Sydney Castillo. Because Steely.
Is in the building.
I know they're going to make fun of me in the little bloopers for that. Absolutely, I'm really excited about having you on the show. I was in those d ms, guys. I was consistently following up. I was.
I was like, hey, listen, we're cooking. I was like, I would love to give me a date. I get you to give me a time.
I'm not gonna lie, guys. I was a little nervous because he didn't give us his ingredients till this morning, and I was like, oh my god, he's going to cancel. Like he's going to cancel. And then I had, I had, got, I got. I was fortunate enough to go to the screening of My Cup Is Full, which is out right now guys on YouTube check it out. I was fortunate enough to watch it, and then I walked up on him and he was like, who are you. You ain't gonna shoot in a couple of days. Don't forget about me.
He was all over with the specialis was like oh booh, my gosh, yeah and everything. I was like, I'm definitely coming down and cook though, because I love to.
Cook, so yes and Before I ask you about the dish, I just want to tell you guys about my cup is full. It's a really therapeutic, relatable, funny, great storytelling, just just amazing talent from the second I saw you, So just to kind of give you guys what you can look forward to. It's just one hundred percent relatable with a lot of humor.
I'm appreciate it.
So yeah, but now we get to get into this dish, which I'm really also excited about because we've never had it on the show and it's over. We've done over like one hundred and forty episodes, so that's a huge deal. So why don't you tell me what you're gonna be cooking for me today?
Hey, today I'm cooking you one of my favorites. Man's called chicken egg rolls. You know, I started cooking chicken egg rolls because it helped me. I think cooking helps me with like anxiety. Now that's what my special thoughts about, like dealing with a bunch of stuff and cooking is like very therapeutic for me. I mean I can put on some music, you know what I mean, make it look like I'm a real chef. I like watching cooking shows online YouTube TikTok. My algorithm is stand up cooking
and animals eating other animals. That's my stuff. Yeah I didn't. That's that's my that's my that's my that's my stuff right there.
Do you watch like the little Instagram reels of the lake when they do the dishes and all that.
Absolutely, I follow a bunch of chefs. I'm in their d m's like, yo, bro, what so how you make that sauce?
For real?
Absolutely?
Do they actually respond and.
They love that? Then they start checking out my stand up like, bro, you funny. I appreciate that. In the backs to me loaf, you know what I mean? I love I love cooking man.
And then I'm curious, so you said it's very therapeutic. So like, if you're having a bad day, you get some bad news, do you hit the grocery store and say, you know what I'm gonna Do you really do that? Wow?
Like most people like comfort food. I'm like, let's go, let's go to the grocery store. I got you. I love that. Absolutely, I'll make some. If it's a summertime, people know, I invite people over it, just cook ribs. I'll cook chicken, you know what I mean, turkey legs, you know, put some pineapple in the grills. Bight at the end, it'd be like a dessert. I loved. I love to cook man and chicken egg rolls is cool because it can really take you about thirty minutes.
So have any of your friends discovered this Achilles hill and just said, you know what, Today, I'm gonna call him up listen, and I'm gonna get in his head and then I'm gonna go.
Over for me at my boy j snow shout out to Jay snow Man. He told me, he said, now, I love when you're going through stuff. He said, whenever you going through stuff. I just had to the grocery store. He come over and I cook, and.
I like, you know, oh, he literally shows up with.
The literally He's like what I said, Man, I need to talk today. Go to the grocery store and I'll be like, yeah, okay, can cook wings y.
Yeah that's gonna be me. If I can maneuver this past episode, I'm gonna be like, yo, I dropped off my kid today. Check in you're having a bad day. I could come home and my kid could have it.
I was thinking about opening up like you know, I found out online you can like open up an Uber eat from your kitchen, from your house. No way will they come grab your food, like you can have an uber driver downstairs and do it like that. I just gotta get like a license because I want to open up a egg roll and wings spot serve.
I love eggirls. I love them. You know what I was randomly thinking too when we were shopping for the groceries today, I was like, I wonder if he ever puts cream cheese in his eggrol.
Listen, don't play with me.
Listen, yes, that would add like extra Ooh.
It's a place in Texas, man called I don't want to mess up their name, but they got what's called Texas Twinkie. So it's a valapeno pepper, right, that's following me, a valapeno pepper right, wrapped in bacon, right, But it's stuff with cream cheese and brisket, and then they put barbecue sauce on and they slow cook it. Let me tell you something. They know me by name. They know me by name. Texas Friscos. They got in two locations. They got in like an outside of Fort Worth and
they got it in Frisco, Texas. Oh my goodness, that right there. That's my next thing to learn, because you got to get a real good grill to cook the pepper on for smoke. Smoke.
You know, I have a smoker that's been sitting in my garage, brand new in the box. Bought all the coals and everything, because I don't know how to put it together. Because I'm the type I put together a bed it falls apart that day, like you're honestly, but I'd be happy to donate my smoker to you with all the I'm dead serious because I got it.
My camera stopped playing with me as I'm massage this chickens. Stop playing with me.
But in ingreeance that go ahead. You owe me smoked like I get dips on like some of the smoked goods.
Absolutely, I'm gonna smoke ox tails in there. I'm gonna smoke ribs in there. I'm gonna smoke chicken wings in there. It's turkey legs in there, a smoke of your best friends.
Like, I'm dead serious. I'm gonna hold you to this promise because it's been sitting in my garage just taking up space and I can't put it together, and I can't eat red meat anymore, so oh really yes, but but the turkey legs and anymore. I mean, I still will risk it on a good day because I love ox tail. So maybe for some of your dishes, I'll say forget, you know, but that's our trade off, are we?
Is that a deal?
Okay? Cool? All right? So now, oh we got the smoker thing happening. Now you've been working away, tell us what you've been doing in the kitchen so we can know how to make this dish at home.
The words, I just like to season my peppers first, and like get them going with some butter, some garlic and no wait wait.
Wait, go through all the ingredients, sik.
The words I like to season. I like chopped my peppers, so chopped yellow peppers, chopped red peppers. Put some butter in here. I like to put garlic powder. I put some onion powder. I don't put too much like salt in here, just because we're gonna have some salt in our meat, so I don't want to put too much salt. So it's just like an onion powder, garlic powder, some pepper, with some butter. And if you want to get a little fancy. I'll be throwing winter here just because it
looked cool on TV. So I throw like a little slash of water here, a red or white on hare and then mix it in here. We want to kind of see this down. And when that's done, we're gonna put in the bowl. Then were gonna prepare our chicken while the grease is still getting hot. Now the chicken's been seasoned.
When did you season the chicken? Wet?
We got garlic powder right here, we got pepper, we got lemon pepper here, and we got onion powder and we got pepper right and then booming, as this is season we're waiting for that heat up. We can kind of start our sauce, okay right, And then for the sauce, I like to use ketchup right here. Boom, alright, we'll take some ketchup, put it in here like this, boom boom, boomom right cause we cooking a small bash wold just use that when I used Jon mustard.
Okay right, and is there a reason why it was Jon?
Cause it's a little tinier. I got a little bite to it, okay, right for your sauce, okay, uh boom. And then you wanna put some hot sauce, okay, right, that's like for a kick. Now do you like spicy food?
Not really?
Okay, boom, you wanna put like some hot sauce. And if you don't like a lot of spice, you know what you could do is cut this with honey. Right. So if you put it in there and it's like too spicy, that's fine. You just put some honey in there and make that in there and contact the steam away.
Oh my god, you know your stuff.
Yeah, so then I still season it right here, right, so a little garley powder, right, okay, still a little pepper.
I hope you make a hundred of these yea, all of this all over again.
Boom. And then you wanna put a regular.
Sauce okay, and this is the dipping sauce.
Yes, ma'am. And then we got onion powdered. I kind of season like a meat most Boom. Now we kind of start this up here. We'll can use this round right here. You get a little color to it because of the mustard. Oh it looks fancy, yeah, okay, And then what you could do, you know what they do make it a little fancy. You could drip this on the egg row like a little line, or if you just like to put it on a dish and kind of like smear it all for presentation, you know what I mean.
I like that.
You want to get fancy, you know you can get you some partially chop it up booming over the egg row, over the sauce type jazz, you know what I mean.
I'm gonna fit down in like two seconds, so I don't do that. There's a guy involved, what you say? You know, when there's a guy going over, you're like, let me make it all presentation. I'm trying to sell the whole package, you know. But if it's just me at.
Home, Yeah, don't be afraid to see your vestibles either. Then what'd you say, gonna be afraid of season your vestables over here? Yeah?
I mean, little gar But you're not gonna mix the meat with the vegetables.
Absolutely not. This is going to go in a separate bowl.
Okay, Oh you may need another bone.
Yeah, we don't make a work wash. This is gonna go here. Okay, right, this is gonna go here.
Okay, I'll see you.
Because we're gonna because this is gonna go into our egg roll and fry. We kind of cook this down. That's fine, right, boom now, and you just.
Don't want the peppers, like too crunchy or.
Something, right, I just kind of want to separate. I'll put the chicken in, cook it down, and then I put the well, I'll put this down first, put the chicken in, and then when I mix them, when I fry them, I put them in together.
Oh my god, I'm excited.
Yeah. So then right now, boom a little bit more butter, because now we're goin to put the chicken in. Boom.
Okay, I like that you cook the butter and chicken. Just a sidebar. How much butter do you go through? That's how I really test if you could cook.
I use a lot of butter, right, That's what my flavor is now. I use like no salt butter a lot sometimes, you know. I mean that's people with my hot blood pressure. You. I mean you could put real butter, that's fine, but no salt butter is on you still see in your vegetables. I feel like you should be straight. Okay, so then boom, chicken down, chicken in the pan? Right there you go. We already cut our chicken daghs. Because we're doing egg rolls. I like to cut them kind
of you know small. Okay, we're not doing chicken tender, so it's not no necessary for them to be real big.
Okay.
That way, when you put them in their egg grow their fine right m boom boom. Here's where you know. I'm gonna use more of my butter right because I like my I like it to have flavor.
I like to be juicy. Yeah, you use a lot of garlic too, Yeah.
Like little garlic can hear and boom boone? Now where is my butter right here?
I'm a butter freak. I go through like I buy the Costco, but I do salted.
You see it in your butter too.
No, because I do salted.
Okay, better, little garlic powder on my butter for tom what Yeah, he gives you butter a little flavor.
Okay, I'm learning. Did you put lemon pepper in the chicken too?
Yes? Oh that's only where you salt is in the chicken with no salt. No salt in this right here, and no salt on the butter, just garlic powder.
That way you don't come off too salty, okay, Okay, And you know that's salted.
Right garda potter butter. Oh yeah, that's fine.
Okay, okay cool, all right, So now you're cooking the chicken.
Yeah, let this get a good see man, listen, if you want a hervey, you can cook you can, you know, put this in this Just let it brown and put it in the oven like on three fifty four hundred. Let the cook faster because you're in the fry it. But right here we're gonna grill it. This fine and grease is. I can feel it being warm, so that's gonna be perfect. So this is done.
How do you test your grease to you?
Absolutely? I put a pepper in there, peper a pepper or like some powder.
Oh okay, yeah, my mom used to.
Throw something in there boom boone is sizz a little like a little piece of garlic whatever to have you bone boon and should cook up good?
All right?
Yeah?
Well yes, okay you good. Now now we can get into Take me back to what was going on during this moment in time.
Yeah, dog, when I learned how to really well just really I guess tapped into cooking. I was going through it lout, you know what I mean, Like my my I mean, my brother died like twenty seventeen. That's my best friend at boone, I see, and then like you know what I mean, went through divorce and then my mom got cancer twice. So it's like, mmm, then all these motion I needed something like I ain't gonna go fight or go like just all this emotion. So it's like,
what could I do? So cooking and therapeutic, chopping it up the vegetables, seasoning enough stuff, looking at different recipes I can get online, putting that into like a form of therapy, like cooking you know what I mean, being detailed in it, right, because I put my brain off that and now I'm focused on just cooking.
Okay, Yeah, Now did you do any type of therapy going through all that early on?
Absolutely? In the beginning. You know, I was probably like most people who never been in any form of therapy, like skeptical, and my first one didn't go well. You know, God is good man. I've been doing well in stand up, but I had a therapist in midway through We're talking about my brother dying, and like what it meant to me? You know what I mean? I had opened up so much. I was crying in the session, and as I was crying, he was like, wait a minute, he said, you do
stand up? I said, yeah, he did. I seen you at the Arlington improvlem Man, you're hilarious. I closed the laptop so damn fast because I felt like I was being it was intrusive, like what I mean, So I stopped going and I got like an old black lady and she came of life.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Do you talk about her? Does she's still your therapist?
Yeah? She is? She is. Yeah, she's really dope, man. Like. She kind of helped me just understand certain things, you know what I mean. She kind of emphasized what the doctor told me one time, like you can't just manifest the stroke sitting. You can't just get hyping you're finna have a stroke. That's not how it happens. Because my brother had a stroke. So my mom, my brother had a stroke. My brother died at forty two, right, I just turned forty three. I was like, something going to
happen to me my dad? Did my mom got cancer?
You know, it's like, did your dad passed from a stroke or something?
He was older. He died in seventy eight, but he had cancer, but it was like he had it like for like it literally four days he found out he died, but he was seventy eight, so I could digest that, just miss him. Yeah, my brother died, you know, he had a stroke in twenty eleven, you know, twenty ten. Excuse me, he passed in twenty seventeen. Yeah, And so that was kind of hard to deal with, just because
I never thought. I knew he had a stroke, but I thought he would be fine, and him not being fine kind of like really affected me.
Why did you think he would be fine after the stroke?
Well, I knew to stroke, so that was my first time in my family dealing with one. So you know, he had lost a bunch away. He was straight ten and he got down.
With like two sixty after the stroke.
After the stroke, and he had learned like therapy, his speech was getting better, and so I didn't know the life expect to see when you have a severe stroke, it's literally seven to eight years. But they told my brother he wouldn't walk off the hospital. So when he did all that and he was living, he got back to working, I was like, okay, cool.
Oh and he got out the hospital too.
Yeah, he got to the hospital, he got back to working doing things. It was like, okay, cool. And then you know, I was on a road with Marlin in New York and he used the umpire that was like his side up. So after he had a stroke and I guess he had a heart attack on the field, and there was like on a Monday, I talked to him and he was in the hospitals, like yoa, I'm gonna come Tuesday and I'm gonna see you. And then the oary bet and so then Tuesday morning I got
the call he passed away. So I got it, you know what I mean. When I got there, he had already passed, and so dealing with all that was like hmmm. And so it's like that was twenty seventeen, May thirtieth actually coming up May thirty, twenty seventeen, and he was like, okay, cool, you gotta get over that. I'm working on the show, Marlin TV show. I'm wrighting on it, and my mom comes to visit me. Boom boom on set. It's a
great thing. Boom boom. As soon as I'm done, we've done tape and she hit me with I got cancer. I'm like, what, Oh my god, so then.
That to happen boom, and then especially after your dad's experience with cancer, you're definitely probably scared today.
Yeah, but you really, to be honest with you, you clock in to like everything gonna be okay because you've got to for her. So that's like you clock into that, like everything gonna be.
Straight, you mean, like facing her in person, like you.
You are nervous, but it's like your faith kicking, like you know, prayer words, praying for you. And I looked up people who actually survived and read them stories versus the people who didn't. Just feel like my own mental capacity.
Yeah, so you were still trying to like march the good March. This is without therapy.
Yeah, this is without therapy. Now listen. So I've gotten the therapy. I remember, so Martin, Martin Williams, I opened him a lot and so, but this time I take care of my mom. She had cancers during COVID it's before any vaccinations. I go through a show with him, and they still doing shows in the County Club. But the thing is it's not at full capacity. Everybody spaced out. I get that. I tell him, I say, hey, man, that's a lot of people in here. He was like, yeah,
you think so. I was like, yeah, do the show go back to my mom? He called me like that's probably on Saturday. Sunday. He hit me on Tuesday like, hey man, I got COVID. You know, just make sure your mom is good. Stay away from your mom. And now something happened in my body that triggered me. I was like, I thought I could hurt my mom giving her something. I ain't have COVID, but just the thought. That's when my body first. I first time it started shaking,
couldn't breathe type stuff. Calling my friend like yo, she's like, you have anxiety. I said, what the hell is at? You know what I mean? Got to a doctor first, you know, I tell it on stage, a white lady. I said doctor first. I was like, hey, my body's shaken. I can some medicine. She's like, I'm not giving you no medicine and like kind of boot and I was like, So I dealt with that for like maybe a month later, kept dealing with it and then got that black lady.
I told you about a doctor, and then she referred me to a therapists, a black therapist, and then we was good money from there, you know the sense of like dealing with it. Yeah, I mean started becoming way better. Yeah, you know what I mean, We're about to be good one.
Now, how regularly do you go to therapy?
Now? Don't have to go as much like I do. Therapy Probably once a week, no excuse me, once every other week. Yeah.
I was gonna say if it was once a week.
Like how yeah, once every other week. It's just like now like checking in managing like different stresses like my mom's health right now. You know, he's kind of managing stresses that don't take everything on personally. That's what therapy to teach you.
Where did the divorce come into play and all that?
I got to I got married in twenty nineteen, divorce in twenty twenty one, so it's like twenty.
Minutes okay, Yeah, it was like two years. Yeah it wasn't Britney Spears.
Yeah, but that's funny, Okay, But yeah, I was married quick.
It was like in love and out of love faster.
It was just a situation where I think, you know, it was best for the both of us to kind of like separate and get divorced. You know, I think, you know, going into it, it is like I just lost my brother really didn't know what depression was. I think me and her, I think he look back at now,
you know, I don't want the best for her. I think it was just two people who weren't really connected that tried to us let's just say we can get married, versus like having an organic connection and deciding to do this. And I think it manifested during the marriage. And then when my mom got cancer, it was just some things that we were transpirings, like it's best that we separate, and I think we I think it's best for both
of us. So it's like married a year and a half, and then people ask me like, would you get married again? I was like, absolutely, you know absolutely, I like being I feel like.
It didn't Your perspective on marriage is a little bit different though, after going through it.
I think that even though I got divorced quickly, I was respect up on marriage is like marriage is the pinnacle of like deciding to fight for somebody you know day in and day out that you love. You know what I mean. I just did it through the wrong person, you know what I mean. But I still believe in those principles. I would definitely get married. It wasn't like
I lost a bunch. I think men who rightfully, So when you get a divorce and you've like accumulated so many assets, and I was talked to an Uber driver, kid you not and he said, I'm Uber and he's be a millionaire, he said. My wife left me for a younger man, he said, and no prenup or whatever.
Half of everything went to her. So now she's like, I think that perspective of some men, or like, I would never do this shit again because even if I love you, if you happen to not want to be with me no more, I risk losing so much.
Right, But it also depends on the state, right, Yeah.
But I didn't have kids, we didn't have property, so I didn't have that happen to me. Right.
So it's just like, because you guys just filed some paperwork and went away.
It should have been that quickly, but it took a while.
Now you got you don't have any kids at all? No, okay, you want to have kids. Hey, guys, he's not married, is no kids?
Married? No kids? You know? Career?
Okay, So prior to all of this, let's back all the way up to pre comedian Sydney. Yes, because I kind of want to know this backstory.
So pre comedian Sydney Ready raised by dad from musko Ye, Oklahoma, twenty years about twenty years older than my mother. Right, So my dad was born in nineteen thirty two, right, that's old, right, the Korean War. So my mom from Gary, Indiana, hard and noss a woman, oldest of her family, born in Guardena, California. Right, raised out there for like eight years, and then we moved to Texas, Forward, Texas. So I was raising Forward Texas from nine until I moved back here.
Was hoping playing basketball, right, but knew my capabilities. I'm not. I'm always been a realist, right. I can't do what it takes to get to D one right O D two. But had a good time playing play at junior college. But I always kind of comedy was like my thing. I can make people laugh in my own little way. I'm not an extrovert by any means, right, but I still make people laugh.
And he knew this early on that you had this.
I watched like Fresh Prince a lot, and like literally watching first Prince Billy, I was like, I want to do that. I want to do that. That's literally what I want to do. So I was like basketball was like not going well. In junior college, I was like, I want to see this acting thing. So I got into an acting class. I was like twenty, I did like some print work, like for a foot action ad. Right, I was like on every foot action poster in America and them all what. At twenty, I was like, I'm
going to LA. My mom was like boy. I was like, they paid me a thousand dollars. I didn't care. I bought my ticket and then I moved out to LA to pursue modeling originally because I'm silly, and they said absolutely not.
And you're modeling, yeah, because I six four, you're six four.
Yeah, listen, still doesn't.
Work that way.
No, you have that ads and stuff I never really believe. Yeah, I know what it is. Now.
We're in a new air though, because when you let's you know.
The dream.
Okay, No, you're right, I just.
Want to be paid. I want to be paid one.
No, No, you're right, you're right. Well, first of all, you're very you you you you are. We already know what your destiny and your purpose is. So but yes, all right, go back to your store. I didn't mean no wordes.
So then I was doing that and then you know, stand up, and I started stand up. And then I was like waiting tables, you know what I mean, waiting table with the DJ's restaurant in Burbank, and I was like making good money. I was like, damn, which is a trick to any artists, because when you move out here in La ex expensive, you gotta sacrifice. Did I come out here to get rich doing this on my dream? So I literally stopped working during the night shift's bartending,
which where you make your bread. So I just said, give me lunch shifts, which is a way cut difference. But I can do stand up at night. So I was like, they even try to make me a manager. True story. They was like, yo, why don't you be a kitchen manager? You know, I run the kitchen Dadada, you can make I forget such and such a year And I was like, oh no, I was like twenty five. I was like, no, man, I really believe in my
stand up. I'm good. And they was like okay. And then like I got my first TV appearance in two thousand and seven, Boom started. Now listen it was PDD persisted, bad boys in comedy, this would We didn't know none of that. We didn't know none of that.
I just love how you tried to skate.
We didn't know none of that, trying to get on HBO. Yo did that, and then from there got my first writing gage. Short after who I worked for a hell date? Oh excuse me? From there, no, I did the TV show that Boys and Comedy Booming. Then from there I did two TV shows. I did a High Ghetto Mess with Charlie Murphy. I was like a co host. And then I did a show called Social Offensive Behavior with Do Hughey as the host, and it was like hitting camera show. So I did that out the gate like boom.
I still waiting tables, getting recognized, still having serve burgers. But you know, it was just the journey.
So you're still not making enough to like fully support you exactly. Are you managing your money.
Well at this time? Waiting tables? Absolutely, when you do those shows, that's when I found out it's not like life changing money. Yeah, right, so it's enough money to pay some bills. And then my first writing job two thousand and eight is when I was able to quit Okay, I was able to quit working at waiting tables, and that's when it was like a blessing.
Now, were you a little nervous about well, I guess waiting tables work, but were you a little nervous because some of these writing shows, like you don't know if they're going to continue on?
And now listen, that's my mom at the time. I got my first writing job. Hell date, and I told my mom. She's like, but you're not quitting the job. The waiting table job, right, some mom was a writing job. And she's like, yeah, I understand, but how long is the job? Right? And I was like, I don't know, whole season? How long is a season? Right? Because I was making a thousand dollars a week, so for me,
that's the most money I've ever made. It's like, okay, cool, one thousand of the week in two thousand and eight, you know, I'll take it. And then she was like but then from there it went from that to the BT Awards to Tony Watt Project, you know what I mean. Then it's like I'm in the swing of things. Comedy Central hired me in two thousand and like ten, and I did like a pilot in twenty eleven. So now it's like I'm making money in as you're in ye yeah right, it's.
Like, okay, your name and your resume. You're not even looking. They're just calling right, word of mouth everything.
Now I'm just getting the egg gross.
You know, I'm just curious, are you at this point like an LLC a C Corp? Or are you still making money?
We're still making directly money to me now twenty eleven, I shouldn't live in color the reboot. Who think it's coming back? Right? It doesn't come back Like, oh that kind of hurt because I told everybody back home I'm about to be famous.
That was my favorite. Let me just tell you something that was when I was a kid. That was the each show that you just had to watch continue absolutely, so getting a part to be a part of that reboot had to have been like a amazing So.
It was like guest starring on the Women to guest star, like, okay, cool, my character I was doing from stand up Keenan really liked. So now I'm like I'm really geeked. Okay, cool that happened twenty eleven. It doesn't come out now. We get a little hard Time twenty twelve, thirteen twelve, it's like I haven't worked. Okay, savings is coming down, you know. So then I auditioned to do this show, right called Funniest Wins Right, and it was like, I don't like
competition shows. It's not it's not my thing, right, So initially I was like, I don't want to do this show, and so I go audition. Tiffany had is there auditioning Billy Surrels. Jeannie's at Greenover? Now?
Is this when they're at the height of their career?
So no, it's like before they pop up. Now. Tiffany was recognizable from a couple of things she did, but she hadn't done Girls Trip yet. Okay, So twenty fourteen, I do the show, and the audition process they kind of I'm a reserve to be on the show, which means they haven't decided completely on me. Yeah all right, cool, last day of like you know, letting people know, you have to know by midnight eleven fifty five literally there, so you're gonna be on the show? Wow? Cool? Ended
up winning the show was the price one hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, come listen, that's hilarious. Listen. So I'm dog, so excuse me that dog. But like I literally like one hundred thousand. They gave it to me at the last episode. I think, okay, they're going one hundred grand my account. I go to the bank, mama, and like I got on sweats right, a T shirt right, And there's this white man in a bank, he like, you know, doing his business, and this white lady she helped me. She was like, I
slide the check on her. She was like, just so you know, we're gonna have to verify the check so the funds will not be available right away.
Yeah, I hear when they do that shit loud attitude.
And I said, no worries. She goes, you know, check goes like that. She goes, oh, seventy thousand is available right now, and thirty thousand will be available like in such and such that white man will turn around. He lived at me. I said, thank you guys very much. I walked out. I called my boy like we all like, now, was that.
Your biggest check today at that point?
Yes? Oh had it at one time? Absolutely?
Do you look at those game shows a little differently too, after that experience, cause I know you said you weren't into that before.
Yeah, to anybody, like just the whole feeling of being on a game show feels it's not a good feeling. Yeah, you know what I mean, Like the projects build, but just compete. It's like, you know what I mean for me, but the money absolutely like you know what I mean. Now you can live your dream a little more freely.
Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.
It's like I'm not so much stress cause I got money in the bank.
Yeah. How much money did you think that that bought you at the time?
A hundred thousand should have lasted me probably a little longer, but it last me probably like a year and a half, two years.
Okay, that's great. Most people would have been what was the first thing you bought? I was gonna say most people.
Buy cover shoes. Come on, I had never had Jordan's growing up, right, So I literally that's I bought, Like any Jordan I wanted. I bought like maybe ten pair of shoes, and my boys like, what the hell are you doing? It was like I never had shoes. Y'all had shoes growing up, like I never had, like you know what I mean? So I did that. I went to like Dubai. I went to Dubai. I took my mom. So, Mom, well go anywhere in the world where you wanna go.
She's like, what anywhere in the world, Mama, anywhere you wanna go? She was like, I wanna go to Vegas, Mama. Me and Daddy got married to Vegas. I wanna go back to Vegas and I want to play lots. Mama, we go to Hawaii, we go to France Vegas. Took her to Vegas. Took myself to Dubai.
Okay, did you don't bring anybody with you to Dubai. No, you did a solo trip.
Which was nerve wrecking. But my partner always told me and said, whenever you get a check, take your where take take you take yourself somewhere where you can put your foot in the water and it be reflection all the hard work you did. And so my choice was God, I love that. Yeah.
Who was the homie that gave you that advice?
His name was David Arnold.
Okay, David Arnold. I freaking loved him.
He gave me the advice, and I was like, okay, bad, So that's what I That's what I do. Wheneverybody do with something like I feel like worthy of like, okay, celebrate myself, cause I've been conditioned like just to do the work, you know. I man, I've been really broke before, right, So it's like waiting tables. I'll never forget that stuff
like that. So it's like I never try to like party or kick it too hard work Like I'm not doing work, so I try to wake up early, you know what I mean, make sure I'm getting stuff done, you know what I mean, that kind of condition myself. But then yeah, my special basically reflects of the triumphs of going through certain things in your life, you know
what I mean. Where I had my place broken up by somebody else, dealing with my family stole like you know about fifty thousand dollars for me, I say, it was the kind of my mother.
Did you end up repairing that relationship in the end.
Absolutely nothing. That's my friends say you're gonna do another special to address that, and I was thinking maybe, but that's dead, you know what I mean.
Yeah, so you you go, let's go back to Dubai. So you're your go to Dubai. Living color doesn't come out, but you're still where does the going on tour with Marlon Wayne's.
And all that that happens. Okay, So I went Funniest Wins twenty fourteen, going toward Marlin probably around later two thousand and twenty fifteen, right he asked me to go on a road with him to I think the first place was Nashville, Tennessee. We went, yeah, in Nashville, Tennessee. Because I had been doing stand up longer.
Than Marland, so like you said, you had.
Oh, absolutely, I've been doing a cent away longer than Marlin. So I've been doing stand up probably a decade before Marlin start.
But was the call did it? Was it like oh my gosh? Or was it because you guys had been working together so long?
It was like whatever, No, it's never whenever, when you get to work with a superstar, you get to learn. Now we develop a close relationship over time, but initially, like he would be in clubs doing stand up, so he was approachable, so we knew him, so it wasn't a starstruck moment. And like I've been knowing the family for a minute through Chante and Damon Junr Like and
Damon Junior kind of start stand up together. Okay, So it was definitely like a he was like, you know, a cool moment, you want to do a road date, like okay, bet, yeah, very excited. And then you learn a lot, you know what I mean, Like as he's learning the craft that stand up and like you know, from being an actor, it's like you kind of learn how to be a star, you know, and how he deals with different things, his work ethic, like that man gets he works out every day before.
The show, works out as it hits the gym every day.
And I never assume that Marlin works out so much during the day, eats very well, and his body is like a machine. And then you realize, like, damn, I do I could eat a little better as I sit here coachest all.
The butter that you talk about.
Right, Yeah, yeah, but listen he had my I'm a little.
Confused because Marlon. Marlon was always on the thinner side. Yeah, but he always worked out a lot.
Yeah, this man work out.
I mean he looks I'm not even gonna lie like, he looks amazing, like you know, but that's that's double the little aggroll things.
Yeah, that's because it's our last meet.
Okay, cool, I'm really invested in this meal and the story. Guys, this is so when you get the first tour date, are you what are the emotions of that?
I have it on tour before with him though, Oh with him, it was just that we go to Nashville, you know, then you kind of like go to the show, do my time, you know what I mean? And I kind of help him with his stand up as far as like if I have a joke I think can benefit him off what he was saying, you know, give him that. Well now now because I'm worst baby, Oh yeah, give him that. And then it became like consistent and
now we developed like you know, a friendship more. And then like he was preparing for it first special and that was real fun because you like got a tour bus and we go across the country like performing.
Oh and most comedians they don't really just give jokes, by the way, right, Yeah.
But see it's like when people are like you establish a relationship with somebody, It's like, yeah, I can make money charging jokes, but this man has brought me on a road. It's like a rapport. It's like whoever I go on a road with, it's like the opportunity to be on the road, thank you. So if I have something, it would behoove me to tell you, because it's like it's not even you know, and my blessing ain't attached to your success, you know what I mean. So it's like, yes,
it says, doesn't mean I'm not gonna get blessed. So if I have something for you, I'm give it to you.
Now. I had seen you do the stand up at the Black Party and I love him. Yeah, shout outs to Chris Spencer and the Elliott Brothers. You have a lot out of jokes, you know, I don't think I saw all your jokes that I've seen in person on the special. At what point do you how do you
figure out which jokes are you going to release? Because we're in a digital age and you know, like some that's a hard call to which jokes you're gonna to kind of give up, you know, and so when you do a special, you kind of technically in my mind, I would assume you're like retiring the joke, right.
Yeah, it's what story am I telling? Right? So if I'm telling my cup is full, all the things in my cup that have made me anxious and my points of view, those bits gotta go in there, okay. And so there's like, okay relationships. When I talk about the letty who broke up my place, now I can retire the dating my dating perspective going into love is blind. Boom. Now it's like, Okay, suicide, I could talk about that because I've dealt with that in my family. Boom, do
that then get to my mom. So it's really basically I choose by the theme of the show. So like I'm you know, I mean debating if my next specials called two Things Can be True, there's a bunch of perspectives of how tooth pe can be true. Those will go into the bucket of like what would be decided to perform, Like random jokes won't make it right. So it's like random jokes that are just kind of funny or people might know me from. If it doesn't fit the Oprahall theme or what I'm trying to do, then
those don't make it. Those can live online.
How often are you planning to release specials?
Now? It feels so good just to release his last one. I want to Now I'm like, oh, I want to release another one in a few months. Okay, So I'm thinking two a year right now, maybe two three years?
Wow?
Yeah? Yeah, they seeing at least a deep due kind of like the blueprint of like putting out a bunch of good quality product. Its like influenced me to be like, yo, if you keep putting great product out there, people will keep coming back, you know what I mean. So I think he set the bar on the hustle on how to put out your own product online.
Really so, did you have to finance the project?
No, this woean was finance for me. They actually called me they had a spot available, right I didn't. I was trying to shoot my special, you know, thinking about it putting together. These people call my manager were like, hey, we have a slot open. Would he like it? You know what I mean? Say, we're paying for the special? Like oh absolutely.
Now it releases on YouTube or on YouTube, but it's under their financing.
So how does this it's under their YouTube so their YouTube pages. Yes, a one hundred pound gorilla, they have like five hundred and twenty some thousand subscribers on their page. So release on their page and we're doing well, like the mixed with like my push and they put some advertising behind it. We dropped it yesterday and it said sixty thousand views already, so the goal is to get it to a million, so I think we do on track of doing it.
Well, yeah, that's awesome, thank you.
And look these egg rolls you want to put in here just two three minutes aside they use a rack or you can use them four just to kind of let a drain cut this greasauce so we don't burn ourselves boom and then you kind of clean as you go because all therapy boom boom, kind of as you will as you go as you go. But let me set you at first, this is our we'll use this as a plating dish.
Besides the little bit of a gap in what was like the biggest hurdle that you feel like you had to you ended up going through during your whole career.
With my mother's health, Like you know, she's alive, you know what I mean. I think I think the biggest journey currently would be you feel like away being away from her now for you know what I mean. So it's like she's able to take care of herself, but like because I've lost family and like you know, I mean, it's like every moment I'm away, like working or doing something that has to be valuable time spent, because when you're away from her, you be feeling like a bad son.
Yeah yeah, so I think the hardest thing in therapy is to learn that I'm not a bad son. I'm doing what's best for my family. But I think just because I've lost family, every moment i'm away from her sometimes can feel guilty, you know what i mean? So yeah, wow, got deep on you? What so the everyone was ready, I'm super happy. So I'm gonna cut it for you. Cut it in a half quick. I'm stand a really to that.
Look at the crunch or you're trying to do a presentation, hilarious. If you're trying to be fancy and there's no cheese, I've.
Done cheese before with the stream Ones, whatever you're trying to be fancy, it's just kind of like, you know, spread you're hilarious.
I'm a real person. That he's real. I'm from New York. I you real?
Yeah?
You really getting into this? Look at this, guys, you're gonna see me chump jump jump jump jump. Look at it. It looks great. Is there a reason why there's no cheese in it? I'm just curious, just to cut down, just cut back. Now, this isn't considered a broke dish.
Is it. I mean, the chicken guys are pretty inexpensive, right, and so most people got mustard man mustard and ketchup in their house already with hot sauce. Go ahead, do you think, Oh my god, yeah right, yeah.
Yo, this is it? This is it in the sauce. Guys, did we did you explain what mixed?
We do ketchup de Jon muster because it got a little more bite to it hot sauce and again this from YouTube, and I see it like meat. So I do glic powder, I do onion powder, I do pepper, and I do salt.
And that egg rolled paper, Oh my god.
I like the vegan wraps. Why I I was good and I got a non v rock. It was too christy, like too much, too much shelved meal.
So we couldn't find it at first, and we got the one that you said. But we were like, man, he obviously he's not vegan. And I said, maybe there's a reason to it. So we went Yeah, they sell it at Target. I don't know if they sell it all the grocery stores.
So, guys, you.
Know what I'm eating for dinner tonight, good money, cut down some ship and just so you know, I'm not giving you any credit.
You're not supposed to no, but you tell that person, yeah, it was all me, you know what I mean, top of my head type of business.
Then when the episode drives, you know.
You could cut me out of the episode, like, look, I made chicken ear rows, you know what I mean.
Honestly, do you ever notice this? I don't know. For me, I feel like the closer my circle is, the less they've watched my stuff.
Because they're so used to you.
Probably my will be like, I don't know, I've never really watched it. You know, I'm like, oh okay, it's like four years later.
I'm gonna get the side too. You can't waste it. Thank you?
What advice?
You can get a hole if you want, I will. You know what.
The hardest part about the show is if someone cuts something really good and I know you're on a time crunch, but I'll usually be like, call up for like two seconds so we can enjoy this. Damn I got distracted.
M that was good.
This is delicious advice. Yeah, any advice for Thank you for catching me on that. M for comics, yeah, for comics and then secondly for people dealing with stress.
MM. I say for comics, two things. Mm your first couple of years and stand up, stop worrying about being good. Really it's like, really, just learn how to be comfortable. It's like when you get into a boxing ring, you have to learn boxing. You have to learn how to be a doctor. Yeah, even if you've been doing it a year, you have to learn certain techniques to get you to be at a level where people trust you.
So when your first couple years of comedy, just do so many reps to learn and don't worry about like even posting videos right now. Your p stand up for six months is not gonna hit like you're stand up when you're doing it for four to five years. Yeah. So when we're being a rushed or like showcase yourself being a rush to build yourself and then really work on your audience. When you want to promote a video real quick, you be doing set up six months, don't
put up the stand up video, put up. You just work on gaining your audience. And when your voice becomes more mature and stand up, that's when you attack them. The first time. They first impression of you should be like, oh my goodness.
Right, wait, how do you go back to how do you work on gaining your audience?
That's like whatever it is that you do, what you're doing, you cook, right, so then you have a show about cooking. So online, find out what you know, what your niche is, if it's like doing reaction videos, if it skits, if it's like posting stand up videos, just be cons consistent on all platforms and then listen. They got streaming university. I'm forty three. I'll be learning from these dudes. Stay
consistent and go live on TikTok every day. What's a trending song I can attach to my comedy like learn like learn the brand of online. Focus on that, right, it's a new era. Focus on that and build your stand up and then present it when the food ready. We can't eat raw chicken, you'll stand up raw in the first year. You ain't cooked it yet, you know what I mean. So just focus on that and then
when it's ready, present that to the world. But like, focus on the hours it takes to be great, which is like putting in the time of doing stand up anywhere. Coffee shops. It don't matter.
But now how do they stay keep that consistency focusing on the reps if they get say booed, because they're not focusing on the laughter.
Or what every fact.
Excuse me, here's napkins.
Every time you gonna say, you learn something. So if you got boo that's fine. I got boog before. I still put our special came out to this girl. From the consistency and learning off that bed preparation, you learn stuff. Curry might go three from fifteen from the floor. He's still the greatest shooter of all times. He's gonna keep putting up shots. So there's the consistency and the work ethic. And you might be bad, and you can go to a trainer, which is somebody or older comedian. Can I
give you some advice? Go back to the fight?
Okay?
Yeah, man, it's like any movie the boxer got beat up and then he wins in the end. You're just getting beat up right now?
Who was your go to person that kind of was that person that would different.
Says in my career. When I first started, it was Alizadi. He's the first person that kind of put me on stage and they gave me a guest set knew my brother you know me and him. Then it became like Chris Spencer, then Tony Rock took me on the road originally Marlin. Right now Ian Edwards big influence, he's a writer, big influence in my stand up when I was, you know, around him. So right now I have like a circle of people I trust Tyler James Roywood Jr. Ali if
I have something, or my boy Chris Tremo. It's a circle of people I trust with my excuse me, my thoughts. I might not necessarily want a joke from you, but how can you expand my thought on this premise? And then attack is extra? But like, how can you open my eyes? So I got like maybe four or five people.
Do you feel like they or was it a case where they were attracted to you because they saw your because you're very infectious, like you're very like, oh my god us like I love him like you know? Was it was it one of those cases where you approach them. I would imagine it was them approaching you like I see this diamond with friends, okay, friendship.
So it's like the people I'm close with, my circle works extremely hard to right. So we're trying to help each other. So if Tyler I said something on stage when he come off, if my brain's like, oh boom, come here now, I might not take the time with somebody I don't know as much. And then if they asked me and I've seen it cool. But with my my friends about love, like Tyler, check on my mama, I send her stuff and I'm not even knowing. It's like flowers, like whatever Tyler needs.
That Taylor, we love you.
Yeah, so it's like whatever you need. It's like in that moment, I you know, I'm submissive with my talent to you. You know what I mean, because it's like I love you my friends.
So and that's very hard to get in la. Do you feel like comedy is more of a loving From what I've seen in comedy up, I have friends in it or family in it, it feels like it's it's weird. From the outside, it feels like it's very supportive. Even going to your special and seeing all the comics that came out, it's like it's it's weird. You hear about a little bit of hater aid, but for the most part, there's like this family system.
Yeah, it's like any other job, like professional sports, you got teamate probably don't fuck with each other as much, or you don't like each other as much your regular job. God be discerned. Not everybody don't like each other, but you do have people that we're like a support system. The majority of people want to see you win. There's got some people that maybe don't right what you want to write several people or listen to that noise us to write several people that love you. You know they
want to see you win. Like even yesterday, for example, I work on wild'n Out, Like I'm consulting that shelfe you like you don't question some time and so I was like talking to Tyler. He was like, have you reached out for anybody to cast to help you promote your special? And I was like, no, I've got everybody number. He was like one second he literally put me in a group text Hey Justina you know see it. She's like yeah, she calls me a sister. He's like, you
helped me with his special. Just drop send me the information con conceded what you need, man, send me the information DC young Flag send me. So it's like, you know, they just naturally it's like Marlon, he puts out a video for me. So it's like Ralph Ralph Bobosa. Yeah, he put out a video. He accepted my collaboration of him like shouting me out. Forty thousand people heard about my special because in doing that, So it's like it's the thing you do in CONU to report people like
you care about. You know, you mess with, you don't mind doing whatever it takes for them to like get a good shot.
I love that. I love that. All right, Well, is there any place that we could keep up with everything, Sydney? And do you already have the next special lineup? Or should we just focus on I feel like we should just focus on my cup is full and how important it is to support, but not only support, but like share.
Right please right now, go to meet Sidney can steal dot com.
So you said it's so fast, all right.
Go to meet Sydney cansteal dot com. That's s Y D N E Y castillo c A S T I l O dot and you can see where I'm torn. I'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina, August twenty first and twenty third. Right now, please go to YouTube type in my cup is full. My hour special is available right now. It's a sixty thousand views. IM trying to get it to one hundred thousand views by the end of the week.
We can do that easy, and.
So like, just support it of My Cup is Fool, My Coup is full, the podcast is out. You don't support that, and just if you got anxiety.
With My Cup is Full, of the podcast is out.
Yeah, it started with a podcast. Okay, So I have a podcast called My Cup is Fool where I talk about the situations I talked about my special, talk about the real stories of them actually happening, and like how I felt about them. So it's more of a podcast. If a man who has anxiety and thinks he's going on in his life through a podcast form and I
have guests, but take out the special. And if you have anxiety, like you ain't weird, especially as a black dude, you feel like insecure because when that attack happens, you feel defenseless. Tell somebody you know, check yourself into therapy because it does help.
And that's like talk therapy helps you.
Yeah, yeah in person.
Yeah, some medication, but you don't do the medication anymore.
Nah, Nah, I don't really like the medication for me, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I like talk therapy and I do take some medicine if I'm having an attack. I don't take a daily like lexipro like they be able to want me to. I don't take that as much anymore. But if you are having a panic attack, I will say this works. All the remedies to me, don't be working. If you feel overwhelmed and you're doing that and you're feeling this overwhelming feeling, get
a piece of ice. I know it sounds silly, get a piece of ice rubbing in your hand, okay, because the coldness of the ice will shock your brain and you instantly be just thinking about how cold it is and you will settle what Trust me, I know. It's like the TikTok acts. I was like, man, whatever I was having one, I said, I did like this. You learned it from TikTok Dog that's TikTok University.
Now have you had people approach you like where they were like, man, I haven't told anybody about my anxiety and or like what I've been feeling, like this allows me to be comfortable.
Or yeah, the podcast helps with that a lot. Like healthy the special will too. After my shows, a lot of black men come up to me like, yo, I got an episode called DDG did that a game? Right? I talk about losing your father? And then a lot of men came with to me have the show like dark that episode, and a lot to me like I'll be going through the same feelings. So it's like that form of like expressing what I go through has definitely allowed me to meet people like me, you know what
I mean. It looked like me, you know what I mean. So it's like I'm happy for that. I didn't start it for that, but like if I could like tell my story and somebody like be influenced or feel comfortable enough to come up to me and be like yo, I'll be feeling insecure I be feeling like this, then it's working what I'm doing, you know what I mean.
I feel like when you're as vulnerable as you've been, as easy for people. I hate to say this word cause I sound like really lame, but like you know, it's easy for people to love you versus like just like you. They're like, oh my god, I feel a connection because of that level of vulnerability. The one question I didn't ask, and I know you have got like one minute left. Is how much of a pivotal role did your father play and who you are today?
M big And my father was older so when like we was outside doing things together a lot, he was older. So he helped me with like a perspective, you know what I mean. His whole thing was like even with me pursuing his dream like and not going to college like that, his whole thing was like, have a plan and make sure God is a part of your plan. Right. That was my one my first tattoos, and it was like, okay, cool. So as long as I was had a plan of action,
he didn't care. He knew right now, he said, And he's just say, your situation doesn't define you how you come out, your situation does, right.
Wow.
And so like this is back in the time when I first started TV. The Bad Boy's the thing I told you about my favorite memories of my pop. It was like it was on DVD and he was in his office and then like randomly I walked into office and he was like this maybe a year after it came out and he was watching it. I said, what you're doing? He was like, I'm watching my son and he was so proud. So that's probably the moment I'm like, man, you know what I mean. He was heavily influenced on
just like my mindset. It was like how to approach things, you know what I mean, how to deal with people, even women like. He was very influential on like respect and things like that.
So yeah, okay, yeah, all right, Wow, I feel like I got to fully understand the make of Sydney Steeler.
I'll appreciate you.
I'm saying it right, am I still bhering like a who Castillo? Castillo? You know what? That's how you know I'm from like New York because I can't even say a polo local from New York Brooklyn and know what I'm saying. But yeah, even you see me struggling with uphold, I know people are like you. I'm like, I am way too old to be struggling. But thank you so much for spending quality time and feeding me a really great meal. And I can't wait for the cameras to
cut so we can dig in. So thank you. Piece out guys for more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.