How to be Funny and Why You Should Care | KEITH YACKEY
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 17 minutes
Words per Minute
231.29588
Summary
In this episode, I am joined by my good friend Keith Yacke, who over the past couple of years has transitioned from the corporate stage to the comedy stage. We talk about why fear keeps us from doing great things, why we as a society need comedians, the power of instant feedback, and how to be funny.
Transcript
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No one ever accused me of being funny, but that doesn't mean that I don't see the value of humor
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and comedy in life and society in general. Today, I am joined by my good friend Keith Yacke,
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who over the past couple of years has transitioned from the corporate stage to the comedy stage.
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Today, we talk about why fear keeps us from doing great things, why we as a society need
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comedians, the power of instant feedback on our path to growth, and how to be funny.
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly charge
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time. You are not
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easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are.
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This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself
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a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and the founder
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of this podcast, The Order of Man. Guys, if you're listening for the first time, it's my goal to
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bring powerful, powerful conversations to you. I think we're on, gosh, over 200 interview shows now,
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and I think another 200 other podcast shows that we do throughout the week, and man, we're just,
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we're cooking. So I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're tuned in. I'm glad you're on this journey
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and this path, and ultimately this mission of reclaiming and restoring masculinity in today's
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society. Obviously, it's needed now more than ever, and I think that's a testament to the fact
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that we are growing. We continue to grow exponentially, and I'm glad that you're here.
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I'm glad that you're inviting other men on this journey with us, and couldn't be more honored to
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be leading this movement. So guys, I've got a great one lined up for you today on the power of humor,
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why we should all work to be funnier, what it actually does for us, and how it enhances our lives,
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and all of that stuff. We'll get to that here in a minute, but I want to make a very quick couple
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of announcements. The first one, I want to talk with you about my friends and the sponsors of this
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show, Origin May. Now, I've talked about them for months. There's a reason I have. I used to do some
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ads on the show, and quite frankly, I got a little tired of hawking underwear and life insurance and
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business management software, but the guys over at Origin, and the reason that I've worked with them
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over the past couple of months is because I honestly believe in what they're doing. I've been out
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to their facilities. I've seen their operations. I know these guys personally. They're friends of
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mine. They've got their nutritional supplemental lineup. It's the Joint Warfare, Super Krill,
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Discipline Go, Malk, which is a protein supplement. They've got it all over there,
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and that's what you guys seem to be most interested in and something that I've incorporated to my
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health and nutrition and exercise regimen. All of that's partnered up with Jocko, and then they do
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on the planet. In fact, I think I heard Pete the other day say that it was made of unicorn skin.
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So anyways, guys, go check out what they're doing. Origin, Maine. Maine is in the state Maine. So
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origin, M-A-I-N-E dot com. And when you purchase anything over there, make sure you use the code
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order, O-R-D-E-R at checkout, and you'll get a discount on that order. Again, origin, Maine.com
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and use the code order. The other thing that I just wanted to mention really quick is over the
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past, I would say a couple of weeks, I've got a lot of questions about how to launch a podcast,
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how to grow a podcast, how to put a message, an idea out into the world, how to connect with
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powerful people like my guest today and the hundreds of other men that we've had on this show
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that I decided I want to share this information with you because I think there is something so
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powerful in podcasting and the ability to get your message, your voice, your thoughts,
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your ideas out into the world is it's critical. It's so important. So I put together a four week
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course. We're going to start in March, March 1st, 2019. It's called podcast pro. So it's not for
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people who want to do this as a weekend hobby or dabble in it. These are for people who want to be
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professional podcasters like I am, like the other people that you're probably listening to. Again,
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it's called podcast pro. It's a four week course. I'm very active. We've got 50 spots. It's all I'm
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doing. I don't know if I'll do another one or not. I just wanted to try this out and answer a lot
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of questions for those of you who want to start podcasts. So if you head to order of man.com
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slash podcast pro order of man.com slash podcast pro, you can check it out. And again, that starts
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March 1st, 2019. All right, guys, enough of the announcements. Let's get into this. Again,
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I told you my guest today is Keith Yaki. He's a personal friend of mine. We've known each other
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for, I want to say a little over a year. Now we, we met at the launch of American dream use campus
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in Las Vegas and just hit it off. I mean, the guy is so personable. He's extremely good at what he
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does. He's got an investor background. He grew a eight figure investing firm in two years,
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but has made some transitions over the past couple of years. And I wanted to have a conversation with
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him because I've seen him reach a level of success in the comedy world in a very, very short period of
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time. And I know that he's just going to continue to grow and escalate and climb in his ability to
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be funny for a living, which is a really interesting thought to me, because as I said before, I am not
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necessarily the funniest individual out there, but, but Keith is, and he's also level-headed. So we have
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a discussion about comedy and why it's important and how men can develop their sense of humor and comedy
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and why this makes an individual more likable, which ultimately will help all of us achieve more
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in our lives because we're working with other people. And if we're more likable, it's easy to
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see how that transition. So I'm excited to introduce this one to you. We've never talked about humor and
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comedy, but we get into some very interesting subjects and conversations here over the next
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hour or so. Hope you enjoy guys. Let me introduce you to my friend, Keith Yaki.
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Keith, what's up, brother? Glad to be joining you at the American Dream campus. Is that what you call
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it? Training facility? Training facility. Sure. That sounds way better than university. I'm stoked
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to be here. We're mutual friends with Phil Randazzo, who heads up this organization. And I think what we
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met last year, about a year or so ago, maybe? Yeah, at the opening of when they decided to make this
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the university. Right. Been able to get to know each other online on the interwebs. And I think we run in
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some of the same circles. So man, I'm excited because you're on this really fascinating journey
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and one that I'm intrigued with that I would never walk myself. As of right now, I should say.
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I may say that about bow hunting. Yeah, you might. But then I'll try to convince you and get you
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out there on the hunt. But yeah, I mean, you've really immersed yourself in the world of stand-up
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comedy over the past, what, couple of years now? Yeah, about two, a little over two years. But is this
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something that's been on your radar in the past? Or is it like one day you woke up, you're like,
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I'm going to do stand-up comedy. It's been on my radar for 15 years.
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Really? Yeah, man. I don't know if you know this. Probably nobody knows me on your podcast
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as of yet, but I actually used to be a pastor of a church in Montana. I've been on stage since I was
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16, 17, 18 years old, a few times a week teaching the scriptures in front of hundreds of people.
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And I have people come up like, man, you should do stand-up comedy. You have amazing comedic timing.
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I didn't know what that meant at the time. And I was like, no, no thanks. I'm about the Lord's work
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right now. Five years ago, I thought, you know what? I do want to do this stand-up comedy thing.
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I went and hired a coach. He gave me two lessons and I did nothing with it.
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And in the back of my mind, I'm like, I'm going to regret this.
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What made you change? Because we'll get back to the regret. What made you say,
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I think it was just that point in my life where I was like, I think I can do it. When I dove in hard
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two years ago, this is a very interesting story. There was a guy that came to my gym,
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not eloquent, kind of goofy, odd looking. And I hadn't seen him for a couple of years. I'm like,
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hey, how are you doing, man? He's like, good. I'm like, what are you up to? He's like,
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I'm doing stand-up comedy. And it was this trigger for me that was like very real. I'm like, well,
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if you can do it, I definitely can do it. It was just that simple. But I said, how did you start?
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And he goes, I hired a coach, which has always been my MO for anything. If I want to get in
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shape, if I want to learn real estate, if I want to learn internet business, anything.
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And I'm like, oh yeah. So I found out who his coach was. He told me. I reached out to the guy.
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Little did I know that the guy I reached out to was a legend in comedy.
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The coach, yeah. Who obviously everybody's probably heard of Andrew Dice Clay.
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This guy toured with Andrew Dice Clay for 20 years, was his best friend, had a podcast with him,
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And so this guy, he was a paid regular at the comedy store, which is one of the hardest things
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to become. Lived in a house with Sam Kinnis. I mean, did the whole thing. Was so immersed,
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very good. And we just hit it off. He pushed me to not just be a student, but to actually get my
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Like are people really just taking coaching and then not actually doing anything with it? Like
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why would somebody take coaching and not actually go out and perform?
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They've overcome the first obstacle, which is get yourself in the game to some degree
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by hiring a coach, which says, signifies, okay, I'm serious, but maybe also it, this
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is enough, right? Like I'm just going to dip my toe in the water.
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It's the difference between learning and doing.
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Everybody, who doesn't like to learn? We all like to learn, right? Oh, this is interesting.
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This is satisfying my curiosity for how it actually happens. And then he's like, okay,
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now it's time to go. And within two sessions of coaching, he's like, it's, you're going up.
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And I'm like, oh, well, no, we're not ready. He's like, yeah, nobody's ready.
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This side of it now performing at the coolest hotspots with some of the biggest names. I just
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look back and go, oh gosh, now I know what he was talking about.
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But at the time, here's the biggest fear for me. So I hired him as a coach and it wasn't like
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super expensive, like 10 sessions for a thousand bucks.
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So it was not like crazy. He wanted to understand my persona, who I was. Now he went and Googled me
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and saw that I had done Amplify Live Experience. He'd seen me on stage. He'd seen that I was
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connected with Gary Vee. So he's like, wow, you're already really established in what you do.
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And there's five key components to being good at comedy. He goes, you already have four stage
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presence, confidence, being able to read the room quick on your feet.
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All things that would apply to public presenting essentially.
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Which I, not perfected, but it had become a really good over the last 23 years.
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Even from the time that we met, which was sometime last year, you presented. And I realized right
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off the bat, I'm like, oh, this guy's sharp. This isn't, he's standing up and saying a few
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words and he's awkward. Like you've obviously been presenting in the past.
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So he goes, the fifth thing is just actually writing jokes and then going and performing them.
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He's like, here's what I want you to do. Go watch a bunch of comedians as soon
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as they walk on stage. I want you to see their first 30 seconds. I'm like, okay. And he goes,
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and then next time he goes, I want you to write five minutes of what you think is funny. Gave
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me some like ideas about what I could write about. We would meet in a Starbucks at the
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handicap table. Don't greet me as wheels. Pretend like I'm your audience.
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I was so awkward. That morning I text him. We were going to meet around two o'clock
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that morning. I text him and go, this is dumb. I'm not doing it. And his response back to me
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via text was very simple. Are you the coach? And I'm like, uh, no, I'll see it too. I go
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and bitch to my wife. I go, how stupid is this? She responds. She goes, are you the coach? I
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didn't even know his response. She goes, you are a coach.
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They're the best, right? She's like, are you, are you the coach? Like she goes, you paid
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a bunch of money to learn from this guy. Why don't you just do what he says?
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Yes. So I'm like, all right. Then I started writing the bits out. I'm like, okay, I know
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what I'm going to say. I don't know if it's going to be funny, but at least I, I had a
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plank to walk on. Sure. Enough to hang yourself with, right?
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Exactly. I've never been more nervous in my life. There's not one time I've been more
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nervous. I walk in, I sit down and I start to deliver. I'm about two and a half minutes
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and he goes, here goes, you can stop. I'm like, all right. He goes, um, you're not funny,
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but you have funny in you and I'm confident I can pull it out. Hmm. What session was this
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two or three? Oh, so this is the very beginning. Yeah. Cause his whole thing is, and he, cause
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he knows as a standup team now is you only get funny by writing it, trying it in front
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of an audience, which is a little counterintuitive. I think anyways, and I think most people listening
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who aren't quote unquote funny and I've never been called funny in my life. I don't think
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you are a funny witty guy. I can be right. But we somehow believe that those who are
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comedians are inherently funny. They're the class clown. Right. And we just believe that
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that's just their personality and it is what it is. But it's actually really quite the opposite,
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man. Here's why I was so scared. Cause I processed, why was I so scared? Like I'm just talking,
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trying to say, is this funny? No, not funny. It's fine. Like who cares? Here is what I needed.
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And this will resonate, I think with a lot of the listeners. And I was secretly, I wanted
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to be a standup comedian. It was a dream. You wanted it really bad. Really bad. And I'm
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like, I've done all this time on stage. I've seen all these comedians and I'm like, I can do that,
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which I think is the birth of what anybody, like I'm sure with podcasts, it's hope and you see it
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and you go, I can do that. Right. And then that's what usually starts the journey. Right? Sure.
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So I was so afraid that this guy would squash my dream of being a standup comedian one day
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because he's in the know, right? He knows if anybody knows, he knows, he knows. And if honestly,
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if he would have told me you don't have it, this will never work. Forget it. I actually wonder
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where I'd be. Has he told people that though? I don't know. I'm curious. I don't know. I'm curious
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if there's people where he's like, no, this guy doesn't have it. Yeah. I don't know. Because the
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truth of the matter is, is anybody can get to a degree of funny. Sure. I've realized now it's a
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skill like any other. Of course. But dude, when he said, you're not funny, my heart sunk. And he goes,
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but you have funny and I can bring it up. My heart's sore again. And I was like, okay,
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let's do this. All right. I'm willing to put in the work. So he goes, perfect. You're going up in
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two nights. That was a Tuesday, I believe. And then the Thursday was this really cool open mic.
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And he goes, you're going up in two nights at Vinda Carlos. It's on the strip. He goes,
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there's going to be about 40 to 60 people there, which I was actually more excited that there was
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going to be more people there than less people. Cause it's actually a lot harder to make
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eight people laugh than it is 80. Cause really I imagine if you can get one or a handful of people
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laugh, then it's kind of like that, that social proof that it's acceptable to laugh or that we
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should be laughing. Exactly. Right. So it was like, Oh, this is my cue to laugh rather than the one guy
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who's the professional and you're trying to win him over. Dude, so tough. So do you think the added
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pressure of you saying that this guy can literally lift me up or squash my dreams is what made that so
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nerve wracking for you when you went into that Starbucks or whatever, which was only what I built in my
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brain. It wasn't even true. I had all that fear and tension. I placed it, all that pressure on this
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guy thinking he was the gatekeeper for my dream or not, which is none of that's true, but I had built
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it all up in my brain that that was now, thank God. He said, Keith, I think you're funny. Yeah.
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And then I went up. What if he said you weren't funny or you couldn't be funny? Would you have
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stopped being that? I didn't know anything about the industry, like the real industry. I would have
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probably thought, well, I mean, he knows, I mean, he's the top of the game, right? He's the guy who
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discovered Sebastian Maniscalco. I don't know who that is. The top eighth grossing comedian this
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year made $17 million. Really? Yeah. He's one of the hottest comedians in the world right now.
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Okay. I should know who he is. Yeah. I mean, you got Seinfeld, Chappelle, Rock, Hart,
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he makes way more than Rogan. Is that right? Comedy. Yeah, sure. So you've got those other five or six
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that are absolute household names. And then you got Sebastian Maniscalco. So he's right on that,
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like that verge of household name. Yeah. I mean, dude fills out arenas. I mean, he's,
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he's, so he's the one that pulled Sebastian aside as a young comedian and said, I think you have what
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it takes. I'm going to have you showcase. Cause the comedy world is to be able to get past at a
00:16:02.660
club, you have to showcase for the owner or for the booker. And they have to say, yeah,
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you can actually perform at our club or not, or else you're not working. And the booker is hired by
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the owner of the club? Yeah. It'd be like, like saying the manager of the club. Okay. Right.
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Saying, Hey, who do you think? Like, you know, Kevin Hart, he went up to the comic strip and there's a guy by the
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name. I can't remember his name. It was like Volation or something like that. And they looked
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at Kevin Hart and said, yeah, you don't have it. And Kevin's like, to my face. There's something,
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he's like, you said that to my face. I don't have it. He goes, I just killed. They're like,
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he goes, yeah, you don't have it. And they wouldn't let him up. It's a very tough like that.
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Oh, I'm sure. So I knew this guy had a, cause I started Googling him and I knew this guy had clout.
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He goes, okay, you're going up in two days. I'm like, all right. I worked my craft. I worked my bits
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out that I thought it was five minutes. It was like the five stupid things my dad told me growing up.
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I don't even remember what the bits are. How long of a, how long of a set are we looking
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at here? Five minutes. Oh, that's all it is. Okay. You get five minutes. All right. You got
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to get on it. Yeah. You've got to get on it. Right. And, uh, which being a seminar guy who
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does a seminar for four days, I know I can be funny in four days. I got time to build a little
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report, but five minutes. Here's what happened. My wife goes with me. Wheels is sick, but he just,
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he goes, I'm showing up. This is your first time. That's your coach? Yeah. My coach was wheels. Okay. He was sick,
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but he goes, I'm showing up because this is your first time. I'm going to be here for you. I'm like, okay,
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we get there. I'm at the back table with my coach and my wife. And I'm sitting there and I'm like,
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this is stupid. I'm not doing it. And I look to them and I'm like, but they showed up for me.
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Like they don't have to, this guy's sick. Right. My wife's just supporting me because she knows this
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has been a dream of mine for a while. And I'm like, I can't let them down. I've got to go try this.
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And I don't care if I look stupid or not. I'm going to go do it. But I'm actually really doing it for
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them right now because I would have pushed out. Interestingly enough, did you tell him that you
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weren't doing it? No, you just looked at him like, I'm just, this is stupid. Here's why.
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Because public speaking looks a lot like standup comedy. I'm a sprinter in the public speaking world.
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I'm not even crawling yet in the standup world at this very beginning. I'm like the baby on the
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ground rolling around. They look like the same thing. But when you go up and watch me do my very
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first set, you're like, ew, awkward. God, has this guy ever gotten in front of people before?
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Not knowing. It's such a different. To the casual viewer, you're just like,
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oh, you're on stage talking. I think the casual viewer expects to be entertained. That's why
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they're there, right? So if you're not entertaining them, it's like, well, what the hell's wrong with
00:18:20.920
this guy? Exactly. About my beer and my wings. Make me laugh, dick. Let's go. Right. And so
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the funniest thing is, but it looks the same because you're like, he's on stage speaking. And you're
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like, but you're such a good public speaker. I go, yeah, because I'm teaching you something you want
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to know. You paid money to be here to learn this. These guys just said, make me laugh. I don't care
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what you, I don't, you open for Tony Robbins in front of 7,000 people. Don't care. Make me laugh.
00:18:42.980
Right. That's a harder sale, man, to make somebody laugh versus to educate them on something.
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It's totally involuntary. Laughter is involuntary.
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Yeah, I guess that's true. Yeah. And there's triggers for it.
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Yeah. You're not going to fabricate that, right?
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It's very hard to. I mean, you might, but it's very hard to get somebody to laugh if it's not funny.
00:19:00.320
And what's funny, what's not funny, it's very interesting. And that's, so as a standup comedian,
00:19:04.700
you're trying stuff every single night. My four-year-old daughter just said something to me.
00:19:09.120
She goes, dad, you know who my favorite supervillain is? I go, who's that? She goes,
00:19:12.060
the Joker. I'm like, why? She goes, I love his red lipstick. I go, that's funny. I go, that's great.
00:19:18.980
She goes, you know who my favorite superhero is? I go, who? She goes, Wonder Woman. She goes,
00:19:22.520
I want to sleep with her every night. Now she's thinking stuffed animals. Sure. Yeah. But I go,
00:19:27.500
yeah, so does every man in America. Right? She just told me that yesterday. Right. And I'm like,
00:19:33.360
so I tried it last night. You use bits that you know work well, and then you try new stuff to see,
00:19:37.880
is this going to work or not? You're almost in a way, sorry to interject here, but it almost sounds
00:19:41.740
like you're hedging your bet a little bit. You're doing stuff that's proven to work. And they're like,
00:19:45.680
I'm in good right now. Like, let me throw something in and see where it goes. And if it flops,
00:19:50.260
I'll just go back to the good stuff. That's exactly right. But that's the only way you grow.
00:19:53.520
So Jay Leno said, if you're not trying a new joke or two every set, you're wasting your time.
00:19:58.320
I know, cause you know, like last night I did like, I don't know, 10 or 12 minutes.
00:20:01.740
And I know I have a five minute set that will crush. Absolutely. I've done it a hundred times.
00:20:08.120
And I know it's going to get everybody to laugh just about. Right. Then I try some new stuff that
00:20:13.480
I go, I think it's funny. Let's see. So then you try it and it worked. You just giggled and it worked.
00:20:19.520
The next piece on top of that, I go, have you ever noticed that superheroes don't discover
00:20:24.500
their superpower till later on in life? That's probably a good thing. Could you imagine if
00:20:27.920
they discovered it as a kid? Spider-Man's mom's like, Peter, you're not going over to Tommy's
00:20:31.520
house. He's like, Oh yeah. Who's grounded now? That didn't get that much of a laugh. I'm like,
00:20:36.400
Oh, I need to retweak that. Yeah. How do you know whether you should tweak it or scrap it?
00:20:40.180
No laughs or laughs. Well, what I'm saying is like, take that punchline there.
00:20:43.700
Is that something that you tweak and you change maybe the timing or the delivery or is that
00:20:49.160
something you're like, no, gone. Well, so last night was one of the hardest crowds I've ever
00:20:53.700
performed for. It was 25, 50 and 60 year olds. All my good material hit really hard. And so I'm
00:21:01.000
like, well, let me try this. Cause I eventually you learn how to judge a room. So there's a room
00:21:04.760
I do every Wednesday night and it can be anywhere from eight people to 80. And I actually like it
00:21:08.860
when it's eight because I'll try new stuff. And if I can get that eight people to laugh,
00:21:12.020
I go, I know for a fact I can get a good room to laugh at this. You know, you and I were talking
00:21:18.420
a little off air about guts and the ability to try stuff. Every single set I'm trying something new
00:21:24.780
baked in with something I already know is working because if I can try it and it works,
00:21:29.300
now I build my minutes up. If I say, Hey man, I've got 25 minutes that of killer material that I know
00:21:35.020
I can go up with any comedian. Like how long has that taken you? Probably about eight to 10 months to
00:21:39.220
build that. And you're like, yeah, he knows. Yeah. Because it's so hard. Yeah. I got a solid
00:21:44.180
minute that I know I'm going to get at least four to five laughs out of that minute. When do you mix
00:21:48.500
things up? So let's say you get to that 25 minute mark of solid material. That's not going to be
00:21:52.600
evergreen stuff, right? I mean, you're going to be constantly changing that, tweaking that,
00:21:56.200
adjusting that. Bill Burr said this, he goes, cause he'll know when he's time for him to do a
00:22:00.480
special. Do you know who Bill Burr is? I do. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm familiar with that. Yeah.
00:22:03.780
Another mass. Sure. I think he's the best comedian walking on planet earth right now.
00:22:07.580
Super funny. He goes, I get to the point where I'm so tired of this material. I can't wait to
00:22:12.680
shoot a special and not do it again. And I've done my 10 or 15 minutes, probably 75 or a hundred sets.
00:22:20.860
And I'm to the point now where I'm like, I'm going to do it. And I put all my enthusiasm because
00:22:25.420
they've heard it for the first time, but this is my hundredth time doing it. But the interesting
00:22:30.060
thing is, is whenever you're trying something new, I'll give it five or 10 times, similarly the same
00:22:36.360
way. And I record every set. That's the other thing. It's practice. And then it's going back
00:22:42.060
and playing it back and be like, Oh dude, I stumbled over that word. That's why I didn't laugh.
00:22:45.460
Or I do this thing. I go, you know, how many of you are married? Clap it up. And I have to wait for
00:22:50.500
all the claps to stop. And I go, cool. Then you know what I'm going through. But last night I let them
00:22:57.180
clap and the clap went really long. And I go, cool. You know what I'm going through? But the
00:23:00.080
clap hadn't died down yet. So they didn't actually hear the punch. So it didn't land. So we're
00:23:04.100
talking half a second, second delay can change the entire punchline. It's so nuanced that people
00:23:10.480
are very, but that's what makes it so dang hard. Do you know James Altucher? I know of him. I don't
00:23:16.500
know him personally. He's a larger podcast. He's dove in deep into the comedy game. He has. Yeah, he has.
00:23:20.660
He's part owner of Stand Up New York. We were talking back and forth online yesterday and he's like,
00:23:25.600
congratulations on diving into the hardest thing to master on earth. Which is comedy. Stand Up comedy.
00:23:32.380
Yeah. Which I believe that, but I got to wonder what neurosurgeon is listening to that and being
00:23:37.560
like, is it? I think what you're referring to is the stakes, right? The stakes of you not making
00:23:44.160
somebody laugh is minuscule compared to a brain surgeon, you know, having a mini seizure or a heart
00:23:51.180
attack during the middle of a procedure and killing somebody. But that doesn't mean that
00:23:54.860
it's harder or maybe it's just different. So there's so many things that I learned from
00:23:59.840
Stand Up Comedy was A, the guts to try something new. B, I started this at 38 years old. You know,
00:24:06.600
there's guys that have been doing it since 18. They've already got 20 years in the game.
00:24:10.080
They've refined themselves. The reinvention piece, it was easy to go because my wife and my coach were
00:24:15.780
there, but guess what the other 50 open mics were? I was there by myself. Late at night in front of
00:24:22.200
four people at a bar and nobody cared about what I was doing. Because here's the thing I think I was
00:24:26.320
trying to mention earlier that I spaced out on is when you're a master at something, it really is
00:24:31.740
hard on the ego to go really suck hard at something. And I'm sure you probably experienced that with the
00:24:36.940
bow. I mean, the corollaries between you bow hunting and what you're doing, you actually have an
00:24:42.420
immediate response. Boom. I didn't hit the target. Well, what happened? Instant feedback. Well, let me,
00:24:46.200
did I do it right? Like, you know, it's that instant feedback. It's the ego. It's why do I want
00:24:51.340
these people to like me so much? So you're dealing with all of that. How do you overcome that? Because
00:24:56.640
ultimately I think it'd be very easy to equate with, if I can make these people laugh, they're
00:25:01.060
going to like me. I'm going to have more influence or credibility in their eyes. And so it seems like
00:25:05.020
there is a direct correlation. And yet I imagine you're trying to sever the correlation between making
00:25:10.200
them laugh and them liking you. Yeah. Because you have to not care. Right. Because you can't say
00:25:15.160
what you need to say if you care about their feedback in a way. Maybe, I don't know. Yeah.
00:25:20.980
You're hitting it on all the right points. It's hard to articulate. Yeah. Like what would drive this
00:25:26.140
person to go do this other than the fact that when I've seen guys like Dane Cook growing up and I see
00:25:31.600
these guys, I go, I can do it. I can do that. And having a whole entire crowd doubled over laughing
00:25:40.340
because of what you said, the payoff is so huge. What would you say is the payoff? Is the payoff just
00:25:46.620
a sense of personal satisfaction or is your payoff knowing that these people are smiling because of
00:25:52.480
you? Like what is it that actually feels good about standing up in front of people and making them laugh?
00:25:57.460
There's a couple of things. It's really multi-layered. Interestingly enough, life is tough.
00:26:01.620
Building a business is tough, but once you like get there and you know, money's flowing in, it feels
00:26:05.520
easy, but there's always challenges. People working a job, you know, they hate their boss. They hate
00:26:09.860
their coworkers. There's a lot of like tough stuff. So the fact that I can provide this moment of time
00:26:15.640
where they're actually not thinking about any of that, I'm doing some joke about, you know, sex with my
00:26:20.140
wife in the morning as opposed to at night because I got a four-year-old who's just ruined our night sex game.
00:26:24.300
And what does that look like? And they're relating and they're like, yeah, yeah. My husband
00:26:29.540
has to have sex with me every morning too. And you know what I mean? And they're just laughing and
00:26:33.900
they're almost forgetting everything. That brings a lot of joy to me. The second layer is I know how
00:26:38.680
hard it is to get them to laugh. Yeah. That the payoff is like all this work that none of you guys saw
00:26:45.160
and it's just for your cheap laugh and entertainment right now. That brings a lot of joy to my heart.
00:26:50.900
Third layer is I want to be respected by other comedians. So I got paid the biggest compliment
00:26:57.280
about a week ago. I performed with Kevin Nealon. The way this, the lineup was set up was there was a
00:27:03.100
headliner. His name is Ant. Been in the game for 25 years. I think he won last comic standing.
00:27:09.460
Phenomenal. The booker who's becoming a friend of mine, he put him, a couple of comedians, him,
00:27:14.860
me. Oh, so you had to follow this guy. Follow this guy. And then Kevin Nealon.
00:27:18.060
Wow. And the booker said, I put you in the hardest spot possible because I've seen you
00:27:22.320
crush on other stages because I want to see if you could handle this. You know, when I got done,
00:27:26.060
Kevin Nealon was like, very funny, man. Really? Great stuff. I'm like, thanks, Kevin. He went up
00:27:30.920
and did his set, came back down kind of in the green room area. And he goes, no, seriously,
00:27:34.740
I want to tell you again. He goes, that was some really funny stuff up there. Unique. Well done,
00:27:38.120
man. It was a huge compliment. Then the booker's like, Keith, you got just as many laughs and as big
00:27:43.480
a laugh as those guys did. He goes, that was a huge test for you. And he goes, and you pass with flying
00:27:47.520
colors. He goes, great job. So I got the respect of the comedians. Yeah. And there's some of that
00:27:52.160
because there's a, you know, I'll be like, oh, that guy's hacky or, oh, that's just a reiteration
00:27:56.140
of somebody else's joke. And you don't want that to be said of you. You want them to be like,
00:28:00.020
wow, man, the guy's put some real, he's put some originality. He's put his flair on it.
00:28:03.920
And so that's the layer of what's happening. All that's going on, which same in business, right? You're
00:28:09.700
like, you want the masses to like what you have to offer. And they go, wow, this is great. I want to buy
00:28:14.340
more. You want other entrepreneurs to be like, wow, that guy's bright. Like he's innovative. He's
00:28:19.060
thought of some things that he hasn't. And then you know how difficult it was to bring whatever it was
00:28:23.660
to market and have people accept it. The parallels are crazy similar. Right. Probably same with bow
00:28:29.800
hunting. Oh yeah. Bow hunting or even just this podcast, you know, and people think, oh, you really
00:28:34.400
dropped the ball on that one or, or you really did well on that one. And you're right. People don't see
00:28:38.940
what goes behind the scenes or, or they think, oh, you're just a natural, anything but that.
00:28:44.140
It's definitely not something that comes natural for me. Yeah. Maybe even, even for yourself.
00:28:49.320
I was on a podcast at the comedy store. They have a couple of podcasts that they produce.
00:28:54.100
They're like, man, you just have it. You have it up on that stage. And I go,
00:28:58.080
you should have seen me 10 years ago. They're like, what do you mean? I'm like,
00:29:02.080
cause they had watched some of my videos and I did a video, a promo video for,
00:29:05.020
you know, uh, American dream. You, we put on a thing for Nellis air force base for the,
00:29:08.740
um, airmen. And I sent it out to a bunch of comedians to see if they want to come do it.
00:29:12.600
And they're like, as soon as we saw that video, we're like, oh, this guy's legit.
00:29:15.480
They're like, you're just natural on the camera. I go, but I just want you to know,
00:29:18.580
if you would have seen my, my very first videos 10 years ago, I did, you would have not been like,
00:29:22.040
oh, this guy's a natural. Yeah. I'm naturally talented because I've done it for 10 years.
00:29:27.320
Right. I literally produced maybe a thousand or 2000 videos. That's why I'm a natural. Yeah.
00:29:32.900
But people forget that. And it falls into the same camp as luck, you know,
00:29:37.000
oh, you're so lucky. Oh yeah. No. Yeah. It's not luck. Yeah. There's no,
00:29:41.060
there is no luck. There's some fortunate events. I'm not going to deny that. You know,
00:29:43.960
you come to some meetings. I mean, we're white males in America.
00:29:45.680
That's right. Exhibiting all sorts of toxic masculinity here, but it's, it's, it's just not
00:29:52.100
luck. You know, it's, it's really frustrating when I hear people talk about that because what
00:29:55.860
they're doing, like you said, it's not that it's offensive to me, but what they're doing
00:30:00.380
is they're discounting. They're selling themselves short because even if it's subconscious,
00:30:05.400
what they're saying is that I don't have X, Y, and Z because I just haven't got quote
00:30:10.420
unquote lucky yet. Yeah. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the amount
00:30:14.100
of work and effort and dedication and the ability in your case to overcome a very real
00:30:18.900
fear of people judging you. That's what you're asking people to do. Yeah. Like you're getting
00:30:22.860
up on stage and you're saying, Hey, I want you to judge everything about me. That's from
00:30:27.440
the way that I look to the tone of my voice, to the way I deliver a joke, to the way that
00:30:34.340
my mind is working, judge everything about me. And then you'll tell me if you like it
00:30:38.480
based on if you laugh or not. Exactly. That's a tall order. And you know, what's so interesting
00:30:41.920
about you saying that? Cause it is all those components. As soon as you walk out on stage,
00:30:45.840
people are like, okay, I don't like him, but let me, let me see if I do. Yeah. Like
00:30:50.100
they're judging everything. Why does he have tattoos all over them? Do comics have tattoos?
00:30:53.760
Who else has tattoos? Sure. Why does he have a hair like that? So I want to ask you about
00:30:57.100
that because I look at you and I wouldn't say like your physical appearance is extreme,
00:31:01.780
but I would say it's unique, right? Like your hair is unique. Like it's unique. And I'm wondering
00:31:07.520
or just for life, just in general, I think if you were walking down the street, I think somebody
00:31:12.460
would see you and say, Oh, that guy's interesting. Like there's something unique about that. I was
00:31:17.580
going to ask if it's intentional, but it sounds like maybe it isn't just based on your response.
00:31:21.760
Yeah. No, I just, I just go, Oh, I like that. That's a good look.
00:31:24.240
I'm just thinking like, you can't be a boring guy if you're trying to get up on stage
00:31:28.820
and entertain people there. But see, that's the cool thing about comedy. Comedy is like
00:31:33.740
music, man. Some people like you. Some people don't like Sebastian Maniscalco. One of my
00:31:37.600
favorite comedians. I was hanging out with a buddy of mine, Brad the other day. And he's
00:31:40.520
like, I watched this clips. I don't get it. And then when we watched them together yesterday,
00:31:45.880
he goes, here, watch this clip. I'm howling, laughing. I've seen that bit 14 times.
00:31:53.260
No, losing my shit. And he's like, I don't get it. I'm like too bad for you. This is great.
00:31:59.680
And he just goes, I don't get it. And then he'll put on one of his comedians. I'm like,
00:32:05.020
So there is boring people that are more deadpan. And they're like, yeah, but they have,
00:32:10.120
the way they're funny comes across. You're like, that's true. You have really dry. And
00:32:15.480
I have friends who are like this. They're really dry and they say things and you just can't
00:32:19.680
help but smile and laugh. That is true. I hadn't thought about that.
00:32:22.200
So there's, because I'm such a student in the game, I've probably watched every Netflix special
00:32:27.360
somebody's put out. So I know what a lot of the different comedians look like. And ultimately
00:32:32.220
it takes a long time to find your voice. The cool thing that I had coming into already having
00:32:38.100
been so established in public speaking and speaking in front of people was I know who
00:32:42.500
I am. I'm not a 22 year old. Like I wonder who I am. Like I know who I am, man.
00:32:47.800
I'm a guy that's very driven that knows what he wants and I'm going to go after it. I know
00:32:53.260
I can be a little brash. I'll say, I don't like that. And I do like this and I'm not going
00:32:58.840
to pretend to like something because I want you to like me. I'm just like, I don't like
00:33:01.900
that. I'm not going to like get into something because other people are getting into it because
00:33:05.800
I think it's cool. I'm just like, nah, I don't like, I love surfing. I grew up my whole
00:33:09.620
life surfing. Most people don't even know anything like that about me at all. If it's pumping
00:33:14.100
10 or 12 feet at the wedge, I could go out right now and just tear that place apart.
00:33:19.840
Most people don't know. I've played guitar since I was 12 and I'm very, very good at the
00:33:26.220
guitar. And I've played almost every Hollywood hotspot with my band at one point.
00:33:31.200
Interesting. So now you're going back in a, in a different context.
00:33:34.840
Yeah. And it's funny cause I played the Viper Room. I played the Roxy. I played some of those
00:33:38.140
iconic places and the comedy store and those, they're all around the same thing.
00:33:41.960
And I think for me, I want to get the message out that you can do anything you want in this life.
00:33:46.580
I can't guarantee somebody I'm going to become a famous comedian, but I can guarantee you I'll
00:33:52.180
How would you define that? Like, what does that even mean?
00:33:54.460
Famous might be, you know, household name, has a Netflix special, has a huge following that when
00:34:00.020
he says I'm showing up in Tampa, the whole place fills up.
00:34:02.780
But what about great comedian? That's what I'm asking is how do you define, I'm a great comedian?
00:34:06.580
Like when will you know that, oh yeah, I'm great.
00:34:09.140
When you know you can go for an entire hour and you know, people are just going to be,
00:34:13.160
everybody's going to walk out and I'm like, that was really funny. That was great.
00:34:17.680
You know what I mean? Let's use the word good. Cause great might be like, that's LeBron James
00:34:22.100
ask that he's one of the greats. I know some comedians right now that nobody knows their
00:34:26.440
name. And I go, that guy's great. He's dude, he's really good. You can't promise the fame,
00:34:31.840
but I can promise I will obtain the skill I'm after.
00:34:35.980
And the process of obtaining is so fun. Now it's really fun. It used to scare the living
00:34:43.700
Um, like what are your nerves like when you're going on a stage?
00:34:47.120
So like literally I'm talking with Kevin Nealon, who is, I mean, he's, he's iconic. One of the
00:34:51.800
biggest Saturday Night Live guys ever, still major actor. I'm just shooting the shit with him in the
00:34:57.400
green room before I go up and I know that I have a body of work that I'm going to rely on and I know
00:35:03.380
it's going to work. So I don't get as nervous for that. Because you have a safety net in a way?
00:35:08.300
Yeah. It's, I hate to use that word because I'd say more of a, if I told you, could you curl 15
00:35:15.580
A hundred percent. Why? Because you built up the strength. So I know I have a strength that I'm going
00:35:19.580
to go, I'm strong enough to handle this task. Right. Okay. Um, what's wrong with safety net? What is it
00:35:24.120
you're, uh, you don't like about that phrase? Maybe it's the right word. Maybe I initially took it as
00:35:29.120
I know I can at least, if I fall, I'm still good. Oh, you're talking about like playing minimum,
00:35:33.160
like a, like a lower level. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm not saying that's what it meant, but that's what
00:35:36.800
it meant to me. And I'm really curious to why that was like, I don't like that word. I have a confidence
00:35:40.760
in my ability to do what I'm supposed to go do right now. I think it's a good point. Cause I think a
00:35:44.840
lot of people, frankly, are playing not to lose. Yeah. And I think if I'm hearing you correctly,
00:35:49.260
that's what you're saying is like, I don't want to play just not to lose. Yeah. I want to thrive. I want to
00:35:53.360
excel. I want to go above and beyond what is expected or even required of me. I'll give you,
00:35:58.060
I get that. I'm getting my best example of this. Some people are like, dude, you perform with Neil
00:36:01.800
and like in the most iconic room, probably in comedy, the original room at comedy store. Yeah.
00:36:07.780
That's actually not my most proudest moment. My most proudest moment was I have eight minutes
00:36:11.160
and right in the middle, I tried a brand new joke. I'd never tried ever. Really? And I thought,
00:36:17.080
what a great stage to try it on. Yeah. The best, right? And it crushed.
00:36:22.020
And I knew in my heart, like this joke's going to absolutely crush. I know it. I was so proud of
00:36:29.520
my confidence and my ability to be like, there actually to use safety net, there's no safety
00:36:34.340
net right here. This could bomb and I'm going to have to try and win the crowd back. Right. But if
00:36:38.680
it works, I'm going to get a lot of pats on the back for this. And that's going to feel amazing.
00:36:43.400
And it crushed. Yeah. Have you ever told a joke where you felt the same way and the audience
00:36:49.760
didn't respond the way you thought it would? Absolutely. So what do you do in that moment?
00:36:52.920
You just like wipe the state clean, go back to it. Yeah. You make a comment about it.
00:36:58.520
Oh yeah. You own it. And if you ever heard a comedy comedian say this, and we'll say this a lot,
00:37:02.400
they'll be like, that was a lot funnier than you guys gave me credit for. So now I'm like,
00:37:07.320
Hey man, Hey, that was brilliantly crafted. You guys have no taste for comedy. And they'll be like,
00:37:13.440
ah, or I'll be like, there's a lot of canned phrases. Like, Hey, thank you for letting me
00:37:17.260
try that new joke joke out in silence. You're making fun of the fact that, yeah, that bombed.
00:37:21.540
Yeah. I think when you do that, that's actually really good because here's what I think.
00:37:26.040
And this would be worst case scenario is like, I've been in places where I just feel horrible,
00:37:32.160
horrible for the individual on stage. Yeah. You know where it gets to that point where it's so
00:37:36.380
awkward that you're like, Oh, I feel bad for this guy. I want to go up and rescue this individual.
00:37:41.700
Right. But I think that a crowd would be a lot more forgiving, understandable,
00:37:48.040
and just appreciative. If somebody says, yeah, that sucked. Sorry guys. Let's go on. Let's move on.
00:37:53.740
You have to own that. Sure. That makes sense. Or else they're like,
00:37:57.140
Oh, you don't know that that wasn't funny. Because you're feeling that third party embarrassment for
00:38:02.420
somebody. And you're like, do you not know that wasn't funny? Like, Oh, he's not astute enough
00:38:07.560
to read this room. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So that's when you're just like, I did this funny
00:38:12.400
joke about, um, uh, I got herpes last week and they're looking at me like, Oh, not the disease.
00:38:18.800
I got a dog and named it herpes. Right. And it was just this funny thing. And if they act or not
00:38:23.820
react it, I'll be like, Oh, I've had some people with some STD scares in the crowd. So no matter how
00:38:28.340
they react, I know where I can go and make it funny. It's like your choose your own adventure,
00:38:33.040
right? It's like they choose this, they choose to respond this way. So then I respond this way.
00:38:36.920
Yeah. And that's how I think about every single joke, every single joke. So I've got this really
00:38:41.740
funny joke that, that I think is funny. It's got some really big laughs about, I'm a huge supporter
00:38:45.700
of the gay community. Where's my gaze? Yeah. And if they don't respond, I go, Oh, we're not close
00:38:49.500
enough to West Hollywood. Oh yeah. Right. They do respond. I opened for Brendan Schaub. Do you know who?
00:38:54.180
Yeah, I do. Of course. Um, I opened for him in Salt Lake and I go, where's my gaze?
00:38:57.880
And I had one person go, woo. And it was a packed house. And I had already been killing for five
00:39:03.020
minutes, like doubling and over killing. And I was feeling, I'm like, I know I'm going to tear into
00:39:09.160
this one. And I go, Oh, hold on a second. Gayest city in America, two years running. That's the only
00:39:15.320
response I got. And then they're like, ah, crazy. All right. I got you. Now let's go. So I'm always
00:39:21.800
pivoting for wherever. So I do this. I just pretend like I'm like, I've never tried gay. I said, um,
00:39:27.460
you know what I mean? But I think the problem would be, I think it would be the facial hair.
00:39:30.340
I think that's what would really ruin it for me. If his beard was scratching the back of my neck,
00:39:33.260
I'm like, I can't do this. And I'm just creating this nothing. And I go, so I guess what I'm trying
00:39:37.300
to say is I'm waiting for a clean shaven fella. And I'll look to a guy and I go, sir. And anytime you
00:39:42.480
do that interaction with the crowd, they think they're creating the moment with you and they go nuts.
00:39:48.800
Sir, split the room wide open. And I go, I don't know, maybe you and me after, you know,
00:39:54.440
we try gay. And if they say yes, I go, you see how easy it is in the gay world. I could never get
00:39:59.880
away with that in the straight world. I got to tell you, we're getting married. We're going to do 2.3
00:40:03.500
kids. But if he goes, yes, I go in the gay world. It's like, you want to be gay? You want to try gay?
00:40:07.700
All right. Off we skip. And then it gets a good laugh. Yeah. But if he says no, I go,
00:40:12.280
oh, apparently my gay adar's off so that I know how to respond no matter what he says
00:40:17.620
that I'm going to create funny out of it. That's when you know a guy's got a real handle on the
00:40:21.220
craft. I hadn't even thought about that because I just thought, okay, we hear this. It's a bit,
00:40:24.940
right? And so you just think you just chug through it. And if it's funny, it's funny. And if it's not,
00:40:29.920
you're like, oh, well, okay, keep going. But I like this idea. This makes sense.
00:40:33.420
But you're reading, you're creating with them. Well, it's an interaction as opposed to a
00:40:36.640
presentation, right? Like presenting and we've all been presented to or at, right? It's
00:40:42.140
like, let me just get through my stuff. I don't care how you respond. I just got to get through
00:40:45.940
it. Yeah. And we as an audience or listeners find that miserable. Horrible. Yeah. This is
00:40:52.100
actually a really good segue because you're talking about gay. And what I knew I wanted to address with
00:40:57.080
you today is this idea. And I don't even know fully how to articulate it, but I think societally,
00:41:02.280
we have given you unwritten permission to talk about taboo subjects that are quote unquote off limits to
00:41:11.820
us civilian population. Yeah. Would you agree with that as far as like that we give you that
00:41:17.140
permission to talk about things that the rest of us won't or can't? Historically. Yes. Yeah,
00:41:21.380
that's true. That's a good point. It's an interesting scene right now. And I'm really glad
00:41:25.400
that comedians are pushing back and saying, Hey, no, no, we are a free speech country and comedians have
00:41:32.200
always given commentary on the world from our perspective. Right. I do a joke about black women.
00:41:38.400
I go, man, I noticed there's not a whole lot of black women in the crowd. And that's my opening
00:41:42.540
line. I go, Oh, you guys are on the edge of your seats now, aren't you? Because any of you mentioned
00:41:46.740
race or anything? And I go, I'm actually really attracted to black women. I've never had sex with
00:41:51.040
a black woman before. Um, I've had an opportunity, but the reason I didn't do it was because, uh, I was
00:41:55.580
scared. Not because I didn't feel like I measured up, but I had heard my whole life. Once you go black,
00:42:00.380
you never go back. And I didn't think my wife would appreciate that. And that's the punch. Right. Right.
00:42:05.720
And then I make fun of the fact that I go, yeah. And a lady came up to me one day and says,
00:42:10.540
I don't think you should joke about adultery. And I go, well, you know, it's actually not a joke
00:42:13.840
about adultery. It's actually a race joke tucked into a dick joke, masquerading as an adultery joke.
00:42:19.440
Learn the difference. And then I go, and then a guy came and said, are you racist?
00:42:24.600
And I'm like, that's the most racist accent I've ever heard. Right. And I go, I'm not racist. If I was,
00:42:30.240
I'm racist against white people. And I'll tell you why. Black people are better at everything.
00:42:34.180
sports, dancing, and they write the best baby, love making music. I said, but what I don't
00:42:39.660
understand is how can you dominate everything like that? But every black guy I know has the
00:42:43.120
patchiest beard ever. How can you have such weak beard game? And they're like, well, hold on.
00:42:47.880
What about James Harden? He's got a great guy. Yeah. Well, he's a quarter percent Arab.
00:42:52.160
So there's always an exception. And everybody knows that Arabs have the best facial game on
00:42:55.760
planet earth. True. How do you finesse this thing? Dude, that's such, it's just dangerous waters.
00:43:02.480
Yeah. But if you can finesse it right. And not very many people are even willing to
00:43:05.780
get into the water. And I've had a couple of coaches. I'm not willing to get into the water.
00:43:08.200
Yeah. A couple of my coaches are like, hey, stay away from the race stuff. I go,
00:43:10.700
absolutely not. Some of my best friends are black people. I'm like the least racist guy you'll ever
00:43:15.100
meet. And I have homosexual friends. I have black friends. I, you know, I don't even, but I'm like,
00:43:20.760
but let's just talk about it and let's see what happens. Like Joe Rogan, and I learned this from him.
00:43:24.840
He does a joke about Noah's Ark. Have you ever heard his Noah's Ark joke? No, I haven't heard it.
00:43:28.420
He goes, I wanted to create a joke about how funny this story is, where even Christians and
00:43:35.340
religious people could get on my side. So he did it from the perspective of an eight year old
00:43:40.560
retarded kid. And he goes, so wait a second, you're telling me that there's a big boat and all the
00:43:47.740
animals, there seems like there's some holes in that story. And so he presented it as an eight year old
00:43:53.240
retarded kid, not being able to grasp it. And he goes, it took me a year to find it.
00:44:00.560
Yeah, because it doesn't sound funny when you say it.
00:44:02.040
No, no, exactly. But if you hear the whole entire bit,
00:44:10.240
I still believe it, but I like the perspective.
00:44:12.240
I just think it's funny that people just love to be offended.
00:44:14.680
They want to be offended. It's like the race to see who can be the most outraged,
00:44:20.620
the most offended. I'm LDS Mormon. And so they mock it or ridicule it or whatever. And I can choose
00:44:26.520
to be offended about that or say, yeah, I know it sounds really weird, right? It's like, you don't
00:44:33.540
Why do you think that is? I'm curious from your perspective, because you deal and talk with a lot
00:44:37.180
of guys, why are they racing to the offensive finish line?
00:44:40.780
I think it's easier. I think it's a form of victimhood mentality.
00:44:45.040
If somebody's attacking me, then that gives me some sort of legitimacy to my inadequacy.
00:44:51.780
If I'm not performing, but it's because somebody else is doing or saying something about me and
00:44:58.060
hindering my potential growth, then I don't have to own it, right? I don't have to own that I'm not
00:45:03.500
making the kind of money I want, or I don't have the body, or I don't have the relationship, or
00:45:06.740
whatever it is that I say I'm after. If somebody has done it to me, it's laziness.
00:45:11.700
You know, this lines up so much with the concept I've been hot on lately, and that is the temptation
00:45:16.900
is for us to fight for our excuses more than fight for the results.
00:45:20.040
100%. It's easier. It's the path of least resistance.
00:45:23.040
Yeah, that's good. I'm glad you said that. I want to catch myself if I get offended next
00:45:26.940
time. I don't remember the last time I was offended. I'm sure we're all tempted to go
00:45:30.460
that direction, right? Maybe it's, uh, I think it is. Yeah. I think it's a natural
00:45:34.000
tendency. Like, Oh, the only reason that guy's ahead and I'm not there is because it's like,
00:45:36.980
well, hold on. That's you're fighting for your excuse rather than just be like, Hey,
00:45:40.780
congratulations on that guy. Like I'd said with that comedian back in the gym two years
00:45:44.700
before I started, like, well, if you can do it, that means I can do it. Right.
00:45:50.820
Men, just a quick timeout. Then we'll get back to the show. I want to talk with you about
00:45:54.520
an event that we've got coming up in April, April 11th through the 14th. I think at this
00:46:00.160
point we have either four or five spots left for our second ever order of man legacy experience.
00:46:07.920
This is a father son event. So if you've ever toyed around with the idea of creating a rite
00:46:13.400
of passage and forging a deeper connection with your son and trying to figure out how to
00:46:19.600
usher him into manhood and the conversations that need to be had and the direction that you
00:46:23.860
want to take this thing, we have done a lot of legwork. We've poured a lot of research
00:46:29.460
and information and study and just observation into what we've created, which is a three and
00:46:35.920
a half day experience, physical, mental, emotional experience, unlike you or your son has ever
00:46:42.780
experienced before. So all you have to do is get to Las Vegas by April 11th, 2019. We're
00:46:50.260
going to pick you and your boy up and your son has to be between the ages of eight to
00:46:53.720
15. We're going to pick you guys up. We're going to shuttle you to our lodge that we've
00:46:59.260
secured for the weekend. And we're going to go through physical challenges, mental, emotional
00:47:04.720
challenges. We're going to walk you through creating your own codes of conduct, how to
00:47:09.340
have conversations about important and difficult subjects. I mean, there's so much built into
00:47:15.040
a period of three and a half days. And I just think it's going to be hard to replicate any
00:47:19.360
other way. I think having some sort of rite of passage in, in walking and ushering your
00:47:24.560
son into manhood is critical. And it's something we just don't see in society as much as maybe
00:47:29.760
we used to. So if you're interested, do it quick. All right, get, find out about it. Go
00:47:34.660
watch the video. I think it's five or six minutes from last time. You'll see what it's all about
00:47:39.080
and then get registered. It's April 11th through the 14th, 2019. You can find that at orderofman.com
00:47:45.640
slash legacy. Again, orderofman.com slash legacy. Do it quick. Time's running out. I want to make
00:47:51.680
sure you get there. Orderofman.com slash legacy. All right, guys, you can do that after the show.
00:47:56.180
Let me get back to my conversation with Keith. Well, and I think there's this really strange
00:48:01.340
thing too, that everybody is taking things so literally. Like I made a post on Instagram the
00:48:06.560
other day about one of my favorite quotes is by John Eldridge. He's the author of Wild at Heart.
00:48:11.300
Oh, I love that book. It's a great book. I mean, it's one of my favorite books on the subject of
00:48:15.000
masculinity. He says, deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight and adventure to live
00:48:18.860
and a beauty to rescue. I'll give you one guess where people got hung up on that thing. A beauty
00:48:22.900
to rescue. Oh, well, some women don't want to be rescued. And I'm like, dude, I'm not legitimately
00:48:28.320
talking about saving the damsel in distress and neither is John Eldridge. That's not what he's talking
00:48:33.800
about. People need to learn and understand context. They need the ability to discern what
00:48:40.080
this individual actually means, the story and the environment around the message that's being
00:48:46.000
delivered and stop taking things so literally that you can't actually see what's being told or taught
00:48:52.280
or a joke that's being shared and just laugh because it's funny. When somebody mocks, for example,
00:48:58.480
my religion, because we talked about that earlier, I think it's funny. It doesn't affect me. It doesn't
00:49:04.320
impact me when somebody doesn't agree with me. I think it's funny. I'm like, yeah, that is weird.
00:49:08.660
That does seem weird from the outside looking in. I open every one of my sets. I open every one of
00:49:13.380
my sets with what would a Mormon strip couple? I was going to say, man, do you have any Mormon
00:49:16.940
jokes? Absolutely. Okay, sorry, I interrupted you. No, no. Let me say something about what you just
00:49:21.680
said that I thought was really important. The people who are least offended, I think, actually have
00:49:25.620
something they're actually doing with their life. Have you noticed that the most offended,
00:49:29.480
they're like, hey man, go live your life. Quit watching Kardashians. Go be a Kardashian. I'm not
00:49:35.000
saying, you know what I mean, but go live a life. Go be in the arena. You probably love that quote
00:49:39.700
from Theodore Roosevelt. Yeah, don't be the guy that's just watching, but be with the blood and
00:49:45.520
sweat and the tears. If they were busy doing their quest, if they were on their adventure, if they were
00:49:50.660
winning their battle, if they were, of course we want to win the heart of a woman. That's the
00:49:55.200
greatest. When my wife looks into my eyes, and I know there's love in her eyes for me, and she's
00:49:59.340
like, I love my man. That's a great feeling. When my daughter looks at me like, you're the best dad
00:50:03.940
on the face. I might not be, but to her I am. Yeah. And that's all that matters. Yeah. I notice
00:50:09.540
that people bring me, like when they go, all right, you know, next comedian, bring him up for Keith.
00:50:13.260
Yeah, Keith. It sounds like a strip club DJ to me. I go, is it me, or did Martin just sound like a
00:50:18.520
strip club DJ? You know, all right, get your 510s 20 ready. Here comes Keith, the center stage.
00:50:21.520
And my opening, I do that every time because it gets them to go, oh, he's funny. Like loosens
00:50:27.000
him up a little bit. Exactly. And I go, you know, I was in Salt Lake about a month ago. The DJ brought
00:50:31.040
me the same way, real strip clubby. And I go, wait, hold on a second. Do you guys even have strip clubs
00:50:35.240
up here in Utah? Like how does it work to start with a prairie dress and then work her way down to
00:50:38.820
the Mormon underwear? Is there a VIP room in the back where she'll straddle you and then whisper
00:50:42.980
scripture in your ear? I'm like, do they pay tile on their tips? Like $9 for me, one for the Lord. Like what's the
00:50:48.780
security detail? Just a couple of dudes on 10 speeds hanging around the outside. And then lastly,
00:50:53.320
the guy working the door, does he have like a short sleeve button down shirt with a big black
00:50:57.020
plastic badge that says elder bouncer? How's that work? I've told that in Salt Lake. Yeah. It's funny.
00:51:05.360
Yeah. It's fun. And it's true. Yeah. And then I tag on the Utah thing and I go, I go, man,
00:51:10.000
I used to feel like polygony. Like that would be cool until I saw how it actually worked. It's not
00:51:14.380
like one dude's marrying five gorgeous women. It's like one dude marrying five gals that are like,
00:51:19.120
eh. I go, well, I figure he just must figure five twos equal to 10. You know what I mean? So I played
00:51:24.420
off of that culture where we, cause we all have a stereotype of what we think of the LDS. Sure.
00:51:29.060
And it's, you know, from TV and society or whatever, multiple women, you know what I mean?
00:51:34.040
Underwear, all this other stuff. Yeah. I have a ton of Mormon friends. I think they're great people,
00:51:38.120
man. They have a religion. You guys believe what you believe. It's, it's what you believe.
00:51:42.820
Like cool. But again, I mean, that just comes back to the fact that you have an amazing opportunity
00:51:49.460
as a comedian to say things that other people are too afraid to say, or it's, it's socially taboo
00:51:55.520
to say. And the reality is, is that we need to have those conversations. Yeah. You know,
00:51:59.980
if we're, if all we're talking about is, you know, the ball game and the weather and the this and the
00:52:05.000
that, it's like, are we really having these deep and meaningful conversations that literally have
00:52:09.100
the potential to change the world? You know, it's like Kevin Hart. I mean, he's been under some fire
00:52:13.560
lately for a gay joke. I think he told what, 12 years ago. Yeah. And I'm like, man, if everybody
00:52:17.980
was telling gay jokes, nobody would be concerned about who's gay and who isn't. Yeah. It's because
00:52:22.920
we're not talking about it. Yeah. That everybody's like, Oh, well, gay people, straight people,
00:52:27.380
this, that's like, yeah, just talk about it. It's okay. That's why I love the work you're doing,
00:52:32.240
man, because a, you're passionate about it. It's fun to see people that are passionate about
00:52:37.060
their thing. Even if people are passionate about stuff that you and I maybe disagree with,
00:52:41.620
or we're not that into, I love seeing people that are passionately pursuing this path that's
00:52:46.780
important to them. You know what I mean? Cause that's the country we live in is free. I love
00:52:50.720
that. So I love the work that you're doing. I appreciate it. It's really cool. Yeah. I
00:52:53.400
appreciate it. So what's, uh, what's next on the docket for you? I mean, you're doing the comedy
00:52:57.240
store. I think a lot of people are probably familiar with that. People probably listen to Rogan's
00:53:01.160
podcast. I'm sure that's where I'm talking about it. Yeah. I saw him. Did you perform with him
00:53:06.180
that same night or it's like split up into rooms or something, right? Because I've been there once
00:53:11.080
and actually watched Rogan perform. Oh, nice. And was it the main room? The big one with the red
00:53:15.920
stage? The red stage. Yeah. So that's the main room. There's another guy. Who's the guy? I think
00:53:20.300
his name is Chris. D'Elia? Yes. Yeah. That guy is funny. He's a killer, man. He's a killer. And he's
00:53:26.060
almost a little psychotic, like the way that he presents and you're like, whoa, what's wrong with this
00:53:30.120
guy? And then he just gets funnier and funnier and funnier. That guy cracks me up. Dude, those, the comedy store
00:53:36.000
has the best of the best comedians perform there. That's why it's such an honor to be able to perform
00:53:40.360
there. They have three different rooms. One holds about 350 people. That's the main stage. And I think
00:53:43.660
that's where we were. Yeah. Yeah. We were supposed to do that one and then they brought in Rogan and
00:53:47.900
he can fill that place in a hot minute. So he's like bumping you guys. So they pushed us over to the
00:53:51.660
original room, which is actually the very first room that they had. And then what they built on top of
00:53:56.420
that or? There's just different rooms. So there's a main room that's, the main room was actually the last
00:54:00.320
room to become a part of. Okay. That's not entirely true, but it kind of true. But regardless,
00:54:04.800
the original room holds 140 people, the belly room holds about a hundred. Then you've got the
00:54:10.640
main room that holds about, I think, 350, three. I mean, those numbers might be a little off, but
00:54:13.820
the original room is where they have 16 headliners every single night. Guys that literally legitimately
00:54:18.880
fill their own places when they go out on the road every single weekend. Right. So you can hear
00:54:22.980
killer after killer after killer after killer. So we performed there. He was in the main room,
00:54:27.840
but there's a hallway that connects them all that the comedians hang out in. And Rogan walked by.
00:54:32.540
Dude, it was like looking into the eyes of the most alpha silverback in the world.
00:54:39.080
I mean, I love Rogan. I love his podcast. I don't know. Did you know that he wrote a bit about
00:54:46.020
Which is really funny. I think he's probably one of the most influential Americans right now,
00:54:50.260
if not people on the earth. I mean, I don't know. I think I heard he's getting like 115
00:54:56.880
Yeah. So he's pretty close to you guys. And he's got so much influence. And when he says,
00:55:02.980
I'm going to be somewhere, whether it's the ice house or the comedy store, whatever,
00:55:06.360
the place sells within an hour or two. I mean, that's how many people follow him and love his
00:55:10.840
work. So he's walking down the hall. I'm talking with the photographer. There's only one or two
00:55:15.220
photographers that actually can take shots in there. And you're not allowed to use your camera.
00:55:18.880
So I hired the guy in there because I wanted to get good shots.
00:55:21.660
And I said, Hey, can I hire you? He's like, yeah, sure. No problem. So we became buddies.
00:55:24.600
We hired him and he did some beautiful work for us. I was talking with him in the hall and Rogan
00:55:29.460
walked by and stopped to talk with him. He turned and said hello to me. We looked each other in the
00:55:33.480
eye. It was like, I know how much influence that dude has. And so it was weird to like literally be
00:55:40.040
even closer than you and I are. He went into the kitchen. I walked to do something. I walked back
00:55:44.420
and I walked right past him. And then he looked me up and down, maybe because I look unique,
00:55:48.080
like you say. And it was just kind of like a nod, like, Hey, how's it going?
00:55:57.440
And it was just that feeling like, dude, this is probably one of the most influential people
00:56:02.380
in our society right now. You know, we're gazing at each other's eyes right now, right?
00:56:06.840
It's getting pretty hot in here. Everybody hears him or sees him on YouTube. Fewer people interact
00:56:13.300
with him even for a split second. So it's just interesting. The funny thing is I had met him
00:56:19.280
before. I stayed after one of his shows and he walked down and I said, Hey man, I just
00:56:23.860
want to say hi. I had no idea that you made love to your wife listening to my music. He's
00:56:28.840
like, what are you talking about? He did a bit. My band is the Imperial Stars. We shut
00:56:33.440
down the freeway back in 2010 and played music on top of it. I went to jail for like 28 hours.
00:56:41.060
And he did a bit about it. He goes, have you ever heard those songs that have the worst lyrics
00:56:46.440
possible? He goes, did you hear about this band called the Imperial Stars? He goes, here's the
00:56:50.720
lyrics. I'm a rock star baby living on the edge known for hanging out and partying with my friends.
00:56:54.940
He goes, some idiot was like, we're done. That's good. Run it. So he's making fun of the song,
00:57:02.000
right? And I wrote the song with my buddy Chris. It's a catchy tune. And he goes, I guess,
00:57:06.120
and he goes, that night I'm making love to Mrs. Rogan from behind. And he goes, I start
00:57:10.040
singing my head, I'm a rock star baby living. He's like, no, this song is in my head. So
00:57:16.820
when I met him after a show, and he's like, at first he's kind of like, what are you talking
00:57:23.200
But I knew it was stopping because he was with his entourage moving.
00:57:25.860
And he goes, what band? I go, the Imperial Stars, you know, a rock star. He goes, oh, like there's
00:57:31.940
actually a real human being that wrote that stupid song. Shook my hand. We got a picture
00:57:35.820
with him. It was super cool. You know what I mean?
00:57:37.620
He won't, I know he didn't walk in the comedy store and be like, oh, you're that guy.
00:57:41.400
I'll get to know him one day because I'm going to continue to perform there a lot and it will
00:57:44.680
be cool, whatever. But eventually I'll tell him. But it's just so funny. Like there's only
00:57:48.480
two people on the planet earth that can say that bit was about them.
00:57:55.100
But I just knew how much influence he had. It was kind of like if the president walked by,
00:57:59.520
except there's no secret service. There's no nothing. You're just in this back hallway
00:58:08.760
Have you ever told a joke that, well, you talk about Mrs. Rogan, for example. Have you
00:58:13.540
ever told a joke that she's like, don't ever tell that joke again?
00:58:19.160
What is it? Is it acceptable within comedians that like it's okay to talk about personal
00:58:24.920
Or is there like limits where you and your wife are like, no, you're not doing that.
00:58:29.080
It's usually raising them up and talking about what, you know, knuckle draggers we are.
00:58:35.400
So the new bit that I tried out at the comedy store, I wrote the night before with my wife.
00:58:40.280
My wife will help me write my stuff. She's like, well, why don't you try this? Or what
00:58:43.060
about this angle? After I do this really funny bit about, it's a little crude, so I don't
00:58:47.840
want to get crude on here, but it's the bit that gets the biggest laugh almost every set.
00:58:53.040
Yeah. And it has some audience participation and it's just every single time I do it, I
00:59:00.920
But you're always trying to build deeper on the bits and anything you can talk about your
00:59:04.880
family, your kids, your wife, whatever, you never run the risk of copying anybody because
00:59:09.400
you're just telling them about what happened to you, right?
00:59:11.120
And that's a big thing. Plagiarism and comedy, like you will instantly get kicked out of the
00:59:15.200
community if they like, you stole that bit from this person.
00:59:18.600
They're just like, dude, you're a fake. Get the hell out of here. And I don't ever want
00:59:22.540
that. You know, I'll try something out. And some of my community friends are like, no,
00:59:25.620
I never heard that concept before. I'm like, okay, cool. I'll stick with that.
00:59:28.320
At any rate, I knew this bit would work. And it's because my wife and I were doing it the
00:59:32.320
night before and I'm like, oh my gosh, this would be so funny. So I go, you know, my wife
00:59:35.580
and I've been together for seven years. We're super comfortable with each other. Not like,
00:59:39.660
you know, take a shit in front of each other with the door open, comfortable, but we're
00:59:43.620
comfortable. I said, but I knew she was really comfortable with, rather than just talking to me,
00:59:47.620
she would start rapping lyrics or singing stuff to me. So one morning I'm making breakfast. She
00:59:53.420
walks and I go, Hey, good morning, babe. And she goes, first off, fuck your bitch and the
00:59:57.380
click you claim. And I go, Tupac, you can't say that. Like in all technicality, like you are my
01:00:04.360
bitch and we are each other's click. Right. And then she goes, Oh, sorry, but girls just want to
01:00:11.240
have fun. And I'm like, what is your problem? And she goes, well, I got nine problems, but a bitch
01:00:15.700
ain't one. And I'm like, so I knew my wife was crazy, but apparently she's also a lesbian,
01:00:22.800
which I should have known. Cause I saw her making out with her best friend, Becky,
01:00:25.380
right in front of me just a week ago, which I didn't hate, but I felt left out. So I,
01:00:31.160
that's the bit. Right. And I knew it had enough punches that it would be funny. And my wife's not
01:00:36.020
even lesbian at all, but it's just this thing that we grew, but she was the one to help me craft it
01:00:40.480
because I was listening to a lot of Tupac and she just came up to me out of the, out of the blue,
01:00:45.400
sat next to me. She's like, fuck you bitch in the click you claim. And I'm like, what? I'm like,
01:00:49.000
that's really funny. Yeah. And it crushed so hard because a lot of the women in there love Tupac
01:00:54.340
at that age. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So, well, cause you were telling me you told, I'm assuming it's
01:00:59.400
the same bit just the other night to a group of 50 to 60 year olds and you didn't get anything.
01:01:05.000
It was like, eh. Yeah. They're like, who's Tupac? You know what I mean? But the interesting thing,
01:01:09.020
so in that regard, I'm making my wife look a little crazy, but also she looks fun.
01:01:14.340
Right. You're having fun with her. So they're like, oh, this, these guys have a really fun,
01:01:17.940
playful relationship. So that's the situation. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's,
01:01:23.240
it's always like I show how crazy I am, but then sometimes I show how crazy she is, but it's never
01:01:28.280
like my wife's just a horrible human being. Some comedians go there and maybe their wives are
01:01:33.660
horrible human beings. And it's the believability and the truth. Like if I had a horrible wife and I
01:01:38.600
talked about what a horrible wife it was and it was really believable, there's people in an audience
01:01:43.200
that have horrible wives. Well, I think it has to be relatable. Well, it's the old adage. It's funny
01:01:47.520
because it's true. If there isn't some level of truth to it, then I remember, I don't know why I
01:01:54.080
remember this joke, but I remember listening to Seinfeld or something. And he was talking about
01:01:58.120
being in the hotel and seeing this like little hair, this little like pube on the shower. And
01:02:04.120
rather than like touch it, you're like splashing water on the wall, like trying to get the pube to go
01:02:08.780
down off the wall and into the drain. So you don't have to look at it anymore. And I'm like,
01:02:12.380
yeah, like that's funny because I have literally done that where I'm like, Oh, there's like a pube
01:02:17.540
right in my face. Like it can't be fabricated from my perspective. Yeah. They can tell. Oh,
01:02:23.020
it can be a little bit exaggerated and you can like blend stuff together to make it seem like that would
01:02:29.320
be the case. And then dude, sometimes you just, you cross the line. You're like, Oh, well,
01:02:33.520
I crossed the line. They weren't that into that. So when you say cross the line, what you're saying
01:02:38.580
is that the audience decides what the line is. It didn't work. And I knew it was kind of risky.
01:02:42.960
I have a joke that I continue on with the, the superhero. When I go with my daughter, I go,
01:02:47.140
right. She says the funniest things, man. One day she goes, daddy, when I grow up, I want to marry you.
01:02:51.480
I looked at my wife and we laughed and we're like, Oh, that's cute. Meanwhile, in Arkansas,
01:02:55.940
there's a little girl that told her daddy she wanted to marry him. And he's like, get the invitations
01:03:00.700
ready. Call the wedding coordinator. It's going down. And people didn't like that one.
01:03:05.380
They, it was kind of like, Oh, that's a little too much. They're like, we know that's true,
01:03:10.780
but we actually don't want to celebrate that with you. Right. So I thought it was funny. And so that's,
01:03:14.880
as a comedian, you're trying like, I think this is hilarious. Yeah. But sometimes, you know,
01:03:19.160
you cross the line and you're just like, nah, maybe, you know what? Maybe we shouldn't try that.
01:03:23.820
Yeah. Or I need to try it a few more times and make it not so that one, not so brash. Yeah.
01:03:28.260
That one was like a sledgehammer to the head. I would have liked maybe a mallet to the arm.
01:03:31.940
It's like Jocko talks about, he's like, you got to flank them, right? Like if you come head on,
01:03:36.320
it's like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. But if you flank it, same joke, you just flank it,
01:03:39.660
tell it a little different. It's like, Oh, okay. That's acceptable. It's okay to say it that way.
01:03:43.280
That's the rush about business or comedy. It's like, I think this is funny. I think this will work,
01:03:49.760
man. I've had a ton of campaigns that I've tried running with my business. I'm like,
01:03:52.720
this is going to crush. And it's like, I didn't. It's like, Oh, that was weird.
01:03:56.060
Let me ask you this because you know, a lot of guys listening to this, they're not going to pursue
01:03:59.780
a career in standup comedy. Yeah. But the reason that I wanted to have this conversation is because
01:04:05.440
I do believe that there's value in being funny. I think I have a pretty good idea of what some of
01:04:10.900
those are, but I'd like to hear from you. Like what can somebody incorporate into their life who
01:04:14.620
may be not looking to be in standup comedy, but use it to their advantage to excel, to influence
01:04:22.080
more people that, that sort of thing. Okay. So here's what I think about people who are funny
01:04:26.640
are more likable. Sure. Yeah. And likability is a big thing in everything. Can I ask one question
01:04:34.000
right there before you go into the, please, how do you find the line? Cause I'll be honest. I know
01:04:38.100
like funny people. I'm like, dude, you're not funny anymore. Now you're just annoying.
01:04:42.940
So how do you find the line of like, I want to be funny. And then it's more likable. I open people up
01:04:47.480
and then just, I've had enough. Like my brain hurts at this point. Like, can we take something
01:04:51.860
serious here? Yeah. You're level-headed. So I think, you know, when it's appropriate to be funny.
01:04:57.700
Yeah. And when it's appropriate to. There's usually context around all of it too, right? So if we came
01:05:02.800
to my house and we're having a drink or eating an edible, we're just kind of kicking, just being
01:05:06.080
loose and we're at a UFC party at my house. And I'm at my house, I could probably get away with more
01:05:10.600
and you're a guest in my house. Yeah, it's the environment, right? You know what I mean? But if I'm at your
01:05:13.120
house and I know there's some, maybe some protocol to the way you live your life, I'm not going to
01:05:18.220
try and be offensive just for no reason. I'll probably watch myself a little bit more and be
01:05:22.020
like, I think it's this awareness of playing off of the person in front of you. The ability to read
01:05:26.800
somebody else. Yeah. I don't know if that can be taught or if that's a natural thing. I don't know
01:05:32.780
yet. I haven't given enough thought to it. I don't know. I think it can be brought to somebody's
01:05:35.780
attention if they're open and receptive to learning how to read people. Yeah. If they're oblivious,
01:05:40.920
I mean, what are you going to do? I think likability is huge. And I'm actually trying
01:05:44.520
to decode likability to be a couple of my friends are trying to like figure if we could decode what
01:05:49.040
likability is and actually teach you, we think we could help a lot of people. Let's think about
01:05:53.080
that though for a second, because if you try to decode likability and somebody's trying to quote
01:06:00.060
unquote game it, does it then take away from the quote unquote likability factor? Well, most things can
01:06:07.720
be learned, right? What are characteristics of likability? If you and I were hanging out as
01:06:11.480
friends and I talked about myself all the stinking time, you're not going to like me. No, of course
01:06:16.740
not. So likability is like, Hey, listen, when you're with somebody, remember to ask them questions,
01:06:22.160
let them talk, figure out what they like and, and, and let them tell you about their day.
01:06:27.420
That is a piece of likability. You're just going to go farther in life. So I don't know that that's
01:06:32.140
gaming it. It's just an awareness of it. Yeah. You're like, Hey, that's true. So if it's all about
01:06:36.100
you, you're just sucking everything, people are going to stop inviting you places. So there's
01:06:41.380
one thing. We've all met the guy that is just too sensitive. Yeah, of course. You're like,
01:06:48.580
dude, nice medium t-shirt. And I'm like, dude, I was kidding. It was a joke. Chill out. Relax.
01:06:56.260
Right. Like throw something because all guys, dude, we love to banter. I want to make fun of your
01:07:01.980
beard. I like it, but I got to, I got to rash you about it. You want to talk about my tattoo and
01:07:05.780
like, Hey, that was a dumb one. Like, what were you thinking with that? Like there's a piece of
01:07:09.280
likability. But that builds trust and credibility between people too. Right. Yeah. Is that I'm a
01:07:13.320
real human being. Like I can give it, I can dish it, I can take it. Yeah. So can that be learned?
01:07:18.800
Can we teach somebody that, Hey, when somebody jabs you, don't be quick to defend yourself. Just be like,
01:07:23.600
ha ha. Or, you know, one of the things, self-deprecation is huge in likability. I had a buddy of mine,
01:07:29.260
he was really fat and he would always make a crack about how he was fat. And I go, why do you
01:07:34.240
always do that? And he goes, well, Hey, I'm insecure about being fat, but B I know if I take it away
01:07:39.120
from you, you can't make fun of me. Yeah. And I'm like owning it again. And I go, that's a
01:07:43.360
characteristic of likability. Yeah. And everything can be taken to the extreme, right? Because we know
01:07:47.500
somebody who's so hard on themselves. It's like, Oh, I can't be around this person anymore. Cause all
01:07:51.560
they do is complain and gripe and woe is me and everything's horrible and the world's going to end
01:07:56.780
and nobody likes to be around that person. But I really do believe, yeah, I agree with you, man. I
01:07:59.800
really do believe likability is a huge reason for a lot of the success and things I've done.
01:08:03.800
Yeah. I think that makes sense. I'm getting on a lot of stages cause people like me. I've talked
01:08:07.180
with some other comedians. They're like, listen, we'll take a funnier, a less funny guy on the road
01:08:11.560
cause we like being around him. We know we're going to be in hotel rooms. We know we're going to be in
01:08:15.140
green rooms. We know we're going to be out, you know, hanging out after the show or before the show.
01:08:18.940
And this guy might crush way harder, but Oh, what a diva to be around. This guy crushes a little bit less,
01:08:25.180
but dude, if I'm on a tour bus, that's the guy I want that guy. I have always thought to myself
01:08:30.220
and thought about this is another like kind of a way to maybe judge where you're at. And like,
01:08:35.460
how fun would you be if we got stuck in an Ikea overnight? Oh yeah. Are we doing wheelie
01:08:40.840
chair races down the thing? Are we building like the coolest four? It's like, what do we like? Okay,
01:08:44.920
we're in the mess. What are we doing now? Again, I don't have a formula, but these are some
01:08:49.120
questions that some friends of mine have been asking. Like, because I think it is, it's like
01:08:53.680
a lot of things, like a lot of gigs that have been given to me, obviously I had to have the skill
01:08:58.540
to do what I needed to do, whether it was teaching seminars or whatever, but they're just like,
01:09:02.320
we like Keith. Yeah. He's funny to be around. He's going to crack some jokes. And I don't even
01:09:06.820
really have jokes. Like I don't, I mean, I know a couple, it's just more interest in others.
01:09:13.120
Here's the other thing. Guessing a lot of guys listen, this may be in work environments where
01:09:16.700
they're going to have to deal with people that it would be better if they were just likable.
01:09:19.660
Their life would be better if they were just likable. So in some sense, there's an easy
01:09:23.940
goingness to them, but yet in some sense, there's a, there's a standard that, you know,
01:09:28.160
they hold for themselves and for others. So there's a boundary that they have. Where is that? I feel
01:09:33.080
like we're talking about gray stuff here. Like, I don't know how to define it. Yeah. How do you define
01:09:36.480
it? Yeah. So it's like, if you and I go to the hockey game, we're going to have fun. Yep. And we may
01:09:40.700
have totally different religious views. We may have totally different stuff about things, but you're not
01:09:45.920
annoying about what you believe, like trying to convince me. And I'm not annoying about what I believe
01:09:49.660
trying to convince you. And I know we can just, we can walk hand in hand and just enjoy life.
01:09:53.600
I don't know about hand in hand. Well, I'm interlocking fingers. Sure, sure. I think there's
01:09:59.180
some of that. And it's like, well, who do you want to invite to your party? Well, the people I like
01:10:02.580
hanging out with. We have this, I know there's this gal that is kind of in our group and she'll
01:10:07.640
never listen to this podcast. So we can talk about it. But she's like the classic example. It's like,
01:10:13.240
all right, she's a part of the group. We're going to have to invite her. But man,
01:10:17.660
I don't want to talk to her. Yeah, it's hard, man. But we don't want to be that guy.
01:10:22.020
Of course. And so like nobody wants to be that guy. And here's another thing I think people respect
01:10:29.400
and that's leadership in a man. And that is, I do this because I like it. I'll be honest with you,
01:10:35.980
Ryan. Like when I said, I want to do standup comedy, I didn't know anybody else doing it.
01:10:39.880
And as I started getting along, Garrett Gunderson, do you know Garrett?
01:10:42.940
I know of Garrett. I don't know him personally.
01:10:45.060
Garrett started doing a lot of standup. So we became standup buddies. And I was like,
01:10:47.980
hey, I went up this here and this I did. And here, let me send you my set. What did you think?
01:10:51.300
I got this new standup comic buddy, but he was from the business world as well.
01:10:55.480
And then I started meeting standup comics, but a lot of them were,
01:10:58.880
they looked at life way different than me. So we weren't really like
01:11:01.780
vibing on the same level. And a lot of my friends are like, what are you, dude,
01:11:05.580
you're out till like 1130. I'm like, I don't want to be out till 1130. I'd rather be in bed by
01:11:09.400
930 and up by 430. Like that's my preferred life. I'm a morning person. I want to get stuff
01:11:14.460
done. And then by 12 noon, I'm like, I just conquered the world, man. But that's not the
01:11:20.200
way standup comedy, it's a nighttime gig. But there's a leadership in a sense. I had a really
01:11:24.380
good friend of mine, loves poker. None of our friends play poker. This guy made it to like the
01:11:29.720
top, the last 12 at the world series of poker. That's how good he was. And he loved, every Friday,
01:11:35.000
downplaying poker, high stakes poker, poker, poker, loves poker. And I'm like, I don't like
01:11:40.360
poker at all. I suck at it. I'm sure I could get into it because there's some gamesmanship in it.
01:11:45.100
And you're reading people. Right, there's elements of it, right?
01:11:46.620
Like, I'm like, oh, is he bluffing? Is he not? Like, I could see why somebody would get super
01:11:50.180
turned on by that. But I'll probably never play poker in my life. Yeah. I actually respect the fact
01:11:54.920
that he likes something enough that he has pursued it. And not only pursuit, but just the idea that we
01:11:59.300
are attempting to master something, right, is that we're trying to excel and trying to delve into
01:12:05.040
that world and learn all the intricacies of what it is we're doing. Yeah, man. So I think that's
01:12:09.160
admirable. And I think that makes people more likable because there's a respect like, oh, he's
01:12:12.920
going after what he wants. Right. There's a lot of respect there. I saw this and I know we're coming
01:12:16.940
up on our time here. Do you ever remember that show called, I think it was called Bro Code?
01:12:22.120
No, I don't remember it. Dude, it was on MTV2. It was so funny. I mean, it's worth going back and
01:12:28.740
watching. Okay. I'll check it out. And it's ran by comedians. So they're just talking about what
01:12:33.460
is Bro Code? And if you break it, and what does that look like? And what does a good-ass night look
01:12:37.620
like? And they interview celebrities, what's a good-ass night look like? And there's funny people
01:12:42.320
like, this one guy's like, I love everything on the grill. Birthday cake on the grill. Burgers on
01:12:46.880
the grill. Cheerios on the grill. Guys just love the show. But there was a gal on there, I can't remember
01:12:52.140
her name, drop-dead gorgeous, in the limelight. And she goes, I don't care if the guy I'm dating
01:12:58.580
is rich or not. I care that he has ambition and drive and he's going after something. That's
01:13:05.800
attractive. Because I think a likability and attractiveness kind of go hand in hand. I'm sure
01:13:10.300
of it. Yeah, right? I'm sure of it. So I think what she said was, it was like such a, like, that's
01:13:15.500
right. Because there are really pretty gals that will date like losers that we would think because
01:13:21.160
they're sleeping on couch, but they're going after something. And then maybe eventually one day
01:13:24.660
they'll pop and break and become rich or famous or neither or both. Right. But there's something
01:13:29.580
that makes somebody like somebody that's struggling after something. Yeah, that has purpose and
01:13:34.420
direction. I think that is attractive. So I don't think we gave anybody the formula, but
01:13:38.640
I think we kind of flirted around with some ideas. Sure, yeah. And I think that's why humor
01:13:42.780
and being funny and learning the concepts of what it means to be likable, I think will be one
01:13:49.220
of the greatest skills that will pay you the highest in this world. And I think in fulfillment,
01:13:53.800
joy, happiness, and actually money. Right on, man. Yeah. I love it. Well, let's wind down. I know
01:13:58.180
you're actually leaving. You're going to do, I think, some improv. It's called The Improv.
01:14:03.040
Okay. And so, but you're doing a comedy set. It's stand-up. The improv is, yeah, the Bray Improv.
01:14:07.520
Right. Okay. And then you've got, I think, the Comedy Store, what, later next week?
01:14:11.220
In two days. Oh, in two days. Okay. So you're busy, man. I love it. Yeah, I love it. It's fun.
01:14:15.220
That's awesome. So let me ask you a couple of questions then as we wind down. The first one
01:14:18.680
is, what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a man? Historically, it has meant
01:14:24.640
the leader. We live in a Judeo-Christian society, and a man has been a leader. He has been somebody
01:14:31.980
who has, and I agree with actually a lot of these things. So I think the definition for me of what a
01:14:37.040
man would be, I actually love your, you know, preside, protect, and provide. I like those a lot. I think
01:14:42.500
a man is a leader, and he says, what's not only the best for me, but what's the best for those
01:14:48.160
around me, and how can I get everybody to where they want to go? As a boss, I go, what do my
01:14:55.080
employees want out of their life? They didn't grow up at nine years old, so I can't wait to work for
01:14:58.500
Keith Yacke. You know what I mean? Sure. But some of them, like my very best friend who I've known since
01:15:02.460
14 years old, he works for me, he's worked for me for years, and he is a number two. That's all he wants
01:15:06.500
to be. He wants to support me in my mission to create whatever I want to create. So I think a leader,
01:15:10.840
a man is a leader, that says, it's not just about me. How can I help you further your joy and your
01:15:17.200
happy, and how can I lead by example by doing those things and going after what I want? So I think
01:15:24.220
there's a driven and ambition to a man. That would be my short definition. Right on. I love it, man.
01:15:28.520
All right. How do we connect with you, learn more about what you're doing, find out about the shows,
01:15:31.240
all that fun stuff? I pretty much post everything on Instagram. Okay. At Keith Yacke on Instagram or
01:15:35.660
KeithYacke.com. But I just say Instagram. It's just the easiest, where I'm most connected. It is,
01:15:40.240
yeah, that's where you're at. So we'll sync it all up so the guys can connect. Thank you so much for
01:15:43.220
having me on. Oh, you bet, man. It's been such, I enjoy our interaction that we've had over the last
01:15:47.540
year on Instagram and stuff like that. But I just, I want to honor you for what you're doing. And I
01:15:51.460
just think it's really fricking cool, dude. Much appreciated. I feel the same way. We haven't
01:15:55.520
had this discussion and I think it's something that's integral. And just to be able to have the
01:15:59.000
conversation with you has been good, man. So get after it this week. I'm going to.
01:16:02.640
There it is. Gentlemen, my conversation with the one and only Mr. Keith Yacke. I'm telling you to
01:16:09.260
remember the name because although he is fairly new in the comedy world, he is definitely making
01:16:14.700
some moves. And I know, I know a hundred percent certainty that he's going to continue to grow and
01:16:19.560
develop and expand and reach larger audiences. And I even think a Netflix special is on the horizon
01:16:25.560
as well. And you're going to hear him here first. All right. So check out what he's up to.
01:16:29.500
I think he said you can connect with him on Instagram. I'll link it all up in the show notes
01:16:33.560
if you want that, but let him know what you thought of the show. Let him know what you thought about
01:16:37.500
his, his ideas and his thoughts and his philosophies. Let us know how you're incorporating humor into your
01:16:42.300
life to advance your career and basically just accomplish more in your life and the things that
01:16:48.960
you want to accomplish by being more likable. And again, incorporating humor into, into what you're
01:16:53.640
doing. So guys, that's all I've got for you today. As always, I thank you every single time and
01:16:58.520
every single time I'm genuine about it. I genuinely am thankful for you showing up as
01:17:04.460
fathers, husbands, business owners, community leaders. I'm inspired by you. I see what you
01:17:10.300
guys are doing. I see how you're stepping up as fathers. I see how you're salvaging marriages and
01:17:14.920
you're losing weight and you're starting businesses and you're doing all of these wonderful, amazing
01:17:19.700
things. And I am inspired by that. The unintended benefit of me leading this movement in this
01:17:26.180
organization is that I have become a better man because of you. And that's the point. We're all
01:17:30.840
here working together, shoulder to shoulder in accomplishing some of the things that we want to
01:17:35.180
accomplish in life. Couldn't do it without you. So I'll sign out for the day. I'll let you get back
01:17:39.480
to what it is you're doing. And until tomorrow for Kip and I are ask me anything, go out there,
01:17:44.680
gentlemen, take action and become the man you are meant to be.
01:17:48.000
Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life
01:17:54.180
and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.