Order of Man - How to be Funny and Why You Should Care ｜ KEITH YACKEY

00:00:00.000 No one ever accused me of being funny, but that doesn't mean that I don't see the value of humor

00:00:03.940 and comedy in life and society in general. Today, I am joined by my good friend Keith Yacke,

00:00:10.240 who over the past couple of years has transitioned from the corporate stage to the comedy stage.

00:00:16.080 Today, we talk about why fear keeps us from doing great things, why we as a society need

00:00:21.460 comedians, the power of instant feedback on our path to growth, and how to be funny.

00:00:27.980 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly charge

00:00:33.300 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time. You are not

00:00:39.160 easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who you are.

00:00:46.340 This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself

00:00:52.120 a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and the founder

00:00:57.920 of this podcast, The Order of Man. Guys, if you're listening for the first time, it's my goal to

00:01:02.820 bring powerful, powerful conversations to you. I think we're on, gosh, over 200 interview shows now,

00:01:08.300 and I think another 200 other podcast shows that we do throughout the week, and man, we're just,

00:01:13.440 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

00:01:17.100 and this path, and ultimately this mission of reclaiming and restoring masculinity in today's

00:01:22.340 society. Obviously, it's needed now more than ever, and I think that's a testament to the fact

00:01:27.780 that we are growing. We continue to grow exponentially, and I'm glad that you're here.

00:01:32.960 I'm glad that you're inviting other men on this journey with us, and couldn't be more honored to

00:01:37.540 be leading this movement. So guys, I've got a great one lined up for you today on the power of humor,

00:01:42.760 why we should all work to be funnier, what it actually does for us, and how it enhances our lives,

00:01:48.340 and all of that stuff. We'll get to that here in a minute, but I want to make a very quick couple

00:01:52.720 of announcements. The first one, I want to talk with you about my friends and the sponsors of this

00:01:57.560 show, Origin May. Now, I've talked about them for months. There's a reason I have. I used to do some

00:02:03.980 ads on the show, and quite frankly, I got a little tired of hawking underwear and life insurance and

00:02:09.540 business management software, but the guys over at Origin, and the reason that I've worked with them

00:02:14.740 over the past couple of months is because I honestly believe in what they're doing. I've been out

00:02:18.060 to their facilities. I've seen their operations. I know these guys personally. They're friends of

00:02:23.380 mine. They've got their nutritional supplemental lineup. It's the Joint Warfare, Super Krill,

00:02:29.660 Discipline Go, Malk, which is a protein supplement. They've got it all over there,

00:02:34.260 and that's what you guys seem to be most interested in and something that I've incorporated to my

00:02:37.760 health and nutrition and exercise regimen. All of that's partnered up with Jocko, and then they do

00:02:43.400 geese and rash guards and lifestyle apparel. They've got one of the most comfortable hoodies

00:02:48.720 on the planet. In fact, I think I heard Pete the other day say that it was made of unicorn skin.

00:02:54.460 So anyways, guys, go check out what they're doing. Origin, Maine. Maine is in the state Maine. So

00:02:58.760 origin, M-A-I-N-E dot com. And when you purchase anything over there, make sure you use the code

00:03:05.040 order, O-R-D-E-R at checkout, and you'll get a discount on that order. Again, origin, Maine.com

00:03:10.860 and use the code order. The other thing that I just wanted to mention really quick is over the

00:03:14.920 past, I would say a couple of weeks, I've got a lot of questions about how to launch a podcast,

00:03:20.560 how to grow a podcast, how to put a message, an idea out into the world, how to connect with

00:03:26.080 powerful people like my guest today and the hundreds of other men that we've had on this show

00:03:30.660 that I decided I want to share this information with you because I think there is something so

00:03:35.800 powerful in podcasting and the ability to get your message, your voice, your thoughts,

00:03:41.880 your ideas out into the world is it's critical. It's so important. So I put together a four week

00:03:48.660 course. We're going to start in March, March 1st, 2019. It's called podcast pro. So it's not for

00:03:55.780 people who want to do this as a weekend hobby or dabble in it. These are for people who want to be

00:04:03.240 professional podcasters like I am, like the other people that you're probably listening to. Again,

00:04:07.820 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

00:04:13.520 doing. I don't know if I'll do another one or not. I just wanted to try this out and answer a lot

00:04:17.760 of questions for those of you who want to start podcasts. So if you head to order of man.com

00:04:22.600 slash podcast pro order of man.com slash podcast pro, you can check it out. And again, that starts

00:04:29.320 March 1st, 2019. All right, guys, enough of the announcements. Let's get into this. Again,

00:04:36.120 I told you my guest today is Keith Yaki. He's a personal friend of mine. We've known each other

00:04:40.440 for, I want to say a little over a year. Now we, we met at the launch of American dream use campus

00:04:49.160 in Las Vegas and just hit it off. I mean, the guy is so personable. He's extremely good at what he

00:04:55.680 does. He's got an investor background. He grew a eight figure investing firm in two years,

00:05:02.940 but has made some transitions over the past couple of years. And I wanted to have a conversation with

00:05:07.360 him because I've seen him reach a level of success in the comedy world in a very, very short period of

00:05:13.900 time. And I know that he's just going to continue to grow and escalate and climb in his ability to

00:05:19.000 be funny for a living, which is a really interesting thought to me, because as I said before, I am not

00:05:25.020 necessarily the funniest individual out there, but, but Keith is, and he's also level-headed. So we have

00:05:30.580 a discussion about comedy and why it's important and how men can develop their sense of humor and comedy

00:05:37.880 and why this makes an individual more likable, which ultimately will help all of us achieve more

00:05:44.260 in our lives because we're working with other people. And if we're more likable, it's easy to

00:05:48.380 see how that transition. So I'm excited to introduce this one to you. We've never talked about humor and

00:05:52.860 comedy, but we get into some very interesting subjects and conversations here over the next

00:05:56.860 hour or so. Hope you enjoy guys. Let me introduce you to my friend, Keith Yaki.

00:06:00.700 Keith, what's up, brother? Glad to be joining you at the American Dream campus. Is that what you call

00:06:08.120 it? Training facility? Training facility. Sure. That sounds way better than university. I'm stoked

00:06:13.200 to be here. We're mutual friends with Phil Randazzo, who heads up this organization. And I think what we

00:06:17.680 met last year, about a year or so ago, maybe? Yeah, at the opening of when they decided to make this

00:06:23.440 the university. Right. Been able to get to know each other online on the interwebs. And I think we run in

00:06:28.360 some of the same circles. So man, I'm excited because you're on this really fascinating journey

00:06:32.580 and one that I'm intrigued with that I would never walk myself. As of right now, I should say.

00:06:38.280 I may say that about bow hunting. Yeah, you might. But then I'll try to convince you and get you

00:06:42.620 out there on the hunt. But yeah, I mean, you've really immersed yourself in the world of stand-up

00:06:47.060 comedy over the past, what, couple of years now? Yeah, about two, a little over two years. But is this

00:06:51.300 something that's been on your radar in the past? Or is it like one day you woke up, you're like,

00:06:55.320 I'm going to do stand-up comedy. It's been on my radar for 15 years.

00:06:58.360 Really? Yeah, man. I don't know if you know this. Probably nobody knows me on your podcast

00:07:03.040 as of yet, but I actually used to be a pastor of a church in Montana. I've been on stage since I was

00:07:09.860 16, 17, 18 years old, a few times a week teaching the scriptures in front of hundreds of people.

00:07:18.700 And I have people come up like, man, you should do stand-up comedy. You have amazing comedic timing.

00:07:23.180 I didn't know what that meant at the time. And I was like, no, no thanks. I'm about the Lord's work

00:07:27.080 right now. Five years ago, I thought, you know what? I do want to do this stand-up comedy thing.

00:07:31.500 I went and hired a coach. He gave me two lessons and I did nothing with it.

00:07:36.240 Really?

00:07:36.660 And in the back of my mind, I'm like, I'm going to regret this.

00:07:40.100 What made you change? Because we'll get back to the regret. What made you say,

00:07:43.000 yeah, you know what? I do want to try that.

00:07:44.200 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

00:07:49.940 two years ago, this is a very interesting story. There was a guy that came to my gym,

00:07:54.720 not eloquent, kind of goofy, odd looking. And I hadn't seen him for a couple of years. I'm like,

00:08:00.420 hey, how are you doing, man? He's like, good. I'm like, what are you up to? He's like,

00:08:02.400 I'm doing stand-up comedy. And it was this trigger for me that was like very real. I'm like, well,

00:08:08.020 if you can do it, I definitely can do it. It was just that simple. But I said, how did you start?

00:08:14.680 And he goes, I hired a coach, which has always been my MO for anything. If I want to get in

00:08:20.040 shape, if I want to learn real estate, if I want to learn internet business, anything.

00:08:22.980 And I'm like, oh yeah. So I found out who his coach was. He told me. I reached out to the guy.

00:08:28.300 Little did I know that the guy I reached out to was a legend in comedy.

00:08:32.080 This was the coach that you reached out to?

00:08:33.500 The coach, yeah. Who obviously everybody's probably heard of Andrew Dice Clay.

00:08:36.320 Sure.

00:08:36.840 This guy toured with Andrew Dice Clay for 20 years, was his best friend, had a podcast with him,

00:08:41.260 did the Madison Square Garden with him.

00:08:42.720 Really?

00:08:42.940 And so this guy, he was a paid regular at the comedy store, which is one of the hardest things

00:08:47.680 to become. Lived in a house with Sam Kinnis. I mean, did the whole thing. Was so immersed,

00:08:53.640 very good. And we just hit it off. He pushed me to not just be a student, but to actually get my

00:08:59.960 ass up on stage. 0.60

00:09:01.420 Like are people really just taking coaching and then not actually doing anything with it? Like

00:09:06.240 why would somebody take coaching and not actually go out and perform?

00:09:08.740 They're scared.

00:09:09.560 That's all it is, fear?

00:09:10.400 Fear.

00:09:10.620 They've overcome the first obstacle, which is get yourself in the game to some degree

00:09:15.520 by hiring a coach, which says, signifies, okay, I'm serious, but maybe also it, this

00:09:20.140 is enough, right? Like I'm just going to dip my toe in the water.

00:09:22.640 It's the difference between learning and doing.

00:09:24.620 Yeah.

00:09:25.120 Everybody, who doesn't like to learn? We all like to learn, right? Oh, this is interesting.

00:09:29.140 This is satisfying my curiosity for how it actually happens. And then he's like, okay,

00:09:33.060 now it's time to go. And within two sessions of coaching, he's like, it's, you're going up.

00:09:37.040 And I'm like, oh, well, no, we're not ready. He's like, yeah, nobody's ready.

00:09:39.540 Yeah. You can't ever be ready.

00:09:40.860 This side of it now performing at the coolest hotspots with some of the biggest names. I just

00:09:46.640 look back and go, oh gosh, now I know what he was talking about.

00:09:49.820 Right.

00:09:50.060 But at the time, here's the biggest fear for me. So I hired him as a coach and it wasn't like

00:09:55.020 super expensive, like 10 sessions for a thousand bucks.

00:09:57.260 Okay.

00:09:57.500 So it was not like crazy. He wanted to understand my persona, who I was. Now he went and Googled me

00:10:03.280 and saw that I had done Amplify Live Experience. He'd seen me on stage. He'd seen that I was

00:10:08.240 connected with Gary Vee. So he's like, wow, you're already really established in what you do.

00:10:12.720 And there's five key components to being good at comedy. He goes, you already have four stage

00:10:17.000 presence, confidence, being able to read the room quick on your feet.

00:10:21.180 All things that would apply to public presenting essentially.

00:10:23.720 Exactly.

00:10:24.440 Right. Okay.

00:10:24.940 Which I, not perfected, but it had become a really good over the last 23 years.

00:10:29.520 Even from the time that we met, which was sometime last year, you presented. And I realized right

00:10:34.980 off the bat, I'm like, oh, this guy's sharp. This isn't, he's standing up and saying a few

00:10:38.920 words and he's awkward. Like you've obviously been presenting in the past.

00:10:42.480 Correct. Like thousands of times.

00:10:44.220 Right.

00:10:44.620 So he goes, the fifth thing is just actually writing jokes and then going and performing them.

00:10:49.260 He's like, here's what I want you to do. Go watch a bunch of comedians as soon

00:10:53.620 as they walk on stage. I want you to see their first 30 seconds. I'm like, okay. And he goes,

00:10:57.000 and then next time he goes, I want you to write five minutes of what you think is funny. Gave

00:11:01.840 me some like ideas about what I could write about. We would meet in a Starbucks at the

00:11:06.020 handicap table. Don't greet me as wheels. Pretend like I'm your audience. 1.00

00:11:10.740 Really? That's awkward.

00:11:12.100 I was so awkward. That morning I text him. We were going to meet around two o'clock

00:11:16.180 that morning. I text him and go, this is dumb. I'm not doing it. And his response back to me 0.99

00:11:21.940 via text was very simple. Are you the coach? And I'm like, uh, no, I'll see it too. I go

00:11:28.640 and bitch to my wife. I go, how stupid is this? She responds. She goes, are you the coach? I 1.00

00:11:35.300 didn't even know his response. She goes, you are a coach.

00:11:38.320 Our women, man. Our wives are awesome. 1.00

00:11:39.540 They're the best, right? She's like, are you, are you the coach? Like she goes, you paid

00:11:43.160 a bunch of money to learn from this guy. Why don't you just do what he says?

00:11:46.340 Yes. So I'm like, all right. Then I started writing the bits out. I'm like, okay, I know

00:11:50.300 what I'm going to say. I don't know if it's going to be funny, but at least I, I had a

00:11:53.580 plank to walk on. Sure. Enough to hang yourself with, right?

00:11:56.960 Exactly. I've never been more nervous in my life. There's not one time I've been more

00:12:01.420 nervous. I walk in, I sit down and I start to deliver. I'm about two and a half minutes

00:12:05.800 and he goes, here goes, you can stop. I'm like, all right. He goes, um, you're not funny,

00:12:10.520 but you have funny in you and I'm confident I can pull it out. Hmm. What session was this

00:12:16.320 two or three? Oh, so this is the very beginning. Yeah. Cause his whole thing is, and he, cause

00:12:20.100 he knows as a standup team now is you only get funny by writing it, trying it in front

00:12:25.260 of an audience, which is a little counterintuitive. I think anyways, and I think most people listening

00:12:29.460 who aren't quote unquote funny and I've never been called funny in my life. I don't think

00:12:33.580 you are a funny witty guy. I can be right. But we somehow believe that those who are

00:12:40.260 comedians are inherently funny. They're the class clown. Right. And we just believe that 0.99

00:12:46.380 that's just their personality and it is what it is. But it's actually really quite the opposite,

00:12:51.160 man. Here's why I was so scared. Cause I processed, why was I so scared? Like I'm just talking,

00:12:56.680 trying to say, is this funny? No, not funny. It's fine. Like who cares? Here is what I needed.

00:13:01.620 And this will resonate, I think with a lot of the listeners. And I was secretly, I wanted

00:13:05.820 to be a standup comedian. It was a dream. You wanted it really bad. Really bad. And I'm

00:13:10.100 like, I've done all this time on stage. I've seen all these comedians and I'm like, I can do that,

00:13:14.640 which I think is the birth of what anybody, like I'm sure with podcasts, it's hope and you see it

00:13:20.280 and you go, I can do that. Right. And then that's what usually starts the journey. Right? Sure.

00:13:24.520 So I was so afraid that this guy would squash my dream of being a standup comedian one day

00:13:30.540 because he's in the know, right? He knows if anybody knows, he knows, he knows. And if honestly,

00:13:35.600 if he would have told me you don't have it, this will never work. Forget it. I actually wonder

00:13:40.800 where I'd be. Has he told people that though? I don't know. I'm curious. I don't know. I'm curious

00:13:45.200 if there's people where he's like, no, this guy doesn't have it. Yeah. I don't know. Because the

00:13:49.780 truth of the matter is, is anybody can get to a degree of funny. Sure. I've realized now it's a

00:13:55.640 skill like any other. Of course. But dude, when he said, you're not funny, my heart sunk. And he goes,

00:14:00.860 but you have funny and I can bring it up. My heart's sore again. And I was like, okay,

00:14:06.120 let's do this. All right. I'm willing to put in the work. So he goes, perfect. You're going up in

00:14:10.840 two nights. That was a Tuesday, I believe. And then the Thursday was this really cool open mic.

00:14:15.580 And he goes, you're going up in two nights at Vinda Carlos. It's on the strip. He goes,

00:14:18.540 there's going to be about 40 to 60 people there, which I was actually more excited that there was

00:14:22.840 going to be more people there than less people. Cause it's actually a lot harder to make

00:14:25.680 eight people laugh than it is 80. Cause really I imagine if you can get one or a handful of people

00:14:30.960 laugh, then it's kind of like that, that social proof that it's acceptable to laugh or that we

00:14:35.100 should be laughing. Exactly. Right. So it was like, Oh, this is my cue to laugh rather than the one guy

00:14:40.160 who's the professional and you're trying to win him over. Dude, so tough. So do you think the added

00:14:44.160 pressure of you saying that this guy can literally lift me up or squash my dreams is what made that so

00:14:49.140 nerve wracking for you when you went into that Starbucks or whatever, which was only what I built in my

00:14:54.720 brain. It wasn't even true. I had all that fear and tension. I placed it, all that pressure on this

00:15:00.540 guy thinking he was the gatekeeper for my dream or not, which is none of that's true, but I had built

00:15:06.600 it all up in my brain that that was now, thank God. He said, Keith, I think you're funny. Yeah.

00:15:11.300 And then I went up. What if he said you weren't funny or you couldn't be funny? Would you have

00:15:15.400 stopped being that? I didn't know anything about the industry, like the real industry. I would have

00:15:19.580 probably thought, well, I mean, he knows, I mean, he's the top of the game, right? He's the guy who

00:15:23.760 discovered Sebastian Maniscalco. I don't know who that is. The top eighth grossing comedian this

00:15:28.980 year made $17 million. Really? Yeah. He's one of the hottest comedians in the world right now.

00:15:33.600 Okay. I should know who he is. Yeah. I mean, you got Seinfeld, Chappelle, Rock, Hart,

00:15:38.560 he makes way more than Rogan. Is that right? Comedy. Yeah, sure. So you've got those other five or six

00:15:45.120 that are absolute household names. And then you got Sebastian Maniscalco. So he's right on that,

00:15:49.320 like that verge of household name. Yeah. I mean, dude fills out arenas. I mean, he's,

00:15:53.280 he's, so he's the one that pulled Sebastian aside as a young comedian and said, I think you have what

00:15:58.280 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,

00:16:06.120 you can actually perform at our club or not, or else you're not working. And the booker is hired by

00:16:09.300 the owner of the club? Yeah. It'd be like, like saying the manager of the club. Okay. Right.

00:16:13.320 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

00:16:17.600 name. I can't remember his name. It was like Volation or something like that. And they looked

00:16:21.320 at Kevin Hart and said, yeah, you don't have it. And Kevin's like, to my face. There's something,

00:16:26.940 he's like, you said that to my face. I don't have it. He goes, I just killed. They're like,

00:16:29.440 he goes, yeah, you don't have it. And they wouldn't let him up. It's a very tough like that.

00:16:34.440 Oh, I'm sure. So I knew this guy had a, cause I started Googling him and I knew this guy had clout.

00:16:38.600 He goes, okay, you're going up in two days. I'm like, all right. I worked my craft. I worked my bits

00:16:43.620 out that I thought it was five minutes. It was like the five stupid things my dad told me growing up. 1.00

00:16:47.380 I don't even remember what the bits are. How long of a, how long of a set are we looking 0.99

00:16:50.640 at here? Five minutes. Oh, that's all it is. Okay. You get five minutes. All right. You got

00:16:53.660 to get on it. Yeah. You've got to get on it. Right. And, uh, which being a seminar guy who

00:16:57.480 does a seminar for four days, I know I can be funny in four days. I got time to build a little

00:17:02.160 report, but five minutes. Here's what happened. My wife goes with me. Wheels is sick, but he just,

00:17:07.380 he goes, I'm showing up. This is your first time. That's your coach? Yeah. My coach was wheels. Okay. He was sick,

00:17:11.820 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,

00:17:15.100 we get there. I'm at the back table with my coach and my wife. And I'm sitting there and I'm like,

00:17:20.360 this is stupid. I'm not doing it. And I look to them and I'm like, but they showed up for me. 1.00

00:17:25.620 Like they don't have to, this guy's sick. Right. My wife's just supporting me because she knows this

00:17:30.000 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.

00:17:36.240 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 0.99

00:17:39.920 them right now because I would have pushed out. Interestingly enough, did you tell him that you

00:17:44.800 weren't doing it? No, you just looked at him like, I'm just, this is stupid. Here's why. 1.00

00:17:48.760 Because public speaking looks a lot like standup comedy. I'm a sprinter in the public speaking world.

00:17:54.740 I'm not even crawling yet in the standup world at this very beginning. I'm like the baby on the

00:18:00.060 ground rolling around. They look like the same thing. But when you go up and watch me do my very

00:18:04.140 first set, you're like, ew, awkward. God, has this guy ever gotten in front of people before?

00:18:09.240 Not knowing. It's such a different. To the casual viewer, you're just like,

00:18:12.620 oh, you're on stage talking. I think the casual viewer expects to be entertained. That's why

00:18:17.800 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

00:18:25.540 the funniest thing is, but it looks the same because you're like, he's on stage speaking. And you're

00:18:31.660 like, but you're such a good public speaker. I go, yeah, because I'm teaching you something you want

00:18:35.120 to know. You paid money to be here to learn this. These guys just said, make me laugh. I don't care

00:18:39.020 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.

00:18:47.420 It's totally involuntary. Laughter is involuntary.

00:18:50.800 Yeah, I guess that's true. Yeah. And there's triggers for it.

00:18:53.700 Yeah. You're not going to fabricate that, right?

00:18:55.620 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, 0.95

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 0.95

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. 1.00

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 0.99

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.

00:31:52.200 And you're still laughing. 1.00

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. 1.00

00:31:58.800 You're missing out.

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,

00:32:02.360 I don't get it. So I don't know, man.

00:32:04.300 It's all subjective.

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.

00:32:46.000 So who, so who, how would you define that?

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.

00:33:30.600 Really?

00:33:30.820 Yeah.

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.

00:33:41.340 Yeah. They're right there.

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

00:33:50.920 become a great comedian.

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.

00:34:35.720 Sure.

00:34:35.980 And the process of obtaining is so fun. Now it's really fun. It used to scare the living

00:34:41.840 whatnot out of me.

00:34:42.620 Do you still get scared?

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 1.00

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 0.99

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

00:35:13.680 pound dumbbell right now? Yes.

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. 0.88

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 0.99

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 1.00

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, 0.89

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.

00:39:46.620 Oh, that, yeah. That connection is huge.

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 1.00

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? 0.96

00:40:07.700 All right. Off we skip. And then it gets a good laugh. Yeah. But if he says no, I go, 0.99

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. 1.00

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 0.99

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 1.00

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 0.99

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, 0.99

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. 0.87

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. 0.99

00:42:19.440 Learn the difference. And then I go, and then a guy came and said, are you racist? 0.99

00:42:23.960 I'm sure. 0.56

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. 0.99

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 0.98

00:42:43.120 patchiest beard ever. How can you have such weak beard game? And they're like, well, hold on. 0.99

00:42:47.880 What about James Harden? He's got a great guy. Yeah. Well, he's a quarter percent Arab. 1.00

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, 0.70

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 0.99

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 1.00

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. 1.00

00:43:57.900 Oh, I'm sure.

00:43:58.480 I botched the bit, but it took him a year.

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,

00:44:05.500 Right.

00:44:05.840 He's presenting it where everyone's like,

00:44:08.380 Yeah.

00:44:08.820 Yeah, you kind of got a point.

00:44:09.700 Yeah, great point.

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

00:44:31.500 have to take everything so personal.

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 1.00

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 0.95

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 1.00

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 1.00

00:50:38.820 the Mormon underwear? Is there a VIP room in the back where she'll straddle you and then whisper 1.00

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? 1.00

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 0.99

00:52:17.980 was telling gay jokes, nobody would be concerned about who's gay and who isn't. Yeah. It's because 0.96

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. 1.00

00:54:38.220 Tell me about that.

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

00:54:42.620 my band's songs?

00:54:44.420 No.

00:54:44.820 I'll tell you about that in a second.

00:54:45.580 Okay. Yeah.

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

00:54:53.780 million downloads a month.

00:54:55.760 Yeah. He's almost caught up to us now.

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.

00:55:21.120 Sure.

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?

00:55:51.880 Like an acknowledgement almost.

00:55:53.060 Yeah. Not that he knows me or anything.

00:55:54.540 No, no, I know.

00:55:55.100 But just like, Hey, Hey, yeah.

00:55:56.740 Right.

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?

00:56:06.160 Absolutely.

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 0.84

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.

00:56:38.760 Really?

00:56:39.280 Yeah. Hashtag dog life.

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, 1.00

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 1.00

00:57:19.960 about, idiot? 1.00

00:57:20.640 Yeah. 1.00

00:57:20.820 You know what I mean?

00:57:21.720 It's a little like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:57:23.200 But I knew it was stopping because he was with his entourage moving.

00:57:25.500 Right.

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 1.00

00:57:35.820 with him. It was super cool. You know what I mean?

00:57:37.100 That's awesome.

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.

00:57:40.800 Right.

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.

00:57:52.620 Yeah, that's true.

00:57:53.840 So it's kind of funny.

00:57:54.660 That is funny.

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

00:58:04.500 with comedians and Joe Rogan.

00:58:06.340 Right.

00:58:07.040 Pretty intimate.

00:58:08.300 Very intimate.

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?

00:58:16.140 About my wife?

00:58:16.700 Yeah.

00:58:17.520 No.

00:58:18.540 No.

00:58:19.160 What is it? Is it acceptable within comedians that like it's okay to talk about personal

00:58:23.660 relationships?

00:58:24.460 Yeah.

00:58:24.920 Or is there like limits where you and your wife are like, no, you're not doing that.

00:58:28.280 You're not talking about that.

00:58:29.080 It's usually raising them up and talking about what, you know, knuckle draggers we are.

00:58:34.920 Sure.

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.

00:58:52.860 Yeah.

00:58:53.040 Yeah. And it has some audience participation and it's just every single time I do it, I

00:58:58.340 go, this will split the room. Make them laugh. 0.98

00:59:00.480 Sure.

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?

00:59:10.980 Your life.

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.

00:59:17.580 Just blacklisted essentially. 0.99

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 1.00

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.

00:59:27.860 Right.

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 0.99

00:59:43.620 comfortable. I said, but I knew she was really comfortable with, rather than just talking to me, 0.99

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 1.00

00:59:57.380 click you claim. And I go, Tupac, you can't say that. Like in all technicality, like you are my 1.00

01:00:04.360 bitch and we are each other's click. Right. And then she goes, Oh, sorry, but girls just want to 1.00

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 1.00

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, 1.00

01:00:22.800 which I should have known. Cause I saw her making out with her best friend, Becky, 1.00

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 1.00

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, 1.00

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. 1.00

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 0.99

01:01:28.280 like my wife's just a horrible human being. Some comedians go there and maybe their wives are 1.00

01:01:33.660 horrible human beings. And it's the believability and the truth. Like if I had a horrible wife and I 0.98

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 0.92

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 0.68

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 0.99

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 0.97

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 0.91

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, 0.99

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 1.00

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.

01:10:55.260 Yeah.

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. 0.97

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 1.00

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.

Order of Man - February 12, 2019

How to be Funny and Why You Should Care ｜ KEITH YACKEY

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