Made a decision face sunny sun on I had What's up? Everybody? Welcome
to our special guest episode of the Week with Jimmy Pardo, Never Not Funny
podcast host of Never Not Funny. Yes, Hello, I was taken aback.
I was putting a drink down I got and I panicked. I pandoshed
like I've never done radio before or podcasting. I thought the way he looked
at you, it was like, that's not what my podcast I think it
is. I gotta be honest, here's what I thought was gonna happen.
And now that we put it on me, I thought there was a uh
there was more coming, and you just kind of stopped. And then I
was like, oh, I guess okay, I'll jump in, so I
will take full blame. Uh because I'm a failure in life as a husband,
as a father. So here we go. I could have said,
uh, you know, podcast pioneer, sure be doing comedian Yes, writer,
No, that's the one thing I'm really not the No, I'm not.
I I don't have that skill. That's the one skill I don't have.
And uh, uh boy do I wish I had it? But because
I envy the guys that that can tighten the screws on things and and uh
and write great jokes. But I can't do that. All right, Let's
let's go back to the beginning. Okay, because I know you from stand
up million years ago, Yes, which you're why are what writing? Will?
Yes? I mean one would argue I write on stage if we're going
to get into the nooks and grannies of a stand up. I don't sit
down. I I don't. It's been probably thirty years as I sent out
sat down at a desk to write a piece of material because I don't know
how to do that. And when I when I did it, it looks
like a twelve year old kid's journal. Like it's horrible, it's not funny,
it's not in your hating. There's I don't know, there's like no
jokes. You would think like this port son of a bitch isn't gonna be
in comedy, Like it's that bad. So I just I improvised. I
improvised most of my set. So from the beginning, like from the get
go, did you get up on stage and not have did you just have
like, oh, here's some funny ideas. I had funny ideas yeah,
And and then I, as an open micer, got really loose and would
be kind of their words, not mine, kind of the king of the
open mics around Chicago, Like I would be the guy, uh that would
go up and kill because I would just improvise and just be funny. And
then I got when I so I started getting bookings and were you to a
lot of Chicago. Uh, there's there's a big spot. But I avoid
I did. I did take classes that right out of high school. But
I did. And to this day I wonder if I was the if I'm
the most famous guy to come out of my class, and if so,
uh, it's a shame for the rest or did somebody else in my class,
like I don't know, Like was I in class with Tina Fey And
I don't know it? You know what I mean? Like, but so
I did improv as a as an open micer, got booked, wasn't ready
to be booked, should not have been booked way too soon, quit my
jay job way too soon, and then took it very seriously, like stupid
seriously, and went, well, now I got to write an act.
I have to have an act. They're paying me money, and it sucked.
It was horrible for years. It was horrible, really, but I
could work around it and do the Johnny Carson the joke bombed, I can
save it with the improv and and be funny with that and do some crowd
work and stuff. And before CrowdWork, all of a sudden, it's the
thing to do for people. I don't know what's happening stand up these days.
But so this was still in Chicago. This was in Chicago. Yeah,
I was there for I. I'll give you the timeline. My first
open mic was October of eighty eight. I quit my day job. I
got my first booking in March of eighty nine. I quit my day job
in July of eighty nine, so I wasn't even a year in. And
I quit because I had all I quit a great job at MCA Records,
the record label. Yeah, and then what were you doing that? It
was a sales rep and uh, but it was the dream job. I
had been in record stores and then it was a dream job to work for
a record label, at least for me. It was at the time to
and I'm hanging out with Elton John and uh, Tom Petty and all these
you know, the mc A. Uh my friend passed away who worked at
mc A record, Jennifer Popkins. No, no, but I wish I
did it. Were you out there in Chicago? But we had uh yeah,
we were coming to Universal Studios for the big convention every year. Yeah,
and so I got to meet the other mc A people. Uh maybe
it was you know. It was amazingly it was a crazy job. I'm
hanging out with rockstar. I want that job now, I know, right,
going to and make it a making a ton of money. And I
quit that to do comedy, to make one hundred fifty bucks a week.
What and here we are, So why did you have to quit whit?
Why couldn't you do both? Oh, I'll tell you why. My boss
one day, guy named Jim Haldeman, not the guy that worked for Nixon,
he to this. I don't understand this. He was hated. Everybody
in the office hated him. I didn't thought it was fine. Uh.
In fact, I want to meet I want to meet up with one of
those people someday and have them explain to me why everybody hated Jim Holdering,
because I really, to this day don't know why. But he came to
me and he said, you know, we have to have a meeting.
All right, here's the deal. And by the way, he's not wrong.
I was not doing my job. I was. I was using my
office to book comedy gigs like I was, and then I wasn't going to
my accounts because I would. I would be doing gigs at night, either
open mics or paid. And so he said, you have to make a
decision. You have to decide between stand up or this, and you know,
because this is a real job. And I said, okay, give
me to all the morning. And he looked like I was out of my
mind, like what No, the answer is, you're going to stay here.
What are you doing? And everybody in the office had come to see
me to stand up maybe two weeks prior, and I bombed at Death of
all deaths, like one of those bombs where like they wouldn't make eye contact
with me on Monday, like it was that f and back I got drunk
at the Christmas party. Yes, it was. It was that horrible,
right, And so the next day I came in and I told my boss
I was I was gonna quit. I was gonnaet my two week notice.
And so we're having our morning meeting around the conference table, and my boss
said, all right, before we get started, I want to let you
know I was Jim at the time. Jim is just giving his two week
notice he's going to pursue a career in stand up comedy. And the look
on everybody's face was like, what this is it? Right? He can't
He's horrible. What are we talking about? He can't do that? And
here I am so and I don't know what they're doing again, I don't
Maybe they're all gazillionaires with app companies. I don't know. So it's funny
because when I was when I first moved to LA and for a while I
was doing temp work, and my dream like I would tempt at Warner brother
Records, oh RCA, like these different record companies, you know, sometimes
just for a day, but it was like, oh I I tempted at
RCAA Records for six months. Yeah, for a guy named Bruce Floor who
was like a big an R attended the A and R department, and I
was like a dream. Yes, got so much free shit all the time,
and I was like, oh God, if I could just convince one
of these bosses to like, I would take any job here, and I
never I never did. Every single time. I'd be like, if there's
ever an opening, like, I'll do anything here, I'll work in the
mail room. No, never, never got I mean, I can't believe
that you had that job, am, and I had it and obviously threw
it away, but not really because I had my quote unquote dreams. But
I didn't work out for you. No. No, I'm having a tough
time. I'm trying to give back. I hope the record business comes back
so they'll hire me again. I was not. I was. I was
twenty twenty when they hired me at MCA, and so when I walked in,
I was a kid. Yeah, and these old you know, these
older folks that have been there for years, like and some people didn't get
a promotion to the job that I was hired for, oh sadly, and
they were mad at me, like, who's this kid that just came walks
in and gets this job, not knowing that I would easily have switched with
them. I would have been the guy to go to record stores and put
up posters. I would have been happy to do that job for less money,
because they're right, that's fun. There's no you know, there's no
quotas, there's no sales meetings, there's none of that, and uh so
it was it was a weird time. I mean I loved it because again
from as you know stuff, from the experience of working there, it's the
record business and I love I mean, that's my thing. I'm in the
eighties music and classic rock. So I got to work during that time and
uh yeah, okay, So so you stay in Chicago, you're making like
a gig money. Yeah, I get a hundred free bucks a week and
then you but things are going well. I mean I'm working every week,
but I'm doing horrible gigs. I'm doing you know, I'm not doing the
A clubs because I'm not good yet. But I'm getting booked every week.
So I have the delusion that I'm I don't know, I guess I was
successful. I mean, I'm being getting paid to do my dream. But
what was your first TV show? Oh? First TV show was Caroline's Comedy
Hour. Yeah the Evening, Yeah ninety two. We were at the same
like we started around the scene. Where did you start? I probably did
my first time on stage maybe like eighty nine, okay for eighty eight,
right, so yeah, right in the same ballpark. And did you do
Carolines as well? I did not, but I did Evening at the end
half was Yeah. My very first TV thing was star Search what. Yeah,
I did star Search and I did tear. I didn't do well up
against remember Keith Michael Ashton remember that name. I don't Taylor Swift. She's
not a comedian. Sorry, although wonderful, but if she what if she
did do stand up like what and she beat? You had to go up
against your own category, yeah, comedy. Yeah, so I got two
and three quarter stars. It was very embarrassing. I didn't even have a
bad set. Two three quarters isn't bad on there, It's pretty bad out
of four at a four, yeah, it was bad. You're up against
the three to name. He dude, he can't. You can't compete three
and a half stars. Yeah. So I lost on my very first first
like night, like first time. So you were just starting had been doing
it a couple of years. That's still you're still you know that, you're
still green, you're still finding your voice. It was still my open set,
right, But and then my next TV show was Evening at the Improv.
So I'm with you Yeah, okay, So and how did that go?
Uh, Caroline Fine, I guess I don't know, nervous, Oh
sure, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. It was one of the I
don't know how you felt in your first TV experience. Mine was like like
one of those out of body experiences, like I don't remember being on stage
and then I had to wait until it came on TV so I could remember
kind of what happened that night. But I think it went okay. I
mean, for where I was as a comic, I think I was in
my uh I'm finding I'm still kind of finding my voice stage. That was
still pretty early on. I'm only three years in, I guess at that
point, maybe three and a half years. And uh, I had a
little bit of Dennis Leary in me at that time, so I had a
lot of I got two words for you do do you know? You know
with with you know, no punchline, just you know, ranting and and
I I take down Berry Madelow in that set for some reason. I love
that. I love Barry madelone. We get hurt, Barry Berry get hurt
the middle By set for no reason whatsoever. It was about the whole thing
about the suicide. Remember when they blamed Judas Priest for those kids that committed
suicide with the back masking, And so I said, you know, that's
why everythink I don't remember the premise. That's why it's on CD. That's
why I listen to music on CD because I'm going to tell you so I'm
gonna kill myself. I want to listen to Berry Manelone, Nice and Crisp
before I say whatever the joke was. And it killed at the time.
But then I was like, I would go back to my hotel and go,
why am I hurting Berry Madeline. I like that guy. I like
his music. I like, you know, he's a great entertainer. But
I had to be hip and cool and yeah that's all. Yeah, I
went. I saw him in concert, not that long ago. I tell
you something like in the last two years. I've seen him four times.
In the last two years. My son and I've gone Hollywood Bowl. Yeah,
we were there, Hollywood Bowl, the Greek We went to see his
Christmas show, my son and I, which is the delight because it's all
of Barry, those hits and Christmas songs. Hell wouldn't like that. It's
a joy come a long way come full circle on this. Yes, so
okay, so you're this is still in Chicago. I'm still in Chicago this
I did not move to Los Angeles still ninety five? Okay, when you
moved to LA and what brought you out here? I did a showcase for
CBS Television in Detroit for a guy named Eric Fagan, who you might remember.
I remember, yeah, book, the improv book gave the improv for
a while. Yes, he was doing a talent search for CBS. Saw
me in Detroit, said hey, we're doing this again next week in Chicago.
I want to see you again in Chicago, because here's what happened.
The first night I went up and a guy named Kirk Noland decided not to
do seven minutes but to do twenty and destroyed, like blew the roof off
the place, and I had to follow him, and I'm chewing it.
I'm bombing miserably, and then I just went f this and just started ragging
on the night like how stupid the The whole premise was like that we're all
hoping that this one man can make our dreams come true, and all of
a sudden it switched, and all of a sudden, the audience loved me
and I'm killing and I came off and he said that again, I want
to see in Chicago, but since that's that was all improvised, I want
to see you do a real set in Chicago, and I had a prime
spot in Chicago destroyed. He got me a meeting with CBS. It didn't
amount to anything, but then he wanted he became my manager. And then
he said, uh, but you know, in order to manage, you
got to move to LA and so I move. I was planning of moving
here in ninety six, but then his management him managing. We moved in
ninety five, and I moved here in late January of ninety five. He
had a nervous breakdown in March ninety five and quick the mistrsy, really,
what I think dispressive handling my career. So it took him down. Oh
my god, that's crazy, I know. So then all of a sudden,
I'm out here was like, oh, no guidance, nothing like,
what do I do do I I don't know how to go to I mean,
I'm I know how to do this, but I didn't know how to
do this because going to the improv of the comedy store in the laugh Factory
that seemed like like real comedy as opposed to what I had been doing,
and so I needed Without the guidance, it took me a little while to
find my footing, but a lot of booze helped with that. I bet
been sober twenty four years? You did I know that? I think maybe
because you're sober long time. I'm sober fourteen years, graduations going on fifteen,
Yeah, thank you, And I'm going on twenty five. Wow,
I didn't know that. Yeah, I was a I was a drunk for
most of the nineties. Wow, the same Yeah, yeah, yeah it
yeah, you know, I mean it's comedies lonely and yeah, and this
town could be a little scary and yeah. I have a whole chapter in
my book that I'm going to come on your podcast for to talk about drunkish.
It's a whole It's a whole book about getting sober. And I have
a whole chapter about stand up you do and the relationship to drinking and how
I blamed a lot of my drinking on stand up, like, well,
I have to drink because like I need it to so hard to be a
comedian. I had a lot of stage fright. I don't I don't know
about you, but I had. I never I had a lot of anxiety.
And I never loved the performing part. I only liked the having been
on stage, and I liked the I liked writing the jokes and I but
it was I hated the idea that you just never knew if you were going
to bomb, Like the feeling of bombing is so awful. It was horrible
that I had to always like anesthetize myself against so that I wouldn't feel it
as much because you know, but then you also don't ever get used to
performing. Really, crisp, No, your numb the whole time, right,
and you're, yeah, that's a great way to put it. Sorry,
I mofflick that you're not performing, Crisp, that's a great way to
put it. And I felt the same way, like I kind of I
would have a beer on stage, and I don't know if I needed it
as much as it was a crutch, like like like just something to hold
on to. And and then I started drinking enough where I was getting a
little tipsy on stage. And then when I did quit, all of a
sudden, it was like performing crisply and oh, this is how it's supposed
to be, and all of a sudden, you know, I'm sharper and
I'm funnier and I'm faster and nice. But I do I blame it a
little bit on stand stand up, on my drinking as well, but mostly
the after the show of being alone and not really having any you know,
you have the other comics to hang out with, but they were all getting
drunk too. You're at the comedy club. They're giving you free drinks until
they close because there are a bunch of twenty two year old kids that manage
a club like So it was really more out of boredom, but I took
full advantage of it. Yeah, and uh and drank a lot. Well
let's let's take a quick break and then we'll be back. And we're back.
So you got sober at a time where a lot of comedians got sober.
I feel like, yeah, I feel like there's a lot. I
feel like there's a big group of you. I'm not going to out anybody,
but I'm just saying like, around your time, there's a bunch.
Yeah, there's like a lot of sober very Yeah, I wonder who they
are. And to them, I'd like to wrestle with them. I think
that's the best way to handle this is right that we get on the map.
He just takes it, take it down, take it down. Okay,
so you're so you're doing stand up. Yeah, now you're starting to
get TV gigs. He did the Tonight Show. You've done the Tonight Show.
Tonight Show. It's going to be twenty five years ago, which is
insane. Two thousand and two. I was the third comic on after nine
to eleven. I believe it was really I believe. I think it was
Drew Hastings, Tammy Pascattellian then me, I believe, and those two got
standing ovations. Hastings is out of his skull. Yeah, got hysterical,
but now he's nuts. Oh my god. He was the funniest, funniest
guy. I went to see his one man He did a one man show.
Great, right, right, Yeah, this guy Drew Hastings, who
so like I've you will laugh so hard watching his act. But he went
like off the deep end. He he became the mayor of a town in
Ohio. Yes, and and then he just he got so far to the
right that he's like very openly like racist and he's nuts. He's n He
was always good servative, but now that you know, the doors of it
opened for these whack jobs to say they're you know, call people vermin.
Uh it he's one of them. He's gone crazy. Yeah, he used
to call me all the time, Jebby. I got a problem. I
booked in Michigan, but I've just been offered a gig down at Kentucky.
Do I take the higher paying or do I hotter the contract? I'd go,
Drew, I don't know under a contract or take that. I don't
know what do I know? And if you should be a lot of help,
then you hang up on me. Uh that wasn't one time a Gurdrew
hasting suppression. But I was gonna say they they got standing ovations and I
bombed miserably. It was horrible. What ohs horrible? I love stories.
Horrible, sorry, but so okay, so you're I mean, it's hard
to bomb on TV. But it was because it was after no you know
what you know, I don't know what it was the show just he must
have been so nerve, like who was hew it was? And Jay went
up and his monologue, I mean if if he got one last during his
monologue, I'm exaggerating. If bombed miserably, it was okay, So then
you're in good company. And then they had Dane Cook to a remote on
Universal CityWalk, like, hey, let's go to Dane to do like a
version of Jay Walking, but his own Dane version, you know, tank
top wearing a way to go and bro backward hat wearing, nonsense. I'm
not a Dane basher, but this thing bomb. So Jay bombs Danes things
things bomb. I'm in the makeup chair and Jay comes backstage and he's yelling
at somebody and the and the make up lady closes the door and goes,
oh, that never happens, but I go really goes no, Jay never
yells at people. And I'm like, oh, well, this's but a
great night to be here. And then the first guest was like this mad
scientist or something who you know, taught us how to make something with crackers
and making soda, like you know that stupid stuff. For j what are
you doing over there? Are you crackers and what you could do? And
uh? And so that bombs. And then Marissa Tome was on and she
saw the mad scientist got first building before Yeah, Dennis Larry canceled last minute,
and they got this guy. So there's two segments with this professor that's
chewing it now. Oh no. And then Marsa Toma goes up and she
was promoting some drama. I forget that drama was a great drama where her
husband dies and she's got to live with her in laws and its remember that
movie. It was really great. I can't and she was great, okay,
and in the movie. And so then I'm looking at the clock and
I'm like, oh, this audience blows. Uh. Oh, they're gonna
bump me. Oh I hope they bumped me. Oh, they got to
bump me. There's no there's no time for my set. And they come
back Ross Mark and oh, I forget the other guy's name, Bob Reid.
They come back and they go, Okay, here's the deal. Uh,
there's four and a half minutes left your set, Timmy out of four
and half minutes. Uh, if it goes any longer, we're gonna give
you the cut sign and just stop and whatever joke you're at. Oh no
on television, And I go, well, how about this, fellas,
how about if we just bumped me right, you know, and and he
goes, Jay doesn't want to do another segment with Marisa Tome and I'm like,
okay, that's fair. The first segment was a snooze, and so
I went up in my first two minutes and I'm not kidding you. Hear
my wife and my friend Mike, and that's it. Oh no. And
then the last two minutes were okay, but there was no worry of me
going over my time. I'm not getting any laughs to fill it. And
then I come over and Jay's like, yeah, you good yad give me
and uh. And then Marissa doesn't know how to move, and he goes,
hey, mer, sir, mayland over Jimmy there, and then I
sit down and they will begin to go get anybody. And then Jay doesn't
say a word to me. Uh from that second until this day. Oh
real, yeah, wow. He can never get another chance, never get
another bite at that apple. But they claimed that I could come back anytime
I wanted to. But the fact that here's the thing, Jay was Jay
didn't bond with me after the show, Like no, I'm not saying we
should go off for drinks, but I'm saying his fellow comedians. He should
have taken a second to go, hey, you know what they're they're great,
best crowd, but you know what, this stuff was good. You
know he should have said something instead, he iced me as if like he
wanted to distance himself from how bad my set was. And I think that's
a dickhead move. I just wasn't so to this day, I'm not thrilled
with Jay. That's not cool. But then so you ended up at Conan?
I did, Yeah? Was that shortly after? No? That was
well, that was two thousand and two, and then I did you know
Conan came in two thousand and nine when he moved when he took over the
Night Show. When Conan moved from New York to LA, two days before
we were doing a test show at Universal with the Night Show starting ConA to
Brian. I got a phone call saying, do you want to do warm
up? And my answer was no, I do not want to do warm
up. I've come out here to host, not be somebody's warm up.
And my managers like, take the meeting, and then I took the meeting
and like I'm sitting at the meeting going, well, why do I not
take this job? I mean, growing up, my dream was a host
of the Tonight Show. And here I am, I'm gonna get to be
on the Tonight Show stage every single night. I'm not on camera, but
who knows, maybe I will, right, And so I took the gig
doing warm up for the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. We lasted well on
nine months, and then we all got fired because Jay wanted his job back.
And those headlines I can read themselves, and it was great and I
found I found the right people, and working for Conan was a delight,
and that we had the seven months off in between the Tonight Show and then
him on TBS and where they graciously paid me out of their pocket. Wow,
Like they didn't have to. I was a local higher They could have
just said, you know what, things happened show business. But they took
care of me the same way they took care of the New York people.
And because you know, they all moved out here about homes and stuff,
and thought, like I thought, it's the Tonight Show, We're gonna have
a job for thirty years, right, And then nine months later we're like,
oh wow, so uh. And then we went to TBS and the
vibe was completely different. It was much looser. I found my footing.
I ended up uh doing some remotes for Conan, being a guest filling in
for Andy Richter, so like it's it was Getting hired by Conan of Brian
honestly was the greatest thing to happen to me and very very grateful for that
job. That's awesome. Yeah. So what year did you start your podcast?
You have a big podcast. Yeah, it's it's very uh successful.
Also, I want to talk about this thing that you do, which is
for charity, the Smile Train. Uh. He does as like a telethon,
like a twelve hour telethon. Yeah, yes, how did that?
How did you come up with that? Made you? Were you already like
interested in this charity were? Yes? Uh? I want to hear about
this because it's such a cool thing and it's been really successful and you've been
doing it for a long time. Yeah. We've raised one point five million
bucks for that. Wow. And that's I mean that's the fans that donate
the money, you know, I mean that's yeah, But you're still doing
it, so it's all of me. I'm the hero, there's no question,
and you're welcome children. Smile Train is a great organization that goes to
third world countries and does the surgeries of fixed cleft palates, right, and
each surgery only costs tw hundred and fifty bucks. So basically, if you
donate tw hundred and fifty dollars, you could change a child's life. And
I saw that honestly on the back of Parade magazine, really and I donated
money. And then a guy who used to be involved with our show and
he's not anymore, named Pat France as my former roommate, he came in
just coincidentally that day and said, hey, I just donated money to this
Smile Train, and I said, I just don't need the money to Smile
Train, And so then that happened, and then we're talking one day.
Like you know, podcasting was still kind of fine. We were all trying
to kind of finding our footing. I mean it was, you know,
it's me and Adam and and and the Onion and Ricky Gervais. That was
kind of it. And so like we would I was the number one podcast
in the world at one point, and I think I think now I'm number
one and twelve or something like. It's you know, those are early days.
There were early days, and SmartLess is of course just crushing us all.
So we were just honestly just trying to find a gimmick and a and
a hook. So I when you started it, like, I just want
to go back for a second, because when you started the podcast, was
it just was it just you? It was me and a guy named Mett
Bell who was still my co host and producer, met Bell Nap. He
came to me and said, I was doing a live show at the UCB
Theater, a live talk show, okay, And Matt came to me.
He was just a fan and he said, hey, would you want to
do a podcast? You know, I'll produce it and you do it.
And I'm like, yeah, I don't know what that is, okay,
because I was always behind on any sort of trend that was happening. Face,
how about old man? Don't my daughter tells me about about new social
platforms like and I'm like, I don't even know. I was like,
oh, yeah, it's already, it's already over. I'm on yeah,
yeah, that's uh. That was me with my Space. I'm in guys,
so scrahm uh So it was again it was a gimmick. I loved
growing up. I loved watching the Jury Lewis telethons and wondering, like,
who's gonna come out of four in the morning. Is it gonna be Stephen
eighty? Is it gonna be some horrible jugglers? Who's gonna be on?
I love this, So I said, let's do that. Let's do it
all night sort of. So we started Our first one was in two thousand
and nine. We started at nine o'clock PM and went to six a m.
And we had people like John Hamm came by and uh and stayed like
for six hours. Yeah, it was it was uh uh. We love
John's John has been a great friend to me and our show for since we
since then, since like two thousand and eight. He was really funny,
and he was great. He's funny in everything. Yeah, and when he
does drama he's great. Yes, Oh my god, I mean he was
so great and madmen, but like, but he's also just so funny.
Yes, it's infuriating. Yeah, it's so so handsome to be that funny.
And I'd like him to suck at something and he does he doesn't.
Hey, you want to go golfing? Oh, okay, and then he
you know, shoots pars like, come on, man, you gotta be
bad at something, right, are you in his football league? I am
not about a football guy. I'm not a football guy. But that's how
that started. Okay, So then you you did like sixs. So then
so we did that with that first one. I forget when we raised that
night. You know, it might have been just like six thousand dollars or
something. Live. Yeah, yeah, we streamed it lives okay, yeah,
which in two thousand and nine was yes, how do you go live?
You do? Yeah? On YouTube? Technically we could, I think,
yeah, So it was video you were going live? Like, yeah,
it was video. My brother in law, who since passed away,
was the video producer and he shot it, uh you know, and he
was there and he was our video producer for until he passed away in twenty
ten. So was it on YouTube? Then? I couldn't tell you.
For a million dollars, it was somewhere. I think it's on YouTube now
when we do it, I don't I don't concern myself with the technical stuff
because I'm an idiot. I mean I am too. I don't understand any
of how it works, some of the before the shows up and talks.
That's it. And I mean I do other things, but I don't know
the technical stuff. Now. If if those guys both if Matt and now
a guy named Elliot's the video guy, if they walked in today and said
we're sick of your shit, we're leaving, I would go great. Now
I'll make all the money. But I don't know how to do anything.
I would have to it would be a disaster. I wouldn't know what to
do. So you started the Smile Train telethon early early in the podcast,
yes, as a gimmick, as like, hey, let's get the map
to try to get just to try to get some pressed when yeah, you
raise money, yeah press. And it worked a little bit. It worked,
you know. I think some people found us because of that, And
you know what, I don't know how many people found us because I'm pard
castathon, but it's certainly been a success. And I'm very very grateful to
the fans for donating the money and the celebrities that come by and hang out
with us. I have a different celebrity on every twenty minutes, and every
twenty minutes, yeah, and they come for free. In the middle of
the night when you're yeah, we do it now. We haven't done it
since before the We did one online during the pandemic, but we haven't done
it since twenty nineteen, I guess. But it would be uh, yeah,
they come on, we do it from noon to midnight. Okay.
So yeah, after a few years that I realized, Uh, why am
I doing this at four in the morning? Exactly? Why can't we Why
can't we shift this twelve hours when people are awake? Right? Right?
And well, because you had it in your mind I did. It's like
us that telethon, Yeah that you that if in the middle you stay up
as late as you can and then you wait, who's on? Yeah?
Right, yeah, but we saw like, oh, nobody's donating at three
thirty in the morning, right and nobody? So why don't we do this
when New York's awake? Why don't we do it when England can see at
some point and smart? And it works? I mean it's been like I
said, knock on wood, it's been successful, and I'm you know,
we ca raise that money for there are some of the other names you've had
on oh jeez, uh, Rob Ryder one of my Heroes. I was
thrilled to have rob On. Uh yeah, that was that was craziness.
Uh. You know John, like I said, John's a regular Conan.
Used to do the show a lot. Now he's busy with his own thing.
You know. We had Ace Frehley of Kiss, which was a big
wow. That's made a music nerd Uh. Jimmy Panco of Chicago. Kevin
Corona of Ario Speedwagon saw that in your Bias and I got really jealous because
because I I love Ario Speedwagon. Well it's you know, it's the nostalgia.
Yes, I went to go see Ario Speedwagon, Lover Boy and Sticks
at the five Point in Irvine and I was I was like, there,
Ario Speedwagon hasn't missed a beat. Whit are you talking like this past summer?
Yeah? I was there. Yeah, my son and I were there.
Oh. Yes. I become friendly with Tommy Shaw of Sticks because because
of the because of part Castathon, he came on one year via FaceTime,
and you know I did. I talked with Tommy Shaw again, a guy
that I had my I had his poster on my wall and now I'm facetiming
with him like I'm holding up the phone talking to him for the audience,
and uh we then became I don't want to say friends, because I think
that's insanity to say that we are, but I friendly and so we'll text
from time to time. And so you know, whatever sticks is in town,
you know, my son and I go and Tommy treats us like royalty,
and so, uh yeah, I was there and I'm with you.
And so Tommy's done on the show, and and Kevin Crona. But the
thing Tommy was great. But the thing about Kevin was he's kind of just
a dad first and a musician second. So he was an amazing guest in
that we're talking about how the rules of horse, you know, the basketball
game, and and then he would go, all right, great and then
you play a song and it was it was mind blowing. It was a
yeah. And so to me, those are the dreams of having these you
know. You know, Paul Riser, who's a friend, has been on
many many times. But they had these guys that I grew up as you
know, they were my heroes. Paul Riser was one of my comedy heroes.
Rob Ryder was one of my comedy heroes. And then music, you
know, the guys from Kiss in Chicago and Sticks and Rio or my heroes.
So they have them come on my show. It just was like,
I'm amazing, It's a dream come true. Yeah, so cool. Yeah,
it's really neat. And I know that, you know, bigger shows
that happens every day on their shows, and maybe they take it for granted.
I do not. I am honored that they took the time to come
and visit with us. And it's always nice when people take the time to
come visit us. Right, So you're yeah, you're a dad. I
am a dad. You have a son, I do sixteen years old?
He's sixteen. Yeah. I didn't know he was older than my twins.
My twins are turning sixteen on the twenty sixth. Oh yeah, he turned
sixteen in September, so he just the same actially. Is he a sophomore?
He is a junior. Was a junior, yeah, because his birthday
was on the whatever however that yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Oh interesting.
Okay, And you've been married to your lovely wife Danielle for how long?
It will be twenty years? So I guess it's nineteen years going on
twenty years. Oh that's okay. Did you get married. No, I'm
sorry, it's gonna be twenty five years. We got buried in two thousand
and four. Oh yeah, yeah, you'll be married twenty year. Yeah,
you've probably been together. We're together twenty five years. Oh my god,
should be same. When were you married? I got married in two
thousand and four February. You guys should have gotten married, do you think
so? You know what I'm in if you want to be Stephan, I
mean, necessarily if you want to. It's the point when your husband's going
and Danielle's gone, you want to make a pack dodge to tell you.
Rachel Quaintance is already number one. Oh, and then Janet and then jannef
Barney and Andrea Savage. Those are the three in front of me. Yeah.
You got a lot to work. Yeah, you got a hold Audi,
that's yeah. You guys got sober at the same time. Yeah,
we started stand up at the same time. Yeah. I don't know what
year you were born, but we're probably closed six. What year? What
month? July? July? What July twenty eighth? Oh my oh,
this is banana times. We just had. Oh my god, let's say,
should we take another break? I wouldn't all right, we're back still
for out about all we have in common? Now, your wife Danielle is
super funny. I also did stand. I mean, she was like,
I think an open micro with me. Yeah, and on your talk show.
She was a writer on my talk show. And I just I mean,
I know that you're our guest right now, but I just want to
say, Danielle is a freaking hilarious talented writer. So she so Lynette was
on my show too, she was in the circle time thing. So Danielle
came in as a writer and was so good and she was she was like
handling my monologues and she was just a master at it. And it was
a hard thing to do, which I know, sound it sounds that sounds
kind of like, oh, it's just really hard to get my voice.
But there's you know, certain people can just lock into somebody's voice and then
and so sometimes I'd have to go to Danielle after she was not working for
us anymore because she had taken another job. She would have come back,
but she guys had like a third season that she wasn't a part of.
It brought her in as a consultant. No second season she was she was
already working. She couldn't do it. What was she doing? She was
something for Disney. Yes, so we asked her if she would consult,
Like, we paid her extra because we needed her and she was doing this
other job. She could not be full time on our show, so we
hired somebody else. But I would I would take monologues and she'd and I'd
be like, Danielle, can you fix this? And I'd send it to
her and she would send it back to me in like a couple hours,
and it would be like, that's funny, right, Yeah, she is.
She has an amazing talent to write in somebody else's voice, Like she's
really really good at that. Yeah, and she's a solid joke writer.
She is amazing is a button? Yes, Well, then she must be
busy all the time because people like that usually have work. No, we're
coming out of a strike, so she's like a lot of folks is looking
at the moment. Yeah, but she should be hired by everybody in I
think she was amazingly talented. You met her doing stand up? I met
her at a at a friend's birthday party. Here's the romantic version. You
want the romantic version? No, sure, Okay, version. Oh no,
this is the real version. This is the real slash romantic version.
It was that Saint Nick's, remember that bar, over on Thirs Street,
and it was my friend Mike Sigle's birthday party. And I walked in and
Mike very handsome man, very fairy. I walk in too, and there's
a photographs from this day looking horrible bloated, and my clothes are ill fitting,
like I just was a mess, and uh what ear? Oh what
year would this have been? Well, daniel and I got together, so
maybe we didn't get to nineteen nineteen ninety eight. Yeah, I'm just working,
so late ninety six maybe, okay, maybe maybe ninety seven right in
that area. So I walk in, I see Mike, but behind Mike
in the distance, I see your girl. She claims it was orange.
I claim it was red sweater. And I'm not kidding you. I said,
who is that girl? She's this beautiful girl I've ever seen. I
will marry her someday. And then another guy who's gone nuts, Jimmy dor
came up, Hey, this is my girlfriend Danielle, And I was like
what what? And then I know I waited them out. Boyfriend, Yeah,
for a little while and heed them out, they broke up. I
waited, I want to stay close to a year, and then I asked
her on a date and we have been together ever since. Wow, I
am forever grateful. She's the greatest. That's awesome, that is romantic.
And so she remembers meeting you though, even though she was already with Jimmy
dor Oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, how do you forget me?
I'm charming, I'm wonderful. So did she feel some sparks? But
she was like, oh, I already boyfriend. I think Look, I
don't know that, but I think that eventually there were, because there was.
We would to your point about stand up, we would run into each
other. We had the same management, so we'd run into each other at
stand up showcases and there was flirting, and there was uh. And then
I'd see her at auditions and there was flirting. And one time I ran
her just by chance at a gas station and then there was flirting, and
like and a sudden my head going, I gotta ask her out. I
gotta ask this girl out. And I was like, but she's too good
for me, she's too pretty for me. She's this, she's that,
and then eventually I just asked her out and again here we are, what
twenty five years later. Wow, it's so funny that you say she was
wearing red and she said she was wearing orange, because I feel like guys
are a little color blind. They are what's wrong with you, guys?
Well maybe the lady was bad. How about that? And by the way,
clearly she's right, you know what I mean, she knows what sweater
she was wearing, right, But if it was Rae, it was orange.
But in my head it was red. And I got to see Christophergh's
Lydian red and that was a bit to myself, crying in the car home
because I'm sad and drunk and she's got this boyfriend, ah, which may
or may not have been true me driving from Satannick's back here to the valley.
Well, it's a good thing she got rid of Jimmy Dore. Uh.
Yeah, I think Jimmy's doing great these days. He's out of a
skull, he's not Yeah, he's nuts. Yeah, he's a big anti
vaxxer okay, COVID. He he's one of those guys that went so far
to the it's the Bernie bro gone bad syndrome. It's that you go so
far to the left that then you become extremist. Yeah, it's that horseshoe
thing where you're there. Yeah, and he's gone that said, bought a
compound. So he's got his you know, like that whole group of I'll
use Hillary's words, basket of the plorables. He's got his basket of the
plorables that listen to him and believe that conspiracy theory. Horseshit, right.
Yeah, I haven't spoken to him since before the twenty sixteen election. That's
not true. He said hello to him at Flappers and hey Jim, and
I went, oh, hey, you doing Jim? And then I watched
my car? Who is it? That's it? What am I gonna say?
Hey? What do you think of Fauci? I mean, what do
you what do you say to an anti vax wacko? I mean, you
know, I got I got nothing right? Yeah, you know what,
I'm not going to do that. You know you got to listen to what
they say, and you got to understand no, no, no, no
no, I'm not going to both sides it with a whack job. Right.
The problem is that there he doesn't do both sides even anymore. He's
not even like Joe Rogan, who like will entertain a conversation. You know,
not that I'm not that I'm pro Joe Rogan, but I'm saying he's
just like, no, this is how it is, and anybody else you're
absolutely wrong, and like you're you know sheep, if this is the way
it is, agreed, Ye, it's it's weird to see, you know,
a guy that I started stand up with, and you know, we
you know, we all have our own paths, and then to see like,
that's that's okay, that's the path you've chosen to be a grifter.
Good luck. Yeah, yeah, it sounds like your wife dodged a bullet.
I think so, But then she's stuck with my nonsense. So yeah,
so I'm not pleasant, So dad life, Yes, how's that?
How's that going? How has it softened your comedy in any way? Oh
no, no it has. This is off my comedy anyway. It my
son and I I know, I know we're parents. We all say this,
but I mean, he's the nicest person I've ever met in my life.
Like he's just a good dude, and he's kind and he's considerate artistic.
He's very artistics, not anymore, but he did. Yeah, he
would out of paper. He would make action figures, like if you if
you ordered a hey, I want for Christmas? I want to make an
action figure of Steph of Stephanie. Can Oliver do that? And then Oliver
would go, uh would charge you, uh ridiculously low price and uh and
that would make it and it looks just like her and it looks like an
action figure. It's the greatest packaging. It's amazing. It's really great that
like tells you what the character is and like it's real, like you're buying
it at Target. Where does he get that from? That's a great question.
Uh, it's not me, and it's it's not Danielle. I don't
know where he gets it from. Uh. But and he's also he's amazingly
funny. Uh. He's probably gonna go into this business, which I everything
in my power to, like, you know, there's other things, other
things out there, son, and uh, but I think it's in his
bones. Yeah, you know he comes from I mean, I'm a comic,
Danielle's a comic. His father, you know, law has a star
on the Walk of Fame. His grandfather or my father in law. He's
from Star Trek. Oh. Danielle's father is Walter Kynig, who was Checkov
on the original Star Trek. Wow. Okay, so you know sci fi
royalty and a great actor and so and my my mother in law, whos
since passed away, was a great actress. And my brother in law Andrew
was on Growing Pains. He was a great actor. So it's in Oliver's
blood. So it's like he, I mean again, we know how awful
this business could be, but I think he's going into it and I can't
fight it. Is he looking at colleges? He is, have you gone
on some college you have? That's big email holder? Yours? We have
I have twins, boy girl, twins seventeen. Oh they're seventeen, and
yeah, yes we're getting the Oh you're already here. You should. You're
touring so early. And it's like I went into a panic because I saw
a post on Facebook. Well I just took a tour like as a sophomore.
He's a junior. And I panicked, and Daniel and I booked a
bunch of tours. Yeah, as we get where have you gone? We've
done the UCS. We've done the Occidental, which is local, and I
think he's going on to Chapman, you know, film school. He wants
to go in to film school. Okay, so uh, it's it's it's
right, it is, it's interesting, it's you know. And to think
that they're going to be out there and there by themselves. Oh, I
don't like that. I'm going to be sad and lonely. Now. I
know. I wanted to be local. Listen. I wanted to I wanted
to live at guy. I wanted to experience college. I want him to
go, but I wanted to be local so that his dad, what he
said on a Sunday, can call me. Want to get together for lunch?
Yeah, and then I'm going to be the I'm gonna be the man
in Catching the Cradle where it's like there's he doesn't have time for me anymore.
Oh no, And yeah, I hope that would be nice more Occidental
or USC or even Chapman, which is a nervine. Yeah, so if
he's local, we can get together for lunch and then that would be nice.
Yeah. My kids want to go out of state, do they both
of them? Yeah? I want to get far away and do they want
to get into show business as well? My son wants to. He's been
doing podcasting for about five years. He does a sports show and called bench
Warmers bench Warmers and uh, and he wants to do sports broadcasting. Yeah,
yeah, so and then is there my friend Jason Bonnetti, who was
just the plum play guff for the White Sox and now he's just moved on
to the Tigers. He went to Syracuse for sports broadcasting, so I don't
know if that was his first choice. My husband went to Syracuse and my
brother went to Syracuse. Oh yeah, well it sounds like that's the spot.
Then maybe we'll see I think it's Syracuse. Yeah, well, you
have to let us know what happens with Oliver in college. He applies to
and gets into and I'm going to see you when I come to your podcast,
I think in January. But what so never not funny? Yes?
What else do you want to plug? Yeah? Called Jimmy's Records and Tapes,
where I uh, just kind of rant for ten minutes about my whatever.
The topic is my five favorite songs that feature the harmonica. So you're
back in the record business. I'm back of the bi uh. And that
didn't explode like I wanted it to. I thought that was going to go
viral and I'd be one of those dudes that you know, Uh, it
gets a couple of thousand views, but I enjoy doing it. And it's
called say it again, It's called Jimmy's Records and Tapes. Okay, cool,
It's just it's just dumb fun It's just me. It's my five favorite
uh you know, uh, movies about music or my five favorite I did
a five favorite Chicago songs or five favorite you know, songs that are horrible
but you still love them, you know, like like Coocomo. I love
that. I'm going to watch it. So is it on your website YouTube?
But the links on my website certainly? Yeah? Okay, So your
website is Jimmy Parter dot com. Okay, Jimmy part dot com. Yeh.
Never not funny, uh, which is absolutely true. You are never
not funny unless I'm talking very seriously, which I've said to have done this
morning, and I apologize you're talking about and really you're lying to my face?
Then he was very funny. You're full of lies. I was very
serious, and I took this interview very very seriously. Ship and Kaylin,
who doesn't laugh very easily. It takes a lot to make sure that actually
laugh over there. I was looking at him many times. He was he
was cracking up. All right. I don't need to be coddled. I
was just out of here. I don't care for that language, but all
right, I'm monitored, have been here. Thank you for having me.
Thank you so much, Jimmy, thank you. Yeah, my pustion.
Bye, he everybody, Bye, everybody. It's good letting go, Hm.