Mike Mello

[00:00:02] What You Want, When You Want It, Where You Want It, This Is The MESH

[00:00:10] Today I have a very good friend of mine we

[00:00:30] Hadn't seen each other in quite some time and I got a weird story to start this podcast off

[00:00:34] But today let's get to it right to it. Mike Mello was with me today. What's up, buddy?

[00:00:39] Hey, bud. How you doing? I'm doing very well

[00:00:42] I always start off my podcast by talking about where I met my guest and you and I met at Good Nights in Raleigh and

[00:00:50] Yeah, dude Facebook memories this morning like literally today

[00:00:55] Showed me that I was at Good Nights 10 years ago with Gary Gullman. So we

[00:01:01] Crazy coincidence you and I literally met 10 years ago this exact weekend. Oh

[00:01:05] Wow, that's cool man. Yeah, and Gary is a heck of a dude. So great

[00:01:11] I had worked with him several times before in Philly and New Jersey and stuff

[00:01:16] But that weekend 10 years ago was my first time ever going to Good Nights in Raleigh when like helium bought it and

[00:01:23] Yeah, Gary Gullman week was my first weekend there and I met you and a handful of other

[00:01:28] Local comics that weekend

[00:01:30] Yeah, that was a good time. That was actually

[00:01:33] Right when helium bought it is actually when I could come back to the club. Oh

[00:01:38] Oh, I was I was banned from the last owner. Oh man, can we get into that? I would love to get off

[00:01:48] Yeah, we could

[00:01:51] And I'm safe

[00:01:52] Okay. Yeah, so take us back to what happened here and then we'll backtrack and other stuff in your career

[00:01:58] But I mean I had no idea that you were banned from that club. So by all means what happened

[00:02:03] I help a man to tell you the truth

[00:02:05] Excuse me. I don't know so

[00:02:07] The last owner Brad reader notoriously known comic slash

[00:02:14] Club owner

[00:02:15] um was running Good Nights owned it

[00:02:18] And uh one day I came in there's this guy Sean Hesse

[00:02:21] Uh, he used to do comedy. He had ms. So he was in a wheelchair lot or he had his walkers or whatever

[00:02:29] And um, so before the show before the doors even opened they would sit them up front, you know that way

[00:02:36] We could carry them up the steps when he had to get up on stage

[00:02:39] So nobody's in there and I go say hey, Tom

[00:02:43] Just you know shooting the shit haven't seen him in a while and uh this guy ray who is the house mc comes up

[00:02:48] It's like hey man. You can't sit up there

[00:02:51] You know like, you know comics for sit on the side. I was like, I know I'm just saying what's up

[00:02:56] To him, uh, why don't you put a bubble around them joking around?

[00:03:01] So then I go outside. I say hey to everybody, you know me

[00:03:05] So say to the people working the ticket booth and he pops up again. It's like man. You can't load her outside

[00:03:11] Of the ticket booth. I'm like dude. I'm walking outside literally. I just said hey to everybody

[00:03:16] so as I'm outside the owner comes out

[00:03:19] finger wagging and everything like

[00:03:22] uh

[00:03:23] You can't follow the rules

[00:03:26] your band tonight and I was like

[00:03:28] What did I do it? He goes you can't follow the rules. I said what rules did I break? He goes to ends now or ends forever

[00:03:35] So I'm like, okay. He's in a bad mood

[00:03:38] Whatever right?

[00:03:41] Yeah, this is all crazy so

[00:03:44] Um, the mic is about to start people are filing in

[00:03:47] So he's at the door and I walk in I was like, hey, is it cool if I watch the show

[00:03:52] He goes not with that attitude. I just started laughing like what attitude

[00:03:57] This I'm trying to talk to you like an adult. He goes it doesn't matter

[00:04:01] Your band for life

[00:04:04] My I was like damn mine are yours. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like why am I bad?

[00:04:09] so he's going off on me and uh

[00:04:12] As I do like I don't understand what I did plus. I'm trying to talk to you like an adult

[00:04:16] He goes what will your probation officer think about this?

[00:04:20] So I just started laughing. He's trying to make me sound up to be a criminal which I'm like

[00:04:23] I'm from Kerry. I need all the street cred. I need

[00:04:26] So the fact is that I got a probation officer. It's not bothering

[00:04:30] Many seasons other black comic and he's like well, I'm putting him on the stage

[00:04:34] So then he bans me but then not only he bans me. He's talked shit about me to other comics

[00:04:40] So one of my good friends now, but uh, then Joe Peruv, you know, Joe Peruv

[00:04:46] Yeah, yeah, we've met. Yeah. Yeah

[00:04:49] Yeah, so me and him were roommates for like three years after this but uh

[00:04:53] Joe wasn't even picked to go on stage and he goes

[00:04:56] Your band from the club tonight your pain. He liked pick like three comics

[00:05:00] He goes if I see you anybody talking to mellow here at the club

[00:05:04] or

[00:05:06] Uh outside the club your band from my stage

[00:05:10] So if he saw someone talking to me up the street, he would ban him

[00:05:14] So the running joke was anytime like the comics would see his white mini band or a white mini man

[00:05:19] That will push me into bushes like my bad man. I need that five minutes

[00:05:25] But yeah, you talk yeah, he's an asshole. What a weird situation

[00:05:31] Yeah, so

[00:05:33] Years went through I moved to california and then moved back

[00:05:37] And then uh when I came back

[00:05:40] A little while after that hilly and bought it and um, there's a write-up in the paper

[00:05:44] Which I don't know who would say something. I guess they're talking the

[00:05:48] Donors of helium and they say well, would you let uh comics back in such as mike mellow who

[00:05:54] Was banned he goes. I don't have nothing to do with that everyone's welcome

[00:05:58] I'm like, why would you put my name out there like that Jesus christ?

[00:06:01] That's weird too

[00:06:03] Yeah, so long story short. They let me back in

[00:06:07] uh talked to mark

[00:06:09] Donor and

[00:06:10] He said all right. Tell me your story and I'll tell you mine and I said oh, thank god

[00:06:15] So that guy was just a piece

[00:06:17] piece of shit to where even uh

[00:06:20] The owner was like, yeah, man. It's like off my eggshells

[00:06:23] But it's so bizarre

[00:06:26] Then my first weekend back I got hooked up with

[00:06:29] Tracy morgan my first working weekend

[00:06:32] Nice and then that worked out very well for you, right? Didn't it?

[00:06:36] Yeah, yeah, no for a couple years and then

[00:06:40] Yeah, cool. So long story short that was it basically well you came back and said this thing's even better

[00:06:45] So that's the best case scenario

[00:06:48] Oh, yeah, I'm plus uh, he had stayed on for two years as a

[00:06:53] Consultant aka books made twice a year

[00:06:56] Okay, nice

[00:06:59] So let's go back to the beginning here. You and I have been buddies for a decade

[00:07:02] But like everything else in comedy we uh only cross paths every couple years because there's been times where we've criss-crossed paths

[00:07:09] On the road or I've been in Raleigh and you were out of town. That's just the nature of

[00:07:13] The business that we do but I don't know much about your backstory and comedy and that's the whole purpose of this podcast

[00:07:19] I love getting into people's uh

[00:07:21] Psyche and why they got into it. So take me back to like

[00:07:24] Were you a kid a young kid when you discovered stand-up or comedy in general or what?

[00:07:30] Oh, yeah, like uh growing up. I'm the youngest of eight. So I got oh, I didn't know that

[00:07:35] Yeah, so I got like

[00:07:38] A nice helping of comedy just from my older siblings. Whatever they watched

[00:07:43] you know, so

[00:07:44] a lot of uh

[00:07:47] All in the family

[00:07:48] Jefferson's afternoon son stuff like that to start with

[00:07:52] Stitcoms and I watched all those shows when I was a kid too man those

[00:07:56] Some of the best and I still go back and watch them like man. They're just still good. They still hold up

[00:08:00] You know

[00:08:01] um

[00:08:03] That and late night, of course, johnny karson was

[00:08:05] everybody's favorite

[00:08:07] So just watching him do his monologue

[00:08:11] And his little bits, you know

[00:08:13] they're

[00:08:14] Even to this day if i'm bored in like a hotel room on the road

[00:08:17] I go back and I watch comedians on johnny karson. I just love not so much the panel sometimes but like I

[00:08:24] Love watching all those stand-ups on him and to this day. I still love watching those clips man

[00:08:29] Paul risers not Paul riser gary shanlings first set on there is like maybe the best six minutes of stand-up. I've ever seen

[00:08:37] Yeah, oh, yeah, gary was a beat like all those comics then you knew were good

[00:08:41] You know just if you touch that stage you were going to do something. Oh like the next day

[00:08:47] Yeah thumbs up from johnny was everything

[00:08:50] Everything it was so monumental for comics in the 70s and 80s. Oh, yeah, plus it was like, you know, it was

[00:08:58] Kind of like showcased my first showcasing of different comics

[00:09:02] You know, because of course I grew up with like my parents albums had

[00:09:06] anywhere from bill cosby to

[00:09:08] Richard prier

[00:09:09] Oh, that's awesome

[00:09:11] Richard prier was the first one I heard they're watching I think might have been on

[00:09:16] Like one of his stand-ups, uh, maybe sunset or something

[00:09:20] But I remember walking in in the middle of night just waking up thirsty. Don't want to get a drink

[00:09:25] And I heard my parents laughing

[00:09:27] and uh, I was like, what are they laughing about so I just sat down in the kitchen in the corner kind of head

[00:09:33] and uh

[00:09:35] Listen to them

[00:09:36] Laughing at Richard prier and I was laughing too even though I damn sure didn't understand

[00:09:41] But I heard the rhythm and the music of it, you know, that is such

[00:09:46] That is such a cool memory that stood out with you too because I had the exact same thing

[00:09:51] Um, not with prier per se but with my dad watching like carlin or like, um

[00:09:58] HBO comedy relief all sorts of comedians

[00:10:02] Yeah

[00:10:04] Oh, yeah, that's where my I got my start like

[00:10:07] Really understanding straight stand-up. So so that's cool. Same thing with me

[00:10:11] Like it stood out to me as a kid like stand up in particular like

[00:10:15] Really stood out to me and I noticed the cadence and their body

[00:10:20] You know maneuvers and watch these people like

[00:10:23] Everything about it the little nuances even stood out to me when I was a really young kid

[00:10:27] Yeah, absolutely. So, you know that of course sat at night live with that original cast who I grew up like when I started watching it

[00:10:35] Say that garret moors john belushi all those cats dan acroy jane carton

[00:10:40] Oh my god, all of them, you know, um

[00:10:43] Um

[00:10:44] Yeah, it's just like I was exposed to a lot of different comedy especially like british comedy

[00:10:50] Oh, okay

[00:10:53] Benny hill was my porn

[00:10:55] You know, I'm a huge money python fan huge

[00:11:00] Money python fan my favorite sketch of all time like sketch group. I should say like it wasn't just um

[00:11:08] The movies were great. I mean holy grail is probably in my top five of all time life of brian and meaning of life

[00:11:13] But even just like money pythons flying circus like man, they got in so much trouble

[00:11:19] They were pushing the buttons and pushing the envelope in like the late 60s and getting in trouble and they just kept at it for decades like

[00:11:29] That's what I appreciate uh british humor one is so dry

[00:11:33] In your face like this sarcasm in it was just

[00:11:37] Like

[00:11:38] It was just awesome. I like understood it

[00:11:41] You know as a kid, you know, you're just like man, these guys are dicks

[00:11:45] I know

[00:11:46] Hilarious. Yeah, you know and it's like it's like are they being pompous or are they just british?

[00:11:52] Yeah

[00:11:55] Um

[00:11:56] So when you were a young kid and you are taking this in for the first times

[00:12:00] Did you have any inkling that you would try it or were you just intrigued by it?

[00:12:05] um, I was intrigued by it uh

[00:12:08] I so like me and another comic had this discussion like I think

[00:12:13] Like once I understood it and probably like in the 80s

[00:12:18] Um, I would go to school with bits

[00:12:21] You know like uh, repeat him at the lunch table kind of thing

[00:12:25] Oh man, be like oh, this is gonna kill in class. You know like um, it'll be quiet in class and then there'll be a car horn

[00:12:31] I'm like, excuse me the kids will laugh and I'm killing it. You know

[00:12:35] Just the dumbest little things

[00:12:37] But uh, it was always

[00:12:40] Like I found that comedy was a way to escape what I was all the bs. I was

[00:12:46] dealing with at home. So I go to school and just be funny

[00:12:49] Just so I could forget about what was going on at home

[00:12:53] Were other kids into comedy too like could you did you have friends that you could talk about this kind of stuff with?

[00:12:58] No, not really. It's kind of more of a just I was just a class clown and uh

[00:13:03] I just had that imagination. I guess, you know, like those the next siblings next to me are five years ahead of

[00:13:10] So everyone else is like kind of close

[00:13:12] so it's a lot of

[00:13:15] a long time even though like

[00:13:17] I'm in a big family. But yeah, you're the baby, but you're still separated by a big age gap

[00:13:23] Yeah, exactly. So the accident, you know

[00:13:27] the oops

[00:13:30] But yeah, uh, did your parents tell you you were an oop. Did you just kind of piece that together when you got older?

[00:13:34] No, I pieced it together. It's like, all right. Everyone else is like a year or two apart

[00:13:38] There's a set of twins and then I come like five years later. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm just like

[00:13:44] Come on. I already know

[00:13:46] Did you ever bring it up though as as an adult or anything or later in life at all?

[00:13:52] No, um, well one because I was born on my dad's birthday. So he's always like you're a gift

[00:13:57] And he's like from hell, you know

[00:14:00] but

[00:14:02] But yeah, it never really was brought up but I always knew like I weren't planning me

[00:14:07] Yeah, but they kept me so that's a good always a good thing. Always a good thing

[00:14:11] Um, yeah, so how did this pan out until you uh actually started doing stand-up?

[00:14:17] What was the catalyst where you were like, all right, I'm trying this

[00:14:21] Well, I would say so I started when I was 30

[00:14:27] So

[00:14:29] I had went to jail on some bs

[00:14:33] And I was in there for like two weeks

[00:14:36] and um

[00:14:38] I remember I took a fall like an 88 because I'm like, I ain't got no record

[00:14:43] And uh, but I was I was doing some shit too. Don't get me wrong

[00:14:46] But I took a fall somebody and um, I remember being in there like dude this sucks like

[00:14:52] It's my first time going to jail. I'm in there for a minute

[00:14:56] So, uh, I remember my brother bailed me out

[00:14:59] My older brothers. He's uh, he's like my second dad my brother Robert

[00:15:04] and um

[00:15:06] Here's this idea what are you gonna do like

[00:15:08] What are you gonna do with your life? And I was about to tell him. He's like, I don't want to hear

[00:15:12] He said just write it on this napkin

[00:15:16] So I wrote I want to be a comedian. He never looked at it folded it up

[00:15:20] But when I was in jail, it was like man, I want to do something

[00:15:23] I was like man because I wanted to do it before then

[00:15:26] I went through a mic that was sold out at good nights and this dude bombs had tears in his eyes and I might fuck that

[00:15:34] I don't want to feel that at all

[00:15:36] So that took me another couple of years to even think about it

[00:15:40] Oh, I thought you were gonna say the opposite. I thought you were sitting there and you were thinking

[00:15:43] Oh, I could do this this guy and not cry

[00:15:46] oh no, dude like uh

[00:15:49] I remember I gave the guy a courtesy laugh because everyone was killing it except for this dude

[00:15:54] And I remember I I gave him a courtesy laugh and this guy two chairs over just gave me a look like what what are you doing?

[00:15:59] And I don't know the rules and it's kind of carried into my seat

[00:16:03] I'm just trying to get this guy's hopes up. I don't want the guy to hang himself later

[00:16:08] Oh my god, you can see the tears in his eyes

[00:16:10] Like well enough his face all flustered losing color

[00:16:15] And I'm like screw this

[00:16:17] You were just you were just hanging at that mic right? You didn't sign up or anything. Yeah. No, I just I just went in to watch

[00:16:22] Uh me and this girl I was dating because she's like you should try comedy, you know

[00:16:26] And I'm like screw this shit. I ain't doing that. I don't want no parts of that. I'm not crying

[00:16:33] Yeah, right like they're gonna send me home like that

[00:16:36] But then after I went to jail I was like dude, I can't get that couldn't be as worse as this

[00:16:41] Any worse than this where I'm at

[00:16:43] So yeah, I went to had an audition then for a mic, which was tough

[00:16:48] Oh, that's some New York City shit

[00:16:51] Yeah, that was good nice

[00:16:53] With the original owner yet all this because like they were sold out every week

[00:16:58] Yeah, wow they were sold out every week and um, you had to be funny to get up on that stage

[00:17:05] Because they only put 12 up and you had to be like well funny 12. Oh wow

[00:17:10] like so

[00:17:12] like um

[00:17:13] I auditioned I didn't make it my first time

[00:17:16] But the lady liked me the lady running the mic

[00:17:19] And uh come to find out that lady running the mic was my mom's best friend at work

[00:17:24] No kidding

[00:17:26] No kidding swear to god man. And so apparently my mom said

[00:17:30] Who was talking to her? It's like how was the mic?

[00:17:32] She said it was good. She said was there any funny people? She's like, there's this one kid

[00:17:36] Who was funny? I told him to come back

[00:17:39] His name is and she looked at my mom like oh shit was that your son? She goes you ain't putting my baby up, you know

[00:17:45] Oh my god, that's hilarious. Yeah, but uh

[00:17:49] She put me on after that, but she was hard as hell on me

[00:17:53] Like I'm lost or the one of the like

[00:17:57] The lady running the mic

[00:17:59] She was tough on me

[00:18:01] So because of your mom or she would like or was she just personally?

[00:18:06] She knew my mom. Oh, yeah, I think she was personally rooting for me, but also she wanted me to make sure I was

[00:18:13] I knew the rules. I knew what was up. I guess

[00:18:16] Because you know when you get on for the first time

[00:18:19] And you're doing well, you don't see no light

[00:18:22] No, I like it was like

[00:18:24] Like i'm feeling it

[00:18:25] And I got off stage. She goes oh you did a great job and I buy a fucking watch and I was like, oh shit. Yes, man

[00:18:32] Never went over my time

[00:18:34] So was your very first set at good nights there?

[00:18:38] Yep. Oh very cool. How did that first set go?

[00:18:42] I was good, man. Um most people's are

[00:18:45] It's yeah, it was the doing this podcast most people

[00:18:49] The first time goes well

[00:18:51] Oh, yeah, my first three times I thought like I had it

[00:18:55] I'm like, oh, this shit's easy and then that fourth one, man

[00:18:57] I was back at the house with a butter knife to my wrist

[00:19:00] That was me after two first two went well

[00:19:04] and then uh

[00:19:06] Yeah, it was rough for

[00:19:08] Literally because I was only getting on stage once a week at the time Wednesdays at the last house

[00:19:12] So my first two sets went well and then I don't think I had a good set for two or three months after that

[00:19:17] Like I was bombing every single Wednesday. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. Yeah

[00:19:22] I do find it that most comics do well their first time because it's so exciting

[00:19:26] You're like, there's yeah, I think your energy is bomb. Yeah

[00:19:30] Even if you did suck you swear life you get a couple laughs you're like, oh kill them, you know

[00:19:35] So were you hooked after that first that very first time?

[00:19:39] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely like it's funny because I was thinking about improv. So I really like standing that line

[00:19:45] But once I did stand up and I'm like, haha, he's like that straight to the vein

[00:19:50] Like oh my god, I can't I can't think of anything else just immediate immediate clarification. Yeah

[00:19:58] Yeah

[00:20:00] Anyway, so you know right me too man. I dove right in so you

[00:20:05] So yeah, did were you in it after that first time? Were you back every week finding other mics and making other friends and stuff?

[00:20:12] Yeah, well, it was weird because so when I started

[00:20:15] Uh, well, I did good nights they would quit their mic over the summertime

[00:20:21] So then there weren't that many mics around

[00:20:24] So I would go up like once

[00:20:27] A week every other week if possible

[00:20:30] Sometimes that's back when I would drive

[00:20:33] A couple hours to go get some stage time just wherever it was. I was trying to go get it

[00:20:37] Yeah in the early days you do that. Oh

[00:20:40] I did it. You're trying you're chasing that dragon man. You're like, I need some more laughs, you know driving hours and hours for

[00:20:47] An unpaid pot. Yep

[00:20:51] Yeah, but there's a lot of that but I wasn't getting up that much

[00:20:57] Just where were what else was around here besides Raleigh did like um

[00:21:02] Um, Charlotte stage time within okay. Charlotte's like two and a half hours, right? Yeah two and a half

[00:21:08] um

[00:21:09] High point used to have a room which is like an hour

[00:21:12] Okay, Burlington

[00:21:14] Like Chapel Hill, you know, okay, so there was stuff within the area

[00:21:19] Yeah, but uh, not that much, you know

[00:21:21] You have to catch it when they put it up because they got oh

[00:21:23] We started the mic here and then we gone like three weeks later. Yeah. Yeah, but not like it is now

[00:21:30] You know

[00:21:31] Yeah, comedy seems to be thriving everywhere right now

[00:21:34] Oh my god. Yeah a lot a lot

[00:21:38] A lot like when you see three shows going on in the same night you're like, okay

[00:21:42] You're pulling in different directions now, you know

[00:21:46] Yeah

[00:21:47] Um, who was around when you first started like who did you look up to in the scene locally? Anybody I would know

[00:21:53] locally, um, I don't know let's see uh, it's got mike spurlock

[00:21:58] I know the name. Oh wow

[00:22:01] Yeah, he had um tour with mitchhead bird

[00:22:05] Oh

[00:22:06] I mean man

[00:22:07] Really enjoyed just writing with him because he talked my mindset to think like a one-liner but I

[00:22:15] Because when I started I was mostly one-liners and then so was I so was I a lot of set up punch. Yeah. Oh, yeah

[00:22:21] For the first two years I would say and like uh, that's probably about saying for me

[00:22:26] And then I learned how to like

[00:22:28] I was in college

[00:22:29] So I learned how to like actually talk about things that were happening in college and whatnot, but I mean it still took a while to like

[00:22:36] Evolve that from one-liners into like stories or like true

[00:22:40] autobiographical material

[00:22:42] But yeah for the first two years I was set up punchline guy and I still have mad respect for comics that work

[00:22:49] That angle because

[00:22:51] I mean that's tough you and I can do it like you and I could do like a 30 or 40 minute set

[00:22:57] And there's like, you know, seven eight 10 bits in there, but one-liner guys have like 300

[00:23:04] No, man, it's insane

[00:23:07] Even write jimmy car. I love

[00:23:09] Love those one-liners my favorites man. Some of my favorites when I appreciate is my mom really loved

[00:23:16] Uh, mitchhead bird and oh, yeah, right? You get it. You get it

[00:23:20] You know, I thought that was cool. It doesn't be in the older

[00:23:24] You know generation be like, no this guy's funny. I'm like hell. Yeah, mom. You know what you're talking about

[00:23:28] Did you ever um, okay, this happened to me yesterday

[00:23:31] Did you ever did you ever get like a joke stuck in your head the same way you got a song stuck in your head?

[00:23:35] Like somebody's bit or part of a bit just like stuck in your head like a

[00:23:38] Like the way the same way a song would do you ever get that? Oh, yeah

[00:23:41] Dude yesterday I had mitchhead brooks banana bit stuck in my head mitch. Do you want to frozen banana?

[00:23:47] No, but I want a regular banana later. So yeah, I've had that stuck in my head over and over. Did you um

[00:23:53] ever get to see mitch?

[00:23:56] no, man, um

[00:23:58] one of my

[00:24:00] One of the things I always wanted to do is see mitch. There's a few comedians that I wish I could have seen

[00:24:06] You know before they passed of course, but yeah, mitch never got a chance at seeing

[00:24:10] I got to see mitch a couple times man. It was he was awesome

[00:24:15] The night that inspired me to finally try stand-up mitch was on that show it was uh

[00:24:21] I mentioned mitch on the pod before so I apologize to all the people that have heard this but um

[00:24:26] I was debating on doing stand-up. I wanted to do it

[00:24:29] I just I knew I was gonna try it eventually and I went and saw comedy central live and burbigly was the host

[00:24:35] Headberg was the middle and david tell and lewis black co-headlined and that night

[00:24:40] I was like i'm trying this and then I did very shortly after

[00:24:44] But mitch nice mitch did like mitch may have did like 30 or 35 in the middle even before a tell and lewis black headlining and um

[00:24:53] Dude mitch was fucking

[00:24:55] Murdering it was my first time here in 3000 people laughing and I have just never heard that sound before it was

[00:25:03] Like mitch was absolutely fucking killing it was it was I think about that a lot

[00:25:09] No, man, like when you see something like that it it sticks with you, man with one liners

[00:25:16] killing it yep, but it was

[00:25:18] everything about him was just

[00:25:21] perfectly done like

[00:25:23] his cadence

[00:25:25] is

[00:25:26] like his

[00:25:27] Temperature of the jokes, you know, everything just works so well together. Yeah

[00:25:32] Now you see a lot of wannabes, but they're they can only be one

[00:25:36] No, it's such a unique art form and one of the first comics I was ever obsessed with was uh, steven right and he just has

[00:25:44] Millions of them and they're so funny

[00:25:47] I saw steven right last summer

[00:25:50] Okay, good. Good one that one my favorite jokes that uh, it just it's so silly, but he's like I lost my button

[00:25:57] I love it. Yeah for some reason it just cracks me up like dude

[00:26:00] I remember being like 11 or 12 years old and just walking around like uh, some people are afraid of heights

[00:26:08] Not me. I'm afraid of widths

[00:26:10] That's so funny and like I had a woman say to me you're wearing two different color socks and he goes

[00:26:15] I don't go by color. I go by thickness

[00:26:17] Like that

[00:26:20] And I'm laughing so hard at this

[00:26:23] Yeah, I was walking around the building right near the ledge

[00:26:27] like

[00:26:28] yeah

[00:26:30] He was brilliant man. Um

[00:26:32] Yeah, I saw steven right last summer do 90 minutes of one liners that is

[00:26:38] Oh my god, that's my 4 000 jokes

[00:26:41] I mean it's insane and even the ones I heard 30 years ago

[00:26:45] I was still laughing at because it's just something so

[00:26:47] When you when you see and hear it live

[00:26:50] It's a whole different experience is like I've heard some of those jokes my whole life

[00:26:53] But i'm still laughing like it's the first time I heard of because it's him right there doing it live

[00:26:58] Yeah, no

[00:27:00] No opener like house lights go down

[00:27:03] Ladies and gentlemen steven right and he comes out and does 90 minutes and then he says good night and walks off

[00:27:08] Like that is so simple and so beautiful

[00:27:12] Yeah, oh man, it's I enjoy seeing stuff like that especially like how

[00:27:17] Lois Eks is just like ladies and gentlemen no big hype or nothing like one of my favorite things I hate is

[00:27:24] I have to buy it. Hey, what's your intro? I'm like, I don't know. They don't care. Do they really

[00:27:29] I'm such

[00:27:31] I'm such an

[00:27:32] I'm such an intro guy and by that I mean lack of intro like dude. Nobody cares

[00:27:39] And like I mean I get it if you have a special that just came out or like your or if you're a name

[00:27:44] And you want the one big thing they know you for in the moment. I totally get it but like

[00:27:48] Yeah, absolutely when people like even famous and non-famous comics when they have like more than two things said about them

[00:27:55] I'm like, oh for fuck's sake

[00:27:58] Yeah, oh man. Like I remember this one. I was hosting and this guy gave me a list

[00:28:04] It'll like a long grocery list. I'm like, can you pick like three of them? I'll do three of them

[00:28:09] seven

[00:28:12] Oh, you know the one like I remember hosting forever ago and certain people would be like, all right

[00:28:19] Letterman Leno cone and I'm like all you're just gonna name all of them

[00:28:23] Yeah, all of them. Can I just do one? How about he makes late night rounds or whatever?

[00:28:29] Yeah, right. Anytime someone asks me. I'm like just put here. Just say he has done this before

[00:28:35] I trust you just say anything. I don't just say that's what I say

[00:28:39] I'm like just say your next comic is pad house. That's all and then some people like, oh, I got you. I'm like, don't

[00:28:45] Just say my name. Tell them I'm next

[00:28:49] I'll tell you one of my favorite times of that is um, so I'm at home on a Friday

[00:28:55] about to

[00:28:56] Like light one up got my pajamas on about lay it down

[00:29:01] As soon as I lay down I get a call from good nights. It's brandy brown

[00:29:06] What are you doing? I said, I'm chilling. What's good? I need to hear in 10 minutes

[00:29:10] I'm like, but I'm in my 10 minutes click and just hangs up. So I'm like

[00:29:14] All right. I have no problem brandy needs me on there. So I get there

[00:29:19] And uh bill bellamy had kicked some dude off of his show

[00:29:24] For what, you know

[00:29:27] Yeah, so apparently he has this guy had this bit on coming out as gay

[00:29:33] And then they would play the song I'm coming out and he would dance up on people

[00:29:38] But he licked the dude's ball head. He humped another dude

[00:29:42] He like and he was getting drunk all weekend harassing staff like one of those guys, right? Just like whoa

[00:29:50] So then brandy's like here's a glass of wine and a wine bitch is as you can drink. I don't care

[00:29:55] Just be funny

[00:29:57] So I'm like am I hosting and my what am I doing? Like I'm sweating bullets here trying to figure out how much time I need with jokes

[00:30:05] So bill come bill bellamy comes in

[00:30:09] Introduces us and then tall dude like six seven huge. It's his manager slash security comes in. It's like you

[00:30:16] You mellow. I was like, yeah, it's better be funny. I'm like Jesus Christ, man

[00:30:21] So then the host comes in

[00:30:23] He's like, what's your name? I said Mike mellies. I'm just gonna call you mellow

[00:30:25] What you want me to say about you like say clubs and colleges is like don't worry about it

[00:30:30] So he goes up there. It's like y'all

[00:30:32] Just next comment

[00:30:33] Man, just do funny. You seen him on bt comic view. We see them on just

[00:30:40] And me and the security guard looking at her like who else he bringing on he says i'm giving up for my man mellow

[00:30:46] And i'm like, oh snap. That's me

[00:30:48] No, that's too much bro

[00:30:51] Bring it down

[00:30:52] I started in a black comedy club for the first two years

[00:30:55] All I knew were black audiences and all my first friends in comedy were pretty much all black comics

[00:31:00] And I got those kind of intros all the time and it was if anything it made me look worse

[00:31:05] Like no haven't been on b et

[00:31:07] Who's this awkward white like awkward white dude who's like six months in

[00:31:15] You see them rip up a while in apollo y'all put your hands together for pals. You were like, wait, what?

[00:31:20] That's hilarious

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[00:32:42] so, um, one thing we talk about on this podcast here is um, you know the magic of when you are

[00:32:49] In your local scene and you know, you're hosting and you're featuring your headlining off nights

[00:32:54] Nothing is the better

[00:32:55] Nothing is better than when like a big headliner comes through town

[00:32:59] And swoops you off your feet and takes you on the road

[00:33:03] Uh, you have toured with russell peters and tracy morgan. So tell me about that because uh

[00:33:10] I know what it's like sagura sabash manis calco dan Cummins have been very very good to me

[00:33:16] So i want to hear your experience because man when you uh

[00:33:19] When one night you're at your home club and then a week later you're across the country or around the world

[00:33:24] It is uh, it's wild. So i'd love to hear

[00:33:29] Yeah, how that how that kind of how those guys helped you

[00:33:33] Yeah, man, definitely, uh

[00:33:35] so one weekend, um

[00:33:38] They got me to feature for

[00:33:40] uh tracy morgan

[00:33:42] And i had met tracy like a few times before when he came through but you know, usually

[00:33:47] A friend of mine would open up for him, but i just hang out, you know

[00:33:51] Just kind of hanging back

[00:33:53] And uh, just kind of shut up and not be seen. So this weekend. I actually got to work with him

[00:33:58] and um

[00:34:00] Man, it was it was a fun weekend

[00:34:03] Uh, he's wild. You can never tell

[00:34:06] When he's playing or when he's serious like

[00:34:11] He you're always on your toes. I don't know him

[00:34:14] Yeah, like he's just like what money's like, you know what i'm saying? I like this hip hop game

[00:34:18] You know this this hip hop game. It's like the comedy game. You know i'm saying you're like, okay

[00:34:24] And then they'd be like what the hell is that we look like you don't know when i'm playing i'm like

[00:34:28] Gee we don't

[00:34:29] God i'm just trying to keep up

[00:34:32] but yeah, he um

[00:34:34] so

[00:34:35] One show like i'm getting off

[00:34:37] Just get off stays and he's like

[00:34:40] How much you want for that last bit?

[00:34:42] Oh, now that man. He's crazy

[00:34:45] Now because you know, he's been messing with me all weekend. So i'm like man

[00:34:49] You said last bit is is is your closer like your baby

[00:34:55] Um

[00:34:57] Then it was fading out. Okay

[00:34:59] It it was it was my closer, but it was one of those

[00:35:03] That i'm about to retire

[00:35:05] Basically, it's like you weren't as emotionally as attached as you would have been like two or three years before or whatever

[00:35:12] Yeah, yeah probably like a year before because I was just like i'm getting tired of doing this joke

[00:35:16] But uh, it's funny because I told you like I started comedy because I went to jail that joke was about going to jail

[00:35:23] That week

[00:35:24] So, uh, he's I like that jail bit. How much you want? I was like man. He's crazy. He's like, let me know

[00:35:30] So luckily I had a friend there. He's like

[00:35:33] Yeah, i'm like, I don't

[00:35:35] I've never sold a joke before

[00:35:37] So my buddy's like sell it to him cheap and just ask to work with him again

[00:35:41] I was all right. That's

[00:35:43] Sounds good, you know

[00:35:45] so

[00:35:47] I um

[00:35:48] Gave him a number and I said I love to work with you again. He goes

[00:35:52] Posed out a knot like this and I'm like shit

[00:35:55] I should have said way more money now

[00:35:57] But uh, he pulls out a fat knot of money gives me some money

[00:36:00] He goes so I love to work with you again. He's like what are you talking about? Just hide you as a writer

[00:36:05] Then that next Tuesday I was in Portland

[00:36:08] No, shit

[00:36:09] I was in Utah then it was like, you know, i'm saying so it was that quick

[00:36:14] I went to work like I ain't quitting quitting

[00:36:17] But I ain't gonna be here for a minute

[00:36:19] But yeah, it was uh, it was that quick like did you guys like write together or?

[00:36:26] Well, so he was like I don't need you to write my jokes. I need you to punch him up

[00:36:30] So I would open up for him

[00:36:33] And me and another comic would open up for him

[00:36:36] And then I will go after i'm done going to back in my pad and just sit up there and watch

[00:36:42] and um

[00:36:44] Like a like like a court stenographer

[00:36:47] Yeah, basically, you know

[00:36:49] But like I gave him some jokes like man

[00:36:52] I think this will just work with you just because of who you are

[00:36:55] And they see them take those jokes and then make them his

[00:36:58] kind of makes you feel like

[00:37:00] Just as good as if you made up a joke and you did it, you know

[00:37:03] It's almost even better when you write it for someone else and it works

[00:37:06] That's my shit. Yeah

[00:37:09] I don't think I've well, yeah

[00:37:10] I've I've given people tags before and then watched him do it and then like I've seen him go both ways

[00:37:15] It seemed to kind of flop and then seen the crush. You're like I wrote that I wrote that. Yeah. Yeah

[00:37:20] Oh, I had that I had one friend go up

[00:37:23] And I said man say this he goes. All right. That's funny

[00:37:26] Then I say it and it bombed he goes. Thanks a lot mellow. I'm like, why would you call me out?

[00:37:31] He would always throw it back in my face like thanks a lot mellow. He told me to say it

[00:37:35] I was definitely for the other comics in the room to throw you out which I do kind of respect

[00:37:40] I mean there's nothing funnier than when you throw your buddies under the bus or watching your friends kind of eat it

[00:37:45] Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's some of the best time because we've all been absolutely point fingers

[00:37:49] I always say that we can watch our friends absolutely

[00:37:52] Suffer on stage because we have been there. So yes, we can point fingers

[00:37:59] Oh, yeah, and then I remember I did this one joke so bad

[00:38:03] Uh my roommate and two other comics came up to me. He goes, yeah, I'm gonna need those keys

[00:38:08] I was like, huh? He does. I'm gonna need those keys. You got to move out

[00:38:11] I can't I can't have you saying shit like that. You got to I have your stuff packed by the time you get home

[00:38:18] But that's what I liked about it. We were honest about how bad stuff was and

[00:38:23] you know

[00:38:24] They would be harsh with it, but also, you know, they care they want you to do well

[00:38:30] I mean you want to see your friends do the hell missing

[00:38:33] Yeah, absolutely, but we're gonna give you a hard time on your way there

[00:38:36] You're gonna hear it on the way there, but we're gonna make sure you get there, but you're gonna hear

[00:38:42] My dad was missing now in the game

[00:38:44] What do you mean like like that that kind of peer?

[00:38:48] help or

[00:38:50] That that honesty that straight

[00:38:52] That dickiness that comes with being a comic and seeing someone do bad bits

[00:38:57] I think now with social media. It's about hyping everybody up. Oh, absolutely when it should just be like

[00:39:04] No, dude, that was terrible

[00:39:06] Try again like everyone who was mean to me when I started

[00:39:11] helped me

[00:39:12] Yeah, I had this one guy tell me like oh dude. You're not funny enough. So I took you off the list

[00:39:17] I guarantee nobody would hear that now that

[00:39:20] You know, everyone gets their time which I'm cool with that. Oh, I'm totally cool with that, but

[00:39:25] there's a sense of

[00:39:27] Oh, I gotta try harder now

[00:39:30] To get some stays time instead of being like, I'll just try it next week

[00:39:33] No, it's like I gotta be funny to get up on this stage

[00:39:37] So it's a little more drive

[00:39:39] Yeah, so speaking of the other early days like that is anybody

[00:39:43] Around still from when you first started anybody anybody from your class still uh

[00:39:48] I would say um

[00:39:50] Andy Forester. Oh, yeah very fun. Yeah, Andy like he was there

[00:39:55] When I first started pretty much, um

[00:40:00] Not many

[00:40:03] I'm trying to think who else

[00:40:05] Other people get out of the game or did they just move to like New York or LA or something or Chicago?

[00:40:10] I think most of them are out

[00:40:12] Of the game now

[00:40:13] Um, you know, you got your Caleb Elliott's he started when he was 14. So he's still in it. Wow

[00:40:21] Yeah, I'm trying to think I don't think there's really many

[00:40:26] From when I started in the scene in the local scene that's still doing it. Oh, wow. Well, I would say like

[00:40:32] I

[00:40:33] Derek Thompson he's up in New York now DT. I think he's up in New York. I know that name. I think I know I definitely know who that is

[00:40:42] Yeah

[00:40:47] Oh, well Russell, uh

[00:40:51] I basically linked up with him. I was featuring and uh, he walked in he goes are you the feature?

[00:40:55] I was like, yeah, he goes we'll see

[00:40:57] I'm like, shit

[00:40:59] It's gonna kick me off. Is this a good nights also?

[00:41:02] Yeah

[00:41:04] and um

[00:41:06] It was right after working with Tracy. So it was like

[00:41:10] He liked my stuff. We had a great weekend. We hung out all weekend and you know, I'll show you her stories

[00:41:15] He's one of the nicest people

[00:41:17] I've heard that from some of the people because um

[00:41:20] I know Greg Grogel used to open for him a lot or still does. I don't know

[00:41:24] But um, yeah, probably I haven't seen Greg in a long time

[00:41:27] But I mean, I know a ton of comics. I've had nothing but nice things to say about Peters

[00:41:31] but I've only met him once at the Hollywood improv and um, he could not have been nicer to me and

[00:41:38] Pretty sure his watch just so down the earth

[00:41:41] I could tell I mean I could definitely tell he was sitting in the back watching everybody and enjoy enjoying the show

[00:41:46] And then went up and did his thing and yeah

[00:41:49] So you featured for him at good nights and then was it just like that?

[00:41:53] Yeah, like he was like what are you doing next week? I'm like nothing now. What's up?

[00:41:59] All my plans are canceled

[00:42:01] So then um next week is is so much cooler than like

[00:42:05] Something further down the road like any work with with a headliner that wants to bring you around is amazing

[00:42:11] But something about next week is like oh shit

[00:42:15] Yeah, I could get my shit together. But yeah, that was just like

[00:42:18] Just like that. It took me up to Virginia did a few cities up in Virginia and then

[00:42:24] every time he'd come

[00:42:26] You know still today

[00:42:27] Anytime he comes to North Carolina or if he's close, he'll hit me up when he's close to this side. Oh, that's awesome

[00:42:34] Yeah, so we this past last summer we went to

[00:42:39] What have we do? We did uh the d-pack which is our big, uh

[00:42:43] Theater out here big arena

[00:42:46] Um, we did parks casino and philly. Yeah, did that nice

[00:42:53] um

[00:42:55] And then we did the mgm grand

[00:42:58] So it was a nice little was that he just comes

[00:43:02] Baltimore dc harbour one. Yeah. Yeah the national harbour one. I did that

[00:43:08] And uh, I think I do that places it was oh gorgeous room

[00:43:12] I'm trying to think if I've ever told the story in the podcast before I probably did

[00:43:15] So I featured or I did feature with two man show me and sabastian at the mgm grand in washington dc

[00:43:22] national harbour

[00:43:23] It was a sunday was a big sunday show

[00:43:26] Three days later. I'm featuring for mark normand at helium in philadelphia. It's literally three days later

[00:43:33] After the show a woman came up to me and said hey, I saw you with sabastian on sunday

[00:43:38] And you did a lot of the same stuff the other night and I'm like fuck you

[00:43:44] These shows were

[00:43:47] These shows are literally 200 miles apart

[00:43:50] Two separate and you're gonna come say that

[00:43:53] You know pre-drink for somebody in a club and then opening for somebody in a giant theater

[00:43:57] Those two gigs are light years apart, but I was still doing my best stuff

[00:44:00] Oh, dude. Yeah, I I think about I could I can still see her face and I think about that often

[00:44:07] Oh, yeah, that's one thing now take it right back down

[00:44:10] Oh, but at the same time i'm fully aware of how

[00:44:14] Hilarious that is because that's just so absurd in our world

[00:44:19] That's oh, yeah, absolutely and the odds of her seeing me in dc and philly three days apart is kind of astronomical odds in itself

[00:44:27] Oh, no. Yeah, no doubt. That's crazy. Um, I know

[00:44:31] uh one time

[00:44:33] Russell was just performing was performing in atlanta and being my buddy were like, hey, we're just gonna come down and see a

[00:44:38] Baster show. He's like, yeah come down

[00:44:40] So he's in this big theater and uh, so we're in the back eating and he's just like

[00:44:46] Talking to his brother. He's like, yeah, I'll give mellow 10 minutes up front. I was like, huh?

[00:44:51] He goes, you can't come all the way down here. I'm not giving you a spot

[00:44:55] I've got a plate full of food just ready to eat. I didn't think about

[00:44:59] so then I had

[00:45:01] Four minutes to prepare for something. I was not

[00:45:05] Prepared to do like, you know, I'm saying I mean I was prepared but

[00:45:09] Yeah, I'm just going to hang out. But then he's like, no, it's it's only 4 000 people go out there and just give me 10 minutes

[00:45:15] And I'm like, uh, I never said no

[00:45:19] No, I never said no

[00:45:21] You just need a couple minutes to sit down and think what are my jokes? What can I do here?

[00:45:27] Now you've done stand up internationally, right

[00:45:31] No, oh, oh, I thought you did stuff overseas

[00:45:35] No, I wish

[00:45:37] That's my goal for this year. Oh nice. That's my goal for this year. Are you able to make that happen? I definitely want to go

[00:45:43] I hope so. I gotta hook up um, nice London

[00:45:46] Nice, so I'm like

[00:45:48] You know, he runs the show out there. So I'm like, oh man, hook me up. I'd at least want to do that

[00:45:53] Oh, very cool, man. Yeah, I would love to do that. Haven't done it. So that's my goal

[00:45:57] Yeah, I'm just waiting on my passport

[00:45:59] Like come on passport. Let's go long waiting process now

[00:46:05] Not as down to a month now. Is it real? Is it back to oh good? Good. Good. I need to update mine

[00:46:11] Yeah, because I mean I've been waiting but uh, I'm a month out now. All right

[00:46:15] What else do you have on on on tapper this year? Are you working on anything off to the side or you just focus in on stand up?

[00:46:22] um, just like uh

[00:46:24] basically I want to

[00:46:27] I

[00:46:28] That's a loaded question. Um

[00:46:31] Yeah, basically uh focus on stand up a little more uh

[00:46:35] Focus is more on my online presence. You know, I think I'm gonna come out with more skits and

[00:46:41] you know, I've been writing

[00:46:43] Like for a long time stuff that I haven't even touched

[00:46:48] So it's like all right. I'm very sorry now that my album's out

[00:46:52] I can be like, all right. Now I have to focus on new stuff. Yep. Which is you know the next hour

[00:46:59] So I want to buy

[00:47:01] By the end of april

[00:47:03] I want to hopefully have that hour ready. Oh nice do another

[00:47:07] Are you gonna film it somewhere?

[00:47:10] Yeah, I don't know where yet

[00:47:12] But uh, I need to get this hour down

[00:47:14] Well, yeah, I hear that I mean, you know, you know, it's it's funny when you because I just dropped my first album

[00:47:21] And it's my congratulations. That's awesome

[00:47:24] Thank you. But now it's like oh shit

[00:47:27] Now I gotta I gotta do this all over again start over from square one

[00:47:32] Yeah, but it's exciting too. I'm very excited to you know, just see what the next chapter is

[00:47:37] It's I find that like um

[00:47:39] Every time I've released an album I went on like a writing tear

[00:47:43] Afterwards like I was excited. I knew I needed new stuff and it was very motivating to

[00:47:48] Hammer out some new stuff and every time I release something

[00:47:50] I had like a really good 10 to 15 minutes within like a month or two right after

[00:47:57] Then I would get lazy. Yeah, and I would get lazy but I will stay after the immediate release of something

[00:48:04] I would just like be so excited to turn some stuff over

[00:48:09] Well, that's it's been the opposite for me. I felt like I've been struggling a little bit

[00:48:13] um

[00:48:15] But I feel that's partially because I was trying my hardest to work that hour out like I wanted it

[00:48:21] Getting that out of my mouth now. It's just like uh, you know, yeah

[00:48:24] So now it's just all right just stepping away for a minute just to clear your head and then get back to the

[00:48:31] To the regular writing schedule

[00:48:34] Do you have a regular writing schedule?

[00:48:37] Uh, yeah, I try to write at least an hour a day

[00:48:40] Um, that's awesome. I should be doing this

[00:48:44] I mean, I ain't saying that it's happened every day

[00:48:47] But at least take an hour out to even think or just go over stuff already. I just I gotta at least look at it

[00:48:54] Or write it even if it's not a full joke just to write something. Yeah

[00:48:59] um

[00:49:00] Just to keep my fingers instead of texting it because I can never remember a joke after I text

[00:49:06] I have to write it

[00:49:08] I'm dude 100 and I think it's something ellen degenerus said

[00:49:12] Years and years ago

[00:49:13] She said it in comic insights franklin agi's book that um

[00:49:17] You should just do one thing every day to further your career write a joke change a joke edit a joke

[00:49:22] Send an email make a phone call and just just one thing a day

[00:49:26] It's so simple but also sometimes so hard at the same time

[00:49:30] But just one thing a day, you know comedians aren't the most comedians aren't the most go get them

[00:49:37] No, that's why I don't wear a mat

[00:49:40] You know, it's like

[00:49:42] When I started uh, it would be like the ones with uh

[00:49:47] The comics with the best posters

[00:49:50] For the worst

[00:49:51] Because i'm like man they're focused on their presentation

[00:49:54] More than their

[00:49:56] Their act then what they're doing on stage. Yep. That's how to do the same in every scene

[00:50:02] Oh, yeah, absolutely. Uh, why one more thing before I let you go

[00:50:06] I always love getting a horror story out of people. So tell me a story of a nightmare show

[00:50:12] What comes to your mind first when you think of absolute hell gig?

[00:50:17] Oh god, I would say working with michael blackson

[00:50:21] Oh

[00:50:23] It looked like a middle school cafeteria

[00:50:26] In the middle of this place called rocky mount

[00:50:28] I know him from way back because he I don't know if he's from philly originally but uh like when I first started at the

[00:50:34] Laugh house. He was around a lot

[00:50:38] So, yeah, I go way way back with him

[00:50:41] Oh, man. So I did this show I opened up for him and

[00:50:46] So my friend mike spurlock

[00:50:48] Uh drove me there because I had no car

[00:50:50] And a short white dude

[00:50:52] You know one line of guy funny as hell

[00:50:55] So we get there and um, I had this bit

[00:50:58] About guilty white people

[00:51:00] Like in my neighborhood and it's like I'm sorry what happened to your family back in the day with slavery

[00:51:05] And then I'm like, well, give me five dollars then right? Well, these three black girls decided to have a conversation of white

[00:51:12] Five dollars wasn't enough money like a full-out conversation five dollars

[00:51:17] And I'm like joke and then they hate it

[00:51:21] So then they saw my buddy mike

[00:51:23] And so they're like hey do you want some time? He's like, yeah, sure

[00:51:27] And meanwhile, I'm at the bar with my drink. He goes up there and he murders it like they love him

[00:51:33] So he gets off

[00:51:35] I'm at the bar. I have a one drink. I'm supposed to have an open bar tab. They cut me off off the one drink

[00:51:40] Right

[00:51:41] Mike's at the table with these three black girls. They just rubbing on them

[00:51:45] And he's grinning near there. It's like they want us to go to mama's house. I'm like, what the hell

[00:51:50] So then we ended up in the hood and rock him out country hoods are different in city hoods

[00:51:55] Like country hoods is like they can bury you out there

[00:51:59] So we're in this spot

[00:52:01] Waiting to smoke some weed and there's this kid at the door who I thought was like a drone up

[00:52:06] He's only 13. He's got a beard

[00:52:09] So mike's having a blast

[00:52:11] So this girl sitting in between us. He goes, hey y'all we just went to a comedy show

[00:52:16] Well, I'm sitting in between them and she goes. Oh he the comedian reached around me and pointed at my buddy mike

[00:52:23] and said he the comedian

[00:52:25] And then pointed at me and said, oh he was there too

[00:52:29] so like

[00:52:31] Then I had to go back and find a promoter because he was running from it because he didn't want to pay

[00:52:37] I had to chase him all the way back to his hotel room to get paid

[00:52:41] But I just remember that show I bombed so hard to where

[00:52:45] They cut me off at the bar

[00:52:48] The girls at the bar didn't think I was a comedian

[00:52:51] And then I had to chase the booker down for my money

[00:52:55] That he didn't want to pay me that'll stick with you

[00:53:00] Yeah, so one of the worst

[00:53:03] One of the worst ones

[00:53:05] Yeah, dudes

[00:53:06] I mean I have a couple in my back pocket that I still it makes my arm hair stand up when I think about a man

[00:53:13] We've all had nights where you are like, what am I doing with my life?

[00:53:18] And then you drive home with the radio off 10 and 2 just concentrating everything

[00:53:24] Man the longest drives ever those drives home dude. So this just happened to me last summer

[00:53:32] uh

[00:53:33] One of the worst weekends of my entire career

[00:53:36] Literally in 20 years took place last summer in south carolina

[00:53:40] And it was also my longest car ride home

[00:53:44] and

[00:53:45] Three out of the four shows I absolutely hated luckily saturday late show was decent

[00:53:51] Uh, saturday late show was good. It was good, but both friday and saturday early

[00:53:57] I was I hated every second and then I just had 13 hours in the car to just sit

[00:54:05] With my thoughts from that weekend and man, it took me a couple days to like

[00:54:10] bounce back

[00:54:13] Yeah, I mean that's the one thing I

[00:54:15] I think I really like about that this job will humble you quick

[00:54:19] Oh, and it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it or what you've done in your career or anything

[00:54:24] Man, you can be on top of the world and so

[00:54:28] Man not every crowd's going to be your crowd even if they're paying to see you

[00:54:33] Yeah, oh, yeah exactly like I remember one of my favorite

[00:54:37] Uh times this guy

[00:54:39] Um, he had been doing comedy for a little while and I'm just going to do a spot

[00:54:44] And then they they were kind of to me. It's like would you rather headline? And I was like nope

[00:54:48] I'm here to do my spot. I'm not here to take any one spot. I'm here to do my spot just my time

[00:54:53] Trying to stuff out. That's all I want to do

[00:54:56] So I guess the ask a guy headlining and he had an attitude which I would too

[00:55:00] You got me to do it

[00:55:01] And I was like look man, I told him I didn't want to do it. I'm not here to take any one spot

[00:55:05] He goes do your best stuff, man. I can follow anybody. I'm like stunk, you know the comedy guys are listening

[00:55:12] Don't you know don't piss them off

[00:55:15] It's like man. I've been hosting

[00:55:18] I've been the lead host at comedy zone for three months now and I'm just like

[00:55:25] Stop

[00:55:26] Just just do your thing man. Don't even bring none of that just just do your thing

[00:55:32] Man three minutes in his point is handkerchief out rubbing him sweat off his forehead

[00:55:38] I mean like a bit bad and I'm like, dude

[00:55:42] There's a level of confidence you should have but don't let it tilt over the cockiness

[00:55:47] Because that's when the comedy guys would be like, oh, where do you think you got it? Oh, yeah

[00:55:53] Even if you just had you know every time I have a streak of you know

[00:55:57] A handful of good shows a great weekend when I saw you and raleigh last month every show was great

[00:56:03] Uh, I just you just it's always in the back of your mind that like oh one of these upcoming shows is not

[00:56:10] Going to be all that great

[00:56:12] Is coming. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I keep that in the pocket right there, man

[00:56:15] It's like one's coming we have to anytime i'm going on a big show

[00:56:20] Yeah, anytime i'm going to do a big show. I purposely go to a lot of mics

[00:56:24] Just to be like all right one of these has got to be it because I don't need to happen here

[00:56:28] I needed to happen here get your rep in get it ready

[00:56:32] All right, man, dude tell us about the album and where everybody can find you

[00:56:36] All right, uh, you can find me on ig

[00:56:38] Uh, Mike mental miller on ig

[00:56:42] Uh, facebook and michael miller government name

[00:56:45] Um, and then uh my album childish out on all streaming platforms Spotify

[00:56:51] iTunes youtube music

[00:56:53] um catch my clips

[00:56:55] On rizone comedy

[00:56:57] All that are starting to come out and um you can find me on hitcore

[00:57:02] uh dot com on

[00:57:05] Uh

[00:57:09] Oh very cool, man

[00:57:11] All right, dude. We got to cross paths again soon whether i'm down there or you're up here in philly

[00:57:15] We are absolutely doing a show to you know what actually we you and I may never even work together. I don't even know

[00:57:22] I don't think we have I don't think we have either

[00:57:25] No, so we gotta make that happen. We do have to make that happen. How many that happen?

[00:57:29] All right, mike miller. I'll try to put together something down here. So uh, I get you down here

[00:57:34] Dude, let's do that because I was talking to um braady about doing his wednesday. Um, was it was a winery or brewery show?

[00:57:42] Oh, that's a nice spot. You should definitely do it. I think you'll ask me to so

[00:57:46] That's something we'll definitely try to do in the spring or early summer. So we'll absolutely link up

[00:57:52] Yeah, absolutely, man. Sweet very cool. Mike, dude. Thank you. It was great talking. He was great seeing you

[00:57:57] Last month too. It's been literally forever. Yeah, you too, man. It was good to catch up, man

[00:58:01] Thank you for coming here and talking shop with me. Thanks for having me brother. I appreciate it, man

[00:58:06] And mike mellow everybody

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