Hey everyone, come see me out on the road. I'm in Los Angeles, California, Boston, and Springfield, Massachusetts, Colchester, Connecticut, New York City for Stand Up On The Spot, Columbus, Ohio, Houston, Texas, St. Petersburg, Florida, Batavia, Illinois, and more. Get tickets to NewMerch at jeremywalkins.com.
And also make sure you're subscribed to youtube.com slash at Stand Up OTS. New episodes of Stand Up On The Spot drop there every other Monday. Thanks so much. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Jeremiah Wonders.
I'm joined by a very special guest today, my pal Joel Richardson. What's up, my friend? How are you, man? I'm good.
I'm good. You're one of the few comics that has been in every location. You came to the pandemic for outside venue in between Christmas and New Year's. You were holding the microphone, freezing to death, coming from California.
Yeah, that was quite the experience of that show. Temporary location when you came with Stevie. Yeah, we did. Scissor Bros.
Lost His Tooth. Oh dude. You're covering so much. Let me get into this.
So Joel is the Joel behind Soul Joel's. You have over the years cemented yourself as a fixture in the comedy scene. And you're known by everybody who talks about you or mentions you, doesn't have a bad thing today. So that's something to your credit that you should be proud of, that you should wear, that is a badge because in the comedy scene, it takes a minute to get known as somebody that people are like, can I trust this guy?
Yeah. There's so many bad people out there. It's nice that I'm one of the good ones. Yes.
Yeah. It's always a relief when I know that I'm going to be coming out this way to Soul Joel's. I'm always excited to do shows out here. Thanks.
We're doing this right now. We're set up basically during the day before we do our Friday night show. So I was like, let's do it on stage. We'll grab some lunch afterwards and then we'll have a freaking awesome show.
But that pandemic show, I do, let's talk about that first. That was the first time where I came out. We had met very loosely maybe through some messages and stuff like that. But we hadn't, I didn't know you.
No you. Yeah. So it was like, my agent hit me up with this gig. He's like, hey, I told him I was like, I'm down to do gigs during the pandemic.
Like I'm down to travel. I'm down to get out there. And I came out here. And that's actually one of the first times Jordan Jensen and I couldn't figure out how we originally met each other.
And it was through. Oh, really? So Joel's. Oh, so Brendan, I hit him up and he's like, I can bring a friend with me that she's very funny and she can do time.
And they ended up being crazy late to the point where I was like, they missed their turn. They missed their turn. Like on the turnpike or whatever. And it caused like one turn was like an extra 40 minutes added.
So they could like circumvent like to get around it. And Jordan and I kept being like, where did I, where did we feel like, they're seeing familiar. Like we were doing some festival and then like we finally put together and like, you were the comic that was crazy late on my show. That's so cool.
Yeah, that's cool. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Yeah.
So, and then from there, yeah, I've done a bunch of the Beanie ins that she's done stand up on the spot. And yeah, she's one of my favorite comics and people just in general in the game. But yeah, we met through Soul Joel's through Brendan being like, I have a friend that like has a car that we can do time. Like we can all like go out there.
I was like, great. Yeah. It's so funny to watch like the journey of that. Like how it evolves and she's blown up.
You obviously keep blowing up in different directions. It's cool. It's cool that, you know, we, the goal is for all of us to grow together. So it's awesome to see dude.
You started your club like literally like an outside tent. Yeah. So to paint the picture, it's freezing cold out. Like we're talking like legit cold.
Yeah. You can see your breath. See the breath. I was wearing gloves on stage.
Yeah. That's never happened. No, it's a little distracting. I'm wearing my bright red like chief's gloves.
Yeah. Let them know where you're from. Yeah. Let them know.
Yeah. Let them know. I'm not from there. Yeah.
Yeah. By the way, yeah, they love it. They love my chief jacket. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I'm going to sit down on stage, start telling jokes, and I put my foot up next to the heater, and I was doing crowd work and dumb riffing or whatever, while my foot is up next to the heater to the point where my shoe started to smoke and catch on fire. Never more relieved to see the light.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, okay, we did this.
That's like, that was an experience. We did it. Yeah. Yeah.
No hang afterwards. You're like, let's just get out of here. Go with it warm. It was one of the few times where like Brendan and Jordan were like, yeah, I think we're just going to drive back.
It's pretty cold. Like, that's the one thing where the pandemic I miss was the comic hang because that's sometimes just fun. And then we're like, dude, I just want to hang out in a green room and it's like, that was like the opposite of what was going on. You're like, no, everybody needs to, you know, the six feet apart thing and all that.
And James Maddern, he hosted that night. Yep. Yep. And Killer.
I mean, he's always, he's like literally, if you don't know who that guy is, he's like a hosting legend in New York that he did the show for us and got him in a great place. And he kept like, I think we'd drop a guest spot before they came to stall for Brendan and Jordan County. He's like, we want to do a baby, we cut him a shot. That's exactly how he nailed his cat.
That's exactly how he talks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So he did like three out of four weeks during the month and then go back to New York. But because he was living down here, he made anybody, whether they're from LA or from New York, feel comfortable because I knew like the host is underrated a lot of spots. Like you don't realize that's so important to the show. I'm sure you know, just by doing stand up on the spot.
My job for me, for stand up on the spot, what's hard is the audience isn't the people at home who watch the show, like, because I get a lot of comments and you can have like, like it's stuff like, can't help it. But I will say that my job, like sometimes we were like, how come Jeremiah sets aren't that good sometimes? I'm like, dude, it's improv. It's so dependent on the crowd where like, by the end of my set sometimes, I'm just trying to get them to agree and be into the concept and them to be a good audience for the rest of the comics.
Like dog training. So sometimes my set's not workout. Yeah. They're like, they're setting the plate for the rest of the show and it's like a way for them to, oh, I get this.
Like, I don't leave the stage until I'm like, okay, this audience is ready for the rest of the show. Yeah. And James is so good at making audiences feel comfortable and ready for comedy. And that's why he's like such a good host.
And that's what you try to do as a host is make people ready for the show. They feel comfortable and they feel like they're in good hands because the last thing you want is going to a show and somebody comes out on stage and the audience is nervous for this person. Right. Right.
The amount of shows that you do, I can't even believe that you remember all those details. But I always say, you never remember the shows that go perfectly. Like the chaos is what you remember. For the most part.
Yeah. It's usually, yeah. And there was a, yeah, there was a lot of memorable moments in that show. And that, how did that come about when you first started doing this venue because you did it as an alternative basically to get people out of the house during the quarantine, like with Soul Joel's.
So I opened up four months before the shutdown. And we went from one day a week to be open five days a week and it was a small 140 seat venue. And it was great. But then the pandemic happened.
You're like, really now? Yeah, you're starting to get a little bit of momentum. And so we went outside right next to the building where we started. And that's where we, and everything just evolved doing outside shows.
And then we built a dome where like, oh, the COVID numbers are spiking and everything just kind of evolved from there. But then they started developing townhouses there. So we had to move. And that's why I went temporarily to the place that I had scissor bros.
And we were there for seven months. And then we ended up here one year later, just wild man. It just always feels like the comedy business, you're fighting something. Yeah.
And I was like, this is, I'm very excited actually to perform here. Like I got, like when I walked in the room, I was like, okay, this is going to be great. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. The acoustic. So it was built in 1931. So the ceilings and floors were all built because you can, in the ballroom, it's the largest ballroom east of the Mississippi.
And the floors and ceilings were all built because you had a cool thing to be able to say, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't realize that after I took over, man, it was awesome.
It was kind of a big dick move to be like, it's a big as ballroom. And this is a big as ballroom. And this is a big as a Mississippi. I was like, all right.
Yeah. I came in hot. Yeah. I like it.
I like it. Like I felt like we were in a different time period. Right. Right.
Right. Because the ballroom is not a little missable. You're stomping around. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So, but then 10 years ago, the former owner sectioned off the ballroom and was like, they wanted to start doing like conferences and stuff. But I took over.
I'm like, it has those acoustics, but low ceilings. I mean, this is perfect for comedy. Yeah. And it cooks, man.
It really like audiences, the energy, everything. It's great. Yeah. We did like another reason why the Soul Jules episode of Scissor Bros that we did, dude.
Oh, it was. I mean, it came back on. I don't know if you knew that. Well, I know.
I know why. So, let's get into that. So, another memorable show. Another memorable show.
So many things were memorable about that show because it was at a time where, so Scissor Bros was starting to get some momentum on it. And I had convinced Steve to start taking the show on the road. Okay. You've not done many road shows.
So, any time we were doing a show on the road, it was a big ordeal to plan it, to prep it, and just to get Steve out of the house to do it. So I'm like, hey, I worked with this guy before. He's a good guy. He's like, wow, I've never been to Pennsylvania before.
Yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. So, we come out here and it was, Stevie had a lot of firsts on that trip.
I think he saw Snow for the first time. Confirmed. Confirmed. Joel got to witness that with his own eyes.
And also on the ride to the venue, if you watch that episode, Steve lost a tooth on the way to the show. And I cannot tell you how happy, confused, bewildered, I was dying laughing. I was like, shut out the Tony Luke's. Who loses a tooth?
Who loses a tooth? Like an adult. Oh, dude, I love it. Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, he lost a tooth on the way to the show. And we have footage in the car on the way to the venue of him losing the tooth. The reason why the episode got taken down, it was demonetized, I think it might even be 18 plus to watch now. hilarious.
So the reason being is we did this challenge where the loser, it was a Pepsi Mentos thing where the loser had to take a shot of Pepsi Mentos straight to the face. And we ended up doing it and we made it the thumbnail. So the thumbnail could be totally. The thumbnail is I have my two-liter in between my crotch and Steve is his mouth over it with it like going all over naturally.
Yeah, the face. And YouTube was like, yeah, this looks like porn. So this is 18 plus. It's not, but we get it.
Yeah, I contested it. I was like, guys, they're like, no. So that all the things on there though, it's crazy. I mean, I get it.
Dude, the stuff over the years that I've had to re-upload or re-sensor because of weird YouTube laws, it's becoming the next TV network where you have to censor stuff or it gets taken down. Like ABC, NBC. Yeah, it really is turning into that because they want to sell ads. They want to, they want target to advertise on super-os.
Right. Yeah. And people like that. Family friendly.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that was the crazy thing when, when you guys came out to see people doing the scissor, like that was such a cool moment for me to see that like people came from hours each direction and did that.
I'm like, this is, you, you cultivated something really cool. It was cool, man. And dude, Steve even met his girlfriend that night that he's still with. What?
Yes. I remember a girlfriend. Yes. He met her.
That scissor. And she ended up moving. No, she still lives out here in PA and Steve will fly out to LA. Yeah, they're still together.
So like, our connection keeps going in weird ways through Soul Joel's ladies and gentlemen. That's the gift that keeps you living. I know. Yeah.
They get the keeps on giving. Oh, that's wild. So I'll have to tell Steve that I was here and he's, you know, he has nothing but great things to say about Pennsylvania. He met his girlfriend here.
You could have been to the gig. The scissor bros out here. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That is crazy.
It's pretty crazy. Yeah. But he's like, they're still together and they're still things are good. It's like, like, like all from like, like, scissor bros.
Yeah. And that's like coming up on, two years ago. Yeah. Yeah.
That would have been awesome if he was able to come out and visit her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Maybe again in the future when we can do some more shows with him. Down the road. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's cool what you've cultivated and like just as the scene out here. Because how long like you've been doing comedy yourself like over the years? Like when did you start doing that?
So I started doing 18 years ago up in New York. I was going to school to get my MBA and I just tried staying for the first time. But it was actually in the back of a Savo piano's place in PrEPTLE Jokers. But before they got that show on TV and he was bartending.
Right. Trying to pitch that show. Yeah. And then I put Pete Davidson on stage.
He was like super young. Three weeks before his 16th birthday. Yeah. And then I would like take him on the road with me.
And I was like quasi managing him. But you know he was a teenage kid. You know, but I had a permission slip in my car because I was transporting a minor across the lines. You got pulled over and I'd be like it's not my nephew.
That's so yeah. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. That's why a lot of I heard a lot of pop stars and up turning over like whatever it is the you know the like it's almost like a conservatorship almost where for their managers like Justin and the other different like 18 idols like it's easier than to like it's literally just to have the legal document of like hey I'm their caregiver at the moment like right.
It was just so bizarre like they're like a third parent to these crazy but I get it. Yeah. Yeah. So I started that and I started just to create stage time.
Instead of doing like the bringer shows I would start producing my own shows just for stage time and that's how I started. So I started. I sold your productions and after like 15 years is when I was like oh I'm going to start you know doing like a venue. Yeah.
So I'm so tired of I'm sure you know that's just producing your own shows. Don't go venue and then having to wait for their permission. I just want to make the deal and then put tickets on sale. Yeah it's it's hard to wait for things when you don't know if it's going to come.
Yeah. And so when I was starting out doing stand up I would host open mics and run my own rooms for stage time to do the exact same things like I have to create things for myself because there's not this magic mayor of comedy was walking around being like you get a spot and like right here. You know your own opportunities. Yeah.
Yeah. So I think we're very like minded in that way where you just like it's not happening like like in some ways like let's create. Yeah. Let's figure this out.
Yeah. It is doing the pandemic. You said you were trying to travel and do as many shows as you can. So many haters and people sending me messages like about how we're not opening the six feet and but we were like inside the venue like just don't come to shows if it's not your thing.
Yeah. Just don't come out. There's a lot of during that time it was weird of people trying to police other people because they were not feeling good. Like they were not feeling comfortable about a situation and it was almost like the fun police.
Yeah. Where they're like dude you can we can still have a good time and do both but like people would freak out about that stuff. Yeah. And it's even more so now.
I don't know if it's because of an election year or because I'm doing more. People are coming at me the radical left the radical right both bad but they come at me if I'm doing a drag show or if I have like a conservative comedian and I'm like but you don't come to those shows for the other. Why does it affect you at all? Exactly.
I don't get it man. I don't get it at all and it's because I consider myself a free speech venue so I don't care left right. I want to bring people together through entertainment through laughter. Yeah.
And but all I get is you know you said try to say out of the comments but it's hard man because they're given one star reviews and thankfully my fans came out but they said the one star review was this venue hosts sinful drag shows and I just talked to the cops. The cops said that when I first started doing them two years ago here the locals would say that they saw a suspicious person in the parking lot. It's a man dressed as a woman. I actually I haven't said that on any podcast so you're welcome but like it's what even outside they would just say like it's got to be around time and he's going to do the drag show so let me just call the cops right now.
That was that was the 911 call. That's so funny the 911 calls. There's a man in a dress outside and I don't know what they're up to and they look kind of good actually. Yeah.
Because their makeup is actually on point and there's. That's why I'm mad. Yeah. They look better than me.
But just as a venue my owner like do I get why some people fold it's like I'll never fold but just pressures. Yeah. Yeah it's a lot of ignoring you know just keeping your head down and just focusing on the people who are wanting to support you and like minded people that have your back and have your best interest. Right.
99% of the time the person who made that call. Yeah. They're not even going to any comedy shows. Right.
They're not even ever planning on setting foot in this venue even for if it was like their favorite comic. They're just not going to come out to the show. Not a restaurant we have they're not going to come get a meal or a drink. It's just to stay to hate.
Yeah. And then I'm like I'm like I'm not going to come out with you too. It's like we've known each other years now. We have a once-taught politics and like all your stand up on the spot shows you just have talented people you're surround yourself with good creative people and I prefer that.
I get people sometimes actually that I've had some people be like I'm surprised your friends with XYZ comics. Really? Okay. Everyone's a while and I'm like or I'm surprised you put that person on your show.
I'm like they're funny. If they're funny I don't care what their politics are. Right. It doesn't affect me at all or your show or the show.
It's like there's going to be different flavors. Sit out this episode if you don't like it. Right. Right.
Right. Right. So comedy is the most subjective thing ever. So it's like okay it's not just sit up for a second.
Or even on that episode I guarantee you the comic after that person that you may not like you're going to like the next comic. Right. Because you post such a wide range of comics and even on one show. Yeah.
It's a great lineup. That's the goal. That's the goal with all the shows is it to be like super eclectic where my favorite episodes are the ones where it's somebody who I know that's been killing it for a long time. They're very funny but the audience who was watching this show on YouTube are not aware of them for whatever reason.
Right. And they say that they got introduced to them through that. Yeah. Like dude I love that.
That's a perfect example. He was killing it for years and he started like from he did some of the early stand up on the spots and people be like dude I found out about Ian through your show and like to me like I love Ian so much. So that is super high praise. Yeah.
He was going to get found for those people through something eventually but like it's cool to be like oh cool. Well the show is doing its purpose. Like it's serving. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So for example of like you know when the show like the process is working like cause the whole goal of the show which I've told you before is to get stand-up on the spot to a level where it can tour on just the name and people are coming out just for stand-up on spot and then they're discovering some of their new favorite comedians through different scenes like and not have to be like on the coast or whatever like it could be Chicago Denver Portland pots on Pennsylvania literally like like having people come in from different areas. They trust the brand.
Yeah. They trust the brand. Okay I know there's gonna be quality comedy and content like there. That's where I want to get the show eventually.
I'm hoping that we can do, hopefully we can do a stand up on the spot in here, like in this next year. So that'd be awesome. I would love it. Yeah.
Yeah. How do you deal with, I know you say you try to say out of the comments, but like when I get hate, like, how do you, because I didn't realize how strong it was that that first time under the dome, you did a Q&A. And someone goes, how are you not moving to Austin? Like people in their small vision, like Brian, I figure out you're not going to twist.
So we don't move. Yeah, what I would do during the pandemic and some colleagues still do it, but I don't typically do Q&As like during the show, because like a lot of the questions to me are things that I can talk to people about in line after the show. Okay. But I would do Q&As during the pandemic because because of the six feet thing and I was trying, like my wife was pregnant at the time, I was like, I'm just not going to risk a Q&A, but I don't want the audience to think that I think I'm too good to talk to them after the show.
So I was like, Hey, I'm going to do a Q&A now. I won't be talking to you guys after the show. I try to tell and merge or anything like that. But I don't want you guys to think like, you know, I'm off, you know, like I don't want to talk to you.
Like I love you and appreciate you guys for coming out. So I would do that and do these Q&As. And that was, yeah, that was one of the questions, you know, of getting in people still ask me all the time. Or even awesome.
And it's like, I enjoy my life and I like, I like setting up there. But to go off of your question, how do you deal with that kind of stuff? Yeah, I, you know, you just try to look at, you try to that stuff be white noise and just focus on the positive people that are supporting you that want to come out and focus on them having a good time, even though the comedians and all of us, when they see the one person in the room who's not having a good time, we tend to pull focus and be like, Hey, what's going on? Like in try a language, try to convert them over.
Yeah. But with comments and stuff, I try not to engage with that kind of stuff. Right. At all.
But, you know, every once in a while, I will respond very kind of stuff. That's really what my go to is like, thanks for the comment. Like, like, thanks so much for watching. Like, even if like Jeremiah is horrible at his own show, you know, like that kind of stuff.
Like, thanks so much for the feedback. Dumps up like that. Right. It's like you're meeting a troll in real life though.
It's like arms folded, asking a question like that. Yeah, it's different at a stand up show. I, it's hard for me not to try to convert them in real time because it's, it's such a good feeling. Like, if you get somebody who's like frumpy and frowning at the top of showing by the end, they're smiling and clapping.
To win them over. The win them over is big. I love winning people over. Yeah.
We have that, you have that infectious energy though, you know, but it's not easy. No, so yeah, it's sometimes like, you have to psych yourself. I think that's where the performance comes in. Yeah.
You sometimes have to psych yourself up. I think it's good to be obviously you want to be real and have people see both sides of you. But sometimes it's like, dude, you got to like, our job is to make other people happy and forget their problems. Right.
Sometimes it's not about them. You got to keep your heart down. Yeah. Oh, my wife's pregnant.
You're like, not now. Like, I can't worry about that. Right. Exactly.
Trying to keep food on the table. Sure. Your future family. My family pandemic is like, I was so, I was so afraid that I was going to get my wife sick from me traveling.
That would be on your mind mentally. It's so bad. So like, that's why I was like, took the precautions and then, you know, do it this way. But you had a second kid now in the new photo shoot.
Talk about weird. Oh, that was, I mean, I'm happy for you, buddy. No, he's referring, you would close on. I barely.
And it's funny the reaction. So that's a repost from, we did that photo shoot with my first born is that it's that photo. And I repost it because, you know, it's the way the internet works. Sometimes people don't see it.
But it's me crouched over in a turtle costume with my newborn baby. We're both naked and we just have turtle shells on our backs and little, little beanie hats. And people, it's so funny. Like, even though they follow me and they know, I'm like, I mean, people are like, this is like too much.
Like you should take this down. Or it's like, I said that because that was, I thought it was cute. But it's like, yeah, but people are, I'm like losing their mind. They're like, they're like, this is going to embarrass your child.
I'm like, don't you think I'm doing it for that reason? It's a joke. Like, people lose it. Like one of those like Gerber baby photo shoots that I was trying to be like, this is my special moment with my special boy.
I'm like, I'm parroting all of that. Just because you're a comic doesn't mean you like, it's your words, but you're doing that. A picture is worth a thousand words. Like, that's why you're doing this.
Here you go. Here you go. Take it. Take it.
Or leave it. Yeah, a lot of people want to leave it. A lot of people want to leave it. That's what happened with that piece of art.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
My buddy who shot that van corona, it was such a weird funny shoe. One of the best photographers in LA. Yeah, there's a handful of guys in LA that over time that worked with it. Matt, Francisco, another one, Troy Conrad.
My man, I didn't mean to start a photography war. No, he's one of the, yeah, no, but there's a handful of people that I worked with over time where I'm like, there's a class of people that want to be like, these guys, Liz Vig, another, there's a bunch of great ones. But van we had over and I was like, dude, I got to talk with you to see how comfortable you are before we start shooting because there's a really good chance you're going to see my penis and balls before we start shooting this because I was completely naked. That's the only way to do that photo.
You can't. There's going to be some moments. Yeah, I'm like, because I was crouched with my knees tucked under myself. Dude, you can only be in that pose for so long before you're like, I've got to stretch it out.
But yeah, yeah, yeah, but it was a very silly fun shoot. How's being a dad changed your stand up or podcasting? I think for sure has. I mean, you'll see you'll definitely see with my comedy for sure.
I've got a bunch of material about being a dad now that is really cool that I think in my opinion is some of my strongest stuff as far as the stuff that people want to talk to me after the show about that they're like, dude, that one bit like hit hard with me because I'm in it right now with my toddlers and whatever. But yeah, because I think I might, I just turned 44 and I just started dating girl, she was divorced before, but no kids. Dude, I could see myself being an old dad. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, not to take a line from Burr's movie, but like, you know, a lot of comics, there's a handful of our friends that have all become dads like later in life. And of course, yeah, I mean, well, there's there's with everything. There's pros and cons of like, if you do it really young or you do it really old, but like there's a lot of pros too about like, honestly, I would have been an old dad, had my wife been not the same age as me. I mean, I just as a stand up comic, I absolutely would have.
Yeah. But like for age purposes and health and physical well, let's not like we wanted to do it while we were both healthy and had a decent age. Yeah. But I would totally go that route if that's your thing.
Let's put thing on hold for a year or two, right? Well, that's the thing. It's comics like we're like, we don't need a rush in this, you know? You know, I might open another venue.
You know, I love you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You hear I'm here every night. You know, I come home to you. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's a different mentality. Oh man, it's brutal. I mean, but this for you, Soul Joel's has had to feel like you've raised a kid over the years.
And that's all I always said. And that's why I was content being an uncle. I'm like, this is been my baby and it's been cultivating. You just can't ever put your foot on the gas because I'm like responsible for all the employees and everything else.
And that's a lot of pressure when you have people actually depending on you. I have a wife and two boys now who like we're depending on each other. We're a unit when you have a staff. Same as a lot.
Yeah. That's a lot of families and every family. Yeah. Yeah.
Trying to bring in people to then fill the restaurant and every. Yeah, it's everything, man. So yeah, trying to promote the current shows, book the future shows. It's just like trying to fill a calendar and how did you ever come close to a breaking point with any of the venues where you're like, oh man, like this might have to like I might have to put a hold on this for a little bit or something.
So it was probably just after you were with Cesar Rose where I couldn't figure, I was getting so anxious of where our permanent home was going to be, which ended up being here. It was like, I went to like 30 different venues and trying to figure it out. And for whatever reason, it just didn't work out. And I'm like trying to fit around, peg in a square hole.
Even though I didn't want that to do it. But then this place finally checked all the boxes. Yeah. That was probably my breaking point.
I'm like so depressing. The last three deals fell apart, but it was for a reason. It was because I was supposed to meant to be here, but it was rough. It's hard while you're in it though to know why things aren't falling in the line.
Right. It's really hard to have perspective when you're in the thick of it. And until you realize once you're out of it, you're like that just was not meant to happen. Would have been a money pit or just want it like this acoustically and like energy.
Well, this venue is perfect for comedy. And I was going to try to have to force it or make it happen with a couple other places. And like you said, I'm just glad it didn't work out. Yeah.
It's cool that you were able to keep a temporary venue going while searching for where we're at with the home club. Because you were talking about off camera. It's like, you know, trying to post content and stuff like that. If you're not doing shows, you don't have anything to post.
Like you don't do somebody throw back Thursdays. You're like, you're doing shows now? Yeah. This is the new quid.
Right. What's happening? Oh, well, that's always like a weird thing with anything with podcasts and with stand up with anything. If you're not constantly in it, then it fades away where people are like, oh, they're just they're not serious about it.
That's the last for me. That was always like a fear of mine, like within comedy is like, I never want people to think that I'm not serious about this, that I'm not giving my all that I'm not putting my heart into whatever I'm doing. And that hasn't been a problem for me. We're like, OK, do you mind?
We get your. Well, I've anybody sees you behind the scenes, man. That's you're very serious. I mean, you're you're wearing so many different hats.
Yeah. I chime my goal in the next and the next few years is to kind of bring light to that where I'm directing more of friends, specials and stuff like that. Like, I want to. Yeah, it'd be like a fun thing for me, like on the side that I want to because I already do it so much for all the stand up on the spots and the different shoots that I do that there's some really funny friends that I really believe in that I'm like, I want their content to look a certain way because their talent is up here.
You're going to stop wandering. You're so presenting. Yeah. I like this guy, man.
It's a good guy right here. Yeah. I see it though. It only makes sense, especially with all those relationships and you start growing.
Yeah. You're just an eye for talent and also what it takes to do all this part. Yeah. If we can, I want to, I want to definitely, I'm working on like some production company stuff with me and somebody's that we're hopefully going to launch in this next little bit where we're going to start shooting some stuff for some people.
So that's something that's in the works outside of the stand up journey and all the other stuff that we're doing, you know, in the meantime, you got to put food on table. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But I enjoy like, honestly, like a big part of being a stand up year alone on the road, but it is always a relief when you have venues that you get to come back and do with people that you enjoy because it's familiar and it's almost like letting air out of this balloon that you feel like is about to pop sometimes because you're like, I got to go here and like, I don't know, like, like, if the staff is going to be chill or cool or nice, like, little things that you don't really want to think about as a comic. But like doing shows here, like I always like, I'm like, relax.
I'm like, it's going to be a good, a good night. Oh, cool. That means a lot. Yeah.
Yeah. It's, yeah. It's something that you've cultivated and created here over time with not just me, tons of comics. Yeah.
Exactly. Yeah. Well, I always, so I don't let the comics through a God, Mike or anything go up cold. I'm the one that goes up and introduces and I always say, I'm like, you know, we get the best comics come from New York to LA because we get the best audiences.
So you give us energy. We give you energy right back. And that's actually learning from James Madden. And like, you know, that's important.
It's huge. Yeah. It helps a lot. Yeah.
It helps a lot. Yeah. There's sure. And people realize that and we always have security and stuff like that going around, you know, making sure people aren't videotaping, but also like the minute we see a heckler unless, like, obviously you're doing some sort of crowd interaction, but if it's not like unprovoked and we settle it down and that's the audiences we get and they realize like it's a treat to have someone like you here.
So, and if you guys don't act right, it's not going to stop happening. Right. Right. Right.
Dude, tell me about your book. We haven't even thought yet. Yeah. Yeah.
So a lot of people don't even know that I started as a comic and my whole journey and how it all evolved. So because we, I launched it, published it the four weeks on the day of when the shutdown happened. And so I was like, if I don't do it now, I'm not going to do it. So I'll probably write another one or do something else, but it just needed to be said almost like putting on a special.
You're like, done telling these jokes. Right. I just want to put this out here now. I want to put my story out there.
Yeah. And I called it not funny because if I was funny like you, I would have not started all this. You know what I mean? I don't know about that.
You're being too hard when you're something like that. Yeah. But I just, I needed to, in order to create my own opportunities, I started out like promoting and stuff like that. And I wasn't like a natural headliner.
Like I still enjoy going up and sometimes hosting shows and stuff like that. But a lot of my energy went into and I realized it's what I enjoy doing most is putting the show all together. Yeah. You know, and the puppet master man, make everything.
Yeah. Exactly. And then people coming out like, whether it's like a widow or widower, and this is in the book too, like people come up to my mom and my dad, if they're in my stepdad, they're in the audience afterwards and like, you have no idea what comedy is done. And I love getting people out of the house and whatever troubles are going through through that 90 minutes, the two hours, you know, they're having fun and they're forgetting their troubles and it's cool.
It's rewarding. Yeah. My, my, one of my favorite things that I like to say is, is I try to give people a mental vacation for one hour. Yeah.
That's, that's my goal with the show is like no matter like, like, like so when, when people are on their phones or whatever it shows, I always call it on like, stick with me. Yeah. Stick with me. Be present.
Be present and I guarantee you you're going to have so much fun. If you give yourself over to the idea of not worrying about your problems, just for a little bit. Right. I'm not telling you to, you know, like if it's an emergency, go take the call out there.
But like, I'll see people, you know, at clubs or whatever, like they're like on Tinder or something like really swipe and go do that when you're taking a dump. Yeah. Go do that like at home. Like you're out, like you're already out, like a mitt to my favorite thing to do is sometimes like, I'll have to still go to stuff that I don't want to go to like public outings or like a friend's thing that's not really my scene.
But like I went to my friend at a birthday thing at like an EDM concert and I really, that's not my scene at all. Right. But I gave myself over to it and I got shirtless and was dancing with the people that were like going like hard and it was so fun because like if you get outside of your, if you get out of your own way with a lot of stuff, you can open yourself up to having a great time. Yeah.
That's all it takes. Yeah. But no matter what people say like, Oh, I'm a multitasker. If they're at all not 100% focused on what's going on on stage, they're going to miss the subtleties or the callbacks or anything that you don't realize it's a listening party.
Yeah. And if you're not listening to set up, you're not going to enjoy the punchline. Yeah. Some comics are way more nuanced than others.
And now me, I'm not a nuanced. I'm a guy. You'll get a little nuances, but it gets like I try to get it right to the ground. You spell it out.
I try to. I try to. Yeah. At least if my words aren't working physically, they're seeing the picture.
Yeah. Yeah. What's going on? Yeah.
So we're going to be able to find the book and stuff. Right now it's on my website on SoulJoles.com or they can get it right on Amazon. Yeah. Easy.