Episode 1291 - Aida Rodriguez

Episode 1291 • Released December 27, 2021 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:Lock the gates!

00:00:09Marc:All right, let's do this.

00:00:11Marc:How are you?

00:00:11Marc:What the fuckers?

00:00:12Marc:What the fuck buddies?

00:00:13Marc:What the fucking ears?

00:00:15Marc:What's happening?

00:00:17Marc:How's it going?

00:00:18Marc:What the fucking ears?

00:00:20Marc:I think someone sent me that one as if I'd never used it before.

00:00:22Marc:I think I've used everyone.

00:00:23Marc:I stopped rotating so many of them.

00:00:25Marc:There was a time on this show and also on my other show way back when on the radio where it was just a never ending list of possibilities.

00:00:33Marc:And I kind of leveled off on five or six, but always nice to hear from you.

00:00:38Marc:Yes.

00:00:39Marc:How's it going?

00:00:39Marc:Everybody all right?

00:00:40Marc:You get through?

00:00:41Marc:Did you make it through?

00:00:42Marc:How's your COVID?

00:00:43Marc:Is it bad?

00:00:45Marc:I just hope you had a nice Christmas and your COVID infection wasn't too horrible.

00:00:50Marc:That's an honest to God Christmas greeting.

00:00:53Marc:That's an honest to God well-wishing.

00:00:55Marc:Because I assume that at least 50% of you got the COVID.

00:01:00Marc:One way or the other.

00:01:01Marc:And it's just I hope you're OK.

00:01:03Marc:I hope you're weathering the covid storm today on the show.

00:01:07Marc:Ida Rodriguez.

00:01:09Marc:I don't know if you've seen her, but if you did, you would know her.

00:01:11Marc:She's a comic who did her work on the road and then was showcased on Tiffany Haddish's Netflix comedy show.

00:01:18Marc:They ready.

00:01:19Marc:And she now has her own HBO stand-up special, Fighting Words.

00:01:23Marc:She also has a pretty crazy life story.

00:01:26Marc:It's interesting, her stand-up special, there's some documentary element of her meeting her father for the first time, which is heavy, man.

00:01:36Marc:So yeah, man, I feel okay.

00:01:39Marc:I don't know, I haven't talked to you since I did Largo.

00:01:43Marc:You know, we did six songs.

00:01:44Marc:They all went, you know, playing with the fellas, with Brandon, Schwarzel,

00:01:49Marc:and Ned Brower and Jimmy Vivino.

00:01:54Marc:And it's weird.

00:01:54Marc:The more you play with guys, not even like it's not in terms of repeating the playing, like we're not playing every week, but you start to learn, you know, I'm just getting more comfortable and it's very exciting because I think almost all the songs came off without a hitch and they're not difficult songs.

00:02:09Marc:I leave a lot of room for slop.

00:02:11Marc:I think if you know your limitations and you just want to have a good time and you're not putting too much pressure on yourself other than to get through the tune, leave some room for the slop.

00:02:19Marc:you know what i'm saying we did uh fleetwood max drifting and and you know jimmy showed me a riff in there that i couldn't figure out and it was so fucking easy and then uh we did the blasters tune and the only one i fucking we did jealous guy john lennon's jealous guy which is an emotional song there was two songs in in this routine in this set list that really moved me long black veil just that story kills me

00:02:45Marc:But Jealous Guy, in rehearsal, I hit it.

00:02:48Marc:It's a little strained, the vocals for me.

00:02:50Marc:There's a high note in there that's hard for me.

00:02:51Marc:And I just, to my credit, as some of you know, I am cursed by fucking up a song, not being able to find the key of a Chuck Berry song when I was at music camp and just making what I thought to be a fool out of myself because I just ruined the whole song.

00:03:06Marc:So Jealous Guy, I couldn't get on top of it.

00:03:11Marc:And we played the whole song, and I just said to the audience, I'm like, fuck, man.

00:03:14Marc:Now I got to live with that?

00:03:15Marc:I got to live with knowing that I struggled the entire song to hit that note, and I didn't hit it once?

00:03:20Marc:I don't need that.

00:03:21Marc:I don't need to drive home with that.

00:03:23Marc:So I said to the band, I said, guys, let's just do the last verse again.

00:03:26Marc:Let's just take it from the top of the last verse, and let me try to hit this goddamn thing.

00:03:31Marc:And I told the audience, I'm so happy you guys came to rehearsal.

00:03:34Marc:I'll let you know when we do the real show.

00:03:36Marc:And I did it and I hit it.

00:03:38Marc:And I was able to leave without feeling, you know, without keeping it to myself.

00:03:43Marc:It was clear I fucked up.

00:03:45Marc:You can't just, you know, do that.

00:03:47Marc:But, you know, just between us, Jimmy and the fellas are like, we should we should play out.

00:03:52Marc:And I'm like, come on, man.

00:03:54Marc:Does the world need that?

00:03:57Marc:I'm not going to be able to sell tickets as a music act.

00:04:00Marc:Just me and my, let's call it the three chords.

00:04:03Marc:Marc Maron and their 30 covers.

00:04:06Marc:We're at 18 now.

00:04:09Marc:So if we do one more, we'll be at 24.

00:04:10Marc:Yeah, but they're all pretty unique covers.

00:04:15Marc:I will say that.

00:04:17Marc:I hope you had a nice Christmas.

00:04:19Marc:I hope you got fun things.

00:04:21Marc:Did you?

00:04:22Marc:Did you get fun things?

00:04:24Marc:Were any of you disappointed?

00:04:26Marc:And did you look at your loved one and say, like, do you know me at all?

00:04:30Marc:What is this?

00:04:31Marc:I don't want this.

00:04:32Marc:Do you know me at all?

00:04:34Marc:How could you get this for me?

00:04:37Marc:Do you have no idea who I am?

00:04:40Marc:You claim to love me and this is what you get me?

00:04:42Marc:This is the gift you got me?

00:04:45Marc:So, I don't know if I told you guys this, but young Sammy, Shmushy, Shmooly, Sammy Red, Sammy the Red, the kitten, the new guy in the house, is turning out to be kind of a dum-dum.

00:05:02Marc:Simple Sammy.

00:05:03Marc:He no longer has the dramatic nightly names.

00:05:06Marc:It's going to be Simple Sammy, Smushy, or Stupid Sam.

00:05:10Marc:He's just dumb.

00:05:12Marc:And, you know, honestly, Buster is somewhat of a genius.

00:05:17Marc:Part of me thinks that when I'm sleeping, Buster walks upright around the house.

00:05:21Marc:But Sammy's just, like, I've got to watch Sam because he's dumb.

00:05:25Marc:Like, I've got, he did something the other day, man.

00:05:28Marc:I can't even explain it.

00:05:29Marc:I can't, I mean, I'll try.

00:05:31Marc:But it was one of those moments.

00:05:36Marc:I'm never going to forget it.

00:05:39Marc:You know, he.

00:05:39Marc:All right.

00:05:41Marc:So I have a staircase that goes up to the second floor of the house.

00:05:45Marc:Now it goes along a wall on the right.

00:05:47Marc:Right.

00:05:47Marc:So there's a banister.

00:05:49Marc:And then up top, there's like a landing.

00:05:51Marc:And when you go left.

00:05:52Marc:There's more of the railing.

00:05:55Marc:The banister kind of continues on a sharp right, you know, over a drop.

00:06:00Marc:Because it's two pieces of stairs.

00:06:03Marc:There's a few stairs and then you turn and you go up another stair.

00:06:05Marc:So there's two pieces of stairs.

00:06:07Marc:So there's that gap where it just drops down to the floor below.

00:06:11Marc:And there's a railing there.

00:06:13Marc:And I was on the phone and I was standing outside my bedroom, which is right in front of this railing.

00:06:18Marc:And fucking dumb shit.

00:06:20Marc:Sam just leaps up onto the railing, which is curved and thin.

00:06:25Marc:And he's walking along the railing.

00:06:26Marc:And I'm like, oh, God, oh, God, because the drop has got to be like 20 feet.

00:06:31Marc:He's going to fucking hurt himself.

00:06:33Marc:He's going to break something.

00:06:36Marc:But I didn't want to freak him out.

00:06:37Marc:And I just had to stand there still and hope he got down quickly.

00:06:42Marc:And then he slipped.

00:06:44Marc:He slipped and he grabbed hold like they do, like the hang in there baby posters.

00:06:49Marc:But he's dangling over the drop.

00:06:52Marc:And I was just, without thinking, I just fucking grabbed him and threw him behind me and broke his leg.

00:06:58Marc:No, I'm kidding.

00:07:01Okay.

00:07:02Marc:No, I just pulled him off and I threw him down.

00:07:04Marc:Not hard, but it's like, what the fuck?

00:07:09Marc:God damn it.

00:07:12Marc:And now I just keep thinking he's going to do it again.

00:07:13Marc:He just slipped right in front of me and he almost went down like it was like it was seconds between me having this broken cat permanently damaged, probably maybe dying.

00:07:23Marc:It's it's a drop, man.

00:07:26Marc:jarring I thought well if it goes out like that I'm gonna have to write a song about him about seeing him in heaven again terrible joke but I pulled him off I pulled him off and he's okay and now I'm just worried he's gonna do it again while I'm sleeping and I'm gonna wake up to him going and I'm just like gonna see him laying there I can't take it but I think they register when they fuck up like that I hope

00:07:54Marc:Wow.

00:07:57Marc:Also had a weird dream.

00:07:59Marc:another dream with Lynn.

00:08:03Marc:She wasn't in it though.

00:08:04Marc:It was me and I was in a town that had two stories.

00:08:09Marc:The town did.

00:08:10Marc:And like, I went into this like jewelry tchotchke sort of store and I almost walked behind the counter and there was some ladies there.

00:08:16Marc:They're like, you can't go behind the counter.

00:08:18Marc:I'm like, I'm sorry.

00:08:18Marc:I didn't know I was going to, that I, I can't, it seemed like it was behind the counter, but I didn't know.

00:08:23Marc:And I needed to get some kind of brass, uh,

00:08:26Marc:I think for my niece or something and then I walked out of there and I had a choice between going upstairs to a rotisserie chicken restaurant where it seemed like a lot of like you know hipster people were going upstairs maybe some gay dudes up to the rotisserie place but I didn't want rotisserie so I went into the restaurant downstairs which was sort of like a

00:08:46Marc:upscale kind of diner restaurant, like a New York style diner that doesn't look like a diner.

00:08:51Marc:It looks a little better than a diner, but it's basically a diner.

00:08:54Marc:And I thought, well, I can get, you know, just salmon here and just sit by myself and have some salmon.

00:09:00Marc:Then I take my phone out and I'm like, maybe it's time I reach out to Lynn.

00:09:03Marc:I think it's been long enough.

00:09:05Marc:I'm just going to text her.

00:09:06Marc:I miss you and see if she gets back to me.

00:09:09Marc:And that woke up all sad and weird.

00:09:12Marc:Like, like, like we were just apart because we weren't talking to each other.

00:09:16Marc:But I was just sort of like, I think it's time.

00:09:19Marc:I think it's time to text Lynn.

00:09:22Marc:Yeah.

00:09:23Marc:I miss you.

00:09:25Marc:You know, it's been okay lately.

00:09:28Marc:It was funny at the comedy store last night.

00:09:31Marc:You know, I'm so mean to Pauly sometimes.

00:09:34Marc:I just can't help.

00:09:36Marc:I always bust his balls because he's Pauly.

00:09:39Marc:But he got upset with me, so I apologize.

00:09:42Marc:But I was in the...

00:09:43Marc:Main room dressing room, hanging out with Bobby Lee, because he smokes in the back bathroom sometimes, because he needs to.

00:09:51Marc:Some people need to do things, and you got to let them do it.

00:09:53Marc:So I'm back there with Bobby, and Whitney Cummings comes in, and Esther Pavitsky's around, and Fahim's there.

00:10:02Marc:And we're just talking, having some laughs.

00:10:04Marc:I mean, it's just an amazing thing sometimes.

00:10:06Marc:Kit was there, because Kit doesn't know this world, and it's like...

00:10:10Marc:I don't live a normal life.

00:10:12Marc:I hang around with some of the funniest people in the world.

00:10:14Marc:And they're all naturally charismatic and conversational.

00:10:17Marc:And they're just talented people.

00:10:20Marc:And it was so funny because we're all talking and we're getting into it.

00:10:23Marc:And Bobby's like, are we really friends?

00:10:25Marc:Are we all really friends?

00:10:27Marc:And I'm like, dude, dude, we're a community.

00:10:30Marc:Yes, we're friends.

00:10:31Marc:And I'm thinking, I know a lot of people, if I needed help or I needed to reach out to somebody, I could call Bobby.

00:10:40Marc:I could call Whitney.

00:10:41Marc:I could even call Fahim.

00:10:42Marc:I don't know if he would know what to do with me.

00:10:44Marc:I could call Esther.

00:10:45Marc:I could call Dean.

00:10:47Marc:I could call a lot of people in that world.

00:10:50Marc:But I don't need to call them.

00:10:52Marc:That's the thing.

00:10:53Marc:We hang out at the store, have a few laughs, get caught up.

00:10:57Marc:And that's enough, right?

00:10:59Yeah.

00:10:59Marc:But I think in your heart, if you know, if you had to call somebody because you needed help and they're on your list, I think that you can put them in the friend column.

00:11:08Marc:Am I right?

00:11:10Marc:I'm right.

00:11:12Marc:Does everybody have enough COVID tests?

00:11:14Marc:That's the funniest fucking thing, man.

00:11:15Marc:It's not really funny, but I have a few tests because a fan of mine came into a batch of tests.

00:11:23Marc:He bought more than he needed months ago.

00:11:27Marc:And he just, you know, I said I needed some, and he sent me a bunch.

00:11:31Marc:And now, like, in my mind, it's like, that's my test guy.

00:11:33Marc:I got a guy, but he doesn't have any more.

00:11:36Marc:And I don't want to run out, because if I'm going to go work, I think I should know.

00:11:40Marc:Maybe we'll start to get them.

00:11:42Marc:Maybe that will be made available to us.

00:11:43Marc:But I just think it's funny.

00:11:44Marc:It's like, hey, you got a guy for tests?

00:11:47Marc:You got a guy?

00:11:48Marc:Got a test guy?

00:11:49Marc:Can you call your guy, see if he can get me some tests?

00:11:51Marc:You know where we can get tests on the street?

00:11:53Marc:Anybody?

00:11:53Marc:Huh?

00:11:55Marc:I got a guy.

00:11:56Marc:I got a test guy.

00:11:59Marc:That's where we're at.

00:12:00Marc:You got a test guy?

00:12:01Marc:Better get a test guy.

00:12:04Marc:All right.

00:12:04Marc:So I talked to Ida Rodriguez and her new special, Ida Rodriguez Fighting Words, is now streaming on HBO Max.

00:12:17Marc:There's a little New York in the house.

00:12:20Marc:You can feel it.

00:12:21Marc:You can hear it.

00:12:22Marc:But she's been out here a long time.

00:12:23Marc:She's been a lot of places, but she just, she feels New York to me.

00:12:27Marc:And she recorded a special in the Bronx.

00:12:29Marc:But I hope you're all okay.

00:12:32Marc:All right?

00:12:33Marc:Just drink a lot of fluids.

00:12:36Marc:All right, this is me talking to Ida.

00:12:46Marc:I think I'm going out next year, but who knows what's going to happen with the tour?

00:12:51Marc:You supposed to go on tour?

00:12:52Guest:Yeah, I'm supposed to go on tour.

00:12:54Guest:And what's going on?

00:12:54Marc:I haven't heard nothing.

00:12:55Marc:I just heard that Canada's half house now already.

00:12:58Guest:Yeah.

00:12:58Marc:That's what I heard today.

00:13:00Guest:So I went to Vancouver in July.

00:13:03Marc:Yeah.

00:13:04Guest:No, it was August, I think, the first weekend of August.

00:13:06Marc:Yeah.

00:13:07Guest:I was in a part of Vancouver where 70% of the people were vaccinated.

00:13:13Marc:Nice.

00:13:13Marc:That's pretty good.

00:13:14Guest:Really vax-heavy place.

00:13:15Marc:What venue?

00:13:17Guest:House of Comedy.

00:13:18Marc:Was it good?

00:13:19Guest:Yeah.

00:13:19Guest:I had fun.

00:13:20Marc:I love it up there.

00:13:22Marc:I feel like we're all going to have to live up there.

00:13:24Guest:Yeah.

00:13:26Marc:We better figure out which country we can go to.

00:13:30Guest:Yeah, I know.

00:13:31Guest:It feels like, I mean, all of it exists everywhere, right?

00:13:36Guest:So no matter where we go, we're going to see.

00:13:39Guest:But they just seem to be a little bit more concerned about their health care there than...

00:13:44Marc:Well, there's that, and there's also the impending fascism that's a problem.

00:13:51Guest:All upon us.

00:13:53Guest:Yeah.

00:13:54Guest:Where are you from originally?

00:13:55Guest:New York?

00:13:56Guest:Well, Miami is where I grew up.

00:13:58Guest:In Miami?

00:13:58Guest:Yeah.

00:13:59Guest:I grew up in Miami, Florida.

00:14:01Guest:That's exciting.

00:14:02Guest:It's Florida.

00:14:05Marc:I know my mother's there, but like I've had to grown to appreciate it.

00:14:09Marc:Whether I like it or not is another issue, but it's certainly interesting.

00:14:13Marc:Fair.

00:14:14Guest:Right?

00:14:14Guest:Yeah, it is an interesting place.

00:14:16Guest:And growing up there for someone like me.

00:14:18Guest:And, you know, it's funny because I don't like to talk about Miami negatively because Miami is the city that raised me.

00:14:24Guest:My mother lives there and I love.

00:14:26Marc:She's still there?

00:14:27Guest:Miami, she won't leave.

00:14:28Guest:My siblings are there.

00:14:29Guest:They love Miami.

00:14:31Guest:I just felt like I didn't belong there.

00:14:33Marc:Yeah.

00:14:34Marc:Terrible place to do comedy for me.

00:14:35Guest:Absolutely.

00:14:36Guest:For everybody.

00:14:36Guest:It's the worst.

00:14:37Marc:Unless.

00:14:38Marc:Unless what?

00:14:39Marc:Unless you're running a rally?

00:14:41Guest:Yeah.

00:14:42Marc:You're running for office.

00:14:44Marc:Right.

00:14:45Marc:No, I just got the feeling after performing, I performed in Hollywood once and I performed at some Miami festival.

00:14:51Marc:It just seemed like it's the last thing anyone wants to do down there.

00:14:54Guest:Yeah, you know, the thing is that it's so fragmented.

00:14:58Guest:It's so broken up culturally.

00:14:59Guest:There are cultures upon cultures.

00:15:01Guest:Right.

00:15:01Marc:Even the white people, like different cultures of white people.

00:15:04Marc:Got all those French Canadians and Germans down there every summer or every winter.

00:15:08Marc:Absolutely.

00:15:09Guest:They're there.

00:15:09Guest:And a lot of Russians are on the beach.

00:15:12Guest:They own property on the beach.

00:15:14Guest:Yeah.

00:15:14Guest:And so people don't, they think that this is this like, this like party, like everybody's this, but this is just so, you know, that people come there and they don't want to assimilate because, so they just recreate where they're from there, which is cool because a bunch of different pods of different.

00:15:30Marc:Sure.

00:15:30Marc:You can go to another country down the street.

00:15:31Guest:Yes.

00:15:32Guest:Yes.

00:15:32Guest:From Little Havana to Little Haiti.

00:15:35Guest:And it can just be complicated if you want to do something that combines people.

00:15:41Guest:Right, right.

00:15:42Marc:And it's not music.

00:15:43Marc:It's tricky.

00:15:44Marc:Music can do it.

00:15:45Guest:Yes, always.

00:15:46Guest:Why do you think that music can and comedy can't?

00:15:50Marc:Because comedy, you've got to listen to someone talk.

00:15:52Marc:And you've got to listen to someone's point of view.

00:15:54Marc:And you have to process it.

00:15:56Marc:Music, you just move.

00:15:57Marc:Music's magic.

00:15:59Marc:Comedy's sort of some other thing.

00:16:00Guest:But it's still people's point of view.

00:16:02Marc:I guess so, but it's not that taxing.

00:16:05Marc:It's like, I don't like this music.

00:16:07Marc:I don't like this song.

00:16:08Marc:I can dance to this song.

00:16:09Marc:I don't love it, but I can still dance to it.

00:16:11Marc:It's different.

00:16:12Marc:And I think that comedy requires attention.

00:16:17Marc:Music doesn't really.

00:16:18Marc:You just kind of go with it.

00:16:20Guest:It's interesting to watch the last couple of years where you'll see Kid Rock and all these artists who have made their political stands.

00:16:28Marc:Yeah, but he was always a bore.

00:16:30Guest:I know.

00:16:30Marc:That guy was shitty to begin with.

00:16:34Marc:He was a shitty musician and now he's just a shitty person.

00:16:38Guest:I like it here.

00:16:41Marc:You know what I mean?

00:16:41Marc:Like, what are we supposed to do?

00:16:42Marc:Kid Rock has politics now.

00:16:44Marc:Oh, I'll put that under the who cares column.

00:16:47Marc:Jesus, man.

00:16:49Marc:And I'm relatively political, but so...

00:16:52Marc:The whole childhood was in Miami?

00:16:55Guest:So, no.

00:16:55Guest:I lived in New York.

00:16:57Guest:Because you see New York.

00:16:58Marc:The special was shot in the Bronx, right?

00:17:00Guest:Yeah.

00:17:00Guest:That's where my grandmother kidnapped me from, from my mom.

00:17:04Guest:I was living in- So you were kidnapped twice?

00:17:05Guest:Yeah.

00:17:06Guest:My mom took me from my dad and my grandmother took me from my mom.

00:17:09Guest:They took me a couple of times.

00:17:11Guest:And so, yeah, I feel very New York.

00:17:14Guest:I remember being a kid and telling people that I was from New York.

00:17:17Guest:Yeah.

00:17:18Guest:And, you know, after so many years, they're like, yeah, you're not from New York anymore.

00:17:22Guest:But I do feel like a sense of home in New York.

00:17:27Marc:Yeah, you've seen New York to me.

00:17:29Marc:I spent a lot of years there.

00:17:30Guest:Comedy for me in New York is it.

00:17:32Guest:I love doing stand-up.

00:17:33Marc:That's where you started?

00:17:34Guest:No, I started here.

00:17:35Marc:Really?

00:17:35Guest:And then I was like, I have to go to New York, and I have to make it there, and I have to... Learn how to punch?

00:17:41Guest:Yes.

00:17:42Guest:And, you know, like, it's just very different because...

00:17:45Guest:I respect New York comedy.

00:17:47Guest:I work at The Cellar.

00:17:49Guest:I work at The Stand.

00:17:50Guest:I work at some of the other clubs.

00:17:51Guest:But here, it feels like everybody is just waiting to get a shot to stardom.

00:17:56Marc:Yeah, does it still?

00:17:57Marc:I don't know.

00:17:58Guest:Well, now COVID is the grand equalizer.

00:18:00Guest:Yeah, that's for sure.

00:18:01Marc:Yeah, no one's doing nothing for a while.

00:18:03Marc:What a nice break that was.

00:18:04Guest:Yes.

00:18:05Marc:The competition's over?

00:18:06Marc:I don't have to resent anybody?

00:18:09Marc:No one can do anything?

00:18:10Marc:Okay, I'm going to relax.

00:18:13Marc:Yeah.

00:18:13Marc:Exactly.

00:18:14Guest:That's exactly how I felt.

00:18:15Marc:Yeah.

00:18:15Marc:I was like, maybe I don't need to do it anymore.

00:18:17Marc:Oh, no.

00:18:18Marc:I did.

00:18:18Marc:I felt that.

00:18:19Marc:But it was funny because the next thought I had was like, maybe I'm all better.

00:18:22Marc:Maybe I've resolved what I needed to resolve.

00:18:26Guest:Yeah.

00:18:26Guest:We had a break.

00:18:27Marc:Yeah.

00:18:27Marc:But some people, but right when they started again within a week, I was like, fuck it.

00:18:31Marc:Time to go.

00:18:32Marc:If that guy's doing it.

00:18:33Guest:I know.

00:18:34Yeah.

00:18:34Guest:That's so honest.

00:18:36Guest:I love that you said that because I think we have to give ourselves grace and be able to say those things because it's really how we feel.

00:18:43Guest:And it's not our fault.

00:18:45Marc:You mean we're selfish, competitive people?

00:18:47Marc:Comics?

00:18:47Guest:Come on.

00:18:47Guest:No, but if you look at it, though, it's by design.

00:18:50Guest:This industry makes us all feel like we're all fighting for one spot.

00:18:54Guest:Yeah.

00:18:56Marc:I don't know if I pay attention to the industry much, but I do pay attention to...

00:19:00Marc:Like, it's starting to go away a little bit, just the idea that, like, you know, am I still relevant?

00:19:05Marc:Does it matter what I have to say?

00:19:07Marc:You know, how much of it is in my head and how much of it isn't?

00:19:10Marc:You know, am I, you know, am I doing enough new stuff?

00:19:13Marc:But like you said, sort of in some of the stuff I saw you talking about in the special...

00:19:18Marc:At some point, it's just who you are, and it's how you work shit out.

00:19:21Marc:So that really becomes what it's about.

00:19:24Marc:After the COVID, I was like, do I even have another hour in me?

00:19:27Marc:And then I just leaned into it, put together a new hour and 15 to do the New York Comedy Festival.

00:19:32Marc:I don't know where it came from, but it came.

00:19:34Marc:So that's what I do.

00:19:35Guest:Yeah, that's right.

00:19:37Marc:I never went that long without doing it since I started.

00:19:42Marc:I've never gone more than two weeks, three weeks since 35 years, whatever the hell.

00:19:47Marc:Because, yeah, well, you have that...

00:19:48Marc:There's sort of this warrior spirit gets put into you in New York, especially.

00:19:53Marc:I mean, that's where that comes from, that work ethic.

00:19:56Marc:Yeah, absolutely.

00:19:57Marc:Because I came up in the time where you'd run around and try and do four or five spots.

00:20:01Guest:Facts.

00:20:02Guest:I remember one weekend I did 28 spots from a Thursday to a Sunday.

00:20:08Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:20:08Guest:And then I come back here.

00:20:10Marc:You got one in the week?

00:20:11Guest:Yeah, and then I'm on stage just like, all right, guys, let's go.

00:20:15Marc:I know, yeah, yeah.

00:20:15Guest:Everybody else is like, so I saw this cat on YouTube.

00:20:19Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:20:19Marc:You're jammed with fucking New York energy.

00:20:22Guest:Yes.

00:20:22Marc:Yeah.

00:20:23Marc:Yeah.

00:20:24Marc:I mean, I know that work ethic and I still sort of I try to get on, you know, at least, you know, five, six times a week out here if I can.

00:20:31Marc:I just go, you know, but I mean.

00:20:33Marc:I don't, not everybody does that.

00:20:35Marc:Now, I don't know if they're wrong.

00:20:36Guest:Right.

00:20:37Marc:And I don't, I don't really like the people that are sort of like, yeah, it's weird.

00:20:39Marc:You know, I thought I had to do that.

00:20:41Marc:And then I took like a month or two off.

00:20:42Marc:I got back on stage.

00:20:43Marc:It was great.

00:20:44Marc:No problem.

00:20:45Guest:Yeah, that doesn't.

00:20:46Guest:So last week I was on stage Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

00:20:50Guest:Yeah.

00:20:50Guest:Friday I had two shows and I was like, oh, cause I'm, I'm building my new hour.

00:20:56Guest:Yeah.

00:20:56Guest:And I was like,

00:20:57Guest:Yeah, this feels right.

00:20:59Guest:But then, you know, you go on your phone and then you see 8,700 people have COVID.

00:21:07Guest:And then the problem is, I don't know if you experienced this because I toured during COVID.

00:21:13Marc:Yeah, I did too.

00:21:14Guest:People get mad at you because you leave right after the show.

00:21:17Guest:You're not doing meet and greets.

00:21:18Guest:You're not selling merch.

00:21:20Guest:And some people were like,

00:21:21Marc:Really?

00:21:21Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:21:22Guest:And I was like, I'm not going out there.

00:21:24Marc:I don't care.

00:21:25Marc:I was asking.

00:21:26Marc:I would require vax proof or test proof at all my shows.

00:21:31Marc:I'm not going to put up with that shit.

00:21:32Marc:Most of my fans, you know, they're grownups.

00:21:35Marc:Right.

00:21:36Marc:So they're not pushing back on that.

00:21:38Marc:Yeah.

00:21:38Marc:But I think no one.

00:21:39Marc:I didn't get any real flack.

00:21:40Marc:I think most people understood.

00:21:42Marc:Sometimes I drift into the room like when there's maybe 20 people there.

00:21:45Marc:They get lucky.

00:21:47Guest:Right.

00:21:48Marc:Say hi.

00:21:49Marc:Yeah.

00:21:49Marc:But I didn't do that.

00:21:50Marc:I don't know.

00:21:50Guest:I didn't.

00:21:51Guest:I mean, I wasn't I'm not trying to get sick and I'm not trying to get anybody else sick either.

00:21:56Guest:Right.

00:21:56Guest:You know, I I know someone who got sick and brought it home and mom and grandma passed away.

00:22:03Guest:Oh, my God.

00:22:04Guest:And so he has to live with that.

00:22:05Guest:And I just I don't want that on me either.

00:22:07Marc:So, no, man.

00:22:08Marc:Now, where's that guy?

00:22:10Guest:He's in Alabama.

00:22:11Marc:Oh, well, geez, that's a terrible story.

00:22:13Guest:27 years old.

00:22:15Guest:He survived.

00:22:16Guest:And he also got really sick and went to the hospital.

00:22:18Marc:Really?

00:22:19Marc:Yeah.

00:22:19Guest:He went to the hospital and then mom and grandma passed away.

00:22:23Marc:This is early days of COVID?

00:22:25Marc:Yeah.

00:22:25Marc:First wave?

00:22:26Guest:Yeah, it was first wave.

00:22:27Marc:So let's talk about the...

00:22:31Marc:This process of you coming to terms with yourself and, you know, dealing with where you come from.

00:22:36Marc:So you were kidnapped twice.

00:22:37Marc:I didn't I didn't hear this the second time in the in the special because you do like it's like mostly stand up and then there's about a quarter of it.

00:22:45Marc:That's documentary.

00:22:47Marc:And I enjoyed it.

00:22:49Marc:Good special.

00:22:50Marc:Thank you.

00:22:51Marc:But I didn't hear that.

00:22:51Marc:Like I didn't know your grandmother kidnapped you, too.

00:22:53Marc:Is that in there?

00:22:54Guest:No, that's in the special before that.

00:22:56Guest:That's on the half hour that I did on Netflix.

00:22:58Guest:I did the joke about it, which was the first and last time I did that joke.

00:23:03Guest:Like I worked it out up until the special and then I never did it again.

00:23:07Guest:I never realized how painful it was for me to talk about.

00:23:09Guest:I never talked about it.

00:23:11Guest:And, you know, when you get kidnapped by family members, people like brush it off like it's nothing.

00:23:16Guest:Like, oh, you got kidnapped by who?

00:23:18Guest:And then when you see it by a family member, they're like, ah, like that's nothing.

00:23:22Guest:But it was very traumatic.

00:23:23Marc:Of course, because they just think they don't weigh the reasons.

00:23:27Marc:Someone's got a reason for doing it.

00:23:29Guest:Yeah.

00:23:29Marc:And it ain't you.

00:23:31Guest:Right?

00:23:32Guest:Yeah.

00:23:33Guest:My grandmother took me from my mother.

00:23:34Guest:I didn't see my mother for like a year.

00:23:37Guest:And it was very hard for me.

00:23:38Guest:I wanted to be with my mom.

00:23:40Guest:But my mom was at the moment in a relationship with a man who was wanted for murder.

00:23:45Guest:And he was like on the FBI's most wanted list.

00:23:49Marc:So your mom's not great at picking men.

00:23:51Marc:Yeah.

00:23:51Marc:She was young.

00:23:52Marc:She was really young.

00:23:53Marc:Yeah, everyone makes that young mistake where you date the murderer.

00:23:57Guest:She was young and she didn't know.

00:23:59Guest:And then she kind of fell in love and then got swept into this whole thing.

00:24:02Marc:Oh, really?

00:24:03Guest:And then, yeah.

00:24:04Marc:Pretty exciting.

00:24:05Guest:For her.

00:24:06Guest:You know me, I was like, I want to be with my mom.

00:24:08Guest:I'd rather be on the run with my mom than in a stable place with my grandma.

00:24:12Marc:Oh, she went on the run with the guys?

00:24:14Guest:Yeah, we were in New York.

00:24:15Guest:And so my grandmother had two options.

00:24:17Guest:She could call the police and then my mom would probably get arrested for being an accessory or whatever.

00:24:22Guest:Or she could stalk my mom until she saw a weakness and then got me and hope that that was an incentive to make my mother come home.

00:24:31Marc:You could end up child services too, right?

00:24:34Marc:Absolutely.

00:24:34Marc:In another state even.

00:24:35Guest:Yeah.

00:24:36Guest:No, in New York is not a good place to be to go to child services.

00:24:40Guest:Wow.

00:24:40Guest:So let's go back.

00:24:41Guest:So you you were born in the Dominican Republic.

00:24:44Guest:I was not.

00:24:44Guest:I don't know how that's why that's been put out there.

00:24:47Guest:I was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

00:24:48Guest:I don't know.

00:24:49Guest:I'm just assuming from that.

00:24:50Guest:I didn't read it.

00:24:51Guest:Oh, no, no.

00:24:51Guest:Because a lot of people, a lot of people say they see the special and they put in a bio.

00:24:55Guest:I was I went there.

00:24:56Guest:I'm what those people call an anchor, baby, because my father was an undocumented Dominican man in Boston.

00:25:04Guest:Yeah.

00:25:04Guest:Then what was he doing there?

00:25:05Guest:He's a musician.

00:25:07Guest:Oh.

00:25:08Guest:Yeah.

00:25:09Guest:Musician.

00:25:09Guest:He was there and he wanted to build a life in Boston, met my mother.

00:25:13Marc:Yeah.

00:25:14Guest:And then he got deported.

00:25:15Guest:And so we went to the Dominican Republic.

00:25:17Marc:So that's how that went?

00:25:18Marc:Your mom was just living in Boston?

00:25:20Guest:Yeah.

00:25:20Guest:My family went there from Puerto Rico.

00:25:22Marc:So that was the first stop, not New York, huh?

00:25:24Guest:No, Connecticut was the first stop.

00:25:25Marc:Connecticut?

00:25:26Marc:Yeah.

00:25:27Marc:Hartford.

00:25:28Marc:What were they thinking?

00:25:29Marc:Oh, Hartford's a little rough.

00:25:30Guest:There's the Puerto Ricans in there.

00:25:32Guest:And then they left.

00:25:34Guest:There are Puerto Ricans everywhere.

00:25:35Guest:They got a good, good population of Puerto Rico's and Connecticut, but then they went to Boston and from Boston, they went to Miami.

00:25:43Marc:Boston.

00:25:43Marc:I lived in Boston for years.

00:25:45Marc:I don't they they, you know, for a place that's sort of supposed to be relatively blue or progressive, they really hide their minorities pretty well.

00:25:53Guest:Yeah, it's a pretty interesting place.

00:25:55Marc:Oh man, the sort of townies of New England are rough.

00:25:59Guest:Yeah, they got their own brand of racism there.

00:26:01Marc:Oh, for sure.

00:26:02Marc:They get a good rap because there's so many colleges.

00:26:07Marc:So there's like a quarter of a million students there every year making it seem like it's a progressive place.

00:26:13Marc:But you pull them out, you're like, wow.

00:26:15Marc:So there's some serious rural fishing community Irish bullshit going on around here.

00:26:21Guest:I love that categorization of them.

00:26:24Marc:I was there for years, and I know a lot of pretty good guys, but it's rough, man.

00:26:29Marc:It's rough.

00:26:30Marc:It's very interesting about the American Irish versus the Irish Irish, because I spent so many years in Boston being afraid of

00:26:38Marc:of these tough Irish dudes, and they all have this disposition and this attitude.

00:26:42Marc:Not all of them, but you know what I'm saying.

00:26:44Marc:I'm generalizing, and I'm being a little bit stereotyping, but that's what we're doing right now.

00:26:49Marc:But I went to Ireland, and I see the same dudes that look the same, sweetest people in the world.

00:26:54Marc:I'm on guard.

00:26:55Guest:I'm like, oh, here it comes.

00:26:56Guest:I'm like, hey, how you doing?

00:26:57Guest:What?

00:26:57Guest:I'm like, wow.

00:26:58Guest:Yeah.

00:26:59Guest:I always get a lot of messages from people from Ireland saying, come do stand up here.

00:27:03Guest:You should.

00:27:04Marc:You've never been there?

00:27:05Marc:No.

00:27:05Marc:Yeah.

00:27:07Marc:It's great country.

00:27:07Marc:I love that place.

00:27:08Marc:I'm a Jew.

00:27:09Marc:I don't even know why I'm so attracted to it.

00:27:10Marc:I love it.

00:27:11Marc:I want to live there.

00:27:13Guest:It looks beautiful.

00:27:13Marc:It's so beautiful.

00:27:15Marc:Yeah.

00:27:15Marc:So do you remember the Dominican Republic?

00:27:17Marc:How old were you when you got deported?

00:27:18Yeah.

00:27:18Guest:um when he got deported i was born that's when i was born so i was there he wasn't even there when you were born no and so i got sent there i went there with my mom right after you got born yeah and then she was an american citizen yeah my mom was my mom was born in puerto rico but we went and i came back and i came back when i was like maybe four three so what what precipitated that you know why did your mom run off

00:27:42Guest:Because it was there were a lot of issues with my father's family, with my mother, a lot of colorism issues around Puerto Rican.

00:27:50Guest:Yeah, she's Puerto Rican.

00:27:51Guest:They were Dominican.

00:27:52Guest:There was you know, there was just they didn't really like my mom that much.

00:27:56Guest:So we were sleeping outside when my father would do gigs.

00:28:00Guest:what yeah i was and my mom was really young she was a teenager they didn't really um it was just a lot of conflict as i met my new siblings that or not new but the siblings that i met recently they said that that family was a very problematic family how many how many i know i saw a lot of those siblings that you met when you went down there just what was that couple years ago that was june in june yeah so like are they all from different mothers

00:28:26Marc:Not all of them, but there are different mothers amongst us.

00:28:29Marc:So there's at least three mothers.

00:28:30Marc:Yes, absolutely.

00:28:32Marc:The old man was, you know.

00:28:34Guest:Musician, attractive.

00:28:36Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:28:38Guest:Still to this day.

00:28:39Guest:I mean, I remember talking to him and he was dating someone that was like in their 30s.

00:28:45Marc:And I didn't know anything about, like I know...

00:28:49Marc:Look, I grew up the way I grew up.

00:28:52Marc:You know what I mean?

00:28:53Marc:Just a middle class Jew.

00:28:55Marc:But I didn't realize there was so much.

00:28:58Marc:I don't know if you'd even call it infighting in the Latino spectrum.

00:29:04Marc:But there is.

00:29:06Marc:And I didn't know anything about it until I watched your show about the Dominican-Puerto Rican problem.

00:29:11Guest:Oh, you know what?

00:29:12Guest:It's all the great gifts of colonization.

00:29:17Guest:You know, it exists in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

00:29:22Marc:Well, what is the basis of the Dominican problem with Puerto Ricans or vice versa?

00:29:28Guest:It's all rooted in colorism and racism and ignorance.

00:29:32Guest:It's all part of the, you know, divide and conquer.

00:29:36Guest:But do they see... There's this air that people think about Puerto Ricans because Puerto Ricans are citizens.

00:29:42Guest:Yeah.

00:29:43Guest:So that is coveted amongst a lot of people in Latin America because they all want to come here to the dream place where they can achieve great things because, you know, we have this exceptionalism bullshit that people think America is this place.

00:29:57Guest:Yeah.

00:29:58Guest:And so they have these Latinos who aspire to that.

00:30:02Guest:But if you go throughout Latin America, you will find that amongst many of the countries.

00:30:07Guest:And it's all rooted in, you know, foolishness.

00:30:11Guest:It's like who has the better food, who has the better music, who's lighter, who looks more white.

00:30:15Marc:That seems to be a big deal.

00:30:17Marc:The sort of spectrum of brownness.

00:30:19Guest:Yeah, it's a very it's all it's it's so interesting to watch because I've always been conscious of it.

00:30:26Guest:Even when I was a kid, because my siblings and I look very different.

00:30:29Guest:Yeah.

00:30:30Guest:And it just it's just very interesting to explore where, you know, there are black people all over Latin America.

00:30:37Guest:You get to see when you think of Argentina, you think of these Italian looking white people.

00:30:42Guest:They got the black people, you know, Peru has their back.

00:30:45Guest:Also Asian and indigenous people.

00:30:48Guest:So I kind of wanted to talk about it a little bit because that is that, you know, I've been in development for a TV show for the last two years.

00:30:57Guest:And I think that it's just so radioactive, very complicated that people don't even want to touch it.

00:31:03Marc:Which part?

00:31:04Marc:The Latin issue?

00:31:06Guest:Yeah, because people have this idea when they're like, how do we attract the Latino market?

00:31:12Guest:And you said it better than most.

00:31:14Guest:Like when you just said the Latino spectrum, there's no market.

00:31:17Guest:There's a spectrum because there's a Caribbean market, a South American market, central.

00:31:22Guest:And so I think that is just whenever somebody...

00:31:26Guest:Allow someone like myself that that's why I did the documentary.

00:31:30Guest:I wanted to shed light on some of those things.

00:31:32Guest:I think that that's when you'll be able to get a television show that people that will resonate with Latinos or Latinx, Latine, whatever you want to call it.

00:31:41Guest:But I just think that the idea that.

00:31:44Guest:Everybody wants to see a show about a white person stealing a brown person's taco shop is the ideal.

00:31:51Guest:It's like we're past that.

00:31:53Marc:Well, yeah.

00:31:54Marc:And I think that this sort of corporatization of Mexican entertainment.

00:32:00Marc:Yes, absolutely.

00:32:01Marc:Has really kind of is the one.

00:32:03Marc:Right.

00:32:04Marc:So there's no other model.

00:32:05Guest:That's right.

00:32:05Marc:So, you know, you get, you know, that that whole world of because it's been dug in for a long time.

00:32:11Marc:So American Latinos have to deal with this.

00:32:14Marc:Well, I don't remember what the big network is, but Mexican entertainment.

00:32:18Guest:It's valid.

00:32:19Guest:They're the biggest group here.

00:32:20Marc:Sure.

00:32:21Guest:But even they don't want to see themselves like that.

00:32:23Guest:Like if you even because look at the shows, how many ridiculous soap operas and the comedies.

00:32:28Marc:Yeah.

00:32:28Guest:Yeah, and look at the shows that are on the air now.

00:32:31Guest:How many Latino shows do you know that are on the air, on streamers?

00:32:36Guest:I don't know.

00:32:37Marc:Are there any?

00:32:38Guest:I mean, HBO Max is creating programming for these other markets, but you don't see them anywhere.

00:32:45Guest:Especially when it's Hispanic Heritage Month and they put up Spaniard shows saying here...

00:32:52Guest:And it's like, it's such a blow to the communities because we never get to see a reflection of ourselves.

00:33:01Marc:And for me... With the mixture.

00:33:03Guest:Yeah.

00:33:04Guest:I mean, the last person I could think of that was in comedy that was like me and had some level of success that was more mainstream was Freddie Prinze.

00:33:13Guest:We don't get to see ourselves.

00:33:15Guest:And that's why I decided to cut the stand up a little bit and use a portion of that for...

00:33:21Marc:Yeah.

00:33:22Marc:Well, I thought that was interesting, too, is that, you know, that there is no sort of indigenous representation.

00:33:28Guest:Yes.

00:33:29Marc:Like even with Mexicans, you know, there's there's a class problem with, you know, the ones that see themselves as Spanish versus the ones that see themselves as Mexicans.

00:33:37Guest:Yeah, no, no, absolutely.

00:33:39Guest:And that was one of the jokes is like I've had to hear over and over again my whole life.

00:33:44Guest:People telling me about their pure Castilian blood.

00:33:47Marc:Yeah, it's a good joke.

00:33:48Guest:But I'm just sitting here like, what does that mean?

00:33:51Guest:And what does that matter in the big scheme of things?

00:33:54Guest:How has that how's that working out for you?

00:33:57Marc:Yeah, right.

00:33:57Marc:It's just a foundational block of racist thought.

00:34:01Guest:Yes.

00:34:02Guest:And it's self-hating sometimes because if you feel that the best parts of you are that that you identify with your colonizer, it speaks volumes to how you feel about yourself, because the reality of it is, is the reason you have Castilian blood is because Spaniards colonized your people.

00:34:20Guest:Right.

00:34:20Guest:So for you to walk around just pointing that out, as opposed to the great indigenous people that you come from or the great African people that you come from or Asian people is just interesting.

00:34:31Marc:That is interesting.

00:34:32Marc:It says something about you that that you believe in that mission.

00:34:36Guest:Yeah.

00:34:36Marc:You know, you're an oppressor.

00:34:38Guest:Yeah.

00:34:39Guest:You do it to yourself and you do it to other people.

00:34:41Guest:And so, yeah, you know, for me, I really wanted to talk about it because I've gotten so much feedback.

00:34:47Guest:Like some people were like, Ida, you don't want to do this because you don't want to get pigeonholed in the whole Latino thing.

00:34:53Marc:You kind of do.

00:34:54Guest:But that's who I am.

00:34:55Guest:I cannot be other than I am.

00:34:57Guest:But the funny thing is that I have gotten so many messages from white American people saying, I'm so glad you showed this because I never heard of this.

00:35:04Marc:Yeah, it's crazy.

00:35:05Guest:Yeah, I never saw this.

00:35:06Guest:This is a very interesting thing to watch.

00:35:08Guest:Thank you for it.

00:35:09Guest:shedding light and I also got white people that were like I'm half British and half Irish and I was ashamed of my Irish blood because they made me feel like that was less than so it was just very fascinating even with Eastern Europeans so people were like I can identify with that so

00:35:27Guest:Oh, the mix.

00:35:28Guest:Yeah.

00:35:29Marc:You got something, a war inside you.

00:35:31Guest:Yes.

00:35:32Guest:Interesting.

00:35:32Guest:And that's a universal thing.

00:35:34Guest:I think so.

00:35:35Guest:You know?

00:35:35Marc:Well, you know, I talk a lot about that Sterling Harjo show, The Reservation Dogs, about the indigenous people.

00:35:44Marc:It's a great show.

00:35:45Marc:It is.

00:35:46Marc:And it's a show that I think is probably, you know, I'm 57, well, what am I, 58, and I think it's the most groundbreaking show of my lifetime because...

00:35:55Marc:He gives representation to a group of people that none of us knew anything about.

00:35:58Guest:That's right.

00:35:59Marc:Like zero.

00:35:59Marc:Yeah.

00:36:00Marc:And they have a different way of communicating, a different spirituality, a different timings comedically and human.

00:36:07Marc:And the reason I bring it up is because when I talked to him recently,

00:36:11Marc:He's got people representing indigenous people all around North America chiming in to the writing process.

00:36:20Marc:So there's something to be said about that.

00:36:22Marc:I imagine if that process could work there, that there's something about Latino people that you could probably find a collective point of view as sort of a theme and then deal with whatever differences they have within it.

00:36:35Guest:Well, you know, the thing, like the show that I'm writing and the shows that I've been writing are shows that are aspirational because people that are here that are, you know, second generation, they want to see themselves as progressive and upwardly mobile.

00:36:49Guest:They want to identify with success.

00:36:51Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:36:52Guest:Because the trauma of being constantly reminded of all the horrible things that have happened to our people is just it.

00:36:59Guest:Nobody wants to watch that, especially people who whose parents work their asses off so that they can go to college, get an education, get a job and move up class wise.

00:37:10Guest:They don't want to see that.

00:37:11Guest:They want to see themselves in lifestyles and they want to see shows about themselves like Insecure and.

00:37:18Guest:Like different shows and sure, there's there's specificity to some of them where you can get an insight to these people, but they don't want to see themselves as victims anymore.

00:37:29Guest:And honestly, anytime you do a show where the white man is is the devil, you automatically are the victim.

00:37:37Guest:Right.

00:37:37Guest:So we don't want to see ourselves as victims.

00:37:39Guest:We want to see television shows about the great things and the things that make us.

00:37:44Marc:Sure.

00:37:44Marc:Instead of the devil, just make him difficult and awful.

00:37:47Marc:Right.

00:37:47Guest:All the time.

00:37:48Guest:And it's just, you know, reality is reality.

00:37:52Guest:We know history, but it's time to evolve and show people in a light where that's why in the Dominican Republic, I refuse to show children begging for money.

00:38:01Guest:When you see a lot of footage of the DR, it's always little kids running, asking for money.

00:38:08Marc:And who is anyone to judge that given the streets of Los Angeles now?

00:38:11Guest:Yes.

00:38:12Marc:Or anywhere else in this country.

00:38:13Marc:Yes.

00:38:14Marc:So when you left the first time, when you were four, that was just your mother saying, you know, fuck this?

00:38:20Guest:Yeah, she took me to Miami.

00:38:22Guest:I went to Miami with my bigger family, my grandmother.

00:38:25Marc:The Puerto Ricans.

00:38:26Guest:The Puerto Ricans.

00:38:28Guest:And they raised us, my mom and me.

00:38:30Guest:My grandmother finished raising her daughter.

00:38:32Guest:I know.

00:38:32Marc:I like all the talk in the special about grandmothers and like, you know, in terms of how, you know, the the matriarchy of Latino families kind of works.

00:38:40Marc:It's like most of the conversation.

00:38:42Marc:It's funny in the in your act.

00:38:44Marc:And it seems like in your life, you know, the men of different degrees of badness come and go.

00:38:49Guest:But you know what's funny is that those have just been the villains in my life, but not the way I feel about men in general.

00:38:56Guest:But, you know, I was saying that I made this observation, and it's nothing groundbreaking, but I watch babies.

00:39:05Guest:Like, I'll go to nurseries.

00:39:06Guest:I have a niece, and I'll watch the behaviors.

00:39:09Guest:And then I go to the old folks' home, and I watch the behaviors.

00:39:13Guest:And it's kind of like the same.

00:39:14Guest:Like, people are not worried.

00:39:15Guest:It's somewhere in the middle where we get fucked up, right?

00:39:18Guest:Yeah.

00:39:18Guest:When people get older, you go like where my grandmother was or my great grandfather was.

00:39:22Guest:There was no black people.

00:39:24Guest:They all playing cards.

00:39:26Guest:You know, they all make it having sex.

00:39:28Guest:I didn't know they were having that, you know.

00:39:30Guest:And then you look at the children and it's the same.

00:39:33Guest:But somewhere in the middle, we get caught up with all this bullshit.

00:39:36Guest:And so grandmothers, I've traveled all over the world.

00:39:40Guest:I've gone to Asia.

00:39:41Guest:I went to Israel.

00:39:43Marc:Just for comedy or before?

00:39:44Guest:For comedy and to travel.

00:39:45Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:39:46Guest:I went to Israel to learn.

00:39:47Guest:I wanted to learn about the conflict for myself.

00:39:51Guest:I didn't want... Palestinian conflict?

00:39:52Guest:Yeah, Palestinian and Israeli conflict.

00:39:54Guest:And I went to Palestine.

00:39:56Guest:I went to Israel.

00:39:57Guest:And grandmothers, everywhere you go, like, everybody loves their grandmother.

00:40:01Guest:I love Bubby.

00:40:02Guest:I love that term, you know, in America that...

00:40:05Guest:And I was just like, that's one thing that everybody treasures is their grandmother.

00:40:11Marc:Yeah.

00:40:11Guest:So how do we find something that brings us together?

00:40:15Marc:Yeah, exactly.

00:40:17Marc:Grandma.

00:40:17Marc:Yeah.

00:40:18Marc:And I think that's true.

00:40:19Marc:And I think what you're saying is also interesting about...

00:40:23Marc:You know, even me.

00:40:25Marc:I mean, I don't know how old you are, but I'm 58.

00:40:27Marc:And like a lot of shit that used to be important, it's going away.

00:40:30Guest:Yeah.

00:40:30Guest:I'm in my 40s and I feel the same way.

00:40:32Guest:But I also raised two children that are adults now.

00:40:34Marc:I have no kids.

00:40:35Marc:So I don't have that perspective.

00:40:37Guest:Yeah.

00:40:37Guest:So for me, I feel like I'm 75 because, you know, raising kids.

00:40:41Guest:Children years.

00:40:42Guest:Yeah.

00:40:43Guest:Raising kids, especially in this time, has been very stressful.

00:40:47Yeah.

00:40:47Guest:Yeah, thanks to my grandmother, I've never really valued some of the things.

00:40:52Guest:I learned so much from her because I thought she was my mother until I got a little older.

00:40:58Guest:How old?

00:40:59Guest:I think it was about 11 or 12.

00:41:01Marc:So your mother split?

00:41:03Guest:No, my mom was there.

00:41:04Marc:I've heard this kind of thing before a couple of times.

00:41:07Guest:I call my grandmother mommy.

00:41:09Guest:But would you think your mother was your sister?

00:41:10Guest:Yeah.

00:41:12Guest:I knew she was my mother, but it just felt like my grandmother was the matriarch of the whole thing.

00:41:18Marc:And the other thing I like about Latino culture in general, or just the way culture used to be, is that...

00:41:23Marc:You know, you got the old people in the house.

00:41:26Marc:Yes.

00:41:27Marc:You know, like now it just seems like once they get to a point where they're a problem, they get them out of the house and put them in a kennel.

00:41:35Guest:Yeah, they do.

00:41:36Guest:That was, you know, it's really my grandmother died at home.

00:41:40Guest:She died of cancer.

00:41:41Marc:Did you like, did you have the hospital bed in the house and the whole thing?

00:41:44Guest:Yeah, everything was there.

00:41:45Guest:And she just passed away at home.

00:41:48Guest:I wasn't there.

00:41:48Guest:I was in California.

00:41:50Guest:How old was she?

00:41:53Guest:I think she was like 77.

00:41:55Marc:That's not that old for her.

00:41:56Guest:No, but the cancer just was really... Yeah, terrible.

00:41:59Guest:But I was on my way to the improv to do a spot when I got the call that my grandmother passed away.

00:42:05Guest:And yeah, she was at home.

00:42:06Guest:And you did the spot?

00:42:07Guest:I didn't.

00:42:08Guest:Oh, good.

00:42:08Marc:I couldn't.

00:42:09Marc:Oh, good.

00:42:09Marc:Yeah, no.

00:42:10Marc:Because that's a fucked up comic thing where you're like, oh my God.

00:42:14Guest:Yeah, I couldn't.

00:42:15Guest:There was no way.

00:42:16Guest:I was going to make the audience miserable.

00:42:19Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:42:20Marc:I'll do that anyways.

00:42:22Marc:Every once in a while.

00:42:23Guest:We all do.

00:42:25Marc:Sorry, you're going to have to pay this time.

00:42:27Marc:You're going to have to pay for my problems.

00:42:30Marc:Well, I'm sorry that that happened.

00:42:32Marc:How long ago was that?

00:42:33Guest:That was in 2013.

00:42:33Guest:It feels like yesterday.

00:42:36Marc:So when did you leave Miami?

00:42:38Marc:So you're in Miami, you grew up, and did you have any direct siblings?

00:42:42Guest:Yeah, I have my siblings that I grew up with, my mother's children.

00:42:46Guest:I have two brothers and a sister.

00:42:47Marc:That's my... Not from your dad.

00:42:49Guest:My quad.

00:42:50Guest:No, but we're...

00:42:51Guest:We don't do that, though.

00:42:53Guest:We don't say half brother, half sister.

00:42:54Marc:No, no, right.

00:42:54Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:42:55Guest:We're all very close.

00:42:56Guest:We talk every day and we're very, very close.

00:42:59Guest:I left home.

00:43:00Guest:Were you the oldest?

00:43:01Guest:I am.

00:43:02Guest:I'm the oldest of all of them.

00:43:03Guest:Yeah.

00:43:04Guest:I had an older brother that died, my mom's son.

00:43:07Guest:Yeah.

00:43:08Guest:But I actually, you know, I left Miami and I went to Tallahassee to school.

00:43:14Marc:Florida State.

00:43:16Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:17Guest:And then I left.

00:43:17Marc:Oof, Tallahassee.

00:43:18Guest:Yeah, Southern Georgia.

00:43:20Guest:Yes.

00:43:21Guest:And I left there and I moved to San Diego because my ex got drafted by the San Diego Chargers.

00:43:29Marc:Where'd you meet the football player?

00:43:30Guest:I met him at school.

00:43:31Guest:I met him at.

00:43:32Marc:Oh, so in Florida State.

00:43:34Guest:Yeah.

00:43:34Guest:So I used to go to dual enrollment when I was there.

00:43:37Guest:When I was in high school, I would go up.

00:43:40Guest:And yeah, we had these programs that we would go.

00:43:42Guest:And I met him and he became my boyfriend.

00:43:44Guest:We moved to San Diego.

00:43:46Guest:He became my husband.

00:43:47Guest:He's the father of my two children.

00:43:49Marc:They look good, those kids.

00:43:50Guest:Thank you.

00:43:50Guest:They're great human beings.

00:43:51Guest:They seem like it.

00:43:52Guest:That's what I'm most proud of.

00:43:53Guest:Like, you know, people are in this city a lot of, oh, you know, my daughter's working with Sorkin and my kid.

00:43:59Guest:My children are amazing human beings, and they're doing pretty well in life in terms of what they want to do, but they're just really good people.

00:44:07Marc:How's their relationship with the ex and their relationship with both of you good?

00:44:10Guest:They're on the mend.

00:44:12Guest:Okay.

00:44:12Guest:And I mean, I forgave him a while ago.

00:44:15Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:44:16Yeah.

00:44:16Guest:Yeah, I had to.

00:44:17Guest:My grandmother always used to tell me forgiveness is for you.

00:44:20Marc:Yeah, and also for the kids, I guess, right?

00:44:22Guest:Yeah, I never really was into bashing him or I just kept going.

00:44:27Guest:I was like, I don't have time for this.

00:44:28Marc:And you're going to have to deal with him your whole life because of the kids, right?

00:44:31Marc:Right.

00:44:31Marc:Yeah, he's not going anywhere.

00:44:32Guest:And, you know, for me, it's like I outgrew him in terms of- Was he a big ball player?

00:44:38Guest:No, he wasn't.

00:44:40Guest:He never got his shot like he should have.

00:44:43Guest:He's a very good player.

00:44:44Marc:Yeah.

00:44:45Guest:You know, unfortunately, his own issues kind of got in the way.

00:44:49Guest:And also, you know, football is so political and so much.

00:44:53Marc:It's also brutal.

00:44:54Marc:Yeah.

00:44:54Marc:Beats you up.

00:44:55Marc:So you're in San Diego.

00:44:57Marc:When do you start doing, when do you like, what drives you to comedy?

00:45:00Guest:Well, I left San Diego when I left him.

00:45:03Guest:I went back home to Miami.

00:45:05Guest:When was this?

00:45:07Guest:This was in 1990.

00:45:11Guest:When did I leave there?

00:45:12Guest:99, I think it was.

00:45:14Guest:I went back to- What were you doing out?

00:45:16Marc:You were just being a mother or were you working?

00:45:18Guest:No, I still had a job.

00:45:18Guest:I never quit my job.

00:45:20Guest:I worked at Bank of America as a teller.

00:45:22Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:45:22Guest:And I also in San Diego.

00:45:24Guest:Yeah.

00:45:24Guest:And I was modeling.

00:45:25Guest:I had an agent here.

00:45:26Guest:I'll come back and forth.

00:45:27Guest:I never I quit.

00:45:28Guest:I never stopped working.

00:45:29Guest:I saved my money.

00:45:31Guest:I just stopped to have my babies.

00:45:33Guest:Yeah.

00:45:33Guest:And then I just kept going because I was like, I don't I don't trust anybody.

00:45:37Guest:Yeah.

00:45:38Guest:I don't trust anybody.

00:45:39Guest:I don't trust football.

00:45:40Marc:And I was like, right.

00:45:41Guest:You know, one day you'll see someone be big, a big star, and the next day you'll see them, you know, on TV.

00:45:46Guest:They're doing a story about how they're homeless.

00:45:48Guest:So I was like, I can't trust this.

00:45:50Marc:That's where you went, right to that.

00:45:52Guest:And I had trauma from that.

00:45:53Guest:From the kidnapping?

00:45:55Guest:Yeah, from all of it.

00:45:56Guest:I went from poverty and drugs and all of the stuff that I grew up around.

00:45:59Guest:So I went back to Miami.

00:46:01Guest:And then I was like, you know what, I'm going to California.

00:46:06Guest:He followed me back to Miami from San Diego.

00:46:10Marc:So it was a healthy relationship.

00:46:12Guest:So I just left.

00:46:14Guest:He hates California, so I moved to L.A.

00:46:16Guest:And I just started anew.

00:46:18Marc:So he stayed in Miami?

00:46:19Guest:He stayed in Miami for a while and then he moved to Tampa and then he moved to Georgia and Texas.

00:46:23Guest:He's been moving around all over the place and I just came out here.

00:46:26Marc:So where was when, okay, so when you left the Dominican Republic and you're with your mother, so your mother was in and out of trouble.

00:46:32Marc:Is that the deal?

00:46:34Marc:Where was the poverty and drugs?

00:46:36Guest:Not her.

00:46:38Guest:I lived with my whole family.

00:46:41Guest:So I lived with my mother.

00:46:43Marc:Someone's going to have poverty and drugs.

00:46:45Guest:Yeah, we were poor, but there were uncles that were on drugs.

00:46:49Guest:My uncle who raised me was on drugs.

00:46:52Guest:So I was around a lot of stuff that I probably should not have seen as a kid.

00:46:57Marc:Sure.

00:46:58Marc:So you decided to come back to California without a real plan or what was the plan?

00:47:02Guest:Well, I wrote this script and it made it to like the Sundance Writer's Lab final cut.

00:47:07Marc:Who was your mentor over there?

00:47:08Guest:It was Kenneth.

00:47:09Guest:I think his name was Kenneth.

00:47:10Guest:Yeah.

00:47:11Guest:And so I came back.

00:47:12Guest:I moved out here.

00:47:13Marc:Yeah.

00:47:14Guest:And it didn't make it.

00:47:16Guest:But I was, you know, you go a couple of rounds.

00:47:18Marc:Oh, so you submit it and then they decide whether you're going to be in the program.

00:47:22Guest:Right.

00:47:22Guest:You go through a few rounds.

00:47:24Marc:Got it.

00:47:24Guest:And so I made it up until like the final round and I didn't make it.

00:47:28Guest:But it just it was the thing that pushed me to move here.

00:47:31Marc:And it was about your family?

00:47:33Guest:No, it was about the world of football that I had because I journal.

00:47:39Guest:And so I was looking through my journals and I was like, this is a story right here.

00:47:42Guest:And I wrote it.

00:47:43Marc:About being married to the game?

00:47:45Guest:Yeah, it was something like that.

00:47:47Guest:And then I came out and I just never left.

00:47:51Guest:I stayed and I figured it out.

00:47:53Guest:There was ups and downs.

00:47:54Guest:But I was like, I want to be here.

00:47:56Guest:I want to pursue this career.

00:47:58Marc:In writing initially.

00:47:59Guest:Writing and acting.

00:48:00Guest:I came.

00:48:01Guest:I was I'm tall.

00:48:01Guest:So I was like, they don't write roles.

00:48:03Guest:I don't see myself in the breakdown.

00:48:05Guest:So I was like, I'm going to write myself this role.

00:48:07Guest:Right.

00:48:08Guest:And then I just I just started.

00:48:10Guest:I got signed to an agency when I first moved here and I started going out and booking stuff as an actor.

00:48:18Marc:And then anything good.

00:48:19Guest:Good, but not popular.

00:48:23Guest:You know, like I did some indie films, I did some projects.

00:48:26Guest:And then comedy came around a few years after that.

00:48:30Marc:So you just kind of, how old were you when you started doing comedy?

00:48:33Guest:30.

00:48:34Marc:Yeah.

00:48:35Marc:Yeah.

00:48:35Marc:And it just came around?

00:48:36Marc:What do you mean it just came around?

00:48:37Guest:So I, so the, Chris Spencer was like.

00:48:44Marc:I see him all the time.

00:48:45Guest:So we did this.

00:48:46Guest:We have a friend who is.

00:48:48Marc:I love Chris.

00:48:48Guest:I love him, too.

00:48:49Guest:He's the reason I do stand.

00:48:50Marc:Nice guy.

00:48:51Guest:So he told me that I was a stand up.

00:48:53Guest:We were we had a friend.

00:48:55Marc:He gave you the curse.

00:48:56Guest:Yeah.

00:48:56Guest:He was like we were doing this brunch and we were roasting our friend.

00:49:01Guest:And my friend was like, I have these professional comedians that are going to roast me.

00:49:05Guest:So I need somebody who's going to roast me with some compassion.

00:49:07Guest:Yeah.

00:49:08Guest:And so when I did the roast.

00:49:10Guest:Yeah.

00:49:10Guest:He said to me, he said, oh, you're a stand.

00:49:12Marc:Chris said that.

00:49:13Guest:Yeah.

00:49:14Guest:And I've known I knew Chris before.

00:49:16Guest:He was like, oh, you're you're naturally a stand up.

00:49:18Guest:He said, try these open mics out.

00:49:21Guest:Tell me how you feel.

00:49:22Marc:Yeah.

00:49:22Guest:And so I went to the Westwood Brewing Company.

00:49:24Guest:I started it.

00:49:25Marc:Was that Neil Brennan's room?

00:49:27Guest:No, at that time it was Adam Hunter's.

00:49:30Marc:Oh, I remember that guy.

00:49:31Guest:Sure.

00:49:31Guest:And then I just never stopped.

00:49:32Marc:Adam Hunter was in, he started in New York, that guy.

00:49:36Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:49:36Marc:Yeah, blonde guy.

00:49:37Guest:Yeah.

00:49:39Marc:And so that's where you started, Westwood.

00:49:41Marc:Westwood Brewing.

00:49:41Guest:And I never stopped.

00:49:42Marc:It's so funny, by that time, there's a whole world of those mics that I didn't know about because I came up earlier.

00:49:49Marc:So you just kept going and you started, what were some of the first breaks?

00:49:52Marc:Because I know you ended up on one of the big reality shows, but you were just working stuff out?

00:49:57Guest:Yeah, I was working stuff out.

00:49:59Guest:I actually booked Kevin Hart's One Mic Stand, which was a stand-up show.

00:50:05Guest:I did horribly.

00:50:06Guest:I learned a very valuable lesson of, you know, like if someone told me Jay Leno said it's never too late, but it can be too soon.

00:50:16Guest:And it was too soon.

00:50:18Guest:Thankfully, it didn't air.

00:50:20Marc:Oh, really?

00:50:21Guest:You got lucky.

00:50:22Guest:Because it has so many sets and there was like issues with the network.

00:50:26Guest:So mine didn't air.

00:50:27Guest:what was it like five minutes yeah it was five minutes of pure terror really bad so it wasn't the material it was your disposition yeah i wasn't ready for a tv taping i hadn't been too nervous yeah i wasn't in the game long enough like i was uncomfortable with what i had on i was you know i didn't know um i still hadn't fully learned how to construct the set i was just thinking yeah figuring out those five minutes man those are hard

00:50:52Guest:Five minutes is so hard.

00:50:54Marc:It's the worst because you got language too.

00:50:56Marc:Yeah.

00:50:56Marc:And you got to figure out how you got to take everything out of context.

00:50:59Guest:Yes.

00:51:00Marc:Line it up.

00:51:00Marc:Yeah, man.

00:51:02Guest:It was a tough set.

00:51:03Guest:And so I think what really worked for me was I did some USO tours and I got to go on the road.

00:51:09Guest:With who?

00:51:09Guest:um i went to tess drake was the woman who was doing these tours and i went to um japan i went to korea and i did like the first tour was like a two-week tour and it was just back-to-back shows what were you doing 10 15 yeah i was doing 10 and um who are the other comics i

00:51:27Guest:So April Macy was on the show.

00:51:29Guest:Christina Positsky.

00:51:30Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:51:31Guest:So it was Christina.

00:51:32Marc:She's great.

00:51:33Guest:April.

00:51:34Marc:Nice people.

00:51:35Guest:And who else was on the shows?

00:51:38Guest:A comedian out of Chicago named Kelly Howard.

00:51:40Guest:It was a bunch of different women.

00:51:43Guest:I did it a few years.

00:51:44Marc:It was all women tour?

00:51:45Guest:Yeah.

00:51:46Marc:Oh, how'd that go over?

00:51:47Marc:Good?

00:51:47Guest:Well, for the military, yeah.

00:51:50Guest:You know, they're laughing and then trying to hit on you after.

00:51:53Guest:So it's a combo.

00:51:56Guest:But it was a good exercise for me.

00:51:57Guest:I also hosted a room in L.A.

00:52:00Guest:for two years.

00:52:01Guest:And I think and then I hosted a room in San Diego for two years.

00:52:04Guest:And I think that so in San Diego, we did the House of Comedy, which was where they had a room.

00:52:11Guest:And then there was this promoter who would create these venues.

00:52:15Guest:I did one in La Jolla.

00:52:16Guest:But it was just.

00:52:17Marc:It really helped me because I was just... Hosting's good because you get to go back up.

00:52:22Guest:Yeah, and you get to work out new material every week.

00:52:24Marc:Yeah.

00:52:25Guest:And I think that really helped me, yeah.

00:52:27Marc:So when did you kind of start working?

00:52:30Guest:So I started working.

00:52:32Guest:I was hosting this room called Cinespace in Hollywood.

00:52:35Guest:Yeah.

00:52:36Guest:And Russell Peters came...

00:52:37Marc:I remember Cinespace.

00:52:38Marc:I know that venue, right?

00:52:40Guest:Yeah, it's a beautiful venue.

00:52:41Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:52:43Guest:And Russell Peters saw me and he said, hey, where you been?

00:52:46Guest:I think you're funny.

00:52:47Guest:He was like, you want to do some dates?

00:52:48Guest:And he took me out on some dates with him.

00:52:51Guest:Wow, big dates.

00:52:52Guest:Yeah.

00:52:53Guest:He was doing clubs because he was getting ready for a special, but it was really helpful.

00:52:58Guest:Yeah.

00:52:58Guest:Because it was a really big audience.

00:53:00Marc:And they're packed in and it's a real audience.

00:53:03Marc:It is.

00:53:04Marc:So now you can finally know whether or not your jokes work.

00:53:07Guest:That's right.

00:53:08Guest:That's right.

00:53:09Guest:And it's so funny because I remember him telling me, oh, you're such a rookie.

00:53:13Guest:He was like, he's like, I listened to your set.

00:53:16Guest:He said, you are so preoccupied with the laugh that you forgot to pay attention to the fact that they were listening to you.

00:53:23Guest:And he's like, and a lot of people wish they could get an audience to be that quiet and listen while you take them on the ride.

00:53:30Guest:He's like, but one day you will understand what I'm talking about.

00:53:33Marc:So you're just, you're just, we're thinking about getting the laugh.

00:53:35Guest:Yes, I was so... I remember that.

00:53:38Marc:Yeah, I was a novice.

00:53:40Marc:Yeah, but I like... It is important, and there are some people that do that all throughout their life.

00:53:46Marc:Yeah.

00:53:46Marc:You know, don't quite figure out their own time zone, you know?

00:53:49Guest:Yeah.

00:53:50Marc:How to take the time.

00:53:51Marc:Yeah.

00:53:51Guest:Because I had never heard, like, people telling me, like, you should get a laugh within the first eight seconds.

00:53:57Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:53:57Marc:Those people laugh every 30 seconds.

00:53:59Guest:Yeah, I can't do that.

00:54:00Guest:That's not my style.

00:54:00Marc:I can't think that way.

00:54:01Marc:But then the weird thing is, though, like, as time goes on, if you really put a clock to it, you probably are.

00:54:06Guest:Yeah.

00:54:07Guest:Maybe.

00:54:08Guest:Yeah.

00:54:08Marc:You know, like you can't think of it that way, but eventually you learn your own rhythm and you're probably getting plenty of laughs.

00:54:15Guest:Yeah.

00:54:15Guest:You know what I mean?

00:54:16Guest:Yeah.

00:54:17Marc:But yeah, I always did.

00:54:17Marc:It always annoyed me.

00:54:18Marc:It's like, or people are not realizing that if you tell a bigger story that it's not that you're not telling jokes, there's the jokes in it.

00:54:26Guest:Yeah.

00:54:27Marc:You know, these people that get hung up on jokes.

00:54:29Yeah.

00:54:29Guest:Yeah, I'm a storyteller.

00:54:30Marc:Yeah.

00:54:31Marc:But, you know, that just means you got jokes in the story.

00:54:33Marc:Yeah, absolutely.

00:54:34Marc:It's just the way you think.

00:54:36Marc:So when do you start?

00:54:38Marc:So you start working professionally with Russell?

00:54:40Guest:Yeah, I started working with Russell and then I booked Last Comic Standing.

00:54:46Marc:So wait, now how's your family feel about this?

00:54:48Marc:How's your mother feel about it?

00:54:49Guest:My mom's not into comedy for me.

00:54:51Guest:She thinks that's a masculine thing to do.

00:54:54Guest:Oh, really?

00:54:55Guest:She didn't really understand it either.

00:54:57Guest:She would tell my brother, who does she think she is?

00:54:59Guest:J-Lo?

00:54:59Guest:And my brother was like, no, she's a comedian.

00:55:02Marc:Oh, she just didn't get it.

00:55:04Guest:Yeah.

00:55:05Guest:To her, everything was about, am I aspiring to be famous?

00:55:10Guest:And not that comedy is like an actual craft that some people love.

00:55:14Marc:Sure.

00:55:15Marc:And not the easiest way to get famous.

00:55:16Guest:No.

00:55:17No.

00:55:17Guest:Probably the hardest.

00:55:19Marc:Yeah, for sure.

00:55:21Guest:But yeah, so I started doing it, though.

00:55:23Guest:I was like, I love it.

00:55:24Guest:I like it.

00:55:24Guest:It was very cathartic for me.

00:55:26Guest:And at the time, I never thought it would be anything real when I first started doing it because I had a job and I was working my way out of homelessness because I ended up homeless.

00:55:35Marc:Where?

00:55:35Marc:Here?

00:55:36Guest:Here.

00:55:36Marc:Really?

00:55:36Guest:yeah and then i started when was that that was right before i started doing stand-up um there was some marital issues that happened financial issues that ended up falling hard on me and i ended up losing everything and then i had to you know i was living in a best western and going to these motels with my kids and then i ended up moving into one of my friends had just bought a condo and she was like

00:56:00Guest:Take that room and get yourself together and then go do what you need to do.

00:56:04Guest:It's going to take you a little bit to get back on your feet.

00:56:07Guest:You don't just go from being homeless and back into.

00:56:09Guest:And it took me a couple of years, but I got I got myself together.

00:56:13Marc:Wow.

00:56:13Guest:And then I was working at a financial firm and I was working full time and I was just doing comedy like on the side.

00:56:20Guest:Yeah.

00:56:20Guest:You know, just and then it started making money for me, too.

00:56:24Guest:And then it started making more money than the.

00:56:26Marc:And also gave you a voice, right?

00:56:29Guest:Yeah, to work some of this stuff out.

00:56:31Guest:Absolutely.

00:56:32Marc:And you had the kids all to yourself?

00:56:34Guest:All to myself.

00:56:35Guest:And, you know, I was having a conversation with my daughter just yesterday.

00:56:39Guest:We were talking about, like, she's like, why do you... Because I feel like I owe her something, both of them.

00:56:45Guest:And they're like, you don't owe us anything.

00:56:47Guest:You took very good care of us.

00:56:50Guest:You know, my...

00:56:50Guest:It was like life is beautiful.

00:56:52Guest:Like my kids didn't know what was happening because I was shielding them from all the drama.

00:56:57Guest:Yeah.

00:56:57Guest:But I always tell her, I just feel like you deserve so much because we went through so much.

00:57:02Guest:And she was like, I feel like I had a great life.

00:57:05Guest:And she was like, Best Western was fun.

00:57:08Guest:She's like, I love hotels now because of that.

00:57:10Guest:And, you know, it's just all.

00:57:13Marc:You got a pool.

00:57:14Guest:Yeah.

00:57:14Guest:The way you see it.

00:57:16Marc:Yeah.

00:57:16Marc:When you're a kid.

00:57:17Marc:Yeah.

00:57:17Marc:So you got through all that.

00:57:20Marc:So now Last Comic Standing, is that the one you did?

00:57:22Guest:I did Last Comic Standing.

00:57:24Marc:What season?

00:57:25Guest:14, I think it was.

00:57:27Guest:13 or 14.

00:57:28Guest:And you were already making money as a comic by that time?

00:57:31Guest:Yeah, but I wasn't headlining like I wanted to.

00:57:33Guest:I only had a few headliner spots and I was still opening for... I opened for Russell.

00:57:38Guest:I opened for Corey Holcomb.

00:57:40Guest:I opened for Faison Love.

00:57:42Guest:I was opening for different people.

00:57:44Marc:Yeah.

00:57:44Marc:In big rooms, like doing 1520s?

00:57:46Marc:Yeah.

00:57:47Marc:That kind of thing to their hour?

00:57:48Guest:Yeah.

00:57:50Marc:But no features?

00:57:51Marc:Were you middling anywhere?

00:57:52Guest:Yeah, I was middling.

00:57:53Guest:Oh, you were, yeah.

00:57:53Guest:I was middling.

00:57:54Guest:And so I wanted to, you know, I have to move.

00:57:57Guest:Like, I can't just stay in one spot.

00:57:59Guest:So I was like, I want a headline.

00:58:01Guest:Yeah.

00:58:01Guest:And, you know, I was told, like, by different people not to do Last Comic Standing, people who I respect.

00:58:07Guest:They said, that's a reality show.

00:58:08Guest:But then I was like, I'm a Puerto Rican-Dominican woman in stand-up.

00:58:12Guest:Like, the demand for me, nope, you guys are not asking me to open for you.

00:58:16Guest:It's very easy for you to tell me.

00:58:17Guest:I need this exposure.

00:58:19Guest:So I made a plan that I was only going to make it to the top ten.

00:58:21Guest:That was my goal.

00:58:22Guest:And then I was like, so I can go out and headline.

00:58:25Marc:Yeah.

00:58:25Marc:And that worked?

00:58:26Marc:Absolutely.

00:58:27Marc:And when did you find out that you were Dominican?

00:58:29Guest:Oh, I found out that I was Dominican when I was younger.

00:58:32Guest:Like I wasn't I just talked about it in the set because I had never talked about it.

00:58:36Guest:But it was it was I didn't grow up believing I was Dominican.

00:58:40Guest:It happens maybe like in my teens.

00:58:43Marc:Oh, right, right.

00:58:43Guest:Where I had already been.

00:58:45Marc:But you just you had not seen your father.

00:58:47Marc:No, that was the big reveal.

00:58:49Guest:Right.

00:58:50Guest:I didn't see my father.

00:58:51Guest:And I also did not.

00:58:52Marc:Is your mom still around?

00:58:54Marc:Yeah.

00:58:54Marc:She's in Miami.

00:58:55Guest:Miami.

00:58:55Marc:You get along with her?

00:58:56Guest:Yeah, I love my mom.

00:58:57Guest:My mom is a hot mess, but she's my favorite person on the planet.

00:59:01Guest:I worship my mother.

00:59:02Guest:It's really bad.

00:59:03Guest:I go to therapy every week to work this out because you like your mother.

00:59:07Marc:I go to therapy because I love my mother.

00:59:08Guest:Well, because I've had, you know, even therapists are like some of the therapists are like, you don't have to you don't have to be, you know, the things you've gone through.

00:59:16Guest:And I'm like, I know my mother's story.

00:59:19Marc:yeah yeah sure so when did you like i read somewhere that because i worked with paul mooney in sacramento too at the punchline oh did you that's yeah i mean i had a i i featured for him i don't remember how long ago it was i just know that like he was traveling with some dude who had one of his kids oh yeah yeah and you know yeah it's like that and there was this sort of like why don't you take the kid to the mall i'm like i'm not the fucking babysitter yeah he would ask me to go sell t-shirts for him yeah

00:59:47Guest:Or he had his wife, and I don't know if she... She had some form of dementia, and he was like, make sure... You know how he used to talk.

00:59:56Guest:He's like, yo, make sure this bitch don't go nowhere because she will take off.

01:00:00Marc:And I was like... Yeah, the wife wasn't there, but there was some guy he used to travel with, and it was like, what the fuck is happening?

01:00:06Guest:Yeah, I would go to Walmart and buy T-shirts for him, and then he would just sign white T-shirts and sell them for $20.

01:00:11Guest:And I was like, what?

01:00:14Yeah.

01:00:14Marc:But did you work with him a lot?

01:00:17Guest:No, I worked with him a few times.

01:00:19Guest:It wasn't a lot.

01:00:20Marc:But you found inspiration with Mooney?

01:00:23Guest:I mean, if I'm honest, I love Paul Mooney.

01:00:25Guest:Paul Mooney was very kind to me.

01:00:27Guest:But I felt this bitterness from him that I felt consumed him.

01:00:32Guest:And I always, you know, people have said to me, like, you remind me of Paul Mooney sometimes.

01:00:36Guest:Oh, really?

01:00:37Guest:So I went through this period where I was like, I want to be able to tell what I want to say, but I don't want to feel bitter and angry.

01:00:45Guest:Like, I want to...

01:00:46Marc:About your... About anything.

01:00:49Guest:I just didn't want to take that on stage because... And yet, I have my angry moments.

01:00:55Guest:I'm a human being.

01:00:56Marc:But I just didn't want... But that was his point of view.

01:00:58Marc:That was the direct engine of what he was doing.

01:01:02Marc:But like what I've said before on this show, though, when I middled for him, I realized exactly what it is that he does is that, you know, you go to Sacramento.

01:01:10Marc:That's a mostly white people situation.

01:01:13Marc:And I and what I always said, what I realized working with him is that if you don't think you're racist, he'll find it in you.

01:01:20Guest:Yes.

01:01:21Guest:And you see people get up and walk out.

01:01:23Guest:That's right.

01:01:23Marc:After two hours.

01:01:24Marc:Yeah.

01:01:25Marc:Eventually they're like, you know what, you know, when's this guy going to shut up?

01:01:28Marc:So that was the miracle of it is that you could sit there like you could and you just watch people's like, I don't got to take any more of this shit.

01:01:34Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

01:01:35Guest:I would.

01:01:35Guest:I was always in awe of that.

01:01:37Guest:And I thought, wow, like he's not afraid to tell these people.

01:01:42Guest:And there was a predominantly white audience.

01:01:45Yeah.

01:01:45Guest:And I was like, yo, these white people love to get beat up.

01:01:49Guest:They come here and they take it and they take it.

01:01:51Guest:And it was just funny.

01:01:52Marc:Well, I think Chappelle kind of resurrected him.

01:01:55Marc:And I believe I worked with him before that.

01:01:58Marc:He's just still Paul Mooney.

01:02:01Marc:And there's this idea that he never got his due.

01:02:04Marc:I don't know.

01:02:05Marc:I don't know.

01:02:06Marc:You know what I mean?

01:02:06Marc:He's a difficult man.

01:02:08Marc:But a lot of dudes, because of his...

01:02:11Marc:kind of revolutionary spirit got a lot of courage from him.

01:02:15Guest:Yeah.

01:02:15Guest:Well, you know, he's a hero in the black community because he was a voice that said, expressed things that a lot of people would never be able to say.

01:02:23Marc:In very plain language.

01:02:24Marc:Yeah.

01:02:25Marc:You know, he wasn't trying to be diplomatic.

01:02:28Guest:No, or he wasn't trying to be anything other than what he was.

01:02:32Guest:And I actually loved Paul Mooney.

01:02:34Guest:He was very good to me.

01:02:35Guest:And I do still respect him for all the stuff that he did that got, you know, that some of us will never do because he had an opportunity to really say.

01:02:44Guest:And I think it was just interesting to watch.

01:02:47Guest:It was really an interesting dynamic.

01:02:49Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:02:50Marc:No one was like that guy.

01:02:52Guest:no he was you know but it was just interesting to watch because I was like even still he was very loving towards me like off stage he would you know he was just like I want you to always be yourself I think you're funny but in you know in the middle of it it would be like you you know you a pretty little bitch you know make sure that you know you always be true and I was just like okay but it was it was just it was just I'm glad that I experienced it because from Paul Mooney to Russell Peters there's a world in between that you know and so

01:03:22Guest:I got to experience this comedic spectrum in terms of the people that I worked with.

01:03:27Guest:That made me feel okay in finding my own place on the spectrum instead of trying to be somebody I worked with.

01:03:33Marc:Yeah, you definitely succeeded at that.

01:03:35Marc:It was funny.

01:03:36Marc:I remember, I wonder what happened.

01:03:37Marc:Paul had a set of twins that used to do comedy.

01:03:40Guest:Yeah, the Daryl and...

01:03:44Guest:What happened to those guys?

01:03:45Guest:They're still, you know, they're humorous is what they call themselves, but they're out there.

01:03:49Guest:You know, they do financial workshops.

01:03:52Marc:Oh, corporate stuff.

01:03:53Guest:Yeah.

01:03:53Guest:They've been doing a lot of different things.

01:03:55Guest:And one wrote a book like they.

01:03:56Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:03:57Guest:Yeah.

01:03:57Guest:They're still they're still out there.

01:04:00Marc:I remember when I was a doorman at the comedy store, I think Paul Mooney had a juice bar.

01:04:03Marc:Like years ago.

01:04:04Marc:And he used to drive around.

01:04:05Marc:Mitzi had this old beat up Cadillac that had the Comedy Store logo on it.

01:04:08Marc:He used to drive that around.

01:04:09Marc:It's weird.

01:04:10Marc:Weird history.

01:04:11Marc:Weird history.

01:04:12Marc:So like one thing I was wondering before I talked to you was like why did you ever think about the one person show approach?

01:04:20Guest:Yeah, I did one.

01:04:22Guest:I did a one-woman show in 2007, and it's based on that script that I wrote.

01:04:30Guest:The football one?

01:04:32Guest:Yeah, and I played three different gold diggers.

01:04:34Guest:Oh, yeah?

01:04:35Guest:How'd that go?

01:04:36Guest:And my mom...

01:04:36Guest:It was good.

01:04:37Guest:It was it was good.

01:04:38Guest:It needed more work.

01:04:39Guest:I just because of stand up, I was I had like two weeks that I did a two week run and then I had to go back to work because I needed to make money instead of spend it.

01:04:48Guest:But I would.

01:04:50Guest:That's one of the things that I want to do in the new year.

01:04:52Guest:I've talked to a director, Scott, who did a lot of he directed a lot of one person.

01:04:57Marc:Yeah, because it seemed like it felt to me that like in listening to you talk now and also, you know, in the documentary part of the special that that you're dealing with, you know, ideas and feelings and experiences that, you know, you're kind of, you know, rendering down to, you know, the stand up.

01:05:17Marc:But they, you know, there is some part of me that thinks they could be served differently if you had less if you didn't feel like you had to get the laugh.

01:05:24Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

01:05:26Guest:No, the actor in me, definitely.

01:05:28Guest:You know, those are the pieces that you use to show people that you are an actor, a writer and a performer.

01:05:35Guest:But also it is very cathartic for me because I do work out my stuff on stage.

01:05:40Guest:Yeah.

01:05:41Guest:And, you know, I have to get permission from my family when I talk about certain things that ain't bad then.

01:05:47Marc:Like what?

01:05:48Yeah.

01:05:48Guest:You know.

01:05:49Guest:Legal things?

01:05:50Guest:Well, you know, you can get sued.

01:05:53Guest:So, like, just, you know, even my kids, like, when I make jokes about them, I clear it with them.

01:05:58Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:05:59Guest:You know, like, my son went to Campbell Hall, and I'm doing jokes at the improv, and his teacher is in the audience, and then he goes back to school the next day, and he's like, Omar.

01:06:08Marc:Yeah.

01:06:08Marc:Your mom said.

01:06:11Marc:Yeah.

01:06:12Marc:Yeah, you got to give him the heads up.

01:06:14Marc:Yeah, I've been doing stuff about my dad and my parents my whole life.

01:06:19Marc:And it's not easy stuff.

01:06:21Guest:No.

01:06:22Marc:But they always get a kick out of it.

01:06:23Marc:My dad loves it when I bust his balls.

01:06:25Guest:It's fun.

01:06:26Guest:Sometimes they do.

01:06:26Guest:My mom stood up and bowed at one of my shows because she was like, you're welcome.

01:06:31Guest:This is this funny is because of me.

01:06:35Guest:But, you know, I think I don't know.

01:06:38Guest:There's something about it.

01:06:40Guest:I love comedy since I was a little kid.

01:06:42Guest:I used to watch Johnny Carson and I was like, I want to do that.

01:06:46Guest:Everybody's having fun there.

01:06:48Marc:Seems like it.

01:06:49Guest:Yeah.

01:06:49Marc:And then you get into comedy and you realize, like, some of these people aren't having fun.

01:06:52Guest:No, it's all a ruse.

01:06:55Guest:But I would watch Richard Pryor.

01:06:58Guest:I would sneak because my uncle would listen to Richard Pryor.

01:07:03Marc:And then I was like, I want to do that.

01:07:04Marc:That's it.

01:07:05Marc:That's the thing.

01:07:06Marc:So at the end of the thing, the special, I mean, it's kind of wild that you had those cameras going when you first see your father after, what, 35 years?

01:07:18Marc:How long?

01:07:18Marc:How many years?

01:07:19Guest:I would say 40.

01:07:20Marc:Wow.

01:07:21Guest:Yeah.

01:07:21Marc:But he had that camera going and he could feel his weird, right?

01:07:25Guest:It was strange, you know, and that was the actual first time that I saw him.

01:07:28Marc:Yeah, I could feel that.

01:07:29Guest:But I wanted to have it.

01:07:30Guest:I wanted to I wanted that to be mine from forever to have that moment out.

01:07:35Guest:Yeah.

01:07:36Guest:And and then I decided to share it because I was like.

01:07:39Guest:For several reasons.

01:07:41Guest:What was happening with comedy, I was like, I want people to understand how we mind our jokes.

01:07:46Guest:Some of us.

01:07:46Guest:Right.

01:07:47Guest:For me, that was my process.

01:07:48Guest:Yeah.

01:07:49Guest:You see this experience and it ends up in the standard.

01:07:51Guest:This is this is a process for me.

01:07:54Guest:But I also wanted to other people who have a missing parent to see and say.

01:07:59Guest:I'll be all right.

01:08:01Guest:You know, like I just wanted people to, from my perspective, because you see these shows and they meet the father and they're like happily ever after.

01:08:10Guest:And I just wanted to be real, normalized with that.

01:08:12Marc:Sure.

01:08:13Marc:Yeah.

01:08:13Marc:And also like, you know, to get some, I don't know if it's closure, but it seems like a lot of people in those situations, even with breakups or whatever, they blame themselves until you have that moment where you're like, I had nothing to do with that.

01:08:23Guest:Absolutely.

01:08:25Guest:And for me, there was this moment right before when I first saw him in my head and I felt in my heart like, oh, this worthiness stuff that I deal with is directly connected to this.

01:08:38Guest:And I felt it in that moment.

01:08:40Marc:The abandonment stuff.

01:08:41Guest:Yes.

01:08:42Guest:I was like, oh, like this is and that's why I was looking so weird because I was in my head about my own process.

01:08:49Marc:Expectations.

01:08:49Marc:Right.

01:08:50Guest:Yeah.

01:08:50Marc:Realizing that.

01:08:52Marc:Well, you know, that shit's behind me.

01:08:54Marc:He can't show up in any way for me.

01:08:56Guest:No.

01:08:57Guest:And, you know, and people were like, some people were like, he was crying.

01:09:00Guest:You sat there.

01:09:01Guest:You were not emotional at all.

01:09:03Guest:And I was like, I cried the whole, you know, 40 years.

01:09:06Guest:Yeah.

01:09:07Guest:Like, he can cry now.

01:09:09Guest:Like, you know, I've been crying.

01:09:10Guest:He's crying because he fucked up.

01:09:11Guest:Exactly.

01:09:12Guest:And I didn't want to excuse him from that.

01:09:16Guest:I think it was important.

01:09:17Guest:I didn't want to exploit him.

01:09:19Guest:I didn't want to disparage him or shit on him.

01:09:21Guest:But I did want him to be accountable in that moment because, you know, a lot of things did happen.

01:09:27Guest:And had he been present, maybe some of those things would not have happened.

01:09:32Guest:And I don't know.

01:09:33Guest:But I just felt that he should feel accountable in that moment.

01:09:36Guest:I've been carrying this hurt and I wanted to share it with other people so that other people that were going through that can say,

01:09:42Guest:i'm gonna be okay yeah and i'm sure it worked yeah and are you still in touch with him yeah he texted me yesterday and you know it was odd for him because he thought we were just gonna jump in and i've just been taking my time because i don't know him like i know who you are but i don't know you right and so for me it's just oh you mean after that he thought like okay we're good yeah like no i mean i don't even know you like that like i'm getting to know you right right and how's that going

01:10:10Guest:You know, it's you don't have to like him.

01:10:14Guest:I know.

01:10:14Guest:That's what my therapist said.

01:10:16Guest:But, you know, I don't dislike him.

01:10:18Guest:I just feel like there are some issues with responsibility and accountability after meeting my siblings and knowing, you know, you know, I've met them.

01:10:27Marc:So he was a decent father to them?

01:10:29Guest:No.

01:10:29Guest:No, I'm sitting there thinking, like, I don't know who had it worse, like seeing him around the corner and knowing he ain't shit or you and you wondering about him.

01:10:38Guest:And so, you know, I just I was sitting there thinking, like, at least they knew.

01:10:42Marc:Like, I bet you when you were coming up and you were sort of like, you know, you probably idealized.

01:10:49Marc:Yes, you can't idealize it if he's around the corner.

01:10:52Guest:Yeah, no, that's the truth.

01:10:54Guest:And that's what I did.

01:10:54Guest:And so that was me coming down and saying, get on the ground and let's just assess this for what it really is.

01:11:01Guest:And let's just proceed with that information instead of trying to create this idea.

01:11:06Guest:Like my father now, he's calls me princess.

01:11:09Guest:Like I've seen people do that and I'm like, this is weird.

01:11:11Marc:Yeah, you're a grown person.

01:11:13Guest:Yeah, I don't know him and I don't know him.

01:11:16Marc:Well, that's good that it's evolving.

01:11:19Marc:And that's a positive thing.

01:11:22Guest:And I'll tell you, sometimes he'll send me a text and I don't respond.

01:11:25Guest:And sometimes I do.

01:11:26Guest:And I got to be in the mood.

01:11:28Guest:And sometimes I'll talk to him and sometimes I won't.

01:11:30Guest:I'm still figuring out how I'm going to engage this.

01:11:34Guest:Because at this point, it's two adults that are, you know, and at best we can be friends.

01:11:40Guest:And we can still be whatever we're going to be for the rest of our lives.

01:11:43Guest:But I'm still not going to, you know, foster this fake.

01:11:47Marc:Right.

01:11:48Marc:Do you feel like you got all the information you needed about what happened?

01:11:51Yeah.

01:11:51Guest:I didn't get all of the information because, of course, you get each side of the story.

01:11:56Guest:But what I did get was evidence and the results of his being where he was and looking into his children there and their lives.

01:12:06Guest:And I was able to make an assessment on my own about who he's probably been to these people.

01:12:12Guest:And that was enough for me to know.

01:12:14Marc:And also being a grown person who's seen men behave certain ways in your own life.

01:12:20Guest:Yeah.

01:12:20Guest:I mean, when you sit there and you see these these sisters, the different mothers and you and you hear the different experiences.

01:12:27Guest:Yeah.

01:12:27Guest:You know, you if you want to you want to pretend you don't see it because you want this man to be magic.

01:12:32Guest:You can.

01:12:33Guest:But for me, I was like, oh, OK.

01:12:35Guest:I'm picking up on what you're putting down.

01:12:37Marc:Thanks for the signals and people dropping off hints for me.

01:12:42Marc:Good, good.

01:12:43Marc:And how about have you gotten much?

01:12:45Marc:What's the reaction been to the bridging the Dominican Puerto Rican gap?

01:12:49Guest:It's been good because a lot of people were saying those are antiquated ways and those are things that people were doing back in the day.

01:12:57Guest:And now there are so many people who are mixed because there are so many Dominicans in Puerto Rico and so many Puerto Ricans in the Dominican Republic.

01:13:04Guest:It's been positive because it opened up a conversation.

01:13:07Guest:Oh, good.

01:13:07Guest:You know, not just with us, but with other Latinos that are like, yeah, why are we doing that?

01:13:12Marc:And, you know, great.

01:13:14Guest:Well, I wish you luck.

01:13:16Guest:Thank you.

01:13:17Guest:Great work.

01:13:17Guest:It's nice talking to you.

01:13:18Guest:Nice talking to you, too.

01:13:19Guest:This is what I wanted to do.

01:13:21Guest:Oh, good.

01:13:21Guest:I'm glad we did it.

01:13:27Marc:There you go, people.

01:13:29Marc:Her special, Ida Rodriguez, Fighting Words, is streaming on HBO Max.

01:13:34Marc:If you want to check on the tour dates, as far as I know, I'm doing them all.

01:13:37Marc:I haven't heard differently.

01:13:38Marc:I think we might have to add a night in Vancouver because they're going half capacity.

01:13:44Marc:But all the other ones, so far so good, starting at the end of January.

01:13:51Marc:And we might be adding some.

01:13:52Marc:So go to WTFPod.com slash tour to see if I'm coming to your neighborhood.

01:13:59Marc:Please be careful this week.

01:14:00Marc:It's a quiet but crazy week.

01:14:02Marc:Actually, just stay home.

01:14:06Marc:All right?

01:14:07Marc:Don't spread it around.

01:14:08Marc:Just relax.

01:14:09Marc:You don't have to, but, you know, watch some movies.

01:14:11Marc:You have any left you have to see?

01:14:14Marc:All right.

01:14:15Marc:Here's some guitar that sounds like the guitar I play.

01:14:47Thank you.

01:15:48Marc:boomer lives monkey la fonda cat angels everywhere