A Glimpse into Phil's Comedic World: Stand-Up, Improv and More

It doesn't sound like I'm doing great , it sounds like I'm in the middle of like a manic episode . Like like , oh , dude , yeah , let's go . Baby , I'm freaking here , I'm ready to live , I'm ready to learn , I'm ready to laugh . Love , you know like it's . It's a lot .

We can't even fit that on the poster . And and then I went out in the world of comedy and realized like everything was changing , you know , like it was not just dominated by just like white dudes anymore . So I was like like I was , like I got to seem special . Maybe this will make me look ethnic , you know like , like . I'll get into festivals .

You'll think I'm an immigrant , you know , and so far , so good , I feel , because it's funny , because sometimes people will be like , oh yeah , a weird last name and they'll come .

I was last night , I was in Seattle and these people it was just a little , I mean Monday night show small room and , like you know , like hit , like I got in there and it's like antique piano , you know , like $13 cocktails , you know , and I'm like , oh my God , I'm not cool enough for this place . Dude .

Like I'm like , you know , I was like , oh God , what is it going to have ? It's going to be all like Amazon programmers and Whole Foods employees and stuff , and and and it was really fun . There was actually people there that were like we saw you open for Jubal flag in 2017 , you know , whatever I'm like holy crap , all right , cool .

They remember , because my last name , you know , if that they said , that they remembered and I mean that was that was like five years ago , you know right , okay , yeah , you're a comedian out of Spokane . Yes , yeah , I've mainly worked the road out of Spokane . So that's kind of a weird way to do comedy .

I used to go to LA and I used to go to the East Coast , you know , if I felt like I could make connections , and then when I got my dry bark special , I just led to more opportunities , and so then I was able to just kind of work from Spokane and I'd only do maybe one or two shows a year in Spokane , I'd do guest spots and like I'll do spots in

Spokane you know , I'll fill in if there's a show up . I have the home club . Spokane comedy club is really good and so that'll hit me up , but I only really I only do a couple of shows a year in Spokane .

Like I've been on kill Tony and I have a comedy dynamic special on on a , on a on Apple TV which is kind of it has like it's like the dry bar set that just with the it's like the dirty versions of those jokes and then another half hour Because dry bar is very clean , like it's yeah , it's produced in Provo , utah , by a bunch of I would I think might

be a legal child labor . It's a bunch of polygamous kids running the cameras and stuff .

I like I don't even a quake clean or dirty , I'm just like is this interesting , unique , is it performable ? I don't even . There's times when people are like oh , and he's , he's . What I like about him is he's clean , and I'm like man .

I didn't even know this dude , and it's if someone's overly dirty , I'll notice like if they're dropping F bombs , you know , especially like it's funny because you can be , I'll see people that'll be , they'll have , they'll have a clean set and they're just throwing in F bombs and I'm like that's a clean premise , like you're talking about a bad date night or

something you know , and it's like you can , you can clean up a lot of stuff . It's the pre , it's the pre . So my , my thing is , if I have a premise that's clean , like my son being too good of a boyfriend which I don't appreciate because he's a better boyfriend than I am husband , like I'll just keep the jokes clean .

You know , usually I don't know , but yeah , yeah , so I do clean . You know I do a lot of corporate gigs but if I'm working like , if I'm working clubs , I don't really I don't try to promote it as a clean show unless I'm financially motivated to do so .

If they're like , oh , we'll make a family friendly show and you get a cut of the tickets , I'm like Jeepers , creepers , here we go , golly .

Yeah , harry J Riley yeah , he was a guy I started . I didn't start with him . He was kind of the new headliner when I started and I always asked to follow him .

So he's like I train because nobody wanted to follow , because he's like really , really prolific and really funny and we just got to know each other and we actually it was a cool thing In 2018 , we were both in the Seattle International Comedy Competition . It's a month long competition . It takes , yeah , it takes an entire month .

You have to live in Seattle for four weeks and you have to be there over Thanksgiving . They eliminate people each week , so , if you make it to the end , it takes the whole month of November , basically , and you have to spend Thanksgiving over there . And we did it together , we both and you get down to five people . It's people from all over the world .

There are people from London and all over , and it's been 20 years since anyone from the last person to win from Washington was 2002 . So it's been over 20 years , and Harry and I , though , made it to the top five that year , so that was really cool . We I think we got second and fifth , so yeah , so that was like a really cool experience .

We did that together and he's a respected guy in the Pacific Northwest . He gets picked up by the famous comics to open for him . He tours with Dan Cummins right now . It was doing really well And- . Quarterlane comedian yeah yeah , wow , wow , yeah , good research .

And because we just kind of go on tangents and then we'll usually what the theme for about two or three weeks , like a top five or a subject , or maybe someone sends in an email and asks a question . But it's amazing how fast an hour will go by when two guys who our kids , or he's got one kid , I've got two .

His kid just went to college three years ago , my kid just went to college this year . Like we're in the same space in life in a lot of ways . He grew up in rural Carolina , I grew up in rural Eastern Washington , but like there's a lot of familiarity with who we are . I mean he was in the military , I was not , but I have a flag . So yeah , it's fun .

It's a fun podcast . It's definitely a little nuts . It's a little like I don't know , eclectic , let's say .

And at no point was I like I was like I don't litter , what are you talking about ? You know , it's just like oh glass . I mean you watch it break out of a window . That's great . So it's just . It's just egging each other on . You know what I mean , and it's just fun . It's like you used to do that when you're .

Everyone used to do that when they were kids . You know you'd try to . You know , get to the top of the mountain Like who's the ? Yeah .

They're like you need to get off the stage by this time . But we are going to have a riot , dude we're , it's going to get ugly . And it's so funny because you can start when you're . When you're headlining , you can watch the windows slowly fill up with just extremely well dressed Hispanic people , just like what is going on . Are you guys done in there ?

You know , just like women are just done up , the guys are wearing like $200 shoes . Everybody's dressed to the nines , yeah . It's really depressing when you're like dude . There's a bigger audience waiting on that window than there is inside it's true , it's true , yeah . Yeah , it's fun though , I mean , and we own , and then I've stuck around for that .

That's a lot of fun . It's funny . You're like you could go to that place for lunch and then like you could be like , oh , I'm going to , and then like , stay there till two in the morning and do like five different acting .

You're like , oh , I'm going to play , I'm going to bowl after lunch and then I'm going to play some blackjack , then I'm going to go to a comedy show and then we're going to go to dance night . Like , yeah , yeah , I would hate to live in that neighborhood , dude , I'd be there all the time .

Uh , because that was kind of wild . Like I don't know anybody else who's done that to the extent to where they started with like an eight and nine year old and then started doing the road and stuff . Like usually people might do that , but they're just kind of doing open mics or just doing MC stuff .

They're not , they're not really , you know , paying taxes , you know , on it , uh and so , but I had wanted to do it for a long time . I did Uh so and then go back to I was like in high school . I was , you know , I was at high school theater . I was in theater , college and theater did improv .

And then uh joined a true like an improv troop , not that far out of college , and I was doing it and he kind of age out at improv , you know , uh , like it's just a lot of young people that do it and it winds up being a weird like singles club and um , you know I was , I was like , yeah , I was like 32 .

I was like everyone I knew that I was friends with and my twenties doing it . They had all moved away the LA and Chicago and New York Like they'd all moved to places where they could pursue improv and hopefully that would lead to like acting or comedic acting or just whatever . And um , and then I was .

They , then the troop that I was with was like , well , you're the elder statesman now , do you want to be the , the artistic director ? I'm like dude , I'm not really like , I'm kind of thinking about trying to stand up . And I was like I , you know , and uh , I really glad I turned that down because that was the time I was starting to do a little bit .

I was writing for standup comics at that time and then , uh , and then I just started doing it because I saw their jokes , I saw the jokes working . You know that I was writing and I was writing it in their style , you know .

And so then I I started doing it and it was like , you know , spokane , you know , if you can do decently uh on stage and are willing to , you know , work for you know 20 bucks and a hot dog or whatever on the weekend , which most new standups would love to do . That just cause stage time is valuable .

Uh , I was already used to doing improv all the time , so I just started emceeing like almost right away , like all the time , um , which was because then I was , so then I was actually performing for like paid audience .

It's right , right away all the time , which is a really good advantage , and it's pretty rare to be able to get that off Like I never would have got that opportunity in a big city , like just so many comics in big cities and and there's just and and you have to do so much more to prove yourself .

You know , if you go have one good set , they will , they'll want you to see you do 20 more . But after like four good sets at this club in Spokane , he's like you need to start coming around on the weekend . And he started giving me guest spots and then I was posting all the time and I was getting spots all the time .

So it was uh , so it was , it was cool .

I mean it was opposite issue , like it's not competition , like they're desperate for people they can use on the weekend shows . And the hard thing is , you know , people , that if you don't , if you just are always in front of like open mic crowds , like it's really hard to get that cause .

Open mic crowds are kind of psychotic , like they're there for the train , they're there for the , they're like a NASCAR fan who just wants to see a crash or a hockey fan who just wants to see a fight . You know , like I mean open mic crowds , I'm like you guys are nuts dude , like I mean , yeah , I mean that's what it is , they're not there .

I mean I remember one time I saw this , this guy , I don't know . This guy goes on stage and he turns around and started slamming and catch up packets against his butt and people are losing their minds and they kept .

You know they were exploding and then they wouldn't explode and then he'd have to smash him up and he's bent over looking at the audience through his legs and he's just acting crazy , probably because he might have been crazy .

I never saw this guy again and I've seen literally like , like , like people on the edge of society go up and people go nuts because and you're like this they would , first of all , even if this guy is funny , they're never going to let him in an establishment where they serve alcohol , where he might be violent or crazy or you know , or whatever , and so so ,

anyway , so , yeah , so I just you know , so , if you you develop in these open mic scenarios where it's like you're trying to get to the top of a crazy person , hill , and it just it's really it's really hard to develop and if that's all you're doing for years , so so , yeah , so I was very fortunate to do that .

And then you know , I was , I mean I yeah I was in theater , yeah , as a , I mean as a kid , and it was my main thing and it was a balance of school for theater .

And so I just remember like , and I know I was doing like sketches and just for fun , as there's a hobby and I just never really pursued it after , after college and I just dude , I remember when I was doing like closing out these , like open mics , remember riding my bike and I was like I don't know if I don't know standups , pretty fun , whatever .

At the same time I was doing like a sketch show , and a sketch show you get friends together , you write , you meet like a bunch to write the sketches and then you meet a bunch to you know , practice them and just the logistics of do you have this costume , do you have this ?

And then the finding a venue , putting it on , and by the you do all that , you're making barely anything . By the time you split it between all these people and you go into the idea of a sketch just gets , you know , changed around a million different times and you know you're all adults .

So it's like you're working around work schedules and transportation issues and possibly kids , depending on the people . And I remember going through that process with this like sketch group and then like dry , like driving .

I was riding my bike to a gig that was closing out and I thought of a joke on the way to the gig about like if someone's tail light is out and it's blinking too fast , that would be bad for , like an epileptic bike rider , like because they're they would have a seizure whether they're driver or something . I don't know what .

It was some corny joke , but I thought of it , I did it , it got . It didn't get a big laugh , it was never a joke that I kept , but I remember thinking like man , I didn't have to go to any committees . I didn't have to do any , I didn't have to run this by like a million people . I got to do it . I got it to .

I got to like , if I was like writer , director , producer , I'm like mumbling to myself on the way to the gig , you know , I even got a I haven't got a rehearsal a little bit like in the 15 minute bike ride and I was like , so I have

to . Once I had that like epiphany of like oh , this is all just , it's just , it's . It lives or dies by me , you know . And and if it's not working , I'm the one I can correct it , cause that was a real bummer about it . See , something going wrong with somebody else is doing . You're like , how do I ? I can't fix what that guy's doing .

You know I can't change what they're doing , so at least it was all by me . So I just I stopped every other thing I was trying to do and just made it a singular focus . Uh , yeah , it was like , and that was 10 years ago , this October , yeah , crazy thing .

I mean you think comics don't make money , dude , it's , we're talking about broke artists . You know , like , try being a reporter , dude , I mean the amount of money that was being , I mean it was I don't know , dude , it was , but it was almost half of what minimum wage is now .

And I , and it was a , and they were like this is a salaried position , you know , and you're working 45 hours a week .

And it was crazy , man , I mean I liked it , I liked the deadlines , I liked everything , but it was just like I also felt , you know , totally felt like a dying industry , like nobody was , like no newspapers were starting to thrive in the early 2000s . It was like , dude , it was like a death .

I mean you just you were sitting , you know it was like the Seattle Times is cutting back , the Boston Globe is cutting back . Oh , yeah , it was bad . Yeah , I mean it was so , it was . So I just thought , dude , I gotta get out of this . I was working in newsrooms all through college . You know I it was pretty fun .

And and then I was like , dude , this is not a real career path .

Just , he was so vulnerable and like always honest , but also like really brutally funny , and it was always stories about his family . You know he and you know my parents would read it and they'd be like kind of , he's got such a unique family .

I'm like , well , a lot of people do if you can write about it that well , you know , if you can like you know , and I'm cause uh , you know , like you know , we grew up on a mountain and I have a downstream sister and and , yeah , I'm like I'm sure there's , you know , there's ways to write about that .

So I like that , I like that a lot , uh and um , you know , I , you know you have a sister who has Down syndrome . Yeah , yeah , yes .

I got called out one time cause I said down syndrome sister , and an audience member came up to me afterwards and was like uh , it's sister with Down syndrome , it's person then disability , yeah and uh and uh . And I did it in Boston and a person's like hey it's a good joke about your sister being retarded and uh , it's like Peter Griffin yeah .

It was well that . You know it's funny . You hear that Boston accent and then you see it , you hear it in real life and you're like , oh my God , this dude's a cartoon , I'm talking to a cartoon and it's . It's a one city in the United States . Yeah , it's not like the Southern accent , or even it's not even a New England accent . It's . It is a cause .

You hear a little bit , a little bit of it , like in a New England accent , like Rhode Island or whatever . But like you go to Boston , it's like these cartoons , like , hey , you guys want to go get some pizza and get the hot . Go to Abba . Yeah , like whoa , dude , what have you guys even understood ? It's like being talking to Irish people .

You're like I don't even , I can't understand you , dude , I know you guys just sound drunk all the time , right , oh yeah .

His name is Jeffrey Asmus and , uh , his , uh , his online following is starting to grow up very steadily . He's a whiskey , he's a Midwestern guy in New York and he's just very , you know , similar vibe , just more down to earth . You know that . I mean , that's the thing about Shane Gillis .

He's like there's a down to earth quality about you know what I mean . It's like you just hanging out with your boys getting weird , you know . I mean Shane , go to stuff .

I want I do kind of like I don't know if a lot of women like this guy's stuff , but , dude , it doesn't matter , he , I mean it's , he's so fun man , he's so real , he just he reminds you of a friend you had , you know . Just , you know , played , played , uh , played ball in college or whatever .

Just , he's just a machine with these jokes , you know , and I and I , and the thing I love about him , he's got this starry comedy , you know , he's got the whole . Yeah , it's great . He's another guy and those guys and his thing is there's so many avenues for you know to listen to him .

Now , I mean you can listen to the podcast , you know , listen to their standup . Uh , I mean , it's Shane , shane Gillis , yeah . And now I mean I always have a new favorite comic because it's just there's .

I mean , a few years ago , ms Pat , I thought Ms Pat was just the funniest person in the planet , but yeah , the watching Shane Gillis getting kicked off of a Saturday Night Live and then become what I think might be one of the generation's greatest comics has been a pretty , pretty wild , interesting thing to watch , you know .

I really , I really I mean , I went growing up I really loved , like Sinbad and uh yeah , okay . You know who Sinbad is .

I've seen him live twice , you know , and it's so , but it's like he's so . It's funny , because when people ask this question , I'm like , well , is there someone else ? I can say but the reality is , I mean , I've seen him live twice . He was probably the number one most listened to comic until I was , you know , 19, . You know what I mean .

So it's like impossible to not say like , well , bill Cosby was definitely a guy that you watched . But you know , you know , you know , you know I try to separate the art from the person . I mean he's not getting any royalties from me .

Like it's like you know , charles Manson has an album out there .

Okay , I was going to do this really . They do this really cool thing where they , uh , they have a mic on the stage and it goes to a screen or like a stereo that points at the audience , so their laughter gets pushed onto them .

So it , and you know , when you hear someone laugh weird , then you , I mean it's like a contagious thing , yeah , and it dude , it just creates like a I mean a wild environment , you know .

And then also , like you're you walk , so you're looking down at the stage in front of you but you walk through a like a short balcony , so you're , there's a balcony to your right when you're on stage that is just maybe seven inches above you . I don't know why I said seven .

It could be six , yeah , but it's just right next to you , so you're like eye level with the people sitting there and then you have the people surrounding you on stage . So it's just and it's , you know , it's lower , it's not , it's a lower ceiling . My probably favorite one is actually dead now . It was the Seattle underground . Uh , they got closed down .

Covid killed it .

They had a couch in there that I think Mitch Hedberg had tied off on , like it was just . It was just . It was so like Omidy Lore was in there . You're like you know you're in there . You're like , oh , sam Kinnison did coke off of that ledge .

You know you're like whoa , what really did Like it was not , it was not fancy or nice , but it just felt like you could just , you know there was just felt like there was a lot of history there . You know it was really cool .

I mean , I performed for big crowds before but it's like you know , I'm like , oh , I've been to the this theater once and that was cool , you know , uh , but you know I don't . It's not like I get to go back there every year and I'm really just opening for someone else . You know , if I'm doing those kind of shows , because , uh , yeah , no , I do .

I mean you'd have to be an insane promoter to be like , let's put Philip Kopcinski in the Olympia performing arts center with 800 seats Like you'd be taking a huge , you'd be taking a huge risk on that . But uh , uh , yeah , yeah .

So as far as clubs , I mean it's going to comedy club is definitely , you know , I'm , I'm , it's , I say you know , but that I've also just been able to go there a lot . So I feel like at home when I go there and a lot of ways that's how I felt about that . I felt about to Seattle underground too , until they closed down .

But it's not that spicy , it's like a sweet spicy thing and this might grow , this might turn some people off . I did this of , I was doing this a lot last year and I had to stop because it's got to be horrific for me .

But I would take like goat cheese and put it in the microwave and mix it with the jelly and then , oh , dude , it was , it was , I mean , it was like it was decadent , dude , it was like it was like a more for a psycho , I don't , I mean it was , it was really good .

And then this summer I did , I was doing this and I had to stop because it was grossing my kids , it was grossing anybody out who saw me do it .

I was doing peanut butter and pickle sandwiches like , like really good deal , quality deal pickles and laying them across the peanut butter and I , I , I had heard about this and I'm like that's fake , that's not real .

And then so , and then I followed this sandwiches of history channel on Instagram and he's always like he makes sandwiches from from , like historical cookbooks , and he's like , well , this is the classic peanut butter pickle sandwich . I'm like , all right , I got to try it . Dude deal , pickle salty crunchy with the , with the peanut butter .

I it's , it is , it's delicious , man Okay .

I'm going to go , happy Gilmore . Just because the Bob Barker scene and the and the golf yeah , all that stuff was so fun , yeah .

Well , that was a big thing for them , but now they're bringing in like a bunch of , they're just bringing in . They're bringing in a ton of people . If you know Pacific Northwest comics , they're bringing in like Gabe Rullidge , kermit O'Pio Okay , man , I can't think of .

There's a Colin Moulton who's actually out of Atlanta , but it's crazy , it's I mean , for I mean Moscow , idaho is what ? 20,000 people .

So whenever events like that happen , it's always , it's always just like so fun because we're all kind of like I mean , there's less working comedians in the Pacific Northwest than like , neurosurgeons , you know . So neurosurgeons get conventions , you know . You know , why don't we ? So that's good . I'm really looking forward to that .

That's actually gonna be start starting Thursday the following week , until that'll be Thursday to Sunday . I don't know if I'll be there the whole time , but I'll definitely . I'll definitely be there Thursday for my show . Yeah well , you know it's a big to-do . You know it's a big event .

The second year they're doing it , the college gets involved and and it's between the best Western in the college and it's just , it's just a huge to-do . You know , and and , and in this January , february , march , I'm doing the second installment of a Comedy series that I do up in Sam Point , idaho , where I do a .

I bring in , I bring in headliners , I am on the show , I have my friends on the show and we we do . It's called Comedy Avalanche and we do a show each month at this big historic theater and this year we're expanding it to whitefish .

And so what we do is we sketer in the day and then we go do comedy at night and we and it's a , it's a big thing , you know like it's like , it's like a family circus , like my son is 16 and he's out there doing tickets .

I'm , I'm doing merch , I'm doing , I'm on stage , I'm have my friends around , I'm booking my friends , we're all gonna hang out together . Yeah , it's a lot of fun . Well , you know , and so I'm actually some friends of mine he's still open for me they moved to Nashville and they're moving back or they're coming back for weekends . So so yeah , man .

If you want to know , it's a Philip cop comedy dot com . All my shows are on there , so yeah .

, so . So , phil , I'll see you this Friday . I will be there personally Friday and hopefully others can be there to enjoy your comedy and humor , and I can't , I can't wait to see you this Friday . And , man , just have a blast .