BONUS Ask Marc Anything #17
Okay, folks.
Hi.
Time for Ask Mark Anything.
A lot of questions.
Let's get to it.
Where will you film your next special?
Well, right now, the plan is to do it in New York in the spring, looking at April, maybe May.
We've got a venue in mind.
It might be the same place that I did it last year at Town Hall.
That seems to be what it's going to be, though.
I don't know.
Things could change.
But the plan is New York again.
I haven't been there since the special, it feels like, in terms of doing a big show.
And I always like going back to New York.
So that's the plan.
Has Taylor Swift cleared the song for you to use yet?
There's a bit in my new set that requires a Taylor Swift song.
I'm not going to tell you any more.
Uh, unless you, maybe you've seen it.
Uh, but, uh, most of you haven't, and I have not figured out a way or attempted to get Taylor Swift to clear that song.
It feels like a long shot in, you know, I don't know.
I don't know.
I might have to, you know, try to call in a favor.
Not that anybody owes me any favors back, but I I've only got one way into that, that, uh,
that operation.
And I might have to see what he can do for me or maybe just do it on the level and just see how much it would cost to use that song.
What have been your favorite clubs, venues and or cities to perform in?
Well, let's see.
The last few times I've gone out, well, I've done two specials, haven't I?
Have I done two at the Vic?
I always like going to Chicago.
I like going to Boston.
That new theater that they've been using out in Medford was great.
I obviously like New York.
I like Portland a lot.
San Francisco, I used to like more.
But Portland's great.
Seattle was great.
Minneapolis, I taped a special there.
Always love going to Minneapolis and doing comedy.
Yeah, that's a really good city.
Denver, the Colorado shows are always good.
Almost all of the places I go...
which is pretty limited because I don't do a lot of states just because I don't really know why I should do them.
I know that there are people there that like me, but most of all the places I go are places that I like to perform.
But I would say Minneapolis is pretty great.
And in Philly, outside of Philly, all the places I go are great.
I would say the hottest room is always still those two rooms in Denver, the comedy works, both of them.
Very hot rooms to the point where you're like, yeah, come on, I'm not that funny.
But I generally go to the places I like to go.
And so, yeah, New York, obviously.
But ultimately, the Midwest, even Milwaukee, I mean, they're all different and audiences are different.
Even playing up here in Canada, it really is, you're dealing with the personality of the city.
But obviously, my fans, people who know me and like me, come out wherever they are and they are of a type.
But I would say...
I would say in the last years, almost all the cities I go to, I enjoy playing.
Can you explain why comedians say killing, murdering, and dying when they talk about their act?
Where does this tradition come from?
I'm no comedy historian.
That's probably a good Cliff Nesterov question.
Maybe I'll ask him.
But killing has been around a long time, and dying on stage has been around a long time.
It seems to just make sense.
It doesn't seem to be that big of a leap, the dying anyways.
The killing, I don't know where that came from.
And murdering is relatively new.
I think that sort of came around with the sort of new bro comedy.
Murdering is pretty new.
Definitely in my lifetime as a comic.
But I think killing and dying have been around longer.
But I don't know the history.
On a recent trip to L.A., I visited the comedy store for the first time.
Every comedian killed each one better than the next.
That is until the final comedian of the night, Don Barris.
And while my threshold for challenging comedy is typically high, there was just something so tragically unfunny about it all.
We snuck out after 45 minutes.
But in hindsight, after having lived through it, it appears as though his goal is to just clear the room.
And that's why he has that final slot.
On the flight home, I listened to your interview with Don and was surprised to find him tender and sweet and engaging.
And it's clear that you admire the guy a lot.
So I guess my question is, what the fuck did I witness that night?
Well, you witnessed the Don Barris experience.
I mean, Don Barris is not in that last spot to clear the room.
Don Barris is a fixture at the store, and he's put together almost like a Comedia Della Arte bunch of performers who are all kind of natural, authentic oddballs.
And he does, I wouldn't even call it anti-comedy.
I'd say it's in the zone of, you know, just kind of...
It's just a night of honest weirdness.
And it's very specific.
And there's not many people that do it.
And Don runs his own little circus there.
But there is a definite sort of underpinning of tragedy and sadness to the whole undertaking.
But that has always been sort of a world of a certain type of comedy, both in film and in stand-up and in theater.
Just the...
the sort of embracing and elevating of the truly, you know, odd, unique, you know, kind of authentically, I don't want to say damaged, but certainly, you know, people who are not necessarily...
uh, skilled performers.
But, you know, I would say the Safdie brothers are sort of in that zone in terms of how they cast.
And certainly, uh, um, you know, some of the, the artwork of Drew Friedman and there, there's just, there is a tradition of this, you know, kind of marginal weirdo comedy.
And that's what he does.
And it's not, there's, it's, it's a very specific thing.
And you're, all the feelings you had, I don't think were, were, um,
anything other than what Don is doing up there.
I think it was an honest reaction.
And you had exactly the kind of experience that he wants you to have.
You just couldn't quite embrace it.
But I think you had the experience that was offered.
In 2 Real, while imitating Mick Jagger, you fell flat on the floor.
It was among the funniest things I've seen on stage.
How much practice, if any, did that move require?
A lot of practice.
I had to do it a lot of times for the timing of it.
I'm not naturally a physical comic, so when I decide to do a big piece of physical comedy, I do have to rehearse it a lot, not unlike the...
the bat bit at the end of From Bleak to Dark, I had to figure out the timing.
I had to figure out how many times I'm going to hit myself in the head with the bat, the pacing of the reaction to being hit with the bat.
And it was the same with falling down.
When do I fall down?
How do I fall down?
How do I not hurt myself?
What's the timing on the fall?
So yeah, it was all thought out.
It was not a random thing.
And I had done it many times.
And there is sort of, once you lock in
to the physical comedy thing, there is a timing you have to work out.
So it did take many times to make that exactly work.
You usually end the episode by saying, well, it was good talking to you.
Do you talk to your guests before the interview starts and tell them that when you say that the interview is over?
No, no, I don't know when that's going to happen.
I'm not even sure that I say that all the time until you told me.
No, that's just, uh, there, there is a moment there where, you know, I feel we've kind of, you know, done the full thing that the arc has happened and that, you know, the energy is, uh, you know, changed and, and that, you know, I've, that the thing feels full to me.
A lot of times after I turn off the mics, something else comes up and on several occasions we've turned the mics back on so I could get that.
I'm like, well, why didn't you say that?
I do regret not doing it with a couple of people because sometimes when the mics go off, all of a sudden there's a whole other conversation that happens.
Some of those are private.
Some of those aren't for public consumption.
But sometimes some of them are just conversations that I wish I'd turned the mic back on.
So, no, it's not planned.
Do you think Brendan is secretly a wannabe comic?
No, I do not think that Brendan is a secretly wannabe comic.
I think he has an appreciation of all things funny and all things film and all things, you know, like he has a very broad spectrum of interests.
He's a very smart guy.
He appreciates things.
He is very funny, but in no way do I think that Brendan wants to be a comic.
But he is great on the mic.
I don't know if you listen to his show on the bonus on the Fridays.
He's always been very good on the mic, but does not want to be a comic unless he's really hiding some deep secret, which is possible.
I still don't understand what the friction between you and Greg Fitzsimmons is, but it seems that Greg takes more jabs at you than you take at him.
Can you expand a little bit more about your dynamic?
And also, what other comedians do you have this type of relationship with, if any?
Look, I don't know, man.
Sometimes you spend a lifetime doing something and you know guys for a lifetime, and it's just the way it works.
There's always been something with me and Greg because he likes to take shots, and he has sort of got this natural...
passive aggressive way about him.
And it's sort of defensive, but usually pretty funny.
And we've just developed this thing where I think we've been genuinely pissed off at each other before.
There's things he's done on his show that have aggravated me in terms of starting shit with me.
And he's done it on purpose.
And he's kind of a little quiet shit starter.
But that's just his personality.
But because it goes both ways and
And I think there are guys like him, and maybe I'm the same way, that sometimes you like to be taken down a notch or at least take some hits.
And if they're good ones and they are revealing to you about yourself, there's a lot of relief in that.
And it's kind of funny.
And I think we kind of do that to each other.
And there's no better...
dynamic for me i mean there are other guys where you know i'm on the i'm on the show with and there's some mutual bullying going on and i've done that with people i i generally have that that i do have that in me to be kind of like ball busting and mildly bullying and and i tend to sort of
you know, figure out or calibrate who I can do that with.
Uh, Godfrey does another great one who likes to take some hits, uh, and he'll take some shots at me, but he, I just like to bust his balls cause he gets quite a kick out of it.
I think that's just cause I, I did that to my dad a lot, but I do have that in me, but Greg, the type of tension that Greg and I have is, uh, pretty special.
And I'd forgotten how special it is.
And yeah, he did take more shots at me.
Was your relationship with Moon the source of inspiration, perhaps unconsciously, for the adaptation of your Zappa-esque mustache and soul patch?
No, I don't know when that really started to happen, but it was long before I started dating Moon, and I don't think it was Zappa-oriented.
I think it goes further back than that.
I always kind of liked that configuration of facial hair.
There was always something kind of hippie, kind of biker, kind of civil war about it.
There was definitely the Zappa thing, but it was more of a 70s thing, and I don't know why I took to it.
I don't...
I don't even know when exactly I grew the mustache, but now it seems to be a permanent part of me.
But there were many years when I didn't have any facial hair at all, but it wasn't a Zappa thing.
No.
Have you ever considered having a full interview of your brother?
I think it would be interesting to hear his feelings about your family dynamic and growing up as your brother.
I do feel like we did one.
I'd have to check with Brendan, but I do think there's one that we did that's not a full interview, but it's enough.
The weird thing about the mics is that Craig, my brother, will talk quite a bit, really a lot, actually, and more than necessary, generally.
But it doesn't mean he's going to feel comfortable on the mics.
The times I've put my family behind the mics, whether it's my dad or my mom or my brother, they kind of clam up.
And you realize, well, maybe I don't talk to them that much like this, so directly in that style.
So you don't really know what you're going to get on the mics.
But I've talked to Craig about it.
But I think that there is a nervousness that happens that doesn't necessarily lead to...
a good broadcast piece of entertainment.
In Bob Odenkirk's recent memoir, he shares a quote from David Cross who credits you with suggesting he do what eventually became Cross Comedy, which of course was the forerunner to Mr. Show.
I know you and David go way back and I love hearing the stories about your crew at the time, but I don't recall ever hearing you mention this specific event, even in your on-air conversations with David.
Just wondering if you remember this the same way he does.
I do.
I don't remember the specifics, but I know when it happened and how it happened and where he was at.
We were kind of living in this apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts.
It belonged to a comic named Bill Wilson.
And a lot of comics had moved through there and in and out.
And Bill Wilson had had it forever.
It was a rent control place.
I think it was a one, two, three bedroom place, a big place with a big living room.
And I used to crash there a lot.
I can't remember whether or not there was a period there where I didn't really have a place to live.
And I was kind of living at my girlfriend's and then kind of when David would go to his girlfriend's house, I'd sleep in his bed or I'd crash on the couch over at Bill's.
But there was a crew there at that time.
I think at that time it was Matt Graham was in the house, Carl Perry, Dave and Bill.
And I don't know.
It was during that time at Catch a Rising Star in Boston.
where there was sort of like an interesting dynamic that was going on down there.
Because Monday, I think it was maybe Monday and Tuesdays were the sort of showcase nights there.
And on Wednesday through Sunday, maybe it was Sunday, Monday, Wednesday through Saturday, they had a standard headliner show.
But there was a lot of stuff going on
when the guy who ran the place kind of left, because he wasn't, it was interesting.
It happened late at night where guys would get on the back mic.
There was like a lot of kind of improvising while comics were on stage and a lot of kind of fucking off, like, you know, fucking with their acts.
And it was like, Dave was there and Amir Golan, Chris Shino, Chuck Sklar.
Uh, I think, you know, CK was around a Garofalo might've been around, uh,
Lauren Dombrowski.
There was a bunch of comics that were kind of on the verge of doing more sketch oriented stuff.
It just felt like it was in the air.
And I think I remember sitting down with David at Bill Wilson's house and just sort of
sketching out who would be writing down who would be interested in trying this, to try to do sketch comedy or to try to do a show that would be more like that and present it, try to get... I think the idea... Oh, I remember.
The way it worked was Robin Horton was the booker at that place and kind of this weird, bipolar, kind of frightening guy that would fuck with all of our lives when we wanted to get stage time down there.
And I think the reason we came up with it was, you know, he wanted to do the show.
I wanted to be part of it.
And we needed a name.
And what we did, we had to write a proposal.
I think this was it.
We had to write a proposal to give to Robin, the guy who booked the place, to give us a night to do the show.
And it was sort of like, what are we going to call it?
And cross comedy.
That seemed to be the thing, the way to do it.
And so the way it really came about, it was a mutual idea, but Dave is obviously a more sketchy guy than me.
Not sketchy, sketchy, but sketch-oriented.
And the idea of doing a sketch show, him coming out of Emerson College, he was definitely used to it and had done it before.
But I think the idea came when we sat around talking about who we could ask to do it, who was interested, and it was really about
putting a proposal together for Robin Horton to actually get some nights at Catch a Rising Star in Cambridge to do the show.
And then we kind of broke off into groups.
It was me and Chuck Sklar.
I think John Innes was there at the beginning.
Lauren Dombrowski.
There was a couple other people, there was several comics involved, but we kind of broke into groups where we'd write sketches.
I remember me and Chuck Sklar wrote a sketch or two and other people writing sketches.
And then there was kind of like, I played the guy, we used the back door at the stage where I played the guy that was showing, like the realtor that was showing Dave the space because he wanted to live there.
So it was a full on, we kind of made Catch a Rising Star into this all encompassing
you know, people in the audience, you know, plants in the audience.
So it became this full environment of, of a, of a sketch show.
And I remember I did like two of them and then they had decided at some point that they were going to, I think they did it across comedy, I think was done at one of the Aspen comedy festivals.
They had all moved to LA to do this thing.
And I was like, nah, man, I'm a standup.
I can't, I take everything too seriously.
Everything's too precious to me.
And,
You know, my sketches were a bit heavy handed.
I remember I did a couple of I thought were really good sketches, but I can't look at anything as really disposable.
I mean, jokes come and go, but they're very important to me in the time.
And I was not really a sketch guy.
And they all moved to L.A.
and I went to New York and, you know, kind of pounded the comedy pavement for 20 years.
And they went on to be, you know, become Mr. Show.
But so, yeah, that's how that sort of worked in my recollection of it.
What is the last concert you went to alone?
The last concert I went to alone was Alejandro Escovedo.
I was going to go see him anyways.
You know, he was playing up here in Vancouver, but I was also going to get to play with him.
So, you know, I was playing with him, but I went to that concert alone and I played in that concert.
I'm a diehard Dave fan and your Dave Matthews bit is the funniest, truest shit in the world.
Most Dave fans I've shown it to feel the same way.
Has Dave's camp ever reached out to have him on?
Would you even talk to him?
I don't remember.
Brendan would know.
I believe that maybe it was.
I don't feel like it wasn't an option.
Maybe it was.
But I imagine not unlike with Trey, Anastasio, like my aversion to having him on is that I really don't know the music.
and you know and i had a moment with dave matthews at the willie nelson birthday celebration at the hollywood bowl where i'm like oh my god you know this guy's clearly the real deal it was just never my thing and yeah and i busted on dave matthews and i busted on his fans and i'm glad to hear that at least it was on the money but i imagine i would have him on uh but it would take a lot to get up to speed and i'm always worried like i don't want to be disrespectful you know like there you know
There's times where I've interviewed people whose work that I don't necessarily love, but I can wrap my brain around it.
And sometimes it's a better interview than than when a fan does an interview.
But yeah, I don't know.
I don't want to commit to it, but I would probably rethink it and be more open to having Dave on at this point.
Has playing guitar on stage affected the way you do stand-up or vice versa?
I think anything that makes you more comfortable on stage is going to affect you on stage across the board if you're a performer.
So singing and playing guitar on stage and getting comfortable with that was a whole...
other muscle for me, but I think ultimately it does provide you a more, I don't know if it's confidence, but certainly more comfortable, uh, more comfortability on stage and in a way that you hadn't had before.
There's still some other things I I'd like to do on stage that I haven't, uh,
That would be challenging to me and probably expand my chops on stage.
I don't think I'm goofy enough generally, and I don't do characters.
So the things that are still out of my toolbox are characters with confidence and just being shamelessly goofy.
You never talk about Paul Simon.
What's your opinion of his music?
I fucking love Paul Simon.
The first Paul Simon record was in constant rotation on the 8-tracks in my family's station wagon when we do long trips.
And that first Paul Simon record, I truly, truly love.
And it has a huge imprint on my brain.
He's just such a...
a kind of monumental talent, and there are so many records.
But I generally love Paul Simon.
I don't see how you can't love Paul Simon.
But that very first Paul Simon solo record has a very, very specific place in my mind and in my heart.
And also the album, There Goes Ryman Simon, that's a great album.
And the other one, yeah, those first three or four solo albums, yeah, they're great.
I love Paul Simon.
What guitar did you bring to Vancouver to practice on?
And if time permits, do you plan on dipping into any music shops while there?
I brought that guitar that Fred Armisen gave me for my birthday.
Hold on a minute.
It's like the brand is called Old Style.
And I think there's a guy in Silver Lake in Los Angeles who actually makes them.
I don't know the brand, but it's a very affordable guitar.
And it's like a Telecaster thin line, like a hollow body Telecaster with these two.
I think these must be pickups the guy actually makes himself.
And it's got sort of a Tele-ish bridge to it.
Just two pickups.
But yeah, it's a good guitar.
It's been sort of a lifesaver in terms of being able to just sit on the couch and noodle.
I didn't make it to any music shops because I've sort of maxed out on equipment and stuff.
I tend to feel like an asshole when
buying guitars or amps and stuff because I'm not a professional musician and I'm not really a collector, but I've amassed some stuff.
Well, I'm kind of lying.
I did just buy an amp, but there is part of you that's always looking on some level for...
a perfect sound for you, you know, and I'm kind of like a straight into the amp guy.
So there is this kind of journey to find your own sound that you love.
And I'm close.
And I did just buy an old amp, a 1961 Fender Tweed that I think is going to do it.
You're always kind of, you know, chasing the dragon with this stuff.
So I think I might be done.
Um, with, with that, with that search.
So I don't go looking too much because I'm always afraid that I'll have that weak moment and think I need another one.
But I think, I really think I've got everything I need.
So I don't go into many shops.
I should just go into look, but I haven't.
What is your go-to guitar amplifier?
The one that I really like is like this 50, I think it's a 57 Deluxe.
It's a really old little amp, and it just breaks up so nicely, and that really is the one that I tend to use.
I did also get...
Recently, a Princeton, an old, like a 61 or 62 Fender Princeton, which I also use.
But that old-ass deluxe is really the one I've been going to a lot.
And I'm hoping this one that I'm getting now, it's another deluxe, is going to be the grail.
We'll see.
In Sword of Trust, there is a brief scene where Mel tells a customer that a painting of Charlie Patton isn't for sale.
I couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the script or something that was improvised because the painting happened to be there.
Also, are you a fan of Charlie Patton?
No, that was actually painted by the art director who was a friend of Lynn Shelton's, and it was a great painting.
And I don't know, I guess we improvised that because, yeah, I mean, part of that stuff in the store, that was not in the store.
That was something that was done.
uh, for the movie.
And it's a great little painting and it went back to him.
Actually.
I wish I, I had kept it, but I think he wanted it back and he knew that I liked Charlie Patton and that character is not unlike me in that, uh, you know, there was a blues element to that guy.
Um, but I was surprised by the painting and it was a great painting and I was happy he did it.
Um,
But no, so it wasn't improvised.
It wasn't at the store.
It was done for the show.
It was done for my character.
And yeah, you got to love Charlie Patton.
You just got to get through the static.
Yeah.
I think Jack White did probably the best reissue of the existing Charlie Patton stuff, cleaned it up as much as possible.
But yeah, you got to love Charlie Patton.
I run a high school film club where we watch films and discuss them.
I've shown Citizen Kane, Sherlock Jr., Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Alien, Seven Samurai, Jaws, Reservoir Dogs, and many, many others.
I was wondering if you ran a film club, what would you show?
Well, I mean, that's such a huge question, isn't it?
Isn't that a huge question?
There are movies that are satisfying to me.
Certainly there's some movies that I've come back around to that I think I would show.
I've got such a long list.
What's coming right to my mind?
uh you know the french connection um i would you know maybe show uh paris texas i just got back into that you know i would show actually i would show uh three kings by david o russell i think um you know i would show some kelly reichardt movies uh i would show goodfellas probably it's just you know it's an ongoing list it's a hard question
I would definitely show Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Oh, my God.
So many, dude.
How does Sherlock Jr.
fit into that?
Are there movies that you hated when you originally saw them, but upon re-watching them, they became favorites?
Yeah, sure.
I just had that experience with Paris, Texas.
I didn't hate it, but I don't think I understood it.
And there are certainly movies that I didn't get that I think that as I got older, maybe I understood more.
There are movies that I saw one time when I was much younger that I didn't care about.
And now I've grown to care about the list is too big to sort of, you know, kind of really sit down and I, you know, I'd have to really go deep and think about it.
But like Paris, Texas is a good example that that was an experience I had recently where I didn't hate the movie, but I didn't get the movie.
I knew it was beautiful, but there is more of more than hating a movie.
I still hate Eyes Wide Shut, and I still don't love The Big Lebowski.
These are movies that people have specific opinions about, but I like The Big Lebowski more.
I hated Burn After Reading, that Coen Brothers movie, and I watched that again recently, and I really found that I really liked it.
Sometimes you have to watch movies
two or three or four or ten times throughout your life, if they're worth it, to really sort of let them grow with you.
There's a lot of movies I didn't understand, like Paris Texts, because I checked out.
And I was too young to really wrap my brain around it.
I've appreciated your openness about talking about the upcoming golf show with Owen Wilson, and it makes me think about something I've wondered about for a while.
Why are Hollywood folks often so hesitant to talk about projects they're working on?
Is it contracted that they won't discuss projects prior to release?
Is it a concern about ideas getting stolen?
Does sharing these things lead to awkwardness if the movie or show doesn't get released?
I think those are all probably operative to some degree.
But once a project is in the works or done, I think really it comes down to spoilers.
And almost anything can be a spoiler if something is really under wraps.
outside of the basic pitch line of what the show is about, any detail can kind of take away from the surprise of watching it for the first time.
And I think that really is just, obviously most of us are told don't talk about the end or don't talk.
They just like, the element of surprise is so rare in this day and age of up your ass information delivery.
that they want to protect that more than anything.
It's a spoiler thing, but it's broader than just an ending or a turn or whatever.
It's like it's a whole world that you're creating, and they just want it all to be a surprise.
In terms of...
things being stolen, that usually happens before you're actually producing it.
There is some kind of parallel thinking that goes on, but once it's kind of being made, I guess there's a fear of it being stolen, but you're already ahead in that race.
Does sharing these things lead to awkwardness if the movie or show doesn't get released?
I guess, but there's a lot of things that are released that nobody sees, and I think that's more awkward.
If you had another career not related to the entertainment industry, what would it be and why?
I don't know, man.
I used to do a joke about this and about not having a plan B. I really don't know what my profession would be.
I'd like to think I could work in a restaurant and cook, but I'm not really a chef either.
There's some argument that I could be somewhat helpful as some kind of therapist, but I doubt it.
I always thought I would teach, maybe, but what would I teach?
I'd just do a class on me?
That seemed like it'd be good.
A semester of Marin?
just going over everything I've been involved with, just sort of like the industry and the life that I want.
I'm starting to eat my own brain here, and the narcissism is painful.
Yeah, I could teach a class on me and the way I think, which I think would be a pretty good class, pretty broad.
I don't know what the umbrella would be, pop culture or comedy.
I don't know what it would be, but maybe teaching, but we'd have to tighten that up a bit.
Can you speak to how you maintain friendships and did comedy around the time when you first got sober?
Well, yeah, I mean, it wasn't I don't remember being tremendously difficult because I didn't go out and party a lot.
You know, I wasn't in terms of like hanging out with a lot of people or meeting people at the bar.
Yeah, it was tricky to stop drinking.
But I was you know, I've I've always had a pretty small circle of friends and it took me a while to stay stopped.
But it was really not because of the people I was hanging out with other than drug dealers or my drug dealer.
I was sort of like the kind of guy that would go get his blow and just keep it to himself and kind of drink throughout the night or do it by myself.
But I guess it was hard.
But I was not someone who needed drugs or alcohol to perform.
So being in the clubs, I don't remember it being that difficult.
So it just kind of evolved like that.
And I went to a lot of meetings and I kind of got it in my head.
And, you know, once I got going with my day count for real, it became competitive.
There was just no way I was going to give it up.
What have I been reading?
Well, I've been reading.
I just started Kathleen Hanna's book, Rebel Girl, because I'm going to talk to her.
And that's been very interesting.
I read Eric Roberts' autobiography for a conversation with him.
I've got Al Pacino.
So I generally don't try to read the book if it's an autobiography of the person I'm going to interview because then I lead them in the questions.
But I've sort of been reading that stuff.
I've got some other stuff that I want to read.
but I haven't.
Are there ever times you encounter someone showing very clear signs of addiction and do you talk to them about AA or recovery or do you believe they need to find it on their own when they are ready?
Well, I think that's a tenet of AA is that when someone is ready that you be there to help.
And so I don't know.
I've shown people that seem to be – I've told people who seem to be struggling
that I'm around if they need help.
It's not a missionary racket, AA, but you should be there when someone does need help.
But they will generally find it on their own, but it's good if they know that you're part of it and that you will show up for them in that way.
Why did you deal with the rats yourself instead of hiring someone to handle the situation?
Because I've got time.
And generally, my thought process is I always think it's taken me a long time to realize that you can just pay somebody to deal with things.
There are certain things I know I can't do.
I can't fix an air conditioner.
I can't do this.
But with rats, I've dealt with rats before, but I was just sort of astounded by the amount of ratchet.
But it turns out, I think it was really just one rat who had just been pretty comfortable down there for that rat's entire lifetime.
And it even looks like it might've died naturally.
But I've trapped rats and I've dealt with that stuff before.
And I thought like I could vacuum it up.
But even now, I think...
That whole crawl space could use a good cleaning.
And I am thinking about hiring for someone to do that.
But I thought like, you know, I can do the rat thing.
I don't know.
Is that weird?
Are you hitting any meetings while in Vancouver?
I have not.
I do talk to people in the program fairly regularly.
I've been a little slack on the meetings.
I guess it's something that happens at 25 years.
What's in your closet and how important is clothing to your public persona?
How much time and thought do you devote to what you wear and your appearance?
Well, I seem to commit to one or two pairs of pants and a few shirts at any given time.
So everything that's in my closet had its time in rotation, generally.
I move through those rotations, but usually I've got many boots and everything just eventually comes back around.
But at any given time, it's usually one or two pairs of pants,
a few t-shirts and one or two or three over shirts that I wear.
And there's a few jackets, but it's all about rotation.
And I do think I've landed on a look of sorts, but usually in any given time, I'm wearing pretty much the same thing until I retire that cycle.
And then I kind of move into another cycle, but it's similar.
Yeah.
where did you buy your rings and what is your approach to wearing jewelry?
Well, I've had a weird history with rings.
There were periods of time in my life where I had to wear rings.
There was a period in time back in the day when I was still using drugs where I had to have a pinky ring on each finger.
One was a snake and one was a...
A little miniature skeleton ring.
And I don't know why it was important, but they do become talisman of some sorts.
And they still kind of are, I guess.
I've been wearing my WTF ring, which was made by a fan near the beginning of the podcast.
It was a guy that wasn't even really a jeweler, as I recall.
And he put a lot into it.
making this ring that says WTF on it with the lettering from our logo.
And that has become a ritual thing, a talisman, I guess is what you call it.
I wear it all the time and I don't take it off.
The turquoise one I bought that I have on my ring finger,
On my left hand is something I just it reminds me of home.
My dad had a similar ring.
It's a Zuni ring with turquoise inlay.
The one that my dad had, I have, but it doesn't quite fit right.
So when I went to New Mexico several years ago, I thought I should try to find one.
I found just a great ring that I love.
And it sort of reminds me of home.
It reminds me of my old man.
And then I have this one other turquoise ring that I'm not sure I like really.
But turquoise is very cheap and it's very kind of close to my life growing up.
And I'm wearing it, but I'm not sure that I love it.
And it's not wearing it's a green turquoise.
It's a I can't I think it's called Sonoran turquoise.
And I'm not sure I like it.
And I don't know if it's going to last.
But the WTF ring and the other Zuni ring are definitely locked in.
It has to have a personal kind of connection for me, these rings.
I mean, I've gone, and that's always the thing with jewelry, whether it was a bracelet of some sort.
I used to wear beaded necklaces, but they all take on almost sort of mystical necessity.
Like, you know, I have to, I'm not whole or complete until I put them on.
As a cat owner, are you sensitive to violence against cats and media?
It seems like cat death is played for laughs in a lot of comedies.
I don't know if that's true.
I can't think of too many, but okay.
I'm sensitive to any animal death at this point.
Certainly, you know, having kind of lived the life of a vegan now for a while, but not really my intention at the beginning was not necessarily ethical, but I think it's made me more sensitive.
I can't stand animal pain of any kind.
It destroys me.
And I assume that a lot of the animals that are used in movies for jokes like that aren't really killed, but...
yeah i mean violence against animals is devastating to me how would you describe yourself using only three words what is that some kind of is that a standard question uh i don't know how about i'm almost there i'm almost there thanks for the questions folks