#222: Jerrod Carmichael - Uber-Productivity and Dangerous Comedy

Jerrod Carmichael (@NotoriousROD https://twitter.com/notoriousrod) is pushing the boundaries of comedy with his groundbreaking work in stand-up, television, and film. Now just 29 years old, what this driven North Carolina native has accomplished is mind-boggling, and 2017 is going to be his biggest year yet. Jerrod stars in the hit NBC series The Carmichael Show http://www.nbc.com/the-carmichael-show, which he also writes and executive produces. The third season of the show premieres in 2017. In March of 2017, Jerrod will star in his second stand-up comedy special on HBO, directed by Bo Burnham. He made his debut on HBO in 2014 with his critically acclaimed one-hour special, Love at the Store http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00XTZTKYU/offsitoftimfe-20, directed by Spike Lee. Love at the Store is the funniest standup special I've seen in many years, and it's the reason I reached out to Jerrod. It left me in hysterics on a transatlantic flight and terrified everyone. I couldn't stop laughing out loud. It's that good. On the big screen this June, Jerrod joins the cast of Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_The_Last_Knight, opposite Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, and Anthony Hopkins. He'll also appear in James Franco's The Masterpiece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disaster_Artist_(film), set to be released in 2017. In the summer of 2016, Jerrod reprised his role as 'Garf' in the Universal comedy sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01FV4PH2U/offsitoftimfe-20 opposite Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. He also starred as 'Freddy' opposite Rose Byrne, Susan Sarandon, and J. K. Simmons in Lorene Scafaria's The Meddler http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01FV51FJI/offsitoftimfe-20, which was released in April of 2016. Jerrod recently announced his upcoming authorial debut with an as-yet-untitled memoir. The novel will be published by Random House. Please enjoy my wide-ranging conversation with Jerrod Carmichael! Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs http://99designs.com/tim, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover http://99designs.com/tim for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service http://99designs.com/tim, which is non-spec. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link http://www.99designs.com/tim and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run... This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront https://wealthfront.com/tim. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $5 billion under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you -- for free -- exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim.

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

• 0:01Speaker 00

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  Can I ask you a personal question?

• 0:08Speaker 00

  Now would be an inappropriate time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:23Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by 99designs. I've used 99designs for years for all sorts of graphic design needs. Whether you need a logo, website, book cover, or anything else, 99designs was created to make great designs accessible to everyone and to make the process of getting designs much, much easier. So when I first started out, for instance, testing prototype covers and getting prototype covers for the 4-Hour Body, I went the contest route. That is one option. This is a great solution if you're looking for fast, affordable design work and the ability to choose from dozens of options, risk-free. Let's say you need something, late-night, quick turnaround. Well, people in other time zones, other countries can also help you solve that problem. Since then, I've worked with 99designs on a separate

• 1:07Tim Ferriss?

  path or a different option, and that is the one-to-one project service. So, in a number of cases, and I'll give you one example, when I wanted to create the cover for my audiobook, The Tao of Seneca, this was a very important project to me, I decided to use their one-to-one project service. And with this service, you can invite a specific designer to your project, agree on a price, and then work together until you're satisfied. And they allow you to iterate and provide feedback and all this stuff. And I haven't shared it yet, but we also got some incredibly good, really some of the best illustrations I've ever seen from using this one-to-one project service with a handful of different designers and illustrators. It blew my mind. 99designs makes this all very easy and efficient. So

• 1:50Tim Ferriss?

  you can check out the Tao of Seneca design and other work that I, and your fellow listeners for that matter, have done on 99designs at 99designs.com/tim. Again, that's 99designs.com/tim.

• 2:07Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is the future of financial advice. They've become incredibly popular among my friends in Silicon Valley and across the country because they provide the same high-end financial advice that the best private wealth managers deliver to the ultra wealthy, but for any account size and at a fraction of the cost. For instance, they monitor your portfolio every day across more than a dozen asset classes to look for opportunities to rebalance or harvest tax losses. Now, would you do the same? Are you doing the same? Probably not. And the power is in the software. Wealthfront now manages more than $4 billion in assets, which is up from around $2.5 billion when they started advertising on this podcast. They're growing incredibly quickly.

• 2:51Tim Ferriss?

  Unlike old-fashioned private wealth managers, Wealthfront is powered by innovative technology, making it the most tax-efficient, low-cost, hassle-free way to invest. They don't have bloated sales teams or retail locations, so they can deliver all of this sophisticated financial advice and these services at a fraction of the cost of a traditional financial advisor. So at the very least, go to wealthfront.com/tim and take their free risk assessment survey. It only takes a couple of minutes and Wealthfront will recommend a personalized portfolio of investments. In other words, they'll tell you exactly where they would put your money. So even if you don't use their service, you have a huge leg up and you have additional information for making good decisions. They use investment theory to automate good financial behavior and decisions that people

• 3:35Tim Ferriss?

  typically don't make but should. So go to wealthfront.com/tim to get your first 15K managed for free or just to get more details. Check it out, wealthfront.com/tim. Hello, boys and girls. This is Tim Ferriss and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers of all different types, to tease out the habits, routines, tactics, coping mechanisms, favorite books, whatever that you can apply and test in your own life. This episode features one of my favorite comedians of all time, and he is a young feller, Gerard Carmichael. On Twitter, you can say hello. At Notorious R O D.

• 4:19Tim Ferriss?

  He is pushing the boundaries of comedy with his groundbreaking work in stand-up television and film. Now, he is just 29 years old. And what this North Carolina native has accomplished in that short period of time is mind-boggling to me. And I know a lot of productive people. We get into his work process. We talk about how he gets so much done. And if you visit him on social media right now, he has zero posts on Twitter, on Instagram, at Rod Carmichael. And 2017 is going to be his biggest year yet. So we do talk about focus and how he went from East Coast to West Coast and got all of this done. Gerard stars in the hit NBC series The Carmichael Show, which he also writes and executive produces. The third season of that show is premiering this year in 2017.

• 5:01Tim Ferriss?

  In March of 2017, this year, Gerard will star in his second stand-up comedy special on HBO, directed by Bo Burnham. He made his debut on HBO in 2014 with his critically acclaimed one-hour special Love at the Store, directed by Spike Lee. So Love at the Store, this is a name I want you to remember. You have to watch this. It is arguably the funniest stand-up special I've seen in many, many years. And it's the reason that I initially reached out to have Gerard on the podcast. It left me in total hysterics on a transatlantic flight. Some wine might have been involved, but it terrified everyone because I could not stop bursting out laughing out loud while other people were trying to sleep. Sorry, everybody. But it's that good.

• 5:44Tim Ferriss?

  And immediately, as soon as I got off the flight, started texting my friends, "Guys, you have to check out Love at the Store." So watch that and you'll know why I reached out to Gerard. Now, on the big screen this June, Gerard joins the cast of Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight, opposite Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, am I getting that right? D U H A M E L. And Anthony Hopkins. He'll also appear in James Franco's The Masterpiece, set to be released in 2017. In the summer of last year, 2016, Gerard reprised his role as Garf. If you've seen Neighbors, he did that in the Universal Comedy sequel, Neighbors 2, opposite Seth Rogen and Zac Efron. I originally met in an indirect way Gerard through Seth.

• 6:26Tim Ferriss?

  And Evan, more specifically Evan Goldberg, both of whom have been on the podcast before. He also starred as Freddy opposite Rose Byrne, Susan Sarandon and J.K. Simmons in The Meddler, which was released April 2016. So this guy's going nowhere but up, as far as I can tell. The most incredible work ethic and focus of anyone I've met in a very long time. And he'll have an upcoming, as yet untitled memoir coming out through Random House. He's got a million things going. How does he do it? We dig into all of it and we also discuss dangerous comedy and much, much more. So please enjoy my conversation, as wide ranging as it is, with Gerard Carmichael.

• 7:08Tim Ferriss?

  Sir, welcome to the show. Wow, thanks for having me. I am so excited to finally sit down and record this because I remember very, very specifically the first time I was introduced to you and it was actually on the working set for Neighbors 2. You had not yet arrived, but your picture was up alongside a bunch of other people who were going to be appearing in the movie. Yeah. And I was on the set because I was going to be interviewing Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. And we were going through a few of the names. I was asking questions about folks and he pointed to yours because I mentioned how I'd watched Neighbors and enjoyed your particular role in that movie. And he said, oh, he's going to be really big, along those lines is what he said. Oh, wow.

• 7:54Tim Ferriss?

  And then shortly thereafter, I think I told you about this, we have all sorts of exciting sounds going on. We got a raven, we got running water. A raven who's lost her family.

• 8:06Tim Ferriss?

  I was on a flight, an international flight, and Love at the Store was one of the options. Yeah. So you're special. And it may or may not have been the case that I had one or two glasses of wine. Oh, that's the only way to watch it. But it was a sleeper, so everyone was asleep except for me. And I'm drinking wine and watching your standup. And I thought I was going to be... Kicked out of the cabin because I laughed so much. And as soon as I landed, I did two things. So one of my friends, Mike, I immediately sent him a text. And I said, you have to watch the stand up immediately. Number one.

• 8:40Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 8:41Tim Ferriss?

  And number two is that I went on Twitter, and this is how we met. If you might remember, and I said, is the Evan in your stand up special Evan Goldberg?

• 8:51Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 8:51Tim Ferriss?

  And that's how we connected.

• 8:52Speaker 03

  That's right. And it was Evan Goldberg.

• 8:54Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 8:54Speaker 03

  Who was in the audience for the show. And I just talked to him like just like midway through the show, just start talking to Evan.

• 9:02Tim Ferriss?

  That was great. I mean, and you do a few things that I haven't seen in finished specials before. Another was you, you will refer to your notes on stage sometimes.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  Yeah. For, for Love at the Store, like the intention was to just capture me like a Saturday night at the Comedy Store. You know, I wanted it to be very, truthfully, we cut for time, but like Jamar Neighbors, who was this hilarious guy. My best friend went up before me. Uh, like I had this guy, Argus Hamilton, is just like this legend of the Comedy Store and of the scene. Um, like he was the, like, it just felt kind of like a Saturday, like we're doing spots and, and I wanted to just capture it. And just me working out material. It was very much so like it, like an exercise. It was like, oh yeah. And I referred to notes because I was trying out, I, I did new stuff on that special.

• 9:57Tim Ferriss?

  You did?

• 9:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, I did like new material.

• 9:59Tim Ferriss?

  And I also remember asking you about your interactions with the audience. Like at one point you said, your skin is so milky.

• 10:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:05Tim Ferriss?

  There's one woman, they said, I don't think I've used that adjective ever in my life.

• 10:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was. It was the thing that popped in my head. Like I'd saw her, I was like, yeah, she had really milky skin. What can you say?

• 10:16Tim Ferriss?

  You described it accurately.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  I thought it was, it was pretty milky, right?

• 10:19Tim Ferriss?

  It was.

• 10:20Speaker 03

  I didn't want to be wrong.

• 10:21Tim Ferriss?

  No, it was very accurately described. How did you first connect with Evan?

• 10:27Speaker 03

  Evan, I met, because I want to get this right, I, I met like Josh and Alex who work at his company. And then I believe I met Evan actually on the set of the first Neighbors. I believe he, he seen me, you know, and, and, you know, he and like Nick Stoller and Seth, y'all all involved in hiring, all involved in hiring me, but I'm trying to think the first time we met, I think was on set at Neighbors. And he's just like this, I mean, it has incredible energy.

• 10:58Tim Ferriss?

  He has incredible energy.

• 10:59Speaker 03

  He's incredible energy.

• 11:00Tim Ferriss?

  He never sits during meetings.

• 11:01Speaker 03

  No.

• 11:02Tim Ferriss?

  He's always standing or doing like a Gollum squat.

• 11:04Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 11:05Tim Ferriss?

  He has very good squat form.

• 11:06Speaker 03

  Very amazing squat form. He paces around. He's like, he, I mean, and so many ideas. I've never met someone who has as many like ideas as Evan. Like, just like, just like rapid fire, like, and is able to take a thing and like bend it and, and prod it on all sides. And he, it's, it's incredible just watching Evan in a room.

• 11:30Tim Ferriss?

  He's a prolific generator of ideas.

• 11:33Speaker 03

  Insane.

• 11:34Tim Ferriss?

  And I remember one of the, and we're going to talk a lot about, I think, how you develop your material and process. But I remember one of the experiences that I had in Atlanta was sitting in the, I suppose the writer's room, while they were spitballing ideas.

• 11:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:48Tim Ferriss?

  And one person was manning a keyboard, typing everything in.

• 11:51Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:52Tim Ferriss?

  And they had many, many, many different revisions of this script, which as I understand it is very kind of Judd Apatow. Meaning like what the script comes in, looking at is nothing like the end product.

• 12:02Speaker 03

  It changes to something else, yeah.

• 12:03Tim Ferriss?

  And so they were all shouting out suggestions and Evan said fuck, I think, every third word. And it was just typed right in. And I remember at one point I was like, what's next? Because fuck is every third word.

• 12:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:16Tim Ferriss?

  And he said to me, he goes, no, the important thing, and I'm paraphrasing, but he said, you, you want to keep the generating of ideas and the editing of ideas separate. And you can always de, you can always de-fuck the script later. Remember that line?

• 12:30Speaker 03

  You can de-fuck the script later. That's actually, that's brilliant. You can de-fuck the script later.

• 12:35Tim Ferriss?

  When do you? Remember if you do, your first memory of working on comedy or being funny?

• 12:44Speaker 03

  Oh, that's a, that's a great question. I think I was, uh, so when I was a kid, we used to just record things. It was in fact, we would take like the camcorder and, and, and just like record things and do sketches and, or I guess our sketch, you don't know what they, there's no form.

• 13:05Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  There's like no, you're just like recording whatever.

• 13:08Tim Ferriss?

  Freestyling.

• 13:09Speaker 03

  Freestyling and you, and we like, and.

• 13:11Tim Ferriss?

  When you say we, this is you.

• 13:13Speaker 03

  Me, the kids in the neighborhood, my family, you know, everyone's involved and we're all, it's, I, I was really blessed to be around a lot of like creative minds, like people who were just like down and really creative and like really excited about just like jumping into characters and, and doing things. And so that was kind of the first experience, just kind of, uh, but truthfully, eighth grade was, uh, really important for me, like just comedy, specifically just comedy and thinking that I was maybe funny, you know?

• 13:48Tim Ferriss?

  Why eighth grade? What happened in eighth grade?

• 13:49Speaker 03

  I had a teacher who, um, who got me started reading the newspaper and it was.

• 13:56Tim Ferriss?

  Do you remember his or her name?

• 13:57Speaker 03

  Oh, Kwame Niyari. So this guy.

• 14:00Tim Ferriss?

  All right.

• 14:00Speaker 03

  You know, just when Kwame Niyari had me read the autobiography of Malcolm X, start reading like, like the, the New York Times and like the local newspaper. And this is like an eighth grade and, and taking in all this information, uh, and like learning and kind of discovering myself like humor was just this big. It was how I broke the tension of any information that I received. So I remember specifically there being one moment in class.

• 14:28Speaker 03

  I don't know why this stands out so much, but he wanted to have a debate, right? And so we were, we read an article, I don't remember specifically what it was about, but we were choosing, it was a guy that committed a crime and would decide whether or not it was justified. And we're supposed to pick sides as a class. And he, he said, well, who thinks the crime, you know, wasn't justified? And everyone in the class, except me, raised their hand. And then they were like, well, who thinks it was? And it was just me. And then for the next hour, no exaggeration, I debated like 23 other students. On like, just like, oh, why this man deserved to commit a crime? And it was the most fun I ever had.

• 15:10Speaker 03

  It was like, it was like having information and then being able to put your own filter and manipulate it in, in your own way was so important to me. And that's kind of, that's, in a sense, that's kind of my, if, if my comedy has a style or an intention behind it, it's, it's that eighth grade class, me against everyone else in the class.

• 15:31Tim Ferriss?

  That's part of the reason why I insisted my friend Mike, watch your stuff.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:35Tim Ferriss?

  Which, I know Mike really well. I mean, 10 out of 10 hit with Mike also. But I remember watching, and I'm not going to spoil it for folks. There are a few instances in particular that because I don't have the delivery and I wouldn't give you the context, I would get in trouble for just by mentioning. But I recommend everybody check it out. I, and I think there will be a moment for everyone where you will probably feel extremely uncomfortable, offended or both, and that is good for you.

• 16:04Speaker 03

  It's healthy.

• 16:05Tim Ferriss?

  So I'll leave it, I'll leave it at that. But you grew up in North Carolina?

• 16:10Speaker 03

  In North Carolina, yeah.

• 16:12Tim Ferriss?

  How would you describe your family and childhood?

• 16:18Speaker 03

  We had fun. You know, like we had, like, I can't speak for everyone in the neighborhood, but we enjoyed ourselves. Like my childhood was, um, Just asking a lot of questions, really, you know, really curious about everything, you know, in a family that allowed room for that, like, you know, everything was challenged, we questioned everything, like, a lot of arguments, you know, like, it was constant arguing, but fun arguments, you know, like amongst the family and friends in the neighborhood.

• 16:52Speaker 03

  I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my childhood a lot. I mean, we didn't have like a lot of money, but it was, it was great. It was great. It was like, I had a really creative childhood, I think.

• 17:01Tim Ferriss?

  How did your parents help foster that?

• 17:05Speaker 03

  Uh, they gave me a lot of freedom. And, and especially in this neighborhood, like, I didn't, I never had a curfew, I never had a, like, I would just say, all right, mom, going out. And she's like, all right, be safe. Very, uh, she just said a prayer and just sent me out into the world, you know, and I, just me and my friends, we just kind of go out and, you know, go get in fights and all the silly things that you do.

• 17:29Tim Ferriss?

  Throw dirt in each other's eyes.

• 17:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  And, and they just gave me a lot of freedom. Like, my mom and dad gave me a lot of freedom, so.

• 17:38Tim Ferriss?

  What gave them the confidence?

• 17:39Speaker 03

  So healthy. I hate when I see kids, like, being inhibited, like, it's like, you have to, like, otherwise. I guess you have to know the child. I guess the specifics of the child, though, but like.

• 17:49Tim Ferriss?

  What did your parents do?

• 17:51Speaker 03

  Uh, my mom was a secretary at, uh, the hospital and my dad, a truck driver.

• 17:56Tim Ferriss?

  Did, did that mean your dad was gone a lot of the time?

• 17:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, on the road a lot. Yeah, he was on the road a lot. So, you know, me and my brother and my mom, you know, a lot of times, just, you know, uh, I, I don't know, it was really, I liked the, the neighborhood. It was so many characters, you know, like, you, you grew up in like a neighborhood like that or the hood or whatever you call it, and it's, you know, so many characters is, is very passionate, very interesting people.

• 18:21Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 18:22Speaker 03

  Very passionate. Everyone feels very strongly about everything. You know, like, everything is very strong, like, the type of cigarette they smoke, the every, every detail is really, you know, important to them.

• 18:36Tim Ferriss?

  What was the catalyst for pursuing comedy as a career, as a profession?

• 18:42Speaker 03

  Um, it was a thing that I felt I was really good at. I wasn't doing anything. I was in North Carolina. I was like, I mean, I was working at a, you know, at a shoe store and just.

• 18:55Speaker 03

  Not really doing anything.

• 18:56Tim Ferriss?

  Let me ask you maybe a strange question. How did you know you were good?

• 19:01Speaker 03

  That's a, no, that's a really good question because it is. I mean, validation to, obviously you want to have, uh, you know, the feeling like inside your heart and know that you can do anything, right? Also, validation is important from outside sources. Like, I mean, you want to confirm that. I mean, if nobody's laughing at some point, you know, at some point, you know, no matter how much you believe, like, maybe this isn't a strength. You want to apply logic to, you know, your dreams and your beliefs. And, and I, and I had friends who, you know, spoke very passionately about, one friend in particular who was like, no, you think like a comedian. Like, you really should do this. Like, it's, it's different. It's like, it's funny, but it's not the way just the guy at your job is funny.

• 19:46Speaker 03

  It's like different. And, uh, and she pushed me really hard to do it. And, um, you just kind of know, like, it was constant validation.

• 19:55Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 19:56Speaker 03

  From, you know, just in every situation, you're kind of that guy. And, you know, eventually you accept it. You either run from it or accept it.

• 20:04Tim Ferriss?

  Were you doing?

• 20:05Speaker 03

  I mean, could you imagine I just like a rebelling? It's like, no, I'm a lawyer.

• 20:08Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, right.

• 20:11Tim Ferriss?

  Were you doing open mics at the time or was it just through social interaction?

• 20:14Speaker 03

  I started comedy in LA. So I moved first and then did comedy because I'm competitive. And you should be competitive at some point, you know?

• 20:24Tim Ferriss?

  So explain that, meaning you didn't want to do it where you didn't feel the scene was strong?

• 20:29Speaker 03

  With some, yeah, where the scenes not necessarily strong. And, and truthfully, there are great scenes around the country. There's, you know, Chicago and Atlanta and, and San Francisco has an amazing comedy scene. You know, uh, but New York, LA.

• 20:46Speaker 03

  You know, really, New York for just repetition sake, you know, like you can go up so many times. But, but LA is what like there, it really is the best are here, the best in New York. Like, you want to be around the best, you don't want to just, you know, there are a lot of people kind of doing comedy.

• 21:02Tim Ferriss?

  Sure.

• 21:02Speaker 03

  Everywhere. I look, there's a lot of people kind of doing it in New York and LA too. But also you have these amazing comedians and these people who spend all of their time for it's it. You kind of have to create or go to the artist colony for whatever you do, I think, right? Like, you gotta find it and you want to compete and you want to see what you have to gauge. You have to take the temperature, you know, whatever we're talking about.

• 21:23Tim Ferriss?

  Well, I mean, if you're the, the average of the five people, we also have a black helicopter coming to.

• 21:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:29Tim Ferriss?

  Pick up some special operation spokes who are having lunch next to us.

• 21:33Speaker 03

  So many helicopters in LA.

• 21:34Tim Ferriss?

  A lot of helicopters in LA.

• 21:35Speaker 03

  An insane amount of helicopters.

• 21:37Tim Ferriss?

  I mean, if you're the average of, say, the five people you associate with most, then going to where the competition is the strongest is really important, right?

• 21:43Speaker 03

  So important.

• 21:44Tim Ferriss?

  And were your parents at all worried for you? Do you have to have a big conversation with them about packing up and moving west?

• 21:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was kind of, you, you know what? I've been thinking about it is it been on my mind for a while. A guy came into the shoe store I was working at. Mind you, I'm like, like 19, 20 at the time.

• 22:03Tim Ferriss?

  What were you doing at the shoe store?

• 22:04Speaker 03

  Just.

• 22:05Tim Ferriss?

  Selling shoes?

• 22:06Speaker 03

  Just selling them, man, just putting insoles in.

• 22:10Speaker 03

  Trying to sell you on some cleaner, you know, doing the, just the, the whole thing. And I did a damn good job, mind you.

• 22:16Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 22:17Speaker 03

  You know, finish line, I sold a lot of, you know, I, I think I deserved more.

• 22:25Speaker 03

  I mean, I would cr- okay, anyway. But, uh, a guy came in and he, you know, just small talk with a, you know, a customer. And I'm like, you know, what are you doing? And he said he's an actor, he lives in LA. And I was like, man, I really want to move to LA. And he was like, just move. And I was like, wait, what? And he was like, yeah, just move. And then he got me, uh, uh, told me about, uh, West Side Reynolds and, and, uh, uh, Craigslist and all these things. And I just found a place, told my parents. My sister bought me a plane ticket. My brother was excited. They were, they were excited. My mom was more nervous. My dad was really encouraging, but, uh, you know, you don't, no one's ever done that from my neighborhood. You know, like no one had ever, I mean, what is that?

• 23:10Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, just move.

• 23:11Speaker 03

  You're gonna just move to Los Angeles to do comedy? All right.

• 23:15Tim Ferriss?

  Seems to have worked out for you. You always have the shoes to fall back on if comedy thing.

• 23:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, listen, hey, I am, not to toot my own horn, but I'm fucking amazing. You know, I still can look at like certain shoes and like, I know style numbers. Yeah, just like style numbers. I know what department it is.

• 23:32Tim Ferriss?

  All right, so now what made you good at selling shoes?

• 23:36Speaker 03

  I think the same thing that made me good at comedy, uh, uh, interest, uh, uh, competition.

• 23:42Tim Ferriss?

  Competition among other employees?

• 23:44Speaker 03

  Yeah. Oh, that was fun. Me and, uh, my friend Ben used to, uh, we, we competed on everything, like everything was, cause if you're gonna do it in that moment, like, you know, you should have a need or, or at least a curiosity of, well, what does being the best at this feel like? Right? Like, like I went bowling the other night and, you know, I first kind of playing around and then, and then my friends start bowling a little bit better. And I was like, I don't know, I'm gonna start bowling a little bit better. And you just, and before you know it, like, I'm like, at least, at least spares on every friend. Like, I was like, I was hot because competition, it drives you.

• 24:18Tim Ferriss?

  Makes you better.

• 24:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, it makes you better. I love it.

• 24:21Tim Ferriss?

  So I want to talk about your daily schedule a little bit because I find it fascinating. So do you wake up, do you wake up at a consistent time generally or is it all over the place?

• 24:33Speaker 03

  It's kind of all over the place. I don't sleep a lot. Did I ever tell you you changed my life?

• 24:38Tim Ferriss?

  I don't think so.

• 24:39Speaker 03

  Uh, not disrupting REM cycles.

• 24:43Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 24:43Speaker 03

  Is. Genuinely, it's helped so much for someone like me who really, I mean, I got four and a half hours last night, which is not bad. It's not bad. A lot of, sometimes I'll do three, get solid 90 minute days in there.

• 24:59Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 25:00Speaker 03

  Like, just, and I actually feel amazing on 90 minutes of sleep.

• 25:03Tim Ferriss?

  If you're getting the ultradian cyclone, that 90 minutes.

• 25:05Speaker 03

  90 minutes.

• 25:06Tim Ferriss?

  Or in multiples of those 90, it makes a big difference.

• 25:08Speaker 03

  You, it changed, so I, it, it really helped, like, just, I don't sleep a lot. I mean, certain, certain nights, you know, you can kind of catch up, but I'm usually excited. I'm like, I'll, like, read until, like, four or five in the morning, and then.

• 25:21Tim Ferriss?

  That's, that's my programming, too.

• 25:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:24Tim Ferriss?

  Late, late.

• 25:25Speaker 03

  Late, late. And then, because of certain projects, I'm, I have to wake up early.

• 25:30Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 25:31Speaker 03

  You know, like, I have to be up at eight tomorrow, which is, you know, not ideal, but it's fun. I mean, you know, you're up, you do it, we'll jump into some rehearsals or something.

• 25:40Tim Ferriss?

  What is the first phone call that you make each morning?

• 25:43Speaker 03

  To my mom.

• 25:44Tim Ferriss?

  All right. Can you tell us about this?

• 25:46Speaker 03

  Because I don't want to start my day with bullshit. I don't like noise. You know, I don't like too much noise, right? As a helicopter flies above, I don't like noise. Uh, my mom has a great spirit, like, one of the purest people that I know. She doesn't overcomplicate anything. She has such a grace. I love starting. I won't take business calls before I talk to her. My sister as well. Like, my sister, the first call of my day is really important. So, so sometimes I'll talk to, like, my sister first as well, if, like, if my mom's too busy for me or something. But, like, I actually really like starting a day, a very peaceful, brief conversation, you know, see, see what she's doing.

• 26:30Tim Ferriss?

  Is it just a general catch up, or is there?

• 26:31Speaker 03

  Just kind of general, what are you doing today? Just curious, what, I'm very curious what she's doing, what she's interested in. You know, like, I talk to her for a few minutes, and then I'll do other calls. But, like, you want to start it, you know, in a very peaceful place, and then yell about marketing for now.

• 26:50Tim Ferriss?

  Right, you need the palate, the spiritual palate cleanser first.

• 26:53Speaker 03

  Exactly, exactly. Cause that first moment, like, you know, you, you just jump into a thing, you know, like you wanna center yourself first.

• 27:00Tim Ferriss?

  For sure.

• 27:01Speaker 03

  Before jumping in.

• 27:01Tim Ferriss?

  Is there a particular way you end those calls?

• 27:04Speaker 03

  Just kind of a sweet, I love you, you know, like a tweet, or, or me, I'm more aggressive than she is. So me, you know, like, hey, make sure, I'm, I'm trying to make sure my parents are hydrated. So I'm like, I like fuss at her about water every morning. I'm just like, alright, ma.

• 27:21Tim Ferriss?

  Have another glass of water.

• 27:23Speaker 03

  Have another glass, yeah, have, have a couple liters today, and which is insane to her. And, uh, so.

• 27:30Tim Ferriss?

  There's something about moms and not hydrating. I don't know what it is.

• 27:33Speaker 03

  Does your mom not hydrate?

• 27:34Tim Ferriss?

  No.

• 27:34Speaker 03

  Really?

• 27:35Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, a lot of, a lot of mothers of my friends also, their sons or daughters are on them about drinking more water.

• 27:41Speaker 03

  Drink more water?

• 27:42Tim Ferriss?

  I don't know what it is.

• 27:43Speaker 03

  My mom and dad, like, I, every day, just like, how much water did you drink? Like, it's the question. So I'm more combative than she is. She's in such a great, constant state of zen. And I'm just like, we have a, but how much, you know, I'm like fussing at her about water.

• 27:57Tim Ferriss?

  You love life, that's great. Let's talk about the water. How many ounces?

• 28:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, how many ounces? Exactly. And so, but she, it's just a great way to start the day.

• 28:05Tim Ferriss?

  So you, uh, have, and I pinged Evan before we met up, as I mentioned, just tried to get some, some bullets to talk about. One was, he seems to, well, and again, I'm paraphrasing this, but seems to eat the same things and eat at the same places constantly. And then we sat down, we had a bite to eat, just, uh, maybe 20 minutes ago, and you had scrambled eggs and blueberries.

• 28:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:31Tim Ferriss?

  You said, this has been your default, was it lunch for the last?

• 28:34Speaker 03

  Well, breakfast, well, whatever time breakfast is, but yeah, for years. Blueberries and eggs, it just, I feel great, blueberries and eggs, you know, and, and I used to do almonds, now walnuts.

• 28:47Speaker 03

  Start the day, you know, like that's the, I'm a creature of habit, you know, and I like the restaurant and I like, I like everything to kind of move efficiently. I like the, you know, the rhythm. You walk into a restaurant, you know what you're getting, you know, you, you bring friends, they're familiar with you, you're familiar with them.

• 29:04Tim Ferriss?

  Saves your brain cells.

• 29:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. Cause you can put all that energy toward like creating, thinking, figuring things out, you know?

• 29:12Tim Ferriss?

  So you also mentioned something and I was like, wait, hold it. I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about it. Actually, I do want to talk about it when we're recording. That you had a uniform for a very long time.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, I was wearing the same, I bought like a lot of the same shirt. It was just like white sweatshirt, gray pants, like Timberlands, every day, every day. It worked in any place that I went. That's what I like. It worked everywhere.

• 29:38Tim Ferriss?

  Flexible.

• 29:38Speaker 03

  I go to, I'll go to your wedding and this thing, I go, and just the same thing and it, cause it took out so much time in my morning.

• 29:48Tim Ferriss?

  That's very much Steve Jobsian. That's what he did.

• 29:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, but now I'm like off a little bit. It's still kind of in the same.

• 29:53Tim Ferriss?

  Why did you change it?

• 29:55Speaker 03

  I mean, clothes are fun, you know, I like, I like certain clothes and, you know, I'll go through a phase and just, and, and I'm picking out, you know, a lot of like wardrobe for like the show and stuff like that. So I'm thinking about clothes. You know, but, but you actually, you want intention behind everything. So, you know, I was just wearing the same thing. It was perfect. I'll go back to that. I'll absolutely go. Yeah, I'll go back to that.

• 30:17Tim Ferriss?

  What do you think your next uniform will be or will be?

• 30:18Speaker 03

  Maybe the same thing. It worked. It worked. But maybe switch, maybe a, maybe a gray sweatshirt.

• 30:24Tim Ferriss?

  Go crazy.

• 30:25Speaker 03

  White James Purse sweatshirt, acne jeans.

• 30:29Tim Ferriss?

  It's some Timberlands.

• 30:31Speaker 03

  That's it. Every morning. You don't think about it. It's just in stacks. I just had stacks of the shirts and stacks of the pants. And just grab, just grab the one off the top.

• 30:41Tim Ferriss?

  Do you remember the first time that you bombed?

• 30:45Tim Ferriss?

  Or what was the first memorable bomb?

• 30:47Speaker 03

  Ooh, my first set.

• 30:50Tim Ferriss?

  Your first set?

• 30:51Speaker 03

  My first set was just, I mean atrocious.

• 30:54Tim Ferriss?

  This was open mic?

• 30:55Speaker 03

  Open mic at the comedy store. Nobody was in the audience. There was no, it was an open mic. I went up first at the open mic. The, the sun was up. I was competing against the sun. And it's this giant window and, and it's where I taped my first special. It was like the giant window at the comedy.

• 31:11Tim Ferriss?

  This is in the original?

• 31:12Speaker 03

  Original room of the comedy store. Yeah. And it's, it's August and the sun is up and they're just comedians in the back. So I guess technically, technically I didn't bomb. But it wasn't a, it was a, it was a soliloquy. I was just doing a soliloquy up there. It wasn't comedy.

• 31:30Speaker 03

  I just went up and did, yeah, I just got a talk and talked way too fast and got off the stage.

• 31:35Tim Ferriss?

  Talked way too fast?

• 31:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:37Tim Ferriss?

  How would you coach or what advice would you give to a comic? You see someone, they do a set and they just bomb and they're new and they come off and you can tell that they're totally demoralized. What do you say to that person?

• 31:49Speaker 03

  It's just people.

• 31:51Tim Ferriss?

  What do you mean?

• 31:52Speaker 03

  Like the audience, it's people. We're all just people, you know, like it's no, you know, go do it again. But I honestly, sometimes the bombing indicates that you're going to, you know, some type of new territory for you and only you know you. So like, sometimes it's good. It's a good thing. It's kind of like a cleansing, you know, and so you can't run from it. You, you know, tell yourself it'll never happen again. It will, but tell yourself that it won't and go do it again, you know, and stop. You know, a lot of, I wonder if it's like this in, I mean, I know comedy really well, but everyone's like, kind of looking for like rules.

• 32:32Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 32:32Speaker 03

  To follow and, and the sooner you realize there aren't any, the, the better art can be. You know, like it's like, cause people start looking for like, well, you gotta do this first and you, you know, um, for that first special, I, I remember, um, I got a lot of like flack from especially like older comics. He's just like, he's checking his notes on HBO. What is this kid doing?

• 32:56Tim Ferriss?

  You're like, we're in the 10 commandments of comedy.

• 32:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, where, where, where? You know what I mean? Mort Saul checked his nose, you know, he was like, like, you can do whatever you want. You can, and people don't accept that. People don't know how free they are.

• 33:12Tim Ferriss?

  My understanding with the, just to talk about the original room, did they let cameras in there a lot?

• 33:18Speaker 03

  That was the first time anyone taped anything in there.

• 33:21Tim Ferriss?

  How did that happen?

• 33:22Speaker 03

  Uh, I mean, we were pretty persistent. I had a really specific vision, you know, me and my, my friend Andrew, uh, had talked about specifically what it would look like and what that first special would be. And so it just had to be that room. So it was just pretty insistent and, you know.

• 33:40Tim Ferriss?

  Now, they of course have the power to say no, right? So you can't just hit them with the same pitch 40 times in a row.

• 33:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:46Tim Ferriss?

  They're gonna be like, fuck off kid number one.

• 33:48Speaker 03

  But on the 35th time, smile more. You just smile, you know, you add a little, we were just pretty, I mean, that, that room had been very special to me and it, it just kinda worked out. We, you know, I'm, I'm very thankful they had never done it before, but there was no, no reason to not do it just because you've never done it before. So, you know, I guess you were able to convince them, you know, HBO wasn't just bringing, you know, it wasn't just like me and a couple of friends with camcorders. This was like, this is like HBO.

• 34:17Tim Ferriss?

  You didn't bring your over the shoulder VHS.

• 34:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, just like, hey, but let us, let us release this. Like, this was HBO, you know, and, and, and, uh, you know, because of that certain amount of exclusivity, I think it was a good first time for them. Yeah, I think so. I think some people have recorded in there since, but like no one, and especially in that room.

• 34:37Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 34:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:38Tim Ferriss?

  I had my first ever walk through tour of Comedy Store by,

• 34:46Speaker 03

  What was that?

• 34:46Tim Ferriss?

  Uh, Brian Callen. A while back.

• 34:49Speaker 03

  You know, Brian Callen bought me my first car in L.A.

• 34:53Tim Ferriss?

  Really?

• 34:53Speaker 03

  Brian Callen and Dove Davidoff bought me a car.

• 34:57Tim Ferriss?

  Never met Dove, also one of my favorites.

• 34:59Speaker 03

  He, they're, they're both incredible. I, I'm, I'm so thankful for them and like, really like, it was like Brian Callen, Dove Davidoff, Brett Ernst would look out for me, Al Magical would look out and, and all these people were just like really, Bill Burr was like so nice to me. Um, but Brian and Dove bought me a car.

• 35:18Tim Ferriss?

  Wow.

• 35:19Speaker 03

  Like, you know, cause I was like walking and like, you shouldn't do it. And they, I got like a text, like, go pick up your car. Like, we, we'd done a weekend in, uh, La Jolla and then on that Monday, I just got a text, like, go pick up your car. And, and it, I mean, it was one of the nicest things.

• 35:32Tim Ferriss?

  Guys.

• 35:33Speaker 03

  Brian is amazing.

• 35:34Tim Ferriss?

  He's a sweetheart of a guy.

• 35:36Speaker 03

  Funny, so great.

• 35:37Tim Ferriss?

  And he walked me through and he's like, yeah. And then here's the table. You can see all the scratch marks from razor blades.

• 35:41Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 35:41Tim Ferriss?

  Where all the comedians doing lines.

• 35:43Speaker 03

  There's a little piano in, in one of the green rooms and it's a little tiny glass piano. Not a real piano, it's just a table, a coffee table that looks like one. It's so many lines and we like to, me and my friend Angelo used to like to point to the lines and assign them to certain comedians. Like, oh, there's Richard Pryor. It's like, like, just like, just assign it to like.

• 36:02Tim Ferriss?

  His razor blade signature.

• 36:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's, oh, it's still there. We're so excited.

• 36:08Tim Ferriss?

  What other routines do you have that are important to you or things that you repeat? You mentioned the food, which for me is extremely key.

• 36:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:16Tim Ferriss?

  I don't want to have to think about what to have for breakfast.

• 36:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:19Tim Ferriss?

  Locations, I repeat locations all the time. You mentioned the clothing, which is something that has been true for me for a long time, but I've aspired to have a uniform.

• 36:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:28Tim Ferriss?

  More of a uniform. Also to make me care less about what people think of my external appearance.

• 36:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:34Tim Ferriss?

  It's like, if you just have like a white hanes shirt and jeans, it's totally fine. And if people are judging you because of that, then.

• 36:41Speaker 03

  People, the, the people that matter.

• 36:45Speaker 03

  Realize that all that you should focus on is the work, right? Now, clothing or all these things as it relates to work are important.

• 36:56Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 36:57Speaker 03

  You know, like, like, it's a lot of intention behind, like, like I said, like wardrobe for the show with that type of thing. I think about that because I think everything should have some type of intention behind it. But as far as just like, I look, I mean, make you feel good. I mean, obviously clothing can, you know, make someone feel good, but focus on like work, focus on something of substance that means something, you know? And that's why, because if you, if being a creature of habit works so good because you don't spend a lot. And you were talking about like listening to music while working, right? And we're talking, if you spend all of your energy trying to figure out where you are and re reorient yourself like, like, all right, well, what is this? And you're looking around, you're not focused on what you're supposed to focus on.

• 37:39Speaker 03

  So you go to the same place, you sit in the same spot and you just, so then you can ignore everything and you can just, you know, be directed inward.

• 37:47Tim Ferriss?

  Well, we were talking about music, just to touch on that because I'm able to work to certain types of music.

• 37:54Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 37:55Tim Ferriss?

  Generally instrumental, often electronica, but it seems like neither of us can work to jazz.

• 38:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, I want to figure it out. I play it sometimes and try and write, but I just want to figure it out. It's like, man, what is Miles Davis doing right now?

• 38:08Tim Ferriss?

  Trying to dissect what's happening.

• 38:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, you want to.

• 38:10Tim Ferriss?

  How it's composed.

• 38:11Speaker 03

  And, and so I have to, I just listen to it separate. I can think to it, you know, and like just, but, but if I'm like writing or if I'm trying to work on something really specific, like just silence.

• 38:25Tim Ferriss?

  What, uh, what are some of the best decisions that you made in the first few years of your career? You land in LA. Do you remember any of the decisions? That?

• 38:39Speaker 03

  Maintain a certain amount of exclusivity for yourself.

• 38:42Tim Ferriss?

  What does that mean?

• 38:43Speaker 03

  Uh, I think, uh, For instance, like you don't go, don't go, we're just talking about habits. So it's gonna seem like it immediately contradicts it. But, but like even like open mics, I wouldn't do the exact same open mics every time because you do it, you do well and then move on to the next place, like stay in motion, you know? And that's, that's specifically for, you know, what I was doing. And I'm sure it applies to other things too, but you know, don't stay in one spot too long, you know?

• 39:12Tim Ferriss?

  Don't get too comfortable.

• 39:13Speaker 03

  Don't get too comfortable, you know, like while working, you know, like while, um, that sounds like the complete opposite of what I just said, but I mean it for like doing stand up and like that type of thing. It's like, don't hit up the same spots.

• 39:25Tim Ferriss?

  Well, there's also a big difference, maybe, and sorry to interrupt, but I just thought that maybe there's a big difference between having habit and routine for training.

• 39:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:33Tim Ferriss?

  Then performing, you want to be able to do well in different environments.

• 39:37Speaker 03

  Spread it out. Absolutely. Absolutely. That, that, yeah, training is one thing. And when you're working, that's, thank you very much. Saved me. It's kind of like a complete, it's like.

• 39:47Tim Ferriss?

  I think you were doing fine.

• 39:48Speaker 03

  But what if I, like, wait, what?

• 39:50Tim Ferriss?

  No.

• 39:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, but, but it is that, it is that like, and, and so that was really, uh, uh, useful. Um, surrounding yourself with like-minded people. All my friends, I, I'm, the thing that I feel luckiest with is like the group of people that I'm around. I, I really have excellent friends who like care about like making things and creating and like, don't get caught up in trivial things that won't matter tomorrow. Like, we don't get caught up in things that don't matter tomorrow. Don't get me wrong. We like new experiences and we like, you know, having fun, but we like work.

• 40:28Speaker 03

  I mean, I was at my office, uh, with friends until six this morning, five or six this morning. Just like, just work and it's.

• 40:38Tim Ferriss?

  This is a Sunday.

• 40:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:40Tim Ferriss?

  It's context.

• 40:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, on Saturday night, my entire Saturday, I don't go out really like, uh, you know, like do too much like, uh, you know, every now and then, but for the most part, like just work. And my friends think like that, you know?

• 40:53Tim Ferriss?

  Did you seek them out? Was it luck? How did that happen? Did you look at the people you met and say, all right, this guy talks about? Too much trivial bullshit. I'm just gonna have to spend less time with this person.

• 41:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:05Tim Ferriss?

  How did, how did that happen?

• 41:06Speaker 03

  You can kinda see it in certain people. You know, uh, uh, one of my best friends, Ari. We, we both have like such small social lives.

• 41:20Speaker 03

  Virtually non-existent social lives that, that it just works like we aren't, you know, we'll go work like right after this. I'll go meet up with him and we'll go write and we enjoy it. It is so fun and we don't get like, it, it's not like when I, if I heard someone talk about like, oh, I wanna find a bar to go watch the game at. While that sounds fun and I really, I'm really happy for you. I also know that we're just doing two different things.

• 41:46Tim Ferriss?

  Two different channels.

• 41:47Speaker 03

  We're in two different channels. Like, it's like, wait, why are we gonna find a bar? What? I mean, watch it on your phone in between writing or in between doing what you do. But what? Why are you doing that?

• 41:57Tim Ferriss?

  Have you always had that focus on deep work? Is it because, I mean, it doesn't sound this way, but is it because you were maybe unpopular in school? So you spent a lot of time alone? Like what, where do you think that comes from? Or is it something that your parents really instilled in you?

• 42:12Speaker 03

  Um, my parents definitely hard workers, you know, uh, uh, it, it was, I'm really lucky to be able to do something that I enjoy. You know, a lot and so focus all my time and energy into that. But, uh, yeah, I like, cause I, again, I like focusing on things that matter. You know, you go into a nightclub, right? You go to a nightclub, there's a lot of good looking people hanging out, right? The thing that really changes the energy is when someone who's accomplished something walks in, right? Like, you know, like you walk in and it's just people that, there are some people just there to party and there are certain people there as like just a brief escape from.

• 42:54Speaker 03

  Doing something and those sort of people. So I would rather be that guy than just.

• 43:00Tim Ferriss?

  For sure.

• 43:00Speaker 03

  You know, you're just gonna hang out.

• 43:02Tim Ferriss?

  Spectator.

• 43:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, spectator. Like, don't be a spectator in life in any capacity. Like, go do something.

• 43:07Tim Ferriss?

  Okay, so speaking of clubs, this is another bullet from Evan.

• 43:13Tim Ferriss?

  So he said, and this, feel free to refute this.

• 43:17Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 43:18Tim Ferriss?

  So Evan and his wife took you to, took you dancing at one point. And he said that he had never been to a proper dance party before.

• 43:26Speaker 03

  Not really. Yeah, this, this was in, in Texas. We're South by. Yeah, we're, we're in South by and it was like, Lisa was saying, we're gonna go dancing. I was like, oh, really? I was like, I never really went to just a, like, that type of dance. But I'd never done it before. So we went. And just like, it was fun. It was like, it was like, really fun. I don't think I've been since. It was fun. I'm waiting for, I'm waiting for Evan and Lisa, you know, to take me again. It was really, really fun. That's true. That's so, it's so rare that I like, go out. And I'm trying right now. I haven't done stand up in a little while. I'm trying to

• 44:04Speaker 03

  try to squeeze in a few more, like, like, new experiences and things like that, like, when I can. But I find myself getting bored constantly. Like, if I'm not working, I get bored. Evan, at least that night was fun.

• 44:17Tim Ferriss?

  Yes, I need, I'm so, I feel like I've been cheated on by Evan. He's never taken me dancing.

• 44:21Speaker 03

  He never took you dancing? I mean, now he's got a kid. He's gonna go dancing again.

• 44:26Tim Ferriss?

  He may not have much dancing time. But if, if you were to think of anything that occurs to you as mistakes that novice comedians or stand up comedians make, what are, what are some common mistakes?

• 44:43Speaker 03

  People focus on the wrong things. There's, there, there are a lot of comedians who aren't funny at all or don't have stage presence but have excellent websites. You know, they have excellent websites and, and the shiniest business cards and their headshots are impeccable. And who gives a fuck?

• 45:04Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 45:05Speaker 03

  You know what I mean? Like, they focus on the wrong things. If you focus on, and we actually just talked about that. Like, if you focus on the work. I think that's all it is, like just focus on the content, focus on exactly what you're putting out.

• 45:19Tim Ferriss?

  If you had to choose three comedians of any type to combine into one super comedian?

• 45:26Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 45:27Tim Ferriss?

  For yourself right now, who comes to mind and why would you pick them? Understanding that I'm sure you have a lot of influences and there are a lot of incredibly funny people out there, but.

• 45:38Speaker 03

  Just like, like current.

• 45:40Tim Ferriss?

  They don't, alive or dead?

• 45:42Speaker 03

  Oh, oh, that's interesting. Uh, Richard Pryor, I mean, just for being raw and you gotta say Richard, right? He's the Tupac of comedy, right? Every list.

• 45:55Tim Ferriss?

  Also probably one of my mom's, if not favorite comedians, top three.

• 46:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:00Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 46:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, he's, I mean, because he was honest, right? So Richard Pryor for honesty.

• 46:07Speaker 03

  Bo Burnham, he's a friend of mine, but I mean it wholeheartedly. Bo Burnham, because he's one of my favorite people to just watch perform. He's such a performer. He's, he's like, you, your eyes never move away from him while he's on stage. You're always excited and he's one of the most brilliant people I've ever met. And, oh, that's a good one. That's a good, what's a good?

• 46:36Speaker 03

  That third spot is hard because it's like, uh, you know, Lewis Black has amazing timing.

• 46:43Speaker 03

  Ellen draws people in in such a great way.

• 46:47Tim Ferriss?

  Ellen DeGeneres?

• 46:47Speaker 03

  Ellen DeGeneres is so, I told, I did a show and I told her, I was like, you gotta do stand up again. She was really good at stand up.

• 46:56Speaker 03

  Oh, man, that's.

• 46:57Tim Ferriss?

  It doesn't have to be just three. I mean, you can take.

• 47:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I mean, like those are, yeah, those, those that are named are great. I mean, uh, you know, it's hard to say Cosby now to someone without then a slew of other questions. But I mean, as far as a comedian, he was, I mean, excellent. And I mean, his rhythm and control over a room was great.

• 47:19Speaker 03

  Chris Rock, man, it's hard.

• 47:21Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, yeah, I mean, there are a lot, there are a lot, there are a lot of greats out there. What in general do you think separates a?

• 47:27Speaker 03

  Dave Chappelle's obviously, you know, incredible.

• 47:30Tim Ferriss?

  What separates a good working comedian from a great comedian?

• 47:37Speaker 03

  Good from great. I think honesty, you know, and by honesty, I mean, just like your own truth, whatever excites you, whatever you're excited to perform or say or do on stage, you know, being honest to that and understanding of perception.

• 47:57Speaker 03

  Because as a performer, you, I mean, you have to know how this is coming across, right? And you have to adjust accordingly because, you know, sometimes you want to make sure the intention is showing and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you think you're being like, I'm just, I get on stage and I'm so, you know, like I'm honest and I'm these things and it may seem like you're just bullshitting. You know, like you have to be aware of what the audience is seeing, you know? Yeah. And, you know, a business sense, like a good, a sense of realizing that it is, you know, an industry, you know, it is because a lot of times comedians get frustrated with certain things, but it's like, yeah, that's part of

• 48:42Speaker 03

  any business, like, you know, understanding business to a certain extent is really important. I think having an appreciation for it helps too. You know, if you can learn to appreciate the, you know, it's hard with art because you want to keep it separate and you want to make something that's pure. But you also want to know how to market it and you also want to know how to, you know, that's really important.

• 49:02Tim Ferriss?

  It's tough. I mean, and as you pointed out with the shiny business cards on the websites, it's the marketing can turn into a crutch and a tool for procrastinating doing

• 49:13Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 49:14Tim Ferriss?

  The work.

• 49:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You make this thing and then you figure out, all right, well, how do we, how do we get this in the right hands? You know, how do we make sure the right people see and hear this?

• 49:27Tim Ferriss?

  Your onstage persona seems

• 49:30Tim Ferriss?

  And maybe this will sound strange, but a little darker than your sort of in real life.

• 49:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:36Tim Ferriss?

  Persona. What's, is that a deliberate decision or is that just how the inner truths come out? What, what is the?

• 49:43Speaker 03

  It, it's a certain amount of comfort on stage. I'm in this environment where I can share these thoughts, no matter how dark or how weird they may be. It's like, you know, in this lovely setting, I wish we see this. In this lovely setting.

• 50:00Tim Ferriss?

  Sitting in an outdoor garden with wooden tables with our pomegranate tea, sparkling water and blueberries.

• 50:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. It's, it's super delightful and not the place for some of my, some of my.

• 50:12Tim Ferriss?

  Dark thoughts.

• 50:13Speaker 03

  Darkest thoughts and like things that I want to explore. I mean, I, I'm open to any conversation. I actually prefer, you know, the real or the conversation, the better. Like, you know, small talk is obviously boring and you don't want to get caught up in that type of thing. But, but, uh, on stage, I'm just so comfortable sharing, you know, it's just, it's something that kind of clicks and you're just like, oh, okay. This and.

• 50:37Tim Ferriss?

  I suppose that's the environment for it, right?

• 50:39Speaker 03

  That's the environment.

• 50:39Tim Ferriss?

  That's where you have the immunity bracelet too.

• 50:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:42Tim Ferriss?

  As the sort of.

• 50:44Speaker 03

  Socially, you have certain cautions. I'm sorry.

• 50:46Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, no, no, yeah.

• 50:47Speaker 03

  You have certain cautions and certain things, certain things that you don't want to cross because, you know, again, in this environment, you don't want to make people uncomfortable. They may not, they didn't sign up for that, right? But I try and enter a stage with zero fear, zero fear and just, yeah, this is, this is what I wanted to say.

• 51:05Tim Ferriss?

  What do you, to, to achieve that state of zero fear, I'm sure repetition has a lot to do with it, but let's say before your special. The first special, what did you, what did you say to yourself before getting on stage or what, what did your pregame? Look like?

• 51:22Speaker 03

  Um, I tried to keep it like, I'll just honest to any performance of that. That one, I remember just being in the back and I remember there being like a couple too many people in the green room. You gotta like, kinda asked to leave and it just, you just wanna think about jokes. And like the, you know, the first tape and I was too aware of the production and then the of that same night, we, you do two shows. So then the second show, it was just kind of like, yeah, I'm not, I'm not thinking about the production at all. Like I, I, I just wanna think about the material cause that's what we wanted to capture. So I was in the right space by the second show. The first show, I was still kind of a producer, you know, and I was still cameras and this type

• 52:04Speaker 03

  of thing and a bit more, you know, the hands on and, and then the second show, I was just.

• 52:10Tim Ferriss?

  So you seem, you seem like a very confident guy. When do you have self doubt? Or can, can you remember a point anytime in your life when you had like a particularly dark period or a lot of self doubt?

• 52:23Speaker 03

  I mean, as a kid, when you, if you don't know exactly who you are, then it, it leaves room for so many questions. So, and that's self doubt manifesting itself in that form of just questioning everything about you. And, and, and once you kind of figure that out, so truthfully humor played a big role in that. Like, so I'm, I'm kind of have a similar demeanor, uh, uh, since the eighth grade, I think since the eighth grade, since discovering that it's kind of been a similar, you know, vibe for me. Just like, uh, you know, I, I know what I'm good at. I know what my abilities are and anything else, I don't really care about.

• 53:06Tim Ferriss?

  What's your position on writer's block?

• 53:09Speaker 03

  It's, I mean, it's necessary. You know, it's a, it's a necessary, it's natural, you know, there, you can. Try and get yourself out of it. You just kind of have to release it and maybe a lot of times I I realize for me it means that I'm holding on too tight and I'm trying to I'm trying too hard maybe a certain thing and I just need to like let it go.

• 53:33Tim Ferriss?

  How do you do that?

• 53:34Speaker 03

  Focus on something else, you know, focus on focus on something else and then it'll come to you. There's there.

• 53:40Tim Ferriss?

  This is a very exciting location.

• 53:42Speaker 03

  It is very exciting. Oh, there are a lot of people on a balcony.

• 53:46Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, there are.

• 53:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 53:47Tim Ferriss?

  A lot of people jumping around across the street.

• 53:49Speaker 03

  Screaming on a balcony and and it looks like it's gonna end horrible. A man just skated out on a balcony. Oh, it's gonna end very bad.

• 53:58Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, there's a lot of excitement here.

• 53:59Speaker 03

  Or it's someone's birthday. I don't know why I immediately went to a negative like, oh, there's there's no way this ends good. There's no way. Oh, there's definitely domestic abuse going on in there. You got someone. I mean, if you see something, say so, but I'm I'm saying so.

• 54:13Tim Ferriss?

  I see a poodle and it looks like it's on the edge of the precipice, but.

• 54:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 54:17Tim Ferriss?

  So much, so much going on in Los Angeles today.

• 54:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 54:20Tim Ferriss?

  Uh, what types of things do you shift your focus to when you're trying to let go? Does that mean you go bowling? Does that mean you?

• 54:29Speaker 03

  A lot of times.

• 54:29Tim Ferriss?

  Watch a movie?

• 54:30Speaker 03

  A lot of times, yeah, I like taking in other content, you know, so maybe watch a movie, watch something that's interesting, read a book, uh, go on a walk. I haven't been walking as much as I used. I used to walk around all the time. I did the other night in the rain. It was one of the greatest nights ever. I just like walked around in the rain for like two hours and listened to Marvin Gaye.

• 54:51Tim Ferriss?

  That sounds amazing. What precipitated that?

• 54:54Speaker 03

  It was raining and I had two hours. I had two hours free. It was late. I was, I should have been asleep, but I was like, oh, it's raining. I was leaving, uh, dinner and I was like, oh, I'm just gonna go on a walk. And I was like, I was on my way back to my place and, uh, I was like, no, I'm just gonna go on a walk. And I didn't think it was gonna be that long, but it was like two hours in the rain. The hood off, kept the hood off, just let it. Yeah, it was great.

• 55:18Tim Ferriss?

  Why did you decide to keep the hood off?

• 55:20Speaker 03

  Just wanted to experience the rain.

• 55:23Tim Ferriss?

  I like it.

• 55:24Speaker 03

  It was right, you know, like I was like, I didn't want, I don't want to, it's like, if I'm gonna be in the rain, I'm gonna be in the rain.

• 55:29Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 55:29Speaker 03

  You know, if you're gonna do it.

• 55:31Tim Ferriss?

  Don't deny the experience.

• 55:32Speaker 03

  Don't deny the experience. Like, uh, so I just walked around. It was great.

• 55:36Tim Ferriss?

  You mentioned books. Do you, uh, do you like to read?

• 55:39Speaker 03

  It's fun. It's really fun. I like, I like biographies and I like, uh,

• 55:45Speaker 03

  you, I'd never been a guy that got into like, like novels and we're talking about like science fiction books earlier. Cause I always like information. Like, I was like, I was like, I want information, you know, like, and then I'll create a thing, but I just want information. Uh, but, uh, I read the book, The Sellout.

• 56:03Tim Ferriss?

  The Sellout?

• 56:04Speaker 03

  Yeah. It's, it's excellent. The language.

• 56:06Tim Ferriss?

  Is it a novel?

• 56:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. Of, um, it reminds me of like,

• 56:11Speaker 03

  language wise of like Confederacy of Dunces. It's like, the language is so good. It's so, they're sent, I, I, I literally was like driving around repeating like sentences from the book just over and it's so good.

• 56:28Tim Ferriss?

  How did you choose The Sellout? Was it recommended to you or?

• 56:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, a friend of mine recommended it to me and it just won, I mean, I'm sure, I'm, I'm sure a lot of people have read it. Uh, it, one, I can't remember the, like the.

• 56:40Tim Ferriss?

  Booker Prize?

• 56:40Speaker 03

  The Booker Prize. It won the Booker Prize. Yeah. Uh, but a friend of mine recommended it to me and the language in it is, I mean, real, the language excites me, you know, because it's, it's so, it's so well-written.

• 56:54Tim Ferriss?

  Crafted.

• 56:55Speaker 03

  So well-crafted.

• 56:56Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 56:56Speaker 03

  Is, you know, is these lines that you just, I wish I could think of.

• 57:00Tim Ferriss?

  You mentioned the, you mentioned Malcolm X. Are there any other autobiographies or biographies that you could recommend?

• 57:10Speaker 03

  Humph, I, I, I wish I remember, uh, who wrote it, but I read the, uh, Humphrey Bogart, uh, biography that, that I love. Kind of wish I knew the author.

• 57:20Tim Ferriss?

  I can look it up and I'll put it in the show notes for folks.

• 57:23Speaker 03

  Yeah. And, and. His, his story is so interesting and just like him kinda starting so late, you know, like, or, or getting the recognition so late, but, but like any good thing, like, we found a man who knew who he was. By the time he achieved stardom, he knew exactly who he was. So, so.

• 57:42Tim Ferriss?

  If, if you were talking to someone, because this has come up a few times, who had the self doubt because everything was open to question.

• 57:49Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:50Tim Ferriss?

  They hadn't discovered something like comedy early on. How would you suggest they learn who they are?

• 57:59Speaker 03

  Sit alone, be alone, sit in silence. You know what I mean? Like, like, and I'm not just saying like some, you know, shaman-esque experience where it's someone will, just sit, like, sit and think. Go, like, go on, like, get to know yourself and be honest with your, like, the responses that you have, you know, mostly to things, like, know what you're good at, have an honest assessment of yourself, honest assessment of your life and know what you're good at, and know where you can contribute the most. Find out where you can contribute, because it's not always through work, you know, like, a lot of people, sometimes people make the mistake of like, thinking it's always through what you, you won't always have necessarily that

• 58:41Speaker 03

  career, but you, your life can be fulfilled and you can contribute in a meaningful way, you know, to those around you, to, you know, your environment. So, just try and contribute.

• 58:52Tim Ferriss?

  Well, I think the, what you said just before that also is really important, and that is being aware of how you emotionally respond to things.

• 59:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:01Tim Ferriss?

  Because I think a lot, and I did this for a long time, I learned how to mute that because I was trying to be so hyper analytical that I didn't pay attention to my visceral response to things. And that is this massive computing power of the subconscious that is telling you something, and I learned to override it for so long.

• 59:19Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 59:19Tim Ferriss?

  And I only, really in the last few years, have felt very comfortable in my own skin. It's because I've started to, I think in part, pay a lot more attention to that. If I'm sitting with someone and the deal they're pitching sounds great, but I just feel off around them.

• 59:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:32Tim Ferriss?

  I pay more attention to that now.

• 59:33Speaker 03

  You could, because this is someone that you're going to work with a lot, you know, like, you're gonna have a lot of interactions with. And if something is off, if it's just not right, then. Then it, something's gonna go wrong.

• 59:49Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 59:49Speaker 03

  You know, like, it's gonna hit, it's, that, that feeling is going to be addressed either immediately, or it's gonna be delayed, and I'd rather address it now.

• 59:59Tim Ferriss?

  Up front.

• 59:59Speaker 03

  And avoid, yeah.

• 1:00:02Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, absolutely.

• 1:00:03Speaker 03

  A disaster.

• 1:00:04Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, a 10x compounded disaster later.

• 1:00:07Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:00:08Tim Ferriss?

  And it took me a long time to learn that a good contract doesn't make a good relationship.

• 1:00:13Speaker 03

  At all.

• 1:00:14Tim Ferriss?

  At all.

• 1:00:14Speaker 03

  At all.

• 1:00:15Tim Ferriss?

  It's basically just, this is what happens if we get a divorce, but it doesn't ensure you're gonna have a good marriage.

• 1:00:19Speaker 03

  Does it?

• 1:00:24Tim Ferriss?

  When you hear the word successful, to you, who comes to mind?

• 1:00:30Speaker 03

  Oh, man. Jay-Z, Steve Jobs, Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah.

• 1:00:38Tim Ferriss?

  All, all good names, all well-known names, is there any particular commonality for you?

• 1:00:45Speaker 03

  Honesty, they're themselves, they're very unapologetic about being themselves.

• 1:00:53Speaker 03

  That's pretty much it, and they, they've found a way to let that come out in an artful way. Like, in, in, like, in through their work or their art and their careers, like, they found a way to, to build a career around them. As opposed to, you know.

• 1:01:09Tim Ferriss?

  Bending themselves, what they perceive as a career.

• 1:01:12Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 1:01:14Speaker 03

  So those are the, yeah.

• 1:01:16Tim Ferriss?

  I don't know if you're much of a gift giver, but do you give books or anything else to people as gifts? Like, what are your go-to gifts?

• 1:01:22Speaker 03

  If I'm excited about anything, then I try and share it with everybody in my life, immediately. If I, if I go to a new restaurant and I love it, all of my friends have gone there with me. At some point, I'm bringing, I'm bringing everybody, I, I need you to share it, I need, and I also wanna talk about it with you. You know, I wanna have an exchange, I wanna, like, analyze it, I love that, that's what I live for. So, like, if I love a book, then I, I send it, I send it to everybody.

• 1:01:52Tim Ferriss?

  What is the last book, or any books that come to mind that you've done that with?

• 1:01:56Speaker 03

  What's the last book that I sent to everybody was, uh, there was this, there was this book by Eric Butterworth, Discover the Power Within You, that kind of interpreted the Bible in a, in an interesting way to me. And, and the way that I feel like I always knew and understood it, you know, or the way I wanted to understand it. And it articulated it in such a, a great way that I was like, everybody, religious, not religious. It, it, it's, it's really good about discovering self, about answers being within, about that.

• 1:02:29Tim Ferriss?

  Eric Butterworth.

• 1:02:30Speaker 03

  Eric Butterworth. His name makes you want waffles.

• 1:02:35Speaker 03

  Right? Or like just.

• 1:02:36Tim Ferriss?

  It does. It does now, especially since you've now said it. Now I really want.

• 1:02:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:40Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah. Uh, do you remember the title or I can find the title?

• 1:02:44Speaker 03

  Yeah. Discover the Power Within You. I don't like the title.

• 1:02:47Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:47Speaker 03

  So you know.

• 1:02:48Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:02:49Speaker 03

  Just putting it out there. It's very, it's a bit on the nose.

• 1:02:55Speaker 03

  It's a bit on the nose.

• 1:02:56Tim Ferriss?

  Hard to be more on the nose.

• 1:02:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, nothing else. Like nothing else. I guess it's good. I mean, you know, there are no unanswered questions in that title. But, but I sent it to everybody. I mean, atheist friends got that book. You know what I like about like that book? People, I, I noticed what people, the people who got it and the people who didn't. It was like, accepting certain truths sound really cheesy.

• 1:03:24Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:24Speaker 03

  Right? And if you can get, people won't allow themselves to accept it. Like, like certain, you know, that you are what you think and you are what you believe types of things. And like, that you do need to affirm certain principles. Like, sounds super chee- and don't get me wrong, like, cause I analyze everything and I'm like pick on everything. And I get that it's, if you can get beyond.

• 1:03:49Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:03:49Speaker 03

  That and just accept it and don't make yourself feel guilty about it.

• 1:03:53Tim Ferriss?

  Sure.

• 1:03:53Speaker 03

  I really think like a lot of principles in it can change your life.

• 1:03:57Tim Ferriss?

  I, it makes me think of a guest I had on some time ago, Shay Carl, who's a huge YouTube celebrity. Is I think close to three billion views now.

• 1:04:09Speaker 03

  Same.

• 1:04:10Tim Ferriss?

  And he's also a very atypical YouTube star in the sense that it's.

• 1:04:16Tim Ferriss?

  The Shaytards, it's Shay and his family, a bunch of kids in Utah. And so it's not the typical, fast cut, you know, 18 year old making videos for 12 year old setup. It's very atypical in that sense, but he said, whenever, and again, paraphrasing, but roughly, when you hear a cliche, pay attention because a truth is being told. And I'm not sure that's true of all cliches. I don't think it is. But I've come to appreciate things that I always disregarded because I heard them too often, like water under the bridge. Don't cry over spilt milk.

• 1:04:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:04:55Tim Ferriss?

  You, you learn to turn off your interpretation of that. You just disregard it.

• 1:05:00Speaker 03

  You disregard it and you're looking for, well, what's the real answer?

• 1:05:03Tim Ferriss?

  It's like, no, no, that's actually really deep.

• 1:05:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:05:05Tim Ferriss?

  If you think about it.

• 1:05:05Speaker 03

  Things that your fourth grade teacher told you.

• 1:05:08Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:09Speaker 03

  Kinda true. Oh, oh wait, I can be anything?

• 1:05:16Speaker 03

  It's hard to accept because the world just jades you and it makes you, what is the world doing us?

• 1:05:22Tim Ferriss?

  If you had to give, say, a TED Talk about something you're not known for, so can't be comedy, probably can't be television, can't be writing, what would you, what topic would you choose?

• 1:05:36Speaker 03

  Choosing the right friends, choosing, like, I think that, like,

• 1:05:42Speaker 03

  choosing the right people to be around that will spark certain things within you and knowing how you can use each other, you know, and how you can contribute to each other's lives, I think I could.

• 1:05:55Tim Ferriss?

  So this is, this is such an important topic. For people listening who say, yes, I want to learn more about this. Is there, is there some recommendation or an exercise or an action step or something I should do more of or less of? Is there an action that you could recommend?

• 1:06:12Speaker 03

  Disregard, don't dismiss anyone, right? Actually, look for, this is gonna sound so cheesy, right? But this is a

• 1:06:21Tim Ferriss?

  You've already given them the

• 1:06:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, I already, yeah, so, uh, at my best, I, I, I do this like, this exercise. And I could have read this somewhere, I'm not even saying that I've made this up. I think I did, but I may have read it somewhere, so my apologies. But it's, uh, like, I pretend I'm at the bottom of a well. And every face that I see, I, I, I imagine them being the face that peers over inside and has the ability to help me and, and like, rescue me from something. And it makes you look at every, everyone looks, first of all, amazing.

• 1:06:56Tim Ferriss?

  When you're at the bottom of a well.

• 1:06:57Speaker 03

  You're at the bottom of a well, and everyone looks in, and, and, and in that, that's like just an exercise for just people in general, but it, it really means that everyone does have an ability to give something to you and just kind of looking for that and searching for that first

• 1:07:12Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:07:12Speaker 03

  in people, uh, it helps tremendously.

• 1:07:15Tim Ferriss?

  I love that.

• 1:07:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:17Tim Ferriss?

  That's a really visual

• 1:07:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:20Tim Ferriss?

  exercise for me, which helps too, I'm just very visually hardwired.

• 1:07:23Speaker 03

  You see, you, if you do that, like, I, I was, uh, like, outside a movie theater and I, I was doing it once and just everyone looked, everyone was glowing. You know, like, everyone was just like, oh, man, you, thank you, thank God for you. I'm so happy you're here.

• 1:07:39Tim Ferriss?

  Outside a movie theater, were you waiting for someone or were you just?

• 1:07:43Speaker 03

  I was loitering.

• 1:07:44Tim Ferriss?

  Loitering.

• 1:07:45Speaker 03

  Literally loitering outside of a movie theater. Like, like, it was years ago, I was like, I left the movie and I was just sitting outside of it, loitering, just kind of thinking.

• 1:07:54Tim Ferriss?

  Just sitting with yourself.

• 1:07:54Speaker 03

  Being a weirdo. Being a, being a guy who clearly doesn't have a girlfriend.

• 1:08:05Tim Ferriss?

  What is the, what is bad advice that is given out frequently in your world? And you can define, and you, and you can pick any world that you're involved with.

• 1:08:14Speaker 03

  Anything that begins with you gotta.

• 1:08:18Speaker 03

  You ain't gotta do anything. Like you got, oh, in my world, where do I begin? It's mostly, it's 99.9% bad advice.

• 1:08:28Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:29Speaker 03

  And, and it's such a new scary world, like especially entering, entering into comedy or television or film and you're looking for answers.

• 1:08:36Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:37Speaker 03

  You know, you're trying to figure it out, but nobody knows what they're doing. Nobody knows what they're talking about. Everyone's making it up, you know? And it's, a, a lot of times it's the sort, people can only tell you what works for them. And maybe that applies to you, you know, like as far as technical things, like maybe that applies to you, maybe it doesn't. So even just like, I don't know, the worst thing is just like looking for it. It's probably like looking for like advice. I just don't, don't listen to anybody.

• 1:09:02Tim Ferriss?

  Or if you're looking for advice and it starts with you gotta.

• 1:09:05Speaker 03

  You gotta, see, see when you have, you gotta, like, it's usually people like, aren't where they want to be.

• 1:09:12Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:13Speaker 03

  The, the person who just readily hands out advice is usually not where they want to be. You know, like busy, busy people aren't just around in the back telling you what you gotta do next.

• 1:09:25Tim Ferriss?

  Although if someone finds you loitering in front of a movie theater.

• 1:09:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, I may be, you know.

• 1:09:30Tim Ferriss?

  Available for advice.

• 1:09:31Speaker 03

  I like to think I loiter the way Socrates does, but we all like to think the best of ourselves.

• 1:09:40Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, man. What is your favorite, or do you have any favorite failures? Meaning a failure or something that was perceived as a failure by you or other people that ended up setting the stage for greater success?

• 1:09:55Speaker 03

  I, I, I did, uh, they had this comedy showcase in San Diego years ago. It was just starting off and it was the NBC diversity showcase.

• 1:10:08Speaker 03

  And I should have never done that, should have never gone down. I went down to, I didn't make it to the final round, mind you, thank God. Oh my God, it could have ended horribly. Cause had I, had I made it to the final round, I would not have a show on NBC.

• 1:10:27Tim Ferriss?

  Why do you say that?

• 1:10:28Speaker 03

  Because they would have put me in a box. I'm the little diversity kid.

• 1:10:31Tim Ferriss?

  Diversity champ.

• 1:10:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, the diversity champion. It's like, like Miss America, like what do I go around and like.

• 1:10:38Tim Ferriss?

  That's on your bio for the rest of your life.

• 1:10:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's your, that. It's immediately like a box that you're in. I'm so thankful I didn't. And it's really just a thing that people do to feel good about, feel good about themselves, like the corporations do to feel good about themselves. You know, like, like I'm so thankful. I, I call that one of my biggest mistakes. Even going. I'm so thankful that I didn't make it to the final round of that, because it would have ruined everything. Like, like seeking, seeking, seeking any shortcut or easy answer is always a mistake. You know, the pyramid scheme of it all.

• 1:11:17Tim Ferriss?

  Pyramid scheme of comedy.

• 1:11:19Speaker 03

  Comedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like, so, so I'm really happy I did that because it made me ignore anything that could be remotely, like I would, for me personally, and I'm not, because people have benefited from this and have turned it into lucrative, amazing careers. But for me personally, like any, I would never do any type of reality competition type. No, I wouldn't. I just, I always refused that. And like, the closest I came was like, within my first year doing that.

• 1:11:49Tim Ferriss?

  How do you walk, and maybe it's not a fine line, but I'm sure people think about this. How do you establish a unique style yourself?

• 1:12:01Tim Ferriss?

  Without getting pigeonholed.

• 1:12:04Speaker 03

  Listen to yourself.

• 1:12:05Tim Ferriss?

  Yep.

• 1:12:06Speaker 03

  Listen to what you want to do. And if you don't want to do it anymore, stop. Change, you know, like grow, change, evolve. You are unique, you know, uh, it's the only, the most unique thing you can do is be yourself.

• 1:12:22Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:22Speaker 03

  You know, this has got to sound like a real substitute teacher right now.

• 1:12:27Speaker 03

  A real substitute teacher.

• 1:12:28Tim Ferriss?

  No, but it's true. Who is it? Groucho Marx or Oscar Wilde? I always confuse those two, but it's like be yourself. Everybody else is taken.

• 1:12:35Speaker 03

  Everybody else is taken. That's, yeah, it's a perfect way of saying it. Like that's.

• 1:12:39Tim Ferriss?

  And if you want to sound like a substitute teacher, I'll just sound like a fortune cookie. Or like the back page of a newspaper that's full of quotes, but also you mentioned something earlier, which was the people, the people who matter don't mind. And Dr. Seuss has a great quote, just that the, the, the, the people who mind don't matter and the people who matter don't mind.

• 1:12:55Speaker 03

  Yes. Yes. Exactly. It really, Dr. Seuss got it.

• 1:12:59Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah. Dr. Seuss had a lot to him.

• 1:13:01Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah. That guy was, oh man. I went, uh, I, I like.

• 1:13:08Speaker 03

  I, I will go on stage and you, you see a lot. What's interesting about comedy is that you get to see a lot of immediate examples of what you're doing. Like, like, just like a, it's like, um.

• 1:13:19Tim Ferriss?

  You mean in terms of immediate feedback?

• 1:13:20Speaker 03

  Immediate, well, not even, not even feedback, but like the, the, the competition type of thing, like, like if you're in the, like in a, in maybe in a tech world, like some type of expo. You know, like where you get to see what other people are doing.

• 1:13:33Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:13:34Speaker 03

  With comedy, that's every night. Every night there's a new, you know, it's, it's.

• 1:13:38Tim Ferriss?

  It's a new showcase.

• 1:13:39Speaker 03

  Like the three E or not three, what's the electronics expo?

• 1:13:42Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, CES?

• 1:13:43Speaker 03

  CES and all that type of stuff in the, you know, it's like Comic Con every night, you know, like you're just seeing what everybody's doing. Right? And, and so you get to, you get to know where you are in context of your world, uh, pretty quickly.

• 1:13:58Tim Ferriss?

  Well, especially if you've chosen to put yourself. In a place like LA.

• 1:14:03Speaker 03

  Yes, that's why it's important for me. That's why it was important. And to some people, I mean, it's good. I mean, I'm sure you could find immediately a story that is like, well, this guy was in, you know, Kansas and did all right for himself. But like, I really think that knowing where you fit in in context, like if, you know, doing a television show, I'll watch all the television shows, doing film, I'm watching every film, especially current, like, because you want to know where you fit in, you want to know where you fit in in history, and you want to know where you fit in the current landscape. So it's important to be informed, you know, for me, again, for me, it is, you know, I like to know.

• 1:14:42Tim Ferriss?

  So when you moved out here to do comedy, did you have in your mind any backup plan? Like, if the comedy doesn't work out, or I'm going to give myself six months, or any type of thinking along this lines?

• 1:14:54Speaker 03

  No plan B for me. I mean, I had an aunt who, the closest I came to a plan B was that I was in LA for a little bit, and I have an aunt in New York that I was like, well, if it doesn't work for some reason here, and I'm just homeless, then I'll go stay with her, you know?

• 1:15:09Tim Ferriss?

  No, that's, I mean, that's a plan B, right? I mean, that's a, but it's a, mentally, you had

• 1:15:13Speaker 03

  It was

• 1:15:14Tim Ferriss?

  de-risked it, de-risked it for yourself in a way.

• 1:15:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, but really, that was even like a, that was a long shot to me.

• 1:15:22Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:15:22Speaker 03

  You know, like, and I would have been just gone to New York and done the exact same thing that I'm doing here.

• 1:15:27Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:15:27Speaker 03

  You know, like, so it was kind of just another route to plan A for me.

• 1:15:31Tim Ferriss?

  That's a good point. That's a really good point. I didn't think about that.

• 1:15:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was, I was just, so that was the closest to a B. It was like a, it was like an A point five.

• 1:15:40Tim Ferriss?

  Just taking another lap around the track.

• 1:15:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, what's the, yeah, exactly. It's like, all right, well, because I was just here just doing stand up, and I was like, well, and that was purely a logistic thing where I was like, well, if I can't, like, I just literally can't sleep on the street, I guess.

• 1:15:57Tim Ferriss?

  Frowned upon.

• 1:15:58Speaker 03

  Which I would have been, truthfully, I would have been cool with for a little while, like, thank God I didn't have to, but I would have been cool with that. I loved it. I loved doing comedy. So I would have just gone to New York and just, you know, stayed there.

• 1:16:11Tim Ferriss?

  If for whatever reason, at some point, you stop liking comedy, let's just say, but you need to keep yourself busy, what would you, what would you do instead?

• 1:16:22Speaker 03

  Take an educated swing at something else. I don't know. I just stopped liking comedy.

• 1:16:28Tim Ferriss?

  Or you were like, you know what? I've been doing this for, let's say, down the road, you're like 20 years, 30 years in. Okay, I just need a gear shift for a little bit to come back to this fresh.

• 1:16:38Speaker 03

  Uh, I don't know. I'd probably do some weird artist stuff, go like, you know, be like Bob Dylan, start painting, you know what I mean? You know, like just like, uh,

• 1:16:51Speaker 03

  record some songs in a, in a nice basement.

• 1:16:54Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:54Speaker 03

  Release it under an alias, that type of stuff like, uh, it's probably something creative or, or, or something like really special about, or just substitute teach for a little bit. You know, like just see what the, yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

• 1:17:09Tim Ferriss?

  All right. Well, hopefully you'll be in love with comedy for a very long time to come. If you had a huge billboard and you could put any short message on it or an image, non-commercial, just to get something out to the world, what would you put on it?

• 1:17:25Speaker 03

  Oh, wow. I mean, come on, man. That's a great, give me a second. You're gonna have to edit out a long pause.

• 1:17:32Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, that's, I like the pauses. I'll let the silence do the work on this one.

• 1:17:36Speaker 03

  Oh, man. Oh, this is, I mean.

• 1:17:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is really, this is genuinely hard, cause you're like, probably don't listen to anybody.

• 1:17:50Tim Ferriss?

  Don't listen to anybody.

• 1:17:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:17:53Speaker 03

  You know, like, and obviously that comes with the, obviously you'll collaborate with people and, and you'll be so inspired by others and their people that you'll work with and, but what I mean is just like, anything that directs you away from you, ignore it.

• 1:18:10Tim Ferriss?

  Or anything that starts with you gotta.

• 1:18:11Speaker 03

  Anything that starts with you gotta, you ain't gotta do anything, man. Just bad grammar. You gotta, I have to use bad grammar. You ain't gotta do nothing.

• 1:18:22Tim Ferriss?

  I.

• 1:18:25Tim Ferriss?

  Alright, so there are two, two things from Evan that I wanted to make sure I hit.

• 1:18:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:18:31Tim Ferriss?

  So the first one, maybe we, we may not explore for very long. The last point he said was he has an eight foot penis. So did that come about because of the scene?

• 1:18:44Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:18:47Tim Ferriss?

  In Neighbors? That for those who haven't seen the film.

• 1:18:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, I, I don't know where that came from. I genuinely don't know where, it may be a thing he may have said to me. I never thought I would have to clear that rumor up. It's not that long. That's, that's, that's the other, the other direction of like, what girl's gonna wanna sleep with me?

• 1:19:09Tim Ferriss?

  When you have to coil it around your waist like.

• 1:19:11Speaker 03

  That just sounds cumbersome.

• 1:19:13Tim Ferriss?

  Okay, I think you probably didn't expect me to bring that up on the podcast, but I had to.

• 1:19:17Speaker 03

  I'm trying, and watch, it's gonna hit me like in the car later. I'm like, oh wait, oh, that's what he meant by that. I wondered if it's something else.

• 1:19:23Tim Ferriss?

  We can do a postscript.

• 1:19:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, exactly.

• 1:19:25Tim Ferriss?

  Can have it run on the credits.

• 1:19:28Tim Ferriss?

  Alright, so the, the, the, the point that I think we might be able to unpack a little bit more is he's mentioned that, and you, you talked about the newspaper earlier, and I guess it was Kwame, is that his name?

• 1:19:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, oh, yep.

• 1:19:40Tim Ferriss?

  Who got you.

• 1:19:41Speaker 03

  Kwame Naiari.

• 1:19:41Tim Ferriss?

  Who got you reading the paper? That you can read something, say in the newspaper, and then use it somehow on stage that night. And what helps you to do that? Or how do you think?

• 1:19:55Speaker 03

  Kind of being in tune with your, your feelings, you know, and your, and your thoughts and how, and your true feelings. Like, I, I will say, a lot of times I'll, um, I'll, I'll be able to like, say a joke the first time, and it's kind of a finished product. You know, like I'll say, there was a, a thing that was like online of just me talking about Chick-fil-A. That was virtually my first time doing that joke. I think I'd like maybe mentioned it the night before, but it was like, the first time it just sounds like a finished product because it's like, oh no, I know how I feel about this. I know what I wanna say and the points I wanna hit, and then you say it, and then that's it.

• 1:20:38Speaker 03

  So I think it is just like kind of being in tune. If you're in tune, things come out a little bit, you know, easier.

• 1:20:44Tim Ferriss?

  Do you, is there anything in your creative process for developing material that is?

• 1:20:51Tim Ferriss?

  Unusual when you, when you describe it to other standup comedians or other people?

• 1:20:57Speaker 03

  Good question. I mean,

• 1:21:01Speaker 03

  yeah, I wonder what's unusual about it because there, I mean, I think I ignore a lot of things that people don't like, meaning like industry stuff and, you know, like things that I think, things that matter to a lot of comedians don't necessarily matter to me. Or I realize that focus, it's kind of going back to what we said earlier, like focusing on just myself and the work gets that thing that, you know, so I, I think I ignore more things than like a lot of comedians.

• 1:21:33Tim Ferriss?

  Have you, what helps you to do that? Do you say anything to yourself in particular? Is that just hardwiring?

• 1:21:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's both emotional and, and logical to me. Like, you know, emotionally it's just like, well, if, if I don't think that I can, if I don't think this is meaningful, then I'll cut it out of my life. And logically, if you look at history, you'll see the things that fall out and you'll see, you, you can read this, that's why I like reading biography. You see, you read about people's mistakes and read about the things that ultimately didn't matter. So it's like, I don't want to focus any energy on anything that doesn't matter or won't matter.

• 1:22:10Tim Ferriss?

  Right.

• 1:22:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:22:11Tim Ferriss?

  The distractions of life.

• 1:22:12Speaker 03

  Yeah, the distractions of life. Yeah. I mean, that's probably like, that's, yeah, that's probably why I'm not like, and also that is a personal thing because it, for instance, there, we were talking about like social media, right? And certain people are great and a source of, you know, inspiration and a source of like great content on social media. For me, I don't, it doesn't contribute to my life in a meaningful way, so I don't do it.

• 1:22:36Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:22:38Tim Ferriss?

  This is going to, this is a left turn, but all of these are left turns. So I guess we're just going in a square kind of counterclockwise. Anyway, what is the, what purchase of say less than a hundred dollars, but with just? Any purchase really is fine that has had the most positive impact on your life in recent memory.

• 1:22:59Speaker 03

  Probably ever like a notebook.

• 1:23:01Tim Ferriss?

  Notebook.

• 1:23:01Speaker 03

  A notebook and pens like just write and I don't even write out jokes, but I write out thoughts.

• 1:23:07Tim Ferriss?

  What type of notebook?

• 1:23:08Speaker 03

  Goals and thoughts.

• 1:23:10Tim Ferriss?

  Goals and thoughts.

• 1:23:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:23:11Tim Ferriss?

  What, do you have a particular type of notebook that you like?

• 1:23:15Speaker 03

  I mean, my grandma would get me some for like, Chris, these, these little small pocket sized one, the little, but really any notebook will do. Just any like notebook. That and the Bolognese at John and Vinnie's are the two most impactful.

• 1:23:30Tim Ferriss?

  The Bolognese at John and Vinnie's?

• 1:23:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, the Bolognese at John and Vinnie's and notebooks.

• 1:23:38Tim Ferriss?

  What types of thoughts do you write down? Because we all have a million plus thoughts a day. What types of things do you write down?

• 1:23:46Speaker 03

  Really, anything that like, anything that sticks out, how I feel about people, how I feel about me, what I want, what I, just like anything that's like worth, just kind of journaling essentially.

• 1:23:58Tim Ferriss?

  Seems to have a strong, it seems to tie back a lot to what you were mentioning earlier, which is your emotional response to different things.

• 1:24:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what my emotional response, it's like capture. I want to know, because you see it. If you look at it and if you write down a goal, like you have this image now in your head. It's not just this floating thought. It's an image that you have in your head.

• 1:24:21Tim Ferriss?

  What types of goals would you write down?

• 1:24:23Speaker 03

  Um, I'll write down really like general and like specific things.

• 1:24:31Tim Ferriss?

  Can you give any examples, past, present?

• 1:24:33Speaker 03

  Really, the, the two first career goals I remember, um, I wrote down that I wanted, uh, my first time doing stand up on television to be HBO. And I wanted a show on NBC. And I remember writing like that. Those are very broad goals, but, but I wrote down specifically like the HBO thing and actually as I was, uh, like just doing stand up and going over like old thoughts, like preparing for the first special, I actually grabbed an old notebook. The one I didn't realize I'd written it in and the night before. We taped and I kinda like opened and I turned the page and there it was like the goal like HBO special.

• 1:25:07Tim Ferriss?

  Now, did you write it down once and then it was embedded for years?

• 1:25:10Speaker 03

  I can still tell you exactly how it was written on the page. It was like I skipped a few lines. HBO was written in big letters and then I wrote like, like, you know, just a couple of sentences about how I wanted to look and feel. Documentary is written down. So I wanted it to be a documentary and like specific like ideas about it. Same thing for the next, we just did a, I just taped another special and same thing, same pay. I like the word invasive. Invasive, invasive. I wanted it invasive. I wanted it emotionally honest. I wanted it to go past just jokes. And I didn't want to just tell you jokes, you know, and I wanted it just to be real and a, you know, exploration.

• 1:25:49Speaker 03

  Like these certain words that I think, you know, was captured. I mean, uh, bold directed and it's like really, I think he's brilliant. And he captured it so perfectly. But yeah, these really personal things.

• 1:26:01Tim Ferriss?

  Well, I think you're one of the most, uh, honest and dangerous and the best way possible comedians out there today.

• 1:26:08Speaker 03

  Thank you very much.

• 1:26:08Tim Ferriss?

  Really enjoy your work. Uh, do you have any parting thoughts, comments, requests of the people listening? And then I'll ask you where people can find you and uh, everything you have to.

• 1:26:21Speaker 03

  No, I mean, no, try the Bolognese, try the Bolognese at uh, John and Phoenix.

• 1:26:26Tim Ferriss?

  Try the Bolognese and then I'm gonna try and I'd recommend people try the, the face at the top of the well exercise.

• 1:26:33Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 1:26:34Tim Ferriss?

  I like that.

• 1:26:35Speaker 03

  Thank you. That's perfect. You plugged it for me.

• 1:26:37Tim Ferriss?

  That's my job.

• 1:26:38Speaker 03

  It's a, I really wanna see if I, if I created it or stole it from someone. I genuinely don't know.

• 1:26:46Tim Ferriss?

  I'm sure someone out there will be able to figure that.

• 1:26:48Speaker 03

  No, no, I was doing, I was doing face at the top of well for, for 30 years. Like someone's gonna say it on some, yeah, I don't know.

• 1:26:56Speaker 03

  We find out it's like in the ta ta ching.

• 1:26:59Tim Ferriss?

  You know, I mean, everything that is old is once new again. Uh, but uh, this has been a lot of fun, man. I really appreciate it.

• 1:27:06Speaker 03

  This is awesome, man.

• 1:27:07Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah. And uh, what a, what a great environment, all sorts of weirdness. We have a, we have a wooden horse to the left of us.

• 1:27:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is. The horse, the horse, it's like a retired, uh, merry go round horse.

• 1:27:20Tim Ferriss?

  It's like it retired here.

• 1:27:22Tim Ferriss?

  There's a lot happening right now. And I want to let you get back to your day. Where can people find you, what you're up to? What can they check out? Where should they start? Anything you want to tell them?

• 1:27:33Tim Ferriss?

  Be around, man.

• 1:27:37Tim Ferriss?

  That's kind of the truth. Maybe loitering outside a movie theater. Probably walking around LA or New York.

• 1:27:44Tim Ferriss?

  Website, social?

• 1:27:45Tim Ferriss?

  Nah.

• 1:27:46Tim Ferriss?

  Nah, alright. I'm gonna sneak it into the show notes for people interested.

• 1:27:50Tim Ferriss?

  It's there.

• 1:27:52Tim Ferriss?

  They can find you.

• 1:27:53Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, I'm around. I'm around. I'll see you guys.

• 1:27:57Tim Ferriss?

  How the hell did you fuck this podcast?

• 1:27:58Tim Ferriss?

  Say hi.

• 1:28:01Tim Ferriss?

  Alright guys, I will put links to everything we've talked about in the show notes. As per usual, and you can find those notes, links, as well as every other episode at 4hourworkweek.com/podcast. All spelled out, 4hourworkweek.com/podcast. And until next time, thank you for listening.

• 1:28:20Tim Ferriss?

  Thank you, man.

• 1:28:21Tim Ferriss?

  Thank you, sir.

• 1:28:22Tim Ferriss?

  Bye.

• 1:28:23Tim Ferriss?

  Love around too soon. Hey guys, this is Tim again. Just a few more things before you take off. Number one, this is Five Bullet Friday. Do you want to get a short email from me? Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday? That provides a little morsel of fun before the weekend. And Five Bullet Friday is a very short email where I share the coolest things I've found or that I've been pondering over the week. That could include favorite new albums that I've discovered. It could include gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of weird shit that I've somehow dug up in the world of the esoteric as I do. It could include favorite articles that I've read and that I've shared with my close friends, for instance. And it's very short.

• 1:29:07Tim Ferriss?

  It's just a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend. So if you want to receive that, check it out. Just go to 4hourworkweek.com. That's 4hourworkweek.com, all spelled out. And just drop in your email and you will get the very next one. And if you sign up, I hope you enjoy it. This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is the future of financial advice. They've become incredibly popular among my friends in Silicon Valley and across the country because they provide the same high-end financial advice that the best private wealth managers deliver to the ultra wealthy, but for any account size and at a fraction of the cost. For instance, they monitor your portfolio every day across more than a dozen asset classes to look for opportunities to rebalance or harvest tax losses.

• 1:29:52Tim Ferriss?

  Now, would you do the same? Are you doing the same? Probably not. And the power is in the software. Wealthfront now manages more than $4 billion in assets, which is up from around $2.5 billion when they started advertising on this podcast. They're growing incredibly quickly. Unlike old-fashioned private wealth managers, Wealthfront is powered by innovative technology, making it the most tax-efficient, low-cost, hassle-free way to invest. They don't have loaded sales teams or retail locations, so they can deliver all of this sophisticated financial advice and these services at a fraction of the cost of a traditional financial advisor. So at the very least, go to wealthfront.com/tim and take their free risk assessment survey. It only takes a couple of minutes,

• 1:30:37Tim Ferriss?

  and Wealthfront will recommend a personalized portfolio of investments. In other words, they'll tell you exactly where they would put your money. So even if you don't use their service, you have a huge leg up and you have additional information for making good decisions. They use investment theory to automate good financial behavior and decisions that people typically don't make, but should. So go to wealthfront.com/tim to get your first 15K managed for free or just to get more details. Check it out, wealthfront.com/tim. This episode is brought to you by 99designs. I've used 99designs for years for all sorts of graphic design needs. Whether you need a logo, website, book cover, or anything else, 99designs was created to make great designs accessible to everyone and to make the process of getting designs much, much easier.

• 1:31:22Tim Ferriss?

  So when I first started out, for instance, testing prototype covers and getting prototype covers for the 4-hour body, I want the contest drop. That is one option. This is a great solution if you're looking for fast, affordable design work and the ability to choose from dozens of options, risk-free. Let's say you need something Late night, quick turnaround. Well, people in other time zones, other countries can also help you solve that problem. Since then, I've worked with 99designs on a separate path or a different option, and that is the one-to-one project service. So, in a number of cases, and I'll give you one example. When I wanted to create the cover for my audiobook, The Tao of Seneca, this was a very important project to me. I decided to use their one-to-one project service.

• 1:32:07Tim Ferriss?

  And with this service, you can invite a specific designer to your project, agree on a price, and then work together until you're satisfied. And they'll allow you to iterate and provide feedback and all of this stuff. And I haven't shared it yet, but we also got some incredibly good, really some of the best illustrations I've ever seen from using this one-to-one project service with a handful of different designers and illustrators. It blew my mind. 99designs makes this all very easy and efficient. So you can check out The Tao of Seneca design and other work that I, and your fellow listeners for that matter, have done on 99designs at 99designs.com/tim. Again, that's 99designs.com/tim.