My Standup Promoter - Andy Levitt

So like the first time I booked a proper tour, I was like, let's do it for just two months. That doesn't seem long. Sixty days, but I go. But I don't want any nights off, So sixty days, sixty shows. But then it started selling well and so we did two shows every night, So one hundred and twenty shows in sixty days.

It was crazy.

Pasha Tosh show up, Tosh Show Show Tosh Show Eddie, you hit him with a hoodie? Who I'm fired up today?

Why are you fired up?

The fans of this show that want it both ways are driving me insane when people get upset about the money I spend on something. A few weeks ago, it was I mentioned how much it costs to line my drawers throughout my house. I know it's absurd, okay, but I think it's interesting to share with you the real numbers.

They're gonna ruin it for everybody.

You're gonna ruin it for everybody. Just enjoy that. It's a world you'll probably never be a part of.

Exactly.

Let's be clear. I know where I came from. I moved fourteen times before I was twelve years old. Then when I was twelve years old, I moved to Florida, Titusville, Florida. Our home cost around seventy five thousand dollars. Three bedroom, two baths, four kids, two parents, great home. They owned it for thirty years ish and then they sold it for ninety two thousand or something like that.

I killed it.

Oh my goodness, what a huge return on investment. That's what you get in Florida. So I grew up in that world. I appreciate, you know, everything that I've received. But you know easy by the way, I got so angry, EDDI, you're gonna like this. We're going to talk comedy now, Okay, Like every other comics podcast. I brought my calendars from back in the day.

Oh it's great.

Oh man, I found them. So we're going to go through my calendars. This is so you can see what I was making and where I was. This is back in nineteen ninety eight. All right, I was at Loonyes in Colorado Springs from the twenty third through the twenty seventh? Would you make for five nights? Two shows a night? I made a total of four hundred dollars.

Wow.

And then on the thirtieth, which was Yam Kapor, I have a note to call Bobby Jewel down there. That's the owner of Side Splitters in Tampa, Florida. He was a comic slash comedy club owner. Then in October the seventh through the eleventh, then was at the Zanies in Nashville, Tennessee.

All right, what'd you make there?

I made five hundred dollars for a week of work. The following week I got to I was in Tennessee staying in Tennessee. So I'm in Tennessee for two weeks. Then I was at uh Comedy Catch in Chattanooga. Guess how much I made for that week? Four hundred and fifty dollars. Not friends with that person. Don't remember who it was, but I remember that at the end of the week he gave me a stern talking to and told me that I need to stop making jokes about

Who's the funniest.

Man in America? What was his name? Oh, Dick Gregory, Dick James Gregory, James James Gregory. I remember making fun of him on stage and the club owner pulled me aside and said, don't you ever make fun of him. November nineteen ninety eight. Oh, I was doing a run, a run of creative gigs. Okay, so now, creative gigs they were the comedy zones. They were in the Southeast. You would do one a night in a different venue. One night you wouldn't get paid, and they're like, just

Oh wow, uh huh, fun week?

Would you make four hundred dollars? Four hundred dollars man? I was living it up.

Oh.

I also made an appearance December seventh. I popped into comedy Traffic School oh and did a surprise set. You know that is, guys, when you'd get a ticket you could go to traffic school, but in Florida they would have comedy Traffic School, which was taught by comedians that had failed. But some of them were my friends, so they'd be like, Hey, come by, I have to teach for four hours and you can just do a set

That's good.

New Year's Eve nineteen ninety He ate bonkers. Huh, that's a good gig. Joe san Felipo, owner of that club. It was in three D's, which was Dennis Scott's restaurant. He was with the Orlando Magic at the time. Oh man, guess what they paid me?

No clue, they didn't. Oh they didn't.

Didn't make it, didn't pay me. Well. This one's sad. January nineteen ninety nine, From the fifth through the tenth, I was in Side Splitters in Tampa, Florida with John Pinnett.

Oh, rip, what'd you make?

Five hundred total? But he probably gave me a few extra bucks. Oh. The twenty seventh of January nineteen ninety nine was the first time I performed in Los Angeles. I flew out to do a show at the Melrose Improv Nice. Uh huh, no money, so like, get off me when I fucking tell you what stuff cost? Check this out. April nineteen ninety nine, got to do a show on the fifteenth for e my first like television. I was doing some wild on thing. I don't know what it was.

You get the money in there for that.

A couple hundred bucks seven No, it says seven hundred dollars. Seven hundred dollars they paid me. That's pretty good. April nineteen ninety nine, the twenty fourth I opened for the Beach Boys. What do you think the Beach Boys paid me in nineteen ninety nine to open for them? Two hundred and fifty dollars Speech boys. Yeah, well, this is a big date. June first, nineteen ninety nine. Guess what I did.

June first, nineteen ninety nine. I think a college gig.

Nope, moved to Los Angeles. What yep? And got to do a show that night, hosted an open mic night, got paid ready for it? Yeah, seventy five bucks. First night in la I made seventy five bucks. Yeah, this is not bad. That's not bad at all. Nop same month, back to Florida. On the twenty fifth and twenty sixth of June nineteen ninety nine, got to open in Melbourne for Larry the Cable Guy. Okay, yep, two hundred bucks.

God, what's happening?

Two hundred bucks. August nineteen ninety nine, August fourth through the eighth, Tulsa, Oklahoma open for Todd Glass.

Okay yep?

Five fifty six hundred bucks. Yeah, Todd made sure I got paid. I'm gonna I'm not gonna stop. I'm gonna go through this. This is this is good stuff. What's the Imperial Palace?

Oh, that's a casino in Vegas. What was probably a couple of them, but.

It was this one I think is in Biloxi, Mississippi. Track I made for eight show. It appears eight shows, seven hundred bucks. That's not bad if I'm in a casino, because you know I won on the tables. Also on the twenty first of that month, I had my cable installed between ten and two.

Uh, that's big.

I want to know what I paid for that? No, no, no, that's not written on here. October nineteen ninety nine, October fifth, I shot Comedy Central's premium Blend Who. That was the beginning of the relationship that blossomed into one of the greatest TV shows the network had ever put on the air. South Park.

Hey.

I opened for Todd Glass on the twentieth of October nineteen ninety nine. Guess what I got paid? Fifty dollars. How about that? Okay, here's a big gig. Nineteen ninety nine, November twelfth, I was at FSU. They were going to pay me five thousand, five hundred dollars. I said they were going to. They canceled me before I flew out. Would have been my biggest show today. Canceled.

That's a big one.

Yeah, it's stune, God, it's stung. Oh. Here New Year's December nineteen ninety nine. I'm opening for Lewis black back at Uncle Funny's. Did five shows, got one thousand dollars. There you go, Yeah, chut ching. I'm not done, guys, I'm not done. Year two thousand January the twenty fifth through the thirtieth, I'm opening for Dave Chappelle with Cap City. I'm in Cap City in Austin, Texas show. Yep. Guess

Yeah.

But that was where my you know, my love of Tahoe started because I would drive over to Sierra Tahoe every day. I would snowboard and then drive back and do the shows at night, all for a week at the Best Western at the Punchline there. I had a free hotel room and I got five hundred dollars. So don't And that's only twenty four years ago. The guys get up my ass because I pay too much for

Wow?

For two weeks I get paid four thousand, four hundred dollars. Guess what They decided to only pay me two thousand, two hundred dollars after I did the shows. Yeah, he still owes me. I'm sure he'll make right. Ah one of my favorite places to perform. Perform there with Eddie open for Eddie there. This wasn't the week that I opened for you, but I was May twenty fourth through the twenty eighth in Appleton, Wisconsin, working for Cliffy, working for Cliff and Pat.

Don't make short, Pat, I won't.

Pat was working there at that time. They had a pitch on the twenty first in June with MTV again with rod Asa again passed on me, always passed on me. Eh probably made the right choice. I can't stop this man. Oh August two thousand, from the eighth to the thirteenth, I was at Catch a rising star in Reno, Nevada. There you go, my first time in Reno back then, oh man, eight hundred and fifty bucks. They treated me right, Yeah,

They brought it on themselves, Daniel.

They brought on themselves completely act like, you know, to act like I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. All right, let's get into this episode. I'm no longer putting hundreds of thousands of miles on my nineteen ninety one Honda Civic SI black hatchback with the moonroof bass cannon for one hundred bucks a night. Okay, Now, I got jets and tour buses full of dogs and kids, and today's guest is always there making sure Team Tosh

Things are good doing? All right?

This is a big get for me having you on the show. Andy. Do you believe in ghost I do not?

Okay, but real quick, I'm shocked that most comics say that the Comedy Store is haunted and they've always had these experiences.

Nothing's haunted in the Comedy Store is just dirty. That's just the sound of seamen sticking to your feet as you walk through. Let's start with some simple stuff. You grew up in Baltimore. I know you're a big sports fan. Colts are Ravens Ravens. Do you pronounce it Baltimore or Baltimore?

Baltimore?

Lobster Crab Crab is the Wire the greatest television series of all time.

It's up there Breaking Bad is up there too. I think, Okay, are you sick right now? I'm not.

I always accuse Andy of being sick. I don't for whatever reason. Whenever he's on tour with me, I'm like, are you sick? And He's like, no, I'm not. I'm just getting over something. I'm not contagious. I'm like, God, damn it.

There was one time I was pretty deathly sick on the road.

Yeah, but you weren't in my bus. You know you were in. That was a baller move I had. I had two buses, one for the openers, or as I like to refer to them, the riff raff. All right, we'll get into Please describe to our listeners exactly what your job entails, because even I'm a little in the dark.

Here, the biggest things are just like routing the tours, which I really enjoy. So it's kind of putting the puzzle together of how the tours come together, what cities they want to be in, what cities that common want to be in a what day, and routing it out be is it ten shows, thirty shows? And then it's negotiating the deals with the artist representatives, and then it's making sure the tickets sell so the artists can make

And sometimes you're actually even just with the artists throughout the entire tour.

Yeah, we you know me personally, and you know Live Nation Comedy. We really try to be as hands on as possible and you know, take care of the artists as much as possible.

And so for people listen it. So you work for Live Nation and you basically only handle comics that can sell. What's the smallest venues that you're dealing with.

We do shows in some clubs that have like four hundred seats or so okay, and we also have comedy clubs. You know. We have the Punchline in San Francisco.

Uh huh, and that's owned by Live Nation.

The Punchline in Philadelphia, the Punchline in Sacramento as well.

My first experience with the Punchline was in San Francisco was such a big deal to get it, and I got like you get like a shit week when you're first getting there. It was like a Thanksgiving week, and me and Sean Rouse went up there. Rip to Sean, he's dead. He was an amazing comedian and he just like literally blew me off stage every night, like he was so much better than me.

I hung out with Molly actually a few weeks ago. She says, hello, by the way.

Ah, Welly's a wonderful woman up in San Francisco with tattoos of Dave Matthews and lyrics on our artist. That's right now this interview you were I don't know if you were hesitant. I certainly know your boss Jeff was, because you're privy to such information about artists, and they're just like making sure that you can't talk about people. So at times I'll allude to things and you can just shut me up if I'm going down the wrong band.

I went to college at American University in DC. Is that a good school, I'd say so. And I was a broadcast journalism major. So I thought I was going to go down that track and wanting to be sportscaster.

What people don't know about these campus activity boards is, like you said, you're an eighteen year old and all of a sudden, you're getting to play exactly with budgets that are so much larger than anybody ever really knows, exactly like what it costs to bring real entertainers to school, and then they give you, I mean, what kind of budgets were your school's letting you play.

We had a pretty healthy budget when we had half a million. I think it might have been a little less than but for the whole course of the year, you had the program something in the fall, so you just couldn't blow it on one event. No, I know, but yeah, overall it was like budgeting and yeah, we could get a big show in the fall, big show in the spring, that sort of thing.

But you know, I'm in the Naco Hall of Fame. I didn't know that, but well I am. So that's these organizations that book entertain hainters into colleges, and I did a ton and ton of colleges. I remember once talking to my good friend Nick Schwartz and outside of the Melrose improv This is when we're kids, and I was like, I'm doing about one hundred colleges a year and he's like, oh, I'm doing about six. And I go, oh, what you gotta do more? I go, I go the

Anyway, So yeah, so I got involved in it with d in DC that way and then you know, fulfilled my major and did all my requirements. But I really kind of got turned off by the whole journalism side and all that and just wanted to get into the entertainment side. And when I graduated, I was like, well, this is fun. Let's just I don't want to get a real job. And then I kind of morphed in the real job and just kind.

Of do you feel like you have a real job now?

I do. Yeah, I mean, but I enjoy it.

But you don't know, you no longer love it?

No, no, no, I still love it. I tell my friends like when an athlete retires, like they know it's time, Like it's still fun for me. So I know if it's like going.

What are you going to go to next?

I don't know. That's yeah, but I still love it. I still love it. Stressful days at times, but I still love it.

You've got some good comedy friends.

Absolutely, yeah, that we're you know, just I think people don't realize like how how many people are involved in making a show happen, So like just friends within the office and the venues and marketing, ticketing, production, So it's you know, you become you become friends with all these people because you're just around them.

And some of them some of them not friends, some of them borderline hostel.

Things can get things can get crazy, sometimes stressful situations.

But because you're dealing with entertainers that come from all walks of life. I walk off stage, you're there. I actually refuse now to even take a settlement sheet. I might just email me like the Moneies get wired. Yeah, but there are still these performers that want a briefcase full of cash.

There's yeah, I mean I think it's a little probably not as common anymore, but some.

People, but it still happens, doesn't it.

Yeah.

More on the music side, i'd say, oh really, yeah, I think so.

But there's there's definitely a few comics that are like, no, no, give me you know, six figure amounts in cash after I get off stage, and then they're just it's just crazy to me. Yeah, And there's been times where you didn't have the cash? No, or is that not true?

Not true?

Okay, how many people have mistaken you for the talent's accountant?

You know, it's probably happened a few times.

So so one tour I did. When you get to the level of needing your expertise. It's like it's a big deal. And comics career you go from comedy clubs to theaters. And so once I got to that point, I was like, oh, this is going to disappear any moment. Little did I know that I'm bulletproof. But so like the first time I booked a proper tour, I was like, Okay, let's do it for just two months. That doesn't seem long. Sixty days, but I go, but I don't want any

It was crazy. Do you remember Julie that we had out on the road for She was.

Trying to fly to every city every day commercially and it wasn't working. So then she's like, I'm just going to run an RV And she was just driving behind her bus and an RV. I guess, and should have I invited her on the bus? Is that what I should have done?

Probably? Yeah, we still talk about it to this day.

I mean, I didn't know protocol.

No, it's fine, it's I mean, there's no right answer. But it was it was a lot of dates.

Well, I remember she had got one of her friends to like drive the RVY and she was trying to sleep, but like an RV is not meant for like sleeping and going ninety miles an hour down the highway.

And it wasn't her fault. But then I think like the RV that they rented somehow got like infested with bugs or something like. It was just so it just became like a nightmare of a thing.

That was the same tour that my manager Christie Smith ended up breaking rule one on the tour bus o. Well yeah, because she and she blamed it on the lobster, but we all ate the same lobster rules. And then all of a sudden she was just blowing up the bathroom, flying down the highway. Oh, I was disturbing. Hey did I push you in the ocean Halifax?

No, that I think you pushed Andrew. I vividly remember like that those days in Halifax.

So I remember Halifax too, And I here's what I remember that we that we I remember crapping my pants on a hike that I remember, But also I remember we asked you to take a photo as we called you shaky Andy, because yeah, you were trembling.

I was trembling, and I was like, and then you later found out, Yeah, that was the shortly thereafter, I found out I had a lot of other symptoms, and I found out that it's type two diabetic, and my blood sugar was just completely out of kilter at right a moment. So so everybody's making fun of me, and then I realized that was the condition that was causing that. Now I'm reversed in, very healthy.

But what you're telling me is that my mocking yes saved your.

Life exactly, exactly. Yeah, but that day was crazy because I remember we went on that hike and I was so out of shape and just everything that I just looked like you would have thought it was like a death march or something. And I gave I gave Pete a picture that I found from that day, Oh Man, of me, you and full Sharon at.

Full Sharon, good dude, good stuff. The big college tour that you and I did. Everyone was worried about you because you were deathly sick. The whole time you needed to leave, You're like, listen, I am going to die. So you left, and then you brought this other guy aboard that dressed like a Would you describe how he dressed.

Like casualfari casualfari?

This guy like he's still doing his thing. Yeah.

He His diet is concerning too.

I'm not sure about his diet weekend.

He only would eat it raising canes. Have you ever tried stand up?

I actually have never tried it, But I did write a lot in college, and I never had the balls to give it a shot.

So you have a journal.

I wish I still had it. I had it.

Give me that journal I could get at least five new minutes out of it.

I had, I had five minutes at the time, but I just never went with anything.

Has Louis c k ever masturbated in front of negative on a tour bus? Does Kevin Hart have to sit in a child's seat?

I don't work on Kevin's tours. I can't answer it.

Were you in charge of making sure Dimitri Martin had an easel on every show.

That's on his rider? Yes, if if in fact it's part of the show, then yes, we had to make sure it was there.

How's my rider is very.

Uh, You're one of the more simple riders out there, which is great in terms of like hospitality needs. It's actually become like a kind of a joke. But it's funny.

What's the what's the joke?

Oh No, it's just like there's not a lot on there. It's like for the longest, for all the years we've born the it's like bottle of water and a candle. Yeah, well, now a scented candle. And it's very very important that the candle is like a good.

Candle, right, it can't be a fucking glade.

You're like TVs or no.

No, I want like a locally made nice candle, and then I collect I use him in the green room and then when I get uh, when I get home, I have a whole stack of candles from from being on tour, and I don't have to eye candles because that's annoying.

Oh yeah. On the previous tour, I remember like all the cities of just trying to make sure everybody had a nice candle. We want to, you know, to make sure some places like it was harder to find like a nice candle shop, so we would like, you know, we would find a place and then just like buy them out. Tell Andrew Lantuck back in the day. If you like get just buy twelve of them.

You know, that's a stupid Well. Now here's another thing that a lot of people don't know about artists is they can put whatever they want in their rider. The artists themselves are paying for it, like it's coming out of an expense. Correct. So it's like people always say, oh, can you believe they wanted a tiger backstage or whatever the nonsense is. It's like, well, yeah, I don't want to pay for that, so yeah, I'll have some water and a candle and some celery.

Yeah, the veggie tray was kind of an added that got added.

That's not even for me. That's because if if Todd Glass or somebody's with me got it, they freak out. Which comedian has the worst fan base?

No, I can't answer that.

Drawid Carmichael opened for me. We were in Hawaii together. Yeah, so we ran in a beautiful house in Hawaii right on the beach for a few days, I don't know, a week. He never once left his room.

Yeah, I recall that too. Is I love Gerard, But yeah, that was kind of the strain that was, like, enjoy Hawaii, you know.

We never made He did enjoy it, I know he did. We never saw him. He never came out of his room.

You And there was also actually when we did it, when we did Maui, he was on stage crushing opening and there was, like I'll never forget, there was like a fight that broke out in the theater, like somebody was got thrown off the balcony. It was crazy.

You know.

I have had a few fights breakout in the audience during my shows, and I have I've gotten to a point my career where like I don't even care. I don't even want to acknowledge it. I'm like, whatever, I'll just keep talking to the people.

That are in the front. Yeah, let's to deal with it.

Yeah, but security is garbage for the most part at these venues. I was on stage at one time and somebody stormed me on the stage and no one ever stopped them.

Yeah, they finally did. But luckily I don't think that person was coming the leg hurt you in any way. He's just a crazy person.

But yeah, so will you negotiate with my agent? By the way, do you do you enjoy negotiating with Stacy?

She she can be hugh. She can definitely be tough at times to make my life a little crazy, but we get along well.

So is there actually any hostility toward her ever?

No, I mean sometimes it gets it gets Uh.

Do you have to tell her, hey, knock it off and let's just talk about me personally because you're allowed to. If she's like demanding this and you're like he's not worth are you yelling like he's not worth that?

No? No, I don't. I don't think so.

How do you haggle? How do you haggle her down?

I just know it's it's just trying to state the facts of what I believe in. The risk involved and all that.

Stuff is there is there a lot of risks with me.

Putting up the expenses and all that.

So I try to stay in my lane. No, totally in venues. I'm not trying to play things that I can't sell my you know people, I have said this before, but like, I try to stay in the fifteen hundred you know, maybe at the max forty five hundred seats. That's my sweet spot because I don't want to do a lot of promotion. That's really it. What's your favorite cities to work in? Well? I guess.

Cities and theaters. I guess, but like I love Chicago. Chicago Theater is an amazing theater.

It's too big, the ceilings are too high.

I still like it.

It is pretty.

Seattle, the Paramount I like a lot, the Masonic, and San Francisco. I like the Bay Area. The Bay is great. The Ryman in Nashville is cool too.

I love the Ryman.

That's a good Yeah, that's a great theater. I mean, just the intimacy and it feels cool. Yeah, the Mother Church they call it.

I mean these theaters are some of them. The older they are, the more beautiful they are, the more despicable backstage is and and anyone over six feet tall is going to have their head just blasted off over and over. I never care about these the like I don't go to sound check.

I just but there are certain theaters that you had a did like Radio City mean anything that you know. No, so some people have like the bucket list of venue.

No bucket list. Yeah, and also like whenever they want to like give me a tour of the theater, like oh we need to, We'll bring you back down to the basement and what's the Georgia one the Fox there Fox, Yeah, don't they They like they brag about having like the first air conditioner.

They had an air conditioner before the White House.

Right, But it's because it's in Georgia. We's hot.

Right.

What's the worst market in America to celtickets?

And that's a tough question. I think it depends on who the artist is. And I'm always a proponent though, of the colder the venue or the colder of the market. That's when you should be there when it's freezing, like people like in you know, Duluth, Minnesota, only have x amount of like sunlight and nice weather. So I think something might sell better there in February than it would in August.

You one of the greatest comics stand up performing Brian Reagan is a good friend of yours.

Yeah, the best.

You travel with him constantly.

I used to do still work with him, but I used to be on the road constantly.

Yeah, every venue for six six years. Yeah, sixty shows plus a year.

Yeah, definitely more than sixty, probably seventy eighty.

That's a lot.

It was a lot, but it was I mean it was a great life experience and cool to travel all fifty see all fifty states Canada, and it was really cool to see all the venues because if you see the venues, then you kind of know, all right, this comedian might work here, this comedian might not work here. This venue is good for this reason, this venue is not good for this purpose, that sort of thing.

Did Brian like like you as a person or no?

I think so. I think you'll have to have him one next No, I don't have comics on that.

Okay, all right, you were you were on the road with Brian Reagan and audio issues.

Well, when you do as many shows as we've done there, you know every once in a while there's gonna be a faux power two. But yeah, I was doing a show with Brian and Fargo, North Dakota.

Which a lot of people think is like like a tiny city, but it's the largest city in North Dakota.

Agreed. I think it's completely underrated. It's a cool town.

Yeah, I have no issue with it.

Yeah, we're doing the show, sold out show and Dennis Reagan, his brother, is opening and Dennis goes on stage to start the show and he does a few lines, but then all of a sudden, the mic cuts out, So Dennis just immediately walks off.

And Dennis got a little bit of an attitude. It probably wasn't thrilled, not.

At all yet. Okay, So Dennis walks right off stage. So Brian's like, we need somebody to like go out there and just keep talking to make sure it works. You know, we can't have this happen again. So kind of like all eyes appeer on me. So I go out this is your big break. I go out there in front of all these people and I just say, all right, we're just gonna I'm gonna keep talking to

Oh yeah, gotcha.

So I'm just like, we got to get to get out of here.

You were to Bill Cosby's first comeback show. After all the rape allegation is true or false?

No? False?

Would you have any interest in promoting a tour with Cosby and Hannibal Burst together? No? No calling it like both sides. Do you work outside of the US?

Yes? I think that. You know, that's becoming more and more of a business now, you know, with Netflix and streaming platforms and comedy specials in general. It's just yeah, things are becoming just more universal now.

No, it's so much you have to travel so much farther but you did.

You did some shows Abraad, We did Australians. Yeah, but that was only so I could watch tennis. And there's a lot of people that do that. They build a vacation out of it. That's the way that that's the way to do it.

No, I refuse to travel anywhere on my own dime. Right, do you take vacations?

I do. I've been a lot better about it over the past few years.

And you're taking some crazy trips.

Yeah, like in December when the business kind of slows down a little bit, I kind of try to get away and do cool, cool shit it. I guess I did Patagonia one year.

How did you do in Patagonia? Where you did? You do some big hikes?

Yeah, huge hikes. Yeah, Toros del pay nationally.

Because I mean Califax reminder that we walked a half a mile and he almost die. Yeah, much healthier. Now let's talk about COVID. There were no live shows.

Yeah, it was pretty pretty Narl.

Did you did you go, Oh my goodness, my career is over.

I mean, I think we all knew we were going to come back, but we just didn't know when how.

Much did Live Nation lose dollars that year.

No idea, no idea billions, I have no idea, but like I mean, I think I think the company did an incredible job trying to take care of as many people as they could under the circumstance.

Did you do like, what are those dumb like zoom stand up shows?

Well, I did one of them. Actually, I booked a Zoom comedy show and I booked Tom Poppell on and uh, he actually did fairly. He did better than I thought it was going to be. But it was weird to just see people in the boxes just like laughing at this that he was doing from like his living room, you know. But we we did do some shows. I mean, we helped produce all the Chappelle shows in the Cornfields that he did in Ohio.

And you and Chappelle drove not a tour bus, right in a minivan.

It was one of his first shows back and.

Back, meaning after he kind of quit kind of the entertainment business after Comedy Central show, et cetera.

Yeah, some time went by and then he decided he wanted to play the Filmore in Detroit, very cool theater. I said, He's going to do that show, and then he was going to do three in Toronto. So I went to the show. Everything went great, and then I was like, all right, i'll see you tomorrow in Toronto. My flight gets in at like eleven am or whatever, you know, and he's like, whoa, I'm driving tonight. So I thought, you know, you're coming with me, and I'm like,

Nice. Was it nice minivans?

Yeah?

It was all right, yeah, let me see he eats town and country, I think, so, yeah, Okay.

Four and a half five hour drive to Toronto, but about that last hour it was really rough. We were both pretty exhausted. So once we got the Toronto, the shows great shows. Kind of the funny story that happened that in Toronto you're not allowed to smoke in the venues, and Dave smokes on stage, as many people know, and

Did he get the mayor?

He got the mayor, and the mayor was like, I'm glad you're here, but you cannot smoke on stage. So he didn't smoke on stage. Then the irony goes a few months later, sadly that mayor was the mayor that smoked some other things. He's a crackhead and he has since passed away, which is said, but.

That part is sad, Yeah, But the part about the crackhead telling the guy you can't smoke.

A cigarette, the irony there is pretty would have.

Dave been allowed to smoke crack on stage?

Probably? No, I think everything is off any version.

Yeah, yeah, I always give my I guess something, but you don't.

Really.

Nothing in my house is something I think you would want. But I still have a few things. This I want you to have. This is this is unused. These are earbuds. They're they're made to Christy Smith. They have her name, the cheap motherfucker at Comedy Central that like took over after like he fires everybody and gets rid of every show. This was the parting gift he gave to Christy Smith for my show of thirteen years right, and he did. They didn't even give it to her. They sent it

As a hilarious that's this is hilarious. I just thought that'd be Nice'll go in my office. Yeah, I have an old picture like this of me and doctor j that I have to show you. Okay, I'm like up to his knee.

I will happily put that on my desk, Give me, Dodger, get this off my desk. I don't want it's on my table. You toured with Bill Murray? Is he the coolest motherfucker alive?

He's like. I was a little nervous at first, and then I'm like, this guy is literally the greatest personal nerve, Like he is right, it's just everything about it. It's like a unicorn, Like, it's just it was awesome.

What was his show like?

So the concept was I had heard that he was classical music, right, it was a bunch of stuff. I had heard that he was doing these shows and that's clinical music. And he doesn't have an agent or manager, which I.

Really knows, like the landline that you call, you leave a message and if he's interested, he'll call you back.

Yes, I'm like, all right, how am I gonna? Like? Who's doing this show that he's doing? So I found out he was tied the two classical musicians and the agent was out of Germany.

So I called.

Germany just one number, yeah and just explain my yeah exactly, and explain what I do and if there was any more shows available, and she was like, oh, the timing's amazing. Look we're having trouble finding venues in two cities, okay. And I thought she was going to say, like Topeka, and she's like, well, we can't find venues in San Francisco and Seattle. Oh my god. And I'm just like this is like this is so easy, this is unbelievable. Uh huh. So we booked the I booked the shows.

Did he pay for the taxi?

I don't think so, I paid for it.

Do you hate some of these YouTube stars that can sell tickets? Are you getting to that age where you're like, oh shit, these younger performers. I have no interest in listening to them? Or do you? Are you like? No, it's good too? No, I like it.

I like it too. I mean, if they can sell tickets, it's worth looking at. I mean there's a lot of artists that you might not have the like personally.

When I was a kid, and he's like to see a stand up comic and a large venue. There's like two comedians and Steve Martin, I don't know somebody else, But now it just seems like there's so many comics that are at the level of performing in larger venues.

Is that?

Am I wrong?

Totally right? Larger venues and just smaller venues. I mean there's the days of all right, you got to putting your time at the club and do that is kind of you know, I think I think there's a lot of artists where they might become big and then the fans might they just might want to see them in person. It might not even be about the material. They just want to have that moment with them.

Huh. What other shows are they doing besides stand up? Well, what do they do live?

Sometimes it's sometimes it's stand up. Sometimes it's like sketch or improv or where you know, or podcasts are going live now too, I mean that's.

Do you promote live podcast?

Absolutely?

So it's just like you imagine how horrible this would be. There's an audience in front of us.

Yeah, yeah, people would be paying to see me seeing you, But yeah, who's.

The next big superstar, comedian, tough to say. I never can pick it. I like people tell me, like, who do you think?

I'm like, are there any comics now that you like a lot?

Though?

Or I like them all?

Yeah?

I mean I can get into im. I'm I'm a big there's room forever everyone. But no, there's some great ones. I know Andrew Schulz's camp or big fans of yours and one of his openers, Mark Gagnon, very funny comic. He's from the Orlando area, so like you're like his you know, Orlando, Florida. Yeah, man, that wasn't that was? That was some tough sledding back then.

Yeah, it is kind of weird that there's tons of comics from Florida, though, it's like it's just I don't know, it's just like an anomaly of just other like you know, Larry the Cable guy.

I mean, Mitch Hegberg really started in West Palm too. Yeah, even though I know he's from Minia.

Carra top always Scott.

He love him.

He makes me laugh so much. I think I told you this. I saw him once at the Vegas Airport and I'm like, oh, that can't be carrat top.

What he had a hat on his head, carrat top with his shirt with an arrow pointing.

I just like couldn't believe. I'm like this guy, like, why is he like he could clearly just private or whatever.

And of course he's he's worth one hundred million easy. You know, his social media presence is is so sexual. I find that disturbed. He was.

He was in one of your videos for a while, your intro videos on stage.

Yeah, me and him doing this Selena Gomez. Yeah, that was pretty I was that was a second, but I was in character. I was pretending to be Selena. Now we can't talk about certain things, but there are a few performers that you've worked with in your life that when they and knock on wood that it's not anytime soon, but hopefully it's before this podcast stops. Me to think when they pass away, that you'll come back on and we'll have some discussions about them. Fair enough, Okay, that's

Oh?

You loved carrots. Speaking of food, I got a little egg on my face for this story. My wife bought a bag of hard boiled eggs for our daughter, thought maybe there'd be a quick little snack for her, and she didn't want to eat them. And I'm like, I love a hard boiled egg, you know, a little salt pop it in delicious? Right, Carl? Okay, but how many hard boiled eggs you really want to eat?

I don't know.

This is a big old bag of hard boiled eggs, and a bag of hard boiled eggs sounds disgusting. Kept snacking on them? Hey? You know, one week turns into a couple months and there's still a handful of hard boiled eggs left in there. And I keep looking at the expiration date every time and it says as like says mid May or something. I'm like, either a great, they're still good. Carly's like, what are you doing? You can't eat those? I like says mid May, it says

Well?

My stomach handled it. That's all that matters. The Goat premieres in two days. Guys. There'll be three episodes available, but currently you can see the very first pilot episode the first episode on YouTube. God, Amazon, you are confusing, whatever, don't forget to check out Boyswearpink dot Com, the hottest toddler line out there. My tour Come see Me and all the fun cities Louisville Detroit, Columbus. I don't know what we're gonna do in Columbus. I tell you what

When to pilot time. A deep deep out, a big big ty what some little little orion? But they what he did? Ham hot doss ham? He they what he didn't ham? But they said it? What what? Turkey meatballs?

All right, well, hold, let me say so there's three there's three lions in a cave and they wanted ham. But their favorite thing is turkey meatballs, hammaidballs, Ham meatballs, turkey meatballs.

Okay, go on, sorry, Okay, now we do another story.

That's the end of the story.

Another story.

That story is garbage.