From 2 Broke Girls to Center Stage: Jonathan Kite's Journey in Comedy

 In this episode, Brock and Will are joined by the multi-talented actor, comedian, and impressionist Jonathan Kite. He is on tour now! Check out tickets at

https://www.jonathankitecomedy.com/shows

The trio dives into a whirlwind of topics, from their love for storytelling, to the more complicated sides of the entertainment industry, or to balancing authenticity with the need to cultivate a desirable public image. Join us for an episode of insight and endless laughs!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to Studio twenty two.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Studio twenty two. I'm your host, Will Meltman
alongside the beautiful, the Bold, and the beautiful brocc O'Hearn.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
BBB right there.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
How are you well?

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I guess four bees huh. I'm good?

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, another great day in sunny California.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Love that we are here with actor, comedian impressionist Jonathan Kaite.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
What's up baby? How are you man?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I am fantastic. I'm excited to chat with you. It's
gonna be fun.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah. Did I wish I had my own bobblehead?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, just gotta just moved around.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I always said I am my own bobblehead because like,
no matter when I drink, no matter how thin I
get in the body, I have like lollipop syndrome where
my face just keeps going and I have no like
like with Leo, right, Leo, great guy, I mean never
you know, but he his body is turning into you know,
sort of a right like a reversed but he has

(01:00):
such a thin face, and so I was like, bro,
I have the exact opposite. So that's what I look like.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's one of my favorite gifts I've ever gotten by
this guy right here.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Oh, that's awesome that he knows.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I'm a big fan of the Office too, So it's
kind of like a.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I mean, that's pretty good merch because I'm try road dude,
I'm going on the road.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
He's got the same hat on basically, right.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Yeah, I mean I'm saying, like, you're living you're living
in bottom me. Could you imagine if you standing in
front of like a table at comic Con.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
We should do that at the table next year. We're
big comic con guys.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
We saw you had a comic book record there.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, it's just out of pure love for storytelling, visual
art all that. You mentioned the Walking Dead too, Like
I have a zombie comic that's basically me and my
dog taken on zombies all over.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah. I love comic books. I always wanted to be
Plastic Man. Oh yeah, they did. It's weird because like
they were going to do a movie with Leslie Jones,
you know, Plastic Man, and and then it got scrapped
or whatever. It was a mini series. But I always
thought like that would be a good one for me
to do because.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
It is Plastic Man. He's like read Richards right, He's like.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yes, yes, and and he but he what I always
thought of it, He looked like a caricature of Superman
or Shazam because they sort of make him more of
an elongated face. He tells jokes the whole time. He's
sort of like, yeah, like an exaggeration of those guys.
They don't have the same powers. But he sort of
is just like a goofball. And so I'm like, dude,

(02:31):
they're making They're making Madam Webb, and I can't get
a Plastic Man movie made on my camera. I can't
get a Plastic Man movie, mane.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
I haven't seen Madame Web yet, but it looks like
it's getting ripped apart online. Dude, it's it's you see it.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
I didn't see it. I haven't seen it. Be uh,
but I I have I have narry a good word
from anyone who has.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, I mean I'm a big Sydney Sweeney fan, you know.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, man, I mean they caught a guy masturbating in
a movie theater. That's yea, the Dark Web. She was Webb,
he was web slinging. They how weird is that? But
you know what, here's the thing. When you make the
dune bucket from popcorn just look like a flashlight.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Weird. The sandworm flesh, it was weird. That was a
weird choice.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, come on, you're inviting that stuff
in there.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah. I've seen some weird stuff in theaters.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Man.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
I used to go all the time. I had the
AMC pass, you know, and.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
I still have it.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, we go all the time.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
My buddy's all the time.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
You got to catch them together.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
YEA. One of my favorite things going to movies. But
the last couple of times I've been in there, yeah,
I've seen people walk in with trash bags filled with
I don't even know what's in there, but they're pulling
out the nastiest smelling quadruple cheeseburgers I've ever seen. They're
taking naps four rows next to you and snoring. Like
I just keep seeing one weird thing after another. I'm like, dude,
it's just going to be a matter of time before
I'm in the wrong theater at the wrong time.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I saw guys get in a fistfight when I went
to go see Peter Jackson's King Kong, and I don't
know if the movie just riled them up, but like
there is this older guy, like an older gentleman, you know,
and he sort of I don't remember, but this this
young guy started fist fighting him in a movie theater.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
What dude?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
And this was you know, I mean, this was a
long time ago, so it wasn't like well, you know, Trump,
COVID whatever, like people blame violence on. This was just
like two. It was crazy and then people had to
like pull them apart in the theater. It's like, did
you ever see the old movie Bachelor Party with Tom
Hanks when he goes into the theater and he's mirroring
like the fight with the bad guy and he actually

(04:30):
punches this girl in the face. Who's where? And she's like, wow,
this is the most three D movie I've ever seen.
It's a great gag. But that's like we were watching that.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
It's crazy.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
It was crazy and the movie was over, by the way.
It wasn't like in the movie. It was like the
credits were rolling, the lights were on, somebody bumped into somebody,
and then it just became like round one.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
You know. It's funny when I actually reminds me of Wow,
old was I was like seventeen, maybe sixteen. I should
go to doubleheaders all day, every day, and I was
pretty broke, so a lot of time i'd sneak in,
which I don't recommend doing to anybody, you know, it's illegal,
but I did. And I remember I snuck in this
movie and this fight broke out like three rows in
front of us, this chick and I don't know if

(05:10):
it was a chicken, a chick or a chicken guy,
but it was. It was a nasty fight. They went
and they went at it basically stopped the whole movie,
you know. And then at the end of it, I
remember coming down, They're like, if you guys could just
sign that you were a witness here until for all
the people watching. And I'm like, sitting here, dude, I'm
about to get busted that I snuck in here, like
it's going on, Like I don't know what's going on
at my ticket, Yeah, but exactly. And then so I
was like, yeah, I'll sign it, you know, no problem.

(05:31):
I tried to sneak out, but they cut me off
before I can get out. They gave me free tickets
for signing as a witness, and I was like, this
is the best day.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
I thought they were taking you down, Like how al
Capone got Taxes. That was you. That's how Brock got
taken down. Double Sneaks. We tried to do the three
the three peat one time. That was that was tough.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's a long time, and especially if you have a
little bit of time in between the two films, it's
a long time.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Or people who did like The Barbie The Barbara Harbnheimer,
I was just like, dude, go see your family. I mean,
that's like, as though incredible, but you know the commentary
that was online about I mean i'd be I'd feel
pretty weird if that was Japan. What I mean, like
making it like qut C, like the I mean obviously
putting those together their warnerbars because yeah, yeah, it's like

(06:18):
orientated and sort of just like, well, this will be
fun see see this movie about this horrific thing that
we did and Sea Barbie and I love the film.
It's I thought it was one of the best films
I've seen in a very long time. But I just
felt like making that campaign cut C was sort of
like deflecting from the seriousness and of the film.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, the point of it, the terrible things we did,
like you said.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, like if it was like nine to eleven and
then like a Pixar movie, you know, one of them
was about planes and the other one was about nine
to eleven.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
I'm slow sometimes it takes me a bit to catch it.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Good.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
I love the I love the tatts. Dude, I don't
have any my tattoos and I don't have any tattoos on.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, banksy Amri Matisse Bible versus my family?

Speaker 3 (07:01):
All yeah, dude, what is wait? What's the one up there?

Speaker 1 (07:03):
What will this one? Flame?

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Boy and White Willy Oh World Industries.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, of course, dude.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
All our friend Hannah Stocking did that one?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Actually? Oh nice? Yeah. I used to skate when I
was in high school. Yeah, Alien Workshop, Yeah did all
that stuff. I shoes, I'm wearing them now.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Soaps remember soaps? No, they were the shoes with the
wheels on that you could or no, the grinding pad
on the bottom so you could like grind. They were
banded our school because everyone would like leave marks.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Oh really yeah yeah, I can imagine. I just feel
like you're instantly going to break an ankle or smack
your skull open with those things. Dude's yeah, yeah, I
mean horrible idea.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
But I feel like things people didn't care, Like we
obviously skate.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Videos the nineties, nobody cared.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, so what did I I just saw this video
of this kid. He had to be like twelve freaking genius.
But he's talking about how we went into He thinks
we went into you know, the Mendela effect. He started
breaking it down and he said, he thinks we went
into an alternate universe just slightly over a little bit,
because everything has been changed, just slightly like most things
or whatever. So he thinks we're in this alternate universe.
And I'm like, if you think about it, twenty nineteen

(08:17):
and before was pretty damn good. Now it's a little weird.
It's been getting a little weird.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
A little weirder, and it's like a continental drift where
it feels like it's a shallow. But if you look
at like you know, before the dark times and after
the Dark times, like it's a little weird about even,
like I think without the structure of life and all
this stuff that just sort of came out of it
and how there was like when it's a little you
can't really feel the vibrations, but then it starts to
spiral and get you know, sort of expands. It's yeah,

(08:44):
it's a little little tough.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
It all started in twenty sixteen when Ghostbusters, the new
female reboot, they partnered with the Hillary Clinton campaign. I
think that was when it all.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
You think, so, let me tell you something.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Maybe it might cut that, but no, no, you keep
that enough.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
I have a joke that I've been working for a
long time about about which Madam Webb, it's a little
too on the nose, but it's like totally true. I said,
I have a joke about how about female empowerment? And
I you know, like I'm all for feminism and equality.
I just don't think we're going to get that way
by remaking male dominated movies.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
With you know, turning women into men.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well. I think the problem with with the Ghostbusters are
it was literally about three repressed scientists and their janitor
buddy who use laser penises to get a jiz ball
into a tiny box. I was like, yeah, that's the one,
like you know what I mean, out of all the
movies they could have made.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
To kick it off.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, yeah, but I mean, listen, you.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Know, some of my favorite heroes and action films too,
are you know Ridley an alien Loura Croft is a badass,
Like one of my comic characters is modeled after Laura
Croft and Black Widow, and you know, so, I definitely
think there's ways to do that where everyone loves it,
for sure.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Ridley, I mean the Aliens. I love that entire series.
Have you seen the new one the Predator called Prey
that was on Hulu? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, we watched that together.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Actually that was awesome.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
I thought it was so good that the girl they
had so good, very believable. I mean, I'll go see
those movies no matter what, because I love that universe.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Yeah, but it's like, but some of them, you're sort
of like, this is a you know, it's like did
the Predator just get a job at Chick fil A?
Like why are we doing this one? And uh, but
that one felt like exactly in the vein of the
original stuff where they just went from time zone, you know, yeah,
and he was de evolved with his weapons too.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Nature.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Again.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, it was very cool, very very very I liked it.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
A lot more than the than Shane Black's uh The Predators.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah, yeah, I thought that. You know what though about
that one was kind of crazy that you got to
see another planet and in a way to like I
loved when they were walking and then the move or
the sun didn't move, because that's how long the days were.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Oh wait, maybe it's some which one was his? Maybe
his was the Predator? Is that the same one?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Maybe predators were Adrian Brody when they start in their
free falling out of the sky. Yeah, different on different
Oh okay, yeah, because the Predator's one was wild. Yeah,
because think about it, we always you know, we're top
of the food chain, certainly brocas and and we're we're
top of the food chain adjacent we're top of the
food chain plus one and two. But you know, like

(11:27):
do you think about that other aliens and whatnot? I mean, yeah,
we're immediately we're like in the mail room in those
corporations that it's like you couldn't. I mean, it's like
that is unbelievable how we've been able to That's what's
crazy about how like the nonsense. Obviously I think for
different people there's been terrible things, not just twenty nineteen. Yeah,
but you got to think about how we haven't imploded

(11:49):
as a people, because it's like we're limitless. We don't
really have any We are our only competition right in
the wild. That it's like and we you know, we
thin our herds, but it's weird that like not you know,
thank god we haven't met aliens that would just come
over and knock us off.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, well and this is a this is my message
to the aliens. I'm on your side. If you come down,
let me know what you need. Come in peace, we come. Yeah.
Well they won't though, I mean I hope they do.
But I think of every time you think of a
dominant species coming, I mean certainly in human history with

(12:30):
other humans and with animals, that if we could dominate
something we do. There's I mean, there's no reason we
could have lived in harmony, by the way, with a
lot of these of different cultures. We could have right now,
that's global exactly, but we choose not to because of ego, greed,
all this stuff, you know, fear, whatever.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
It is, everything that is human.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, exactly exactly. And uh and you know, so you
got it. That's why we keep.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
The friends crystals closer years. I'm gonna put that on
T shirt. But no, that's I mean, that's even in
nature to like if if there's a more dominant weed
or plant or whatever, it just takes over, right.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
An invasive species. We are the ultimate survival, Yeah, evasive species.
I love watching Do You Do Planet Earth? With David
atmborough Dude, So the original ones, I feel like, well
I could do him for sure. Yeah, looking at the
bubble head, I kind of tell if he agrees or
disagrees with me. But the thing about those original they

(13:33):
would never show the violence, you know, in the originals,
like they would only show like ah and he got away.
But now I think people with the Internet up, they're
now like point that giraffe, fucking ninja kicking those lines
in the face. I mean they are yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Snoop Dogg narrating the lizard escaping the snakes. It was
like a hundred snakes and like series just like taken
off and all of them.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, yah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love those Sorry, what are.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
We gonna say?

Speaker 1 (14:07):
I was gonna say that. Actually that's why I really.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Have you guys seen the lizard video? It's Snoop don
I too.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
I had brought on my podcast a while back and
we didn't get into this, but you know, I love
like when my team was like, would you be a guest?
I wrote back like absolutely instantly, of course appreciate it.
I love being a guest. I mean, especially with friends,
but I love guesting on people's podcasts. And I did
a podcast last year for like six eight months, and
you know, it's it's interesting because we were talking about

(14:40):
just how hard it is to get a podcast off
the ground, and even if you're known, like there's plenty
of people who are you know, way more famous than
than than than the average podcaster that are still you know,
struggles and troubles and whatnot, because you're literally competing with
everything in the history of time right like it's simultane
there's nothing that you can't get, you know what you

(15:00):
have to pay for it a little bit, or it's
for free on streaming or whatnot. Everything is archived right now.
And not only that, it's in obviously you know, it's
your fingertips. And so the thing is the podcast. For me,
I'd love to come and guest and like stay for
a day, but I think like for me, it was
just taking up so much of my time because I'm
on the road doing stand up and I would get

(15:20):
and I'd usually have to do it on Monday so
that it would release on Thursday. And if I was
on the road, it was just me. I mean I
had guys guest with me, you know, like Ryan was
on the episode with you, but it's like it all
was on me. So if I had a long weekend
or if I was gone for two weeks, like straight
doing stand up, I'd have to like figure away because
it's like.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
You want to be entertaining, you want to be funny,
you want to be lively. But if it's like if
you don't have energy, it's like I've had that. I
can't even tell you many times I've been on this
s Potter. I'm like, there's not enough caffeine in the world.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
For sure, but you at least have each other, Yeah,
which is great. And the thing is, you know, especially
if I'm on the road to come back on Monday,
usually Monday is the day that I have to get
everything done that I didn't do for like Wednesday through Sunday,
and so it was always like I did I drove
an hour to the podcast studio, we did it for
an hour and then an hour home and it was

(16:10):
just like a three hours in the middle of the day. Yeah,
that and I and I enjoyed it. I tried it.
I had a great time with it. I got out
of it what I wanted to get out of it.
But I just was and I coincided with I actually
burst a hemorrhage of my our hemorrhage my vocal cord.
Oh no, we're there was no rhyme or reason I
worked with the doctor. No, it just happened in life.

(16:31):
And I went to a specialist. He was like, yeah,
you just bruised it. So I was on vocal rest
for like a week or two, and I was just like,
this is not And I just come off doing shows
like six shows back to back for Fourth of July
weekend or something.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
That's crazy. Man. Yeah. One of our buddies, uh, Jeff,
Jeff Beature just got a who's on the podcast Madhouse?
Yeah he just he had vocal surgery. He was on
like vocal rest for like three four weeks or something
like that.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
Oh yeah, it's no joke.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
I can't imagine, Like, even if I love my alone time,
not talking, like not talking to someone, how difficult is
it to not talk?

Speaker 3 (17:04):
You could just get the Stephen Hawking app well, going back.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
To isn't there a comedian And he's like, uh, he
uses that there is a guy.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah out of Austin, But I yeah, I do it
sometimes on stage. But I just like that would be
like the best. Why not, Like you wouldn't do it
if you had to be on vocal rest you could
just and but he has to type.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
It in you know, takes a minute, but.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
It takes a minute. But I mean he's pretty darn
good at and he has saved phrases, you know, And
I was like, dude, that would be Could you imagine
that though even like two years ago you could have
done that that you just had to be quiet.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, kind of on the point where you're saying that
you're competing against everything, right, Like that's why we're never
going to have another Michael Jackson, another Elvis, another you
know whatever. No one's ever going to be that famous people,
It's not going to be the same. You know, there
are high levels of like look at Taylor.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Swipt Why wait I would wait and see only to
see how long she can sustain this tour, because if
she can do this tour like she's doing, she had
all the you know, North America this year doing Europe
next year. Right, If she can do that every couple
of years and still fill those stadiums, she will be
this generations Michael Jackson because she has a catalog. That's

(18:14):
only what I was gonna say, because to your point,
most other people that were big, they didn't have a catalog,
and they fell off so significantly.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, if you're not constantly making new stuff for them
to listen to or take in or buy or whatever,
then yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
She's already made the transition where you know, somebody young,
because if you listen to like black or White and
then like Who's loving you, like two different Michael Jackson songs,
right one when he's young, who's older? You have to
make the transition to what people will buy I think
in pop music and what's cool now? And then yes,
but then at a certain point you are relevant, like

(18:49):
nobody is. Nobody is saying, man, I wish you know,
I wish the Rolling Stones sounded more like little Zam,
Like they're just not saying that. So it's like, whatever
you do, you become the thing that's enough. But it
takes a minute. Because I think about justin Timberlake, you know,
like he was doing it and then he took a
break for a long time, and I think he's releasing

(19:10):
an album. I'm curious to hear what it sounds like, yeah,
because I don't I don't know what for me, I
don't know what he sounds like.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah. I think the biggest gap that I've seen is
with Justin Bieber, Like when he he obviously like I
think even the music was a little bit young for
me at the time. And then when he dropped an album,
I don't remember how long it was now, but it
was like, wait a second, this is actually this guy's
not this guy's killed peaches and or hip hop and
rushed it. Dude, I'm like voice sounds he bridged that gap,

(19:37):
you know, Yes, he applaud appealed now to an older audience,
right absolutely, and then everyone loves him.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Kind of like what David Getta did back in like
the late like two thousand and eight, twenty eleven that time,
where he kind of took ed M and combined it
with R and B and Usher and Black Eyed Peas
and then you just have two worlds colliding and just
exponentially everybody's fans.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Yeah, and also as a producer, it's like what DJ
Colly does like you can you can sort of in
a weird way, like obviously DJ Khaled is responsible for
those hits, but the pressure is off him, like in
terms of like he has to decide the sound. But
there's something about having somebody relevant, like being somebody relevant
that you want to be on those songs. That's such

(20:22):
a hard thing, you know. Like I was saying, I
don't know if we talked about this last time, but
the weirdest thing about when you're on a show that
that's relevant. A lot of people work, you know, like
and but to be on a show. That's why everybody
I think wants to be on Saturday Night Live because
it makes you I mean, it's a great show. I
mean it's it's been on for fifty years. All the
detractors are it sucks, it's nothing. It's like dude, but

(20:43):
we're still talking about it.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
So it's got to be something.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
And so the and relevancy is the hardest thing in
the world. You can be famous, a lot of famous
people out there, doesn't make them relevant. And that is
the thing about music. It's almost like the most when
you look at like the the what would the Grammys
the other day I didn't recognize half the people up there, right,
and those are the people that are relevant right now.
Doesn't mean that they're gonna be relevant next year, doesn't

(21:07):
even mean like they're famous of the moment. And that's
I think, really tough.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, well that's yeah man, it's it's a
it's a hard road, like being in entertainment any facet, right,
because you can have that one thing that hits, and
if you're not doing anything outside of that, or it doesn't,
nothing else hits for you. After that, nobody's calling wants
to put you in. It's like, well there's that child
actor that was dope thirty years ago.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
No one is. I mean, you have a team, but
I feel like the people that I know that fell off,
they were like, Okay, the phone oll ring, and you
have to. My opinion is, even when you're on the ship,
the phone doesn't like you have you can't expect the
phone to ring.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
I when you if you want to look at it
from from almost an analytical perspective, you start to break
down the people that have made it on the highest level.
They're the ones that are going and making it happen.
It's and very rarely but every now and again someone
comes through and then they hit and then they ride
that wave and they keep getting a call call, call call,
But doesn't mean they're not working their ass off. The
people that work their asses off are the ones that

(22:05):
guarantee their spots. It's hard to get there, harder to
stay there. And I'm thinking, I'm sitting here like, Okay, look,
you might have an opportunity, but what are you going
to do with that?

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Totally?

Speaker 1 (22:13):
What do you do with it? Because it's dude, this
industry all in most industries, all industries are difficult, you know,
but this one specifically, especially now that there's so much
out there, like, how are you going to stay how
are you going to stay realvant? How are you going
to stay in it? You know, totally, what are you doing?
That's different?

Speaker 3 (22:28):
And I also think with people want to buy you,
but they also want to buy you playing a character.
So it's a tough thing, right. So it's like at
least with lawyers, because I was thinking, like, lawyers are
the same thing as actors, Like they just don't need
anymore yet Somehow, theater schools and law degrees are being
given out every year to people who earn them. But
it's like, I can't imagine, especially now with AI, how

(22:49):
they're doing so much of the of the lawyering.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
You know, oh yeah, you could just write a contract
over right, And.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
It's like all the research that you kind of go
everything about, like you know so, But but the thing
with us is ours is our identity?

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, I mean, how many times have you heard somebody
who comments on a very famous, very talented actor, but
they don't like them, so they don't watch any of
their stuff because of their political views or because of
their you know, they did one thing at one time
that just nobody they just didn't like or whatever. I
don't know what to me. I'm sitting here like, damn,
you have to do everything right all the time.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
All the time, you're constantly being scrutinized. You're in your
own version of the Truman Show. If you're not, it's
it's it's insane. And then you you know, it's It's
interesting because that with my comedy I try to go
through I mean, I tell jokes that are probably left
and right because I'm not a really political person. But
it's weird how like people need to know things about
you before they're willing to laugh about you. Now they're

(23:43):
like in certain in certain areas, and you got to think, like,
and it's a weird thing because people people we're at war.
Like that's the thing I think about since twenty nineteen,
twenty twenty. We're at war, Like, not we but just
the general there's something out there that people are veheminently against.
Even if like the nicest people like your your aunt

(24:05):
on Facebook or whatever.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
As a whole, there's.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Something that she hates in a way that I'm not
sure that Like I was away, by the way, maybe
people always maybe hate was always alive and well, but
I don't remember seeing people. And I think because we
have somebody outlets for it, So then we're we're so
tribal now. So then it's like, are you with us?
Because if you're not with us, you're against us.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly think the the algorithms of
every social media company is hate gets more clicks. Hate
is monetizable more than happiness or love or anything like that.
So I think that is definitely part of it. I
think you're right. It's it's like some inner I think
emotional stuff too, but like it's just it's undeniable, right,

(24:52):
It's like there's been a way they make money.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, but yeah, I would say I would say like
it to me, it appears like there's just been a
massive societal shift where people feel you know, before it
was survival of the fittest, right, so you get the
alpha male to come out. And let's say that in
the Lion Kingdom, right, the strongest, baddest, toughest one wins.
Right now, it's not that, it's it's who has the

(25:15):
best lawyer, who has the you know, who's gonna sabotage you,
who's gonna you know, like how untouchable does this feel
person feel? How much money do they have that they
can screw you over? How can I can I cancel you?
Because I have more power in the media, you know,
like it's shifted, right.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's also people like every system unfortunately, like and I
don't mean I don't mean them illegally, but you always
have to game a system because like I think of
social media and it's like what you have to say, like,
you know, your caption is something like comedian destroys Heckler,
Like that was such a you know, cliche, and then
people were like click on it. And then you would

(25:49):
watch it and it would be the most tame bs
in the world. But then people were like, but it
got you to click on it because it's the hate,
right Whereas like, you know, I think about the clips
of mind that do well, they're probably impressions clips. I've
had a few, but one of them from the podcast
was I was making fun of a film that people
really liked, and I was, you know, I mean, I

(26:09):
tend to talk pretty fast anyway. I've never done cocaine
in my life, but people will say, like, is this
guy in coke all the time? And I was ripping
on this movie and my buddy and I were just
sort of not like we weren't like tearing it apart,
but we were just sort of like showing the humor
of how ridiculous the film was, and the comment section
lit up. It's like, gotta be one of my top

(26:29):
three videos of all time. It's on my Instagram, and
it's just like and the hate that they had towards
us about it, but then you had, like you had
it has twenty thousand likes or whatever it is or
however many life, and you're just like, yeah, but people
agree with us. This is an insane film, but they
just because they think it's an insane film, they don't
feel the need to comment because I'm already doing the comment,
you know, for them. But then the people who are like, no,

(26:52):
we love this film and we're not being represented in
this conversation because it's like it's like, oh, you like bananas, great, yeah,
but you didn't say you liked oranges. You're like, yeah, bitch,
because we're not talking about an is like over my oranges?
I mean yeah, Like, but that's the thing, is like people.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Feel like but it's part of that, I think, is
that tribal response, right, and then people jump on the bandwagon.
I feel like the majority of it, our people are
just angry and they just want to vent about something
that they can be angry about. Or a lot of
people are just out there poking the poking the bearrie
just tell what happens, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, And or people troll and you know, so that's
the thing in a weird way, like all comments are
good comments because like it's not even that I read
the comments on anything to be totally answered. I was
just looking one time and I was like, whoa, this
really blew up. And then you know, people could say
whatever they want about me or the show or my
buddy or whatever, and it's like it doesn't really I
mean to be honest with you, like I don't really care.

(27:40):
And so the thing is, I think, though, you need
to game that system though, or to be like, you know,
here's the thing about Palestine. Like start off, I was
saying like that, and then people were like, you hate pals.
Then I was like, even though I just said, here's
the thing, but you need to trigger people, so you
have to game their trigger response. And that's what That's
what pushed the Altgroim was active.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
I was watching this video earlier on Instagram, just like
scrolling through. It was a massive cargo ship crashing in
the waves. And then it goes to the guy who's like,
buy my marketing thing. I'm like, great, you know like
capture and yeah you gotcha.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, marketing work. But what you said, I think nails.
It is a game. It feels like a big game now,
you know, and you got to play the game sometimes
just to get ahead. It makes it very difficult to
be a lot of times, I feel just a genuine,
authentic person when you're trying at least in an industry
where and it just in a world in general, because

(28:37):
like I think before we used to try to impress
people who are in front of us, you know, like
we would want to like make that person like us,
or you know, it was about who's around you. Now
it's like, let's try to get twenty million people online
to like me that I'm never going to see.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Well, that's what's so funny is that I think that
the good people will still the criminal still rise to
the top, you know, because the idea that when you
do like a stand up clip in my in my world,
they they edit out all the air, you know, so
it's just like a quick so this comic will look masterful,
and then you'll go to see them and it's just like,

(29:11):
uh so uh it's just like it's just going through
everything and you go, they have no pace, they have no.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
They got a great editor, and that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
And so I think, like you know, you're talking off
Mike about how going into auditions and stuff, I think,
you know, if they're gonna put real money behind you,
they'll care about the authenticity, whereas if they're just trying
to you know, if it's sort of like a middle game.
You can edit your way out of that.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Well, how many times have you seen it now where
it's they put faces or actors or actresses in front
of or in the position of a multi hundred million
dollar film or billion dollar franchise and then they go
off the deep end and you're like, wow, everyone doesn't
like this person because they open their mouth and they
are not nice.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Well, they just look the part. I mean, I think
it's also the things that you're going out for, because
I think, like Jonathan Major's right, right, so you think of,
I don't know what happened. You know what I'm saying.
I wasn't there.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
It's no longer the King Din.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
But as of yeah, it's not gonna be King Dynacy.
And you think about and here here's the issue with
a guy like that if what he said, you know,
I'm like, as if my lawyers in the other room, like,
you can't say that. But I don't know what happened,
is the thing. And maybe I read about it and
then my body my mind didn't retain it, you know.
But it's like if people do something illegal, yes they
need to be punished, but I think that there's something

(30:20):
aside from illegality America and international fans, there is you're
gonna you're not gonna like everyone you meet, and the
idea that so I think it's best for me to
keep my personal life essentially like out of my acting life,
like I don't want because the thing is, we want
to like Captain America, but we don't want to know

(30:43):
that Chris Evans, you know, sometimes doesn't wipe all the
way right, you know, like there's imperfections about these people,
but not so if you're gonna play like an iconic character,
it's you know, unless it's like Robert Tanney Junior, where
we love that he overcame his alcoholism and his drug addiction,
I e. Tony Stark. It's a great Everybody loves a comebackstory.

(31:04):
That's why Mickey Rourke, I mean, you know, with with
the wrestler, love the wrestler, but that's a very niche thing,
whereas like if you look at everything else we want
you to be because obviously, like Wolverine has flaws, but
we don't want Hugh Jackman to have any right. Yeah,
and what do you really know about Ryan Reynolds? Nothing?
You know that Blake lively. He's part of us. You know,

(31:26):
he's Deadpool. I can't wait, you know, But it's like
you don't really know anything about him. And so you
know that he's generous and he mobile and all these
like you know things that an entrepreneur, he's a great entrepreneur.
I think I heard something about altruism, Like I think
you've donated some stuff recently. But that's it, And I go,
that is a dynamite pr person. Yes, so that's what
you need more than anything, because you're gonna you're gonna

(31:48):
suck up. Yeah, and so and and but man, when
you get in those Marvel movies, like we talked a
lot about Thorn, where I was like, how are you
not in the Thor world? But it's like those those people,
they are very I don't really know anything about Chris
Hamsworth and I like him very much, but I don't
know anything about him. I don't know politically where he stands.
I don't know anything that's true. Yeah, yeah, and that's
that's I think.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Even coming into that as an actor, you gotta it's
it's funny having a podcast where you actually talk about
a lot of different topics, right, But it's that where
exactly what you're saying, Like, if you want to get
to the top, you have to. It's like it's like
this PG idea of a person, right, and you fall
in love with the idea of the person right instead
of who they really are. And it's just I don't know, man,

(32:29):
it's there's a there's a part of me where it's
like we're not in it. We don't live in a
time where I feel like you can say whatever you
want and do whatever you want. Like it's I mean
not that maybe that's not the best way to say it,
but like and and everyone's opinion, it shouldn't be business.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Our business is tough because people are buying a product. Right.
It's like it's like if in a weird way and
I can't I look at the m B A right,
people screw up, But I think, like, because I'm a
basketball fan, I don't really follow the other sports all
that much, but it's like if if somebody screws up,
they all have problems, but it's like you don't really
care about it in a way, as long as they're

(33:07):
as long as the game's not being hurt, as long
as they can continue to do their things. I mean,
people are self destructive. You can't police people's you know,
actions to the best of your ability. But you know,
it's like they're adults.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
These are adults, and stuff happens. Like you can be
in the wrong place at the wrong time and be
accused of something that you didn't even do. But yeah,
exactly what you're saying, Like, and you have to look
at it like it's funny being an artist, right and
a creator and you want to go out there and
just like make art and that's I wish I could
do that all day, every day, and that was the
beauty of my life. But it comes down to like,
it is a business at the end of the day,

(33:38):
and if someone's going to invest in you to be
the face of that business in any way, shape or form,
you want to make sure that their investment is you know, safe,
that it makes sense for them. Because if I'm going
to go in there and be the face of it,
but then I'm out here doing all this crazy stuff
in the streets and threatening people, and that's not a
good look. That hurts the entire establishment, and then it
ruins the chances for people like the rest of us

(33:59):
to even get in thereslutely.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I mean the thing is, though, that you I think
that's what comedy is so good for, because you can
get up there and tell jokes as long as you're like,
these are jokes. I'm not. I'm just trying to make
you laugh. I don't, you know, agree with you know,
politics is the easiest thing to use here. I don't
agree with this guy this guy or this guy you know,
or whatever. I don't care. I'm just thinking it's funny
about this. And if you are just like, isn't that funny?

(34:23):
And I think that's why it's it's it's so important
for comedy to just keep pushing that yeah, because you
you shouldn't know. I mean, listen, people can get up
there and talk about like, oh I hate this guy
or this girl or whoever, or I don't like this
stance on an abortion or gun control or whatever. But
but as long as they're being funny, and if that's
the point is to be funny, but not to do

(34:43):
a ted talk. And I think that's the problem is
we get blurred lines that right now people are using
it as like a platform, a soap box to get
up there and you're like, h but where's the jokes?
And it's just like and by the way, comedy is subjective.
I totally get that, but I think I'm sort of
take all that and I keep a very life like
even my Instagram is in my TikTok, Like I don't
even run my TikTok. I don't even run my Facebook.

(35:05):
Those are two separate people that I approved things. I
don't want to be on them. I try not to
be on them as much as I possibly can. And
so for me, it's just like, you know, I don't
live in my reality as much as I can and
not and let other people promote that reality the way
you would a publicist or your age or your man.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah yeah, yeah, that's a professional way to do it though, right.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Yeah, But I think I'm happier, you know.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
I mean, dude, it's like you had to live life,
you know. That's what I was realizing i went up
to the comedy store.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's having like social media, for example, is it's a
tool that you should be using to make your life
better versus it using you. Because that's the problem is
we get sucked into it all the time. I think
anybody who's ever had social media has sat there for
six hours at one point in their bed and never
got out of bed, and they just scrolled and scrolled
and scrolled, and you're sitting there like, wow, I just
wasted half my day and I did absolutely nothing except

(35:52):
for fried my brain a little bit.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, because it gives.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Uh dopamine hits all the time. Yeah, it's wild.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
What were you gonna stay about? The comedies?

Speaker 3 (35:59):
So now I was at the comedy show last night
and when I realized, is there's something that I need
to work out of my bits where they're not personal.
Because I started out as an impressionist, Like I mean,
I had jokes. I always had jokes. It wasn't just
like here's Christopher walking in a car wash, you know,
but like I did jokes and opinions that I had,
but it was interesting comics that I admired and who

(36:20):
went up and was a great show last night that
my stuff was like wow, that is not nobody really knows.
And I think it helps my acting that way because
it allows me to have it as a completely separate entity.
Whereas you know, this a couple, you know guys were
doing stuff that was like I went and I saw
this and this how I felt about it whatever, and
it was doing well, and I thought and I just

(36:41):
had a moment of last night where and I thought
this from time to time, but I think it's really
obvious to me when I see comedians that get very
personal on stage, and it was just like I had
a moment of like, do I should I be more personal?
I don't know, would people find me interesting or would
in addition to that, would I reveal something out myself

(37:01):
that people would then go, oh, I don't like that
he you know, because I was trying to work on
an RFK impression, you know, and I'm wondering how people
are going to do that because it's like it's it's
not a you know, he actually had like a physical
thing happened to him, right right, Yeah, it's not like
a mental or neurological disorder, right, and so but I
wonder I try to do it on stage once and

(37:22):
then I think people were just like, that's he's handicapped
that way. You can't make do that, Like there was
the energy and I was like Jesus, but He's like.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Yeah, that's wild. Yeah, is like yeah, like even though
even though it's like what would you call it? Like
a speech impediment or something like that.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Just like an injury, right, vocal injury.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Sounds like one of the most intelligent people I've ever
heard speak before, very intelligent.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
Who were some of your big inspirations with impressionists and
all that when you were starting off.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
I you know what's funny is I didn't really probably
Jamie Jamie Fox. I mean, because I really liked guys
like Jamie Fox, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams. I like people
that did both, Like I really love stand up but
I but I make my living for the most part
as an actor, right, even though I've been on the
road now all month and I'm going to be on

(38:14):
the road all next month and you know, most of April,
and it's like that's every weekend I'm on the road,
and I love it so much. But I did. But
I really truly love those three guys where they were
able to do both and it wasn't because back in
the eighties, you know, it was like a lot of
guys would do like Christopher walkin at A and that
was enough and people were like, WHOA, that was Christopher Walker.
And they used to do the thing where they would
turn around and then come back and they'd be like, yeah,

(38:35):
it's and I think, which I think is fun and kitchy,
but sort of of the moment, you know what I'm saying.
And I'm not saying that that can't be brought back
by a different generation, but it just feels a little,
you know, maybe not as personal and connected. And so
I really like those guys, and I really liked but
I do like I mean, I like the Impressionists a lot.

(38:56):
I always thought that was really fun. I like Phil Hartman,
Darryl Hammond. Yeah, yeah, Eddie Murphy, you know, did do.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
You feel that the comedy supports the acting and the
acting supports the comedy? Like is there a great I'm
in biosis there.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
I mean, it's like a It's like a marriage, right,
It's like who's ever out of work? Like supports the
other one? I mean in the best way. They're both
working at the same time, you know, Like I'm doing.
The cool thing about doing stand up is I'm doing
a lot of animation now at the same time. Oh
hell yeah, and so and so that's really fun because
they asked me for something this morning and they were like, Okay,
when can you come and do this, and I was like, well,

(39:33):
I'm in town these days. And that's really great because
animation is much more malleable because they'll be like, oh,
we have a two week window, when can you come
in to do this? And but but it's but if
it's like, oh, you booked this movie, you just then
it becomes like first priority. It's got to be in
first position. Yeah, not to say that stand up is important,
but it's there's something like, oh, maybe hopefully I can move.

(39:54):
You know, I never mean disrespect by that, because I
understand I really appreciate and respect the art form I
put in. Twelve years I was somebody who did not
want to be somebody who just came on the scene
and was just like, yo, man, you you know I'm
a stand up Now. I really worked and and sort
of I think put in my time. I probably could
have put in more, but you know, I try to

(40:15):
put it as much as I possibly can.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, that's great, that's great. It sounds like you love
both and you know they're both similar enough where they
don't like obviously contradict each other.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Well, when I get to say somebody else's lines and
when I get to say my own, oh, it's a
cool way to put it. So that's why I did it.
When I was on Two Broke Girls, we six, you know,
after the first season, we couldn't take a because the
show was guaranteed to come back, right, So I didn't
summer off with with nothing to do. Now, I could
have traveled, I could have something my family, and but
at that time, you know, stand up just it was big,

(40:47):
don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as big as
it is now because of YouTube, because of social media,
because of streaming platforms, and so it was just one
of those things where I was like with buddies and
I was like, hey, why don't I They were like,
why don't you just try to do stands? And so
that summer I just worked my ass off just trying
to be a stand up because I'd always wanted to
do it. But I truly never wanted to be somebody

(41:08):
who just showed up because they would have given me spots.
I think sometimes because I was on TV, which is
a good and a bad thing, I guess, you know,
but I wanted to earn that spot. I didn't want
it to be something, and that was very important to me.
That was my pride, but also like to respect the
other people around me and and friends in it.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
And I don't know because I'm not in comedy, but
I have a massive respect for it. Is that like
almost like a rite of passage when it comes to comedy,
Like I feel people talk about it so proudly when
it comes to like I did that crappy show that
got paid a you know, I got one beer for
the show for this time that I was there all
the time, but we were in the they were in
like the lowest of the low places, working their way
up to the bigger spots.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Right, Yes, it's it is a price. It is. It
is a rite of passage. And the thing about stand
up is it's truly the most remarkable art form. I mean,
I know it's not an art peop art form, but
whatever it is, it's remarkable. It's you on a stage
essentially with a microphone. People have paid to see you,
and what they have paid for is you making them laugh.

(42:09):
So that's the that's the uh genie change.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
Right.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
So it's like that is a that is a crazy
currency to pay for jokes, right and and and here's
the thing, Yes, comedy is subjective, but there's like horror
movies and comedies. Everything else is a drama. It's like,
for essentially, horror movies are telling you we're gonna make
We're gonna scare you, You're gonna feel fear. Something will happen.

(42:34):
I'm not saying you're gonna jump, but you something will
change in your you know internally, And same with comedy
that that something will happen. And so the other stuff
is sort of lumped in for me. But I think
to get there and say, hey, for an hour, I'm
gonna make you laugh, I think that's a pretty special thing.
And to be able to do that and just to
give the audience what they paid for.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Hell yeah, yeah, that bond with the audience, right, that transaction,
that promise.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
I feel like it's funny because I'm an actor, right,
but I can't. You put two hundred people in a
room a thousand, I don't care. You put three cameras
on me and you give them my lines. I'm good,
yea form all day. If I had to co ops
on stage and you give me a camera and you
gotta tell you tell me I got to try to
make people laugh with my own There's no way I can't.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Well, here's the thing. You never know if you can
until you do it. It's learning karate from a book. Right,
I could.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Figure it out, but I have no desire to go
out there and do that.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
No, for sure, you have to fail in order to succeed,
like right, Like it's it's like Daniel Sun could not
have beaten Cobra Kai from a book. He could have
done it with mister Miyagi and getting in fights. That's
and so the same thing with comedy is you got
to get knocked out because you don't you know. I mean,
I think about bombs that I've had where I'm just
like wow and listen. I think you do learn more

(43:48):
from bombing, but holy hell, you never forget. I mean,
it's weird. I never remember crushing, Like I'm sure I
crush or or have or whatever, but those don't really
stick with me. Is the times and it's not the
failure that sticks with me. It's not like that me
sort of like admonishing myself. But it's the idea of
like why didn't that work?

Speaker 1 (44:09):
What?

Speaker 3 (44:09):
I don't ask why it worked when it worked, because
you write all day to work for it to work.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yeah, I like that element then because I love problem solving,
and that's one of the reasons I love producing. I
love film in general, is because there's so many things
you have to figure out all the time, and directing,
for example, you gotta figure out on the spot, right,
So I do like it from that element now that
you mention it, but but.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
And to figure out on the fly in the middle
when things aren't going you know, like you know, there's
I'm doing a bunch of jokes about being Jewish right now,
and I do that in certain markets. People hear the
word Jewish and they hear the word Israel is the
same thing. So they're not on board with it. Now. Maybe,
and I'm assuming, I don't know, there's a million reasons
why people Maybe the joke isn't funny. Maybe I suck.

(44:50):
But it's like it's one of those things where I
feel people titan and I'm almost trying to write a
joke about about how Israel and being Jewish are not
the same thing. Sort of give them permission to laugh
because I joke. I have a joke about Palestine, but
I have a lot of jokes about being Jewish and
sort of the stereotypes. It sort of that we're you know,
have carried with us through history, but it's never enough

(45:13):
because of what is happening. It is real at least
right now in this climate. And so that's the other thing.
It's all about timing, like does your stuff work right now?
And if something happens in the current climate. Like when
I was doing I've been doing Trump for fifteen years, right,
and then it was really fun. And then the moment
he got elected, people were like, at least here I

(45:33):
can't you know, you know, I will say I did
Texas like this weekend, and they were they were a blast.
I mean, such a I love doing Texas, but it
was people in La specifically were just like, no, it's
too real now. And so that it didn't matter that
it was the same jokes. By the way, I wasn't
doing different jokes, and they weren't even political jokes.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
See that's really interesting to me.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
But it was just that the the temperature changed in
the room.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Because like, obviously the guy was popular, he was a
reality TV star, realistic, like, oh, we all knew.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Who he was. Somebuddy said he didn't vote for himself.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, and men, right, and like men don't change after
they're like forty or fifty, like they just don't and
like he hasn't necessarily changed at all.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
No, it's just his job title changed.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Right, right, and like yeah, just very very divisive.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
It's weird. And so it's like, so I went away
from political and then it was like you know you
and I didn't want to be hacked. That's the thing
about the impressions, right, I never especially with Trump, I
didn't want to get up there and just do things
that you would agree with. Like it's like, you know,
if he's just like I'm such an idiot, so stupid,
you know, you know, then people kind of go yay
or they go boo, right because you're not really there's

(46:43):
no thought in it. There's no story, there's no point
of view, and so and it's it's hard. I'm trying
to I'm trying to challenge myself, like I'm trying to
write a bit about autism right now, and I'm not
autistic at least I don't think so, and and trying
to figure that out. But have a point of view
where pe or not like you're cause I'll tell you
one of my great friends who opens for me all
the time, he does a bit on down syndrome and

(47:05):
he just doesn't have Down syndrome, but he likes watching
it online like the kids. There's a bunch of guys
that have like channels and shit, it's fun. It's like
we were talking about love on the spectrum, like you know,
I love watching that. I cry every time. And he
was saying how much he loves these guys. And when
we were in Virginia, this woman walked out of the
show and she was just like, you can't make fun
of those people. And he was like, and I'm gonna

(47:27):
do the joke a hundred times. He did it in
Dallas or Sorry Fort Worth. This past weekend, four sold
out shows. Not a single person left, like it didn't matter.
And he, you know, he was hosting, so he's the
first person that they see and he was talking about
it and holy hell, was it funny. And this woman
just was like grabbed her things and was like now
I'm out of here, and you go. So, you know,

(47:47):
maybe it's the individual, but people are just they they're
on edge about so many things. They hear down syndrome.
You must be making fun of those people instead of like, uh,
you know, awarding them or sorry or applauding them. Excuse me.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
You seeing the Shane Gillis talk about his brothers or
cousins with downstairs.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
His uncle, I think, right, maybe, yeah, yeah, that's it
doesn't special. But here's the reason why that works. Again,
I think that. I mean, I think Shane is, you know,
I think he's a great comic. I truly do his stuff.
Is when he does that type of stuff, it's personal
he's saying it. So it's that's the thing with me.
It's harder because I don't really know. And my joke

(48:26):
is sort of about how everybody under thirty has autism
today and so but it's like, but but it's that's
sort of true and not true. Like in my generation,
you know, they're like we had no pen analogies. We
did just people were dying. We just didn't know, you
know what I'm saying. We lost a few good men
this year. You know, it was like getting traded on
the Yankees, and so we we just didn't have those

(48:46):
kids around. But now it's like there's such an awareness
of everything. But because I don't have anybody who's autistic
in my family, I still have opinions on it, and
so it's not as palpable, it's not as digestible for
an audience because they think I'm making fun of them,
and I have to constantly be like, I'm not talking
about people with real lot, like I'm talking about these

(49:08):
other people and you, and it's like you have to
beat them over the head with it. At least I
feel that way. And maybe as I get better at
telling the joke or get to be a better comic,
I won't have to be as ham fisted about it, right.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Yeah, but that's stuff you have to navigate, and like
you said, it's problem solving, right dude on stage? Bro,
Like if I yeah, I do like that element though,
Like one of the things I love about comedy too,
And that's the same thing in a great script too.
It's it's you are able to take something and have
this perspective that nobody else has thought of or seen, right,
and then you make it palpable for anybody or like

(49:41):
entertaining or somebody to digest it, you know, Like that's
when it's like cause if it's if it's that boring
through line, I like, that's the same thing everybody, anybody
came up with that, Well.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
They're going to do a remake of it anyway, that
that thing that you have that you think is so unique,
but it isn't. And they've done it a hundred times,
they're already doing it. And that's what a lot of
those formulaic films are. They get done on those smaller
budgets and things like that, but to do something truly unique,
like and I loved Here's the Thing first and foremost.
I loved Salburne. I thought it was a great movie.
But my one of my favorite movies of all time

(50:11):
is The Talented Mister Ripley. And they're doing a series
called Ripley on Netflix. So it's like, so it's like,
it's it's hard. It's it's hard to be inventive. And
then that's why people's personal stories do so well, you know.
But and that's the tough thing. I was thinking, like, actually,
now maybe it was after we you were on the pod,
but like right after, but I tried the the bit

(50:34):
germinated from you know what's crazy is we don't talk
a lot about autism. Now I don't do this anymore,
but I'm like a lot of our a lot of
people in movies I think have autism, Like the characters
that we just aren't aware of it, like Thor Thor Right,
he's just a guy who's like I want my hama.
That's all he wants, like is define the hammer. And
I remember I like tried to explore that on stage
one night and it bombs for like five minutes straight

(50:54):
and I'm about a packed crowd, a full house, packed crowd,
and then and I was just like and I was
just like, try to do it the impression. I was
like no, but you know what I'm saying, Like he's
just sort of for two hours, two hours and then
and they were just like they're like no, And so
you've got to be like, okay, another angle in, you know.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
And do you think it's because they just love that
character so much or is it more because if you
really break it down, it's not like he's not Tony
stark Man. He's not the smartest dude in the room.
He's he's a good dude, and he's a beast, you know,
but he's not.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
I think part of it is that it felt Number One,
I don't think it was a well, it wasn't a
good joke. It wasn't that crafted. That's first and foremost,
because they'll give you credit for a well crafted joke,
even if they don't agree with you. But it's but
the less personal touch you can associate to sort of
shield you from or deflect it, you know, the more

(51:45):
clever it's gotta be. And I just think of something
like that. It was not, so then I took a
completely different approach, and I'm working through that right now.
And I mean that was like a germination where I
just thought about that's an interesting thing. And and I
wonder if anybody ever said that before. Maybe they never
did because it wasn't funny, but you know, it was
just I remember thinking like and I don't remember anything
else about that sat that night. I just remember that

(52:06):
that part bombed. That was Oppenheimer, right, And so I
was like whatever, And so you work through it. It's
like who cares? But but the bigger the stage and
the more you're on, it's like whenever I do, like
the store or like factory or the improv, even though
I think, there's always pressure for me to crush, to
like not just work, so it's hard. So then I go, well,

(52:28):
when can I work stuff out? So then I try
to work it out on the road. But I try
to do it that much on the road because they're
paying you know, tickets, but you know, when when is
this gonna air?

Speaker 1 (52:37):
When do you want it there?

Speaker 3 (52:38):
No, I'm just curious because I have shows this weekend.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Okay, yeah, we usually do Tuesdays, but.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Oh, I have plenty of plenty of shows coming up
that I can pitch. Yeah, but but I missed this,
this one that I'm doing. I'm like, it's a small room.
I'm gonna be in Massachusetts this weekend. I leave around morning,
and I'm like, I'm literally gonna bring cameras and just
do crowd work and try to work through all the
bits that I can't, you know. And it's like and
then I'll give him like like good ship too, you know,

(53:03):
I'll give him like the hits. But I'm like, I
gotta work this out because I just did Dallas or
Fort Worth, excuse me, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and uh
Chicago this month. I just did those last three weeks
and so I'm like and I felt like, no, no,
they were just so full, which I'm so grateful from.
So I was like, I can't really work out the

(53:24):
new shit.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
You know, Well, how different is if you're trying to
work something out being somewhere like Austin or Dallas or
Chicago versus you know, LA or Florida, or.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
People's assholes get so tight here. I do. I do think,
and maybe it's unpopular. It's harder to get things across.
I think that that are that are that are volatile,
like you can't do even if it's a funny joke.
And maybe I'm just not funny enough to get it out,
but you just hear. I got off of the like

(53:53):
Israel topic, and then I talked started talking about my
trans brother, which is my brother's been transferred to years
and so it's like they were like more accepting of that,
but then they weren't sure where I was going with it,
or they weren't sure if I was if it was real.
It's weird. It's like I don't I don't want. I
don't want to like give people a note card ahead
of time and be like this is what I believe
in life. And these are the people in my family, right,

(54:16):
and so I think it's harder for me to work
on stuff like that in La. And maybe that's just
who I am as a person. And obviously everybody else
can crush at it and do whatever they want, and
I just to have a problem with that. But it's
like I'll try shit where I'm going like what why
are you this tight on this?

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Right?

Speaker 3 (54:32):
And then you're like all right, But I don't get
mad at the audience. It's just in my head. I go,
it worked in for Worth, it worked in Chicago. That's
the South and the Midwest. Those are two very different
places that joke worked, but here it doesn't work. And
so and there's maybe jokes here that work that don't work.
So that's why you get it. Tour the country to
really and don't let don't let anyone city define your act.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
That's good advice.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
Yeah, and so you you know, and that's the thing
was right, like because that La in New York have
comics that are leable and they crush, but they can't
go out of the city, right because they're so good
here for like the exact political climate, but the moment
they go like two hours north, I go, yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
California's real different. Yeah, that's why comedy is so tough.
It doesn't even translate globally, you know, it doesn't, and
even location, you know, nationwide, it's it's extremely uh. It
almost feels small in the sense of so if you
can hit on a big market, you're doing something crazy.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
I feel like it's it's more you know, I think
that that's why not obviously wordsmiths do very well, But
I think about you know a lot of physical comedians
that are able to sort of like uh and and
not and there. I mean, these are the biggest comics
in the world, but you look at them and you
sort of go not that they're not they're just not
maybe storytelling or like cultural comics where you're like, yeah,

(55:47):
the thing in Portland, Oregon they have this like you know,
ice cream shot, like that will never work in Brazil.
Like there are other guys who are so funny, like
Sebastian Maniscalcohol. You guys know Sebastian, he's so you know,
everybody can get what he's going through. He's like just
this older guy who's like, I don't like good because
I like young people. And he's just sort of like

(56:07):
he's like what and he's just and everybody has that
moment of the oh, this fucking on a plane and
he has it, and so you kind of go, I
get it.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Bro the thing they got me hooked on that guy.
The first time was when you did that bit about
the your buddy's house with the bow and arrow, because
I have a bow and arrow. So I was like
crying laughing.

Speaker 3 (56:27):
I mean, he's he's you know, and and and you
think about there are guys that can sell like stadiums now,
you know, and it's it's really impressive, and that is
that is by the way, that's a different you know,
there's like you know, there's an algebra and then calculus
and yeah, like that is a different level of math
when you figure out like there are people that are

(56:47):
the some of the best comics in the world. I
think that can't sell theaters. But but it's not. It's
just because they're what, they're so niche you know who
they or some of them, you know, the smarter comics
that I have said this, they're people that aren't meant
for those arenas. I know that we all see the
Madison Square Garden. It's like, oh, I'm not playing Madison
Square Garden. That I must be a failure, a loser.
But it's like there are some people that are unreal

(57:10):
In a two hundred and fifty seater one hundred and
twenty seedter that just sit there and have you in
the palm in their hand, but it doesn't make as
much money. So people sort of you know Icarus, excuse me,
they fly so close to the sun and they just
hope that their wings don't get burned off because you
because no one will tell you. No one will say
don't do Madison Square Garden. They'll all say you gotta
do it, and you're like, really, because I'm like a

(57:30):
one liner, sit down comic with a guitar, and I
do really well in coffee shops.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Like no, no, no, Mast Square Guard.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Let's go. It's money. Yeah, so it's balancing all that shit.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
So that's where your team wants you to go, dude, exactly.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
And you'll get more fans that way.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Yeah. I was sorry, No, Yeah, I was, uh. You know,
I know you're good friends with Jamie Foxx and he
does some pretty great impressions and I'm just I was
just sitting here, taking do you ever sit around with
your buddies or any friends that can do impression? You
can just sit and do impressions all day, I mean,
or is it more like not really?

Speaker 3 (58:03):
We'll go on to like my buddy Matt and I, Well,
we will go to a restaurant. We've done this a
few times. We'll just get not intentionally, but we'll just
start having some drinks and eating and you know, just
like out for dinner, and we'll make a night of it,
and we'll just think of the dumbest impression that we
can think.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Of, like if it's the sky Brock, I mean.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Like like like thor uh like, uh, what would it
even be? Like thor As Barack Obama. I just thought
of that in the moment, him going like, uh, let
me be clear, you know, like just something that would
just make us laugh when we're drunk.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
The missy Sam Elliott was hilarious.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
I appreciate you man.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Yeah, there's like a gandalf As. It was that the
laugh factory.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
Uh. I used to do gandalf reading like fifty Shades
of Gray. It was like when I was younger, I
was just like just trying to do stuff that like
I thought would get be funny or just like stupid,
like you know, just like the way that you just
make your friends laugh, like I'm doing Anthony Bordain eating
out a woman and you just whatever it is, or
like Neil de Grass, Mike Tyson or like you know,

(59:10):
and you're just it's doesn't it's just trying to be
I'm working on Jason Stathum stuff now, but I'm really
working out and I do him in a lot of
environments because I love Jason Statham, but he's such like
an interesting sort of dude, and so I'm like, that's
what I'm gonna. I'm just I've just literally been getting
on stage just as talking as him, just like figuring
stuff out, and it's it's whatever, like whatever would make

(59:33):
your friends I feel like laugh and like the fifteenth
hour of a road trip like that. So we'll do that.
We'll like get in a car, or we'll do like
you know, comedians or like telling the dumbest jokes as
like you know, Trump or whatever it is. You know.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Yeah, but that's the stuff. Yeah, good, No, I was gonna.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I want to definitely make sure we get in like
upcoming stuff. Oh you have to promote I unfortunately have
to have to roll, but you're good. Let me h,
but yeah, like whatever you want to plug Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
Yeah, No, I appreciate you, brothers, thank you so much
for having me on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Dude, I apologize. I have a heart out today. I
really do. This has been fucking awesome. I'm really glad
I got to meet you, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Oh dude, this is great. So yeah at Jonathan Kite
on Instagram, the Jonathan Kite on TikTok, and Jonathan Kite
on Facebook, and then come see me on the road,
you know, or drop me a line in the Instagram
comments section because I'll read those. If you know where
I'm going to be. But I'm going to be in Dallas,
Texas the eighth and ninth at Hyenas. I'm going to
be at Funny Moon in Des Moines, Iowa the March

(01:00:34):
twenty second and twenty three third, March eighth and ninth
was Hyenas Dallas, and then the twenty ninth and thirtieth,
I'll be at Stand Up Live in Huntsville, Alabama, and
then I'll be at Funnybone, Dayton, Ohio April twenty sixth
and twenty seventh.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Love that my girlfriend's from Ohio, so.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
Oh cool, great, I mean yeah, it's a great the
middle of the country, so I'm hoping that everything works
the best there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Hell yeah, dude, Well and we'll put all that in
the description. So well, we'll have that all listed too, and.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Jonathan comic dot com Jonathan kit comic dot com. I
never say it, by the way. That's why I realized
somebody will be like, my pr whatever, we like, you
didn't mention anything, and I was like, you're absolutely right.
I said nothing about anything. They're like, don't even know
who you are.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Yeah, I'm bad like that too. I really like, I
don't know if it's like a self promotion thing that
I'm not trying to do. I need to do more
of it. I just I just don't think of it. Dude,
Come in my head. If you hadn't asked, I wouldn't
have like, yeah, nah, there to make sure you'll wear
in a great event. Dude. I've maybe because I've spent
and grew up on social media. I spent so much
time on my phone that when I'm at an event,
I'm like, I just want to be there, you know,

(01:01:37):
And then I forget and I'm like, didn't get a
damn photo with you know whatever the hell had this
sick ass? You know, I'm like, damn it, But it's
all good. Good to see again, bro.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
Love you brother, great, Thank you so much for the pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Thanks for having me absolutely thank you for watching Studio
twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Don't forget to like, sharing, subscribe

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
And follow our socials at Studio twenty two Podcast