A Comedian’s Approach To Insecurities, Self Doubt and Becoming The Best Performer w/Andrew Schulz EP 1234

The kia sportage turbo hybrid has a bold design a spacious interior with two hundred and thirty two horsepower and a twelve point three inch panoramic display to keep the adventure going and fit with the way you live and with siriusxm every drive comes alive bringing you closer to the music the sports talk and podcasts that you love right in your vehicle or on the sirius xm app every siriusxm equipped kia sportage turbo hybrid includes a three month trial so the experience begins the moment you drive learn more at kia dot com sportage hybrid kia movement that inspires this message is brought to you by apple card apple card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop this means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything like like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop apply for apple card in the wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes subject to credit approval apple card issued by goldman sachs bank usa salt lake city branch terms and more at applecard dot com the best b two b marketing gets wasted on the wrong people so when you want to reach the right professionals use linkedin ads linkedin has grown to a network of over one billion professionals including one hundred thirty million decision makers that's why linkedin has the highest b two b roas of all online ad networks spend two hundred and fifty dollars on your first campaign on linkedin ads and get a free two hundred fifty dollars credit for the next one just go to linkedin dot com lewis that's linkedin dot com lewis terms and conditions apply this is episode number twelve thirty four with andrew scholz welcome to the school of greatness my name is lewis howes former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepr and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness thanks for spending some time with me today now let the class begin welcome back my friend today's guest is andrew schulz who is one of the biggest stand up comedians in the country who recently released his netflix special schultz saves america and andrew is an actor tv producer and co host of the flagrant two podcast he's a he's hitting the road for another us tour so make sure to visit his website check him out on social media to catch him in a city near you in this episode we dive in and i love this conversation with andrew i just love talking with comedians who are so creative and able to connect with people in a unique way and in this episode we discuss how to transition your insecurities into confidence how to become a stronger public speaker and performer on stages why self doubt is necessary to achieve greatness which i thought was interesting for his point of view how the comedy industry is constantly evolving what you should do right now to launch your new career and so much more if you're enjoying this or inspired by this in any way make sure to share this with others you can post it on social media tag me tag andrew okay and just a moment the one and only andrew scholz i speak from experience when i say that the best way to stay consistent with your fitness goals this year is to switch them up it'll make it easier to stay excited for your workout even each day when you know it's something new and exciting and of course it can be hard to always come up with new types of workout routines which is why i love peloton they always are coming out with new stuff to help switch up your exercises the peloton bike and bike plus are releasing new classes new music and new ways to keep your workouts fun and motivating keep your workouts interesting it's the key and peloton has a workout for every goal day and mood de stress from a long day with thirty minutes of strength and twenty minutes of cardio or do a quick fifteen minute total body class before work stay motivated while having fun with bike workouts yoga meditation dance cardio and more and i want to see you achieve your goals visit one peloton dot com to learn more that's o n e p e l o dash t o n dot com.

You like to do the challenging thing like on stage not the thing that you know is going to get the biggest laugh yeah but the thing that's the most challenging that you'll think is really interesting and hopefully people think it is too and if you can get them to laugh on the most challenging thing then you're like that what.

Lights you up right yeah yeah it's like i look at it kind of like you know like diving in the olympics i might have used that you.

Did use it not just anyone can dive in the pool but yeah it's.

Like it's not only diving where there's no splash it's also like what do you do before like it's all how many flips are you gonna do how many spins so like you're getting rated not only how you enter the water but how difficult the trick was before you enter and that's kind of how i look at like a joke or a premise or anything i'm like okay what's what is the most touchy subject that i could possibly talk about and how can i make that funny for a group of people that should feel like it's touchy like that that's awesome that you feel that way and it took me a while to learn this but like when a crowd like is a little hesitant to laugh like they're kind of doing the right social thing.

But they really want to laugh they.

Might want to laugh but like socially they're being considerate of other people right and like i would like that behavior on the street you know it's easy for us comments to get upset they're like oh why are you guys awing or why are you guys uncomfortable or why are you guys acting so woke et cetera but like realistically that behavior if you're just like walking down the street and you saw somebody saying opinions that are a little bit wild like outside of the comedy club setting you'd probably want to protect the person that might feel uncomfortable so i don't really like have as much animosity for them as i used to got you but i still want them to feel uncomfortable that is my place of comfort why.

Do you want people to feel uncomfortable.

I don't know but it is i love that i love the discomfort i love the tension i just love it the more tension the better what's the.

Thing that's hard for you in your life to be uncomfortable with what's hard.

For me to be uncomfortable with since.

That'S comfortable that's your comfort zone yes making an audience uncomfortable yes where are you most uncomfortable in your life well.

Let me clarify the release of tension should be this great comfort and that's where the laugh comes from for them right and like as as my as my career has you know begun to grow and flourish if you will i have a much different relationship with the audience so like now when they come they know they know and i just want to give them the best show ever right like i just want them i'm just so grateful for them but early in my career when i didn't know them and they were like hesitant to laugh about touchy topics i was angry at them right and i was like how can i manipulate you into laughing at this thing you would never want to laugh at this is the only thing that i hated about comedy my whole career was the first few minutes establishing who you are it's the only time i felt like a clown.

How would you do it you have.

To make them feel safe so it's like how do i i know what to say to get everybody in the audience to like me but if that's not me then they're not liking authentically.

Who you are yeah what is the thing you'd say to get them to like you that wasn't you just like some random joke that you're kind of.

Like whatever or yeah like there's like you know if you're in certain markets there are things that you can say that like just those people tend to agree with but that's no fun so it's like how do i speak about them in a way that they feel like they're understood but i'm still pushing back and i think that's kind of where i developed this style of like kind of digging in and like understanding like nuance about each one of these like cultures or people or cities etc because i could rip apart a city if i knew things i wasn't supposed to right and i was like oh this is cool this is like this is like almost like a cheat code yeah like i can make fun of you now you're safe with me you know what i'm saying like you feel safe because you know that i took enough time to learn that about you to research it yeah and then you feel like represented and that's like a really cool thing that i didn't realize.

Represented even on the worst stuff about.

You yeah because a lot of times you're proud of that too you know.

Like give me an example what's a city or like a culture or something that you could reference that you were like i researched this thing about seattle or whatever i don't know and i'm trying to think of detroit or chicago or you know wherever it is the south i don't know yeah i'm trying.

To think like something that i've that i was doing like that something that i was like a place i was at recently i was thinking portland you.

Were at the in portland you were on instagram you were at the marching right there was some oh seattle seattle.

Yeah they were just like freaking out i mean yo no portland wants to be seattle and i and i had like a big beef with portland like i went there and it was like a big it was like a yeah we had like an issue but i we got through it okay and it was fun but like that was that was also fun i was like figuring out ways to make fun of portland that they could also appreciate and i think that they're like okay he knows these things about us okay i feel comfortable enough to like laugh with you yeah you know he gets us yeah like there's something and it's interesting like putting out the clips like one in when i was in florida we were living in florida during the pandemic for a while and i had this joke about how cubans become like conservative republicans like the second they land like but they're like immigrants they're minorities and the second that that foot is dry there's like a wet foot dry foot rule it's just the rule like if you touch the land you're good you're american and they're just like immediately conservative republicans like we need to stop immigration there's too many people the second they get here it's like there's too many people and it's funny like to see that joke it's shared within that community and that's the beauty of social media is like back in the day if you did a special on like hbo or something like that like they couldn't just take that one little thing and share it with their grandmas and grandpas and all their cousins that they do that exact thing now you see the joke go viral on tiktok or instagram because it's so easy to access what do.

You think was the skill that you learned that gave you the most confidence.

On stages i think it's probably like watching my dad interact with people whoever he was talking to was the most interesting person that that he'd ever met like the bus boy could pick up all the plates and he's like how did you do that like he'd literally be baffled how did you get all those plates and like he'd find out about people and like at the beginning sometimes people thought like he was like trolling them and then they realized it was genuine and like i know he just has a skill to like make people feel good but he's doing it because he's curious so he just learned so much about people and you'd ask all these questions and like i could see him just like break down people's walls and that kind of worked with me and i was i think that that curiosity translates to stage and if there's one thing that i wish that i was able to do more of now is just like interact with strangers.

You don't do that it's it's i.

Just have less time to do it you know like i have a wife i have a career business career that's crazy busy i have a team of guys so i'm interacting with the people that i know but i want to interact with with that's what i was saying earlier like i just love a conversation like i want to talk to you know the uber driver i want to talk to the guy at tsa i want to talk to the guy you know that i'm sitting next to on the plane i want to have these conversations with these people and then you know sometimes they're fruitful and all i need is like one nugget of information and that can you know last.

A lifetime what's the biggest insecurity or fear that you had to overcome for.

Stand up just in life in life yeah it wasn't like so crippling like i remember like going to college for the first time and like feeling insecure like i never felt like that in like some sort of school environment like i never felt that like i would just stop the class if i didn't understand anything something like nobody's moving on.

Like that was teacher i don't understand.

I don't understand it that was my philosophy and i looking back on i was like wow like where did this come from like why did you think that it was important for you to say things like that to understand things like and then in college for the first time i was like hesitant to raise my hand in like one of these big like lecture halls like i didn't understand that participation was ten percent of your grade and you wouldn't just raise your hand every day like the teacher would have to like force you to talk i'm like dude it's so easy you just raise your hand who cares like i didn't care what anybody felt about me that's amazing i i.

Never raised my hand really i was too embarrassed and scared and i was just bad in school interesting so i was just you know i never wanted to look stupid in front of others yeah and thinking of it's funny now because all i do now is ask dumb questions yeah that i wish i would have asked when i was younger yeah and i'm like this is a really dumb question but then i'll have people mess literally will send me voice notes or messages on instagram be like i'm so glad you asked that question yeah and i was thinking of that follow up question that you asked but i never ask questions i never preface.

It with this is a dumb question wow yeah i mean don't do that.

I don't say that now but you're thinking i'm thinking a basic question and i don't know the answer but i'm just curious to know why this yeah and so but i just always felt like people would make fun of me if i raised my hand i feel.

Like i was better than them at making fun that's good so i was just like yeah so it's just like i wasn't worried about being picked on because like i'm good at that right.

So you were witty you were quick.

With it yeah like i grew up with like scottish women so i just had to find a way to keep up and then i think once i was able to kind of keep up with them i was like okay i got this no matter what and then i was just kind of like my parent and that i give that all the credit to my parents like we had dinner every night and they just listened to me and i think when you just listen to a kid they start to feel like their words matter and what they have to say matters and i think if you don't listen to them they go why does anything i say important at all right if the people that love me more than anything in the world don't even care what i say why would a stranger care ooh i really think as i look back i think that's where it came from like every day that was like my open mic we sat down how was your day this happened da da my dad's laughing you know my mom's laughing my brother's laughing and it was just like i mean i would sit down at dinner like i'm about to bring it like y' all ready like you got your hat out for.

Tips you gotta get the lunch dude.

I don't know i guess like i don't know i just i guess i had that confidence like even when i would go through like therapy or something like that like i'd walk into therapy and and like i'd have the session and i'd walk out like that was your best you just had a great do i have to pay you like do i have to pay me yeah like come on like be honest like what are we doing here now now that doesn't now there is a i guess what i'm saying is there's a balance so in order to be great you need to have like crippling anxiety about your your skill level i think not crippling but you need to have like intense scrutiny and you also need to have the confidence to do more right so it's just this like crazy balance like you need to have the confidence to say something and you need to have the insecurity to improve and that balance i have like i'll be.

Not think you're the best and you don't need to work on yourself exactly.

That is the worst those are the worst people so it's like think you can be the best and there are moments where you're like yeah i'm the best and then there's other moments where you look at your thing and be like oh i can make that better like there's nothing that i've ever looked at that i've gone i can make that better i can't make that better everything i nitpick oh you got to take me out of the room sometimes like one hundred percent that's the beauty of stage like that's why i need the crowd the crowd lets me know if it works you know like the crowd if they're just going crazy and they're losing it i go okay that is funny enough what if they're all.

You know choking on their laughter they're crying they're on the floor cause they can't hold themselves up everyone is on the floor dying of laughter yeah yeah yeah and you're gonna say to yourself i could have been better well it.

Depends i mean it depends maybe not i'd be like okay maybe that joke is getting enough right there or this.

But the whole set you could have.

Done something yeah i guess what i'm saying is like there's like a ridiculous i don't even know if the word is insecurity but it isn't yeah sometimes i'll watch things i'll be like oh i'm insecure about how i could look right there but it's more of just like a brutal honesty about in a high expectation for greatness so it's like this is what i believe greatness is and this is where i think that joke is or my performance is or that bit is and it's like what can i do to get there and to be honest sometimes it's like so i can be so harsh i have to not watch for a little right right right let the stew cook a little bit because if i just keep watching i'm gonna i'm gonna lose faith in it right i have to like let the it's almost like fake confidence put the air under my wings to get it to the point where it is good enough and then i can scrutinize it but yeah i've never had that feeling of like i shouldn't say.

This do you think a comedian can be truly great without being somewhat insecure.

No no because you won't get better you need insecurity i'm like grateful for it like you need the insecurity you need to look at somebody and be like oh they do this better than me i need to get better than them i remember seeing the comics like this guy is unbelievable another level yeah like i remember first time i saw patrice o' neill he was the only comic i've ever seen live and i've seen them all that i was like i don't even like saying these things out loud because once i say something it can happen but it was the only comic that i ever saw where i was like i'm not even gonna say it out loud but because you.

Don'T want to manifest it yeah i.

Don'T believe in that but i mean i believe in that very much but i don't want to put but i was like this is gonna be hard to be better than him that's that's kind of how it's like that's a.

Standard you gotta get to yeah yeah.

And now there's there's multiple things going on there are comics that are so great at what they do and it would be really hard to get better than them they just might not have had the style that i want to different style yeah yeah so like so.

They'Re great at what they do i.

Just don't want to do that you.

Can appreciate it but you're like i'm not in that league it's not what.

I do it's different type of art.

You know yeah you're playing football they're playing handball exactly yeah who dedicates a.

Decade of their life to handball.

But.

Yeah so yeah i yeah it's interesting the confidence thing is interesting when have.

You been the most insecure when you were starting out and trying to figure things out in the middle of your career obviously maybe you're more in the middle now but i mean or towards this stage of your career what part have you been the most insecure it.

Fluctuates right like i've always balanced i've always had like methods to like maintain self esteem because i recognize like i was the best version of myself when i felt good about myself what are these methods i mean like even as a kid i was like really curious about it like i looked into it like as a kid i don't know where i even got this idea but as a kid i'm talking about like young like seven eight maybe middle school or something like that if i had a negative thought about myself i would tell myself three positive things and i think you know what it was i had like i had like an acute interest in this because both of my parents battled depression so i was way more aware of depression and way more aware of it's probably part of the reason why i'm a comic like i just loved making my dad laugh you know and i was like i didn't realize that like there was a difference between depression and just not having fun so i thought like i remember when he'd be like dealing with depression i'd take him to like the comedy cellar and i'd be like hey look you're gonna laugh so now everything's good yeah because in my mind it was like all i need to do is be with my boys and laugh and then everything's fine and like so i would do those things what was another method for developing self esteem so like as i as i got into standup right it was brutal because you do these horrible shows and you just do that no one's laughing and you're trying to develop your voice and all that kind of stuff what do i need to maintain like the self esteem necessary to continue going and i basically said i need one great show a month to remind me that i should do this.

How many shows were you doing a.

Month i mean i could be doing you know five six seven eight a week but i needed one where there was like an audience and i did a good job and i killed and it was just enough like oxygen it was enough like you ever played those like car racing games where you pass a checkpoint you get twenty five more seconds like that's i needed one of those a month and then i needed to reflect on improvement so i think that like one thing with me is i would get so used to improvement that i wouldn't count it towards my self esteem right like i'm the type person i don't get excited before something happens and then after it happens i don't celebrate it for that long because we got another thing to do so my like celebration window is small right my joy matrix is the journey like i like working together i like achieving these things etcetera but then there's always another thing that we move towards right so i had to sit there and be like okay well back in the day you didn't have a joke that you could open with you had to get lucky that something would happen and you were interacting and the audience liked you now you have a joke that no matter what gets a laugh when you walk on stage and i'd be like oh that is an improvement and then the next day you have a.

Closer the reflection of the improvement build itself esteem yeah not just okay it's a little better and i'm going to keep go go go it's like now i know that i can always get someone to laugh every time i go.

On stage it's easy to just go oh yeah you're more comfortable what does that mean no you you have the ability to go on stage and do a joke and like execute it and you have a closer you have this certain thing you you were able to develop this premise into a joke and like just remembering that i was improving even though it was a brutal process.

Right how long did it so you're doing what fifteen twenty shows a month sometimes and you're like if i get one decent show it's a win and i'll keep going yeah but if you want three months where no one's laughing and you're just bombing you're probably like.

I'M done yeah i don't know if i ever would have quit something that i loved but there is a chance that i wouldn't love it well it's.

Not fun exactly why would you yeah it's tough yeah interesting was there was there another strategy you used i like.

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Just be like really perceptive about like the different things i mean i'm so like in my head about these things i'd be like oh when i wear a hat am i looked at different is this haircut different does this match does wearing this outfit change things and like of course it's like oh yeah i wore this sweatshirt on set i need to wear sweatshirts that's the thing like i was constantly going through it and like starting to make sense of every little change that happened and the reality is like most of these changes might have had nothing to do with it right these were like you know.

Outliers baseball superstitions like you're just wearing the same underwear over and over yeah.

One hundred percent but i was aware enough to go okay you know what smiling when i first get on stage is pretty good and it makes people feel comfortable and feel kind of safe especially if i'm going to do like some wild joke oh when i go right on stage saying something immediately might be good you know i've always hated the first second on stage like the first minute i hate i think it's stupid still today no now it's great because people know who i am and.

They love it they're like oh we.

Love you they're excited exactly is it.

Better to have the what do they call them the mc or whoever is emceeing the show is it better for them to give you a great introduction or kind of like all right our next guy is a comedian from here and let's bring him on is it better to have like some good context around oh he's been on comedy central and he's been on here and this hbo special and it's kind of like building up and then you're let down.

I remember when i was younger i went on stage after someone gave me a fake credit and this happens a lot of times in comedy like what do you mean like when the host brings up a comic that they don't even know they just say you've seen them on hbo comedy central they might never been on comedy central you just what it is and but that was the first time anybody ever gave me.

That so and you knew you weren't on comedy central or whatever it was.

But i was filled with so much confidence yeah and i just now if i look back maybe look at the report recording maybe i did absolutely horribly but in my mind i was i walked up as if i had my own show on comedy central and these people should just enjoy it yeah yeah.

That'S interesting you know there's something that i did a strategy that i did when i was playing sports yeah i had an alter ego that i would step into yeah it wasn't me yeah and i never done those things of the alter ego but the alter ego had done the incredible things yeah and i would step into that art as like i got this you know and i would lean into that yeah so that's if that's a trick it works you study psychology in school at santa barbara is that right yeah did you learn anything from your psychological studies that allowed you to not manipulate audiences but tap into the psyche and the heart and the emotions of audiences or did you learn that from just like family.

Dynamics i think it probably is more i mean just psychology was just like a really fun thing to study i knew i wasn't going to use my degree for anything so i was like let me enjoy what i'm learning about maybe get some cool information i can use in conversation it was great like talking to people about like psychological principles is like always awesome and you know and then like seeing them reflected in yourself is really cool so i just kind of enjoyed it i'm sure some of that has trickled into the comedy has to have but but in terms of like going i'm going to turn psychology into comedy i don't i don't think that that was ever perspective when.

Did you have the idea that you wanted to do comedy as a full time profession not just like i think i want to try this on the side and see how it goes i.

Did a i think when i moved back to new york i started managing a restaurant back in new york and i was like this is not for me and i started doing comedy again and i think something just clicked back in new york where i was like i think i'm gonna do this at.

Like twenty two twenty three i think.

I was like twenty three yeah and i was like maybe it's twenty three or something like that i was like i think i'm gonna do this and then i just get obsessed i almost miss that obsession i had like an insane i mean dude tell me more i mean just read every book i would transcribe every set like i have i'm sure somewhere there's notebooks of literally like handwritten every word that chris rock would say in a whole special dave chappelle would say in a whole special.

You would record it all down and.

I'D rewrite it so i could so i could see how the jokes were.

Broken down the structure the framework like the setup everything yeah plot twist all.

Of it yeah yeah yeah oh this is a story oh this is something that isn't real oh this is misdirection that doesn't make sense this is misdirection that still operates in reality oh wow misdirection that operates in reality is actually more fun because it's something that actually could happen oh i kind of like that oh this isn't misdirection this is more like using words that are kind of like fun and creating good imagery like just really breaking down what these different jokes are the science of the set yeah i need to learn the language kind of like spanish like i need to learn the math of it first and then i could break that.

How long were you obsessed for doing that type of you know research i.

Mean like i would rewrite my set every single night like i just for.

Years is this for six months is.

This for years i mean just like so competitive wow so obsessed i mean like i i had an i'd like i know this sounds like weird and i'm not comparing myself to michael jordan or anything but like watching the last dance and seeing like the the like psychosis he almost had like in terms of how he treated people that he had beef with like i used to carry a card in my wallet of the people who are mean to me come on swear to god like of all the people in comedy that were mean to me i had their names.

On a card what would you do with that information the beautiful thing about like was this the chip on your shoulder that you were wearing yeah yeah see what would you look like even.

Today i have beefs that aren't real but in my head they're real like everything in that doc about just like what motivated him and what he needed to do to like turn it on like his ability for me what i understood about the documentary was like he has the ability to turn on the switch we talk about this me and my boys like some people can't turn on the switch right and like he could turn it on and he would do it every game it's crazy man some people can turn on for the playoffs but he could do it every single game if he wanted to and that's like tom brady tom could do it every game i would say that that is like a competitive advantage i have like if if it needs to get turned on it can get turned on like when we did that netflix special i mean we were working maybe like one hundred twenty hours a week or something it was insane i've never worked that hard in my life it killed me i won't work that hard again unless i get paid one hundred million dollars like it was now i should have outsourced more like i had guys shouts to mark gagnon who co created with me robbie slovik who's a great comic and fa ill guy who we brought on as well but like what we should have done is had a robust writing team like all these shows have exactly for me i lost all the anger like i have no resentment to anybody who's a dick to me at all if anything you just feel a little bad because they're still in that same position and they needed to be a dick to someone who was like young and excited about comedy.

Interesting yeah so do you have any anger towards anyone now or beef with anyone i'm sure you're sure yeah but you don't have lists anywhere you just have it in the back of your head yeah mental list up to you.

It'S always up to you as always that's good motivation for me but i.

Feel like the comedy world kind of like i feel like in my industry of people creating you know content and is trying to further people along like personal growth content yeah at least from my standpoint i feel like i'm in collaboration with everyone like i'm going to have everyone on my show i want to promote them i'm like i'm in abundance you know you got a book let's promote it you got this like cool i don't care yeah it seems like there's a similar collaboration mindset absolutely comedians where you're all in the back room just kind of talking sharing ideas you're we're very competitive you have you.

Are we're very competitive really but i think i think the first time you really saw this happen was on the west coast when podcast came out and the west coast comedians have always been more industrious because they have to new york comedians can make a living doing standup at clubs they can they can.

And that's what's a living one hundred grand seventy grand three hundred grand fifty.

Grand maybe something like that this is.

Like three four nights a week no.

This is seven nights a week they're working doing spots yeah yeah yeah now now they're doing fifteen minute spots around the city they're collecting one hundred bucks here one hundred bucks there one hundred bucks there they put together they can make a living but for a lot of comics even if they don't realize it they just want to make a living and what i always recognized was like you'll never go before further than what you dream so like if your dream is just to make a living you can't be the biggest actor in the world the goal is is how i work the gps like i have to say the thing and then my brain just starts getting me there what's.

The thing right now i want to.

Find a way where comics can make just as much money by self releasing their specials as they can doing it for networks because the self release allows them to build up an audience that can be nurtured and turn into basically what i have when you talk about being collaborative like i've always looked at my contribution in terms of like standup is and just comedy in general is like i'm going to find out where the voids are in the game and where we can kind of curate our own lives and like be in control of our own careers and then i'm going to execute those and then i'm going to give it to all teach everyone how to do it this is for you like i tell everybody like sometimes young comics come and oh you're doing these things and we don't want to be the thing and i'm like it's for you you anything i do is for everybody yeah i think you just you get comfortable you know like you just get comfortable in your space you have a deal with comedy central and like you think it's great to be on tv when i grew up i did comedy central this is like when i was coming up in stand up i thought i should have a sitcom why because that's what stand ups did in the eighties and i was like do i enjoy acting no right so i don't want a sitcom but i had it i did it you know i did all the things that i wanted to do but i realized this wasn't that much fun for me so i had to focus on the things that were fun and then those things would be the most fruitful and basically what i've just been trying to do is go hey this is where the career is going and this is where things are going and you guys should do literally everything that i do and then do it better than me and then forcing me to think yeah.

So what would be the five step approach for someone coming in right now like if you could only do five things to help further your career is it one first master your craft that's.

It of comedy yeah don't even worry about anything else besides getting funny once.

You figure that out let's say and you're like okay i'm ready to go out there in a bigger way is it get you know put your stuff on you you know put your stuff.

On youtube youtube instagram tiktok like create a presence for yourself and like use.

That algorithmic push okay so once you do that yeah what would be the next three things to really accelerate their career literally you've gotten funny you're on social media putting your stuff out there.

If you're genuinely funny like what i would say is undeniable yes and those are different levels of funny like some people are funny in like some weird bar in brooklyn right but are they funny at the new york comedy club are they funny at the comedy seller right like if you're undeniably funny and we all know who those people are like if you're not even like that's the thing we all talk about like who our favorite comics are and blah blah blah if you're not killing you're not in discussion so this we know who kills and we know who's like oh that's really clever that's really funny.

That one joke was funny yeah killing.

Or not if you're not if you're killing and you have social media there's nothing else you need to worry about everything else will come to you that's.

It that's it just focus on that.

We did all the hard work for you it's all been done like literally if you're killing because then what can.

You do how can you monetize from there and how much could you monetize.

Social media what happens is like i mean you could do obviously podcasts is great if you're good at podcasting but like a lot of people do podcasts.

A lot of them how many comedians.

Have a podcast every comedian has a million yes i mean it's just it will be a new form of social media i love this because like i think the more people that enter the genre the the more people listen and watch and then those people see who the real right you rise up like.

I my school of greatness will be nine years next week yeah i don't know when did you launch your show.

The podcast well dude i've been doing brilliant idiots with charlemagne the god yeah.

He'S great i've had him on he's.

The man dude he's awesome he is truly great he is truly a great yes and i don't know like but we were early in podcasting early so.

Yeah around me nine years ago you.

Think i would say around i think.

Yeah twenty thirteen january is when i was anyways yeah i would say it was the second wave rogan was obviously the first big you know wave and.

Like the tech podcast marc marin to.

Mark marin but then it was like ted tech podcasts and that was pretty much it yeah it was a few yeah i kind of came like second wave maybe two point five you know and then serial came and which brought the wave yeah of everything else of.

True crime and all that non saeed.

And then and then a lot of the comedian podcasts and business podcasts and interview shows and political stuff came in probably five six seven years ago as well and i remember thinking oh gosh is this gonna get too saturated yeah really what it did is it just brought in more audiences to find the best stuff and so if you're willing to be consistent and kept improving then.

You'Ll be fine i learned that from my from my mom and maybe that's why i'm so generous with like the guys and i like make it on the internet but like my mom would have this dance studio and she'd have all these teachers literally every dance school in new york is started by someone who used to work for for my mom and dad right and then they started their own school and i was like doesn't that bother you that like they're taking the students whatever and they're like no it's great and i was like why well one competition is great for business and two more people can go do it and that's the natural course of things like they had no resentment like there's certain people who i'm going to sign you to a non compete and you can't do this and you train people at my gym and if you leave my gym i'm going to sue you you're going to have to pay me fifty thousand dollars to go train people like this stuff really happens and my parents were just like no just go do your thing and have fun and they'd still like hang out with them wow and i think.

There'S would you do that if you had this young comedic mentee and then you brought them up and then they.

Went and did their own thing i want look in the ideal scenario i want them to be able to do everything that they want and help them i don't think the way i look at these things is like how can we all do and accomplish our greatest dreams right and then what i want to do is create like the avengers crew and eventually go yo once every three years like we're gonna put out another special like we did or once every two years we're gonna make a movie together once every and then in the in between they're doing their cool projects they're putting out their specials you know they're mentoring other people but like the people that i curate like i have a tight knit group and these are my guys and i plan on working with them until i'm done working.

These guys go on tour with you.

Right yeah so they go on tour with me and well akash has his own tour right now but mark is opening up for me and mark eventually will have his own tour but like when we do arenas i want mark there and i want akash there you know what i mean and derek is opening for us as well and like i want him there like these are the guys that i want to build with yeah but i also want them to achieve all their dreams as well.

If they became you know five ten times bigger than you how would that.

Make you great awesome yeah this is the game yeah you know what i mean like now there's going to be a part of me that's going to go hey i want to get bigger too how do i do it depending on where i am in career like if i see somebody doing something really good and i and i want to also do it of course just as i'm sure like them seeing me inspires them to do it but like yeah this is this is the game man one hundred percent how do you think.

It'Ll change in the next two years by twenty twenty four for where will the industry of comedy be what will have changed what will stay the same and where would you guys be innovating.

I think we'll figure out a way to make money because right now everybody's putting their specials on youtube for free.

Or they're charging for free just making money on ads or no money you.

Make money on the road so you.

Build the audience that's the thing you.

Sell tickets it's like the old music model that's kind of how i modeled the stand up thing i was like okay what's going on here oh okay all these artists back in the day they didn't make any money off the albums really they would make money when they would tour and do these arenas i was like oh well we can make money by touring how can i get people out okay i give them the content and then they'll come out because they like the content and i would say the biggest fundamental change like maybe my influence on stand up it's probably looked at from the outside is like oh this is like the social media era but i would say like the actual fundamental change in standup is the way that we approach our material we used to look at our material as this thing we hoard and then put out for a special now we look at our material as marketing for us right and that is a big.

Shift why do people hoard so much because they didn't think they could recreate new jokes all the time or there's.

No incentive not to put it there was no place to put it out so you might as well hoard it right and then have all of that material and then when you get asked to do a special use it then you do it but like there wasn't a place to even put it like you could have put it i guess on instagram or facebook and that kind of stuff but there wasn't like the thirst for video content and then all of a sudden video content started to get more popular and we figured some things out but like that would be the biggest fundamental change i think that has happened in stand up at least my influence it was just how we look at our material you want people to come out to your show is it because your face is like this on a flyer or is it because you're doing a joke making people laugh.

At home or on the yeah wherever.

Like these people it's so funny like these people do like promos for their specials that don't have standup and it's like buddy if i'm gonna go to a restaurant you gotta show me what the food looks like right i'm not going there because there's a picture of the chef going yeah and if a.

Friend'S like oh i bought a ticket to see you know andrew's special in la tonight and they're showing their friend oh who is this guy well let me show on instagram real quick oh it's pretty funny this looks like it'd.

Be fun the whole reason why i started selling tickets is because it was easy to justify it to your friends hey you want to go this comic club well who is he one send button one clip check out this funny.

Clip i got a million views by the way everyone's laughing and what if.

I got hundreds of clips that have a million views and each one of those clips could pertain to a different person so if you're cuban there's this cuban if you're bosnian there's this bosnian joke this happened by luck not everything that we're doing yeah like when did.

This start happening this way like okay.

What year was this so i put out no none of the industry wanted to give me opportunity for a special so i decided to put it out online and i one year maybe twenty sixteen or something like that i can.

Look back so seven years ago six six years ago seven years ago and.

Sometimes you get lucky when you do the right thing everybody successful is lucky you know like even bezos like there's like they had that amazon web services business i think i was listening to him talk about that he's like that.

Was like the biggest they had that.

For seven years or something like that with no competitor name a business that you can be making tens of millions of dollars where no one even enters.

The market like tens of billions or.

Something yeah and even to this day that's where they make so much of their money so like he'll be like yo we got so lucky with he.

Had an obsession for twenty years which you had an obsession for fifteen eighteen.

Years what happened was this is so the first one i put out was this it was like a night in new york right it was like i don't want to hear i am in front of the curtain like whatever just so everything's the same right so i was like what if you followed around a comedian for a night in new york you can't put out a video that's going to make multiple seven figures.

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Right one video one video yes yeah.

Yeah it's the accumulation will make seven figures but your one video which is.

What you would have got on a special like you're going to make a million bucks or three million on this netflix on this hbo showtime special so.

The last one that i the one that i sold before the pandemic that is going to come out i sold it i got paid a one point one for it right which was before.

The pandemic was before you became a way bigger than you were yeah the.

Pandemic was awesome like if you would.

Have gotten that deal now they got.

A good deal put it that way.

They got an amazing they got an.

Amazing deal so that one right there.

I'M like network is this coming out.

I can't exactly talk about yet we'll talk okay you tell me we'll talk.

Okay so anyways yeah you got that.

Before the pandemic so yeah so that was before the pandemic and then i filmed that in like september in austin and then so we're just finishing up the edit for that now but that special i'm going okay one point one okay that's great let's see if i can how do i make a million dollars off a special without a network because that's my whole thing with like leveraging the game like i know i'm not one of like the insiders right like and everybody wants to reward the people that they helped build and i think it's a natural thing like if i was at a network and i invested time into these actors or comics i would want them to blow up because they're a reflection of me as a talent scout right now i'm in the position where i don't want my career to be in your hands my career is in my hands we have the team everybody who works for is in it we do it the way that you get deals done when your career is in your hands is it has to be the best thing that's out and then the network undeniably funny undeniably funny and then the net and you need scooter brown to call.

Yeah.

So but like it has to be undeniable right and you have some people that are in some high places that recognize that it's undeniable and then all of a sudden these things get made so and i'm okay with that i'd rather that because i can control undeniable i can't control whether you like me or not or like what metric you're using to decide or how much you put it up etcetera so i'm all about working with the industry we can do this etcetera this is great but i want to find a way where i can get a comic to make a million dollars off of their special.

Without being with the network by putting.

It on youtube because if we can make a million dollars on youtube what are you going to pay me at netflix what are you going to pay.

Me pay me five ten x tiktok.

You know so i don't know if it's a combination of advertising a bunch of other different things we've got ideas and this is kind of like what we're working on but like how amazing would that be for a young comic whose only option is now youtube but youtube social media instagram et cetera but now that becomes the most lucrative option.

If you did a global one night event only virtually or how many tickets do you think you could sell under fifty bucks who knows who knows i.

Think you're thinking something good pay per.

View is good this is the number you stream it live on youtube to a premium service could do it to ticketed services you could do it then you asked for donations during it if.

You like it enjoy it you know.

Just added a tip jar more maybe.

You rent out some movie theaters you put it out there so people can watch it you know in a packed theater with other people event or you.

Just do it straight to youtube and.

That'S it straight to youtube you sell some merch with it yeah and tv.

Sales you got some vip stuff you make one night you do it once.

A year yeah and maybe you do once a year or whatever you've been able to do it but like what if there was this model where commerce could make an equal amount and the most important part is everybody that then subscribes to their channels they get to go tour with and like give them their new content and now they have this connection with their audience which is the most powerful thing that a creator can have now right before it was the network has a connection to the audience and the creator needs to be on the network so they can get the audience now we can go around and i love doing business with them let's do business let's make movies let's make tv shows let's do all this is great but it's got to be the other way other way i got.

The audience that you want now you want people to subscribe to your network.

Yeah and convince me why should i go over there because i got millions of people i got ten million people gonna watch it over here how many gonna watch it over there well we can't guarantee well you better figure it.

Out you better push something hey you.

Know what i mean push a button top ten exactly get it on a list bro like nobody's checking the numbers.

Get me twenty four hours of their subject yeah that's it like that you can leverage for the next thing yeah.

I just think that that is the most like my mom said it's like competition's good that's going to be good for netflix that's going to be good for hbo because what's going to happen is and this is what happened in comedy there's way edgier comedy out right now because we have an avenue for it that's very successful because if they don't they're comparing it to the watered down stuff they're comparing like our stuff to the watered down stuff that was okay back in the day i mean one of the reasons why i think i blew up on youtube and stuff early is because like the only other comedy they were shown was on comedy central and it was just a bunch of like clean crap and then you saw like actual real jokes right and you're like this is way better than the garbage i'm seeing on comedy central.

Sure what's the difference between clean crap.

And authentic truth well some people are authentically clean you know authentic yeah like brian regan is just so funny he's clean right he's just he's just brilliant but i mean he's he's he's yeah he's just he he's he's he's never blue he's never cursed and that kind of stuff but like there's like a passion in the bits that is like.

Real yeah so you still find that.

Really funny yeah like some of my favorite like one of my favorite comics is ryan hamilton he's completely clean but he is just horrible hilarious like i don't care if you're dirty or clean it's just who are you and like are you reflecting the material and do i like that person some people i just don't like who they are so i'm not going to like their comedy right right but if i like you as a guy or a girl and you're reflecting the material then like hell.

Yeah you're you're you're down with it what would you say is the ultimate framework of a set if you had if you could map out like the five parts and i don't know anything.

About comedy you're talking about a live show or a special a live show.

If there is someone here that's like wanted to be obsessed about your process and understand how you do it and they wanted to research you and they listen to this or watch this okay here's how andrew does this he always starts with something and then it goes into a plot twist and then it goes into this this isn't how i connecting to the audio i don't know what the lingo is i'm just this.

Isn'T how i necessarily would do it but i think like a great set would be especially like if you're on the road or in a different place i think like some sort of acknowledgement of that city that you're in that you're a fish out of water in an acknowledgment in like a in a cool unique way a joke that they've never heard about maybe the most popular thing in their city so number one.

Acknowledge the city in a cool way.

Some sort of interaction baked in with the audience that's just completely spontaneous and just fun and awesome and just really kind of brings everybody into this moment that they feel like will never happen again and is just so exciting when.

You get on stage and you're are you observing the audience from the back before are you in another room hearing.

You know i don't even like to hear anything that's on stage because you.

Don'T want to be influenced i want.

To go out completely blind yeah you.

Won'T even look to see the audience.

I might be backstage watching the guys and like i i'll peer in but i'm not like specifically like what do.

They say or what do they say.

Exactly and i have my guys that open for me so i know what they're gonna do and i know our ideas won't cross when you're at a club in the city where you don't know who's on the show that's where stuff you should probably watch a little.

Bit because you don't have to say.

The same thing yeah gotcha or even a topic like it's the same it's.

Just because we just heard this yeah what about do you have a certain approach to how you interact with the audience do you like i look for shirt colors i look for ethnicity i look for couples i look you know are you thinking or is it just it just comes to you yeah it.

Kind of just comes to me i mean i always like i don't know like i always just kind of tell remind myself just like trust my gut so like just say the thing that i'm feeling no matter how weird or uncomfortable or awkward it is like what what are you feeling right now and that works like that truth works because other people are also curious about that and especially when you're in a theater it's a little bit different because everybody's like lined up like this so there's you got three thousand people there the people in the balcony can't see what the people in the front look like so like when you're interacting with them you also have to do a little bit more description for everybody there you.

Know context but you're in a night if you're in a nightclub there's one hundred people or fifty like this they.

Could see that guy's shirt that guy's face like everybody's so close so that is a little bit faster the interaction like it's you could even you could even look at somebody and just kind of be like and everybody else will.

Look and be like laugh exactly just.

Because they're like i would say if i looked at that guy too right like so much of comedy is just like acknowledging this feeling that we all have or acknowledging things that are right in front of our face that we haven't seen yet you know and that's for me it's like what is the joke you know like what is the joke that everybody should have said but hasn't said you know like about the most popular thing even like so it's like how can i get one of those for every single thing that's the.

Challenge that's good okay so that's the second part of the framework have it.

Yeah having just a great interaction having like great long bits a lot of people that are unfamiliar with all my content don't know this about me but like most of them know like the crowd work stuff etc and that's the stuff that i've been able to like.

You put out there and people are.

Laughing at it yeah but that's stuff that like i'm not using for the set so i have an hour of jokes but that's the stuff that i can give the audience that's the first fifteen minutes of just more kind of like pepper through but it was the only thing that i could give out every week if i gave out one of these bits that i've worked on for six months i'll run out because these bits for me when i do a bit it's a chunk it could be six minutes wow so it's like everything all encompassing in this topic six minutes eight minutes you know it's a full story yeah like story or like or like an analysis of an idea person place or thing from every angle justifying maybe the most absurd situation like the more absurd the better but that to me is like i need a few of those in the set where you go oh that bit boom oh his abortion bit or oh his michael jackson bit like a few of them in there where you're just like you need to see his bit about this.

Interesting so two to three bits depending.

On how long i mean i have a bunch throughout but there has to be a few in there that are like so memorable you have to see it like that's the feeling i want you leaving going i mean i can't laugh at it that was crazy that was crazy like that's how i would design the sets early on in my career i was just like even if you hated me for the first forty five minutes the last fifteen minutes you should be crying wow because you have to leave on that you know like.

Do you ever experience self doubt at.

This level yeah of course all the time before i go on i'll feel that way like is this joke even gonna work yeah of course are you.

Nervous like the day before the you know twenty minutes before or how long.

Depends on the show you know what i mean like sometimes the whole day i'm thinking about sometimes i'm not thinking about anything at all like it just depends like the thing that i want to accomplish you know yeah it depends i put it this way i'm much better to be around after when you're.

Done with the set like okay it's over yeah don't hang out with you before i'll come say hi to you after this show when i come watch you not like i just leave everybody.

And i just go into the green room and i just like focus focus think about what i want to talk about try to remember the things and.

Like have you ever gone blank in the middle of a sixty minute chat all the time what do you do when when you're like oh i'm not hitting anything i'm going blank i'm just mumbling here what's the best way to get back on track one thing i'll.

Do is i'll pretend like i had a thought like so i'm giving you some game so i'll do this i'll be like i'll be like like you know i'll be like see the thing is like i can't i can't and then the audience is like well what.

Is he thinking about i'm like i.

Don'T know but like i'll have like little games that i can play to.

Like stretch out sure sure yeah how.

Long we can take those silences do.

You think having self doubt is a good thing before you need it you.

Need it you need it you need it you need it i mean we talk so much about confidence but like self doubt you need both it's the combination of self doubt and confidence confident enough to do the thing and insecure or doubtful enough where you get better and like without both you cannot be great i mean if we're talking about greatness like every great person has self doubt and that self doubt is a massive motivator but they have enough confidence to overcome it i think it's the people who lack confidence and have the self doubt that they can't do anything they can't get out of their own way and the people who have too much confidence and not have self doubt just never really get that great they're good like their lives are probably better they're probably happier like real talk maybe they're happier but i want to be great and that requires constant criticism of.

Yourself do you think a comedian can be a ten out of ten happy.

I don't think people are yeah i would say i'm on the happy end.

Of the comedian spectrum you're generally a happy human being yeah i mean yeah.

I don't put it this way like i don't feel sad i don't feel like angry i feel a lot of gratitude and a lot of joy and like i i i feel stress which i i enjoy and i i feel.

Like you're taking on big projects and.

Yeah and like you know building things and obviously there's disappointment and frustration but i don't like wake up going like i'm sad and i understand that people do that and like i felt you know i've you know i felt like down or you come down off of certain big projects you know my parents bow this and i imagine people deal with that every single day like that could be incredibly difficult to overcome i'm very lucky where i haven't felt it and i've tried to curate a life and habits to keep me away from like i need to do certain things i need exercise like if i don't exercise i'm a wreck i need to be creating if i'm on stage that works if i'm putting out clips or something like that that works couldn't get on stage during the pandemic but i felt very fulfilled by putting out content and maybe i'm leaving myself in the hands of those people saying great job on instagram that's a little bit vulnerable but i at least felt like i was doing something and i understood the recipe to my own mental wellness if you but yeah i i don't think that you should be happy all the time because then you're not happy you're just normal i think that yeah you should feel normal enough so when you're happy you're really grateful yeah you know.

Like what are you most grateful for.

These days oh god all of it all of it i got a great woman and what's the thing you love about her the most she hates when i say this but like there's like there's like a great safety with her i know that sounds like a weird thing because you're supposed to be the one that's providing the safety but like there's like building with her feels i'm just so excited you know and that's not only like family but that's also like emotional connection like she's yeah i mean she just she just creates a great environment to like feel safe what.

Did you not feel safe about before.

With her i mean just never really like almost immediately i felt like really safe with her and by safe i just mean like like to go i want to spend the rest of my life with you like you gotta love that person and you gotta love spending time with them that's not to say that we don't like get in arguments but like genuinely speaking like if there isn't distraction and it's just the two of us hanging out it's an awesome time yeah life complicates things but to me i'm so grateful for that and she's just awesome like so in tuned like you know with what like i might need and i don't know i mean she's just so great she's just like that's beautiful yeah it's yeah it's just like really selfless in that way super and i know that i require a lot especially given my career and stuff so like knowing somebody who's having somebody who like knows that and is like aware that and like and wants to give and like wants to to support is like you got to be grateful like just so yeah it's a weird i know it's a weird thing like being feeling safe but like that's really important to me yeah like i want to be able to share without.

Being judged or made wrong or not accepted or all these things like i.

Just tell her everything and she accepts it yeah that's beautiful yeah i mean.

I'M sure you accept everything but like.

I just feel like i can share these things that you know might i might go like i might with somebody else i don't feel as safe be like if i say that will they not like me or they you know they stop being in love with me or whatever but like with her i just really feel like i want to.

Build her something about with my girlfriend too where when we first started dating i was just my previous relationships i would be one hundred percent honest and they would get hurt or upset or not like something and then i would kind of like hold back a hundred percent of the honesty because i was like this is gonna make them freak out for the night or whatever right yeah and so when i started dating her i was like okay martha listen you're asking me a very vulnerable question now are you sure you want the truth yeah because every woman i've been with the past say they want the truth but they can't handle the truth yeah so i go you sure she goes yes you're not gonna like it she goes i want to hear it i go you're not gonna like it though yeah i'm just letting you know but i'm gonna not abandon myself from telling you how the truth yeah and i'd say it and she'd be like that's it i love that about you so the more i was able to do that with her i was like man this feels safe so i know that feeling i've never felt safe in a previous relationship yeah and i'm like it feels amazing to be able to just say whatever i want to say yeah not something in a bad way i'm not like saying something negative but just say the truth yeah my truth yeah and be like okay you know yeah i accept you yeah it's incredible man yeah it's the best it feels.

Unbelievable yeah you get to be yourself it's incredible and if you have to live with someone for rest of your life you better be able to be.

Yourself you need that otherwise it's gonna be miserable yeah you were mentioning about therapist last year and i talked about this on my show but i went through a year of therapy every two weeks minimum for a year i was getting out of another relationship that i was trying to make work with the therapy it didn't work ended and i said i'm gonna stay in this and keep myself emotionally accountable to integrate the lessons i'm learning so i don't repeat this because i've been repeating this for fifteen years and the consistent therapy was probably the most powerful gift i gave myself ever for one year and i'm gonna continue again for this year yeah yeah incredible peace that i felt how long have you done therapy for you.

Really treat life like sports i do.

Man it's great life business it's all.

Sport man yeah but like i don't know the way that i've like heard you talk about your life it's like okay here's this thing i'm gonna figure out this thing yeah i'm gonna practice this thing and i'm gonna get coaching.

I'M gonna get feedback i did it.

For this amount of time the handball there even therapy you're like okay i'm gonna figure out this thing it's really.

Great it's really good yeah but how long when did you first experience therapy.

I think when i was like third grade or something some teacher said that i should go to therapy or something i was like probably acting out okay my parents were like all right go then i went i don't really remember.

Much from that do you do it now every now and then oh god.

I would love to but i just don't but i would love to i.

Love it well because you've got an amazing audience that just you think they should be paying you yes like what is the best thing about therapy for.

You just vomiting dude like just emotional vomiting emotional vomit and like getting all these like cool words that you then can like use in arguments with your your girl you know what i mean give me example like testing you know that word like yeah like you only test someone if you want them to fail like yeah like and like also like understanding why like understanding the emotions behind your behavior you know like sometimes i'll see a comic say something smarter than like who they are on stage like he's he got that from he got that from somebody for two hundred an hour but like yeah i i.

Think it's just awesome what was the biggest aha moment from therapy you've ever.

Had i think i worked out some stuff with my mom in therapy you know like we always had like a kind of like interesting relationship scamming has.

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Families the path to retirement is different for everyone and as life changes so do priorities fidelity can help you get where you want to go with a free personalized plan goal tracking and timely insights you'll be set to take on retirement whether you're saving for it or already living in it get started at fidelity dot com takeon expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account apply fidelity brokerage services member nyses ipc but even that like i don't think it was therapy that really helped us with that just seeing my mom as like a like a person that's also flawed yeah yeah you know everyone's parents are flawed yeah like they also have to be perfect yeah yeah like yeah like the fact that like she could need attention and that could be important to her and her self esteem.

Right and not just you needing all.

The time yeah thinking like i'm a kid so it's it's about me and my brother why do you need why do you need why do you need to talk of dad you're done with that so and then like understanding that and like going okay i guess i can give you that gift the gift of attention and like i guess that kind of worked but i just think therapy is great man just talk to somebody i mean if you have friends and if you have family like you already are doing it there just might be certain things that you're too embarrassed to speak to your friends and family.

About well we grew up in the eighties and nineties and i was for me i don't know what it was like in new york yeah i'm assuming it wasn't that much different unless you went to some like hippie preppy school or something everyone was like kumbaya all day yeah but if i put my arm around a teammate of mine it's like hey what's up bro yeah it was like get off me with a you know some type of word yeah yeah like if you said that you were just made fun of yeah laughed at at least for me yeah and it's kind of the society of i guess young boys growing up and i probably did the same thing other kids because that was happening to me yeah so you want to fit in yeah was that like that for you or did you feel like you got to express your emotions and process things i.

Mean i'm sure i went through that and i'm sure you want like your friends to like you and that kind of stuff i don't remember too much trauma from like jokes and stuff yeah and i do remember my parents being like super open minded and just like not they i felt no judgment from my parents that's amazing yeah and almost like like too little judgment like like i was like you want to do you can do it well like yeah like i was a b student if my parents required me to be an a student i would have been a student really yeah like i just i i wanted to impress them but i knew that they were like happy enough with like bees so i was like okay i guess i'll just get bees like i just worked towards it like eighty five i was fine who cares it is what it is i just didn't care like even when i took the sats i just wanted to get better than my friends like i didn't care what i got as long as it was more than my boys because then we'd have fun you know competition anytime i did well in class was literally just because i didn't like the teacher that's the only time like i was like i don't like you so i'm going to do well in your class to spite you yes you know but like yeah my parents i think one of the advantages of not having expectations is you always exceed expectations and there's confidence with that like you always feel like these people are proud of you and you're doing a great job.

You know what's the disadvantage to that.

You not going as far as you can i was very lucky where i had this kind of like internal you know drive drive yeah if you don't have that then it's it's dangerous and i had the freedom to just go out i said that to my girl i was like you got like i'm the type person like i work great with freedom like you don't give me any rules i come back yes you give me rules i have to break them i must break them did she.

Try to create a rule early on.

That you no no but like i just like i noticed when we were kind of getting together and starting to get a little more serious and i was like you just gotta trust me on this yeah just like it's going in the right direction i will not waste your time i don't waste girls time i'm not gonna waste your time if i don't feel like it's going that direction i'll tell you immediately let.

It flow the way you need it to flow not on the timeline not a dis not a structure yeah a number or whatever just let it go.

Yeah and then once we moved in.

Together the more freedom she gives you the more you want to be with.

Her exactly one hundred percent and it's a really scary concept because the idea is like go out do whatever you want but like i enjoy doing the things that i do and being myself the more i can do the things that i want to do and be myself the more i appreciate the people that allow that to happen this is.

My girlfriend every night i'm just like hugging i'm like i appreciate you so much yeah you don't call me and say what are you doing you're not checking in on something yeah i can be traveling speaking somewhere and you're just cool yeah and it makes me love and appreciate you abundantly and i tell her all the time i'm just so grateful for you yeah because well also because i've experienced the opposite you know.

It'S the worst of the feeling of.

Trappedness which i take responsibility for i chose those i stood in those relationships but i think if women understood like if you find a good guy yeah and you give that bandwidth psychological freedom too yeah i'm not saying it's not okay to cross boundaries yeah you know but create the psychological freedom it's amazing what we will do it's really true.

And if we're going to cheat we're going to cheat and then you move on yeah but like it's not because.

You gave boundaries you can't stop it.

Yeah that thing is going to happen yeah so there's nothing really that you can do there like and i think that women view our cheating in the same way that they kind of view theirs like you know i think a lot of times a woman's cheating is a reflection of like not feeling feeling fulfilled emotionally right there's like a void of love and she's replacing that act of lust like this momentary like serum for like a vampire like okay this will do for the moment i just want to feel desire because i'm not feeling that and i think a lot of times guys cheating is just like just insecurity and i just need to fluff my ego but you can get that ego fluffed you know what i mean like that ego can be fluffed at home but if you have a guy who's insecure yes you need to know that yes like you know if you guys insecure or not absolutely that's.

Why for me i know i don't feel like i have insecurity like well.

Because she gives you all the she.

Gives me tons of compliments tons of love and yeah but i'm also like okay if i don't know she's an actor so she's done scenes with keanu reeves yeah all the big all the big people she's worked with right and they've all hit on her and all this stuff and i'm like okay if i don't know whatever keanu reeves or someone came up to her now yeah and starts hitting on her would i be insecure or jealous i don't think i would be no not in front in front of you crazy behind i mean whatever oh behind the scenes nature yeah exactly yeah like but i wouldn't be jealous because i'm like you want to be i would not be jealous oh yeah you can't be jealous because i'd be like okay if that's a better match for you yeah if that's a better life then i want you.

To live a better life i hear what you're saying i hear what you're.

Saying though but if you don't see the value like if your woman doesn't see the value value you bring to her life yeah and she sees there's more value somewhere else and she's always thinking about it then yeah either be where you are now or go over there but yeah don't be in between so yeah how has your craft been different in this type of relationship versus single or in previous relationships i never.

Changed my comedy depending on like the person i dated or if i was single and i never did that and it was probably because i was able to get laid before i did comics right and i think that like i have empathy to the guy who never got laid before they were on stage like yeah use it bro like have fun like wear the cape like go for it but i just never felt like this was the only chance i was gonna have to get laid so it was all about the jokes it.

Wasn'T clever enough it wasn't unique yeah.

I didn't have the silliness like every joke starts with like a serious point but that's what i'm always fighting for where's the where's the silly thing but like just having somebody on my team like literally having someone who's like wants me to succeed wants to help me with the things that i need to get done like wants me you know just in every single way that is massive that feels awesome and it's still frustrating don't we get arguments and there'll be times where she's like it's late and i gotta fly out and she's like what are we doing with all this club and i just gotta be like hey listen we're in this together and there's gonna be times where i gotta stay up late for you and there's times you gotta stay up late for me but like we're not boyfriend girlfriend we are married like we're a team now i go get this money this is our money who are the.

Three most inspiring comics today not like in the past but today that you whether you're friends with them i'm assuming you guys all know each other but you're like man they're just and i know you don't want to ruffle feathers and not say certain people but if you had to pick like three that you're like these they have to be alive though that are working actively working in some way today i mean bill.

Burr it's just fantastic and one thing.

One thing about each person so what's.

The thing about it bill burr just like found a way to like funnel his brutal honesty into like hilarious ideas and i think people really like that and i like it and i just appreciate it yeah dave chappelle is just like he's really mastered the art of storytelling there's people might argue oh i'm not laughing he's really interesting it's not as many like jokes per second or whatever like that but the art of literally a story no one does it better now you're on mount rushmore with these guys you know i mean i've always been a chris rock fan i know chris rock hasn't been as active as of late but like i've always just been a huge chris rock fan.

What'S what's the thing he has that.

You love he just kind of like he he got me on board with like kind of devil's advocate thinking like i always had those thoughts right but like he was the first person i saw like do them well and real and he was first person who was like yo you could think of an argument that doesn't exactly make sense but it's funny so that's enough and i was like oh i love doing this i do this all the time i do this my friends you know and the more somebody is like locked into an idea the more i want to like make that ground shaky and it's just fun for me so anytime he wants to kind of like pop in and get busy with that he absolutely can yeah i guess i guess i'm naming the ogs to be honest with.

You but so you said one's honesty the honesty that he brings the other is a story and the other is the devil's advocate nature to it yeah.

It'S just like the the ability to like make a cohesive argument for something that isn't a popular opinion right and bill burr does it great too but like rock i think for me was just the originator like yes i'm like fruit off of chris rock's tree and then like i found patrice and i was like oh that's the exact way that i want to do the model yeah like everybody else i was like oh i like how you guys do this because that's the thing i think with me is like is hard you know usually with comics you could see like where they came from but i think one of the things with me is like it's hard for people to go i don't know what he sounds like i don't know what he sounds like himself yeah maybe but i'm like you just don't think i sound like that big fat black dude you know because i don't sound like him but i'm influenced so much by him and like he's dead but like i for me he's just the best he's the best ever elephant in the room go check it out on netflix that's cool.

What'S the thing you know that people are aware of and they see that they don't see what's the thing you'll be most proud of new year's eve and the twenty twenty two personally a.

Year married that would be the eighteenth of december out for personal goal and then you know who knows man like you never know what happens when you get married things happen my boy you know what i'm saying that's not happened yet or anything but like you know that yeah you never know you never know and okay and so i would be that's personally that would be very gratifying professionally i have my buddy akash singh is gonna be putting out his first special on youtube and free yeah for free on youtube and he's also been putting out clips and he also been doing that's my guy podcast co host like my best friend of comedy and like so seeing him thank you man but like seeing him like start to rise and like that would be very exciting to me like seeing his career take off in a similar way that happened for me that'd be really cool dropping my special wherever we put.

It not sure where yet yeah well and maybe do we not tell me.

We don't know and then but like dropping my special and then obviously the goal is after this special is like i want to be able to do i don't want to do like an arena tour where every place i do an arena but there are certain places i want to do an arena like i'm doing radio city yeah i got to do msg because i'm a kid from the city like i grew up.

That'D be sick man i gotta come.

To that you gotta come like we're doing radio city we're doing two at radio city wow that's awesome that's what.

Fifteen thousand or what is that i.

Think that's gonna be like twelve thousand now we could have done the garden at twelve thousand but here's the thing that's expensive but like that's just rental right but here's the thing if i do the garden i gotta do it in the round that's nineteen thousand that's.

Sick yeah that's nineteen sell it out.

What radio city no could you do.

Nineteen thousand not yet i think after.

This next special if what happens with the next special is what i think can happen then boom that would be very awesome and like finding a time to now i might not do that show within the next year maybe it'd be a year after or something like that but like working towards that that is i want to do the garden maybe staples maybe a theater in miami.

Or something you mean crypto dot com.

Comma now oh that's right crypto yeah yeah dude the way people were like.

Connected to staples oh it's twenty years of legacy you know but like it.

It'S a store like you know what i mean like it's crazy so loosely people are so furious like it wasn't called that before the store i know.

It was just a sponsorship so funny.

Man but yeah those would be so.

That'D be sick man yeah what's the biggest audience you performed in front of i did for your own show or you know with someone else's show my.

Own we did the chicago theater twice that's three thousand five hundred and that was pretty cool that's respectable yes it's big it's cool man we've been hey man we've been having fun like this is a the tour has been for me i look at that as like the greatest sign of success when people.

Buy a ticket with their wallet and they show up and they take a night out and they come see you.

That'S big put on clothes for someone right like you know what i'm saying like it's like it's like it's easy to and we're in like the click business right like but it's easy to click something it's easy to like watch something for a few seconds yeah it's easy right like but but to get.

A credit card out and say leave the house like that's a big deal.

So like if i don't know like for me that's how i judge success and that those are the people who i see that are successful in the space i look up to them for.

Those specific things they're selling out tours.

The podcast is like i hope you find it funny on the podcast and then you want to come see the stand up and for me as a stand up who built my career around putting out stand up clips yeah it's a great i have immense gratitude that people found me from doing standup and they want to see me do stand up that's cool yeah i think there are people out there who are popular but people don't have the same urgency to go see them and that's reflected.

In the tickets i gotta buy a ticket and go yeah this is a question i ask everyone towards the end called the three truths okay so i'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario it's your last day on earth many years away you get to live as long as you want to live yeah and you get to accomplish all your dreams wow personally professionally you build up a thousand comedians to do whatever you want to do you know you do it all at every different season of life you do it do it yeah healthy happy thriving you know yeah twenty kids running around whatever you want you make it happen and but for whatever reason all of your material has to go with you to another place when you leave it's the last day and it goes with you to another place no one has access to your information anymore yeah your content your stand up your podcast all of it's gone yeah but you have three lessons that you get to share with the world oh three lessons that you've learned throughout your entire life and this is all that people would have to remember you by or your content what would you say would be those three lessons or would like to call three truths i would.

Say one is listen i mean just so much in my life i've learned from listening so many decisions that i've made is from listening like you know just removing ego i mean so many of the decisions that even we make was part of my team it's like it's the best decision wins and that means you have to listen to the guys that you hire and empower them and make them believe in their ideas enough to the point where they can share them with you because oftentimes those ideas are going to be the ones that are better than yours but just every conversation i've had and how that's turned into either conversations on the podcast or like stand up clips or just anything so just like listening for someone who talks for a living and has talked a lot on this podcast but listening is just so huge so like just also what a gift like that was the biggest thing that i like changed like my life almost like i remember just like during single days realizing that once you get to a point where a girl is comfortable sharing with you just listening to her yeah how was your day yeah yeah oh you do that no way is that difficult and just seeing their eyes light up that someone actually like i've had girls on dates go do you actually want to know like yeah i want to know like what is your dates usually like like just listening is just so powerful people usually don't feel safe enough to share you know and that was something my my girl did to me she was just she's phenomenal at that but like if you can get people to just talk man just listen so listening yeah that's number one number two you got to take care of the people that you love man everybody like the people that that your family the people that work for you the people that like people that are doing things for you so that you can succeed like they gotta feel taken care of and like your generosity should show you know your girl your friends your family employees like that they should feel like you go above and beyond for them and sometimes that's financial sometimes that's emotional sometimes that's like protecting them like their literal safety you know their reputation sometimes it's like just helping them achieve their dreams but like know that the people that are dedicating time to your dream make them feel like that time is valuable label and i think it's like you also take care of them by like acknowledging them like i try to shout out my guys as much as possible and like when i anytime we're talking about things that i do it's like things where we're doing like everybody's involved in this absolutely you know and the last one is love bro yeah i mean these are just such like easy hacky ones but at the same time it's like the reason they've existed for yeah you know all of human existence but like love man like dude love is just that's powerful loving your family loving your wife like having love loving your friends like and like that was one of the coolest things that happened at my wedding is like i got to tell my wife how i feel about her we said the vows but i also got to tell my mom and my dad how i felt about them and as part of my vows and like how they prepare me for that moment i know that like one day my parents will pass and i feel like i've told them what i need to tell them now i don't want them to go but they won't go without knowing i mean my dad's memory is gone but like i for the longest was like i need my dad to know how awesome he was i think he knows but at least i know i told him and i told him the exact way i wanted to tell him and i told my mom like exactly what she did for me and what i'm so grateful for and it's like there's a piece in that yeah so it's just like i want to tell all my friends all my family everybody that i really care about so yeah share that share those feelings man even if it's awkward even if it's uncomfortable i want to.

Acknowledge you andrew for just what you've created and your authenticity i think the way you create and your ability to put stuff out there what could be scary for some people you just keep showing up and keep being authentic and your realness behind it all i've been watching your stuff for a while you know we have a lot of mutual friends and stuff like that but to connect in person it's been really fun.

Man this is awesome dude you're a.

Great interviewer man you know i try to listen the best i can i interrupt a little too much but i.

Try to listen you were great man really great great interviewer this is this was fun talking yeah man i got.

To come to one of your one.

Of your shows anytime you want yeah i would love to come and check it out but i want people to go to your show too just because if they haven't followed you on social media andrew schultz everywhere what's the where else can they support you your youtube.

Is hilarious yeah youtube instagram like you've.

Got two different podcasts right yeah yep.

Yeah i do the podcast flagrant two with akash and alex and mark and and we have dove the team keeps growing it seems but and then brilliant idiots which the great charlemagne of god he's great he's just awesome but yeah.

Like but the main thing you got is your tour coming up if you.

Want to come check it out like watch some clips that's what i always say it's like watch a clip or something if you like it if it's for you you'll watch more and then.

It will happen you'll show up yeah it will happen naturally it's exciting man yeah how else can we support you.

That'S all man just your attention is just awesome like give me the opportunity to entertain you and if you're entertained then i think the rest just kind of works of course of course love.

It man people want that final question for you what's your definition of greatness.

Yeah being the best and the best is a standard that i create you know so it's like who i think is the best comedian is not who everybody thinks is the best comedian but they do the like the form of comedy that i like the best the best but like if we're talking about like career then that's just being just being the best and just pushing and continue to move towards that but greatness is like a man that's different like affecting the people's lives like my dad is a great man like he's a great man that is the goal as a man to affect people's lives the way that he affected and he never tried to be a great man like he just was a great man and then when you exist in greatness you affect all the people around you you know and he's just yeah like that that is the goal to do that like if you could have career and personal like that like great man great husband great father great career what a life lived man that is the goal.

Yeah thank you so much for listening i hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links and also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on apple podcasts as well i really love hearing feedback from you guys so share a review over on apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most and if no one's told you lately i want to remind you that you are loved you are worthy and you.

Matter and now it's time to go.

Out there and do something great.

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