

Host: Ryan Holiday
Katherine Blanford
Ryan Holiday speaks with comedian Katherine Blanford about her journey in comedy, influences from her upbringing, and the deeper themes behind humor.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.
On The Daily Stoic, what are the key points of this episode?
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
0:01You hear that? That's not just a Toyota truck that's the sound of no crowds no alerts no distractions and no telling what you'll find next you know like a detour so why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour Toyota Trucks my family owns a 2023 Toyota 4Runner and honestly it's my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned Around town, it's smooth and reliable, but where it really shines is on our trips into the backcountry. We've taken it on backpacking adventures to Colorado and New Mexico, loaded it up with gear, and never had to think twice about whether it could handle the terrain.
0:48That's what Toyota trucks are built for. Off-road confidence, rugged durability, and the freedom to explore. Toyota has a long history with the outdoor community, and they're committed to helping more people get out there and experience what nature has to offer. From remote trails to scenic byways, Toyota Trucks empowers you to take the detour, roam freely, and discover places that still feel wild and untouched. And they're not just making great trucks, they're working to expand access to adventure so more people can connect with the outdoors and pass that passion on to the next generation. Discover your uncharted territory.
1:17Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours. That's toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.
1:32Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, a short passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength and insight here in everyday life. And on Wednesdays, we talk to some of our fellow students of ancient philosophy, well-known and obscure, fascinating and powerful. With them, we discuss the strategies and habits that have helped them become who they are and also to find peace and wisdom in their actual lives. But first, we've got a quick message from one of our sponsors.
2:19Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I was out for a run in Miramar Beach, Florida, along the boardwalk overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, one of my absolute favorite places in the world. And I saw this woman and her boyfriend and her dog out for a walk. and I thought I recognized the person, and I was like, who is that? Did I go to school with them? How do I know them? Have I seen them somewhere? And I kept going, I run, and then I reached the spot where I tend to turn around when I run down there. I turn around and go back the other direction, and I pass, and I go, that's Catherine something.
2:56That's Catherine something. And I was like, I follow her on Instagram. She's a comedian. And I pulled it up and it was Catherine Blandford, who I had seen recently on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, who I was clips I'd seen on Instagram many times and is an absolutely hilarious comedian. And we were messaging back and forth and I said, you know, they were leaving as the weather was about to turn. So they were heading out of there. We were going to hunker down for a couple more days. And I said, hey, next time you're in Austin, you should come by. We just built up this new podcast studio, which I think you've heard me talking about.
3:32and I would love to have you as one of the guests. And it turned out she was going to be in Austin for South by Southwest. And she came in, I think she was a second or third guest. We had an amazing conversation. And then she went back to do her gig and I'm sure it was amazing. She's open for tons of huge acts, Jeff Foxworthy, David Spade, Ron White. And she has her own podcast, Cheaties, a juicy podcast about cheating because as she says, therapy is too expensive. and we talk about a bunch of awesome stuff. It was a great conversation. I'm excited to bring you this. You can watch the video of today's episode over on youtube.com slash daily stoic podcast.
4:11You can check out her work at katherineblandford.com on Instagram and TikTok. It's Katherine Blandford. She has a YouTube clip. It's got like 20 million views, another one with like 10 million views. Because her story about Salt Daddy is hilarious. All her stuff's great. You can follow her on Twitter at TheBizNiz. Here is my interview with the one and only Catherine Blandford.
4:42I got an amazing night's sleep last night. One, because my six-year-old fell asleep in the car at like six o 'clock. And he transferred him from the car seat to the bed. And it stuck, which is just magic. so he's in bed way earlier than normal. But I sleep really well every night because I have a 8 Sleep Pod 5 Ultra, which is 8 Sleep's best product. I've used 8 Sleep for many years now, and it's just totally transformed how I sleep, made me sleep better, made my wife sleep better. It's amazing. So basically, 8 Sleep is this topper that goes over your mattress. It can heat and cool both sides separately.
5:21It can raise and lower each side separately. So it helps you fall asleep faster, stay asleep, and then wake up better. Eight Sleep buzzes me to wake gently every morning as opposed to some loud blaring alarm. And then I can check the app and it tells me my sleep score. It even helps me optimize my day based on how I slept. If you want to survive the holidays like a pro and just generally sleep better, Head over to 8sleep.com slash Daily Stoic and use code Daily Stoic to get$350 off your very own Pod 5 Ultra. The best part is you still get 30 days to try it at home and return it if you don't like it, but I know you will.
6:03Trust me, your body will thank you for this investment in better sleep, shipping to many countries worldwide. See details at 8sleep.com slash Daily Stoic. You know, you don't have to let big wireless and your overpriced phone bill suck the joy out of the holidays this year, because right now all of Mint Mobile's unlimited plans are 50 % off. You can get three, six, and 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. It's their best deal of the year, and it makes it really easy for you to give your expensive wireless bill the Scrooge treatment. All Mint plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text at the nation's largest 5G network.
6:38Plus, you can bring your current phone and number over to Mint. Actually, we just signed up for a Mint Mobile plan to use the social media phone here at the office and we didn't notice any kind of change in the quality of service or network or any of that just a whole bunch of savings turn your expensive wireless present into a huge wireless savings feature by switching to mint shop mint unlimited plans at mint mobile.com slash six that's mint mobile.com slash six limited time offer upfront payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 months plans required 12 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial plan term only greater than 35 gigabytes may slow when network is busy capable device required, availability, speed, and coverage very soon at mobile.com.
7:21So when are you going home? Tomorrow? Yeah. No, LA. I'm splitting now. I'm paying rent in LA and Atlanta. Why Atlanta? Because I started there. I have a dog there that I can't... I can't leave my dog. You can just take your dog wherever you live. No, he lives with my boyfriend because I'm gone all the time. Oh, I'm sorry. Also a boyfriend. Yeah. Sorry, did I just say dog? Not worth mentioning. That's not what's telling you to admit in any way. I'm so sorry. My dog and my boyfriend. Dog and some guy that's also there. He has a caretaker that I appreciate sometimes. I'm sorry. I have a dog, a hot tub, and also my boyfriend there.
8:07I think I've seen both of them. Oh, yeah, you have. Oh, we had our dog with us. Yeah, we got kicked out of the beach in Miramar. Yeah, you can't have a dog. We brought our dog to the beach there before, and some person pulls up on a truck almost immediately. Oh, yeah. Except for when you're at the beach and someone else has their annoying dog, then, of course, there's no enforcement whatsoever. No, nobody hears. I just go, I think the beach is like, that's God's land or whatever. Do you know what I mean? Like, can you just, can we not, can you have, you can let a creature, If you have a creature, you can bring it on the beach with you.
8:42Have you been to the dog beach in Huntington Beach? No. There's a dog beach. And then you're like, oh, this is amazing. But you're also like, this is why they don't allow dogs. Because it's. Well, it's just if everyone. It's like when you're flying and one person has a dog. You're like, this is amazing. A dog. But if everyone had a dog on a plane, you'd be like, this is a nightmare. I don't. I disagree. I would rather be in a plane full of dogs and no humans. Full of dogs barking at each other. I don't think anyone knows what that would be like. It would be terrible. Yeah. I also, I'm the person that, you know, lets my dog walk up and sniff people and they're terrified.
9:22Are you one of those people that has the fake like comfort animal? Yes. I would. If my dog didn't bark at anyone that looked him in the eyes, I would, he would come everywhere with me. No, I saw you, your boyfriend and your dog on the beach in Florida. and I was like, I'm pretty sure that's that person. Yeah. But I'm never sure. I wish I was someone who was just like, if I saw someone that I thought I recognized, I was like, oh, that's you. Or even if it's like people I'm like, I think I went to high school with that person or I think we met before. I'm definitely like, I'll email them later to be sure.
9:58That's so nice. I just Google and go, yep. But do you go up to them? Or do you, or are you just like, now I know? um no I don't go up to him because I don't trust my own mind yeah that's what I'm saying I don't have the whatever the extrovert gene of like I deserve to talk to this person yeah I will tell them whatever I'm thinking I'm I'm like nah I could be wrong and this that would be weird yeah oh I have like I have very much that where I've I like even if even if I'm in the green room with somebody who is a legend. You know, somebody walks in or somebody that you have been following or you're a huge fan of for years.
10:40I have such a fear of turning into a fan that I will, I'll like shut down. And I mean, like the first time I met Jeff Foxworthy, we're in a tiny green room together. And I'm just kind of like have my arms crossed and I'm like, what's up? Hey, how are you? You know, I'm so afraid of turning into what everyone else is that I do the opposite. it it probably turns them off and i also think if you're someone who like if you have like a process like a headspace that you're trying to get into i'm always very hesitant to like yes interrupt that like you never actually mind but then i think you're sort of like well i don't want if they mind i don't want to be that person so i'm i was always like i just i was at like a 90 percent and then i mess and then i went to look and i was like wait she follows me that's crazy what are the chances.
11:26You know who I found you through is Nikki Glaser. Really? Isn't that funny? That's hilarious. Yeah. I didn't know she follows me, but she's amazing. Yeah. She's reposted some of your stuff. Oh, really? Yeah. That is very funny. I know. I would not have guessed that. I know. Yeah. She's great. She's a great repost or share of different mediums. I've seen her post your stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. She's not. I mean, but she'll post comics, but then she'll posts. She's, I love finding new cartoon artists. Yeah. Through her. And, but she's great. I mean, she. I think that's hard. Like if you're someone who has a platform, like obviously you're building the platform for you.
12:09So like people I think are reluctant to like share other stuff. But weirdly, like I found at the beginning of my career, I was like, okay, I want to be an author. and I want people to buy books from me, but why would anyone follow me before I've done that thing? And so I started my career just recommending books to people and then people were like, oh, he has pretty good tastes and then they ended up liking me. And so it's somewhat counterintuitive, but actually being generous and championing other people's work is a really good strategy. Huge. In comedy world, what I've learned is building your own audience is huge, but that helps you sell your own tickets.
12:56But the next level of being on a panel on somebody's show or podcast helps or guests, blah, blah, blah, all that else, that is totally word of mouth via comedians only. and like people who are champions of other comedians, it only helps like Burt Kreischer. Yeah. Joe Rogan, you know what I mean? Like all they are like, they're huge champions of other comedians and like, but you bring them on the road or promoting whoever's opening for them and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I mean, if anything is as selfish as you can be, it ends up helping you. Yes, especially if that stuff's really good. People like someone once pointed out to me, Like if you introduce two people to each other, like, you know, one well-known person and you're like, you know, you should meet and you connect them with another well-known person.
13:53You elevate to that level, which I never thought about. So when you introduce people or let's say more, I think, relatively, if you introduce two people and then those people fall in love and say, get married. Yeah. Now you have a very close friendship with those two people because they have a close friendship. Right. Even if you were just like acquaintances, like you didn't spend that much time together, but you created a bond between two people. Yeah. Now the three of you have an intense like sort of not even indebtedness, but you have this connection that they share with no one else because you're the only one that introduced them.
14:23Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like when you champion someone else's work and then someone likes that work. So like if I 10 years ago recommended a book to someone and that book changed their life, I changed that person's life a little bit by being involved in that process. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, for sure. And it's like, this is not going to make sense when I say this, but you're the two in the H2O. Sure. Yes. I know that's not how it is. This is how my brain works. Isn't that how elements work? There's like the binding things? Yes, I don't know what it is. Who knows? In my head, there's a circle here and a line and then two other circles, but you're the line.
15:06Sure, sure. The circles aren't there without the line. I don't know enough chemistry to dispute this, but that sounds correct. Okay, this is why I enjoy you, though. And this is a compliment when I say this. I for a long time and I still am a big fan of Tim Ferriss and I met Tim at that South by Southwest really yes he invested in Twitter I thought it was a stupid idea and that's where our paths diverge yeah yeah yeah you're both doing great but I think like I I was trying to read Seneca from listening to him and I'll just say it I think I have a lot of spirit with a simple mind. Sure. And what I enjoy about you in reading your books, though, is you kind of relay it in a more relatable, in a very relatable way to somebody who, sometimes when I was trying to read Seneca, I wasn't retaining an hour of what I read.
16:18Well, it's funny because sometimes people will be like, like when, you know, you see like the people that don't like your work, they're always like the loudest people. Right. To you, they're the loudest. Yeah, of course. Is comedy like you could be killing in a room and all you see is the one man with the frown on his face. Well, and the people who are like, that was pretty good. No one writes that comment. It's usually like, I fucking hate this person or I'm obsessed with this person. You don't really like either of them. Neither of those are people you want to spend that much time with. But like, they'll be like, well, I don't get why anyone would read Ryan's work.
16:47Like, just read the originals. And I go, sure, that's what you should do. But you're not everyone. Like, not everyone. And I'm not saying that everyone can't do it because I actually think that they can't. But a lot of people need something between vague interest and 2 ,000-year-old classic texts that were written in Greek or Latin, right? Like, it's preposterous to think that that's where most people should start with anything. Yes. And it's like what I related to is like I – okay, I grew up Catholic or whatever. You would go to Bible school as a little kid. You're not reading straight from the Bible and breaking it down.
17:30You're going and they're teaching you, you know, like stories like in a childlike form. And then you remember those stories and then later you read it in the Bible and it's much more theatrical. You get the names and the places you vaguely understand the lesson of the story. Then you can read it as an adult. Were you like Catholic Catholic or just like kind of Catholic? Oh, when we were talking about high school, I went to all girls Catholic high school. And then my, I don't, when people say elementary school, middle school, I have no idea what they're talking about. Because you were just in Catholic school.
18:02I went to grade school. It was kindergarten through eighth grade was, you went to the school that was the parish that you belonged to. Yeah. And then you went to a same-sex Catholic high school. And then I ran away. I grew up Catholic, or at least I thought I was Catholic. Yeah. And then we moved across town when I went to high school, and we just weren't Catholic anymore. And then I realized we were, like, proximity Catholic. Yes. And so I was like, oh, okay. So then I hear people, they're like, they're Catholic. I'm like, I mean, I did all this stuff, but, like, we clearly weren't that Catholic.
18:36Because if a 20-minute drive eliminates your Catholicism, you are not really Catholic. For sure. I think it's still dwindling. I mean, I hear about my grandpa's stories about how he went to church every morning at 6 a.m. before he would go to work. And my uncle was—they were all altar boys. And one time my uncle's doing the incense and, of course, passes out. And, you know, my grandpa, like, you know, he gets a lashing for passing out from the incense, making him pass out. And like – and to our days now, it's just – it was – I think every generation gets a little bit more lack with it. Well, right where we bumped into each other, because I pass it all the time when we're down there, is there is a Latin mass Catholic church, like right across, like right at the end of that boardwalk.
19:37And I'm always like, that would actually be interesting. I wouldn't know what was happening, but I would definitely like to go to that at least once. But then I'm like, eh, Sunday. Right. there's so many other ways to to get your fix without sitting in a stiff pew that i think people learn i i don't follow catholicism at all anymore i do find comfort in going sometimes and just sitting in mass and hearing um like the choir and something else like in a real cathedral Yes, yes, especially like not in America. Yes. New Orleans would be the only city that you get that sensation where you're like, oh, this is a thing.
20:22I am participating in a ritual. Like my Catholic church growing up was in a tent because they were like building the church, you know? So it was like one of those permanent tents, you know, like that football teams practice in in the summer, like one of those ones. So like there was none of that, right? This was like a – it felt like a high school gym. But then you go into like any church that's, let's say, more than 200 years old. You're like, okay, like thousands of people have sat in this exact spot and heard the exact same hymns and chants. And you're like, even if you don't believe in it, you're like, there's something kind of sacred about this process.
20:58Very much. Yeah. It's a comforting thing. I don't know what it is. Yeah. Like even if you resist everything about it. Well, I was in Budapest, like right before the pandemic, which is actually where Mark Shurelis wrote meditations. And I was like walking back to my hotel and I saw this sign for like a concert in like a cathedral. Yeah. And I went, which I would like never normally do, but I was by myself. And so it was like a choir singing for like an hour and a half or whatever in this church. And then it totally changed even my understanding of the architecture because you're like, oh, this is what this was designed for.
21:33Like the way the acoustics of the – like the acoustics of the building because there weren't microphones when this was built. And you're just like, oh, this is like a whole other level of the experience that if I was a peasant in 1600 and obviously all the breakthroughs we've had in science since and then, you know, the church hadn't been systematically molesting boys for – all the other things that we know now was not there. Right, right, right. If you didn't know that and there was just an organ. You would have been like, this is it. This is the height of the human experience right here. Yeah.
22:09Now, at 16, you hear EDM for the first time, and you're like, wait a minute. DJ Tiesto's got something. Yes. No, you realize there's other ways to get that thing. Yes. And probably part of what religion is struggling with is that they were the only game in town for a very, very long time. Yeah. Because they banned all the other games. Yep. But now it's a little – there's different ways to scratch that itch. Some good, some not so good. Yeah, for sure. And you go through phases. You know what I have always said, though, is what I really enjoyed about my high school, though, was that it was an all-girls Catholic high school, but, like, it wasn't strict in that – like, we had feminine spirituality.
22:56and my teacher taught about women from the Bible, but she taught it in a way that was like, here's why you don't hear about a lot of women in the Bible. What was that? Or, you know, it was a lot, she would go back in time and be like, you know, back before it was, you know, before it was taught monogamous relationships, women actually, before patriarchy, and I'm going to say this in a very vague way. Okay. But before there was a quote-unquote patriarchy, women really were seen as more powerful because they could breed children. And for whatever reason, it eventually turned into they started practicing monogamy and monogamous relationships so that one man could hold control over one woman, breed enough children to tend the land, right?
23:50And the farms and whatever else. so that I don't I don't think that that would have been taught in a normal Catholic tradition sure but it was cool to kind of uh like my school was kind of more you you you weren't the popular kid because you were the pretty girl that the boys enjoyed you you if you were the fun loud or smart or interesting person you uh you were more maybe treasured that's cool that's untraditional. I loved same-sex school. I just thought it was, I don't, I think it just, it encouraged you to be more yourself than the traditional high school. And I think things could be taught and said, or it was, it was.
24:40Would eliminate certain distractions and competitions and sources of conflict, I imagine. Yeah, very much. Yeah. It was, I mean, I'm like, I'm like, Like I, not every school, but I'm like, if I had kids one day, I would be so open to putting them in. Really? Same, same, same sex what I'm supposed to be saying now. I don't, same, yeah. I'm going to go same sex. I was picking my oldest up from school. He was like maybe five. And we passed this, these Mennonites. There's like a Mennonite community out here. And they were like, they had like a garage sale. Yeah. I was like, this seems interesting.
25:18So we pulled over and he was like, I want that like firetruck. So I was like, are you staying in the car? I rolled down the window. I went to get the firetruck, getting the firetruck. They were like getting me something. I forget what it was. And so I was like, oh, are you guys like Mennonite? You know, just shoot. What is Mennonite? Mennonite is like Amish, but a little bit more little, like they don't drive around in horse and buggies, but they wear like the bonnets and dresses. It's like a very traditional sort of like orthodox religion where you're like, oh, they're living in a closed like insular society that has not absorbed all the sort of mainstream dress.
26:00So I'm just asking them about it. I'm like, are you Mennonite? Like obviously they're Mennonite. And they were like telling me and I said, is your like church around here? I've never actually like seen the church. and they're like, yeah, it's right down the street. They sort of mistook this for like serious interest in me like wanting to explore Mennonite religion. And they were like, you should definitely come sometime. You can like come whenever you want, you know? And I was like, yeah, sure, maybe I will, you know? And my son heard this and he was like, dad, no, don't, don't. And I was like, shh, Clark, it's good.
26:31He's like, no, no, no, church is boring, you know? And I was like, at first I was mortified, But then I was just like, how do you know this? I've literally never taken you. You've never been. And somehow you just instinctively picked up that kids hate going to church. Yeah. It's like church is boring. How did he know? I don't know. It's a mystery. But yeah, and then we were like talking about God after. And he said, God's not real. And I was like, well, you know, some people think he's real. And they think he created the universe. And he was like, no, that's not how it happened. And I was like, how did it happen?
27:10He says, he's like, you know, the earth collided with the sun, you know, just like just some, which was like, you know, equally absurd. But it was like it was at least in the ballpark of the scientific explanation of the universe. And I was like, where did you get any of this? Because it's not for me. Like, I've deliberately not talked to you about it. And what YouTube video did you watch where you decided church is boring and you don't want to go? So it was quite an experience. Well, also, was church is boring and this is how the earth was created? Was that in the same five minutes? Yes. Yeah, probably.
27:40Probably. Probably Mr. Beast talked about it or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, do you purposely not talk about creation and whatnot else just so they can form their own opinions? Yeah, I think so. I mean, like, it was baggage that I had to shed off as I got older, you know? Like, so I went to college and then I read, like, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harrison. And it's like, oh, okay, there's more complicated than some of these sort of simplistic, you know, intelligent, not even simplistic, but simplistic would be like God created the universe. But that I don't even think is what religious people advance for the most part.
28:16Now it's like these sort of like, well, what about this? You know, they sort of, they kind of like overwhelm young people's minds with, you know, like how, if you, like, if you heard like the argument for the watchmaker, like if you found a watch on the side of the road and you looked at it, could you believe that this was created by sheer accident or would you have believed there's a watchmaker right right like the idea that evolution is impossible it's impossible for evolution to create complexity yeah um so you hear things like that and then you have to kind of unlearn those things as you get older so like our thinking was we're not going to indoctrinate them with anything either way.
28:58It just is like not something we really have to talk about. Yeah. And then so for him to come with like, church is boring. I don't want to go. Also, God is not real. You're like, wow. Okay. Maybe we should have had the conversations. I don't know. I don't know. I mean. It's also hilarious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's honestly pretty, pretty, like he's starting at zero. You know what I mean? he's not starting with some very specific belief i think that's pretty base level yeah yeah yeah i i what i think is interesting and what i'm learning more is is the um the agenda okay behind the origins of religions what do you mean which is so like where where religion started like region wise, what was, who was in control at the time and what, you know, like what, what did that society need?
29:59Sure. And I think the religion starts to form around that and what, what needs to be controlled in order for certain powers to rise.
30:13The world is full of tours. But you don't choose a Toyota truck to follow the beaten path. You choose it to find the places in between. The detours, where each adventure pulls you toward the next. And wrong turns turn out right. So why would you ever take a tour when you could take a detour? Toyota Trucks. Thanks to Toyota Trucks for sponsoring this episode. When I bought my ranch in 2015 out here in Bastro County, I drove my car about halfway down the dirt road that we live on, thought this isn't going to work, stopped, parked it, walked the rest of the way home, borrowed my wife's car, drove into Austin and bought a truck.
31:01What I bought was a Toyota Tacoma. And this truck wasn't just transportation getting me to and from my house. It unlocked a whole different style of living for us, not just on the ranch, but in our little Texas towns. There were places I could go now that I couldn't go before, especially out here in the piney forests, through the fields and on the unpaved roads like the one that I lived in. We got to go deep into the hill country's wild beauty. We've driven all the way out to East Texas. We've driven across the country. And by we, I mean not just my wife, but both my kids who I drove home from the hospital in that truck.
31:44Toyota trucks are built for those who understand that the best adventures happen when you're willing to veer off course. Because you never know when you'll end up on a Toyota adventure detour. And of course, this is stoicism too, because every detour, every obstacle is an opportunity. But it's helpful if you can handle the difficulty inherent in that. If you've got the resilience and the right companion to make it wherever the road takes you, discover your uncharted territory. Learn more at toyota.com slash trucks slash adventure dash detours.
32:20What I think is interesting, like you're talking about Seneca being somewhat difficult to get into. But like, so Seneca and Jesus, if you believe Jesus was a real historical figure, which I do, because we hear about them both from Tacitus, the Roman historian. Like there's, you know, I think there's enough historical evidence that you could go, he actually existed. But was he just a man? Was he? Sure, that's a secondary argument, but that he did exist, right? Right. He and Seneca are born roughly the same time. Yeah. They both are born in provinces of the Roman empire. They both become very popular philosophers in their own time.
32:56But it's like when you read Seneca, Seneca is like saying what he means, you know, like talking about actual real life things. And then, you know, you read the Bible and you're like, what? How did this, like, this sort of—the parables, I think, are interesting. But how did this, like, contradictory, confusing, like, mystical text become more or less the dominant text of Western philosophy? Whereas, like, this guy who's talking about making money and having children and being happy and being a good— Like, just coming out and saying what he means in, like, plain English, although not literally English.
33:35You're like, where did this road diverge and why and who did it suit to go for the less accessible, the text demanding the most interpretation? Who did it suit that we went that way? do you think it's because people who wanted to just be happy and serve themselves as much as other people wasn't as beneficial I'm probably going to get myself in trouble here but here's what I actually think happened is that in the Roman world there were all sorts of cults right not in the modern sense of the word cult but like Hadrian the emperor who selects Marcus Aurelius to be emperor. He had this male lover named Antoninus, Antonius, I'm forgetting his name, but he like died, right?
34:32Tragically at like 20 years old, he drowned himself. And so Hadrian creates a cult in his honor. He basically like gloms him on to the Egyptian cult of Osiris. They build temples to him in every city they go. People worship him to curry favor with the emperor. But for like hundreds of years later, this cult is like still an existing cult and at one point rivals Christianity in terms of its size. I think a big chunk of it is like it was a cult like the others and it just historical happenstance, it's the one that stuck. Yeah. And so, but I do think there's an interesting, society makes a choice between sort of philosophy and religion.
35:17And I don't want to say that's the wrong choice. I would just say that was a problematic choice because philosophy, I think, serves people and society better than a religion which you believe is the one true religion, which you have to then evangelize, which then people who are not believers in that religion are infidels. and you have to curry favor with this mystical being. I think that was a big historical what if, is if like Stoicism is the dominant sort of guide to living versus religion. What does history look like? Right. It's almost like religion creates blind followers. Yes. And so when I'm like, who does it serve?
36:04of like, obviously the people who are heading that thing have a reason to go like, well, here's the thing. You don't understand how the Bible works. So let me tell, there's a, it actually serves a purpose that it can be interpreted a thousand ways as opposed to, you know. Yeah. Cause like, I mean, there's a line from Hillel where someone asked him to explain like the Old Testament of the Bible on one foot. And he says, love thy neighbor as thyself, all the rest is commentary. If that was actually the Christianity that passed down, we would live in a very different world. But instead, it was deliberately opaque and complicated.
36:44And then especially in Catholicism, there's all these layers of bosses and, you know. Cardinals and archbishops. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I mean, wait. It's just – it's interesting. I think when you just go, maybe they weren't necessarily, I'll just say it. They really didn't give a hoot so much about heterosexuality versus homosexuality, but it was a, well, now we need to create followers. How do we create the family structure that creates the children who then also become followers and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I don't know. It's just, and it's not, I'm not, I just think it's interesting to, to also understand.
37:32Yeah. Sometimes people, if I post something that's like, you know, even remotely like sort of pro gay rights or trans rights or people go, what do you think? Marcus Aurelius would have thought of this and go, I don't think you want to know what the Greeks and Romans were doing. Right. They're not your friends here. Right, right, right. They were all, right? It was like very much, they all had lovers of different sexes, right? This is a weird, okay, this is a very weird riff that I was thinking about the other day, speaking of which. Okay, so like obviously now most people are heterosexual and a minority of people are not, right?
38:08Or more fluid, let's say, right? From what they're telling themselves. Yes, yes. But like if – like let's say you go back 50 years where we're much less accepting. Yeah. You're a gay person and you're forced into a straight relationship, how awkward and weird that would be. Yeah. But what about in Roman times if you really were very heterosexual but like the pressure, the normal thing was a much more fluid world. Yeah. How weird would that be? You're just like having – you know what I mean? You're just like, do I have to also take a male lover just so people don't think I'm weird? That would be so uncomfortable.
38:46I'm sure they probably haven't – it was much more open too, right? Yes. Like, you know, I mean I imagine the town fountain. There's just nine naked people in there. I do think orgies were more common. Although from what I understand, their version of like male on male relationship, like penetration was considered like more feminine. And so it was like a weird thing involving the thighs. Like we're getting further afield than we need to get. But like it's even our understanding of like what like male on male sexuality is was different. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't just penetration based. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
39:37Although there's some like super sexually explicit Roman. Like even our understanding of that is so like obviously like just random texts from like Greece and Rome did not survive. They had to be like copied by hand over and over and over again. And we get like the 5 ,000th facsimile of something that somebody wrote, right? And it was mostly in monasteries that they would do this. Like this was sort of their meditative exercise. Like someone would give them some old document that they found in Pompeii or whatever. And then the monk would have to write it by hand like hundreds of times. but you can imagine if they're reading um some super erotic gay poem from sallust uh or whatever there there's some censoring happening or just like who knows what they had they were just like no right straight in the fire
40:37and the moist thighs yes exactly rubbed together until a flame ignited Probably even worse than that. Yeah. I imagine these are the guys that are in trouble. That's like detention for them. They go, you're going to rewrite the erotica. Or just the one of the priests is like, he's really into those. They go, and that's Carl's rim. And that's where that comes out of. All right. So back on topic. When I saw you, I was running. Okay. Right? And you used to be a runner. Yes. Do you still run? No, I hate it. Okay. I hated running in cross country also which I did all four years of high school my parents said you have to do a sport and I went to the first high school football like meeting and the coach was like everyone get the fuck out and I was like nope not for me so I ran cross country and I hated it then now I love it but you just still hate it hate it I love sprints oh you just crank it way up yeah i do a very i'm weird i i do 15 of 33 seconds on 20 seconds oh like an interval workout yeah and i do i do 10 out of 11.5 and then i go 11.8 12 12.2 12.5 12.8 have you ever fallen off i i haven't i've gotten real i mean by the end i get really close i know it's a weird it's a i don't know i don't know what it is in my body i don't feel satisfied with a work i love working out but i don't i can't leave the gym or whatever workout feeling like it i it was just a waste of 30 minutes like i have to be you have to be like you have to really feel it yes do you have you ever done one of those those treadmills that's like human powered do you know those oh yeah the ones with the kind of the the arc yeah right you're making it turn like a hamster kind of i like those two Those make me feel like I'm about to fall off all the time though.
42:42Yeah. I like one that's forcing me to just go as fast as I can. But you don't like sprinting on the ground only on a treadmill? I like it on a treadmill only. Yeah. But I imagine most of the time you're on like janky hotel treadmills that like don't feel safe more than like a six. Oh, it's terrifying. Yeah. Yes. So I love lifting weights. Oh, okay. And like, I mean, my, this is so weird, but my Instagram Explorer page is just mostly form, people teaching proper form. Yeah, sure, sure. And then Beyonce. And then raccoons and dogs. So that's it. And then domesticated raccoons. But I guess I get really distracted and running just feels so repetitive and there's nothing to keep me – I get so bored with it.
43:41Speaking of raccoons, you know Whitney Cummings? Yeah. Did you watch her story a couple months ago where she's like, look at this raccoon. And it's like all this stuff. And then it's like, I'm in the hospital getting a rabies shot. I did see that one. Oh, my God. That's so good. I'm obsessed with these little guys. I'm obsessed with the people that have domesticated them and their little hands and everything. And then for every one of those stories, I love to read comments. I don't know why. Reading comments on Instagram is my favorite thing. and there's just always the second one down is someone going, a raccoon killed my pet cat.
44:14A raccoon killed my new kitten. And I have to remind myself that these are not sweet angels. I'll show you a video. We caught like five raccoons five days in a row in our backyard. A couple months ago, they were like eating dog food. So we like catch them and drive them down the road, drop them off. And they keep coming back. They keep coming back. Man, but aren't they cute? You have to catch every single one. Yes. Were they like, or are they? Yeah, then it's like you have this, you're holding this cage, with just a feral, very angry raccoon in it. I have this idea of them that they're just the sweetest little things.
44:46And one day I'm going to put my hand up to one and its little paw is going to put its paw up right to my hand and we're going to fall in love. And I know they're feral creatures. Well, raccoons like to dip what they're eating like in water. So have you seen them when they eat cotton candy? I get tagged in a lot of these now. I've made it very well known that I'm obsessed with raccoons. Horses was a thing for a while. Now it's back to raccoons. Yes, but whenever they have like the cotton candy or the gauze or something, whenever it disappears and then their little hands are going frantic looking for it after it dissolves.
45:16Yes, that's the best. High school cross country was insane in retrospect because they would be like, okay, 14-year-old boys, go for a 50-minute run and come back. Like no one – we would just go to my friend's house and play video games. Yes, yes. Or go throw rocks at things. Yes. Like the amount of trouble that we got in was insane. And that my parents thought this was better than me being at home in retrospect makes no sense. Yeah. Or not even going to a friend's house, but like they'd be, you know, go run trails. You're just running into the woods. Yeah. And hanging out with high school kids.
45:53You know what you're going to do in the woods. Yeah. Or, you know, or whatever else. And it was yours uncut. What do you mean? Oh, like you couldn't get cut from the tube? Yeah. So there's a bunch of people that like can't run at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love to call them the shufflers. Yeah. Where they just, you know, and they just shuffle into the woods. We would go to the grocery store and get food. Like, we'd come back with a sheet cake and we would just eat it. You know, it's just not, I think if I try to explain it, I can't imagine it's as unsupervised now as it was 20 years ago. Yeah. Because, like, everything's more supervised.
46:32But that is one of the things where it's like, you know, when people would describe their childhood and you're like, what? Like, your parents are like, we didn't have car seats. Yeah. This seems like that. I was like, what are you doing? Like, and it just encouraged like the worst tendencies because we were like, they were, I think they thought it was instilling discipline. And for us, it was like, no, when adults are not watching, you can break all the rules. Oh, I've been given a 50-minute playtime. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, and then my favorite was when – I was the helper horse. We grew up in Kentucky.
47:06Oh, to pace people? What I would do is – for whatever – I was friends with the girls that were really good, though, the ones that really cared. Because there's only seven that could run in the varsity race and everybody else. And then there's 200 other girls that can't. and I would call myself so when you go to a race have you ever been to like racetrack watch racehorses you know they had the horses that walk the other horse to the gate sometimes it's a goat like a comfort animal I've never seen a goat walk a horse oh not to the thing but they'll have it like in the stable like they don't like to be alone oh that's adorable that was all my coach saw me was which is fine was just walking my friend that was on the varsity team to the front of the line and then and then he'd be like all right you do whatever you want i don't care and all he really cared about were those seven really fast girls and then the because i i mean i talk about my stand-up i fake passed out a lot because i was so i was just i was like what i hate this i'm over this i didn't want to disappoint my mom and just quit running so i would instead fake pass out and i'm my coach never believed me like people would rush over and be like oh hunter are you okay just sort of stagger a little bit and then go down so bad nobody this the joke really was in my stand-up i'm like you know and then on your way down you grab a girl's hair for witness yes because i learned i couldn't i couldn't um like pass out and in one of those areas where there wasn't a lot of fans or people around because one time i did that and then i just laid there for like 20 minutes fake passed out and then You had to get up, crawl a little bit further, and then fake pass out again.
48:49So you have to wait until you're in a popular area to fake pass out so the moms are worried about you. But my coach never believed it. He would look at me, roll his eyes, and keep it moving. There was the kids who were really good at it who really tried, and then there was everyone else who was just sort of dicking around. And I always – like now I'm really into it. I run almost every day, and I push myself, and I like it, and I regret that I wasn't serious. Really? And I remember I was talking to this friend of mine who was on the team, and I was like, you know, I wish one of the coaches had just taken me aside.
49:20And, like, I'm like, why are you afraid of trying? Like, you should really commit. You know, he should have called me out. And then, you know, who knows what would have happened. And he was like, what the fuck are you talking about? They said that to you, like, literally every day. They were like, you were – like, I had told myself that I was, like, this reachable kid that just no one reached. and it was, or that no one thought to reach out to. And in fact, they were just constantly reaching out. You weren't even taking it in. It was like the wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
49:53It's a hard sport to really, unless you want it, it's a hard sport for you to get into. It's ultimately about what, that you want it, right? Yes. And to be, like now I'm sure in your career, like no one's like, how are you doing? you're you're totally self-motivated you have to do it and to have that when you're 14 um and like it the the playing field's not level because different people are different have different types of parents different genetics to be that at 14 15 16 17 even 18 is like that's not the And that's not normal. Not normal. And like Carlos Country 2 is so – it's like there's not a lot of variation in how to be good.
50:43You're just a fast runner. Like there's a lot of other sports that you could be a great – I mean football. There's how many different – there's 11 players on the field. There's like specialization. You could be a great kicker. You can be a great running back, blah, blah, blah, blah. I love sports. But like basketball even, you know what I mean? Like you could be a forward. You could be a guard. Those are the same thing, I think. But just running real good for three miles is all. It's just – I do think people that like running and are still runners now, like yourself, are the superhumans with a good noggin on you.
51:30Because for you to sit there and tell yourself to keep running, you're probably pretty healthy inside.
51:44Human, your body has a performance superhighway. 60 ,000 miles of blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients to every cell. This, of course, is your cardiovascular system. It's the foundational system that powers everything we do. Both elite athletes and longevity experts invest directly in the cardiovascular system because supporting healthy blood flow is critical for energy, recovery, mental clarity, and overall performance. That's where Schumann comes in. That's Schumann with two Ns. They started out of research at the University of Texas, near where I live, and have 15 years of experience making award-winning supplements for nitric oxide production and healthy blood flow, now used by over 160 pro and college sports teams.
52:32Human Cardiovascular Health Daily is a plant-based and made from clinically studied ingredients like grapeseed and seed kelp extract. It supports nitric oxide production for healthy blood flow and energy while also supporting blood pressure and helping support the delicate interlining of your blood vessels. Just two capsules each morning will power energy and recovery while also playing the long game by supporting long-term vascular health and healthy aging. Human has an exclusive offer for our listeners. You can visit human.com slash stoic for an extra 15 % off your first purchase. That's enter code S-T-O-I-C.
53:06Stoic at checkout. That's human with two N's dot com slash stoic for an extra 15 % off with code stoic at checkout. Well, it's almost here. Christmas is just a couple of days away and maybe you're scrambling. You're like, what should I get my dad? What should I get my mom? I got to get something to my sister. People love showing off pictures of their kids and that's where today's sponsor comes in. I've gotten one as a gift. I've given it as a gift. The Aura Digital Picture Frame. It's easy to use. It never gets old. You're constantly updating it with new pictures. ORA digital picture frames are so much better than any digital picture frame I've ever seen.
53:42It's got a high resolution. It's got a color calibrated display. You can add video. You can have two pictures come up at the same time, picture and a video. It'll pair photos together for you, like two pictures of the same person or from the same day. It's really easy to set up. You just download the app, connect the frame, and then you can pick photos and videos right from your phone from anywhere in the world. And there's a reason Oprah added it to her favorite things three different times. For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get$35 off Aura's best-selling Carver Matt frames, named number one by Wirecutter, by using promo code STOIC at checkout.
54:18That's A-U-R-A frames dot com, promo code STOIC. This deal is exclusive to listeners, and frames sell out fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. terms and conditions apply.
54:36I mean, so is weightlifting, so is sprinting. Whatever you do, you ultimately just realize you have to be self-motivated for it. Yes, yeah. Although because cross-country was no cut at ours, there was a couple of kids who were handicapped, so we had a mentally disabled kid on the team. And I remember one time, he would always start really fast because he didn't totally understand how it worked. And I'm sure everyone was super mean to him, although I remember him being super nice. But I remember one race he sort of came out of the gate super hot, running. And then he went the wrong way, and everyone followed him.
55:12The whole front pack followed him, so everyone went the wrong way. The whole race had to start over. No. I think about it all the time. No, that's a game. That's a mental game. You can survive all the fittest. Look at the cones. You know, that's so funny. They're just looking at the person in front of them and they have no idea. It was nuts. That would be so fun because in the middle of the pack actually wins the race. That's what happened. That's so funny. I love that. That's hilarious. And the purity of it too because he like won, you know, or was like way ahead. And then suddenly like the race, you know, it's like what was supposed to be three miles later.
55:49You're supposed to come on the finish line, but he's like, he's in there like five minutes in because he's going to cut the whole thing off. It's like Rudy scores the touchdown, but they're like, the play was never. But he's going the wrong way. That's so funny. I would have let that play out. It's so good. Yeah. I would love, that's a show I would watch on TV, is a high school uncut cross-country team and all the different characters. Yeah, I've never really seen, yeah, that's not a sport that gets rendered in film and TV very much. Because it's really boring. Yeah. The actual sport in itself is pretty boring.
56:29But people that can do it are superhumans. Okay, so there was a stoic. His name was Chrysippus. And he's supposedly one of the only people to ever die of laughter. Do you believe that's possible? I think Chrysippus. Chrysippus. Chrysippus. Something like that. I think Chrysippus had a heart attack or was doing whatever synthetic drug was around then and had a good old laugh that tipped it off. You've never laughed so hard that you thought you could die?
57:01No. No. No. The joke partly survives to us. So apparently he was like sitting on his front porch and a donkey walks up and he starts eating out of the garden. And the person rushes up to get their donkey and he says, does your donkey want some wine to wash down those figs? And then he starts laughing at his own joke, and he laughs so hard that he keels over and dies. So it's kind of the ultimate, like, you had to be there because it makes no sense. Okay, Chrysippus, I know what happened. Okay. Because that joke is bad. Yes. That's not a... She died of embarrassment? That's not a joke is what that is.
57:47First of all, let me tell you what's happening across his life. Okay. Everything is shit. Okay. Everything is so, but this is actually my favorite emotion though. Okay. Everything in his life has just exploded and then crumbled to rubble. And it was that moment, do you know, when everything seems like it's just the worst and you have that realization that I'm just going to sit here and just, there's nothing to be done anymore. It's all rubble and you're sitting in just the grief of it all. And then something silly happens. And you know, it takes, it's like when you laugh after crying a ton or, you know, you're sitting in your house, it's been destroyed by a tornado and something silly happens and everyone laughs.
58:33When you're laughing in the hospital room after somebody's just died. Or like all this terrible stuff has happened and then one more terrible thing happens and you just start laughing maniacally at the absurdity of it. That's exactly what happened to him. And it was just the dumbest thing. Somebody maybe right before that had choked on some, one of somebody he loved choked on wine and died. And he goes, you want some wine with that fig? And died from all the major emotions hitting him at once. I think that's what happened because that's a really bad joke. It's the straw that breaks the camel's back.
59:06Yes. Okay. Yes. All right. That's an interesting theory. I hadn't thought of that theory. But it is my favorite emotion is laughter. in the midst of despair. Yes. Yes. Where all, and actually there's a thing from Seneca where he's talking about like life is terrible. He basically says life is terrible. Yeah. You can cry about it or you can laugh at it. Yeah. Like take your pick. Yeah. It is pretty beautiful and cruel all the time. Yes. Like the raccoon. Well, if you take it personally, it sucks. Yeah. If you're just like, all right. It's nature. Yes. Yeah, and I'm part of nature. I do think it's funny because stoicism has this reputation as being very humorless or very serious or being without emotion.
59:51And then have one of the original dudes literally die of laughter. I like that. Oh, yeah. I think, yeah. I mean, I don't think he was laughing at it because he thought it was the funniest joke in the entire world. unless I'm missing. Sometimes you just can't stop yourself. You know, like, do you know Pete Holmes? Yes, I love Pete Holmes. On his podcast, he has this question. He goes, can you remember the time you laughed the hardest? And it's never usually the funniest thing. It's usually something really dumb or weird or drugs are involved, as you said. But it's not normally like, and now I'm going to tell you the funniest story of all time.
1:00:35And you're going to see why I was laughing so hard. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's always, you had to be there. Yeah, it's always you had to be there. So I'm wondering if it, maybe there was something that would make sense if you were there. Very much. It was the tip of the pyramid of despair for him. That is an interesting take on it, which I would not have thought of, that maybe only a comedian would pick up on, which is that, yeah, there's some level of despair or pain or anguish that would explain the enormity of the laughter. Like normal circumstances, you chuckle. Yeah. Yes. That's my favorite kind of comedy is I love storytelling, but the story, one of my favorite comedy is Tig Notaro.
1:01:29And she's my top. But most of her stories are just these most, like the most embarrassing, ridiculous moments of her life. The Jeopardy one is amazing. Yes. Where she blew it on Jeopardy. I don't even remember what their guess was, but so bad. It's so obvious. On national television. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so good. That is her. Wheel of Fortune, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was Wheel of Fortune. But I know the moment, oh man. And she's so good at sitting in the moment and just letting people kind of sit in the awkwardness with her that you just can't help yourself, but like erupt in laughter because it is kind of uncomfortable.
1:02:15and you feel the embarrassment and whatever. And I think that is the best comedy because everybody feels, it humanizes everything. Yes. And it's not, you're like kind of, you're not like degrading somebody or anything else. You're just bringing somebody into a very embarrassing moment or you can be a dark moment. and then like through it all you kind of give up and then there's always like, I don't know, there's that little moment of laughter at the end. That's just, Bill Burr's great at it. Mm-hmm. You know, where he's just, he's trying so hard to be a good person, but he was born with all these angry demons inside.
1:03:04Well, his childhood was fucking horrible. Right, right, right, right. And now he's got a kid and he's trying to be good for the kid and the moment when he's fighting with the toaster in the kitchen And it's just, yeah, I like, I think the funniest moments in those moments of pure laughter and enjoyment come from a dark place before. Yes. There's a joke in meditation that's not very funny, but Marcus is— Is this as good as the fig one? It's almost as bad. He's talking about this person who's so rich and has so much stuff that they have no place to shit. Like, that their house is so full of stuff.
1:03:43Like, I can't shit on gold. Wherever I'm at, I'm going to shit on gold. It's like the joke doesn't totally make sense, but you get that he's making fun of someone. You're like, okay. Like, even in your diary, you're joking around. I like that. You're not like this. Because I think we think of the philosopher as being an inherently not fun person. Yeah. Which is sad. Because actually I think what being really smart should do is allow you to poke fun at the absurdity of the world and see the contradictions. Like even he has this thing about posthumous fame that I think is funny. He goes like, people who long for posthumous fame forget that people in the future will be just as stupid and annoying as the people who are alive right now.
1:04:28Yes. I'm like, that's a good, that's like a, that's a little bit. Like, that's a funny joke. Yeah. And I think. It's also true. Right, right, right. And sad. I think a lot of humor is letting go of perfectionism and ego. And one's illusions. Yes. Yeah. And realizing, like, that it's all. Realizing that it is kind of all. I mean, everybody's going to die. Yeah. And it's always, there's an expiration date. And so it's like, take seriously that everything isn't so serious. Yes. Because it's going to end. Everything's going to end. Yeah. He says in meditations, he goes, remember that Alexander the Great is buried next to his mule driver.
1:05:22They're both in the same ground and the same thing happened to both. You're like, that's both, that's a, like, obviously there's a more serious way to make that same point. So I think he's choosing to be absurd and ridiculous. That's really funny. I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. I sometimes like, all right, I have an obsession with Beyonce. And I just think she's just so artistically smart. and like you're like how do you how how are we we made up of the same beings and then I go no matter who like two people are next to each other I always say it's like oh we're both gonna die that's the thing you haven't in the end that destiny's child they are all equal right
1:06:08that's so good that's such a good point that's so yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah it's a very dark um outlook but also kind of freeing yeah it should be freeing i mean there's a juvenile who's this uh roman rapper yes juvenile that's juvenile um i don't know how to pronounce any of the names they didn't learn them in school so i'm just like whatever popped in my head is usually yeah but he he was talking about alexander the great and he says um you know the whole world was not enough for alexander but in the end a coffin was sufficient that's that's so good yeah these are great i love these these are very funny jokes yeah i mean it's but it's true too it's like i i i think i just um when when i started comedy it was like eight months after my mom died when i was 22 years old that's kind of what pushed you to do it right yeah but i always say one of the greatest my mom's great mom and i learned a lot from her one of the greatest she gifts she gave me though was dying at at an early age for me because it kind of gave me this outlook in life like well shit i mean it can all go to shit whenever and it's it i mean that in the most freeing way that i i just was like okay i'm to do, I'm going to work hard, but I'm going to work hard at the stuff I want to work hard at and not what I think I should be doing.
1:07:40I'm going to do whatever the hell I enjoy doing. Should give you a sense of the shortness of life. Yes. As opposed to, you know, people get really old. They have lots of time. Yeah. They can always get to it later. Right. That's not really true. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. and and like it's um i i'm like so weirdly grateful for it that's interesting yeah that's beautiful i mean that's the best thing you could take out of it right better to be better than being tortured by it yeah and then one of my first like bits that ever really popped off when i first started comedy was about it was i'm not even that dark now but it was it was a bit about I was the only her only daughter so I had to pick out her coffin outfit and we were the same size though so I just I couldn't part with anything that was cute and I asked when I would get it back and you have a Botox one about her too that's oh yeah yeah yeah you see your mom everywhere right yes yes and that's very true yeah yeah um I know I can't believe they let me do that on national television was that scared was that that's probably the biggest stage you've been on Yeah, very much.
1:08:51I was laughing the entire time because I was like, these people have not figured out that I don't belong here. And I've just keep falling deeper down these cracks. And I've somehow ended up on Jimmy Fallon stage. When are they going to figure it out? I don't know. Hopefully they post it. And the Tonight Show is sort of like, I mean, it's a little different than it was 30 years ago, but that is like the biggest thing that a comedian can do. And you did it pretty early. Yeah. That must be sort of like, well, I did everything you can do, but I still want to keep doing it. Oh, yeah. Oh, there's a million things I want to do now.
1:09:30But, yeah, it was – I had to learn – I had a lot of imposter syndrome, but then I had to go – because the way it happened was super fast, right? I just had videos go viral. I ended up with a manager, and then these kind of – a lot of stars aligned, and I ended up on Fallon. But then I had to go, no, no, no. You worked your butt off for eight years before that where you might have skipped a couple steps professionally to get to the Fallon point. But like you were there because you were ready because you did the background. But I actually think that's a harder journey because you get the thing and instead of having that like carrot that you're working towards that you got earlier.
1:10:19And in my career, some things like that happened. And so then it was like, okay, now how do I not fuck it up? And then how do I like – how do I prove to be the exception to the rule, which is that people fuck it up? Like you don't get it early because it's bad for you. So how can I prove that actually no, like I deserved it and I'm going to be worthy of it? To me, that's like the – that's the harder, rarer journey. Yeah. I mean I like I I had to learn a lot of that stuff backwards where I got Fallon and then I was I was it was still in Atlanta and like I wasn't a touring headliner until right after I mean two weeks after Fallon hit the road and it kind of hasn't stopped since then but it was I hadn't like you know been doing an hour on the road to people who are buying tickets to see me because they've seen all my stuff online and now I gotta write new stuff yeah right You can't have the anonymity of being just another person working on their stuff.
1:11:23Right, correct. Suddenly you had to perform at a level and with a consistency that is more demanding. Worth buying a ticket to see in Boca Raton, Florida. Yeah. Yeah. So it was terrifying at first. And I think you just put your head – I just put my head down and I go, okay, first thing I'm going to do is learn the new hour. Learn how to write the new hour, da-da-da-da-da-this. And then because there were so many things. How do you sell tickets? How do you push tickets? Da-da-da-da-da. And if I was like, why aren't you an expert in all five things at one time? Then I got – I would just start beating myself up.
1:12:07And I had to compartmentalize and take one task at a time. and uh but it it is um i don't i think i what i meant by like going back and going no i did the work i deserve to be here i had to keep saying that to myself because i think i you know you do start to hear the people talk sure and uh and then you kind of just have to know what you i don't know i think you just have to you have the confidence in yourself and the confidence in the work that you've done and know what you're doing right now. Do you know the Marcus Reiles story about imposter syndrome? So Marcus Reiles isn't born to like the royal family.
1:12:50He's just like this regular kid. He comes from a aristocratic, like wealthy family, but he's just like this kid. And the Emperor Hadrian doesn't have a son. And so he meets Marcus when he's like a child and everyone sort of senses there's something special about this kid. But like the worst thing in the world for a young person is to be like told you're going to be king like look at prince charles right it talks with you so um hadrian adopts this older man antoninus pious who's in his 50s on the condition that antoninus pious adopts marcus aurelius so to set he sets in like not just who's going to succeed him but who's going to be next after that person and so when Marcus, who's then like maybe a teenager, is like told like someday you're going to be king.
1:13:39He supposedly like breaks down in tears that he's sort of weeping over all the bad kings in history. He's weeping over the fact that his like normal life has just been obliterated. And he's like not sure he can do it. And then many years later when he's told like, okay, it's actually going to happen now. That night he dreams that he has shoulders of ivory. and the idea, the message or the omen in this is what the Romans believe was that the shoulders of ivory was like God or whomever telling him that he was strong enough to bear the weight of the burden that he was going to have. And so I kind of think about this idea of like, you don't think you have what it takes.
1:14:22You don't think you're strong enough to do the thing, but you are. And actually the fact that you're having those doubts, It's like the problem with most leaders or kings is that they believe inherently that they are worth it and deserve it and it will be easy and they're special and better than everyone else. And it's actually the fact that you are doubting it that's like proof that you're not beyond redemption and that you will do the work and you are worthy of it. Yes, exactly. That you know you have to earn it as opposed to it's what you deserve. Very much. Yeah, I, I, and I, I so agree with that.
1:15:02And I think what, what I learned too is, is, um, it is almost that, um, either it's like the, the Lord of the Rings thing where that little, that the power of you get the taste all of a sudden of how good it feels. being from somebody who didn't have it, you know what I mean? Worked really hard at it and it was hard for a long time and all of a sudden you get the taste and it feels really good.
1:15:32I appreciated having like, you know, eight years of nannying 10 hours a day and then going to the open mic the night before and stuff because you really, really do appreciate it and it feels so good when you finally have it that you're going to work your ass off so you never have to go back to nannying again. You don't want to lose it because you know how hard it is on the other side. When it is absurd, it's like, oh, it suddenly happened, I got it sooner. And it's like, no, actually like literally years of work went into this moment, which no one sees or everyone discounts. Like my first book came out when I was 25, which was absurd, but I'd literally been writing every day online since I was 18.
1:16:10You know what I mean? So I've been doing it for six or seven years. Sure. And so, like, that's an extremely long time. I mean, I'm much better now than I was then. Yeah. And I wish maybe it had come later. But, like, everyone thinks it just happened for you. Or we want to think that it just happens for people. And maybe it does algorithmically for a few random people who were the first on this platform or that platform. But 99 % of people who have it, like, it was an incredible amount of work. And this is – I would even include the Nepo babies. Yeah. Like there was still a lot of shit that everyone eats a lot of shit.
1:16:48Very much. Oh, for sure. And the only true test is if they can continue it. Yes. If they can live up to the hype. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, very much. Yeah. And that is, I think the algorithm can push somebody, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you can catch heat, which is fine. But can you keep the fire going? Or can you do it more than one time? Very much. Yeah. And that takes a lot of determination and effort and continue because the flame is going to go out sometimes. It's always an up and down thing. Can you keep your wits about you when it's someone else's turn to shine bright and you fall off for a minute?
1:17:34Also a lot of quantity, right? It's like you put one thing out and it blows up great. But like you may have to put up a thousand more things to get the next one. It's not going to be number seven that blows up again. Unless you're like, you know, the greatest of all time or something. Yeah, very much. Yeah, I'm learning that. I'm like I'm trying to build my new hour right now and I don't want to put it on the internet. So I'm putting all these like local riffs up or crowd work. And it's kind of soul crushing because you're like, oh, this is what everyone's doing. but it's a way to keep engagement without burning.
1:18:09I think you need more long, like all your stuff that I saw on YouTube, for instance, it's all shorts and you don't have like anything over longer than like three minutes for some reason. I've got 10 more minutes that I want to fine tune and then I'm going to be ready to put this hour out. Oh, interesting. And then for me, it's right now, it's just the, you know, it's impatient. I want to put something out, but I go, if you can just hold on. Hold on to the cliff. All right. Well, I'll hold on. I can't wait. Yeah. This is awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you. Of course.
1:18:48Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it. And I'll see you next episode.
1:19:17Look, ads are annoying. They are to be avoided, if at all possible. I understand as a content creator why they need to exist. That's why I don't begrudge them when they appear on the shows that I listen to. But again, as a person who has to pay a podcast producer and has to pay for equipment and for the studio and the building that the studio is in, it's a lot to keep something like the Daily Stoic going. So if you want to support a show but not listen to ads, well, we have partnered with Supercast to bring you a ad free version of Daily Stoic. We're calling it Daily Stoic Premium. And with Premium, you can listen to every episode of the Daily Stoic podcast completely ad free, no interruptions, just the ideas, just the messages, just the conversations you came here for.
1:20:11And you can also get early access to episodes before they're available to the public. And we're going to have a bunch of exclusive bonus content and extended interviews in there just for Daily Stoic Premium members as well. If you want to remove distractions, go deeper into stoicism and support the work we do here. Well, it takes less than a minute to sign up for Daily Stoic Premium, and we are offering a limited time discount of 20 % off your first year. Just go to dailystoic.com slash premium to sign up right now or click the link in the show descriptions to make those ads go away.
Ryan speaks with Katherine Blanford about her earning things throughout her comedy career, her Catholic upbringing, why the funniest moments come from a dark place, how her mother influences her comedy, and more.
Katherine Blanford is a comedian, writer, podcast host, and YouTuber based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has opened for many renowned comedians, including Jeff Foxworthy, David Spade, and Ron White, and she recently made her television debut on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Along with fellow comedian Lac Larrabee, Katherine co-hosts the popular podcast Cheaties in which they interview guests about their personal stories of cheating and being cheated on, and help each other heal through laughter. Katherine’s work and upcoming shows can be found on her website: katherineblanford.com.
✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.
📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.




