Storytime with MrBallen | Tom Segura

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1:18I've never done that before on any of my shows. This is the first of its kind, and it's going to be really good. We're going to look at the art of storytelling, how my guest employs storytelling. We're going to tell some stories because, of course, it wouldn't be a Mr. Ball in production if there wasn't actual storytelling. And in fact, I'm going to be telling a story that I've never shared anywhere. It's a really good story, so that's going to happen today too. And our guest is incredible. He's got movies coming out. He's doing stand-up specials left and right. He also happens to be a fan of The Strange, Dark, and Mysterious, and I'm really excited to talk to him about the art of storytelling, swapping some stories, and just seeing what he's all about.

1:58So, without further ado, let's get into today's stories.

2:17This is Storytime with Mr. Ballin. I'm Tom Segura.

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6:38Oh, thanks, man. You really have like nailed the art of storytelling, even though oftentimes when you tell stories, it's sort of, it seems sort of effortless. But I mean, is that, were you ever sort of intentional about like threading being a storyteller into your work? I love storytelling. I've always loved storytelling. I've always been like very hyper observant of good storytellers. Yeah. My mom is like an amazing natural storyteller. storyteller like she has all all the gifts that you need for great storytelling and my dad was as bad as you can get at telling a story like the single worst storyteller a toddler tells better stories and so like you can't i think it actually helped to be like oh shit that's really good and like god that was so bad he would be like i was in the store and then the guy punched the guy So cops are there.

7:34And you're like, wait, where? What happened? And her version of that story would be like there was a hundred people in line, which you know is an exaggeration, but that's part of storytelling, right? Where to punch something up. And she's like, and it was hot. And this man walked in and he looked dirty. His head was hanging. So she's like painting a picture. And you're like, yeah. And then the other guy, he said, move. And you're talking to my dad. You're like, what about? Oh, yeah, that guy. That's the main guy of the story. You missed it. You don't have anything. Oh, yeah, yeah. All right. He's dirty.

8:11It's like just none of it. Like none of the information, leaving out all the key information. Whereas she was like a naturally dramatic storyteller, heightening parts of the story, drawing you in, telling, like adding color, right? And then like knowing when to pull the pin on the whole thing. Like just like natural. What you realize is like when you're like beginning as a comic, telling stories is actually, it's kind of advanced to get people to come along on a story. You don't see like year one, year two comics like, oh, he's a great storyteller. It's short form. It's like, because you're also, you're just not, you can't manufacture being a comfortable comic.

8:57It happens because you've done it thousands of times. And you have to have a level of comfortability to be like, I'm going to tell you stories. So do you have like either a favorite or a go-to story that you would use on stage? It's a joke, but like a story that you love to tell. Probably the lost wallet story because that's a true story. It's about a guy named Justin, right? A guy who lost his wallet in a cab. and the story is that I'm sharing the cab with a woman and she finds the wallet in between us asks if it's mine I say it's not and she's going to give it to the driver and I go no give it to me I'll give it back to its rightful owner and all this happened I mean this was in Adams Morgan in DC and then I took it upon myself that I'm going to return this wallet to its owner like this righteous kind of feel good do the right thing path that I'm gonna and I announced it so now I I feel even more obligated.

9:53And I went through a number of, like I put a lot of time into getting this wallet back to this guy. I do call a bunch of places. I use all the information I can find in it. The only person I get a hold of is this guy's father, Justin's dad. And when I tell him I have the wallet, he's just like, he's not going to amount to anything. And I'm like, what? And he's like, he's a piece of shit. And I go, okay, can I give you the wallet? And he hung up the phone. And so that was like this kind of crazy closure to this of the guys being like, my son sucks. And then a long while later, I'm at, I mean, I still remember it quite vividly.

10:35I'm at a lunch place on M Street in Georgetown. And I'm with my cousin. And we sat down and we're just looking over the menu, catching up. And the waiter walks up and I go, Justin? He's like, how do you know my name? And I go, dude, I have your wallet. And he's like, do you have it on you? I go, I don't walk around with your fucking wallet. No, I have my wallet, but I actually have your wallet. And he was like, oh, cool. You want something to drink? And I'm like, that's all you're going to say about this, dude? Like, I found your wallet in a cab in Washington, D.C. Like, it makes me crazy when somebody's reaction to something is like that.

11:18and so I ended up telling him to come meet me yeah and he came to the door and I was like expecting like now we're gonna connect I gave him the wallet and he was like cool thanks and then he turned around and walked away and I was like you're a dad's right like you're a piece of shit and I shut the door it's funny like so even just now like the way you tell a story is you understand that there are aspects of the story that I need to appreciate the context yes so that the story matters and so like that you just you turned it into like context is like the biggest thing of joke telling too sometimes like you watch i watch comedians that you go like man that's really funny why isn't that working like why doesn't it work because it's not that it's not funny and then you go like oh you haven't you need to convey more information at the top at the setup for that observation and joke to work.

12:15They don't understand what the joke is about yet. The only reason you don't know what the joke is about is because you haven't set it up clearly. You need context for it to be funny. I got to ask you, dude, how are you able to do all of these things? Right now, you're doing stand-up specials on Netflix. You have a thousand of those. You have your amazing new show, Bad Thoughts. It's this incredible sketch comedy show on Netflix. And the way I would describe it is like it starts one way, each of these sketches. And it's beautiful cinematography. And you have a sense of where it's going to go, right?

12:57And then it just takes the most ridiculous detour into just crazy territory. And it reminds me of there's this story by Edgar Allan Poe called The Imp of the Perverse. And I'm not going to get into it, but the gist of the story is like he writes about this guy who he commits murder. It's a fictional story. It's this guy. He commits murder and he gets away with it. And he can't believe he's gotten away with murder. And so he becomes obsessed with this idea that like he got away with it to the point where he's like, I got to tell someone I got away with murder. And he begins talking about it. And he eventually gets himself caught and he gets executed.

13:31And it's like this notion from that story that we all have these like thoughts that are self-destructive. Yeah. That like you're standing on the edge of a building and your fear is not that you'll fall, it's that you might jump. Yeah. And I feel like your show, Bad Thoughts, it sort of encapsulates like the worst intrusive bad thought that somebody in that scene could act on. And they do. And it just takes it to this extreme level. Like how are you coming up with these stories? Yeah, well, thank you very much for that. I do appreciate it. I've always felt this thing, and I think it's part of the release that you feel in comedy, right?

14:08A lot of times you go to a show, and the big thing is people go, well, what is it about it? It's like, well, he says the thing that we all want to say, right? Or the comedian does in some way. And that's such a release for an audience that they're saying it. They're saying the thought that I have. It's so relatable. And I've always felt like that thing that I know I feel that human beings, we all have dark thoughts. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts, right? And part of it is like on an individual basis, part of it is societal norms where you just, you have your thought, but you don't act on it, right?

14:50And then you just try to process it. And then social media, I think, is this great example of like, oh, these are things that nobody will say to your face. But it's like this permission to like – and it's probably – it's a release for people to be able to be like, I fucking hate you. Like, cool. It's really cool. Because they'll never say it to you, right? And so in coming up with these stories, it's like, you know, the coffee shop one was one of the first thing we shot a few years back. I actually filmed a few of the stories a few years. That's how I got the show. And so coffee shop one was one of the original ones we filmed before we had a series.

15:37Oh, nice. And so, but that is like an example of, it's like wish, everyone has had a bad retail experience, right? Where you're like, I just want to fucking kill this person. And then it was like, well, why don't we just make that? Like, why don't we have the person deserve, you know, backlash in some way and just take it over the top? So we just like went to an extreme place. And it's the one that got the, by far, I think the biggest reaction where people were like writing things to me like, Like, yo, they deserved it. And you're like, cool, yeah, they did. They deserved to die for the bad coffee order.

16:16But yeah, that's a fun kind of way to exercise the thoughts. What if we think of the thing we've always wanted to say or do or the impulse in that moment and actually make it? So actually, I saw in one of your earliest stand-up specials, it was completely normal, that some of these ideas that popped up in Bad Thoughts, like the Steven Seagal bit and the barista one, the two-headed girl, it's like those stories become fully realized in Bad Thoughts. But it seems like you at least had some concepts early on. Oh, some of them have been sent with me for a while. Yeah, yeah. Or even like the origin, the nugget of the thing that became something else.

16:57Like, there's a, the whole reason the storyline of the, you know, the virtual reality guy. It's so good. That's the second episode, right? Yeah, because it's a three-part story, right? It's so good. So there's the office where he gets, like, disrespected. Then he creates the video game. Then you reveal that it's a game. And then there's the part three where it's like he's become this successful guy. Well, in part two where he's like we need to sit on that toilet together, the origin, like the whole reason, like what makes me laugh is that the origin of that, the reason that that even exists is I've always loved upsetting my mother, right?

17:44And I know there's things that she doesn't want to ever talk about. And one of them is going to the bathroom, right? She just doesn't want to. So I try to say it as much as possible. That's good. And a few years, like several years ago, I would do father-son trips with my dad. Like where I was a working adult, but I was like, he was like, you know, let's plan something. We'd go spend like two, three days in Portland, Maine or something. And then I'd go back to L.A. But we've been doing those trips for years. And like even 25, 30 years ago, I was a teenager or whatever. I would go on a trip like with my dad.

18:24I get back and my mom was like, how was the weekend? And I would go, well, you know, it was great. And I go, you know, this one day I go, you know, dad was taking a shit. And she'd go, I don't want to hear this. And I go, no, no, no, this is actually, she goes, I don't want to hear this. I go, it's not what you think. She's like, okay, what? I would go, so dad was taking a shit, and she'd be like, okay. And I'd go, you know how when you sit on a toilet, there's like a gap between your legs? And she'd go, yeah. I'd go, so I had to go. And so I sat in that gap, and we went at the same time. And she'd be like, what the hell is wrong?

19:00And so I would do that to her like every couple years. I would tell her the same thing. She would never remember that I'd already told her that. Oh, you used this joke. I would use that exact thing, that we went to the bathroom at the same time. She was like, this is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. And I basically wrote a story where I was like, how can I incorporate going to the bathroom? And that's where we created the portal world. But it's all based on that. Do you have any concepts, material that you do come back to that you think about that that could work, but you don't? You haven't employed it in a public way yet.

19:38there is this thing where sometimes you go you know I've tried things and abandoned them and then you find that like five or ten years later you go oh there was that joke you're like I'm going to try it ten years have gone by so I'm naturally going to have like some difference in my approach to saying it or telling it and it's one of those things where sometimes you go like holy shit, that works now. It needed to marinate for a decade. But it is, I think, you learn to listen. You listen to yourself, right? It's kind of like you're guiding voice internally, right? It's equivalent to don't walk down that hallway.

20:27I think the thing you have to work on if you're doing this is learning how to listen to that. Listen to yourself. Like, hey man, don't ignore those thoughts. Like I used to think that laziness meant not getting up on stage. But what I learned is that laziness in comedy, like in stand-up, is about all the times you're not on stage. You can get on stage every night and still be a lazy comic. you know you're lazy if you don't spend some time kind of exploring your own thoughts jotting down that thing thinking about like that think that's the work you know the work is in those all that time before you get on stage and so it's it's it kind of surprises you someone could be like you're not lazy you're you're doing spots all the time you're like no you're still lazy because you're not doing anything off stage i mean one thing that's very clear is you see comedians who are stuck you know like they're like i'm i feel stuck here i'm not evolving i would bet almost everything that a lot of the people saying that are the ones who are not trying things not not it's like not doing the you always need like new something new new is what makes it exciting and moving um and so it's very easy to fall into that like you figure out 20 minutes that work or whatever yep and you go i'm just gonna do that because it works because you get fear of like what if i true leave that and i try to come up with new stuff and the new stuff doesn't hit like that but then the worst thing happens which is that that 20 minutes that works just starts to weigh on you because it's not exciting or new in any way and then you slowly kind of die inside that's why you kind of always want to turn things over like i feel like you you shoot something or you you record a special and then you just go i'm done with it and i need i need to come up with more and then your brain just kind of you know you you become you generate more because of the necessity the idea of like working on material like going up on stage to a live audience yeah and not even telling them you're doing this but like trying a new minute or whatever yeah is that something that you do i mean oh yeah that's i mean that's the that's the part you get addicted to really that's the whole drive of doing stand-up it's thinking of something and going i'm gonna try this on stage and then the build of anxiety of will this work or won't this work the absolute the euphoria that you feel when it does work is like unlike any other feeling which is why you i think comedians will do it into their 90s if they live and then the absolute gutting depression you feel when it doesn't is like so it's so powerful that you realize the only way to overcome that feeling is to try something again and hopefully get the other reaction wow so i i can only speak to my limited i i'm not stand-up comedy but i've done stand-up storytelling if you yeah if you've if you have you spoke in front of an audience yeah yeah but so in my world i already know the conclusion of all the stories i know exactly where it's going to go i remember i had one show that i did and the audience was literally like so respectful it was difficult for me to like get into the story because they're like so proper so nice so quiet the other crowds were like really reacting to stuff and it made it so difficult yeah to do the same stories i had rehearsed i can't imagine having the blow of them being like dude what was that and then getting up and doing it again oh yeah and the the thing is there are audiences even sometimes in stand-up shows like you don't expect it but you get it's not like every crowd's the same sometimes you get these very reserved crowds yeah where you're like used to people with like a lot of energy and they're just like like clapping at the end the bit and you're like jesus the thing you learn over time is when an audience isn't like super high energy or you go like this audience sucks essentially yeah you don't go hey like when you're starting out you're like why do you guys suck because you don't realize that sometimes and this is this is true that audience that was just like they weren't high energy they had a great time like you don't you don't realize it until you've done this a while that like you'll finish that show and you go what the fuck was that and then you run into people and they're like that i had the best time at that and you're like wow really because what happens is an audience for the most part they don't they're not referencing this show to thousands of other shows you are like you know that they're down here on the list of audiences they don't know that that's true they're just like like this might be the first show they've gone to in like three years and they're like this was a great time wow like you're and they'll become aware if you tell them so you're like just so you know you suck and they're like i thought i thought we're having a good time they just don't have that like level of energy.

25:58Now the next night you could be in a venue where it is just like fireworks. Yeah. And, and, and those ones you almost want to tell them, like you guys are unbelievable. Like they don't, I don't know if you know this, but you're insanely good. Yeah. Suffering from dry, tired, irritated eyes. Don't let dry eyes win. Use Sustained Pro. It hydrates, restores, and protects dry eyes for up to 12 hours. Sustain Pro. Triple action dry eye relief. Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time.

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26:59I know that you are a consumer of the strange, dark, and mysterious. Yes. So it wouldn't be a Mr. Bolin episode if I didn't tell you a story. Yes. And so we actually looked for a story that would specifically resonate with you. And I'm so excited. And I also, we even, the way we got the story, this is the context part. This story isn't really on the internet. We heard references to it, and we tried to find the source material for it, but we couldn't. We literally looked. We couldn't find it. It's a story out of Mexico. And so we finally had our Spanish language researcher track down this library in Mexico that had a copy of this story.

27:38There was a very unique recording and transcript, and it's being stored locally at this library in Mexico. And so the way to access this story is you can't just contact the library. You have to write them a letter to get access to this story. To hear a story? To just read the transcript. To read a transcript. In the story. The story without the transcript, not really a good story. You need the transcript. You'll see. So we followed their steps. We contact the library and we get access to the story and they're very weary of what we're going to do with it. But they're like, okay, be careful with this one, right?

28:15Because it's like a sensitive story for Mexico. Okay. So that's the setup. So this is, by the way, let's just stop. Great setup. Great setup. I mean, I don't know where this is going to go. It's good. But I'm fucking in, dude. I mean, you just, you set up like a Bond story. It's pretty good. I had to like request access through fucking headquarters. Dude. Like hear a story. Okay. So in June of 1976, there's this 23-year-old kid named Rafael Perez. and he's training to be a pilot. And he flies his training missions, if you will. He's a civilian. So he flies his training flights out of this airport in Chimalacan, Mexico.

28:53It's about three hours inland from Acapulco. And this kid, he's flown many times, but always with another pilot. So he's learning how to fly a small plane like a Cessna. And on this day in June, he's going to fly on his own for the first time. The flight profile was very simple. You're going to take off like you always have, fly in a loop, come back and land. Nothing more to it. You're basically demonstrating you can do it without panicking on your own. Yeah. And keep in mind, in 1976, the controls, the instruments inside of the aircrafts were pretty rudimentary. They didn't have GPS systems. It was sort of like you had your compass and you had your altimeter.

29:29But honestly, a lot of flying was literally dead reckoning, like looking out the window and just seeing where you were. So he takes off at 9.15 a.m. It's June 23rd of 1976. He takes off. And right away he notices that it's very foggy. And this was something he knew on the ground. But from a dead reckoning perspective, looking out the window, he's got limited access to reference points on the ground. So he really has not really a good sense of where he is. He's using his instruments and he's sort of guessing when he's supposed to make this turn to bank around, to come in and land. But on his approach back to the airport, he's successfully done this flight.

30:06He can't quite find the airport. Like he's struggling to see it. But at a certain point, based on his instruments, he realizes he's off course. He's lost. And so he tries calling in with a radio back to the control tower. He'd be like, I'm lost. Like, I'm letting you know. It's going to take me a minute. He doesn't really hear back from them. It's sort of garbled static. And then he realizes, oh, I need to fly back left. I need to go left. So he takes the yoke, the steering wheel, and he tries to bank the airplane left. But the airplane doesn't go left. It just continues flying level at 7 ,000 feet in a straight line.