04-29-25 Interview - Comedian Dusty Slay

Now, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, I happen to know that Friday night there's a very funny comedian coming to the Paramount. And his name is Dusty Sligh and he joins us now from a rather cool looking office. Who's that just over your shoulder in that in that picture right there? Dusty?

All right, Oh, this is Steve Martin. A lot of people think that's Jeffrey Epstein. They think I would have Jeffrey Epstein.

On my wall. For some reason, Steve Martin I.

Was going a little bit like bad picture of George W. Bush from when he was younger. I was a little bit confused, Yeah are you big Steve Martin? A weird to Yeah, what are you big? Steve Martin fan?

Yeah? I like Steve Martin a lot.

And somebody gave me this sign though, and I just thought it was a cool It's like a road sign, but uh, it's spray paint and I think it's cool.

And I got this these horses at a at a yard sale. I'm into that.

I don't want my I want my studio to look kind of weird cool.

Well, that's funny that you say that, because I have a little side project where we do a web show and we are actually building our entire set based on items from thrift stores. We feel really passionate about giving new life to ugly things that other people said they didn't want anymore, so we are bringing them all into art. So I have a great deal of appreciation for that. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up. Oh, I'm sorry, tell me a little bit about where you grew up.

Well, I grew up in Opa like Alabama. This shirt, hey, I got a little stain on it. That was it wasn't showing it. But it's Opal like Alabama. It's a great place. I grew up in a trailer park, you know, and I had a lot of fun. Not sure why they call it a park.

You know, you know what I mean.

There was no rides in there, and we had like a water slot, you know, no water slides. We had like a slipping slot, you know, an old tarp with some dish detergent on it.

Well, my life was good.

I liked growing up in the trailer park. My dad also lived on a farm, so I liked that too. I got a double dose of the country life. And then I moved to Charleston, South Carolina for ten years, where I waited tables and was an alcoholic and now I live in Nashville for the last ten years sober, but well relatively sober.

I don't drink. And then I have kids.

So you've gone from alcoholic server to relatively famous comedian in pretty short order in the grand scheme of things. I mean, when did you decide you wanted to go into comedy.

Well, I was doing comedy in Charleston, you know, just messing around, just kind of something to do while we were drinking, and I started to get good at comedy. And then I quit drinking and I got really good, and then I was like, oh, I can do this. Maybe I can do this for a living. And uh, and that's what I've been doing.

I realized I have a red light over here.

I couldn't figure out why my arm was red and why my I'm so red.

But there's a light over here. That makes more sense now.

I thought you were just tanning while we were doing the interview. I wasn't gonna bust your chops or anything about it. And everybody has their own INTERVIEWIY regime.

Yeah, I don't have a window in here, but I got you know, I got a plant, so I'm a plant light going.

Uh, let me ask you when you just because you brought this up. I probably wouldn't have asked this question, but you just brought it up. You you were a drinker, You were an alcoholic by your own admission, and then you decided to quit drinking while you were doing comedy. Was there ever any fear that it was the booze that was making you funny and you were going to struggle being sober? Because I've talked to multiple artists who have had a really tough time with that transition.

Well, I, you know, was not a professional comic at the time, and I wasn't really worried about it because I was like, I'm pretty sure I'm having a good on but I'm pretty sure alcohol is wrecking my life. I'm having a blast, but I don't think this is going well.

And I was like, I need to stop doing this.

So I was willing to give up comedy and whatever else, you know, just to you know, survive and live.

A good life.

And it just so happened that when I quit, I did think about quitting comedy. I was like, I don't know maybe because all my jokes were about drinking. They were all about being overweight and being an alcoholic. And then I quit drinking and I lost weight really fast, so I was like, well, none of this makes sense, so maybe I'll just quit comedy. But you know, I was still running an open mic, and then I just started to notice that I was able to write jokes a lot faster, and they were better jokes.

And I was like, oh, maybe my whole life is just going to be better now.

Amazing how that turns out sometimes, doesn't it. Where do you get where do you get your inspiration for your humor?

Well, I like to say, for the record, though I still support people drinking if people can handle.

It, yeah, and have fun doing it.

I support it because I wish I could drink, but I don't wish it enough to do.

It again, because I know it affected my life negatively. But I don't know where I get inspiration from for jokes from.

I mean, I you know, I just write down things all the time that I think are funny, and sometimes or actually a lot of times, I write something down and I'm not able to really make it funny for the audience yet, But I keep it written down, and then somehow I'll come up with a whole hour of comedy, and then i'll record that hour, and then when I'm like, all right, what do I do next, I'll pull up old notebooks and I'll see where I wrote that joke, and I'll go, oh, let me try that now, and

Somehow.

You're very low key on stage, like you're you're the at You're the opposite of a manic comic. And I think it's it's like catches you off guard as a member of the audience a little bit. And is that is that on purpose or is that just an extension of your natural personality.

Yeah, I think it's just just me, you know. I mean I think that I change a little bit on stage. It's not intentional, but I think something happens to me, you know, walk out on stage, I have the microphone, Like I am a little different, but you know, I'm still a little fidgety.

I'm fidgetty now, I'm fidgetty on stage.

I just think there's something about like talking, it like gets me going in a way.

But I'm still low energy.

So I feel like it has to go somewhere, So it goes to my hands, and I touch a lot of things, and I touch my glasses and my hat.

So you you are, I mean, you're you're comedy being poor in the trailer park. You've you've embraced this kind of redneck Alabama sort of persona. And I used to work with Larry the Cable Guy many years ago, but I was surprised to find out he's actually from Nebraska and not at all rednack, you know, just like it was shocking to me. Is this who you are on and off stage, same dude?

Well, yeah, I mean Larry the Cable Guy told me that he grew up on a pig farm in Nebraska.

So I'm like, not southern, but may he's still redneck. Yeah, I mean, you know, I grew up in a trailer park.

I mean I moved you know, we moved away when I was fifteen. And I'm forty two now, you know, so that was a long time ago. But yeah, I mean I was gardening early. I have had a lot of radio calls today, and in between radio calls, I'm gardening, you know, And I was building some flower pots, you know, and I still build like a redneck in a way. I don't measure anything. I just I eye it out. I marked it with my fingernail and then I cut it. Nothing that I build is straight, but it holds up.

It looks okay.

I wouldn't want to go into a business where I built for other people, but I build my own stuff all the time, and I get into it. I'm like, you know, I'm like artsy redneck, you know, like I you know, I definitely grew up, you know the way I grew up.

But I don't know. I think I caught an.

Artsy gene somewhere in the family line, you know what I mean. And I'm like, you know, I'm into.

You're naissance redneck.

Yeah, I'm into movies and music and you know, I like, you know, I like cheese and you know, culture things.

You know.

When I when I drank, I like to go to some nice bars, and you know, of course the redneck side always came out. Eventually I would go in and have a glass of wine. But it's later when I'm doing shots of bourbon that I'm getting kicked out of the bar and losing it on people.

Well, I mean, you did say bourbon and not southern comfort. So I'm docking you a couple redneck points just for that right there. But I won't document.

I will tell you that I don't even know what.

Yeah, I'd never got too into what the liquors were, right, I just knew there was a there was brown liquor, and then there was like tequila, and there was vodka, and I liked them all. But I never really knew the difference in bourbons and whiskeys and Southern comfy. I just knew that it's brown liquor and I'm into it.

Southern comfort tastes like cough syrups, So if you don't remember a distinct liquor tasting like cough syrup, you may have avoided it successfully, unlike me, who I got some Southern comfort stories that I'm not proud of, to be perfectly honest.

Oh yeah, yeah, not my best work.

There used to be a bar on James Island, South Carolina, called the Oasis, which sounds very nice, but it's on an island and it says oasis. But it was like a really crumby bar and everybody you could still smoke cigarettes inside, and they would have on like Wednesdays, they would have buy one get two free bourbons, and so we would do triple bourbon with a little splash of coke, and that's what we would drive.

Don't you look back on that and just wonder how you're still alive? Honestly, you know, you look back. I look back at I call it my lost twenties, right, my lost decade.

Right.

I look back, and there was multiple times where, if not for the grace of God, things could have gone completely differently. And I am so grateful that number one, camera phones weren't a thing when I went through that, and number two that for some reason, I made it out on the other side okay and unscathed and with some brain cells intact. So let me ask you one more question about because your style and you're from Alabama, do you play better to crowds in certain parts of

I don't know, you know, it's it just depends, you know.

I think my comedy, like from from hour to hour, depending on what I'm working on, changes a little bit. But you know, I do really well in the Southeast, I do really well in the Midwest, but I also do really well in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, and I think that Oregon in Washington State is a bit redneck.

Outside of those cities too.

And a lot most of the people in Seattle and Portland look like you, long hair, trucker hat, t shirt on. So you're one of them. You're just like a transplanted one of them from far away. Dusty is going to be this weekend at the Paramount. You can get tickets. There are still some left. I just looked. I also on the blog today, I put his longer stand up, a film, whatever you want to call it. It's fantastic.

Oh many times. I love Denver. I love Colorado altogether. I've driven around a lot of Colorado. It's great. I love it well.

I think we have great crowds for comedy and they're gonna love you this weekend at the Paramount. So I appreciate you making time for me today.

Yeah, I appreciate you having me here. This is great.

All right, Dusty, thank you so much for your time today.

Man, thank you.

All right.

That is Dusty Slay. Go see him. At the Paramount Theater this weekend, and h yeah, that's Friday Night. He's got one show Friday night at seven pm, and there are some good, good seats available