Adam Carolla's Guide to Overcoming Adversity and Finding Your Voice

The Summit of Greatness is back! Buy your tickets today – summitofgreatness.com – Adam Carolla is a well-known comedian, podcast host, actor, and author. He gained fame as the co-host of the radio and television show "Loveline" and later became a prominent figure in the podcasting world with "The Adam Carolla Show," one of the most downloaded podcasts. Carolla's humor often touches on controversial subjects, and he is known for his candid and unfiltered approach. This conversation delves into the significance of embracing criticism and offers advice to aspiring comedians and podcasters: prioritize authentic expression over fearing consequences. This episode also highlights how cancel culture can lead to self-censorship and encourages reflection on instances where external pressures influenced content choices. In this episode you will learn,Balancing Controversy and Humor: Striking a balance between discussing sensitive subjects and maintaining a comedic tone is key to navigating potential backlash. Handling Criticism: Embracing criticism is important. Advice for aspiring comedians/podcasters: Don't fear consequences, focus on authentic expression. Avoiding Self-Censorship: Cancel culture can lead to self-censorship. Reflect on instances where external pressures influenced content choices. Maintaining Authenticity: Staying true to oneself and comedic style requires resisting external influences and staying genuine. Audience Engagement: Authenticity and addressing controversial topics can foster a loyal fan base by resonating with listeners seeking genuine discussions and perspectives. For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1487For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes with two of our favorite comedians:Bert Kreischer: https://link.chtbl.com/1234-podAndrew Schulz: https://link.chtbl.com/1234-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  Calling all conscious achievers who are seeking more community and connection. I've got an invitation for you. Join me at this year's Summit of Greatness this September 7th through 9th in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio to unleash your true greatness. This is the one time a year that I gather the greatness community together in person for a powerful transformative weekend. People come from all over the world and you can expect to hear from inspiring speakers like Inky Johnson, Josprey Singh, Vanessa Van Edwards, Jen Sincero, and many more. You'll also be able to dance your heart out to live music, get your body moving with group workouts, and connect with others at our evening socials.

• 0:44Lewis Howes?

  So if you're ready to learn, heal, and grow alongside other incredible individuals in the greatness community, then you can learn more at lewishouse.com/summit2023. Make sure to grab your ticket, invite your friends, and I'll see you there.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  I didn't become a comedian to vet all my jokes with folks that may be pearl clutchers or easily offended or disagree with the jokes that I'm making. It's kind of the opposite of being a comedian.

• 1:17Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 1:41Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Adam Carolla in the house. Good to see you, sir.

• 1:47Lewis Howes?

  Good to see you.

• 1:48Lewis Howes?

  Thank you for being here. You have, we were just talking about how you've been in LA for a long time and you've been leading the comedy. You've been tapped into TV and film. You've been, you know, one of the first in podcasting. You've been in this space for a while. You've seen a lot, you've said a lot, you've done a lot, and you know, I feel like everyone in this kind of community, or you've tapped in or interviewed them or connected in some way to a lot of people.

• 2:16Lewis Howes?

  So congrats on everything that you've created for yourself and the impact you've made.

• 2:20Speaker 01

  Oh, thanks.

• 2:21Lewis Howes?

  Of course, yeah.

• 2:23Lewis Howes?

  I wanted to ask you a question because I watched a video that you did, I think it was on PragerU. That was many months ago about really like criticism with the communities or audiences. And be and and having to be careful about what we say. You know, as comedians, I feel like comedians have had to learn how to mute themselves or really think differently about what they're going to say. I think in in all types of media forums, podcasting and things like that, social media. We've had to learn how to do things differently. I wanted to hear your thoughts on that, kind of just broad thoughts on where we are now

• 3:03Lewis Howes?

  after the last really five, six, seven years of more of cancel culture or just critics really speaking out against people's comedy, podcasting, words, media. I'm curious where you're at today on that.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  I've always been pretty consistent in that I wanted to say what I wanted to say. I was a carpenter for a lot of years and I've always kind of said, look, if I have to stop saying what I'm thinking or what I think is funny or what I think is relevant or important or just saying what I want to say, then I should get back into carpentry, which doesn't pay nearly as well. So I probably wouldn't, but I'm just saying, I didn't become a comedian to vet all my jokes with folks that may be pearl clutchers or easily offended or disagree with the jokes that I'm making. It's kind of the opposite of of being a comedian.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  And I I believe the second you start second guessing yourself, especially on stage or into a microphone or even doing what we're doing now, when you start second guessing yourself, it's sort of like.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  You'll get the yips, which is a sports term for a second baseman who's bouncing the ball to the first baseman. It's not a physical problem. It's the yips. It's it's a mental problem that once the second baseman who's been fielding balls since he was six, if he's playing in the major leagues, I mean, maybe five. I'm sure his dad was out in the yard with him when he was four, just fielding balls. And all of a sudden, eight years into being a professional baseball player, bounces one to the first baseman, and it's a 14 foot throw. Now, he's got the yips.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  And he's and if he gets that ball and he does that and he thinks about it, this one's going in the dirt, too. And I just never, you know, I never wanted that. So I was like

• 5:17Lewis Howes?

  Did you ever have that?

• 5:19Speaker 01

  No, I so I've always had this sort of philosophy, which is, I am not an asshole. So I can act like an asshole.

• 5:32Lewis Howes?

  Really? What does that mean? Can you give me some context?

• 5:34Speaker 01

  Don King. Don King was convicted for stomping a man to death.

• 5:40Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:42Speaker 01

  But he's got the little flag and only in America and the haircut. So he has to push that forward. I'm not that overtly nice or enthusiastic, and I rarely dance. But I've never done any harm to anybody. I'm sort of quietly, maybe marginally generous, quietly, and just sort of take care of people around me. But I may act like a

• 6:13Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  But I'm not.

• 6:15Lewis Howes?

  You're not told what you might be a way to say.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  I'm not interested in protecting some inner thing that I'm scared is going to get out.

• 6:23Lewis Howes?

  Like an image of you or something.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I realize people, most people think I'm a asshole, but I'm not, so I can say whatever I want.

• 6:31Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting. Have you ever felt worried or insecure or that you should be on guard when you're either on stage, performing comedy or doing a show or a podcast where you're like, maybe I should be careful of what I'm saying because I'm getting criticized? Or was the criticism something that you would lean into because you would play with that?

• 6:52Speaker 01

  I, I, I, you know, I don't know how to fully

• 6:59Speaker 01

  convey this, but I think, I think COVID was probably a chapter that everyone went through and I went through it. And judging from my reaction to COVID, I would say I probably lean into

• 7:15Speaker 01

  the criticism or the whatever, whatever it is, I, I put out a tweet. God, it's been almost three years now and, and I basically put a tweet out and said, COVID kills old people and sick people and the rest of you got played and who's getting played next? And then everyone ran up to me and said, you gotta take that tweet down because everyone's pissed off. And I said, well, I'll take it down if it's untrue, but I'm not going to take it down just because, you know, people are hissed off and I never took it down.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  And I had, you know, a couple notable Hollywood types call me sort of as a friend and just go, hey, man, you take it down like, because you're not doing yourself any favors. And I was like,

• 8:10Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Really?

• 8:12Lewis Howes?

  So do you appreciate them reaching out to you and saying, hey?

• 8:15Speaker 01

  I do.

• 8:16Lewis Howes?

  Uh, I see what you're doing and it's cool, but also, uh, you know, have more sensitivity or something.

• 8:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, I get what they're, what they're doing.

• 8:25Lewis Howes?

  But you just get it, you just do it.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  You, it's, it's either true or it's not true.

• 8:30Lewis Howes?

  Right. And I guess that's the dance of like comedians, which is like kind of speaking some truth or truths into something, but it could be a sensitive topic for people.

• 8:39Speaker 01

  Well, also there's this thing where it's like, oh, come on, come on, man. And I'm like, my kids missed two years of school, kid, for this thing that doesn't hurt them. So what do you mean? Oh, come on. What about them?

• 8:55Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 8:56Speaker 01

  What about everyone who's behind now? What about people have languished at home and put on 30 pounds or committed suicide, depression? Oh, come on. Why is it always this one way stream where it's like, oh, I heard someone's feelings? All right. Mike, I was talking to my son the other day. It's like, he's entering his senior year. I'm like, how much school do you miss? He's like, I missed entire ninth grade.

• 9:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  And like part of the 10th grade. I'm like, you missed seeing ti- you have no ninth grade. You did not go to school for the ninth grade. If you were a football player and that was your senior year, I mean, when I played football my senior year, that I was like,

• 9:35Lewis Howes?

  it was everything.

• 9:35Speaker 01

  Vision quest. Man, it's like, oh, I'm gonna be all valid. I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit the weight room and I don't know. If you just canceled that season, I would have killed myself. Like honestly. So don't give me, oh, come on, man. What about everyone else? You're [__] up. And so that's, that was like my approach to this. And in many other subjects that probably make me unpopular.

• 9:58Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 10:00Lewis Howes?

  So when you get these friends that reach out, and I mean, we're not trying to like judge you or put you down, but are trying to have your best interest and say, hey, you know, I want what's best for you. And I know once you get harmed or your career or maybe you cancel or whatever it is, you'll appreciate that. It sounds like you're grateful for their concern.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  Everything for me is motivation.

• 10:21Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 10:21Speaker 01

  So if you're reaching out.

• 10:25Speaker 01

  And your motivation is, is oh, I like Adam and I, I care about him and I'm, I'm trying to offer some advice. Because I like him, then, then I appreciate it. Yeah. If you, you know, if you woke up at five in the morning and came to my house and got my car keys. And we're taking my car out to get it professionally detailed for my birthday. And you totaled it on the way home, I wouldn't be mad at you at all. You were trying to get my car detailed. Right. On the other hand, if you're just gonna be lazy or whatever, then I don't have time for you, but it's, everything is motivation. Sure. For me. Right. How, how old were you when you got into, started getting your comedy?

• 11:10Speaker 01

  Um, I was like, well, I mean, the story is I had a 30th, uh, the, the story since we have time. Did you teach like Jimmy Kimmel how to box or something and then he? Yeah. Yeah. So, so I was like 21, 22 and I was like, my, my life, I, I was sort of looking at the trajectory of my life. And, and I didn't see anything good, you know, down the road. I was like, working as a carpenter. Probably kind of apprentice. There wasn't a, you know, it takes probably a decade to really be a, a carpenter.

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Like, I know that's three quarter inch birch or half inch birch. For wood here? Yeah. I have no idea what it is. Yeah. If you did it for 10 years, you'd really know. Yeah. Yeah. You take, it takes a, it takes a little while, but I was probably about, I was probably about three years in. So I, you know, knew it.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  10 bucks an hour. And, you know, I was just kind of sitting around in my apartment, one bedroom, North Hollywood, Laurel Canyon, you know, full. Two roommates, no air conditioning, you know, sleeping on, sharing a futon. In the valley, no AC, that's a bowl. That's a risk. AC upstairs. Oh no, I couldn't. Facing the west. Oh no. No shade. The heat is insane. Oven. It was a god oven. And I was just sitting in there.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  You know, sweating through my shirt and I and I was like, well, there's gotta be something better than this. Like, where's this going? And I was like,

• 12:54Speaker 01

  all right, where's the carpentry going? Like, I, I'm good with my hands. I, I, I picked it up. I could do it. I had a little bit of a knack for it, you know? And I was like, all right, so where are we going here? Like, by the time you're 30, what are we talking about here? 21, 22. I go, well, maybe I'm making 18 bucks an hour. Everything was run by the hour. Incrementally, you know, you had to get from 10 bucks to 12 bucks to 15 bucks to 18 bucks. And it was, everything's just like, can we add a buck an hour? Every year and a half or something like that. And, and so I was like, sitting around, I was like,

• 13:33Speaker 01

  and yeah, I was so broke that, you know, the notion of 25 bucks an hour, like one day, that sounded pretty healthy to me, but I still like, it rains, you don't work, you don't get paid, you know, you leave your truck outside, they rip off your tools, you gotta, you live in an apartment, you gotta bring the truck, you gotta bring the tools in the living room. And it's just like, it starts early. Everyone's a asshole. It's like half the guy, in California, I mean, in LA, half the guys don't speak English. So it's like, you can't sit around and chew the fat, tell jokes, you know, and look, it was like gay, like, uh, yeah. So, and, and the, the guys who do speak English don't have any sense of humor either. So I'm like,

• 14:17Speaker 01

  eh, what's this? And so I'm like, I, well, I don't have any money. My family doesn't have any money. I don't, I don't really have a lot of choice. I gotta go to work every day as a carpenter, but what else might I be doing in the future? That, that is interesting, or there's some air conditioning involved with it, you know? Something you think, live in an apartment this summer. I'm working in Chatsworth in a, in a warehouse with no air or, or up on the roof kind of thing. Like, I mean, whenever the, whenever the weather is, you're there.

• 14:56Speaker 01

  So I'm like, well, this sucks. And then I'm like, well, what else could I do? But you know, doctor, lawyer, white collar, I could fill out an application. I don't have any real education. I don't have any credentials. Like, where am I gonna work? I can't even know how to make a tie. I don't have a suit. Like, where would I work? I'm just a sort of knock around, blue collary dude from North Hollywood. So I'm like, well, you have a sense of humor. And like, all right, you can do, you're funny. You could do something. With something with comedy, some behind the scenes writer room, I, you know,

• 15:38Speaker 01

  writing for greeting cards, like funny greeting cards, you know, anything just to get some air conditioning and kind of get off the job site, you know? So I was like, all right, well, you're, you're 22. You got eight years. So you got eight years to figure it out. Wow. To like, try the comedy thing, to figure out your lane, your avenue, or? And to, to, and to get some skill, like, all right, so you're funny. I mean, you know, being funny, it's like saying, I'm handy. Yeah, you're handy, but you don't know the nailing schedule on a sheer wall. You don't know what a TECO clip is, or like an A35, or you don't know dimtrick, a queen stud, a trimmer,

• 16:23Speaker 01

  header, parallelym, you know? I don't know what a parallelym is. No, I don't know. You can be as handy as you want, because you don't know, you don't intrinsically know that stuff. Right. You gotta go learn it. And I was like, you can be as funny as you would, but if you don't know downstage, stage left, you know, if you're not composed on stage, or you don't know how to Put together a satire, yeah. Set together, you know, to do anything, then, then don't kid yourself, pardon the pun. So I was like, I gotta go get some training, I guess. So I started.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  Sign up for Groundlings classes and found my way and, and you know, and Groundlings was like, you're funny, but you don't know what you're doing. And so you can't act or so. You gotta go take an acting class. Like they're like, we'll let you out of basic, we'll put you in intermediate. But first you gotta come home, you gotta come back and prove that you passed a theater class, like an acting class. And I was like, where do I go? What do you want me to do? Now, the only rub was I didn't have any money. So it's like, you know, like Groundlings and a hack me class. I didn't have insurance on my pickup truck, you know? So I didn't have dental, medical, I was barely paying rent. So I was like taking whatever beer money I had and just been like.

• 17:43Lewis Howes?

  So acting class was a luxury?

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, everything, everything was sort of a luxury and I, I literally didn't have car insurance, but was paying the Groundlings to, to like take classes or the drama, whatever place in studio.

• 17:58Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 17:59Speaker 01

  Everything. And yeah, I couldn't act. I didn't know what the was going on. I, I, I'd never been on stage and nervous. I didn't know where to look. You know what I mean? Like I.

• 18:09Lewis Howes?

  You weren't a theater arts kid. You didn't go to like high school and, and, and take these classes there.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  No, all I did was play sports in high school and like wrestle with dudes. And I would just, I would just played sports and I would say wrestle, but somewhere between wrestling and a full fist fight. Like it wasn't just wrestling. It was sort of, the ante was up, but uh, that's all I did. And then I, then I went on a construction site. So I was dealing with people that went to theater school and college and majored in, in this and that.

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  You had five years of reps already.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I, I also didn't know anything. I was uneducated, you know? So I didn't. You know, they'd be going, oh, give us an activity and they'd be like, you're, you're making a topiary. And they'd go, oh, okay, here we go. And I'd be like, oh, what is that? Yeah.

• 19:05Lewis Howes?

  What's a topiary?

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, like I remember not knowing any of these things. Uh, well, they take shrubs and shape them into stuff. You ever been to Disneyland?

• 19:15Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 19:15Speaker 01

  You like walk in and there's a ficus tree that looks like Donald Duck.

• 19:19Lewis Howes?

  Okay, yes.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  It's a topiary.

• 19:21Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha. Okay.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Right.

• 19:23Lewis Howes?

  So how, how, was there ever a moment in those first few years of taking the, you know, stand up classes, the acting classes where you're like, oh, this is too hard to learn these skills. And everyone is way more advanced than me. And I'm clueless half the time or part of the time. And I don't have the money to afford this stuff. Was there ever a point where you're like, I just need to stick to doing the carpentry stuff?

• 19:47Speaker 01

  Um, nah, I'd be, I had some ebbs and some flows and some highs and some lows. Like when I got asked to leave the Groundlings at a certain point. At the end, I was like rudderless and fully depressed.

• 20:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  Didn't know what to do, but, um, well, I was like, look, um, I don't think carpentry is, is a viable option in that. I wanted, I was like, I want to own a home one day. And I might like to have kids one day and a wife and, and I'm going to have to like support those kids and pay a mortgage. And maybe support my wife and have insurance and a credit card. Or maybe we want to go on a vacation or something. I don't have a credit card. I don't have anything and I just can't see.

• 20:43Lewis Howes?

  Carpentry doing that.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Carpentry getting me that house and doing all that stuff.

• 20:47Lewis Howes?

  When was this? Early nineties though?

• 20:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, this is, uh, the decision is probably made in like later eighties, but now into the early nineties, but nothing's happening.

• 21:02Lewis Howes?

  But I'm assuming if you're saying to yourself, I don't see this carpentry thing being able to support my vision. And you're saying, I'm going after comedy. I don't think parents or anyone else should say that's the right path to go down. If you want to buy a home, if you want to, you know.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. It seems a lower percentage.

• 21:20Lewis Howes?

  It's like, uh, take the safer, more surefire thing as opposed to try this comedy thing for 10 years. Maybe you make some money, you know, and figure it out.

• 21:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a, it's a lower percentage route.

• 21:34Lewis Howes?

  It didn't seem like this is the surefire way. Yeah.

• 21:36Speaker 01

  Well, I didn't have to vet it with anybody because my parents were like, look, you're, you know, you're 18. You gotta leave. And that was sort of the last career-based conversation I had with them. So I did not, you know, there wasn't, they wouldn't have cared. It didn't really matter.

• 21:56Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  They just, whatever I was or whatever I did, just as long as I didn't ask them for money, we were fine.

• 22:04Lewis Howes?

  In the late eighties, early nineties, who were the big people in comedy? Uh, whether it was stand-up or TV, film, or late night shows, who were like the icons at that time?

• 22:15Speaker 01

  It was like Andrew Dice Clay was blowing up. Seinfeld's always kind of a stalwart, you know, always, always there. Uh, guys like Richard Lewis were doing, making the rounds. I mean, it, it, a lot of names you probably wouldn't recognize. Cause they had a kind of, had some heat then and sort of.

• 22:36Lewis Howes?

  Died off now, yeah.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  He literally or figuratively, like, I mean, there's just a ton. There's just so many names that, you know, cycled through. And a lot of them had shots on The Tonight Show and had their own game shows and stuff like that. You just haven't heard of them and haven't heard of them. But, um.

• 22:53Lewis Howes?

  Who were the people you looked up to? Or you were like, wow, that's really inspiring what they've done in their career that you actually became friends with or worked with or have?

• 23:01Speaker 01

  I was always, I, I always listened to the radio and I always loved the radio. And I, I listened to talk radio when I was younger and it didn't matter who was on. I would listen to.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  A psychologist named David Viscott, I would listen to like Dean Adell, the doctor, I would listen, I'd tell Dennis Prager, still on the radio, I would listen to Religion on the Line, your first talk show, and I'm an atheist. And I would just listen, because I was like, we got a rabbi, we got a priest, and we're gonna argue about religion. I'd go, good, let's hear it. And I'm not religious at all. I just always enjoyed hearing, Dr. Ruth had a show on on air. I would just, you know, the real estate guy, or the financial guy, I would just listen to talk radio, always like talk. I would just listen to it, like, I don't know, like when you're leaving and you think your dog's gonna get lonely, so

• 24:02Speaker 01

  you put the radio on, or somebody probably freaked out because you think someone's trapped in a speaker. I mean, we don't really think of the downstream consequences of keeping our dogs company, but I just like voices, you know, and I would listen to morning radio because I drove my truck every morning. My construction hours are like morning radio hours. Morning radio, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. That's the shift. And then like they start playing music after that. A lot of stations, FM. I'd be getting into my truck at 6:15, 6:20,

• 24:41Speaker 01

  6 o'clock, you know, because I had a job. And I work in a, build a house in an avocado orchard in Simi Valley, you know, you gotta be rolled out at 7 a.m. You gotta leave at 6, or house up in the hills of Malibu on Rambla Pacifico, you know, gotta leave at 6, or downtown doing earthquake rehab, you know, sitting in traffic. So I'd get in the car, turn on morning radio. I'd go right through, I'd get to the job sites, turn on the boombox, or go to the warehouse, cabinet shop I was working at in Chatsworth, an industrial park, and just walk in, you know, turn it on, finish listening, listen to all the, and

• 25:23Speaker 01

  I was like, I could do that. I could definitely do that. I'm never gonna do it. I'm not gonna get a chance to do it, but I can, I can do it. And so for me,

• 25:38Speaker 01

  You know, it wasn't so much like comedy is low percentage. And carpentry is a much higher percentage gig. And so, you know, you were inquiring about me going, I want to get a house and have a family. So I'm going to do comedy.

• 25:54Lewis Howes?

  Comedy is going to get me there.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, it it sounds low percentage and and. I want to sound like a huge. But playing in the NFL is super low percentage. But it's not for Lawrence Taylor. For him, it's a good, it's a pretty good bet. He shouldn't work at a Home Depot. He should be coming off the weak side, you know?

• 26:18Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 26:19Speaker 01

  And.

• 26:21Speaker 01

  I felt like I had enough ability where it was like. Yeah, it's one in every 2,000 kids who played college football gets to the pros. And you go, that's low percent. It's not low percentage for Lawrence Taylor. He's setting his own percentage. You know what I mean? He's in charge. And that's how I looked at it, like, I'm in charge.

• 26:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 26:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, if you take 500 guys who want to be a comedian, they go, only one of you is going to succeed. Then no, I'm not doing that. But if you let me produce or create or let me come off the weak side, then then I can make the team. Or or at least I could make the team. I don't I don't know that there's any.

• 27:04Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 27:05Speaker 01

  Guarantees.

• 27:06Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting because, you know, I feel like in every high school or every college, there's always like a couple of. Funny guys, right? It's like, OK, this is our funny guy who tells all the jokes. If we want someone to lighten the mood, there's always a couple of people that you could rely on. So there's thousands every year that come out of high school or thousands every year that come out of college, who are like the funny person from their school around the country, right? But was there something inside of you that said, I have a belief in myself, even though I haven't really had these experiences? I'm getting kicked out of the stand up club. I'm, you know, I don't know what they're talking about with these theater concepts and lingo. Did you still just have this belief that like, well, I can figure out my own weak side?

• 27:50Lewis Howes?

  I can figure out my own lane in this comedy world to make money? Or how did you believe in yourself enough to pursue it until you started to make money?

• 28:00Speaker 01

  I got kicked out of the Groundlings, just for

• 28:02Lewis Howes?

  Groundlings?

• 28:03Speaker 01

  Just for accuracy.

• 28:05Lewis Howes?

  And what is the Groundlings? It's a

• 28:07Speaker 01

  It's an improv.

• 28:08Lewis Howes?

  Improv is what I meant.

• 28:08Speaker 01

  That's where all the

• 28:10Lewis Howes?

  I was thinking stand up group.

• 28:11Speaker 01

  Cass comes

• 28:12Lewis Howes?

  I said stand up, I meant improv, yeah.

• 28:13Speaker 01

  I know you did.

• 28:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Groundlings is improv, got it.

• 28:16Speaker 01

  For your viewers at home.

• 28:17Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 28:20Speaker 01

  I was, I've never been

• 28:26Speaker 01

  I never really involve my own feelings in my assessment of myself. So I'm never right because it's me, or I'm never wrong because it's me. It's I'm very compartmentalized and detached. So I have no ego and I grew up with not low self-esteem, I grew up with no self-esteem, which is not bad. I just didn't have any thoughts about myself that were inaccurate. I just didn't get fluffed up by my family at all. I didn't think I was anything. So the good news about not having a bunch of free existing notions or feelings about yourself is I could judge myself

• 29:10Speaker 01

  pretty practically, you know, and, and I would say to people, you know, later on and all the time, and I don't know why it makes you, but I was like, I was a good carpenter and I was funny. Like I knew I was funny, like I knew I was a good carpenter. So I don't know, you can say, well, that's egotistic or you're fully or or whatever it is. And I was like, no, I listened to the morning radio shows when I drove my truck and I got to the shop and everything. And I would listen to everybody and I was like, I'm faster than these guys are and I'm funnier than these guys are.

• 29:47Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 29:48Speaker 01

  I could

• 29:50Speaker 01

  I could fill in the joke faster than they could just drive my truck.

• 29:53Lewis Howes?

  You would respond by yourself to what they were saying.

• 29:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, like what would you say? Well, you're interviewing this person or that person, you know? Bang, bang, bang. And I was like playing the game in my head. And so I was like, um, Clubber Lang, you know, just training alone.

• 30:08Lewis Howes?

  All right, that's cool. It's like, it's like, I think of that as like the people that watch Jeopardy and they're just responding before everyone else.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  Right, at home.

• 30:18Lewis Howes?

  You know, you're watching at home and you're like, you know, every answer before the person does.

• 30:22Speaker 01

  Right. Now, the difference is, is with Jeopardy and with stand-ups, what happens when the spotlight hits you?

• 30:28Lewis Howes?

  Can you still do it?

• 30:29Speaker 01

  You will slow down a little bit in your answers.

• 30:31Lewis Howes?

  The second guess.

• 30:32Speaker 01

  I've been there. So I can tell you, but.

• 30:35Lewis Howes?

  Have you done Jeopardy?

• 30:35Speaker 01

  I've done other.

• 30:37Lewis Howes?

  Stuff like that.

• 30:38Speaker 01

  Stuff like that. And you're like, oh crap, you knew you can't summon, because you get like 10 seconds, you know, and you're like.

• 30:45Speaker 01

  So, uh, I was like, I have the ability to do this. And I've always been realistic, you know, with myself.

• 30:58Speaker 01

  I wanted to play football when I was younger. I played it as much as I could play it. I was a standout in high school and then that was, it was pretty much it. And I was like, because you do not have the ability to do this.

• 31:14Lewis Howes?

  So you weren't, yeah.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  At a higher level. You don't have that ability. You're not Lawrence Taylor.

• 31:20Speaker 01

  But if I knew how to do something or I felt like I have the ability.

• 31:24Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 31:25Speaker 01

  Then I'm not going to deny it. That's the way I felt. And, um, so I, I just kept, you know, sort of plugging away, but I didn't really find a home. I, I knew I needed to find.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  A specific sport to play other than just being athletic.

• 31:45Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  They needed the sport to stand up, radio.

• 31:49Lewis Howes?

  The sport of comedy. Yeah, the sport of comedy, the avenue, the lane. Yeah.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's like saying I'm funny is like saying I'm athletic. I mean, well, look, you, you, you may play baseball, but that doesn't mean you bowl or ski well.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:05Speaker 01

  You play football doesn't mean you're fast swimmer or something. You know what I mean? Like you gotta pick your lane, you know? And I never knew what lane.

• 32:13Lewis Howes?

  So you try to bunch of different stuff.

• 32:15Speaker 01

  I picked all lanes.

• 32:16Lewis Howes?

  How many years did it take until you felt like, oh, I'm actually making decent money? And I figured out my lane or lanes that worked for me. How many years was that?

• 32:28Speaker 01

  Um, well, it wasn't, it wasn't years. It was months, probably. Yeah. I didn't make, well, because I made no money for, you know, eight years or some, I just, I didn't get paid. I, I improv troops, acting classes, growlings, open mics. Anything that anybody said sounded cool. You know, like if you just went, hey, man, let's just go sit at the, let's go sit at the diner and, and, and write sketches till four in the morning, just drinking free coffee refills.

• 33:08Speaker 01

  On a Tuesday night, I'd be like, I'll bring my notebook, you know, and what, what do you think about this? What do we think about that? You know? So all I did was just for free, I never made a penny. I mean, like I, you know, occasionally be some weird thing where like some guy would get a gig. Yeah, like we're gonna get in cowboy outfits or we're going to the Gene Autry Museum and they need us to do a funny little thing, you know, and I'll pay a hundred dollars, you know, and I go like, yeah, okay, let, let's, let's do it, you know? But I mean, I, I taught comedy traffic school.

• 33:42Speaker 01

  Was a thing back in the day. Got paid, but I was a traffic, I was a traffic school.

• 33:47Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 33:48Speaker 01

  Teacher, but I, but in my mind, I was in front of an audience, even though there were just people that were cited for speeding.

• 33:57Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 33:58Speaker 01

  And it was air conditioned, you know?

• 34:01Lewis Howes?

  Getting paid.

• 34:01Speaker 01

  And I wasn't covered with stucco dust, you know, at the end of the day. So, uh, but no, I, yeah, I didn't, I didn't make any money.

• 34:11Lewis Howes?

  So you were doing stuff you liked, you enjoyed, that you were finding a talent and good at, but you weren't making money until how many years until?

• 34:18Speaker 01

  Uh, well, then when I was coming up on my 30th birthday was, was the problem.

• 34:24Lewis Howes?

  And that was the timeline for you was like, okay, I got eight years.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  I just, I could have started 21, I could have started 22. I mean, I remember the apartment I was in, I was in my first apartment. So it was pretty early, but. I was just like, look, you got until you're 30. Because 30 soon and old enough to like, okay, no more sharing futons and.

• 34:45Lewis Howes?

  You know, right.

• 34:47Speaker 01

  Drinking Schaefer beer in the park, you know?

• 34:49Lewis Howes?

  Ramen noodles, yeah.

• 34:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, ramen noodles and, you know, generic Captain Crunch and.

• 34:54Lewis Howes?

  Not even the real Captain Crunch.

• 34:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, no, everything was.

• 34:56Lewis Howes?

  The half off Captain Crunch.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So I was like, by the time you're 30, you gotta be.

• 35:01Lewis Howes?

  Doing something.

• 35:01Speaker 01

  Doing something, you know, and, um.

• 35:04Lewis Howes?

  So what did you decide to do?

• 35:06Speaker 01

  Well, I was. A little earlier on. Probably about a year, maybe a year and a half earlier. I, I, I like, I always liked boxing, you know, and I was like. They were opening these gyms or like white collar boxing or whatever, like you teach lawyers and doctors.

• 35:25Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:26Speaker 01

  That can be, that could be fun. Cause I like it. I was so tired of construction that I just, I couldn't take it anymore. And, and, and I was like, I want to be around people and smart people and people have money and people that drive some other truck and, and everything. And I, I, I'd kind of made my way into a boxing gym. It's called Bodies in Motion. It used to be right up this, down Pico or something, not far.

• 35:53Lewis Howes?

  Is this like late 90s now or?

• 35:55Speaker 01

  No, no, this is still early. This is like 90.

• 36:00Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  Ninety one, maybe, whatever. I, I went into there and like I talked to the guy and like, hey, man, I, you know, I could really be a good boxing coach. And he's like, get out of here. And he just told me to buzz off, you know, and, and I was like, why don't you give me a shot, you know? And he's like, we don't, we just hire ex-champions and champions. Bros, yeah. We hire real people like, we gotta have credentials. Cause this guy's a WBA, you know, welterweight. Right. You know, you idiot walked off a construction site. That's not, those aren't credentials. This is bronze medalist in the Olympics. This is a. Yeah. And if they fluff them up a little, you know, but so he just went, no, you know?

• 36:47Speaker 01

  And, and I remember I was, I was, I was looking at, at the club, at the fitness place. And I saw like speed bag stations with the bag and the, you know? I saw a couple like they were sitting on the floor, like against the wall. And he was like shooing me out of the place. And I was like, hey, those speed bags, you need those hung? And all of a sudden he was like, uh, yeah. I'm like, well, I'm a carpenter. And he's like, oh, you are? And I'm like, yeah. And he's like, cause I got some heavy bags that need to be hung too. And I'm like, well, I know how to do that. And he's like, oh, so let's talk.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  And I said, okay, you give me 10 bucks an hour, just flat out. And I mean, back then carpenters probably make it 15, 16 bucks an hour or something. Just give me 10 bucks an hour. Uh, what time's the gym close? Like 10 at night or whatever. So what time's it open? You know, six in the morning. I was like, I'll be here. 10 at night, six in the morning. I'll show up at night. I'll hang all this stuff. Just give me the keys and. And you let me try teaching boxing. Wow. Well, the guy's like, yeah, okay. Sure. Sure. So taught a little bit.

• 38:15Speaker 01

  And then he wanted to open a place in Old Town Pasadena. That was another place, but he did it like renovated or whatever. And he was like, you build that place for 10 bucks an hour and you can teach there. And I was like, I'll do it. Holy hell. And so I built it and so I taught there. But I would make $20 a class. So, and I was only teaching like five classes a week or something. But it was like in, in my world, I was doing something different. And I was kind of enjoying myself. It was fun, fun to leave the class and put your mixtape on and all that stuff. And so I was like, all right, well, this feels better than, you know, being on a construction site.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  But I was still building cabinets and working for myself because I couldn't cut it on a hundred bucks a week, you know? I'd teach my morning boxing and then, then Go to the job. Go build cabinets for somebody or something like that. And then I was, I was driving over the hill, um, driving over Laurel Canyon, going up the hill. And I was just listening to Kevin and Bean on K-Rock and they were talking about a

• 39:28Speaker 01

  Jimmy, the sports guy and Michael, the maintenance man. And Jimmy said something offensive and they got into an argument and, um, they're going to have a boxing match. And they're like, we need trainers, you know? And I was like, oh my God, oh my God, I could. I don't think it was like, I could see the radio station. I could like, I, well, what is this like this radio station? I listen to it every day. I don't know where it is. What's it, what's it like, you know? And it's like, I got to the customer's house and I was like, could I use your phone? And she was nice and she's like, yeah. And I, I was calling the radio station and I just get Frank Murphy, the producer, just get his answering machine.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  I'm a boxing coach and I want to train someone and, you know, here's my home number or leave a message or whatever. And, uh, They never, they never called back. And, and some days were going by and I'd be listening like, we need a boxing coach. And guys were like calling in on air and stuff. I couldn't get anything going. Now, I, they wouldn't return calls, they wouldn't do anything. So I just went, I found out where the radio station was.

• 40:40Speaker 01

  Went before my 7:00 AM boxing class. Or maybe it was like a 6:00 AM boxing class. I, I can't remember, it was early, like 6:30, 7. And I, I went down there, I got into the building, it was like a commercial building. And then just went up to the ninth floor, but the suite was locked. Where the radio station was, and I knew they were in there somewhere, but they're, they're not. The receptionist, you know, and then do, you know, business hours, nine to five, you know, like if you win. Tickets to U2, you gotta pick them up, but you can't show up at seven, no one's there. And they're there, but the receptionist isn't there, you know, so. I was like, ah. Uh, now, oh.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  Now I showed up at 5:30 in the morning. One day and I couldn't get into the building. That's what happened. Then I showed up the next day at like 6:30 or 7:00, I did get into the building, but I couldn't get into K-Rock. And then I was just standing on the ninth floor. By the elevators. And I knew that was the K-Rock, like. Suite, but no one's gonna answer. And I was just like standing by the elevator, it's like. What do I do? I come back, like, maybe I'll come back in two hours and someone will be there. But then what if I get into the suite, I'm like, is the receptionist gonna go get? The morning show guys? I don't think that's what they do. Like they're gonna just go leave a number and I'm just gonna leave and I'm.

• 42:07Speaker 01

  And right as I'm sort of going over the machinations in my head of like, where could I, how could I work this out? Some guy just comes out of the elevator. And he starts like making a, a, a line for the back of K-Rock with the key card door, like the.

• 42:26Speaker 01

  The staff door. And I'm like, kind of walking with him and he's going in, you know, and I go, are you going into K-Rock? And he's like, yeah. And I don't know to this day, I don't know if he's the vending machine repair guy, or he's a phone screener, like whenever he is, he's just going in. And I go, hey, if you're going in there, just tell him the boxing, there's a boxing coach and he's just, I'll just be by the elevators. I'll just be hanging here. So just tell him someone's here. And like, you know, I think the guy kind of just put his hand up or something like, we didn't talk about it. He was like doing something, you know, and he's kind of, yeah, and one door shut, you know? So I just went and stood by the elevators. And I was probably out there about

• 43:11Speaker 01

  10 or 15 minutes, 20 minutes, something like that. And then at some point, some guy just came down the hall.

• 43:19Speaker 01

  This young guy, he's like, you the boxing coach? Like, yeah. And he goes, oh, okay. Uh, you want to teach me to box? I said, uh, yeah. I said, who are you? You know, what's your name? It's like, oh, my name's Jimmy. Jimmy, the sports guy. I said, okay. Well, Jimmy, the force guy is going to fight Michael Aminas, man. I guess I just got Jimmy, the sports guy. So I'll train you to box. And I said, when do you want to start? He said, how about today? And I was like, yeah, I'm at Bodies in Motion in Pasadena, like Old Town Pasadena. I'll meet you by the parking structure like at noon. He said, all right, I'll see you at noon. Okay. And then that guy turned out to be Jimmy Kimmel.

• 44:00Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 44:01Speaker 01

  And

• 44:04Speaker 01

  I was pretty lucky that it wasn't Michael Aminas, man. Came out. But Jimmy did.

• 44:10Lewis Howes?

  So you start, so Jimmy shows up that day and you start boxing?

• 44:14Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I'm going to be turning 30 in like three weeks.

• 44:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  And I'm like, I've got to figure out something with this guy, you know?

• 44:25Lewis Howes?

  So what happened with, how long were you, you know, training Jimmy Kimmel for this match? And then what evolved from that opportunity?

• 44:33Speaker 01

  Probably had about three weeks, probably.

• 44:35Lewis Howes?

  Few sessions a week or?

• 44:38Speaker 01

  Well, Jimmy was my meal ticket, my life preserver. Like, I'm like, I gotta hang on this guy both hands. He's like, dude, he's in radio.

• 44:48Lewis Howes?

  He's on radio.

• 44:49Speaker 01

  On the radio.

• 44:50Lewis Howes?

  He's making money.

• 44:51Speaker 01

  He's making money. Now, he's making, yeah, forty nine thousand dollars a year, forty four thousand dollars a year. He's living in a rented house in Reseda and driving a RX seven that's beat to, you know.

• 45:06Lewis Howes?

  Well, it's better than you.

• 45:07Speaker 01

  But it's, it's better than me. And he's in radio. And so I'm like, I gotta figure out a way to get this guy to think

• 45:20Speaker 01

  I'm super funny.

• 45:22Lewis Howes?

  And not just a boxing coach.

• 45:24Speaker 01

  Right.

• 45:25Lewis Howes?

  Not just, oh, I showed up to like, teach you and then this is all I do.

• 45:29Speaker 01

  No, but I, I don't want him to think I'm not a boxing coach because I don't want him to think I'm just trying to springboard this into that. You know, I'm some guy who just said he was a boxing.

• 45:41Lewis Howes?

  How many people have come up to you, you know, at a restaurant in LA and said, I'm an actor, I'm a writer, let me show you my script and let me do a set or?

• 45:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Nobody, nobody wants that. So I, I was pretty much eighty percent boxing and twenty percent funny for the first few sessions.

• 46:02Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 46:02Speaker 01

  Then I started to move more toward comedy. And, and as the boxing diminished, the comedy went up and, and then we like train, you know, he trained for forty five minutes or, I don't know, an hour, whatever, teach him a few things and then go, you know, they got this little cafe upstairs, you know, they got a cold Snapples. Just unwind, have a seat, drink a Snapple, you know, and, and he didn't want to train either. So I was like, yeah, let's go grab a staple and cool off, you know.

• 46:37Lewis Howes?

  And next thing you know, we're, we're sitting there for two hours.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  It's comedy hour.

• 46:40Lewis Howes?

  It's comedy hour.

• 46:41Speaker 01

  And I'm talking about.

• 46:42Lewis Howes?

  You're like, this is a radio show. You're like, our conversation.

• 46:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. So,

• 46:46Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:47Speaker 01

  I had him pretty convinced.

• 46:51Speaker 01

  After about, by the time the fight came around, he, he said, do you have anything like tape or anything I could see on you? Like, I don't exactly know like what your thing is, you know? And I had a tape, VHS tape of a home improvement sort of comedy show that I did on Eagle Rock Public Access, you know? It's nothing. It was just a little public access stupid Saturday thing, but it was tape. It was something. You know, it was something. And I like brought it over to his house and I was like, it's just a public access thing.

• 47:30Speaker 01

  You know, it's not very professional, whatever, but you could kind of see what, what I'm like, you know, on camera, whatever. And, and he watched it and because Jimmy's, you know, has a good eye, he, he was like, yeah, I get it. Like, I can see, I can see this. Something. I can see what you're doing. I see what you're doing. I mean, there's no production and there's no set and there's no anything, but, but I get it, you know? I, he, I, he was discerning enough to kind of go, there's bits and pieces here or something. And then, um, he lost the fight and then. He's like, you weren't that good of a trainer. You're better at comedy. I was not that good a trainer. Right. Well,

• 48:12Speaker 01

  I was actually, I was a good trainer that I could teach people out of box, but we, we weren't getting it done in three weeks. Yeah. And I, I was focusing on comedy. And so, uh, when we were done with the fight on a, on a Friday, Jimmy and I were friends, you know, he, he loved me. I loved him. I mean, he found somebody he could talk to and he liked comedy, comedy. He just liked me. I liked it like immediately, you know? And he was like.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  Was he around the same age, around thirty? He's a, he's a couple of years younger than. Yeah. And,

• 48:49Speaker 01

  and he was like.

• 48:51Lewis Howes?

  He's like three and a half years or something. He was, he was like twenty seven or something.

• 48:54Speaker 01

  Well, he was like twenty six and I was turning thirty, like right about then. And I know what his birthday is. Anyway, so.

• 49:04Lewis Howes?

  So he became Buddy.

• 49:04Speaker 01

  But he had, he had two kids and was married.

• 49:08Lewis Howes?

  At twenty six.

• 49:09Speaker 01

  You know, before that.

• 49:10Lewis Howes?

  Wow, right.

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Right now, yeah. And I was like, God, this dude's got kids. And I'm living in La Cressa in a rented house with three dudes. You know, and he's like, has a family and house and.

• 49:23Lewis Howes?

  Got put together.

• 49:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. And like, I think this guy's kind of responsible, has it going on. It's not like my buddies from high school.

• 49:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  And so, um, you know, now the fight's over and this kind of the end of the, of the prom for me, you know? And I'm like, what could I do to like, with the radio, like something with the morning show or something, something?

• 49:50Lewis Howes?

  To have like a segment or be a correspondent or do something, yeah.

• 49:53Speaker 01

  Just something. I'll drive, I'll drive the van. I'll do whatever. I just, I don't want to get in there, you know? I wouldn't get in there.

• 50:01Lewis Howes?

  And what'd he say?

• 50:02Speaker 01

  He said, uh, he said, what do you do? And then I said, I make things funnier. Like I shoot the breeze. I'm back and forth. I'm on my feet. You know, I'm an improv guy. You know, I'd be in there making it, making it funnier, you know? And he just went, that's what Kevin and Bean do that. What do they need you, what do they need you for? You think you're gonna sit like in between them and like make them funnier? That's their show. And they don't need you for that. So you, you gotta come up with something other than that. And so.

• 50:41Speaker 01

  He said, you gotta come up with a character. And if you come up with a character and it works. And then it could be part of a reoccurring thing. And I'm like, I'm not really a character dude. I don't really do voices. I'm not that guy. Like, I'm just not a character guy. And he's like, well. Better start.

• 51:04Speaker 01

  Figure it out. And I was like, all right. That's your way in. And he said, you can call in on Monday. I won't tell them who you are because they'll think you're the boxing coach. That's not gonna work. So I'll just set it up. I'll tell them I got this thing's funny. Guys got to call in. They're not going to know anything and just call in Monday and, you know, it, they're a little moody, like it may not, they may, it's probably, I've been on the other end of this a lot where it's like someone goes, how you want to get that guy back? Or is it funny? And I'm like, eh, didn't, no, didn't really land. It didn't really work. And um, so I did it, uh, you know, Monday morning, whatever.

• 51:48Speaker 01

  And um, I did a character and and it kind of worked. Like it was, it was like worked enough, you know? And of course I called Jimmy like the second. How'd it go? What happened? Yeah. And, and he was like, eh, they, they thought it was pretty, you know, that was pretty good. You know, it was okay. Um, like, could we try it next week? I try it again next week? Okay. I think I can get him to whatever next week. And so I did it the next week and then the next week and then it, it blew up and it was, it became this super popular bit. And and then, and then I got Love Line and I got signed by, I got signed by William Morris like immediately.

• 52:31Speaker 01

  And one of the, everyone in Hollywood kind of listened to K-Rock and this bit became so successful. And the character got so popular so fast that I literally got signed from Willie Morris like a couple of months into it. And, and then I got Love Line and then, and, and so there was no trajectory. I was like making zero.

• 52:59Speaker 01

  And I've looked at my statement, it's like social security, whatever they send you in the mail every 10 years. I was like making $4,000 a year and $12,000 a year. Zero a year because I was working under the table, whatever. Then it's like $36,000 a year was like my first sort of heroic thing. And then the next year was like $350,000 and then two years later it was like a million dollars. It was like, it was like, but it was nothing before then. And when I started, I started for free, you know, and I did it for a while, months, probably. And I would, I would have a lot of my friends from the neighborhood kind of guys be like, what are they paying you? What are they paying you?

• 53:45Speaker 01

  And I'd be like, they're not paying me anything. And they're like, why is it paying you? He should be paying you. And so eventually we settled on, on 50 bucks a bit.

• 53:56Speaker 01

  And I remember telling my friends, oh, they're, they're paying me. They're giving me 50 bucks a bit. They're like, 50 bucks a bit, you know, because they got, at that time, they're making 20 bucks an hour as a carpenter. Like, I thought this was show business, you know, making less than I make for a day, you know? And I just remember super clearly when they were protesting, 50 bucks? Kind of money's that? That's a big station, you know? You're like, this is a dream for me. I'm on the radio. I'm doing a bit. I got William Morris. Yeah. I said, I should be paying that. Wow. And they didn't really understand what it meant. But I got signed by William Morris. I took over on Love Line. And it was just sort of rocket ship.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  Soon as, you know, two months later, after I told them that. So I was like, and I knew instinctively, this exposure is so great and people. And and it was is it was as I planned, not planned, but I walked in and I was funnier than everyone. And I was like, I I knew it. I just needed, the reason it took off is because I was really good, but I just never had an audience or a place or a sport or whatever.

• 55:08Lewis Howes?

  A platform, yeah.

• 55:09Speaker 01

  And then, and it is, and then I got in a love line and then they started syndicating and then it was like 100 and whatever markets and then the TV shows, blah, blah, blah. But I was good. Like I was ready to go. And and I trained and I trained and I trained and I had no matches. And all of a sudden I met Jimmy. But it wasn't just meeting Jimmy, it was just being exposed. The second I got exposed, it just, everything just blew up.

• 55:38Lewis Howes?

  Would you say he's one of your closest friends and colleagues over all the years?

• 55:44Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, for sure.

• 55:45Lewis Howes?

  What would you say are the, the three lessons you've learned the most from him? From working with Jimmy and being friends with him and um, watching his career and?

• 55:55Speaker 01

  The, the number one lesson I've learned for him, from him is when you make yourself of of service for other people, you end up getting paid back sort of tenfold. And it's, and I don't mean cosmically. I just mean, you know, Jimmy stuck his neck out for me. He helped me. He would show up at, you know, four in the morning with the radio station and help edit a bit I was doing or something like that. He was very magnanimous, very magnanimous. But at some point, I took over

• 56:35Speaker 01

  for Howard Stern. I signed a big radio deal. Jimmy was a producer and Jimmy was making hundreds of thousands of dollars, you know, mailbox money. And it's like, oh, yeah, you did get, you did make some money. I mean, we're still not even. I owe him a lot more money. But

• 57:01Speaker 01

  He invested this time and it wasn't. He did it because he believed in me or who whatever he believes it, you know? He didn't do it for the money, but he put the time in and there was a payday after, after that. And, and, and it's about relationships and, and the people I know who give the least have the least. The people I know that are the most tight fisted with not so much money, but their time.

• 57:33Lewis Howes?

  Time and teaching and mentorship and access and resources.

• 57:37Speaker 01

  I think about the people, mostly family members of mine, who've done nothing for anybody else and have nothing. And then there's Jimmy who does everything for everyone else and has everything.

• 57:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 57:51Speaker 01

  And I'd, I realize, how's this work? Cause it's not like, oh, I lend everyone a hundred dollars or I give everyone a hundred dollars. So I'm rich. How's it work? And it's like, oh, it's all relationships. It's all relationships.

• 58:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So that's a big lesson you learned from him. What's, what's another lesson you've, whether witnessed or he's taught you directly or indirectly, would you say?

• 58:15Speaker 01

  Um, I've learned a lot about pizza.

• 58:19Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 58:19Speaker 01

  Really the first gift I ever got him was a pizza stone for his oven.

• 58:24Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 58:25Speaker 01

  And he started building elaborate pizza ovens. So a lot of it's sort of pizza related.

• 58:30Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 58:33Speaker 01

  I learned that show business and, and comedy is sort of part.

• 58:40Speaker 01

  Your God given sense of humor and ability, but it's mostly about whatever qualities you would need to succeed in the roofing or siding business or whatever. It's just Jimmy.

• 58:57Speaker 01

  Jimmy is not the most naturally gifted comedic mind I've ever met, which sounds like I'm, you know, downplaying it. I'm not. He's a Jimmy's a funny dude. But, but there's a lot of funny guys. He brings the work ethic to the comedy.

• 59:20Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 59:20Speaker 01

  A lot of comedians like to, you know, rip on loads and, you know, go to brunch and sort of hang out. Like, like a lot of comedians were attracted to comedy because they didn't want to work. And they just were like, and there are a lot of those comedians, like they're hanging out during the day. Jimmy's at work. Jimmy was always at work. He was at the, you know, radio station at five in the morning. You know, when we're doing the man show, he's bringing home a stack of writers submissions and reading every one of them and everything.

• 59:56Speaker 01

  It's like what you can do with ability, when that ability meets strong work ethic, you can conquer the world. Um, each one alone is not really going to cut it in show business or comedy.

• 1:00:17Lewis Howes?

  Right. You've probably seen a ton of comedians at stand up over the years, who are probably really funny. Like you're like, wow, that was creative. That was, you know, a genius thing. Or you really had the timing down or whatever. You were working the crowd and they were in it in the pocket. But they didn't have the work ethic to actually follow through and produce something or build the right relationships to make things happen. You've probably seen a lot of funny people, right? Talented, funny people that didn't make it.

• 1:00:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. That's you need, I mean, you know, it's helps to be semi sober and not, you know, go off the rails with, you know, cocaine or whatever. I mean, if there's a, there's, there's sort of mitigating factors, circumstances, but you know, not pissing people off, not being flaky.

• 1:01:11Speaker 01

  Say, doing what you said you were gonna do, being kinda dutiful, showing up, like having people be able to count on you to be there.

• 1:01:19Lewis Howes?

  Right, not being a diva.

• 1:01:20Speaker 01

  Business, not being a diva.

• 1:01:22Lewis Howes?

  Not being a diva like you on a Wednesday.

• 1:01:23Speaker 01

  So, so. I need a fresh coffee.

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  So, that's kind of a work.

• 1:01:32Speaker 01

  Work ethic, which, which he has a very strong, he has a kind of a accountant's like work ethic with a sort of artist mind.

• 1:01:47Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:01:47Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And if you, you put those together. Uh, you got a, you got a pretty winning combination.

• 1:01:54Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing. How long were you guys working on The Man Show for? Cause that was a big show for a while.

• 1:02:00Speaker 01

  Uh, we did four seasons, maybe a hundred, something like that, a hundred. Little over a hundred episodes, I think, something like that.

• 1:02:09Lewis Howes?

  You've done a lot of projects together. You've been, so what's it been 30 years? Like working with him and knowing him and helping each other and just being in the business together?

• 1:02:18Speaker 01

  Well, yeah, it's, it's easy for me because I was going to turn 30. So I know I have a marker where I met Jimmy, cause I'm always bad at, eh, how long did I do this? Like, you know, I, I'm like, I would say to Dr. Drew, when did I start Love Line? Was that 95? No, 96 or whatever. I'd be like, yeah, what, when was it? Like, I, I, I'm not a marker of time, but because I was so consumed with turning 30 and not getting anywhere, I, I met Jimmy right when I was turning 30 and I'm 59 now, so.

• 1:02:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  It'll be.

• 1:02:52Lewis Howes?

  30 years.

• 1:02:53Speaker 01

  30 years.

• 1:02:53Lewis Howes?

  Three decades, wow.

• 1:02:54Speaker 01

  Coming up.

• 1:02:55Lewis Howes?

  Where do you think you'd be if you didn't show up to that radio station that day?

• 1:03:00Speaker 01

  Um, I mean, is, is Kevin and Bean put it, as I'm working on a K-Rock documentary, they're like. You know, Adam was so funny, he would have ended up somewhere doing something. Again, I'm trying to sound like a swine, but they were like, he's super like the funniest guy I've ever met. So he would have figured in Jimmy the same way. Like he wasn't going to stay there at K rock doing the sports for another 25 years. He would have been on to something. I would have been on to something too. God knows when, I mean, I don't know when or where. I don't know if I would have.

• 1:03:41Speaker 01

  I mean, I'm a kind of a strong believer in I, I may have, I would have found my way into radio. It's some way, somehow, because I was so interested in it and always kind of circling around it, thinking about it a lot.

• 1:03:56Lewis Howes?

  It's interesting though, because if you maybe to turn 30 and then 31 and two, if you haven't had anything yet, you might have been like, you know what? I'm just going to go full time with a carpentry or boxing or whatever it is.

• 1:04:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was, I was like, I just wouldn't commit to not trying to do something creative. I, I was told, I used to pull up to the job site with my crappy pickup truck, you know? And, and I remember periodically, like every couple of years, some guy had a new truck, you know? And if you had a new truck, that was, that's a big deal. You pull it up and that new truck, because everyone was driving beaters. And I'd buy my stuff out of the recycler, you know, old Datsuns, you know, 79, you know, miniature little Japanese trucks and stuff.

• 1:04:46Speaker 01

  And I, I remember a guy named Jan, about my age, a couple of years older, so four minutes. He come pulled up this new Ford Ranger, you know? And V six and it's like, oh, crew cab, you know, whatever. And I was like, wow, sweet. And he was like, went down to, you know, Galpin Ford and it's, you know, 289 bucks a month. It's like, but you have to have full coverage insurance, like if you're making payments and stuff. And he's like, yeah. And I was like, he's like, you should go get a truck, get a nice truck, get a new truck. And I was like, If I commit to that, then I'm not gonna be able to, you know, I gotta take my growlings

• 1:05:29Speaker 01

  classes, do all my other stuff. I don't wanna get, if I get committed to this pain, then I have to get my contractor's license and you're getting your contractor's license. And everyone's like, get your contractor's license and start making some money and get a new truck. And I was like, I'm gonna get sucked into this thing. I've got bills. And then this is what I'll be doing.

• 1:05:50Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:05:50Speaker 01

  Like, full time.

• 1:05:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:05:52Speaker 01

  And I'm not gonna be able to take off and go do this class or do this thing or do whatever. So I always kinda knew it. Like, I just, I don't wanna commit to this and I wanna, I wanna commit to comedy, but I know it's not a high percentage thing and I don't know what is in it, but I just feel like I'll find a way. If I just keep walking forward, I'll find something.

• 1:06:15Lewis Howes?

  This is the fascinating thing, though. This is part of your story that I really like is there's a lot of talented musicians or artists or athletes or just talented, smart people at different things who don't go to the station.

• 1:06:31Speaker 01

  They have.

• 1:06:32Lewis Howes?

  They, they take the classes. They work at 4 a.m. at the coffee shop, working with their friends on projects. They do their art in their living room. They do these things, but they don't put it out there. They don't risk it to that extent. And just that one extra step that you took. It's like, I showed up and no one was there. I showed up the next day and no one was there. But I decided to stick around. Then I told the guy, hey, let them know I'm outside, I'll be here. And then you waited. Like, you, you took an extra step that was unconventional at that time. My girlfriend, she's done over 40 movies. She's a, she's done a ton of movies in Mexico and also in the U.S. But she has a similar story where she was like, I didn't

• 1:07:15Lewis Howes?

  know how to get into acting, but I just showed up to the casting place and I just said, hey. I think it would be great for a movie. And here's my paper, here's my headshot, whatever. And just talk to everyone. And just said, hey, do you have anything that I can do a casting for? If she didn't show up for that, she wouldn't have landed like her first big movie and then all the other things that came from that. Cause she showed up to the, the office, the casting without, unannounced. And I think a lot of people don't show up unannounced.

• 1:07:43Speaker 01

  Showing up is, it's about seven or eight tenths of whatever it is you're trying to do. You just have to show up.

• 1:07:51Lewis Howes?

  Cause you had the talent for years. Yeah. You had, you were the funny, you're like, yeah, he would have finally figured it out and landed somewhere, but maybe you wouldn't have if you didn't put yourself out there in that way. If you didn't show up to the, the station.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was never that kind of guy. I was not, I was not proactive. I was kind of low self-esteem and I just kind of kept quiet. Stuff and I, I didn't put myself out there.

• 1:08:15Lewis Howes?

  Um, that's inspiring.

• 1:08:17Speaker 01

  So I didn't do it, but I did it this time.

• 1:08:20Lewis Howes?

  And you met Jimmy and look what happened from there. It's amazing.

• 1:08:23Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's, it's, it's interesting. It's just, it's a journey, man.

• 1:08:28Lewis Howes?

  Adam, I appreciate your time here. I've got a couple of questions that I ask everyone at the end. Before I ask them, I would just want to tell people to make sure they check out your show and adamcarolla.com. I think you got your tour dates on there. You got your podcast information. You got all this stuff you're working on there. Um, I appreciate you having me on your show. I thought it was a lot of fun. It's just a funny time and everything that you guys talk about over there. So thanks for having me on your show. And I want people to follow that Adam Carolla show over on podcasts and check out your tour. If you thought this was interesting and funny and you know, all that stuff, make sure to check out your website and check out your tours. Is there anywhere else we can send people to today to support and serve you?

• 1:09:09Speaker 01

  Uh, no. Adamcarolla.com is where all the info is.

• 1:09:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's great. I appreciate your honesty. I want to acknowledge you for your realness and your truth and sharing just all the lessons in the journey. You've been in this game for a long time. You've seen people come and go. You've gone through ups and downs and I just appreciate your consistency. You show up, you work hard. You know, some people love you, some people don't like you, but it sounds like you like you, which I think is good. It's like you, I'm agnostic on myself, but I just realized my strengths and my foibles, you know, and I just, you should be realistic with yourself. Otherwise you're gonna get your Sure, but you also realize you're like, oh, this might be a little, but this is who

• 1:09:58Lewis Howes?

  I am and this is, you know, and I'm trying to be a good guy. So I just appreciate the realness of you being who you say you are. And I acknowledge you for that. I acknowledge you for really leading the way in an industry that I, I felt like I was an early adopter in podcasting, but I remember seeing you and Rogan was really in some random tech, you know, podcasts early on that were leading the way. And so I really acknowledge you for inspiring me for, you know, seeing what's possible in the world of podcasting, seeing what's possible to share my voice in my own unique way. And there was only a few people that were doing that and that was you. So I really acknowledge you for that, that model

• 1:10:39Lewis Howes?

  that you had. This is a question I ask everyone towards the end. Two final questions that I ask everyone towards the end. One is called the three truths. So this is a hypothetical scenario. You can answer it however you like, but I would like you to imagine that it's, you get to live as long as you want, but it's the last day in your life. You get to experience and accomplish everything you want for as many years as possible, but then it's the last day. And for whatever reason, on this last day, hypothetical scenario, you've got to take all of your content with you. So books, podcasts, shows, there's no one has access to your content anymore or anything you've shared. But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world that you feel like, all right,

• 1:11:23Lewis Howes?

  this is all they have of my content. I'm going to share these three lessons. I call it the three truths. What would those three truths be for you?

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  Uh, whatever damage happens in your life or negative, negative things that happen in your life, it will most likely be self-inflicted. Most everyone I know who's really had some bad times, it's, it's all been either directly or indirectly their own doing. So you do a lot of externalizing.

• 1:12:01Speaker 01

  Realize when stuff happens, there's a, if not direct, indirect path right back to you and your actions. So understand that.

• 1:12:16Speaker 01

  There's really almost no such thing as like literally just, I was just sitting in my car and a drunk driver plowed into me. There's, there's something that you could have been doing to, to avoid that in some way, even if it seems totally random. So kind of internalize that and, and use it is, is one.

• 1:12:45Speaker 01

  Uh, the other is, uh, the aforementioned Jimmy lesson, just be generous and don't be generous because you're generous. Be generous because you could do it because you're a narcissist. I mean, Jimmy's a narcissist, not magnanimous. He wants what's, he wants people to think of him and go, wow, I love that guy or owe that guy my career. I owe that guy, you know, I want to help that guy. He likes it. He, it's healthy. Like it, it's fine. It's fine to, um, go, I want to do this and don't look at it as being sort of out of pocket. It's you, you pay for dinner

• 1:13:28Speaker 01

  a couple of times and then you, your dinner gets paid for, for in perpetuity. So, you know,

• 1:13:36Speaker 01

  be, be that. Um, and then I guess, um, a simple test uh, would be the phone.

• 1:13:47Speaker 01

  Ring identification test, which is when the phone rings. Start hearing.

• 1:13:58Lewis Howes?

  The phone literally just started ringing right when you said that.

• 1:14:00Speaker 01

  When the phone ring and your name comes up and whomever sees it, what do they think? Because we've all had that person or people where like the phone rings and you see it and you're like,

• 1:14:17Speaker 01

  I'm just not really up to this right now. Or what do they want? They want something. I can't deal with this person. And then there's people you go, oh, cool. Oh, good. I get to, this person's calling. I get to talk to this person.

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  What emotion do you elicit from others? If your phone, if your name is popping up on their phone, what is their impulse? Gonna be and, and, and the free is, you know, the freest anyone will be is just go, oh, that's you. Oh, okay. Yeah. What's happening? You know, like,

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  it's, it's a, it's a kind of interesting metaphor because we, we all have a scale. We have the people in our lives where they call, they go, oh, good. And then there's the people at the bottom where you're like, this, I'm not picking that phone up. And then there's the ones like in the middle where you're like,

• 1:15:15Lewis Howes?

  Depends on your mood.

• 1:15:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. They want, I know, I'm not up to this. I'll call them back or, or whatever. Like you gotta figure out where you rank.

• 1:15:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:24Speaker 01

  And then try to adjust your ranking.

• 1:15:27Lewis Howes?

  It's a grade three truth. I appreciate it. Uh, Adam, final question. What is your definition of greatness?

• 1:15:34Speaker 01

  I mean, personally for me, it's, it's, it's living up to your potential. I, I was, I was talking to someone about this last night and they were like, what was your plan with show business or what was your plan with this or what's your plan? I said, I just wanted to, I wanted to live up to my potential. And they kept talking about money or ratings or something. And I was like, no, I was a carpenter. I, I knew I could do comedy and it was bothering me that I wasn't realizing it and I wasn't living up to my potential. And that potential doesn't mean riches or,

• 1:16:14Speaker 01

  or accolades or Academy Awards or anything. It's just, I was doing this. I thought I could be doing that and I wasn't satisfied until I was doing that. And not because that was better or more noble. It was just, I knew I could do it and I was going to be horribly unsatisfied in life because I felt I had this potential and I wasn't living up to it. And to me, that's the definition of a great life. If you can live up to your potential, even if your potential's not sexy or glamorous or any of it, your potential's, maybe it's just being a great dad.

• 1:16:55Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Like, maybe that's your potential. That's something to aspire to.

• 1:17:01Lewis Howes?

  I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel on Apple Podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend, leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for

• 1:17:43Lewis Howes?

  the greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.