When resilience meets humor, you find a comedian with stories that rival any daredevil's saga, and that's what you get as Amber, Richard Asperger, and I, Gill, unpack the laughs and the struggles in our latest episode. From the vibrancy of open mic nights to the anticipation of live podcast events, we reveal the raw and often unseen facets of the comedy world. The buzz from our YouTube showcased podcast has us itching to share the behind-the-scenes magic, and the inclusive vibes of our Los Angeles comedy hub where every performer's voice finds a mic.
Laughs may come easy on stage, but this conversation isn't shy about the tough crowds and tougher battles. I peel back the curtain on my journey through cancer, not once but thrice, and how each comeback fueled my stand-up with a deeper grit. Richard and I also reminisce about the evolving cityscape of Los Angeles, bringing you tales from the comedy trenches that include the legendary Ice House and its storied transition from music to mirth, and my own pivot from spinning records to penning a book offering a lifeline to the homeless.
We're wrapping things up with a heartfelt nod to Richard Asperger for his wit and wisdom, and a spotlight on the laughter-laden gatherings on the horizon for our local comedy community. With open mics and interviews set to light up Paramount, we're inviting you to join the camaraderie, share a chuckle, and maybe find that golden thread connecting comedy, history, and the indomitable human spirit. So pull up a chair, plug in your headphones, and get ready for a ride through the highs, the lows, and the stand-up blow-by-blows.
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Subscribe to The Mindbuzz Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIYj7eDCsV3YPzxv7VRKZKg
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @themindbuzz https://www.instagram.com/themindbuzz/ to keep up with our hosts, guests, and upcoming events!
See you on the next one!
"King without a Throne" is performed by Bad Hombres
King without a Throne Official Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNhxTYU8kUs
King without a Throne
https://open.spotify.com/track/7tdoz0W9gr3ubetdW4ThZ8?si=9a95947f58bf416e
When resilience meets humor, you find a comedian with stories that rival any daredevil's saga, and that's what you get as Amber, Richard Asperger, and I, Gill, unpack the laughs and the struggles in our latest episode. From the vibrancy of open mic nights to the anticipation of live podcast events, we reveal the raw and often unseen facets of the comedy world. The buzz from our YouTube showcased podcast has us itching to share the behind-the-scenes magic, and the inclusive vibes of our Los Angeles comedy hub where every performer's voice finds a mic.
Laughs may come easy on stage, but this conversation isn't shy about the tough crowds and tougher battles. I peel back the curtain on my journey through cancer, not once but thrice, and how each comeback fueled my stand-up with a deeper grit. Richard and I also reminisce about the evolving cityscape of Los Angeles, bringing you tales from the comedy trenches that include the legendary Ice House and its storied transition from music to mirth, and my own pivot from spinning records to penning a book offering a lifeline to the homeless.
We're wrapping things up with a heartfelt nod to Richard Asperger for his wit and wisdom, and a spotlight on the laughter-laden gatherings on the horizon for our local comedy community. With open mics and interviews set to light up Paramount, we're inviting you to join the camaraderie, share a chuckle, and maybe find that golden thread connecting comedy, history, and the indomitable human spirit. So pull up a chair, plug in your headphones, and get ready for a ride through the highs, the lows, and the stand-up blow-by-blows.
My Grito Industries
mygrito.net
Subscribe to The Mindbuzz Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIYj7eDCsV3YPzxv7VRKZKg
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @themindbuzz https://www.instagram.com/themindbuzz/ to keep up with our hosts, guests, and upcoming events!
See you on the next one!
"King without a Throne" is performed by Bad Hombres
King without a Throne Official Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNhxTYU8kUs
King without a Throne
https://open.spotify.com/track/7tdoz0W9gr3ubetdW4ThZ8?si=9a95947f58bf416e
The MindBuzz, now partnered with MyGrito Industries.
Speaker 2:This podcast episode of the MindBuzz is brought to you by House of Chingassos. House of Chingassos is a Latino owned online store that speaks to Latino culture and Latino experience. I love House of Chingassos because I like t-shirts that fit great and are comfortable to wear. I wear them on the podcast and to the Cardenasadas. Click the affiliate link in the show description and use promo code THEMINDBUZZ that's T-H-E-M-I-N-D-B-U-Z-Z to receive 10% off your entire purchase. The cash saved will go directly to the MindBuzz podcast to help us do what we do best, and that's bringing you more MindBuzz content. Click the link in the show description for more. The MindBuzz is powered by MindBuzz Media. Mindbuzz Media is an on-site video and audio podcast production company. Have you ever thought about starting your own video and audio podcast, or do you have an existing podcast that you want to take to the next level? Mindbuzz Media brings a professional podcast studio to you. Visit MindBuzzorg for more MindBuzz Media and away we go. What is up, mindbuzz Universe? Welcome back to the podcast. What is going on, everybody? Amber, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing good, I'm doing really good, actually I'm the host of the MindBuzz I forgot about that, it's Gil, and working the threes and twos behind the board is Amber. Welcome back to another fantastic episode of the MindBuzz.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 2:Why do I feel like we haven't been? We haven't. It's been the last week, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did one last week.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I'm excited.
Speaker 1:We were doing two and three in a week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we tailored back because we got a lot of stuff going on by that. What do we have going on for this week?
Speaker 1:On Wednesday right, you have an open mic, we have our, yeah. Tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Tomorrow we have an open mic in the city of Paramount at or Chat de Diat cafe. Well to bar and cafe. Now actually People laughs. Open mic in the city of Paramount should be awesome. It's our third week at it, so hopefully we get some people out and we got comedians coming out and trying out their stuff, so I'm pretty excited about that. Our guest host of the evening is going to be James Jablonsky, and that name is familiar because we had him on the podcast last week. Right, can you pull that flyer up? There we go. Guest host James Jablonsky. 730 sign up 8pm start.
Speaker 2:One item minimum five minutes sets, depending on how many sign ups. We have five minutes sets, 10 minutes sets, 15, if you want. If you want to film your special there, I'm open to that. We got the equipment. But yeah, we have that every week on Wednesdays. And then Friday March 29th, we have Delet Comedy, which is an open mic showcase and live podcast. Comedians get three minutes followed by an interview. This is going to be the second episode that we have filmed. The first episode is on YouTube. If you want to go check that out, go down to MindBuzz Media on YouTube, check that out. It was a huge success. Awesome place to do it. It was fantastic, so I'm hoping that we get more people out for that. Anything else, amber?
Speaker 1:That's it for this month.
Speaker 2:Before we get into our guest, this guy has done the Ice House Ha Ha Cafe Comedy Store South by Southwest Festival in Austin, texas. He is a dear friend of mine. Met him a few months ago and he's just killing it in comedy. Richard Asperger, thanks for coming out and doing the podcast Well thanks for having me, Gil it's a pleasure man.
Speaker 3:I'm happy to be here. I love the studio.
Speaker 2:Thanks, appreciate that, dude. This is pretty awesome. Have you done anything like this before? Podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've done a couple actually, but I think this is the coolest one.
Speaker 2:Awesome man. Well, thanks for coming out and making the drive out here. We've been talking about this for months, yeah, so I'm super excited to finally get you out here and to talk to you, man.
Speaker 3:Let me ask you a question about your open mic on Wednesdays, a paramount. Now, where is that in relationship to here?
Speaker 2:That's about. I want to say it's North Long Beach, right North Long Beach area. I want to say about a good 40 minutes from here.
Speaker 3:Oh, really yeah. So it's paramounts down by Long Beach.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna have to come down there and do that show?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so down to on LA it's maybe 20 minutes, so it's closer centered that way.
Speaker 3:I'm from the north end of the San Fernando Valley, which is next to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're seeing about 40 minutes from the valley.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, it's just about 40 minutes.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna have to make my way down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's super awesome. We're building a cool little space there for comics on a weekly basis and then I have that once a month live podcast. That is awesome.
Speaker 3:I really see a podcast from down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what we do? They have a gallery space. The venue has a gallery space, that's provided, and I set up the stage. I set up all the audio. Can you pull some of the footage up from that so we can show?
Speaker 1:From where do you want me to pull it up?
Speaker 2:You can pull it up from our YouTube channel. It's super awesome. Like we had 14 comics come out and do the show, followed by a five minute interview. I want to say Right and there we are, right there, live, that's us, right there. Boom. How many signs you need, dog.
Speaker 3:Go back in the crowd. Goddamn I don't, he's funny.
Speaker 2:We can pull it on that.
Speaker 3:You know, maybe stop going on stage.
Speaker 2:Hey for me at the caveman. Kevin. This was a funny just a hub for four comics to go and do their three minutes and we interview them how they got into comedy, what they got going on. So just it's kind of like this, but times 150,000 because there is an audience that's involved, there's interviews going on. I have two guest hosts or three guest hosts from the first episode, so I'm going to do that again. Do you know who Walter Ray is? You know Walter Ray is.
Speaker 3:Man, I wish I could.
Speaker 2:So he's going to be on the guest panel for the next episode. I love to have you on in the near future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd love to come down.
Speaker 2:We got to do that. We just have fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you do this once a month.
Speaker 2:Do that once a month.
Speaker 3:Really so what day is it Like? The third Tuesday after the last Friday.
Speaker 2:We've been doing the last Friday of the month.
Speaker 3:Last Friday of the month Last.
Speaker 2:Friday of the month.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a live band too, so the live band kind of hypes everyone up. We have the comics walk out with the live band. It's really fun.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an awesome. So if you're listening to this, if you're watching this, go check that out right there.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Sounds great yeah you should come out.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's also in North Long Beach.
Speaker 2:That's in Paramount, paramount, right yeah.
Speaker 3:I'll do it after the show. We'll pick a date and Heck yeah, yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, richard, you've been everywhere, you've been doing comedy at different venues. How did you get into comedy? Well where did it all start?
Speaker 3:Where did it all start? It was in school, I tell you. Yeah, actually, to be honest, one of my friends who's going to be on the Ice House show with us on April 6th Harry Mike, that's his name. Harry Harry Mike.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 3:God. Anyways, harry Mike used to do comedy a zillion years ago. It took some time off, but I was thinking one day maybe I'm going to get my you know, throw my hat in the ring. Harry Mike cooked me up with some open mics and that was back in 2018, actually. So I just really started in 2018. And things took off really quickly. I did like five open mics and the next thing I know is doing 20 minutes at the Ice House.
Speaker 3:Whoa Right, I started in December and March I was doing, actually, the Ice House. I did like 20 minutes. It was my first real show and it was so exciting and I thought, oh, it's that easy. And but yeah, that was in 2019, yeah, 2019 was my first time at the Ice House and it was just mind-blowing. It was a great experience and I had a great year. And then 2020 came Put everything on hold. But yeah, I just got into it on kind of a whim. You know, I'm kind of that kind of guy. I daydream something up and think, oh, I can do that, you know, and so far I've been doing it. It's been fun too.
Speaker 2:Starting in 2019? And then, what did you do during the pandemic as far as comedy?
Speaker 3:Comedy.
Speaker 2:I Did you give it a break for a bit, I did.
Speaker 3:I didn't get into the Zoom thing. I didn't do any of that. I know a lot of people stayed active. There were some outdoor shows and stuff that people were doing. I didn't do any of that. But one of my good friends in the comedy world, carol Newell I don't know if you know Carol, but she hustle she produces shows like every night of the week basically, and she started during the pandemic. She used to have it. She'd have these shows in the parks and parking lots and that was crazy. But anyways, I didn't do any of her shows. I came back. I got cancer too during that period. Whoa, yeah, I'm a three-time survivor, by the way. Wow.
Speaker 1:Congratulations.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks. I had esophageal cancer, then I had lung cancer and then I got lung cancer again.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so, yeah. So during 2020, I was a little sick, and then in 2021, I got sick again a little bit and then, yeah, like it never happened.
Speaker 2:Always grinding, always yeah. Going from one thing to the next right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fuck it. Yeah, but knockwood I mean, I had early detection and all that stuff. So I got back into comedy, I think in April of 2022, I think Okay. So I took some time off, you know, to kind of get my head straight again, yeah, and then it was just, you know, first show out was April 1st and I bombed terribly. That was terrible, man, it was terrible, you know.
Speaker 3:I thought, ah, it's just like riding a bike and you get up there and you know, do your old sad or something, I sucked, yeah, I mean I sucked bad, I mean it was terrible and the headliner that night didn't show up and they were panicked. You know they had people there say go back out.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So they threw me back to the wolves and I did two terrible sex in one night. So that was a fun night. I really that's one of my favorite shows. Oh man, yeah, it's bad, you're a standup guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're bombing.
Speaker 3:It's not fun man.
Speaker 2:It's not fun at all. It's not to throw you back out after you bombed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you suck so bad. We want you to go suck again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go redo it, try it one more time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, with new material.
Speaker 2:Right. The last material sucked, go back out how many minutes did you do the first time?
Speaker 3:Oh, I think I did like 20 minutes, did 20? I think so.
Speaker 2:It seemed like forever right, and then another 20?.
Speaker 3:And then I did another 20. Oh my God, of new material New material, but I didn't do it in the first set. Oh, it's terrible. That was great, wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, it's stuff like that right that builds resilience for something like standup right.
Speaker 3:Right, right, yeah, there was another time. I mean just, you know it's for bullshitting it was Thanksgiving evening, so it was the evening before Thanksgiving Eve, that's it. So the night before Thanksgiving I'm doing a show at Ha Ha's and I'm all excited because I'm a big Eric Schwartz fan, right, Right, I've been a huge fan for a while. So they say, hey, man, come do the show, Eric Schwartz gonna be on there. They know I'm a big fan. So it was great, that's great. And I went and I totally bombed. I mean it was like misery, Whoa man, it's like oh man, nobody likes me. It's terrible. All new material too. I mean I was trying out new material, which is the wrong thing to do on a pretty decent size show.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know you should stick with the proven stuff for those kinds of shows. But it really was. It was terrible. The next morning I woke up. It's like I had a hangover man. I felt so bad.
Speaker 2:Oh man.
Speaker 3:You know, it's like somebody slammed my soul in a car door and then go hey, it didn't close right. Boom, boom, boom and they banged my soul. So I woke up the next morning and thinking oh my God, why, why do I do this? It's like some drunk. I'm never gonna do that again.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:And then I swear to God this it was Thanksgiving morning and I didn't wanna watch that freaking parade that they have on all the network channels, right? So I'm watching, like A and E, and they got this documentary. You guys are young, but there used to be this guy named Evil Caneval, right? No, I remember you?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know who he is. You guys know who Evil.
Speaker 3:Caneval is right. So Evil Caneval. They got this documentary on about Evil Caneval and, like I said, my soul is just bashed in. You know, I feel suicidal and they're showing this Evil Caneval jumping and tumbling down in front of Caesar's Palace or jumping over a truck and crashing, and they were like Evil Caneval, every bone in his body, and I was like I took this deep breath and said, well, if Evil Caneval can break every bone in his body and get back on that motorcycle two months later and jump the Grand Canyon or whatever it is he does.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I can certainly bomb at ha ha's the night before Thanksgiving and get up and do it again.
Speaker 2:Well, with something like standup, you have to have that mentality right. Like you have to build this exterior roughness when it comes to humiliation.
Speaker 3:You have to be willing to be humiliated.
Speaker 2:You have to like it in some part, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know after the show, when they point at you and go, that guy sucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You want my autograph?
Speaker 2:Ha ha ha ha ha, you want to buy some of my t-shirts. Yeah my merch but what is it? Here's a sticker.
Speaker 1:What is it in both of your brains? I'm going to say that just kind of like makes you be OK with it. Because I know, like for me, like when I've gone with Gil because he just started doing it and I sit in the crowd and I like I'm hoping that nobody talks crap in the crowd because I'm like not that I'm going to fight or anything, but you know what I mean, I can't handle it. And it's like kind of like it happens to me twice, like if they don't laugh on him on stage, and then for me to hear it and it's like total anxiety induced throughout my whole body. And I'm not the one up there, I just I don't I can't imagine how you guys do it.
Speaker 3:I really can't. One of my friends comes to a lot of my shows and one day she was saying yeah, you know I was talking about how tough it can be. Yeah, she goes. Yeah, you know, sometimes it's only your wife laughing Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, yeah, and she's heard those jokes a thousand times. She's just like taking one for the team, you know, hopefully, you know, someone will laugh, you know, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, it's not always easy.
Speaker 2:No, it's not, it's not. But the reason why I do it is because it's the wins. I think about the wins. I think about the times where you just really kill it and you hope to kill it every single time because that's the game right the consistency of murdering a crowd. Sometimes it doesn't go well, right, you bomb, or some of your set doesn't work out for the audience for the time. So it's just building that consistency each and every time.
Speaker 3:And you could say the same joke. Yeah, and it kills one night. The next night is crickets, or the crickets even shut the fuck up.
Speaker 2:They're tired of me.
Speaker 3:They're like fuck that guy. He's not funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're tired of your shit too, yeah right. Yeah, but it just. I don't know it's just the sheer will of having a great time on stage.
Speaker 3:It's kind of like the evil conneval part. I mean, when you get to the other end of the ramp and you didn't tumble and you get off the bike, get off the stage and you got some laughs. It's fucking great. Every once in a while you have to dust yourself off. I was foolish because I went from like five open mics to 20 minutes at the ice house and got a bunch of laughs and killed and it was wonderful.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Crazy. So I thought oh, this is easy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'll never bomb man, holy shit. Yeah, I've bombed terribly. There's been times.
Speaker 2:What was the timeframe when you first started and then getting on stage at the ice house? Because the ice house is probably one of the most prestigious venues in comedy in Southern California.
Speaker 3:It's been so good to me, oh my God. I performed there so many times and it's my sweet spot. I've been really fortunate there. I've had some rougher nights there, but I never actually bombed there. It's always been good. And geez, these shows I've been doing there lately I've been just killer. I mean it's magic. But it was weird to go from five open mics or whatever it was, maybe seven to the ice house. I mean it was like, oh my God, this is amazing. Oh my God, look how easy this is.
Speaker 2:What do you think it was that got you from the open mics to the ice house?
Speaker 3:I got hooked up with my now partner and we produce shows at the ice house now and he was a good guy and he says, hey, you know what, I'll put you up and gave me 20 minutes and it was kill and I started doing shows there like almost monthly and whatever. Every other month I was doing a show or whatever on his show. It was great. So now it's his name's old school. He's been around for a long time, produced shows at the ice house for about 15, 20 years 15, I think. And after the pandemic, you know cause the ice house closed. You know Johnny Bus. Yeah, johnny bought it and they bought it in 2019, right at the end of December 2019, the ice house became part of the bus family. You know the Lakers.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, johnny, bus from the Lakers.
Speaker 2:Johnny Bus from the Lakers yeah.
Speaker 3:Jenny Bus yeah. Jenny Bus' brother.
Speaker 2:I'm not familiar with the Lakers oh, not a Laker fan they're a basketball team.
Speaker 3:They play in LA. They have they wear purple and gold uniforms most of the time Kobe Bryant used to play for him cream. Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 2:Shaquille Neal.
Speaker 3:Shaquille Neal right.
Speaker 2:Will Chamberlain Magic.
Speaker 3:Johnson yeah.
Speaker 2:Will Chamberlain was on the Lakers too, wasn't he?
Speaker 3:I'm not sure about that one.
Speaker 2:I think so.
Speaker 3:I have to check. Amber has to pull it up. Let's see, let's.
Speaker 2:Will Chamberlain, I know that one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but anyways. So Johnny Bus of the Lakers bought the ice house and the deal closed in December of 2019 and then in March of 2020, whoa, A fucking pandemic. Imagine that.
Speaker 2:Imagine getting at this venue that holds people close in a close, tight area. Yeah, prestigious, you know.
Speaker 3:It is like one of the crown jewels of not only LA but across the America.
Speaker 2:It's one of the oldest.
Speaker 3:I think it's the oldest comedy club in America.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, there we go Will Chamberlain Lakers Jersey.
Speaker 3:Oh Lakers, yeah, there we go. Yeah, there you go, shows you what I know. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Because I knew Will Chamberlain as being a 1970s whore man, whore of the 70s.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah right, he said he slept with like 1500 women, something like that yeah, something crazy Got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and from that I was like, okay, he's a Laker.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's the only thing that I knew from the Lakers, but can we look up the ice house see how it used to be? Like an old ice house, right, I?
Speaker 3:think so. They started in the early 60s as a kind of a music venue for like folk singers, I think, and then in the 70s it transitioned into a full blown comedy club In the 60s 60s it started in the 60s and it's just one of my favorite places on earth and it's been really exciting performing there. I just get excited every time.
Speaker 2:All right, there we go again, celebrating 63 years.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and I know you're not a Lakers fan, but are you a WNBA fan? That was a good one. I'm gonna keep that one in my set. But Penny Toller, who is the general manager of the ice house, was the general manager for the LA Sparks Whoa.
Speaker 2:Whoa okay.
Speaker 3:So and she's a super nice lady too so that the management team over there top notch and they remodeled it. So what they did during the pandemic because it shut down in March what they did in it, they started remodeling and they did a fantastic job. It's awesome there. They have two rooms, they have the legendary room in the California room and it's a beautiful venue and the people are super nice and the crowd is super nice. It's just amazing.
Speaker 2:I gotta make my way out there. I haven't seen it yet, I haven't been there yet.
Speaker 3:Come on on on April 6th and I'll comp you to our show, oh heck yeah. Eul and Amber, come on out.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, let's do that. Yeah, it looks really nice. It's super nice, it looks pretty cool too. It's just the sheer history, yeah, of a place like that, and you've also done the comedy store too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I did the original room at the comedy store. I've done ha ha's on a bunch of times, regular over at the Comedy Chateau in North Hollywood.
Speaker 2:I've done the Comedy Chateau.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of I like the Chateau, but I mean and no disrespect to the comedy, I mean Comedy Chateau. But you know they put a lot of comics on the show so it can be a little draining for the fans and for you oh yeah, yeah but it's fun.
Speaker 1:I think the time we went it ended at 1 am and it started like earlys. Yeah, Because of the amount of comics there was.
Speaker 3:They put a lot of comics up. And that venue though Felix out there and Irina, they help a lot of comics. People who can't get on a stage. You audition for them, they'll put you up and they help a lot of comics. I mean some of the things. Like I said, I think they put too many comics up, so, but it's a fun night. I've done it, I don't know 20 times, whatever.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to get into their. I will. I'll take that back. That smaller room. It was pretty cool. I did the smaller room, I haven't done the main room.
Speaker 3:yet I've done that main room so many times. I had just some of the best nights of my life on that stage.
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 3:And then there's the ones where you go. Well, struck out that time, but that's the one thing that I would have if I was gonna criticize. You know, there's so many comics on and somebody has to go up towards the end. And when you go up towards the end, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:And the crowd is left, there's your group of people who came to see you, and it can be pretty daunting going out there. Has that happened to you before? Yeah, that's happened to me a few times at the Chateau, where it kind of you know it takes your soul hard or bang it bang it bang it. And then you go out there and try to be funny and everybody's tired and the waitresses are cleaning the tables and collecting the money.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but that's a great place. I mean they do help a lot of people. I mean they give a lot of young comics their start to get on stages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, keeping the energy, like there's this energy that you build yourself up to right before going to a show, right, and then when you find out you're going last, or if it's a lottery system or if it's this and trying to maintain that energy towards the end of the night sometimes it just doesn't happen 20 comics and you're going up 16th.
Speaker 3:you know, and everybody's, you know. Fuck, I gotta get up in the morning and they keep going in our next comic, coming all the way from his tent down the street. You know yeah.
Speaker 2:The van from the parking lot or something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's pretty tough. You know, I love those guys and you know, but that can be a tough club.
Speaker 1:So what makes you like, okay, let's say you go up on stage, you bombed, right, you bombed. And what makes you like what inside of you says let me go and do it all over again. How do you find that will to continue or not to want to quit, or have that one bomb kind of be you know cause? I mean, I feel like for me, if I bombed I'd be like right, I'm not funny at all and I'm done.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, it's those nights that you kill it. You know, I mean when you absolutely kill it. You know the feeling, gil, I mean everybody's laughing, everybody's patting you on the back afterwards. It's you know, it's like winning the lottery.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Except you don't get any money for it. Yeah, yeah, here's your 50 bucks. You know, whatever you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just that you hold that experience in your mind for the next time and then the next time, and then next time. It's just like that that first time you get those. The first time I don't know about for you, but the first time I actually got a laugh on stage was so fulfilling and it wasn't me. It was amazing. Yeah, it was amazing. I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna try this again.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:It doesn't happen sometimes, but you're like, oh, even if I go try another place or another time, I'm still chasing that first laugh.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it is kind of like an addiction you know, and I went through a period where I was like and I know people, we both know people who do two, two mics a night.
Speaker 2:You know yeah.
Speaker 3:Or more, and you know I don't have that energy. I'm older. But you know I was doing shows two or three times a week and people were like, man, how do you do it? I was like, oh, it's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know it's fun, and then you never know, it's tonight, tonight where I'm gonna bomb, you know, but for the most part.
Speaker 3:You know you, bombing is part of being a comic. That's just part of the deal. I mean, if you read anything or see any kind of real, true documentaries on it, it's part of the deal, you know. But the thrill of winning is like, oh my God, that was so great. Like I did the Stoner Rob show on Sunday night at Ha Ha's and it was just magical man, every it was like. You know, stoner Rob show, you know, I think everybody must be on mushrooms because they're all laughing man and that was a great night and you know it's like you go home.
Speaker 3:it's midnight when you get home and you can't sleep because you're like that was so good. You know, it's a magical night, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just waiting for the next time. When's the next time I'm gonna go on stage?
Speaker 3:It was magical.
Speaker 2:For this to happen. Yeah, did you ever think you were gonna be a standup comic?
Speaker 3:No, not really man, no, no. But I mean, you know, like a lot of people I think, oh, I can do that. You know, it's people you know watching movies. Oh, I could be an actor or I could do that, or I could do that. So you know, I remember one time, 100 years ago, you know, and.
Speaker 3:I would party in. You know, everybody had left and I was thinking there was a whole list of things that I thought you know I would like to do but I'm never gonna do. You know, I just had a list of things. It just flashed in my mind all these things that I I kind of knew I would never do, fast forward. 15 years later I had done all those things.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:I thought I would never do, never, do never do this never do that never do this and I did all those things.
Speaker 3:So then at that point in my life, you know, I thought oh shit, man, I guess all you gotta do is put your mind to something and you can do it. And, like I said, I've had in life in general, I mean I've been a very fortunate guy. I've taken my kicks, you know what I mean. Life wasn't always going my way, but you know, once I, yeah, turned the corner on that part of my life and nothing's impossible, nothing, you know.
Speaker 2:Besides, stand up. What else from that list have you acquired?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean like well.
Speaker 2:Because, before we hit the record button, you're an author, a poet.
Speaker 3:Yeah, tell me about that. Well, that's a good thing. So, back in a long time ago, I used to well, I would write poems, basically like a poet. You know, that's what they write, unless they're limb ricks. Right, it's not the one. The once was a man from Antucate, that's a different story. Anyway, so and actually so, I would write these things and I had scraps of paper. I used to be a DJ out in Hollywood at a strip club.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, back before you were probably born, yeah, so now most of those strippers are great-grandmothers I'm certain. I don't know how great they're gonna be, but I wonder if they still do the pole dance. So anyways, I worked at this club called I think it's still there to the Star Strip on Las Yenaga and Beverly it's just north of Beverly and I was writing a lot of poems and, if you wanna call it that, poetry, and at the time I was running in that kind of that rock and roll circle. Some of my friends were succeeding in some levels of success and out of the sunset strip, the whiskey and the Roxy and all those clubs. So I was always like trying to hustle artwork or hustle the poems to them which, when it looked like I was gonna have success in 1993, my life went sideways and life got crazy you know, life on lifestorms kind of things, and so it kind of disappeared that whole thought. But I saved a bunch of those poems. We're saved my sister actually, and now I'm hung onto them for a long time and then, like I don't know, 10, 15 years later she gave them back to me and I just was in, kind of put them away and forgot about them.
Speaker 3:But I had a digital camera. You know, now everybody owns a digital camera. I got this digital camera and I walked around the San Fernando Valley and I took a bunch of pictures of homeless people, shopping carts. And then we were on vacation, me and my lovely bride she's over there in the corner, Anyways, we were on vacation in Moab, Utah, and I had I woke from a dead sleep with the idea to combine those pictures that I'd been taking of homeless people shopping carts with those old poems.
Speaker 3:So we got back from vacation soon as we got to the house, you know, I let her unpack the car. You do it yourself. I went and I grabbed that book and I started looking at the photographs and, you know, within a very short period I got, I found a publisher who had published it and it came out and I won. I got the runner up at the Paris Book Festival and honorable mention at the Hollywood Book Festival, yeah, and then I was able to take that concept and optioned the TV show to Global Genesis Group for a reality show on helping the homeless, which is still in the works. You know, it's a little difficult to get something like that made because it's not the feel good book of this or film of the summer.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, what is and what is this book called LA Alacart, can we? Yeah, I think it's on Amazon. Can we look that up?
Speaker 3:LA Alacart and you spell it's on Amazon. La Alacart, let's see. La Alacart, yeah, is C-A-R-T like shopping cart?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:LA Alacart, so LA A La Cart.
Speaker 2:Maybe book.
Speaker 3:Next to it Book. Yeah, and just hit the little hourglass. I mean a little search engine. It should come up. It should still be there.
Speaker 1:I'll look for it while you're talking.
Speaker 3:Yeah, la Alacart.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a project in itself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was able to do that. My vision is not so good, but I can't see from over there. It's LA, so there will be a space, so it's LA A, a space, la space. Got it Carts, yeah, so it should have come up. I can't see from over here.
Speaker 2:Probably just Google it maybe. Yeah, I'm gonna look for it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Go for it, keep talking, yeah, anyways yeah, I did that, I saw.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was really rewarding. Having a book come out was a big thrill because everybody wants to be an author and so it's like why would you? You know what the let's see Actually very close to finishing a novel. Now I guess you could say oh really. Yeah, it's very close. It's a horror kind of thing, kind of poltergeist is whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2:So you like writing, Richard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm a writer man. I'm a creative kind of guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I create all kinds of havoc, yeah yeah, when did you find your love for writing?
Speaker 3:Oh shit, that's a good question.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:I started like I said. I think the idea of selling lyrics to rock bands was my first thought. Oh, you know, and we're running out of time.
Speaker 1:No, I found it. Oh yeah, oh there, it is there. It is yeah nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, awesome. Yeah, la LA Cart, there we are. Yeah, I saw what I, like I said, I took a bunch of pictures of homeless people, shopping carts, and I took poems and I put them next to them. So you know, and then when I put the book together, I took, and it's almost well, it is an arc of someone's life. So, you know, based on the poems that I had wrote, it covers like being young, you know, falling in love, being burnt, you know, desperate, lonely, you know, reaching finally the end of the line of, you know, asking God for help, kind of thing. So it's, I should have brought you a copy. I didn't even think of it.
Speaker 2:LA LA Cart expresses a poetic emotion of homelessness through images and the words that stir the soul. A revealing first person perspective combining heart-wrenching photographs and thought-provoking poetry that captures the very essence of the human experience at its most desperate and insightful snapshot of society's less fortunate. La LA Cart will tug at your heartstrings and open your eyes to what life is like without a home. This unique portrayal is sure to evoke a renewed sense of compassion toward those wayward souls of the streets Wow.
Speaker 3:And when that came out it was 10 years ago. So if you could imagine how much homelessness has exploded in the Los Angeles area, and probably across the country, in the last 10 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, definitely make sure you get a copy next time I see you at one of your shows. Oh heck, yeah, yeah, that'd be nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It was yeah it was. Yeah, it was really a thrill. And then, the day my granddaughter was born, I get a call from my daughter. My daughter says, hey, you know. Or somebody says, hey, your daughter's having this kid, you know, come to the hospital. And then I'm checking my emails and then I see that I won the award for runner up in Paris Book Festival or something. Wow. So it was the same day that my granddaughter was born, so it was a really exciting day for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was very heartwarming. It's just, you know one of those things, like I said, you can you know? I guess I'm, you know, silly that way. I think you know you could do it, you know, and then you talk to other people hey, you know what? I've been sending books out to get published forever and I never get. How did you do it? Fuck, I don't know. It's dumb luck.
Speaker 1:But do you think it really is dumb luck or there's some kind of science behind it?
Speaker 3:You know, I only sent it like I said. I only did like five, maybe seven open mics, and then I'm doing 20 minutes at the ice house.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I sent out that thing to like maybe 12 publishers, you know, and one of them picked it up. I don't know, I mean it's just like you know is it-. You're God's favorite. Yeah, it just well. I don't know how that works, you know, I am pretty lucky. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think it's. What is it? What can it be? It can be your experience and drive and your readiness to be like, say, if you weren't ready for 20 minutes, right, would you have still done the ice house? You're prepared, so I think it was just like it was the opportunity. What do they call it when success is opportunity plus preparation or something like that? Right, I think it has to do with that. You're prepared and you're ready for that opportunity, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it could be that. You know. Last week, you know, I told you I'm a grandfather and I can tell you're looking at me and you're going he doesn't seem stable enough to be a grandfather, right? No, but I am. I'm a grandpa, cause, it turns out, stability isn't a requirement to be a grandfather. My grandma in worse than that, I'm actually me and my lovely bride are raising my granddaughter. So she does homework at the table every day. You know the dinner table. And one of the questions she asked my wife last week was about failure. And I forget in the story why would the father encourage his kid to fail? And that's when I chimed in. I said oh, failure is the biggest. That's the best lesson you can learn in life.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:By not trying, you're not going to get crap. You got to be willing to get out there, throw your hat and a bunch of rings You're going to take it on the chin. You got to be willing to bomb. If you're a comic, you got to be willing to have publisher send you a letter going what the fuck are you thinking? I saved those letters, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because that's what it's like you got to be. I think the most important thing that I've learned over the years is just do it. You know I, just as we're talking about that type of stuff. You know, you know, in my 30s I was kind of a wayward person, right. You know I had spent time homeless. I mean so I. You know I had experienced homeless long before it was like fashionable, like in my 20s and on and off. You know so I experienced. You know, through my own fault. You know where I would blame other people.
Speaker 3:You know no man you're a big boy, put on the big boy pants, go get a job, go do these things. You know I didn't do those things. It took me a while to kind of grow up. And so in my 30s, you know, as a telemarketer, I had been telemarketing my whole life, basically because it they'd hire anybody. You could go in there dressed like I am right now and they go okay, fuck it. Can you read the script In certain name here?
Speaker 3:How are you today? Yeah so, and somebody said, man, why are you doing that stuff? Man, you should, you know, shoot for something else, christ sakes. And that's a kid's job. You know nothing disrespectful to telemarketers. And they helped me write a resume. And the next thing, you know, I'm freaking a director of sales and marketing for a landing gear company. So, and then they started paying me to get on a plane and go to air shows or go. I gave high-level presentations to like SpaceX, boeing, lockheed, you know. You know, I'm the guy with the spinning disc, remember. And next thing, you know, I'm a vice president of an aerospace company. So you know, I have been very lucky, gilbert. I have been very lucky. I have lived some very interesting stories, life in General yeah yeah, wow.
Speaker 3:Willing to fail is my motto.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you need, you need that, you need that type of Mm-hmm, it's it's very good for that.
Speaker 1:It's really scary and and I'll tell you on my personal experience, I've always lived at home. I lived at home with my parents and my parents were my safety net, right, and when I finally Left and then I was like, oh, this is what I have to do, this is what it is, this is what it feels to have, you know, something on your back and and it's, it's scary, and I feel like a lot of us don't. We don't know how to fail, and and it's that's where it gets you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was In my early 30s, you know. Before you know, I was doing telemarketing and on the weekend a friend of mine had a handyman business and he had kids my age. You know, he was an older guy, he was an engine aerospace engineer, as a matter of fact retired. So on the weekends he would hire me and I'd be his assistant.
Speaker 3:Handyman jobs and I and I would Fuck shit up all the time, cost him way more money that he was ever gonna make to heck keep me employed, right? So? So one day we're driving and he was telling me, yeah, I got a pay my son's mortgage this month and I paid my daughter's mortgage last month and at that point in my life, you know, I was still in my 30s, early 30s, and I was like, well, you know, it was like that Realization for me. At that point it had been sink or swim and I think, you know, it was just that moment of like. Ah, you know, I don't have anybody to back me up, I know. So whatever happens, it's on you. Yeah, you can't blame anybody because there was nobody to help you. So it's like lay Amber was just talking about when, that's, I think, when you realize that you're walking life's tight rope and there's no net. But you have to be willing to walk the tight rope, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Are you Were you born in California? Are you from where you from?
Speaker 3:Cleveland, ohio. Really yeah, when did you come out here? I came out when I was 16, I think, 17, 17 16.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 16, practically from here.
Speaker 3:I'm here long enough that I feel like a native.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, so what got you out here?
Speaker 3:my family. My, obviously, I was only 16. Yeah, but, um, my, I'm from this really bad neighborhood in Cleveland. I'm actually going back this summer. I'll see you guys soon. I'll be there in July and I'm hoping to do a show there. Um, um, but my I stepped in at the time came out he had planned to make go at a painting company and he moved the family out from like poverty to, you know, the San Fernando Valley in the mid 70s, which was, you know, it's like paradise back then. You know, you know that valley girl thing and it was just, you know, and I fell right in and, you know, started to love the LA way of life and you know, it's been good Wow.
Speaker 2:It's been a long time. Yeah it's been out here.
Speaker 3:It has been. Yeah, now I'm like I said, now I'm an unstable grandpa. I Was. I was that year between the summer, between junior high and high school, back when it was ninth grade was junior high, high school was 10th grade. So it was that summer. And, and now look at me.
Speaker 1:Hey, junior high was still ninth grade.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh yeah, that's how old I am.
Speaker 1:I just thought ninth grade was always high school.
Speaker 3:No, oh yeah, when I was a kid, and oh geez, they were still holding it in caves.
Speaker 2:No, but they're still chiseling on On the sleights.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. Actually I went to Granada Hills High the same time that John Elway was the quarterback at Granada Hills. So, and for those who are familiar with Valerie Burton Ellie, yeah she was like the I never saw her there, but she was going there at the same time, wow. And then she ended up marrying Eddie Van Halen and yeah man. She had her own TV show for a while, I think she still, she's still, uh, yeah yeah, she's still pretty relevant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she's still pretty relevant. She does cooking shows. And where is this? Valerie Burton Ellie.
Speaker 2:Valerie Burton yeah yeah, I know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she was on this show. I forget what the show was called One day at a time or something like that she was. She was very popular.
Speaker 1:Oh okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, she married Eddie Van Halen and yeah she has a cooking show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, that's right, yeah yeah what was a cooking show called Do?
Speaker 3:you know, I don't know, she's had a few of those, but yeah, her son is now, you know, killing it out there in the rock world.
Speaker 1:Valerie's home cooking yeah how do you, how do you feel like seeing the evolution of LA from when you first got here to now?
Speaker 3:I think there's a big difference. You see this beard, it's great. I have become that guy. You know, oh my god, you know me and my wife talk about it all the time. She's like shut up. I know traffic wasn't this bad and Grinata ills, but I'm that guy, you know. You kids get off of my lawn.
Speaker 3:It's, it's it's been. You know, in a lot of ways LA is is a better place to live and In other ways it's it's gone down. You know just the amount of poverty and loss. Angels, when I first moved out here in 77 I thought every house was a movie star's house. Now I drive by and I go. I bet they're selling crack out of that. Yeah, and then I realized it's my house. You know like, oh fuck. You know, as a matter of fact, two years ago the DEA rated my next door neighbor.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, with the SWAT team. And whoa, everybody's in camouflage flash bang.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 3:You're just like another day in Los Angeles another day in Los Angeles no lie, same street, three months ago. What do they call those? A takeover, home invasion? Oh, my, two doors down, whoa yeah. So next door is a SWAT team, two doors down home invasion, a gun battle inside there.
Speaker 1:So and then someone's gonna ask you why are you still here?
Speaker 3:But then you're like Alley yeah, it's LA man.
Speaker 2:What year was?
Speaker 3:it when you first came out here 77 77. I'm so old, you know, you guys are like 77. My grandma wasn't born yet.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:Yeah, where in our 30s?
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:That was, uh. That was a few years after the whole um, Uh, Charles Manson thing back in LA and the dark history of Hollywood we live near there Really.
Speaker 3:We live near the um spawn ranch. You know the San Jose Zana Pass. Do they still have it out there? Is that still? No it's gone but you know, there's the locations you know as you drive by. Now it's a church property.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so imagine that where they, where they lived.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was just wild.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I live about as the crow flies about five miles from the spawn ranch.
Speaker 2:And you're saying about the difference from, uh, from you moving out there till now In the traffic. I heard somewhere, I think on a podcast or radio or something about Because the population is growing and they're no longer making any roads or they're no longer building any freeways to to help With that alleviation of population and traffic but I think you know it's.
Speaker 3:It's like a guard knows you can widen that guard knows, but when you turn it on it's just gonna fill up with water. Yeah you know, the whole hose fills up with water, and that's what LA traffic is. They can add a lane. Next day, boom, all the lanes are packed.
Speaker 2:That's so wild. Yeah how, how it happens right, there's a lot of people that in Los.
Speaker 3:Angeles.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh, there's too many and there's where you're gonna put another freeway, like really like where you're going, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't know Where's those flying cars. They promised me we should start a class action lawsuit against the people who promised us those cars. Yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:We got to get some jet packs or something.
Speaker 1:There's. There's something so magical about live like living in southern california and near los angeles that it doesn't matter, because people think we're nuts for living here and for I, I was born here. So this is all I know. But you go somewhere else and you're like whoa, there's so much space, where are where's all the cars? And then you miss being in LA, being like stuck to each other sitting in your car and traffic there's.
Speaker 3:There's just something about it that's just like no other two weeks ago we went up the porterville to visit some friends and they have like main street these old buildings that have been there since like probably the 20s or 30s or whatever it was, and it goes for about three blocks and that that's the extent of downtown porterville. You know Like, ah, you know I could do that you know, but then if I were to move there and yeah, I wish I was in LA, you know, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:Have you been to san francisco? Oh yeah, dad, Do you like it?
Speaker 3:I love san francisco.
Speaker 2:It's a great city, man.
Speaker 3:It's a smaller city compared to LA. Yeah, it's a lot smaller.
Speaker 2:It's a great city.
Speaker 3:I love it out there yeah we were, we were there, we vacationed there in november. Yeah, okay, yeah, we went up there and walked around Roded trolley car what do they call those?
Speaker 2:things.
Speaker 3:Yeah trolley cars yeah, we love it the Hayden ashbury. Oh yeah area yeah.
Speaker 2:Spinning disc yeah.
Speaker 3:So actually we took my granddaughter and she's only nine, so it's hard to explain to her. You know, we're at Hayden ashbury, you know, yeah, that's where jerry garcia used to live, and she's like who. Right but she got this cool tie dyed shirt. She loves it. She wears it once a week.
Speaker 2:Jefferson airplane everybody jimmy Hendricks.
Speaker 3:I have a friend who's a few years older than me, who actually there's this famous picture of a bunch of people Jerry Garcia's house, standing on the stairs. You know they're Lining the stairs at jerry garcia's house on earth, up at like the third row or something. It's my friend, when he was like 13, standing there you know, that's awesome. He grew up in that area. He's like all right, he knows all the history of that area.
Speaker 1:So we have some intel.
Speaker 3:What's that?
Speaker 1:want to hear a story. Two guys running down the street naked Is all I got really it's not me.
Speaker 3:I'm here doing the Mind Buzz podcast. Any rumors of me running naked I'm greatly exaggerated.
Speaker 1:What's the story you?
Speaker 3:know what oh on H Street. Oh yeah, no, there was these two. So we're in November, as a matter of fact, we're, you know, having a little family get away up there, as I said, and we're with my granddaughter, she's like nine. There are two guys walking down the street at Haydash Bay, oh my God, completely naked with I think they're wearing socks on their cocks. Hello, yeah, swear to God, I'm like quickly turn my granddaughter around hey, look over here Flying rhinoceroses, and then she didn't see them. But yeah, it was kind of interesting.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, hey, to each his own, but broad daylight.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's like every other day. We're out in Long Beach and we either see someone's ass or someone trying to defecate on the corner of the area.
Speaker 3:It's just I don't know what it is right. Yeah, 30 years ago I saw a homeless guy defecating on a newspaper at Highland and Hollywood Boulevard. Wow, Just like sunset.
Speaker 1:I wonder how freeing it is to defecate, yeah, just like right there At least he was defecating on a newspaper, you know yeah. He had the decency to put it on there.
Speaker 3:I just look over and go. What the fuck?
Speaker 1:What is this? I always say the story, but I was maybe in my early 20s and I had gone to a show on Inni Stele and we were waiting in line for a long time to get in. So once they finally opened the doors, everyone like ran in. And when we first got there we had seen that by the bus station there was a human feces and I said mental note to myself don't step on it. And then we could smell it the closer that we got and things like that, while when the doors got, let go, people ran and everyone forgot that there was shit there, so everyone stepped on it.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:And once they were inside the venue it was like smeared everywhere and it was just horrible, horrible stench and just it was a horrible night Right, and they couldn't get it to go away because there was just so many people that they weren't gonna evacuate everyone to clean the floor.
Speaker 3:Evacuate. I like that.
Speaker 1:So we just had to tuck it out. It was bad, real bad.
Speaker 2:Where was this?
Speaker 1:In East LA, of course. It went to a scotch show, of course, oh really.
Speaker 2:Scom music and poop Okay.
Speaker 1:And they were just smearing it all in the pit. So you guys can imagine that.
Speaker 2:Nice mosh pit, yeah. Wow, you also have a clothing brand. Yeah To furniture.
Speaker 3:Prison brand is what I call it. And still in the fledgling stages it's a line at Denim. I volunteer a little bit from time to time and I go to county gels and prison from time to time and I tell them if you guys don't behave, you're gonna end up like me and I was inspired, so I put together a denim line and I should have brought you a jacket. Go next time I see you, I'll bring you a jacket.
Speaker 2:I'm writing all the I'm writing the list of stuff that you're promising me here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I owe you a book and a jacket Both of you. So, yeah, it's a clothing line, a denim line. It's our slogan is prisoner doing life, and so doing life is basically what we're all doing, you know, and depending on how you're doing it, you're either doing life or you're getting done by life. But we're all doing life. Yeah, yeah, I think I have. If you go to a Facebook page Prison Brand I think it has a Facebook page, do?
Speaker 1:we have.
Speaker 3:Facebook.
Speaker 2:I think, if you search for it, yeah, prison.
Speaker 3:Brand. It should pop up, anyway. So yeah, it's a. You know it was one of those projects that didn't you know. Like I said, I didn't say it on the podcast. Sometimes I'm more like I get a guy who has a lot of unfinished projects Prison Brand apparel is that me?
Speaker 1:Is it prisoner or prison?
Speaker 3:Prison brand All over. Prison brand Facebook, facebook, I think.
Speaker 2:I don't see it.
Speaker 1:So anyway, yeah, I'll look it up, don't worry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyways. So I have that and it's a, you know it's a good line. You know I just have, you know, moved on from it, but I still have tons of clothes, so take the jacket, one less that I have. But, yeah, this is the year I've been handing it out. This year, you know, a lot of the people that I've been dealing with you know seem to like it. So, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 2:Do you have any other projects that you have besides the comedy?
Speaker 3:Comedy. You know, I think I mentioned that I have another book coming out, hopefully this year, just like, maybe 30 pages away, been talking. Oh wow, talking to a publisher.
Speaker 2:This is your novel that you're talking about, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:right right, it's called the Tunnel and it's scary and it was a departure from everything I've done before. I have another one that's near completion too, but it's been near completion for a long time, called 17 and 78. It's about me in 1978. And so yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm a busy guy. You are busy. Yeah, I try to be, you know, Richard. Thanks for coming on and doing the podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate it. Tell us where we can find you and what you have coming up.
Speaker 3:Okay, I see next show is at the Ice House on April 6th, and then I'm back at the Ice House on May 18th, and then I'm back at the Ice House on July 27th and then in between those shows I have other things coming up, so just stay tuned. I know I got other things coming up, but yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:Cool. Everything that Richard just talked about I'm gonna put down in the show description. Everything's gonna be clickable. Adam on Instagram. Adam, do you have a Facebook?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Adam on Facebook. Do you have a TikTok?
Speaker 3:No TikTok.
Speaker 2:Not yet.
Speaker 3:Not yet Does TikTok work, you a TikTokker.
Speaker 2:I'm not, I am not. There's just so many things that you have to keep up with.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:But, adam, on Instagram you have a YouTube channel, anything like that, yeah, I do.
Speaker 3:It's Richard Asperger comedian, I think.
Speaker 2:Awesome, so I'll put that down in the show description. Subscribe to him. Go out and see this man. He is hilarious.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've done shows together.
Speaker 2:He's awesome. You gotta come out and check out Richard.
Speaker 3:This guy's awesome.
Speaker 2:I'll put everything down in the show description. This was awesome man. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Thanks for coming out and doing this. I've had a really great time. Thanks for your hospitality. No, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for coming out. Let's see, amber, do we have anything coming up? Open mic on Wednesday Open mic on Wednesday and March 29th come out to the city of Paramount for the live comedy podcast and interview and showcase and it's a whole bunch of other things rolled up into one fantastic night. It's a free show, two item minimum. It should be a great time. Walter Reyes and James Jablonsky are gonna be the co-host of the evening along with me. It's gonna be great. Come out and support comedy. Peace. The Mama Mike bus oh my God, oh yeah. You wanna move it? Oh, you wanna carry out? Oh yeah.