Comedy Saved Me.
Comedy subjective. Some people object to some things that we say. I have a saying stop global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining. As oh my, I feel like Yoda a friend, did you are a crap? I do not care.
I'm Lyn Hoffmann, host of the Comedy Save Me podcast, and if you like this podcast, thank you. I'd like to recommend another podcast I host, which is called Music Saved Me, a podcast that explores the healing power of music. On Comedy Saved Me, we delve into the lives of comedians and explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. And today I'm so excited because we have an incredible guest. Dare I call him the Godfather of comedy. He's been
making us laugh for decades. Craig Shoemaker is here. He is a legendary comedian, an actor, and author, and he's also been a pioneer in using comedy as a tool for healing and growth. Right up my alley. He also has some very cool projects that he's working on right now, and he's also been doing for many years that we're going to discuss. Welcome Craig Shoemaker to comedy saved me.
I'm just excited to talk to you again. We used to hang out in Boston when you were you were the big cheese on the radio in the morning.
Yes, so John Lander brought you into my life many years ago. And then subsequently, every Friday that you would perform at the Comedy Connection, you would come to the studio and inevitably I would end up on the floor in tears laughing, and I couldn't even have to go to a commercial break.
I just love that. I had it happen. The other day I did TV in Vegas and she was crying. So my face hurts. And that's one of my favorite things is to hurt people in that way. I do a ninety minute show and they say, I have Bell's palsy. If I give you Bell's palsy by the end of the show, I know I've done my job.
Oh yeah, that is for sure.
And you know, you laugh, it's a release, it's a pain relief, and and it's wonderful to see that. I don't understand if laughter is the best medicine, why is it not being deployed as such?
Exactly?
Why do we see these commercials constantly? You don't see any comedy commercials. It's all about some drug. It's like they give you the fear, they get you scared, and then they have a commercial that handles the fear that they just gave you the anxiety. We got a pill for. What we just sold you was some anxiety, some stressor, And now here's the pill for. It's something you can't pronounce. It's all the stuff you can't pronounce either. You don't even know what you're putting in you.
It comes up with the names for those things to begin with.
I think they get stone too. How about zimbalfin. I don't know, sounds too much like a dolphin. I don't know.
You gotta wonder, you gotta wonder, but they should know.
I don't know how they come up with these things, but they don't sound very you know, I started my work and laughter heels and a cancer facil and I don't know if you knew this. It can't what they put in them, Like timo, they call it the red death. Now, what kind of a thing is that? Yeah, you just went ooh. I mean now you're trying to live right with this cancer and trying to survive and heal and
you're putting something in you called the red death. I mean, why don't they call it Santa Claus come on something or bashful? Yeah, something in your body. We feel like, oh wow, this is a positive energy. It's a positive vibration. And that's what laughter is. It's a positive vibration.
Well, that's exactly why I'm so excited to have you here, because you know, like you just said, wouldn't it be great if a commercial came on TV and said, hey, laughter, we figured out a way to put laughter in this patch. Just slap it on your face and you'll laugh all day long, you know, the laugh patch, the laugh patch.
I've always said that they should have you know, they have a fit bit. How about laugh bit count your laughs?
Oh my godness, that's a great idea.
That'd be great. And then have Well, we actually have a business. We're pitching it today. You should come to our pitch meeting. We have laughter Works. We go to companies and corporations and give wellness a sense of humor. Corporate wellness certainly needs that. Oh yeah, and I teach something called guided laffitation and chuckle chatter.
Wait, guided laffitation.
Yes, instead of meditating I'm not a great meditator, and I'll bet you're not either. You have add it's like I do right exactly, I know you even though it's been twenty years. I know you're not a great meditator and I'm not either. Because we had something going on, I'll be going, oh, I forgot to put the Washington dryer. I mean, whatever it is, it's oh my god, the kids. So I just I came up with this laffitation. It's something we all love to do. It's really great for
you to laugh. So there's no jokes. You don't need jokes. The whole premise for me is in all my study. I've been studying this for years. I have the nonprofit All Laughter Heels, and I worked in a cancer facility to develop this program. And I I just laughter is a choice. It's not like you need a joke. Just like you, you don't know if you're on a staremaster or on a hill. Your body does not know the difference.
It's getting the benefits of whatever that workout is. You don't have to have something that even you don't even need a trainer necessarily. I'm not saying anything against your trainers out there but working out is working out, and so is so now you're just doing silly squads or laugh lunges, you know, whatever it is, it's a choice. And then the thing is about comedy. I know yours is called comedy, but comedy is subjective. Some people object to some things that we say a lot these days.
Oh my god, everyone's complaining. I have a saying, stop global whining. Let's shut up and stop global whining.
I love that.
Oh my god, I feel like Yoda offended. You are a crap. I do not give. I mean, I'm so sick of everybody's a victim. Now let's take charge of our lives and start laughing more and stop looking for people to effect you and it hurt you because they're not really hurting you. You're just putting it on them. That's on you. So it's the same thing with laughter, is a comedy is subjective. You remember Patch Adams, Remember that movie Oh.
Yeah, yeah, with Robin Williams.
Yeah, remember that was a true story about Patch Adams. I think he works out of Baltimore. He would go to hospital rooms dress as a clown to make kids laugh, make people laugh. That's subjective. If a clown shows up in my hospital room. I'm pulling the tune. I might pull the plaga heard the clown in my room and a clown it'd been shoes in my room. Come run take this rath car. That's what I would be doing, because it's not funny to me. As a matter of fact,
it's quite sad. This guy's got shoes that are too big and he thinks it's funny. Now there's nothing against him. But that's the moment where I went. That was my haha, one of my haha moments. So I said, what if we do laugh atation where it's a choice, just like meditating, you breathe, laughter about breathing, breathing, so good for you and all of that. And so it's been working. It's awesome. I take people through these guys, the laffetation retreats and things like that.
It must be so, I don't know, fulfilling when you know that you're helping someone heal with with laughter just by being yourself.
Yeah, you want to you want to do a little little meditation lafittation right now?
I do. All right, that's that's a great idea. Let's do it. But I don't have any tissues, and I feel like I'm soon going to look like a big mess on this.
But whatever you you're going to cry? Is that what you mean? Well?
I cry when I laughed. Do you remember when you used to make lander and I laughed so hard? We were both crying and you thought we were crying, but we were.
He was another one. He had big tear dunts. It's both of you.
I never met anyone like that. It was we had to have tissues in the room whenever you showed up.
Well, we'll do a short one that so you don't get into full tears. But just as this is really great for work. When we're at work, it relieves stress. Ready, just take a big breath through. Everybody do this along with I was just.
Gonna say, can everyone at home do this too?
Everyone do this? Ready, take a breath for your nose and let out a hob. Listen to the hob, the sound and the resonance from the ha. It's a very spiritual word. It's cleansing. Allow it to cleanse you. You know, in Church's Hallelujah is aloha. In Hawaii's a ha is a beautiful word. Anyway, here we go, breathe in ah, is gonna feel better already you let out that ha. That's a hat sound. Let's do one more. Breathe into
your nose and a hah. Good. Now we're gonna giggle at the end and giggle until the gas runs out in the car. Ready and do it with me. It's contagious. Here we go, look at it. Here we go.
Killing me.
See that's a really short version of guided laftation. And when you're ready, towards the end of the interview, I'm going to take you upper level to chuckle chatter.
I love that.
By the way. How are you feeling right now? A little stress less stress right, no pressure.
I feel less stressed. But to be honest with you, I was so excited to see you again after all these years. I'm a little nervous because I want to make sure that I do everything right by you, because you know you're my people.
But laughter does that though. It takes you out of that, out of your and puts you more into presence awareness. It's mindful to laugh. We rewire, we rewire the brain when we do this, and it's amazing the results that have happened. Your oxygenating, your body, healing and endorphins are released. Stress is being relieved, which is a huge, huge cause of illness. So people don't realize this. That really is the best medicine. Here's the way to deploy it is
the laftation. And we'll get to the chuckle chatter later. But even if you are nervous, it takes away to nerves.
Need to be a professor at a college and teach this as well.
But what you're saying it don't make enough money with me. I got to make a lot of money.
That's right.
Well, I have a few ex wives. By the way, all my shows, my comedy shows, are benefit shows and all proceeds go to my ex wives. I just thought I'll let you know that if you pay a cover for my show, it goes to botox and pilates class.
Oh my god, the client and the cult.
Of my ex wife join. She's in a cult, so it all goes to the cults.
Hopefully it's a good cult.
But I got to laugh about that.
You have to. I love the One of the things that you do is you're like, well, first, let me just say this laughter. It does have what you just did that exercise When I was looking at you and we were doing that together. I can imagine being in a business place and everyone looking at everyone and just bursting out laughing, and stages when Lander and I would do something with you on the show and we'd start laughing, and then he'd have to go go to break, go
to commercial because we can't even talk. No one could even talk. People would call us in their car, have to pull the car over on the highway and say, I don't even know why you're laughing, but I had to pull over because it made me laugh too.
That's it right there. You got the that's the magic, that's the secret. Yeah, it's so contagious. We're so busy being angry with one another, projecting our resentments and going in our fear. Everybody's afraid and know how to deal with their fears. Laugh through it, and then you'll be You'll become a better person. Wouldn't we want to spread spread that contagion around is laughter and joy and be in joy?
Do you have to laugh at yourself?
That's what I do all the time. And you're you know the title of your program, that's I've had to do that my entire life. My dad left when I.
Was born, right away gone, oh yeah, gone.
Gone, yeah, and then he became a cult leader. And it's a long story, but geez, I've had a really really difficult time in life and the only thing that saved me was laughter. We would get we would watch television together. It's the only time we bonded. My mom was always working, trying to make a living in a secretary's whether she's a secretary or a law firm. And I was alone alone a lot, and I was, you know,
really tiny, so I was picked on and beaten. I was kidnapped when I was thirteen by a serial pedophile. What yeah, what. I'm not going to be a victim to that, though. This is where I learned resilience is really really important in life, not to be a victim. Everybody's like a hashtag this and ribbon this, like we're supposed to get on to your whatever you think you're a victim of, and a lot of times they're not even a victim of it. They're choosing who else is
the victim. He's treading as a victim. I say that none of us are. None of us are. We need to really really own our lives, have take ownership of our lives and The one way you can do this is look more to laughter and not to the news, which is all negative, and they keep you in that condition. It's an addiction. So you know, I'm a long time sober now. And all of those things happen because of those difficult circumstance, says, I learned how to live, and a lot of it had to do with laughter. We
my my mom. I wanted my mom married so bad. And I thought my dad's name was doesn't pay the child support. I thought that was his name because he didn't pay any child He would pop around every few years and I would try to fix my mom up with with comedians on television. There's a show called Hollywood Squares. Yeah, so Center screening Paul Lynde. Right, he was Uncle Arthur and bewitched.
He set mom up with Paul land I did.
I wrote him letters, Dear Paul Lynde, you should meet my mother because I read an article he was saying. I didn't know why he was saying. I thought he was happy Oho, I love oh wow, right, And my mom would laugh at her. She goes, he's adorable. My mom would say he's and he's handsome. And my mom never got who was gay. She didn't. She thought Liberaci is just flamboyant. My mom could never admit that anyone was.
Like the word gay wasn't even used back in her time, right right, And it's like a woman who was a lesbian was a spinster or whatever she would call it would never be. Oh they were together like sexually, Oh my god, God forbid. But my mom loved Paul Linz. I wrote them letters. I said, you should meet my mother. Here's a picture in a belly dancing outfit. That's a true story too. And he never wrote me back. But my goal in life Lynn, honest to God, when I was a kid is how innocent I was. I wanted
to be. I wanted him to adopt me and marry my mother, and we would be the first father and son team on the Hollywood Squares. What like they would go be in the box together, you know, like Waylon and Madam always had their own box. I was picturing them going, I'd like Craig and Paul Lynn for the wind, please, and we'd be in the box. Don't take it signed, it's a sports questions there. We'd wear double asscots. So that that was my visual of life. I really wanted
to be guess what Lynn the law of attraction? I ended up on Hollywood Square seventy five episodes seventy five.
How did I miss those episodes? Was that when Whoopee was producing was hosted.
Yeah, exactly, And but the only problem is I'm not at big celebrities. I was always Craig shoemak Shoemaker to block.
They used only to block.
They only used me as a block, but they would never pick me first. I was always Whoopy or some big star. Like one time I'm looking at a monitor, I'm like, the only way to go she goes. I'll take Antonio benderis for the loss. They try to pronounced Shoemaker, but everybody goes to be Shoemaker.
That's anyway. I was on the Hollywood Squares too, by the way, just say you know wow, I was. I played the game and then I had to cover behind the scenes for Channel four in Boston. Oh okay, so I got to go in the chair in the center square where you wanted to go with Paul.
Oh you were doing you were doing a piece?
Yeah, I was doing. I was doing a piece for the local news.
Oh, but they let you sit in the square.
So they let me tour all around and then I did my whole intro. But you know what they had to do. They tape five shows and five shows like Saturday and Sunday as you remember, or at least ten shows on weekends, like right in a row. So they kept the audience in there, and they're like, okay, Lynn, get Lynn, it's time for her to work. I'm like, you mean, I have to do this thing for Boston in front of the entire audience waiting for me to finish so they can get back to tape another episode
of Hollywood Squares. I thought I was going to poop my pants. I really, I don't know how I did it. I don't even remember what I said. But those boxes are really uncomfortable and cramped, and they are not luxurious at all on the inside.
No luxury. They have new Hollywood Squares. I don't know if they do have luxury anymore, but or if they made that fix. But they call it the Linn Hoffman chair as a matter of fact, that yeah, they have plush chairs now they call it the Lynn Hoffman chair.
So I had an effect that's pretty good.
Inspire you inspired the Hollywood squares that shift a little bit so with they're production designed by Lynn Hoffman. But yeah, I mean my life was all about this. Really is difficult for me to deal with being beaten or whatever it is, or kidnapped. What am I going to do about it? You got a lot, you got a few choices, and I'm not up for the other choices of being a victim. I'm not up for being felt sorry for
any of that kind of stuff. I'm up for Let's make a difference with each other with a vibration of love, light and laughter. Let's bring that and we and the rising tide floats all the boats.
It does. If we lift each other up, everybody wins. You're you're a pioneer using laughter as healing. As we're discussing, you've also had an incredible career in movies and television. You had roles in Parks and Recreation, one of my favorite shows, and Matt Locke. Last time I saw you were going to work on a movie with Pharah Foss.
Oh wow, yeah, wow, that's a long time ago. That's not the last time I saw you. That movie was done. It was fair Foster did my movie The Love Master. You know, my character the love Master.
Obviously, right, that's right, baby, Yeah, yeah, you see naked and afraid I get naked, you'll be afraid baby. Oh yeah, the love Master. Baby.
I wasn't even going to bring it up, but here it is.
I put my pants, thought it looks like a giraffe getting in a Mini Cooper.
The doorb the doorbells.
That was the scene with Sarah Pharah was doing the movie they call The Love Master, directed by my friend who were going to get to Michael Goldberg. She was. I couldn't believe it. She was doing my movie for like one hundred dollars. So we're in a car rehearsing together, just alone. I was. I think they called her miss Fawcett, like, thanks for doing my movie, Miss Fawcett, and she goes, oh, shut up, I'm here, but I just want to know if that love Master is real. She reaches over and
there was there was no horne in my crotch. I'm not Cara Top, but anyway, you get the idea. She reaches over for my junk. Really now, oh yeah.
Full on, Fara Fawcet groped you.
Absolutely, and I was not gonna sue. I was gonna actually ask for what's the opposite restraining order? I was gonna ask her to I was gonna ask her to stalk me.
Thank you, ma'am. Can I have another exactly?
Unfortunately I wasn't ready for my close up though, so I had an inny, it's my regret in life that I go, Okay, I'm ready now because I was. I had like a soprano voice talking. She just grabbed me. No, I was not ready. Now ready, baby?
Oh yeah, you might need two hands to handle the whopper baby.
Oh yes, but she was so sweet and yes, the doorbell was in the scene she asks for the love Master. Actually, maybe she was getting in the character. She asked to we on a date, and you know, allegedly in the scene and I said, oh, thanks, because I'm always like a nice guy and stuff. And she goes, oh shut up, and where's the love master' Oh that's this character my act. And she goes, she hangs, she shuts the door in my face, her door, and then her doorbell rings and she answers that, yes.
That wasn't my hand that rang the door bill. Oh yeah, And then she goes, come on in.
Because that's what the women the women. That's why the love Master came about. Because the girls in high school would all use the F word with me, you know, the F word.
Uh, fun friend.
I was always doing a good friend. I was so tired of being the friend. I was really tiny and I'm six to two now, but I was like five to one in high school and really tiny, high voice, and uh, they would go to the bathroom together, you know, girls go to the posse p. Yeah, they took me with them. That's what a geek I was that took me with them on the posse p. Come on, Craig, let's go.
What did you do while they were using doing the makeup and the I just.
Sit on the tub. You know, everybody's smoking cigarettes back then and everything. Oh then they go Tommy's hot, George's hot, and I'm going, yeah, I'll fix you up. I know those guys. Yeah, yeah, because they were always bad guys. And that's when I'm there.
You were a professional wingman when you were a kid.
I was a wingman before there were wings on my side.
No wonder you went into comedy.
That's exactly why. Another thing that again, that was a pain point for me. You know, I wanted girls and they didn't want me. I asked thirteen girls to go to the prom. I actually had a funny thing happen. Again, these are a law of attraction things I want to tell people. Just be patient with your life, you know, just you know, it will unfold the way it's supposed to unfold. So I'm on I was on a TV show with Cindy Crawford to be That's great advice.
By the way, what you just said really great advice.
Yeah, I mean just wait, you know, be patient. Grand Canyon is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but it was not created in three days. Sometimes these creations need to take their time, you know, in the pace of a higher source, not our own pace with our own fears. So I'm on this NBC show with the Cindy Crawford she got They gave her a week on NBC to have her own show, late night show, and I was one of her guests. She was that she
went to the premiere and she's talking to me. She goes, Craig, you must have had a lot of girls because you're the love master. I go, oh, no, Cindy. As a matter of fact, I asked thirteen girls of the prom and the one who went with me, Linda Scott, she made out with Ricky aldemer in the corner, even though I paid for her corsage and all that, and I looked in the cant of I go, well, Linda, I'm sitting here with Cindy Crawford suit card out. So then it turns out he was watching, and so is Ricky
Aldemayer's wife. The emailed me. I got a little revenge for that. She was the thirteenth one I asked out because she would look good for the photos. I didn't wasn't dating or anything, but yeah, she made it up with Ricky Aldemier. He was there with someone else and I saw them in the corner. But you know, those things will cause comedy, and comedy is truth. If you can tell the truth out there, that makes for the
best comedians. And the truth is we all have pain, but sufferings the choice I choose not to suffer.
Yeah, that's for sure, and you share that with people, which is like the best part of all. How do you navigate though the challenging landscape, if you will, of comedy, especially with the way society has sort of evolved in the last I don't know. Decade. It's a really interesting time.
It's funny. It's what do you use that where it's devolve? Yeah, this is evolving. It really is. When you're playing the victim role and finger pointing and taking somebody's words of like maybe two hundred and eighty characters and make that their entire character and attack them for that, and it's amazing to me. This is another paradigm I'd like to switch is let's embrace the comedians. Let's lift the comedians, and let us have that voice that is going to
expose the people that are corrupt. We are the curtain polers. We have no money behind us. You know, there's no union.
No.
I have a friend who did comedy for years. My opening act with Godfather my son. He's almost homeless because he can't work. He has no residuals. We have nobody to support us. I'm not playing a victim either, But that's just the fact. Comedians are out there literally giving you your medicine, literally making you happy. That's our goal, it's our only goal. Yes, we're going to make some money, but there's not that many multimillionaire comedians. Definitely not very
few billionaire comedians. But the billionaires get away with everything because the lemmings that follow them do their bidding for them. But what part of the bidding is, I'm going to attack the messenger, the comedian who's trying to expose these things in a funny way. That's what's really odd to me is how many people are attacking and canceling comedians. Go cancel a congressman. You can cancel a lawmaker, Cancel
a lobbyist. Cancel somebody poison poisoning your crops. Cancel somebody who's making drugs that are really really bad, they're fentanyl and stuff to go, cancel them. Not a comedian who for one joke. If you don't like the joke, I say, move on to the next one. There's another one common that you're gonna like.
It's like New England weather just wait a minute, yeah.
Or New England clam Or you might not like the potatoes. I don't like the potatoes. I love the clamps.
Well, it's just so easy if you're laughing, because that coming through your nose is not and it will with me. I tell people all the time, Craig, I live in this world of television commercials, advertising, and things, And I try to tell the close people in my world that I speak to being victimy that you talk about, it's sort of just being lazy. And also, if there's so much thing like you said, if they can keep you scared, they can control what you do, and there's no use
in arguing about it. It's more like, you know, you're just willing to follow the pack as opposed to kind of blaze your own trail. And that's not easy for people at all to understand.
I've always liked you, and now I'm realizing why you have a wisdom about you that you even had when you were twenty two years old. That is absolutely so wise. What you just said.
What did I say?
Want to you know what I said?
I don't even know what I said.
You're onto the formula that get you in fear, and then the masses follow and so on. That's paraphrasing what you were saying. But that's that's exactly what It is obvious. But we just fall for it.
If you But people don't believe me. And I'm I'm embedded, like I'm here, I do imaging and marketing and commercials and things, and so I understand how they're and now it's really scary Craig because it's literally like one to one advertising, Like you say something, your phone hears it, and you turn on the TV. Bam, there's a commercial specifically for you, not the next door neighbor.
I know.
So it's gone to the days like did you see that hilarious spot on TV?
No?
No, I didn't see it because I was watching the same channel. But something else came up for me.
I'm hoping that it comes up. You want a billion dollars. I'm thinking that's going to come up on my screen sometime. You one a billion dollars. It's amazing to me. I actually said, Ioner, if my hair is being lost here and then boom every day, yep, here's transplants coming across my phone. It's insane. I'm trying to figure out.
I think I work on my house. He's I got to go. So why are you gotta go?
Oh?
My dad called me and he told me, did you see that commercial for shingles? You better go right now? And and I was like what what? What?
And here like you're working on my house? No, I met the shingles on my roof. But yeah, start hammering it.
Was so weird. But but I but I saw that that fear in his eyes, Like, well, if I see it and they're and they're scaring me, it's easy to control when people are scared. It's easy to control what you do, what you buy, all of it.
I'm just amazed how people aren't listening to their true sense. But I speak, and when I I, you know, I coach. Now, I do a lot of coaching, executive coaching.
That's why I wanted you to come on here, because I know you're an expert at laughter and healing. And yeah, I love.
I love some of the work that I've done to have people have personal transformations. And none of it happened from pop and a pill. It all happened from some changes and shifts that they needed to make, some mindset shifts. And it's amazing to watch how they transmute this paint into pleasure and happiness and joys. And it's an easy choice, but it's amazing how we don't make it because all they're doing is feeding us that crap. And now they're
literally feeding us crap. We are the most obese country in the world. We're the first world country, but we have these third world problems of diabetes and heart issues and everything else. And then they get mad at somebody for saying you're fat shaming or whatever it is. Well, how about trying your do your own inventory on this, watch what you're eating, and really be conscious about what
you're eating. But not only that, be conscious about protesting comedians as opposed to protest to people that are making this crap that you're addicted to. It's so people whose processed foods. Of course, it's hard. Everything is hard. It was really hard for me to deal with no support when I was kidnapped and I came back from being kidnapped, I was thirteen, really really hard. I was suicidal, by
the way, talk about laughter. So my mom raises by herself, and you know, and I told my mom what happened, and she said, ever telling you of this again, which I would never do to my children. You cannot keep secrets like that, Oh no, because that's a point of shame, and you know you're gonna shame. And I started drinking at thirteen and stuff like that. Well, then I suicide. I wanted to kill myself. I had no reason to live.
And this was a guy I empowered to be like a father figure, and he took me away, and it is a really bad situation, my god. But so I put these neckties. I tied these neckties together, and I threw them over the closet door, and I tied them on the doorknob, and I made a news that I learned in boy Scouts, and I started dangling and choking, and my mom comes in, just, oh, my god, what are you doing? She goes, that was her new neckties.
Get up, Only you would turn that into a comedy situation.
He did say that, wow, And I could get up by the way I was on my knees. I just got up, you know. I mean, I wasn't really doing it, but there was some part of me that wanted to be checked out instead of now and check in all the time and just you know, be who we truly are. We're meant to be love, light and laughter. It's what we're meant to be. You know, let's do a laugh bit. You know, children laugh three hundred times a day and adults laugh twenty We need to you know, catch the
kids here, you know what I mean. Like, that's why we need a laugh bit. We need we need to laugh that much where instinctually, it's I call it the seventh sense, our sense of humor.
Ooh, I've never heard of that before. That's awesome.
You're so right. It's the seventh sense. We all know the sixth senses, intuition and things like that. We all know the five senses, our seventh sense, which we ignore that. We don't even call it that. I'm starting to call it that with my business. It's something we ignore. But we need to have that sense of self, our sense of humor, because it goes away. We're born laughing, right, Peek a boo makes you laugh. Yeah, it's simplest thing in the world. We don't analyze them all that stupid stuff.
I three stooges, honey, it's you're just laughing. It's the silliest crap ever. There's no punchlines or anything. But it's so simple. Then we make it complex because we indoctrinate children to believe you must follow and regurgitate. You regurgitate the information we give you. I can still tell you fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus Saale, the Ocean Blue, Nina Penta Sentamury I can live right.
Wow, Yeah, that was good.
What purpose does that serve me?
Right?
And it turns out he wasn't such a great guy either, like took the holiday away. We grew up a Columbus, Columbu this Italian day. Now they're going, who wha, whoa, whoa, whoa. He annihilated entire cultures. I mean literally.
Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm.
Not gonna to get into the politics. People get upset. To My point is, I'm just regurgitating what they tell me to learn. And that's what school is, yep. And for your compliance, you get an award, an award, whatever it is. Even if you go to war, you get a little metal, get a little metal. Here, do your job. We're gonna tell you who to hate, We're gonna tell you who your enemy is. You're gonna go fight for us.
And that's how the world operates. I'm saying, listen to your true sense of self, and if wants none of that, it doesn't want violence, it doesn't want to fight or be angry or raging or hate. That's not what your true self wants. But we've been taught that. So I have a program literally when I coach groups individuals to recondition to be who we really are reprogram through a programming that I've developed and including what you did earlier.
Just a little bit bit of it is shifting your vibration through the power of laughter.
There's something about vibration that is scientific. Like you would mention upfront.
The other thing you're wise about. That's exactly right. We are all energy. Yeah, yeah, that's what we are.
We are electricity in us, Like we don't plug into a wall. That's always baffled me.
And now we have false electricity guiding us. These smartphones that make it idiots.
Oh yeah, dumb phones.
I mean it's making it's it's making me into an idiot. You know what's happening is, yeah, I scroll. I'm guilty. I scroll, okay, and I late night scroll, which is not good. That's bad for it, Like give the insomnia. I mean I boom. Now what's happening is my hard drive in my head only has so much space, right, we only have someone space, so valuables have. Stuff has to leave my brain, so crap like what you have for dessert on Instagram goes in. That's what is everybody
so self obsessed? Oh, let me show you what I have my life, how beautiful. It is so now it's like now that's being programmed into me. So now everybody. So there's a new custom probably the last twenty years. I'm in the restaurant. It comes up. He goes, my name is Kad, I'll be your weight. I go, do I have to memorize your name?
Is there gonna be a talent?
You just you just replaced myself. This is a security number. Don't don't give me the specials. I'll lose my Gmail password. Gmail password pisses me off, by the way. It's always fighting with me talking about fighting. It's not strong enough. They're called me a wuss over here. They're arguing, that's my password, and they go, try a symbol, try a number, Try how's this pound pound pound jackass? But yeah, everywhere, Yeah,
that one gets right through. Yeah, of course I all know my Gmail password.
Is this the classes that you're teaching? Is that part of Laughter Heels the Laughter Heels foundation that you started that a while back?
Yeah, And that was inspired because I will tell you positive and I don't want to call anything negative, but you know I was. I've been doing comedy for years and all these people come up to me, especially Detroit. That was the first time it happened. I'll never forget Kim and say, hey, thank you so much. I just thought they were saying thanks for the laughs that night, and I said, no, really, we were told we couldn't have a child. We tried in vitro every then we
gave up. We saw your show, went home. My husband pretended he was a love master. I had a wonderful time, and we had a baby girl nine months later, right, And that's when I thought to himse, wow, that laughter is good medicine. And I thought, wow, you're not trying to have a child, You're just allowing. You're creating space, a laughter space and all that. So then I had all these other people set up, like one, I have
a photo. I should show it to you, conceived in the parking lot of the Brave Improv minutes after my show. They couldn't even wait till they got home. And there's this little girl who came out laughing. It's the funniest little picture that they sent me.
How does that make you feel when that happens?
Oh, I just love it. I love it. I embrace it because I'm saying it's not an ego thing. I go, oh, laughter works, not Craig works. Now I happen to be the messenger of the laughs. That's great, But I always tell people go wherever he needs. You might think I stink. It doesn't matter to me. Just go somewhere else and go get the laughs or do a guided laffittation. It's your choice. So and then my my child, Jared, was adopted and no breast milk. Guess where his breast milk
came from? Breton. Mindy couldn't conceive. I said, come to my show. They did. They had sex and they had baby Cooper, who was born one week different from Jared. Yes, one week. So we would go to the farmers farmers market and get Mindy's breast milk like a drug deal.
Did she ever fridge all stocked up?
She's frozen for us.
This is Jared.
This is oh yeah, because I gave them life and they give they give Jared life of you know this, uh, and it's this twenty years ago. I mean, so anyway, all to get to the story of Michael Goldberg, he wrote Cool Running His Little Giants. One of my best friends from Philly with Eagles parties everywhere. I mean, we just were bonded. He directed the Love Master movie with Farah Faws and we're in Arizona filming some of it and his wife they wanted to have a baby, Karen,
who actually was my blind date at first. He married her and so Karen says, I'm ovulating. We're in a condo about to watch our eagles actually, and I said, hey, man, do the Love Master. It works for a lot of people. It's a fertility clinic over here. They said, yeah, it's a great idea. So I said, I'll go get sandwiches. And I went and got sandwiches, came back. They were already done. I guess Love Master did his job.
Wow.
Baby Kayla was born nine months later. What yeah, So how.
Many kids is this? How many kids is this? Now?
I can't well? I five? I count five for sure.
Wow.
Conceived by guys doing the Love Master.
Do you keep in touch with them?
Well, I'll tell you the story with Golds. His name's Golds. Michael Goldberg. Oh again, a comedy guy. Really funny dude. We bonded through laughter, which is another thing we bond with our kids. I talked about this when I coaches it. Who do you bond with from your childhood people you laugh with, right, you share laughter together. That's the You don't want to hang out with some miserable gloom and
doom person, right, Yeah, although misery loves company sometimes. But anyway, a year and a half after Kayla was born, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. In the game three Months to Live. That was my moment why I'm on your show, because that was the moment I went, ah, if laughter is the best medicine, let's prove it. And I started this program in a cancer facility in the valley. He showed up for all of it. I just was making it up as I went along. I did a lot
of research. There's a lot of science that backs this up. On my new business of Laughter Works, we actually have the top neuroscience from Harvard. He's on our board now and this is all backed up. This is this serious. Take laughter seriously. I mean, it really is what it does to you for your healing process, and if anything it does, it gives you a will to live. The more you want to laugh. He took all my prescriptions. I said, hey, let's all exchange our favorite common movies,
even saying the name of the movie is funny. And fun or a quote from the movie if I say those aren't pillows, planes, trains, automobiles, and then people laugh just at the thought of that scene. If those aren't pillows, Uh huh. Anyway, how about the Bears game housekeeping? See what I mean? So you're laughing just at the thought. That's the vibration that's being exchanged between us right now. He shows up for all of it, does all the prescriptions. I say, go to comedy shows. He was so many
of my shows. He came three months to live. He lived fifteen years past that product. Fifteen years.
Oh my god, Craig, I'm gonna cry and I don't have any tissues. Now you're making me cry. Holy crap.
And he had a team of about five of us would like you know, look, he went through the chemos and stuff like that as well. But he had his will to live. You can't coach he really did, and he showed up for all of it. And then, if I may get a little people can tune away if you don't want to hear a semi crude story. But it is funny. Okay, it's a little risque. But how about you just take those things out of what you think is riskue, and just listen to this story for
what it is, the true story. He was in hospice and it was the end. Who's actually living in an old folks home at fifty years old? That's so sad, you know, to go in there. By the way, if ever, I'm in need of a self esteem boost, I can get laid in these old people's homes. I'm a studying there. They would just walk up and go, I'm taking a closet. I have no teeth, I'm perfect for you. It was unbelievable. I will I never felt like such a stud I mean wow. So anyway, that's rightly you say.
Venereal diseases are up in retirement homes and old age homes and stuff, so that is true.
Let him have fun. What the hell exactly? What else are you gonna judge them? They don't even judge anymore. Who cares anymore? At that point? While I go in there and we film this actually for a movie called Laughter Heels. I have a nonprofit called Laughter Heels, which I formed for him, and we go to hospitals, after
care facilities, wounded warriors, first responders. We help people find this joy and this laughter in their lives because they're dealing with difficult circumstances and this will shift them in no other way, no better way. So he shows up off it and then he ends up in a coma. He's literally in a coma we have where we filmed it, and I said, well can I I said, old, what can we do for you? He's just staring, literally staring in this. I was like waving my hand in front
of him. What could I do? Man? What can I do to help you? I leaned in, I said, want me to give you a handy. I never done anybody but my own. I'm really good with my own. I'll give you a handy. He came out of a coma and he goes and he laughed, shut up. I told him I was going to whack them off.
I believe that's called no. I shouldn't say it. Sorry, I'll say it.
Say it.
I think that's called handj He left off the j for my crew comedy friends.
And I didn't know that. From now on, when I tell the story, I'll make it up that I didn't say Jay. I actually said, I'll tell you what I said. I said, you want me to jerk you off? Because that's a photo. It it got put off. That's that's the big They'll call you a jayo with the accent. You're a jay o. It's the worst thing.
But he woke up. He woke up and laught, laughed, he laughed. Were there's doctors in the room that saw this happen?
Well, it was definitely one of our friends was in the room because he was filming it. And whoa Mark Ben He was a director and he yeah, he was there, and yeah, I think there's a there was a nurse there that saw this. He was just a wave in my hand. There was no way he was. And he he had been in a coma before. I remember, like years before, and when he came out of a coma,
I actually said, you could hear us, couldn't you. He goes, yeah, I can hear you in a coma that they act like they can't or they don't or whatever the case is. But anyway, he heard me and he laughed because you knew that was And he died two days later. But I'm happy and proud that it made him laugh. Oh my gosh, you know, And that's a great legacy. I'll take that one all day long. And by the way, I didn't go through with it. I didn't.
I wasn't even going to ask that, but thanks for letting us know, because I know.
Your mind, your promise, you maker, no no Jayo.
Well you know, it's interesting that you bring that up because this was leading me to my next question.
I can't imagine where Jao goes to your next question.
Don't you love that this is called the Jao segue?
Is a first? I guarantee it's a first.
How can Lynn take that and roll it into.
Something I'm waiting, I'm sitting back. Where's Lynn going with? I know she's a genius on the microphone. Let's see where this is going. Go ahead.
Well I wouldn't go that far, but thank you, I'll take it. Looking back on your career, which has been long and less curious because I don't even know if that's a word less curious, but I found stuff from you from like the early eighties and stuff. So you've been at this a long time. And if you look back on your whole career, especially with everything that you've been through, we didn't even touch on your relationship with your dad when he came back into your life. I
do believe. Yeah, yeah, there was a But what do you hope for, especially with all of these foundations, What do you hope that your legacy will be? And how do you want to be remembered in the world of comedy.
It's funny us to say that there's a difference between comedy and laughter, and that's something I feel like me finding that difference is important for the world to understand because we're divided on what makes us laugh. We're not divided when we are laughing. That's a good quote, isn't it.
That is You should put that on a T shirt.
Yeah, write that down right.
I only have a sharpie.
It's not going to come up with all these quotes. The other day it came up with seven cents.
Actually, I love it. But we're recording this so it's in there.
Yeah. I want my lega see to be For instance, I have a legacy business. Now laughter works. We're we're going to change corporate wellness and turn it on its head. And it's a huge business. And look, I've found out in life that's not about awards and rewards. I was a community or at American Comedy Awards. It's like the big it's the Oscar of Comedy. It's on ABC. It was presented by Lily Tomlin. You know, do you know
it was the loneliest night of my life? Really yeah, because I got there and I'm going, wow, first, there's no there there. Then I see people backstage. My contemporaries are shining me off. You know that night they did. I was driving around in a limo with my big award and you get imposter syndrome. And it was a really, really lonely night. But it also became a point where I could go, Okay, what is this about? Is this
about my ego? So what's the legacy? The legacy is if I can teach people and guide people into a new realm of possibility with the power of laughter, then I'm doing my job. It's not about me being rewarded. Like I know, I have a trophy next to you. I don't want to brag, but I do. I want to brag about let's see it. So I've got a couple of EM's back here, and I've got the Comedian or American Comedy Awards Supporting Actor and all this kind of stuff. But here this award right here, keep it
next to me. I won the horses ass Award and I actually reunion.
That's an ass of a horse made into an award. Holy mode.
I won this trophy the horses asked of my ex wife's family reunion from by the way your area, Massachusetts. I won that award and I deserve and I deserved and earned that reward an award.
Wow, are you still friends with your exes?
No, on one of them, for sure.
No.
I don't know that that could ever be repaired unless something happened with her like a lightning bolt, understood, wake her up into I've done my job with both. I have done my job literally, all the forgiveness, all of the amends, everything that I need to do to clean up my side. Some people I don't think are capable. You know. I used to say to to my son's I say, she puts her head to the pillow. Does
she really believe those things? Because she would accuse me of these things like a lot of women are doing. This is very sad. Whether they work the court system and they don't get punished for bringing up false things, they do not get punished whatsoever. And that stuff sticks to a guy when you hear the stuff that she would say about me costs me like a million dollars to prove my innocence. That would have gone to my children.
That's all everything I do ever do in life, call goes to kids, my kids, and that yet wives are preventing that from taking place because they take it through in this revenge system that we're in, in the family court system. It's not built for the man because we're still paying for the you know, for the nineteen fifties fathers said get my slippers, bitch of co'se. Still they think that we're still that guy. Yeah, and so if you get something attached to you, your bully, abuse her
and oh it's done. You know, that's it. I believe her. It is literally a statement you'll hear out there. Well, it's a bad situation to be in. So I can only bring my kids who I truly am. So if you say I the one, I definitely don't speak to the other one. She joined a cult, and so.
Are you serious when you say that, like, oh yeah, yeah, a literal cult.
She was literally just completely brainwashed. My kids say it too, they spoke to the police about it. Yeah, she's completely enamored with this cult leader. This woman, she just follows everything that she does. She has a podcast. It's just it's really it's heartbreaking though, to see somebody with this kind of you know, it's mental health, which again that's
what I'm helping people with his mental health. Her mental health is so far compromised by giving all of her power over to somebody where I'm saying, you have the power within you. It tap into that potency, that potency which is filled with joy and laughter, happiness, gratitude, grace. That's who we really are. And she went down this other path of greed and selfishness and you know, blew the whole family up for no reason. But in that case, there's a much better chance because first we have two
young children. It was really close. And during the fires, again my highest source and highest good, we evacuated. I invited her to the beach house that I rented, and she moved into the beach house. So there we were, you know, still divorced and still you know, in alleged battle, and we walk in the beach together and laughing and going on dunes and cartwheels and making fun of me. Of course, that's always.
Part of a that's part.
Always as Dad's always the brunt of the joke. It's great about comedies. I can think of reverse that on a stage with a microphone. But it was really beautiful and in the moment, not to say it stayed, you know there's But that's where I'm going to keep returning to. I'm going to keep returning to that true essence that I really am. My true seventh sense is my sense of humor. I'm going to keep returning to it. And
with sense of humor comes love and light. And that's that's where I hope that we could all get to obvious. All is never going to happen, but more people if we do follow this indoctrination, if you will, we're indoctrinated to be in fear. Why not be indoctrinated to look for more joy, look for more laughter, keep your laugh bit, pay attention to whoa look at how many times I laugh today. I guarantee you're gonna feel better, right.
I think that we need to call Apple immediately after this call and pitch them on the idea, because I think that is genius. I also think that you're genius because of what you're doing with your craft, because it helps so many people. And the question I have for you is you know, you're giving of yourself and people want to get what you're giving and have it work.
And I've had so many people tell me through my life when when I would say to them, you know, happiness is a choice, and you have to force yourself and teach yourself. You have to learn behavior. And if you learn a different behavior and you've been doing it for so long, yeah it's hard, but you can't. The old saying people don't change is I think it's bullshit. I think people agree with you hard on something.
And here we can hang out more. For God's sake, we need to hang out more. You're in complete alignment. Actually, one of my books is called Get Out of Line and Into Alignment.
Well, that's a chiropractor, you know.
This is alignment with your true self. You're out of these people's lines, right, And that's so important. Even the topics of your podcast, it's out of line. That's I'm not in line with them telling you to pop a drug for your answer, right, or eat something bad for you. That's you're in alignment with yourself, your true self, which is probably why you still look twenty two years old and you're not twenty two anymore, I know it. I googled Craig.
Thanks so much for being on Comedy Save Me, and thank you for the joy of laughter and the therapy that you continue to spread and give everyone. Because I think you should be a doctor of laughter.
Life has changed, but you and I haven't. Can't wait to hang with you when I come back east. There you come out west, all right, Greig.
Thank you