Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Presented by Rumors Comedy Club
0:00:00
You're listening to locally produced programming created in
0:00:04
KUNV Studios on public radio. KUNV 91.5. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and More, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
0:00:23
Welcome to the Love Seats Comedy Podcast. I am your host Darcy Silver and this podcast we're going to make me funny. That's right, we're going to explore the world of comedy in an attempt for me to get on stage to perform my first stand-up comedy set. UNLV and the Board of Regents are not associated with this podcast in any way and the material may not be appropriate for all audiences. Listen at your own discretion and enjoy the show. Oh yes, and welcome back to episode number nine of the Love Seats Comedy Podcast. Yeah, man. Yes, you've been joining me on this journey to help improve my social skills, get in front of a stage of my peers and be funny, make them laugh, one of the most challenging things that might ever exist, to connect with someone deep in their soul and make their face shine bright. It is my goal to do that to people and share the love. So hopefully we'll accomplish that in a live performance, November 14th and 15th. You may get your tickets at Love Seats. seats and that is for UNLV comedy week and join us live as a real comedian will take the stage and I will get up there to do my first set and oh man I've got the goosebumps just thinking about it it's going to be crazy and as I start to build my own personas and character and create my sense of humor I've gotten a lot of amazing feedback and you've heard some great people so far give their wisdom, share the type of comedy that they love and as we continue to explore we're gonna approach new boundaries and we're going to talk with an amazing comedian here in
0:02:15
Las Vegas, Mike Young. Wow. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me here. I really do appreciate it. I'm kind of in awe because you know for most folks so every year every single year since I've been alive there's this thing that happens on the radio and on TV where they say top 10 phobias that people have okay top 10 okay on there is stuff like drowning, burning alive, being eaten by an alligator, all these things, right? But what would you say is number one? Getting up there in front of a stage and speaking publicly. Speaking publicly, yeah. Yeah. Which means to me that people would rather drown or be burned alive than have to stand up and talk in front of other people, right? Yeah. So, given that, the idea or the notion like a you know I know you a bit I know you're an extrovert in some ways and introvert in other ways But not the typical Stand-up comedian first of all you weren't for your your stepfather You didn't have anything bad happen to your life. Which is is that allowed? but Which is is that allowed? but
0:03:40
Probably okay
0:03:41
If you have to believe that you will but you know I mean Nothing tragic has happened to you to make you did you get beat up when you were young? Certainly yeah, you did. Yeah. I got all the time. Yeah, but my Family and friends. I was always overweight. You know so okay. Yeah, I didn't know that about you. For sure. I've never known you as an overweight person, so...
0:04:08
I mean, I am right now.
0:04:10
Ah, you know, I mean, what does overweight mean? Like, if you're a boxer... There's a very specific scale that you can track. If you're a boxer and you're having to make weight, and you're overweight, I get that.
0:04:20
Well, that's another game.
0:04:21
You're just a normal fella.
0:04:22
You gain 13 pounds in one day. How do you do that? Yeah, that's or you're Mark Wahlberg and you go from you know 120 pounds 180 pounds in one week
0:04:25
Yeah, you know there's ways of getting there, but there's no way to cheat. There is no testosterone Okay, there's no You know drug that's going to make you be able to stand up in front of people and entertain them. Well, exactly right. So somebody has to learn the skill. It's maybe naturally given to, you know, to have good comedic timing, to be quick on your feet, right, as there are engaging audience type of, you know, interactions versus having, you know, good writing skills and punchlines and delivery and what they call is, you know, the harmony of music almost you know of delivery of entertainment which then has to be immediately tailored to the audience because what lands for the you know seven o'clock show doesn't land for the ten so you've heard all these things like I can tell you've studied stand-up comedy okay I mean yeah I've been learning from from the legends here well Great, but experiencing it and being there in that moment when it's happening is sometimes very difficult and it takes years of therapy in my case to even figure it out. I got bumped by Robin Williams once. And then I watched him go up and work out new stuff. And he was also putting in old stuff. And he was known for taking other people's material and using it as well. When he found out that it was somebody else, he just absorbed everything. It was a sponge. OK, so if there's a formula, one is you need to be a sponge if you're going to be really good at it. You have to drink in everything that everybody says and kind of figure out how things work in society and all that stuff, right? Are you good at that? Yeah, I mean I'm a good observer of the world. Okay. Yeah. And then once you make these observations, you find out what's humorous about it. What about because a comedian? Generally could look at a situation that everybody looks at and they walk away with an opinion on it very opinionated people and almost narcissistic to I've been told I'm a narcissist by my wife. So yeah, I'm good. I Have a lot of those great aspects and qualities going for me Boxes of a comedian. So you were bullied? Ugly. And you had to, what was your defense to being bullied? Did you fight back? No, I just tried to ignore it and go do my own thing. Did you, you know, try to be funny to get you out of situations? I probably laughed it off, you know. So in my case and a lot of other comedians that I've talked to how I was red-haired and freckled face right and I'm 51 years old so Richie Cunningham and what was the he also played on that show with what was the old show on black and white Andy Griffith yeah so you know like people who made fun of me, and my name's Mike, hey Mikey, he likes it. That was during my whole thing, right? He also was freckle-faced. And it was appropriate to beat up the freckle-faced kid at school. This is one of the, you know, you got the chubby kid. I got kids that are. You're the chubby guy, and if we went to school, you'd be the chubby guy, and I'd be the red-haired, freckle-faced guy. And we'd get beat up together, and we'd have lunch. That's why we're great buds. Yeah Got a fan for ourselves to stick together So um so I want to ask you if what was the date of your next of your first performance? November 14th, okay, so on let's say LV. I'm looking ahead. I'm thinking do you have any material yet? I'm building it here. That's what this podcast is so help me create some material. Okay. Well, let's let's do some. Okay, so So as part of exploring comedy, I want to create a showcase of the different styles of comedy So we talked a little bit here about a single word Can we make one word and and just deliver that word and people laugh? Yeah, and how many single words can you deliver, right, that continuously can build up that laughter, right, or a one-liner, right, like a Mitch Hedberg, you know, expression, and then there's storytelling, and there's music, like an Adam Sandler, you know, giving over some music like that, right? I'm really into that, yeah. I'm so musically untalented, you know, that in itself is Literally because I owned how bad that is right, and I'm gonna own this on this stage here no matter how bad I'm not happy about what I'm hearing here because what I think I'm hearing is that you are content to fail My my bar is that I mean anything above that right we played poker recently, remember? And so I knew what was going to happen and my expectations were met versus disappointment of or surprise and joy because it worked out the opposite. Oh, wow. Yeah. No, see, I don't work like that. I'm a realist. I would consider that a realist. Here's the reality of what you're saying is, you get to determine your reality because you're going to choose to fail and then celebrate that failure. That's not good.
0:10:36
What do you think? You just said it takes years to develop it, right? So to think that you're going to come out and do great and then you're bummed.
0:10:44
What I would like to try to do is try to actually go out and kill.
0:10:48
The reality is I'll probably get bumped too.
0:10:50
It could happen, yeah. I don't know where you're going up, so it could happen. I want you to go out with the mindset to kill, to actually make comedians laugh. The guys in the back who are going to be looking at you, the ones who really care about their opinion more than anybody else's, I want you to make them laugh. character and enough life experience in your background to be able to conjure up some funny stuff I think. So let's, can we work on that? Yeah, yeah absolutely. How many times have you been married? And the skills of doing it, you know, clean is the biggest challenge because my mind immediately goes, you know, down And we're in Vegas, you know, we have a dirty audience generally. Don't do it. You know.
0:11:44
It's much funnier. Let's talk about, so what are good clean subjects? So, yeah, you asked me if I'm married. So, you know, I am married. I got kids.
0:11:51
I asked you how many times you're married. My first time. In your first marriage? Yeah. Okay, and you have how many children?
0:11:59
Five.
0:12:00
There's so much gold in there. I know, exactly. And how many boys and girls? Three boys, two girls. I got extras, just in case. That's your drug?
0:12:12
I guess not.
0:12:14
No, I caught it. So I get it. So, okay, and when you were a younger man, before you got married, were you a guy that was gonna get married? That was your deal? You just had in your head, I'm gonna find a gal, get married, I'm gonna have kids, get a house, do the whole thing, right? Yep. Because that's the way you were raised, I imagine? Like, that's the way you were taught by your folks? Desired. That's what you wanted?
0:12:46
Yeah.
0:12:47
Okay. And so you went out and you did that. Yeah. Keep doing it. That's successful. That's successful. Yeah. There's guys like me that are married occasionally. And...
0:12:59
How many times for you?
0:13:00
Yeah, I don't want to get into it. Okay.
0:13:03
Man says occasionally.
0:13:04
Don't have them go.
0:13:05
Right. But, you know, I've gone down that route and it didn't work out for me. And I couldn't make it work.
0:13:12
Yeah. Right?
0:13:13
But you did. They didn't have your sense of humor.
0:13:15
Well, they didn't have my sensibility and I didn't have theirs. I wasn't you. I wasn't a guy who wanted that. I was a guy who wanted to be famous and I wanted to do what Chris Farley did and what Jim Carrey did and what Robin Williams did.
0:13:33
So what's your persona?
0:13:35
When you go and do stand-up? I just talk about who I am, you know. I say things like, just to give you a feel for where I go to, like, you know, I talk about marriage, and I talk about having been married occasionally, that kind of thing, right? But I talk about how I felt like I was like a white knight. I would meet these women who were struggling and had problems and I'd want to help them and they'd reel me in every time and I'd end up getting married to them, you know, and then eventually I just Realized that I'm a white guy Not a white knight, okay, you know, so there's a difference. Mm-hmm. Okay, and so that's my little joke Did you catch that back there? I didn't hear any laughter back in the booth? Insight. Okay. Got it. He's laughing inside. Got it. Okay. So, what I would think that you would want to talk about is what's really going on with you. Who do you relate to? You're a dad. You're a guy that's an entrepreneur. You're going to college and you're 114. What's his age? Can we get a note from the booth there? Yeah. His age?
0:14:47
The official record is 7.
0:14:48
Emotional age is 7. Going on 17. Right. So, you know, I think you would want to talk about that. And don't go in there and discount yourself and fail just because you promised you would on this podcast. Go in there and do it. I'll write for you. I can write you some stuff that will make you, you know, feel good. Well, teach us.
0:15:12
How do you write something?
0:15:13
Let's write something right now.
0:15:14
Well, I need something from you. First of all, you said that you were a fat kid. Yeah. Okay. Is it okay to say fat? Booth, fat kid's okay? Thumbs up. I see them. Fat kid's okay. Okay. So, you were a fat kid. Yeah. What age were you fat? Always. Always? Yeah. Seven years old? Still am. You had that belly, descended belly. Always and still am. And you, okay, and you fight that all the time because you'd rather be in shape probably, right?
0:15:44
Yeah.
0:15:45
Okay, so there's gold in there. So why doesn't that happen?
0:15:50
What do you mean?
0:15:51
I mean, you're a grown man who has been successful in business and even despite your success, you're still in college for no undiscernible reason. I haven't figured it out yet, For no on Discernible reason I haven't figured it out yet, but you're you want to go ahead And then you have this other business venture love seats and all these things that you're doing right you can commit to that Is you couldn't commit to getting in shape sure I mean I've committed forever to it And I reward my success with food doesn't everybody
0:16:28
Do you as soon as I have a great one, right? Let's celebrate.
0:16:30
When you have a big win, do you go out and eat immediately? Do you drink? Yes. You drink? Beer? Beer. Okay. So people do that too, right? Like it's not much different. Sure. Right? You have a big win, you go out. But when it comes to like... So let's create some material off of it. Okay, so let's talk about like, are you like... How do you create a joke, right? Are you like me?
0:16:58
There's a punchline, right?
0:16:59
I'm going to say, are you like me? Do you? And you keep going. That's how you would start, you know, engaging the audience.
0:17:06
Are you like me?
0:17:07
You know. Yeah, and then I'm going to have you finish it.
0:17:09
Do you...
0:17:10
Do you go to the grocery store and you get one of those little baskets, you know, and then fill it up completely and then start grabbing more and more stuff.
0:17:17
Like that's funny. You're right. I feel like I'm a giant. I'm carrying one of those guys drops on the floor. It's about a third. What do you do? Of the normal, you try to pick it back up and get it all back over there.
0:17:32
But what I'm saying is though,
0:17:33
you grab this small one because you have the intention of buying just a few things. And then you're building something, alright, so there you go, continue. Alright, so then do you ever feel guilt when the person is checking you out and they're like, they see that you have Tampax pads of some sort and you're a grown man so those are clearly not for you. You got vodka and you have a frozen pizza. Are they wondering what your night's like? Being Something like that like or are they judging you do they judge you? Yeah, have you ever you know wondered if when you're getting checked out? They're judging you I Think no one's checked me out, so I don't know what that feels like When you go to the do you not have somebody oh you have a wife she does all the groceries. Uh, no. We're learning something here. When's the last time you've been in a grocery store? I mean, what century are we in, right? You have an app and then they deliver it to your front door. Oh, that's how you grocery?
0:18:38
Do you waste your time buying groceries?
0:18:40
I actually enjoy it.
0:18:41
Oh, my gosh.
0:18:42
You like to pick out the melons and feel which ones are...
0:18:44
I thump them. I thump them. You know?
0:18:47
I do it like that. Oh, by the way, I have something here for you. We have some delicious Coke.
0:18:52
Oh, God, I... Can you get me a straw in the booth? Would you like some Coke? I need a straw.
0:19:00
Would you like some Coke?
0:19:02
Okay, I'll do a little bump. A little Coke. A little, yeah. Are they a sponsor of the show? They're not. So all of this is going to be cut out. I imagine you'll have to see what you listen to it at the end. Don't worry so much about it. I want you to be sued by Coca-Cola.
0:19:20
God forbid.
0:19:21
Yeah.
0:19:22
Did you know?
0:19:23
You said you wanted to be.
0:19:24
I do. So, you know, why would you want to be and what are you going to do?
0:19:28
Hey, I'm enjoying a Coca-Cola right now and I have not been authorized to talk about that. I mean, I understand that you have something usually next year to know how to open it though. Do we have somebody that can open it? No, you have to use the two-bottle trick The two Bibles two-bottle trick two bottle. Yeah, you've never seen you bottle trick Can you this here the true true two-bottle trick? Okay So whoa, whoa easy. We're in college, right? So everybody needs to know how to do this thing, right? You got two bottles, hopefully you didn't shake it. You know, but if you get the right wedge, you can just take one bottle here, and you tilt it like this, right? And you get your finger in there. And if we do, we apologize in advance, but oh! If not, you can have a refreshing beverage. Thank you very much for joining us here. Enjoy your delicious Coke. I'm going to get real close to my quality. That Coke is from Mexico. It's the authentic Mexican Coke. Oh wow, it takes your breath away. I may belch. Do you have a buzzer?
0:20:48
Uh oh.
0:20:49
It's kind of buzzing. So. I don't know if we're allowed to bell-john there. So as you do stand-up, you know, it's important to stand up, right?
0:20:57
Shouldn't sit down.
0:20:58
I've never enjoyed it when somebody sat down. Yeah. Except for Bill Cosby, and I'm sick of people being mad at me about Bill Cosby.
0:21:08
I'm a pacer.
0:21:09
Matt, you're probably good at karaoke. I am, yeah.
0:21:12
Right?
0:21:13
Because I speak.
0:21:14
We're gonna be looking at standing ovations.
0:21:15
I'm a great singer, actually.
0:21:16
Different types, but yeah, I'm a better singer than I am Comedy guy yeah for sure yeah Yeah, so when you think about how you relate to the audience right so you kind of said it's easy to Engage by saying you know have you ever you know or does this bother you are you like me and then what? You don't normally have to say it, but that's kind of like if I was giving the basics.
0:21:44
Oh, we've got to write down good ideas here.
0:21:45
If I was giving the basics to somebody, it'd be like, okay, so, hey, are you like me? Are you sick and tired of the fact that Juergens has that pump? And you've got to pump it seven times to get the appropriate amount for what it is you're going to do. Like, how about they come out with a seven-pound, you know, something, you know, anything. You just think of whatever you want to think about. And then like, with you, like, I'm going to guess right now. No, I'm not going to guess. Tell me what the condiments were that you had the last engagement we were at. We did a poker show, remember, recently? And tell me what you had there for food. Snacks, pizza, drinks? No, tell me all the items that were there. I mean, you had all of them. I know, I put them in my bag and I stole them all. But what were they? Do you remember? Whatever was like the bulk candy that they sent that are on sale. Oreos? Were there Oreos? Yeah, Oreos, because we were playing poker, right? So we had some rounders. Okay. Rounders reference in there got it and then chips right because you got poker chips I mean we themed it very nicely I thought right there was a character that was there that was weird guy Ali D we brought Ali D to life guys Ali D came to life what do you think about that right I think you know like he probably should get representation. Yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, he's going places He's not appropriate sometimes. Yeah And I think that's his point. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, right? You know what I'm talking about So we got a you know take a character as a persona right make it come to life and that is one Well, that was one instance where you do that, right and from beginning to end it was try to be in that character Which in itself was tough for that's a long periods of time you got to completely live it right so these method actors that are Absorbing something you know and getting it over you got a really really you know and then to get out of it It must be very difficult as well You know because that that becomes you because you made it that way right so if I imagine myself as an amazing stand-up comedian, and that persona, no matter what I do, pursues all the way through, it's going to be an amazing show. Now, building the set, we are talking about me. I am a student. I have kids. I'm sure you hate when your kids scream and yell and fight with each other, and you want to just have them not fight, and you end up fighting with them to get them to stop fighting and then It's a fight-a-thon Right and just you know continue to fight until you block and tackle and diffuse with you know See everything you're saying right now is comedy That's what I'm doing creating comedy. Yeah, everything you're saying really funny, or is it well It's the way you frame it so at the beginning you have to set up something that you're going to land at the end, but all of those comments are the grit. That's the good stuff that keeps people engaged because I can relate to that. I have a 14-year-old and a 4-year-old. I have a 4-year-old son, right? And he runs my life. I have to negotiate with this, you know.
0:25:07
Sorry.
0:25:08
And, you know, it's just, you know, but that's the way it is. They hold all the cards because they know that I love them so much that there's no way I'm going to win ever. Right? So they hold all the cards. Yeah. And if you're like me, still at 7 years old and still fighting for keeping control and all those things. We need to talk about your dad next time.
0:25:35
Oh yeah.
0:25:36
The next time I'm here. Yeah, I think you want me to talk about approval. We can talk talk about dad jokes
0:25:41
You know right you have good dad jokes. Do you?
0:25:44
You know only with my kids Yeah, like not as a comedy thing, but with my kids I with every opportunity I say the stupid dad my kids are buzzing jokes to me left and right these days You know that they keep hearing from other kids. You know, but now they've mastered telling it over and over again. So they're feeding you all this.
0:26:04
Whatever I do, they're like, oh, I want to be just like you, which is a great thing until they realize who I am. And then they're like, oh, man, why did I choose to be like him
0:26:11
instead of the other guy?
0:26:14
So we've got to always try to at least, for them, give a good impression of what success looks like and hope for the best.
0:26:23
The one thing that you do and that I do very well is we enjoy the process because it's not always
0:26:29
easy.
0:26:30
You're grinding, man. I know. Today alone, you're going to put in like 16, 17, 18 hours today. It looks like you're having a good time.
0:26:42
Yeah.
0:26:43
You've got to have fun doing what you're doing. You are. And that's what people should be doing. I don't know what line of work folks are in that are listening right now But if you're not having as much fun as you are and as I am then you're doing the wrong thing Yeah, we got a balance high ideals with reasonable expectations But you got to do it, you know, and if you want to do it It's been itching on you to do it do it because having the regret Oh, I always wish you could have versus I did it and now I either don't have that itch anymore or I loved it and that makes you happy You know, it's a win-win, right? Yeah. Well, you know, you can't be afraid of losing you got to be Prepared to win, you know, and I feel like that's what you do. That's what I've been trying to do and You know, it's working out. I think for both of us. Yeah Yeah, so, you know as I look at these little things, so one of the things that I want to try, and we'll get more into next episode, is trying to create characters. So, I work with some amazing people that have incredible skills in creating voices, and I look at myself and I don't think I have any skills at it. I'm trying to find my range of...
0:27:57
You've got to be able to do voices!
0:27:59
I know, so can I? You can do a voice! Tell me if these are worthy voices that should be can anyone all right? So these are I might 30 seconds here. We go 30 sec we got we got cookie monster oh I like cookies. I'm cookie monster Go yes next create some material off of that mm-hmm All right, let's see here. I got this one earlier. Uh, I'm running Jenny. Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Keep going. You're going to need another one.
0:28:38
Well, I am the best. There are a lot of people out there, but there's only one me. And I am the greatest. Yes.
0:28:47
You're trying to do Trump?
0:28:48
I made the greatest.
0:28:49
Okay.
0:28:50
And you'll do it again. 50-52, the best. Next one. You've heard him visiting. You know, COVID's back, right? The economy, for the world, we're out here. After I pardon myself and make America greater. Oh, that's a great slogan.
0:29:08
Make America greater.
0:29:10
Hold on, I got a text from Terry Thader. It's a cease and desist letter from Terry Theder. He's glad that I said that so not to make him look great. Well, with that, we'll save it for the next one and work on some more. Thank you so much for joining us, Mike.
0:29:27
My pleasure, brother.
0:29:28
Thank you for listening to the Love Seats Comedy Podcast.
0:29:31
You can follow this glorious podcast at unlv.edu forward slash KUNV You can follow this glorious podcast at unlv.edu forward slash KUNV www.luvseats.com
Transcribed with Cockatoo