A Comedian’s Approach To Insecurities, Self Doubt and Becoming The Best Performer w/Andrew Schulz EP 1234

Today’s guest is Andrew Schulz, one of the biggest stand-up comedians in the country who recently released his Netflix special, Schulz Saves America. Andrew is an actor, TV producer and co-host of the Flagrant 2 podcast. In this episode we discuss:How to transition your insecurities into confidence. How to become a stronger public speaker and performer. Why self-doubt is necessary to achieve greatness. How the comedy industry is constantly evolving. What you should do right now to launch your new career. And so much more! For more go to: www.lewishowes.com/1234Check out Andrew on tour: https://theandrewschulz.com/showsMel Robbins: The “Secret” Mindset Habit to Building Confidence and Overcoming Scarcity: https://link.chtbl.com/970-podDr. Joe Dispenza on Healing the Body and Transforming the Mind: https://link.chtbl.com/826-podMaster Your Mind and Defy the Odds with David Goggins: https://link.chtbl.com/715-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.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 1,234 with Andrew Scholes. 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.

• 0:27Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back, my friend. Today's guest is Andrew Scholes, who is one of the biggest stand-up comedians in the country, who recently released his Netflix special, Schulz Saves America. And Andrew is an actor, TV producer, and co-host of the Flagrant 2 podcast. He's hitting the road for another US tour, so make sure to visit his website, check him out on social media to catch him in a city near you. In this episode, we dive in, and I love this conversation with Andrew. I just love talking with comedians who are so creative and able to connect with people in a unique way. And in this episode, we discuss how to transition your insecurities into confidence, how to become a stronger public speaker and performer on stages, why self-doubt is necessary to

• 1:09Lewis Howes?

  achieve greatness, which I thought was interesting for his point of view, how the comedy industry is constantly evolving, what you should do right now to launch your new career, and so much more. If you're enjoying this or inspired by this in any way, make sure to share this with others. You can post it on social media, tag me, tag Andrew. Okay, in just a moment, the one and only Andrew Scholes.

• 1:34Lewis Howes?

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• 2:14Lewis Howes?

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• 2:33Lewis Howes?

  You like to do the challenging thing like on stage, not the thing that you know was going to get the biggest laugh.

• 2:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:40Lewis Howes?

  But the thing that's the most challenging that you'll think is really interesting. And hopefully people think it is too. And if you can get them to laugh on the most challenging thing, then you're like, that will lights you up.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. It's like, uh, I look at it kind of like a, you know, like diving in the Olympics. I might use that metaphor for it.

• 2:58Lewis Howes?

  Not just anyone can dive in the pool, but.

• 3:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's like, it's not only diving where there's no splash. It's also like, what do you do before? Like it's all, how many flips are you going to do? How many spins? So like, you're getting rated not only how you enter the water, but how difficult the trick was before you enter. And that's kind of how I look at like a joke or a premise or anything. I'm like, okay, what's, what is the most touchy subject that I could possibly talk about? And how can I make that funny for a group of people that should feel like it's touchy? Like that, that's awesome that you feel that way. And it took me a while to learn this, but like when a crowd like is a little hesitant to laugh, like they're kind of doing the right social thing.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  But they really want to laugh.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  They might want to laugh, but like socially they're being considerate of other people, right? And like, I would like that behavior on the street. You know, it's easy for us comics to get upset, but like, oh, why are you guys all in? Or why are you guys uncomfortable? Or why are you guys acting so woke, etc. But like realistically, that behavior, if you're just like walking down the street and you saw somebody saying opinions that are a little bit wild, like outside of the comedy club setting, you'd probably want to protect the person that might feel uncomfortable. So I don't really like have as much animosity for them as I used to.

• 4:09Lewis Howes?

  Got you.

• 4:09Speaker 01

  But I still want them to feel uncomfortable. That is my place of comfort.

• 4:13Lewis Howes?

  Why do you want people to feel uncomfortable?

• 4:14Speaker 01

  I don't know. But it is, I love that. I love the discomfort, I love the tension, I just love it. The more tension, the better.

• 4:22Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing that's hard for you in your life to be uncomfortable with?

• 4:25Speaker 01

  What's hard for me to be uncomfortable with?

• 4:28Lewis Howes?

  Since that's comfortable, that's your comfort zone?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:30Lewis Howes?

  Making an audience uncomfortable?

• 4:31Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 4:32Lewis Howes?

  Where are you most uncomfortable in your life?

• 4:34Speaker 01

  Well, let me clarify. The release of tension should be this great comfort, and that's where the laugh comes from, for them, right? And like, as, as my, as my career has, you know, begun to grow and flourish, if you will, I have a much different relationship with the audience. So like, now when they come,

• 4:52Lewis Howes?

  They know.

• 4:53Speaker 01

  They know, and I just want to give them the best show ever.

• 4:55Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 4:56Speaker 01

  Like, I just want them, I'm just so grateful for them. But early in my career, when I didn't know them, and they were like hesitant to laugh about touchy topics, I was angry at them.

• 5:03Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  And I was like, how can I manipulate you into laughing at this thing you would never want to laugh at? This is, the only thing that I hated about comedy my whole career was, was the first few minutes establishing who you are. It was the only time I felt like a clown.

• 5:18Lewis Howes?

  How would you do it?

• 5:19Speaker 01

  You have to make them feel safe, so it's like, how do I, I know what to say to get everybody in the audience to like me. But if that's not me, then they're not liking.

• 5:29Lewis Howes?

  Authentically who you are.

• 5:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:31Lewis Howes?

  What is the thing you'd say to get them to like you that wasn't you? Just like some random joke that you're kind of like, whatever, or?

• 5:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, there's, like, you know, if you're in certain markets, there are things that you can say that, like, just those people tend to agree with. But that's no fun. So it's like, how do I speak about them in a way that they feel like they're understood? But I'm still pushing back. And I think that's kind of where I developed this style of like, kind of digging in and like, understanding like nuance about each one of these like cultures or people or cities, et cetera, because I could rip apart a city if I knew things I wasn't supposed to, right? And I was like, oh, this is cool, this is like, this is like, almost like a cheat code. Like, I can make fun of you now, you're safe with me. You know what I'm saying? Like, you feel safe because you know that I took enough time to learn that about you.

• 6:18Lewis Howes?

  To research it, yeah.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, and then you feel like represented. And that's like a really cool thing that I didn't realize.

• 6:23Lewis Howes?

  Represented even on the worst stuff about you?

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. Because a lot of times, you're proud of that too. You know, like

• 6:29Lewis Howes?

  Give me an example. What's a city or like a culture or something that you could reference that you were like, I researched this thing about Seattle or whatever. I don't know.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  And God, I'm trying to think

• 6:41Lewis Howes?

  Detroit or Chicago or, you know, wherever it is, the South. I don't know.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm trying to think like something that I've, that I was doing like, uh, that's something that I was like, a place I was at recently. I was thinking Portland.

• 6:53Lewis Howes?

  You were like, you were at the, uh, Portland, you were on Instagram, you were at the marching, right? There was some

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Oh, Seattle. It was crazy. Yeah, they were just like freaking out. No, Portland wants to be Seattle. And I, and I had like a big beef with Portland. Like I went there and it was like a big, it was like a, there was, yeah, we had like an issue, but I, we got through it.

• 7:13Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 7:13Speaker 01

  And it, and it was fun, but like, that was, that was also fun. It was like figuring out ways to make fun of Portland that they could also appreciate. And I think that they're like, okay, he knows these things about us. Okay. I feel comfortable enough to like laugh with you.

• 7:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  You know?

• 7:26Lewis Howes?

  He gets us.

• 7:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, like there's something, and it's interesting, like putting out the clips, like one in, um, when I was in Florida, we were living in Florida during the pandemic for a while and, uh, I had this joke about how Cubans become like conservative Republicans, like the second they land. Like, but they're, they're like immigrants, they're minorities. And the second that that foot is dry, there's like a wet foot, dry foot rule. It's just the rule. Like if you touch the land, you're good. You're, you're American. You're and, uh, they're just like immediately conservative Republicans. Like we need to stop immigration. There's too many people.

• 8:00Lewis Howes?

  All right.

• 8:01Speaker 01

  And, uh, the second they get here, it's like, there's too many people.

• 8:06Lewis Howes?

  That's funny.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  And, uh, and it's funny like to see that joke had shared within that community. And that's the beauty of social media is like, back in the day, if you did a special on like HBO or something like that, like, they couldn't just take that one little thing and share it with their grandmas and grandpas and all their cousins that they do that exact thing. Now you see the joke go viral on Tik Tok or Instagram because it's so easy to access.

• 8:27Lewis Howes?

  Right. What do you think was the skill that you learned that gave you the most confidence on stages?

• 8:32Speaker 01

  I think, uh, it was probably like watching my dad interact with people. Whoever he was talking to was the most interesting person that, that he'd ever met. Like the bus boy could pick up all the plates. And he's like, how did you do that? Like he'd literally be baffled. How did you get all those plates? And like, he'd find out about people and like, at, at the beginning, sometimes people thought like he was like trolling them. And then they realized it was genuine and like, I don't know, he just has a skill to like make people feel good, but he's doing it because he's curious. So he just learned so much about people and he'd ask all these questions and like, I could see him just like break down people's walls and that kind of worked with me and I was, I think that that curiosity translates to stage.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  And if there's one thing that I wish that I was able to do more of now is just like interact with strangers.

• 9:21Lewis Howes?

  You don't do that?

• 9:22Speaker 01

  It's, it's, I just have less time to do it. You know, like I have a wife, I have

• 9:27Lewis Howes?

  A career.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  Career that's crazy busy. I have a team of guys, so I'm interacting with the people that I know, but I want to interact with, that's why I was saying earlier, like I just love a conversation. Like I want to talk to, you know, the Uber driver. I want to talk to the guy at TSA. I want to talk to the guy, you know, that I'm sitting next to on the plane. I want to have these conversations with these people and then, you know, sometimes they're fruitful. And all I need is like one nugget of information and that can, you know, last a lifetime.

• 9:53Lewis Howes?

  What's the biggest insecurity or fear that you had to overcome?

• 9:56Speaker 01

  For stand up?

• 9:58Lewis Howes?

  Just in life?

• 9:59Speaker 01

  In life. Yeah. It wasn't like so crippling. Like I remember like going to college for the first time and like feeling insecure. Like I'd never felt like that in like some sort of a school environment. Like I never felt that. Like I would just stop the class. If I didn't understand anything, something like, nobody's moving on. Like that was

• 10:17Lewis Howes?

  They're like, wait a minute, teacher, I don't understand.

• 10:19Speaker 01

  I don't understand it. That was my philosophy. And, and I, looking back on it, I was like, wow, like where did this come from? Like, why did you think that it was important for you to say things like that and to understand things like? And then in college for the first time, I was like hesitant to raise my hand in like one of these big like lecture halls. Like I didn't understand that participation was 10% of your grade and you wouldn't just raise your hand every day. Like the teacher would have to like force you to talk. I'm like, dude, it's so easy. You just raise your hand. Who cares? Like I didn't care what anybody felt about me.

• 10:45Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing. I, I never raised my hand.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Really?

• 10:48Lewis Howes?

  I was too embarrassed and scared and I was just bad at school.

• 10:50Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 10:51Lewis Howes?

  And so I was just, you know, I never wanted to look stupid in front of others.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:56Lewis Howes?

  And thinking of, it's funny now because all I do now is ask dumb questions.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 11:00Lewis Howes?

  That I wish I would have asked when I was younger.

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:02Lewis Howes?

  And I'm like, this is a really dumb question, but then I'll have people message me, literally send me voice notes or messages on Instagram and be like, I'm so glad you asked that question. And I was thinking of that follow-up question that you asked. But I never ask questions.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  I never preface it with, this is a dumb question. Don't do that.

• 11:18Lewis Howes?

  I don't say that now.

• 11:21Lewis Howes?

  I'm thinking this is a basic question. And I don't know the answer, but I'm just curious to know why this. And so, but I just always felt like people would make fun of me if I raised my hand.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  I feel like I was better than them at making fun.

• 11:34Lewis Howes?

  That's good.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  So it was just like, yeah, so it was just like, I wasn't worried about being picked on because like, I, I'm good at that. So.

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  You were witty, you were quick with it.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, like I grew up with like Scottish women, so I just had to find a way to keep up. And then, I think once I was able to kind of keep up with them, I was like, okay, I got this no matter what. And then I was just kind of like, my parent, and that, I give that all the credit to my parents, like that we had dinner every night and they just listened to me. And I think when you just listen to a kid, they start to feel like their words matter and what they have to say matters. And I think if you don't listen to them, they go, why does anything I say important at all? If the people that love me more than anything in the world don't even care what I say, why would a stranger care? I, I really think as I look back, I think that's where it came from, like every day, that was like my open mic. We sat down, how was your day?

• 12:24Speaker 01

  My dad's laughing, you know, my mom's laughing, my brother's laughing and it was just like. I mean, I would sit down at dinner like, I'm about to bring it.

• 12:35Lewis Howes?

  You got your hat on for tips.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  I don't know, I guess, like, I don't know, I just, I guess I had that confidence, like even when I would go through like therapy or something like that, like I'd walk into therapy. And, and like I'd have the session and I'd walk out like, that was your best. You just had a great, do I have to pay? Now, now that doesn't, now there is a, I guess what I'm saying is there's a balance, so in order to be great, you need to have like a a crippling anxiety about your, your skill level, I think, not crippling, but you need to have like intense scrutiny. And you also need to have the confidence to do more, right?

• 13:17Speaker 01

  So it's just this like crazy balance, like you need to have the confidence to say something and you need to have the insecurity to improve. And that balance I have, like I'll be.

• 13:26Lewis Howes?

  Not think you're the best and you don't need to work on yourself.

• 13:29Speaker 01

  Exactly, that is the worst, those are the worst people, so it's like, think. You can be the best and there are moments where you're like, yeah, I'm the best. And then there's other moments where you look at your thing and be like, oh, I can make that better. Like, there's nothing that I've ever looked at that I've gone, I can make that better. I can't make that better. Everything I nitpick at, oh, you gotta take me out of the room sometimes, like a hundred percent. That's the beauty of stage. Like, that's why I need the crowd. The crowd lets me know if it works, you know, like the crowd, if they're just going crazy and they're losing it. I go, okay, that is funny enough.

• 14:03Lewis Howes?

  What if they're all, you know, choking on their laughter, they're crying, they're on the floor because they can't, you know, hold themselves up. Everyone is on the floor dying of laughter.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 14:12Lewis Howes?

  And you're gonna say to yourself, I could have been better?

• 14:14Speaker 01

  Well, it depends. I mean, it depends. Maybe not. I'd be like, okay, maybe that joke is getting enough right there. Or this pause is-

• 14:20Lewis Howes?

  But the whole set, you could have done something, yeah.

• 14:22Speaker 01

  I guess what I'm saying is like, there's like a ridiculous, I don't even know if the word is insecurity. But it isn't, yeah, sometimes I'll watch things and I'll be like, oh, I'm insecure about how I could look right there. But it's more of just like a brutal honesty about, in a high expectation for greatness. So it's like, this is what I believe greatness is. And this is where I think that joke is, or my performance is, or that bit is. And it's like, what can I do to get there? And to be honest, sometimes it's like so, I can be so harsh, I have to not watch for a little.

• 14:54Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right.

• 14:55Speaker 01

  Let the stew cook a little bit, because if I just keep watching, I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose faith in it.

• 15:01Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  I have to like, let the, it's almost like fake confidence, put the air under my wings to get it to the point where it is good enough and then I can scrutinize it. But yeah, I've never had that feeling of like, I shouldn't say this.

• 15:16Lewis Howes?

  Do you think a comedian can be truly great without being somewhat insecure?

• 15:22Speaker 01

  No, no, because you won't get better. You need insecurity. I'm like grateful for it. Like, you need the insecurity. You need to look at somebody and be like, oh, they do this better than me. I need to get better than them. I remember seeing the comics like this guy is unbelievable.

• 15:36Lewis Howes?

  Another level.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, like I remember first time I saw Patrice O'Neal, he was the only comic I've ever seen live and I've seen them all. That I was like. I I don't even like saying these things out loud because I once I say something, it can happen. It was the only comic that I ever saw. Where I was like, I'm not even gonna say it out loud, but because.

• 15:54Lewis Howes?

  You don't wanna manifest.

• 15:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't believe in that, but I mean, I believe in that very much, but I I don't wanna put, but I was like, this is gonna be hard to be better than him. That's that's kind of how I felt.

• 16:04Lewis Howes?

  That's a standard you gotta get to, yeah.

• 16:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, and now there's there's multiple things going on. There are comics that are so great at what they do. And it would be really hard to get better than them. They just might not have had the style that I want to be great at. Yeah. So like.

• 16:19Lewis Howes?

  So they're great at what they do.

• 16:20Speaker 01

  I just don't wanna do that.

• 16:21Lewis Howes?

  You can appreciate it, but you're like, I'm not in that league.

• 16:24Speaker 01

  Absolutely. It's not what I do. It's a different type of art, you know?

• 16:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you're playing football, they're playing handball.

• 16:29Speaker 01

  Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, Hamble. Who plays Hamble? Who dedicates a decade of their life to Hamble?

• 16:34Lewis Howes?

  Me, yeah.

• 16:35Speaker 01

  Um, but yeah, so yeah, I I, yeah, it's interesting. The confidence thing is interesting.

• 16:40Lewis Howes?

  When have you been the most insecure? When you were starting out? And trying to figure things out in the middle of your career, obviously, maybe you're more in the middle now, but I mean, or towards this stage of your career. Um, what part have you been the most insecure?

• 16:57Speaker 01

  It fluctuates, right? Like I've always balanced, uh, I've always had like methods to like. Maintain self-esteem because I recognize like I was the best version of myself when I felt good about myself.

• 17:08Lewis Howes?

  What are these methods?

• 17:09Speaker 01

  I mean, like even as a kid, I was like really curious about it. Like I looked into it like as a kid, I don't know where I even got this idea. But as a kid, I'm talking about like young.

• 17:19Lewis Howes?

  Like seven, eight?

• 17:21Speaker 01

  Maybe middle school or something like that. If I had a negative thought about myself. I would tell myself three positive things.

• 17:31Speaker 01

  And I think you know what it was, I had like, I had like an acute interest in this because both of my parents battled depression. So I was way more aware of depression and way more aware of, it's probably a part of the reason why I'm a comic. Like I just love making my dad laugh, you know, and I was like, I didn't realize that like, there was a difference between depression and just not having fun. So I thought like, I remember when he'd be like dealing with depression, I'd take him to like the Comedy Cellar. And I'd be like, hey, look, you're gonna laugh. So now everything's good. Yeah. Cause in my mind, it was like, all I need to do is be with my boys and laugh and then everything's fine. And like, so I would do those things. What was another method for developing self-esteem? So like, as I, as I got into stand-up, right, it was brutal because you do these horrible shows and you just do bad.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  No one's laughing and you're trying to develop your voice and all that kind of stuff. What do I need to maintain like the self-esteem necessary to continue going? And I basically said, I need one great show a month to remind me that I should do this. How many shows were you doing a month? I mean, I could be doing, you know, five, six, seven, eight a week. But I needed one where there was like an audience and I did a good job and I killed and it was just enough like oxygen. It was enough, like you ever played those like car racing games where you pass a checkpoint, you get 25 more seconds? Yes. That's, I needed one of those a month and then I needed to reflect on improvement.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  So I think that like, one thing with me is I would get so used to improvement that I wouldn't count it towards my self-esteem. Right? Like, I'm the type of person, I don't get excited before something happens and then after it happens, I don't celebrate it for that long because we got another thing to do. So my like celebration window is small, right? I, my joy matrix is the journey. Like I like working together, I like achieving these things, et cetera. But then there's always another thing that we move towards, right? So I had to sit there and be like, okay, well, back in the day, you didn't have a joke that you could open with. You had to get lucky, that there, something would happen and you were interacting and the audience liked you. Now you have a joke that no matter what gets a laugh when you walk on stage. And I'd be like, oh, that is an improvement. And then the next moment, you have a closer. The reflection of the improvement.

• 19:43Lewis Howes?

  Build itself a steam. Not just, okay, it's a little better and I'm gonna keep go, go, go. It's like a, now I know that I can always get someone to laugh every time I go on stage.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  It's easy to just go, oh yeah, you're more comfortable. What does that mean? No, you, you have the ability to go on stage and do a joke and like execute it and you have a closer. You have this certain thing. You, you were able to develop this premise into a joke and like just remembering that I was improving, even though it was a brutal process.

• 20:11Lewis Howes?

  How long did it, so you're doing what 15, 20 shows a month sometimes and you're like, if I get one decent show, it's a win and I'll keep going. But if you want three months where no one's laughing and you're just bombing, you're probably like, I'm done.

• 20:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't know if I ever would have quit something that I loved, but there is a chance that I wouldn't love it.

• 20:29Lewis Howes?

  Well, if it's not fun.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 20:30Lewis Howes?

  Why would you, yeah, it's tough. Interesting. Was there, was there another strategy you used? I like these two.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  I would just be like really perceptive about like the different things. I mean, I, I'm so like in my head about these things. I'd be like, ooh, when I wear a hat, um, I look that different. Is this haircut different? Does this match? Does wearing this outfit change things? And like, of course, it's like, oh yeah, I wore this sweatshirt on stage. I need to wear sweatshirts. That's the thing. Like I was constantly going through it and like starting to make sense of every little change that happened. And the reality is like, most of these changes might've had nothing to do with it, right? These were like, you know.

• 21:02Lewis Howes?

  Baseball superstitions, like you're just wearing the same underwear over and over.

• 21:06Speaker 01

  A hundred percent. But I was aware enough to go, okay, you know what? Smiling when I first get on stage is pretty good and it makes people feel comfortable and feel kinda safe, especially if I'm gonna do like some wild joke. Oh, when I go right on stage saying something immediately might be good. You know, I've always hated the first second on stage. Like the first minute, I hate. I think it's stupid.

• 21:26Lewis Howes?

  Still today?

• 21:27Speaker 01

  No, now it's, it's great because people know who I am.

• 21:29Lewis Howes?

  And they love it. They're like, ah, we love you.

• 21:31Speaker 01

  They're excited. Exactly.

• 21:32Lewis Howes?

  Is it better to have the, um, what do they call them? The emcee or whoever is emceeing the show? Is it better for them to give you a great introduction or kind of like, all right, our next guy is a comedian from here and let's bring him on? Is it better to have like some good context around, oh, he's been on Comedy Central and he's been on here in this HBO special? And it's kind of like building up and then you're let down?

• 21:54Speaker 01

  I, I, I remember when I was younger. I went on stage after someone gave me a fake credit. And this happens a lot of times in comedy, like.

• 22:01Lewis Howes?

  What do you mean?

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Like when the host brings up a comic that they don't even know, they just say, you've seen him on HBO, Comedy Central. They might never been on Comedy Central. You're just, it's just what it is. And, uh, but I, that was the first time anybody ever gave me that. So.

• 22:14Lewis Howes?

  And you knew you weren't on Comedy Central, whatever it was.

• 22:16Speaker 01

  But I was filled with so much confidence.

• 22:20Speaker 01

  And I just, and, and now if I look back, maybe you look at the recording, maybe I did absolutely horribly. But in my mind, I was, I walked up as if I had my own show on Comedy Central. And these people should just enjoy it. Yeah, yeah.

• 22:32Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting. You know, there's something that I did, a, a strategy that I did when I was playing sports.

• 22:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:38Lewis Howes?

  I had an alter ego that I would step into.

• 22:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:40Lewis Howes?

  It wasn't me.

• 22:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:42Lewis Howes?

  And I'd never done those things of the alter ego, but the alter ego had done the incredible things.

• 22:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:47Lewis Howes?

  And I would step into that on as like, I got this, you know? And I would lean into that.

• 22:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:51Lewis Howes?

  So I don't know if that's, if that's a psychological trick, yeah.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  It works.

• 22:55Lewis Howes?

  You studied psychology in school, at Santa Barbara, is that right?

• 22:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:58Lewis Howes?

  Did you learn anything from your psychological studies that allowed you to not manipulate audiences, but tap into the psyche and the heart and the emotions of audiences? Or did you learn that from just like family dynamics?

• 23:15Speaker 01

  I think it probably was more, I mean, just psychology was just like a really fun thing to study. I knew I wasn't going to use my degree for anything. So I was like, let me enjoy what I'm learning about, maybe get some cool information I can use in conversation. It was great. Like talking to people about like psychological principles is like always awesome. And, you know, and then like seeing them reflected in yourself is really cool. So I just kind of enjoyed it. I'm sure some of that has trickled into the comedy.

• 23:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:40Speaker 01

  It has to have. But, but in terms of like going, I'm going to turn psychology into comedy. I don't, I don't think that that was ever a perspective.

• 23:46Lewis Howes?

  When did you have the idea that you wanted to do comedy as a full-time profession? Not just like, ah, I think I want to try this on the side and see how it goes.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  I did a, I think when I moved back to New York, I started managing a restaurant back in New York. And I was like, this is not for me. And I started doing comedy again. And I think something just clicked back in New York where I was like, I think I'm going to do this.

• 24:06Lewis Howes?

  At like 22, 23?

• 24:08Speaker 01

  I think I was like 23. Yeah. And I was like, maybe it's 23 or something like that. I was like, I think I'm going to do this. And then I just get obsessed. I almost missed that obsession. I had like an insane. I mean dude. Tell me more. I mean, just read every book. I would transcribe every set. Like I'm sure somewhere there's notebooks of literally like handwritten every word that Chris Rock would say in a whole special. Dave Chappelle saying a whole special. You would record it all down and read and look at it. So I could, so I could see how the jokes were broken down. Structure, the framework, like the setup, everything. Yeah. Plot twists, all of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, this is a story. Oh, this is something that isn't real. Oh, this is misdirection that doesn't make sense. This is misdirection that still operates in reality.

• 24:53Speaker 01

  Oh, wow. Misdirection that operates in reality is actually more fun because it's something that actually could happen. Oh, I kind of like that. Oh, this isn't misdirection. This is more like using words that are kind of like fun and creating good imagery. Like just really breaking down what these different jokes are. The science of the set. Yeah. I need to learn the language, kind of like Spanish. Like I need to learn the math of it first. And then I could break that. How long were you obsessed for doing that type of, you know, research? I mean, like I would rewrite my set every single night. Like I. Is this for years? Is this for six months? Is this for? Years. I mean, just like so competitive. Wow. So obsessed. I mean, like, I, I kind of, I'd like, I know this sounds like weird and I'm not comparing myself to Michael Jordan or anything.

• 25:38Speaker 01

  But like watching The Last Dance and seeing like the, the like psychosis he almost had, like in terms of how he treated people that he had beef with. Like I used to carry a card in my wallet of the people who were mean to me. Come on. Swear to God, like of all the people in comedy that were mean to me, I had their names on a card. What, what would you do with that information? The beautiful thing about like. Was this the chip on your shoulder that you were wearing? Yeah, yeah. See, what would you look at? Even to today, I have beefs that aren't real, but in my head, they're real. Like everything in that doc about just like what motivated him? And what he needed to do to like turn it on. Like his ability, I, for me, the what, what I understood about the documentary was like, he has the ability to turn on the switch. We talk about this, me and my boys, like some people can't turn on the switch. Right? And like.

• 26:22Speaker 01

  He could turn it on and he would do it every game.

• 26:25Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy, man.

• 26:26Speaker 01

  Some people can turn it on for the playoffs. But he could do it every single game if he wanted to.

• 26:30Lewis Howes?

  It's like Tom Brady too.

• 26:31Speaker 01

  Tom could do it every game. I would say that that is like a competitive advantage I have. Like if it needs to get turned on, it can get turned on. Like when we did that Netflix special, I mean, we were working maybe like 120 hours a week or something. It was insane. I've never worked that hard in my life. It killed me. I won't work that hard again unless I get paid a hundred million dollars. Like, it was, now, I should have outsourced more. Like I had guys, shouts to Mark Gagnon who co-created with me, Robbie Slovic, who's a great comic, and F A Ilga, who we brought on as well, but like, what we should have done is had a robust writing team like all these shows have.

• 27:06Lewis Howes?

  Team, yeah.

• 27:06Speaker 01

  Exactly. For me, I lost all the anger. Like I have no resentment to anybody who's a dick to me at all. If anything, you just feel a little bad because they're still in that same position.

• 27:13Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  And they needed to be a dick to someone who was like young and excited about comedy.

• 27:17Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 27:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:19Lewis Howes?

  So do you have any anger towards anyone now, beef with anyone?

• 27:22Speaker 01

  I'm sure.

• 27:23Lewis Howes?

  You're sure?

• 27:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:24Lewis Howes?

  You don't have a list anywhere? You just have it in the back of your head, yeah, yeah. A mental list.

• 27:28Speaker 01

  Up to you. It's always up here. It's always, that's good motivation for me, yeah.

• 27:30Lewis Howes?

  But I feel like the comedy world, um, kinda like, I feel like in my industry of people creating, you know, content that is trying to further people along, like personal growth content.

• 27:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:44Lewis Howes?

  At least from my standpoint, I feel like I'm in collaboration with everyone. Like I'm gonna have everyone on my show, I'm gonna promote them, I'm like, I'm in abundance. You know, you got a book, let's promote it, you got this, like, cool, I don't care.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:55Lewis Howes?

  It seems like there's a similar collaboration mindset with comedians, where you're all in the back room, just kinda talking, sharing ideas, you're...

• 28:03Speaker 01

  We're very competitive.

• 28:03Lewis Howes?

  You are.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  We're very competitive.

• 28:05Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 28:06Speaker 01

  But, I think, um, I think the first time you really saw this happen was on the West Coast when podcasts came out.

• 28:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:14Speaker 01

  And the West Coast comedians have always been more industrious because they have to. New York comedians can make a living doing stand-up at clubs.

• 28:21Lewis Howes?

  They can.

• 28:21Speaker 01

  They can.

• 28:22Lewis Howes?

  What's a living? Hundred grand, seventy grand, three hundred grand?

• 28:26Speaker 01

  Fifty grand, maybe, something like that.

• 28:28Lewis Howes?

  This is like three, four nights a week?

• 28:30Speaker 01

  No, this is seven nights a week they're working, doing spots. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, now, they're doing fifteen minute spots around the city. They're collecting a hundred bucks here, a hundred bucks there, a hundred bucks there. They put together, they can make a living, but for a lot of comics, even if they don't realize it, they just want to make a living. And what I always recognized was like, you'll never go further than what you dream. So like, if your dream is just to make a living, you can't be the biggest act in the world. The goal is, is how I work the GPS. Like, I have to say the thing, and then my brain just starts getting me there.

• 29:01Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing right now?

• 29:03Speaker 01

  I want to find a way where comics can make just as much money by self-releasing their specials as they can doing it for networks. Because the self-release allows them to build up an audience that can be nurtured and turn into basically what I have. When you talk about being collaborative, like, I've always looked at my contribution in terms of like, stand-up is, and just comedy in, in general, is like, I'm gonna find out where the voids are in the game, and where we can kind of curate our own lives and like, be in control of our own careers. And then I'm going to execute those, and then I'm gonna give it to all of you.

• 29:48Lewis Howes?

  Teach everyone how to do it.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  This is for you. Like, I tell everybody, like, sometimes young comics come in, "Oh, you're doing these things, and we don't want to be the thing," and I'm like, "It's for you." Anything I do is for everybody. I think you just, you get comfortable. You know, like, you just get comfortable in your space. You have a deal with Comedy Central, and like, you think it's great to be on TV. When I grew up, I did Comedy Central, this is, like, when I was coming up in stand-up, I thought I should have a sitcom. Why? Because that's what stand-ups did in the eighties. And I was like, "Do I enjoy acting? No."

• 30:17Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  So I don't want a sitcom. But I had it, I did it. You know, I did all the things that I wanted to do, but I realized this wasn't that much fun for me. So I had to focus on the things that were fun, and then those things would be the most fruitful. And basically, what I've just been trying to do is go, hey, this is where the career is going, and this is where things are going, and you guys should do literally everything that I do, and then do it better than me, and then force me to think, yeah.

• 30:41Lewis Howes?

  So what would be the five-step approach for someone coming in right now? Like, if you could only do five things to help further your career, is it one, first master your craft of comedy?

• 30:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, don't even worry about anything else besides getting funny.

• 30:54Lewis Howes?

  Once you figure that out, let's say, and you're like, okay, I'm ready to go out there in a bigger way, is it, you know, put your stuff on, you know, put your stuff on YouTube?

• 31:02Speaker 01

  Instagram, TikTok, like, create a presence for yourself, and like, use that algorithmic push.

• 31:07Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so once you do that, what would be the next three things to really accelerate their career?

• 31:13Speaker 01

  Literally?

• 31:13Lewis Howes?

  You've gotten funny, you're on social media, putting your stuff out there.

• 31:17Speaker 01

  If you're genuinely funny, like, what I would say is undeniable, and there are different levels of funny, like, some people are funny in like, some weird bar in Brooklyn,

• 31:25Lewis Howes?

  right.

• 31:26Speaker 01

  But are they funny at the New York Comedy Club, are they funny at Comedy Cellar, right? Like, if you're undeniably funny, and we all know who those people are, like, if you're not even, like, that's the thing, we all talk about like, who our favorite comics are, and blah, blah, blah. If you're not killing, you're not in the discussion.

• 31:43Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  So, this, we know who kills, and we know who's like, oh, that's really clever, that's really funny.

• 31:47Lewis Howes?

  That one joke was funny, yeah.

• 31:49Speaker 01

  Killing or not? If you're not, if you're killing and you have social media, there's nothing else you need to worry about. Everything else will come to you. That's it.

• 31:59Lewis Howes?

  That's it, just focus on that.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  We did all the hard work for you. It's all been done. Like, literally, if you're killing and you have social media.

• 32:08Lewis Howes?

  Cause then what can you do? How can you monetize from there? And how, how much could you monetize?

• 32:13Speaker 01

  Social media, what happens is like, I mean, you could do, obviously, podcasts is great if you're good at podcasting, but like, a lot of people do podcasts.

• 32:20Lewis Howes?

  A lot of them. I mean, how many comedians have a podcast?

• 32:22Speaker 01

  Every comedian has a podcast.

• 32:23Lewis Howes?

  A million?

• 32:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it's just, it will be a new form of social media. I love this, because like, I think the more people that enter the genre, the more people listen and watch. And then those people see who the real.

• 32:37Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Rise up.

• 32:38Lewis Howes?

  Like I, my, uh, school of greatness will be nine years next week. I don't know, when did you launch your show, your podcast?

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Well dude, I've been doing, uh, Brilliant Idiots with Charlamagne the God.

• 32:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, he's great. I've had him on.

• 32:49Speaker 01

  He's the man, dude.

• 32:49Lewis Howes?

  He's awesome.

• 32:50Speaker 01

  Uh, he is truly great. He is truly a great.

• 32:53Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 32:53Speaker 01

  And, uh, I don't know, like, but we were early in podcasting.

• 32:58Lewis Howes?

  Early, so.

• 32:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:59Lewis Howes?

  Around me, nine years ago, you think?

• 33:01Speaker 01

  I would say around, I think, yeah.

• 33:02Lewis Howes?

  Twenty thirteen, January is when I was, anyways.

• 33:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:05Lewis Howes?

  I would say it was the second wave. Rogan was obviously the first big, you know, wave in like the tech podcasts.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  Marc Maron too.

• 33:11Lewis Howes?

  Marc Maron, but then it was like Ted, tech podcasts and that was pretty much it.

• 33:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:16Lewis Howes?

  It was a few.

• 33:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:17Lewis Howes?

  I kinda came like second wave, maybe two point five, you know? And then Serial came, and which brought the wave.

• 33:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:25Lewis Howes?

  Of everything else with true crime and all that.

• 33:27Speaker 01

  Adnan Said.

• 33:28Lewis Howes?

  And then, um, and then a lot of the comedian podcasts and business podcasts and interview shows and political stuff came in. Probably five, six, seven years ago as well. And, uh, I remember thinking, oh gosh, is this gonna get too saturated?

• 33:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:43Lewis Howes?

  Really what it did is it just brought in more audiences to find the best stuff. And so if you're willing to be consistent and kept improving, then you'll be fine.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  I learned that from my, from my mom. And maybe that's why I'm so generous with like, the guys and I like make it on, on the internet. But like, my mom would have this dance studio and she had all these teachers. Literally every dance school in New York is started by someone who used to work for my mom and dad.

• 34:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 34:06Speaker 01

  And then they started their own school and I was like, doesn't that bother you that like, they're taking the students, whatever? And they're like, no, it's great. And I was like, why? And she's like, well, one, competition is great for business. And two, more people can go do it. And that's the natural course of things. Like they had no resentment. Like there's certain people who, I'm gonna assign you to a non-compete and you can't do this and, oh, you, you, you train people at my gym. And if you leave my gym, I'm gonna sue you. You're gonna have to pay me fifty thousand dollars to go train people. Like this stuff really happens.

• 34:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:34Speaker 01

  And my parents were just like, no, just go do your thing and have fun and, and, and they, they'd still like hang out with them.

• 34:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 34:42Speaker 01

  And, and I think there's something about that.

• 34:44Lewis Howes?

  If you had like this young, like. comedic

• 34:47Speaker 01

  yeah

• 34:47Lewis Howes?

  and then you brought them up and then they went and did their own thing

• 34:50Speaker 01

  I want I want look I in the ideal scenario I want them to be able to do everything that they want and help them

• 34:58Lewis Howes?

  yeah

• 34:59Speaker 01

  like I don't think like I the way I look at these things is like how can we all do and accomplish our greatest dreams

• 35:05Lewis Howes?

  yeah

• 35:06Speaker 01

  right and then what I want to do is create like the Avengers crew

• 35:09Lewis Howes?

  hmm

• 35:10Speaker 01

  and eventually go yo once every three years like we're gonna put out another special like we did or once every two years we're gonna make a movie together and once every and then in the in between they're doing their cool projects they're putting out their specials you know they're mentoring other people but like the people that I curate like I have a tight knit group and these are my guys and I plan on working with them until I'm done working

• 35:31Lewis Howes?

  these guys go on tour with you right

• 35:33Speaker 01

  us yeah

• 35:33Lewis Howes?

  about

• 35:34Speaker 01

  yeah so they go on tour with me and well Akash has his own tour right now

• 35:38Lewis Howes?

  yeah

• 35:38Speaker 01

  but Mark is opening up for me and Mark eventually will have his own tour but like when we do arenas I want Mark there and I want Akash there you know what I mean and Derek is opening for us as well and like I want him there like these are the guys that I want to build with

• 35:51Lewis Howes?

  yeah

• 35:52Speaker 01

  but I also want them to achieve all their dreams as well

• 35:54Lewis Howes?

  if they became you know five 10 times bigger than you how would that make

• 35:58Speaker 01

  great awesome yeah this is the game

• 36:01Lewis Howes?

  yeah

• 36:02Speaker 01

  you know what I mean like now I there's gonna be a part of me that's gonna go hey I want to get bigger too how do I do it depending on where I am in in in career like if I see somebody doing something really good and I and I want to also do it of course just as I'm sure like them seeing me inspires them to do it but like yeah this is this is the game man 100%

• 36:22Lewis Howes?

  how do you think it'll change in the next two years by 2024 where will the industry of comedy be what will have changed what will stay the same and where would you guys be innovating

• 36:33Speaker 01

  I think we'll figure out a way to make money because right now everybody's putting their specials on YouTube

• 36:38Lewis Howes?

  it's for free or they're charging

• 36:40Speaker 01

  for free

• 36:40Lewis Howes?

  for free and just making money on ads or

• 36:42Speaker 01

  no money no money on the road

• 36:45Lewis Howes?

  So you build the audience and you sell tickets.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  It's like old music model. That's kind of how I modeled the stand-up thing. I was like, okay, what's going on here? Oh, okay, all these artists back in the day, they didn't make many money off the albums, really. They would make money when they would tour into these arenas. I was like, oh, well, we can make money by touring. How can I get people out? Okay, I give them the content and then they'll come out because they like the content. And I would say the biggest fundamental change, like maybe my influence on stand-up, it's probably looked at from the outside as like, oh, this is like the social media era. But I would say like the actual fundamental change in stand-up is the way that we approach our material. We used to look at our material as this thing we hoard and then put out for a special. Now we look at our material as marketing for us.

• 37:29Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  And that is a big shift.

• 37:32Lewis Howes?

  Why do people hoard so much? Because they didn't think they could recreate new jokes all the time?

• 37:36Speaker 01

  There's no incentive not to put it. There was no place to put it out. So you might as well hoard it, right? And then have all of that material and then when you get asked to do a special,

• 37:46Lewis Howes?

  Use it.

• 37:47Speaker 01

  Then you do it. But like, there wasn't a place to even put it. Like you could have put it, I guess, on Instagram or Facebook and that kind of stuff, but there wasn't like the thirst for video content. And then all of a sudden, video content started to get more popular and we figured some things out. But like, that would be the biggest fundamental change, I think, that has happened in stand-up, at least my influence. It was just how we look at our material. You want people to come out to your show? Is it because your face is like this on a flyer? Or is it because you're doing a joke?

• 38:12Lewis Howes?

  Making people laugh at home or on the, yeah, wherever.

• 38:14Speaker 01

  Like these people, it's so funny. Like these people do like promos for their specials that don't have stand-up. And it's like, buddy, if I'm gonna go to a restaurant, you gotta show me what the food looks like, right? I'm not going there because there's a picture of the chef going.

• 38:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and if a friend's like, oh, I bought a ticket to see, you know, Andrew's special in LA tonight, and they're showing their friend, oh, who is this guy? Well, let me show on Instagram real quick. Oh, it's pretty funny. This looks like it'd be fun. Boom, ticket sale.

• 38:39Speaker 01

  The whole reason why I started selling tickets is because it was easy to justify it to your friends. Hey, you wanna go to his comedy club? Who is he? One send button, one clip.

• 38:48Lewis Howes?

  Check out this funny clip. Oh, it got a million views, by the way. Everyone's laughing.

• 38:52Speaker 01

  And what if I got? Hundreds of clips that have a million views and each one of those clips could pertain to a different person. So if you're Cuban, there's this Cuban, if you're Bosnian, there's this Bosnian joke. This happened by luck. Not everything that we're doing, yeah, like.

• 39:07Lewis Howes?

  When did this start happening this way?

• 39:09Speaker 01

  Like, okay.

• 39:10Lewis Howes?

  What year is this?

• 39:11Speaker 01

  So I put out, no, none of the industry wanted to give me opportunity for a special, so I decided to put it out online. And I, uh, maybe 2016 or something like that, I can look back.

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  So seven years ago, six, six years ago, seven years ago.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  And sometimes you get lucky when you do the right thing. Everybody successful is lucky. You know, like even Bezos, like this, this, there's like, they, they had that Amazon Web Services business, like, I think I was, I was listening to him talk about that and he's like.

• 39:38Lewis Howes?

  That was like the biggest.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  They had that for seven years or something like that with no competitor. Name a business that you can be making tens of millions of dollars where no one even enters the market.

• 39:48Lewis Howes?

  Tens of billions or something, yeah.

• 39:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, and even to this day, that's where they make so much of their money. So like, he'll be like, yo, we got so lucky with.

• 39:55Lewis Howes?

  He had an obsession for 20 years, which you had an obsession for 15, 18 years.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Takes both. What happened was this is, so the first one I put out was this, it was like a night in New York, right? It was like, I don't wanna, here I am in front of a curtain, like whatever, just so, everything's the same, right? So I was like, what if you followed around a comedian for a night in New York? You can't put out a video that's gonna make multiple seven figures. Right? One video.

• 40:19Lewis Howes?

  One video, yes, yeah, yeah.

• 40:21Speaker 01

  It's the accumulation will make seven figures, but your one.

• 40:25Lewis Howes?

  Which, which is what you would have got on a special, like you're gonna make a million bucks or three million on this Netflix, on this HBO Showtime special.

• 40:32Speaker 01

  So the last one that I, the, the one that I sold before the pandemic that is gonna come out, I sold it. I, I got paid a 1.1 for it, right? Which was before pandemic.

• 40:43Lewis Howes?

  Was before you became a ma, way bigger than you were.

• 40:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, the pandemic was awesome.

• 40:48Lewis Howes?

  Like, if you would have gotten that deal now.

• 40:50Speaker 01

  They got a good deal, put it that way.

• 40:51Lewis Howes?

  They got an amazing.

• 40:52Speaker 01

  They got an amazing deal.

• 40:53Lewis Howes?

  Remember this?

• 40:53Speaker 01

  So that one right there.

• 40:55Lewis Howes?

  Which network is this coming out?

• 40:57Speaker 01

  I can't exactly talk about that. We'll talk afterwards. We'll talk afterwards.

• 41:01Lewis Howes?

  So anyways, you got that before the pandemic.

• 41:04Speaker 01

  So, uh, yeah, so that was before the pandemic and then I filmed that in like September in Austin and then, so we're, we're just finishing up the edit for that now, but. That special, I'm going, okay, 1.1, okay. That's great. Let's see if I can, how do I make a million dollars off a special without a network? Because that's my whole thing with like leverage in the game. Like, I know I'm not one of like the insiders, right? Like, and everybody wants to reward the people that they helped build. And I think it's a natural thing. Like, if I was at a network and I invested time into these like actors or like comics, like, I would want them to blow up because their reflection of me is like a talent scout, right? Now, I'm in the position where like, I don't want my career to be in your hands.

• 41:46Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  My career's in my hands. We have the team, everybody who works for us is in it, we do it. And the way that you get deals done when your career's in your hands is it has to be the best thing that's out. And then the network-

• 42:00Lewis Howes?

  Undeniably funny.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  Undeniably funny. And then the net, and you need Scooter Brown to also-

• 42:04Lewis Howes?

  Scooter Brown at the- call, say, uh, we'll do whatever you want.

• 42:07Speaker 01

  Ted Sarandos, book it, yeah. So, but like, it has to be undeniable, right? And you have some people that are in some high places that recognize it's undeniable, and then all of a sudden, these things get made. So, and I'm okay with that. I'd rather that. Because I can control undeniable. I can't control whether you like me or not, or like, what metric you're using to decide, or how much you put it up, etc. So, I'm all about working with the industry, we can do this, etc., this is great. But, I want to find a way where I can get a comic to make a million dollars off of their special.

• 42:38Lewis Howes?

  Without being with a network.

• 42:39Speaker 01

  By putting it on YouTube. Because if we can make a million dollars on YouTube, what are you gonna pay me at Netflix?

• 42:45Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 42:46Speaker 01

  What are you gonna pay me?

• 42:47Lewis Howes?

  They're gonna pay me 5, 10x.

• 42:48Speaker 01

  Tik Tok, yo. You know, so I don't know if it's a combination of advertising, a bunch of other different things. We've got ideas, and this is kind of like what we're working on, but like, how amazing would that be for a young comic whose only option is now YouTube? But YouTube slash social media, Instagram, etc., but now that becomes the most lucrative option.

• 43:06Lewis Howes?

  If you did a global, one-night event only, virtually, or how many tickets do you think you could sell? Under 50 bucks.

• 43:13Speaker 01

  Who knows? Who knows? I think you're thinking something good. Pay-per-view is good.

• 43:17Lewis Howes?

  This is the number. Now, you stream it live on YouTube to a premium service.

• 43:22Speaker 01

  Could do it.

• 43:22Lewis Howes?

  To ticketed services.

• 43:24Speaker 01

  You could do it.

• 43:25Lewis Howes?

  And then, you ask for donations during it.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  If you like it, enjoy it, you know?

• 43:29Lewis Howes?

  You just add to the tip jar.

• 43:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:30Lewis Howes?

  More.

• 43:31Speaker 01

  Maybe you rent out some movie theaters. You put it out there so people can watch it, you know, in a packed theater with other people, event.

• 43:37Lewis Howes?

  Well, you just do it straight to YouTube and that's it.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  Straight to YouTube, you sell some merch with it.

• 43:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 43:42Speaker 01

  And then T-Play.

• 43:44Lewis Howes?

  You got some VIP stuff, you make one night. You do it once a year.

• 43:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. And maybe you do it once a year or whatever you've been able to do it, but like, what if there was this model where comics could make an equal amount? And the most important part is everybody that then subscribes to their channels, they get to go tour with and like, give them their new content. And now they have this connection with their audience, which is the most powerful thing that a creator can have now, right? Before it was, the network has a connection to the audience and the creator needs to be on the network so they can get the audience. Now we can go around and I'd love doing business with them. Let's do business, let's make movies, let's make TV shows, let's do all, this is great. But, it's gotta be the other way.

• 44:21Lewis Howes?

  Other way. I got the audience that you want now. You want people to subscribe to your network?

• 44:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, and convince me, why should I go over there? Cause I got millions of people, I got 10 million people gonna watch it over here. How many gonna watch it over there? Well, we can't guarantee, well, you better figure it out.

• 44:36Lewis Howes?

  You better push something.

• 44:37Speaker 01

  Hey, you know what I mean? Push a button, top 10.

• 44:40Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 44:41Speaker 01

  Get it on a list, bro, like, nobody's checking the numbers, like, get it on a list.

• 44:46Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, give me 24 hours in there, something, yeah.

• 44:48Speaker 01

  That's it, like, I, that is-

• 44:50Lewis Howes?

  Something you can leverage for the next thing, yeah.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  I, I just think that that is the most, it's like my mom said, it's like, competition's good. That's gonna be good for Netflix. That's gonna be good for HBO because what's gonna happen is, and this is what happened in comedy. There's way edgier comedy out right now, because we have an avenue for it that's very successful. Because, if they don't, they're comparing it to the watered down stuff, they're comparing like our stuff to the watered down stuff that was okay back in the day. I mean, one of the reasons why I think I blew up on YouTube and stuff early is cause like, the only other comedy they were showing was on Comedy Central. And it was just a bunch of like, clean crap. And then you saw like, actual, real jokes.

• 45:29Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 45:29Speaker 01

  And you're like, this is way better than the garbage I'm seeing on Comedy Central.

• 45:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure. What's the difference between clean crap and?

• 45:38Lewis Howes?

  Authentic truth.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  Well, some people are authentically clean.

• 45:40Lewis Howes?

  You're authentic.

• 45:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, like Brian Regan is just so funny. He's clean.

• 45:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 45:44Speaker 01

  He's just, he's just brilliant. But I mean, he's, he's, he's, yeah, he's just, he, he's, he's, he's never blue, he's never cursed and that kind of stuff, but like, there's like a passion in the bits that is like real.

• 45:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and you still find that really funny.

• 45:58Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, like some of my favorite, like one of my favorite comics is Ryan Hamilton. He's completely clean, but he is just hilarious. Like, I don't care if you're dirty or clean, it's just, who are you? And like, are you reflecting the material? And do I like that person? Some people I just don't like who they are, so I'm not gonna like their comedy.

• 46:12Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  But if I like you as a guy or a girl, and you're reflecting the material, then like, hell yeah.

• 46:17Lewis Howes?

  You're, you're, you're down with it. What would you say is the ultimate framework of a set? If you had, um, if you could map out like the five parts, I don't, and I don't know anything about comedy.

• 46:29Speaker 01

  You're talking about a live show or a special?

• 46:31Lewis Howes?

  A live show. If there is someone here that's like, wanted to be obsessed about your process, understand how you do it, and they wanted to research you, and they listen to this, or watch this, and they're like, okay, here's how Andrew does this. He always starts with something, and then it goes into a plot twist, and then it goes into this.

• 46:48Speaker 01

  This isn't how I-

• 46:49Lewis Howes?

  Connecting to the audio. I don't know what the lingo is, I'm just-

• 46:52Speaker 01

  This isn't how I necessarily would do it, but I think like a great set would be,

• 46:58Speaker 01

  especially like if you're on the road or in a different place, I think like some sort of acknowledgement of that city that you're in, that you're a fish out of water in, an acknowledgement in like a, in a cool, unique way, a joke that they've never heard about maybe the most popular thing in their city.

• 47:15Lewis Howes?

  So number one, acknowledge the city in a cool way.

• 47:17Speaker 01

  Some sort of interaction baked in with the audience that's just completely spontaneous and just fun and awesome and, uh, just really kind of brings everybody into this moment that they feel like will never happen again and- Is just so like exciting.

• 47:33Lewis Howes?

  When you get on stage and you're, are you observing the audience from the back before? Are you in another room hearing?

• 47:40Speaker 01

  I don't even like to hear anything that's on stage.

• 47:43Lewis Howes?

  Okay, because you don't want to be.

• 47:44Speaker 01

  Influenced. I want to go out completely.

• 47:47Lewis Howes?

  Blind.

• 47:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:48Lewis Howes?

  You won't even look to see the audience?

• 47:50Speaker 01

  I might be backstage watching the guys and like I'll peer in.

• 47:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:54Speaker 01

  But I'm not like specifically like going.

• 47:56Lewis Howes?

  What do they say?

• 47:57Speaker 01

  Exactly, and I have my guys that open for me, so I know what they're gonna do and I know our ideas won't cross. When you're at a club in the city where you don't know who's on the show, that's where stuff you should probably watch a little bit.

• 48:08Lewis Howes?

  Because they don't want to say the same thing.

• 48:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, or even a topic like it's the same, it's just.

• 48:13Lewis Howes?

  We just heard this, yeah. What about, um, do you have a certain approach to how you interact with the audience? Do you like, I look for shirt colors, I look for ethnicity, I look for couples, I look, you know, are you thinking or is it just, it just comes to you?

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, it kind of just comes to me. I mean, I always like, I don't know, like I always just kind of tell, remind myself just like trust my gut. So like just say the thing that I'm feeling, no matter how weird or uncomfortable or awkward it is, like what, what are you feeling right now? And that works, like that truth works because other people are also curious about that. And especially when you're in a theater, it's a little bit different because everybody's like lined up like this, so there's, you got 3,000 people there. The people on the balcony can't see what the people in the front look like. So like when you're interacting with them, you also have to do a little bit more description for everybody there.

• 49:05Lewis Howes?

  Create context. But you're in a night, if you're in a nightclub and there's 100 people or 50.

• 49:09Speaker 01

  It's like this, they could see that guy's shirt, that guy's face, like everybody's so close. So that is a little bit faster, the interaction, like it's, you could even, you could even look at somebody and just kind of be like, hmm. And everybody else.

• 49:23Lewis Howes?

  Well, look and be like, laugh.

• 49:25Speaker 01

  Exactly, just because they're like, I would say hmm if I looked at that guy too, right? Like so much of comedy is just like acknowledging this feeling that we all have. Or acknowledging things that are right in front of our face that we haven't seen yet. You know, and that's for me, it's like, what is the joke? You know, like, what is the joke that that everybody should have said but hasn't said? You know, like, about the most popular thing even, like, so it's like, how can I get one of those for every single thing? That's the challenge.

• 49:57Lewis Howes?

  That's good. Okay, so that's the second part of the framework.

• 50:00Speaker 01

  Having, yeah, having just a great interaction, having like great, long bits. A lot of people that are unfamiliar with all my content don't know this about me, but like, most of them know like the crowd work stuff, et cetera, and that's the stuff that I've been able to like.

• 50:13Lewis Howes?

  You put out there and people are laughing at it, yeah.

• 50:16Speaker 01

  But that's stuff that like, I'm not using for the set. So I have an hour of jokes, but that's the stuff that I can give the audience.

• 50:22Lewis Howes?

  That's the first fifteen minutes of just.

• 50:24Speaker 01

  We're, we're kind of like pepper through, but it was the only thing that I could give out every week. If I gave out one of these bits that I've worked on for six months, I'll run out. Cause these bits for me, when I do a bit, it's a chunk. It could be six minutes.

• 50:36Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  So it's like everything, all encompassing in this topic, six minutes, eight minutes, you know.

• 50:41Lewis Howes?

  It's a full story.

• 50:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, like story or like, or like an analysis of an idea, person, place, or thing, from every angle justifying maybe the most absurd situation, like, the more absurd, the better. But that to me is like, I need a few of those in the set where you go, oh, that bit, boom. Oh, his abortion bit, or oh, his Michael Jackson bit. Like, a few of them in there where you're just like, you need to see his bit about this.

• 51:15Lewis Howes?

  So two to three bits.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  Depending on how long, I mean, I have a bunch throughout, but there has to be a few in there that are like.

• 51:22Lewis Howes?

  So memorable.

• 51:23Speaker 01

  You have to see it. Like, that's the feeling. I want you leaving going, I mean, I can't laugh anymore. That, that was crazy. That was crazy. Like, that's how I would design the sets early on in my career. I was just like, even if you hated me for the first forty-five minutes, the last fifteen minutes, you should be crying. Because you have to leave on that, you know, like.

• 51:46Lewis Howes?

  Do you ever experience self doubt at this level?

• 51:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, of course, all the time. Before I go on, I'll feel that way, like, is this joke even gonna work? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, of course.

• 51:54Lewis Howes?

  Are you nervous like the day before, the, you know, 20 minutes before, or how long?

• 51:58Speaker 01

  Depends on the show, you know what I mean? Like, sometimes the whole day I'm thinking about it, sometimes I'm not thinking about anything at all, like. It just depends, like, the thing that I want to accomplish, you know?

• 52:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:08Speaker 01

  It, it depends. I put it this way, I'm much better to be around after.

• 52:13Lewis Howes?

  When you're done with the set, like, okay, it's over with you. Don't hang out with you before. I'll come say how do you after the show when I come watch you, not like.

• 52:20Speaker 01

  I just leave everybody and I just go into the green room and I just like.

• 52:23Lewis Howes?

  Focus.

• 52:24Speaker 01

  Focus, think about what I want to talk about, try to remember the things and like.

• 52:28Lewis Howes?

  Have you ever gone blank in the middle of a 60 minute?

• 52:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, all the time.

• 52:33Lewis Howes?

  What do you do when, when you're like, oh, I'm not hitting anything, I'm going blank, I'm just mumbling here? What's the best way to get back on track?

• 52:40Speaker 01

  One thing I'll do is I'll pretend like I had a thought. Like, so, I'm giving you some game, so I'll do this, I'll be like, I'll be like, like. You know, I'll be like, see, the thing is like.

• 52:54Speaker 01

  I can't, I can't.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  And then the audience is like, well, what is he thinking about? I'm like, I don't know. But like, I'll, I'll have like little games that I can play to like stretch out.

• 53:05Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 53:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, how long, how long, uh, you know, we can take those silence.

• 53:10Lewis Howes?

  Do you think having self doubt is a, is a good thing before?

• 53:14Speaker 01

  Yes, you need it, you need it, you need it, you need it, you need it. I mean, we talk so much about confidence, but like self doubt, you need both. It's the combination of self doubt and confidence. Confident enough to do the thing and insecure or doubtful enough where you get better. And like, without both, you cannot be great. I mean, if we're talking about greatness, like, every great person has self doubt. And that self doubt is a, is a massive motivator, but they have enough confidence to overcome it. I think it's the people who lack confidence and have the self doubt, that they can't do anything, they can't get out of their own way. And the people who have too much confidence and not enough self doubt, just never really get that great. They're good. Like, their lives are probably better, they're probably happier. Like, real talk, maybe they're happier, but I, I want to be great.

• 53:57Speaker 01

  And that requires constant criticism of yourself.

• 54:03Lewis Howes?

  Do you think a comedian can be? A ten out of ten happy?

• 54:07Speaker 01

  I don't think people are. Yeah, I would say I'm on the happy end of the comedian spectrum.

• 54:11Lewis Howes?

  You're generally a happy human being.

• 54:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, yeah, I don't, put it this way, like, I don't feel sad. I don't feel like angry. I feel a lot of gratitude and a lot of joy. And like, I, I, I feel stress, which I, I enjoy and I, I feel like.

• 54:32Lewis Howes?

  So you're taking on big projects and.

• 54:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, and like, you know, building things and obviously there's disappointment and frustration. But I don't like wake up going like, I'm sad. And I understand that people do that. And like, I've felt, you know, I've, you know, I've felt like down or you come down off of certain big projects. You know, my parents bowed this and I imagine people dealing with that every single day. Like, that could be incredibly difficult to overcome. I'm very lucky where I haven't felt it and I've tried to curate a life and habits to keep me away from, like, I need to do certain things, I need to exercise. Like, if I don't exercise, I'm a wreck. I need to be creating. If I'm on stage, that works. If I'm putting out clips or something like that, that works. Couldn't get on stage during the pandemic, but I felt very fulfilled.

• 55:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:20Speaker 01

  By putting out content. And maybe I'm leaving myself in the hands of those people saying, great job on Instagram. That's a little bit vulnerable. But I at least felt like I was doing something and I understood the recipe to like my own, like, mental wellness.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  But yeah, I, I don't think that you should be happy all the time because then you're not happy. You're just normal. I think that, yeah, you should feel normal enough so when you're happy, you're really grateful.

• 55:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  You know, like.

• 55:52Lewis Howes?

  What are you most grateful for these days?

• 55:54Speaker 01

  God, all of it, all of it. I got a great woman and.

• 55:58Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing you love about her the most?

• 55:59Speaker 01

  She hates when I say this, but like, there's, like, there's like a great safety with her. I know that sounds like a weird thing because you're supposed to be the one that's providing the safety. But like, there's, like, building with her feels, I'm just so excited. You know, and that's not only like family, but that's also like emotional connection. Like, she's a.

• 56:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, she just, she just creates a great environment to like,

• 56:28Speaker 01

  feel safe.

• 56:30Lewis Howes?

  What did you not feel safe about before?

• 56:32Speaker 01

  With her, I mean, I never really, like, almost immediately, I felt like really safe with her. And by safe, I just mean like, uh, like to go, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Like, you gotta love that person and you gotta love spending time with them. That's not to say that we don't like get in arguments, but like genuinely speaking, like if there isn't distraction and it's just the two of us hanging out, it's an awesome time.

• 56:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 56:54Speaker 01

  Life complicates things. But

• 56:59Speaker 01

  to me, I'm so grateful for that. And she's just awesome, like so in tuned, like, you know, with what like I might need and I don't know. I mean, she's just so great. She's just like,

• 57:13Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, and yeah, it's just like really selfless in that way. Like super, and I know that I require a lot, especially given my career and stuff. So like knowing somebody who's, having somebody who's like knows that and is like aware of that and like, and wants to give and like wants to, to support is just like, you gotta be grateful, like just so. Yeah, it's a weird, I know it's a weird thing, like being, feeling safe, but like, that's really important to me.

• 57:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 57:39Speaker 01

  Like, I want to be able to share.

• 57:41Lewis Howes?

  Without being judged or made wrong or not accepted or all these things.

• 57:45Speaker 01

  Like I just tell her everything.

• 57:47Lewis Howes?

  And she accepts it?

• 57:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:48Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful.

• 57:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I, I don't know if she accepts everything, but like I just feel like I can share these things that, you know, might, I might go like, I might with somebody else who I don't feel is safe, be like, ah, if I say that, will they not like me or they, you know, will they stop being in love with me or whatever, but like with her, I just really feel like I want to build with her.

• 58:07Lewis Howes?

  Something about with my girlfriend too, where when we first started dating, I was just, my previous way of the ships, I would be a hundred percent honest and they would get hurt or upset or not like something. And then I would kind of like hold back a hundred percent of the honesty because I was like, this is going to make them freak out for the night or whatever, right?

• 58:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:26Lewis Howes?

  And so when I started dating her, I was like, okay, Martha, listen, you're asking me a very vulnerable question now. Are you sure you want the truth?

• 58:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:33Lewis Howes?

  Because every woman I've been with in the past said they want the truth, but they couldn't handle the truth.

• 58:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:37Lewis Howes?

  So I go, you sure? She goes, yes. You're not gonna like it. She goes, I wanna hear it. I go, you're not gonna like it, though.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:43Lewis Howes?

  I'm just letting you know, but I'm gonna not abandon myself from telling you how the truth.

• 58:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:48Lewis Howes?

  And I'd say it and she'd be like, that's it? I love that about you. And so the more I was able to do that with her, I was like, man, this feels safe. So I know that feeling. I've never felt safe in a previous relationship.

• 58:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:58Lewis Howes?

  And I'm like, it feels amazing to be able to just say whatever I wanna say.

• 59:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:03Lewis Howes?

  Not something in a bad way. I'm not like saying something negative, but just say the truth.

• 59:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:07Lewis Howes?

  My truth.

• 59:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:09Lewis Howes?

  And be like, you know, okay. You know, yeah, I accept you.

• 59:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:12Lewis Howes?

  It's incredible, man.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's the best.

• 59:14Lewis Howes?

  It feels unbelievable.

• 59:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, you get to be yourself.

• 59:16Lewis Howes?

  It's incredible.

• 59:17Speaker 01

  And if you have to live with someone for the rest of your life, you better be able to be yourself.

• 59:20Lewis Howes?

  You need that. Otherwise, it's gonna be miserable.

• 59:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:23Lewis Howes?

  You were mentioning about therapist. Last year, um, and I talked about this on my show, but I went through a year of therapy.

• 59:29Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 59:30Lewis Howes?

  Every two weeks, minimum.

• 59:31Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 59:31Lewis Howes?

  For a year. I was getting out of another relationship that I was trying to make work.

• 59:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:36Lewis Howes?

  With the therapy. It didn't work, ended it, and I said, I'm gonna stay in this and keep myself emotionally accountable.

• 59:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:43Lewis Howes?

  To integrate the lessons I've learned. So I don't repeat this.

• 59:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:46Lewis Howes?

  Cause I've been repeating this for 15 years.

• 59:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:48Lewis Howes?

  And, uh, the consistent therapy was probably the most powerful gift I gave myself ever for one year. And I'm gonna continue to get it for this year.

• 59:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 59:59Lewis Howes?

  Incredible peace that I felt. How long have you done therapy for?

• 1:00:04Speaker 01

  You really treat life like sports.

• 1:00:06Lewis Howes?

  I do, man.

• 1:00:06Speaker 01

  It's great.

• 1:00:07Lewis Howes?

  Life, business, it's all a sport, man.

• 1:00:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, but like, I don't know, the way that I've like heard you talk about your life, it's like, okay, here's this thing. I'm gonna figure out this thing.

• 1:00:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  I'm gonna practice this thing and I'm gonna get.

• 1:00:17Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna get coaching, I'm gonna get feedback.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  Salsa. I did it for this amount of time, the handball, therapy, even therapy. I'd be like, okay, I'm gonna figure out this thing. It's really great.

• 1:00:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man.

• 1:00:25Speaker 01

  It's really good. Yeah.

• 1:00:27Lewis Howes?

  But how long, when did you first experience therapy?

• 1:00:29Speaker 01

  I think when I was like third grade or something, some teacher said that I should, uh, go to therapy or something. I was like probably acting out.

• 1:00:36Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 1:00:36Speaker 01

  My parents were like, all right, go. Then I went. I don't really remember much from that.

• 1:00:40Lewis Howes?

  Do you do it now, every now and then?

• 1:00:41Speaker 01

  Oh god, I would love to, but I just don't. But I would love to. I love it.

• 1:00:45Lewis Howes?

  Well, because you've got an amazing audience that just, you think they should be paying you.

• 1:00:48Speaker 01

  Best, like.

• 1:00:50Lewis Howes?

  What is the best thing about therapy for you?

• 1:00:51Speaker 01

  Just vomiting, dude. Like, just.

• 1:00:54Lewis Howes?

  Emotional vomiting.

• 1:00:55Speaker 01

  Emotional vomit, and like, getting all these like, cool words that you then can like, use in arguments with your girl, you know what I mean?

• 1:01:01Lewis Howes?

  Give me an example.

• 1:01:02Speaker 01

  Oh, like, testing. You know that word? Yeah, like, you'll like, test someone if you want them to fail, like.

• 1:01:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, it's it.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  You're like, and like, also like, understanding why, like, understanding the emotions behind your behavior. You know, like, sometimes I'll see a comic say something smarter than like, who they are on stage. Like, he, he got that from, he got that from somebody for 200 an hour.

• 1:01:24Speaker 01

  But like, yeah, I, I think it's just awesome.

• 1:01:27Lewis Howes?

  What was the biggest aha moment from therapy you've ever had?

• 1:01:29Speaker 01

  I think I worked out some stuff with my mom in therapy. You know, like, we always had like, a kind of like, interesting relationship. But even that, like, I don't think it was therapy that really helped us with that. Just seeing my mom as like a, like a person that's also flawed.

• 1:01:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Yeah, all of, I know his parents are flawed.

• 1:01:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, they also need.

• 1:01:51Lewis Howes?

  Not expecting them to be perfect, yeah.

• 1:01:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, yeah, like, the fact that like, she could need attention, and that could be important to her, and her self-esteem.

• 1:01:59Lewis Howes?

  Right. And not just you needing all the time as a kid, yeah.

• 1:02:02Speaker 01

  Thinking like, I'm a kid, so it's, it's about me and my brother. What do you, why do you need? Why do you, why do you need to talk to dad? Like, you know what I mean? Like, you're done with that. So, and then like, understanding that, and like, going, okay, I guess I can give you that gift. The gift of attention. And like, I guess that kind of worked, but I just think therapy's great, man. Just talk to somebody. I mean, if you have friends, and if you have family, like, you already are doing it. There just might be certain things that you're too embarrassed to speak to your friends and family about.

• 1:02:31Lewis Howes?

  Well, we grew up in the 80s and 90s, and I was, for me, I don't know what it was like in New York. I'm assuming it wasn't that much different, unless you went to some like. Hippie preppy school or something.

• 1:02:40Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:02:41Lewis Howes?

  Was like kumbaya all day.

• 1:02:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:43Lewis Howes?

  But if I put my arm around a teammate of mine, it's like, hey, what's up, bro?

• 1:02:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:47Lewis Howes?

  It was like, get off me with a, you know, some type of word.

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:50Lewis Howes?

  Like, if you said that, you were just made fun of.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:52Lewis Howes?

  Laughed at, at least for me.

• 1:02:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:54Lewis Howes?

  And it's kind of the, the society of, I guess, young boys growing up. And I probably did the same thing to other kids because that was happening to me.

• 1:03:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:00Lewis Howes?

  So you want to fit in and.

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:02Lewis Howes?

  Was that like that for you? Or did you feel like you got to express your emotions and process things?

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  I mean, I'm sure I went through that. I'm sure you want like your friends to like you and, and that kind of stuff. I don't remember too much trauma from like jokes and stuff.

• 1:03:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  And I do remember my parents being like super open minded and just like not, they, I felt no judgment from my parents.

• 1:03:23Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing.

• 1:03:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, and almost like, like too little judgment, like, like, I was like.

• 1:03:30Lewis Howes?

  Anything you want to do, you can do.

• 1:03:31Speaker 01

  Real, like, yeah, like, I was a B student. If my parents required me to be an A student, I would have been an A student.

• 1:03:38Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:03:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, I just, I, I wanted to impress them, but I knew that they were like happy enough with like Bs. So I was like, okay, I guess I'll just get Bs. Like, I just worked towards it, like 85, I was fine, who cares? It is what it is. I just didn't care. Like, even when I took the SATs, I just wanted to get better than my friends. Like, I didn't care what I got, as long as it was more than my boys.

• 1:03:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:59Speaker 01

  Because then we'd have fun, you know, competition.

• 1:04:01Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure, sure.

• 1:04:02Speaker 01

  Anytime I did well in class was literally just because I didn't like the teacher. That's the only time, like, I was like, I don't like you, so I'm going to do well in your class to spite you.

• 1:04:12Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:04:13Speaker 01

  You know, but like, uh, I, I, yeah, my parents, I think one of the advantages of not having expectations is you always exceed expectations.

• 1:04:19Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:04:19Speaker 01

  And there's confidence with that. Like, you always feel like these people are proud of you and you're doing a great job, you know?

• 1:04:24Lewis Howes?

  What's the disadvantage of that?

• 1:04:25Speaker 01

  You're not going as far as you can. I was very lucky where I had this kind of like internal, you know.

• 1:04:32Lewis Howes?

  Drive.

• 1:04:32Speaker 01

  Drive, yeah. If you don't have that, then it's it's dangerous. And I had the freedom to just go out. I said that to my girl, I was like, you got like, I'm the type of person like I work great with freedom. Like you don't give me any rules, I come back.

• 1:04:45Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:04:45Speaker 01

  You give me rules, I have to break them. I must break them.

• 1:04:49Lewis Howes?

  Did she try to create a rule early on that you?

• 1:04:51Speaker 01

  No, no, but like I just like I noticed when we were kind of getting together and starting to get a little more serious. I was like, you just gotta trust me on this.

• 1:04:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:58Speaker 01

  Just like it's going in the right direction. I will not waste your time. I don't waste girls' time. I I'm not gonna waste your time. If I don't feel like it's going in that direction, I'll tell you immediately.

• 1:05:07Lewis Howes?

  Let it flow the way you need it to flow, not on a timeline, not a this, not a structure or a yeah. A number or whatever, just let it go.

• 1:05:14Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then once we moved in together.

• 1:05:16Lewis Howes?

  The more freedom she gives you, the more you want to be with her.

• 1:05:18Speaker 01

  Exactly, a hundred percent. And it's a really scary concept. Because the idea is like, go out, do whatever you want. But like, I enjoy doing the things that I do and being myself. The more I can do the things that I want to do and be myself, the more I appreciate the people that allow that to happen.

• 1:05:34Lewis Howes?

  Hundred percent, man. This is my girlfriend now, every night I'm just like hugging her, I'm like, I appreciate you so much.

• 1:05:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:40Lewis Howes?

  You don't call me and say, what are you doing? You're not checking in on something.

• 1:05:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:44Lewis Howes?

  I can be traveling, speaking somewhere, and you're just cool.

• 1:05:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:49Lewis Howes?

  And it makes me love and appreciate you abundantly.

• 1:05:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:52Lewis Howes?

  And I I tell her all the time, I'm just so grateful for you.

• 1:05:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:55Lewis Howes?

  Because, well, also because I've experienced the opposite.

• 1:05:57Speaker 01

  And it's it's the worst.

• 1:05:58Lewis Howes?

  Of the feeling of trappedness, which I take responsibility for. I chose those, I stayed in those relationships.

• 1:06:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:03Lewis Howes?

  But I think if women understood, like if you find a good guy.

• 1:06:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:07Lewis Howes?

  That you give that.

• 1:06:09Speaker 01

  Bandwidth.

• 1:06:09Lewis Howes?

  Psychological freedom to.

• 1:06:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:11Lewis Howes?

  I'm not saying that it's not okay to cross boundaries.

• 1:06:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:15Lewis Howes?

  You know, but create the psychological freedom, it's amazing what we will do.

• 1:06:18Speaker 01

  It's it's really true. And if we're gonna cheat, we're gonna cheat.

• 1:06:21Lewis Howes?

  And then you move on.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, but like, it's not because you gave boundaries or not.

• 1:06:25Lewis Howes?

  You can't stop it.

• 1:06:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, that thing is gonna happen.

• 1:06:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:28Speaker 01

  So there's nothing really that you can do there, like, and I think that women view our cheating in the same way that they kind of view theirs, like. You know, I I think a lot of times a woman cheating is a reflection of like not feeling feeling fulfilled emotionally, right? There's like a a void of love. And she's replacing that act of lust. This is like this momentary like serum for like a vampire, like, okay, this will do for the moment. I just want to feel desire because I'm not feeling that. And I think a a lot of times guys cheating is just like, uh, just insecurity and I just need to fluff my ego. But you can get that ego fluffed. You know what I mean, like that ego can be fluffed at all. But if you have a guy who's insecure, you need to know that.

• 1:07:08Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:07:08Speaker 01

  Like you know if your guy's insecure or not.

• 1:07:11Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. That's why for me, I have no inse- I don't feel like I have insecurity, like.

• 1:07:15Speaker 01

  Well, cuz she gives you all the confidence you need.

• 1:07:18Lewis Howes?

  Tons of love and.

• 1:07:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:20Lewis Howes?

  But I'm also like, okay, if, I don't know, she's an actress, so she's done scenes with Keanu Reeves.

• 1:07:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:25Lewis Howes?

  All the big, all the big people she's worked with, right? And they've all hit on her and all this stuff and I'm like, okay, if, I don't know, whatever. Keanu Reeves or someone came up to her now.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:36Lewis Howes?

  And starts hitting on her, would I be insecure or jealous? I don't think I would be.

• 1:07:40Speaker 01

  No, not in front, in front of you is crazy.

• 1:07:42Lewis Howes?

  Behind, I mean, whatever.

• 1:07:44Speaker 01

  Oh, behind the scenes, that's nature.

• 1:07:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:07:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, like.

• 1:07:47Lewis Howes?

  But I wanna be jealous. Cuz I'm like.

• 1:07:49Speaker 01

  You want to be?

• 1:07:49Lewis Howes?

  I would not be jealous.

• 1:07:50Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, you can't be jealous.

• 1:07:52Lewis Howes?

  Cuz I'd be like, okay, if you, if there's a better match for you.

• 1:07:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:55Lewis Howes?

  If that's a better life, then I want you to live a better life.

• 1:07:57Speaker 01

  I, I hear what you're saying.

• 1:07:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:07:58Speaker 01

  I hear what you're saying, though.

• 1:07:59Lewis Howes?

  But if you don't see the value, like if your woman doesn't see the value you bring to her life.

• 1:08:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:04Lewis Howes?

  And she sees there's more value somewhere else than, and she's always thinking about it, then.

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:08Lewis Howes?

  Either be where you are now or go over there.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:11Lewis Howes?

  Don't be in between, so. How has your craft been different in this type of relationship versus single or in previous relationships?

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  I never changed my comedy depending on like the person I dated or if I was single. And I never did that. And it was probably because I was able to get laid before I did comedy.

• 1:08:28Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:08:29Speaker 01

  And I think that like, I have empathy to the guy who never got laid before they were on stage, like, yeah, use it, bro, like, have fun, like, wear the cape, like, go for it.

• 1:08:36Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:08:37Speaker 01

  But I just never felt like this was the only chance I was gonna have to get laid. So it was all about the jokes.

• 1:08:43Lewis Howes?

  It wasn't clever enough. It wasn't unique.

• 1:08:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, I didn't have the silliness. Like, every joke starts with like a serious point, but that's what I'm always fighting for. Where's the, where's the silly thing? But like, just having somebody on my team, like, literally having someone who's like, wants me to succeed, wants to help me with the things that I need to get done, like, wants me, you know, just in every single way. That is massive. That feels awesome. And it's still frustrating. Oh, we had arguments. And there'll be times where she's like, it's late and I gotta fly out. And she's like, what are we doing with all this cut? And I, and I just gotta be like, hey, listen, we're in this together. And there's gonna be times where I gotta stay up late for you.

• 1:09:15Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:09:15Speaker 01

  And it's times you gotta stay up late for me, but like, it, we're not. Boyfriend girlfriend. We are married like.

• 1:09:23Lewis Howes?

  We're a team now.

• 1:09:24Speaker 01

  I go get this money, this is our money.

• 1:09:26Lewis Howes?

  Who are the uh, the three most inspiring comics today? Not like in the past, but today that you. Whether you're friends with them, I'm assuming you guys all know each other, but.

• 1:09:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:36Lewis Howes?

  That that you're like, man, they're just. And I know you don't want to ruffle feathers and not say certain people, but if you had to pick like three. If you had to agree that you're like. These people.

• 1:09:45Speaker 01

  Have to be alive though?

• 1:09:46Lewis Howes?

  That are working actively working in some way today.

• 1:09:49Speaker 01

  I mean, Bill Burr. It's just fantastic.

• 1:09:53Lewis Howes?

  One thing, one thing about each person. So what's the thing about him?

• 1:09:57Speaker 01

  Bill Burr has just like found a way to like funnel his brutal honesty into like hilarious ideas. And I think people really like that.

• 1:10:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:05Speaker 01

  And I like it and I just appreciate it.

• 1:10:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:08Speaker 01

  And uh. Uh, Dave Chappelle is just like, he's, he's really mastered the art of storytelling. There's people might argue, oh, I'm not laughing. He's really interesting. It's not as many like jokes per second or whatever like that, but. The art of literally a story. No one does it better. Now you're on Mount Rushmore with these guys, you know? I mean, I've always been a Chris Rock fan. I know Chris Rock hasn't been as active as of late, but like. I've always just been a huge uh. Chris Rock fan.

• 1:10:41Lewis Howes?

  What's, what's the thing he has that you love?

• 1:10:43Speaker 01

  He just kind of like. He. He got me on board with like kind of devil's advocate thinking. Like I always had those thoughts, right? But like, he was the first person I saw like do him well. And real and he was the first person who was like, yo, you could think of an argument that doesn't exactly make sense, but it's funny. So that's enough. And I was like, oh, I love doing this. I do this all the time. I do this with my friends and like. You know, and the more somebody is like uh, locked into an idea, the more I want to like make that ground shaky. And it's just fun for me. So anytime he wants to kind of like pop in and, and, and get busy with that, he absolutely can. Yeah, I guess I guess I'm naming the OGs to be honest with you, but.

• 1:11:26Lewis Howes?

  So you said on one's honesty, the honesty that he brings, the other is a story and the other is the devil's advocate nature to it.

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's just like the the the ability to like make a cohesive argument for something that isn't a popular opinion.

• 1:11:41Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:11:42Speaker 01

  And Bill Burr does it great too, but like Rock, I think for me was just the originator like.

• 1:11:47Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:11:47Speaker 01

  I'm like fruit off of Chris Rock's tree and then like I found Patrice and I was like, oh, that's the exact way that I want to do it.

• 1:11:56Lewis Howes?

  A model.

• 1:11:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, like everybody else. I was like, oh, I like how you guys do this. Cause that's the thing I think with me is like is hard. You know, usually with comics, you could see like where they came from, but I think one of the things with me is like it's hard for people to go, I don't know what he sounds like. I don't know what he is.

• 1:12:12Lewis Howes?

  Sounds like himself.

• 1:12:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, maybe, but I I'm like, you just don't think I sound like that big fat black dude. You know, because I don't sound like him, but I'm influenced so much by him and like he's dead, but like I for me, he's just the best. He's the best ever. Elephant in the room. Go check it out on Netflix.

• 1:12:30Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. What's the thing, you know, that people are aware of and they see that they don't see? What's the thing you'll be most proud of? New Year's Eve and the 2022.

• 1:12:39Speaker 01

  Personally, a year married. That will be the 18th of December. That for personal goal.

• 1:12:48Speaker 01

  And then, you know, who knows, man, like. You never know what happens when you get married. Things happen, my boy.

• 1:12:56Speaker 01

  That's not happened yet or anything, but like, you know, that, you know, you never know.

• 1:13:00Lewis Howes?

  You never know.

• 1:13:01Speaker 01

  And and so I would be, that's personally, that would be very gratifying.

• 1:13:08Speaker 01

  Professionally, I have my buddy Akash Singh is going to be putting out his first special on YouTube. And.

• 1:13:13Lewis Howes?

  For free.

• 1:13:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, for free on YouTube and he's also been putting out clips and he also been doing and that's my guy podcast co-host, like my best friend in comedy and like. So seeing him, thank you, man, but like seeing him like start to rise and like that would be very exciting to me, like seeing his career. Take off in a similar way that happened for me. That'd be really cool.

• 1:13:34Speaker 01

  Dropping my special. Wherever we put it.

• 1:13:38Lewis Howes?

  Not sure where yet.

• 1:13:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:40Lewis Howes?

  Well, maybe it did. We not telling me.

• 1:13:42Speaker 01

  We don't know. We don't know. And then, but like dropping my special and then obviously the goal is after this special is like, I want to be able to. I don't wanna do like an arena tour where every place I do an arena. But there are certain places I wanna do an arena.

• 1:13:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I gotta do MSG. Cause I'm a kid from the city like I grew up.

• 1:14:03Lewis Howes?

  I gotta come to that.

• 1:14:03Speaker 01

  You gotta come like we're doing Radio City. We're doing two at Radio City.

• 1:14:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:14:08Speaker 01

  That's awesome.

• 1:14:08Lewis Howes?

  Fifteen thousand or what is that?

• 1:14:10Speaker 01

  I think that's gonna be like twelve thousand. Now, we could have done the garden at twelve thousand. But here's the thing.

• 1:14:14Lewis Howes?

  That's expensive.

• 1:14:15Speaker 01

  But like that's just rental, right? But here's the thing. If I do the garden, I gotta do it in the round. That's nineteen thousand.

• 1:14:22Lewis Howes?

  That's sick.

• 1:14:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's nineteen thousand.

• 1:14:24Lewis Howes?

  Sell that out?

• 1:14:25Speaker 01

  What, Radio City?

• 1:14:26Lewis Howes?

  No, could you do nineteen thousand?

• 1:14:27Speaker 01

  Not yet. I think after this next special, if what happens with the next special is what I think can happen.

• 1:14:32Lewis Howes?

  Then boom.

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  That would be very awesome and like finding a time to, now I might not do that show within the next year. Maybe it'd be a year after or something like that, but like. Working towards that, that is, I wanna do the garden, maybe Staples, maybe a theater in Miami or something.

• 1:14:46Lewis Howes?

  You mean crypto.com now?

• 1:14:48Speaker 01

  Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. The way people were like connected to Staples.

• 1:14:52Lewis Howes?

  Oh, it's twenty years of legacy, you know?

• 1:14:54Speaker 01

  But like, it it's a store, like, you know what I mean? Like, they sell loose leaf.

• 1:15:02Speaker 01

  People are so furious, like, it wasn't called that before the store.

• 1:15:05Lewis Howes?

  I know. So funny, man.

• 1:15:09Speaker 01

  But yeah, those would be.

• 1:15:10Lewis Howes?

  So that'd be sick, man. Yeah. What's the biggest audience you perform in front of?

• 1:15:14Speaker 01

  I did.

• 1:15:15Lewis Howes?

  For your own show or, you know, with someone else's show?

• 1:15:18Speaker 01

  My own, we did the Chicago Theater twice. That's thirty five hundred. And that was pretty cool.

• 1:15:24Lewis Howes?

  That's respectable, man.

• 1:15:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:15:26Lewis Howes?

  It's big.

• 1:15:27Speaker 01

  It's cool, man. We've been, hey, man, we've been having fun. Like, this is a. The tour has been, for me, I I look at that as like the greatest sign of success.

• 1:15:38Lewis Howes?

  When people buy a ticket with their wallet and they show up and they take a night out and they come see you. That's big.

• 1:15:44Speaker 01

  Put on clothes for someone, right? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's like, it's like, it's easy to, we're in like the click business, right? Like, but it's easy to click something. It's easy to like watch them for a few seconds.

• 1:15:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:57Speaker 01

  It's easy, right? Like, but.

• 1:15:59Lewis Howes?

  But to get a credit card out and say.

• 1:16:01Speaker 01

  Leave the house, like.

• 1:16:03Lewis Howes?

  That's a big deal.

• 1:16:04Speaker 01

  So like, if, I don't know, like for me, that's how I just success and that those are the people who I see that are successful in the space, I look up to them for those specific things.

• 1:16:14Lewis Howes?

  They're selling out tours.

• 1:16:16Speaker 01

  The podcast is like, I hope you find me funny on the podcast and then you want to come see the stand up. And for me as a stand up who built my career around putting out stand up clips.

• 1:16:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:25Speaker 01

  It is a great, I have immense gratitude that people found me from doing stand up and they want to see me do stand up.

• 1:16:31Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:16:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think there are people out there who are popular, but people don't have the same urgency to go see him and that's reflected in the tickets.

• 1:16:40Lewis Howes?

  I gotta buy a ticket and go. Yeah. There's a question I ask everyone towards the end called the three truths.

• 1:16:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:16:45Lewis Howes?

  So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario. It's your last day on earth, many years away. You get to live as long as you want to live.

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16:52Lewis Howes?

  Um, and you get to accomplish all your dreams.

• 1:16:54Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:16:55Lewis Howes?

  Personally, professionally, you build up a thousand comedians to do whatever you want to do. You know, you do it all.

• 1:17:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:01Lewis Howes?

  At every different season of life, you do it.

• 1:17:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:04Lewis Howes?

  Healthy, happy, thriving, you know.

• 1:17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:06Lewis Howes?

  Twenty kids running around, whatever you want, you make it happen. And, but for whatever reason, all of your material has to go with you to another place. When you leave, it's the last day and it goes with you to another place. No one has access to your information anymore.

• 1:17:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:21Lewis Howes?

  Your content, your stand up, your podcast, all of it's gone.

• 1:17:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:25Lewis Howes?

  But you have three lessons that you get to share with the world.

• 1:17:27Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:17:28Lewis Howes?

  Three lessons that you've learned throughout your entire life and this is all that people would have to remember you by or your content. What would you say would be those three lessons or would like to call three truths?

• 1:17:40Speaker 01

  I would say, uh, one is listen. I mean, just so much in my like, life I've learned from listening. So many decisions that I've made is from listening, like, you know, just removing ego. I mean, so many of the decisions even we make was part of my team. It's like, it's the best decision wins. And that means you have to listen to the guys that you hire and empower them and make them believe in their ideas enough to the point where they can share them with you because oftentimes those ideas are, are gonna be the ones that are better than yours. But just every conversation I've had and how that's turned into either conversations on the podcast or like stand-up clips or just anything.

• 1:18:20Speaker 01

  So just like listening, for someone who talks for a living and has talked a lot on this podcast, but listening is just so huge. So like, just also what a gift, like, that was the biggest thing that I like changed like my life almost like. I remember just like during single days, realizing that once you get to a point where a girl is comfortable sharing with you,

• 1:18:43Speaker 01

  just listening to her, yeah. How is your day? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you do that? No way. Is that difficult? And just seeing their eyes light up that someone actually, like I've had girls on dates go, do you actually wanna know? Like, yeah, I wanna know. Like, what is your dates usually like? Like, just listening is just so powerful. People usually don't feel safe enough to share. You know, and that was something my, my girl did to me. She was just, she's phenomenal at that. But like, if you can get people to just talk, man, just listen. So listening. Yep, that's number one. Number two. You got to take care of the people that you love, man. Everybody, like the people that, that your family, the people that work for you, the people that like,

• 1:19:25Speaker 01

  people that are doing things for you so that you can succeed, like they gotta feel taken care of. And like, your generosity should show. You know, your, your girl, your friends, your, you know, family, employees like that. They should feel like you go above and beyond for them. And sometimes that's financial, sometimes that's emotional, sometimes that's like protecting them, like their literal safety. You know, their reputation. Sometimes it's like.

• 1:19:58Speaker 01

  Just helping them achieve their dreams, but like know that the people that are dedicating time to your dream, make them feel like that time is valuable. And I think it's like, you also take care of them by like acknowledging them. Like I try to shout out my guys as much as possible and like when I anytime we're talking about things that I do, it's like things where we're doing, like everybody's involved in this.

• 1:20:20Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 1:20:21Speaker 01

  You know? And the last one is, um, love, bro. I mean, these are just such like easy hacky ones, but at the same time, it's like the reason they've existed for, you know, all of human existence, but like love, man, like dude, love is just, that's powerful. Loving your family, loving your wife, like having love, loving your friends, like, and like that was one of the coolest things that happened at my wedding is like, I got to tell my wife how I feel about her. We said the vows, but I also got to tell my mom and my dad how I felt about them and as part of my vows and like how they prepared me for that moment.

• 1:21:01Speaker 01

  I know that like one day my parents will pass and I feel like I've told them what I need to tell them.

• 1:21:08Lewis Howes?

  That's good.

• 1:21:09Speaker 01

  Now, I don't want them to go, but they won't go without knowing, I mean, my dad's memory is gone, but like I, I for the longest was like, I need my dad to know how awesome he was. I think he knows, but at least I know I told him and I told him the exact way I wanted to tell him. And I told my mom like exactly what she did for me and what I'm so grateful for. And it's like, there's a piece in that. So it's just like, I want to tell all my friends, all my family, everybody that I really care about. So yeah, share that, share those feelings, man. Even if it's awkward, even if it's uncomfortable.

• 1:21:48Lewis Howes?

  I want to acknowledge you, Andrew, for just what you've created and your, your authenticity. I think the way you create and your ability to put stuff out there. What could be scary for some people, but you just keep showing up and keep being authentic and your realness behind it all. I've been watching your stuff for a while, you know, we have a lot of mutual friends and stuff like that, but to connect in person, it's been really fun, man.

• 1:22:10Speaker 01

  This is awesome, dude. You're a great interviewer, man.

• 1:22:12Lewis Howes?

  You know, I try to listen the best I can. I interrupt a little too much, but I try to listen.

• 1:22:16Speaker 01

  No, you were great, man. Really great interviewer. This was, this was fun talking.

• 1:22:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man. I gotta come to one of your, one of your shows soon.

• 1:22:22Speaker 01

  Anytime you want.

• 1:22:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, would love to come and check it out. But I want people to go to your show too, just because if they haven't followed you on social media, Andrew Schulz everywhere. What's the, where else can they support you? Your YouTube is hilarious.

• 1:22:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, YouTube, Instagram, like.

• 1:22:36Lewis Howes?

  You've got two different podcasts, right?

• 1:22:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do the podcast Flagrant Two with Akash and Alex and Mark and, and we have Dove. The team keeps growing, it seems, but, and then Brilliant Idiots, which the great Charlamagne The God.

• 1:22:52Lewis Howes?

  He's great.

• 1:22:53Speaker 01

  He's just awesome. But yeah, like.

• 1:22:55Lewis Howes?

  But the main thing you've got is your tour.

• 1:22:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. If you want to come check it out, like watch some clips. That's what I always say is like, watch a clip or something if you like it, if it's for you, you'll watch more and then it will happen.

• 1:23:04Lewis Howes?

  You'll show up.

• 1:23:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, it will happen naturally.

• 1:23:06Lewis Howes?

  It's exciting, man. How else can we support you?

• 1:23:09Speaker 01

  That's all, man. Just your attention is just awesome. Like, give me the opportunity to entertain you and if you're entertained, then I think the rest just kind of works.

• 1:23:18Lewis Howes?

  Of course, of course. Love it, man.

• 1:23:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, people want that.

• 1:23:21Lewis Howes?

  Final question for you. What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:23:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, being the best. And the best is a standard that I create. You know? So it's like, who I think is the best comedian is not who everybody thinks is the best comedian. But they do the, like the form of comedy that I like the best, the best. But like, if we're talking about like career, then that's just being, just being the best and just pushing and continuing to move towards that. But greatness as like a man, that's different. Like affecting the people's lives. Like my dad is a great man. Like. He's a great man. That is the goal as a man to affect people's lives the way that he

• 1:24:06Speaker 01

  affected them. And he never tried to be a great man. Like, he just was a great man. And then, when you exist in greatness, you affect all the people around you, you know? And he's just, yeah, like, that is, that is the goal. To do that, like, if you could have career and personal like that, like, great man, great husband, great father, great career, what a life lived, man. That is the goal. Yeah.

• 1:24:34Lewis Howes?

  Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, 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.