gonna go young adult
oh that's the free form
free form free form
so it's like i'm kicked out young adult and then i go to reruns kicked out for a young adult
meanwhile chapelle shows running 18 000 times a day and like i'm like i'm like that show blew up
because it's great but also it's because it reruns so much.
And the Comedy Central's motto was like, rerun the good stuff.
Rerun.
And I'm literally looking at my reruns on ABC Family like they're not playing.
So then I had a movie come out called The Son of the Mask,
which was the sequel to The Mask.
And that did not do well.
And so within a span of like a year, my show got canceled.
Movie tanked.
And I had two shows in the WB that I produced.
And then they both got canceled.
And I literally was like sitting in my living room going.
But it happened before. And I went down down to laugh factory and i did a set and i just went and i went to the fucking green
blacks and had a bowl of soup and just contemplated my next move which was what like where are you
where are you mentally and emotionally after riding the high of having your own show that you
get to i mean
you're the star of your show your names on the show everything where are you after that um i'm
still pretty cocky and i'm like thinking like are you thinking another thing's gonna come yeah very
soon yeah i had an offer for a good amount of money on an independent my agent's like you can't
do it because it's not good which you know i understand but maybe i could have did that but it wasn't a great movie but um i'm just looking
at scripts but nothing's like really coming at me it's like gonna be a fight and i'm just like
you know i've never been good at waiting which a problem. I think sometimes you have to do that. And I'm thinking, well,
you know,
it'll,
it'll,
something else is going to happen.
And then the issue is,
is not,
it's just that people hated,
they love my show so much, but they hated the sequel to the mask so much,
like crazy amount that I'm like,
this is that people literally was like like you're like poison and that
was weird when you say are you talking about people in the industry well online and i think
yeah people in the business they just scattered from it like no one took credit for making it
and all of a sudden it was my idea and my baby. And you wrote and directed it. And I wrote it.
I directed it.
And I funded it.
And I distributed it.
And Jamie, Jamie did it.
He did it.
And it was like, I'm literally holding the bag.
And I'm like proud.
I'm like lucky to be a part of it.
And it was like this thing.
And it just, it missed.
It missed the mark, you know.
And these things happen.
And there's 10 podcasts you can talk about why that happened. But, and then it's just like in your,
you don't know your agents,
you know,
aren't exactly,
you know,
pushing you or,
you know,
new clients are coming up and there's a lot of that.
I mean, and you just,
you kind of get cold and you're just,
you know what you do?
You,
I started going on the road.
You did.
Yeah.
I started going and doing a lot.
Well,
I was doing the work anyway. You started as a standup. Yeah. Yeah. You started as a standup. You did? Yeah, I started going and doing a lot. Well, I was doing the road anyway.
Because you started as a stand-up, right?
Yeah, yeah.
You started as a stand-up, so you always have that skill.
So then I started, and that's when I started developing my first comedy special.
So I did my, it came out a year later, but I'd been working on it,
and then I shot my first special for Comedy Central.
So I did that.
You know, but it was like, you know's it's you you it's just the business changed so much and
it changes every it's changed so much now it's it's month to month i feel like these days it's
changing so much like you don't want to do tv because there was a time where if you're doing
movies you're hot movies that's where you stay you know and then you like try to audition
and people don't want to see you and you're like yo i just headlined three comedic movies that were
successful like you're telling me i'm not yo i've also been in these like drama movies i've made
over 100 million you're telling me i'm not and then people don't want to see you and you're like
whoa that that that's what's weird that's a blow and then you're like because yeah then you're like
blocked and this is like pre this stuff and we didn't know what all this stuff was going to be in your
so you kind of like you know i was doing i started with like the places that were like just making me
mad offers for colleges and and and clubs and i was doing a lot of that doing you know and then
i was like well maybe my agent's like, you want to do TV?
And I was like, I don't know.
I don't know.
Because you didn't do that.
So you go TV to movies.
You're not going back to TV.
Back in the day, you did not do that.
That's like Bruce Willis going from moonlighting to the movies.
You don't go back to TV.
You don't go back.
And then around.
These days, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
Now you do whatever you want.
But you did not do that then.
And then I eventually got a a pilot and that was like
a big pilot that and it didn't go but like that and then once people realized i was in pilot then
i started auditioning for tv and i started doing a lot of tv again and um you know and then getting
in a movie here getting in a movie there and you know trying to build my way back up to that top tier material,
which brings us back to my honey pot.
Whatever.
My honey do.
Yeah, your episode.
My pot of rust.
Your podcast 2020.
Yeah, that's what it is.
I just kind of did it.
I don't even know if I should do it now.
So where are you now?
Where are you mentally now?
Are you loving comedy again?
Totally different way, bro.
Totally different way.
And I think you'll get this.
This is not how I expected, by the way.
This podcast is going.
I like it.
I started comedy as a way to get attention.
Right.
And like,
I just wanted to be in this business and like people,
people told me to do it.
Like I'm not one of those people like woke up.
I'm like,
I dream of be George Goebbels or all.
I was always,
I will say people told me to do it like different jobs.
They were like,
you do,
you're never going to have a normal job.
Be a comedian, be a comedian.
So I was lucky that way.
And I did it.
And when I would do the open mic circuit, I would, you know, there was a lot of open mics in the early 90s and I was fine to do it.
I'd sign up every night and do it.
And I would get two spots a night and work my way up into the clubs.
And then the clubs were so competitive that they always said, we want credits.
We want credits. And so then I got it through the clubs. so competitive that they always said we want credits we want credits
and so then I got it through the clubs but we have showcase nights I got a commercial agent
and that was like a boom I got started getting commercials and then I started getting in the club
so comedy like served its purpose and then I got really busy as an actor and then I became a name but I didn't have the
chops I only had 20 minutes and so like great people like Rick Overton and Bob Saget and
they would let me open for them and Craig you know the love master he would let me open for
him all the time and so I've had these amazing guys and i would start headlining
b rooms to get better and so first it became attention for comedy then it became i'm making
so much money and i'm like this name and in its outlet and then it became like honestly this is going to sound terrible, but like in the last five years, I'm doing comedy to
really tell, to be good. And it wasn't like I wasn't good before, or I wasn't really,
you know, I would always have, you know, great shows and sell well and all that stuff, but to
really like, if I'm going to do it, I have to do it to respect the art and i want to express how i can be good at it and
that's the only reason i do i mean all the other stuff is great if it happens if it's but i'd i
really do want to do it now because to be good at it yeah and i know that's sounds corny but there's
like that's an honest progression of like attention and like i was
making a lot of money at it till like boom because it's i see what it is now it's a fucking
such an underrated and still underappreciated art form and people everyone thinks they're funny
you're not everyone thinks they're a comedian you're not it's like i don't even call myself
a comedian i call myself like an expresser you know i think it's it's such a hard thing to do
and and people just think it's so easy you know that's why we get heckled and and it's right i
can do that yeah it is it's like no and it's like, the reason you like the people you like is because they've been through hell.
Yeah.
The good ones have been through hell.
All the people that you like right now have been through hell.
And I think it makes you better.
So I'm doing it now because I absolutely love it.
I fucking love it.
And I'll do a show anywhere.
And I think that's good for me because you've got to be able to play Middle America. You've got to be able to play the hipster rooms and you got to be able to play the store the
main room you got to be able to touch all bases my opinion for me and that's kind of my brand I'm
kind of accessible that way that's great dude trying that's what it's all about I mean comedy
is your first love it opens the doors up to so many different things you don't even realize what
it's going to open up to but it's always nice to be able to come back to it
yeah you know this is the longest relationship i've ever been in has been with comedy
and it's changed i mean think about comedy in the 90s and then what it's just the internet
yeah i mean what a what an immediate fucking impact. And then social media, another one. And
then podcast, you're just like, bang, bang, bang on the span of a, you know, a handful of years,
it's rapidly progressed. And you have to just, you know, I just started off wanting to tell jokes
and really very quickly I realized, or, you know, be do funny things, but quickly I realized,
oh, that's not what standup is anymore. That was the eighties. You know, do funny things but quickly i realized oh that's not what stand-up is anymore
that was the 80s you know you tell funny jokes for 10 minutes you got a sitcom yeah that shit
was changed fast i know but i still like but i do like jokes yeah but there's nothing better than
being on a stage in front of an audience that's people ask me the difference like this you could
record a podcast a month ahead of time you sometimes you forget what the fuck you say
you know the line someone's quoting to you like i don't even remember i've just recorded four of
these because i got to go on the road and do this or you know you shoot a movie and you're you don't
see it for a year but stand up the drug is the immediate positive or negative there is an immediate feedback in that
fucking room dude immediate that's the fucking heroin that's the i said this to a room full of
strangers and boom right back right there on the spot there's there's nothing like that nothing
it's so true it last night i did the fucking Ice House and the crowd was just.
How great is that club?
I'm there tonight.
Yeah, it's a great spot.
And I did 30 minutes.
Like Bill Devlin, man, he let me close the show. And I cut off and I was so tingly.
And like a couple people want to talk to me.
And I was like, I got to calm down.
I got to go into the corner. People like ask me questions. It's like i was like i gotta calm down yeah i gotta go into the corner people like
ask me questions like okay give me one minute but it's like you're right i literally and i get
i can't go to home and go right to bed no something like that no no and i feel that it's
you're right it is the drug and it is what you're saying of how comedy changed, I guess. Comedy changed in the sense that...
When did you start?
When was your first set?
Ever?
Well, I was 20, so 93 in Baltimore.
But I only did it for a handful of months
before I, seven years later,
I came out here and started it for real.
But that's like 10 years in the rest of the cities.
Three sets in Baltimore.
By that, Hooters.
But comedy changed
because comedy was a
freak show.
My first set was 1990.
Okay?
It was a fucking
freak show.
You had every archetype.
You know, Nebushijbushi jew you know lesbian in a vest angry black guy you know whatever every archetype that you could think of and like i
was like i didn't know what i was but i was like this i was talking about like you know the cutest
fucking female comic was in comedy when i started me okay like there was no remotely attractive
fucking people it was a freak show right you know and i'm like what that was janine graffo
was always beautiful and sarah silverman was in there it was pretty sexy too it was like judy
janine sarah but i didn't discover them until like early 90s.
I'm talking 1990 on the open mic circuit.
And I'm like, now comedy is rock.
It's like fucking bashing in rock.
Right?
It's rock stars now.
It's rock stars.
One guy in the 70s played Madison Square Garden.
Steve Martin.
One guy in the 80s played madison square garden steve martin one guy in the 80s eddie murphy dice dice also in the 80s or 1990s right right in there right in there right it was like
a guy a decade now you've got five people did it last year you know men and women so it's a beautiful time but it is it so it is crazy how like i mean just how comedy is so
sexy now and it's good it's just i'm just but i am still like you know old school and thinking
like i am adjusting to it i'm sure you see that i do see it but i appreciate you coming on here
today man dude thank you for having me. This went by fast. I did.
And I know it didn't go the way you thought it would go, and I'm glad it didn't.
Yeah, like, you know, I fucking, you know, I don't know how I feel about my early part of this conversation.
I love hearing you talk about your parents. Well, I mean, I just want people to be respectful, dude.
Fucking put that shit out there.
That's my fucking soul man but a
lot of people need to hear that though because you know forever i was the one i was the same way like
i'm not going to give forgiveness or what and then you know sooner or later you hit a point in your
life hopefully you hit a point in your life where you're like no i need to get this done and say
these things and and you know if not for any other thing than for me for myself for my
sanity to know like you say keep your side of the street clean you know yes yes i appreciate you
coming on i know that stuff's not easy to talk about oh no i mean i'm using open book because
it has other people involved but it's okay this is literally the first fucking time we talked about
i love it dude
I appreciate you having me
promote plug whatever you'd like anything
now that we've talked about your dead parents
what's your twitter handle
Jesus Christ
wrap it up
wrap it up with your social media
Jesus Christ
you know it.
It's at the beginning.
At Jamie Kennedy.
Jamie Kennedy.
Jamie Kennedy Facebook.
Jamie Kennedy World.
Come out to shows.
Yes.
It's the last thing we got.
Right?
Go see Jamie live.
That's it.
Go see him live.
Don't be upset.
Well, thank you, brother.
I appreciate you coming on.
Thank you, brother.
This is great.
Good shit, man.
I am Ryan Sickler on all social media, ryansickler.com.
We'll talk to you all next week.
We'll talk to you all next week.