He Took an Acting Class to Impress a Girl. Now He Books National Commercials.

Welcome to Work Unscripted, I'm your host, Savan, and today I've got my good friend David Murphy. Murph, what's up?

Hey, what's up? How's it going?

Man, living the dream, brother, living the dream. Although I'm not living the dream as well as you, because you're in LA and I'm over here in rainy, rainy Washington, brother. Man, how's life down there?

expensive. It's just like, you know, it's like, you know, same old LA as I get older, I can see myself leaving LA. Like it just gets a little, it's getting a little like, you know, the parking and this traffic, like you realize the stress of like, go to Bali, I've been going to Bali like few years, like five or six years. And every year and so I'm like, just the, you know, realize the weight of a city, like what it keeps doing to you in terms of like parking tickets, like traffic.

out

Yep.

Yep.

I can't be on this side of town at this time because I don't want to get stuck in traffic. How it affects your entire life. I'm from, born and raised here, so I've never lived anywhere else.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah man, it's like one of those things where LA, dude, it's not even just like the traffic but the pressure from everybody trying to succeed. Everybody's trying to grind out there.

I did that. Right. Yeah. Yes. It's such a like, you don't realize it until you like leave. I always say like being in L.A. is like being in an abusive relationship. Like, you know, you don't realize how good it could be until you leave and you go, oh, you don't you don't have to hit me every night when you come home. It's like you start thinking like, this is normal to like groceries be 300 goddamn dollars to get like.

Yeah.

You know, you like, like. So.

God. What is that grocery store that's mad expensive down there? What the hell is that called?

Air, Air one that's like, which is that I read an article about everyone. Everyone is actually it's nowhere spelled backwards. That's where the name comes from. Yeah. So they basically spelled nowhere words and it started off in this eighties or seventies maybe like, it's like a little like they were selling expensive like sauce or something. don't know. Yeah. And they just kept, I think they're one of the highest grossing grocery stores, even though they only have

Yeah!

Okay.

certain locations and certain amount of square footage, but they charge so much. You know, it's like luxury food. It's like, it's so much of it exists in your head. feel, you know, $23 smoothies.

Yeah.

Yeah. And that's like such a LA thing, brother. Like you don't see that shit anywhere else, right? Like that's only, you don't see it in like small towns. Lord knows ain't nobody paying 20 bucks for a bottle of water.

Yeah

Yeah, it's like yeah, I a friend she used to get Like she get enchiladas near like $25 for like two enchiladas like it was like not no sides. No, was just like no, I'm sorry No, sorry. No, no, it was a quesadilla night a lot. It was a quesadilla cheese chicken and cake like a little case. Yeah Tortilla chicken and cheese with 20. I was like, my god. Yeah, it was good, but it's

Wow.

Y'all... Probably dry as hell. Sheesh.

Yeah, yeah, it's LA it becomes a hot spot for people to hang out to girls well They they they happen to want to everybody happens to want to eat outside a goddamn grocery store When it when it's airwine because they just patients with it, you know

Yeah. Although I feel like if you were a woman and you were single and you were looking for a certain type of man, I would be hanging out there too. You know what saying?

Yeah. It makes sense. Yeah, I think some of them do it because I think one there's like some celebrities and stuff, you who will be there and stuff. you know, everybody's trying to get I think not everybody, but a of people are trying to get saved in the city. You know, they're trying to get rescued. So a lot of people will you see the hot girl who works as a hostess. That's the big thing. L.A. A super pretty girl who's hostess. And you're like, why are you a hostess?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm like, if you're gonna be at the restaurant, just fucking serve food, you can make double the money. But when you're a hostess, you get rescued. That's why they become a hostess. Because you're gonna meet everybody who comes in the restaurant. All the guys are gonna, some guy eventually is gonna be like, what is your name? What do you want? Come work for me, leave this place, you know. You get rescued, that's why they, they don't have to do shit. They just sit there and sit people all night.

Yep.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Man, I don't know anything about that dude. I'm so far away from getting that game brother Like I don't know anything about the techniques and the strategies for all that man. It's such a different world But today's conversation bro, we're gonna break into some of that man because you can you've been around it for so long and that's That's what we're gonna dive into but I want to I want to start off murph. I want to start off by Asking you a question. So when you meet a stranger

Yeah.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

What do you tell them that you do? Like, how do you describe yourself?

Mmm, I guess I tell them a little bit of everything. It's whatever I'm doing at the time. So I'll be like do little do little comedies writing some Comedies and writings of commercials. It's kind of like whatever I need but I've also but I'm also like work that catering places serve food being at a server to restaurant work at a bar like all the you all the typical shit I've done all that like because I realized when I

Yeah.

Yeah.

Got our college. I just didn't want to be in the office I did the office thing for like a few years, but I hated it I hated it like I worked with my dad who I loved it at but he does he's like just taxes and Real estate and I just out you talking about one day like just end it all going to work I was like I can't do as I can't I can't do this So yeah, so that whatever it's uh, it's kind of just varies a little bit. It's like but it's a hard lifestyle

Yeah.

Yeah.

for some because you don't know where your next, you know, like, I don't know, like, in six months, I don't have anything planned. you know, it's like, but I always figure, this should have worked out. It'll work itself out. Like, you kind of get used to it and not knowing, but some people, I've dated girls, they're cool with it, but they're like, I can never, I can never just not know if next month I'm have a check coming in or nothing. Like, so you learn to like...

Yep.

stack money when you get it in lump sums or whatever, kind of like, you know, kind of like balance it out. Also, I don't have any kids, no wife, so no, I can limit my, I can eat beans and rice for some months if I wanted to, theoretically.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's the definition of being committed to the lifestyle and being committed to the profession, right? Like, man, if you want to talk about being all in, like you can't get more all in than that.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's like the positive sides. I've never seen the other side, so I haven't got tempted by it. But it's always like, but I started to value was like my freedom of like being able to travel like my dad's like on a Tuesday is like, let's go to lunch. I go with him. There's no like, or if somebody needs to write, I don't have any constraints, least right now, where I can't do that stuff.

Yeah.

My uncle, like, oh, I'll go to Palm Springs for four days, five days, just random middle of the week, hang out with him. And that kind of thing. That's the kind of, where I go to, last year I went to Bali for three months. I'm like, most people aren't gonna be able to do that.

Yeah, man, we're gonna break down your Bali trip, Murph. We're gonna break that down. But before we break it down, I wanna take it back a little bit. I wanna take it back a little bit. I did a little bit of research online about a few things, and you're gonna have to correct me if I'm wrong about some of these facts. But one of the things that did come up was Professor Bouchard. You remember Professor Bouchard?

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bye.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, that's the the the the the the the the acting no acting with acting guy was yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, the acting coach. And one of the things that was said about you online was he had pulled you aside because you were taking an acting class to impress a girl, right? and he pulled you aside and he said, he said, hey, you've got something going on. There's something magical about you and you were still an econ major, which couldn't be more different. What did you hear about like what he was telling you at that time? Because I would imagine that's probably like what sparked a lot of this stuff that you're doing now, right? Like what was that?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I think so like So what happened was I was there was a girl her name was Sophie. I forgot her last name She's like a year or two below me, but she And then she has no idea about whoever she is like, don't know she has no idea but I was like I thought she was soaking on issues like a Actress or you know theater major and I was like, I think I did ask theater 101, you know theater

It's always a selfie, bro. It's always a selfie, dude. Something like that.

Yeah.

100 and or 101 or whatever. I took it and it was like, I was, I was pretty chill. And then we just scenes at the end of the year, like our final. And I was just so, I just didn't care, which is like a big thing. And like, not that I'm the best actor, but like not caring is a vibe, know, the people, it's like anything in life. You're like your confidence of not caring. And so I was like that during the scene and I wasn't pushing her because I didn't care. And I walked off stage and he was like, Hey, you come here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I'm like, what's up? And he's like, I was like walking out. He's like, what's your name? I go, David Murphy. And he's like, you got something, man. I'm like, yeah, all right, cool. And I kept trying to walk up. Thanks. I tried to walk in. He goes, hey. And he's like, hey, me getting in. He said, hey, I don't bullshit. I'm telling you you have something. I'm not saying it's great. I'm not saying you guys are polished. But I'm telling you, you fucking have something. And he's like, you need something? I don't know, maybe look into it, take a class. And I was like,

Hahaha!

all right, weirdo. And so when I got out of college, it's kept just being around me. My friends, I would go to act, one of my friends, my buddy, was trying, I was always just trying to hang out. He was going to comedy acting class on the weekends. And he was like, hey, do you wanna volunteer and help like prepare lunch? I was like 22, prepare lunch and like, and you can go to the class for free all weekend. It was like a $500 class. I was like, okay, I got nothing to do. Like, so I did that and we did scenes.

Yep. Yeah.

Yeah.

And then one of the acting people were like, you know, everybody did their scenes or whatever and they were like, he's like, you know who has something in this room? That guy, that guy, he's pointing to me. And I'm like, what? It's like, he has a fucking attitude. I like what he has. And I'm like, oh. And then I would go store. I would go to store rousin and girl stopped me like, excuse me, do you act? Would you want to be in my like thing? I'm like, what? I'm like, no, I don't act. And then eventually I met a guy.

Yeah.

My buddy was modeling. He was like, oh, you come grab drinks with me? He's me the manager or something. We used to always hang out. I was like, all right, cool. So we went and met this dude. then I was sitting there just listening, just like tagging along. And he's like, he's like you. He's like, he's like, Murph. He's like, would you mind if I got you a commercial agent? I go, okay, I don't know. I was at a regular job. So I was like, okay. And he's like. You have headshots in the mind. I didn't have anything. And he's like, but he got me a meeting with like one of the biggest commercial agents in LA, top three. And I went in, like, just like, and they're like, so why are you here? I was like, I don't know. Jeff got me to meet. I'm like, I was like, I saw it came in there like, and they're like, okay, we're gonna start sending you out. And then they started sending me out for commercial auditions. I would go to, I would go to them. And then I, within three months, four months, I booked my first national after like, so that was like pretty,

Yeah.

Wow. Wow.

I didn't have big national and then was kinda after that it was like... But yeah, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I went in the first audition, I was like... I was like, I was asking the guy next me, was like, what do we do? What do we do in here? He's like, he had a...

Yeah.

Yeah, dude. That's crazy. That's a crazy story, man. I want to dive into that first commercial, but before we do that,

Mm.

Dude, when we were going to school together back in the Occidental days, you were an econ major, man. And I feel like those econ majors, they're a certain breed, right? You sort of like numbers. You're pretty smart in general. What were you doing between the Occidental days and when you graduated to that first commercial? What was life like?

I was, so when I graduated, did not, I never had a job before in my life. I'd only worked at safety, like checking IDs. That was like my only thing. I was like, this is great. This is cool. I'm doing 15 hours a week, killing it. You know, like during school, I'd be in the library some days or in the gym. And then, and so I was like, I was like, all right, I know, I don't want to be out of the office. So started looking at jobs that like were out the office sometimes.

Right? Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I found this insurance appraisal job and travel around the country. And I was like, this seems cool. So I applied for that. And I think I was like four five months after college or five months, I got that job and I was doing appraisals for buildings. And sometimes they'd have appraisable items, like thresholds. Like say a school district, we did a lot of school districts. They'd say, hey, we need everything.

Yeah.

Yeah.

over a $500 threshold like tagged in an entire school district so we can have inventory in case of fire, can something happen? So we can know how much everything's worth. And we also did like the playground and like the fences and stuff like that, like measured all this stuff. And we come back and say, all right, you got, you know, a thousand square feet of fence. You got this much asphalt in your whole district. You got this much, whatever. So it's like, you knew a value, priceable value for it. And, but I would be gone if they would send me like to New York. They would send me to like, Joaquin, Chicago, Oregon, Roscoe, like just random places like Rochester, New York, Manhattan, Manhattan for weeks is doing like, you know, so I was like, this is kind of cool, but it was boring. Like we're in the office. It was like data entry basically. And I was like, and, I did that for two years, two years. And I, you know, I was doing that typical go to work, get off at five or six, five o'clock.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

get in traffic for an hour to go back. I was in a West Side work. I lived in the Valley. You know, you come home, you leave work and it's fucking just break light for an hour. Just like this is sucking the soul out of you driving home. And you go to the gym hour maybe and after the gym you're like, well, I watch one TV show, I'll eat and then go to sleep and then do this shit all over. Excuse me. Do it again. So I did that. One day I was like, I was driving to work and I hoped, I remember

Yeah.

Yup. Yup.

Yup.

Do it again. Yup, yup, yup.

wishing I got in an accident. That's what I remember. I was like, was like, and maybe I'll get in an accident. Then I can like not go in. I just didn't want to, I just fucking hated it. I was, then I did a job in Oregon that made me quit. It was like 27 degrees in Southern Oregon, Medford, Klamath Falls. And I was like, I was willing, I was like, it must be like a movie. I was willing, willing to building a little, those little willer thing, you know.

Yeah. Yep.

and my fucking paper kept flipping off in the snow. I was chasing my paper in the snow. know, like, God damn it. was like, God damn chasing, you know, just like, kept moving. It was like a movie. I was so frustrated, so pissed. It kept coming off my clipboard. And then I was so young mentally, I called my dad to ask him could I quit.

Yeah.

God. God!

And I called my dad and I was like, hey, he's like, what's up? And I'm like, hey, I think I'm gonna quit this job. And he goes, okay. He's like, is that okay? And he's like, yeah, you're a grown man. But I was so young, I was like, I didn't wanna disappoint my dad. I was like, I don't like this job. He's like, what are you gonna do? And I was like, I don't know, I acting a shot and.

Yeah. Yep.

He said, well, how you gonna make money? And I'm like, I don't know, I'll just be a server, work at a restaurant. I just can't be at this thing anymore. He's like, well, I think you should keep it, but you you gotta do what you gotta do, your life, you that kind of thing. And so I quit two years today. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, Dang. Wow. Yo, that's an insane story, man. What was it like when you were talking, so you told me your dad's side, but when you told your mom or your mom figured it out, you had just got, Occidental's not a cheap school for people that don't know. It is not a cheap school by any means.

Yeah.

Oh, oh my god. Yeah, my dad was like, my dad, my my poor dad, like he had aspirations of me being like this, making it like any parent, like making making improvements on where he he messed up or he did things he wished he would have done, you know, that kind of thing. So my dad was trying to when I was went to work for him at 24, he's he's a will come work for me. Meanwhile, until you get your thing together, you can like, I'll give you some little money. You can work every day at my office. And So was like his assistant and answering phones and all that shit and running errands. My dad was kind of sweet because he would also give me errands so he knows how much I hated being in the office. So anything outside the office, he let me do. Like the bank, the club, whatever, go take pictures of his house or whatever. so he was like, he was a little bit, initially he wanted to make me a broker. He was like, I'm going to make you the youngest broker in LA that was real estate broker. So he had me take my real estate license when I was like 23.

Yeah.

Yeah.

which I passed it and he's like, okay, now we're gonna make you a broker. And he was like, you're gonna be the youngest broker in And I'm like, so I got all the materials, started studying for it and I just hated it. I was like, I don't wanna do this. Like I could do it. You know, we're at the Oxy, I'm like, this is hard. I'm like, I just don't wanna do this. And he was like, and we think and he was like, fine, I'll do it. And so he was realistic. he all the paperwork and stuff to him and he ended up taking the test and became the broker.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's how he became a broker, because I didn't want to do it. He's like, fine, I'll do it. But yeah, so he was...

That's crazy. That's crazy.

My dad told me, you know, he told me was when I finally told him, I want to act. I went to Brazil. I came out from Brazil and I was like, I quit. I told him, was like, don't want to, I'm going quit. He goes, he goes, look, as he told me, he set me down. He's like, as a parent, I just want you to do something a hundred percent. I don't really give a fuck what it is. It's like, I just want you to just put your all into something. Like, you know, it's like,

Yep. Yep.

He said, I just don't want to see you. He was like, a lot of people spend their life at a train. He makes them a train station. And they don't get on the train. He's like, get on a train. That's all. Just don't spend your life on the platform. He said, get on the train towards something, towards whatever. So he's like, yeah. He's like, all right. Cool, man. I support it. I wish you'd told me this before before Oxley, before the band. $20,000.

Yep.

Yep.

But it helped me a lot socially.

Yeah. That's

No, I was gonna say, like, did you take any skills from Occidental, like, to what you're doing now, man? Like, what are transferable things that you took?

I would say just more than anything, just the people skills we learn and just being around so many different like... Like, you know, like just diversity of people, know, like just like from, you know, I remember being at a club one night in Vegas one time and it was like, dance as a girl. She's like pretty, like a really pretty girl. And I'm like, dance, I'm being like, you know, probably looking like a douche bag, drunk and dancing. And she's like, oh, I like, just finished college. I got my master's. I'm like, oh, cool, I bet. And she's like, I remember she was like, oh yeah, I was like, what'd you get your master's in? Or what'd you get your degree in? And she was like. Women's live or women's rights or something like that and I was like, she was like I said, yeah feminism. Yeah feminism and like and she's like Looks at me like, yeah, like, you know, I think it's the moment above all right the radical lesbian I was like named all books and she's like what the fuck? do you know this? What black dude is sitting right here no, she's like who are you

Ha ha ha!

I was doing books and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, bro, we have to take so many random classes at Oxie. We have to take classes at Oxie,

Yeah, bro. dude, so many random. took a freaking physics light class that I literally used. Nothing about that class has been retained in my head, dude. It's just wild, man. I could also see you, dude. I'm just picturing Murph with this girl on the dance floor talking about radical feminism, trying to spit game. That to me is the funniest picture in my head, dude.

Yeah.

Yeah. All right. So fun, bro. It's like so much random just and so I think I liked school because college because it was the amount of debates we would have amongst friends was like the best part was, know, just sitting in a quadrant and be like, oh, like talking about God or whatever and be like, I don't know if I agree with that. Like, but what about and it was like never like a fight argument. It was just like

Yep. yeah.

Alright, let me hear your point. Okay, like whatever that mental gymnastics we were, you we were doing, you're doing college, was like, oh, even with professors, it was always like, I feel like they made it a great point to, to let us know, look, and maybe all colleges do this now, but like, it's not about the answer per se, just like you supporting your, your thought. Like just show me, I don't, I mean, there's no right or wrong answer, but just support whatever you, you, it is you think.

Yeah.

give me some back, don't just like, you that kind of freed my mind a little bit. Like, oh, I don't have to agree with everything. I get taught per se. I'm like, I don't know what do with that. And they'd be like, okay, that's cool, why? And then that was really encouraging, which I find that helps me to this day or gets me in trouble. Like, I'm just kind of a, I watch the news, I'm like, yeah, I don't believe that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I feel you man. I do wonder because most of the stuff you're known for, at least online, is your comedy work. And I feel like with comedians...

Yeah.

The great ones or even the good ones have the ability to think very quickly on their feet and be able to pivot conversations without it being like this mundane thing where you say the same thing over and over again. And that's part of it, right? Like correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't that like part of that?

Yeah. I think for me, it is in terms of like just things you think about like jokes and like angles on things like, you know, I'm just like, it's gifts and a curse. But sometimes I get really bored with hearing so much comedy. And even myself sometimes like that just like, it's not thought provoking. It's not moving the needle. doing anything. That kind of like.

Yeah. Yeah.

What am I doing? You know, sometimes I'm like, I love when I hear a smart community like smart jokes, smart comedians. I'm like, there's a guy named Gary Goldman who I like love. He's so smart, man. He's like a funny Gary. Got him. Gary Goldman. G-U-L-M-A-N. He's a super, super smart and he has smart jokes. I'm like, I love that. But yeah, I think it's. I'm getting I'm still like finding my voice. I'm like, you know.

Yeah.

Who's that? Who's that?

Okay, okay.

Okay.

You still like find your voice. I'm like 11 years in a little bit over 11. I started it and I'm like

It's a long time.

Yeah, but in comedy, it's like, you're just like finding your voice at 10 years, kind of where you feel, you basically, I think finding your voice just means you get to the point where you're just feeling comfortable on stage where you don't care about making them laugh. Oh, that's wrong. Like to the point where you're you're up there for you, not for them. Like sometimes in the beginning, you're just like, okay, I didn't make them laugh. Then at a certain point, you'd be like, okay, I'm on stage.

Right.

you paid or you're here to hear my thoughts and whatever those are you're about to fucking hear them you know like you know like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna change for you i'm not gonna like whatever so like you're about to get whatever murph or whatever whoever joe blow is comic you're about to get me unfiltered you know so that that's a cool thing when you stop pan

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Mm-hmm. You stop, you stop entering.

Yeah, dude, I feel like the good comedians, I feel like the good comedians now have like a very distinct aura around them. Like, I'm just even thinking about somebody like a Josh Johnson, right? Like. He's got that slow delivery, but he's also exceptionally smart. Like he talks about like very critical things going on in the world, but he does it through his comedy. And that craft has got to take a long time to build, right? Like, do you practice that pretty often?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's that's another thing. It's hard in L.A. is it's very hard to practice. Like there's so many convenience here in so little stage time that it's like L.A. is a very I've heard people say this, but I didn't really get it told some years ago. But like it's a hard place to develop because there's so there's so much time that everybody's doing like eight minute spots, 10 minute spots versus like if you're in, you know, Portland or something maybe already so in 15 minute spots or you know You have more stage time more like breathe room and there's less pressure Sometimes I go on stage or somebody goes not just me, but you on stage here Now it's like okay. It's Thursday night. It's it is the pack show You have to bring your good chicks there not also on the show with like killers, know, like heavy hitters like, you know, you're like, I mean so What there's a gift and a curse like you?

Yeah.

It sets up your game, but it also you don't develop as much because you're playing it safe because you don't want to lose. You don't want to like bomb. So you're like, so now the joke you probably should try and maybe it bombs, maybe it won't. You don't try it on certain shows because you're like, it's like Saturday night and there's, you know, there's XYZ person, two comedians who have Netflix specials are up in the, you know, in the rafters watching me. There's a, man, the guy.

Yep.

who from a tonight show is here. know, we're like, it's all these things sometimes that are like, can get in your brain of like, wanna do this new joke, but if it bombs, this could look really bad and it could hurt my career. So you end up not growing. I think over the long run, you can lose because you're not growing, you're not pushing yourself. That's my own journey. That's everybody's own journey, but LA is very much like that. It's hard.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, that's an interesting one brother. Hey Dave, before we go any further, you know if your computer finished downloading that thing? Because I think you're cutting in and out right now, like the video's dropping. You want to see if you could dial back in with the computer?

okay. me see. okay. Let see. All right, here we go. Okay, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

next

You too.

I don't believe you didn't download Chrome because you didn't like how it looked,

Yeah, yeah, I used it, I had to download it and then I was like, I hate this. I it's not not letting me. had it and I just, oh, here we go.

I had it. It was just a...

Yeah, you could drop out and the dial back in and we'll just keep the same session. It'll just smoothly transition.

Yep.

When was the last time you updated your computer, dog?

Yeah.

Yeah.

is it?

Damn. Damn, damn. Are you connect, shit.

yeah, okay. Are you connected to your wifi on your phone? man, it's a...

Yeah, yeah, I'm back to my wife. I yeah, but I don't know maybe it's Let me

I know, let's see here. I moved it. Try to move it, I don't know. Is it still glitching? A little bit.

Yeah, it's like you're like mad pixelated. I don't know what I don't know what it

Really? Oh really? Okay. Maybe I have some more to like...

Yeah, the video itself is alright, but like the sound delay is what's killing me. I'm like...

Okay. Let me see.

I don't know. Yeah, let's see. Can hear me? still pixelated. Still pixelated, huh? Yeah. Damn. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, there's so many, you notice, there's so many podcast apps that I've been on. Like, every time I do a podcast, people are like, you gotta download this new, like I just did one the other day in my fresh use.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you.

Alright, we'll just roll with this, brother. We'll just roll with this, dude. And hopefully Riverside changes it up. Nah, it's all good. It's all good.

She, I'm like damn, is everybody, can there be like one, she had me use, the fuck, I forgot what she had me use, go to her voice, no, she had me, no, run away, yeah, I can't find it, she.

No, I know.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, see, mean...

like Buzzsprout or something. Yeah, there's a bunch, man. But Riverside does the best at making sure it's all stitched together, in my opinion.

Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, she was saying, I forgot what the damn name is. her name. I forgot her friend's name.

Okay, that's pretty cool.

That's not good, brother. Well, let's just keep rolling, man. Let's just keep rolling with it, dude, and we'll figure out the rest later on. But I wanted to ask you Dave about your preparation for your shows man, because I know you talked about making sure that the jokes land and the jokes stick. How do you know when a joke is landing with your audience? Like what do you have to do to prepare the audience?

I would say that first you go to open mics or great you do open mics during I might run a joke at open mics open mics you might go and it might be anywhere between four to eight people on average to watch it

ahead of time, maybe it's like Instagram reels or whatever to prep them, but also like during the day, what do you do to make sure that those jokes land so you're successful?

Yep.

So you do the jokes in front of them. You do the jokes over and over. It depends on how many times you want to it. Everybody has their certain amount of time, but I might run a joke. If it's a new bit, I might run it five or six times at open mics maybe to feel like comfortable or like, okay, I'm gonna try it. But when you do it at open mics, nobody's laughing. People are looking at their phones. It's not like a show, but sometimes it's just like you're getting it out of your head and you're saying it. It's like your mouth is practicing saying the words.

Wow. Wow.

And then before, so I have a little bit of different, I used to go to open mic before, say a big show was like an eight o'clock on a Thursday night. I used to go to one or two open mics right before the show. So I go to open mic at like six o'clock and one at seven o'clock. And then I'll leave straight from the open mic to go do the show. So it's almost like, it's like batting practice kind of. And then, you know, getting warm up. And then I listened to, depends on my day, I usually listen to Confidence.

Yeah.

Right?

I see.

YouTube videos about confident and being confident because sometimes I get in my head you're like you'll think Or I'll think not everybody but I'll think sense like You're not funny. Nobody's gonna laugh at you. Nobody's gonna laugh. Nobody's you why would you like you don't know what there's all like white people there What if they don't get this joke what they don't what's it's all young people like your brain just starts going like and so you I listen to videos I'll sit and drive my car and listen to these like confidence pep talks like

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Like these like coaches who are like, come on, you're the best. Nobody can do it. You know, it's like, I listened to that. And then I'll, yeah. It's like, yeah. Yeah, get up motherfucker. It's like, this stuff is like, and so you listen to that. And then my little thing, sometimes I have to listen to an old show of people laughing. Sometimes I'll do that. Like I listen to old recording, cause you record most of your stats when you're doing comedy. So it's like, sometimes I'll listen to a show from two years ago.

Yeah. Yeah. You're like Tony Robbins in the back just yelling at you, bro.

Yeah.

and to see, like hearing people laughing a lot. I'm like, it puts me at ease a little bit. And then that's when, but you know, it's like nerves, you you still get that same nerves, but I still get nervous. But you're like, when you're doing new shit, you get nervous because you just don't know you like, I've done said I'm in front of like four people, the four people didn't laugh, but I still think it's funny. So I'm gonna try it. And now you're in front of 200 people or 180 people. And you're like, and you fumble through it and like,

I see.

Yeah.

or I fumbled through sometimes when I'm doing a new joke, I fumble, I fumble. And that's part of my process. I almost kind of have to like bomb a little bit for it to work the next time. I kind of have to have it not work in front of people. And that's hard sometimes, you got other comedians watching you, you got bookers watching, so you're like, you get in your head, but it's kind of part of my process. Like I kind of have to try it, fumble it, fuck up the words. People go, this guy.

Yeah.

Confident they're like but they don't know it people in the audience don't know you're doing a new joke that you just wrote You know three days ago, and they don't you're trying to memorize it. You're like wait Okay, the part where I talked about moving back to Seattle and then I at that I saved my mom you you're doing all stuff in your head while you're talking so you're like and Sometimes you fit you forget one sentence will change the whole joke and people won't get it you go Oh, I didn't I forgot to say the part about my car being red. Yeah, that's what I didn't get the

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Fire truck reference, like, you know, you go, Yeah, so that's kind of the process.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's wild, man. Over the last couple years, I've been doing a lot more public speaking just than talking about defense stuff and going to conventions and conferences. One of the things that I had learned is...

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

the audience doesn't know what you're gonna say. You're the only person that knows what you're gonna say. And it's up to you. Like if you fuck up, like you're the only person that knows that you fucked up, right? Cause they don't know the bit, they don't know what you're gonna say. But like.

Yeah. Yeah.

How do you get over that when you realize that maybe you missed something or like maybe you said something incorrectly? Are there things that you mentally do to sort of get over those hurdles?

Well, I think sometimes the comedy, or maybe in life, it depends, but I think comedy, you learn to like call it out. I forgot a that's why you guys won't get the rest of this. People will find that funny, like people will always find like vulnerability funny. know, like when you're like, you're like, this is, I missed a very important line that was gonna make you guys understand this slide. People will laugh at that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

it shows you're human and you forget sometimes everybody is already thinking I could never do what this person is doing like or be up there I would be losing my shit so so they're like it shows you're human you're like yeah I'm human I'm not perfect and I audience is much I think an audience is a lot like a baby like in the sense that when you speak to an audience they're going off you a lot like

Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah.

Like, you ever get a kid falls and you're like, maybe the mother like goes, my God, are you okay? Okay. And the kid goes, I'm gonna start crying. Cause I think mom is, I'm supposed to be crying right now. Like, you know, maybe the dad is like, you're right, get up, come on, get up, come on. And they're like, you ignore him? Kind of like get up. And they go, all right. Like, and so if you for jokes too, like you seem like, fuck, I fucked up. They go, he's not confident in this thing.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So I'm gonna not be confident. They're kind of feeding off you.

Yeah, no, I completely agree with that, man. I completely agree with that. One of the things I want to ask about is the types of material that you come up with, because I always wondered how comedians come up with their material. And I feel like there's certain types of jokes right now that you could tell, and it would almost always be funny, like maybe jokes around your race. If you're like an Asian comedian, you could talk about like,

Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm. Yeah, yeah.

Asian stereotypes, black comedian, black stereotypes. But I also feel like that's like the most basic form of those jokes. For you, like how do you elevate jokes so that you're maybe at that next tier of intellectual stimulation, but also like you look at like a Dave Chappelle, right? And he's probably one of the best to ever do it, if not the best. And his stuff is always

Mm-hmm.

Yeah

so on point you laugh but you also think about shit and you're like damn that made a lot of fucking sense right it's a reflection of society like how do you how do you interpret a lot of that and how do you sort of process that

Well, think, great question. I think that, first of all, you write most of your thoughts down. That's like common in comedy and comedians. You just have like, you just stop, you're in the middle of conversation, someone's at dinner, know, I'll be my friends, I'll be with friends that go, I'm so sorry, I gotta write that down. and I'll just like type, down two sentences. So, because I'm like, the comedy comes from real moments, real thoughts you have in your normal life, quote unquote.

Yeah.

for me at least. So it's like, I'm watching news and I'm like, I'll watch like, I don't know, I ran, the bombing I ran, I'll watch the news. I was watching news for hours and I was half thoughts. Like, it's like, I'm like, this is kind of stupid. Why would they, know, why would they, and I'm like, maybe there's something there. Then I go to, once I get the thought, I'll go to an open mic. But the low hanging fruit, the low hanging fruit, sometimes you, to be honest with you, in LA, which is the positive about LA, you'll kind of get peer pressure.

Right.

Right.

by the other comedians and the audience to not do that stuff. So it of elevates you. Cause they'll be like, you'll do a joke that's like kind of hacky or like, black people, black, I don't know, white churches versus black churches. know, black church, never gonna get, you know, whatever, you know. So you'll do a joke like that. even if the audience laughs, sometimes you get off stage and your comedian friends who are like, you're better than that. That's whack. Even though, even though.

really?

Yeah. Right, right.

Even though they got laughs, they'll be like, ugh, ugh, you did that joke. They're disgusting. Like, did something so fucking basic, they're like, ugh. But the crowd might be like, oh my god, that was a great joke. And they're like, if you're like, the crowd liked it, you're like, they're idiots. Don't listen to them. You know, because comedians will often look at the crowd like idiots. They're like, they don't know comedy. You know comedy. They don't know shit.

man.

Yeah.

So we're like, sometimes there'll be a little bit of hate sometimes in a fun way of like, if somebody's doing hacky jokes and the crowd's too ill-informed or uninformed to know it's even an old joke. Sometimes people, comedians do a joke and you'll be sitting in the crowd like, that's a joke from like 98, so-and-so did that joke. know, some comic did that joke we all know, but the crowd's like, I'm a nine to fiver, I work at IRS, I work at DMV, I don't know, what the fuck? It's just funny.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll be sitting like, know, like it's like and that's the kind of interesting about anything in life if you're Whatever profession you're in you you're gonna have a certain amount of knowledge more than the average person, you know, it's somebody like I might do something like man, I got so great at defense or whatever and you go fucking whack you like that that was like the most basic ass leg and they're like, I thought he was great

Yeah. Yeah.

You know you're here.

Yeah. Yep.

Oh man, I mean, how much of that pressure affects a comedian, right? Like you feel like you wanna connect with the crowd, but you also have this peer pressure to do things maybe outside of that. is that a big deal for you guys?

Yeah, it depends on the person, but yeah, it's like, sometimes you're performing for the comics in the back of the room more than the crowd. know, sometimes, like, because the comics are hanging out, five comics hanging out in the back, you want to make them sometimes, which I don't know if it's right, sometimes you're doing the show more for them than you are for the hundred people in front of them. Because you're like, sometimes you might do a joke that bombs, but the comics in the back are laughing.

Okay.

They know the levels to it. They know like that's funny Like you know that like cuz they're seeing it in this like matrix kind of way where the crowd is not it's like over their head But they might bomb they go. That's hilarious. Love that like, you know, they might say from the back and you Know the crowds like I don't get the shit Yeah, but it wants like you

Really?

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do a hap- Speaking of the crowd, Dave, how much of your bit do you change depending on where you're doing the show? If you're in Lincoln versus you're in Tampa or Austin or somewhere in Arkansas, how much do you change that material?

Yeah, yeah. You. Don't you don't change it very much like you might I might change the opener switch opener around unless it's like, but that's always the kind of the also the. The struggle, not struggle, but the the. I guess the part you try to. You're trying to basically get a joke that everybody likes. You know that's the goal you're trying to get.

Mm.

Why people like it? Why people... You're trying to get this universal joke in a sense. But I mean, it's almost impossible. So you're trying to do a show. like... Every show you do is like a focus group. It's like, okay. You'll be on stage and even though I'm like looking at stage, most comedians are clocking it. You're like, okay, I did this joke. Everybody's laughing. The old white ladies hate this joke. Okay, okay, cool. Keep that in my head. But then next time you do a show, after you get off stage, you might be like...

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

fuck, women, older white women hate this joke. And then when you think about it, one of your friends might be like, yeah, because you say bitch, you call your mom a bitch in the thing. And you go, So then next time you do the joke, you might say, mom, it's so difficult. And then they're like, it's palatable. So you keep doing little things like that, like changing a word. Okay, when I say this, that makes people feel a certain way. I'm making fun of somebody. Like a lot of comments will.

Yep.

Make up a lie to get off a really rude thought like a really bad like if I have a joke about Cancer somebody having cancer you can't you can't just talk about you can't just say that so then you might sometimes got people like yeah, my uncle has cancer Yeah, he's dealing with it. But above that way now you're in you put yourself in the group in some ways Because I mean you're outside the group people go You're fucking what you're an asshole like you so a lot of comedians like

Right.

Yeah, like you got a homeless joke you might say yeah, I used to be homeless I was homeless for two years into that now everybody goes. Oh, okay now you can talk about this group or you or you say a lot of comics would do you know my brother they think somebody in their family like you know my dad I'm sorry my dad my dad's an asshole or my brother's an asshole and he thinks he thinks with cancer and they go oh I know it's not me is him and then but it's a lot and they put it off on us like

Right.

Yeah. Yeah.

You know, you know my friend walked up and told me he says I think all black people should die and whatever you like You like they go. Ooh, you're like I just say it you like he said So you little kind of get off these thoughts and like, know, so you can it's like a little bit of mind manipulation a little bit

Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's fascinating to me, man. The thing that I find really intriguing is, you had talked about the focus groups and adjusting your bit to make sure that you're landing with as many people in the focus groups as possible. I always wonder, there are certain comedians that get certain audiences like a Joe Coy, bro. A thousand Filipinos will be at Jokoi. A thousand Hawaiians will be at Jokoi, right? Kat Williams, Vonn, they all have like their certain groups. Like at what point do you know you're like, that's my group, that's my people and I'm gonna tell jokes for those people.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, I haven't gotten there yet, but I know that takes a while. Like, you basically just get them start collecting like, like Pokemon or something. You get them like, start getting them like one at a time. You know, it's like, just like, you get people, two people, like, hey, I'm a fan of yours. When's your next show? And just like that. Just keeps slowly growing. Those guys have been doing it for 20 something years, you know, like 20, 30 years, 20 to 30 years, probably. And so it's like over that time.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

You just slowly build up following life. Cause you have a good time next time you go somebody says, oh, I had a really good time with Joe Coy. I have two friends who are in town. Hey, do you guys want to see Joe Coy? Really, you know, it's almost like you want to show people your new like, your new like, you know, shiny toy kind of thing. You're like, oh, come check him out. He's really great. But I know, I know Coy's been at that for a long time. Like I know he's been like just crying and crying. But also too, there is an element.

Right?

Yeah.

Yep.

of certain cultures or races who kind of have, you can have, easy, definitely not easy at all, but like you can have like an audience easier. Cause these people don't have a voice. don't have a hundred, like black people have like fucking, excuse my language, like they have 200 comics, 200 black comics who speak their voice or speak for them. But if you're a,

Yeah.

in person, how many, how many comics do you have that are speaking your perspective, speaking about your mother and your father and what it's like to be in that family structure and you know, that kind of stuff. when he comes along who's like that, you know, people are like, shit, there's like a, there's a Filipino dude who's doing comics. Like we're going to see this dude. my sheet. He's talking about the things and like we feel comfortable because everybody wants to be, I think everybody wants.

Right.

somebody to tell their story or speak from their side, know, speak to their lifestyle, speak to their culture, speak to, you know, it feels nice when you're looking at like, talks about like, oh man, you you remember your mom used to do this to you when you little, and it's like, it feels like home, you're like, oh, finally, especially, I can imagine some cultures like not have a voice, like Middle Eastern people, know, save your Middle Eastern. How many comics are there, comedians, like there's a guy named Mirkay who's super funny.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he but like him like he he so not that even he actually doesn't speak about that stuff, but it's just like I think it's nice to see somebody looks like you on stage. You know, like.

Right.

Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. Dave, you talked about the grind. I wanna get into the grind a little bit, brother, because I'm sure there's a lot that happens behind the scenes, but you've done shows at Laundromats, you've done shows.

Yeah, yeah.

for free, you've driven down to San Diego for six minutes and haven't gotten paid. Like, what do you tell yourself when you're doing those things, man? Like, what's going on in your head?

Just, you're just kind of like, you know, because I think when you finally get on stage, it's such an adrenaline boost. It's almost like, it's like a drug, you you're like, it's almost like, say you're like, it's a heroin act or something, would guess like, somebody's, you drive down to San Diego, you can get a hit. And you're like, fuck, I can't get it up here. You're like, fuck it, all right, let me get on the, let me go to Fullerton or Fresno. Fresno, yeah, get up, and somebody says,

Right?

Right.

Hey, if you drive to Fresno tonight, you can get up for 25 minutes. I'll let you talk for 30 minutes. You know, you're like, really? And they're like, I'll let you talk for 30 minutes. And you're like, in LA, you can't do that. There's not no stage time. you're like, oh man, all my new jokes and like, I can like talk about this thing and like, expand on this thing. it's that the temptation of that is just like so, so strong, but it's hard sometimes, you know, like the hardest part is that when you're

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you don't have blinders on, like looking at your peers, looking at like your date, the wrong quote unquote wrong girl or wrong person who's like, I want this, I want above above. I need this kind of lifestyle, but you know, like whatever their things are. Sometimes you can't do that stuff. like, you're like, damn it. Like, but I just, this like this dream thing I want to do. I can't, this person is going to get me off track if I started like trying to live their life, what they want, you know, because it's what I've learned in life.

Yep. Yep.

is that, or I think, everybody wants to go, wants to go and wants to, you know, you're from point A to point B to point C, right? You're going from point A to point C, But I realize nobody, just the way humans are designed, nobody really wants to see you at B. But when you get to C, they're fucking, you went through B, fucking great, man. But when you're at B, no, everybody's like scared for your life. like, what are you gonna do, man? You're at B.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Right.

You're at B, you're like, you don't have money, you don't live it at all, you're not paying this, you're at B. But as soon as you get to C, B becomes cool. Man, that's so cool you did, and you lived in your car for a year? I did do that, but they're like, and then it becomes, when you become successful, like, what a great story. But when you're in your car, nobody, everybody's like, hey man, I Yeah.

Right.

Right.

Yeah, nobody wants to see the grind, man. The dirty ass work that's involved with doing those things, that's hard. Nobody wants to see that, man. I mean, I would even argue, like, in some ways, your family doesn't even want to see that, right? They want you to take the easiest path to whatever success looks like. And it's not sexy, and it doesn't sell tickets, but it's part of the journey. You know what saying?

Yeah.

Yeah. Yes. It's like, you know, I see so many celebrity or successful people's like parents and they go, well, then it's funny on the red carpet and they go, well, thankfully he didn't listen to me. know, like, thankfully he didn't listen to me. Like she didn't listen to me. It's like you were telling them to stop. Don't do this. When you become successful, like, what? Why? You know, it's like everybody laughs it off.

right here.

I'm like, but sometimes that can break people where you like, you know, your mom or girlfriend or wife or your husband or something like telling something every day, you know, you could be like, fuck nobody. Okay, maybe they are right. Maybe because you're gonna have weak moments. We've always told somebody it's like you're gonna have weak moments, but I always say it's very important to know who you keep in your in life. It's very important who you go to bed with at night if you go to bed with anyone because they will

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

catch you at your weakest. I don't give a fuck. Whatever you do, at some point in your life, you are going to go to get in bed and be at a weak mental place for whatever something going on in your life. And if the person you're going to bed with isn't a person going to hype you up, make you feel better, encourage you, if their person is negative and they go, yeah, you know what, you should stop that thing. You know what? Yeah, you are shit. Yeah, you're right. You should like back in like really messy, but they write.

Yep. Yep.

Which I, know, right person in your ear can be like, no, babe, you got this. Like, get some sleep, I believe in you, let's, no, tomorrow, da da, you know, like, you're like, okay, yeah, I think you need that. So, especially in comedy or anything in life, you need the person who's like, you know your partner needs a boost. You're like, hey, I got you, da da da, like, that's where you're supposed to, you know, pick each other up, I think. So, I think in comedy is very, just like in life, very important.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

I find that so fascinating brother because like there's a threshold between resilient and insanity. You know what I'm saying? like that threshold is just so slim. Like especially for somebody in the entertainment business because you could probably have days where you're not like when you're bad at your job.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

you're gonna hear about it from the fans or whoever and it's not like you're at an office where you missed the meeting and all of a sudden, know, it's fine, right? Like the magnifying glass on people in the entertainment industry is significantly higher. How do you like mentally get over that? Because I mean, I could imagine if you're driving three hours to do a five minute show, you bombed that show, you drive it back home.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, you you scream in your car a lot of times. I like, you're like, I've had times where I bombed at a comedy club. And you just feel like you just feel terrible when it goes bad, when it goes real bad. It's like, and I just remember you walk out to you like, all right, you tell everybody, all right, see you guys have a good night. Have good night. You know, you walk out of the comedy club, the crowd still there.

you didn't get paid, like all these things are just stacking up. How do you push to do that, man?

Yeah, alright.

getting in my car and just closing the door and be like...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And like, you know, you get it out and you're like, and then the comic walked by and was laughing at me. He's like, he's been there. I know that, I know that. And you're like, sorry, sorry. I just have to get that out, sorry. And it's like, you're a, but you, the only way you can get, you gotta keep getting on stage. You gotta go back, like, recover. But it's hard when you don't have a show for a while. You gotta think about it. You think about the bomb.

Yeah, yeah.

You

man.

You know, and if you're not... Yeah, it's the worst, especially when comics are there. Your peers, when you're not confident, your peers don't know you're funny kind of thing, and they are looking at you a certain kind of way. You get off stage and nobody says, like, good set. They're kind of like... They kind of know, like, you know you did bad. I know you did bad. And you must leave the comedy club soon. You like leave ASAP. You just don't want to sit in the embarrassment of like...

Yeah.

Yeah, it's just sitting with you.

Yeah.

But yeah, think it's, you keep going on and you just keep getting up. But once you get to a certain point, you start being proud of the bomb. You're like, I can't, somebody says, how'd you do? And you go, I ate shit. That happens. Like, you know, it's part of the game. Like, yeah, I had it back in, whatever. It's like, who cares? But it can eat you up a little bit. If it's a big show or you're like an important night and you have a bad set, like I know a comic who had a bad set on a

Yeah.

on a late night show, you know, the person, the comic bombed apparently and like, so, you you're waiting to get on Jimmy Fallon, you're waiting to get on, you know, all these other shows and all of a you get on Conan and just think about that, your agent's there, you're fighting to your parents and you get on there and you bomb. You got five minutes and you bomb. It's like, that can be, that could feel like the whole world, that, cause that can feel like that was your shot. And you're like, and so.

Right.

Yeah, that can be tough. I don't know. I haven't had that part, you know, mental health is big and comedy, or the need for it at least.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's, I mean, the thing about it is, you know, there's the ability to have the confidence to do that, but the ability to bounce back, feel like you, that in and of itself is...

Mm-hmm.

significantly harder because you are not starting off at like a blank slate you're starting off at a deficit and to be able to get up there again and do it man like there's a certain amount of I wouldn't call it insane but just like the the ability to just tell yourself dude like you're getting you're getting back up there you're doing the shit and nobody's gonna stop you right like and that to me is so fascinating

Yeah, you gotta be delusional a little bit, you know, you just like fuck you know, you're like it was a crowd It wasn't me like that. They just don't understand my like you just blame it blame them You're like where you say alright, I'm gonna fix this fix that and that's kind of exciting though is also like it's The excitement of like gambling, you know, like like rolling a roulette like you go craps and you go somebody goes Alright, here's another hunter you go. All right, fuck it.

Right?

Right, yeah, yeah.

Like, you know, it's like this, like, I think sometimes comedies like that, like, every time you get on stage is like, on the, a roulette, roulette wheel, and you're like, fuck, all right. You forget to lose the losses when you get a W. You go, yes. And it feels like, you have a good set. It's like the best high, like, you know, it's the best feeling ever. You feel like, my ex-girlfriend would always be like, I'd stay up till three o'clock, not three o'clock, but like two o'clock. So I was like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right? Yep.

Just why or she's like, you okay? I'm like, yeah, let's go do something. like, you know, if you get off one of the people, you're just like, I just got an energy to me. Like I want to go like run, you know. But yeah, so, yeah, no, no, I think it's, everybody has a coping ways, but I think after a while you start going, I start going to mics, mics make you, if you get on stage again, it's like, it's like getting another shot up. You forget about the last shot. I want you to get another, and you realize everybody's experiencing it too. You know, every,

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, for sure. For sure.

comedian is also going through the same or has gone. There's no comedian who hasn't bombed. Everybody knows what it's like. So you like there's solace in that. You're like, okay, everybody in this room is a comic knows what it's like to bomb when you're not when you're having a bad night. this is it. And then veteran comics will tell you just part of the game. go, you'll be all right. Part of the game.

Yeah. I mean, how do you, Dave, how do you know, how do you know when you're, you're being successful? Cause like in the corporate world, right? Like you're getting promoted. You're like a junior designer, then you're a designer, then a senior designer, a director. And it's like pretty clear cut. Like, okay, I'm doing pretty good. I'm getting promoted. But like in your industry with what you do, how do you know that you're, you're actually like being successful as a comedian?

Mm. Mm.

Mm.

You know Just we everybody has their own benchmarks, but it's kind of for us. It's like the shows you get on the like the caliber of shows you get on and Medians who you're up with, you know, like all sudden you gonna show you're like, it's a good it's a good sign You're like the worst person on the show. We like and I'm on it with like a dang cooking Nikki Glaser and Theo Vaughn and

I see.

Blah blah blah blah you're like damn and then Dave Chappelle dropped in and I'm gonna I'm on the show with them like I did I did ten minutes on the same show that they're doing ten fifteen minutes or fifteen minutes you're like and then so that's like kind of like the Some some comedian told me a great thing. He's like It's a marathon. mean comedy is very much. He's like every time you get a show you're on or like a little like TV thing like a writing job he's like it's just

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

somebody handing you a cup of water. Each thing is like somebody handing you a cup of water on this marathon. And you take the water, it lets you go, the water allows you to go a little bit further. He's like, so in life, he's like, there's a lot of cups of water in life. And you just use that and continue to run. He's like, you just notice the cups of water and then, okay, great. That's better than I was doing five years ago, you cause you get.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

You have to remember as a comic sometimes you're like, I started off knowing no one, going to an open mic at a coffee shop and I only had 30 seconds of what to talk about. Like I had one minute of things I wrote down or thoughts that weren't funny in a coffee shop and I didn't know anybody in this thing. And now you're like, now I'm like on the road at Zanies in Chicago or in the front of 150 people, you know, in another state. I'm like, wow. Crazy, now they're listening to you do 20 minutes or 25 minutes or whatever. I saw Anthony Williams came to the show when I did Chicago. I don't if you remember Anthony Williams. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Great. Great.

Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ant Man. Ant Man's doing some pretty amazing things, dude. The guy's, last I heard, well, first of all, he's significantly smarter than both you and I. so shout out to Ant. God. Murph, I wanna talk a little bit about your...

Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's great.

writing work and your commercials man like you know I think did you do you start off just doing comedy and then you branch into the commercial work or was it the other way around?

Well, yeah, I started doing commercials. That was when I first got out of college and like, I was, yeah, I did commercials. That was like pretty easy. kind of like, it's kind of a face lottery. Just be smiley and hopefully you have times where, you know, people like you. So that was kind of how that worked. and then what was it? And then we said writing or what'd you say? Writing. once you do a comp, writing is kind of a natural

Yeah.

a segue, I guess, from comedy, because you're writing so much for jokes and stories. So you kind of start knowing jokes, story structure a little bit better than the average person, because you're doing it even though you don't realize you're doing it all the time when you're writing jokes. So a lot of people pluck comedians to write on shows and stuff, know, like, or, or like a TV show will often hire comedian writers or like, so sometimes you have friends who

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Comedian who's a writer on this show and then they bring in their bread buddies. They go. Hey, I'm writing I'm writing on willing. I'm writing on Will and Grace. Do you you want to you want to submit a packet and then like and so like even if you don't Know how to write write quote-unquote for like a sitcom. They might hire you just to like do the jokes He states like on the script they might say hey do you kind of call punch it up you might say oh like just go to the script and punch it up. you could do that all, your comedy, could do that all day. Like, this would be funnier if she said this. Funnier if he said this. She says this, he says this, he's, know, like you, cause your brain just works like that. So though sometimes they'll have normal, normal writers and they'll have normal writers and they will have a couple of comedians. So, you know, they might have 10 writers, eight writers in the room, then like two comedians who like just punch up and they go, Hey, we need something funny here.

Mmm.

Right.

And they go, all right, what if he said blah, blah, blah, and this happened? Because your brain's always thinking like that. So they'll kind of marry you, too, sometimes. So you might try to understand that. Yeah.

I see.

Yep. Yeah.

That's so fascinating, dude. How do you prepare for a career or a job like that where you're getting paid for that? Because I feel like, man, that would be an awesome gig just all the way around, right? You're just looking at stuff and you're trying to make it funnier or punchier. That sounds amazing to me.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's really cool when it happens. It's like, you know, I got to work on some stuff or punch I had to punch ups for Fairly Brothers for a project couple couple projects and Well, like it was more just like validation like you feel like okay specialized, know, that's what they felt it felt good because it felt like you specialize in something Like you feel like like like you're a higher gun for something, you know, like people okay, okay these

Yeah.

Guys are the funny guys. like, all right, and you, and you might be some guy who went to school and writes with a little bit these, like, I can't think of funny stuff like you can. And you might, but you, all these years, you know, you don't, where you're struggling, quote unquote, you're kind of paying your dues and like getting better. It's like being an apprentice or like, so you get your practicing jokes, right? Now somebody told me to write 10 jokes about a subject, it'd be much easier than probably the average person.

okay.

Right.

Right. Right.

So I say, hey, look at the read this news story and find out 10 jokes about it. And I could probably do that easier than the most average person. Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah, mean like what I was doing research on is you, your work with the Fairleigh brothers, you just wrapped up your second season as the co-head writer on Churchy, right? And so how do you benchmark?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

what's gonna land or not when you're writing these jokes. Is there a certain methodology that you use to make sure that whatever gets produced from your writing is effectively communicating what you want?

No, no, not really like you write that you write it in a vacuum and you're like, this is really funny to me. And you just hope for the best when you get to set in like, and then you, but we'll also like, this is funny as fuck to me. But so what you do sometimes is like, you'll have what they call alts like alternative lines. So I might have, I might do alts for, you know, like, all right, the punch line for this one is like,

Right, right.

You're just praying. Just praying, bro.

It's in her car. I don't know, whatever. And then, so I might, I don't know about this in her car, I don't know this can hit. So I might say, what if she says it's in the bottom of her fridge or it's in dog's, dog house, whatever, I don't know. So you might have alts, write those in the script. Like you have alts. So that way you already know kind of which ones it may not hit. And you go, all right, I got three alts for that. Use one of the alts. And if that still doesn't work,

Yeah.

Mm. Right.

Right.

Maybe the actors know something or the other writers or something like, you but yeah, so that's kind of, that's only way you really know you don't know sometimes you do it and you don't know until it gets on TV. You're like, this is funny. We all thought it was funny. And then you might get on TV and people go, I fucking hated that joke about the dog in the house. You're like, shit. It was funny. Like it was funny to us on set. But you're like, there's no way.

wow.

playing for America, know, you're like, shit, people are like uptight, moms, old mom watches it and she's watching like you wrote the shit exactly for her and a 25 year old kid is watching like you wrote it exactly for him. And you like, so you're like, you're like, bro, I don't know either of you. Like, I'm just writing, but people will get online and go, I didn't like the joke about the, I found that the fence. you're like, bro, do you understand you're trying to write for hundreds of thousands of people? Like it's like not everybody's gonna like.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Dang.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah, I mean it's just like trying to write a book and trying to have it be accessible to everybody. You're never gonna get to that point unless you're like a Harry Potter or something like that, right? Where it's like a majority of the people love your shit that you're writing. Of the three things that you do right now, what do you enjoy most doing?

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Writing is kind of the hardest to get people to read and stuff, but it feels like the most creative. Right now, feel like writing is the most enjoyment of watching somebody say a joke you wrote, and then it'd be funny. That's like the pretty... Yeah. But think now, that came with time though before. I think as I got older, wanting to be more behind the camera is cooler to me.

really? Really? More than you saying it? Wow.

The thought of being on a backpack and fucking shorts and sneakers is a much, and being at craft services hanging out is better than stressing out as the actor and like trying to learn lines and like, you know, like stressing like, fuck, I can't remember this monologue. Like, cause I can write the monologue and walk away from it. I don't have to memorize it. I'm like, well, your problem now. Here you go. Like, cause sometimes in the morning for scenes we have to drop, you have to drop off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

At night in the morning, everything's running last second on shows. so sometimes you might change a scene at night. Like the actor's learning his lines at M and at 10, 10.30, you get a phone call saying, yo, we can't do scene three because we couldn't get the truck and we got to change it. And the head person doesn't want the scene with the truck. So we got to write a new scene and they need the monologue. So you write it all night, you you turn it in, you might write it, turn it in at.

Yeah.

2 p.m. or something to the head writer or something and then And in the morning the actor finds out when he everything moving so much that eight o'clock comes I got eight o'clock call time. You're not going to trailer. They're learning their lines You know, hey, here's new lines for your scene that starts in the hour and they go what you like Yeah, we had changed last night. What do you mean? You changed last night? Yeah, we can't do the truck scene. That's like no-go So all this shit you learned last night. It's out of here

Mm-hmm.

Now this is your new scene and you're gonna be on camera in an hour. Good luck. you know, so that happens. And like, it's really shitty for an actor, but that's just the way it is. you might, as a, you might watch on TV theoretically and go, man, this guy's not as good as that. This is his scene. And you have no idea, like, got the sides late or he got the, you will never know. You'll think, this guy's just not that, he's not strong in this. I don't like this scene. You don't know, he's got the scene.

Wow.

Wow. Wow.

Yeah.

two hours before or an hour before and he learned a whole other scene. It's all the stuff you'll never know. just go, you might get on Twitter and go, this guy sucks.

Mm. Mm.

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's just a bunch of stuff happening all at one time, all towards the end where it has to come together in some way. Do you feel offended if people deviate from your writing? What's your reaction when people don't stick to it?

No, no, no, no, because I think sometimes in the moment you're gonna find stuff in the character and if some people are funny yours like bro, you're funnier than I can even write because you can you you won't be able to write like people talk exactly, know, like so something like improv something is gonna come out more naturally than like, know the umbs and the odds and the just topics or you know, like because sometimes you're I remember One of the Fairly Brothers was telling saying this really great point. He said

Right.

You have to remember as a writer, you are trying to write, let's say you're writing a TV episode, you're trying to write for, you could be a black guy like myself, trying to write for an Asian woman, a Middle Eastern man, a white young 11 year old, a black teen. You're trying to write for all these voices. I don't fucking know everything like what a woman would say in this situation. So you're guessing sometimes, and that's why it's important to have diverse, I think, writer rooms, because you need, because sometimes you might be in a room and go, black, I wouldn't really say that in that situation. You would never talk like that. And they go, really? You go, yeah, yeah, you just wouldn't, you wouldn't do that. And they go, well, you know, so then they want to make it sound as authentic as possible, but that happens sometimes where you go, a woman might, they might, a guy writes something about a woman, like, yo, like your guy might write something like,

Yeah. Yeah.

Yo bitch, what's up with your period or something? And the woman might go, I never talked to my girlfriend and said something like that. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no shit. I mean there's a certain level of authenticity that you need to translate from the stuff that's actually happening in the real world to whatever that show or that skit is. Like do you do a ton of homework or research before you start writing things? Like what is the process there?

Mmm.

Yeah, it's a little bit not crazy, but I only wrote written something the other stuff I written it was just things I Made up so it wasn't like, you know, like about my brother right? I let pilots and stuff like about my brother or stuff already know, you know, I've never had to write anything crazy where I had to research and like Find this, you know all this stuff Aside from like talking like I was writing something about my dad and I just talked him on the

Right.

Like when you're in the army, like what happened? Like what would you guys eat and what would you guys say? And he would just be like talking to me and I would go, okay, that can be funny if I said this, but it's more just like talk, like interviewing him like, okay, where'd you guys go clubbing at? Did you guys go clubbing? Did you guys go eat after you go clubbing? Like just getting stuff like that. it's like, like from writing something that happens in the seventies and he tells me everything like, oh, you know, in the seventies it was like this and then this would happen and we would go do this and this song was out. And that's kind of like the research.

Right.

I've done in terms of for that. But I haven't done anything officially. I to research crazy.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, okay. I mean that makes a lot of sense to me, you know, it's it's one of those things where I feel like the ability to be a good writer is so critical to being able to tell the story well and You know, there's something to be said about being able to tap into whatever it is that you want to like convey through your writing Are there things that like happen or are there like?

Mm.

certain people that you've encountered that have maybe changed up how you write and how you tell these stories with your words.

I'm sure... me see, like... I'm trying to think, like... Just like in terms of like, nah, I can't think of anybody off top. I'm sure there is someone, but I think kind of like my natural, like, I've always had a gift of like, my mom always says, my mother always says, I've always had a gift of lying. So she's like, she's my mom. My mom's like, you've always been a good liar. Like, know, when I'm joking around, not lying, like not lying when it matters, but like when I'm like, hey,

Alright.

Yeah, your friend Joe called you last night. Is it an issue? But I have a whole story and she's like wait what I mean, I'm just playing I was playing like how do you lie so well like you make it up so many details Like he's like you wise that attack that so thank God I can always just

Yeah.

You

Yeah.

Ugh. Yeah, it's that art of storytelling, right? It's like outcasts, you know what I'm saying? The art of storytelling is such a powerful craft if you can do it well, because it really gets people into your head about the thing that you want to tell them. I do want to ask, you you described comedy...

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. As far as the struggle and the getting in your head sometimes, sometimes this thing that's supposed to be really fun, you make it a science and then make it into science makes it not. Sometimes you're like trying to figure out the words and like, damn, what words should I change? Should I put a space in between that word? And like, you start overthinking it so much, you really enjoy it. It's like torture sometimes. You're like, I can never.

And this was like in my research, but you describe comedy as a beautiful torture sometimes What's the torture about it?

Yeah.

I'm not sure, but it's gonna be really hard probably for rest of my life for me to enjoy the same as a normal person. Or like I used to be able to. Because once you're in it, you start analyzing everything. You're just looking at everything like the nooks and crannies of the car instead of just enjoying how fast it goes. You're like, So you can't, every joke I'm listening to, I'm on some level, breaking it apart.

Yeah.

Right.

I'm like, oh yeah, he's gonna do a reversal here. That's a lie about his mom. That never happened. You know, you just do it full time in your head. you're like, uh, that was a good callback. I don't like that. He shouldn't done that. He's better than that. You know, or she's at like, you just doing that. You're like, oh, I've heard that joke 20 years ago. That's an old joke. You know, like that premise is really old. Or they do a race, race jokes and you're like, ah, low hanging fruit. That's kind of whack. Like, you know, like, but a crowd might go, oh my God, you might be doing a crowd and they go.

Right, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You might go to Europe and they might think you're doing a black white joke or Asian joke might be the funniest shit they've ever heard in their life. You're like, man, that's so funny. Because you forget they haven't heard as much comedy. their ears are kind of younger. Their brains, so they can... I've heard about this. If you're a comic and you went to Europe or somewhere, you could be recycling a whole bunch of shit from the 80s and 90s and they'd have no...

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

They might think you were fucking a second coming the second coming to Jesus. They might be like, my God, this guy is so funny. He's originally. He's like, you can be doing spell jokes, all kinds of stuff.

Good! Yeah.

Yeah, Goonie, you do Goonie Goo Goo. They're like, my God, Goonie Goo Goo is the funniest thing I've ever heard. You're like, it's the biggest Eddie Murphy joke ever. They have no clue. There's like, God, this guy's so funny. It's like. Yeah.

Damn, you're pulling out the Eddie Murphy raw skits. They never heard that before. Yeah.

God.

Okay?

I know. That's hilarious, man. That's hilarious. Dave, I've got two more questions for you, my friend, and then I'll let you go. But the question I have is about your parents and them coming to your show. You know, your mom has never come to your show because she thinks that you talk about her too much. And your dad has come to a few.

Mm. Mm.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

And I'll tell you just from a personal experience, like, I know my parents have probably never seen me speak. And I know even like in my family, they probably don't watch this podcast because they probably don't, you know, they're like, I hear you talk every day. Why don't I to hear you talk some more? But what does that mean to you, man? Like, what does that what does them sort of like being at that arms distance mean to you?

I think it's, I think I kind of like it because it gives separation because I get so shy. I'm just starting to get better, more comfortable. And I've always been very shy around my parents about doing, being funny or saying something in a sense. I have this weird thing where I'm like, which is where I'm doing comedy, but I feel really weird with my parents and family. if I'm doing something that says like, look at me, watch me do this. Like, feel like it makes me feel like uncomfortable. And so I like that my dad, mean, now they're on my damn Instagram, which sucks, but not that, but like, now it's like, now he's gotten good, but I told him, I'm like, don't ask me about Instagram stuff. just, he does it sometimes, but like, I don't want to be answering to like, Hey, I saw that joke you did that you posted today about the, you know, like, yeah, yeah, you know, I'm like, just don't bring it up. I just don't wanna, but so it's nice to like have separation. Like when I go hang out with them, they just have no idea about, you know, that's what kind of nice, but sometimes you hang out with people and stuff like, and they're my friends, it's like in a loving way, but sometimes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A natural thing is people are like, oh, you do comedy. Do you know a joke? And the common question, sometimes it's nice to be around people who don't ask you about it, in a sense, not in a bad way, it's like, oh, like, I liked, like most comics, your dream show, I think most comics is where you don't know anyone. Those are the best shows. You walk on stage. It's crowd who's like a fuck, I don't know, anybody in the crowd, I can go do my thing and go home. Sometimes it's hard when you go and it's like your friends are there from high school, you know, whatever, and you're just like, you gotta hang out after you gotta do the questions and do the same, know, like for them, they might come to support you and they'd be like, man, haven't, you know, my wife and my work are one night out. And sometimes you're like, it's just like a job for me. I'm like, I'll do, I've done shows sometimes.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, and like forgot that people have come to see me and I just go home You know I Because go home you just like I'm so used to going in do my spot and they text you hey Murph Where you at? We were at the bar. I'm like, oh I'm so sorry. I'm at home, bro. I Like I got off stage and home And like you're like, oh and for them it's like a Friday night like oh, we're out we're one thing, you know, we're gonna go grab drinks and do that like

dang. Yeah.

man, I'm so sorry, just like a normal night for me.

God.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's cool. My dad came. Yeah, my dad He came to a show the I think first or second show and he was like, I think my dad was like, yeah He's like man. You're people like you people laugh. I was he was surprising and I looked at my dad It was a couple minutes after the show people, know saying hey congratulations all this stuff, know in the lobby and And I looked around and my dad was gone. I'm like, I was like, don't have a beer with my dad like chill, know, and I'm like I

Yeah. dang, man.

I call him, I'm like, hey, my dad, where you at, leave? He goes, oh yeah, yeah, man, I left. He's like, I was like, why? And he goes, I just didn't want people to ask me if that stuff was true you were saying about me. He's like, I didn't wanna let everybody know you're lying about some of this stuff. He's like, I don't wanna mess with your thing. Yeah, he's like, I don't want people to start asking me. Wait, did you really do that to him when he was little? He's like, I don't want that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

shit. That's hilarious.

at the house. Yeah.

God, that is so funny, man. I've always wondered if like, if everything that they said was true, especially, you know, some comedians use certain people like their uncles consistently or their aunts consistently. so now I know that it's maybe not always true.

Mm.

It's like kind of like somebody says it's a kind of base in truth like the second I saw a comedian say great analogy like it's like a tree like a tree tree house or something like that like the the part of jokes that the tree trunk but then when it gets up to the house in the wood and shit is like then it starts like to it starts making it your own like you like like did I Get into an accident yesterday or last week. Yes, I got in a car accident

Yeah.

But did the ladies say fuck you and all this stuff? Maybe no. But the event happened. The event thing happened. But then you start to veer off and make it like add little sprinkles to it to make it better. Because most things in people's lives are mundane. Lewis CK, and he was saying that every time he talks about a conversation he has with somebody, he's like, you know, I'm sitting next to a lady on the bus and she said,

yeah, for sure.

you know, XYZ, he's like, it's all made up. It's always just me with that thought. He's like, he said, nobody fucking speaks to me on a plane. Nobody says, hey, do you ever wonder about like the satellites and like, he said, nobody has, nobody's talking to me like that. but I have to do that so I, so I don't seem like it's such an asshole. I may get somebody else having to like, hey, did you ever notice the cell phones? you know, and that's like the kind thing.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. man, that's freaking hilarious dude. I never knew that man. Now I'm gonna like listen to comedy in a much different way. So thank you for fucking that up dude. I appreciate that. god. Alright Murph, last question for you my friend. Last question. So if you, if the version of you sitting...

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'll ruin you.

in an insurance office in 2013 could see your calendar today or next month, what would surprise him most?

Next month, how free I am, how free the future version of me is in terms of can go anywhere, like looking up tickets to Bali, like just the, because I was in such an opposite place, I was like so tied in like two weeks vacation per year, you know, the whole nine to five, I just stopped buying into the matrix, like, I don't know, I feel like,

Yeah.

I would be happy that I created the life I wanted. I never wanted to chase the money. The money was never like, I was like, know what, I'm not fucking doing anything at all costs. I had a roommate in college and he was in college and he told me, he was like, I'll do, he's like, I'm gonna be a millionaire, I'm gonna do anything, you know, like in the business world, like do anything. And I was like, I can't man, I just can't. was like, I money.

Yep.

Right.

Yeah.

and I wish I had a lot of it, but I'm like, I just know in my head, I'm like, it's a short life, we're all gonna die, no matter if you're rich, poor, medium. I'm like, you might as well just throw this shit. like, I'm not buying into the, because my dad was like, you're gonna take over two weeks vacation? I go, do you understand somebody made that two week shit up? It's not real. It's like, you're in a fucking ball spinning through space. It's like, this is not real, all this stuff we.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

these rules we follow, I'm like, a man made those now. It's not like this would be like the universe in like two weeks. It's like that. And but some people have convinced themselves they only deserve two weeks. They're like, that's normal. I only deserve, but you go to some other countries and they might get two months or, you know, like I meet people on traveling in Bali or everywhere, you know, Asian stuff. Nobody like, oh yeah, we get two months paid. You're like, what? And they're like, yeah.

Yeah, right, not.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

You're like, and you meet people and you're you're traveling for six months? And they go, yeah. And you're like, with a job? Yeah, yeah, yeah, my job's cool. I just told them I'm coming back. like, in America, you forget you get programmed into the society. the, okay, this is the thing and you don't, because my dad thinks like, well, 10 days, why do you need more than 10 days? I'm like, it's your life. I'm like, you're gonna be, my uncle,

Dang. Yeah. Yeah.

is really close with too. he's like, he's like, yeah, you spend your life making money. He's in finance and he's made, he made decent money and he's saying like, decent living. He was saying that I was noticing like, you make all the, make this money and then you get older and you can't do anything with it. You're spoiled to get on the plane. You fucking, you got medical issues. You can't walk. You can't be walking like Machu Picchu at 16. Some people can, but most, it's like, so.

Yeah, you can't do anything, yeah?

He's like, I can't get in the sports car that I now can afford. Now it's uncomfortable. It's like now, now, now, like, then he's like, so the game is kind of crazy. like you, do all this stuff, make it all this money. And then you're like, what are you going to do with it? Like, and now it's like, okay, now you're, you're 65, 70 or like my dad, he's like, my dad's like the only place I can fly now is first class. If I have to go somewhere, he's like, cause I'm not getting on a fucking plane. Cause his.

Yep. Hell no.

Yup. Yup. Yup.

He's like, if I don't have money first class, I can't go. And I'm, meanwhile, you'd be young, get on the fucking coach, get 16 hours of Thailand and be rolling around. Yeah, so anyway, I don't know if the answer to the question.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Dang. No, man, that was great, man. That was great. I agree with you in so many ways. We get caught up in this hamster wheel and sometimes it's hard until something's forced upon you to reflect on that and be like, man, why did I do that for so long? And you don't ever know the reason why you even started something, right? You're in the middle of it. You're like, I've been doing this for years, but why? No clue.

Mmm.

Mmm.

Yeah Hmm. Hmm?

Yeah, you're like, yeah, you're like, what's what's off? Especially if somebody dies, you're like, what is your shit? Especially in certain age. I'm sure it's midlife crisis. But you're like, I saw my dad do it. I'm like, what's it all for, man? Like, is this this life just to go to work, buy groceries, come home, watch a TV show, go to sleep, do that over and over and then go to a movie, go to a 10 day vacation and die? I'm like, man, crazy. He's like, yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

It's like, so yeah, all right.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah!

Dang. Man, that's awesome, man. On that uplifting note, Murph, I wanna thank you, my friend, for coming on, man. It's an honor to have known you all these years, and it's amazing to see all the shit you've been doing, especially putting yourself out there and building a brand and doing all these things. Man, I appreciate you.

Thanks.

Thank you too, man. That's all it's really great talking. I'm glad we talked man. It's awesome

All so man, all right, bye. Talk to you soon.

Yeah, I appreciate that man. All right, we'll talk soon. All right, see ya.