Speaker 1: Pushkin. This is Doug Easy. I'm Samforgo, so welcome to
Speaker 1: the show today. I am joined by comedian actor artist
Speaker 1: Jeff Garland. Garland first came on the podcast back in
Speaker 1: the summer of twenty nineteen. Obviously a lot has changed
Speaker 1: since then, but in the intervening years, despite a glory pandemic,
Speaker 1: the Chicago born performer has done a whole lot of
Speaker 1: what he likes to do. Tell jokes and comedy clubs,
Speaker 1: take photos of his friends and travels, enjoy long naps
Speaker 1: with his cockapoo companion Sage, and of course, act in
Speaker 1: film and television shows, namely The Goldbergs, which recently premiered
Speaker 1: its ninth season on ABC. He's also just reprised his
Speaker 1: role as Jeff Green in the latest season of Curb
Speaker 1: Your Enthusiasm, created by and starring Larry David. New episodes
Speaker 1: from season eleven air every Sunday night on HBO Max
Speaker 1: for Now. Here's a clip from the trailer, Thank you
Speaker 1: all for I want to make a toast to friendship here, Larry,
Speaker 1: you can't look me at the Iron's house. What is
Speaker 1: it you're saying? Hello? I see hello, I see you,
Speaker 1: I acknowledge you connect with you. I think you've what
Speaker 1: happened to the movie where you were playing me based
Speaker 1: on Mediah it went away. It's interesting because they were
Speaker 1: very specific. They love the performance, they hated the characters.
Speaker 1: The word that kept reappearing was repugnant. As we near
Speaker 1: the end of twenty twenty one, the new season of
Speaker 1: Curb Your Enthusiasm is much needed comedic levity. For his part,
Speaker 1: Garland is of course great on the show as Larry's
Speaker 1: best friend and manager, but as you're about to find out,
Speaker 1: Jeff is a lot more soulful and introspective than you
Speaker 1: may be used to from television. There's a real tenderness
Speaker 1: to him that I've always responded to. Garland is fond
Speaker 1: of saying that he lives the blues through his comedy,
Speaker 1: and I think you'll have a good idea of what
Speaker 1: exactly he means by that. By the end of the episode,
Speaker 1: we talk about love, pain, dreams, his battle with food addiction,
Speaker 1: the day of Chappelle Special, the subsequent Netflix walk out,
Speaker 1: and a whole lot more. Jeff likes to treat these
Speaker 1: talks like a jazz performance, prone the sudden outbursts, changes
Speaker 1: in chords and rhythm, imbued with feeling and humor and spontaneity.
Speaker 1: My role, as always was to simply guide the song
Speaker 1: and play the parts that needed to be played, one
Speaker 1: note at a time. I hope you enjoy it. And
Speaker 1: now here is Jeff Garland. You know it's it's this
Speaker 1: show specifically that has me unless I'm ordered to by
Speaker 1: a studio or a network. It's this show specifically that
Speaker 1: made me say no to talk shows. I don't like
Speaker 1: any of them, and the hosts are varying talents. Some
Speaker 1: are very talented, but no. I do podcasts only or
Speaker 1: interviews that I want to do. So I ruined it
Speaker 1: for them. Yes, you ruined it for them, Sam Well,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry about that, and I thank you for being here. Now.
Speaker 1: When you are about to perform at a comedy club,
Speaker 1: it's my understanding that you'll request a song to be
Speaker 1: played before you go on stage, or as I go up,
Speaker 1: or as you go up. Yeah, And before you got here,
Speaker 1: I texted you and I said, why don't we start
Speaker 1: this podcast where you would start one of your comedy shows?
Speaker 1: And you delivered a song. Yes, And it was just
Speaker 1: the first thing that popped in my head. There was
Speaker 1: no agenda to it, or I'm in the mood to
Speaker 1: hear it. It was just like boom, very tas can
Speaker 1: come true. It can happen to you. If you're a
Speaker 1: young at hart for it's hard, you will find to
Speaker 1: be narrow of mind if you're a young at hot
Speaker 1: I'm enjoying it. This song is It's a Sinatra song
Speaker 1: from the fifties, but it rings to me about a
Speaker 1: movie called The Front with Woody Allen, and the words
Speaker 1: are true. One of the keys to making your dreams
Speaker 1: if they're remotely feasible, staying childlike, staying young, no matter
Speaker 1: how old I am, that spirit it's completely true. I
Speaker 1: love the song. It's a beautiful performance. There's three people
Speaker 1: that relax me in terms of their music. Sinatra, Billy
Speaker 1: Holliday and Bob Marley. All three of them soothed me.
Speaker 1: I can put on any one of their albums and
Speaker 1: I'm being soothed. I didn't know, by the way, I'd
Speaker 1: be stressed when I texted you. When you did text me, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you chose this song, Yes one, I think I
Speaker 1: did discover The song from the Front right is a
Speaker 1: great film made by people who were blacklisted. Yes, and
Speaker 1: a difficult time to praise Woody Allen, So I won't
Speaker 1: say much more. But you should praise Woody Allen as
Speaker 1: a filmmaker and a comedic actor. You don't have to
Speaker 1: praise Woody Allen. The man O. J. Simpson was a
Speaker 1: great football player, great football. I saw him play live
Speaker 1: when I was a kid against the Dolphins. You can't
Speaker 1: tell me he's a good man. You can't put those
Speaker 1: words into my mouth. And so what they accomplished in
Speaker 1: their art is just like what they did or what
Speaker 1: they may have done, is it's unbelievable that you started
Speaker 1: here from such a beautiful song, right that is young
Speaker 1: and hard because and by the way, Sinatra would get
Speaker 1: into fights. He treated people a lot of times poorly.
Speaker 1: He was up all night and that basically the world
Speaker 1: revolved around him. I would guess that he was a narcissist.
Speaker 1: He's a whole bunch of things. And that's a rabbit hole,
Speaker 1: not even no, but it's all a rabbit hole discussing
Speaker 1: any human being who I have on my Instagram. It
Speaker 1: says doing the best I can with the information I've
Speaker 1: been given, which is the truth. We're all doing the
Speaker 1: best we can. And by the way if you haven't
Speaker 1: broken a law, people gotta get over cancel culture like
Speaker 1: there are people who've done things along those lines who
Speaker 1: I feel should be in prison, And then there are
Speaker 1: other people who I thought who made an ill advised
Speaker 1: choice but still learned from it and it wasn't something
Speaker 1: you should go to jail for. So the idea that
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be allowed to what you have as a
Speaker 1: right as a audience member is not to watch their movies,
Speaker 1: not to listen to their music, not to go see
Speaker 1: them do stand up comedy, or watch their specials. But
Speaker 1: the idea that a person should not be allowed to
Speaker 1: work is to me completely wrong. It is a coincidence
Speaker 1: that we happen to be talking during the week of
Speaker 1: this walk out at Netflix over Dave Chappelle's special I'd
Speaker 1: love to talk about that. The special is called The Closer,
Speaker 1: and this past week Netflix employees in support of the
Speaker 1: trans community went out. They protested. They walked out of
Speaker 1: the Netflix facilities. One protester named Matthew Browse said everyone
Speaker 1: should have a voice. I believe in free speech, but
Speaker 1: I also believe that words are harmful, words can lead
Speaker 1: to violence. This is not about people's feelings getting hurt
Speaker 1: or political correctness. This is about the threats of violence
Speaker 1: that people in the trans community face every single day.
Speaker 1: Do you know why they face that? Not because of words,
Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of assholes in the world. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of stupid motherfuckers who are ignorant and not
Speaker 1: kind and not thoughtful. There is no one who listened
Speaker 1: to a Bob Dylan song and didn't commit violence because
Speaker 1: they listen to it. So I don't think words and
Speaker 1: music are harmful. I think laws are harmful one way
Speaker 1: or another. I think ignorance is harmful. And I don't
Speaker 1: think that Dave Chappelle saying that is going to make
Speaker 1: somebody commit some act of violence. I do think that
Speaker 1: there are stupid, ignorant people who would commit acts of
Speaker 1: violence from things they don't understand, whether it being a
Speaker 1: Jew or your sexual identity or anything. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: there's lots of idiots out there. I would love a
Speaker 1: good protest against stupidity and ignorance. I'm a guy who
Speaker 1: believes in just kindness, that's all. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I'm not an idealist with that. I'm just saying that
Speaker 1: Dave Chappelle's special should be chastised for not being funny.
Speaker 1: It should be chastised for not picking noble targets. Why Dave,
Speaker 1: who I admire, who I respect, chose three specials in
Speaker 1: a row to have that topic I don't understand. And
Speaker 1: by the way, it was a very interesting Ted talk.
Speaker 1: If you ask me what I thought of Dave Chappelle's special,
Speaker 1: it's not comedy. It's someone with an opinion, someone who
Speaker 1: I respect their opinion, but I don't agree with their opinion.
Speaker 1: You haven't found his last three special's funny. I laugh
Speaker 1: some in this special. Dave Chappelle, it's almost impossible for
Speaker 1: him not to be funny. I mean, I know he's
Speaker 1: one of the top half dozen comedic talents, but his
Speaker 1: choice of targets I don't agree with. Now this noble target,
Speaker 1: what does that mean? That means if you're gonna go
Speaker 1: after somebody, have them be somebody of power of substance.
Speaker 1: Like I said to you, I came in here and
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'll make this funny because it's
Speaker 1: not a stand up show. But I just came from
Speaker 1: the Apple Store and I drove there and drove away
Speaker 1: in my Tesla. A couple thoughts. Number one, I'm incredibly
Speaker 1: lucky to be able to go buy what I want
Speaker 1: in an Apple store. I'm incredibly lucky to buy a Tesla.
Speaker 1: My idealism was all about electricity in terms of driving
Speaker 1: an electric car. But I'm sorry the company has completely
Speaker 1: lost its way. The owners lost his way. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Tesla, and the same with Apple. You go into
Speaker 1: an Apple store and there used to be a genius bar.
Speaker 1: Most people, for the beginnings of the genius bar knew
Speaker 1: their crap. Now I go in there and I know
Speaker 1: more than the other people, and there are so many
Speaker 1: different calls that you hit when you're in there trying
Speaker 1: to make a purchase. It's not simple, it's abusive. And
Speaker 1: so Amazon, I know, doesn't treat anybody nicely, but I'll
Speaker 1: be damned if they don't make my life easier. And
Speaker 1: so there's that quandary of supporting them the way they
Speaker 1: treat people, which is wrong, and may having my life
Speaker 1: be easier and not having to go here and there.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's all very confusing to me, That's
Speaker 1: what I want to say, and I'm sure confusing to
Speaker 1: your listeners. That's all we're piecing it together, one company
Speaker 1: at a time. But if we're on the subject of
Speaker 1: big corporations, I want to put a button on this talk. Okay,
Speaker 1: you've worked for Netflix, Yep, you may very well work
Speaker 1: with them again. I will the man who runs it.
Speaker 1: I support Ted Serrando's He's one of my best friends,
Speaker 1: and I completely support his approach to this. You have
Speaker 1: to be empathetic. And I also saw what's her name wrote?
Speaker 1: Go Hannah Gassa wrote to Ted Surrandos, and I would
Speaker 1: have appreciated what she wrote if she had already asked
Speaker 1: Netflix to take her special off, if she had already
Speaker 1: expressed her reservations. In general, Surrandas was not dragging her
Speaker 1: into it. He was stating a fact they have aired
Speaker 1: her special. And I won't go further with that because
Speaker 1: I know that a lot of people really dig her
Speaker 1: and I think she's very intelligent. She was the first
Speaker 1: comedian in comedy history to have a special design for
Speaker 1: people without sense as a humor. Like everybody who takes
Speaker 1: themselves too seriously, loved her special and other people were
Speaker 1: resentful of it, which I felt wrong because she has
Speaker 1: her voice, she's funny. But I thought it was interesting,
Speaker 1: well done, well thought. There's nothing I dismissed about it
Speaker 1: in any way except for the fact that a lot
Speaker 1: of people I know who don't have sense as a humor.
Speaker 1: And when I mark a sense of humor, I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you gotta dig me. I'm saying, in general, a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't have sense as a humor, which is
Speaker 1: my number one thing. I can't stand that special was
Speaker 1: a special for people without a sense of humor. Well,
Speaker 1: I disagree, because I have an impeccable sense of humor. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's why you're here twice. Yes. Oh, they're very kind
Speaker 1: to to have me and go. I love that you disagree.
Speaker 1: I liked the special, Okay. I laughed at the special. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was moved by the special. Yes. Did it veer
Speaker 1: into a ted talk at times? Sure? Yes, But I
Speaker 1: did laugh, And I was moved by the way. Dave
Speaker 1: Chappelle and Hannah Gatsby are closer together than they could
Speaker 1: possibly know. At this moment. They both enjoy a good
Speaker 1: ted talk. Not that I would agree with one or another,
Speaker 1: I imagine right now I would agree more with Hannah Gatsby,
Speaker 1: but I didn't like her telling Ted to go fuck
Speaker 1: himself because she had not asked to have her special removed,
Speaker 1: and when she was having all the success with it,
Speaker 1: she embraced Netflix and her let me speech, she thanked
Speaker 1: Ted Surrandas. So I don't think he's dragging her down.
Speaker 1: He's stating a fact. And I didn't like her response,
Speaker 1: just like I didn't like Dave Chappelle's choice of targets,
Speaker 1: which are not noble, and the hurtful things that he
Speaker 1: was saying I did not agree with. So there, I
Speaker 1: think that's fair, and I'm gonna I'm gonna put something.
Speaker 1: This tea is good, by the way. Oh good, if
Speaker 1: you're at home, fix yourself some tea as you listen.
Speaker 1: By the way, there's nothing better than listening to talk
Speaker 1: easy with a delightful cup of tea. I just want
Speaker 1: to say that it's delightful. Is that something you do? Yes,
Speaker 1: it's delightful. Really? Oh god, Yeah, you are wonderful at
Speaker 1: your job. I told you when I first met you,
Speaker 1: and I did it how taken I was. But man,
Speaker 1: you're a you're you're you're a big ball of groovy,
Speaker 1: my friend. That's what I will say. We gotta put
Speaker 1: that on the poster. Whatever you want, so you can
Speaker 1: defend Ted Surrandos. He's your friend, that's great. My sense
Speaker 1: is he's gonna be okay, he's gonna be By the way,
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about him. I'm just saying, what other
Speaker 1: position can he take? He can't say, Dave, you hurt
Speaker 1: me with it because they show a lot of shitty movies.
Speaker 1: They have movies on there that hurt me emotionally that
Speaker 1: I don't like that. The fact they were even made
Speaker 1: or even financed by Netflix piss me off. That they
Speaker 1: wasted two hours of your time, wasted two hours of
Speaker 1: my time. Never give me yes. So I think he's
Speaker 1: an equal opportunity offender as a someone who doesn't who's
Speaker 1: not an artist. By the way, Netflix is like having
Speaker 1: a cable system. There's channels for everyone in the world
Speaker 1: of Netflix. And so people said to me, why did
Speaker 1: Ted put up Full House or whatever it was, the
Speaker 1: remake of Full House. I go, he's got every kind
Speaker 1: of viewer watching, So I say, don't watch Dave Chappelle,
Speaker 1: and you know he wanted to do a walk out.
Speaker 1: That your business. I agree, And if they're going to
Speaker 1: continue to take that egalitarian approach, very much. YEA. Then
Speaker 1: the ask that is being made from the trans community,
Speaker 1: which is to create more art for trans people, to
Speaker 1: create a trans fund, they should have no problem doing that,
Speaker 1: and I'm a feeling they'll do the right thing. I'm hoping,
Speaker 1: I'm hoping they'll do the right thing. But I don't
Speaker 1: agree with that. Do what you fund to a Chinese fund?
Speaker 1: Do all the people that have been bullied over the years,
Speaker 1: gay fund? Do just a plain gay fund. Every group
Speaker 1: that's slightly different or more has been bullied throughout history
Speaker 1: by ignorant assholes. So I say, just be thoughtful, because
Speaker 1: he and his people I think are thoughtful people, I hope,
Speaker 1: And by the way, if I've ever found out they weren't,
Speaker 1: I would not work with them. But if you're thoughtful, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have great trans movies. But if the trans community
Speaker 1: has a secret to making good films, I want to know,
Speaker 1: because so much stuff out there stinks and offends me.
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't be upset if Netflix said we will
Speaker 1: have a ten million dollar trans fund. Great, So understand
Speaker 1: I'm not against that. By the way, I understand the
Speaker 1: premise of black Lives Matter. The people who say what
Speaker 1: all lives matter? They're not getting it. Black lives haven't mattered,
Speaker 1: White lives have mattered. Yes, they all matter, but we're
Speaker 1: pointing out right now that certain people are not being respected,
Speaker 1: just like the trans community. Like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people not being respected, and I want respect for all
Speaker 1: of them. And like I said, in kindness and not
Speaker 1: by the way, you know, it's really beautiful. As I
Speaker 1: said there, Ay, I'm yammering. So I'm irritating some of
Speaker 1: your listeners and be I've pissed off some of your
Speaker 1: listeners who do not have sensed as a humor. I'm
Speaker 1: just letting you know that, and I know that, and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to apologize unless I've been mean to you.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've been mean to you, and I
Speaker 1: hope I've not been meaning to any of your listeners
Speaker 1: because I love and respect anyone that I could have offended.
Speaker 1: I do though, Oh go, although I will say, and
Speaker 1: I'm jumping around here, the one area I don't ever
Speaker 1: expect for his lack of humor, I do not. I
Speaker 1: don't care what you are. You have a lack of
Speaker 1: a humor, go fuck yourself. I don't think you could
Speaker 1: be mean to me. Or maybe you could, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't see it anything. I'm a man, so I
Speaker 1: will always say stupid shit. But as a man named
Speaker 1: Jeff Garland, I will not say ignorant shit, at least
Speaker 1: I hope that I wouldn't. So to be a man
Speaker 1: and to be a performer, it's a guarantee that you're
Speaker 1: going to say stupid shit. Hell yes, why is that?
Speaker 1: Because men are stupid to varying degrees. I mean even
Speaker 1: Stephen Hawking, like I'm talking about every man he cheated
Speaker 1: on his wife. Every man is stupid every man to
Speaker 1: varying degrees. The people who would track, who would attack
Speaker 1: the trans community physically, those people are incredibly stupid and ignorance.
Speaker 1: Someone who doesn't understand the trans community is stupid and
Speaker 1: maybe slightly and urate. So talk to me about performing again. Yes,
Speaker 1: because we're on the topic of comedy and what you
Speaker 1: can and cannot say. You're getting back on stage, I
Speaker 1: presume after eighteen months of Yes, I've done four shows
Speaker 1: in the past, like let's say month, and they've all
Speaker 1: been delightful. How's the crowd been appreciative? Grateful? An audience
Speaker 1: comes in with their emotional landscape and even their physical
Speaker 1: landscape of what they've experienced in the past six months, weekday, minutes.
Speaker 1: So when they're all put together as one, that's an organism,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? That's really an organism.
Speaker 1: And that organism on any given night might not find
Speaker 1: me funny, might find me hysterically funny. It's always different.
Speaker 1: When they don't find me funny. I have to resort
Speaker 1: to craft. I have to go to a hard place
Speaker 1: of things that I've learned to make it a good show.
Speaker 1: They'll have no idea that in my eyes it was
Speaker 1: work and not a great show. But when they come
Speaker 1: in and there's a vibe they've all had a great
Speaker 1: time however long, and they feel good and they've eaten good.
Speaker 1: Because it's also about how healthy are they? Is their
Speaker 1: stomach upset? Are they angry at their spouse? Like there's
Speaker 1: so many variables that create a solid organism in the room.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when you have hecklers, that can be one individual
Speaker 1: that is the exception to what's going on in the room,
Speaker 1: but in general, it becomes an organism. So what I'm
Speaker 1: hopeful for and I have no control over, is they
Speaker 1: all feel great and they're all happy, because then I
Speaker 1: can riff in a jazzy way, if you will. But
Speaker 1: that pivot to different approaches, it's imperceptible to the audience.
Speaker 1: They don't know if our jail idea none whatsoever, because
Speaker 1: I will do my best to give them a great show.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll go to the green room after a show
Speaker 1: and I can barely move because it was such hard work.
Speaker 1: But they thought, hey, a great show. Or I'll go
Speaker 1: back there and I'll be so, I'll be flying, I'll
Speaker 1: be my heart will be fluttering in a good way
Speaker 1: because it was so much fun and a great show.
Speaker 1: My best shows are if I'm having fun. If I'm
Speaker 1: having fun, the audience is having fun, and it's a
Speaker 1: full circle thing. There's a story I was told that
Speaker 1: Paul Simon told somebody and Paul Simon at one point
Speaker 1: was somewhere in Europe performing with Art Garfuncle, and during
Speaker 1: the show, Garfuncle kept complaining to Paul Simon how crappy
Speaker 1: this stadium filled with people were, and Paul Simon's attitude was, yeah,
Speaker 1: we gotta work tonight. We have to work tonight. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be fun. It's not going to be easy.
Speaker 1: It's fucking work. Shut the fuck up. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he said those words or something like that, but
Speaker 1: that was his attitude because some nights it's just you know,
Speaker 1: you go to work. Look, you're gonna have people on
Speaker 1: this show every once in a while. Will you go, oh,
Speaker 1: did that sting? Now? I'm wondering if you've ever been
Speaker 1: listening to the show drinking tea thinking Sam worked on
Speaker 1: that one. Oh yeah, oh yeah. I have some people
Speaker 1: forget that. They're that need to be active and they
Speaker 1: need to be present with you, and they need to listen.
Speaker 1: I'm doing a lot of talking, but I'm very much
Speaker 1: listening to you. Well, I'm curious about the material you've
Speaker 1: been doing. And since I can't go to a show
Speaker 1: right now, rather we're doing a show. Do you still
Speaker 1: write notes in your notes app? I write in my
Speaker 1: notes app and I almost never go to them. They
Speaker 1: have lived on I have notes from I mean ten years,
Speaker 1: probably work of notes in the notes app, and I
Speaker 1: bet you I've looked at them twice in ten years.
Speaker 1: I go up, I play a song, usually different, I
Speaker 1: talk about whatever I'm feeling, and I'm off to the races,
Speaker 1: and something will remind me of a story. That being said,
Speaker 1: I am now for the future as I'm getting older.
Speaker 1: I'm fifty nine years old. I want to have a
Speaker 1: salad as a rock act which I will improvise from.
Speaker 1: I made sure in my special Our Man in Chicago
Speaker 1: that even though I was improvising, I had a beginning, middle,
Speaker 1: and an end, which made the experience like listening to
Speaker 1: the way people made albums where there's a beginning, in
Speaker 1: the middle and end not getting my big laugh and
Speaker 1: then saying good night. I don't like that. Thoughtfulness is
Speaker 1: what I dig in any artistry, you know, with anyone's arts. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that last special of yours, because he
Speaker 1: brought it up. Yes, there's a bit that I want
Speaker 1: to play from it, Okay, that I think is really
Speaker 1: timely for right now, because, as you may know, in
Speaker 1: the last few months, there's been a new report here
Speaker 1: from MPR that I want to read. Last week, the
Speaker 1: US Borough of Labor Statistics announced that four point three
Speaker 1: amer Arians, or two point nine percent of the entire workforce,
Speaker 1: quit their jobs in August. That was a record breaking month,
Speaker 1: piggybacking on previous record breaking months. The great Resignation is real,
Speaker 1: and it can be seen across virtually all industries. Now.
Speaker 1: They are quitting their jobs, ostensibly because of working conditions,
Speaker 1: but also because many people, after spending a lot of
Speaker 1: time in isolation alone, want to pursue their dreams, which
Speaker 1: is the most beautiful thing. If that number was higher,
Speaker 1: I'd be thrilled. And that's where you come in, right. Oh,
Speaker 1: I know what you're gonna play now, it's the end
Speaker 1: of the show. This is a clip from Your Special
Speaker 1: arm Man in Chicago from twenty nineteen. So let's say
Speaker 1: you're from Saint Louis and you sing. You love singing,
Speaker 1: Oh fuck, you love singing, and you're a good singer,
Speaker 1: not great, but good, maybe even really good, but not great.
Speaker 1: But yet you're great at math. Here's what I say
Speaker 1: you do. Don't go follow your dreams in Nashville or
Speaker 1: New York or Los Angeles. No, you don't even stay
Speaker 1: in Saint Louis. But go and become an accountant. Become
Speaker 1: an accountant because you're great with numbers. And then with
Speaker 1: all the money that you make from being an accountant,
Speaker 1: with all the money you make, buy some recording time,
Speaker 1: record some music, give it to your friends, let them
Speaker 1: tell you you made the right decision. So so I'm
Speaker 1: I mean that. I mean everyone's like, go follow your dreams,
Speaker 1: follow your whimsie. No, you could be miserable. You say,
Speaker 1: don't follow your dreams, And we happen to be in
Speaker 1: a very specific but new moment. I actually in the
Speaker 1: special and there was nothing I could do about it.
Speaker 1: I didn't say I forgot to say the main part,
Speaker 1: which is, don't follow your dreams. Do what you're great at.
Speaker 1: Because if you do what you're great that, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be successful because you're great at it. So if your dream,
Speaker 1: like I said the Specialist, to be a singer, don't
Speaker 1: do what you're great at. I know too many people
Speaker 1: out here I'll just use out here in New York, okay,
Speaker 1: where they're miserable because they're not that good and they're
Speaker 1: not getting any sort of success. Do you say that
Speaker 1: to them? No, that's not my place to do. That's cruel.
Speaker 1: You know. If they ask me, do you think I'm good?
Speaker 1: I tell them the truth if they were somebody I
Speaker 1: cared about. If I don't know you, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get into a truthful discussion. I'm gonna say, Hi,
Speaker 1: I have a lovely day. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But if I care about you, I will tell you
Speaker 1: the straight dope. I love that these people are quitting
Speaker 1: their jobs to follow their dreams, but I just hope
Speaker 1: that they're great at whatever their dream is, because otherwise
Speaker 1: it's just a dream. There's a great song about that
Speaker 1: by Neil Young called Dreaming Man, and it's all about
Speaker 1: that he doesn't have the skill and what is dreams are,
Speaker 1: but he keeps on dreaming, and it's like you're only
Speaker 1: going to bang your head against the wall over and over.
Speaker 1: The only people that can get by, at least in
Speaker 1: show business without having discernible talent are people who are
Speaker 1: extraordinarily good looking and or extraordinarily charismatic. A lot of
Speaker 1: times you can ride that way. So you've got to
Speaker 1: be great. That's what I'm basically saying. If you're going
Speaker 1: for your dream and you're really great at what your
Speaker 1: dream is, man, don't let anybody stop you. But if
Speaker 1: you're better at something else, do that. When did you
Speaker 1: know that you were great at stand up? From the
Speaker 1: time I was in nursery school, I was the funniest
Speaker 1: kidding class. I knew that stand up comedy was a job.
Speaker 1: When I was eight years old and I saw Jimmy
Speaker 1: Duranty perform, and on the way home, I asked my
Speaker 1: parents if that was a job. They said yes. I said,
Speaker 1: that's the job that I want. Then it took years
Speaker 1: before and I'm talking about there's a minimum and it's
Speaker 1: pretty universal inst end up. It takes about ten years
Speaker 1: to really even start having a groove going. The greatest
Speaker 1: combination is confidence and humbleness. So I'm confident that my
Speaker 1: skill level for a comedian is at a high level.
Speaker 1: But I'm also humble enough to appreciate the opportunity that
Speaker 1: I get to go on stage and also know that
Speaker 1: I may have to use my craft and it may
Speaker 1: be a hard night because the audience is improving. To me,
Speaker 1: you at twenty as a stand up, you have this
Speaker 1: experience down in South Beach. Yes, you're an MC for
Speaker 1: some comedy night there. You have a kind of loud
Speaker 1: heckler in the crowd. Yeah. I lost my virginity to
Speaker 1: a heckler the same night that she heckled me. You know,
Speaker 1: by the way, that's the most fitting way for you
Speaker 1: to lose your virginity. Can I just tell you something,
Speaker 1: Nothing makes me happier that I lost my virginity to
Speaker 1: a heckler, a thirty one year old lawyer. I was twenty.
Speaker 1: What was she heckling you over? Oh? I was terrible,
Speaker 1: So whatever she said, she was right. It's like this
Speaker 1: past week, the Bears played the Packers and Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: a woman gave him the bird when he scored, and
Speaker 1: he yelled out to all the fans, I own you.
Speaker 1: He does. He owns the Bears. Sorry if you're offended
Speaker 1: by that. Aaron Rodgers owns the Bears. He owns other
Speaker 1: teams too, but specifically he would only use those words
Speaker 1: on the Bears. So that night she owned you. She
Speaker 1: owned me without a duct. Whatever she was yelling, she
Speaker 1: wasn't nice or thoughtful, but I stunk. So how does
Speaker 1: one go from being heckled by a woman to losing
Speaker 1: their virginity to that woman? Because what happened was after
Speaker 1: the show, I went down to the corner. It was
Speaker 1: the Carlyle on South Beach, and a guy came up
Speaker 1: to me and said, my friend wants to buy you
Speaker 1: a drink, and I I said, I don't really drink but
Speaker 1: a ginger ale, sure you know, and he goes She
Speaker 1: wants to say hello. She came up to me and
Speaker 1: I'm like oh, and I'm like, I don't really want
Speaker 1: to talk to you. She goes, will you come on
Speaker 1: the front, puts like a porch in front. Come out
Speaker 1: on the porch. I want to talk to you. I'm
Speaker 1: really sorry about what. She was very apologetic, and then
Speaker 1: in front she was more apologetic, and I thought she's
Speaker 1: not a horrible person. She grabbed me and kissed me,
Speaker 1: and then she ran onto the beach and started ripping
Speaker 1: off her clothes and climbed up in a lifeguard stand,
Speaker 1: yelling follow me. So I did, and that's how I
Speaker 1: lost my virginity. Up in the top of a lifeguard
Speaker 1: stand on South Beach to a heckler and did you
Speaker 1: fold your clothes in a certain way? Yeah? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's the Jewish boy growing up. When I got
Speaker 1: up there, I didn't rip off my clothes, and who
Speaker 1: rips off their clothes and throws them anywhere? I took
Speaker 1: off my clothes carefully, folded them neatly. And then as
Speaker 1: we were I wouldn't say making love having sex. We
Speaker 1: were both enjoying ourselves. It was it was very pleasant,
Speaker 1: but I kicked my clothes onto the ground, and then
Speaker 1: I saw a homeless dude come towards my pants which
Speaker 1: had my wallet into it, and I ran down naked
Speaker 1: and said, get away from my pants. Went back up
Speaker 1: and refolded my pants and put them further away. That's
Speaker 1: all which is crazy in our man in Chicago. You
Speaker 1: talk about this unrequited love which has been a constant
Speaker 1: in your life, constant in my life. You and I
Speaker 1: haven't spoken since the end of twenty nineteen. Yes, a
Speaker 1: lot has happened in the world. A lot has probably
Speaker 1: happened in your life. A lot has happened in what
Speaker 1: is going on? I have a significant other who I'm
Speaker 1: not married too. You have something around your hand there
Speaker 1: the finger. Oh no, this is a splint because I
Speaker 1: have trigger finger. This is not a kind of We
Speaker 1: got a wedding ringer betrothed ring? Would that be? It's felt?
Speaker 1: I bought it an Amazon. I bought two of them
Speaker 1: because I knew I stopped giving. Can we stop doing
Speaker 1: an Amazon? At on the show, I'm saying they don't.
Speaker 1: They didn't have this particular one at my local drug store.
Speaker 1: But by the way, am I doing better buying from
Speaker 1: CBS or Walgreens if they jiant corporations too. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that, but I just it's enough Amazon, or I'm
Speaker 1: not saying I've already given them the equal the way
Speaker 1: they make it and the horrible way they treat their
Speaker 1: I've been very, very transparent. Okay, well, you do have
Speaker 1: something on your wedding finger. Yeah, but that's because that's
Speaker 1: the finger that I have a trigger finger. But I
Speaker 1: have the watch because of my girlfriend. Who is Her
Speaker 1: name is Sarah Tract. I don't care. I'll say her
Speaker 1: name because she likes what I say her name, which
Speaker 1: is really funny to me. And Sarah, who's a doll,
Speaker 1: and I love her. I love her so much. She
Speaker 1: is my best friend and for the first time in
Speaker 1: my life, I have a full on love. And that's
Speaker 1: not to insult my ex wife, who I love very
Speaker 1: much and I'm very close to actually, but this is
Speaker 1: the first time where it's really been right. And we've
Speaker 1: been together a year. We met online, we were set up.
Speaker 1: She was out of town visiting her family, and then
Speaker 1: when she came back to LA she's a film editor
Speaker 1: who's also studying. She's getting her master's in psychology. She
Speaker 1: showed up at my front door, and I said, you
Speaker 1: can't leave if you want to stay, because I'm filming curb,
Speaker 1: I'm filming the Goldbergs. I cannot be around somebody who's
Speaker 1: around the world, So you have to commit. You can leave,
Speaker 1: but you got to wear a mask. It's got to
Speaker 1: bear the right situation. And so we've been together. She
Speaker 1: has her own apartment which she goes to, but we
Speaker 1: have been together, really together for a year, which a
Speaker 1: lot of people during the pandemic, I imagine have gone
Speaker 1: through something similar. Well, but I was good with it.
Speaker 1: You know what I learned during the pandemic, as I imagine,
Speaker 1: I love the people quitting their jobs. I learned that
Speaker 1: I love doing nothing, and by nothing I mean nothing.
Speaker 1: I love sitting on my daybed and just staring at
Speaker 1: the tree or closing my eyes. I don't need to
Speaker 1: be sleeping. I don't need to be listening to music.
Speaker 1: I don't need to be reading, I don't need to
Speaker 1: be writing, I don't need to be performing. I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed doing nothing. My dog saved my life. Who's my
Speaker 1: dog from the Goldbergs? If anyone watches the Goldbergs. So
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, with your dog's age. Yes, looking out
Speaker 1: of the window. Yeah, you thought this is enough, This
Speaker 1: is enough exactly. I always felt I got to be
Speaker 1: doing something. By the way, can I really be honest?
Speaker 1: I know I'm successful, but I never felt successful in anyway.
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking as I said, ego is not
Speaker 1: good and to be humble and grateful, but I always
Speaker 1: thought I need to be more successful. I don't need
Speaker 1: to be if I become more successful. Delightful. Now you're
Speaker 1: in love and you have this new season of Curb. Yep,
Speaker 1: it's been part of our lives for two decades now. Yes,
Speaker 1: that is sure true. Yes, what does it mean to
Speaker 1: you in this moment? Well, what's really funny that you
Speaker 1: say that? Only when watching it at the premiere? And
Speaker 1: I'm talking about all the years I've done it, the
Speaker 1: honor that I have working with those other people. We all,
Speaker 1: by the way, know that the cast of Curb, we
Speaker 1: all love each other, and we're all friends who actually
Speaker 1: will talk to one another when we're not in production.
Speaker 1: We love each other, and I am grateful to work
Speaker 1: with Larry David's brilliance. But only when I was watching
Speaker 1: episode five, specifically this one scene with JB. Smooth, myself
Speaker 1: and Larry. There's no other TV show on television that
Speaker 1: comedically comes near to us in terms of the skill level,
Speaker 1: the relaxation with it, and Larry David's mind what he
Speaker 1: comes up with, and it is a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1: And I've never been up until this moment so proud
Speaker 1: of the work that we have done on Curb Your
Speaker 1: Enthusiasm after doing the show for twenty years, ten years
Speaker 1: worth of episodes, eleven years whatever. Only Tuesday night in
Speaker 1: that moment did it really hit me where I went, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is really good. And not just specifically yes, that scene,
Speaker 1: but just the show in general. I'm like, wow, what
Speaker 1: the hell changed in You don't know. I don't question
Speaker 1: things like that. I am in therapy. I have therapy
Speaker 1: twice a week, one for my addiction, which is sugar
Speaker 1: and food, and the other just for getting through life.
Speaker 1: Both of my therapists are older gentlemen who both look
Speaker 1: like Santa Claus. My goal, I swear when I was
Speaker 1: a teenager was to be a wise man. I know
Speaker 1: that's weird, but that was It wasn't to be the
Speaker 1: best comedian in the world. I think I might be
Speaker 1: the most relaxed comedian that exists. But I don't know
Speaker 1: that I'm the funniest by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to be the guy sitting on the
Speaker 1: side of the hill that someone would come up and say, hey,
Speaker 1: what do you think about this? And whatever I said
Speaker 1: was remotely thoughtful, kind and wise. That's my aspiration. The
Speaker 1: therapy is there to help me get through the world,
Speaker 1: not why. I don't wonder why anymore in my old age,
Speaker 1: I just accept So I felt that Tuesday night, and
Speaker 1: look at me. I embraced it. It's long overdue, by
Speaker 1: the way. The only thing I want to do is
Speaker 1: continue doing good work. However that's accepted. I have no
Speaker 1: control over that. I just want to keep doing good work.
Speaker 1: Only one other time in my life did I say,
Speaker 1: stop worrying about when you become successful, And that was
Speaker 1: in my late twenties. I said that, and by my
Speaker 1: early thirties I actually was successful because all I cared
Speaker 1: about was being good or great. Now you mentioned going
Speaker 1: to therapy, and I think people are listening to this
Speaker 1: right now, and they're hearing you as this reformed man
Speaker 1: and love happy kind of finding this news self. But
Speaker 1: there's this day that you have that I want you
Speaker 1: to walk people through. Yes, and the day will eventually
Speaker 1: lead us to a song by Larry Bell. Oh shut
Speaker 1: your Grandma's balls. You want me to talk about that
Speaker 1: day I was visiting. I was in Chicago because my
Speaker 1: mother was in hospice. She was dying, and I thought,
Speaker 1: she's not quite there yet, so I'm gonna go home tomorrow,
Speaker 1: which is Saturday. This is Friday. That night, Friday, I
Speaker 1: went to a club called Blues on Halstead, one of
Speaker 1: the best blues clubs that in Kingston. Mines are both
Speaker 1: on Halstead, across the street from one another, and there
Speaker 1: was a gentleman playing named Lurie Bell who was performing.
Speaker 1: His father was Carrie Bell, who played with all the
Speaker 1: greats harmonica player. Larie Bell is a guitar player, songwriter.
Speaker 1: The doorman told me that Lurie Bell had some deep
Speaker 1: problems in terms of mental illness. Delmark Records approached Lurie
Speaker 1: Bell and said, hey, man, if you make a record
Speaker 1: for us, we will pay for all your medical care.
Speaker 1: We will get you the help that you need. And
Speaker 1: he did and he made this album which I of
Speaker 1: course I ordered the CD online, but I also downloaded
Speaker 1: it in Spotify or iTunes. I got both. Look how
Speaker 1: rich I am? I have both, and I had it
Speaker 1: in my phone. Downloaded the album the next morning as
Speaker 1: I went to board the plane. Prior to boarding, I
Speaker 1: always get like a protein cookie, red liquorice, like a
Speaker 1: whole barrage of shit that I eat on the flight.
Speaker 1: But at that time, Virgin was still working and Virgin
Speaker 1: in first class. Yes, I do fly first class. It's
Speaker 1: a luxury, although first class is no longer first class.
Speaker 1: But what it does offer me, hold on, let me
Speaker 1: just tell this to you, Sam is extra room. That's
Speaker 1: why I do it. There's no luxury up there, but
Speaker 1: there's lecture. And but what they did give you on
Speaker 1: Virgin was your choice of snacks. And one of the
Speaker 1: snacks was Dean and de Luca's Swedish fish the red seats,
Speaker 1: oh oh, and I always asked for two. So I'm
Speaker 1: on the flight, I'm listening to Lurie Bell's album, which
Speaker 1: is beautiful, just relaxing, closing my eyes, nodding off whatever.
Speaker 1: I was very relaxed, considering that my mother is on
Speaker 1: death store. When we landed, I noticed that a I
Speaker 1: didn't take any Swedish fish b I didn't eat any
Speaker 1: of the crap that I had bought, and I thought, Wow,
Speaker 1: that's something. But I knew not to say I'm cured.
Speaker 1: I'm good. The next morning, Sunday morning, I planned on
Speaker 1: and did. I went to for the first time in
Speaker 1: a long time in overeaters anonymous meeting and I got
Speaker 1: a sponsor and I went from there. I went home
Speaker 1: for a little while, and I realized I had separated
Speaker 1: from my wife, and I made the decision to go
Speaker 1: ahead and definitely get divorced. And I had to let
Speaker 1: her know, and she was hurt by that, which makes sense.
Speaker 1: I was hurt by it. I didn't like it because
Speaker 1: I love her and I would never want to hurt her,
Speaker 1: but it was hurtful. Then there was a woman friend
Speaker 1: of mine. We were friends, but I was in love
Speaker 1: with her, but I never out of respect. I didn't
Speaker 1: cheat with her. I didn't even have an emotional relationship
Speaker 1: with her. I just cared a lot about her. But
Speaker 1: I also went to her house and said, hey, I
Speaker 1: can't hang out anymore. This is not healthy for me.
Speaker 1: I just felt it wasn't working the right way. It
Speaker 1: wasn't it was unrequited. Although I never let her knew
Speaker 1: how I feel, it was still unrequited. I knew that inherently.
Speaker 1: Then I got a phone call right after that my
Speaker 1: mom's dead, and I'm like, oh, you know, it's been
Speaker 1: a day. Well, it occurred to me that in less
Speaker 1: than an hour, I've got a show at Flappers Comedy
Speaker 1: Club in Burbank and I really can't cancel. They've sold take.
Speaker 1: I mean I could, I'd ever write to my mom
Speaker 1: just died, but I said, no, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: And I went and I did a show and I
Speaker 1: didn't talk about it because I wasn't ready to do
Speaker 1: the things that I do now talking about it. But
Speaker 1: I went and I improvised. And see, that's another reason
Speaker 1: you got to have an act in case your mom dies.
Speaker 1: It's very helpful just saying that to any comedian out
Speaker 1: there whose mother might be you know, okay. But anyhow,
Speaker 1: I had a great show and it felt good. On
Speaker 1: the way home, I'm listening to the Lurry Bell album
Speaker 1: in my car and there was this song by him
Speaker 1: called faith in Music. What I realized when listening to
Speaker 1: the song was that's all I have. I love. I
Speaker 1: have two sons twenty one and twenty five. I could
Speaker 1: not love them more. I'm very close with both of them,
Speaker 1: but it's their life. They're not mine. I helped to
Speaker 1: give them life, and hopefully I continue to teach them
Speaker 1: the way I think of myself, hopefully is becoming a
Speaker 1: wise man. That's their life. So what do I have?
Speaker 1: What do I own? And I own two things my faith,
Speaker 1: and my faith is not a specific God, but I
Speaker 1: believe in something bigger than me. The universe is God,
Speaker 1: and it exists, and it's bigger than me. So all
Speaker 1: I've got is my faith, which is how I stay
Speaker 1: sober by not eating the crap. I've got something bigger
Speaker 1: than me that I can turn things over to. And
Speaker 1: my comedy, my comedy I own. I present it to
Speaker 1: the audience, but I own it. So that song was
Speaker 1: like a wow because I heard it that first time,
Speaker 1: and from that moment on it's been quite groovy. A
Speaker 1: lot of pain. I don't want people to think like
Speaker 1: from that moment on, I was destined to get a girlfriend.
Speaker 1: I was destined for this. No, I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of pain, a lot of things that someday will come
Speaker 1: out of my autobiography. That I've had to deal with
Speaker 1: in the past couple of years, really painful stuff, but
Speaker 1: it was quite remarkable. Why don't we hear the song
Speaker 1: that got you from point A to point B? Yes, Yes,
Speaker 1: this is Faith in Music by Lurie Bell. I could
Speaker 1: buy with faith in music. Faith in music all like everything,
Speaker 1: is one reason I believe God has a plan Lord
Speaker 1: ever murdh. By the way, for those of you listening
Speaker 1: who are like the Blues, he's playing in a Gibson
Speaker 1: Es three thirty five red. I know that's what he plays,
Speaker 1: and I have one too, and that's a special guitar.
Speaker 1: And you get the feeling hearing him play it. Because
Speaker 1: the feeling of what he's singing about and what he's
Speaker 1: playing it comes out. It's beautiful. But you must also
Speaker 1: get the feeling of that car ride very much. So. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I also am taken back, even though he didn't
Speaker 1: sing the song when I saw him at Blues, I'm
Speaker 1: taking back to seeing him, taking back to hearing about it,
Speaker 1: and taking back to that day, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: the anniversary of that day is November fifth, which is
Speaker 1: coming up. I call it the day in my calendar,
Speaker 1: and it's the fifth anniversary of that day coming up.
Speaker 1: Long journey. Yes, but by the way, I'm a Chicago boy. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I look at what I do is I use
Speaker 1: people's pain, but I'm living the blues through comedy. Last
Speaker 1: time you and I sat together before we go, there's
Speaker 1: this Kurt Vonneguet quote that you really like that I
Speaker 1: present it to you, and I'm going to present it again. Okay.
Speaker 1: He wrote, be soft, do not let the world make
Speaker 1: you hard, Do not let pain make you hate, Do
Speaker 1: not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that
Speaker 1: even though the rest of the world may disagree, you
Speaker 1: still believe it to be a beautiful place. That's right.
Speaker 1: Before you respond to that, I want to play what
Speaker 1: you said back in twenty nineteen. Okay, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear it. Yes, yes, yes, what he's really saying in
Speaker 1: that be kind to yourself. That is the quote of
Speaker 1: be kind to yourself. And at fifty seven years old,
Speaker 1: the only thing I know, and I've gotten closer to
Speaker 1: the mic. That's why it sounds a little more richer.
Speaker 1: I should have done the whole interview this close. You
Speaker 1: could have told me you know how it works, your fellow,
Speaker 1: the booth. I should have said something. You both have
Speaker 1: failed miserably. Absolutely, Okay, anyhow, it's the hardest thing to do.
Speaker 1: But the most important thing to do is to be
Speaker 1: kind to yourself. I know nothing else. I know this
Speaker 1: more than common I know this more than any It's
Speaker 1: the only thing I know for sure. Be kind to yourself.
Speaker 1: No matter what the world throws at you. Don't let
Speaker 1: them beat you. Don't. And I would jump on that
Speaker 1: with and by the way, I agree with myself. And
Speaker 1: it is incredibly hard. People have always said be kind
Speaker 1: to yourself. It is so difficult, and it's this constant
Speaker 1: fighting struggle for all of us to not be mean
Speaker 1: to ourselves. But that being said, it goes back to
Speaker 1: the song we started the show with, Young at Heart.
Speaker 1: Maintain your sense of humor, stay childlike, be wise, but
Speaker 1: stay childlike. Be kind to yourself, maintain your sense of humor.
Speaker 1: Try and get a sense of humor. If you don't one,
Speaker 1: getting a sense of humor is almost equivalent to being
Speaker 1: a narcissist. I don't know that there's a cure. If
Speaker 1: you don't have a sense of humor or, you're a narcissist.
Speaker 1: They're not selling that they're they're not selling that at
Speaker 1: the store. But if you got it, boy, oh boy,
Speaker 1: I know the world and by the world being all
Speaker 1: the things around, you can beat it out of you.
Speaker 1: And I've had it beaten out of me many times,
Speaker 1: but I've gotten it back, luckily for me. Be kind
Speaker 1: to yourself. Yes, as we go in the last two years,
Speaker 1: have you been to the best of my ability? You bet? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: I've lost almost one hundred pounds over the past five years, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe even longer. And I did it without dieting. I
Speaker 1: didn't die at once, and I've lost one hundred pounds.
Speaker 1: I've had to sit with my feelings. That's the key
Speaker 1: to it. I don't go eat ice cream when I'm
Speaker 1: feeling anxious. I have I might again, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but in this moment, no, And that's being kind to yourself,
Speaker 1: not abusing myself with what my addiction is. It's been
Speaker 1: a struggle. It's always a struggle. It is, truly. The
Speaker 1: only thing I know for sure is to be kind
Speaker 1: to yourself. If this show is a time capsule, and
Speaker 1: I think you and I think it is, I certainly
Speaker 1: think it is. If we're to do this again in
Speaker 1: a few more years. I would love to we probably will.
Speaker 1: What do you want for yourself? For myself? I know
Speaker 1: what I have to do, which is east people's pain.
Speaker 1: I know I have to help keep continue raising my boys.
Speaker 1: I know I have to be kind and thoughtful to
Speaker 1: my girlfriend in the world around me. I know what
Speaker 1: I have to do. What do I want for myself?
Speaker 1: Maybe Alex Rodriguez not broadcasting on ESPN Sunday nights anymore
Speaker 1: because he's terrible. No, he really ruins a game. Like
Speaker 1: little things like that is are what I want that
Speaker 1: actually we consider a big thing. And I hate that
Speaker 1: I'm ending the show something critical. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I used to think it was just me until I've
Speaker 1: read more opinion pieces on that, because I love baseball
Speaker 1: and they always say it's the little things, and this
Speaker 1: is your little thing. Yeah, so I imagine lots of
Speaker 1: little things here and there. That's all. The next time
Speaker 1: I have a piece of salmon that it tastes really good,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm hopefully Alex Rodriguez, Yeah, piece of salmon. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, the fish taste good. It's like what Warren
Speaker 1: Zevon said, enjoy every sandwich That's all I want is
Speaker 1: to enjoy every sandwich, enjoy what little things come my way.
Speaker 1: I don't have a big agenda for what I want
Speaker 1: for myself. Well, I've enjoyed every moment of this. Well,
Speaker 1: you're very kind and I really appreciate being here. Jeff
Speaker 1: Garlin always a pleasure, my pleasure, and that's our show special.
Speaker 1: Thanks this week to Taylor Johnson, Baby Learner, Giselle Resgua,
Speaker 1: and the team at IDPR. I'd also like to thank
Speaker 1: Holly Gleick and of course, Jeff Garland. His stand up
Speaker 1: special from twenty nineteen, Our Man in Chicago, is available
Speaker 1: to stream on Netflix. You can also watch Jeff on
Speaker 1: the latest season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO Max.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy today's episode, I'd encourage you to check
Speaker 1: out our expansive back catalog, including talks with funny people
Speaker 1: like Ted Danson, Hannah Gatsby, Larry Wilmore, Norman Lear, Rob Reiner,
Speaker 1: Nick Offerman, Whitney Cummings, and w Mile Bell. To find
Speaker 1: more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you do your listening. To learn more about
Speaker 1: our show, visit Talk easypod dot com. You can also
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram at talk Easypod. And
Speaker 1: of course, this show wouldn't be possible without our incredible team.
Speaker 1: Our executive producer is Janick so Bravo. Our associate producer
Speaker 1: is Caitlin Dryden. Our editor for today's episode is Clariski Vara.
Speaker 1: Illustrations by Chrishashenoy, Video and graphics by Ian Chang, Derek
Speaker 1: gamberzach O'Ryan Wong, Ian Jones, Isabelle Primavera and Ethan Seneca.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Patrice Lee, Kaylin Ung, Shiloh Fagan, Callie Serringis,
Speaker 1: Nikki Spina, and Tim Moore our engineer out of York,
Speaker 1: Recording here in Los Angeles, California. The show is produced
Speaker 1: by Caroline Reebok. I'm San Fragoso. Thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to Talk Easy. I'll see you back here next week
Speaker 1: with activist Genea Future Cohn. Until then, stay safe and
Speaker 1: so on,