In short
Udoi “Yedoye Travis” stretching as a fitness practice, plus a wide-ranging conversation about comedy, artistic integrity under capitalism, and influences in stand-up.
Guests
Yedoye Travis (comedian; carpenter in the theater; plays soccer; known for stretching; taped a stand-up hour in February; filming at Union Hall; special titled Fatherless Behavior; studied psychology at Emory in Atlanta; started stand-up around age 18; moved to LA after college; dislikes LA long-term). Chance (co-host/interviewer; discusses Hinge and asks about reflections, books, and comedy/AI deals).
Key claims
Stretching should be done after exertion, not to unlock positions you lack strength for. Comedy often “coasts” on what’s already popular; real prep and challenging worldviews matter. Capitalism distorts art via boom/bust cycles; artists should seek economic models that reduce rent pressure. “No” and “yes” social environments shape perception and character judgment.
Notable examples
Richard Pryor (favorite), Eddie Murphy (admired), George Wallace (met at Gotham), Union Hall as a community hub (David Cross mentioned). Debate references about Chappelle’s transphobic material and AI/gambling deals. Dragon Ball Z via Toonami; recommends Dragon Ball Z Kai for filler-cut viewing.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOBook Recommendations and Reading Goals
0:03 to 1:24
Discussion about favorite books and personal reading goals.
“It can be a daunting and difficult thing to navigate.”
Book Recommendations and Reading Goals
2:26 to 3:08
Discussion about favorite books and personal reading goals.
“Oh, you know, we're just having a podcast.”
Adopting European Phrases
3:08 to 3:54
Light-hearted conversation about adopting phrases from Europe.
“because I stole some of their turns of phrase.”
Cultural Sensitivity and Language
3:54 to 5:18
Exploration of cultural sensitivity regarding language use.
“I don't know I'm not as well versed in The gatekeeping of black Britain So I don't know I'm not going to give it to you on their behalf No, I'm not going to try it either.”
Personal Growth and Social Dynamics
5:18 to 6:32
Discussion on the impact of social circles on personal growth.
“Could you imagine I say it and we find out it's some horrible thing in Britain?”
Balancing Yes and No in Life
6:32 to 7:36
Exploring the balance of having supportive and critical friends.
Living Alone and Self-Perception
7:36 to 8:44
Reflections on living alone and its impact on self-perception.
“That, in many ways, is an auxiliary thing to playing soccer.”
Stretching and Physical Health
8:44 to 10:00
Discussion about the importance of stretching and physical health routines.
“the stretching guy, but I think people are overemphasizing the stretch.”
Judging Character and Trust
10:00 to 11:15
Conversations about character judgment and trust in relationships.
“It is tough to seek out hearing what you don't want to hear.”
Experiences of Being Fooled
11:15 to 14:00
Sharing personal experiences of being deceived and trust issues.
“And then if you're surrounded by no men forever and you hear your first yes, it changes you.”
Show all 31 chapters
Judging Character
14:00 to 15:00
Exploring how to identify trustworthy individuals and avoid deception.
“You can spot who's a good judge of character, and you can know not to.”
The Pain of Being Fooled
15:00 to 17:20
Discussing personal experiences with being tricked and the emotional impact.
“what's that George Bush quote fool me once shame on you Fool me twice.”
Stand-Up Comedy Journey
17:20 to 19:00
Yedoye shares his journey in stand-up comedy and the challenges faced.
“next month oh put it out in the next month yeah oh hell yeah i mean i knew it would be done but I didn't know if we were going to put it out.”
The Importance of Community Venues
19:00 to 21:10
Discussing the significance of venues like Union Hall in the comedy community.
“You know, like, I don't think anybody ever gets too big to go back there.”
Yedoye's Comedy Roots
21:10 to 23:30
Tracing Yedoye's beginnings in comedy and his inspirations.
“And moved to LA immediately after I graduated.”
Memorable Comedy Influences
23:30 to 26:20
Yedoye reflects on influential comedians and iconic moments in comedy.
“that I helped install because I was working because I do like set carpentry stuff.”
Richard Pryor's Legacy
26:20 to 28:03
Discussing Richard Pryor's impact on comedy and personal anecdotes about his work.
“But also the fact that he had to say the word hat in the first place.”
Humor in Grief: The Monkeys and the Dog
28:03 to 29:57
Explore a humorous bit about loss through the lens of a comedian's storytelling.
“So he got a girl monkey so they could go out and fuck in the trees or whatever when the monkey was lonely.”
Humor in Grief: The Monkeys and the Dog
30:04 to 31:24
Explore a humorous bit about loss through the lens of a comedian's storytelling.
“hinge is the dating app designed to be you guessed it deleted it's for people dating with intention, going on dates, putting themselves out there.”
The Evolution of Comedy: From Clean Acts to Raw Truth
31:24 to 40:36
A discussion on the transformation of comedy and the significance of authenticity in performance.
“First the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other.”
The Evolution of Comedy: From Clean Acts to Raw Truth
40:39 to 42:01
A discussion on the transformation of comedy and the significance of authenticity in performance.
“Look, dating can be a goddamn nightmare.”
The Economic Challenges of Stand-Up Comedy
42:01 to 44:40
Explore the economic issues in stand-up comedy and the impact of capitalism on artists.
Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Art
44:41 to 46:58
Discuss the ethical challenges artists face in accepting sponsorships and making principled choices.
“that's been causing me to think a lot about that.”
The Limits of Human Intelligence
46:59 to 49:24
Reflect on the relationship between human intelligence and emotional understanding in society.
“I don't like using the term leftist because people...”
Excitement for Upcoming Projects
49:25 to 51:23
Hear about the host's anticipation for their upcoming comedy special and its significance.
“I think our intelligence is getting in the way of so, so much of what we could achieve just by feeling shit out.”
An Introduction to Dragon Ball Z
51:24 to 55:27
Learn about the cultural significance of Dragon Ball Z and how to get started with it.
“There's something I know about you that I wanted to ask you about.”
Book Recommendations and Literary Journeys
55:28 to 56:00
Discuss book recommendations and the importance of reading in personal growth.
“it's on there's nothing on the calendar right now but i could go to peru should i i mean i'm just i I would just check because if you're feeling that in the U.S., it's going to feel way worse in Latin America.”
Book Recommendations and Discussions
56:00 to 1:01:14
The conversation delves into favorite books and reading preferences, blending fiction and nonfiction insights.
“If you're really dedicated, the original Dragon Ball is a little bit shorter.”
Exploring Anarchist Literature
1:01:14 to 1:03:44
Discussion on influential anarchist writers and their impact on society and political thought.
“Is there anything else I have to tap in on?”
True or False Game Segment
1:03:44 to 1:05:44
A fun game segment where participants answer true or false questions for a chance to win.
“And I am going to tap in on these books.”
True or False Game Segment
1:06:10 to 1:08:20
A fun game segment where participants answer true or false questions for a chance to win.
“It can be a daunting and difficult thing to navigate.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This episode is brought to you by Hinge. Look, dating can be a goddamn nightmare. It can be a daunting and difficult thing to navigate. But thankfully, our friends at Hinge are here to help. Hinge is the dating app designed to be, you guessed it, deleted. It's for people dating with intention, going on dates, putting themselves out there. Hinge is designed for finding connections. What makes Hinge the ideal dating app is its user-friendly layout and its interactive prompts feature that allow you to ask potential suitors questions or pick topics to get the conversation going without the awkward ice breaking phase.
0:31What we hear is so true, the whole team, love the most about Hinge, and we're always bringing this up, has got to be the signals feature, which allows you to see what profiles thoughtfully engage with their matches. I mean, who doesn't love thoughtful engagement? For anyone who might need a little assistance when it comes to making their profile pop, Hinge has just released their new friends take feature that lets you invite the people who know you best to contribute short, authentic reflections directly to your profile via text, voice, video, and photos. Chance, why don't you give him a reflection for me?
1:04For my Hinge profile. For you? Yeah, well, give him a... You know me best. Give him a reflection of me. Oh, wow. Well, a great smile, and he always picks up the check. That's actually, yeah. That's actually really nice. Actually, Nicole Clipped sent that to me. Next time you're looking to make a connection, do us a favor and give Hinge a try. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweetgreen's fall harvest menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side.
1:46The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen, featuring fall's best dressed. Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app. fall never arrives all at once first the air then the light and slowly the things you love begin to find each other a jacket meets a dress a hoodie slips beneath a blazer an old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season you create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall find fall your way at ross
2:26this is a head gum podcast are there like three books that you're like you would recommend them to anyone or to me specifically uh-huh that you're like you must read these okay what is your what are your goals in reading fantastic question i there is a girl who uh works at the Bookstore. Fight Club.
2:52Dude, what's up? Oh, you know, we're just having a podcast.
2:58You know what they call it, having a podcast. Yeah, you know what we should do? We should have a podcast. You know, having a podcast reminds me of, like, I got in trouble with a bunch of my friends after I went to Europe for the first time because I stole some of their turns of phrase. Everyone started making fun of me I couldn't help it I like the way they say some things Oh you stole the Europeans Oh yeah Oh they talk bad though But you know what They say some fun stuff Like they say like Like someone I picked up from them Someone say like Oh are you going to be in town On the 17th You say I'm meant to be I like that I'm meant to be I like that That's very British though Yeah I thought you were saying Like Europe Europe There you go No fake British Europe Okay I like the British What's another thing What's another thing I did that you got mad at me for?
3:43The biggest one by a mile is You don't say come to my house, you say come to mine Come to mine! I like that That's evil That's a little evil I think I like black British phrases Like my youth Am I allowed to use that? I don't know I'm not as well versed in The gatekeeping of black Britain So I don't know I'm not going to give it to you on their behalf No, I'm not going to try it either. You can't take that off me. Just so you know. Yeah. I'm not going to try it at the moment. Okay. What is that? My, what is, well, fuck. What does that mean? You're a youth. You're my youth. You know, you're like my, you're like my friend.
4:23Oh, like buddy, pal. Like buddy. Okay. Or like you lot. Yeah. Yeah. You lot. I can definitely do. I'm allowed that when I know that. I like you lot. You can't say it like that though. No. You lot. Well, it's just tricky because it's, it's, the accents get tricky because sometimes it's not just British. There's another element going on and then it's like, well, what am I doing? Right, right, right. And I also don't know. I cannot tell. No, you have to tell me. I'm begging you to tell me. I'm reaching into other people's talk for this. I truly don't know. Being a white guy, yeah, it's hard. Yeah.
5:03Yeah. Yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Example. I mean, this, for example, like this was crazy. Can I say that? Can I not say that? Right. You mean this moment right now? Yeah. Yeah. Can I say the thing? Can I not say that? That's hard. Yeah. Well, you can. Yeah. I'm not going to try it. Could you imagine I say it and we find out it's some horrible thing in Britain? I would love that so much. You would love to see me get canceled? Yeah. Do you really? Well, see, here's the thing is it's always fun to watch. Yeah. It doesn't matter who it is. Yeah. I think you're a very kind man. Yeah. You know, you've been great to me.
5:37You're a kind guy. but like from a from a distance i'd watch whose cancellation have you enjoyed the most um you know what i didn't expect you to ask me for an example now that i'm real now i'm thinking about it i got a kind heart man i i i don't like it you feel like it's meaty to me yeah i don't i don't i don't like watching people get canceled it's a it's a very bad experience i'm a i'm also notorious flip-flopper yeah it's my thing yeah yeah yeah taking big stances and then taking it back yep yep i walk it right back what's your biggest what do you think should been your biggest flip-flop do you remember that one just now just now was your biggest that was it just now that was that's the one that established me as a flip-flopper yeah yeah before that you were not a flip-flopper before that i was absolutely not a flip-flopper genesis of your flip-flopping me becoming a flip-flopper is the biggest flip-flop for me oh man i'm so excited to have you here i haven't seen you in a minute last time i saw you i think was it uh the basement of union hall yeah yeah it was yeah that was this was like and i was on my way out too that was barely even a sighting no it was horrible i went upstairs to try and find you because i felt i actually felt bad i i um we had a quick hug and a hello and then i lost you yeah and then i came up to be like i was like i put in my head i said i'm gonna talk to you do it when i get upstairs and then i went up there and you were gone yeah that's uh that's been my uh my way of being the past year yeah i'm very i've been very in and out slipping out why do you think that's about uh you know it's been it's been quite a year of uh i just don't want to be outside yeah you know that's i don't even know what there is more to it than that i just uh you know sometimes you have that uh you have those times in your life where you're like i've had enough yeah not in like a not in like a um like a no one be worried you know what i mean it's not in that kind of way no one be worried not nobody stress out yeah but you know sometimes you you're just like i've seen it yeah you know yeah i've been at union hall yeah before i know what goes on over there yeah and uh and it's been very much that kind of year for me i've been doing the same thing the same three things all year what are they i've been i've been going to work i am a carpenter in the theater yeah uh i've been doing stand-up and i've been playing soccer you okay i knew all these things about you and i'll say a fourth thing that I think you're doing that you didn't mention.
7:59Yes. You're stretching. I'm stretching. I'm stretching. That, in many ways, is an auxiliary thing to playing soccer. Yeah. But, yes, I am stretching. You're really stretching. I see you stretch online, and I go, I got to stretch. You got to stretch. Because you're doing really good at it. Thank you. And it's inspiring to me. Thank you. I have definitely added that to my personality. Yeah. That's become a big part of me in the past year or so. It's a huge pillar of you to me now. Yeah. Is stretching. Yeah. When I think of – I'm not even kidding you. I was at the gym the other day, and I was kind of phoning in my stretching.
8:30I'm dead serious in my head. I was like, Udoi would hate this. You know what? He would hate to see you like this. You know what? Here's the thing, though. Yes. But also, I think people, this is going to sound crazy after I've been established as the stretching guy, but I think people are overemphasizing the stretch. Really? When they, or they're doing the stretch at the wrong times. because sometimes, you know, when you stretch, you're unlocking positions that you're not comfortable in. You're unlocking positions that you don't have the strength. And then you're going out and you're playing sports or you're going and lifting weights.
9:10You're putting yourself in a risky position. You got to go lift the stuff, get your strength, and then you stretch after, you know, once you're tired and you're relaxed and you're not planning on exerting a bunch of energy. Your team stretch after the event. I'm team stretch after the event. Okay. Yes. Yeah. Get you a nice warm-up. Lubricate the joints, if you will. Yeah. And then stretch after the fact. You don't need to be able to do the splits. Yeah. You don't need that. Oh, I will never. You could. I won't. You could. I could, but I think we both know I would look hilarious doing the splits.
9:46I'm not going to look hilarious like that. Well. Tell me I wouldn't look hilarious. Imagine me doing the splits right now and tell me you're not kind of giggling. I'm giggling a little bit.
9:58But also, I'll tell you whatever you want to hear. You know what I mean? Yeah. Would you really? Yeah. I guess I do like that. I love hearing what I want to hear. It is tough to seek out hearing what you don't want to hear. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, because the things you don't want to hear, you got to hear them. Yeah. You know? I've told a lot of people in my life that I don't want to be surrounded by yes men. Yes. But every time I say it, there's a little part of my head that's like, unless you really want to. If you really want to say yes to me all the time, I guess. Here's the thing.
10:35I think you either got to be around all yes men or all no men. You know what I mean? I don't think you can ever, you know. You don't think there could be harmony between the yes and no men? I don't think. No. No. Because I think if you're around Yes Men all the time and you hear no, it feels like, oh, so I'm just Jeffrey Epstein, huh? Yeah. So I'm Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, I'm Jeff Epstein, y 'all. I guess I'm just Jeffrey Epstein, huh? Oh, I'm evil incarnate. No, I guess I'm just Hitler. Hearing no for the first time feels like being Hitler. Yeah. Yeah. If you're surrounded by Yes Men, yeah. Yeah, it does.
11:18It does. It does. And then if you're surrounded by no men forever and you hear your first yes, it changes you. Yeah. You know? It changes you in a much less funny way. Yeah. You know? I don't have a bit prepared for that. Yeah. But, you know, it's a different experience. Do you feel like you have a lot of yes men or no men in your life? I think I have almost exclusively no men in my life. And it's great. It's a great thing. Yeah. I think you're supposed to have people in your life that are like, you don't do that Don't do that You're not that guy Yeah You know what I mean? And it's not to say that like, they're discouraging It's just to remind, I feel like you need to be reminded of like, who you are every now and then Yeah I lived alone for like, two years and like, I think you leave that experience feeling like, I could be anybody I could I have nobody seen me for for two years I could be I could be any guy yeah you know I don't know what's happened yeah they have no clue they don't know what's going on in here you know in my lair my in my lair they don't know what links I got yeah they don't know what I'm clicking yeah you know what I'm clicking you know what I mean they don't know what I'm clicking yeah I feel like if you're living in the real world and you got you got your like reasonable no people around you yeah then you got you got somebody to be like hey you you were not on that yesterday yeah don't suddenly be on that today you know yeah yeah i guess maybe that would be not anybody who's ever said no to me i fired them or cut them off yeah and that's gonna change you you know in a crazy way it already has you well i've become a bad guy and you know what maybe i met you as a bad guy and i don't know what a bad guy looks like yeah yeah so you're in on the illusion yeah so I'm like, I met you at this point.
13:10Yeah. And so my character judgment is just. Do you think you're a good judge of character? I think generally, yes. I think you are. But if I meet you at the wrong time, who knows? Yeah. Yeah. You know? Okay. I'm a great judge of character. That being said, who knows? I think everybody has a window in their life where they can kind of reset. Yeah. You know what I mean? Where you can gather new people around you, and they can't tell for a little bit. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think that's true. Perception is real. Yeah. So I think I'm a good judge of character, but I think there's a lot of good judges of good judges of character.
13:55Yeah. Like, you can spot who's a good judge of character, and you can know not to be around that person, if that makes sense. You can spot who's a good judge of character, and you can know not to. You're saying, okay, okay. If you're a bad guy. You can spot who can tell And you stay away from those Because you don't want to be found out Yes, I'm with you 100 % Yeah, that makes sense to me Yeah, I think I'm a good judge of character I have been snowed very rarely But when I got snowed, it hurt What does that mean, to be snowed? To get the wool pulled over my eyes I've been tricked Or bamboozled Hoodwinked Let us stray Let us stray run amok fooled what else is there you just pull up Malcolm X's autobiography would y 'all mind yeah but the couple times it's happened to me it's hurt deeply because I don't view myself as someone who that happens to you know and I don't want it to happen again yeah well fool me once what's that George Bush quote fool me once shame on you Fool me twice.
15:08Well, you can't get fooled again. Did J. Cole sample that? Really one of his most iconic quotes, Bush. Yeah, Malcolm X. What a guy. You didn't need to really do that. You didn't really need to. We take guest requests seriously on this show. Whatever you need.
15:31Have you been doing stand-up lately? I have been doing a little bit of stand-up recently. maybe this is why this has been an inside year for me I taped an hour in February thank you and just have not been able to do anything until it's done you know sometimes you're just like I gotta finish the project or else I can never move on I wish I had that quality that sounds like an amazing quality to have well I think it's ADHD is what it is is it okay yeah and so I've just been like this thing has to be out in the world because I feel like it also informs everything that I'm gonna write from this point if that makes me you know it does it feels like the um the way I went into it was like this is this this is the special that is going to establish um what my voice is or what I what I believe my voice to be um and after this point don't ask me no fucking questions about what my jokes are about yeah i'm not i'm not doing your little i'm not talking about uh how you can't say nothing no more because because you can yeah you can say something some more and you can reference the work you can yeah i have a piece that you can reference that this is how i feel about stuff yes and it's the foundation of the things i'll do moving forward yes what is good what's where you at with in the process um i have accepted that i'm not a good editor myself i did most of the rough cut and i passed it off to a friend who actually knows what uh what they're doing um so hopefully it'll be done by the end of the month nice if not early next year where do you know where it's gonna live yeah it's gonna live on youtube hell yeah i love that yeah so you're the plan is to put it out 2026 um the very rough plan is just within the next month oh put it out in the next month yeah oh hell yeah i mean i knew it would be done but I didn't know if we were going to put it out.
17:31Fuck yeah, let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't sit on it anymore. That's exciting. Yeah. I'm excited for that. Yeah, thank you. I can't wait. Everybody have to go watch. Everybody, mark your calendars. Some point, this thing will come out, and you have to go watch it. Yeah. I don't know if I... I think maybe I said the name publicly somewhere. But I don't know where. But it's called Fatherless Behavior. Fatherless Behavior. Yeah. Cool. I can't wait to see it. I'm excited. Where'd you film it? Union Hall. Hell yeah. Union Hall is of this interesting. I started out in Chicago doing comedy, and so there was this big thing that you would hope for for a couple years when you were starting out in Chicago, which is like, man, someday when I can get venues in New York to book me, which is at first, you're nowhere near that, but then you start to get a little bit of traction.
18:19You think like, man, if I got the right lineup, I could maybe get half the room full at Union Hall. And Union Hall is this place that's like, so exciting. Yeah. To like go, and then you get here, and I kind of wondered like, oh, now that I don't really play like venues that small as often anymore, is it something that'll like fall out for me mentally? And it actually is such like a hutch point of the community. Yeah. Yeah, I think it, and I think it kind of always will be, if that makes sense. Like, I don't think anybody grows out of it. No. You know? David Cross still runs his hour there. however frequently he runs a new hour.
18:59Yeah. You know, like, I don't think anybody ever gets too big to go back there. It's my favorite place to perform. Yeah. It's so fun. Yeah. I love running into buddies. I love seeing shows there. Yeah. I'd love to film something there someday. Like, I just think it's the best. Yeah. I mean, it's just like, there are rare, like, perfect venues. And I'm not, you know, the clientele upstairs pisses me off. I don't like the people that hang out there, if I'm being honest. But, like, just in terms of shape, in terms of, like, room shape, it's such a perfect room. Just, like, the perfect, like, low ceilings.
19:39And I feel like, you know, every time I go, every time I do a show there that's, like, my own show. Just because I look at Park Slope, the neighborhood itself, and I feel like these are not my people. But then I feel like when I put on my own show at Union Hall, somehow my people show up. It's just like, I don't know. It feels like a room that you can really mold to whatever experience you want to have. Yeah, you're not subject to the neighborhood as much. It feels like your people will come and fill that basement for you. Yeah, right. Yeah. Right. It's just great. You're from Atlanta. and you went to school you went to emory yes and you studied psychology when you were in school uh in atlanta had you started comedy yet like when did you i don't think i know when you started i started comedy when i was uh a junior in college or it was this it was the summer before my junior year so yeah yeah i was like 20 um and i think i only started that late because um i went to the other campus at Emory, which is in Covington.
20:49And so that there just wasn't a lot of places to do stand up. I did. I did the first time when I was 18 at laughing school. Not true. I did it the first time when I was 12. Yeah. And then as an adult laughing school at 18. And then I didn't do it again for two years. So I was, I was doing stand up the last two years I was in college. And moved to LA immediately after I graduated. Which was, I won't say a bad decision because I gained a bunch of, you know, life experience from it. Did a lot of things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. But it's not a city that I ever want to live in again in my life.
21:32Yeah. So, yeah. And then you came out here. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Why did you, what do you think it, okay, so why did you do stand-up when you were 18 and then not do it for two years? Like, were you just busy with school or what was the. I was, I was, it was partly that I was busy with school and part of me thought that I just wanted to try it. Um, cause I was the, I was the guy that it was always like, like in school, just everybody's like, Oh, you're so funny. You should try, you should do stand up one. Yeah. And so it felt like the, it felt like a thing that like, I should do it just to say I did it, you know?
22:07Um, and I didn't really think I was going to do it again. and then I once I was like close enough to it it felt like oh I've wanted to do this since I was a child I wrote book reports about about Eddie Murphy like what are you talking about why would you ever think you didn't want to do this book reports on Eddie Murphy is iconic yeah you know you know those like little those little like biographies this thin you would get at the school library yeah like I just got what I just checked one of those out and did a book report on that. Hell yeah. That rocks. Have you met him? I have never met Eddie Murphy.
22:43Damn. I don't know why I said that like I expected to ever meet him. I feel like you would have met Eddie Murphy by now. He's around? He's not. He's making movies again? He's one of the most un-around people in black comedy. You're really right. He's not really coming around at all. I met George Wallace. You like George Wallace? I do like George Wallace. He's a great guy. One of the greatest Twitters in the history of Twitter. Yeah, absolutely. He really made that whole platform his own. Yeah, genuinely one of the funniest people I've ever seen. Where'd you meet him? I've met him a couple times in Atlanta.
23:18Last time I saw him was at Gotham. The one time I've performed there. Yeah. Weirdly enough, Gotham got a new backdrop on the stage in like 2017 that I helped install because I was working because I do like set carpentry stuff. Didn't perform there for like five years after that. And on the night that I was there, George Wallace, Jim Gaffigan, and Jerry Seinfeld all walked in while I was on stage. All told me I had a good set, which was cool. And then I think Seinfeld was supposed to follow me, And I took great pleasure in being able to say, hey, man, I would love to stick around and watch you, but I got another show.
24:06Bye.
24:10Hey, dude, best of luck. Keep at it. I got another set. I'm sure it would be a very regular set. But yeah. Who were your, like when you were, I mean, obviously Eddie Murphy. Who else were your people when you were growing up and coming into comedy? Richard Pryor was my absolute favorite, I think. Which is very easy to say, obviously. But I remember when I was in college, I had no Wi-Fi at my apartment and my dad's place where I would go to visit. So whenever I would go to my mom's house, I would download whatever movies I could and then take it back to or just save them onto my PlayStation and watch them whenever I want.
24:59So the movies I had were The Prestige, and then I had Richard Pryor live on Sunset Strip. I've seen both of those like 30 times. And actually, the funniest line of the two is in The Prestige.
25:19There's this scene where he's, you know, David Bowie is Nikola Tesla, and he's like, they're testing this cloning device. that can clone not just organic matter, but also inorganic matter. And they make a bunch of copies of Hugh Jackman's hat to test this cloning machine that he's using to fake a teleportation device. And he goes out into this field with dozens of the same hat just have been cloned and transported out to this field. And Hugh Jackman goes, which one is mine? And then David Bowie goes they're all your hat Mr. Angier.
26:10That's the big one? It's so funny to me and I don't know why. To this day I don't know why it's so funny to me. But I think it's just the word hat. But also the fact that he had to say the word hat in the first place. Like, you see all these hats.
26:33It's like, in case you thought you forgot we were talking about a hat. They're all your hat. That is very funny. I don't know. I've done stand-up for 13 years, and in all that time, it has taken me so much energy to resist the fact that I'm ultimately a pun guy i love puns so much i love i love stupid wordplay and that i feel like falls into that category yeah cup i think is the funniest word of all time cup is a good one up is a great it's the hard sounds yes it's the c and the p of it all yeah and yeah and the yeah yeah yep i love uh richard prior was a favorite of mine growing up as well and i actually just for the first time read have you ever read um the hilton all's essay on richard prior that's in white girls no i have not it's really good uh i just read it for the first time and i yeah i had never read something so like i i've seen a lot of richard prior growing up my dad showed me a lot of richard prior and i've always loved his work but i hadn't ever read something so um like thorough and kind of i don't know about beautiful but thorough and like care careful about him um it was really really well done that whole book is great but the essay on richard prior i think you might like okay um it was great yeah i'd love that if you if you send that to me i'll send it to you yeah i'll make it happen i'll just give you the book i'll um i'll bring it over to you oh thank you um um yeah he has one of my one of my favorite bits ever in that special is um i i just love the way he is really great at like personifying inanimate objects and like animals and things like that like here's this bit where his wife is leaving him and uh she's like she's like getting in the car to drive away and he's like uh you're not leaving me in this motherfucker you ain't and he shoots the tire and the tire goes ah but he has this great bit about how his uh he had he had these two pet monkeys uh he got one originally and the monkey would just like try to fuck everybody and everything, you know, because the monkey was too horny.
28:46So he got a girl monkey so they could go out and fuck in the trees or whatever when the monkey was lonely. And then the monkeys died. I forget what happened. I think it was like a carbon monoxide poisoning thing, and they both died. And he was really sad about it. And there was this dog that lived next door that saw him. The dog saw him sulking in his yard, and he just jumps over the fence, and he goes, hey, what's wrong, Richard? He goes, my monkeys died, man. He goes, oh, man, you didn't meet them little monkeys that used to be fucking up in the trees? Man, I was going to eat them, too.
29:26And he's just like, man, I'm sad, man. I miss my monkeys. Well, Richard, it's going to be okay, man. You know, you just got to keep your chin up, Richard, you know? And he hops back over the fence. And then he turns back around as he's walking away and goes, now you know i'm gonna be chasing you again tomorrow
29:50a brief mea culpa a moment of allyship but tomorrow it's back on yeah this episode is brought to you by hinge look dating can be a goddamn nightmare it can be a daunting and difficult thing to navigate but thankfully our friends at hinge are here to help hinge is the dating app designed to be you guessed it deleted it's for people dating with intention, going on dates, putting themselves out there. Hinge is designed for finding connections. What makes Hinge the ideal dating app is its user-friendly layout and its interactive prompts feature that allow you to ask potential suitors questions or pick topics to get the conversation going without the awkward ice-breaking phase.
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30:29What we hear is so true, the whole team, love the most about Hinge, and we're always bringing this up, has got to be the signals feature, which allows you to see what profiles thoughtfully engage with their matches. I mean, who doesn't love thoughtful engagement? For anyone who might need a little assistance when it comes to making their profile pop, Hinge has just released their new Friends Take feature that lets you invite the people who know you best to contribute short, authentic reflections directly to your profile via text, voice, video, and photos. Chance, why don't you give them a reflection for me, for my Hinge profile?
31:03For you? Yeah, well, give them a, you know me best, give them a reflection of me. Oh, wow. Great smile, and he always picks up the check. That's actually, yeah, that's actually really nice. Actually, Nicole Clipped sent that to me. Next time you're looking to make a connection, do us a favor and give Hinge a try. Fall never arrives all at once. First the air, then the light, and slowly the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress, a hoodie slips beneath a blazer. An old cap finds a new scarf because you don't simply step into the season. You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall.
31:46Find fall your way at Ross. Him and Prior and Carlin are both so interesting to me because they both came up doing almost like borch belt, like clean suit and tie type of rooms. and then they both basically had they hit breaking points and were like I can't fucking do this anymore and both then evolved into their actual act and I'm so fascinated by both of them having that path Yeah, I think it must have been just the era they both came up in the 60s Pryor kind of wanted to be Bill Cosby in a way, Carlin just kind of coming up like got successful really early you know and i i think about that a lot because um in some ways i had a similar trajectory not that i was like that successful but like i was on tv i was in writer's rooms and stuff like that and i i do think about like the guy i could have been had i just like kept my head down and never thought about about anything and just like i i get it i get it especially being especially being like that guy like as vietnam is starting and like just the world feels like it's getting shaken at its core people are questioning like very fundamental things about like the about America as an institution um you know I I think I would question more of the people that like just kind of stuck to what they were doing you know and just like kept their head down never never said anything you know that was all the advice too like that was the the advice that they both got that the big advice for I was in this essay was talking about the big advice for Richard was like if you want to be black and make it be Cosby yeah like just keep keep it cool do do the sweaters, do the like tame thing for the white audiences.
33:50Yeah. And for both of them, way more radically, obviously for prior, but like for both of them to choose to talk about actual shit and to break out of that thing that like, they probably could have made a pretty decent living for the rest of their lives just doing that. But they would have like, it would have meant nothing. It would have mattered not at all. Right. Their work would have died with them. Right. And now they're going to live on as legends forever because they actually decided to pay attention and give a shit. And I think that's so interesting and applicable to right now because I'm so bored and disappointed by so many people that are just kind of like cashing in and keeping it tame right now.
34:29Yeah. When I'm like, everything is so bad and you could be making such better jokes and you're just like putting it right down the middle so that you don't lose any brand deals or whatever. Yeah. And I'm fucking bored. yeah and you know what i you know um i've struggled to to like escape the feeling that it's in the nature of comedy uh as it is to do that just because comedy did like it didn't have to be this way but it was born out of capitalism it was it exists because vaudeville was too expensive yeah you know uh and people were just like well what if one guy stood on a stage with a microphone by himself what if there was no overhead yeah it's literally that and everybody's like yeah nobody wants to fucking see that yeah at first um and then you know people got better at it and it started to look like a thing that could be marketable but even now like the the comedy booms as they've happened have sort of like happened as the economy booms also it's sort of I don't know just ebbs and flows with capitalism as it is and so it it does make sense in a way that people do that but like it just it is really disappointing to watch that like uh that people are content to sort of live unexamined and not really think and I don't know i i think part of it is like you know i i i got a lot of perspective because like i i did get a little bit um fed up at one point and i just i just started playing music again i started playing bass and i was going to jams a lot pretty much all last year and just gaining perspective about what like preparation looks like as an artist realizing like so much of the preparation happens off stage all the serious stuff happens off stage um and you i forget who said i think maybe it was frank zappa that said like you know the like he put out a lot of silly ass music yeah and it's like yeah the the there's a silly element to it but like the music itself is deadly serious yeah you know and i think because the nature of performing comedy it just feels like it's a fucking joke all the time it feels like you just know how to do it and nobody really wants to do the the difficult prep work required to like say something new you know nobody wants to actually nobody wants to question their worldview nobody wants to read a fucking book that challenges anything they believe in already yeah and the easy way to do comedy is just play to what everybody fucking knows already you know and it's it's just not interesting to me it's so fucking boring and you know it just it i don't know i think comics also sit in this in this space of like not knowing no not knowing if we're important or not yeah you know um because in many ways like you look at chapelle for example and like putting putting out four specials back to back just like railing on trans people for no for no reason as you get this rise in transphobic sentiment um in policy and on the ground just like person to person and like you wonder how much of an influence he has on it and i'm and when that was happening i i was sort of of the mind that like maybe he's influencing that like his work is pushing this narrative forward and now i'm just like it feels like it's a lot more pathetic to me that like y 'all are really just y 'all are really just riding the wave of what's already happening yeah you're not even like pushing you're not even pushing the negative part forward you're just riding you're just coasting on on bullshit that's already happening you're truly just trying that hard to have a good set it is yeah yeah because we all know every comic knows when you're preparing a set and when you're thinking you're like yeah i'd like to kill tonight i'd like to do great on my buddy's show if i'm dropping in or i'd like to i'm doing a headlining set the pressure's even harder or bigger more intense that you're like i know i'll write a joke sometimes that i'm like this is not very good but it'll kill yeah you know and and i sometimes i say it and sometimes i don't but like that is the more pathetic thing actually is that when chappelle's doing shit like that he actually does know better and he actually is just that desperate to kill.
39:08Yeah. And the sad part about it is he's smarter and better than that. Like, he could kill without it. Yeah. But he's just riding the moment. Yeah. Which sucks. Yeah, and it's really sad to, like, to look at somebody that, like, I idolized as a kid. That was one of my heroes, you know? Especially in terms of, like, this legacy of, like, Cosby to Pryor to Murphy to Paul Mooney to him. Yeah. You know, it's like, he's like one of the six guys that's really significant in terms of black comedy. And I don't know, it's just such a sad thing to watch go down. Fully lost my train of thought. You were about to fix comedy?
39:53Oh, right, right, right, right. And I was like ready to, I'm like ready to support and join in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah right right right right right the the daunting weight of uh intelligence yeah yeah yeah what was the heartbreaking work of staggering genius is what we were about to do together what's the nicholas cage movie oh yeah um oh the what is that nicholas he just did it it was a really funny one actually it was like the pressure the immense pressure of the unbearable weight of massive talent. Thank you. That's what we were in the middle of. That's what we were in the middle of.
40:31The unbearable weight of massive talent. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Hinge. Look, dating can be a goddamn nightmare. It can be a daunting and difficult thing to navigate. But thankfully, our friends at Hinge are here to help. Hinge is the dating app designed to be, you guessed it, deleted. It's for people dating with intention. Going on dates, putting themselves out there. Hinge is designed for finding connections. What makes Hinge the ideal dating app is its user-friendly layout and its interactive prompts feature that allow you to ask potential suitors questions or pick topics to get the conversation going without the awkward ice-breaking phase.
41:08What we hear is so true, the whole team, love the most about Hinge, and we're always bringing this up, has got to be the signals feature, which allows you to see what profiles thoughtfully engage with their matches. I mean, who doesn't love thoughtful engagement? For anyone who might need a little assistance when it comes to making their profile pop, Hinge has just released their new Friends Take feature that lets you invite the people who know you best to contribute short, authentic reflections directly to your profile via text, voice, video, and photos. Chance, why don't you give him a reflection for me, for my Hinge profile?
41:42For you? Yeah, well, give him a, you know me best, give him a reflection of me. Oh, wow, great smile, and he always picks up the check. that's actually yeah that's actually really nice wait actually Nicole Clipped that sent that to me next time you're looking to make a connection do us a favor and give Hinge a try yeah yeah I don't know I feel like I can't help but feel that stand up comedy is not really going to change until we sort of stand up and art in general is not really going to change until we figure out how to remove the um the like yoke of capital from it um that makes sense like i don't know the the um what i've been trying to do with my special is like and what i would like to be able to do going forward is like not not not not have it be a situation of like here's this piece of art you pay for this um i'd i'd much rather i'd much rather put it put myself in a situation where like hey i gotta i gotta exist the whole time between these things so like if you got a couple dollars a month just like throw it my way so that i can not have to stress about rent till the next one yeah you know and um just not be in a position where I'm like, where I have to take whatever the fuck comes my way between now and then, and I can really like focus on the thing.
43:25I just, I don't know. I just feel like there has to be, there has to be some type of way to organize this thing economically where, you know, we're not blowing up on Twitter every six months because our heroes went to Saudi Arabia for, for a weekend yeah you know and like or where like everybody's funny until they get rich and then they're not yeah you know um it just feels like it's it's sort of set up in this like pretty predictable boom and bust cycle um just like capitalism where like everybody gets a bag and then they stop being relatable and then they whine about how nobody thinks they're funny anymore and and then they get canceled and then we and like can't eat anymore because we've attached them being a shitty person to their ability to generate revenue you know um it just it just it feels like it's so it feels like such an obvious like an obviously flawed model that we refuse to do anything about.
44:40Yeah. There's been an interesting thing happening lately that's been causing me to think a lot about that. There's been this... Sometimes the lefty political accounts will clip this show and put it out and be like, look, the podcasters are talking about this or whatever. I'm like, go nuts, whatever, if it helps the cause. but they reclipped something recently about me talking about we turned down AI deals on this show. And Rock On said it and left it in the episode for a reason. But then there's this interesting thing where people are like using it to attack anyone who's ever done an AI deal. And I'm like, I'm actually not so interested in that.
45:18I don't want to be, I don't know everyone's finances. I don't know everyone's situation. I don't know. There's so many things I don't know. And when I say something like that on this show that I'm like, you know, we don't do deals with AI or we don't do deals with gambling or whatever the situation is. It's not because I think I'm existing ethically under capitalism. I'm certainly not. Yeah. I don't. None of us get to. I still take money from bad places. Yeah. And I'm still involved in the process. But I just wish that more people who had the opportunity to think about these things wouldn't just like.
45:52it's almost like you talk to people in this business and they're like well it's five hundred thousand dollars i couldn't say no and it's like well you could i think you could have because if you're making the kind of money i suspect that you're making i think you easily could have yeah like i think actually i couldn't say no yeah yeah a lot of people couldn't say no you could have said no yeah yeah that's the thing and then yeah and then it's i yeah i got like uh there was a group of people online who were mad at me about that same thing that they were like that it's the it's the privileged person take to tell people to turn that down and i'm like well no i'm not telling you random twitter user to turn it down i'm saying why shouldn't i if i know that my bills are paid without it yeah i just i don't there's this thing that happens i think where when we're having these conversations about like the the nexus of like being an artist and uh trying to be like a somewhat moral like principled person who exists in the world doing that stuff and also uh existing under capitalism the way that we all are trying to figure out how that all melds together i feel like this thing happens where it's like anything you say is supposed to be a prescription for everybody yeah and i'm like no i'm just i just wish we would all ask a little bit more questions is really the only takeaway i have yeah yeah i mean the fact is we all have to contend with capitalism in some way you know um like i i have uh i have the show jaded forum that I've been doing for a couple years that is pretty explicitly...
47:19I don't like using the term leftist because people... You say that and people think you're Democrat. You love the Democrats.
47:31That's low-key my shit. Those are your family. Those are my guys. Those are my guys. Fucking Barry and Joe and them. Chuck, Nancy. Yeah. Shout out, they're back there. That kente cloth on.
47:52But yeah, for lack of a better phrase, it's pretty explicitly leftist show. But I don't know, we all have our different jobs and different ways of existing within capitalism.
48:11Sometimes a guy with a lot of money will show up and like, I don't know, the term class traitor exists for a reason. Like, you gotta just, you know, if they're gonna give you money, no strings attached, and you can, like, get that in writing, take that money. You know, like, um, I don't know, it's just, it's like you have to, you know, you have to be ethical. You also have to have the wherewithal to know, like, when it is and isn't gonna affect you. Yeah. You know? Yeah. like I don't know if if you're not asking me to like go and like advertise some bullshit or like put this money towards yeah I'm taking give me the money no strings attached money I'm interested yeah if anybody out there has no strings attached money for me give me a call well me first yeah but yeah give us both a call give us both a call what uh what is so true to you oh what is so true to you I I I think in this era, a lot of people may look at everything that's going on in the world and say humans are looking pretty stupid right now.
49:22I think we are too smart for our own good. I think our intelligence is getting in the way of so, so much of what we could achieve just by feeling shit out. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think, I don't know. I think we've existed for thousands of years and sort of like the last few hundred years of it, we just decided, hey, all those like instincts and feelings that you have, those are bullshit. Ignore all that. Ignore all that. Science. Yeah. Science. You know, maybe a better way to say this is System of a Down lyrics have started to make a lot more sense to me in my adult life. I was a big fan in middle school and I was just like, when I was just that guy.
50:11And as I've gotten older, I realized, oh, they might have actually been on to something. They might have actually been saying, except the drummer, he's a weirdo. But like, you know, as a collective. In those types of bands, there's always going to be one guy that you have to go, except for him and his crimes. Yeah. One guy that just doesn't understand the lyrics of his own group. He was sort of just vibing. He didn't really check in on the meanings or the themes. Yeah. I'm on percussion, man. I don't know what you want from me. I'm not writing this shit. I've got the beat. Does anyone need anything else from me or are we good?
50:44Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. I love that. That's a great so true. It's so funny. The so true segment, you're one of a handful of people who actually had a thought prepared, which is lovely. No one comes with one. Well, to be fair, I did forget it of course and then and then it came back to me briefly and uh did i stick the landing in my mind yeah sure didn't yeah i think you did hey thank you what's uh what's making you excited right now what are you looking forward to what's making you happy um you know what it's really it's really this this special and just like hope hopefully getting it out very soon i feel like um
51:32just as far as like and I want to stress that I don't want to make it sound like I think these ideas are so important to the world or whatever but I feel like as far as just like what I want to express as a comic I feel like it's so just so crucial to what I want to do going forward and just like
51:56I don't know it kind of feels like the first step in the rest of my artistic life in a very meaningful way for me. So I'm really excited about that. I love that. Yeah. There's something I know about you that I wanted to ask you about. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's bad. No, you're a big, if I'm not mistaken, you're a big Dragon Ball Z fan. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Now, I don't know anything about this, and it came up somewhat recently. Was it Ananias episode? Ananias. um what how did you get into dragon ball z and what do i need to know and where can i start if i'm interested um okay i i got into dragon ball z because every black man on the planet is into dragon ball z so so that's kind of how that's kind of how that happens uh so maybe the next life yeah uh yeah no worries genuinely one of the one of very few stereotypes that i will fully embrace every black man.
52:58I don't think I've met a black man that doesn't have some relationship with Drag Mosey. But the access point is Toonami, which is like the anime block on Cartoon Network from like 97 to mid-2000s, mid to late 2000s. This is like what brought anime to the US in the first place. Or like what brought it to the u.s in a way that wasn't like creepy and orientalist um in the way that a lot of things were a lot of networks sort of presented it it's like what is this mysterious media from the east like genuinely they build it like that it's like it's cartoons yeah yeah we have those they just fuck with disney like what i don't know what you want yeah um but yeah that's a good access point.
53:52There have been a lot of adaptations to sort of slim it down over the years because the original Dragon Ball Z was notoriously kind of beefed out, padded out, in a sense. So if you watch Dragon Ball Z Kai, that's like the sort of reanimated one with, or not reanimated, but they cut out all the filler and all this stuff and like kind of fixed up the dubs and all that do you how do you feel about that do you like the the cut down ones or i think there's a very something very important to the experience of like really sitting through five episodes of somebody charging up yeah i think that's a really important part of it yeah but i think if you just want to know what people are talking about watch dragon ball zkai yeah um there's also um there's also dragon ball dyma is like the new the newest iteration that's like it's kind of just trying to get kids into it um because it's been around for 40 years and that you know they just need an entry point to these characters um i don't know if i would recommend that for an adult i also don't know if i would recommend dragon ball in general for an adult yeah but again if you if you want if you want to be involved in the discourse well it's just come up now in a number of ways that i'm like maybe i need to tap in i'm feeling like there's a big blind spot well in what in what ways does it come up well people keep telling me they fucking love it and i'm like i gotta fucking get involved i can't have this thing that a bunch of people i know love and i don't know anything about it what right do you have plans of going to peru anytime soon i could okay it's not hey look it's on there's nothing on the calendar right now but i could go to peru should i i mean i'm just i I would just check because if you're feeling that in the U.S., it's going to feel way worse in Latin America.
55:47It's just Latin American anime love is just on a different level. So I need to, before I go to Peru, I need to get involved in Dragon Ball Z. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I think I would recommend Dragon Ball Z Kai. If you're really dedicated, the original Dragon Ball is a little bit shorter. And it's based on Journey to the West, which is like a Chinese novel, a really old Chinese novel.
56:23so there's like a there's like a another entry point that way just to understand like the characters and such and such and Dragon Ball Z itself is just like they kind of just stole Superman the story of Superman hell yeah I feel like you read, are you a reader? I am a reader what, okay this might be too big of a question and feel free if you hate this to tell me to shut up but I'm on a big journey right now to get people to tell me the best books they've ever read. Are there three books that you would recommend them to anyone or to me specifically that you're like, you must read these? Okay, what are your goals in reading?
57:05Fantastic question. There is a girl who works at the bookstore. Fight Club.
57:17There's a girl who works at the bookstore that I go to a lot that's trying to get me more into fiction because I'm historically very like nonfiction essays. That's where I live and love. I'm trying to get a little more into fiction. I do love nonfiction. If you've got some good nonfiction recs, I want them. But if you have a fiction that you think a nonfiction guy like me would love, I'm interested. Okay. I also have that problem of reading way too much nonfiction. Nice. And I'm also trying to... I've been trying to just like start with... classics in a sense, but, or just like stuff that just kind of has a hold on like some pretty broad group of people, I guess.
57:59So I'm, I started Lord of the Rings recently. Um, I really like Ursula Le Guin, um, who is, um, who's a science fiction writer. Um, the first book I read of hers was The Dispossessed which is a really great book about a there's two planets that are sort of in each other's orbit I don't remember which if one is like a moon of the other or not but as far as the story it doesn't matter but one is sort of like a capitalist like planet like ours and then the other one is like is basically anarchist and And there is a scientist from this anarchist planet who invents this thing called the Ansible, which is a device that basically cuts the time for interplanetary communication to milliseconds.
59:02And she has this whole universe of books that are sort of dealing with the implications of that. I'm interested in that. Her name's come up a bunch in my journey Yeah She's great She's sort of like If you have any anarchist friends Or if you're familiar with the term social ecology A lot of people that sit in those Worlds bring her up a lot Yeah She's an artist Like what we're talking about Somebody who's just sort of like very principled And like Just like really great and expressive and knowledgeable speculative fiction writer. Nice. And then as far as nonfiction, The Dawn of Everything. Yeah, I'm like three-fourths of the way through it right now.
59:52Yeah, that's a great book. Fuck, it's dense. Yeah. It's hefty. Yeah. I'm at school when I'm reading it. Yeah. It's one of those. And I like it. But, well, since you've heard of it, It is also the spiritual successor to an arguably denser and arguably definitely denser book called Ecology of Freedom. Ecology of Freedom. Yes. This one I have not heard of. This one is by Murray Bookchin, who's like an old New York anarchist who actually inspired the leader of a Kurdish militia in the border of Iraq, Syria, and Iran to basically drop his whole ethnic nationalist program and develop a whole theory called democratic confederalism in the Middle East.
1:00:51Um, and they just like changed up their whole, after being at war with the Turkish government for like 30 years, changed up their whole program. Is it, you know what? New thing. Yeah. Yeah. Basically. Yeah. Let's go. Basically. No, fuck it. New thing. New thing. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So Ursula, uh, Dawn of everything slash ecology of freedom. Yes. Okay. Is there anything else I have to tap in on? Um, Hmm. Cause I'm open. There absolutely is. You're like, no. There's no other books, man. Those are the ones. Those are the ones. You got them. I guess I'm in the middle of reading a book by that guy who was inspired by Murray Bookchin, Abdullah Erjalan.
1:01:42This book is called Beyond State Power and Violence. um also really good really good book it's just like um it sort of details the the this juncture of like sort of the start of like written history um starting with like um epic of gilgamesh and all this stuff like these just mythological epic epics that talk about the the histories of in terms of like these heroic men it basically frames those as like the beginning of a break from early like uh women-centered societies that were sort of centered around that's some look at that timing that's good what a piece of societies turn it off what a piece of shit turn it off uh michelle will you grab them for me and give us a second thank you um yeah it basically frames like the beginning of all these epics and like the beginning of monotheistic religion as a break from um early like women-centered societies that were centered around like um communal living and like and this is what i mean when i say like uh when i say we've gotten too smart for our own good and we're like destroying our own instincts with our intelligence yeah he talks about sort of the replacing of of like our communal instincts with like the need for like concrete science and things like that and how it sort of basically locked us in like this eternal dialectical conflict with the state being like a cumulative like power-based hierarchical society and this communal based society that we broke from like 5 ,000 years ago.
1:03:36Yeah. Also, basically what Daughter of Everything is about and what Ecology of Freedom is about. So what it was reminding me of, yeah. Yeah. But I have one more segment for you. Okay. And I am going to tap in on these books. Yes. Okay. True, false segment. I'm going to read you 15 statements. You're going to tell me as quickly as you can if you think what I just said was true or false. Okay. If you get 10 or more correct, we're going to give you 50 US dollars. This is a big high money game. Oh my God. You ready? Yes. Water boils at 117 degrees Fahrenheit. False. False. 212. There are no AMC movie theaters in Brooklyn.
1:04:04Uh, true. True. Sudan has most pyramids of any country. Most pyramids? Yeah. That's true. That is true. The John Thomas Carnes family log house is in Winston, Georgia. Say that one more time? The John Thomas Carnes family log house is in Winston, Georgia. I don't know shit about Winston aside from my mom lives there so I'm gonna say true. True. Ringo Starr is not the original drummer for the Beatles. True. True. Uranus is the sixth planet from the sun. Ugh. False. False. It's the Seventh, the cricket that lives on King Kai's planet is named Gregory. True. True. Walmart is older than Dwayne Reed.
1:04:38True. False. Damn. Damn, you were on a generational run, dude. Damn. One of Emory University's mascots is Dooley the Skeleton. True. True. Komodo dragon females can give birth without having mated with a male. Ooh. I feel like because the question is in there, it's true. True. Matches Malone is an alias Clark Kent sometimes uses. I don't even know and I wrote comic books false Bruce Wayne a rainbow can only be seen in the morning or late afternoon false true Lego is still releasing new bionicle figures oh that's a question for my friend Mamadou false they're discontinued a group of rhinos is called a smash true false a crash there's only one Shake Shack in Alaska true false there are none how do you do 11 damn that was a good showing dude that was a good showing uh thank you so much for doing it we love you we'd love to have you back anytime we tell people where they can find you uh i am on instagram uh at yadoya underscore uh pretty much everywhere at yadoya underscore twitter uh the threads all this stuff special is going to be on youtube uh my social security number is...
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From the publisher
Welcome! This week’s guest is the hilarious Yedoye Travis! Yedoye and Caleb talk best book recommendations, Dragon Ball Z, early influences in comedy, hat clones, and more!
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Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.
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So True is a Headgum podcast, created and hosted by Caleb Hearon. The show is produced by Chance Nichols with Associate Producer Allie Kahan. So True is engineered and edited by Nicole Lyons. Kaiti Moos is our VP of Content at Headgum. Thanks to Luke Rogers for our show art and Virginia Muller our social media manager.
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