The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz ｜ The Funniest Man in California
Summary
The Anchorman Podcast with Dan Ball and Matt Gaetz is a podcast about the life and career of comedian Louis Dix. In this episode, Dan and Matt talk with Louis about what it was like growing up in the late 80s and early 90s in Los Angeles, how he got into stand-up comedy, and how he became one of the funniest people in the world.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Now, it's time for the Anchorman Podcast with Matt Gaetz and Dan Ball.
00:00:20.460
We have three adult children, our oldest, our sons who graduated Morehouse.
00:00:26.200
Hey, thank you, but don't clap. We broke. We ain't got no money.
00:00:33.660
That's what I get for being on top when he was conceived.
00:00:37.280
Started off at D1 and just tripled out as a community college kid.
00:00:42.740
I did like, yeah, that was kind of nasty. That was graphic.
00:00:47.260
It did, man. That's what happens when you're on top.
00:00:54.320
Dad, I made the football team. Coach said I won't play much, but that's okay.
00:01:04.240
And how does Alex Wong get on the court before you, man?
00:01:11.700
I'm like, Luke, could you at least fall in the dirt and look like you played?
00:01:15.860
Wife used to get mad because I used to sit in the car and watch again.
00:01:22.740
I'm Matt Gaetz here alongside my on-again, off-again employee, Vish Burra.
00:01:27.260
And we believe we have found the funniest man in California.
00:01:31.580
Vish and I were at the Comedy Store in La Jolla and we heard a set that had Vish laughing so loud,
00:01:44.500
This guy lived through the golden era of sitcoms, hanging with Mr. Cooper, done collaborations with D.L. Hughley,
00:01:54.640
It's a man's world, which, I mean, this is the collaboration we've been needing on Anchorman.
00:01:59.720
But Vish, tell us more about Louis and how we were able to get him to come hang out with us for a little bit.
00:02:05.900
Well, as soon as I saw the set, obviously after I gathered myself from all the laughing that I did,
00:02:21.300
And as I did my research on him, realizing he's done these USO tours all over the world.
00:02:26.960
He's done Nights at the Apollo, historic venue in Harlem, New York, and then the Laugh Factory as well.
00:02:39.060
So we are so proud to have you, Louis, on the show today.
00:02:44.300
I was like, when I got your call, it was really interesting.
00:02:50.840
And then you said Matt, and I thought it was a comedian named Matt that didn't have a show.
00:02:55.820
And I was like, so then my wife's like, well, look it up.
00:03:02.180
And I was like, yeah, that's the guy that was getting ready to beat up McCarthy.
00:03:07.100
He was the one that was surrounded by all the old-haired bullies.
00:03:11.820
It looked like all the old-haired bullies would get ready to punch you.
00:03:17.080
Like, do you see some massive sense of urgency in Congress now or ever to do almost anything?
00:03:23.760
But you see, they can't get that money train roll into them until they've put somebody in that leadership post who can then extract millions of dollars from lobbyists and special interests and then redistribute that money to congressmen in exchange for favors.
00:03:48.960
It was fun to watch for us because we weren't in trouble.
00:03:54.800
And then I knew Vish from the blue suit walking down the hall with Santos.
00:04:01.980
I was like, all right, he looked like he can fight.
00:04:15.760
Charlie Ward, one of the greatest human beings to walk the planet Earth, in my view.
00:04:27.180
His on-the-field play is what got him to the Heisman.
00:04:33.720
Charlie Ward went on to the New York Knicks, got in all kind of trouble.
00:04:41.820
And then he gets up at this press conference and he said, I could not possibly be anti-Semitic because my best friend is Jewish.
00:04:56.360
You have so many great observations about life, family, fatherhood, marriage.
00:05:01.820
I'm dying to get your advice on a bunch of this stuff.
00:05:03.940
But as you look at this awesome career you've had in comedy and in performance, what are the highlights that you reflect on?
00:05:11.100
Well, I mean, I guess it starts from making the decision to do comedy because when I first started, I was theater major at Sonoma State.
00:05:17.940
And I came down to L.A. and acting was just rough.
00:05:26.480
And I started off like everyone else with Martin Lawrence and Dave and Chris Tucker.
00:05:41.260
And I'm going to get in line with only Sinbad and Dr. Cosby.
00:05:45.220
So I strategically said, okay, I'm just going to do clean comedy.
00:05:49.540
And then I met a producer from the show A Different World.
00:05:52.040
And he asked me if I ever thought about doing television warm-ups.
00:06:00.180
Ray Combs used to host family, one of the shows he used to host.
00:06:09.040
And that was a time back in, I guess, the early 80s, when you came to watch a sitcom,
00:06:14.040
it's usually elderly white men doing the warm-ups.
00:06:16.240
And then when the Cosby show came in a different world, they started inviting younger black people.
00:06:24.160
And then I was able to get benefits, great pay.
00:06:34.220
And I started opening up for people like Ray Childs, the Righteous Brothers,
00:06:40.500
And I do, like, the Mark Twain Awards now, the warm-up for that.
00:06:45.240
And then now I feature for people like Guy Torrey and Craig Robinson.
00:06:59.040
So I'm an assistant coach because I have to leave a lot.
00:07:08.160
So, I mean, that's got to be, like, borderline conflict of interest.
00:07:13.700
If your kids are good and you play your kids, all the other parents are mad at you.
00:07:17.620
And if your kids suck, they figure, why is this guy the coach?
00:07:24.640
And the 30-30 kids are the ones who play when you're up 30 or down 30.
00:07:27.580
So, like, what in all of your coaching, do you have, like, a quintessential experience with a helicopter parent
00:07:36.620
or something that highlights the strife sometimes of that often voluntary exercise?
00:07:45.160
And it's usually interesting that it's the mother.
00:07:48.740
Because you get into this male thing, like, I can handle the dads.
00:07:51.000
But when the mom comes and she says, because what happened was the kid, we had to change, you know, we were white instead of black.
00:08:04.980
And the mother was like, he can change right there.
00:08:10.320
So, then he went and changed because he listened to the coach.
00:08:13.140
And then the mom, next week, she had him quit the team.
00:08:17.380
Because he wasn't allowed to take his clothes off in the basketball game?
00:08:20.040
And I just told her, I tried to tell her, I said, why did you do that?
00:08:22.200
I said, well, because later on in life, he's going to think he can do that.
00:08:32.120
Well, the other kids who were playing who didn't have money to pay for the club team, yeah, they were upset.
00:08:38.240
Because you got a certain amount of kids in club basketball who pay.
00:08:42.280
And then you got a couple top three kids who are really good.
00:08:46.440
But, you know, listen, I mean, you got to bring something to the party.
00:08:54.220
And he went to Harvard, then went to Morehouse.
00:08:57.680
And then our daughter is, well, you heard the whole thing.
00:09:26.480
Boy is good, though, because you got that out of the way.
00:09:36.460
Well, don't worry about anything because she's going to do that.
00:09:49.060
You got to eliminate those, you know, because you're newly married.
00:09:51.680
Sounds like you're becoming a slave in your own house.
00:09:53.640
You have to eliminate, okay, you never did this.
00:09:57.060
No, she has to say, he got up every time the baby cried.
00:10:03.620
So that's how, and then after 10, 15 years, you're in.
00:10:09.580
She's got to tell all her friends who aren't as happy as her that this is why I'm happy.
00:10:18.460
But with most women, I think they basically want three things from a man.
00:10:25.240
And then they kind of want you to have, like, the good parent-husband traits.
00:10:30.340
And most men, like, could do one of those three things well.
00:10:34.940
And, like, really great guys can do two of them well.
00:10:37.900
And all they hear about is the one thing that they don't, like, you got some poor schmuck
00:10:45.720
All his wife's complaining about is that he doesn't make enough money.
00:10:48.320
Like, you've got some rich guy who, you know, is a great husband, but all his wife's going
00:10:58.280
So, you know, you've got to get through that a little.
00:11:00.940
And that's why they, God bless them, have OBGYNs.
00:11:06.880
Or we don't get that conversation, what's going on inside them.
00:11:11.960
I mean, it feels, it's got, like, the whole energy of getting your shoes shined.
00:11:15.500
You know, they get the legs up and the stirrups.
00:11:17.720
Yeah, Dr. Hendricks, it's amazing the connection that they have with their OBGYN.
00:11:21.760
Because you sit there and you have no connection with him, except he knows your wife.
00:11:26.800
And you're just like, okay, you know, and he's smiling, happy, easy to go.
00:11:32.060
Because my wife is like, we've got to go see Ricky.
00:11:37.540
But it's just certain things you have to do with your, you know, because you love him.
00:11:41.980
And the whole thing about being married is you have to be selfless.
00:11:45.900
It's not about, now that's why they give us these man caves.
00:11:48.740
But you're good to go, though, because you have a place to come to.
00:11:54.420
And I've always said to my wife, I always want her to have a job.
00:11:57.920
And it's not even about, like, the financial picture of the family so much as I need her to have another project.
00:12:17.020
She's got the Glock, and, you know, she won't tell me where her backup weapon is in the house.
00:12:51.160
You know, so I was like, oh, you like women with...
00:13:09.120
And she's, you know, she's in charge in her way.
00:13:15.820
Like, I've heard about this where, like, you know,
00:13:18.220
if the family operates like a herd of elephants behind a matriarch,
00:13:24.180
like, wherever you can just be like, no, no, we're not doing that.
00:13:39.060
Well, if it's a house, car, she's going to do it.
00:13:44.020
It's going to be her house, a girlfriend's house.
00:13:48.640
And I got a small refrigerator that my buddies can go in.
00:13:51.820
They can't use the glasses and her, none of that.
00:13:54.900
When her girlfriends come over, they run the house,
00:14:05.760
That's why I have to hang out with single guys,
00:14:07.620
because I am the friend where all the wives are like,
00:14:20.780
She has to see that he won't make you go out and all that.
00:14:24.140
And now it's easy, because they've got the cell phone,
00:14:26.360
and all you've got to do is give up your location.
00:14:29.940
And I, at first, and this is like the decision you make
00:14:33.880
with a partner, where they can track your every move
00:14:36.920
And at first, I was like, oh, this is kind of an invasion
00:14:43.720
And it has been so helpful all the times I've lost my phone.
00:14:50.820
But let me posit this theory, and you can agree or attack it.
00:15:01.340
who you went on one date with six years ago on social media,
00:15:18.940
Well, I actually have a firsthand experience with this.
00:15:21.860
I'm usually the friend that, when all my friends want to go out
00:15:25.520
and have fun, they usually say, oh, I'm going out with Vish,
00:15:28.680
because, you know, they feel like I'm a safe option or whatever.
00:15:32.860
Well, one night we did, me and my buddy, we went out with him
00:15:38.080
And he said, hey, let's not share any pictures.
00:15:49.660
And me, being the dummy and the clout diablo that I am,
00:15:59.140
And I made sure, I tried my best to keep my friend out of the footage,
00:16:10.660
And then about 10 minutes later, my buddy's phone starts blowing up.
00:16:19.740
I said, yeah, but I made sure you weren't in it.
00:16:22.940
And he's like, well, my girlfriend's blowing me up,
00:16:25.320
saying that I'm out hanging with girls with Vish.
00:16:28.140
And I told her that we were just going to get dinner.
00:16:31.640
And I'm like, look, you're not, look, I showed him.
00:16:40.880
And it's a screenshot of one frame of the video that I put up with a red circle around his ear.
00:16:57.340
But yeah, did literally FBI-level investigative work from women these days.
00:17:03.100
And I feel sorry for you because our generation, we're old.
00:17:08.120
You can tell when your wife is going to take a picture because she has to say, hold still.
00:17:11.760
And then if she wants to see something, I just give it to my son.
00:17:17.120
And they just, okay, because they don't like cops anyway.
00:17:23.020
But yeah, that's, but we respect police in our home, though.
00:17:28.580
I think it's going to evolve into like even, you know, young people running for office
00:17:32.440
with such a giant digital footprint of so much stuff out there.
00:17:36.960
You know, as you're a young man, you know, millennial Gen Z person growing up, when you
00:17:40.620
get to 35, you know, 40, maybe you run for office or something.
00:17:43.920
And then they go bring up a treasure trove of your Instagram posts and your Twitter posts
00:17:50.180
And, you know, I think that it's going to be an interesting run for my generation.
00:17:56.520
I think as people get overexposed, like we all start to realize everyone's done some dumb
00:18:02.400
stuff and put it on social media and we're not so chastened by it.
00:18:08.020
And that really dovetails into where comedy stands today, because we saw such a push like
00:18:14.540
against Chappelle and others who spoke about impolitic issues and were politically incorrect.
00:18:19.880
But now it does seem to be like recentering a little bit where you can you could tell jokes
00:18:27.400
Am I wrong about the trajectory of that, Louis?
00:18:29.540
No, I think if it comes from a biographical point of view, then you're able to have more
00:18:35.440
Like when Dave said that he went to the country, he went to the Philippines.
00:18:41.260
And then he was able to talk about transgenders in that way.
00:18:44.440
So you like what I couldn't really talk about gay stuff until my daughter came out.
00:18:49.380
Then it allowed me a license to say this is what I'm discovering.
00:18:53.100
And then you learn as a comedian to play confused instead of hate.
00:18:57.360
That's where you get in trouble when you say I hate this or I don't like this, as opposed
00:19:05.640
So once it's in your home, once you experience it, you can talk about it from a factual point
00:19:08.940
of view, like I'm reading a book right now called trans because, uh, our daughter is
00:19:21.980
So I started reading the book because I'm going to talk about it.
00:19:26.820
And she was like, well, you need to be factual.
00:19:31.440
So, so now I'm reading it and there's some funny stuff, but you want the trans person to
00:19:37.660
laugh and you want the non-trans person to laugh and you want some people who don't
00:19:41.680
I'm not going to hate on it, but it is, you know, cause she started off as a lesbian and
00:19:48.540
So my buddy is like, yo man, at least she's moving back towards guys.
00:19:53.580
So, and you know, that's what you have to look at that, um, she teases me.
00:20:02.900
I was, my truth was when she told us, I was like, all right, as long as it's not
00:20:07.580
your brother, we, cause you can bounce back as girls, you know, boys.
00:20:12.820
And, and so we have discussions and you have to be not welcoming because you're not as welcome,
00:20:20.720
you know, cause my brother-in-law is going through it and he's a preacher.
00:20:38.140
As soon as I get to that chapter, then I can have an opinion, you know, and I, I agree.
00:20:42.740
I just don't want to, well, one, you don't want to upset the home.
00:20:46.580
Cause just like you were saying, you want to make sure your home is a place you can go
00:20:50.980
Then after you get the knowledge and you can go out to the world and say, this is what
00:20:54.160
But comedy at right now is just at a point where some guys are good enough to where they
00:20:59.060
You know, there's a guy named Corey Holcomb who can just say what he wants.
00:21:09.640
And if you don't, then you can't say certain things, you know, like Kevin, Kevin Hart has
00:21:17.240
I'm selling family comedy with an edge and with knowledge.
00:21:25.980
I don't want to be, I don't want to be typical.
00:21:30.180
So I want to just take it to another level to where you're like, oh, okay.
00:21:33.820
That if it's a doctor out there and he understands OBGYNs and he understand if you have a daughter,
00:21:40.540
Well, my guy has always been Patrice O'Neill in that, you know, rest in peace, you know,
00:21:46.540
like, but yeah, Patrice has kind of been that guy from my generation.
00:21:53.940
But do you think that comedy is a censored medium today?
00:22:00.260
Because what you're describing is people self-directing their brand.
00:22:03.800
And that's a very different thing than comedy clubs or networks or whomever saying you have
00:22:11.180
You have to exclude certain types of content in order to get the money.
00:22:16.640
I think for the live performance, especially now that they're locking up phones, you don't.
00:22:20.940
When you put something on TV, then you actually have to think about in the editing room,
00:22:27.380
I shouldn't say that because they might say that.
00:22:31.400
Clubs, we're getting back to saying what you want.
00:22:38.880
Just people being tired of being censored, being tired of saying, can I hear what he's saying
00:22:46.840
Can I, can I, can you just, okay, I'm old enough.
00:22:50.400
I'm having a drink and now I can't hear what he's saying.
00:22:54.500
And then if it's someone next to you that sense it, they'd be like, why'd you come out?
00:23:09.320
So yeah, you just, you know, you just have to understand that it's TV is different.
00:23:19.360
They take things out, certain things that they want to say.
00:23:23.160
They're like, man, I can't believe they took that out.
00:23:26.900
By the way, that used to happen to me on interviews on networks too.
00:23:29.800
Because on some of these news networks, not ours, which is 100% owned by our proprietor, Mr. Herring, but on some news networks, they're so in debt to businesses, hedge funds, foreign governments in some cases, that the people have to say certain things.
00:23:47.020
And if you get an opposing viewpoint, they'll cut that out.
00:23:50.740
And then the people don't even get the benefit of clash.
00:23:53.800
Like, you know, when I grew up, it was the Republicans who were trying to tell you what you couldn't talk about.
00:23:59.220
And they were always getting this or that, you know, off TV.
00:24:02.860
It was a whole moral majority thing that was on the political right.
00:24:06.860
And now it kind of seems like it's the left that's always telling people what they can't talk about.
00:24:11.280
And I think people are just naturally resistant to that.
00:24:18.920
Now, you know, you get that a lot, especially as an African-American or just a boy.
00:24:23.720
You have so many female teachers trying to tell you how you should be as a boy.
00:24:28.320
You know, like when the boys are outside in the yard, they're going to jump on each other.
00:24:32.080
And first thing in female teachers, don't jump.
00:24:33.740
And you got to tell them, you got to say, hey, let them jump.
00:24:43.300
And that's how they become soldiers because that's what they do.
00:25:01.280
You're going to have to be careful around Jack soon enough.
00:25:22.740
She just doesn't want them to meet me first because I'm.
00:25:28.040
And then she because my daughter's like, all right, nothing inappropriate, dad.
00:25:31.640
So when I first met Jack, I was like, hey, you got great teeth.
00:25:46.300
Then I caught myself because I was like, dad, you hug soft, Jack.
00:26:01.060
That's one of the most important things being a parent.
00:26:11.960
Because then the boys and the girls know that she has a mom and dad.
00:26:19.320
So with a boy, what's like the hardest part of raising a boy?
00:26:25.660
The toughest thing with a boy is they believe everything when you're first growing up.
00:26:32.160
You have to, one thing you have to do as far as, like, my dad was just Googled at every woman that he saw.
00:26:43.420
Even though a girl walked by and she was fine, I had to force myself, don't look.
00:26:51.140
Another thing was, I'm going to open the door for your mom.
00:27:03.500
Because I don't need you coming to me saying, hey, dad, how do you do that?
00:27:10.340
And then, once he reaches a certain age, you have to try not to knock him out.
00:27:14.840
Because once he gets up there, you got to figure out, how am I going to deal with this testosterone?
00:27:36.520
Now, that goes back to you being there all the time.
00:27:41.120
Because if you're not there, she's like, you don't know him because you're never there.
00:27:47.660
So, do you have, like, a policy on when mom and dad have a disagreement?
00:27:52.560
Does that go to a separate room for resolution?
00:27:57.800
Is it impractical to think you can never fight in front of your kids?
00:28:00.500
No, sometimes you, like, I wasn't going to be a yeller like my dad.
00:28:04.540
But I don't want to talk about it right now is what men say.
00:28:14.780
Yes, they need to hear it because they got to grow up soon.
00:28:19.340
And then hopefully your kids are smart enough to say, we don't want to hear it.
00:28:25.880
You work hard at not, but it's going to happen.
00:28:28.840
Yeah, I mean, like, conflict happens in any, I don't fear that.
00:28:32.160
Like, because I think my wife and I have really good conflict resolution skills.
00:28:38.440
I would want him to see, like, there are times where people don't agree and you need to listen to the other person.
00:28:42.940
You need to acknowledge that, you know, there's clarity in your viewpoint as well that you need to share.
00:28:50.740
Maybe they need to see how the sausage is made a little.
00:28:55.780
And, of course, my wife's like, everything's not funny.
00:28:57.880
And then I'll have a thing that I use whenever she's upset in front of the kids.
00:29:08.020
And she's like, no, I've had enough kisses for me.
00:29:11.900
But they know she has a disposition and she has a calmness because she's been on the streets and she has a gun and she could take someone's life.
00:29:40.580
But I think that when you get the right girl, she shows you those weaknesses and you actually work to improve them.
00:29:50.600
And our audience, it's a lot of young men who watch our program.
00:29:57.880
And when they meet the right girl, it's like, oh, shoot, I need to start going to the gym.
00:30:02.700
Oh, man, if I want to really date this person, I've got to get better grades or I've got to start thinking about my future in more compelling ways.
00:30:10.180
Because I think that it can be one of the great drivers of a man to have a woman urging them on, but with the acknowledgement of those weaknesses and frailties.
00:30:30.080
You know, I'm not bringing a referee into my marriage.
00:30:40.400
Yeah, and nothing funnier than you go into a therapist and that therapist has been divorced three times.
00:30:44.940
We're going to listen to her, her failures, really?
00:30:59.060
And by the way, the therapist's only job in those five visits is to get you to pay for the sixth one.
00:31:05.120
No one's ever like, hey, you were cured in five.
00:31:09.980
They're like, oh, we have unpacked some things with Lewis that are going to require months of extensive treatment.
00:31:16.880
Okay, I'm going to see her five times, then see you five times, then you guys come together.
00:31:24.260
My buddies, Fat Paul, Peanut, and Boogie, they can get it.
00:31:31.200
These kids, you know, the Zoomers, did your kids ever try to, like, drag you into some sort of therapy situation?
00:31:35.780
Oh, I tell them all the time now that I'm in therapy.
00:31:52.440
Well, the therapy thing, I've had many, mostly women, tell me, oh, Vish, you need to go to therapy.
00:32:01.000
And I'm like, I've always believed, like, therapy is something for people without friends that they can confide in.
00:32:10.480
I go to a good friend of mine who knows me well, who's known me over the years, and I'm able to express, you know, hey, man, this is what I'm going through.
00:32:18.960
They'll just give it to me raw based on how they know me, what they know, what I've been through and all that, how I am behind closed doors, et cetera.
00:32:25.880
But, you know, I just can't fathom, like, walking into a therapist's office and just, like, spilling your guts out to someone who you don't even know.
00:32:33.940
I just have to say, if a woman is telling you that you need therapy, there is a non-zero part of her that wants to date you and who figures that if just, like, some stuff was, you know, fixed a little bit, that you might be, like, salvageable as a partner.
00:32:53.060
I know homies who are in therapy with just their girlfriends.
00:32:59.980
Like, you can leave at any time and you're on a therapy run with this chick?
00:33:05.300
We're at a point now where girlfriends get wives clout.
00:33:10.320
You know, you see the guys on TV with their girlfriends.
00:33:16.400
But she's sitting right there with you doing the draft.
00:33:18.840
And you're like, yo, man, she's a girlfriend, man.
00:33:21.820
She's getting this kind of clout as a girlfriend.
00:33:23.600
As a wife, she's getting your mother's maiden name, social security number.
00:33:31.740
And you can't put too much, you can't go too hard too early in a relationship.
00:33:37.300
Those first few dates, like, you almost need to display some things that you know you can fix.
00:33:44.680
That's how you figure guys who are just mean keep a girl.
00:33:50.780
I believe every single man on the planet Earth is either an affirmer with women or a degrader.
00:33:57.400
There's no, every single man treats their relationship with women as trying to build that woman up or try to move them down in some sort of competitive thing.
00:34:05.820
And the way the degraders continue to, like, bag tens and hang out with amazing women who put up with that crap is wild.
00:34:22.660
I think it's just not being, like, available or not being present.
00:34:26.260
You know, a lot of times my excuse, it's like, oh, yeah, I'll see you next week.
00:34:30.680
Oh, someone invited me out for, like, beers the other day.
00:34:35.420
Like, it's just not being available is generally my problem, I think.
00:34:40.920
But, you know, maybe there might be other issues.
00:34:46.880
So, I re-downloaded Hinge, and then I put up my profile info, kept the pronouns out, of course.
00:34:56.220
Like, do you include, like, other friends who are attractive people?
00:35:01.260
Well, no, my opening is, like, one of my best shots from one of the galas.
00:35:11.100
But what I try to do is I try to show, like, different scenes from my life.
00:35:17.480
That means, like, you might end up on a boat if you end up dating me.
00:35:22.040
It's, like, one in, like, a really beautiful hotel in New York in the, you know, vestibule
00:35:31.120
And so, yeah, I try to show different scenes in my life to be, like, your social life.
00:35:35.180
That you want the woman to place herself in that scene.
00:35:41.940
You know, I try to remove as many friends as possible.
00:35:46.180
Definitely no girls because you don't want them getting jealous off the bat.
00:35:49.660
Yeah, but I know guys who say that, like, having the, like, you know, the sister who's
00:35:54.440
there or having, like, you know, showing that you have friends who are women.
00:35:59.740
Is a certain threshold that, like, you know, you're not a threat, you know?
00:36:06.100
Maybe I'd have to get one, like, petting a dog or hiking or something.
00:36:15.980
So, California seems to be a tougher place than most to, like, raise kids.
00:36:23.320
There's some, you know, guy, you know, shooting up on the side of the road.
00:36:27.640
The way they have the homeless tolerance here is foreign to me as a Florida man.
00:36:33.080
And so, here in California, did you find the experience easier or different than maybe
00:36:39.700
it would have been in other parts of the country?
00:36:40.960
Well, being from Philly, you have a, you start from within.
00:36:47.000
So, you can, you start controlling your family within the house.
00:36:53.640
So, certain things, you're going to be in sports.
00:37:17.340
I don't mean to offend you, but I don't need her thinking that she can sit on any man's lap.
00:37:27.380
So, a threshold issue for a father is keeping them off the pole.
00:37:31.320
And so, and now, anything else that's negative.
00:37:33.920
So, you just start controlling things that you.
00:37:50.280
My daughter's going to be like, I can't believe you said those things about Jack.
00:37:53.920
I'm guessing your daughter's an irregular viewer of the Anchorman podcast.
00:38:04.980
And she's, but she's of that generation where she can laugh at herself.
00:38:16.200
But just back to the thing of just having, making sure that you control their friends.
00:38:30.160
Left him just a bed, sheet, one pair of shoes, two pair of pants.
00:38:34.700
And said, this is what it's going to be like in jail.
00:38:37.520
Because if you act this way, you're going to end up in jail and this is all you get.
00:38:43.300
I'm surprised you didn't have child protective services on you.
00:38:45.960
It was, and it was, it was, he never forgot it.
00:38:49.580
But, and then my daughter one time, so when the phones came out, she took a picture of her bosom.
00:38:57.120
So, I printed it up and put it all over the house.
00:39:08.620
You know, so you're just like, this is what we're doing.
00:39:12.260
That's going to embarrass the rest of her life.
00:39:15.320
But she needs to understand that if she puts it out there, that's what's going to happen.
00:39:18.680
So, it sounds like you have a parenting philosophy of allowing the hand to hit the hot frying pan every once in a while.
00:39:28.820
Well, I think it makes them aware, you know, of what, if you can do it, that might happen.
00:39:34.840
You know, just like our son, you know, he had to learn because he went to a little private school.
00:39:39.540
Then he went to Morehouse, which was a culture shock.
00:39:42.100
You know, he had to find out because he was into quiche.
00:39:45.360
So, it was just a whole different, you know, he's like, dad, these people are different.
00:39:52.600
Yeah, so it was, you know, I know you know Kamal.
00:40:01.460
It's a beautiful journey being a parent, but you have to be present because it goes by so fast.
00:40:08.020
But then you have a different kind of worry because then, you know, they're out drinking.
00:40:17.120
You know, as soon as you look at the time right away, you know, he's like, ah, okay.
00:40:22.740
You know, our daughter got hit by a bicyclist in New York, broke her jaw.
00:40:28.240
One of those, I mean, it's a lot of illegal immigrants running food around, right?
00:40:34.060
But in New York City, a lot of bicyclists, man.
00:40:37.220
I'm shocked there's not like three of those people dead every day, the way they're going up and down.
00:40:44.120
So, you know, when you say Brooklyn and all that, like, yeah, the bicyclists are insane in New York.
00:40:56.140
There's no space in New York, but there's bike lanes everywhere.
00:40:59.660
I mean, it is actually, it's a game of Frogger every time you're out on the street.
00:41:09.180
When you get confused when you come out to California, like, oh, you're stopping for me?
00:41:18.300
It's going to make you a totally different guy.
00:41:19.160
Do you ever have to go fight with their teachers?
00:41:29.480
But you're going to be a different, everyone's going to notice how different you are.
00:41:32.820
They're going to be like, okay, he's, you know, he's listening more.
00:41:36.680
He's, you know, he's, which is a beautiful journey.
00:41:41.880
It's going to be, it's going to be a great, great, you're going to have, especially since
00:41:47.520
It's the number one thing in your quality of life.
00:41:50.620
If your wife is mean to you, when you get home, like, your life can only be so happy.
00:41:54.840
And if your wife is really nice to you, a lot of things can be going wrong otherwise.
00:41:59.120
And there's still a pretty good existence that you're able to have.
00:42:02.320
Somebody in the house has to know how to season.
00:42:10.660
So, you know, my wife does all the, like, logistics.
00:42:14.660
But that's, to me, the coolest thing about marriage is the specialization of skills.
00:42:18.720
If you marry someone that fills your gaps and you fill theirs, you become a real power team.
00:42:32.420
The problem is that the laundry war is a forever war.
00:42:40.980
It just, you know, it's like a regime change battle in the Middle East.
00:42:44.700
It just drags on and there's way more blood than there should be.
00:42:54.420
What, um, when you were in that fight with McCarthy and him, were you, because you were the young gun and did you, were there any fears or did you just say I'm going?
00:43:08.600
Honestly, the biggest fear I had then and still have is the judgment of history if this country goes down because nobody was willing to make tough decisions about the way we spend money.
00:43:21.080
And, like, one day people are going to look at the United States and they're going to say this was this great nation, the wealthiest, rising incomes, rising opportunity, like nowhere else on the planet ever.
00:43:34.700
And they're going to look at the people who are on the board of directors for the country and my name's going to be on there.
00:43:41.560
And the weight of, of that, uh, was prescient on me and I still worry about it.
00:43:47.380
And so I didn't care that, like, and by the way, I just know they're all sellouts.
00:43:51.440
When you, when you have this kind of proximity with these people, not all, but the people who are trying to bully me, it's like, oh yeah, what, you're here because the Raytheon lobbyist sent you?
00:43:59.980
Like, go screw yourself. Like, oh, oh, you're worried that the speaker might not be able to attend your fundraiser if we don't install him and get some industry association to put $100,000 in your campaign?
00:44:14.280
Yeah, that was the thing we all took. And I was telling Vish this, when we were watching you, and I'm saying this, when the regular people were watching you, like myself, we were like, okay, he knows some stuff that they're not telling us.
00:44:26.860
Because he's on the inside and he doesn't care. So it was kind of like a, it wasn't comedy, but it was kind of like he's, I don't want to say Dave Chappelle, but whoever decided to say this is the truth and I'm going to deal with it, whatever happens.
00:44:40.920
And I wish both sides would. Like, my critique of the institution isn't a partisan one, right? I'm not like, oh, it's all the Democrats' fault. That's what a lot of Republicans say. Democrats do the same thing.
00:44:51.040
On both sides, you have a system where power is acquired through the trading of favors for ill-gotten money. And we're just, we deserve better than that from both sides.
00:45:02.660
And it's why I had some like weird collaborations and friendships. When I first got there, I got along with AOC really well. And it was because even though we had wildly different worldviews, I knew she at least wasn't bought.
00:45:16.120
I knew she wasn't doing what she was doing because there was a donor or a lobbyist pushing her that way. And so there were times like the progressive left and the populist right could work together on things like surveillance or stopping wars or like stopping the stock trading.
00:45:33.780
Like, when you allow Congress to trade stocks, it's like letting the referee bet on the basketball game. And I think there is like common ground for an agenda like that, but it will probably require some type of generational change in the country.
00:45:49.020
Now, where are your, I'm sorry to be asking, but your father and grandfather, how were they as far as watching you fight that fight?
00:45:58.120
Well, I never got to meet my grandfather. He passed before I, before I was born. But I mean, the story I read about him when he was a mayor was that there were certain people in the railroad that wouldn't allow the Indians to work on the railroad.
00:46:11.140
They had this racist view that they just shouldn't be eligible for those jobs. And my grandfather went in and knocked out that superintendent for the railroad and insisted that those, those folks get an opportunity to earn.
00:46:23.420
And that, that has always instilled in me a sense that the little guy deserves a champion too. And there are so many virtuous fights to be in to deploy your talents to. My dad is a very sophisticated politician.
00:46:38.280
He was the president of the Florida Senate. You know, I come from a line of politicians and I think he watched with pride, but, but also as someone trying to understand, this was something that had never happened in like a hundred years.
00:46:53.420
In our country. And I think he was, he was searching for understanding too. And there are just rare moments. You get a chance to break through where, where eyes are on you and you get a chance to make your argument.
00:47:04.900
And in those times, I didn't know if I was going to win or lose. There was a lot up in the air, but at least wanted the country to hear what was wrong with the place.
00:47:13.480
And I'm not going to be the guy to ultimately fix it, but I could at least provide that diagnosis in that moment.
00:47:19.060
Cause I wonder why the powers of be don't allow us to know those little things about your dad, your grandfather. It's like, it's with all the stuff right there that makes us look at you a little different.
00:47:30.840
Cause when I did my research, I'm like, all right. Okay. That's a different Mac. Okay. That's, that, that's Matt Gase. That's the whole thing. And the same thing with you. I looked at it. Okay. Cause I thought you were the thug in the blue suit.
00:47:42.080
That's actually what he was hoping. That's exactly what I was going for, by the way. So it worked apparently.
00:47:48.500
But watching you two in your arenas, it was, it was really interesting watching.
00:47:52.560
You know what? I wish they would let the cameras into the Congress to watch how the different members interact.
00:47:59.060
Because under the rules of Congress, the camera can only be on that center podium and can't move and on one pool.
00:48:08.740
Well, when I was doing all that stuff with McCarthy, no rules had been adopted yet. So they could put the cameras everywhere.
00:48:16.140
And so people were like, what was Matt Gaetz talking to Ilhan Omar about for 12 minutes? What, what were these people that, you know, that have nothing to do with each other?
00:48:26.040
And why was the black caucus huddled in this really intense conversation? And you got a wide lens of government in action and they don't want, you know why they don't want it?
00:48:35.840
Because most of the time the place is just empty. Most of the time folks are just talking to an empty room. No one's listening.
00:48:42.060
All those things that you said make a successful marriage and parenting relationship and family, they don't really happen in our government.
00:48:50.640
Well, we enjoyed that part, the huddling, the talking, and you were the center of it. You were like, all right, they're going to start fighting.
00:48:58.860
I could have taken that guy with the toupee, but that is all the time we have, Lewis. The hour flew by and I really appreciate you taking the time to come visit with us.
00:49:09.320
You are a true legend in the medium. And I know our audience will appreciate learning a little more about you.
00:49:15.520
And I personally appreciate all the dad and parenting and husband advice.
00:49:19.400
Well, I appreciate you inviting me, you and Vish. And shout out to your director and producer. And it was really, it was a pleasure meeting you.
00:49:28.600
I knew you were, but I didn't know he was at the show. And I felt, I felt, I felt, oh, I was like, okay, he got me. That's cool.
00:49:38.420
Feeling tired, foggy, or just low on energy? It might not be the stress. It could be you're running low on fuel.
00:49:44.540
That's why more folks are turning to NAD plus in methylene blue.
00:49:48.400
As we get older, our cells slow down, but that doesn't mean you have to.
00:49:51.420
These products are helping people boost their energy, clear out brain fog, and stay sharp now.
00:49:56.340
You can get both NAD plus and methylene blue from All Family Pharmacy.
00:50:00.060
Go to allfamilypharmacy.com forward slash Matt. It's the place I've been telling you about.
00:50:04.240
They make it easy to get what you need without the usual runaround.
00:50:06.940
They ship fast. They don't require insurance. And the doctor's prescription is included.
00:50:11.300
It's where I go for essentials like ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, antibiotics, vitamins, travel kits, and more.
00:50:16.920
All online, delivered to your door. Check it out.
00:50:18.780
All familypharmacy.com forward slash Matt. Use code Matt10 to save 10%.
00:50:23.000
That's allfamilypharmacy.com forward slash Matt. Code Matt10.
00:50:26.400
Stay sharp. Stay strong. Stay free. We'll be back next week.
00:50:32.360
Click on the link below to subscribe to OAN Live and watch Dan Ball's Real America
00:50:41.340
I'm so excited when we get our Meriwether Farms shipments in.
00:50:48.980
You get a beautiful piece of ribeye. Look at that marbling.
00:50:52.380
Now, I take it out of the package, let it get down to room temperature.
00:50:55.940
All I've got on here is a little salt, a little pepper, and then a little avocado oil.
00:50:59.960
And then I've had my pan preheating with a little oil.
00:51:09.320
Head to meriwetherfarms.com and enter promo code MATTG for 15% off your first order.