Bert Kreischer Has a Stoicism Problem

Welcome to the Daily Stowick Podcast, designed to help bring those four key stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stowick Podcast we survived, the Snowpocalypse. It was a long day, Sunday, long mornings, all the schools were canceled, so I got a little bonus morning with the kids.

And now I am back sitting in my office doing some writing. And it's funny, it occurred to me. I was sitting in this very office. I was in this very chair.

I don't remember exactly what I was working on. It's probably a wisdom book. Maybe, yeah, it would have been the wisdom book. It's the summer of 2024 and my phone rings.

And it's Tom Sugura, the comedian who I know from when I did his podcast and he came out and did the Daily Stowick Podcast. But he was calling me. And these days you don't get a lot of phone calls, everyone texts or emails or whatever. But it's just calling out of the blue.

So I answer and it's certainly not what I expected. He basically goes, hey, I'm sitting here with Bert Kreischer and he thinks stoicism sucks. Let me play this. Oh, we get him on.

Yeah. Hey, Ryan. Oh, come on. Hey, I'm here with Will Compton and Bert Kreischer and Bert is shitting all over stoicism and says that it's stupid and it's a dumb way to live and he thinks it's just, you know, like the paraphrasing Ryan, but they're real close.

But they're close. But we're close. So I was like, oh, then why'd he's like, yeah, I see this stuff come up on my feed and it's like fucking whatever, you know, it's just whatever. Marcus Aurelius, whatever.

So how the power of saying those so stupid, you know, stupid, I just say yes, everything. He just answered the phone with a hard yes, right? He should have said send a voice mail. He's a soap.

Ryan, can you just like, do you mind just giving a like maybe a basic principle of stoicism that we can, you know, like hopefully show Bert why this is a value that he's angry at the wrong thing. Yeah. I'm here. I'm like a Scientologist.

I'm ready to be converted. All right. Okay. So the basic idea of stoicism is that we don't control what happens in the world or around us but we control how we respond to the world around us.

It's pretty basic. I think it's pretty difficult to argue with the idea is that instead of spending time stressing what other people do, you focus on what you do instead of focusing on the mistakes you've made, you focus on how you're going to do better next time. And it's this idea that you try to go through the world around these sort of four main attributes that sort of virtues of stoicism. Again, I think it's pretty hard to argue with.

It's courage. Self-discipline. It's justice and wisdom. So that's the philosophy that has existed for, you know, 2000 plus years, some of the greatest, most powerful people in history have ascribed to it.

And then all sorts of people who went through horrendous ordeals, whether they were thrown in prison for crimes they didn't come in with exile and death and all the shit that life can throw at a person, they sort of turn to this philosophy. So it's not these abstract ideas that you know, study in this boring college class. It's supposed to be a framework for dealing with the difficulty of life. Okay.

Okay. But what is your... What's the opposite of that? What is your main issue against?

Why are you rolling your eyes at Marcus Aurelius? Like, what is that supposed to be? Like, okay. So like, just the names...

Is your familiarity with Marcus Aurelius Burt that he's the old guy that dies at the beginning of Gladiator? No. No, no, no, no. No, no, no.

No, he thinks there's just another guy somewhere in that world that was already full of shit. Was Marcus Aurelius like Caesar's kid or something? No, he was the emperor of Rome. Yeah, same thing.

Same thing. He never even remembers if yours apart, okay. Okay. Okay.

So I'm the opposite. Just the name Stoic is not how I live my life. Like, I'm not Stoic. So that was a surreal interruption.

Usually, don't answer my phone or have it on do not disturb. I'm certainly glad that I answered that one. I texted him after we followed up. I said, Stoicism is not some wallflower cynicism.

It's perfectly wonderful to enjoy your success. The only problem is if you think it makes you special or that you could die without it. And he says, I wish I had said that. You are one smart motherfucker, which was nice.

He says, so happy to have connected today despite my cynicism about Stoicism. I'm kind of obsessed about it and your name comes up on my tour bus sometimes. So we've gone back and forth. He's a nice guy.

We connected with Mel Robbins was here because he just had no Rob's on. Anyways, he came out to do the podcast on Friday. That's what I wanted to bring you today. I think he's a fascinating guy.

I think he's a funny guy. And I just watched his new show on Netflix Free Burt, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. And I wanted to see if his understanding of Stoicism had changed since we last talked. We really got into it.

We had quite an in-depth conversation about Nero as you'll hear in this episode. And he also told some insane stories that would only happen to Burt Kreicher. I think you're really going to like this episode. This is part one.

I'll bring you part two later in the week. If you don't know who Burt Kreicher is, you probably do. You just maybe not putting the face of the name. He's a hilarious comedian.

He takes his shirt off a lot. So as we talk about in the show, he does not want to be known for that. He's a host of Two Bears, One Cave with Tom Sugura. When I did that podcast, Burt wasn't there.

But you've probably seen some of their viral clips. He was on the Tom Brady roast and many other things. He got a huge movie on Netflix called The Machine, which is based on one of his most infamous stories. And he tours arenas all over the world.

You can follow Burt on all platforms at Burt Kreicher and watch Free Burt on Netflix. Samantha and I watched all six episodes before they came out. And then it just debuted actually the day he was there. And we really enjoyed it.

It was hilarious. And I loved this episode. And I think you will too. Well, I love the show.

I thought it was hilarious. You watched it? Yeah. I was six.

Yeah. I was six. Well, the center is over. Yeah.

No, no, I thought it was funny because my kids just started at like a fancy school. And I could relate. You run into, I mean, my kids are in college now, but you run into those dads that are like, you want to go? And you're like, no.

No one's asked me to do that. I live in LA. But yeah, it kind of puts you back in being in school again. Because you're like, there's a hierarchy.

It's weird with like the youngest parents. It's like, oh, it's a weird. I remember when, do you remember the first time you heard the phrase, it was all politics. Like as a kid.

And I was one of the best players at age seven. And I didn't make the all-star team. Okay. And then I was like, I mean, I was one of the best players in the entire league.

Yeah. I was like, what? And then like older kids, their dads are coaches. And they're going to make the all-star team because it's their last year in this league.

So you're going to have another year. So you'll be on the all-star team next year. And I was like, this is so stupid. Yeah.

And then I looked at my dad, like when did you become a coach? I can be on the all-star team and he was like, okay. Yeah. It's a lot of that.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I thought it was good. I thought I was like a great show.

I'm not taking you seriously. Yeah. Is that feel real to you? 100%.

So I put it in. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll be very candid and I understand that people may receive this the wrong way, but after listening to enough of your fucking book, I listened to it as I sleep and I think I understand stuff.

I said, I think a lot of people blow me off because I take my shirt off and they kind of maybe look past the fact that I'm like a really good storyteller, which is completely fine. Listen, there's a lot of people that only come inside of my shirt off and I've had a really great career. I wasn't supposed to have any of this career. So I can't really crap.

It's like someone saying to me Buffett sings cheeseburger and paradise. He's not a good musician. He's like, hold on. He's got some bangers.

Yeah. You're overlooking the catalog. Sure. And so, yeah, but it does sit with me sometimes when you're like, because you'll read a comment, which I know is a storyteller, not supposed to do.

Yeah. And it'll be like this guy, all he does is a fat alcoholic takes his shirt off, which is accurate. There's a little more. There's like, you should be a dot dot dot to that.

Yeah. And then I leaned in when I offered up the very intro to this of the TV show to the writers and producers, it was basically for real stories that happened to me at a corporate. I went to a corporate and I was like, they're huge fans. They're huge fucking bands.

I was like, for real? And they're like, yeah, hedge fun. I talked hard this monkey dance. Yeah, I get it.

And so then I did it and I drank with them. They ate pills and they were like, they're just rich. They wanted to cook and I was pain pillows because of my fall. Did you fall off a waterfall?

I feel like you. I love talking about stoicism. Yeah. Because I believe in the, I believe in the, by the way, I am wildly ready to be turned on the stoicism.

Okay. I'm wildly ready for it. Okay. I need it.

Yeah. I've listened to your book on repeat when I sleep every night, every night and I pick up at parts and I fall asleep at parts and I kind of remember parts. I can't tell the summer Jeff's on George Washington. And so like, but I love the boxers left.

I love everything. What book? I have no idea dude. Okay.

Is it my holiday? Okay. So in a moment of non-stoicism, I was repelling off a waterfall for work and it was the last episode of trip flip right before I got fired from the travel channel. I always realized this is all going to go away even life.

I think about that in the mornings when I wake up, but I always, I have a very fleeting feeling in life of like, I remember the last time I remember that when Bert Conker was a bouncy, I knew it was canceled and I got into a town car to go to a theme park in LA and I remember getting in the town car going, enjoy this. This may be the very last town car you get in because they're expensive. Sure. And I was repelling off a waterfall and I had a moment.

I said, this, you've done a lot of really cool stuff with travel channel. This might be the last cool thing you do. And I was like, Hey man, take a minute. Take it in.

Yeah. And I turned and I looked, I was like 210 feet up and I overlooked this canyon in North Carolina and I was like, this is beautiful. And I was like, let's have a moment, like just me and you, Bert, like just me and you and I kind of start fucking around. And then I decided to swing out wide.

And as I did, my foot hits my algae and I flipped upside down on the waterfall and I started getting water boarded by the waterfall upside down. It's now hitting in the face and it won't spin me back around. And I don't know, I have video of it. I don't know what happened if I, but I let go.

My backhand let go and I dropped like 25 feet onto a rock and I thought I really thought I broke my back. But I didn't, I was fine, but I mean, I'm not fine. It took me a while to recover. And then I was laying in the hospital, but I told my wife and then she was like, well, you have that corporate unveil.

And I was like, baby, I fell for waterfalls. She goes, Hey, I love you. It's 25 grand. She's like, I'll island.

I will meet you at the Denver airport. We'll get you to veil. We'll get you in and out of the gig. And then we'll get you home.

And I was like, all right. But that's so like everything in the TV shows based off something in real life. And I just wanted to pull from like, you know, the thing I drawn to about stoicism is, and I don't know if it's real or not. I don't know if you have to work on it.

I don't know if it's forced. I don't know if you're a natural stoic or not. I don't know if you are what I am, which is a natural like I'm a raw nerve. But the thing that I drew from that drawn towards it is, and I leaned into this is like, I'm a very sensitive person and I do want to fit in.

And I do want people like me. And I know that that's not popular online. I know they call that something like a try hard. I go, okay, cool.

But what am I supposed to do? Like that's who I am if I go to a party and I don't know you want to introduce myself to you, I know I'm not supposed to. I know that we're supposed to stand in the fucking corner like we're all fucking Bilbir and Joe Rogan, but you're not. I know them.

No one's them, okay? And so like I am just me. I'm Bert. And so I try to put as much of that in the show and show my kind of warts and all like, yeah.

I would say everything up until when you're fiddling with the gear that you're not supposed to mess with. It seems pretty stoic. Taking stock, being present, appreciating the thing. What part of the story do you think is not stoic?

When I started swinging out going like, let's have a little fun. Okay, I think having fun counts too. Maybe the only non-stoke thing would be like if you're screaming your head off while you're hanging outside. I was getting by the way, it's the second time it happened to me.

And the first time I was only 18 years old, I let go, I was fine. And then I just like, I didn't know how high I was. I get confused by stoicism and I want to be it. But I felt like I felt like in a period of time, I was listening to guys who were getting beaten up online saying, yeah, I read a book about stoicism.

That's what I am now. And then I was like, huh? Because that's how we got connected. I remember I was just sitting in my office one day and Tom called me and he said, I'm talking with Bert and he thinks stoicism is bullshit.

And that's I think how we got connected. Okay. So I don't want to shit on him, but my assistant Kyle, who you might have met. And I'm just saying like, this is a perfect example.

We're all sitting in the bus one time and we were home schooled and we were like, was that hard going to parties? He's like, no, I was the mysterious guy. And thank you. I love that you laugh because we were like, Hey buddy, we all went to parties and we didn't know anybody.

Yeah. But we weren't and he's like, no man, I just stood in the corner. And I feel like that's what a stoic does. It's just sitting in the corner and goes, I don't know what there's, are they?

I'm not sure if there's any mysterious guys at parties in high school, those are called creeps. Yeah. By the way, thank you Kyle for letting me share that. I don't know if stoicism is something, if it's a thing you put on or how you authentically get there, I would love to authentically get there.

I would love to not be at a party. And someone say, for example, someone go, it's so funny. I love waterfalls. And then I would love to go.

I got a story about waterfalls. I fell off of waterfalls in North Carolina. It was a great story about my fucking mouth. Because that's what a stoic does.

And then you guys, so interesting. Tell me about what you like about waterfalls. It's a fucking waterfall. It seems like you think being a stoic means being introverted and you're extroverted.

So you're not stoic. Like, okay. So is it George Washington or Benjamin Franklin? George Washington is the one who's more interested in stoicism.

Okay. Frank, there's some Franklin stuff too. But George Washington's very reserved and so- So he doesn't let his anger get the best of him. Yes.

Dude, if I get upset or if I get my feelings hurt, it's uncontrollable. Yeah. Oh, it's insane. Like, I'm trying to think of a good example recently where my feelings got hurt, but it's like it overwhelms me.

Yeah. And then you're like, well, shit. How do I get past that? Are there like things I can do every morning where I wake up and I go, here's the stoic workout, you know?

And it's like, you know, journal about this journal about that because I'll do it. I want to get past. I'll do it for example. And then use a good catchphrase and then cherry picked comments.

Terri picked comments he did from the post that were targeted towards Bert. These are guys, the one guy called me Bart and you're like, okay, that's a fan. That was a fan. Yeah.

Burnt called me. And like, either the guys, either the writers really smart or he's actually a fucking idiot who was like, look at that. I don't even know what to say. You know?

Yeah. You take it personally. Ryan, I don't know if you know how this feels. It happens at the top of my head and everything gets warm.

Yeah. And I go like, whoa. And it's a massive, like, I wouldn't say like an instant depression, but an instant anxiety of like, I'm going to be thinking about this for half the day, at least this ruin half the day. And my daughter, who I think Georgia, who my oldest, who probably would have a lot in common with you, she reads books with her friends were her friend will read one side of the page and she reads the other side of the page and they sit next to each other.

That's what a reader she is. Okay. Creepiest thing. I'd rather walk in her fucking with three girls.

But so she goes, Hey, and she breaks down. She goes, the guy needed clicks for his article and you clicked it. Now granted it's your name, but other people are going to go, Oh, we ruined Christmas because he'd be shut off. Also, he could be right in the sense that you may have ruined his Christmas.

Like he's not wrong. I tried to like maybe it did suck to that person. Yeah. By the way, I think it's tough.

It probably sucks a lot of families who at nine in the morning saw a shirtless, the fact I, you know, drinking whiskey on a parking lot. But you look that was what I was hired to do. Yes. So I should detach from both of those.

Yes. But instead I'm like, so I hear Georgia, the stoic. Yeah. Break it down.

And then my younger daughter, I like goes Google is name. Well, she was Google's name. Find out his Instagram. So he's friends with.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do that. And then she's like, yeah, you know what?

And then I go, that's not what it's like. Like George Washington would be like, how do I get Louis the fucking 13th number, you know, being an effective leader is difficult, right? You got to keep your ego in check. You got to know how your business works, how the team operates for peak effectiveness.

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So okay, I think a couple things here. Number one, we'd like to think that people just naturally are this or that, right? And if that was the case of George Washington just never got upset or marks through this, never got upset. They just people said shit about him and they just didn't care.

That's then that's kind of like being tall, right? Like you don't get any credit for it. If you just if it's not work, you don't get any credit for it, right? Like, like, so you're just talking with that thought.

She said some things you said some quotes are like bad ass. So yeah, if it really doesn't affect you, you don't get credit for it. Like if someone yells to me, get out of that car, you're a black bastard. I'm like, that's not accurate.

Yeah, it's not gonna bother you. It's not it's not it's so wildly inaccurate that has nothing to do with you. So like that is it really actually George Washington is a good example. It's funny that you brought him up.

I was interviewing Ron Chernau who wrote a famous biography of Washington, but he was saying that what's interesting about Washington is that Washington actually, for the people that knew him had like a fiery temper. He was actually like, there's a famous story about Washington. One guy, I think it's moving her more is Betts, another guy. He goes, I'm gonna walk up to George Washington, slap him on the back and say, hey, George, how's it going?

And so he does this and Washington gives him like such a death stare that the guy's like, he was like, I will never call on anything other than his excellency ever again. He's like right beneath the surface, a little bit fragile, a little bit sensitive, got a little bit of an ego. And so it's not that it's an act. It's that he's really having to work for it.

Like he is sensitive. He does get upset. He does lose his temper. He does worry about things, but he understands, as I think you're saying in your examples, that that doesn't really work.

Like that's not good. That's what gets you into trouble. Like you give me the president of the United States and just fly off the handle. Like we're seeing the effects of what happens now.

It gets you into trouble, right? It's and it's two thing. You think Donald Trump is not a stoic? What can I say?

She's a pig. Oh my God. So like, well, that's a great. Yeah.

So he realizes that to do this job, he has to work actively to not be that way. So I think everyone is struggling with it. And honestly, like most things, it might look easy, but like beneath the surface, the person's really working at it. And so I just, we should understand that stoicism as a philosophy is a thing you are aspiring to be and you're working on and you're getting better.

Like I don't, I don't think I'm perfect at any of this stuff compared to who I was when I was 20. I'm way further down the road, but I'm not anywhere near where I would like to be. And I read an article yesterday, I got a Googler. I don't know how I saw it.

And I was like, oh, it's like from the headline, it seemed positive. And I was like, sweet, I could use a little pick me up right now. That's the worst. And I read it and it just is getting worse and worse and worse.

And I was like, so it was like, first off, I have to do what you're talking about, which is like, you know, try to think about where this person is coming from and why it doesn't matter. And then I have to go, okay, but like there's a reason these Googlers go to the email address, I don't check and why I tell myself not to click the thing. Like, it's more about like the process and the boundaries you put up to protect yourself from your worst impulses, I think. I like that.

So I can't even get that news off my phone. Yeah, because it was just something I scrolled. Yeah. And then I saw like, I don't enjoy seeing negative articles about my friends.

Sure. But some comics love it. They love it. I have a friend who is so obsessed with the negative, the negative videos that other people put out about us that I wonder if he's my friend because he likes them so much.

Yes. And then he told me he contacted one of the guys who made one about me. Yeah. And I was just like, I would never do that to you.

I would never, like, I'm not that guy. I'm not my social media accounts or on my wife's phone. So like I have to be like, can I borrow your phone? Because otherwise I'll just check them a lot.

And it's like, I never, when I do, I'm like so glad, I'm never glad that I spent 20 minutes on Instagram. Everyone's, well, I'll need a message, someone or, you know, a W thing that I wanted to look at or whatever. And then sometimes, you know, you can sleep, it's fun to scroll or whatever. But I'm like, if it's on my phone, I'll do it way more than is healthy.

Yeah. But if it's there's like just one step removed, then it's a, I'm a little, I'm a little protected for myself. I caught myself today. I was on Instagram and I was scrolling and then, and then it got me to threads or whatever.

And it was something about, I don't know, it was something that was innocuous. And as I'm scrolling threads, I see my picture come up and immediately, and what I do, what I'll do sometimes is I'll scroll without glasses on readers. So I can't read it, but I see my picture and I immediately go to this defense mechanism. Like, get out of here.

Get out of here. Yeah. And it was a positive review. And then I was like, they're so tricky.

We go, I want to read it. Sure. Then part of me goes, but if I read that and give it weight, I have to give as much weight to the negative one. Yeah, it's funny.

I think having a way of talking to share a great question. Okay. For real. Yes.

For real. Yeah. Do you think Ernest Hemingway would have been a better writer if he had gotten more sleep? Probably.

But doesn't that get to the id of the, and I'm using the word id not knowing what it means, but doesn't that get to the id of the artist? Maybe a little bit. There's a book in the book, so I'm going to give it to you. So I've got a picture.

I wrote this book called the crack up. He wrote a book called the crack up about blowing up his life. It's the last thing he wrote. And you're you're watching one of the most talented people in the world, squander their talents, drinking.

I've watched, I've watched, I've watched people squander their talent. Yeah. And I've watched myself squander my talent. Sure.

Like I've, I've, it's funny when as you're squandering things, you don't realize, you don't realize what you look like from the outside. Yeah. You like, like I remember a point everyone was calling me going, we're worried about you. And I was like, I was just working so hard.

It's one of the things you talk about in the book that I've been listening to over and over again is that to pull back a little bit is the stoic way. Yeah. To not overwork. Yeah.

Is the stoic way. And you know, we've talked about this and we're not, we don't talk about this publicly at all. But you know, we pulled back two bears. Oh, yeah.

Because we do it as much. We do it when we want to. Yeah. Because what we were doing is, and by the way, we're not doing that for the fans.

And we're also doing that. We're taking less money. We're not, we're saying to our ad sales team, don't sell on against us because we were doing it, partly we were doing it for the fans, but we were really doing it. We were on a schedule.

And that wasn't the way the show ever started. And that wasn't conducive to us having a good time. And then when we said when we're available, let's do it, we did two episodes and they were, we started giggling with each other again. Sure.

And when I heard you say that about that, that we were adding more, one guy that was the fighter pilot in World War II and then he was like a bio engineer or something or a doctor. And then, you know, and then he was a reason we were one, one, two or whatever. And he was like, Oh, he was just burning up both ends. Yeah.

When you burn up both ends, you're not serving anybody. Yes. It really takes almost more discipline to walk away. Like I just listened to Mark Maron's podcast, which I loved.

I know you had like a little tip with him or whatever. I think, but I think to walk away from something that like, not because you're like an athlete and you can't do it anymore, you got cut or whatever, it's like nobody does that. Like nobody just goes like, I'm good. Like everyone talks about fucking money.

There's a line and then nobody ever says like, because you always want more and it feels irresponsible not to keep going. But like to be like, I'm going to do less is like actually a pretty, it's both a kind of a ball or thing to think about it. But also it takes like more discipline than staying on the grueling schedule. Well, the fear for me, I can only speak about me and I can just for anyone listening.

It was like, what happened? Mark and Bert, I'll just be very quick so that everyone's clear. Mark was talking shit about these arena comics who get drunk and don't do anything on stage and they suck and it's just a money grab. And by the way, I have Mark on the podcast.

He wasn't talking about me, but it sounded a lot like he was. This is why it's bad to listen to what people are saying because you interpret it. You know, and then I was like, I don't get drunk on stage. Like I know everyone thinks I'm hammered the whole time.

I am a very responsible comic. I have been drunk on stage. Yes. If I'm doing an arena, I'm Stone sober.

I'll have a drink when I tell the machine. But what's crazy is the title is, Mark Barry talks about Bert Kreischer. He never said my name. So that was the beef.

And then it turns out he was talking about another comic he called me. But that's the other here and there walking away, walking away. It's not about the money. It is about money.

There's money aspect to it. But for the most part, it's like, am I letting down the fans? Am I? And I know that by putting out a lesser product and I have been doing that at times, definitely on two bears, definitely on broadcast.

I wouldn't say so much on something's burning for why I have a reason and definitely not in stand up for whatever reason. I've always been very adamant. If I say something very funny in my podcast, I pull it out. So I use it stand up, stand up's always been it.

It's stand alone thing for me. It's my, it's my real thing. I always go, let me just take it. It's like when you're too tired to take batting practice and you're no longer helping your swing.

Yeah, you're just taking cuts and you're like, I'm not learning. And I had to say to everyone, I'm working too hard to have a conversation, Christmas Eve about two bears and our schedules. I had a conversation with my team about broadcast. I was like, I can't just do it every week.

I mean, I want to do it when I want to do it and when I'm excited to do it. Because then then it'll be good. And then people will like it, but it is a thing about like, what if I get out of this, what if I get out of the rotation? What if I hop off the merry ground for one run?

Yeah, everyone's on the merry ground. They might be drunk. They, uh, they might be garbage that all the, all the great podcasts, history hyenas, Matt and Shancie are podcasts, Andy Scholz, Joe Rogan, you, there's so many great podcasts out there. But if I hop off the merry ground for one lap, are people going to remember to let me back on what if there's not a horse available when it comes back around?

Right. And so that's the risk you take from doing less. Yeah. And you just got to trust that they'll be there, I guess.

Yeah. And having some idea of what enough is the problem is that you always move that number. Of course. Yeah.

I'm not getting an offer for my enough, like getting like, here's an offer. We were in our old house. Our house was like 17, I'm square feet. Now I'm not just, I'm saying how big it was.

It wasn't a huge house for two kids, me and my wife. And that was after a renovation. And by the way, we thought it was the fucking best house world. Right.

Still is. I still have that house. And I remember getting my enough offer and I put it on the table for the girls. We're good.

Yeah. And then I blew through that money. I blew through that money and I was like, it's not enough. And then you're like, okay, it's on.

You're it's only half from it. You don't see that it's half and then you don't see that you'll see that you're a lot of that. You're already in debt and then you're like, oh shit. So yeah, it's it's tough.

You always move that goal post. Yeah. And walking away from money is scary. And then also walking away from attention is scary and being wanted is scary.

It's all keeps you especially for me. Like I'm a FOMO. Yeah. I was the kid that if a slumber party, if I woke up last at a slumber party, I would be angry.

It would be hurt. I would be hurt that didn't wake me up. Like the old Adam's sleep. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.

Wake me up when you start cooking. Like, I want to be there for all of it. I want to see that's my fear of death is just FOMO. What's going to happen after?

No, no, that I'm not going to be there. But that's what I mean. Well, that's what I mean. Well, that's what I mean.

Well, I said to Tom, when I was a little drunk, it was early in the morning. And we were doing a signing and neither was one to be there. It was like a big porosive signing. It was we were been traveling like crazy and they made us a cocktail.

And I'm talking loosely and he was talking about Kim Jong Un and Famiort-Booten. And he's like, these are the type of lunatic still just end the world. And I was like, I do that. Like, if I could, if I could just be like, I have cancer, I'm dying.

But I can end the world. I didn't know the world. And I said, no, that's it. He was one of your kids.

I go, yeah, I want them to go with me. Don't win that love. And he was like, by the way, the look on Tom says, he's like, hey, you sound like a lunatic. Yeah, of course.

But I think I have a little bit of a lunatic. Sure. I think you got a little bit of a lunatic as an artist. Yeah.

Well, that goes to the point. Like, if you weren't a lunatic and you were easily satisfied, you've been satisfied and stopped. So there's kind of this like, like, like a normal person wins a Super Bowl. And then it's like, fuck, I'm gonna go out on top.

But like, you can't stop. Do you sit? Because I think you're like, I was driving out here. I go, this makes sense.

Like, everything starts tracking. Yeah. Like, I had a hard time understanding who you were because I couldn't, couldn't wrap my head around all of it, right? So like, I was like, Marcus, really, it's like, wait, why are we still talking about him, right?

I was like, I think it's a bookstore in Austin. It's not in Austin. No, no, we're outside of town. Okay, this makes so much more sense.

I was driving here. I went, okay, this is right now. I'm starting to get this person. The guy with the books are in Austin is very different.

There's a pretentiousness to that. There was like, I'm the Austin guy. I'm the Austin smart guy. Because Austin, Austin right now is this weird eclectic place where all the gurus are headed to time to get your chakra.

And you know, it's like the best drum circle guy lives here now. You know, and he's like, what? Well, you know, that's what I mean. That's a constant.

Do you know the best drum circle guy? Is that a real thing or no? No, I didn't mean a wild drum circle guy in New York the other day. Okay.

Yeah. That's why I said that. Okay. Okay.

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That's pipe drive.com slash stoic to be up and running in minutes. So, but like, and then when I drove out here, I went, this is different. This is the thing I used to fantasize about when I was on travel channel and my life was a little out of control and my dreams were attached to my future. Yeah.

I would fantasize about like, what if I just had like a, what if I lived in a regular town with regular people and I had a regular job where my dreams weren't technically attached to it. It was just what I love to do. Like, what if I love building houses or building cabinets and I loved the satisfaction of getting done and like, that looks great. And I didn't go to bed going like thinking about my cabinets.

Yeah. I actually understand you a little better and I bet you actually sit in your book store at night sometimes and look around and go, I think I'm living the dream. Like this is everything I like. Yeah.

Totally. I think it's really good not to be around people who do what you do because then you can't compare yourself to them. Like there's no jealousy because I'm not seeing anybody else's house or anybody else's car. I'm not like, I'm not bumping into like my quote unquote peers going like, how do they get that?

Yeah. You know, I'm just kind of doing my own thing. That's the death of when that's the crazy thing in comedy is that I think people do compare themselves to the other people and, you know, everyone's your friend until you get successful. Yeah.

And then the second you get successful. It's like you lose, you lose like I'm going to be aggressive on this, but I say you lose in genuineness, probably 60% of your friends are just like, especially like some successful ones are like, do fuck that guy. Because you made it or whatever. Well, they didn't expect you to make.

They were cool with you being a loser. Right. They're good giving you a lot of people are good at giving advice, but the second you no longer need their advice. It was really that the American thing.

I mean, that was like why I was like, oh, he liked me when I was a loser. And the second I started doing arena is like, he didn't like me. Yeah. And obviously Mary never said that's what he said.

But it's easy for you to assume that because that's actually happened. Yeah. Oh, it's happened so many people. There are very few people that are happy for your success.

Right. It's like, because people think it's zero sound that your success comes at the expense of their success that you took their toy and started playing with their toy. Right. And then, you know, especially like I was at the, I was at the very beginning, I think of the comedy boom, you know, and the comedy boom is still happening.

It's just not at the pace where it happened when I started it with it was like, Tom is like the forefront of it. Joe's at the forefront, Bill Burr's at the forefront. There's like, Chappelle, there's forefront. I was on a second tier where I was just like, I was like riding their wake.

Yeah. And you go in and you're breaking ticket sales in like every venue. But it wasn't necessarily your, I mean, I'm saying I'm talented, but it wasn't that. It was so much that people were hot for comedy.

Yeah. The pandemic had just ended and ticket sales were wild and they were like, I only get out of the house and I'd been on tour all through the pandemic. Like doing my outdoor open air driving movie theater tour and people like, oh, his materials, he's been working through the pandemic. It's going to be good.

Right. And then you, you're wrecking and then your earnings come out and all of a sudden, dude, like the next day, fuck that guy. And you're like, whoa, you know, and then you got like, I got, I remember I had like, you know, very like, like Rogan was on my team. Like Rogan was excited for me.

Anyone below me. I said, well, I mean, it just wasn't making that was all exciting for me. Sebastian was always been cool. Tommy, obviously, you know, but then the list goes pretty, pretty celebratory quick.

I just found that like that's not good for you either. Like the person who's being jealous or going like, why do they get that? And that's not good for you. And I found like the more I'm like out of the scene, like a friend of mine gave me really good advice.

He said, work, family scene, pick two. Oh, it was work family. Yeah, of course. You don't know what's happening in the scene.

And then actually you do better work and you're not like, you're not like, well, why am I not getting invited to this? They seem like they're, I'm just disconnected from the scene. And I think I found that's a healthier for me, not like because I'd be out partying, but I'm just not like, I don't know what other people are making or driving. I don't know what deals other people are getting or sales.

Like it's just, it's just better to just be doing your own thing and running your own race. A hundred percent. I always have weird analogies. I always look for like of the two you're talking about, I call people channel markers.