The Nateland Podcast - #81 Henry Cho, Road Stories & Remembering Bob Saget
Episode Date: January 12, 2022On this week's episode, the guys discuss how they'd do in an MRI machine, Aaron joins the weight loss challenge and Nate talks about his recent appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Then ...comedian Henry Cho joins them to talk about his start in comedy in the 80's, doing chicken wire gigs, being the first comic to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and his friend the late great Bob Saget. Podcast produced by Nate & Laura Bargatze Recording & Editing by Genovations Media https://www.natebargatze.com https://www.allthingscomedy.com https://www.genovationsmedia.com Email - Nateland@NateBargatze.com #nateland #natebargatze Helix - HelixSleep.com/Nate Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders AND two free pillows for our listeners at Helix Sleep.com/NATE. That’s up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders AND two free pillows at Helix Sleep.com/NATE. Vuori - VuoriClothing.com/Nate · Vuori is an investment in your happiness. · For our listeners they are offering 20% off your first purchase. · Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at VUORI CLOTHING.COM/NATE · Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. · Go to VUORI CLOTHING.COM/NATE and discover the versatility of Vuori Clothing. Indeed - Indeed.com/Nate Start hiring RIGHT NOW with a SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/NATE. Offer valid through March 31st. Go to Indeed.com/NATE to claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT before March 31st. Indeed.com/NATE. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. DraftKings - Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now, use promo code NATELAND, and get FIFTY SIX TO ONE ODDS on any NFL team. Bet just FIVE DOLLARS and win TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY IN FREE BETS if your team wins. That's promo code NATELAND this Wild Card weekend at DraftKings Sportsbook — an Official Sports Betting Partner of the NFL. Must be 21 or older, NJ, IN, or PA only. New customers only. Min. $5 deposit and $1 wager required. One per customer. Restrictions Apply. See draftkings dot com slash sportsbook for details. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, folks. Welcome to the Nate Land podcast. I'm sitting here with Brian Bates, Aaron Weber.
All right, everybody. Welcome. Welcome. The new year. Is this? No. We had an episode last week.
Well, we did. We did. Not all of us did. It's good to be back. Welcome. The new year. Is this? No. We had an episode last week. Well, we did.
We did.
Not all of us did.
It's good to be back.
Welcome back.
Good to be back.
Yeah.
Still have COVID.
No.
No.
I'm all good.
So did you feel anything?
I did.
I lost taste and smell for a couple of days.
That's fun.
Two of the more underrated senses.
Yeah.
And you take them for granted your whole life, and then you lose them, and you're kind of like, what's the point?
Yeah.
You know?
Of living.
Of life.
Of living.
I think so much of joy is tied to the way things smell and the way things taste.
Yeah.
And when that's gone, you're kind of a shell of a person.
That's how it felt.
I don't think it would help you lose weight.
You'd think so, but I don't know. Still, you're like in a habit of eating person. I don't think it would help you lose weight. You'd think so, but I don't know.
Still, you're like in a habit of eating bad.
Like you're in a, like I could still eat Starburst and still be like,
it's still fun.
Our friend brought over some brownies for us, and I couldn't taste them,
and I ate the whole thing of brownies.
And I don't know why.
I was like, I'll just keep trying.
Yeah.
And then it still kind of felt
good and i could remember what brownies taste like so like maybe i'll just think it into existence
yeah and i ate the whole thing i get that well you got to keep like your joke you keep trying
to know if you're getting over it right and i'll eventually it'll get back yeah eventually yeah i
i could see that i could eat i could eat you know you just you're into you're in a routine of it
that you're like well well, this is what
I would do normal.
So I'm going to live normal.
Yeah.
I mean, did you feel sick or you feel?
A little congested.
Yeah.
It wasn't too bad though.
Like you don't feel tired.
You weren't like laying in bed.
If it wasn't COVID, I would have been doing shows.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's your first Titan?
Was that your first Titan game?
No, I'd been to a few.
Oh.
That was my wife's first time.
Oh, okay.
And it was freezing cold and sleeting, and she still had a great time.
Wow.
Was your first time with COVID, though?
I think that's what he meant.
First super spreader event that you started.
That you started.
You were the super in the super spreader.
I was in the clear already by then, and I wore a mask the whole time, pretty much. Really?
Why? Because I just felt
you still feel
guilty, even though I'm fine.
I'm cleared by all. You were outside.
I don't know. I just wanted
to be able to say that I did. Somebody gave
me flack for it.
I can kind of understand that, but
you should be getting flack for
wearing the mask the whole time.
I mean, if we would have lost.
Wait, you went to the Titans game when.
The Dolphins.
The Dolphins.
We played the Dolphins.
If we would have lost that, I would have blamed that on you.
For wearing a mask.
During the whole game.
As you sat outside.
And you're like, just like, yeah.
I mean, you're like, what's going on?
Not just any mask.
You guys were wearing matching N95s.
N95s.
Yeah, that's a real deal, man.
A couple of dresses alike.
That's the real deal.
You know, matching.
Like, they came from the same box.
They didn't have, like, unique designs on them.
It was plain masks.
You wrote Titans on it?
Yeah, I said, I'm with her.
And then her said, I'm with stupid.
Yeah.
Then that is the sign of serious mask wearing is the N95.
That's like, you're like, oh, this person means business.
Yeah.
I think people probably watch what they said around y'all.
You think they did that?
They weren't.
I'll say that.
Hey, let's calm it down.
We got a couple N95ers over here, if you know what I mean.
So I'm sure they're not going to be able to handle the normal stuff
we're going to yell.
So let's ease into it.
Yeah.
I just moved up to the 95.
Oh, yeah?
Traveling this weekend.
My wife wants me,
obviously,
with the pregnancy
to be really careful
and, you know,
she says her research shows
that one does better.
It does the most.
It does the most.
So I'll do the airport.
That's what the...
I was at the airport
for like nine hours. Oh, yeah. Getting out friday and that thing i was so tired of wearing
did you ever go sit alone yeah occasionally but i mean it was constantly you're just trying to
get out so i was constantly like on this flight then this flight just i wasn't a lot of downtime
yeah it was just like all right i'll sit on a plane for two hours, and then they made us get off. John Crist was on my flight.
Oh, really?
Not wearing a mask.
The opposite.
He was the only one.
And I see him just get up and walk off the plane pretty early.
And I'm like, what is he doing?
And he made the right call.
Because our flight was a connection to Atlanta.
Yeah.
He just drove it.
And I mean, by the time they ended up canceling our flight altogether,
he was probably halfway to Atlanta.
Yeah.
So he made the right decision.
And he beat you to Atlanta?
Yeah.
I finally got a direct flight to where I was going,
but he was already in Atlanta before.
Why didn't you take the direct flight first to them?
Because it was leaving so late that that's what I was worried about.
So I was trying to take an earlier flight.
And then it ended up, I booked this flight that I ended up taking.
I booked it three weeks ahead of time.
And then because all the cancellations at the airport,
I'm like, I better leave a day early.
Yeah.
That flight got canceled.
Then I kept getting on more and more. It ended up being on the same flight i booked yeah like three weeks earlier
yeah and i got a bunch of flights i didn't even get to cancel because i was just booking flights
left and right yeah i spent about two thousand dollars on flights for a southwest flight 88
bucks one way to norfolk virginia what time was it getting in? 2.50.
Oh.
Yeah.
For a 7 o'clock show?
Yeah.
That's cutting it pretty close.
If anything goes wrong.
Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
I remember I'd book a flight.
When you book a flight in the old days, what did you call?
You'd call.
Imagine booking a flight.
I think you would.
You would just have to call the airline.
And then imagine being a comic then.
You have to just,
you're just on the,
I guess they just drove everywhere.
When we got off Delta,
that was the first plane.
They said,
call Delta to try to rebook.
And I called.
And they were like,
there's a two hour and four minute wait time.
And they said, the average age is 60.
That's holding.
It has to be.
It has to be because you can do it on an app now.
It almost kind of pushes you to the direction you should do.
It does do that, yeah.
And it's like you can just do it on an app.
That's so funny.
It has to be this two-hour wait time.
And whatever age you are listening to this, they're your age waiting for this.
Yeah.
But we're in line at the ticket thing.
We're also on our phone and they're telling you to call.
But then they say, we can call you back, you know, just stay in line.
So I'm finally on my Southwest flight.
I've been at the airport all day.
I'm finally on my Southwest flight.
We're about to take off and Delta calls me back.
And I'm like, well, I mean, I i'm fine now but it's just so funny it's like seven hours eight hours later
you finally get back to me yeah brian bates i can speak with brian bates please that guy's voice is
tired brian bates but i've been on phone for eight hours like his voice is gone uh so where
are you at you're like i mean i'm already home vacation's over he's like all voice is gone. So where are you at? You're like, I mean, I'm already home.
Vacation's over.
He's like, all right.
You get a lot of, so you have a lot of credit now?
Yeah, and then I had to cancel my hotel for,
because I was trying to fly in a night early.
And the lady, you can't just get a person there at the spot.
And the woman, I think she was in India.
And then she's done with the whole thing.
She said, she tried to pitch me on Hilton Honor, like for points, if I listen to Spill.
She had a rooster crowing in the background and it kept crowing.
So I said, ma'am, I can't hear you because your rooster's crowing.
And she laughed.
She's like, yeah, the sun's coming up here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we finally just had to cut it off.
What time did you call?
Well, I called in the middle of the day here, but in India, it's... Oh, in India.
Yeah.
Oh, that's...
I was like, what?
I just pictured you set your alarm.
You woke up before the...
You wake up before the sun comes up.
Like Jerry's Nana.
Yeah.
Chemical bank.
Yeah.
And the alarm goes off and you're already sitting there and you start dialing and you go.
That's what I honestly...
I was thinking Virginia,
so I'm thinking like you called.
At like 4.30 in the morning.
Yeah, like 4.30 in the morning.
She goes, well, sir, I mean, the sun's coming up.
You know, this is the time you get up.
You go, I've been up for a few hours.
Yeah, this is what time.
I get up to pee,
and then I just kind of start my day.
Kind of get going.
I got up at 4.15 this morning.
Why would you not just let the thing crow and then just get the points when she's done?
Let's go over there.
Oh, it's making noise.
Rooster's crowing.
Harper's got – she's getting texts now.
That was a – we gave her her own Apple ID.
And so she has her iPad. So we use her ipad to time the thing and uh so now it's uh you know it's a it's very it's weird it's weird you're getting
texts from i do i kind of liked it because it was like sometimes she would be texting me she's
like where are you take a picture in new y. It's crazy to be texting your kid.
And then it's,
but it's like,
I do like it.
I was on the road.
Like I was able to send stuff to her because you always use our phones.
I mean,
we watch,
she can't do anything on that.
We're aware of what's going on,
but that's the new one.
You gotta,
you know,
but she,
I mean,
they just,
and you just want to read,
I want to read them all.
What are y'all,
what are you talking about?
You know?
As your question, I think I was just so frustrated and so tired that I was just
reading up.
It's funny to think that you're like, because I would be like, all right,
why do I have to listen to it?
Because there's like a rooster crowing.
So I got the points without having to listen to Spill.
But you go, ma'am, I'm trying to take this all in.
You really want to. You go, I'm trying to take this all in. You really want to –
I'm trying to write it down.
I want to know what I'm getting into.
Yeah.
I might want to really sign up for this.
I might want to really sign up for it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I might like it.
But your rooster is ruining it for me.
Your rooster is ruining it.
I flew in.
I was in – because I did a night show.
And then when we came home that day,
it was the day that it started snowing here real bad.
And so I was like, we were, I had to be home.
Did I have to?
What was I doing?
There was something.
Oh, I'm writing something.
And I had someone I was meeting that we were writing together all weekend.
And so it was, so we were having a meet for that.
He was coming from L.A.
And so his flight was already in the air.
So it was like, all right, well, he's going to make it.
And I was in New York.
And they were watching it.
And our flight just got – it ended up being fine.
It got delayed like two hours.
And we didn't land until, you know, 8, 30, or 9.
I was supposed to be home at like 4.
But I had to stay downtown because it was late.
It was, you know, the temperatures were in the teens.
And so I think it was too hard to, I don't know if we would have got to my house.
Yeah.
And so I landed and went to the hotel downtown Nashville.
Or at least that's what you told Laura.
That's what I told Laura. The to laura when the roads are too
bad i go i don't know what's happening i'm gonna land in orlando i'm gonna go uh to florida you
know i thought i was looking at flights because you're like what if this gets canceled what are
we gonna go do and i was like because then some of it was coming up to new york i was like so we
just stay in new york one more day and fly the next day. But then I was worried like,
if this thing hits New York,
I don't want to get stuck in New York.
And so I was looking at like,
do you go,
you probably would have just went to Atlanta.
And then,
but it was like,
do I go to Atlanta?
Do I go,
should I just like fly to like Florida
and like,
let's just get down there
until it's warm.
You know,
I don't know,
just something.
Where do I want to be stuck?
Yeah,
where do I want to get stuck?
I might as well get stuck, you know? All right. So something where do i want to be stuck yeah where i want to get stuck i might as well get stuck you know all right so yeah that was it that was yeah so
but you were in you were here this weekend i was here this weekend yeah and you were headlined i
was in charlotte at the comedy zone had a lot of folks come out very cool yeah very cool it
happened super last minute it was was the headliner dropped out so
like wednesday i got the call and then friday i was there yeah and it worked out that's there
there's something fun about that when you're starting out like the you know that wednesday
you get the call and it's like last minute like it's just the best man that feeling's the best like it's i don't know if gigs get
more exciting than that i mean they all they do obviously because it's everything gets better
but there's nothing worse than that either yeah i wouldn't want to be doing it but i'm saying i
don't know if that excitement the the new excitement, it's special.
Right.
I don't say you don't get excited.
I was excited to sit on the couch of the panel of the Tonight Show.
That was unreal.
I can't believe I got to do that.
But when you're like that, it's just crazy.
It's my first time headlining a weekend there.
It's a big club.
And I think, oh, I have the weekend off, and then I get the call. Oh, my weekend's very different nowlining a weekend there that's a big club and i think oh i have the weekend off and then i get the call oh my weekend's very different yeah yeah and that's the best like
that's what you loved is because it's you want to work so like when you want to be working and
you're not you're not like going like my weekend was free and now it's not i still get excited
about that as soon as i think i can have a free weekend and you're like oh I'm working now
you just think this will all be taken away
it's all you know
everything's built on nothing
it's a fake job
it's a fake job and so you just
I still to this day if you get something
something pops up and you're like
it's hard for me not to go yeah I'll take it
I need you know because I'm afraid that
it's hard for me to take off like do a vacation it's hard for me to go like i'm not working don't call
me i could see getting to that point like if you're busier and you're just like this is getting
too crazy but i'm not there yet like it's hard to go like all right well i'm blocked off this time
no one called me i still think i want someone to call me every day and be like hey we're still
working everybody's talking you know you're always afraid someone's getting ahead of you.
You're always afraid someone's getting ahead of you.
And you feel like if I'm not, you know,
I don't feel like I can just go away.
You're like, no, no, no.
I got to be, you got to be in and out there.
Stay in it.
Stay in it.
That doesn't go away.
Nothing better than that.
Comedy zone, Charlotte.
Last place I drank.
Really?
Yep.
Stopped drinking.
Not specifically because of that.
I was doing those comedy clubs.
And then that was one of the last clubs I was doing,
and I was going to theaters next.
I opened two years ago.
I opened for John Lovitz there.
And he's on stage, and he's doing very well.
And I'm in the lobby, and I'm just standing out there,
and just kind of, you know, you're just killing time.
And they say there's a crazy woman in the bathroom.
And what happened was this lady had some kind of breakdown.
She went in the bathroom.
She locked herself in a stall.
She started ripping up toilet paper during the show.
So a server heard her screaming and walks in and goes, are you okay?
And she's like, she goes, I don't want to talk to a white person.
So the server goes, yeah okay let me go let me leave and they went and got an african-american server the chain went in
and she said are you okay and she said i'm being i'm wanted for murder i'm on the run from the cops
i get i want to talk to a white person if that's your that makes the most sense of like you're like
why would you say that and she's like
i'm wanted for murder i'd like i totally get why i totally get it i think that's that was a smart
move on your head so this is her story her story is she's being wanted for a crime she didn't
commit she's being wanted for murder so she's she's freaking out she's ripping up the toilet
paper in the bathroom and they go well you need the show's going on like did she sit there you're
20 feet away well here's here's what happened so well, you need – the show's going on. Did she sit through your set?
20 feet away.
Well, here's what happened.
So they go, you need to leave.
She's like, I'm not leaving.
And they go, well, we're going to have to drag you out.
So they get all the female servers to go in there and grab this woman.
She comes out.
She's white, by the way.
I don't know why she cared about what race the person –
she's getting carried out.
She's yelling.
It's so crazy. And i'm just standing in the lobby
trying to stay out of it and they're dragging her out through the lobby to kick her out her
feet aren't even touching the ground and it drives and she drives past me and she looks over me and
goes hey you were great and then just keep walking out yeah it happened at that club so
it's fun to be back as the headline. Did you follow her trial?
I don't know how to.
I did look up in the Charlotte newspapers, like murders and stuff,
and I couldn't find.
I don't know what she was talking about.
I think it was drug-related.
She was just having.
Oh, yeah.
They were involved, at least.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'd like to think she's a serial killer.
Yeah.
She loved Aaron's comedy so much
she wanted one less
big fan
you know
yeah I appreciate it
just say I appreciate it
hey thank you
yeah thank you
I still want to be polite
hey thanks
shirts and scans are here
just bouncing around
appreciate you coming out man
yeah
thanks for coming
yeah
even with everything
it's always an honor
it's funny that
like yeah just having to deal –
I always think with comedy you've got to deal with this kind of crazy stuff
where it's like that's a story of, like, you know, that's just part of –
like, you're just used to – most people wouldn't be – I don't know.
It's like that would not happen somewhere.
People have real lives, and they don't – they're at real jobs,
and in our jobs, you're like, yeah, that happened.
And you're like, oh, and you forget it forget it you're like the fact that you're not that's not the main story you
tell everywhere on earth every day you should walk out the door every day and go by the way let me
tell you this one story and then but you kind of go oh yeah i forgot about this uh i had forgotten
about it till i was there and i saw one of the other comics that was on the show and i go do
you remember when that he was like oh yeah dude yeah I think about it all the time. Yeah. It's wild.
Yeah.
I thought about like we were writing the show
and I called my dad about something about something
with magic.
It was like funny to call my dad and then Rob Roselle
and who I was writing with.
And he's like, he was like just laughing at the idea.
Like it is.
I was like, it is crazy that I just called my dad
and we just talked about
this magic thing
at like 1030
and I just
I'm calling dad real fast
and we talked for one second
and I was like
alright that's what I was
thinking about
and then that was it
and he's like
it's just
you know
and you're like
you know
it's like when you think
about your family
you're like
yeah we're not
we're out there
you're like
that is weird
alright this week everybody we'll not we're out there you're like that is weird uh all right this week
everybody uh we'll start these comments uh from you guys uh this week we're starting with the
comments yeah as always i don't know i just kind of had a few thoughts in my head uh mary
maren kovic right it's probably maren kich Marenkovich this podcast
with Sonny
is the most fun
Nate has had
in all of the podcasts
and that made it
real fun to watch
there you go
yeah
a lot of people said
this one in the
Seinfeld
Martin Norman episode
were two favorites
my two favorites
yeah and theirs
oh and theirs
yeah
that is
why do I have the most fun
when you're not
and I feel like
you can just let loose and
be yourself yeah it's like coddle me yeah yeah yeah it does feel better uh get more
get more room i got more room step out and let's just try either way uh
matt i like your i was your your you having your toboggan on it It's just on. We didn't plan on all wearing Titan stuff.
We all wore Titan stuff.
Henry is on the show.
Yeah, which we recorded Henry for.
Now we're back to doing these podcasts.
Or doing the comments.
But yeah, we all have Titan stuff.
Titans won.
I mean, unreal, dude.
So exciting.
You never thought in a million years.
I don't think I didn't think we were going to get to the playoffs,
but when the first round playoffs, but I did.
First round bye is crazy.
Crazy.
Yeah.
And so it's huge.
It's huge.
But you have it.
I think most people, when we wear a toboggan inside,
it's kind of like more up.
It's more of a hat.
And yours is as if you're going to jump in snow.
This is my game wear.
This is what you wear at the game.
This hat, yeah.
So your toboggan is pulled down.
I can't even hear you guys.
I know.
Well, it's funny.
The idea of it is it's pulled down as you go.
You got to put your toboggan on, and you're like,
well, there's only one way to do it.
Like if I wear one, especially indoors and you're just wearing it,
it's usually high.
It's usually, right? Wouldn't you say? Oh, it's usually high. It's usually, right?
Wouldn't you say, Aaron?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
It's usually above the ears.
It's a little bit looser.
And yours is on.
That's snapped off when I wear it.
It's cold in here.
It's on a helmet.
Like, it's on a helmet.
I was apparently wearing it.
And then when Henry showed up also wearing a Titan, I was like, I got to go get my Titans
to park it out of the car.
Yeah.
So I went out and got it.
Nice.
Matt Taylor.
I was the first batter to face Sonny Gray in his high school debut.
Three strikes right down the pipe.
That's pretty fun.
That's awesome.
That's Matt Taylor, the comedian, comedian friend of ours, right?
Oh, yeah.
From Nashville.
He was a very good baseball player.
Yeah.
And he had told me about that.
He faced Sonny Gray in high school.
It's pretty crazy.
Oh, wow.
That's crazy.
It's forever.
It said his brother played against Mudcat Brewer oh yeah yeah wow that's fun uh justin
fabiano fabiano i think i got it right the first time fabiano fabiano that'd be funny
if you met them how you doing with the fabianos and you're like what and everybody
you don't want to say it Fabiano
and you're like
ah we say Fabiano
and it sounds
you're like
I'm uncomfortable saying that
I feel like that would be
a nice thing to go
I'll be honest with you
I would like y'all
I would like the Fabianos
to leave
because I think
I'm uncomfortable with
how y'all say that
you go I don't know
what the problem is
that's how we say your name
love the baseball talk with Sonny Gray I used to work at ESPN and the main show I think I'm uncomfortable with how y'all say that. You go, I don't know what the problem is. That's how we say your name.
Love the baseball talk with Sonny Gray.
I used to work at ESPN.
And the main show I worked on with Baseball Tonight in 2013 and 14,
Rick Sutcliffe was a regular analyst on the show,
and he had the best stories.
He told us this story about when he was with the Dodgers,
there was this day he wasn't pitching.
So he's hanging out in the bullpen and decides to get a Dodger dog,
and he spilled mustard on his jersey.
The Dodgers were getting blown out,
and Tom Lasorda makes the call to the bullpen,
and Sutcliffe has to come in and pitch.
The reasoning for Lasorda making him pitch was because he knew Sutcliffe downed a Dodger dog and got mustard on his jersey.
Sutcliffe told us Lasorda came to him with a few cuss words afterwards,
and he learned his lesson not to eat things like Dodger dogs during the game.
That's great.
And then that's him, and he's just got a pitch with a mustard stain,
and you're like, come on, man.
He was a great pitcher.
Yeah.
Everybody from that era has that same look.
You can just tell the mustache, the hair like that. It's an look. You can just tell.
The mustache, the hair like that.
It's an 80s baseball player right there.
Unusual pitching delivery.
They did throw a little bit differently back then. He especially.
Oh, yeah.
He kind of cocked it back behind his back a little bit differently,
but he was a great player.
Yeah.
Jason Moore.
Nate's second base throwing yip story reminded me of a similar
situation in my church league. The men's first United Methodist team in Hopkinsville, Kentucky,
our catcher received the first pitch of the game. Instead of throwing the ball back to the pitcher,
he whipped the ball down the third baseline into left field. From my position at first base,
it was quite the head scratcher as it was the first pitch of the game no one was on any base
and our third baseman was not on the back the left fielder retrieved the ball and got it back into
the infield the second pitch the batter took ball two and once again the catcher sends the ball into
the outfield via the third base line a now miffed left fielder once again ran and retrieved the
bewildering throw.
Third pitch, rinse and repeat.
At this point, both teams in the umpire were like, what the heck, dude?
This game is going to take all night if you just rocket each ball that crosses home plate into left field.
He had to be subbed before the first batter completed his at-bat.
Turns out his occupation as a helicopter mechanic
for the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell
has caused him to use some industrial adhesive that day
when he managed to get all over his hands to bring home.
He sat for two hours in two – he sat for two hour – two innings
at the water hose trying to wrench the substance off.
So it was like stuck to his hand, and it would go – he'd go –
he's throwing it there and then just launches it.
Dude, that's so
funny that's so and just you know sorry yeah sorry i mean that's that's the deal when you
got when you're playing a game where everybody's got like real jobs you're like dude i was at work
today got crazy you know i can't tell yeah i can't say hey can't work on this helicopter because i
you know i got a big we gotta play first play First Baptist tonight. Yeah, we got to play.
We're playing the Lutherans.
You think,
you know how they are.
You know,
just start saying.
It's a big game.
It's a big game.
You know,
Catholics got to be out there
and you know,
they get all drunk
and start yelling.
It can't be.
Cody Byer,
listening to Nate
talk about the ridiculousness
of a character
in a Hallmark movie
parking her car
in the middle of the road
made me lose it
my wife loves
Hallmark movies
and every single one
I've watched with her
I caught up
I caught
up on some
obscure detail
I get caught up
I get caught up
I argued with my wife
for an entire movie
about the shoddy
infrastructure
of a so called
wealthy fictional
county country country another time I got for an entire movie about the shoddy infrastructure of a so-called wealthy fictional county.
Country.
Country.
Yeah.
Another time I got irate about a royal family flying coach
without any kind of special treatment.
They just walked through the airport like a commoner.
I couldn't get over it.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Love the air podcast.
I couldn't.
That's crazy.
If it's a royal family.
We've experienced something like that.
We went to, when we were on the road, me, you, and your road manager at the time, Noah.
Yeah.
We went to see the latest Bad Boys movie.
Yeah.
I hadn't seen the first two.
I think this was the third one.
But Will Smith's character is very wealthy, right?
Yeah.
And there was a scene, I didn't think anything about it.
When we left the movie, you were livid because he flew in coach.
And you were like, why would he be flying in coach back there?
Do you remember this?
So you were very much just like this guy.
Yeah, that's, yeah, it was the bad boys.
That's crazy.
I forgot we went to that.
Yeah, why was he flying?
They were like rich, famous cops.
I thought they were police officers.
They were, but I don't know i haven't
seen the original bad boys but you guys told me that he was very wealthy their house was like
crazy i don't know i don't remember but you were you were pretty upset you were just like this guy
you're pretty fired up about it i get it yeah i get it cody uh they're all still fun movies though
you can just turn them on you know if you can look past that
but i i could get you not getting past that yeah that's why my wife won't let me watch
uh housewife shows with her because you just dissect everything and i'm like are you kidding
what are these women talking about like are you and then it's like don't walk you get it she pauses
it i mean if i enter the room she pauses and waits until I'm completely out of the room
before she presses play.
Because she knows she's watching nonsense.
Yeah.
I have my nonsense, too.
I get it.
But there's some stuff that you're like, all right.
Yeah, well, Lucy will do that if she puts on the Golden Globes or something.
She goes, I don't want you around.
You're going to ruin my whole attitude watching this.
I get that.
I'll go somewhere else.
Yeah.
Yeah, they enjoy it.
It's fun.
Everybody's got their fun thing.
Brian Townsend.
Couldn't believe when Brian said his baby lacks a nasal bone.
The same thing happened with our firstborn, but it ended up being okay
and actually making for a funny story.
At our 20-week ultrasound, we were told that they couldn't see a nasal bone,
that this could signify possible chromosomal issues.
That was a lot of like curves.
I've never heard you bail on a word like that, though.
You went chromosomal.
Well, I think I could have handled chromosomal.
I can't even do it now, but I think I could have handled chroma. I can't even do it now, but I think I could have handled that word.
And it was the signify.
I felt like I was on a road.
Yeah, that was a crazy run.
You're like, how many turns are we making here?
It's like when you drive a car and it's so turny that you're like,
I'm overdriving.
Sometimes it drives easy, and sometimes you're like, I'm thinking I'm over driving. You know, sometimes it drives easy
and sometimes you're like, is this, where's this, where am I going? Every, it just, it's a left and
a right. And you're like, I don't even, I can't do this. All right. It's a very serious issue.
We were scared to death. They sent us to a specialist the next week. He too informed us
that he could not see a nasal bone. My wife immediately started to cry in his office, and I began consoling her.
At that moment, the doctor said, well, there is one more thing.
Often Asian children don't develop a nasal bone until later in pregnancy.
Neither my wife nor I are Asian.
The doctor then looked my wife straight in the eye while gesturing toward me and said,
so do you have anything you want to tell this guy?
He began to chuckle a bit as though it was just a poor attempt at humor
to lighten the mood.
We couldn't believe it.
My wife said, what?
No.
And began to cry harder.
I wanted to punch the guy.
He then immediately turned and left the room.
We didn't see him again.
Everything turned out fine.
A happy, healthy baby boy.
If you look to Brian and the stressful process,
at least he hasn't been accused of cheating on his wife.
I mean, that's...
Yeah.
The guy trying to be funny?
Yeah.
Didn't work.
Yeah, it's like that doctor
is just trying to be, you know...
Trying to light the mood some.
You want to be like,
I would like to see how he delivered it.
I think I could deliver that.
You know, I think you could put me in that same situation.
I want to get Brian and his wife on it.
We're going to redo this.
I think I could deliver it, and it would be fun.
If you played the doctor.
If I played the doctor.
Yeah.
It's all about that.
It's hard to deliver something.
To deliver.
Baby and a joke.
You think you're good?
The doctor should get it more than anybody.
That's a good opening line when you
have to you know if you got bad news about the baby yeah listen there's gonna be a lot of tough
deliveries yeah coming up here one is this bad news one specifically was your baby
what's that as a doctor deliveries are tough i've never seen anything like yours it was the toughest
what you think that would be a good job you could get contracted out by these hospitals you could Deliveries are tough. I've never seen anything like yours. It was the toughest. What?
You think that would be a good job?
You could get contracted out by these hospitals.
You could deliver the bad news to people because you can do it in a fun way. You can do it in a nice, yeah.
I mean, you know, it can't be something that's like.
Let's say, Brian, you say you have to tell me that I have gout.
You have gout.
You throw a gown on.
You come in.
You have to tell me I have gout.
I mean, I would just come in and be like, hey, dude, you know what?
You got gout.
And then I would do that.
And you'd be like, is that good?
You're like, yeah, dude.
It's like you could – a guy your size, you should have 50 things.
And you only have gout, bro?
And then I would – I go, come on, dude.
You'd spin it.
I go, that's unripped.
Like that's so – I wish I had gout.
You're doing better than me.
That's how i would tell you
that worked man it works i feel better about it and you're like dude and you would go home i only
have gal and everybody then would be like oh that's not good though and you know the doctor
was thrilled he said i should have been he was thrilled about it yeah he's i can't believe you
got out of the car because i thought you were the guy I was coming to visit in the car,
and you only have gown.
That's what I got told that day.
He goes, we got one guy you need to see, but I don't think he can get inside.
Did you say he'd throw a gown on?
No, not a gown.
I meant like a doctor jacket.
I don't know, this white lab coat looking thing.
He gets down to your level?
No, he doesn't put on a hospital gown.
He goes, what are you doing?
He steps in the back. Are you a doctor? I am.
I am a doctor. Psychiatric patient.
Yeah.
You got gout, son.
There's no two ways about it.
Courtney Walker, I completed
an MRI on my brain and spine
this very morning. A word of advice to breakfast,
take the Valium.
I was all set up and ready to go
when 30 seconds
into the tunnel,
I yelled,
nope, I'm panicking,
I'm panicking.
Thankfully,
they were able to calm me down
and I finished the MRI.
I hope you had
better luck than I had.
If not,
I can't wait to hear the story.
I did the MRI last week.
It went fine.
It was,
have you guys had an MRI?
I've had a few.
I don't think I have.
A few of them.
Oh, yeah. For what? I've had a few. I don't think I have. A few of them? Yeah.
For what?
I had knee surgery.
I broke bones in my back.
I've had a few different things.
How old are you?
Were you like Michael Scott when he burned his foot?
Yeah.
Put your foot in the...
How'd you break bones in your back?
I had knee surgery in seventh grade.
And then in fifth grade, I broke two bones in my back.
And I had to have a bunch of
mris done that's funny that you went backwards and telling those stories that's true well i don't
know why you did that you got seventh grade i had this also third grade i lost my foot you're like
well what are we first grade i killed a man when i was 29 i had eye surgery but when i was two i had
uh i had my left foot was crooked. That's my doctor stuff.
Like, if you had to go through your doctor, why would you say it then?
Well, for starters, when I was 27, I broke my collarbone.
And then, you know, before that, and then when I was five, I didn't have a collarbone.
I was born without one.
And they go, Asian?
That's what they asked.
That doctor just says that with everything.
That's what that doctor just said.
They go, you got to say something, because I'm just asking.
He goes, well, do you guys have collarbones?
And then he makes up some other crazy thing,
is the Polish don't have collarbones.
The Polish.
He just says, going down.
And they're just like, I don't.
He goes, I don't, maybe.
Does it run in your family?
I look.
So why'd you break your back?
I broke playing football.
And then high school, I hurt my back again.
So I've had three different MRI injuries.
Yeah.
Did you have a concussion?
I did have a concussion.
I didn't have to get an MRI for that.
Oh, they just said.
They said. It's probably done. Oh, they just said. They said.
It's probably done.
Boo, boo.
They just knew it.
They go, look at him wobbling around.
I did.
I walked to the wrong sideline.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah.
Football.
Wow.
And no idea.
I could kind of tell what was going on.
I was just so out of it.
And then I just kind of came to the hospital on campus.
Oh, wow.
You had a hospital on campus?
Yeah.
Of high school?
No, it was college.
Oh.
When you played, what did you play?
We played full pad intramural football.
Yeah.
So it was dorms against.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, just a brief.
High school campus hospital.
That's like, now I play football in and you know we had a hospital on campus you're like wow dude i didn't know you were that good
no it was intramural it was nothing it was make-believe it was us you know whoever couldn't
get past this one level and we couldn't let something go it was how many who that's how
we started college going all right who's still not over the glory years?
That's what it was.
And then everybody's like, I still want to get after it.
And you go, all right, all right.
Let's wear some helmets and hit each other.
They walked the wrong side, like, because they're both on the same side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't even know.
How would you know?
Step right here.
You're like, hey, man, your shirt's on.
Ours are off.
Go back on the other side.
Like, that's the jerseys you had on. We had jerseys. You didn't have. Shirts and skins. Shirts and skins. Hey, man, your shirt's on. Ours are off. Go back on the other side. Like, that's the jerseys you had on.
We had jerseys.
You didn't have.
Shirts and skins.
Shirts and skins.
Hey, man, you look pretty stupid over here,
but you got blue jeans and shorts on.
We're all long blue jeans.
That's how we tell the difference between the teams.
We're playing in the long blue jeans.
Hey, look, dude.
I know it wasn't varsity football, but it got pretty intense, man.
So there's a picture of my dad up in the top.
That's – he played full pad when he went to Trevecca in college.
So my dad went to college late.
So I was five.
I was probably five when he graduated, six or something.
And so I would go down there, and they would play dad my dad and
all them would play full pad we'd go watch and i would wear like a plastic football helmet that
picture was on the front page of the trevecca paper that's cool yeah and like there uh and so
we would uh it was and so i'd wear all that stuff and i would like fake you know run around and play
but i'll never forget we had one guy.
I mean, he came out of the bench and his whole face was covered in blood.
So like he just got hit.
And I mean, I was five and I remember just,
and he just like wiped it off of his shirt.
And I was like, who is this?
What is happening?
Like, and no one was like running.
No one was, you know, and I never forget that.
Yeah.
That was you.
My dad was you.
You and my dad can talk about that.
Yeah, we could.
So were you, I feel like we got distracted.
No, I did the MRI.
It was fine.
They didn't put you in a tunnel.
Yeah, yeah, he's fine.
Anyway.
All right.
Had a stroke, but wasn't too bad.
Lost my nasal bone.
So you had nothing.
They give you a little button to push in case you freak out or something's wrong.
And as soon as they put me in there, I have an itch.
Like I just want to scratch my face.
And the fact that you can't do it just makes you think about that much more.
They're like, okay, how long would you think an mri would last part of me thinks an hour but is it like 20 minutes or
something it is actually 20 minutes i thought it would be like really fast oh i thought it was
really an hour i thought it was just like they put you in like a microwave yeah after a minute
they pull you out but she's like 20 minutes and i was like i mean i felt like you have a guy
underneath you on the bottom tray yeah it's like yeah you can't you're doing down there you're
your insurance only covers so much so you're like you see a guy you're both he's on a grill above
you and you're just looking at him i'm face down he's face up yeah no i think you're you're face
up too but they don't have that bottom thing so that's you know that he's got the I think you're face up too, but they don't have that bottom thing. So that's, you know, he's got the gown on.
You're like, oh, yeah, I got to look at it.
And then they just put you all both in there and just get it done quick.
Why don't doctors do that?
Rotisserie.
Rotisserie.
They're just like, let's wrap it up.
Let's get them.
Let's get these boys in and out, you know?
But it went fine.
So you couldn't scratch.
Could you press the button? i'm not gonna do it for
that so i just i just held out i i would have to take something i mean now that claustrophobic
could be a big problem yeah they ask you that a lot like do they want you to be would i be
knocked out or i would no i mean she said she took value more suggestive value yeah i mean
i mean i guess you could but that's not what they offer.
Is it locked?
Like you're in it and it's locked or your feet are...
Your feet are out.
Could you climb out?
No, I mean, the tube's just right above you.
Yeah.
But if you had to get out, could you like inch your way out?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, you could like slowly inch your way out.
To do the worm out of it, basically.
See, I would have even thought about that.
Now, if I ever get one, I'll be thinking, I can't get out of here even if I wanted to.
Yeah.
What if we go to different rooms for one?
I just think that you get on that MR.
They're just pushing up on the bottom of your feet.
Shove you in there?
Get in there.
You're kind of caught in between the big and the small.
You're like, you've lost so much weight.
You're like, the big one was, but it's too big now.
We need to get you in the other one.
It's like they're loading a musket.
Yeah, just pushing your feet in.
He goes,
you're such a funny human.
Get them out, boys,
and they're going to pull you out.
Well, they probably get you,
they got to go real fast.
Yeah.
You come out of it,
that sound when you walk out.
Aaron's out.
Yeah. Do they have different, Aaron's out.
Do they have different sizes? They have to have different sizes.
I guess it can go up and down.
MRIs?
Yeah.
I mean, it was pretty big.
Yeah.
They have ones at the zoo.
Oh, yeah.
For animals.
It's true.
They have to do that one.
Wasn't that from a-
I just heard that recently.
Somebody just had a-
They had to use a scale.
Oh, we talked about it.
It was Louis C.K., right?
Yeah.
That's right.
Yeah, his new special.
That's what he talks about.
Michelle Robinson.
When Cole said,
it's a smart thing,
I guess you wouldn't get it.
I think they missed that entirely.
Cole hanging with the big boys
and holding his own. Nice work, young man. Can guess you wouldn't get it. I think Nate missed that entirely. Cole hanging with the big boys and holding his own.
Nice work, young man.
Can't wait for the big reveal.
I have a daughter applying to university as well.
Exciting time.
Good luck.
Dream big.
Yeah, very nice.
Cole did good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think I could, you know, do a little joke in there.
Cole coming at me.
I think he might have been smarter than you,
Aaron.
I think Cole is.
He might be.
Where's he going to school?
I think wherever he wants.
I think Notre Dame's his,
uh,
safety school.
I think he's gonna blow his brains out
if he gets accepted to Notre Dame.
I think that's,
he's,
it's,
it's below,
it's below a safety school.
I go,
what if you get a Notre Dame?
He's like,
I'll kill myself.
He goes,
I might as well not,
I might as well go dig ditches.
That's what it is.
Word for word.
Tanner McBride.
Cole could have run a – why would I have trouble with that?
I don't know.
That's a good question.
Cole could have run –
Oh, yeah.
Why would somebody have that?
Cole could have run – see, I would have written that as a contraction, so it's Cole could have run. Oh, yeah. Why would somebody have that? Cole could have run. See, I would have written that as a contraction,
so it's Cole could have run.
Cole could have run.
Could have.
Could have.
Yeah, it's like an awkward little.
Cole could have.
Oh.
Cole could have run.
It's a little step.
Yeah.
It's like when you first step out of doors,
like a little bit longer down than you thought.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then you're already at the bottom.
And that's what happens.
Cole could have Rhode Island. And then I'm like, you're already at the bottom. And that's what happened. Cole could have Rhode Island.
And then I'm like, I'm already at the bottom.
I missed four steps.
Cole could have run across Rhode Island 27 times this year north to south.
Wow.
Wow.
So last week, Cole said he ran, what, 1,300 miles?
Is that right?
Which, Nate, says half the U.S.
And it would be 3,000 miles. Is the U.S. right? Okay. Is that right? Which makes it half the U.S. It would be 3,000 miles.
Is the U.S. right?
Okay.
Is it not?
Yeah, 1,300.
Why are you laughing?
Is 3,000, you're laughing.
L.A. to New York is like 3,000, right?
So I guess it wasn't, it didn't merit a laugh.
It's like for the general conversation,
like, oh, like basically half the country.
I assume that you'd done the math wrong. I sorry no i didn't look it up i just assumed i
think i just guessed 3 000 miles is the country 1300 basically ran half the country okay yeah
making the conversation move on all right you know anyway he's running basically stop it i don't
think you may turn around you'd be the only one raise your hand uh it's actually 200 less than
half yeah but it's not really half.
And I don't know where you're running to.
What are you running to?
Just the beginning of California, Bakersfield, and then that's it?
You go, come on.
Who's this guy?
That's what you did in your class?
Yeah, I guess if you're running from Connecticut to Bakersfield,
this teacher doesn't know what he's talking about.
Kim Dunlap.
Nate, I just cringe when I hear you talking about Sour Patch Kids.
I'm a dental hygienist.
And when the pH in your mouth goes below 5.5,
calcium will leach out of your teeth.
Just make sure and have regular dental checkups.
Go all the time?
I have to go every day.
You think you should go to a dentist that doesn't
have the undertaker doing the cleaning yeah that's a good thing yeah i go to jody jones uh i'm like
jody could you not yeah he has the undertaker does my teeth they go he's fine uh it's uh
yeah i'm still working on it i did talk about that on the Tonight Show, about having –
according to the – my physical is not until the 18th, January 18th,
so I'll figure out more of that stuff.
I guess I'll do the real thing.
Well, according to A1 –
A1C, which I see right here, Trevor Ramsey.
Yeah.
Those A1C numbers are bull.
Right here, Trevor Ramsey.
Yeah.
Those A1C numbers are bull.
It's – yeah, I mean, it's good to hear that, I guess.
I mean, I was on the line.
So when I was reading some reviews about it, it was – the numbers could be before and after.
So I don't know.
You know, it's like – it could be off one or two percent.
I have to be close.
In a weird way, this part of me wants to be close because I don't, you know,
it's like the way my brain works is you're like, I need something to be wrong.
Otherwise, you're like, no, you're fine.
You're like, you can't be fine.
You know, like it's hard to quit something, especially when you're addicted to it.
And I think I had that trouble with alcohol.
It was like you can not think you're,
you don't think you're have a problem because your only sign of a problem is a mess, a guy drinking in the driveway and hiding it.
And that's your only sign of like, well, that's bad.
You don't, you don't, you don't realize that you're like, no, no, you overindulge and you
overindulge a lot.
And when you do do it, it's like too much.
And like I do with sugar, it's like, I'm doing it.
I can't stop i'm like out of control where i'm like eating i'm realizing i'm eating like
you know and it's weird to be like i'm not i'm always talking about being fat like but i'm like
you know i'm like i'm for my probably build i'm way more than i should but i'm not a big guy
and so that's even hard too when you think like well i'm not huge i'm not like you know
i don't look like i'm going to be walking around with diabetes but then you're like yeah but i'm
eating that's why i say my metabolism might be unreal that i'm even at the size that i'm at
yeah because i should not be i think i eat worse than i think i eat worse than you i think these
days maybe yeah these days i almost think i eat eat i eat worse than people realize i i it's more
it's it's not good i'm trying to do it i had pizza i had pizza today i worked out then had pizza
today oh from the pizza yesterday cancels out if you work i know you're not supposed to canceling
out that's that's how i would always we got a weight loss challenge going on here yeah yeah
yeah we're supposed to who's going down to 165 is what we would like to get to. Can I jump in on this?
Yeah, what do you want to be?
Most people said Aaron, but.
We're going to have to adjust the scale.
Yeah, it's like inflation.
Could you get below 200 before we get to it?
You got to get to a 1980s 165, which is today a 230.
That's not a bad.
Yeah.
He's like Elaine in the contest.
Yeah.
She's got different numbers here
to get to 200
before you get to 165
yeah
yeah
I mean I'll try
probably
what are you at
you gonna say
where you're at
yeah
it's like 250
255
what do you wanna get to
what do you wanna get to
get down to 200
would be great
200
I haven't even thought
about a goal
the best shape of my life
the summer between
junior and senior high school i was 215 yeah and i was big but i've been lifting weights for
football and stuff i was just built completely different but 215 was like i didn't know it at
the time i thought i was not doing well turns out it was the prime of my life but yeah if i get back
down there that'd be great 215 2115. 2.15 is kind of.
That's a lot, though.
You have to lose 40 or 35 pounds.
I mean, I was 330.
And so we would have to leave.
I was like 191 with shoes on, and I'm probably back to 190.
So 165.
Is that 35 pounds?
No, 25 pounds.
25.
And then so you'd be 35, which could be fair.
Because if you're trying to, I think you could lose 10 very easier than we can lose 10.
Oh, I can lose weight faster than you – more easily, yeah.
I think at least off the top.
Yeah.
And then it's going to – when you get down to that last 20
is when you're going to be.
Right.
And we're already kind of close to that.
I think I can get to 178 pretty easy,
but then it's going to be hard for me to get to 165.
Okay.
But I'll get under 180.
I think if I just a good week or two,
I could be low 180s, maybe 179, 178.
And then it'll be from there.
Keep eating that pizza in the morning, dude.
We'll see what happens.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't know.
I won't eat good.
It's hard.
I'm a full-on addicted to sugar.
And that's why it's like, and it's crazy to think you think,
I want to have diabetes so I can say I can.
So I'm like, it's just how you think.
You just want something to be that bad.
That's the thing.
When you've got to quit something, and I've realized this,
the same thing with alcohol and everything.
You look at everything and you go, well, I'm not there yet.
I need something to happen for me to quit. you're like well it's going to happen dude and
it's happening and so like that's what i'm realizing too is like you're you almost could
be lucky enough that you're even reasonable and i'm almost talking myself into this as we're saying
this but i'm lucky that i even don't have to just straight up have it. Like I'm lucky to be like I can trust your body and you're going.
If you're thinking like I need to cut back or I need to stop something,
then you need to stop it.
Like you, you know, that's the answer.
And you're going to look for, you're going to look something,
like you want something to go, well, that's going to be,
I need this to happen. I need to wreck my car. I something to go well that's going to be i need this to happen
i need to wreck my car i need to lose my job i need to something you need to bottom out you need
to bottom out so you hear that a lot and you're you know but i don't think you bottoming out is
is you know like when i did it in uh you're talking about comedy zone it was like i was
going to theaters and i knew if i couldn't if i didn't
stop this like i wouldn't get to where i want to be and so and i was making a big change from going
to this to this and it was almost like i took things seriously and like that's how i need to
think about this sugar thing it's not about like bottoming out like where i need you know i'm
thinking i want this diabetes so i can then say i have to. You want to have something. It's an easy excuse.
I remember talking to someone once, you want something.
You usually want to go like, well, I have this because then you're going to go,
well, there's nothing I could do.
Like you're an excuse or something where I need to just quit because it's like,
well, I've thought about this a lot.
If I want to do as much as I want to do with my career and how busy i will be if uh drinking's
taken care of well now food is going to be taken because i'm i can't be getting like i'm getting
tired when we were writing all weekend it's like i'm getting tired like i go eat this stuff and
then i feel tired for a long time after and you're like it's like this has got to stop dude like you
can't just be at just all hours of the day.
You're just like, you could close your eyes a little bit.
And, you know, so if I want to go farther, yeah.
There you go.
Maybe I'll do it.
How often are we going to weigh in?
So we did.
Last week.
Last week.
So the end of this month.
Let's see where we're at.
All right.
Daniel Reeves. I enjoy watching Nate on Jimmy Fallon this week. Last week. So the end of this month. Let's see where we're at. All right. Daniel Reeves.
I enjoy watching Nate on Jimmy Fallon this week.
Nate seems like such a natural with these.
The interview, my question is,
are you giving the questions that Jimmy asked ahead of time?
You seem like you had the McDonald's and Koi Pond bits lined up.
Were those prepared, or did you have to steer the conversation there?
I kind of give them a heads up i let
them know what you do a pre-interview is how you always do it i think everybody kind of does it
even they do long interviews uh we don't do pre-interviews like podcasts you don't always do
it but uh with that show it's like i and as a comic it's a little different like when he's when
he's talking to the celebrities and they're talking about a movie or they're talking about something like that like uh it's gonna be it's it's it's different it's uh you
know like i think they're asking like what's marvel well anybody and they might go like hey
do you have a story you want to tell and you could like you ask me about the you know ron going to
six flags and you're like all right so that when i was kind of like all right i was going through
it like what i'm i want to say and i have a mix of like so the diabetes thing i am going to like have a
type two to earn kind which is something we said all on or when we're talking about on the podcast
i said that that worked really well that i've never done that on stage but i i will probably
put all that stuff in on stage and work it out into a bit and then the koi pond thing if you
heard that that's that is a joke i do on
stage but you can kind of just see like i'm still doing these jokes but weirdly enough like you can
kind of hide them on panel you know the koi pond was kind of how i do it but the mcdonald's thing
i just never have done like you know so i was the first time i was saying it was outside of like us
talking about whatever and i said it like in a driveway i've said it like to my friends like you know uh so i
kind of was saying it for the first time and you just like you're like all right i'll be able to do
it like you know it's like that's going to a new that's a different world that i haven't been in
that world of like i you know you want to be like i want to be the guy that gets going tonight show
and be like yeah i'll just be funny so So I was probably a lot more in control.
I felt I rushed myself a little bit.
It's hard to learn how to sit there and let the laughs come
just because I've never done that like that.
And you still get there and you're like, no one knows who I am.
And so you're still like, you're sitting on the couch when i'm a comic
you're like there's a you're over your comic yeah this is the comic he goes and now you're like
like a celebrity i don't know you're like just there and you're like it's like kate blanchett
than me and then you're like i don't these people are like who you know and so i gotta like why you
know you gotta i gotta destroy that's what i wanted to do. It went great, man.
Yeah, it was great.
Thanks, man.
It was fun.
I meant to mention, we're talking about food.
I forgot.
Did you see your dad's posts yesterday, speaking of food and the Bargatze family?
No.
On Facebook?
On Facebook?
So.
This is where I get my genes from.
Whataburger just opened last week in Nashville.
It's one of like eight or nine locations opening this year around.
So your dad spent two hours and 17 minutes in line getting a really big plate of fries and some other stuff there.
Yeah.
So I didn't see they put.
So I was with.
We talked to them last night in line like if we were facetiming
with them two hours and 17 minutes i mean they i was like facetime on the harper talk like are
y'all still and they're like yeah we're still on then none of them should be in that ditch and have
that dead gum drink i'll tell you that right now uh he does have diabetes that's why he shouldn't
none of that should be,
you know,
I mean,
he could have at least stood next to the car while he waited.
That's what I should have made him do.
I should have made mom be like,
get him out of the car and make him stand there.
And,
uh,
he,
he also knows he eats something bad with us.
Like,
don't tell your mom.
You're like,
we don't,
we're not going to let you do it either.
Like he tells us, like, it's like your family's the, we're not going to let you do it either. Like he tells us.
It's like your family's the one that's not going to let you do this.
But yeah, they were in line.
The line, it's in Hermitage.
It's where the Applebee's used to be.
Not the one we worked at, but the line is crazy.
I drove by it yesterday, earlier before they got there.
That's funny because I drove by it, and then we called them later,
and they were in it.
It's like looking at Christmas lights.
So we got – so the Henry show is about to come on.
This will be the longest one I think we ever did.
Yeah, pretty long.
Talked a lot about old comedy.
It kind of worked out.
I mean, sadly, it didn't work.
We talked about Bob Saget and Henry.
Henry's been around for a while, knew Bob really well, as I knew him too,
not as well as Henry.
So we talk about all that stuff.
And we already recorded it.
That's why I'm kind of saying it like this is the end.
So we would like to welcome our good buddy, Henry Cho, here.
Good to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Finally, our schedule's lined up. Finally. Boy, I tell you, we've been trying for to be here. Thanks for having me. Finally, our schedule's lined up.
Finally.
Boy, I tell you, we've been trying for a while.
Been trying for a while.
It's like I was trying to golf, too.
It gets hard.
You got to plan way ahead and pray it doesn't rain.
Yeah, yeah.
Right?
Yeah, I think comics are very last minute.
It's like, can you do it now?
And you're like, I can do it now.
Right.
That's why my buddies, they're like, hey, let's do dinner. do dinner on and i go hey hey just call me last minute and they will they'll
go hey tomorrow night meet me here sure amy and i'll be there and we're there yeah so yeah we're
very last minute people yeah it's comics like i think you're just you you can get to yeah like
trying to plan i mean if it has to be something you're like you got to tell me way ahead so i can
put it in the cat like it's got to be – we got to have it blocked off.
But you're like, I don't know what kind of mood I'm going to be in that.
Like we – you know, it's like such a weird thing.
It is.
That sounds so stupid because most people don't do that.
No, they don't.
But most people don't have 23 hours a day to reschedule.
Yes.
That's the other thing.
Yeah, yeah.
So we're wide open.
Yeah, if the sun's out, we're open.
Yeah. That's my thing. Yeah. I like it too because we will not – two sunsets, like you want to yeah, we're wide open. Yeah, if it's the sun's out, we're open. Yeah.
That's my thing.
Yeah.
I like it, too, because we will not – two sentences, like, you want to go, and you're like, I'm not.
You're like, I don't want to go.
I don't.
I think you're out – we're out too much.
We're like – it's like you're going to go to a restaurant, and you're like, I don't know.
I feel like I'm at a restaurant every night, like doing shows.
Yeah.
I mean, we're eating in the back, but, yeah, we're still out. Yeah, we have to let it see what the people want.
I don't go see – yeah, I don't go eat unless somebody in my family wants to.
Yeah.
And stuff.
And then people always go, hey, you want to go see this show?
No, I really don't want to go see anybody.
Yeah.
But you know him real well.
Yeah, and he doesn't want me there.
Yeah.
So we're even.
Yeah.
We talked about going to a show.
Like, I went to a concert.
But it is nice if you can go
sometimes go to show but yeah you don't want it to be a comic and you don't and you want to be
like i just don't let's go sit wherever i don't want to be a whole thing right it's like i just
want to watch yeah well you were telling the story it was a james corden that you took your
daughter to see yes see bts so this was right before covid b, BTS, the biggest band in the world.
So my daughter loves them, obviously.
She's a little teenager.
And so a buddy of mine said, hey, they're going to be on James Corden.
Do you want to bring her out?
And I'm like, really?
So I go.
And for the first time in my life, I'm on the other side.
Yeah.
And I'm sitting there with her.
We're front row.
And the cameraman looks at me and goes, what are you doing here?
And I said, my daughter.
He goes, wow, you ever been over here?
I went, never.
Yeah.
And he's like, weird?
I went, totally weird.
And my daughter's like, what are they talking about?
I said, nothing.
It's all right.
And then she goes, oh, I didn't think about that, Dad. You've never been out here.
I go, I don't want to be out here.
Yeah.
I'm going to be in the back and hanging out. But it was weird. Yeah. Yeah't want to be out here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I want to be in the back and hanging out.
But it was weird, yeah.
Yeah.
It was a total different.
Yeah, it is crazy.
When you're sitting on that other side,
just because you're just not used to it,
you kind of get used to that, the chaos of the backstage.
Right.
It's kind of like when someone's driving your car.
Yeah.
You know?
My son wasn't down.
He drove my truck the other day, and I was in the passenger seat,
and I went, wow, this is – I don't like this angle.
I don't like this view.
Yeah, you've never seen the car from that spot before.
No, this view, and I'm looking out the right window and seeing things.
I'm like – and finally, I mean, we went like literally –
we hadn't left our neighborhood, and I said, pull over.
He goes, why?
I go, this ain't happening.
He goes, why?
I go, I'm driving.
Forget it.
He goes, really?
I go, sorry.
Not happening. Yeah. He goes, what? I go, I'm driving. I forget it. Yeah. He goes, really? I go, sorry. Yeah.
Not happening.
We tried.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, I was, too.
She's a kid driving, too.
Add to that.
You probably got to be like, why are you?
I mean, my daughter's nine.
So, and she's driving.
That's great, man.
Yeah.
We got her into it early.
Yeah.
You should.
I let her drive a, she drives, like, she'll go, if she ever goes golfing with me, she
doesn't really play.
I let her drive the golf cart.
That's great.
You know why?
They actually learn how to steer and how to stop and go. me, she doesn't really play. I let her drive the golf cart. That's great. You know why? They actually learn how to steer
and how to stop and go.
It really helps.
It really does.
Yeah, I remember a kid from my high school.
Did I ever tell this story about him?
Like in high school,
when I took my driver's test
and the kid that we did at Coach Wade,
DCA just won the championship.
He coaches there now.
But Coach Wade is our driver instructor.
And so I got behind a car, and it's like most kids are like, yeah,
I mean, I've sat in my dad's lap when I grew up.
Or like I've been randomly behind a car.
And this kid, they asked him, and they go,
have you ever been behind a car?
And he was like, no.
And they're like, you never sat in your kid's lap.
Your dad's lap, you never even pretended. And he's like, no. And we're like, you never sat in your kid's lap. Your dad's like, you never even pretended.
And he's like, no.
And we just drove straight through a stop sign
and went into someone's yard.
He just had no concept.
None.
Of just any of it.
Wow.
And so then I always kind of think about that.
So then now, my daughter's been sitting in my lap
since she was five.
I'm just not in my hands on the wheel.
Just getting the idea. Yeah. and by the time she drives them they might even have
you might not be allowed to drive that's true that's true but um yeah but when you're yeah
have my kid drive it's i got so all three of mine are driving now it's crazy yeah can they
drive stick shift yes that's a rule of mine yeah so yeah you know what number one theft deterrent oh yeah yeah
oh yeah those punks get in your car and go wow can't grab that yeah yeah yeah so then go steal
brian's car didn't he yeah they take your radio in brian's car and you're like so it could have
just been one car you're like it could have been but but you can't take my stick shift that's right
yeah uh yeah the stick shift would be can y'. Can you drive a stick shift?
No, no.
No?
No.
Oh.
No, he's that generation, man.
That is.
I've never had to.
I don't know if I've been even a passenger in a car that's a manual.
I got my truck out there.
It's an 89 Jeep Comanche.
Yeah, it's manual, right?
Five speed.
Yeah, go.
Here, let me give you the key.
Go around and call the SEC.
I love a manual. I do, too. On certain cars me give you the key. Go around and call the SEC. I love a manual.
I do too.
And on certain cars, it's a must, you know?
Yeah.
Well, like your truck is like that.
Like that would be, you'd want it in that.
Oh, yeah.
That's a perfect truck.
And I actually got that truck to teach my daughter how to drive a manual
because my boys have a 2000 F-250, 98 Ram 2500.
I had to go big diesel to get a straight shift for them to learn.
But they learn, and it all happened there.
And I probably told you all this story.
We're in Honduras on a mission trip.
And I needed a truck moved because I had some supplies I had to get up there ASAP.
And I yelled at 12 high school seniors.
And I said, hey, one of you boys move this truck.
And they're like, we can't, Mr. Cho.
And I'm like, why?
They go, it's a stick shift.
I'm like, oh, really?
Y'all push it, okay?
So I put it in neutral, and they pushed it.
And I'll never forget, Jackson was like 12.
And I looked at him, I said, that's never going to be you.
You're going to know how to drive a stick shift.
So I went back to the parents going, you understand you're sending your kids
to third world country that is super dangerous, and they can't drive one vehicle in the entire country. I mean, if something
happened and they got to get away, they can't. They can't. And it changed. Everybody's thinking,
they're like, wow, never thought about that. I'm like, yeah. What if one day your kids have
to drive an automatic? Are they going to know what to do though? Yeah. Because it's automatic.
Yeah. Yeah. That automatically comes. You know what? It might backfire.
They start doing this.
They do.
They do.
They get in my wife's car.
They get in.
The first thing they do, they're reaching.
And I even start pushing my left foot on a clutch.
Yeah, yeah.
That's always the fun part when you're driving.
Because I learned on a stick shift.
I learned on a stick shift.
I remember my parents, my mom, tried to teach me at our church parking lot,
Temple Baptist Church, and couldn't do it.
Did it like a couple minutes, got so frustrated.
My parents would get, we come from a family that have really no patience.
And we try to like help out, and then it's like, I can't do it.
And then my mom just got out, and like it was like it didn't happen.
But I eventually learned, and then, but I took a driver's test on my aunt's car because it was like it didn't happen but i eventually learned and then uh but i took a
driver's test on my aunt's car because it was automatic just because it was like oh yeah close
enough very smart that you're like let me do at least you know i don't want to because i was going
to how i had was a stick shift all they had was a stick shift right yeah but you don't want to kill
it on a driver's i mean it's so crazy automatic cars were not a thing like they just weren't stick
shifts were everywhere that's all anybody had a luxury to have an automatic car yeah you had to pay for it you had to pay for i mean that's so
i i almost like about getting older like i i'm reminded almost every day and like this moment
i'm reminded to go like man do you know how you don't know yeah you just didn't have it he's never
been in 10 years he's never been in one yeah you're 12 years younger than me and you just don't ever even you just never would have seen it like right i was born
right at a perfect time that i got a good glimpse of everything right like i got the old you did
ways and then when i got a high once phones came it was just now it's gone you're all
you're driving automatic cars texting driving you'll barely watch the road now y'all just
they don't have to
they don't have to sit in the back seat
and sit there and do their little song
do their little song
yeah do that commercial
and they all go clap
that's all they do
he watches the West Wing
yeah
he watches full on series
not just a movie
we'd be like
we'll give you a movie
a full on series
that goes on for six years
how long is West Wing
ten years
I don't know
seven seasons
four that are good
four that are good yeah Four that are good.
Which four are they?
The first four.
One, three, seven.
It jumps around.
It jumps around.
One, three, seven.
The ones with Sheenan.
There was a period where on the road with Henry,
I had a flat tire probably 75% of the time.
Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
Three out of the four gigs we did, you had a flat tire,
but I'm telling you, he blew a tire and we did Lenore, Lenore, North Carolina, the Brewhill
theater. And we came out, Brian has a flat tire and I'm like, man, you know how to change that?
He goes, no idea. So I said, okay. I said, well, let's go get a plug kit. And he goes, oh,
what?
So we go to Walmart,
which closed at midnight.
Luckily.
Yeah.
Grab a plug kit.
I've fixed this tire.
And he was good to go.
Cause you know,
and everybody's like,
well,
why did you try so hard?
I said,
I didn't want him riding with me.
Are you kidding?
Yeah.
Look at that car.
I ain't riding in it.
Yeah.
So,
but I was,
oh,
go ahead.
No,
go,
go ahead.
I went on a show once with you in Chattanooga.
I just stopped by.
That's right.
He had to stay three hours after the show.
I wasn't even on.
Yeah.
He came by just to say hey and had a flat tire in the parking lot.
And I kept him there until midnight because of it.
Where do you get all these flat tires from?
Bad drive.
I'm kidding.
Well, the comedy catch parking lot that was
yeah that was 50 50 anyway yeah yeah yeah half the cars there had flat we have like construction
going on some of our neighborhood and i've started i've stopped driving that way because uh
how you would get a flat tire and i've had like three yeah and then uh yeah you just got it now
it's like and now some of the tires get so thin and small and they're just not made like anything.
You're like, it's done.
Low profile.
Low profile.
Yeah, but Brian's case, you joined AAA that night.
Yeah.
Because I said, I ain't doing it.
Called AAA.
He goes, I'm not a member.
I said, 1-800.
Yeah.
And you called it.
Yeah, I joined.
Instant member.
I'm alone in the parking lot.
That's right.
Yeah.
Good call.
Did you think, what if I just wait for A or P or whatever?
You were like, well, I'm so close.
I might as well hold out.
I don't want to go get involved in one thing.
Do they even do that?
I don't know what AARP is.
That'd be great if they did roadside.
They don't.
They should.
They don't.
They should.
You know, when that thing shows up, you just throw it in the trash.
Yeah, the AARP.
Yeah, can't face it.
I got it on my 50th birthday. Oh, on your birthday. Yep. Yep. They're on it, trash. Yeah, the AARP. Yeah, can't face it. I got it on my 50th birthday.
Oh, on your birthday.
Yep.
Yep.
They were on it, man.
Yeah.
Well, you know, they got nothing else to do.
Bunch of old people sitting around looking at people's birthdays.
Send it out.
Yeah.
Did you embrace it, though?
No, I was mad about it.
I did what Henry did.
I tossed it in the trash.
You go, come on.
But they keep sending them.
Yeah.
They wear you down.
Yeah, you'll give it.
I wonder what, I would love to know what their thing is.
They go, we start at 50.
It's about 62 when people kind of come around.
Like if there's an age that they go, you finally go, all right, I'll do it.
Yeah, that's it.
Once you show up at the Hampton Inn and they go, hey, I'll give you 15% off if you're here.
Oh, okay, that I'll do.
Yeah, that, yeah.
Oh, shit.
I think 62 is it.
Probably takes you about 12 years to go, all right.
What is it?
It's like moving up to the senior tees.
It is.
So my dad, when he moved up to the senior tees, he was-
He didn't start there?
No, he should.
I'm kidding.
He would always switch.
He would sometimes-
It was almost like it was just like we were slowly-
He would do it sometimes.
So we'd start playing and he's looking at his age where he's like almost there.
It would be like randomly you go to a club where you're like it's like 55 is like up.
Yeah.
But then it's like once he hits 60, and then you're like, well, you can go up now.
He's like, I'm not going to go up here.
And then he would do like par fives or something.
Maybe a long hole would be like, well, I'll go up for the long hole.
Yeah.
Then come back.
It was like slowly that to then now it's like, well, we just, now it's like, hey, he's just
gone.
Full blown.
Full blown.
Front tees.
Yeah.
Front tees.
Hey, I can't wait for that, man.
I know.
Well, it's, those were those, you play these old guys, you can't beat them.
No.
Like when they're up there in the front tees, because especially you got like a, you got
like a perfect age where you can still hit it.
Oh yeah.
And you're old enough to be up there.
And then you're a problem.
Yep.
You have a good probably five-year run, maybe three, five-year run of just a night.
You're just crushing it.
And I don't know what year the venue was.
It was one of the last ones.
Craig Stadler had turned 65, so he got to play from the whites.
Wow.
And he did. Yeah. And I'm like, what are you doing? He goes, hey, I don't play anymore. I to play from the whites wow and he did yeah and i'm like what are you
doing he goes hey i don't play anymore i'm playing for the whites and uh lo and behold he won yeah
he won and so he's on the range people going i can't believe you play the whites he goes hey i
won what do you care what does it matter he didn't care he goes i'm 65 what do you have you you've
done a lot of those celebrity golf uh yeah back in back before kids did tons yeah do you do AT&T I did not you know I was on the
I was an alternate and uh Tom Candiotti uh was I was there with him and this is before 10 cup
no lie they didn't have a range back then and they still really don't oh Pebble does it right
yeah so we went down to this little area where you just kind of hit some wedges,
maybe, and we're on the far left, and Candy Yachty shanks his
and almost takes out Tom Kite and Lee Jansen,
and it goes almost literally, I mean, just parallel to us.
So everybody turns around.
They look at me, and they're like, Hank, what's up?
I go, it wasn't me.
It was Candy Yachty, and Candy looks at me and goes, really?
You had to tell everybody?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I go, I don't have a club in my hand.
And so Candy's standing over the next one.
I went, wow, how hard is this shot?
He's like, shut up, man.
I go, wow, I would whiff it if I did any.
Wow, are you really going to try to hit it?
Can you really hit it?
He's like, will you shut up?
And he snap hooked it so far left.
So he wasn't close to
anybody yeah so to answer your question i was alternate and then i got to the point where i
couldn't give up five days yeah yeah that's true um my kids started school moved here as you know
uh you know i coached my kids baseball and basketball teams yeah i was talking to somebody
the other day and they said how'd you do do that? I said, it was impossible. It was stupid as possible.
I mean, I'd do a show in, say, Atlanta on a Friday night.
I'd drive home, coach a game Saturday morning, go back.
And, you know, this is first, second, third grade sports.
Yeah.
It's not that.
But I was a coach for years, kindergarten through third grade.
And I'd coach baseball and basketball, and I made it work.
I mean, I would even tell my agent back then, when Jackson started playing high school sports, his senior year, I said, man, I got to have every Friday night off in the fall.
He's like, you know you're a comedian, right?
Yeah.
I go, yeah.
But from August till December, I got to have every Friday night off.
Yeah.
I said, I work Saturdays.
So I was doing a lot
of one-offs in the middle you know and one-offs are hard you know how you like to try to do a tour
and yeah you know one-offs are going to be the random it's going to be the middle of nowhere
right so i'm sitting there you know i'd go i'd watch my son play sports on set friday night
fly out on saturday come back on sunday so, you know, I did that for a long time. I couldn't do all these big pro-ams that take several days.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A lot of that becomes time consuming.
A lot of times when you even are big enough to get invited to this stuff,
you're like, well, I can't do it.
No.
And you're like, it's almost like a weird where you're like,
I could have done it a year ago if y'all would have asked.
And then they're like, no.
And then you're like, well, now you're like, now, where would a year ago if y'all would have asked and then they're like no and then you're like well now you're like now where would i how would i even do it right
and it's stuff it's so much like just the commitment of time yeah because they you're
just not just playing golf i mean there's stuff every night and they expect you to do shows and
expect you to be here so i mean it's a week and you sit there and go holy holy cow i can't do that
and then i was like you said i the times when I was an alternate was the times I could have done it.
I was single.
And then I even had it where the kids weren't that mobile.
And then there just came a point where I said no to stuff for like a decade.
You know, I'd do a few here and there.
If they're local, I could bop over here.
And, yeah, doing the celebrity golf was always tons of fun.
I mean, we had a circuit for a while.
Who's the worst celebrity golfer you've ever seen?
Keep in mind, Bates has done a celebrity golf.
I was going to say.
Yeah, well, yeah.
Myself not included.
So this was Tahoe, good night, 89, maybe 94, something like that.
So Rocket Ishmael didn't play.
Hey, go Irish.
Didn't play.
Yeah, he shot 81-81 because they gave him a nine on each hole.
Yeah.
But the worst was Chris Weber.
I'm getting ready to tee off, and I'm going to be dropping names here.
Sorry.
No, no, yeah.
No, I know.
Paul McCartney told me never be a name dropper.
But anyway, thank you.
So Michael Jordan comes up, and he starts laughing.
I go, what are you laughing at, MJ?
He goes, you don't know?
I go, what?
He goes, you're behind Webber.
And I go, what do you mean?
He goes, he's never played.
I go, he's not even good?
He goes, never played.
I'm like, why is he here? He goes, he's never played. I go, he's not even good. He goes, never played. I'm like, why is he here?
He goes, he's playing for Golden State.
He's Chris Webber.
He goes, who are you?
And I went, yeah, you're right.
Why am I here?
Webber, he's whiffing.
It took seven hours probably.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So everybody in front of him were finished.
They're eating dinner and we're behind them.
Yeah.
Worst experience ever. So Chris in front of him were finished. They're eating dinner and we're behind them. Yeah. Worst experience ever.
So Chris Webber.
Chris Webber.
Yeah.
And I kept saying, hey, call timeout.
Oh, you don't have any.
Yeah.
He really liked that.
But yeah, Chris Webber would have been the worst.
So you started, what's funny is like, you were one of the first comics when I met.
I remember my family
it was exciting that I met you
like it was like everybody knew you
and everybody was like
well it was like you were known
everybody's known you for a long time
and so it was always like that was like one of the
you're a little bragging
you're like oh yeah I got his phone number
but you started in
when did you start what year
was 86 86 so y'all calm down okay yeah yeah and you weren't even born yet no no we talk about this
they started his quick comedy he's thinking about getting back in it in 86 yeah he gave it a go
gave it a go then started again and he started, yeah. Yeah. So where did you go for it?
Did you start in?
Knoxville.
Knoxville, yeah.
Yeah, so I'm in college, and I told my buddies I wanted to do stand-up.
I was going to try stand-up.
Yeah.
And they're like, dude, what are you talking about?
I said, I really think I can do it.
And they went, really?
All right, but you're not funny.
I go, I know, but I think I can do this.
So I never hung out in comedy clubs never been on stage
nothing i entered a competition i just called the funny bone and said hey uh i heard y'all got a
competition i'd like to enter they said okay well we're full we have 12 you're the first alternate
so if somebody drops out we'll let you know so on friday i get a call somebody dropped out still
been trying i've been trying to find out who that was. Yeah. To this day. That is so great. And so they go, you're on it Monday.
Be down here like at 7.
Show's at 8 or whatever.
So I told my buddies I'm in.
And they're like, what?
So we're driving down there.
I'm writing my first set ever on the way there.
Yeah.
And they're going, well, if you're going to do it, tell the story about this.
Tell this story.
Tell that story.
And so I get there.
And I thought it's
12 guys like me just trying but it was the funniest person in tennessee competition for showtime oh
wow yeah so it's 11 working comedians and and me so i watched the first couple guys go up and i
tell my buddies man you know i'm just gonna since we're here i'm gonna going to do it, and I'm never going to talk about it again. Yeah. So I go up fifth and destroy, and I get a standing ovation.
So I walk off stage, a guy named Jerry Kubok owned 12 Funny Bones at the time
throughout the Midwest, started in St. Louis.
And he's like, how long you been doing comedy?
I said, that was it, man.
That was it.
He goes, no, seriously, how long you been doing it?
And my buddies go, no, that was it.
First time ever. He's like, wow, do you want been doing it? And my buddies go, no, that was it. First time ever.
Yeah.
He's like, wow, do you want to MC this week?
And I go, what's that?
He goes, oh, you do 15 minutes.
Introduce the other acts.
I'll give you a couple hundred bucks.
And I'm like, 200 bucks?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I said, I don't have 15 minutes.
He goes, well, just do what you did tonight.
I don't care.
I said, all right.
So I did.
Started working on, so that was a Monday.
I started working on Wednesday.
Yeah, wow.
And I dropped out of college on Friday.
True story.
Yeah.
Were your parents thrilled?
Oh, yeah.
My Korean immigrant parents?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
They took it like nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
They took it like a white guy.
Yeah, yeah.
No, are you kidding?
My dad was – he went ballistic.
Yeah.
He did not speak to me for like 18 months.
Was this your senior year?
Or was this like your senior year?
I was so close to graduating.
It was like I was sniffing it.
I was trying on gown sizes.
But it was there.
And I just went for it. And it worked.
It worked.
So my big break came.
Funny bones.
Kubach said, hey, whenever you get out of school
he goes when you graduate i'll let you do all my clubs and i said well i'm not going to graduate i
just quit he went yeah wow okay here's what we're going to do yeah so i did i went to cincinnati
then st louis and kansas city and uh then there was a gig in mizzou at uh freddie demarco's deja
vus yeah and then we did the I-70 tour um which was Manhattan
Kansas and Lawrence and then all that just kept going and start meeting comedians yeah I work
with Bill Ingvall in Knoxville uh biggest biggest break probably came six months after doing comedy
Punchline Atlanta had Jerry Seinfeld they didn't have it his clean his opener couldn't
do it so they needed a clean opener i was the only clean comedian anybody ever heard of yeah
because this is 1986 yeah and so uh i went down work with jerry jerry was like man you know are
you he goes they're gonna offer you the moon yeah but don't stop doing stand-up because i can't
believe you've been doing this six months. You actually, you get it.
And I said,
oh,
I love doing stand-up.
Was this sold out
with Seinfeld?
Was he already?
Yeah,
he was probably
the biggest name
on our circuit.
Yeah.
So it was sold out Seinfeld.
Because before the show,
but he was-
Before the show,
he was-
Everybody knew him.
Everybody knew him.
He was Tonight Show
four or five times a year,
that kind of guy.
And so,
you know,
Jerry's like,
hey,
you know, where are you going next i went
well not nowhere i mean i just did the funny bone tour and yeah i got nothing he's like okay well
all right well let's figure this out so did some more with him he goes back to la he tells uh
dennis wolfberg gary shanley bill maher leno uh rich jenny Rich Jenny, the top headliners in the country.
And so they start calling me.
Hey, Jerry said you're the guy.
I'm going to be here.
Need somebody.
Can you be there?
I'll get there.
So next year and a half, I'm working with the top 10, 15 guys in the country,
sold out shows, smart audiences.
So I learned how to work.
And then Jerry gave me the greatest advice.
He goes, you need to work everywhere you can.
You got to get your chops.
You can't be this gravy boat.
I said, all right, gravy train.
Where'd that come from?
And it's an old joke of mine.
And so I did.
I did creative entertainment.
I was doing Meridian, Mississippi, Ozark, Alabama.
You called them chicken wire gigs?
I did a bunch of chicken wire gigs where they had chicken wire around the stage.
Anniston, Alabama.
Like Roadhouse?
Yeah, just like Roadhouse.
Oh, like you stood like-
You stood behind the chicken wire.
So they wouldn't throw stuff at you?
Exactly.
No, they'd still throw it.
It just wouldn't hit you.
Yeah, it just wouldn't hit you.
Just the liquid you get.
Yeah.
No solid objects.
Yeah, yeah.
I'll never forget me and Jim Gilles.
We're doing a show in Greenville, Mississippi,
and a guy tried to pay us in cocaine.
He throws it on the table.
That's 10 times more than your rent.
I go, man, my landlord doesn't take coke.
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
Give me my $100.
Yeah.
You look back and you go, I should have taken that coke.
I didn't say I didn't.
Yeah.
No, I'm kidding.
So Galeesh is upstairs, up on stage.
And I mean, this crowd was awful, just awful.
And we're both eating it as bad as you can eat it.
And he's up there.
I just hear him yell, Henry, get the car.
So I go get my truck and I back it up the back door and i'm just sitting in it just i
don't and sure enough about 10 minutes later that back door bus open and glace jumps into my truck
bed jumps in the bed and goes get out of here i'll jump in the cabin a second
so i pull out of this uh roadside bar we were doing comedy. It's creative entertainment.
So I did all these gigs, all these really tough shows,
and on top of working with the greatest guys in our industry.
Yeah, like it's a perfect balance.
Yeah, I mean, those are the shows that people, like it's insane.
For a comic to perform behind chicken wire, I mean, it's insane for anybody.
It's insane to even be in a band.
Yeah.
But much less where you're like, no, I need them to listen to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, they have to listen.
Yeah, and they turn off a Monday night football game right at third quarter,
and they go, hey, we're going to do some comedy.
Didn't you do a gig with Foxworthy where the condo didn't have a front door?
Yeah, that was Cincinnati, Funny Bone.
Gosh, 87-ish probably.
So Jeff drives from Atlanta.
I drive from Knoxville.
Just by happenstance, I pull in 30 seconds behind him.
And we're at a comedy condo, which you know, as in a condo,
the cheapest apartments on demand they can get.
So it's on the second floor, and I pull up, and Jeff's just standing there.
And I go, what's wrong?
He goes, there's no door. And I go's wrong? He goes, there's no door.
And I go, what? He goes, there's no door. And I go, what do you mean? He goes, the door's on the
inside. So I go up there and there's flies in there and it's just nasty. And he goes, you got
money for a hotel? And I said, yeah, but you're not, I said, you're not smoking in. He used to smoke.
Anybody that doesn't know that, get over it.
Anyway.
So he goes, what?
I go, you ain't smoking in the room.
So anyway, he would open the window and straddle it and smoke cigarettes.
But there was no door.
So finally, I think he talked the club owner into paying for a hotel or half of it or something. Yeah.
Those were the days, man.
No front door.
Can you imagine?
It's just a business.
Yeah.
You got your comics that are coming this weekend, and you don't give them.
And you're like, is there?
And you don't even, like, there's no urgency to go get the front door fixed.
No, it was bashed since Sunday night, probably.
And this was Tuesday.
I mean, that thing's been wide open for two and a half days.
Yeah.
You know?
It was crazy.
Just everything's in there.
Oh, yeah.
And the crazy thing is, you know, one of the waitresses who cleaned it,
you know, they gave her 10 bucks.
That was the standard, you know?
And the waitress would go clean the condo for $10.
$10.
$10.
Imagine someone, you're listening, would you do anything for $10? $10. $10. Imagine someone, there's someone, you're listening,
and you,
would you do anything for $10?
He can't even drive a stick.
He can't do another thing.
If I asked you to go get me
another water downstairs,
I said,
I'll give you $10.
Would you be like,
I don't know,
it's not worth it.
I don't know if Harper would.
Like,
yeah,
for $10,
$10 is becoming nothing.
Five is like,
you gotta just,
five is what it is now.
Five is the new dollar. Like, you just have to give five is what it is now. Five is the new dollar.
Like, you just have to give five or a kid won't even bat an eye.
Yeah.
It's like the tooth fairy now is giving out $20 all this time.
Is that where you're missing a couple teeth?
Yeah.
Pulls them out.
I'm not getting those, but I remember a dollar.
I was pumped about a dollar.
That's like the-
You got bills?
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, I got one.
I'm kidding.
Anyway, I don't even know if that's correct. Is that correct? Is that Asian? Korean money? Wow. Yeah. Well, I got one. I'm kidding. Anyway, I don't even know if that's correct.
Is that correct?
Is that Asian?
Korean money?
Yeah.
You're the one that can try it and see if it's not.
Yeah.
Who knows?
We're not the ones to look at.
Is that right?
Yes.
Yeah.
So Jimmy Tingle, a great comedian out of Boston, used to do this bit when the stamp was going up from, I think it was going up from 7 cents to 12.
Yeah.
And he was like, for a nickel, for a nickel, some man will come and get something out of my mailbox and take it anywhere I want.
For a nickel.
For a nickel.
He goes, and you people are complaining?
Yeah.
Yeah.
For a nickel.
For a nickel.
12 cents? Yeah. For a nickel. For a nickel. 12 cents.
Yeah.
I always liked seeing comics have to update their act, where you'd see them like, I remember
seeing it.
Someone do like a payphone.
They used to do like a-
Oh, yeah.
Because payphones used to be a dime.
I remember this.
I remember payphones being a quarter, and I remember them going at 35 cents.
And I was like, it was annoying.
It was annoying.
You were like, God, why would they even do that?
Yeah.
And then it was just over after that.
But I do remember I was old enough to be like,
I was still using pay phones and it was crazy.
Like probably my senior year in high school,
you had to really use pay phones.
Right.
But I remember comics would,
this comic would have a joke about that.
He's like, oh, they made it, it was a dime dime so his joke was from when it was a dime right so then he's then he uh he was
like oh you gotta update it so now it's a quarter it's not even a quarter anymore no and so then he
was like and then he's still telling this joke like five years ago you're like no not only
is no one using the pay phone you're not even to the right amount that it was the last time they were using it.
You're right.
Like you haven't,
this joke has been going on for maybe 40 years.
It's three steps behind.
And half your audience
doesn't even know what a payphone is.
Oh.
It doesn't exist.
No, wouldn't know how to use it.
Wouldn't even know what it means.
I remember when they went from 25 to 35,
I was doing a joke about Billy Ray Cyrus
having to change his song
lyrics from Here's a Quarter, Call Somebody
Who Cares. It's like, hey, and a dime.
Oh, Travis Tritt.
Travis Tritt, yeah. Here's a quarter and a dime.
Here's a quarter and here's a dime.
Call somebody who cares.
That's a great joke. I was doing this
whole thing. Yeah, he didn't like it.
That's a great topical...
It's such a good... It's a great topical like it's just it's such
a good like it's a perfect joke for like that and that time it was like that joke was i mean
it killed it's so funny it killed that's yeah that one killed what a time you could do a joke
about just raising the payphone a dime yeah and it destroyed and it destroyed destroyed did you
so you were so you were in Knoxville.
You lived in San Francisco for a while, right?
No, no, no. Oh, you'd always go out there.
I would go there all the time. So I was in
Knoxville, started in 86. I moved
to LA January 89.
So I
go out in 88, do some spots,
stay with Bill
Engvall. And
crazy thing is, so I did a spot at the Ice House.
And Robert Guillaume, who played Benson on Soap and had his own show.
So his producer came up to me after I did five minutes at the Ice House and said,
hey, you ever heard of a warm-up?
And I said, no.
He goes, audience warm-up.
I said, dude, I just got here.
I'm there to see.
And he goes, he explained the deal he
goes uh robert has a new show i'm a producer would you like to be the uh warm-up guy i said sure i
guess i don't know when he goes well you know monday i go well you know i'm leaving sunday so
i can't do it and then so he gives me his card and i tell ing ball i go hey man that guy wants
me to be the warm-up he's's like, I've been here three years.
No one's ever asked me to do anything.
I went, sorry, dude.
And so he goes, you got to move out here.
I said, all right, well, I will soon.
So then I moved January 89, lived in L.A.,
used to do the Bay Area all the time, punchline.
I mean, there were seven clubs back then.
I just read an article that said
about the punchlines in the 90s i think it said you and bobby slayton were the two top selling
one and two top grossing acts in in the bay area oh yeah oh in the bay area okay yeah yeah
that would be so when you were starting you're doing this so you're at the comedy store
and you're at and one thing that we will we are going to talk about is Bob Saget today, obviously, because what just happened.
But when you were going to, the Comedy Store, Bob Saget was there.
Like, a lot of those guys, that was, I mean, that was a pretty big time for the Comedy
Store.
It was huge for the Comedy Store.
So, yeah, the Comedy Store and the Improv.
Yeah.
Okay?
So, it was hard for us young guys, new guys, to get spots at the Comedy Store.
Yeah.
It happened, but it was hard. It was easier for us to get spots at the comedy store yeah it happened but it was hard
it was easier for us to get spots at the improv so that's where me adam sandler uh david spade uh
judd apatow all these guys i started with that's where we would go yeah and so it was one of these
we'd go back and forth all night long just seeing if someone didn't show up and maybe one of us could get on not not
all of us just just one of us yeah and so you know every once in a while so then it became apparent
to us it was working better at the improv so we became improv guys and uh because there wasn't
the whole process there was to get stage time yeah with mitzi with mitzi work there work to get stage time. Yeah, with Mitzi. With Mitzi. You had to work there. Work and get up to the belly room and the whole thing.
So, I mean, I was blessed enough to do shows both,
but it became apparent to us improv was the way to go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the improv was taken off.
They were opening up comedy clubs at the time.
I think, what, a year and a half, two years later,
Evening at the Improv is on A&E, all this stuff.
So we became
improv guys um because the store when i first went to the store yeah sack that's where shaggett
started i mean you know that's where prior was man and i mean it was just unbelievable would you
ever would you see some of them go up like oh yeah yeah i mean we'd hang out yeah would it be like
prior going up i guess it'd be would it is the same feel like chapelle going up now like it's like that kind of not saying they're the same comic but it's like that
no it would it would be to you guys it would be chapelle going up yeah okay it you would just go
holy crap chapelle's here yeah that kind of thing so um you know back in the day you know we just moved to la and our only we had
agents we had managers but and we were doing auditions but no one was making any traction
so we just knew how to do stand-up that's what got us there so we didn't know anybody we're not
gonna go hang out at a restaurant we hung out at the comedy clubs so and the laugh factory was
non-existent back then it
may have been there but no one went there igby's was there uh west la and uh the ice house pasadena
then improv and comedy store that was it yeah and then the improv opened up one in santa monica
so now we had another spot but we would just hit them all every night you know we and this was way before texting and all that like phone calls
hey uh let's start here so we'd all meet at igby's it we get there at seven hey can anybody go up got
any room sure we got room for one of you all right well who hasn't been on stage in a couple nights
you know yeah all right spade you go up and then okay go to the next one okay take two of you okay
uh henry you and adam go up okay and we just do that and we'd get stage time that way and then okay go to the next one okay take two of you okay uh henry you and adam go up okay
and we just do that and we get stage time that way and then we became pretty good yeah and so
it got easier to get stage time and then we ended up just getting spots and our name wouldn't be on
the board yeah and it was legit yeah it's like the best feeling ever and it was yeah when your
name's on the when you're like even though, when it starts happening, you're like, look, I know no one's coming because my name's on it.
Yeah.
But the fact that they put your name on it.
Yeah.
And it's that first time and you're like, you're just being, you're recognized by the club.
It's like, no, this is one of our top guys.
Mm-hmm.
Is, there's not much of a better feeling.
No, there's not.
As a stand-up, it's the greatest.
As a stand-up.
Because that's your goal.
I mean.
That's your goal.
That's your only goal, basically.
You want that.
And then after is like almost like like you almost can't expect it.
Right.
You're like that.
At the beginning, that's all you can think about is like, I just got to get my name on
that board.
If my name's on that board.
And so when I first moved to LA, I had all these LA comics who I toured with.
Yeah.
And so they were like encouraging me to come out.
So my first time ever at the improv, I had a spot.
My name wasn't on the list, but they gave me a spot.
So I go up and I read the list.
I call my buddy back home in Knoxville and I read the list.
He's like, who's there?
I went, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Rick Overton, Kevin Pollack.
I'm reading this whole list.
And he goes goes i've heard
of every one of them i go yeah he goes and i know you but i hadn't heard him yeah shut up i'm trying
so i go up and i don't know i went up in the middle i know i went on after overton because he
just destroyed yeah and as as the mc's bringing me up, Rick just goes, take a deep breath.
You got it.
Yeah.
You got it.
And I'm like, oh, man.
He goes, you got it.
So I went up there, did my thing, did great, came up, and there's all the big guys right there.
And no one stays.
Yeah.
You do your spot and you leave.
Yeah.
It's almost like having COVID back then.
You didn't stick around.
You didn't stick around, yeah.
And so, but they stuck around
yeah and i came off and they waited they went see we told you man we told you to come here i went
man y'all stayed they go yeah we stayed you're you're you're our guy and i went cool that's
awesome yeah yeah yeah it is it is a lot of comics we do leave and then it's like it is a nice thing
when you find out someone you're like someone's saying i remember first time in comedy magic ray uh ray hermanos i didn't find out till later and they like he went up he was just doing
a guest i was like it was like where i could headline comedy magic you know you do like a
wednesday or something they give you like you get to do an hour oh yeah and uh so i i remember and
then ray was like and i've like i think might might've been one of the first times I met him,
if not maybe second time.
So I didn't really know him.
I just kind of like, and then he went up,
he's like, we did a guest set.
And I was like, oh man, you know, you gotta follow that.
Like people go nuts when he goes on.
And then I found out afterwards that like much later,
I didn't talk to him afterwards,
but much later I found out he stayed the whole time. His were there and you're like there's not much you're like oh man
that's crazy yeah he stayed he stayed because you know they want to leave and they had something
else to do yeah you just yeah even if they don't have no yeah they want to leave they want to leave
they don't want to be there and so you're like you gotta you got the mindset of you got to keep them. Almost like if you can keep a comic there, probably not all the way through, but at least
you're about five minutes from closing, that's as good as you're going to get.
A comic's going to be like, I'm getting out of here before these airbags leave.
Before the airbag leaves, right.
No, you're right.
Yeah.
If they stay, so I'll never get, so Comedy Magic Club, it's my weekend, it's my week.
And Gary Shanling, his first time ever hosting the grammys yeah so he's working on all this material and
so he calls and goes hey i'm i got some jokes i want to run can i come down to a guest set i
said sure shanley's guest set is not five minutes it's like 25 and everybody knows that and um
i said once you go on right before me,
and then you just introduce me.
He said, okay.
That worked out great, because then I can do whatever I want.
I said, yeah, I don't care.
You know that.
So he comes down.
Just so happens, Louie Anderson's doing five minutes,
because he's got a Tonight Show spot.
I can't remember.
It was crazy who was there.
And Dennis Miller comes in, wanted to do a spot.
And he looks in and he goes, dang, Hank, looks like the 27 Yankees.
I go, yeah.
He goes, and you're following all this?
I go, yeah, I'm closing it, pal.
I go, you want to do five?
He goes, I'm not going to do that to you.
I said, well, it's five more.
And he's like, no, really, I'll come tomorrow night.
I said, okay, whatever, man.
But so he hung out. So Shanley does like 20 minutes and then he introduced me and uh so gary's like can
i come back the next night i said dude come all week just bang these jokes out so that's what he
did i mean shanley would come and do 20 25 minutes before me with his pad out yeah and during my set
a couple one time for sure
it may happen a couple times but during my set i'm closing i hear him behind the curtain going
hey can i try one more and so i go hang on gary wants to come out try another so i come out and
stand with me pull up the yellow legal pad and he tried i'm holding the mic and uh it wouldn't work
i go that's not gonna work here try it i go try it this way and then i
say something then he'd try it and hey that worked okay and we're sitting up there writing jokes just
on stage in those days you can't do that now yeah no they wouldn't that's awesome they wouldn't have
the patience for it now no uh but it's like crazy because he's so like i mean it's such a fun thing
because he's i mean he's hosting the grammysys. And that type of celebrity then, that's a big celebrity.
Not that it's not now, but it's just different.
It was totally different.
There wasn't almost branches of celebrity.
I think back then it was like you're either celebrity or not.
Now there's branches.
You talk about BTS, the most biggest band in the world.
I don't know what they do.
No.
There's going to be people that I've never even heard of.
And you're like, they're possibly more famous than the Beatles.
Yeah. But they're not because everybody knows the Beatles.
Everybody knows the Beatles.
And can name a song.
Yeah.
You're exactly right.
Now they're branches of.
Now, yes.
Yeah, it kind of breaks off.
Yeah.
And so now everybody's kind of got their own.
I mean, that's the world you're kind of going now. We're like, you finally got, you kind of got. Well, there's still it kind of breaks off yeah and so then everybody's kind of got their own i mean that that's the world you're kind of going now we're like you finally got you kind of got well
there's still like the top you can get to the top or be you're kind of like oh yeah i know that
person you gotta get at the top of your craft yeah i think that's what it you have to be the
you know if you can get to the top whatever if you are bta or i don't know whatever music you
just get to the top of it taylor swift you're like well then you're she's just mentioned right because it's like yeah yeah she's so famous that everybody knows her
right you're not gonna not know her right right yeah uh but that's how it was back then you're
right i mean shanley you know either uh everybody watched the award shows back then it actually
meant something yeah and uh you know that's when bill Billy Crystal was hosting the Oscars. Yeah. It was that whole genre.
Yeah, yeah.
And so Shanley doing the Grammys was ginormous.
Well, TV was such a big deal then.
Yeah, huge.
And it was, you know, to watch TV and to, it was still such a, not that it was a new thing, but it was a new thing.
And it was the fact that there was more channels and I was on and they would do these big things.
And it was like, I think it was pure.
It's probably one of the purest it's been.
It wasn't a business.
Right.
I mean, it's a business, but it didn't feel as businessy.
No, I agree.
There were no DVRs, so people watched stuff live.
They watched stuff live.
But I mean, you look at like now,
it's like they're making,
now it's like an algorithm of how they're making shows.
Like House of Cards, I always heard, it was like they looked at the time.
They said, who's the people on Netflix?
What's the actor they like the most?
It was Kevin Spacey at the time.
And then the director, they go, well, who likes that most?
Perfect.
Well, they make something.
So it was like an algorithm of going like, well, just put them together.
Right.
And so now there's kind of like the heart
and something's taken out of it.
Yeah, it's more of a science than just the soul
of a creativity is what I think.
Yeah, no, I agree.
And also, you know, there's so much money involved
with all the ad space now for award shows.
It used to not be that way.
Oh, yeah.
Not that I was a big fan of award shows anyway,
but I will tell you,
when Shanley got the Grammys,
we all went,
holy crap,
they're letting one of us do the Grammys.
I mean, that was it.
Yeah.
That's what you do think.
You're like,
you can't believe.
You're letting one of us.
You're like,
dude, we're idiots.
Yeah.
You're going to put us in control of your show
but when you think back
because I remember I got interviewed about this
a long time ago
when they started having actors
do the Oscars and stuff
it was like no you gotta go back
Johnny Carson used to do it
you gotta have a comedian
because a comedian can wing it
you get actors I love them but you know what it's like Seinfeld says And you got to have a comedian because a comedian can wing it. Yeah. You know?
You get actors.
I love them.
But you know what?
It's like Seinfeld says, you stand here and you say what we tell you to say.
Yeah.
And then we'll give you a trophy.
I mean, you know?
They don't have the confidence to wing it.
Because they don't want something not to work.
We don't care if something doesn't work.
No.
It's like it doesn't work.
You're like, all right.
It's fine.
I took a swing.
Yeah.
Guess what?
I'm going to swing harder.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll make the next thing work. Yeah,. Yeah. Guess what? I'm going to swing harder. Yeah, yeah.
I'll make the next thing work. Yeah, you didn't like that?
You're going to hate this.
You know, that kind of attitude.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Did you see Fallon come up out there?
Yeah, you know, so I was doing the Irvine improv.
Did you ever do it?
Yeah.
Did you do it when it was across from UCI, or was it at the Spectrum?
I might have done it when it was across from uci i think you know i did the
spectrum but i think you may have been there right when right before the move yeah but barely like
maybe yeah i think maybe once yeah so that's where i used to go and uh you know this is la
orange county but it's still la It's the Longest Shortest
Gig in the world
Because it takes
You know
It's 50 miles
But it takes
I did do it
Was it the exit
And you would get off
Drive down
It was on the left
In that little mall
Yes
Yeah
And then you
You park
Yeah
Yeah
I did do it
Okay
That was the great
That was a great room
Yeah
Right across from UC Irvine
So
Yeah It was me Jim Hope and Jimmy Fallon emceed.
And so a buddy of mine, so Jim Hope, you know, we're talking about this.
And he goes, remember when Fallon emceed?
I went, oh, yeah, that's right.
And I said, wow.
I said, I vaguely remember that.
He goes, Henry, you were like you you were one of the guys yeah
you know you're not expected to remember that jimmy was sitting at the green and i go yeah yeah
but i do remember because he goes hey you were super nice because we went out afterwards and i
remember you invited jimmy to go and he couldn't believe you invited him to go with us and all this
stuff i went oh well good okay yeah that was good good
yeah i was so i just did the time show and uh we're i was talking to found a lot about like
those days with improv he talked a lot about the hollywood improv and or and coming up through the
improv yeah and he would have been um maybe two classes behind you or something right or one yeah
like it was uh yeah he was like two yeah yeah it was enough removed that you would be like yeah i
don't like you wouldn't you wouldn't have known when he started and uh and so like we were just talking
about all those old days and like the la and like because he kind of came up through that kind of
i mean he came out in la so he kind of came up through that world but did a lot of opening for
people and i don't think he ever really did a big big tour and wasn't you know that kind of he got
into snl and then once he did that it's's like that kind of sent him off that direction.
Yeah. Well, I mean, and that's how they all worked. I mean, even in Sandler and Spade,
you know, they were middle acts. You know, they used to middle for me and they're on
Saturday Night Live. You know, I'll never forget Dave and I did the Tempe Improv and
he's from Scottsdale and he's on Saturday Night Live and he's my middle act.
Yeah.
You know?
So we go do radio.
They go, hey, is Dave coming?
I go, yeah, Dave's coming.
And I bring Spade and Spade would talk about Saturday Night Live and all that stuff.
And he looks at me and goes, you okay with this?
I go, dude, sell tickets.
Yeah.
It doesn't matter.
Yeah.
I got a door deal.
Sell tickets.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You sell out.
I don't care who sells out.
Yeah, because they almost like they got it and they didn't.
Because sometimes you do. People get it and they don't have the act. They don't have the time. I don't care who sells out. Yeah, because they're almost like they got it and they didn't. Because sometimes you do.
People get it and they don't have the act.
They don't have the time.
They can't close.
They can't close because it's like you're either – that's how I always say you make it 20 or 40.
It's like either happens very quick for you
or you kind of go through the whole circuit.
Right.
And it's like when it happens for a lot of people quick,
they can't do it.
Having an hour act, it's very hard.
It's very hard after one or two guys goes up and talks about stuff you may have talked about.
Yeah.
So it's even more difficult.
And that's the whole thing.
I mean, those guys, we used to tour and they were like on their way to being super famous,
but we'd still do it because we loved to hang out and play golf and do all this kind of stuff.
And then they got entrenched into SNL and they stayed there.
So that's the same with Fallon.
Fallon was this guy coming up and, you know, as talented as he is, obviously they jumped on it and made it, you know.
But I'll never forget the first time, probably the first three weeks, Adam and David Spade and Stanley wereley were at snl you know they'd call me and
go man i just wrote five of the funnest things i've ever written in my life and it didn't get
past stage one wow we we may be home pretty soon yeah and i'm like oh really they go yeah it's
brutal man so and you know and they're getting paid not tons enough, but not to live in New York.
Yeah.
So they just kept battling it out and pitching, pitching, pitching.
And finally, they both caught breaks.
Yeah.
And got on the show and they got on the –
Yeah.
Because they were writers.
They were writers.
They weren't even supposed to – they do little cameos.
And I'll never forget, one time there was some big party scene and they both were in the scene.
Like you could see them.
Yeah.
And it was like the biggest deal in the world.
You guys are actually on SNL.
Yeah.
You didn't say anything, but you're there.
You're there.
Yeah.
You're like, we know them.
Yeah.
It was a big deal.
It was cool.
So when you were coming up, so I mean, coming up in the 80s, well, late 80s, then the 90s.
Like I said, you get those chicken wire, like, all those kind of gigs.
Like, it was, I mean, it was really like a Wild West.
Like, was it, there was no, like, corporate kind of world to it or, like, managers, agents, you had them, but.
No, yeah, I understand what you're asking.
Yeah, it was like the Wild West because comedy was booming.
Yeah.
All right?
It was the rock and roll of the 80s was the thing.
And there was a huge wave going on.
And luckily, I caught it just before it all busted.
Yeah, yeah.
But it was.
So everybody was doing comedy.
I mean, Aubrey Pippen used to own a bunch of gentlemen's clubs, and he switched them into comedy clubs.
Wow.
I mean.
That's how popular it was.
That's how popular it was, and it worked.
I mean, you know, it was kind of weird.
You go out there, and, you know, the stage is a T,
and there's a pole and all that.
You got to walk around the pole.
Yeah, you know, I do a little spin.
Yeah.
I mean, every comic had to touch that pole.
It's like you're all going to, and be like, well, I might as well touch it.
Yeah, may as well.
So, and well, that's where we started.
Yeah.
So comedy started in those establishments.
But so that's how big comedy was.
Yeah.
It's like, I can make, you know, however many times more money getting three guys no one's ever heard of to come here and tell jokes than having 20 women I got to take care of and whatever.
So that's what we did. We told jokes everywhere. And then they came up with creative entertainment
where the Chicken Wire gigs came in. And so they'd go to a bar in Ozark and say,
okay, Monday, you got Monday Night Football. Tuesday, you got Dwarf Tossing. Wednesday is
Wet T-Shirt Contest. Friday, Saturday, you got a band.
You got nothing on Thursday.
Let's do comedy.
And by golly, two of us would show up on a Thursday night,
and we'd do comedy.
And so that's just how it was.
So all these bars had their schedule,
but there was always one night they didn't have something.
And it was the wild west.
I'd always hear stories about shady managers.
If you had a door deal, these are in legitimate clubs that would,
they tried to cheat you out of door deals and stuff like that.
Oh, yeah.
There was a notorious one in Seattle.
And so it was Jeff Dunham, me, and Jake Johansson were back to back to back.
All had door deals.
So we knew something was up.
And so I called Dunham and I said,
hey man, I think you really assured me,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Dunham goes up, first show, Thursday night,
packed and has people count off.
Well, he didn't.
Walter did.
He had his little dummy.
Hey, y'all.
Whatever, peanut.
Y'all count off for me.
So he does. He sits there and mean, hey, y'all. Whatever, peanut. Y'all count off for me. So he does.
He sits there and goes, hey, let's try something here.
Because a friend of mine, Henry, was here.
And so he told the whole story.
And by golly, he had people count off.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
The whole thing.
Thank you all.
OK.
Did his show.
Goes back.
Checks with the ticket office.
And they were off.
Yeah. He got ripped off. So he calls me me and goes they ripped me off like 25 so yeah something like that so it became this
whole thing but yeah dunham just i go you wait you did what he goes i made the audience count off
i go what he goes well i didn't do it oh yeah grover did it or whatever his name's peanut okay
yeah we're gonna get a fight about this.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm not crazy.
I always like that story Bates said, someone telling the joke over.
Where was that?
Telling the joke.
The same joke in the same show?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Countless times.
Yeah.
But it wasn't one was three times.
Oh, was it Mike Spingberg?
Yeah, Spingberg. Yeah.
Spingberg told the same joke three times in Oh, was it Mike Springberg? Yeah, Springberg. Springberg told the
same joke three times in the same
set. As soon as
you walked out, you go, did you say that joke again?
Yeah. He goes, is that two times?
I go, dude, dude, you've already
said that one. He goes, twice? I go,
third time. Yeah, third time.
Yeah, I think you're done. I think it's
over. It's time to come off. Third time doing the same
joke. But that doing the same joke.
But that was the thing.
So we would do three shows on Saturday night, 8, 10, and 12.
And you're headlining, you're doing 50-ish.
Yeah.
And if you strayed too much during the show, by that third show, you're sitting there going, holy, have I even set this up?
Did I talk about this?
So it almost became
sad because saturday night should have been the most fun everything's packed but but it almost
those shows you had to just compartmentalize yeah and just here's my set i'm doing it three times
yeah i remember zany's doing chicago zany's first club i ever got to go up at in the first one one
of the first ones that I headlined.
And I remember having that three shows Saturday night.
And I did it, I think some, I caught a little bit of it.
They don't really do that much.
Maybe some of those clubs still do it.
Yeah, very rarely.
But it was.
It was so much.
And you were like, by the time you get to 30, you're done.
You're done.
That midnight crowd's drunk. Yep. You don't want to hear your voice again. Yeah. And you're just like, you're done. You're done. Midnight crowd's drunk.
Yep.
You don't want to hear your voice again.
Yeah.
And you're just like, let's just get through it.
And you don't know what you've said.
No. And it's sad because you do it by rote and you're not really performing.
You're just getting through a show.
So I always argued about doing those third shows.
I said, you know, I get it.
We're packed.
We're sold out.
We're all making money.
I said, but it's no fun.
It's no fun.
I'm here to have fun.
Yeah.
Okay?
The fact that you pay me is crazy.
Yeah.
But I'm here to have fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And plus three shows, good night.
I mean, just.
The wear and tear.
Yeah.
When the Improv opened in Chicago, North Wells, it was so popular.
We'd do two Thursday, three Friday, three Saturday, it was so popular. We'd do two Thursday, three
Friday, three Saturday,
two Sunday.
That's crazy. And that didn't mention the
one on Tuesday and the one on Wednesday.
Yeah. I mean, that's what I tell these guys
all the time. It was like a vacation. You guys have no
idea. We used to work Tuesday through Sunday,
Wednesday through Sunday,
Tuesday through Saturday. There wasn't this
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yeah. And there were all this hotel because they would just run because it
was so popular yeah yeah yeah well i mean that was the whole thing you show what are you getting
paid like back then like for like you have you headlined a weekend you're made no credits or
like just whatever you're no credits no name funny bone st lou Louis, Tuesday through Sunday, nine shows,
probably making maybe $1,200.
Yeah, nine shows.
Yeah.
I'll never forget.
Yeah.
We were in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Foxworthy and I used to go down there in spring training,
so we'd go down there in February.
And this one place was awful.
They didn't have a phone, so he had to use the phone down the street, a pay phone.
So I'm down there with a baseball bat so he can talk to his wife at midnight.
It's really smart.
But he made $1,000 that week, and he put $1,000 bills on his bed,
and we just sat there and stared at it.
He's like, can you believe they paid me a thousand dollars
yeah to do that no i can't that is nuts yeah thousand dollars yeah yeah i mean you got nine
shows yeah nine shows now they still pay you 1200 but you just do six shows yeah yeah the math's
better yeah yeah it's like you don't have to go out as much yeah that's uh yeah it's so
i always talk to like,
I remember talking to some guys that have been before your time
where they would have even been, they would have started in the 70s.
They would have called the entire 80 run.
Right.
Where it was this boom.
And they were saying like, I remember some, the older comics,
I was like, you know what, because people would be doing Carson.
They'd be doing, they'd be famous.
They'd be known.
And I was like, what happened?
And they would like say, we just got, we didn't write anymore.
They were making, in the 80s, if you're making 12,
they're probably making maybe five grand a week in the 80s.
Which is crazy.
You're rich.
You're a rich person.
And they would just go, and then it was a big party,
and they had the best time of their lives.
But when it was done, it was like they had the same act.
They had the same, and then it was like, well, eventually that just cycles out and you're like new guys come and then oh yeah oh yeah i mean i
know guys that did the exact same show verbatim for at least five years i mean identical yeah
verbatim and there was no turnover and that's just what they did it was probably hard to have
turnover because you weren't then you weren't, then you weren't on TV.
You weren't on, you know, like you have specials.
You didn't have all this stuff.
It was hard to turn over because you're working 50 weeks a year.
I mean, we worked, my first two years of doing standup, I worked 50 weeks a year.
And you got to murder every show.
Every show.
Yeah.
And it's a lot of shows.
Yeah.
A lot of shows.
So you're, and we, we like i was saying we worked all
week it's not like we had four or five days a week off yeah and just did weekends how long would
you be gone you remember like a long stretch the first stretch the longest stretch i did was 18
weeks yeah i worked myself from knoxville to billings montana i'm back yeah nine up there
nine back yeah yeah yeah man crazy did them all yeah i mean it was
crazy i sleep in rest rest stops in my truck you know i had a 38 on my chest stuff like that there
were some pretty rough places come on with 800 and then you're like yeah yeah yeah yeah did so
i would talk i just did the time so this is a tight, I've done Tonight Show, I think now is like the 10th time of the Fallon Tonight Show.
Wow.
And it's an amazing, like Fallon's been awesome to me.
Everything's been great.
But it's like when you came up, did you ever do Carson?
No.
So here's what happened.
I was supposed to be Johnny's last new guy.
Yeah.
And so it was all, everything was set.
And it's like it is now, maybe even more so having to run your spot.
You're set 10 times in town.
They're nitpicking it.
But I had mine.
And so I was going to be Johnny's last new guy.
And then Johnny, Mr. Carson, announced his retirement.
Yeah.
Like three weeks after I got my date.
So everybody and your brother wanted to do
carson one more time yeah so i was backstage at nbc countless times i was in tv guide supposed
to be on all these things tv guides a magazine anyway so oh yeah so uh uh And then I'd be standing there, and all of a sudden,
Bette Midler would walk in.
Yeah.
Not scheduled.
And then Clint Eastwood, and then Burt Reynolds.
So I went, okay, I guess I'm getting bumped again.
Well, I'm getting bumped again.
Just kept the whole thing.
Mr. Carson, very nice, always apologized, said, you know,
I wish I'd have waited, blah, blah, blah.
So Leno's taking over.
So Leno's like, hey, you know, when I take over, I still want you's taking over so leno's like hey you know when when
i take over i still want you to do the show and i said i've never done it he goes yeah you have i
saw you on it i go jay i i never i was there yeah i've never done it he's like that's crazy and i
told him what happened he goes oh that's right he goes i thought shanley was going to give you a
spot he was and then he changed his mind because jay because gary's like i have three more spots
yeah maybe i'll give you one and then he got down to it. He goes, I can't do it.
I said, I get it.
I get it.
Yeah, it was like.
I get it.
I mean, Shanley guest hosted for Johnny.
So Jay takes over.
He goes, okay, you're going to be my first new guy.
So I was.
I was on Jay's first Friday.
Wow.
The week he took over.
Yeah.
So it worked out.
Yeah, it worked out.
Yeah.
The guest hosting too was was that's kind of
gone yes did he do it a lot who jay carson carson yeah he had a lot of guests he never worked on
mondays oh really no carson so johnny so the tonight show johnny carson used to be 90 minutes
wow it was an hour and a half long and then he he cut it down to 60. And then he cut it down where he only worked three days a week.
Towards the end.
Yeah.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Yeah.
I mean, Thursday, Friday.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Yeah.
I think was what it was.
So it was like when he was ending, everybody was like, yeah, he's been ending for a few
years now.
Like he was winding it down to be like, I'm done.
Yeah.
I mean, he's the most famous person on the planet.
I'm sorry.
I thought it was muted.
That's okay.
Pulled up.
Yeah, this is the Tonight Show.
That's 1992.
Leno bringing you out.
Cowboy boots on.
Still wear those.
Same size jeans, by the way.
Yeah.
It's like Seinfeld.
So here's the crazy thing.
I've never, I never wore jackets.
Yeah.
And everybody's going, you got to wear a jacket on the Tonight Show. And I said, I never wear jackets. You got to wear a jacket on tonight's show and i
said i never wear jacks they got you got to wear a jacket on tonight's show i got and seinfeld goes
it's the tonight show yeah i said i'll wear a jacket yeah it's crazy yeah did your parents like
did it get easier like once they see this is like was it's not sure like your first like everybody's
like oh you know like you know you're successful before but no one gets it no we're not in the system no no and they're
and then but everybody knows what the tonight show is of course yeah when this that yeah my dad was
fine after this yeah my mom was always behind it so before the tonight show though i was i'd already
i was doing arsenio hall yeah uh i I did Pat Sajak's show.
Pat was, his ratings were number one for like six months.
He was beating everybody for six months.
Still doing it.
Yeah.
Wasn't there a crazy story?
You were in San Diego or something and-
They flew me up.
By helicopter?
Yeah.
Yeah.
CBS, this is the difference.
CBS and Fox.
So Fox would have sent a car cbs sent a helicopter wow from where from san diego to cbs oh because they needed
someone no i was on oh but i was stuck yeah and so i got cbs television city helicopter yeah just Television City, helicopter. Yeah. Just do a little stand up on Pat Sajak. Yeah, Pat Sajak.
Like, who's Jeopardy-O's?
Alex Trebek.
Alex Trebek, yeah.
Pat Sajak's his Will Fortune.
Yes.
So yeah, he's still doing it.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
But so it's great.
He had a talk show.
Yeah.
And so, because I'll never forget, it was at the time I was in the queue to do the Tonight
Show.
They were coming out to see me and all these things.
And Jim McCauley was the guy.
Jim McCauley said, thumbs up, thumbs down, you're on or not yeah and so i asked him i said jim what
do you think and he said you know i think maybe in a year or two yeah and i said okay i get that
no bro he goes nah he goes you're you're you know you're blowing up and everybody's going crazy but
i really a year or two yeah and he goes, unless Johnny sees you somewhere. Yeah.
And so I thought,
well,
how's that going to happen?
Maybe he'll be watching TV,
you know, stuff like that.
So then Sajak comes up
and my agent's going,
Sajak,
want you?
And I'm going,
I don't know.
I'm,
you know,
I'm going to hold out
for the Tonight Show,
blah,
blah,
blah.
And then Arsenio goes,
hey,
can you do,
you know,
October 12th?
Yeah.
Well, heck, if I'm going to do Arsenio, I might as well do Sajak.
So we told Sajak, and Sajak went.
No, I did Sajak three times in three weeks, I think.
Wow.
It was six weeks, something crazy.
Yeah.
And because I knew it was going to be a year and a half before I did it,
it's a nice show, so whatever.
So I'd already done those shows, so my mom was you know once i did pat sajak my mom was fine yeah but it wasn't until
i did a tonight show was my dad okay yeah yeah because he had no idea do you ever do you ever
think though like with you think that with the time show did it would have hurt you because you
did those other two shows or uh if you'd waited it? You know, I think it didn't hurt me.
Yeah.
It doesn't sound like it did.
No, it didn't hurt me.
Because, I mean, I did the Tonight Show first time in 92.
So, I mean, my first six months in LA, I get a spot at the improv.
I get an agent.
I get managed.
I'm reading for everything
there is to read.
Yeah.
The problem Hollywood had was
they'd never been around
an Asian guy
who talked like I did.
Yeah.
I don't know if people
have that now.
Yeah, they still don't.
But I used to have
a real thick accent.
So I used to talk like this.
I used to be like,
I was a country boy
from Knoxville.
It wasn't until I started
hosting Friday Night Videos
in 94, 95.
First video I introduced
was Ayr Smith, Stephen Tyler.
Ayr Smith.
All right, coming up next, we got Ayr Smith,
Stephen Tyler, gonna walk this way.
And the producer came out,
Gary Constantine, and he was over
all of NBC late then.
SNL, Tonight Show, Conan, all. Letterman, he was over all of NBC late then. SNL, Tonight Show, Conan, all Letterman.
He was over all of them.
Yeah.
And my little show, Friday Night Videos.
Wow.
But he came out, he goes, I can't understand a word you're saying.
He goes, I hired you because you're a great host, and I like your look, and I like you,
but you got to move your mouth.
All right, I'll try.
Yeah.
So that night is when this voice became what it is yeah because i had
started enunciating so but still hollywood couldn't figure out what to do with me your people always
go man you gotta lose your accent and i'm like uh yeah whatever and they just go surely there's
other people like you in the south and i go i don't think so there's not there's not i know
y'all fly over yeah there's not and so it was really hard to get something unique.
And there was a lady at NBC over development named Shana Landsberg,
and she got it.
So she got me meeting with Brandon Tartikoff,
who is why Seinfeld happened, the show.
He's the genius behind it, and he's the one who kept it on the air.
Yeah.
The one that liked it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That saw what it was.
He saw what it was.
Yeah.
So I was going to go in to see Brandon and Shana said, I said, really Tartikoff?
She goes, yes.
She goes, he flipped out.
He said, what?
Asian guy?
An Asian guy leading? Are you are you kidding she goes don't think
asian guy i think think cowboy probably kick your butt yeah without martial arts
and so i walked in he goes oh the cow you probably kick my butt without martial arts
i could if you want me to is Is that part of the audition? Yeah.
Yeah.
And so I had this deal with NBC and Tartikov was involved and all this stuff. And Steve Allen, who
invented The Tonight Show, huge supporter of mine back then. And he's like, Shane,
we got to get him on TV. There's never been anything like it. Yeah. You know, I did the comedy festival in Vegas, 89.
I come off stage, there's Steve Allen.
Steve Allen goes, you ever heard that thing,
there's no such thing as a new joke?
I said, yes, sir.
He goes, you have like 10.
Yeah.
That no one's ever told.
Yeah.
10.
He goes, I watched it.
No one ever could.
Yeah.
He goes, no one's come from your angle.
No.
He goes, we had Southern guys, we've had Asian guys,
maybe one or two, never both.
Yeah. He goes, and then shana came up then and he's like we got to get him on tv so
it didn't hurt me to do the tonight show when i did i was already already had stuff going on
you know but you know as well as i do the tonight show with johnny back then yeah that was the holy
grail yeah and so no one knew he was going to retire.
I thought I'd always get a chance to do it.
So then once I got in line knowing I was going to get to do it,
I was like, okay.
And then that never happened due to the circumstances.
I was fine.
Mr. Carson knew who I was, appreciated me and then you got to go there
you got to be the first on the tonight show which is yeah which is even you know which is almost
even cool like because it's like you could have either been it's you get really looking at it
right now you can be like all right i can say i gotta do carson it was at the very end i was when
the last comics got on if maybe the last but you would have been lost in the shuffle of a man retiring that's an
old-time legend.
Right.
Or you get, that's how you get it.
You look at, you got this great story.
You got bumped.
Probably the last comic that got bumped from the show.
Yeah.
Multiple times.
Yes.
And the first one on The Tonight Show.
Yep.
The new one.
Yeah.
Which then, this is all anybody even knows now.
It made your bio a lot more relevant.
Right. For a long time. it sure did yeah yeah because little it's not like he's a
flash in the pan he was on for what 20 years or something yeah yeah exactly do you remember like
when they were all when like he was going to take over the time show and letterman and all that like
that oh man yeah i remember that whole oh it was unbelievable and there was so much tension.
Because I remember I was doing Arsenio, and it was a couple nights before I was supposed to go on, and I ran into Jay at the Comedy Magic Club.
Yeah.
And he just said, hey, you know, I know you're doing Arsenio, and there's supposed to be this big thing, but there's not. So he didn't say if or when.
If, he said when I take over
the Tonight Show.
I still want you to do both shows.
And I went,
you're seriously taking over the Tonight Show?
And he goes,
and I go,
I heard different,
but okay.
Sure enough, a few. So, sure enough.
He took it over.
A few weeks later, he took over.
Oh, yeah.
Y'all were here in Letterman.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
And then it was either or.
But first, it was always Letterman.
Yeah.
Because with Letterman just going on a lot, Carson really liked him, right?
Carson liked him, and I think it was the Midwest thing.
I think it was Nebraska,west thing i think it was you know nebraska indiana midwest guy
uh but because he would because jay would go on letterman with his beef yeah what's your beef
today you know my beef today is that why do people do you know he always had that so it wasn't like he went on and was just jay yeah uh he always had an issue to deal with
and i think that's all maybe mr carson saw during the time i could be totally wrong yeah but this
is just my take so but jay ended up being a great host he was a great great and his monologues
kill no one did a monologue better and longer time-wise ever in the history of-
Well, it's a comic.
Jay stayed being a comedian.
Right.
Which is everything that we love.
Yeah.
And he worked at it because he went to the Comedy Magic Club every Monday night.
He still ran jokes.
I mean, every Sunday night.
Every Sunday night.
Still did.
Still does.
Yeah.
I think they're closing or something.
But I would go there and I would see him.
He eats a watermelon.
Yep.
Gets a watermelon, cut in half, eats it with a spoon.
Yep.
And then goes on stage.
He just goes on.
And does his act.
And he'd run the jokes for the show.
Yep.
I remember going to – I went back there and I was just in there.
The first time I met him and I like said hi and he was running
jokes for the Tonight Show
I never did a Tonight Show
mine
I was kind of
I was like
I had Letterman
I was close
I was supposed to get on it
they told me
they
they ended up not liking
a joke that I was sending
they didn't think it was right
for the show
whatever
and then
Leno
I was in New York
so I don't know
if I just
Leno I don't know
if I was ever really thought of.
But then it was like, I got Conan when Conan was on, which Conan was on as long.
Conan was awesome.
Yeah, it was crazy.
He was on the whole time they were.
Yeah.
Like that was even weird.
When Conan took over Tonight Show for Leno, it was almost kind of weird thing.
You're like, no, you're like basically them.
Yeah.
You were on the whole time they were on yep and
your show was great it was i know it's not the tonight show but it was like it's your show
conan was great conan was great he was and then uh uh is great and then but he yeah so it's like
that's what i remember switching that i don't know what i was, I'm trailed off now. No, no. So when Conan took over, here's the crazy thing.
So mid nineties,
I'm doing Friday night videos.
I talk NBC.
And so we piggyback the tonight show.
So now all of a sudden I'm on that stage every week for two years.
Yeah.
Same stage,
same camera guys.
Jay finishes statement.
Hey,
good night,
everybody.
Whatever the theme song was.
And then boom,
audience leaves. I come in, I sit in Jay's chair, put. Whatever the theme song was. And then, boom, audience leaves.
I come in.
I sit in Jay's chair, put my feet up on his desk.
We run through sketches, blah, blah, blah.
So same deal.
Okay.
Then I say, okay, there's a break for dinner.
We go cater, come back.
We'd shoot from 7 to 9 every week.
And so I talk them into, hey, Jay's going to be in New York.
We should do the show from New York. Hey, Jay's gonna be in new york we should do the show from
new york hey jay's gonna be in vegas let's do the show from vegas that's where my crew is let's do
it so they did it yeah so um uh we were doing it and i can't remember man you and i are bad you
know just both go off it just goes off we start the
sentence though that's yeah we do i started we let you we lead you down the hallway that's right
you know where you're going you're like yeah man's room right yeah yeah so but uh so i'm on this
stage every week i get super comfortable and then it became this weird thing where oh i know i was gonna win so i get to host nbc's new year's eve
uh i want to say 96 going into 97 yeah and all i have to do is beat dick clark no not beat dick
clark coming second to dick clark because no one's gonna beat dick yeah nbc's never had a
new year's eve show blah blah blah so i'm downtown watching a ball drop i'm up there got
andy richter with me i wrote all these sketches i wrote one for me and conan for us to be underneath
the tree at rock 30 rock yeah and we're inside the barricades and he and i are touching the tree
yeah and he looks at me goes man how'd you pull this off i said i wrote I wrote it. He goes, isn't he good?
I said, you tell me.
And he looked, he goes, oh, that's pretty funny.
So we did that.
I did a sketch where I was on the skating rink.
We cleared the ice during the holidays.
And I told everybody, I said, if I do this in one take,
you'll only be off for 10 minutes.
So everybody pay attention.
I'm going to do it in one take.
And you know what?
I'm just doing one take.
Do it.
Y'all been off enough.
Let's go.
So I shot it, and I skated out there, and I did this whole bit.
And Tim Meadows came out, and we did this whole thing.
One take.
I went, one take.
And the place was 1,000.
It was the greatest.
So we do all this.
And Conan, so I'm doing all this.
Now, Conan has been in his spot for less than a year and
there's a lot of questions. And so they asked me to do some, Hey, come right back, you know,
stay tuned, come right back from his desk. Yeah. And I said, no. And they're like, why not? I said,
I'm not doing that to Conan. This is Conan's show. This is Conan's desk, desk you know until he's not here i'm not getting in that chair yeah and so
he's like hey are they are you are you i go i'm doing nothing dude i'm here just i piggyback jay
it's the only reason i'm in new york and you know i cut some stuff i did i wrote a bunch of stuff so
we're doing these sketches i did some stuff from snl and all the stuff i said but i got nothing to do with what's
going on with you yeah i said you're the best one out of everybody yeah so just keep it down so
he was like on the chopping block but somehow you got over it yeah and he just boom yeah because
they didn't get him no one got him yeah it was it was it was it was someone that was kind of before his time of like, it was that window of like Carson and the people that watch Carson are still watching TV. And so then they see Leno and Letterman is like more traditional. And then Conan was someone that would have been younger. So someone like when I was able to finally be old enough to watch that kind of stuff, Conan would appeal to me.
Right.
able to finally be old enough to watch that kind of stuff like a conan would appeal to me right and like he would appeal to the just anybody just the younger generation and yeah i mean they i could
that's crazy yeah they wouldn't have got it yeah they didn't get it and he was he was on i mean he
was literally on because they were grooming greg kinnear and all this stuff and i'm like
i got nothing to do with any of that i said you know i'm i i wrote i wrote these bits just so i
could like do stuff.
Yeah.
Has nothing to do with you.
Yeah.
Were there any other clean comedians then?
Was Gaffigan on the scene yet?
Gaffigan wasn't clean until I talked him into it.
He was dirty.
You kidding?
And,
but yeah,
we're Connie Magic Club.
So me,
Alex,
Murray,
we're all sitting back there.
Gaffigan's got to go pick up his now wife.
She still doesn't like me for this.
And I'm like, send a car service.
Some girl's flying in from somewhere.
Who picks them up at the airport?
Send a car service.
Gaffin's like, I don't know if I should really do that.
Come on, I'll hear.
I got them on speed dial.
Call service.
Girl flying in?
What do you care?
You know, there's girls here.
And so we're talking about his act.
And it's like, Alex was like, you know,
why can't you do it like Henry?
He goes, well, now we're going to do it like him.
I don't know, all this stuff.
And I said, one of your jokes has a cuss word in it.
Yeah.
It's all throwaway.
You'll tell a joke and they go, what the F is that for?
All this is all outside noise.
I said, just stop that.
Just do your show.
Tell the jokes.
Connie Matchcliff goes up.
Probably only does 25% profanity than normal.
Destroys.
Yeah.
Figures out he can do it.
And then, bam.
So Gaffigan wasn't around.
Gaffigan was around.
He wasn't clean.
I see.
So back then, considered clean.
Jake Johansson, myself, Brown Regan.
Yeah.
And that's probably it.
So there's never been that many.
You think there's going to be clean acts.
Maybe there's not as many as you.
There's really not.
I always thought there used to be a ton.
Not doing the circuit. Yeah. Not doing the circuit.
Yeah.
Not doing the clubs.
Yeah.
So, you know, you got your other guys,
but they stay in one genre.
Like Christian comedy?
Like Christian, yeah.
Yeah, and as I get slammed all the time,
because I always say,
I've never labeled myself a Christian comedian.
I'm a comedian who's a Christian,
because Christian comedians aren't funny.
Yeah.
I always get slammed for that.
I know you're funny, Tim Hawkins.
Chill. But, no, you're funny tim hawkins chill
but uh no they're funny in their own thing uh but but you know i still do vegas every year that's
what i said yeah so there weren't that many it was uh you know like everybody considered bill
engvall at the time clean and then people go see his act they go man you know he said
f word a lot oh yeah but that's just talking you know because you hear that but you don't hear it
no they don't yeah right so and uh foxworthy was super clean he had a couple jokes where he had to
throw in a cuss word and we re we had rewritten this one joke every way you could and he goes
you know it just don't work it does when my wife comes out and goes i'm not going i look like
heck i look like crap i, it doesn't work.
He's got to say.
And so he goes, I tried.
I'm just telling you, Henry, I tried.
But tonight, I'm saying it.
So there were guys that, Effort was there.
Yeah.
And Seinfeld, of course, was super clean.
Larry Miller.
And Dennis Wolfberg was crazy clean.
Yeah.
And so I was a Young Life leader when I started comedy, so that's why I was clean.
Yeah.
I thought I might have high school kids showing up to my shows, and I knew I couldn't do that.
Yeah.
So that's why I stayed clean.
I stayed clean through and through.
Chicken wire, people throwing stuff.
I'm like, hey, shut up, idiot.
I never touched anybody out.
Yeah.
I was always clean.
And so, yeah, there wasn't a lot to bank on well that well and that's the thing too
that like when someone books you when if you're not cursed if you're not cussing in the chicken
wire like then like you're like well we never have to worry about you like it's just not in
your it's not going to come up right which is a huge thing yeah matter of fact that's something
else about um you know going to auditions and doing TV deals is what we were talking about back in
the fall.
You know,
one of my agents when I was young said something,
still resonates with me.
He goes,
you don't understand.
Henry will be there on time and he won't be hung over and you won't have to
bury something in the tabloids.
Yeah.
He's going to show up and work and you'll never have to bury something in the tabloids. Yeah. He's going to show up and work
and you'll never have to worry about him.
Yeah.
And I just thought,
well, okay, that makes sense.
Because they do.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we know them.
Yeah.
We know who they are.
I think sometimes people think they want that
and then it's the people that are in the business
a long time that go,
I don't, it's not worth it.
Because it's like they're people that kind of get, you know, they're unreliable.
They're not going to show up.
They're going to, you know.
I mean, I remember comics doing it even like in small stages
where it's like they're not showing up for a show.
Yes.
And you're like, dude, we're trying to make it,
and you're not even taking this serious.
Yes, yeah.
So you're like, well and you're not even taking this serious yes yeah so i like you're like
well you're never gonna people you better be you got to be great to be doing that you better be
undeniable where you're like a once in a lifetime kind of thing you tell me you used to tour and
open with bill hicks right oh yeah and you tell me when you'd be waking up to play golf and then
yeah i'd pass so this is comedy condos i'd get up uh
i'd be waking up and leaving to go play golf about you know seven eight in the morning he'd be coming
in he's like hey wake me up at six all right i'll wake you up when i get up yeah yeah six yeah six
p.m one of the greatest was uh we were doing a comedy club and on stage i had pictures of all the headliners on the back wall yeah and so uh
hicks is on stage hey henry you in you in the room i go yeah bill i'm back here he goes hey uh
what do you think about so-and-so and i go yeah he's all right he goes he ain't funny
and ended up smashing like 80 of the frames. There's glass everywhere.
And Hicks would say, he ain't funny.
Bam.
But yeah, he was the greatest.
That's so crazy.
Oh, he's crazy.
And this was like in his peak?
Oh, yeah.
Yes. This was late 80s, early 90s.
He was the guy.
And he was unbelievable.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was probably, I probably worked with him, oh my goodness, 20, you know, 10, 15, 20 times
back in the funny bone days.
I mean, that's what's, that's a name that like too, like, I don't know, you don't hear
much about people working with him as much as you did.
And when I first started, Bill Hicks was the one that everybody said.
They go, so who's your favorite comic?
Every new comic would be, it's Billick right everything's about bill hicks right and
you remember you're thinking i'm like i don't think these people even listen to bill hicks they
uh i think i get bill hicks more i think i get i can get it more now than i would have been
when i first started uh like if you go back and listen now you're like i get what he was doing
and like you know it's like carlin like i can listen to now, you're like, I get what he was doing. And like, you know, it's like Carlin, like I can listen to Carlin as I get older,
I can appreciate Carlin more now.
Oh yeah.
Because I did.
I don't think I,
when I was 25,
I'm like,
no,
you think he's some old guy.
He's an idiot.
What do you,
what do you mean you hate golf?
Yeah.
I don't,
you're like,
I don't care about this stuff.
And then,
but then now as I get older,
you're like,
oh yeah,
that's why that dude was like that.
That's why Bill Hicks was like that.
That's why these guys were, they were doing that thing that was kind of no one else was doing.
They were going against the grain.
Yes.
And against the – but Bill Hicks is like – you don't hear a ton of people about –
I know Ralphie May worked with him.
I did a bunch when he first started.
Yeah.
And then, yeah, being with those guys.
You were with Kennison and –
Yeah, so I worked with Kennison a few times.
We did, I did West Palm Beach with him.
I'll never forget, I walked upstairs.
He's up there like he's in the Scarface movie, Big Mound.
You know, man, you're the clean guy.
Put his head back down.
And then I was on a plane with him, America West.
That's how long ago it was, America West Airlines.
And we were flying from LA to Vegas.
And he was doing a bunch of gigs in Laughlin,
which actually,
shortly after that,
is where he died,
car wreck,
going to Laughlin.
So yeah,
Hicks,
Kennison,
the whole outlaws from Texas, Carla Bow, who still is around. Yeah. The most around. But Hicks, Kenison, the whole outlaws from Texas,
Carla Bow, who still is around.
Yeah.
The most around.
But Hicks was, I'm telling you,
I've never seen anybody who could take something.
I've never seen any comedian take something
and take it every way I would have taken it.
Yeah.
And then just twist it somehow and make it even better.
And I'm like, I mean, we were in a Waffle House one time,
and he's sitting there, he's got a book, and I don't know,
it's like 4 in the morning or something.
We both had books.
We just sit there and just chill and read.
Yeah.
Get out of condo.
And so we had a paperback
and our waitress said,
what you reading for?
And he's like,
oh,
you think somebody's
making me do this?
What are you reading for?
Yeah.
And he turned that
into a whole bit.
Oh, yeah.
And so after she left,
we're just hashing that out
just making fun of her what you reading for yeah yeah that was he would he be one of the first
comics you think that you saw that you're like oh this is they're better people are better than
like you wouldn't have known who he was and you're like oh this dude i don't know who this guy is
yeah like this is a different game yeah yeah yes that's when you when you'd see hicks you'd go okay what he just did i would never do yeah i would never like him
smashing the yeah i would never do that but you know what it was it was hilarious yeah i i had a
moment like that with you henry i don't even you probably don't even remember this because it felt
so routine for you but we were i was opening for you at some theater somewhere and
you were on stage and you're just like i'm hot up here and you just walked you had a wireless
mic so you just walked and found the thermostat of the theater and changed it during the show
i was in the back i cannot believe he did that because it just felt like you're breaking every
rule where you're just like i'm just gonna change's a little hot. I'll change the temperature in the theater.
I do remember that.
That was hilarious.
Yeah.
It's a confidence.
Yeah, you're like, oh, I'm running this place right now.
They'll still be here when I get back.
Yeah.
I remember Shirley Hempel dropped the mic to go pee one time.
Yeah.
I thought, that's genius.
Yeah.
I got to go pee, y'all.
Hang on.
And she just dropped the mic and went off.
And no one can believe that
you're like yeah it's like what what you can't leave the stage yeah yeah yeah you're right i did
can't leave the stage empty that's uh that's all i remember that the first things i ever heard
and it was like i still do it like when you i still had that habit of when you're like just
doing a showcase and someone's actually the the stage empty now before I come out,
but in the theater show, but it's right before I come out.
But anytime you're doing a show and you're bringing each other up,
whatever, you'd always wait.
The guy, the next comic has to be on the stage,
and then you shake hands and you go.
You're never supposed to leave it.
You never leave it empty.
You never leave it empty.
I still do the same.
Yeah.
I do that when I'm doing a corporate thing and the CEO
or whomever introduces me and they start walking off, always go hey hey hey come here shake my hand yeah yeah
you're like what i own the place yeah yeah you're like i know but this i know this is the thing the
rules yeah you don't do it yeah yeah uh speaking of so we've been talking for a while about an old
comedy uh but we do want to uh talk about bob saget bob saget so this comes out wednesday we
found out last night yeah last night that he uh died away uh died 65 years old uh i just did his
podcast a month ago wow uh and i talked to him and it was it this was one of the like this one like
hurt like i didn't know him i don't know him like you knew him like you've known him for years
but uh we've crossed paths before obviously and everybody talks about how nice he is and like it's
it's you you don't even i think it's like people are like yeah he's nice and you're like you don't
get it he was it's above nice yes a wonderful wonderful person he looked out for everybody
everybody i mean he yeah sagat was the guy, you know, everybody knows, if you've seen him,
you know, the contrast between his television personality
and his stand-up life.
I mean, he was filthy and he was irreverent
and he was hilarious.
Hilarious.
But he always took care of everybody.
You know, I think back in the day,
we'd all be hanging out and there'd be a lot of names.
Yeah.
But we'd be sitting around and it'd be like, no one would order until Bob said, okay, hey, we're going to order.
Yeah.
Everybody, decide what you want.
We're going to order.
No one would do that until Bob said that.
And you're looking around the table going, well, heck, every one of us are there that can do that.
But we always just relented to Bob.
It was his, he took care of everybody.
And that's who he was.
Yeah.
So one of my favorite stories is their manager,
who had a lot of big clients, had a dinner.
And so there's like, I don't know, eight people at the table.
And so Gary Shanling's sitting like here, and Bob comes in,
and a joke they used to always do whenever they gathered,
one of them would fake trip and put their face in the other's lap.
Yeah.
but their face in the other's lap.
Yeah.
So Bob does this and says,
Gary looks down at him and says,
I don't know who these other two people are.
And Bob's like, oh crap, because I don't either.
And then there's their manager going,
hey guys, this is so-and-so and so-and-so.
I wanted them to meet you and they're in this position. And it was that was so good that was the greatest i don't know who these other people are
that gary just you know shanlon in that dry i do not know who these other two people are
and he sag is like ah and then what uh we uh talking about him taking care of everybody so
uh we were roasting tom arnold oh gosh i can't remember
late a's early early o's um uh hard rock hotel vegas that i do remember and so i'm on the thing
and everybody's going you know how are you gonna roast you're so clean i said i got my stories
about tom it's all good you know people are going yeah, that's right. Never mind. So then Saget's emceeing because he takes care of everybody.
So I don't know how many are there.
There are 10, 12 of us going up.
Saget's getting ready to introduce me, but before that, he goes off on a tangent about
he and Tom being together the night, last night, and all the things they were doing
and just got as graphic as you can imagine
bob shaggett would get and he looks down the list goes oh sorry hank uh now here's the cleanest guy
in our profession and i just opened up with my finger being somewhere here's energy and i came
out and he goes sorry man dude that's don't worry about it yeah so i mean that was that was bob bob was um
he took care of all of us yeah it was uh yeah it when i when i heard it last night hey just
the pure shock of it uh is it was i don't know it was it wasn't expected it wasn't
you know you found out after with norm it was like you found out he was like sick for
a year and you're like sometimes that helps you like wrap your head around it and bob maybe has something we don't
know yet but it's uh it's like the the pure shock of it and then like when i did his podcast as a
month ago and like so me and him just started like kind of really talking and it was like someone
that i was like this dude's so great and he's so wonderful and it was like someone that i was like
oh you know because when you finally the new comedy for a long time and you're like it's a big deal for me to be like
even when it was you would know who i am as a comic or and then bob saget like the older guys
that you're like well we you know it's like you want them to know you and so it's a big deal when
they finally do and they you know when bob asked me to do on the podcast you're like i can't this
is crazy yeah dude and like and then getting to talk to him and so it was like i was looking forward to that the friendship that we
were that it was building and we were right and like it was and then for it to like and then last
night and you're just like just in the road you know he's on the road we talked about earlier like
every comic's biggest nightmare i said it last night to my sister you said it today when you
came in would not know and're not talking to each other,
but your biggest fear as a comic is to die in a hotel room.
By yourself.
By yourself.
That's your, like, you think of it like that's just, you know,
it's the only thing you're doing that you're like, you're alone.
You know, you're like.
We're always alone.
You're always alone.
We're always alone.
Yeah.
Bob was in Orlando, so that's good.
He was in Disney. Hey, you know what? It was a place to be. It was warm. It's the greatest place. He was in, yeah. Bob was in Orlando, so that's a good, he was in Disney.
Hey, you know what?
It was a place to be.
It was warm.
It's the greatest place.
Yeah, it was the Ritz or Four Seasons.
He wasn't slumming.
Yeah, yeah.
He wasn't motel sex. There was a door on the-
There was a door.
There was a door.
It was an honor.
To be honest with you, it was an honor to die in the-
Yes.
Yeah.
I just wonder, yeah.
So hopefully he got his points.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. This is all bob would want it's he's yeah it's it's i mean he was uh the best man do you remember him getting
full house like do you like yeah so uh i moved 89 la uh i'd worked with dave coulier previously
and uh they have just started full house i don't even know when
it started maybe 89 could have been the year maybe 88 that sounds right um so and i knew saget
from the you just know names yeah and uh you know because everybody toured back then and uh you
didn't just pop up and boom um uh coulier turned 30 that's how long ago this was and he had a birthday party so we
all show up and there's all you know stamos and all these guys and i'm like i mean i've been down
like a month i'm like holy cow there's john stamos and he called my buddy chief so we still call my
buddy j chief to this day yeah my mom calls me yeah that's great yeah well i'm chief john
stainless call me chief yeah but uh so sagat was there and that's probably the first time i ever
really hung out with him yeah not at a club just saying hey or something yeah yeah so
kooye when i are very close uh you know we were texting uh the very next day. Yeah. Last night.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I mean, Sackett's always been that guy.
He's always been what I knew him as was how he was.
Yeah.
You take away his stand-up act, and I love the way his mind was bent,
but you look at his television persona, and that's who he was.
He was the guy.
Not just Dimitri Fullhouse, but Funniest Home Videos you look at his television persona and that's who he was he was the guy yeah not just to mention full house but funniest home videos oh was just so huge yeah 87 is when 87 yeah so yeah funny
so videos i mean didn't he did that you know for i mean yeah so i'll never forget when he started
doing stand-up again, shortly after the videos.
And he said, man, remember Henry,
you remember when I was funny?
And I said, yeah, he goes, these people, I go,
they don't know you, they know that guy on TV.
I said, you just, you're two different guys.
And so, cause he was doing a spot and it was rough.
Yeah, but that's what's so
funny is like he was that guy on tv he was just like a dirty comic like but he was and it and it
like it took people a while to get used to it but it just i don't know worked it was there's no ill
behind any of the jokes that he said no i mean there was no, it was like, yeah, his mind just would go. He was gutter bound, man.
I mean, you know, but it was cleverly, if there was a way to do it, he did it as clean as, I mean, like, I'll never forget.
He, you know, it was, oh, you know, my daughter, she's, you know, I don't know, seven, like, I am nuts over her.
Well, she's about that tall.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a great joke it was the greatest joke because he's tall and lanky and he would put his hand down and right he would be
right above her yeah and uh but that's how his brain worked and it was i'll never the first time
he did that that i saw uh was at a showcase you know he was doing a spot. And I mean, we all fell out in the back.
Yeah.
Just going,
okay.
Even for Saget,
that is brilliant.
Yeah.
It was very quick.
It was very jokes.
It was very fun.
It was very,
you know,
and that's what like we were talking about
when I did this podcast about how,
you know,
I mean,
he put a post up,
I mean,
the night before
saying how he was so excited about it.
He did two hours in Jacksonville. He was so excited about it. He did two hours in Jacksonville.
He was so excited about this new hours, new material.
He's been doing a lot more stuff.
When I was talking to him, he's like talking about being more positive and about, he was like, I just wanted people to have fun.
I want them to, it was like, which he always did that.
But I think he's even more conscious of it, I guess, as he was getting older.
And so he's just like, I just want people to be happy and all this kind of stuff.
And there's a video that he did.
I mean, yeah, this is in Jacksonville.
Really nice audience.
That's what he says about being addicted to it, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, he-
Did two hours and going to cause, I'm addicted to this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's crazy.
I mean, it's, you know, golly, man.
It's like you keep, I don't, you know, it's like some people when they,
obviously when you're like, you know, you end up knowing people.
It's not like I, it's y'all, like I didn't start with him
or know him for all these years.
But you're like, that one hurts.
Yep.
That one hurts real bad.
Like it was like, I just was like really getting to start to know him.
And it was, and I liked him so much.
It was like, you just never thought that would get pulled.
You know, that's going to go away. like this was a dude that needed to be around like i feel like he just leveled out the comedy world yeah we we got ripped off yeah yes we got ripped off
some years here yeah so i mean 65 come on that's that's nothing that's that's how i feel i feel
like we uh you know you always do the rest rest in peace and, you know, our world's less funny and all that.
And it is.
We got ripped off.
We got ripped.
Yeah, this is a real one.
Yeah.
Not that the other ones aren't real.
No, no, no.
But like Bill Hicks, you know, guy had cancer and Mitch Hedberg and all these guys.
You go through them all and you just kind of go, you know, there's some.
But I don't know what happened, and we don't know yet.
And maybe by the time this airs, we know.
But, yeah, we got ripped off.
Yeah.
That's how I feel.
Yeah, and I think that's why it hurts because it's like you're like,
it's not supposed to – he's a great man.
Yeah, you know, and not many guys – I'm sorry.
I don't mean to cut you off, but not many guys you go through.
Norm MacDonald, you said.
A lot of these guys, you sit there and go, personally, I sit there and go,
oh, wow, when's the last time I saw them?
What's the last conversation we had?
Because none of them come as a, they shouldn't come as a shock.
Yeah.
And this one's a shock.
I mean, even Kool-Aid said today, just no words.
Yeah.
Yeah, like Norm was – you know, it's like you have – I didn't know that –
I know everybody that knew Norm.
I didn't know Norm at all.
I've only met him once.
He was great.
And, yeah, he was a great guy.
And like, it was, you know, it's someone like Norm, you thought, you just assume like,
well, I'll get to meet him.
Like I'll, you know.
Right.
And then you're like, I'm going to.
And you don't think you have to worry about it.
And then, but then it's like sagging.
It's like, well, then I did.
And then you're like, all right, I'm going to be talking to this dude now from here on out.
Right.
Is what you kind of think.
And you're excited.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Here's a guy who's a big guy.
Big guy.
In our profession.
And I can go to him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And now one of my guys is not there.
He's not there.
You know?
It's sitting there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It feels it's a, yeah.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts.
This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. This one hurts. You know, when the old guys go, you know, Don Rickles goes, you sit there and go, oh,
wow, that's crazy, you know?
But that's a different thing.
He was in his, you know, he was in the waiting room.
Yes.
Yeah.
You know?
He was 90.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's supposed to live.
Bob Saget.
Like you said, we were talking earlier.
Communions, we live forever.
Yeah, we don't die like this.
We've talked about how stand-up comedy is so new of an art form
in the sense of what we consider stand-up comedy.
The original guys, some of them, a couple died off just recently.
Mort Saul and Jackie Mason.
They're two of the very first guys, period, of anything.
It's kind of crazy.
I mean, Cosby.
Cosby was one of the first guys of what we consider modern-day stand-up.
It's crazy they're still around.
Yeah, I mean, it's –
How's he doing?
Yeah.
He's doing better.
Still alive.
Yeah.
I thought he would have died.
I'm blown away that he didn't die.
Who, Cosby?
Well, like, you know, not to get –
Like, Paterno died when all that stuff had been stated.
Like Paterno died immediately.
Yeah, I think, yeah, me too.
It's insane to be like,
dude, how are you still not just?
I can't really remember.
I've been drinking with him,
so I can't remember.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What was going on?
I think we were drinking.
I can't remember.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Kidding.
So.
They do, yeah, like you said,
like they, it's. Still still comedy right yeah yeah yeah yeah but
those are the guys so uh but guys like y'all and i don't want i don't mean to put you in a
it's just different age bracket okay and career uh starting yeah point uh so mean, guys like Saget, Seinfeld, Shanleen, Shanleen's gone.
I mean, those guys, to you, were like Cosby, Newhart, Rickles, to me.
So, when Newhart's still around, Cosby's still around, Rickles was in his 90s, Bob Hope, all these guys.
Did you ever meet Bob Hope?
I did.
Really?
I did his, I hit balls with him in his backyard.
Oh, really?
Wow.
Nine yard par three, do look alike.
Yeah.
Wow.
It's the greatest.
That, so I've asked for one autograph in my life, and I've taken one showbiz picture
in my life, and it was Bob Hope.
They were doing press things, so we took a picture and i wasn't
going to ask for his autograph and i took the script that we had or five comedians six maybe
everybody else got a sign and my buddy was there he goes man go get signed he goes i know you hate
it but it's bob hope yeah so i walked over and bob looks up and goes killed you that be here hunk
yeah i said it's not what i do goes, I don't have to do it.
I said, nah, you better do it.
He goes, I'm not going to be around forever, man.
Yeah.
And he signed up.
Wow.
Yeah.
And I went, thank you.
He goes, thanks for letting me be the only one.
Yeah.
I went, cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bob Hope was crazy.
So he's 92 and they prop him up.
He's, hey, I got to tell you, you know, he played, I think, I mean, he was amazing.
Yeah. Just amazing.
So Bob Hope, Milton Berle, George Burns, all these guys I met.
And Rickles was the greatest.
And a matter of fact, Sag is the one who's always said, when you get insulted by Rickles, it's the greatest thing in the world.
And Rickles used to always come up to me.
We'd have a conversation, just be in awe, and he'd start to walk off, and he'd go,
hey, Hank, too much starch.
Greatest thing in the world.
Yeah.
Greatest thing.
You know, nowadays people go, oh, I can't believe you said that.
That's Don Rickles.
That was, he knighted me.
It was an honor.
Every time he said that, he knighted me.
Yeah.
And he said it every time.
Without fail.
Yeah.
Without fail.
Just do a whole thing.
Dr. Chu.
Mr. Greatest.
You're going to get us canceled
from you doing Don Rickles
for 40 years.
Yeah.
We all go down.
We all go down.
Henry did a what?
Yeah.
Well,
thank you for coming on.
And I mean, you know, and we were having you on anyway.
And then when this Bob stuff happened, it's like, you know,
it's just fun to talk these old stories, hear about, you know,
the days like that.
And then, you know, the fact that, I mean, you were around him for so long
and how much he meant to everybody.
It's crazy.
Yeah.
You're right.
Thanks for having me, man.
You know, they're our guys. They're our guys. Yeah. And you're the everybody. It's crazy. Yeah, you're right. Thanks for having me, man. You know, they're our guys.
They're our guys.
Yeah.
And you're the guy.
It was funny.
They're going to have to say it
when we, you know,
when I get hit by a bus.
That you're the guy?
No, I don't know.
They're going to say,
he was a nice guy.
He was a nice guy.
He was a good guy.
Henry's back on.
You're like,
it's gone.
Yarda.
Next week, y'all just sit Henry's. Next week, Henry's just here. Hey like it's gone next week
y'all just sit
Henry's next week
Henry's just here
real brief
it's quick
I'm like
I'm like dude
but we did more on Bob
and you know
and you're like
nah we just had
we had other stuff
we had other stuff
we changed it to Henryland
yeah
Henryland
yeah
can I plug some shows
for this weekend
yes
I'm back out with
Leanne Morgan
Greensboro
North Carolina on Friday,
and Roanoke, Virginia on Saturday.
All right.
All right.
Tonight, Wednesday night, January 12th, I'm headlining Zany's in Nashville.
Bates is on the show, too.
Hey, I may come.
Yeah?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I got some friends coming.
Oh, nice.
Look at that.
Hey.
They tell me.
Everybody's going to be there.
Everybody come.
Yeah.
Can I get them to guess that?
Probably if you want to, of course.
That's not happening.
But I may be there.
BTS and Aaron Webber.
It's very 50-50-ish.
I don't know what else is going on.
Yeah, but that would be great if you come to that.
And then this weekend, I'm in Dubuque, Iowa at the Comedy Bar there.
All right. Nice. Where you got? Let's see. that and then this weekend i'm in dubuque iowa yeah at the comedy bar there all right nice you
got where you got uh let's see i'm in uh telehoma which you both yeah put these guys down with yeah
that's great yeah i stay close to home january so telehoma friday night and uh uh the dixie theater
dixie carter's place uh huntington dunn yeah hunting done tennessee that one's sold out so
yeah i don't have to plug it outside yeah uh see what everybody's going yeah get in line get in
line and then i'm in jacksonville end of the month play golf and do some shows at the comedy zone
okay matter of fact and that's where sagat was i know so i'm not at the red stove so i'm good
yeah yeah yeah yeah uh all right go check
about we love you guys thanks for listening as always and uh see you next week bye
thanks everybody for listening to the Nate Land Podcast.
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