#671 - Casey Rocket

29:33But then the crazy part is they start to choose that. Yes. They choose that behavior. Yeah. They don't know any better. But it's going to get weird when, you know, what happened to you, you know? And you're like, yeah, I hurt my, you know, like I was after years of plowing or working or whatever, doing trade work or whatever. And now it just seems like, you know, after years of hiding from my wife in the other room eating whatchamacallits or whatever, now, you know, I have a fucking, I have a pH balance of a fucking fluorescent light bulb at a mall. I have cellular mitosis. Yeah. If you eat, what is, there's a limit on the package.

30:09If you eat more than five, you get Osmosis Jones. Oh, really? Yeah, so you get like a little guy like fighting slime crime. Oh, I love that. And I'm guessing that's happening at an Aussie concert. Yeah, it's, yeah, like Youngblood doing Aussie covers and then, yeah, the whole crowd, it's like Astroworld. They just start dropping like flies. That's hilarious. dude but that's a world we live in i guess if we're really here yeah if we're not just an interference pattern on a different plane of consciousness let's take a call um okay let's take a call from ourselves man shopify you heard me shopify it's hands down the best place to start and grow a business these days.

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31:45Y 'all ever think about how something got its start? like Mountain Dew, for example. I always thought it just sort of appeared one day, you know, just sitting in a cooler, just a little newborn can of beverage glory. But nope, it's actually, it's right out of Tennessee. Yes, it is. Real place, real people. Two brothers working tirelessly to nail that citrus kick that we all love today. Appalachian roots, baby. It's bold. It's loud. Bold, it's got that I'll figure it out myself attitude. That attitude is still in it today. Still bold, still unmistakable, still do. It's an American original that's been tasting great since 48, which feels right, man.

32:35It just, it does, because this ain't just a drink. It's a hometown story in a can. Yes, sir, right here. Next time you grab a do, just know it's more than just a drink. I think it's an American original. Mountain Dew, tasting great since 48. Do you, so you've taken a break from comedy when you moved out? I did. Yeah, I took like, well, I did some gigs. I did some shows with Fiona Colley, our friend Fiona. Oh, she's so funny. And Matt is her husband. Yes. I don't know if I've met him, but I guess I'll meet him tonight probably. That's A &E's. And then Dylan Carlino. Do you know Dylan Carlino? Yes, I do know him.

33:16He's in Austin. Yeah, he's so funny. So yeah, I like kind of stopped headlining for a bit and then got back to doing like some local stuff. I got involved in the St. Louis scene and I like featured again. And yeah, just kind of started over a little bit. I'm running a new hour and it's been good to enjoy doing it. You know, when it feels like a job, you get kind of jaded. And it's like I just ever wanted all I ever wanted was to riff. So it just things got complicated. Yeah. Were you happy with like, because Kill Tony was and is kind of like the Tonight Show in a way, right? People would call it that.

33:51Kind of like the Tonight Show, but, you know, a different like amalgamation of it, right? Or like a present, semi-present day. Yeah. You know, there's also dark sorcerers that are involved with it. But it's exactly where we are in the world. And it's great. It's a great show. Did you feel like being attached to that became too much? Or like, how did you handle like the popularity of celebrity? because I would say you were one of the most popular guys that kind of came through that system. Did it feel like that? Because even in my own life and recently, like in the past year, I've thought a lot about like ego and what does popularity mean and the value of it and stuff like that, you know?

34:30Yeah. Well, I think I started to assign some of my self-worth and the opinions of others. Not that I would never look at stuff online, but I guess I got too wrapped up in my sense of self, like the poltergeist of self, like what, what all of this meant. Cause all I ever did was stand up for years and years and years, all I did seven days a week. And then if it wasn't going well, then I didn't know who I was, you know? So yeah, more so than the kill Tony thing. Um, that, you know, it gave me a platform and it allowed me to do all this stuff. I just tried to take take the good and not think about anything else but yeah I was just really wrapped up in all this pressure that I was either misinterpreting or putting on myself and I didn't like it I didn't enjoy doing it anymore yeah and as you say like when it wasn't going well I didn't like myself kind of yeah dude I can relate to some of that man Yeah, I felt like, and, you know, I try to improvise so much riff.

35:39Some have said, many have said. And if I wasn't able to catch my thoughts perfectly, and that opens the door for so much pressure on myself, where I was thinking of myself, maybe rightfully so, maybe not, duality, yes, laws of polarity, that I had so much potential. And so every night I would go out and I would try to use 100 % of my potential on stage. and when I set myself up for that there's no way I can possibly reach that which makes it fun to keep going makes it always exciting but I will never be satisfied with it right and always set you up for a little bit of failure in a way yeah which a little bit of that is good it's good to strive and you know comedy is a it's a lifelong thing um if that's what you choose to do with your life.

36:26But I came to realize, and probably in December, that there has to be more to life than this. There has to be more than a performative affect. I have to be worth more than what I think I'm worth to my friends, just as a performer. And if my whole world is wrapped up in the business of show business, then I am doomed to go spiritually bankrupt. There's nothing that That will ever be enough, you know? So, yeah, I just tried. It was really nice. You know, I made a lot of friends that weren't comedians for the first time in a long time. Wow. And it was just great, you know, people who didn't know who I was to know that I have worth to people, like, not being funny.

37:10Like, I can just go to the movies and I can talk about movies or we can kick a soccer ball around, which I never did. But I could have. Yeah. And if we had found a soccer ball at any point in the beginning of the year, I could have kicked it around.

37:26And that kept me going. So I would wake up every day and I would make myself a promise. And it was firm. And it was if I run into an unattended soccer ball today or when I could borrow just for the time being, I will kick it back and forth with whoever is around. Oh, yeah. I know exactly who you'll kick it back and forth with. Some victim who had too many of those little crackle bars or whatever and is now in a wheelchair, and the last limb he can move is just soccering back and forth with a stranger passing through. He has to do one of those muscle tests, so he has to hit his knee at the exact right time to kick it.

38:03And he does it himself now, yeah, because that's his insurance provider. They mail you the little hammer with the little triangle, and you do it yourself at home. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's Moderna. Yeah, that's Moderna or Pfizer, I think. I mean, I just got a kit the other day to take a couple of cysts off my own body. They'll mail you the scalpel mail and all of the stuff. They'll mail you a picture of a nurse. You put that up in the corner and you do it, man. It's pretty cool. And the picture, not to cut you off, but I think that it's one of those pictures where you look at it one way and she's beautiful.

38:34Yeah. And then you look at it the other way and it's a witch. Yeah, dude. Yeah, her name is Ramona Lisa is her name. It's an Italian nurse. And you can pick what ethnicity you want the nurse to be. Oh, good. And it comes with a chocolate, which is ironic because... That's what got us into this position. Exactly, dude. You're like, okay, I feel like this is cyclical. Yeah, yeah. Great. This is what happens when there's no free health care. Exactly. That's where we are right there. Two different women. And both of those were drawn by Christina Mariani as well. I want to let everybody know that. On an Etch-A-Sketch, which is unbelievable.

39:11I've seen Christina do Freehand, which is – if you've never seen someone freehand draw, I highly recommend it. Well, she's in that new musical. It's a one-person musical. Yeah, it's a one-woman show. She's doing it at Edinburgh. I've seen it. Yeah, it's by Statesboro, yeah. It's in the Delta, yeah. It's the male version of Statesboro. Sure, yeah. It's Statesboro by way of Valdolster. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's where I went to college. I went to college at Georgia Southern. Did you go over there? Yes, by Savannah. Oh, wow. Were you jealous that you weren't at Savannah? Because, like, just being like an, like, I think you're a creative and artistic guy.

39:49I think you're one of the most unique guys in comedy. Or I think, I don't know if that's the best thing to say to somebody. I think it's true. But I think you just have a unique way of being alive. Sure. Which I think is pretty cool. Because it's hard to figure that out in the world. Yeah. But did you ever want to be over there at Savannah? a SCAD, I think it was. You'd always hear about that place in the South. I went to College of Charleston for a little bit, and you'd always hear about SCAD, like the people at SCAD, you know? Yeah, it was like ground zero for guys in scarves. Yes. Summer scarves, too, which is a rare...

40:23Oh, my God. You know what they say? Summer scarves bring winter tears. And that's George Orwell as well. Yes, that's 1984. That's so Orwellian. truly a demurrage of existential pessimism. But no, I never, I didn't. And I'm happy that we are bringing up the tenets of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but it has been, it's been a crazy summer. No, I wish I went to SCAD. I didn't have artistic inclinations until I was probably 20. That's when I started doing standup. But no, I didn't know. I was more into boozing. So it was the only school I applied to. And they call it States Vegas. and it had some great bars out there.

41:06Good bar scene. Good bar scene. A lot of field parties, parties in the woods, mudding. Oh, yeah, a lot of that. So you got into that culture. Yeah, my mom's a horse trainer, so I grew up in north Georgia, sort of by the foothills of Appalachia, I think. Is that like near... La Grange? No, it starts with an L or a different letter. It's Toccoa. That's what I'm thinking of with a T. Beautiful little area. It's about, like, Gainesville by, like, Forsyth County. So, like, up there on 400. I want to get up there one day. What's one of the major outputs up there or, like, exports? I don't even know what they do up there.

41:48The commerce isn't exactly bustling. Oh, it's not a busy area? Well, now it's become – it has become, like, nicer, like, sort of towards, like, Alpharetta where they had that helium there at Alpharetta. Oh, they got free helium up there? Yeah. Yeah, so nitrous will cost you, but helium's a handshake. And I do sell stickers that say that, and we're printing them right now. But no, I don't know. When I lived there, it was really rural. So anyways, we got into mudding at an early age, as most kids of my generation do. Oh, that's a good way to be. And did you feel like, because you kind of have like, I don't know, you created such like a unique you, right?

42:29and do you do you ever think like is this the real me or is this a me that i created does it ever come to your mind yet oh sure yeah i mean it's no judgment against you i've just had that happen in my own life recently i quit like i took a break from touring and so much of my life i didn't realize had been like attached to oh i always have somewhere to go oh i gotta get going there's somewhere to be there's somewhere i need to be there's somewhere i'm going to be seen that's coming up and then now it's not really like that and it's okay but it's just been interesting to be like okay well say if that were going forever then what you know who would how would i yeah what's going on with me you know yeah how would i because it is it's a degree of show business past a certain point is almost not even like seeking it's like running it's like you're running you think you're running towards something but you're running like away again from this idea that I have just coined the poltergeist of self about the visage of like who is Casey Rock, who is this interference pattern of like where I grew up, what my friends were like, what I like to do.

43:33And then also this person I try to present on stage, which is, you know, it more or less is me. I'm just having, I'm just letting myself be a goofy guy. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I have had instances of like ego death, either chemically induced or just being in a really low period of depression where, yeah, I look around and I go, what is all this for? But if I did have any answer, it would be that the macro mirrors the micro. So that in the little victories of my life, I figure out my greater purpose. So it's easier for me now because I've gotten used to it the first six months of this year of not running around so much.

44:16it's I've been so I've been so much happier where I I'm just a really stressed out guy you know I get I wear the world really heavily so if I have to do anything like even just like go do a local showcase it used to drive me nuts it ruined my whole day just the stress and knowing that it's coming it's hard to operate yeah some people seem to be able to operate kind of freely even if there's something looming you know yeah like me I'm already like fuck man my marriage what will my wedding day be like that shit's gonna fucking be net it's gonna be hectic and my if my wife's there she's gonna be pissed or whatever you know i'm saying like but that shit will weigh me down it's like on a regular thursday afternoon dude not to mention whatever else i have to do or sometimes like yeah that's such a cool way to say it that yeah sometimes i just feel like i wear the world heavy and some people it just seems to be like this like summer shawl that you know yeah that it's nothing like it seems to be like just like a little baby kite landed on their shoulder and they just brush it off, you know?

45:14Yeah. Yeah. But like sometimes I wouldn't want to go to sleep at night because I'd be like, shit, this is just leading to tomorrow and it already feels like so much. I know. You know? Yeah. Not to complain. I'm just, I'm also okay. It's just like, yeah, you just think about this. Sometimes that shit gets heavy, you know? Yeah. Well, I think that, um, professionally and just part of our gumption, and I am not using the correct word when I say that, but, uh, we just want, you know, we have lives that are based on creation, right? So there were engendered to create. And, and I know if I have any down period where I'm not creating or I don't have to, I feel like I'm not doing enough.

45:57So yeah, it would drive me batty. I'd be running in circles, chasing my own tail. but it's nice to do just like regular stuff like I'll read for a bed and then cause I'll get so stressed out about like nothing yeah I'll be like man I gotta knock up some barista like I gotta have a child with like a barista soon and then I'll be like who's a barista? what am I gonna name the kid? that's beautiful I feel like anytime I go into a coffee shop I hope maybe I fall in love or something like that I am the kind of guy who I do think Anytime I walk into a place, it could be gas station, coffee shop,

46:39tire center. Not tire center, but somewhere, a place they're going to have women. Sure, like a Firestone. Yeah. Like a Firestone, but that's been in business and that has a little bit of extra loot to keep a decent-looking broad at the front. A hostess? Yes. Is there anything more divine than a greeter at a Firestone tires? tires and she's standing there and there's three tires right by her and i'm like hey baby let's hit the road you know like i got one in the trunk yeah i got one in the chamber on you know my car is on cinder blocks right now you got three i got one let's start a life hey honey i put the sin and cinder you feel me let's get out there i got a pair of cedar tires up back pair of cedar sinai's oh dude that has had to been the worst tires back in like the wagon wheel days back when Little House on the Prairie was just starting out or whatever yeah which is a new season out now go watch it my friend Crosby Fitzgerald is in it and I've been watching it someone caught me watching it yesterday on my phone at the gym so gonna go to a different gym now yeah they'll pull the lunk alarm on your ass like at a Planet Fitness they'll lunk alarm you to high hell Bring up the lunk alarm because I got to make sure they're still using it, you know.

47:56That is one of the better. I wish all places of business had something comparable to a lunk alarm. They used to just yell fatty or whatever, you know. Yeah, they would yell something like that, you know. Bad bones, bone structure. Yeah, they used to yell steroid boy or whatever. But now, there we go. They still have it? Dude, he gets it with 20 feet of a Planet Fitness. They're hitting the lunk alarm. I'm playing Planet Fitness just outside Chicago. Friday night. Just got that train from Chester, but you know what? It's Jay Cutler from the Chicago Bears. Oh, my dear God. Wow. They hit him with it.

48:32And it's just for somebody that's being, I guess, overtly... What? Strong and in good shape? Yeah. They hit that like the doomsday clock was at one minute to midnight. Yeah, dude. This is some people's Y2K, dude. Yeah. That caused a splinter of effect that effectively ruined Reaganomics. Here's the crazy part is, dude. That guy, like, now we don't even realize it. They're getting us to think that being in shape is bad, right? It's all this slow, let me tune the dial a little different, right? Let me just mess with the opportunities here a little. That's how they're doing it, man. Yeah, it's planting bad seeds.

49:14But cedar cyanide, dude, those, if you got cedar cyanide wheels on a wagon, that was the worst, dude. It was, yeah, it was terminal. It was like having fleas within your roost, yeah. Yeah. That's so brutal. It's a fox in a chicken coop situation, so they just go wild. But it's built in. Imagine you get fresh cedar wagon wheels, and they have cyanide in them. And people are like, these are cedar cyanide. You're like, yeah, it's the best we have right now. It's all we have. If you want to go take the route through this year in Nevada, you're going to have to get this before the fall comes, like the Donner party.

49:52Yeah, yeah. But you just had to do what you had to do for your family back then. Families were tougher. Well, things have just changed, man. I mean, now you would have a Jeffrey Dahmer would have a footwear, you know. He would have a shoe. Yeah, well, Charles Bukowski should be sold to a rich family as a midwife. And I've said that for, oh, my God. Yeah. Look, we are becoming new slaves. That's what I've been saying. I've been saying that. Oh, man. Get the F. You're on a chain gang. Yeah, you're making license plates. That is just what the prison industrial complex is. So I am happy that there is a problem endemic to the state of Alabama that I'm having to bring up.

50:28There's a documentary called The Alabama Problem. Is there? Yeah, it's on HBO Max. I haven't seen that one, but I have seen the one about the mall that's kind of going out of business. Have you seen that one? About the death of the American mall? Yeah. But this one is a specific mall in Alabama. Bring that up. This is a great documentary. If you want to, if it's raining or something and you want to watch something. I think I saw the trailer for it. Jasper Mall. See if it officially closed or not, man. This was pretty cool, dude. It's a good documentary. It's enclosed. Or is it closed? Yeah. There's not a lot there.

51:04Rural King. Well, that's good. They replaced it with a Rural King, which is what they're going to do for our nuclear families. Well, that's just where we're going. It's like when this, oh, JCPenney closed its doors there. But yeah, that documentary is pretty good, man.

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52:08Paid partnership with Lilly. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about EPCLIS and visit ePCLIS.com or call 1-800-LILLY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. We talk about mental health more openly now, but asking for help can still feel hard, and BetterHelp's latest research confirms that. better helps 2026 state of stigma report surveyed 2000 americans and revealed that 85 percent of americans believe getting support is wise yet 74 percent say society discourages people from doing so don't let that be you don't get discouraged if something feels uncomfortable speak up for yourself you have a voice you have a heart there's a reason for that Cut out the noise and do what's right for your own well-being.

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54:04There's a special event. I don't want to spoil it, but I'm going back. So, yeah, I talked to a lot of my really good friends from Mothership. You know, we were all door guys together. So I chat with them on the phone. And, yeah, part of, like, changing my life – and I have no qualms in saying this, but I'm sober, and that's a part of my life. And part of that for me just means being there for my friends. And so like every day I'll like call a friend and stuff that I would do, I guess, when I was younger in the pre-social media age, you know. So I'll call people and feel like all these kids are on their fucking phones now.

54:40Yeah, I think that's popular. Sure. But not, nobody calls anymore. I agree. You know what? That's a good thought. Sometimes I've certainly gotten away from texting and I'd rather just send a voice note. I think that's better at least if you can kind of get a feel what's going on. And even then, like, I will enjoy a call. And I think, honestly, some people appreciate it. It's like, and I think you just have to establish if you want, like, hey, that's where I'm at in my life. I want to hear my friend's voice, you know. Like, I want to know. I want to have some semblance just in what they're saying or how their energy is as to how they're really feeling.

55:15Because that's what we're based on. You can't pick it up through text. It's pretty much impossible. So, and that's just a little bit of the tuning of the dial. It's like where we're at, where the future's taking us. It feels kind of scary. Yeah. Some of that is lost. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I operated better too as a person before technology got too bonkers because I used to like to daydream, even though a lot of it had dangerous Voldemortian people in there. Like, even though there was like a lot of pillaging of our home in a lot of my daydreams, it was still like it was a chance for my mind to rattle on a little yeah so my mind didn't always feel like it was so attached to me i did like the time when you had more space just to kind of daydream and your mind got to like yeah you're right exhale you know i do that a lot when i'm driving so you're saying you would daydream in a way that was like the last bastion of free speech um for a mind of cut this part out cut this fucking part out yeah I mean my shit would be pretty lit, Frederick Douglass would show up at some of my daydreams, like, sure there was always someone at the pulpit to let you know the type of energy that was there it was life or death, there were trials that were going on like, it was very Salem witch-ian you know, oh sure, it was like the crucible keep that part Yeah.

56:47It was like the crucible kind of meets McDonald's kind of. Sure. So if Grimace was like judge, jury and executioner, which he often is in so many of our afterlives, as I come to understand it. Grimace is like a tulpa and of he's like an amalgamation, like a transmogrification of St. Michael. So is that what people are saying? Yeah. He's like a figurehead for like this. We're like this demigod we know is St. Michael. and when he lets you in, it is just a big pool of creamy chili sauce. Oh, good. I know I've prayed to him before for new condiments. That's him answering a prayer. Okay, there you go, dude.

57:27But, dude, this is where we're heading. People don't want to look at the signs that, like, there are children who go to bed and they'll wake up in the morning and they'll piss the perfect shape of grimace into their sheets. Like, moms are like, oh, that's nothing. It's just 100 nights in a row of that. Like, nobody's connecting the dots of where we're going. No, like that you pissed the Shroud of Turin. Like, you pissed the perfect exact golem of things come to pass. Dude, yeah. I know. They cracked some kid open, and he had 11 scenes from The Patriot with Mel Gibson inside of him. And Heath Ledger.

58:05Yeah, I know. Yeah, well, it was my understanding. It was just the Gibson scenes. There was no Heath Ledger, which is like, okay, what is this, the director's cut? Yeah, what is this? And then he just screamed aim small, miss small, and disappeared into the ether. It's just where we are. You mentioned, what do you want to say? No, I'm just kind of just like coming to terms with some of that. Because it is, it's an absolute, you know. My will, like my will is greater than myself, you know. I have a higher purpose and some of that is grimace, like putting a kid in a wood chipper. Yeah. I remember when we were in school and some kids didn't understand how the greater than or less than signs worked.

58:46And we weren't allowed to kill those kids. And that always kind of made me upset. I don't know. I'm not even trying to get into some of that stuff. Yeah, facts. I don't know my times tables. Oh, yeah. So what do we do? Where do we go from here? You're right, dude. And it's weird if I'm willing to give you a pass, but I'm not willing to give them, you know? Sure. Well, it's not a meritocracy, you know? It isn't. It was. It was in a perfect world When Tolstoy was kicking around with Dostoyevsky It was dude When Downton Abbey was doing their shit When that shit was popping Oh yeah Oh my god Me and my boys We would sit down every downtown and Abbey Tuesday It was good dude The first fucking season of it God I wanted to be a butler I'd be a butler's son or whatever Yeah Just to be grandfathered into the butler trade Would be such a blessing And the butler comes walking and he's like Gregory's gay You know, and you're like, what?

59:41He told you in confidence? I know, dude. Dude, just get the dishes. Yeah. Leave your son out of this. That guy was so good, bro. Yeah. It's weird to see him like that, not sleeping, standing up in a closet. Well, he was a stunt double in a lot of coffins. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And people don't give him any credit, you know? No. Who was his name? That guy was a great actor. He looks like the guy who did the Wilhelm scream. You know what I'm talking about? The Wilhelm scream. The guy who just won the contest? There's something called the Wilhelm scream, which is this scream they use in like a million different movies.

1:00:20You would recognize it if you play it. Jim Carter. I think he's the guy who does that special, special scream from the golden age of Hollywood. Let's look at it. The Wilhelm scream. Say it again. You sure? That sounds like Wilhelm Memphis. Where is that from? Yeah, that's Beale Street. If Beale Street could talk, it would sound like that. Wow. So, yeah, that guy did that, and then I guess he had to go to court to get his residuals from him. Really? So that scream, they're calling it the scream of hope. So it was one of the first famous screams of hope. Are you serious? So yeah, it's like a symbol.

1:01:14It's like. How bad has it gotten? Well, it's like, you know, like South Africa used Rodriguez and his albums to like fight against apartheid. So like this is the American version of that. Yeah. I remember in Tyler Perry's Mandela Goes to Jail, I think. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly, so Sheb Woolley was the stage name of that old, old guy who lived in the closet, and he just did this special scream that became like a message of hope. Oh, I love hearing this, and this says it right here, and this says the famous Wilhelm scream was originally voiced by actor-musician Sheb Woolley in 1951. It was recorded for the movie Distant Drums for a scene where a man is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator.

1:01:58Play it one more time, and let's put it where it belongs in our heads.

1:02:05Oh, he gay, bro. That's all I'm saying, bro. He's a friend of Dorothy. Yeah, let's just say he's a friend of Dorothy. That's what they used to say. Or, yeah, he's a Toto owner. Sure. Yeah, people would say that. A Toto? Have you seen that guy in Austin? He got a Toto? Who goes on the streets and he's like, you think this guy's gay, man? Have you seen those videos? Oh, my God. Uh-oh. Pull this up. This is worth watching, dude. this is one of the best things that's ever happened, I think. And it just goes to show how men are obsessed with... With pointing the 11th finger at each other. Yeah, they're making a call to the bullpen, but nobody's showing up.

1:02:50Yeah. Sure. You know what I'm talking about, Trevin? Yeah. Have you ever seen Elijah Wood? He rides around Austin on a little scooter sometimes. No, but I would believe that. I know, right? And I hope that happens. Me too. I hope that for the rest of the world and the rest of today. Well, here's what we should do. One day in Austin, that changed everything. Okay. So this is how rumors get started here. Let's go into this. Let's click on this. This is a picture for those at home of Elijah Wood on a bird scooter. Oh my God. He's ripping a heater. Fuck yeah, he is. Dude, hands-free pro union ripping a heater.

1:03:28Bro, he saved the whole fricking world. The day that changed everything. He's got a thousand yard stare that's staring into the future of American society. He's hunting golems, dude. Yeah. He's hunting the Nephilim. He's the Watcher. Yeah, dude. Oh, definitely. He's got his ball certificates out. Can you... What did that say? Did it say anything else about him on that? That's crazy. And did you see him while you were there? I have never seen something like this in person. It's by Evil Mopak. So this is... Yeah, this is spell work right here. This is deep. Elijah, a spell work, I told you, equals magic.

1:04:05I fucking told you. This is an incantation. despite my joke ways online I actually quite miserly with my laughs it's just how I was paved but when something gets me it really gets me so on the fateful day when I saw the most quintessential 2018 Austin photo humanly possible pop into my Twitter timeline I was reduced to a queev okay Lovecraft what are all these adjectives this is just some fucking overwatch addict putting this shit together can you zoom down a little is this say anything else after that part oh that's it oh and you have to pay to read it come on it was taken in September 2018 in Austin, Texas while attending the Fantastic Festival.

1:04:42He tried out the app-based rental scooter Lime for the first time while holding a cigarette. Oh, that's pretty cool. That is so cool. This is like pictures taken moments before tragedy. Let's hope not. I mean, well, actually, he's fine, so it's not. He avoided his destiny. We're not casting anything. That's the only thing. I don't want to cast anything. No. No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to do any spell work. No, and we don't have to, and I don't do talismanic magic. It's my understanding, neither does Elijah Woods. But I saw you brought something. I saw you had a little thing, a bag of hair or whatever.

1:05:13What's that for? Yeah, sure. So that's spare hair. So that's hair care. It's part of my self-care routine. So if anyone, while I'm talking to them, says like, hey, a big clump of your hair just fell out. You're ready to go? Yeah, I'll be like, oh, thank you. First of all, thanks for holding space for that. Second of all, do you have any Elmer's glue? So, yeah, it allows me to kind of, like, keep my hairline like how I want it. Yeah, it looks great. Thanks, yeah. And I think if someone mails you their hair and you care for it. It's everything. That's crazy. That's what fatherhood means to me. It's like having a son who's bald as a baby like Caillou or like Franklin the Turtle and just getting a big old glob of mush and just smooch it on top of that freaking think tank.

1:06:02One time we were on a cruise ship. Not one of the ones that like sinking or has like shit floating on it or whatever. Sure. That Netflix keeps advertising. But one of the regular ones. We were on there and we had Halloween but we didn't have any costume store. So some guy would sold a bunch of his pubic hair and people were like gluing it on with honey as mustaches and stuff. So everybody could be like the husband from – everybody could be Sam Elliott. Oh, that's so cool. Let's play this video right here. Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

1:06:56I like his truth. Every time it's gay

1:07:09That's a small man

1:07:21Every time dude Heated Fuck that nigga fucked up like a little bad bitch You get out straight I was straight into a pencil What do you think other people gonna think that? You feel like he get out straight He can be bisexual Fuck Why he said that? Everybody bisexual Nah You get out straight I don't care what the fuck He gets my ass I feel like he get out straight Gay as fuck What the fuck is he wearing? Who is that? Jon Jones? Who is this? Lance Bones Jones Is that Indiana John Jones, dude? Who the fuck is that? George Jones Jones. That's good. That's good, yeah. That's pretty cool. That was a cool outfit.

1:08:06I'd like to get to a place in comfortability, in metaphysical wellness, where I could wear a chain around my neck with a lock on it. Yeah, I think you could do it, dude. I think I could pull it off. I used to paint my nails, and then I would go to rehab like a week later. It happened several times in my adult life. I would paint my nails like, you know, twirling my hair, talking on a corded phone, like paint my nails. And then I'd wake up like a couple days later and I was like, I need help. I was like, I'm being fashion forward, but I am turning the clock back. Oh, you're a fucking just a little leap year.

1:08:43Yeah, I'm a leap year baby. I have Benjamin Button's disease, but I'm right in the middle between young and old. So I'm normal. Brutal. Oh, um, so, so Bridie, so you, did you, uh, can I ask you something about it? How's it been? Um, was there like a, a point that you got? Was it like drinking? Was it, or was it just like you were just feeling like disconnected from your own life and, and congrats on, uh, having the wherewithal to like try something new, like even just to be like, okay, I've been in Austin. This is what's going on. I'm going to try something new. It's some, it's so hard to come to that conclusion for some of us.

1:09:19yeah well um i've struggled with those things since i was a kid and i would have long stretches of sobriety um when i was younger it would be alcohol and then um where i grew up in georgia um it was i was in high school during like the purdue pharmaceuticals like that all that stuff oh really um so a lot of my friends um got addicted to like oxycontin and stuff like that so yeah so like that I was exposed to drug use like that when I was younger so off and on and mostly I would sometimes go back to it when I couldn't deal with pressure you know there's a lot of excuses for things like that but yeah it had gotten to a point where I no longer wanted to do comedy I no longer wanted to really do anything I just felt like almost not like I had wasted my life because I love what I do and I really like getting to meet people and I love making people happy.

1:10:21But it got to be too much when coupled with a habit that I had developed of various drugs and alcohol and things like that. Yeah. Where I was like something has to change. Like something has to change. Right. So you got to that point, something has to change. Yeah. I had resigned myself to the idea of a certain death and that did not scare me. It would have been – I looked at it at that point as some sort of like welcomed relief. Like I had gone past the point of anyone being able to help me or me being able to help myself. And then when I did reach out and I did seek some help for that stuff, I realized that that's not what I wanted at all.

1:10:59What I really wanted was to figure out a better way to live. That I really just wanted to have some peace in my life that I knew, even in the throes of it, was not being given to me by drugs and alcohol. It was the opposite of that. It was making my life a thousand times worse. And by, yeah, I've been able to cut so much guff out of my life, so much guff and slime. And I'm able to look around today, and I know that I don't have any, I don't live in shame about my life. I don't do, I don't say things to things, I don't say things to people I don't mean. I don't hurt my friends' feelings. I can be a better partner.

1:11:40I can kick a soccer ball. I can't it's basically it was soccer ball based so I looked around and I was like you know what this house is missing soccer ball and then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I said you're in no condition to kick a soccer ball you're gonna hurt somebody but it's just really basic things you know I wanted to be involved again I wanted to be in the stream of life and yeah dude it's been so beautiful I'm just so happy and I don't think I think it's a temporary happiness. I think it'll be sustained if I continue to work on myself. I know, huh? Yeah. Are you able to look and see?

1:12:20Congrats too, man. I know it's not like a thing that is a congrats thing, but when you think about our world to take a break from anything and make a commitment to take a break from something and do it, it's tough. Oh, my gosh. It's tough for any of us. There's so many ways to get addicted to distract ourselves from us. Absolutely. It's a diseased thinking of I'm constantly – because, you know, I can do all kinds of things. I would spend too much money. I would gamble. I would do these things that on paper seem like a lesser thing than the usage of substances. And they are, but it's all just a symptom of a greater – I want to distract myself.

1:13:03And I want instant thrills that are followed by continuing to chase that thing. what team were you betting on too can I tell you what I bet on I never did sports betting and I didn't lose I don't think I have like a gambling addiction but I would go I don't gamble anymore I'll say that I would do slots I'd do some spins $5 spin have a slap at the pokies I would love dude sometimes I like this time I didn't I was just in Las Vegas but I would I'd like to slip down there at night when nobody would be around and I'd sit there and play some slots just put in 20 bucks 40 bucks and just fucking try to get a little bit of money out of China.

1:13:43I'd yell at the machine. I'd be like, we're going to fucking get your cash. We're coming, Beijing. Yeah, we're coming, dude.

1:13:53Congratulations. Pork boy. You've popped the pig big. It's so funny because it will give you, and this is not a bit, heaven forbid I do a bit, but it'll be like, congratulations. Congribbitibus. You've won. You've been awarded dollar. Like you won a dollar, like a singular Judeo-Christian dollar. And they sound it out. It takes for—and you're like, fuck, dude. If I would have just called it in a—even like just fucking taken a call on a phone and asked them for$2, I would have made more money doing something else. You've been accepted into the winner's circle. Press B to trust. Yeah, yeah. And then you press B, and then it's$1.47.

1:14:39And you're like, okay, I'm betting$5. You just told me I lost money. Yeah, and it's like, oh, you've won the deceased sibling round. We're going to bring back Anna Marie. And you're like, oh, my God. My sister's back. My sister's back. But it's so funny. But that's how it's going to get. Don't you see where we're going? I know. I mean, that's going to be in our freaking textbooks one of these days. You're going to have to go to the wind or encore, or you're going to have to go to dragon's beard or whatever the casinos will be named in, you know, or f***gots realm or whatever they're called. Right.

1:15:13You're going to have to go to some of these places. Sorry. You have to go to the circus of life or Trump's nuts or whatever the, whatever the casinos are going to be called. You're going to have to go there in the Biden's Oculus. Right. You're going to have to go there and they'll be like, you know, get four spins and you'll see your father, you know, and that's really what. it's going to be like. Yes, and you have to keep playing. You will use your social credit score to go have a round of spins at John Carpenter's cigarette burns, and you will be lucky to walk out with a talisman. Yeah, yeah.

1:15:47Or an amulet of any repute. Yeah, dude. It's brutal. And it's so funny. I always just think it's so funny how they'll be like, gar, gar, gar, gar, gar. You've awarded the pig some hooves. and then they'll just like print you out one US dollar. Yeah.

1:16:09Yeah, dude. What do we, I mean, where do we go from here? You know. What are some things that you feel like, because like I'll go to meetings, I'm going to go to a meeting probably whenever I get done with this today. What are some things that the meetings do for you? Do you notice something like that over time? yeah um like going to recovery meetings yeah there's a lot of 12-step meetings out there you know sure i went this morning in nashville i like to um at the at a very good at 7 30 meeting over there no it was at um a sober living in nashville oh nice at 11 30 but at the at a very base level what i can say is that i have never ever walked out of one feeling worse than i was walking in.

1:16:58I will always, even if there's two other people in there and I've been to plenty of things like that, um, newer meetings or smaller towns, um, I'll always hear something that relates to my life or relates to how I want to have my life be. So it's just, I like to meet random people too. It's like, makes me uncomfortable. And then when I leave, I feel like I did something good. Cause I know it's good for me and I know I need it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of cultivates a part of you that you can't even access. Like I think for me, like I share in meetings I try to share um most of the meetings that I go to um and I always wonder kind of why it's like uh and then I was like oh well when I was a kid I didn't there wasn't like a place that was safe where I could speak up right like at our house you couldn't speak up nobody cared how you felt there wasn't even I didn't even know I had any feelings except that I wasn't feeling good sure and it was like nobody and that was our whole like system at home yeah and so like sometimes when I go in there, it's like, well, this is a place that's safe enough where I can speak up, even if I don't know exactly what I'm going to say or how exactly I feel, it gives me like a little bit of space to explore it.

1:18:05So it's almost like sometimes I feel like I'm, it's almost like the kid me or the younger me that's in there. That's kind of like, I mean, it's an adult me, but it kind of like, um, it helps me honor a little bit of that. Like here's this younger me that never got to speak up. So in here today, I'm going to sit here with you and we're going to, You know what I'm saying? We're going to speak up for ourselves. Yeah, that is really beautiful. I can definitely identify with some of those sentiments from feeling like a bit voiceless when I was younger. Yeah, it's so nice to – anytime I'll try to like prepare something smart to say, it'll be like you're a troglodyte.

1:18:40Like I'm a mute, deaf, speechless, but I'm like summer's hard. And they're like, what are you? Not even who are you, what are you and why? the big three when somebody will share something in there that you've been wanting to say your whole life or hear and you'll finally hear it and you'll be like oh I feel like a part of me will almost like the locks will like turn and a new door will open yeah you feel like a weight has been lit I can't even describe how it feels like really get involved in that stuff and it's so crazy it makes you feel like you know I'm of the belief that the universe is all mental and it unfolds just for us you know how can it not our live experiences are designated and interpreted solely for us and when i'm in there almost every time something will happen that's so kismet or a synchronicity and you'll hear something you were just thinking about or something that's upcoming you've been worried about and you're like what are the odds of that and it happens almost every day where you're like i'm on the right path you know when you do the right things you get the right things it might be the things you want but the things that you need at least and the little things you hear in there man yeah the little things like uh contrary action like a lot of times i won't want it if i don't want to do something unless it's for like a reason where there's like safety concern or something like that then i need to consider trying to go do it like i don't really need to do this yoga i don't really need to go and like walk over to my neighbors and drop this off just so it's because there's a darker part of me that wants me to be by myself that wants me to stay like isolated and sit and think and ponder about everything and, and just learning those things.

1:20:21And eventually I have to learn things a lot, right? Yeah. I have to learn things a lot. It's like my forgetter is really big. It's like, it's almost like when I wake up in the morning, it's like, there's a part of me that's forgotten if people care about me, that's forgotten if I care about me, you know, it's not exact, but there's a lot of like, somebody comes in almost at night and cleans like the dry erase boards you know i need to be reminded that i matter and at a bigger level other people matter more than me yes yeah other people matters you know i was the i was the main actor in my life for so long and it was all how things were affecting me and what i was doing and it's so nice to yeah just genuinely give a shit about other people dude some of the my best moments or my moments are my favorites or if I wake up and my first thought about somebody else it's almost like god thank you or if I'm just driving and I have to remember something somebody had said yesterday like oh I'm going to call them and check on them about that or something somebody cared about and I was like oh let me see how that played out for them the more those I get like the better it feels yeah well because we're meant we're meant to have community and my mind does the same thing it's so much easier there's a million other things I could be doing for an hour a day than doing that.

1:21:37But when I'm alone, if I make an excuse like that, I'll make another excuse. And I'll make another excuse. And it may not lead to drug use, but it definitely will lead to me having a sadder life. And at the very least, I don't want that. Yeah, that's so... And it's like, I just remember people care about me. I walk into a meeting and I'm like, oh yeah, dude, I remember. And it's not that I forgot them or anything, but it's just like, I have to have this thing replenished. that's like yes your heart works you work you're okay things are okay there might be problems but they're not that big and everything's gonna be okay it's almost like you just like I don't know it's like it definitely is like church some people are like do you go to church and it's like I don't go to church every week but in a way I go to church four or five times a week you know and you feel it and you feel it like I walk out of there I'm like okay if I'm like I mean there's some days when it's rough if somebody's sitting on their phone next to me the whole meeting dude there's a kid running around god forbid oh a little christmas kid you can tell it's like a new year's eve baby yeah and he's like my birthday's coming up or whatever and i'm like no it's not yeah no it's not we're in july i can tell you're a new year's eve baby get the hell out of here with your holiday spirits yeah um but no man i think that community is great what do you think if there's somebody who's scared to try to go to a first meeting you know i'll have friends that'll ask me sometimes about Or what do you say to somebody who's thinking, maybe I might be struggling with this?

1:23:07Sure. Well, something that I go back to is that it's just so nice to be around people who – there's a saying of terminal uniqueness that makes people continue to struggle. That we think that we're so different in our suffering. That we're put on this earth just to suffer. And who am I to say if that's not the case? But everything you've been through has meaning. and of course it has meaning to you, but it doesn't really have that much helpful meaning to you. The things that you've gone through that are really bad, ruminating on that does not help. But when you put it out of you and you see that it helps someone, even just for a day, like being around people who also hurt that way, it's just an incredible feeling.

1:23:50It's not a chore. It's not something you have to go do. It's something I look forward to doing. Yeah. Because it's so nice to look around and go, oh my God, I'm not this little freak. Yeah. I'm not this little guy that God forgot. You know, I'm someone that has purpose, even if it's just for today. I can have a purpose of hanging out with these people. And I know that when I'm in there, I feel better. Even if it's just for the hour, even if I leave and I get back and I feel like shit again and I'm going a little crazy and I'm riffing a little too hard about the wrong things and my little rain.

1:24:22It's a safe place. And I hate to use that term, but it's, you know, places like that are just somewhere completely free of judgment. It's so beautiful. Yeah. it's so beautiful and there's nothing else like it I agree yeah yeah it's crazy sometimes some people are like hey do we come do this I'm like nah I don't know if I'm doing that you know I don't know if I'm driving over to meet you at a Whataburger or something you know just because they're popping off because it's new or whatever and the seats are clean or whatever still yeah I'm not going animal style you can't make me yeah but you're like hey you want to drive 20 minutes across town to go to like this 11.30am like meeting it's going to be mostly older folks in this church and I'm like dude yeah that shit sounds popping I dig wisdom Yes, dude.

1:25:01Dude, I love to talk to some old farmer. Ooh-wee. I get off on talking to an old farmer. Our plant's got AIDS. You're like, I don't know if that's what happened. He goes, when my arm's crying, I got to feed it. When that baby's crying, I got to feed it. And he goes, hell yeah. Don't come on my back and tell me it's raining. You know, shit like that. You're like, yeah. People always have crazy quotes. but no man it's definitely like I don't know and it's there for you it's like if you have a tough time if you come in or out the meetings are there you can go back right it's just so nice that like something that really sat with me this last go around when I was trying to get my life together again is just the simple thought that I don't have to live like that like whatever is making me feel like my life is for want of a better term escalating towards some terminal velocity where I've had so many times in my life where I feel like this is going to end bad.

1:26:01I'm either, I'm, you know, I'm working too much or I'm worried about the wrong shit or I'm, you know, I'm using again and I know it's going to end bad. And to know, I don't ever have to feel like that again because I know that I'm in control of my emotions now and it's so great. I like to let yourself have peace. It's so hard. It's like the hardest thing in life. Yeah, why is it hard, man? I don't know. That's such a fascinating statement. I've never heard of it like that, to let yourself have peace. Yeah, like I don't want to let myself have peace, man. It's like, or I don't know if I don't think, or I'm not saying I don't, but it's like that would be the, like, yeah, do I not deserve it?

1:26:39Like what is that? I don't know if it's something just the way that we're wired where, you know. Because some of the wiring is right there. Why wouldn't I let myself have peace? I have friends that are, that like, and I've struggled. I've had some tough years over the years for sure, but I've had some friends that won't get close to it, you know? Yeah. Won't try to get close to the fire. They want to just keep trying to do it. It's familiar. It's familiar, and there's a thing of like, I'll figure this out, you know what I'm saying? Yes. I've gotten myself this far. Right, and the world feels like you, I don't know, when I was younger, I put a chip on my shoulder like the world was an enemy, and I'm going to figure this out.

1:27:22and watch me. And then the worst part is if you have some successes in your life or things that go kind of your way, it's hard to realize that like something, you know. Yeah. Because then you feel like, oh, well, I'll figure this out too. Yeah, because I did this for myself. I uprooted myself. I made this happen. But then also, I've made a lot of the bad things in my life happen. That's true, dude. You know, drinking tuss, walking down the road, having a little slip and slide. Oh, yeah. Karmically speaking. I'm a karmic patsy. I'm a charlatan of redemption. I'm a Tuss man. You're the Jack Ruby of that realm.

1:27:57I am Jack Ruby and I am Nikola Tesla and we are building a free energy circuit that Edison will shut down. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, but that ego is so good because, yeah, it's like no one really helped me become a comedian. No one taught me how to tell jokes. No one, you know, I slept in my car for a long time. I spent my whole life working on this thing. So when we're able to turn that into something that is working, of course, I think we're apt to believe like, oh, I'll turn this around too by myself. That's just, you know, we both know that's not the case. It's just not possible. Yeah. It's just willpower.

1:28:37It's vibrant willpower. I'm amazed at the willpower sometimes of people that struggle. Like I have friends whose parents are out on the streets and or have been struggling for 20, 30 years, you know. And I'm sure some of them even ask me, why do you think this is it? What's going on? It's like, I don't know. But you just try to talk with somebody about that stuff. And it's just the willpower of people that are in recovery or of alcoholism, of alcoholics. Man, it's strong. It's like, I'll figure this out. I'll turn this around. or then sometimes I bet you just get you built you just get trapped in shame and then you just want to stay away from your life because you feel like I don't want to go around these people because I'll only make things worse for them that's got to be kind of a crazy trap yeah that you're too far gone and you're like radioactive yeah it's heartbreaking yeah definitely but that people you feel like people will be better off without you which is such a dangerous thought that is never ever ever ever true yeah yeah it's never true you've talked about the occult a lot right?

1:29:44and I feel like you've gone up and down those realms you reference, you low key your closet occult people say occult adjacent no, I've read about all kinds of religions and stuff sometimes I'll throw some buzzwords out there will you do that? I'll throw some buzzies I'll do a little buzz, I'll catch you in a little fly trap are you the Oral Hirschhiser of throwing buzzwords out there? Yeah, Casey Orenthal, James Sensen, Rocca. No, Oral Hershizer. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Sorry, I think he was one of the best pitchers before you were born. Dude, when I was a kid, like, the best pitcher was kind of an old white dude.

1:30:22It was like, okay. Randy Johnson? Uh-huh. It was beforehand. It was like Randy Johnson's daddy or whatever. Candy Johnson. Yeah, bring up Oral Hershizer. There he is, dude. He's a legend. Yeah, him and Walker Bueller actually look alike. But from Buffalo, New York, man, he's a legend. But he was a legend when I was growing up. It was just like a white guy that was able to do it. And then things got Latino and just more diverse. But what I was going to ask you, yeah, where do you feel like we're at spiritually as a people right now? Do you feel like we're in a tough spot? Do you see a different future for us?

1:30:57Like what do you really see having somebody who like kind of is willing to kind of massage the crystal ball of different realms? That is an interesting question and happy to be here. But that's difficult. I think for me, as part of a better life that I've tried to live, yeah, I love reading about different kinds of positive philosophy from antiquity. So, you know, Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, up through different – I've had different times in my life where I was a more or less a believer of existential nihilism, that life had no purpose, that we were put into this world simply from a dying god, sort of a Gnostic worldview of we don't have any purpose because we will ultimately die, right?

1:31:48so in doing so the end justifies the means in the sense of whatever we end up doing it does not serve any sort of greater good but i believe the opposite of that today um i think as human beings and these thoughts are sort of a mishmash of various other things mostly the tenets of hermeticism and some sort of cabal cabala not cabalic uh not like a cult but the universe is always in motion and we're a part of the universe, right? So I know that my life serves a greater good today. And I also know that I can be a driving force in my life while also knowing that I can only drive so far. So all I can choose to do is, as they say, the right hand path of doing the right thing and the next right thing.

1:32:39And if I do do something wrong to a friend, small things. The mistakes I make today are smaller. I can be snippy. I can be rude. I can be not emotionally available. I can immediately act to correct that, right? So it's some iteration of karma and some iteration of the understanding that life is suffering. You know, it hurts to know that we're alive and to know that we're worth more than we'll be given. um but dang that's crazy i never heard that before yeah you know people the meaning of life is just it's the small things it's to mean something in a moment by moment basis and to do things without the purpose of distraction so it's so much easier you know we've both struggled with drugs and alcohol to to turn that knob off but i'm gonna have to wake up again tomorrow and that's the thing about like developing a drug habit is like I would always be so furious when I would wake up and go like god I have to do this again I can't believe I have to do this again but I'm of the belief that we were all created so the universe can understand itself you know so I'm simply a cog and such a greater machine of I only exist because at the end of my timeline I served some greater purpose you know for the creator of the universe whatever you want to call that and who do you hope it is like say if it is like a and I think that's beautifully put dude I really do that's pretty cool man you're an eloquent speaker you're going to be a great screenwriter thank you for saying that it's going to be exciting man I admire the fact that you're willing to to do something that you want to do right like I think it's easy to get trapped in like there's popularity here.

1:34:29There's some money here. There's reward. There's like ego reward here, but it's just really like what I really want to do. Like sometimes I really want to just focus on learning Spanish and be a writer. Right. Some of those, those are things that I think, right. That gives me self-worth. Right. And, but then you get caught in different things and sometimes they're blessings and it's great paths and stuff, but it's like, yeah, do we reward like that? You know, do we reward that thing inside of us that also we, that, that was the reason maybe we started out wanting to be creative like sometimes you'll get on such a path that you never get back to those things sometimes yeah it's been so nice to to bring it back to comedy in any capacity to do things just for fun to go do an open mic at like a hot dog stand yeah it's like I used to love stuff like that I used to live for shit like that and then when you get caught up in all the numbers and how are the tickets and blah blah blah blah blah when you get caught up in all that wah wah wah wah it some of it gets lost.

1:35:25Yeah. And I'm tired of losing stuff, you know. I needed to trim some of my hedges, right? Tall poppy syndrome. I needed to cut down some of these egotistical parts of my life that I know don't serve me. And then it's a daily thing of figuring out, you know, chipping away at the block of happiness and trying to get a firmer picture of what that looks like. Hard to say. I think well said. In the end, when we get there, do you and it's and we realize oh this was just a big masked singer right sure and they take it they take the mask off who do you hope it is Bill Paxton yeah who played for the Bulls um is that Bill Paxton that's John Paxton John Paxton so uh Bill Paxton I'm an American actor who was in Aliens and um Frailty um just famed character actor Bill Paxton who did have leading man potential and was sometimes given the option to exercise that.

1:36:23Died in a medical malpractice incident. And he once told me, yeah, he got malpractice to heaven. Oh, that's what happened to Kanye's mom. It was him and Kanye's mom then maybe. Yeah, I think they were doing like a dual surgery or something. They were doing sutures or something. It was a suture day. Oh, it's probably one of those new, because I know that insurance is offering if you both get surgery on the same day with someone you don't know, So it's like – Cancels out. Then, yeah. Well, it's cheaper. Sure. Yeah, it's half as much for twice the people, so. Yeah, yeah. It's a new – and they're doing that new drive-by surgery where some guy just reaches out of like a – yeah.

1:37:05Ow. But, yeah, he – There's a lot of great offers coming from the gods above. Oh, yes, sure. We're simply vessels, man. Bill Paxton died in February 2017 from a fatal stroke. Oh, man. 11 days after undergoing heart surgery, his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the surgeon in hospital of medical malpractice, alleging the doctor to use an unnecessary, unconventional technique. Cedars-Sinai. Nuh-uh. Full circle riff, put a bow on it. AKA Cedars-Sinai, a lot of people call it, which is another. And they are coming out with a yogurt, I've heard, so that's good. We are doing squatters rights on that riff.

1:37:45We are here to cut the ribbon on that riff. before you go Casey the riffs you're a different instrument man you're a different instrument how do you best set yourself up for the ability to riff do you have to do a certain sequence of events before you go on like and not to put a lot of pressure on yourself but if you notice certain things lead to better tuning for yourself as an instrument oh that's a good question without giving away my entire process which I am not even capable of replicating, which really gets me in a bind. When I can't even do my own act and I'm the one who does it. Yikes.

1:38:24I like to do, I like to have some tent poles. So I'll go out there. I'll cause a bit of a fuss. I'll cause a fuss. And I like to, I'll say this. I like to go up there and sing because it gets me out of my head. So I learned a long time ago, the most embarrassing thing you could ever do is try to sing genuinely, like in a circumstance that does not call for it. So I'll go up there. I'll do a little grunge number. Do a little Alabama shakes, Brittany Howard. And I can feel super embarrassed. And then I go, well, surely nothing for the rest of this hour will feel like how that just felt. So that allows me to just sort of peel the mask off and and then do a big Scooby-Doo reveal of me to myself in the mirror.

1:39:09And then I do a quick wink, and I will have some tent poles. So I'll try to do three jokes that I know I'm going to tell. So before I go up and I do my hour, I'll look at, I'll know three jokes that I'm going to say. Okay. And then I'll do joke. Joke. Yeah. Joke. And then from there, hopefully I've gotten about 10 to 20 laughs at this point. And if you extrapolate, let's say the room is 500, which is bigger than rooms that I do. Let's say in a perfect world I'm headlining 500 seaters. If I get 10 laps out of 500, I go, ooh, I only got 490 to go. So that – I'll do a couple jokes up top, and that will give me the confidence I need to string it all together.

1:39:55Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, we're – Yeah. But I have like 1 ,000 half-sentence jokes, so – If I ever lose my train of thought, I'll just like hit them with, I'll just do a quick stinky. So that's like an example of a joke. Oh, dude. You're like an Easter basket that has matches in it, dude. You're like, there's just something going on. Careful with the plastic wrap. You'll set the whole thing off. Cadbury and diesel. It's just, yeah, there's something just so charming about your presentation of yourself. Thanks for saying that. It's the truth. Thanks. I hope you feel that in a place where we need to feel things that are important.

1:40:37But I just think like, yeah, I don't know. I don't mean that because I'm saying that to you, but I just think, yeah, there's a, I don't know. It's a great thing to watch. You're a great thing to watch, Casey Rocket. Thanks. Me and my friends watched No Offense on Netflix, your special. Oh, thanks. Right when I started comedy, and it was very formative for me. And I thought it was so funny, and I'd never seen anything like it. So I really appreciate you saying that. Thanks, man. Well you bet dude I'm glad that we've been able to communicate Man I hope we can do it more I think I'm gonna try to come out there tonight You should Come riff or at least come hang out You don't have to riff but come hang out it'll be so fun It will be so fun dude I think I'm gonna go it because I think it's probably what I need to do Contra reaction My crowds and I'm sure your crowds too But they'll just be so happy to see you You'll have so much fun Alright I'm coming then Yes What time are your show at?

1:41:317 o 'clock It is? Yeah. Okay. I'm supposed to go to a 6.30 meeting, but maybe I can find a 6 or maybe I can go to one after. Yeah. Casey Rocket, you got some tour dates coming up? Yeah. I'm on the road. Yeah. CaseyRocketComedy.com. Up in Liberty Township over there, Cincinnati. That's a good place over there. Doing some more funny bones this year. One thing I want to plug, I have an hour of my stand up on my Patreon. Okay. It's$6, and all the money goes to harm reduction programs in Chicago. So community outreach, clean needles, harm reduction, all kinds of good stuff that helps people get the help that they need.

1:42:13So, yeah, my Patreon's on there. And if you feel like doing that, just know that all that money goes to charity. So, yeah. Dude, that's awesome, man. Congrats on all the success, dude. Thanks for talking with us. They had Liberty Township. What were some of the other ones? Let me just rattle them off real quick. Columbus, Ohio. I love being in Ohio, dude. St. Petersburg, Florida. Asheville, North Carolina. Have you been there? I have not done the orange peel yet, but I've been to Asheville. It's so cool. So cool, dude. Baltimore, Maryland. Got offered a threesome there by an older mixed couple.

1:42:47One of them wearing, who I think was wearing an Ed Reed jersey. We got Chicago back at Zany's Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Louisville, a lot of places. You can check... Check him out online on his website, CaseyRocket.com. CaseyRocketComedy.com. CaseyRocketComedy.com. Yeah, thank you, guys. And before you go, I just want to get this note in for viewers. No, the Jasper Mall in Jasper, Alabama has not officially closed. It is still operating, though, in a very reduced and dead mall state. Dead mall state, that's what's going to happen when the nuclear family collapses. not to be confused with Deadmau5 actually who I think is still doing well can you bring up Deadmau yeah I think that's one of Marshmello's aliases so it's like Deadmau5 yeah he's in the he's what do they call it the Marshmello Extended Universe so yes oh my god face reveal okay spoiler alert didn't know that was him I hope he's doing good anyway cool man dude thank you so much for your time have a great show tonight I'm gonna come up there and I'll figure it out when I get up there.

1:43:53Yeah. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I'll say one more thing. Yeah, for sure. There's more to life than riffs, but there's not more to riffs than life. That's it. That's it. See you at the mall.

1:44:20Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found. I can feel it in my bones, but it's gonna take...

1:44:50That's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.