Tag: brett erickson

How To Live 101 with Andy Andrist

The Strongest Man I Know Delivers A Holiday Message

Andy Andrist has been through more than it would take to break most people. Every one of us has had some hardships and trials to deal with. Andy has had more than his share and then some and maintains a sense of humor, combined with a sense of purpose to face life”s hardest challenges in a way that should be a lesson to all of us.

Andy’s family back story includes nightmares of pedophilia, rape, a severely disabled father, hard core drug use and alcoholism, career disappointments, economic hardship and enough drama to fill an entire season of Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer combined.

One week prior to Christmas, his daughter was the victim of a smash and grab burglary, resulting in being robbed of presents intended for her students and having Andy’s car window broken with damages not covered by insurance deductibles. Merry Christmas. 3 days later he was diagnosed with having one of the more challenging cancers to treat. He handled it all with grace and his unique brand of dark humor.

On Christmas eve. he joined  me for the morning show to talk about his situation and how he is focusing on being at his daughter’s wedding as motivation and inspiration for beating his current Goliath. I am proud to know this man and call him a friend.

Oh and, he happens to be the single funniest comedian alive today.

Like most independent entertainers and normal workaday folks in the USA, Andy’s healthcare coverage only covers him when he doesn’t need it. The last thing he needs in his battle with cancer is stress about going deep into debt. Please help ease that burden.

Use Venmo or Paypal to send directly to andyandrist@yahoo.com

https://www.patreon.com/Issueswithandy

Transcript:

matt nappo 1:02:56
Where were we ah, there he is. He’s got some very close up thing going on. It will say Oh, whoa wait.

Andy Andrist 1:04:45
Holy fucking yeah the angle 30 pounds to your flannel.

matt nappo 1:04:51
is gonna say you look like you’re playing Santa nail. You swallowed Andy Andrist, Santa.

Andy Andrist 1:04:56
Yeah. I keep this I get the hat out for Do I do sort of like what you do for Christmas Eve, I haven’t done it for a few years. But it started as like a pitch on the man show is like, Let’s deliver a beer to the homeless. Like, it was like, you know, the beginning of one of the wars, and was sort of a, you know, timely pitch. And they know, they, they came up with every reason why we, you know, like, like, for instance, what if one of the host gets picked by a homeless guy? Well, if it’s Rogen, it’ll be fucking great TV.

matt nappo 1:05:31
I don’t know, I saw it on fear factor, and he was trying to break up a fight and he looked like a pussy, to be honest with you.

Andy Andrist 1:05:39
I doubt he would be like, down with get bit by a homeless guy, you know. Now, he just takes some horse medicine and he’d be fine. back then. So I don’t know, it was a few years after the man show. And now the you know, the pitch was going to, we’re going to deliver beer to the homeless, and then the idea grew. And then we’re going to like give them you know, disposable cell phones, they could call family, it turned into it would have been a pretty nice idea. And it never would got past the lawyers. So I was home and I had a bunch of shit beer, you know, leftover from summer, whatever. And I got it all in the freezer. And I went around and handed it in, I got a bunch of like the whiskies and you know, any booze that had been stored for a while that I wasn’t going to use fucking homeless people will, you know, they’re not going to go, oh, I can’t use this cooking brandy. No thing so but it was kind of a It was cool. And I did it, you know, it’s just gonna drive and and, you know, it’s, it’s like every red flag you could put up the, the cool part was she was getting out and hand and beard it you know, they think, oh, it’s gonna be somebody with a toothbrush and some soap or like, Hey, man, you want to get fucked up? I got some beer and some shots. And you know, and then I did it for years. And then I started adding food to it, thinking well, I’m getting camera shots and all the you know, I’m kind of exploiting them for my own entertainment purpose. So I pizza. And, and you know, so there’s like families or you know, there’s kids that are homeless and aren’t ready to start drinking. If your

matt nappo 1:07:20
Carl made the point this morning, and I agree that what do people for if you can’t use them for content, but the point about homeless people will take anything was made. I think last summer when you were handing out tuna fish sandwiches in the middle of the summer with no refrigeration after like 24 hours.

Andy Andrist 1:07:35
Well, those were the ones those were the ones they wanted what they you know, they cuz if you’re homeless, you’re already fucked. So you might as well get food poisoning, and call it good. Or as James James, my friend put together peanut butter sandwiches, which, uh, you know, if you’re homeless, you can put that away and have it, you know, the tunas. And I think this is why they were more popular is the tuna you just eat right away. Like, you know, I was presenting it and James was the one who had the idea and peanut butter sandwiches. And then I was like, fuck that. I’m gonna upgrade and go, Hey, would you rather have a peanut butter sandwich or a tuna? And they’re all almost all of them said, Yeah, tuna.

matt nappo 1:08:13
Wow. Wow. Well, good. You know, and that’s great that most people would think well, that’s just he’s just being kind of making fun of the situation, but you’re helping out and you. Yeah. humanitarian effort.

Andy Andrist 1:08:28
In fact, on that one, we really didn’t get many, you know, pictures. I went to this I got all these cans. You know, I haven’t been to the you get 10 cents a can and sign up, throw him away. I just bagged him up. And I had like six big garbage bags full of them. And thinking, well, maybe I’ll use some of this to finances pizza, homeless? Nah, fuck no, there’s these twin brothers. They’re like 6263 Even they’re just lanky fucking guys. And they work a grid, picking up cans. Like you’ll see one up here and the next street over the other one and they kick ass as far as you know, if you’re gathering cans you don’t like these guys, because they’re fucking the Trumps of can gathering and Trump’s the bad. You know, the Trump’s aren’t good at anything. So that’s not even the apt, but why would

matt nappo 1:09:21
they be Out Stealing cans from homeless people just need them just to make sure you don’t get anything

Andy Andrist 1:09:27
technical, or they run the machines where they cash them in and take the money and, you know, send the dog out. But so I’ve done that I’ve given this guy like a few bags of cans before I don’t know their twin brothers, so it could have given them to his brother, but a few years ago, and the guy just made me feel great for the fucking gesture. You know, it’s like, here’s, here’s 60 You know, dollar 60 And he’s like, but I gave him you know, probably 50 $60 worth of cans yesterday. And in the fucking guy, you know, he fucking squeal. You know? is just so happy and you know about it. And then you gave me a hug, I took a picture of, you know, the two of us, and I can’t, I’m not going to post it because I don’t want to say, Hey, I, you know, but it just, it just that gesture, you know, I had those cans, I didn’t really want to take them in, but I also knew, you know, there’s, these fucking guys will appreciate it. And some say they smoke crack, or crystal meth. And the teeth on this gentleman would suggest that, you know, they definitely some hard times or whatever. But if I’m out, you know, living on the streets with my brother, picking up cans, that’s just like winning the lottery. So when his brother shows up, they’re like, you know, they gotta go, I think you can only get $35 at a time. So they probably take them and you know, shifts and work, or kuntang or whatever. But at the end of it if they smoke, some crystal meth and that gives them a little, you know, rip and a happy buzz on the holiday, then fucking mission accomplished. Those guys aren’t gonna be here forever. And neither Meyer, any of us and it’s like this fucking disconnect between people like that train picture. It’s just some people. It’s like a humanity test. Some people see Oh, my God, these people are fucked. And you know, I don’t think I could live around a big homeless population like that, because I got fucking walking empathy.

matt nappo 1:11:22
But in LA, for the mantle, you had to live in LA, right?

Andy Andrist 1:11:26
Yeah, yeah. And it’s just like it was. Yeah, I brought one guy. I forget how. Anyway, I brought one guy into the man show a lot. Like, oh, yeah, we’re pitching it. You know, like, this is my actor I’m bringing in and I just let him use the facilities. You know, like, you know, and I think I call down wardrobe and got, you know, so they come in shave him wash him. I didn’t, you know, he did all that on his own. And then I just called wardrobe. And let’s say, you know, hey, we’re working on a thing. We need a pair 32 under underpants and some pants. And I do those kinds of things. You know, I usually like help somebody at someone else’s expense.

matt nappo 1:12:05
Yeah, my wife had a thing where she would and she still wants to do this a lot. bringing it home with people. Oh, they’re only going to stay, you know, till they get on their feet. Well, that ends up being a year, two year three years. And then they rob us. And, and we call the cops on him and the cops are mad at us for taking them in. Like basically, what Yeah, homeless people, what do you expect, you can’t be bringing these people in your house.

Andy Andrist 1:12:31
They weren’t born. They weren’t. I mean, most, for the most part, most of our born homeless, right? And regular people, and they just got fucked up along the way are like these brothers. You know, it’s like, I’ve been intrigued with these guys for years, like, you know, like me and my brother gathered cams back in the day, and he’d fucking rip me off and we’d fight. And eventually, both of us gravitated towards other aims in life. But like, these are twin brothers, they probably they look like they could have been athletes back in the day. I’m sure their parents didn’t see him going into fucking gathering up cans. And but if I was their parent, at least I would be like, god dammit, you guys are the best. You know, if they smoke math, it does not interfere with their fucking in fact, that might enhance their ability to get cans. You know, somewhere along the line avoid stop coming home for Christmas. And they, you know, they do what they do. And hell I you know, I I’m not going to judge anybody. I mean, if I was out on the streets, I would be looking for fucking quick. Hi.

matt nappo 1:13:39
Oh, yeah, I would I don’t know. Especially here. I mean, if I was on the streets, I would be in Key West. That’s the immediately go down, man. Yeah, you

Andy Andrist 1:13:51
want to Well, you want to go to the warm miss most liberal place you can find and that’s why a lot of them are in LA. or San Francisco or whatever. It’s, you know? Yeah, you know, I’m intrigued by you know, Midwest homeless. It’s like goddamn when health you know, yeah, I would have a sign that says need a bus ticket. There you start building incrementally but just me walking Cago Milwaukee being homeless in Milwaukee is like Fuck yeah. You know,

matt nappo 1:14:23
and scary thought holy.

Andy Andrist 1:14:27
Yeah. Yeah, he wants you know, you walk around with fucking brown feet. You know, fucking your hair gets all dreaded out. And you might just be a completely mentally unstable low life but Keywest you might get also be accepted as a fucking guru. You know, there’s so many fucking Ritchie’s there, you know, takes us one or two of them to to finance a sidewalk Jesus.

matt nappo 1:14:56
Well, I was just thinking I could probably walk into Westbeth but Oh, Baptist what is Westboro Baptists? And tell them I’m the second coming and they might even believe me. Yeah, I’m here.

Andy Andrist 1:15:09
Yeah, I went by that church. And there was a, like, I think there’s a Dairy Queen, something I saw excited to, like a woman with one leg, a big moo, moo. And she ordered food up there and ate, what she couldn’t, you know, like the she had an ice cream cone and bags of food. So she jammed the ice cream cone, and then did a wide swing around with her leg, the wheelchair and the bags, and you know, kind of, I didn’t order anything to eat, see, and hurry filled me up. And then across the street, there was a group of kids protesting tobacco. I was like, it must have been an off day or whatever. But it’s like, you know, they just like it’s, it’s part of their whole fucking thing. What are we protesting today? I don’t give a shit. Just hand me my sign. I’m against it.

matt nappo 1:16:01
You got to be pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel when you get to tobacco these days?

Andy Andrist 1:16:06
I know. Yeah. But it was like a group of kids. Like, they don’t give a fuck, you know, kids bought, you know, it’s like, you got to go back about 10 years to have kids who are genuinely genuinely upset or concerned about their parents smoking maybe 2030 years ago. You

matt nappo 1:16:25
know, I don’t want to make light of your situation. But you mentioned a homeless guy hugging you any concern that you’re already dealing with some health issues, and that might be not the best

Andy Andrist 1:16:39
for you? I haven’t, you know, I don’t know how I feel about the homeless and their backs, you know, but I did not ask for a VAX card. I should have said, Hey, man, you’ve been boosted. And I’m not talking about that shit. You inject yourself? The real shit? No, I didn’t. I thought about that early on. Like I have this a case called hobo Danny around. He calls himself hobo Danny, and I’m not sure what happened to hobo Danny, I think he may or may not have disappeared. And somebody went into his account, but early on in this thing. He saw me down there. And he’s like, oh, you know, I had a mask on. He goes, You’re not buying this bullshit. Are you? And I don’t know, man. And he. And then he wanted to smoke weed with me. And I was like, usually that would be fine. And maybe not. No, but yeah.

matt nappo 1:17:31
If it’s that kind of situation, I will roll you one and roll me one now.

Andy Andrist 1:17:39
Right now, for a while I had like that, you know, alcohol wipes by my pipes. Like

matt nappo 1:17:50
Did the doctor give you any kind of you can’t smoke weed shit or no?

Andy Andrist 1:17:55
Well, if you don’t ask, I don’t you know, like, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

matt nappo 1:18:00
Ask them Oh, quit. Yeah. Merry Christmas.

Andy Andrist 1:18:04
Christmas. Yeah, I feel like no one I did a lung scan. That was the last thing I did a couple like, early this week. And, boy, I’ve never been more nervous about test results in my life than okay, they’re, they’re taken. So far I got this cancer or what they’re calling a cancer and it’s in one tiny spot in my bio duck. But they’re taking a look at my lungs. And the lungs are the ones

matt nappo 1:18:33
I get it, man this

Andy Andrist 1:18:36
ship. And so, you know, she called up and I you know, I just kind of took it as Oh, she’s saying I’m fucked. I go, oh, god damn it. No, really? And she goes, No, no, this is good news. And I don’t even you know, she’s like, we did your lungs. And there’s, you know, there’s no I think she said there’s no malignant, you know, there’s no, whatever, but I just heard, you know, I was expecting the worst. So I just really, you know, because if my lungs or if there’s cancer anywhere else, you know, I’m gonna I’ve got a I haven’t started it yet. But I have a wish list for hospice. And if I find out I got cancer anywhere else, it’d be better to just get them the list early. Because some of that wouldn’t be hard to find. You know, horse tranquilizer sure ketamine and, you know, all the usuals but I might want to explore down the list a little.

matt nappo 1:19:33
Yeah. And call Rogen quickly and say, you know, what do I need? What do I do doc?

Andy Andrist 1:19:38
human growth hormones. You got anything to sprout hair up?

matt nappo 1:19:43
Well, that’s great. If you get a lung scan and the worst news they deliver is Oh, you got to switch to Indigo from sativa right.

Andy Andrist 1:19:53
And I have I have done a little that just so for, for sleeping. And I sleep all right. I or whatever but it’s like you know I haven’t really embraced that difference between I’m a sativa guy and I don’t get why you know but now that I want to just shut some shit down yeah indica is great I got an indica edibles and even a couple of green green indica buds

matt nappo 1:20:19
I’ll be honest with you, I’m thinking that I’m wired backwards with the sativa indica stuff because I get the opposite of what I’m supposed to get. So I’m I get with tea because I want to get creative and write music and stuff and all it does is put me to sleep I get the Indigo stuff and then all of a sudden I’m getting green Yeah, I’m like hybrid is the best bet for me.

Andy Andrist 1:20:43
I don’t run into it as much anymore but it used to just fucking infuriate me to go to a pot store. I know what I want. I know what today is the deals and all that shit and then somebody who’s like you know need to marijuana 101 class you know, what am I gonna feel? Is this one gonna, I’m looking for you know, and then they’ll go this little give your body like you know, just this one will take the edge off of my suicidal thoughts. So could you please get the fuck out of my way? You know, body high shear. This one. This one will really aid you know, if you’re writing a screenplay. This one will really punch it up in a green jar, you Fox Well,

matt nappo 1:21:29
this is kind of a one of the reasons I’ve obviously so most insignificant reasons, but you got to stick around because I am working on a screenplay that kind of you gave me idea for it. I was going to make you a executive co producer when I get a deal for

Andy Andrist 1:21:45
well, it’s easier like Rocky Sylvester Stallone stole a lot of this other this book club boxers story. Right and it probably would have been better for him if the real rocky had died. All right. Yeah. I come up with all of this. I forget the guy’s name but yeah, yeah, check. chaotic. You know, Chuck should assume Sylvester Yeah, it’s good. That’s pretty amazing. Like he took he took this guy’s you know the the beats of this guy’s story and turned it into a fucking movie franchise and never gave fucking Chuck anything.

matt nappo 1:22:26
Yeah, he was doing church tours. Chuck at camp. What’s nurse something like that? Yeah. But he was doing church towards giving inspirational talks about his how we and they were building him as the real rocky.

Andy Andrist 1:22:40
Right. Yeah, like there’s that real Kramer know what a fuckin sad thing that is. Touring in support of being a fucking footnote.

matt nappo 1:22:55
The sign I never saw the sign before the signing of the issues with Andy it looks like it says Dr. Seuss with Andy. Is that new? I never saw that before

Andy Andrist 1:23:06
it’s been up there. I don’t know how to frame my shit and Shaylee goes it looks at when I first read moved over about four feet. Shaylee said it looked a little busy because it worked for you. Like it’s you know

matt nappo 1:23:21
you look perfect today like I’m sure Charlie’s gonna be saying well the lighting was perfect. I know what the hell

Andy Andrist 1:23:27
yeah, I know I haven’t I have a heat dish and then the lights askew but it’s yeah that morning. I don’t know they they timed it so that I have either fucking direct sunlight in my face. Or you know darkness so yeah, if they we I say we do it in the morning.

matt nappo 1:23:45
Your call is coming back in for considering everything you look fucking healthy man.

Andy Andrist 1:23:51
Well that’s what uh that’s the fucking Stan you know cuz my liver was getting fucked with all this whatever and so I was kind of in liver failure and there are no liver failures. Their liver to do a lot more than others and then they fucking burn out.

matt nappo 1:24:12
It’s all a learning curve for you. It’s all a journey and a learning experience for your liver I find that there are two liver failures they all do like all of us they just learned

Andy Andrist 1:24:23
at first your liver fails I don’t know your thoughts

matt nappo 1:24:28
so that that show you did way way you got hammered. That tended to be a kind of a blessing

Andy Andrist 1:24:36
was kind of a hidden suicide attempt. Because my liver was severely fucked people around me were noticing that my skin was yellowing and and and then the guy says you want to do a shot and yeah and then not only did I want to do that when I wanted to revisit my fucking alcoholic roots and and go all in. So yeah, I got fucking completely blackout drunk fell that you know, it’s like, okay, yeah, you know, it’s like, you gotta You gotta listen to, to least the fucking basics. Yeah, okay my skin, like I could Google yellowing skin and find out I was having liver problems, you know, but and I don’t I’m not even sure I want to count that show cuz if I don’t do another show is that my last Oh god,

matt nappo 1:25:23
that was my same thought like no, this is the reason you have to beat this just to do another show to get more

Andy Andrist 1:25:29
or just jump on an open mic on this week’s but yeah, I did it open for Billy Wayne Davis and I’ll go ahead and count that as my last thing, if that’s what you know if I don’t get better or whatever, but I you know, it sounds sounds like I’ve got a pretty good odds of, of, you know, continuing this drama

matt nappo 1:25:51
on I have a good feeling about the outcome of this thing. But my point is, if you hadn’t done that and hadn’t crashed really hard at that last gig, you probably wouldn’t have gotten to the doctor and probably would not have discovered this until later. And that makes my chances worse.

Andy Andrist 1:26:07
Well, I think I was in the process to I don’t I don’t remember where I was, but I think I was at the very least had the MRIs scheduled and stuff. But, you know, yeah, bad, bad, you know. So it’s kind of fitting to that I would do a show for about six people and then fall down blackout drunk in front of, it’s like, that’s kind of a bookend with my career. That’s how it started. I forget there was a town and maybe billings or so town in Montana, where they really just didn’t care about the opening act or really anything but they just wanted to see the opening act should hammered. So they kept sending shots, and I did them all. And I remember closing with a gun, I’m gonna fucking puke and I ran to the bathroom. So I guess it would be a nice book and

matt nappo 1:26:57
yeah, we can’t think of that. But I do have some good news for you because and I know a lot of people gonna be like trying to be played doctor who never went to medical school and all this stuff. But I actually know some doctors who are very prominent and have worked in with the Whipple procedure. Yeah.

Andy Andrist 1:27:17
And I don’t like something that would happen in like a like some roller derby. Shit. Mr. Whipple, the whip. You know, the big fucking hogs. Grab the skinny girl and flinger into somebody else. That’s what it sounds like the whipple surgery in a maneuver. But yeah, and I talked to Coach, he’s an opera head coach of Auburn track is a friend of a friend. And he, he had the surgery done. He had every symptom, everything, every procedure and every symptom that I’ve had, and he sounds a lot like JB Smoove and buddies, I’ve heard he’s a religious guy, and you know that, but I had a good conversation with him. And he’s like, and I kept expecting a motherfucker. He was like, we are that we lucky ones. We are the lucky ones. Let me tell you that we the motherfucking lucky ones. It helped. And I think I said she at some point. And then I was like, oh, yeah, that’s just cuz he sounds like JB smooth. He wants to hear me, me go on, like motherfuckers really, you know, they’re gonna remove that motherfucker out of my fucking bio. Part of my fucking this. But he had all that done about two or three years ago. And, and, you know, he made it sound like, you know, no big deal, you know, go in there and he he’s a bit of an Exaggerator so he was like up in a couple of weeks. I’m like, okay, maybe a month, a month and a half. But it was comforting to hear somebody that had just gone, you know, gone through it and, you know, is on either side of it and doesn’t have diabetes and any of these other things that you know, came up in the discussion,

matt nappo 1:29:03
right? Well, it used to be a tough thing but now they say it’s so precise that the the only the biggest concern is going to be you afterwards making sure you behave yourself and don’t rip because that becomes a really you know, a tender area and you can’t do anything physical and you got to you know, not go out and piss in your yard in the middle and or even

Andy Andrist 1:29:25
know coke. I’m not going to ask him that. But uh, yeah,

matt nappo 1:29:31
somebody there to make sure you behave yourself.

Andy Andrist 1:29:34
Well, that’ll just I think my kids gonna bounce in for a bit but I mean, it’s gonna it sounds like a long recovery and at least you know like laying around and shit so you know, try not to binge watch every thing that’s available right now. Because I figure you know, yeah, I am just going to be kind of like fuck on a shelf for a bit and and, you know, I envision like a fucking you know, cabin overlooking the mountains and snow dropping and stuff and artists on my fucking couch couple of cats trying to squeeze me out of my spot

matt nappo 1:30:09
you have Stephen King right your recovery that’s right

Andy Andrist 1:30:15
I definitely could use a fucking hobbling I gotta find that cable from my phone in a minute here, but uh, well, that’s I was trying to get on the computer and shit. But then I, you know, I’m a podcast so sometimes you got to jump on other shit. Right? But I know how it goes. And I got a few minutes of like charge here but uh, if I hop up and run in there, grab a cable and you can fill the air with Christmas thoughts.

matt nappo 1:30:46
You can do that I can actually sing a song. Alright,

Andy Andrist 1:30:49
yeah. Which I just heard a couple heard again this morning and last night and I’m honored sir.

matt nappo 1:30:56
You wrote it I just put the words in order every every word and that song came out he

Andy Andrist 1:31:01
Yeah, well. Yeah. And I was fucking Oh, they’re dead. I dropped out I dropped this but that fell into there but uh, I I was like that was when I first got the stand and I could eat again. And and then I like fucking for some reason I was just I needed macaroni salad. I went to a Hawaiian place a couple of times. And then I would go to the deli and you know nothing that makes you feel dirtier than ordering macaroni a tub of macaroni salad and I tried to go just a spoonful and then I got maybe a little more yeah don’t stuff at all. Okay, that’s good. And then I go home. And one time I woke up at like three in the morning and and I went to this the little fridge and I didn’t even have a spoon. I just started fingering macaroni salad and my face like and I don’t even really care for that shit. So that’s why I thought there must be some sort of white trash fuckin cancer that needs to have macaroni salad fed to it to lose it.

matt nappo 1:31:56
I was thinking you could because you’re a mushrooms in the mac and cheese type of guy. Substitute right now so

Andy Andrist 1:32:03
I guess yeah, I’ll probably do more starting on hallucinogenics a little bit next week or two just again well I mean it’s I don’t have any real thing anything to take the edge off and and here’s the thing about this is I had a few times where I got a motion you know crying or whatever. And then i i Go what you know thinking what am I fuckin Who am I crying for? You know my crying because I didn’t dying my it’s a surprise. Like I’ve known you know, in fact, I’ve had suicidal thoughts. Oh, shit. All right. I’ll be right back. All right,

matt nappo 1:32:42
be right back. We’ll see if we get him ties. I want to play this song. I’m going to hate to get fucking serious with Andy but it’s okay to cry for yourself is what I’m going to tell him when he gets back if he gets back. It’s definitely okay for that. I think we shortchange ourselves on it should a lot. Is this the one yeah, this is the one I’m gonna play the song. This is a song that Andy wrote. I put the music to it and didn’t know he was writing it. Linda Allen had said Andy wrote about the maca macaroni salad thing that he had some kind of low a white trash low rank cancer window read that into somebody’s got to make a song about write a song about this white crash low rank cancer blues and I took that as an assignment this is it.

Got the blue yellow, red and blue Job flow red cancer blue it ain’t no

Yay I had to do that everything gonna be alright, cuz I know everything’s gonna be alright. Yeah. Well, before I don’t want to keep you serious because I don’t want to get emotional here, just for your sake, but I want to let you know that it’s perfectly okay to cry for yourself, man. Um, you need to just fucking let it out. It’s the healthiest thing you can do. And I

Andy Andrist 1:36:48
you know, I yeah, I just I analyze everything so when I cry I’m like who am I? Is this for me? Why am I doing this to me? You know, I’ve had you know there I don’t have a big bucket list of things I’m hoping you know, like, I wish things had gone a little easier. But there’s no reason to fucking carry on but I think it’s you know, I mean, the first thing that popped in my head was Oh man, I’m not going to be here for my daughter’s wedding. And, and all that but we went and saw Ghostbusters and and now I can see that even if I can’t be at her wedding. We can just get the guy who was the warden and Shawshank to play my body and then animate my head. And it’ll seem like I’m right there.

matt nappo 1:37:33
Well, Chad’s got a no good taxidermist. No,

Andy Andrist 1:37:37
y’all Yeah, Chad

matt nappo 1:37:38
could stuff yeah, we can. We can have you stuffed and like oh, you my

Andy Andrist 1:37:43
boy. This is a dude. Nobody Oh,

matt nappo 1:37:47
it’s got a voice. Yeah, he’s

Unknown Speaker 1:37:49
a crooner. And yeah, that’s how I knew I was in sang was getting to me as I called him. I said nobody wants to hear your whining you can’t and I shoved him out of my room. Spent the last week make it up to him like

matt nappo 1:38:07
oh yeah, I know all about that kind of stuff. Those Oh, I feel regret now for for the way I treated you

Andy Andrist 1:38:16
see nigh on everything, it’s like 17 years old but yeah, I mean, you know, I’ve very rarely ever been to him. And I felt that’s all for a cat man. Yeah, and he he kind of all he does is shift it’s sort of annoying but I you know, he’s like my old man he I let him out in whatever time it wants to go out there and then I just go look for him a few minutes later with us spotlight you know Oh, he’s got he’s fucking you know he he goes out and he just stands there and he doesn’t you know it’s like I thought you needed to piss you or you know nothing

matt nappo 1:38:52
Wow, no, my cats my wife is the cat lady. And we we have half cat but if we let them out they’re gone for like two months. So we don’t let them out ever they don’t run

Andy Andrist 1:39:03
Yeah, always we’ve always had you know even my my well my family growing up we’ve always had cats and they’ve always been in and out. Yeah, they like my cat cats will go out and well not Mr. squishes anymore but the other one you know murder shit. And it’s a bummer but it’s you know, see a cat a little cat, carrion and big rat and then and then about 20 minutes later it’s on your lap rubbing up against your face and and I couldn’t do the rat thing even close to me, but it seems better once removed. I just

matt nappo 1:39:40
off the guy. Let me give you a hug.

Andy Andrist 1:39:43
Yeah, yeah, I know. I know all about the Black Plague.

matt nappo 1:39:50
Wow. You mentioned before you’re a podcaster This is a surprise to me. I didn’t know you have a podcast.

Andy Andrist 1:39:57
Well, I must think so. I’m on One.

matt nappo 1:40:00
Right. But the question and I know this is a small concern to you, but people we count on that podcast, honestly, to keep their mental health in check. Are they expecting one today?

Andy Andrist 1:40:14
Yeah, we got one today. And I, I think we, we, Erickson mentioned that we’re going back up on YouTube for a while. I mean, we’re just because we kind of pulled it and without any notice. And, and and then we kind of, we thought we’d do more clips and shed or whatever we did, we just kind of lost our audience on YouTube to kind of grow our Patreon. And right now, we’re going to just ask that Patreon subscribers, if that, you know if they can, they want you to continue on, but we’re also going to make it free for YouTube for the foreseeable future. And, and hopefully, we’ll carry on and it won’t turn into you know, Andy’s health crisis updates, because I don’t, you know, I don’t want to get in, you know, I know how that would be as a listener. So I don’t want to you know, but it is, you know, I talk about what’s going on in my world. And that’s kind of overwhelmed my, my thinking for a while, but, uh, yeah, hopefully, we’ll get back to some fucking, you know, some fun ribbing, and move away from this, you know, the scare I had, which, you know, like I said, I think I’ll be fine after the surgery. So,

matt nappo 1:41:26
gonna get tired, you’re gonna get tired of talking about it, because everybody’s so concerned about you, they’re gonna ask you about it every time they see you.

Andy Andrist 1:41:33
That’s why I kind of wanted to, you know, like, I call Doug. You know, I called Doug, one to lighten the mood in the car with me and my daughter, you know, and we weren’t, it was just, you know, I had Erickson was one of them. And on and you know, Texas, Erickson, he’s a lot more, you know, you know, into his feelings, or whatever. And, and she goes, was that Doug? And I go, No, no, and let me call Doug. And I called Doug and I go, haha, I got cancer. Aha. He goes, Oh, you want a podcast? And, you know, I thought I could either, you know, not say anything to, you know, to a bigger audience, and have people you know, hear about it through the grapevine. And then they’ll call you know, like I talked to in men a couple, you know, people will hear about it. So I’d rather be in front of it, and just say, I got cancer. And here’s what’s going on, then to get you know, to feel those phone calls where I, I don’t mind the phone calls. I just don’t want to inform you know, like, here it is, here’s what’s going on on it. You know what, just listen to Doug’s podcast, I cover the beats on it, and then call me back. But, uh, yeah, so it’s like, you know, it’s like anything, like if you get it Dewey, or whatever, and people hear about that, and then that’s all your conversations or whatever. So hopefully, you know, people can want to talk to me about stuff can move past those, you know, that shit and just, you know, whatever they need to tell me you know, however, however this like I heard from Travis Lipski, I haven’t heard from him for ever and and I didn’t know who it was for quite a while and you know, so it’s like, you know, when when you hear this kind of thing about a friend or somebody that you you like or remember, or whatever, you know, you do want to kind of check in with them and I don’t mind that because I really don’t have a whole lot you know, going on right now.

matt nappo 1:43:27
Yeah, you Doug sounds like he reminded the his reaction reminded me of a friend I had and he just passed away but my friend Jeff when I got caught my another friend had a mail order bride from Russia, and I would do an acoustic show and this mail order bride from Russia did not know protocol, and she was she took off her panties and was rubbing her vagina all over my bald head on stage and my wife got the pictures of it. And I was furious and I got caught you know what there’s a girl rubbing it on your head and I went over to my friend’s house I said Laurie found found out about the girl rubbing the twine on my head the first thing he did was he went and got a bottle of bourbon and in April and put it right in front of me so you know we don’t need to talk about this. Okay

Andy Andrist 1:44:15
yeah yeah, no no need to keep this drum all bottled up. It’s talking about a high rate of speed. Yeah.

matt nappo 1:44:29
So are you planning on like putting getting a lot of shows in the can before you think totally you don’t let your fans feel like letting them down but people need to hear from you.

Andy Andrist 1:44:41
Yeah, I think until January 20th. I’ll be feeling normal. Right I can you know, weed for a while I wasn’t getting high so I you know, I I still smoked weed but I just wasn’t getting high. Yeah. Change when I go This stent and all this other poison leaked out of my system. So I can definitely, you know, smoke weed and, and, and, you know, talk about shit that pops in my head and hopefully I won’t be like, you know, what was me you know, here’s another thing, you know, I think I think I’ve, you know, they’ve established I don’t have or at least to be a surprise if I have it in other parts, you know, they’ve done enough scan. So really, you know, it feels like, I get the surgery, it’ll save my existence. And, and and then that’s it, you know that, like, they’ll eradicate what was in there and then I’ll be like, you know, back to semi healthy human being. And also know that my lungs are clear. My livers clear. So no, on the other side of this if I want to really, you know, drink heavy,

matt nappo 1:45:56
no, no, stop right there. This is an excuse like to go 90 miles an hour everywhere you go through life now and just think,

Andy Andrist 1:46:06
what if my reputation like my reputation is I’m a fall down drunk? And I’m more of a lightweight, but what if, what if I get on the other side of this and I can really change people’s perceptions like, not only am I a drunk, but I can also drink a huge amount of alcohol

matt nappo 1:46:25
you got a bad attitude with the with the long term vision of how this is gonna go, you should come out expecting to be another world champion drug user, you should just do what you need to, to enjoy the experience without getting to the point of where you’re going to get yourself in this position.

Andy Andrist 1:46:45
Right? Well, I mean, you know, in one, two, though, I mean, like the weed that we have been smoking weed since I was, you know, a teenager. And pretty much, you know, escalated through the years I haven’t curbed it. It’s gotten more and more. So I was definitely surprised to hear that my lungs were okay. And that’s, you know, fucking big tobacco. I don’t

matt nappo 1:47:07
mind on I don’t I can hear the wheezing at night, right?

Andy Andrist 1:47:11
Yeah, and I was like, I don’t feel like I’m, I’m in shape. Like you know, I you were talking about the runs that five K’s and I used to do 10 K’s all the time. Or not all the time, but a couple three for a year. And then I did completed marathons and stuff and now I can hear myself breathing heavy to walk up to the mailbox. And fortunately, I fought the war on the mail. So that I don’t have to go down the hill and then climb back up. But um, it’s you know, I felt like, you know, there was a part of my body that I ruined besides my penis. I would say my lungs. Yeah. And I haven’t I haven’t ruined my penis. I’ve just made it stronger. For wind resistant.

matt nappo 1:47:56
I don’t know how you how you do that. But hypochondria is contagious, you know and so everybody hears you saying well my skin was changing color and I had Batman I had liver problems are the big one now is I don’t want people thinking because I got a bet because she said I wasn’t getting high and this has happened to me and I don’t want people just assuming that if you smoke a ball and don’t get a buzz from it oh my god.

Andy Andrist 1:48:22
Well, you might want to check the THC content you might have got CBD you know there’s like a troubleshooting thing you know, how are you plugged in? Okay, so Okay, well alright then my next thing is you probably have cancer

matt nappo 1:48:40
hypochondria definitely is the most contagious disease going I mean I hear things and I’m always I’m looking at my skin color now. Do I need to change the lighting or am I getting sick?

Andy Andrist 1:48:51
Yeah, yeah and I really didn’t even notice it you know and my daughter come home and you know said I look like one of the Simpsons which is the go to for any white man and he’s turned jumped this Yes, yes. We do look like Simpsons and no we don’t like to be made fun of please stop yellow hate directed at White people who have liver failure. Need a subset? You know? Yeah, we’re not Simpsons. We’re alcoholics. And

matt nappo 1:49:21
so what if there is any benefit to you being having to be concerned with your own personal situation right now? Is it distracting you from any all the bullshit in the news? And yeah,

Andy Andrist 1:49:33
I stopped I don’t give a shit. Good. I like Rachel Maddow is tidbits and you know her storytelling and I don’t give a shit. I’d still like to see the Trump’s fucking tortured or something. But, you know, it’s like, you know, it’s kind of I guess it’s like every man for himself. When you find out you’re, you know, potentially got something that’s going to kill you in, you know, a reasonable amount of time. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It’s like that and I’m in, I’m less likely to put up with shit from people. Like there’s a fucking hippie at this place me and my daughter, we’re waiting in line. It’s a real narrow, you know, and only probably two people should be in there waiting. And there was me and my daughter, we’re in there. And then this dude comes in, he’s like, joins the line. He’s talking to this young hippie girl, and he’s an old hippie dude. And he’s like, has a scarf and he’s like, just it’s not even about to go Hey, man. mask up, bro. You know, I mean, you know, it’s just, you know, I’m in a fucking bucket now. I can’t get fucking sick from this shit. And this guy was like, he kept talking up this girl and he just and I go, I go, I see your fucking nose Wavy Gravy. And then I go, you know, mask up, bro. That’s like, Here I am, like fucking confronting somebody on the ship. But I was like, you know, I gotta wear a mask. Everybody in here is wearing a mask. The people behind there. They got mask on. And this fucking guy thinks what he has to say to this. He said, It was like, I just moved to Eugene. But it just felt like destiny. Well, I live in Eugene and I didn’t want you to fucking change your destiny to get the fuck out of it. So I he stepped over to look at something and then both me and my kid wedged him out. So now he went from being second in line to fourth. And he just looked around and then he laughed, and he wasn’t gonna let it go.

matt nappo 1:51:27
But I’m gonna channel Erickson for a moment here. What he would say to you, I think and this is you definitely don’t need COVID But one thing you need even less than COVID is an ass beating from some white trash white dude. Yeah, you know?

Andy Andrist 1:51:45
Yeah. Walk away. And liver failure. Cancel my belly but I can still need an agent if he’s asked me you know you just grabbed a Husker that fucking hair that’s you know attached to a ball. How’s it even hanging in there anyway? Got a fucking bullet hanging from a bond spot I yard that down there it’s in and then kick. No,

matt nappo 1:52:13
no fighting because it’s not whether you can put a hurting on him. That’s not what I’m

Andy Andrist 1:52:20
what people fight cancer in different ways. And maybe fully fuckin hippie refuses to look out for my safety and other people’s safety. That’s fighting cancer,

matt nappo 1:52:30
right? I’m not gonna compare this to cancer at all. But I think you’re onto something there because I’ve had severe sciatica, where I couldn’t walk, and somebody pissed me off. And all of a sudden I was ready to fight them and get that adrenaline rush. And when it was done, the sciatica was gone.

Andy Andrist 1:52:45
Yeah. And this is off subject. But one time my, my daughter came back, she’s went to Colorado University, and she was at a football game and we were in I was wearing Colorado gear. She was and it was an Oregon Duck Game. Colorado, lose a close game. But this guy in front, my daughter two rows down, kept heckling back to her, you know, like I’m and then and he just won’t let it go. And then at some point, my daughter goes, What do you want to fucking fight me, you piece of shit. I’m a girl. And I was like, oh, so proud of her. And but then you have a you know, it’s like, when you say that you should have a plan. And you know, not that he would have needed it. But you know, because I was there. And I will fight anybody. If I have uphill position. You know, bleachers that you know, because I was already planning to throw a shoulder into this guy and knock him about six rows down. That’s how I like you know, I visualized fights like, you know, I don’t get in. I haven’t been in a fight and a long time. I can’t even remember, but I plan it. You know, like, they’ll grab that guy’s hair, shocking him down, kick him in the balls and then drag it. It’s like I was like four steps ahead. And this guy’s still deciding between vegan options. Wow. Uh, you know, don’t put that fuck I’m serious here.

matt nappo 1:54:08
I never had the luxury to plan it and I used to get into a lot of fights in the day and I thought about the number of ass kickings I got in my life. Add them all up. It would be I should be dead from the amount of ass kicking I can I yeah,

Andy Andrist 1:54:25
I didn’t. Well, I was a shitty or inattentive, defensive back. That’s the word for it. I was inattentive. And I didn’t always cover my guy perfectly or whatever. But you know, I had other shit going on, or whatever. But I played special teams. I love playing kicking team work and even kick receiving team. Because you could just that’s that and that’s how like if I was at a group of friends and there was going to be trouble. I always look for somebody not necessarily involved in the play. You know, somebody who’s like mouthing off but has a say had you know it’s like a sucker punches you know what I do like in in the kicking team, I would always deliver a big hit. And like the one the kind where the coach or watching film going that’s the way you hit. I was hitting a guy who was 30 yards away from the play and not watching it’s like that scene in waterboy

matt nappo 1:55:24
Oh, froze up. Oh, why,

Andy Andrist 1:55:30
and had no chance of getting hit and I would fucking level that guy not top or fucking the part of the play, but that’s how I would fight in a situation it’s like, you know, or anything is like I scan it look for the fucking the one that I could take down. And that’s who I’m going to fucking hit if it gets into it.

matt nappo 1:55:52
Well, I guess that’s the safe approach, but it never worked out that way for me. Before he talked I forgot I wanted to mention this today on the program, but you brought up psychedelics before, and the guy who called them before was with me 51 years ago today. I know this you know where you were the first time you took a psychedelic 51 years ago today we yeah, my did lie.

Andy Andrist 1:56:17
with some friends and cool a couple mushrooms didn’t really know what it was we went to like a Fred Meyers and, you know, I’ve learned that you don’t want for being high. Remember, like dogs that I could understand that dogs were communicate, you know, like I was really in tune with. Okay, that dog saying this and then the dog down the hills responded with that. And then he’s telling the dog down the hill that that was? And then I really do them again for years. I don’t know why they just said you know, we gave them to me. Yeah, and then I and then kind of as an

matt nappo 1:56:58
end up grabbing some Wi Fi troubles. Yeah. Anyway, 51 years ago today and

Andy Andrist 1:57:05
stuff in your head, just kind of, you know, demanding answers all at once or whatever. So you know, I now I can talk myself out of a bad trip and move. noodley

matt nappo 1:57:19
you know what, Andy, I’m going to try putting you out of the room and bringing you back in. Hopefully this works. We’re having some Wi Fi trouble here. Let me see if this works. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s better. Yeah, we were having Wi Fi trouble. I fixed okay.

Andy Andrist 1:57:32
Yeah. But, yeah, like I you know, so I like you as a kid. I, you know, that amazes me, like, you know, if I would have gone that route, I don’t, you know, because I like the exploration in the learning curve of how to do it, you know, and maybe if I had done it as a youngster, I wouldn’t have appreciated it, you know, but I used to think if I do any hallucinogenics it’s going to be I’m going to find a ledge and I’m going to jump off it. I’m going to freak out. I’m gonna cry and I’ve done all that. But now I kind of go get a hold of yourself, man. rein it in. And then I can have a good time on the other end of it, but it’s like kind of, it’s like kind of challenging your brain it’s not like getting it to me it’s like challenging your brain to to follow the fucking the light path and not get distracted.

matt nappo 1:58:20
Yeah, well, I haven’t done it since 1987, anything like that. But well,

Andy Andrist 1:58:25
this year this year, and I’m saying this year at Panamint in you know, maybe you’re in an RV, or whatever, but we’re going to do it up big this year to Panama and it’s a perfect place to do hallucinogenic for anybody but uh you know, for

matt nappo 1:58:43
me No, I wanted I offered to pick up Craig in Albuquerque this year. I was going to go this year I had every plan on going and I asked Craig if you want me to pick you up and he said I can’t I’ll be back with those guys. Don’t tempt me and I’ll be back on the horse I’m doing mushrooms with him

Andy Andrist 1:58:59
Yeah, well maybe you’re in a better spot now Craig

matt nappo 1:59:04
but if you got if you guys do it again this year I’m definitely gonna go I got talked out of it by people. My cuz my Yeah, I was gonna drive cross country and they like your age. You’re gonna drive I don’t want to fly. A mask on was not my thing.

Andy Andrist 1:59:20
Your age you can stop at any place and get discounts let me throw out my AARP card here and get a 15% off our breakfast. Yeah, you eat early. You go to bed early. You know? Yeah, I’d say traveling old is the way to go.

matt nappo 1:59:44
Yeah, that

Andy Andrist 1:59:47
nobody wants to wake you and arrest hurry to rape you.

matt nappo 1:59:52
That’s not true. I had a 96 year old lady told me the other night and I’m sure if she could do what I wanted to

Andy Andrist 1:59:59
do. You won’t find yourself Rest here in Topeka.

matt nappo 2:00:05
Yeah, so but the thing about Panama, I think you got a book now if you really want to get a cabin or something, because

Andy Andrist 2:00:10
No, when, whenever we decide is, that’s what creates the demand. You know, I mean, if we we say it’ll be this week that you know, because I think it would be a great sitcom to just to see the inner workings of the crew and what goes on there on a day to day because it’s fucking fascinating. I don’t think anything goes on there until you know, there’s a group like ours, and then, you know, then they fire it up. But I feel like it’s almost like a doormat, you know, like that. It’s like, when you go well, I went, I went into the Mustang or ranch or whatever, and how they, you know, it’s like, you walk in, and then they all show up and present themselves or whatever. But you know, I would like to be in Not that I’d watched that stupid show, the cat house or whatever. But it’s more interesting to me what goes on when they’re not out? You know, here we are. You know, I’d love to hear the interview. I know that show was they showed you what they wanted to show you. One time I was driving through back from probably Panamint party or Vegas and and there was a horror horror house. I you know, that’s a crude term for it, or whatever. That’s what it is. Yeah, it was a hoarder house. And they advertised showers for truckers and, and breakfast. So and it was like 430 in the morning, open 24 hours. So I went in and hung out and I had a great time just having coffee and watching the You know, the four o’clock shift complain about the morning crew, you know, they don’t even wipe to come off of the walls, or whatever. And then when the tired old hag, there was she was served the coffee and behind the counter. And then I go I think I’m gonna go the shower. And then she asked, like, threw us like a fucking raspy cigarette voice company. And I wasn’t sure if she was on, you know, like she’s bringing up well, maybe, or it was PR. Either way I declined because I you know, it wasn’t there for making love. Or killing time. You know, and then having a nice breakfast, but that’s, you know, that’s what I like to hang out for, you know? Oh, that one time I went to Florida strip club with Doug’s mother and the dollar store and we were hanging outside waiting for the pussycat lounge to open. And when it did, there is a chick with a mullet. A lot of bruising. not blaming, you know, I’m not saying her old man beat her ass, but she did. And she had the old school aerobics Reebok shoes on and she got up and had her fucking floppy tits out. While she was cleaning the like she removed her top to wipe the pole down and stuff. Damn it, you know and excellent. Imagine being in a more a better strip. You know, like, I’m not a gentleman. And I don’t buy into the Oh, the gentleman’s in in the VIP lounge. I want to see a chick who’d been slugged around a little bit wiping off the pole with sitting also had a cigarette. Dang. I was like, I don’t need to see the rest of the crew here. I’ve gotten everything I need out of this.

matt nappo 2:03:25
I’m pretty sure that’s a sublime song. Yeah.

Andy Andrist 2:03:30
Yeah. And parts of that weekend were told in one at Doug’s books. Mother was holding the cocaine and

matt nappo 2:03:38
just a line just hearing the line. I remember going to a strip club in Florida with Doug’s mother. It’s just sent me like into Oh, yeah.

Andy Andrist 2:03:46
Well. We had I think it was like Keywest. And when there was three shows, one I did real well. And then the middle one was a people were threatening to get me. And like Doug jumped up there on stage that offend me. It was like, I was being heckled by Haitians, Cubans and fucking Irish cops. And that and that was only like, that was it. They’re like, 12 people. There’s three groups of four that were all hated me. And But Doug got up there yelled at the audience. And then he goes, Do you want to do any more time and I go fuck, no. And then he leans in and he goes, we’ve got coke and mothers holding

matt nappo 2:04:26
another line that has never been said,

Andy Andrist 2:04:29
I know. So yeah, like, you know, my mother was sober as far as I knew. And then Doug said she had cocaine so like, a mother. Let’s do some coke and went into the bathroom while Doug was trying to tame down the the uprising and did some big bump. She, she was like, you know, either rookie added or hadn’t held a bag in a long time. It was like really? Another one. All right, sure.

matt nappo 2:04:55
Oh my god. Imagine this stuff. Yeah flat Florida strip club alone I mean Florida strip club is all you got to say. I mean those two elements bring you to a very good picture but

Andy Andrist 2:05:11
yeah and 11am to you know before they even pretend to have left

matt nappo 2:05:18
well only thing that can make it a little bit more busy tell me it was a Sunday morning

Andy Andrist 2:05:23
I know Sunday was yeah Sunday I remember the regret regret and be enormous. Fucking yeah guilt that Sunday morning was and that was probably Thursday morning.

matt nappo 2:05:39
Well, you know, that’s what they that’s why they go to church on Sundays. You know, they build up all the sin and all week long and then they got to go and tell somebody that sorry.

Andy Andrist 2:05:49
Yeah. I just remember dropping off a friend made that night that wrestled with on the floor of the club, like old school style, you know, on fours and all that and and then I dropped this person off at a trailer she wanted to be dropped like up the road. Oh, did I say she was probably could have been a she I don’t know gender. I don’t like to label people. But the person often I didn’t like skywriting, but it was in a circular and it’s and then it said God loves you and it had a happy face. It was like that was like kind of like above that trailer. Wow Yeah. Wow. So

matt nappo 2:06:33
that’s what made it made you the believer in faithful

Andy Andrist 2:06:37
religion. That’s how I knew it was Sunday Sunday in Florida full of cocaine and this is the perfect time to drop some fucking cryptic bullshit above a trailer

matt nappo 2:06:51
well, they knew they wouldn’t know which shell it to go to to which is really telling in itself like super cheap. Hey Shay. And again I don’t want to label people but I’m guessing he or she whichever it was or in between must have a this situation going on every Sunday that the guy with the plane the god guy with the plane knew exactly what

Andy Andrist 2:07:11
to do with Dr. Martinez team has trailer the messages that she was at a show and had this dude who was like a friend and the message is this guy blew up her phone what that I heard were fucking fabulous. They went you know I’m a nice guys is worried about you and to you. You call me back ground you fucking cut you off. It’s always the way it is with us self identifying nice guys. Nice guy. They’re just waiting to cut the head off of the check. You know until she she admits that she likes him a little cutter fuck. That’s really the nice guy.

matt nappo 2:07:56
The era of social media has made that happen faster because people used to say, well, you don’t call me back within a couple of hours. I get pissed off. Now. If you don’t answer that text message within two minutes. They think you’re totally avoiding them. I love you. Where are you mad at me? You?

Andy Andrist 2:08:13
Yeah, yeah. Good Times in Florida. I did write a follow up on Doug’s book and just say now this is part Doug didn’t remember. That way weirder.

matt nappo 2:08:26
Funny, he doesn’t remember the podcast, because you were on with the drinking bros. Oh, by the way, fucking Fiat Spider. shit about that car. I love that car. I had a fucking perfect car, by the way, right? Like that. That’s not the car that you would pick. What are you gonna pick a Testarossa? And the guy’s gonna be able to avoid that. No, that

Andy Andrist 2:08:47
was there in Texas. So they probably I ball and Range Rovers or something. And they came out with a new version of that, like a few years ago. Yeah, so I was like originally thinking I’d asked my petty file who he does to set it up. I was promised by the guy who was molested me, you know, to try to keep the fucking spark going that he was going to buy me a car when I graduated. When I saw him 30 years later in Florida, I brought along my diploma. And was you know, in my mind, I kinda envisioned this car shopping. But I don’t want I no longer want that. 1984 ragtop I want the 2000 was it 2016 That they came? They want that’s what I want. But those plans kind of went up in flames and lawsuits and such. I don’t think we’ll be car shopping anymore.

matt nappo 2:09:40
That’s a damn shame because what is the deal? Right? And you got an associate’s degree on top of it, so I only think it’s gonna get serious.

Andy Andrist 2:09:49
Yeah, yeah. When the car salesman comes back in for me, Mr. Spleen sitting in there. That would be the undercoating talk. I would like the sports package upgrade and alter Yeah. I would I actually have my name on the I guess the glove box like he had his name on the glove box. That’s what I you know, I’d want to add to and then in a fucking coupons for sizzler Nice. Yeah,

matt nappo 2:10:25
I get it you branded? Yeah. You kept you kept up your end of the bargain.

Andy Andrist 2:10:30
Yeah, that’s the thing. I mean, and I’m still that way like this one a few years ago this guy bet me the outcome of Michigan State vers Oregon and I said, and he wanted to do money, and I’d like how about this football, my dog will fetch your football Michigan State verzorgen. And then the guy just didn’t pay, like my team one covered or whatever, and he wouldn’t pay. And I was like, Kevin every time you like, I’d see a Facebook post on it. And I’d write welcher. And I really didn’t give a shit about the thing. But it’s kind of like some sort of attention deficit or whatever it is. I remained focus until that guy gave me the football. And then I was like, moved on. And that’s kind of I got burned on, you know, underwear modeling gig and it 19 7980. And, you know, promises were made, and I fulfilled my end of the bargain. By graduating and then this fucking cunt won’t give me my you know, it’s like, it’s not extortion. It’s like, let’s just buy me the fucking car. And then we can have the conversation about all the other shit. When you were two

matt nappo 2:11:35
years of interest. 35 years of interest on top of that, yeah,

Andy Andrist 2:11:39
yeah. And all that. And then like, you know, hey, you know, probably cost you a lot to get, you know, therapy or whatever. No, I didn’t do therapy. But let’s lump in a cup, let’s say 100 grand from the time I was 14 to the time, you know, I got over it or whatever. So yeah, he owes me more than a car. And I felt like it was more than fair, that we just settle on the car, because that’s the that’s the fucking Michigan State football to me. But he kind of, He scoffed at it. I felt like that was a moment where he’s kind of like, like, you know, okay, sorry, motherfucker. Kochi. Oh, high school, didn’t have great academics. But I graduated I was, you know, I was in the top 100.

matt nappo 2:12:26
That guy doesn’t appreciate the good deal that you because that is you don’t get that’s a very easy out and easy payment for the for the crime he committed. And then that is the cheapest best bargain. he’s ever going to get a car and a credit card. What $30,000 A time? Yeah, that’s a great deal. He’s,

Andy Andrist 2:12:46
he’s gonna take that. Yeah, he’s a you know, he likes to roll out like he had money and shit. He lives in a community. That’s like, you know, okay, you know, I mean, it’s he walked away. It’s like, you know, okay, man, the lawyers are gonna make that fucking car and then some. And as it turned out, he had to pay for several lawyers, and he had to pay my lawyers eventually. And he had to pay his lawyers any any kind of lost. And what he lost is, is, you know, that he, he lost control of that fucking narrative. And I filmed him. And I told him, I filmed him. And I can do what I want with that, you know, and what I did was I put it on a real slow burn, Paul, for Vince is making a movie, but it’s, it’s been 10 years or so. And it’s like, you know, that guy’s probably still alive, wondering if Paul’s ever going to finish the project and so my, or whatever, but I you know, that that’s got to be a bummer to have that hanging over him, or, you know,

matt nappo 2:13:45
definitely was to have the fear of where, where you might release it and all that kind of stuff is gonna be worse than when it really actually happens to him. So in a way, that’s the worst torture you can have. Have that hanging over his shoulder and

Andy Andrist 2:14:01
you’re like to kind of there I talked to Todd Snyder’s management about using the song too soon to tell for like, you know, just and then the band twiddle is agreed to let me use a song or whatever, I’d like to still this guy, the my molester. He would play ELO when, you know, he had a great stereo and crank up ELO and I kind of just was overwhelmed by the music and didn’t you know, I didn’t like it. But I would i There’s a song on it. Called caught in a trap. It’s a V side. Whatever. So it’s like an ELO song that nobody’s probably ever used. And I would love to have that just so I could have that in there to stick it to them to like, hey, you know, your favorite band back then. lent me a song. You dick. Well, I’m

matt nappo 2:14:50
gonna get I’m gonna get that for you as a Christmas present to be able to hear but I’m gonna reach out today, but um, what can we do to help prevent to get this done? cuz I have access to like video editors production tweets, what does he need?

Andy Andrist 2:15:04
I feel like Paul’s, you know, he’s got he’s got a lot of it done, he does all of it in himself. And it’s like his backroom is is, is, you know, full of stuff that I sent him. And I feel like he’s just kind of, I feel like the timing is perfect. You know, this thing happened 10 years ago or whatever, where I confronted the pedophile. That’s when I flipped the script on my whole, my whole brain at that point, because I eat that guy used to fucking live rent free in my brain. And then I felt like I even the odds,

matt nappo 2:15:41
even rent free in his brain thinking, when’s that shoe gonna drop?

Andy Andrist 2:15:45
Right? And yeah, and he used to have shoes with the brace built into them. So if his shoe drops, it’ll also have the thing of extra fucking here. But you know, and kind of like, right at the beginning, I did it for revenge, I stopped the camera on him because he stuck a camera on me. And I wanted to just straight up get revenge on him. And then Paul started talking more seriously about, you know, using it and making a film out of it. And then that kind of, you know, and then I’m involved with that. And, and that’s a weird way to get over, you know, did this fucking drastic therapy. And now I’m turning it into a project. And then now getting, you know, fucking cease and desist letters and the, you know, threat of lawsuit. And that could have ruined me, you know, I couldn’t lose to that guy a second time. And then I had to go sit in a courtroom with him on a like, it was like to I left home on Christmas, flew to there. And so like New Year’s Day, I’m sitting in a courtroom with my pedophile, and it’s like, five or six people in the courtroom. And it’s like that motherfucker. So I had to really get belly deep in the whole fucking thing. And years past, and I kind of forgot about the project. And then I didn’t want the project to happen. I begged Paul out, you know, it’s like, let’s fucking throat you know, and we got he called me. Fuck you. God dammit, you’re a fucking artist started acting like one. Oh, loosely reheated. You know, that was basically saying, you know, I know, You’ve spent about seven years on this, but let’s fucking throw it in the dumpster man.

matt nappo 2:17:27
No, I Well, I can appreciate your, your take on that. And I can also appreciate his take on that it’s a different Yeah.

Andy Andrist 2:17:35
And we become really good friends throughout all that. And, and I want to, I want it to happen for both of us, you know, because and I, you know, and I don’t even like a deed for like, oh, go, you know, maybe get more gigs or whatever. You know, I don’t give a shit about any of that. It’s like the news to me anymore. You know, but I want it to succeed. I want you know, I want to see what Paul did you know what? And I think Paul’s you know, he’s called it his opus. Right? So he’s putting his fucking heart into it. And I think what we need at this point is, you know, well, I said, I put him on a deadline. I called call up and I called him, you know, yeah, I got cancer and all this. And he’s like, God, damn, you know, what are we you know, and I go, I’m not calling to tell you this. As a friend, I’m calling to tell you this as a filmmaker, you’ve got your ending, man. Get a camera crew up here. We’ll be in and then when they don’t come out, and you know, that’s wrong. To Todd Snyder.

matt nappo 2:18:35
But I’m serious, though. I, you know, I know. You probably get people just and it’s a pain in the ass sometimes. But I would do anything if Bob needs me to fucking be a laborer to come out there. Well done.

Andy Andrist 2:18:49
And I think, you know, from a practical standpoint, I think we’re, he’s getting pretty close. And then it’ll be like, like, what I ran into with the comedy special, you need to have, you know, you need to have somebody do this, this, this and this. And I, like we’ve had people we’ve had a, well, we had one person come in as a producer, and he just ripped off. He just, he just, he got money, use my story got money, and then he used it as his own ATM. So then it was like, that was the guy who’s pushing, you know, let’s do this and this. And, you know, and then I think both Well, Paul’s a lot happier not having somebody fucking bother him. And when the time comes, I think we are going to hit we’re gonna do a fundraising effort to raise the cost of to finish it out. Perfect. You know, the way Paul wants to? I feel like it’s almost all there. So yeah, I think you know, when when we get clear of things or whatever, I think we’ll probably do a push to get either some producers or a pot of money to finish it and you know, not like 100,000 More like, you know, 30,000 or something like You know, I don’t know. But I feel like that, you know, Paul’s not far from it. And I feel like you know, the timing of everything is kind of, you know, it’s like he can’t change the timing sometimes. That sounds weird, but but, you know, it’s like, five years ago, I would have been eager for this thing to be done now. I don’t you know, I’m not motivated by any anything like, you know, want to tour bonds or, like, you know, I did tell Inman the other day that if I don’t die a cancer, me and him will will come out your way. I said, let’s get my dog on this. And we’ll we’ll go out to Long Island. And we’ll do a gig out there and he goes, alright, you promise?

matt nappo 2:20:44
I’m definitely on that. Man. I got a theater all set up for it. And I’m thinking of an actual, like, a three or four man show, but that was definitely in my mind for after your after. This is all in your rearview mirror. So

Andy Andrist 2:20:57
there you go. It’ll work out and then I can put that Falco’s show behind me, but

matt nappo 2:21:04
Falco’s because we had we had a titty bar. That was actually called Falco’s and you say, I remember you saying that. You wouldn’t call it Teddy by that, but we had one.

Andy Andrist 2:21:13
Yeah. felters maybe.

matt nappo 2:21:19
It was like an old man buy that they turned into a titty bars, and Falco was the original owner, and they never changed the name of it.

Andy Andrist 2:21:29
There’s a billion teams out there and shouldn’t be one of them. All right,

matt nappo 2:21:32
we’re coming up on 230 and 1030. Here, I’m gonna end it there. But I want to honor it. Everybody wants to help. And you know, this, and I know, you’re kind of feeling like an awkward place here. And I don’t want to I don’t want to make you feel awkward about this. But people do want to help because we know, as a comedian, you don’t have the best health care coverage. You don’t have Trump coverage. Nobody.

Andy Andrist 2:21:57
I mean, maybe Congress does, but you know, I pay five or 600 a month for health insurance. And I get in there and so I’m in a position now where you know, my wife’s on disability and I’m going to probably have about nine or 10 grand in bills on top of what insurance pays with if I didn’t pay for insurance, I’d have money to pay for the other so if you know if that’s if people wanted to help and donate or however that does I know Brett Brock’s doing something can Harris is doing something and I’m going to bank all that money and use it to cushion to cushion against this fucking you know, the $100 co charge here. You know, the surgery and all that shit. It’s it’s a fucking heartbreaking thing not just for me, but for people that you know fucking try to you know, I’ve got insurance but it doesn’t cover when you’re sick, you know, covers part of it. But why the fuck doesn’t cover everything. I wouldn’t need help and people could help other people. But yeah, it’s, I appreciate all of it. It’s kind of overwhelming. Because I’m, you know, I’m not somebody who’s like, Oh, I got this helped me out, man. But I feel like, my back is against the fucking wall on this.

matt nappo 2:23:08
No, I and I applaud everybody to kind of think about this health care. Insurance is something you pay for if you don’t need it, but once you need it, you’re fucked. Because, you know, no, insurance is going to cover all this stuff. And the last thing we should be thinking about right now, right now you’re gonna fucking pay for all this shit and be worried and have tension and anxiety about that.

Andy Andrist 2:23:29
You’re getting shoved into the MRI tube is like, how many fucking pictures are you taking a couple would be good. I don’t want to pay for it. I don’t want to get in a situation where I’m paying for 10 photos. And we’re only looking at two of them. But yeah, that’s the thing. And and, and I don’t feel like I have that stress. It’s weird because I you know, I, I don’t want to get emotional either. But people have stepped up and it’s like, okay, I don’t have that worry right now. Other worries,

matt nappo 2:23:57
I’m adding to it. And just to let people know, I’m working on a new five OC three real nonprofit so that we can donate 100% to you of the money that comes in, and people could still use it for a tax write off. So that should be in place by the second week of January that will be there’ll be a button for it on mine.tv.com You want to give it to Andy directly for these medical costs stuff. And you’ll get 100% of it. No, nothing taken off the top no bullshit administrative costs. And you can use it as a tax write off so and I’ll help you to Kitty to get it’s tough.

Andy Andrist 2:24:34
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, I haven’t. Yeah, I know. It’s it’s been kind of a you know, like the thing my daughter’s car got ripped off and people you know, I wrote something people helped put that, you know, it’s like a real fucking bummer, you know? And then it’s like, you know, my daughter’s done so many cool things for people. It’s like, well, this is coming back, you know, so it’s like, yeah, so I’m

matt nappo 2:24:58
hope we don’t make a religious guy out of you. After all this stuff, you don’t you don’t end up being a believer because

Andy Andrist 2:25:05
hey, if I if I die and there’s some sort of god entity, I’ll be like, What the fuck are you? Oh, shit, man.

matt nappo 2:25:13
Yeah, no, I can imagine how that would be a shock. I had a guy on last week who was gonna prove the existence of God, but he left angry. He’s a little angry at me now talking about cease and desist letters.

Andy Andrist 2:25:32
So he did prove the existence of God tree lawyering.

matt nappo 2:25:36
Exactly. No, but the atheist stepped up to help a guy in need that day. So I thought that was a AHA justice on that kind of show. The the atheist sit stepping up to help a guy get his medicine and gas money and all that food.

Andy Andrist 2:25:51
Oh, man. Yeah, yeah. I’ve seen Doug Stanhope do more acts random acts of kindness than anybody from my church upbringing. And ever done, you know?

matt nappo 2:26:02
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I appreciate getting to talk to you today. You know, there’s an outpouring of love for you. But there was before you just didn’t notice it now that now people are being vocal. But

Andy Andrist 2:26:13
yeah. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than accepting that you’re loved by others. I know.

matt nappo 2:26:18
And especially so many people, I mean, seriously, I know that to blow smoke up your ass, you’re a gift to a lot of people big issues with Andy dropped about 40 minutes ago, and people say but breaking those. Yeah, issues with me that they look forward to Friday, like, and your show, like, it’s a life line to them. So

Andy Andrist 2:26:39
well. And that’s, that’s why I’m glad, you know, in the, in the short term or long term that we’re back on YouTube, because I you know, I mean, I know, I don’t like going behind paywalls. And, you know, and if, if, you know, the people who were with us before, you know, can enjoy that, I appreciate that. They’re, they’re able to do that. And hopefully we can come up with a way to keep Patreon. You know, interesting or, or whatever. But, uh, yeah, so I, you know, it’s like, I’m used to being a comic and going around, and having, you know, people like what I do, and also the complainer’s and all that shit, and through this, you know, doing the podcast that, you know, kind of grown a bit of a family and I may not No, a lot of them, but they know who I am. And I appreciate that, that what I blather out or say or do is entertaining to folks so

matt nappo 2:27:35
and everybody’s going through this with you so you have the support of anybody and again, not to end on a downer note here but if you need any support from anybody don’t feel embarrassed about asking for it man, you’re human. You I know you’re the strongest man on the planet for all you’ve been through and still continue to keep a sense of humor. I applaud you for that but I you know you don’t expect people to think that you your don’t have your tender moments man, we love you and yet you can you can get you can get as emotional as you want ever and nobody can hold it against you.

Andy Andrist 2:28:05
Yeah, now after I get done here and cry, I’ll blame you. Why am I crying? Because

matt nappo 2:28:11
I’m like the Barbara Walters of comedians I make every comedian cry.

Andy Andrist 2:28:15
Yeah, mine dog mind fuck maybe. Yeah. Well,

matt nappo 2:28:19
Chad has agreed to come on the show and I think he has been reluctant because he thinks I am the bad guy who can make him cry and and kind of expose his inner psyche Yeah, well, but I’m not

Andy Andrist 2:28:36
Yeah, I said Well, we did the our show and or Death Valley. We did a podcast there and I had I had Shaylee crying but it’s not one that we’re we decided not to air it. That would have been the best rated one now maybe maybe maybe with the proper I don’t know. I’m not sure what I know. There was a couple of stories I told you know, but Patreon we may put that up at some point it was a you know, but uh, I felt like I was a preacher like Shaylee was kind of on the edge she’d been on drugs for hours and I feel like cracking you know?

matt nappo 2:29:11
And he said

Andy Andrist 2:29:15
like Sam Kinison. You know, raising your boys lower in it. And then you know, so yeah, I got I know I can track my team if I need to. Oh, I

matt nappo 2:29:24
love that. I love you got you got to do some of that just for the ratings. Just just those numbers as well. You have a great day, man. Great. All right, sir. I appreciate it. And you’re celebrating have have have a joyous one. Well, I’m going to get pizza

Andy Andrist 2:29:39
to hobos. So that’s how I’m doing Christmas Eve and beer. Of course,

matt nappo 2:29:43
not gluten right now.

Andy Andrist 2:29:45
Now in fact, even I’ve even talked about a second class system where we get a better pizza for ourselves.

matt nappo 2:29:56
Be well, man and have a good one. Thanks. Love you Dog Have a good day Bobby to buy the fabulous Andy understand folks great to have him hear from him and know that his his sense of humor hasn’t been diminished in the least anyway. I got to get to work I got not work I don’t have a show today I have to actually get to work and go do some traveling to pick up some some stuff for the holiday celebration here. Hope you have a great holiday. Thank you for joining me thank you for sticking with me for on the overtime. And for all you do everybody have a great Christmas holiday or wherever you’re celebrating for people who celebrate Kwanzaa on Sunday, Canadian Boxing Day whatever the hell that means that the day after Christmas or day after Thanksgiving, I don’t know. But the kidneys have a special day on the 26th they do up there whatever the hell you do up there, do it well have fun, all that kind of stuff. And so until Monday I’ll be back with your hour everyday next week. So join me then Monday 9am for coffee with the dog till then I’m Matt nappo for coffee with dog bye for now man. I hit the wrong fucking button you see that? You see what he made me do? Round Round Listen to me, listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me.

Brett Erickson – Damn The Consequences

 

Brett Erickson is a comedian and writer based in Austin, Texas. A fearless, back-of-the-room comic’s comic, Brett delivers a dynamic, free-form show that’s consistently out front of anything any other comics are doing. It was just this sort of brave, bold, damn the consequences style that led legendary comedian Doug Stanhope to take notice and call Brett, “one of the funniest comics working today.” Quick on his feet and a great joke writer,

Brett is becoming one of the most popular acts in L.A. with numerous appearances on Roast Battle at The Comedy Store, a competition he has only lost once when he was defeated by a fat, bald jerk who should just go back to London! He is the creator, writer and editor of the satirical Brietbart parody website, Brettbart. A “News” organization that’s been called a brilliant Onion-style takedown of the alt-right.

Follow Brett On Twitter to know when and where he’ll be performing: https://twitter.com/iBrettmypants I

SSUES WITH ANDY PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/Issueswithandy http://www.brettericksoncomedy.com/

MinddogTV PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/minddogtv

Sponsors: https://enticeme.com/#minddog https://podmatch.com/signup/minddogtv

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Episode Transcript
matt nappo 0:25
And welcome my friends to yet another episode of the mind dog TV podcast. I’m Matt nappo. Thanks for coming. It’s great to have you here. As always, we’re gonna have some fun tonight. Just a brief programming note before we get started. April Burke was supposed to be with me tomorrow, great comedian, local comedian. She’s not going to make it tomorrow. She’s got some health issues that came up. We will be rescheduling probably early next week, I’ll let you know when that’s gonna happen. We have a great comedian with with us tonight. You know, stand up comedians, generally, for the most part, very intelligent, very smart people. There are a few exceptions. But even like, those few exceptions, are pretty intelligent in in a lot of ways, and some of them are intentionally dumbing down the material to play to a larger audience for a bankroll. So they’re not all that stupid. So let’s just take it on face value that stand up comedians are smarter than the average bear type of person. Now, my guest tonight is known by his peers, his contemporaries and fans. As a very smart comedian, somebody who is very cerebral in his comedy, you need to think about it. You can’t just get her debt. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to go there. But let’s just say he’s smart among the smartest. So it’s my pleasure to have him here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, please open your ears, open your minds and help me welcome in Brent Erickson to the mind. Oh, TV podcast. Brett, welcome. That’s exactly what I was talking about that bad, bad. trying to think of the look I should have. Well, you see the, the idea. The idea behind that intro is to put all the pressure on you, and all the expectation that you’re going to be really smart and really funny, and zero expectation that I might even come close to being smart or funny. So I

Brett Erickson 2:24
will find out. I can’t I cannot guarantee you that I will be smart, but I can guarantee you. I’ll be drunk.

matt nappo 2:32
Okay. Well. Thanks for having me on. It’s my pleasure to have you on and I got to tell you, bad eight months ago on the show, I made a really bad prediction. I said that. If comedians were stocks, I would urge everybody to put all their money into bread, Erickson, my thinking was that I had heard everybody was making an exodus from LA, which I think is the epicenter of comedy on planet Earth. And go into Austin, Texas, and I said, Brett’s gonna be the only real comedian left in LA. The spotlights gonna be on him. All of a sudden, he’s gonna get all this attention. You can see HBO calling, and he’s gonna have specials. And now I understand you’re in Austin, Texas. Yeah. Yeah. What was that you said about being a smart guy. Wow. Yes, grab that bullshit. I’m in Austin, Texas, man. So what is the aside from any income tax? What is the real benefit of being located in Austin, Texas for the comedian’s.

Brett Erickson 3:36
I can only speak to the real benefit for me being in Austin, Texas. And that is the fact that my wife has been hired to manage Joe Rogan’s new comedy club. So when that happens, you go, Wow, congratulations.

matt nappo 3:51
Congratulations to

Brett Erickson 3:54
you. Wow. Thanks. She’s great. she’s a she’s one of the best goddamn people and bartenders in equal measure that there is and she was the, if you’ve been to the Comedy Store, you may have seen her she ran the VIP comics only bar in the back. And yeah, so you know, she hit it off with all the comics too. And now she’s gonna be running Joe’s club. So that’s pretty exciting. So yeah, so we decided to come to Austin, but I’ll tell you, I do I do enjoy Los Angeles very, very much. So I do miss it.

matt nappo 4:29
Yeah. I didn’t know Rogen was opening the club. Good for him. Yeah. Gotta do something with all that money. Probably. Yeah. And to figure out what what he could do with all that extra gas now. So I understand, I think anyway, I understand because I went to your website to look at dates and I didn’t see it, but I understand you’re going to Alaska. I this is what I

Brett Erickson 4:50
love about you. This is how much of a professional this man is. I looked at on the tweet you put out today about the show, and I looked at my bio that you You, you cut and pasted from my website, and I noticed that you’ve updated it for

a real professional operation. Oh, I already forgot the question. What was it Alaska? You’re going to go into it? Yeah, I don’t here’s the thing. I don’t update my goddamn What? Does anybody updated their actual website anymore? No, I don’t know that they do. I think I already spend more time than I want to on social media. I, I recently have been pulling back from social media, just because I needed to for my head, my brain. And, and I like that when I started out doing comedy, there wasn’t social media, you know, you you called the comedy clubs, you sent them tapes. They hired you. They did the promotion. You went to the show. That was it. I liked it that way. Now, obviously, I you know, old man yelling a cloud right now, but it’s not the way it’s gonna be. But I just you know, there’s just too much of that shit. And I definitely not I didn’t get into stand up comedy to be a website designer. No, I can’t, you know, so I so I don’t so but I but to your question, I do remember it now. This time, I am going to Alaska. I’ll be up in Alaska. Next week at chilkoot. Charlie’s on the 10th 11th and 12th of June so if you got any people up there in Anchorage, come on out. The Kyoko Charlie’s is a legendary place.

matt nappo 6:38
I was looking at my demographics. And my analytics today to notice I have, I think 30 unique listeners. And there you go.

Brett Erickson 6:48
Look, I’m not even lying. Luckily for me, I am just at the level of success where 30 people would make a big difference. So if even some of them come out, that’ll be nice. And our good friend from the issues with Andy podcast, Mr. Greg shaylee. will be there with me in Alaska. And you could see him too.

matt nappo 7:11
If you’ve had. Have you done Alaska before? Many times? Yeah, I’ve been up there a lot. That’s why I’m asking you why I even brought up Alaska. When you go there? And do you feel like you have to make your material even more edgy or as edgy as possible. Knowing the audience is going to be rapists, murderers and killers. Yeah, yeah.

Brett Erickson 7:36
I dial back my, my liberal politics a little bit. Yeah, because everybody’s got a gun.

matt nappo 7:47
Well, I’ve had several guests who went to Alaska and ended up doing eight or 10 years in jail. See, at probably a handful of probably maybe five or six people who actually went to Alaska for a good time or vacation a fishing trip and ended up going to jail for assault, robbery or something. It seems like a very wild west place and doesn’t seem like a good place for it. Yeah,

Brett Erickson 8:15
yeah, I’m not I you know, it’s interesting because shaylee and I and his lovely paramour, Tracy, and a few other friends are going to go after we do the shows. We’re going to get in an RV and we’re going to drive up into Denali National Park to see Mount Denali, the old Mount McKinley, for you old timers, and we’re gonna go camping for a couple of days. And that’s gonna be exciting, because it’s gonna be the summer solstice.

matt nappo 8:43
I bet you The weather is better there than it is here.

Brett Erickson 8:47
It’s amazing. It’s 24 hours of sunlight. And it’ll be you know, nice 50s to 70s I think something like that. I’m guessing I don’t know what the temperature is going to be. But the goddamn sun’s gonna be out at midnight. And I’m excited to see that that’ll be.

matt nappo 9:00
Well, a good luck and I hope I hope you make it back to Austin. I really do and don’t. Don’t go to jail. Don’t hang out with any day. Show.

Brett Erickson 9:09
Here’s the deal. Greg Chaille. used to work at Chilkoot Charlie’s. That’s how he met Doug. Stanhope and Mitch Hedberg and all the guys that he’s worked with through the years and how we ended up meeting. So he’s a veteran. He lived in Anchorage for 10 or 15 years or something like that. And he’s like my little Mount Everest Sherpa. You know what I mean? Like, I’ll stay close to him. I keep a hand on his back. Like I’m a blind man crossing the street. And I’ll make it back to Austin,

matt nappo 9:34
where we keep a hat on and cover cover that because I would think in Alaska probably doesn’t go too well. Yeah,

Brett Erickson 9:41
yeah, he does look like it looks like a chicken just hatching from its egg.

matt nappo 9:48
Yeah. Okay.

Brett Erickson 9:52
Tough to chicken hair popping out.

matt nappo 9:54
Well, it seems like a nice chicken. I I noticed the few times he’s meant to me he’s called it mind Mad Dog radio. Yeah. Which is not good at reading. He’s a bad reader, but actually I he’s kind of psychic because that’s how I got my start. 35 years ago it was mad dog originally and I was on the radio, but he would know that

Brett Erickson 10:17
let’s talk radio where you sound definitely. As soon as I heard your voice, I thought this is definitely a radio guy. Did you know that I was a radio guy. I know that well, maybe maybe if I updated my goddamn website. I have my violin. I was a I did radio in Illinois. I grew up in Illinois and I graduated from college I went and started working in Peoria, Illinois and radio and yeah, big time. And I had a morning radio show at a couple different stations for a while in the 90s. And I thought well this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be around forever radio and and then I got fired from a couple stations and I just said fuck it I’m gonna go do stay I’d been doing I was doing a little stand up as a time just because I had all the I did what you what you’re doing I had all the I interviewed all the comedians on my my radio show I hosted at the club in town. And then when the radio station told me to take a long walk off a short Pier, I said, Alright, I’ll I’ll do stand up for a while. And that was in 1999.

matt nappo 11:26
Yeah, wow. Yeah.

Brett Erickson 11:28
Yeah. I love radio though, man. I loved it. If I didn’t see that, you know, it looks to me like towns like Peoria and even a little bigger. We’re drying up for radio broadcast talent

matt nappo 11:43
everywhere it is and especially at that time with everybody going to satellite and I think satellite is even on its way out now giving away to digital streaming radio and that kind of stuff. But when I was there I got in it for I was doing an overnight show with crazy people. I mean, UFO people Bigfoot people. Go gigs, all that kind of stuff. My dad. Yeah, that’s cool. Right? You an Art Bell fan? You probably get asked this. Yeah, of course. I had him on my show a couple of times interviewed him a couple times. I had the other Art Bell on just a couple of weeks ago via the other Art Bell being the guy who founded Comedy Central. Who’s that? Do I know that? I Belk founded Comedy Central Oh,

Brett Erickson 12:28
there’s a he’s name is actually Art Bell. There’s Yeah. I thought you were gonna tell me you talked to George Nori. No, I

matt nappo 12:37
talked to Jeremy north. No,

Brett Erickson 12:42
I used to love art. Well, I’ll tell you, you probably know this from talking to comics, especially if you talk to guys who were road dogs in the you know, 90s and early 2000s. Art Bell was just a part of it. Because you drove you were always driving overnight somewhere. And this was before you know Sirius XM and all that shit. You just you drive across the Dakotas. And you’d get Art Bell for a while when you were outside of appear. And then you drive and you’d be trying to make it to Bismarck and it fade out a little bit. And then you’d have to tune it in on another thing. And Eddie catch it again for a second. I used to love that shit.

matt nappo 13:17
Yeah, I did too. And I used to travel because I was you know, doing going from different band to different band at that time while he was on the radio. And during the night, he would try to tune him in wherever he could got a little spooky when you were all by yourself sometimes going from two o’clock in the morning and you’re listening to that stuff. Yeah. But what really burnt me out on that it’s just the whole conspiracy stuff. And I thought at that time, it was getting to it was getting over overloaded with conspiracies and people just going nuts and never saw the place where we beat today. Unbelievable. It’s really insane. So and I know that you’re among the let’s bring in that banner. So we can kind of promote the issues with Andy podcast a little bit. Yeah,

Brett Erickson 14:08
take my stupid fucking website down off the bottom of there. I know one don’t go there unless you want to see the updates. on issues with Andy, that’s where you go for

matt nappo 14:19
that. That’s an older picture from about 13 episodes ago, but patreon.com slash issues with any brand is one of the four co hosts on that program. Now, I know where the name came from, but the concept of the show seems to be and maybe I have it wrong. Maybe there was no concept. Let’s again, let’s get together and do a podcast but it seems to be let’s let Andy talk your role seems to be to keep the public informed of where Andy’s going and kind of fill in the gaps of the things he forgets to say and Charlie is there for the comic relief with the images and stuff and then Chad just drinks and smokes, and then when everything is said, Yeah, but what was their intent a content meeting that said, what are we going to do? Or you guys just said that let’s get together and have a podcast? Yeah, it

Brett Erickson 15:10
was definitely more of the latter. And then it just sort of became the Well, I mean, it worked out perfectly, because we ended up calling it issues with Andy because at the beginning, and he kept having problems, figuring out how his computer worked and how Skype and he couldn’t get this and his microphone wouldn’t work. And we would all be there and we could hear him and see him but he couldn’t see us and he’d be going back to me because it is screaming and messing with stuff and we’d laugh at him. So that’s how we came up with the name and then but it it kind of just organically became his vehicle. I mean, it was just for friends hanging out to do a podcast. And it’s just it’s such a good vehicle for the mind for his brain.

matt nappo 15:56
That is

Brett Erickson 15:58
it really just you know, it it I have absolutely no problem. I’ve known Andy for so long. I have a he makes me laugh so hard that I have no problem. I don’t consider it taking a backseat. It’s more like this show is like Abbott Abbott, Abbott and Costello and it takes three Abbott’s to rein in one Costello in this case, because Andy’s fucking crazy but in a beautiful mind sort of way. And I think we described at one time as, as the three of us exist as those, those rubber bumpers that they put in the bowling alleys when the kids are bowling. The ball doesn’t always go in the gutter. Ghandi will be telling a story and he hits the gutter over here. And then we got to bounce him back into the middle of the lane. Then he hits it over here. We send him back this way. And it’s a damn blast. I love it.

matt nappo 16:53
Yeah, well, I have to say and no smoke. It’s the absolute best use of podcast technology ever got it? You know, it’s I don’t know if it was accidental. But it’s a stroke of genius, the way he is allowed to just kind of freestyle and you guys serve your roles. I noticed on a episode about three weeks ago that you and I were in sync on a therapeutic level of Oh, wait a minute, we’ve had a breakthrough here. When Andy was talking about porn film, he got aroused. As a young man about running at Marilyn chambers running at the same moment and hit me it’s like, wait a minute. This means something we’ve we’ve cracked the guy’s psyche a little bit. Has he developed and grown from that from that piece of it?

Brett Erickson 17:48
You know, that particular piece of enlightenment? I’m not sure sometimes I think it he’s a little bit like a bucket with a hole in it.

You know, like, you fill it up at full and then it’s not full again, you got to fill it back up. He so I don’t know that he keeps it connected. But that was something because I’ve I’ve been with him. I’ve traveled with him numerous times. And he’s that’s not new behavior. Being always being close to running out of gas. And then when we find out that was the plot of the very first porn he watched with free molesting him, it was like, whoa, wait a minute here. I’m not a fucking psychologist. But I think we might have gotten to something.

matt nappo 18:29
I think if you came across as somebody who had some therapeutic cognitive therapy training or

Brett Erickson 18:35
something. It’s not that you know what it is? It’s comedy training. Because all as I was thinking callback, that’s a callback to an earlier joke. on an earlier episode, it just happened to you know, it’s like the Venn diagram where comedy callback and therapy crossover and that was the middle part right there. And that was great. Great. Good. Andy was on here before, right?

matt nappo 19:00
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love Andy and I was trying to be be you three guys and try to just let him talk that whole time. But it’s such an interesting guy and what uh, what, uh, you know, I tell my wife stories about his life is like, because people think I’m interesting, you should write a book. It’s like, you gotta you gotta check out issue for fun. I had a psychic on the program who wanted to do a reading for me. And she said, I might embarrass you. I think you’re afraid to let me talk. Talk about your secrets. I said, No, I’m an open book. And she started talking about some of the shit that she picked up on me. And, and then I said, you know, yeah, you could say that. But I and here’s the real deal. And I told her, and she went, Wow, sorry to hear that. And basically, I said, well, everybody’s got some fucked up shit, right? Not that fucked up.

Brett Erickson 19:53
Well, you could write it all down, but just don’t put the book out till you’re dead. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You never No.

matt nappo 20:00
So you talked about callback to another joke. Where, as I mentioned, you are a cerebral comic. Now, a lot of the things. If I compared you to the like the blue collar, guys, you’re you have, you have to come with your brain intact. You can’t be too stoned to go to your show, and think you’re gonna laugh a lot, because you have to think about it. This, you mentioned earlier, you know, 30 people would make a big difference at this point in your career. Do you think because you you don’t compromise and don’t dumb it down? That hurt your career at all?

Brett Erickson 20:35
Ah, maybe? I don’t know. But I don’t. I don’t do it. I don’t, I don’t think about it like that. You know what I mean? And I don’t I don’t measure success in in just in dollars. I, I am a happy person. And that’s what I do fuck about I I started doing comedy in the late 90s. And I just did it in the Midwest because I have two kids and I was divorced. And I were had joint custody of these kids. And I was doing the road all the time. And I just wasn’t home very much. So then I I stopped doing the road all the time, I got a full time construction job. I worked at the comedy club on the weekends, and I stayed in Peoria, I went to volleyball games and soccer games and and you know, Christmas programs and shit like that. And that hurt my career more than anything that had more than, you know, cerebral comedy or whatever. That hurt my career. But it made me a happy person. So there’s no way I would do it any different. I have a great relationship with my kids. They’re there. They’re healthy, well adjusted adults. And it you know, after they both were out of high school, and they were in college, and often different cities doing their own thing. That’s when the the old lady and I picked up and took off and went to LA. So you know, I’ve only been really attacking comedy full time in these last few years in LA and now Austin. So you know that that’s it? If I had, you know, I don’t regret it is what I’m saying. I have I’ve had a blast, and I still get to do the comedy I get to do. I’m, I’m happy with the results. You know what I mean? I I don’t answer to anybody else. I do it the way I want to do it. And guess what else when I don’t feel like doing it? I don’t fucking do it. It gets like, I work with some of these guys in LA and I have the utmost respect for some of these kids hustle like you have never fucking seen there. They do three or four mics and night, their fucking lives or stand up comedy. And I respect that. And I think that’s amazing. It just ain’t who I am. I don’t give a I don’t give that much of a fuck. I like it. But I like doing other shit too.

matt nappo 22:59
Oh, God, attitude, man. I relate to that in a big way. And I’ve tried to tried to preach that to some people. Not that I yeah, everybody’s different. You know, everybody’s got to do what they like to do. But, you know, I’ve had a lot of musicians who crave fame. And I like, you know, I’ve been down that road and chased fame when I was young. But I’ve seen it destroy people’s lives, too. So I got happy being a club level musician, staying within the tri state area here and not going out and being national stuff. Because Yeah, as long as it makes me happy doing what I do when I want to do it, and I pick and choose the work I want to take and not necessarily just taking stuff to keep working and stuff. Yeah, I think that that is a much better way to stay happy if you’re of that mindset now.

Brett Erickson 23:45
Yeah. You know, I mean, I, I wish I could claim some sort of, you know, philosophical genius and understanding, it just sort of worked out that way. You know what I mean? Like, I fell, I kind of fell into the right decision. I didn’t feel like with my kids, I had much of a choice. But you know, I felt good about it. Like, I like my kids. I like hanging out with them. So you know, it was all good. And that it’s been a perfect kind of recipe for me, you know? Right. So

matt nappo 24:16
So, with that approach now, when you’re on stage, and I haven’t seen you live well, I’ve seen you stand up is to video. So I don’t know, I’ve never been in the same room and I know it’s different there. But it seems to me your confidence with your material. And this might be just smoke and mirrors because you don’t you know, you never see in your psyche. But you seem extremely confident more so than a lot of comedians with the ability to let a premise breathe and set up something and give it a second to sink in. where other people are just and we talk about Radio fraid of dead air. You seem to be very comfortable with putting that out there. Am

Brett Erickson 24:58
I wrong? You’re not wrong. I’ll tell you what, that’s a really good observation. And it’s the radio thing that drove me to it. Because when I started doing stand up, I was definitely not comfortable with that silence because of the radio, you cannot have dead air. You know, I still have dreams, where I’m working at a radio station, and it’s my, like, my first day, and I can’t, I can’t remember the call letters. I, I can’t I can’t find the song. Like, when I started doing radio, we still had the songs were on the eight, like the eight track style cartridges, the big carts, they were great, you know, like, we had a rack of them, you know, 600 songs on carts. And we had these, like eight track player kind of things where you shoved them all in and you hit the button, and it would start. And you know, you had like, Oh, your you got your song list for the hour. And you’d go back to your rack, and you’d get, oh, this song, and then this songs next, and then song and you’d come over and you’d have a stack

of fucking songs and you set them right here, and you put the first one in, and you’d hit it. And Hey, everybody, here we are. And my dream is that I cannot find the songs. I can’t find where the music is, where is it? And the song that is ending, there’s a song ending, right, and it’s time and I can’t remember the call letters. And that fear of that still

is in my brain. I can’t

dream. Now. I don’t have scary dreams like that about stand up. I don’t know what it is. I started doing stand up at the club in Peoria, the jukebox comedy club. And I just I kind of like said fuck it and dove into that where I just there was a there was a one comic from Chicago. I think he’s probably retired now because he was an older guy, but a really funny guy. If you could find him online. I don’t even know if he has anything online. But the guy’s name is Paul Kelly. And if you talk to Chicago, comedians, they’ll tell you that he was a legend back in the 80s and 90s. And he would go up there sometimes. And he would just stand there for the first 60 seconds without saying anything. And it was mortifying. He was so comfortable that but by the end of it, everyone was laughing. He hadn’t said anything. Everyone was just laughing. Because he just kind of did that for a little while just kind of kept looking at everybody. And he looked at somebody for a little bit more. And he was so everyone was like, What is happening? Everyone got really nervous. You could see everyone get go anxious and afraid. Why isn’t he talking and then, oh, he’s doing this on purpose. And they’d kind of kind of calm down a little bit and relax. And then once they get comfortable in it, and they see that you’re not afraid of it, then they get comfortable. And then they can relax, let their guard down. And now you can talk to them about anything. Because they’re because you’ve broken through that. That wall.

matt nappo 27:49
The first guy I ever saw do that was Andy Kaufman, but he never he never took it. And he basically stayed in. Yeah, in that weirdness for a long time. There were times where before he actually was on Saturday Night Live and Johnny Carson, where we’d see him in New York City and basically walk out of there like what the fuck was that a comedy show or not? And he loved that stuff. But yeah, wrestle women? What that was Oh, yeah. Would it be fair to say that you I think it’s fair to say that you’re the most politically vocal of the four people for a host of issues with Andy. Maybe

Brett Erickson 28:34
Andy, Andy is pretty hardcore. Hardcore is not the right word. And it is his second minute

matt nappo 28:43
to the issues that matter to him.

Brett Erickson 28:45
He’s, he’s got it in, it’s infused into his point of view as well. Now, it comes out in different ways. So mine, for me is probably or at least it has been in the past a little more direct. It’s interesting because this now that you say this is because this will be fun. If anybody’s in Alaska wants to come see me. I’m trying to get away. I’m gonna try to get away from some of that. I’m gonna try. I feel like this whole pandemic, this whole crazy fucking thing. Everything has changed. You know, in my in my world. I went from, you know, working at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. feeling like I was right there. And I loved it. I loved it. And then all of a sudden pandemic hits everything shut down. Is California gonna open back up? I don’t know Joe Rogan leaves. He comes out here. He’s gonna open up a new club. He calls my my wife. He’s like, Hey, you want to be? Yes, we do. So like, it’s like this whole new rebirth. And I think my favorite comedian of all time is George Carlin. And what I loved about George Carlin was he had that, that that you know, that societal bang. He, you know, he was a philosopher, he told you what he thought about the way the world was fucked up. And and how you were a part of that. And I love that. But he was also a had a lot of material that was silly, and and inward looking. Right. And that interests me and I’ve never gone that direction. So I’m trying to push myself into that area. Now I feel like because here’s the deal, I got to write a whole new Act, because I don’t remember what the fuck I was talking about before the pandemic hit. So there’s no chance in going back to any material that I had before. So it started over time. So, you know, I’ve been working on some new stuff, and I’m going to try to drive it into the, you know, kind of more about the stuff we all share. Personally, we’ll see what happens

matt nappo 30:53
I have you been on. Since the limited to

Brett Erickson 30:56
six minutes into the first set, I’m going to go right back to calling Trump a cocksucker.

matt nappo 31:03
I would give you credit for less than six minutes. Because I know myself that you haven’t been on stage since a lot.

Brett Erickson 31:13
I have a couple times. I’ve done a couple sets here in Austin. And did a set in one set in San Diego before I left. And a car and I did the Comedy Store a couple of times Comedy Store opened up a little bit back in the fall when they were trying don’t mean Oh, we thought we were going to open it and then it hit hit again. So I did some sets there but it’s that was all really weird. You know what I mean? It’s I feel like now it’s starting to be a little more like it was people at least here. I’m in Austin. I’ve been going to shows every night that it’s fucking over here. Whether it is or not. They’re acting like it’s done. Everything’s wide open. Yeah, there’s no nobody’s wearing masks inside anymore. I’m vaccinated. I’m not worried about it. I don’t know what your thoughts are on all of this. But my feeling is at this point there are vaccines available for pretty much everybody you can get one if you want one go get one if you don’t want one, don’t get it.

matt nappo 32:10
I agree and that’s why I that’s why I brought up the political whether it because you are Oh, at least on Twitter, sometimes you share your opinions. And I think it was just yesterday that you shared one that now edge. It’s surprising to me, but not so surprising to me that you started out sounded like a libertarian yesterday, didn’t I? Well, not such a libertarian. But I think the lines both that people used to define a liberal conservative is so fucking blurred now. Yeah, I mean, I don’t blame it all on Trump. I think Trump amplified that it started before Trump, that whole worrying of the lines between what’s a conservative and what’s a liberal, but you started out by qualifying it that I’m as liberal as an undocumented or whatever. And then I happen to agree with Ted Cruz. And I was in Texas for a couple weeks. Fucking Republican. I don’t think he knows what he’s saying. Yeah, well, let me just say this. Fuck Ted Cruz, right. Yeah.

Brett Erickson 33:13
So I mentioned my, my children, one of my children is an ICU nurse, my daughter, my pride and joy. I love them both. But I like my daughter more. she’s a she’s an ICU nurse, she has been dealing with pandemic from the start 12 hour shifts every day for PP, you know, putting people on ventilators taught her helping people talk to their family on FaceTime, possibly for the last time all these terribly heavy stories for a long time during it, it was you know, she would call she would be crying sometimes to having to, you know, find the strength to go back and keep doing this and put yourself through this emotional roller coaster. And they never, we it was always very hectic and very busy, but they never got quite got overwhelmed. And now it’s flattened out. Those are the people I worry about. And that’s what I was saying yesterday when I said get the back end or don’t because it before it was Hey, everybody, let’s get the vaccine because we have to get enough people vaccinated that we that we don’t overwhelm the hospitals because if you do end up and we kind of lost sight of this, I feel like at the beginning of the pandemic, this idea that that the real the real danger of this pandemic is that everybody gets Coronavirus at once because if everybody gets it at once, a whole bunch of people are going to die who don’t have to die. And that’s the point. So if we’re to the point now where no matter what happens, the hospitals won’t be overwhelmed. The health care system can handle it. So if you want a vaccine, go get it if you don’t want it, don’t get it but if you get it and then if you get Coronavirus and you end up in the hospital. That’s a tragic story for you. And your friends and your family but it’s not a tragic story for me because it’s not making my life any any worse. Exactly.

matt nappo 35:07
Yeah, it makes total sense. And this is why I say you’re you’re one of the smarter comedians out there because I don’t think people out there because I don’t think a lot of people really kept sight of that. You’re right. I think we lost. The goal was to flatten the curve we flattened six months ago, right? I played a show Thursday night. 1800 people one guy had a mask on it’s like, what the fuck good. Is that gonna blow his nose too. It’s like he’s just comfortable with it. Yeah, well, I think there’s there’s some of that too, and some of it is still fear driven people going through you know, I think it’s over here. The hospitals are certainly not overwhelmed here. Yeah. But people are still going to the store is fully messed up and I I’m afraid to walk in the store without a mask on just because of the social kickback I’m going to get over it right. So I’d rather walk in with my pants off than a mask off it. I think I’d take less less flak from it. I went to Trader Joe’s and I didn’t get Coronavirus but I think I got herpes. So you know working that stuff. You know and I we mentioned kind of before we went on the air talking a little bit about common friend Brandon walls now. He you know, I don’t never know when to take Brendan seriously. So he was on Twitter talking about people. He goes on and talks about people shooting joke about Coronavirus and then the next thing I know he’s dropping a Coronavirus sex tape where COVID sex tape or not sex tape well sex worker called sex co Yeah. where he’s the doctor in the guys got in and he’s like, Oh,

Brett Erickson 36:53
I love that man so much. It’s ridiculous. I i’ve been it’s been a joy to know that dude, he is a little bit crazy and ways the funniest goddamn comedian in Los Angeles. And I don’t know why he is not world famous. I mean, he’s comics know him. You know him. Some of your fans probably know him. But not enough people do. That guy is goddamn brilliant. I love them.

matt nappo 37:19
I agree. I’m surprised by that as well. And I, you know, I’m surprised by so many communities, and here’s the thing, you know, and we’re gonna get to the canceled culture stuff in now. But canceled culture can mean so many things. But in a time where it’s getting really hard for comedians to know, where they should draw lines anymore, and I’m against even any kind of rat Frank bastard bringing the camera into a comedy club to begin on. But in a time when we see it getting harder and harder to know what you can do in a comedy club. We’re seeing also seeing more comedians than ever coming out and, and becoming stand up comics more than ever, I think I never seen somebody standing. So it’s kind of an odd thing that the harder it gets, the more restrictive the art form gets, the more people are coming out to do it.

Brett Erickson 38:10
Yeah. Well, there are so many comedians now. And this is part of what feeds into kancil culture. There are so many comedians now that well, first of all, there’s some that shouldn’t be comedians and not because they’re not funny. I don’t care about that you can either learn to be funny, or you can be not funny and just fail at it forever. That’s also fine. Do whatever you want. But there are so many comedians that that they have to turn on each other. They have to cut people loose. You know what I mean? Like, comedians are always looking to get rid of somebody because it’ll just they think that’ll make their you know, it’ll make that easier for them to get booked, because they just got rid of that guy, and he’s not going to get booked anymore. It doesn’t work that way. But there is a I can see why people think that that’s the way it is because there’s just so many. I mean, I would be at the Comedy Store, Monday night Comedy Store in Los Angeles, they do potluck, which is the open mic night you go in, you sign up, and if they draw your name, they drop 20 names, and you get three minutes. So 20 people three minutes, it’s two hours long. And they would have anywhere from 180 to 225. people show up every Monday for 20 spots. And that’s a lot of goddamn people. And that’s just that’s not that’s just the brand new comedians, like that’s just the new group. There’s also, you know, here’s what I used to tell people back in Illinois after I moved to Los Angeles, when they would ask me how it was going, I would say, well, it’s comedy in Los Angeles and New York is I’m sure the same way. You know, it’s sort of a good news, bad news sort of thing. The good news is that 90% of the comedians in Los Angeles are terrible. I know, the bad news is that the other 10,000 are really, really good

matt nappo 40:14
right? Now. So

Brett Erickson 40:15
I mean, I couldn’t go, I would be in Los Angeles, I could go to a show every single night of the year. And I would I could go to a different venue every time, and I would be guaranteed to see at least one comedian that I had never heard of, that would be fucking amazing. And then you start to go, Oh, my God, like, how do you do this? How do you find your way? Because there there are a lot of people doing it. And a lot of them are really, really bad, but there’s still a lot left that are really fucking good. And you’re just blown away and it’s just, you’re like, wow, geez, I should just go get a job at fucking Best Buy or something. I can’t compete with these people. The way it is, I’m glad of it because it makes the art form stronger and better. And I’d love great comedy and I saw a lot of it in Los Angeles, but it’s disheartening when you think that somebody is going to come knocking on your door to make you famous and you realize Holy shit, I’m good the back of this fucking line.

matt nappo 41:20
But okay, I get that the the influx of new talent, new new people, new blood is going to push the art form ahead. But then you also have that canceled culture thing, which kind of in my mind stifles art and stifles it in a big way. And I think it was Seth Rogen last week who was talking about comedians need to get over. Your jokes don’t age well, and I don’t think it’s a bad jokes. Aging. Well, it’s I think it’s about new jokes, being afraid to be born. Because they’re being a board. We’re having a massive portion of comedy. Because we’re afraid of I can’t go there. I can’t go there.

Brett Erickson 41:59
Now. I think you might be right about that. It’s the self censoring thing. That’s the real problem. You know, I mean, do you see what happens to some comedians who, you know, make, sometimes it’s as simple as it is, you know, sometimes it’s comedian is pushing the envelope, and, you know, trying out new things. And sometimes a comedian just makes a mistake. It happens people are, comedians are fucking human. Right? So and then. And sometimes, when you’re pushing the envelope, you also make a mistake. It’s the two things together. And when those two things happen at the same time, bingo, you’ve got a viral goddamn video sometimes. And then that person’s like, Oh, I didn’t mind. And if that and if that sort of reaction, which is all negative ends up stifling that artists creativity, then that’s, that’s bad. That’s bad. That’s, that’s not helping. So I think that’s right, it right. That’s, it’s especially bad for that artist. And it doesn’t matter if it’s stand up comedy, or, or a YouTube show, or radio or painting or whatever. origami, whatever your art is, when you stop trying things that interest you. Because you’re afraid someone won’t like you for it. You’re doing a bad job as an artist, so it’s hard to stay focused on, on that, especially when a lot of these guys, they start they’ll lose a lot of money.

matt nappo 43:41
Right? Well, I’m gonna I’m gonna circle back here to what you just said about comedians thinking that if I get so and so cut him out, that’s gonna make more bookings. For me, it seems to me whether it’s politics, or Comedy or Musical, whatever it is, when things get canceled. It’s the people of peer group that’s canceling them. So when the Tony Hinchcliffe thing, the people who are most vocal and and angry about it, what comedians, they were lining up with paying or whatever, but and you see it in politics, too. If people are like, somebody on the right says something or get cancelled on YouTube, it’s because the people on the left kind of ganged up on but political people. And it’s the same thing with comedy. Same thing with musicians with peer groups, and not knowing that they’re killing their own golden goose. Because if I sent her what he says, Now, when I go on stage, I should know that that light is gonna in a microscope, be pointing on me, but people don’t seem to get that. Do you? Do you feel like it’s peer?

Brett Erickson 44:43
relay? Oh, no, absolutely, absolutely. They in a lot of ways they can’t wait to to cancel somebody to do say, Hey, good, fuck you beat it. And in Tony’s case, a lot of people don’t like Tony. That’s just that His personality, he’s a cocky son of a bitch. So he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. So when they saw that video, they were like, great, you know, but but Tony is, is just playing a part like a wrestler, he’s that he’s the bad. He’s the villain on the, you know, in wrestling. And that’s all it was. And he seems to bounce back from it. In fact, I just went to the recording of the first kill Tony episode that so he’s back. So I don’t know, when I

matt nappo 45:29
started being promoted today. And I was happy to see that, you know, I’m not a huge huge fan of his but I I was definitely on his side of that whole thing. I just think it should be a personal matter and I I’m don’t give the benefit of the doubt that you do to paying. I think it was enough. I did was

Brett Erickson 45:56
I was I felt like, I seem to me that the argument that I tried to make was that Tony was just joking. And and that’s what I was trying to point out. And I I thought I laughed at paying. I sat there and and I had some I laughed at him. So I felt like if I had said anything other than he did a good job. I would have been that would have been dishonest of me now, as far as the as far as the filming it and who filmed it? And how did he get that film? And why did he edit it? You know, why did he cut it off when he cut it off? And all of that stuff? That’s a whole nother discussion. And and he doesn’t look great in those discussions, frankly. Yeah. You know, I it’s just the whole thing. It just sucks. here’s the here’s the fucking thing. All right. It’s there’s a difference between saying something, you know, and being racist. I don’t like racism. Racism is fucking stupid. But anything you say anything you say, from the stage of a stand up comedy show shouldn’t count outside of the realm of stand up comedy. Some, if someone had an issue with Tony Hinchcliffe calling Peng? Dang it, you can bleep this out if you need to a filthy chink. And then and they have a problem with that. Because Tony didn’t clear that with paying first and he wasn’t exactly in on the bit to start with. And it wasn’t all completely pre planned. It was just kind of winging it and go valid complaint. But if you think that, that that it’s a problem, because he really thinks that and he’s really promoting that that idea, then you are then you’re don’t ever go to a stand up comedy show because you’re going to ruin it. Because it’s a stand up comedy, everything. It’s like, it’s you didn’t hold Carroll O’Connor liable for what he said is archie bunker, it was within the context of a show, a show that has beats that has that has punch lines that has setups and premises. It’s all fiction. So it’s unfair to the the artist to draw from their their art, you know, things that you think about them. In reality, there are two things are separate. It’s stand up fucking comedy, and that and that really, really was the issue for me. So I just wanted everyone to understand, because this is the other part that I saw by that, you know, I’m watching if I can, that, that prick on TMZ like, you know, clutching his pearls over the comment that he’s like, oh, not only did he say that, but but then listen to the audience. Like they’re all they’re all laughing like that was another, you know, another statement, a barometer of how far we’ve sunk in America because we were laughing at just blatant racism. No, we were laughing because we could tell in the room in the context of everything that was happening, that it was a fucking joke that I didn’t mean it. That’s why we were laughing. The laughter from the audience should have been the clue to you that the person watching the video that this was a joke and it wasn’t real. So you know that.

matt nappo 49:39
And I that’s exactly what I said when I said basically what you’re doing is indicting everybody who was in that room laughing. And I happen to know one of the people who was in that room with you. And I said, and if you look at his Twitter feed, you know, this guy’s not gonna laugh at racist material. So you’re you’re condemning this whole room of people because you didn’t need one grown up. or anything like that. And then there’s the fact that is five days or four days, he could have called a new Tony Hinchcliffe well enough to call him up and say I was hurt by what you said. And at least give him some heads up. I’m gonna talk totally destroyed, tried to destroy your career to boost my likes in

Brett Erickson 50:18
motion. And it’s interesting that you mentioned Brendan Walsh earlier because the same thing happened to Brendan Walsh not too long ago where it was it was a bit of a different situation where he was hosting a show at the Hyperion theater in LA, with Brendan small, the guy who created metalocalypse, right? I say that right? A very, very funny guy and a great musician. And they were doing a show called Bren today and Brendan and Brendan, and it was like this silly Lark kind of a show where they were basically what’s that, like Kathie Lee and Hoda, it was like, the fourth hour of Good Morning America where the hosts are kind of drunk on rosae and a little bit silly. And that’s that was the the vibe of the show. And Brandon was playing this guy who was a complete idiot. I mean, he everything he said was stupid, just the same kind of dumb stuff he does with the, you know, he’s always dressed like a neck brace on and he’s. And he’s that, and he introduced I can’t remember the girl’s name now, but he introduced some girl by commenting on her great tits. And then she did the show never said anything to him. She was even in, even in one of her bits. She sat on a guy’s lap, and it was like stroking his hair. Like, she was not offended that night, in any way. She knew Brendan was joking. And then a couple of days later, she wrote this blog. And you know, if you type out the words, he said, they look bad. And then she didn’t say who it was. She just said it was prominent la comedian. And then everybody jumped in I Oh, my God, this is the problem. See, women are they they’re constantly being viewed as as bodies and not brains, and blah, blah, blah. And then Brendan finally came out and said, Look, it’s me that she’s talking about, and I was Bob, you know, I was doing this as part of a character or whatever. And then all the people who knew Brandon kind of switched and went, Oh, yeah, that makes sense. But

matt nappo 52:25
that makes perfect.

Brett Erickson 52:25
But by that time, the Hyperion theater had already cancelled the show, Brandon small and Brendan Walsh don’t do a show together anymore. And it’s a fucking shame, because that was a really, really funny show in Los Angeles. And those two guys together, were fantastic. And somebody killed it. And in both in Tony Hinchcliffe case, with the guy who accused him of racism, and the woman who accused Brendon Walsh of being a sexist pig, both of them did it solely to advance their careers to be to be a victim of something to in order to put your name out there more. That sucks. Don’t do it.

matt nappo 53:04
It doesn’t last either. I mean, you see that, and I don’t even want to say his name, but the guy who targeted Hinchcliffe, he’s, he’s already kind of forgotten. Yes, he had 5000 followers in a single day on Twitter. And then it leveled off and he hasn’t had a new one since so well.

Brett Erickson 53:21
He’s got no material. He’s new here. He was in a perfect position because he was getting spots. He’d go up on kill Tony, this is a good thing. You’re in there, you’re in the community you want to be in. And what he did is he took a shot, he took his shot to man, it was like it. I mean, I look, I don’t know the guy. So you know, whatever

matt nappo 53:46
I was, I was one of the 12 people in America who was familiar with his comedy before that date. Oh, really? Yeah. And I had seen some of his stuff. And it was all about race, all about China being Chinese and the Asian experience. And I know for a fact that he had heard that word before. Because when Tommy Chung was on this program, he used it a number of times to describe themselves. And I know he watched that program because I had been in contact with him. So he likes to he lied to TMZ TMZ. Exactly. You know it, but it bothers me to see that kancil culture is still going on. And that I can’t talk sense into people who don’t see that if you push this on your peers, it’s gonna come back on you. It’s just the natural thing you kill with killing your own golden goose. And see that it’s because I’m a huge fan of comedy, and I want to see it continue to grow. And I think it’s not gonna if we more comedians embrace this thing to get their enemy or the competition, it’s just gonna kill it for everybody and it’s a very sad So it is

Brett Erickson 55:00
it’s a shame that we that we try to cut out. People, we don’t want success for other people, you know how I don’t know if anybody out there watching this is in the same sort of line of work where, where you, you have a colleague who has some success, and they tell you about the success and you’re happy for them, but a little part of you dies, like, because it wasn’t you it was them instead of you. That’s all it’s comedy is a hard business, because there’s a lot of that, you know, I I’m I’m far enough along in it that I see, a lot of good things happen to a lot of good people. And I see a lot of good things happen to people who I think frankly, don’t deserve it. So you have to keep your mind in the right place. And that’s not always easy to do. And that’s what, that’s what leads to this sort of shit. Where are we, where we’re happy to cut somebody loose without we don’t even want to know the context. Because we know that if we find out the context, we won’t want to do it anymore. So we got to cut the person loose, and get these numbers down so that we have a better chance of, of success. And you know what, here’s the thing, there’s enough success out there for everybody. It’s not I win and you lose, we can both win. That’s That’s how entertainment works.

matt nappo 56:17
And generally, I will say this generally, because it’s not always the case, you can’t worry about somebody else’s success. If that you know, you feel they don’t deserve it. But if the phoniest will expose themselves over time, I look at Milli Vanilli and people were really, really jealous of them when they had number one hits. But then, you know, when when they got exposed as being fake, their career was over instantly. And so that happens to a lot of people who are phony, you can’t worry about them, you have to worry about yourself and your own success. Absolutely.

Brett Erickson 56:48
Right. Somebody and somebody having success doesn’t mean you can’t have success. It’s not a zero sum game.

matt nappo 56:55
Right? Yeah, well, that’s a problem. We tend to look at everything as limited resources, but in certain areas that is true. I mean, we’re here on Long Island where New York where we used to have a probably 30 comedy clubs on Long Island, I think there may be three or four now and instead so it is it is a very

Brett Erickson 57:16
you’re gonna find more coming back. I think that you know, I read some stories. I don’t know if you’ve talked about this at all, but I read some stuff about how you know after the pandemic in 1918 when that kind of finally ended and everybody came out of it that led into the roaring 20s and the Charleston and everybody party and I think you’re gonna see some of that same sort of, you know, revival when we all finally get all the way back I think I hopefully you’ll see some more comedy clubs I certainly enough goddamn comedians to fill them

matt nappo 57:45
are no doubt about that. That roaring back type of because several months ago now, you know, we were still wearing masks to the club, get in the club, we’d be playing. And people were supposed to be wearing masks at the table in the masks. Were coming off there with dancing that being told, you know, try try not to let people sing along a dance. That’s like don’t Don’t, don’t make people laugh. No dancing, no dancing and singing. But people were having Minaj I was on the dance floor. This is like, and so that roaring back and ready to go. You lock people up for a year and a half when it’s bad. go wild man. Right? Yeah. So are you looking forward to getting you know, the Alaska trip with excite?

Brett Erickson 58:32
Absolutely, absolutely. The Alaska trip and then we’ll get back here. The club that Joe’s opening up will be opening up sometime this summer. So I’m very excited about that. Austin is is a really, really cool place. I know that everybody who already lives here is pissed off that we came. And I don’t blame them. I get it. You know, you got a cool thing going here. And now a bunch of assholes from California, New York just invaded your city. But it’s very cool. So there’s a lot of new clubs popping up here. A lot of places to go up and do stand up and there’s music everywhere. I think that’s gonna be like that all over the place. So I hope that wherever you are, if you’re out there, get out there enjoy some stand up comedy. Go see some live music. Go see somebody read goddamn poems just get out of the damn house.

matt nappo 59:19
Jay. Yeah, I agree. And I hope that happens too. I mean, it’s it’s been really it’s been open here. I’ve been playing since last Memorial Day. So it’s been a year since I’ve been out back performing every week. But it just went we finally lifted the mask mandate and all that stuff a couple of weeks ago. People are still a little shy about it. But I think that roaring 20s thing is, is Yeah, we’re going to happen and

Brett Erickson 59:47
I everybody comes out of the pandemic in their own way. Right, right. I mean, like, everyone, here’s how I don’t know how graphic we can get on your show. Can we get graphic on your show here? Here’s how you can tell you’re all the way over to pandemic. Here’s how you know that you’re done with it. When you get back to as eating, I think that’s when you know, you’re willing to just bury your face in some stranger’s ass. You are past wearing a mask, you know what I mean? Like I made it you are out you’re through the other side. Right? So that won’t be your barometer. Everybody.

matt nappo 1:00:27
One of the guests on the program, not too long ago told me about a guy who went to eat her ass on the first date. And I was like, wow.

Brett Erickson 1:00:36
These kids, man, these kids are wild. I used to do a bit about that, but how, like, because they get right in there. Remember? We used to do a two we call them rim jobs because you stayed around the outside you just sort of dabble. They’re just not for me. That’s not for me. I’m just you know,

matt nappo 1:00:59
it’s a little much. So um, and I know we’re over the eating I’m sorry to end we’re not gonna we’re gonna go a couple more minutes because because just just to watch that PE S Yeah, I didn’t even go to this one.

Brett Erickson 1:01:13
No, see, that’s the thing. If you if you get if it tastes that you went too far, if you taste anything, that’s alright. Because

matt nappo 1:01:23
you’re you’re absolutely right. I never I just want to say that my sponsors I we didn’t read the sponsor point at the beginning of the program because the sponsors asked me to bring it in and try to incorporate the guests with it and I blew past it didn’t even look at it. We’re an hour in and I never even mentioned entice me where you get your non toxic sex toys. The link is in the description as well. The idea is sex toys are made out of the same toxic materials that they banned from children’s toys so children children will put stuff in their mouth but sex toys are still continually made of that toxic stuff and people are putting mud plugs in and vibrators and all that kind of stuff. And

Brett Erickson 1:02:04
yeah, that’s a real those are real sensitive areas of your body to write obviously any orifice is going to have sore you know things that are delicate and shouldn’t be you know exposed to these chemicals. I enticed me

matt nappo 1:02:19
entice me enticed me calm links in the description and and so basically check them out if you want to save your butthole from toxic chemicals. And and get a bad day. Get a bad day. You know, I’ve heard I’ve heard about this and I know your pal Andy is colonoscopy today, but the benefits of but they really do. Unbelievable.

Brett Erickson 1:02:45
I It is unbelievable to me. I got a video a couple years ago just like people think oh, I didn’t even really know exactly what it was but the kind that I got that you can get the handheld one you just spray your butt don’t get that if you’re not a hillbilly spraying yourself down with the garden hose out in the yard. Get you can but you can add one to your toilet where it’s just you. You’re sitting there you’re done with doing your business and then you just press a button and clean fresh water sprays up on there and you just kind of scoot around a little bit cleans off your butt and when you go when you go to the toilet paper it’s just too dry and I thought to myself well why why have we been doing this the whole time because

matt nappo 1:03:29
it’s so much more economical I mean ecological

Brett Erickson 1:03:35
Yes Don’t be a danger dangerous it’s dangerous you’re just smearing stuff around up there you don’t do that so you get a bad day then you get a nice non toxic entice me deal though you get a bad day you clean your butthole all up you get a nice non toxic entice me dildo and RAM that up in there and it’s all good

matt nappo 1:03:56
bye man I thank you so much for for this time your great insight into asset cleansing and and and the trends in seating. It couldn’t have been a better program Brett, I thank you very much for this so much for being here. I was great. I wish you great success and please you know come back again sometime and let’s go through it again. Cuz

Brett Erickson 1:04:16
I would really I would really like that. I’ll take you up on that. This was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me.

matt nappo 1:04:20
Thanks. And bye for now and be well. Alright, yep, see it but Brett Erickson folks, issues with Andy podcast. If you’re so inclined, you can go up to Alaska and see him next week. Although I’m not really sure where you can find out about the rest of his days. The website as you heard in the beginning of the program is not updated enough. There has to be someplace maybe it’s Facebook page, maybe Twitter, I don’t know where you find out where he’s gonna be playing by you performing by you. But we’ll come up and try to try on your own. I do my best to keep you informed. I hope you enjoyed this program tomorrow. I don’t have a program April Burke was supposed to be with me tomorrow. She has some kind of medical emergency she needs to postpone. We’ll be back. Probably rescheduling for next week unless I do a solo show tomorrow. So I’ll be here alone. Until then. I’m Matt nappo for the mind doc TV podcast. Thanks for coming. Have a great night. Bye for now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai