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- [00:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
All you homeowners have unique needs. Some feel the need to paint their door a vibrant shade of blue. Others have the need to decorate their bathroom with fish anchors and other nautical items. And because each homeowner has unique needs, GEICO helps you get the right coverage for your home and what's in it. That way you get exactly what's right for you, even if your needs are unique. Get more with Geico. Hey now. Welcome to the Greg Fitzsimmons show, also known as Fitz Dog. You know, the show actually used to be called the Greg Fitzsimmons Experience. And I thought it was too wordy, so I chopped it down. And I also realized that Joe had kind of, kind of simultaneously come up with the same name for his show. And Jimi Hendrix had come up with it 40 years earlier. Anyway, welcome to the Fitz Dog Radio Show. It is a breezy, cool St. Patrick's Day here in Los Angeles. Why am I sober? Because I quit drinking 35 years ago. But let me tell you something. St. Patrick's Day before that was, was a very, very big day in my existence. It started out, I guess, when I was a kid, we would go to the St. Patrick's Day parade every year. My grandfather would march with the Ancient Order of Hibernians from the Bronx, and people were throwing up and pissing and fighting in the streets. It was crazy. And my parents would bring me down. And then when I got older, I started going down to the parade myself with my buddies when we were teenagers. And I honestly, honestly think that was the first time I did stand up comedy was when I would take the train. The train from the city to my house was about 20 minutes. And I, I remember getting on the train like two years in a row and obnoxiously drunk. And you know, we're getting on the train at like 6:30 at night. So it's all these commuters from Wall street are going back to the suburbs. They got their suits and ties and they got their New York Times opened up and, and then, and then about a dozen of us get on and we're, you know, all my friends were, you know, killer in and McGovern and Bucci and all these, all these micks. And we, and I used to walk up and down the aisles and I would roast the people on the train and my friends would be sitting there howling. And I just pictured today if I saw a 14 year old or a 15 year old that drunk, I would smack the shit out of this kid. I was the kid you wanted to smack the Shit out of. But I was killing. I would destroy. And then we'd roll off the train at Tarrytown and walk home and, you know, chew a bunch of Bubble Yum and put Visine in our eyes and pretend we weren't shit faced. Luckily, our parents were also shit faced, so nobody knew the difference. And then my father, every year on St Patrick's Day, it would start off with a party he would have at the Friars Club where he was a member. It was all Jewish members. And then my father was the token Irishman. Did I say. I said Jewish? Yeah, they're all Jewish. My dad's a token Irish guy and he would have a St. Patrick's Day show. It was a party and there was step dancers and fifes and bagpipes and singers, and people would get up and tell Irish jokes and everybody wore green. And there was an open bar and all the Jews from the club would come down and they would hang out and they loved it. They'd never seen anything like this before. And it was all my dad's Irish friends. And Don Buchwald was there every year and Maureen Langan and all the great New Yorkers. And me and my mom would sing this old Clancy Brothers song called Four Green Fields. And it's an old Irish fighting song about the four green fields with the four counties in Ireland and trying to reunite them after the English tore us apart. And I'm telling you, there is nothing. Two worst singing voices in the history of the Americas as Pat Fitzsimmons and Greg Fitzsimmons. We were awful, but we would do it acapello, no music. We would stand there in front of 150 people and people would die laughing. And we played it perfectly straight, like tears in our eyes, emotional. And people thought it was the funniest thing in the world. I started doing it when I was probably like 9 years old. And I did it until my dad died. So I was probably fucking 2023 when I sang it the last time with my mom. Anyway, so I say that only to say that the tradition continues. And as you mostly all know, I throw a St. Patrick's Day party at the Improv for like the last 15 years. I do it every year. It's not always on St Patrick's Day. We did it on March 15, two days early this year, because it was a Saturday night. Felt like a more fun night for people. And we had a crazy good lineup. The improv took such good care of us. Me and my friend Laureen have a contest. Who makes the Best Irish soda bread. Which sounds like an oxymoron. Best Irish soda bread. But we both have a recipe that's gone down through the ages. And we bring in loaves and loaves of bread and the cooks at the improv are nice enough to slice it up and they butter it and they toast it and they serve it to the entire crowd. 200 people all get Irish soda bread. And then we bring a few people on stage and they're the judges and they have a contest. And my bread won two out of three years now. And so it's very proud. More proud though, that the mu. We had live music for the first time this year. And it was my daughter Jojo and my buddy Mikey Fitzgibbon and me. I was really mostly them. I played a little bit of harmonica, but she was. They were both on guitar and they play. Started out with U2 Sunday, Bloody Sunday. Whole crowd was pumping their fists and singing along. And then we segued into the Pogues. There's a Pogue song called Dirty Old Town. And my daughter sang it like a angel. It's the most heartbreaking, sad, working class song. And she sang it and Mikey played. And then we brought it home with a little shout out to the Californians in the crowd. They sang California Dreaming. The place was singing along, they were clapping their hands. And then the flute solo comes and my daughter whips out the flute and fucking nails the solo. The place went berserk. Screaming. It was crazy. And she was so self composed and confident. And I'm telling you, she's got like perfect pitch. Nobody in our family knew she could sing. And she's only been taking guitar lessons for like six months. Playing perfect, strong chords. It was. Anyway, I could not. You know, you think you're proud of your kids, but there's no times when you're more proud of them. She was so nervous for the last week and yet she fucking did it. That's when you're proud of your kids, is when they. They are thinking about quitting. They want to quit. And she showed up and she was brave and she was nervous throughout the whole performance. Did not miss a single beat. Nailed it. And she was so happy with herself. And then Annie Letterman, who was supposed to go to Alaska, went to Alaska on Friday morning, did a show and then wanted to be on my show so much that she then got on a red eye the same night back to LA for the Saturday night show. And she was a doll. She got there early, hung out with my family, went to the after party. Like, schmoozed everybody from the crowd, all my friends. Tim Dillon stopped in, closed it out, destroyed, had a great hang backstage with him and Annie and Saul Trujillo, who's a great new comic that you should know about. And check out. He destroyed. Eric Griffin was great. Dennis Gubbins did a nice job, and the whole night was a blast. So much fun. So thanks if you guys came out. If you didn't, definitely come out next year. And Bobby Lee, unfortunately, did not perform. He showed up. He was supposed to be the headliner, and he saw a singing and he walked out. He said, I don't want to go on this show. So I don't know what that is, but that's what happened. If you were disappointed he wasn't there, take it up with him, not me. But luckily, Tim Dillon was on a plane heading to Columbus, Ohio, which was turned back to LAX when some lunatic lost his shit on the flight. So if it wasn't for that, Tim would not have been at my show. He just came down to hang out, and then he was nice enough to close it out, so that was very cool. And he's Irish, not Korean, so that was good. What else? Oh, yeah, big shout out for my friend Big J Hollingsworth. Big Irish J. He's got a new album out called Green Monster that John Tobin, our buddy, produced out of Boston. I think they recorded at Laugh Boston. It's on itunes. It premieres today. Very funny dude. Great guy. Such. Such a great sense of humor. So check that out. And I got some dates coming up. I'll be in Hamilton, Ontario, at levity on March 26th. Toronto at the Comedy Bar, March 27th. Pittsburgh at the Improv, March 28th to the 30th. Then I will be in Boston on April 4th and 5th. Torrance, Huntington, Escondido, Dayton. Dayton. That's a new date. Tampa, Florida. Austin, La Jolla. All tickets@fitzdog.com come out. Check out the new hour. It's great new material. Speaking of great material, my guest today is a fantastic comedian who's from the south originally.
- [11:05]
Trey Crowder
I.
- [11:06]
Greg Fitzsimmons
What is he from? He's from Tennessee, I believe. He's got that thick, syrupy Southern accent, makes you think he's like a Republican, but in fact, he's a bleeding heart liberal. He's the author of the Liberal Redneck Manifesto, Dragon Dixie, out of the Dark. He wrote a bunch of stuff. He's done a ton of specials. There's a piece out in the LA Times today, as a matter of fact, a profile on him, which is very flattering and very nice. He produced this documentary called Inherent Good about Andrew Yang, and he's just a pleasure. He's been on Real Time with Bill Maher. I know you're gonna love him. I certainly did. And here he is. Trey Crowder. Welcome. Hey, Trey Crowder, my guest. Who's listening? There's a guy who's out there. You're banging it out on the road like me. We're working a lot of the same places. You're at the Den Theater in Chicago and. And your social media presence is blowing up.
- [12:23]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's going on. I mean. Yeah, I've been just really road dogging it for a while now.
- [12:30]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [12:30]
Trey Crowder
You know, so it's like a side. I started doing stand up in 2010 in Knoxville, Tennessee. And, you know, it was going okay for living in Knoxville and also fucking around and having kids in my mid-20s, you know. So considering all that, I was pretty happy with how it was going. Wait, so you.
- [12:48]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You would. Sorry, you were. You've been married 15 years and you've been doing stand up 15 years. So you basically started both at the same time?
- [12:55]
Trey Crowder
Well, me and her. Me and her. I've never done stand up without a girlfriend. And it's the same woman we got. She was my girlfriend for like a year and a half before I got married. And also. So we've been married, so my son will turn 14 this year, which means we have married for 14 years. Because it was that type of situation.
- [13:16]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Sure. You're from the South. That's what you do.
- [13:18]
Trey Crowder
Well, that's the other. I'm from a very small town in the south, and so like, I was 25 at the time, and like all my buddies from my hometown, you know, were like, oh, what took you so long? What have you been waiting on? Yeah, but I also was doing stand up and all my comic friends were like, well, that's it for you. You know, it's.
- [13:34]
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's hard.
- [13:35]
Trey Crowder
See you later.
- [13:36]
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's hard to be a struggling comic who's married with kids. I mean, that's a lot of. Yeah, that's a lot of distraction because everybody else is staying out till four in the morning in a diner and drinking and, you know, obsessing during the day.
- [13:53]
Trey Crowder
Yes.
- [13:53]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And I think in a way it's good because you got to be a businessman right out of the gate. You know, you have to learn how to handle your. Stay on top of it.
- [14:04]
Trey Crowder
Right? Yeah. I mean, some guy. Some guys would say to me or Whatever. Like, back in that time, after a show, they'd be like, you know, I think. I think, like, if you didn't have, like, a wife and kids, you might have, like, a shot at really doing this.
- [14:14]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [14:15]
Trey Crowder
My position on that was always like, well, that's, you know, I mean, that's motivation to figure it out.
- [14:22]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [14:22]
Trey Crowder
You know what I mean? It's all the more reason to make it. Make it work. But then what happened is in 2016, I, like, went viral on the Internet. It was Facebook at the time. And that. That got me an Internet presence, which allowed me to start touring and, you know, quit the day job and move to LA and have, you know, failed sitcoms and all that fun.
- [14:40]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Hey, man, failed sitcoms have a nice little check behind them, though.
- [14:44]
Trey Crowder
Indeed they do. Yeah. You can get in the, you know, in the Guild and all that, all that good, good stuff.
- [14:50]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Insurance, Get a down payment on the house. Did you buy a house?
- [14:53]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, just like this past year. One of the worst times to have done so. It's like. But I'm from, like, I just couldn't get over because, like I said, I'm from a really small town in. And like, I. I just could not get over the sticker shock of it all when we moved here, which we went to, you know, in like 2017. And it's like, I could have done it, and if I had done it then it would have been infinitely better.
- [15:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [15:14]
Trey Crowder
But then. But finally it was just like, well, you know, I. We got to. Or we just never will. So this past year, we bought a house in Burbank, and I've been like, tour like, every single weekend since then.
- [15:25]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But, dude, I bought a house 25 years ago in Venice beach. And at the time, everybody's like, you're crazy. This market is out of control. It's so high. It always goes up. And the thing is, you're going to be living there, so all that matters is what's your nut every month? Can you pay that? Then it doesn't matter if your prices are going up or down. It's your nuts. Stays the same.
- [15:46]
Trey Crowder
Well, I was asking, like, fancy people when I moved out here, like the president of Warner Brothers TV at the time, and people like that. Yeah, about, like, buying a house or whatever versus renting. And even people, like, with a lot of people at the time said versions of what you just said where it was like, they're like, oh, this is. This whole. This is some kind of bubble. This will have to pop soon. It can't go on like this forever. And then it just, you know, I.
- [16:10]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Know, I know people that have been priced out of the market because they've been sitting on the sidelines for 10 years thinking it's gonna dip, and it just kept going.
- [16:18]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [16:19]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You know, at the end of the day, like there's nothing you can spend money on that's any better than a house. To know you own the place. You can put a shelf up, you can knock a wall down, whatever you want to do. It's your house.
- [16:31]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Now it is like, you know, it's one of those like classic Americana type things. You know what I mean?
- [16:38]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did you really put an above ground pool behind your house?
- [16:42]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. How did you know that?
- [16:43]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I saw, I watched your, you know, I watched your special, I watched your clips, really enjoyed it. Spent a nice afternoon going deep on you.
- [16:52]
Trey Crowder
I appreciate that.
- [16:53]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So you really did put it up.
- [16:55]
Trey Crowder
That was at, that. The above ground pool was at the house that we rented that we moved from to this one.
- [17:00]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [17:01]
Trey Crowder
The house I bought, I did not do that. We put it in my landlord's yard or whatever. You know, we broke it down before we left. But yeah, we put an above ground pool back there. You know, we wrapped some bamboo shit around it, gussied it up a little bit.
- [17:15]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
- [17:16]
Trey Crowder
You know, we're not animals.
- [17:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No.
- [17:18]
Trey Crowder
But yeah, and then it was, it never really worked out great because like we didn't, like we then went through, we ended up getting, we got like a heater for an above ground pool, like a heating unit. Because like we didn't understand that, you know, the way the weather works here or whatever. Like it would only get. Because it gets cold again at night.
- [17:42]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [17:42]
Trey Crowder
You know what I mean? Even the summertime it like never. Because.
- [17:44]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [17:45]
Trey Crowder
Like in Tennessee in the summer, if you got a pool or whatever, after couple weeks of summertime, it's just warm from then until.
- [17:53]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [17:53]
Trey Crowder
It cools off again. And we didn't know that it wouldn't work like that here.
- [17:57]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, it's. It's freezing every night.
- [17:59]
Trey Crowder
I know, right? Yeah. And we didn't understand that. So then we ended up buying a heater for an above ground pool. And then. And then by the time we had done that, the novelty had worn off and the boys didn't even want to with it anymore, but they, they did both, like learn to, you know, swim and be comfortable with water stuff in that above ground pool. So it was, you know, it was, it was useful in that way.
- [18:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That's good.
- [18:20]
Trey Crowder
But yeah, I mean, I've like, my whole existence is like, being like, I'm definitely, like the most trailer trashy person in, like, my Burbank neighborhood. Do you know what I mean? Whereas, like, I'm Mr. Hollywood Fancy Pants, you know, back home.
- [18:38]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So you don't fit in either place.
- [18:40]
Trey Crowder
Exactly. Yeah. I'm kind of a man without a country. But in my, like, in our neighborhood, you know, like, I got a Jeep Wrangler, but it's got all this sun damage on it and it's all beat to. And like, my wife immediately pulled our whole front yard up because she was going to do something else with it, but she just hasn't. So it's sitting there all the whole time. We, like, mow our own yard and do all that stuff. Whichever. Like, the other day she asked our neighbor for permission to paint the side of our neighbor's, like, garage or shed that's, you know, butts up against our property or whatever. And the neighbor was like, yeah, that's fine. So just, you know, let me know when you get it scheduled, you know, when the workers are going to be here and all that. Just so I know. And, you know, we were like. Well, you. What are you talking. You know, we were just. We were just gonna.
- [19:23]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Right, right.
- [19:24]
Trey Crowder
You know, people don't think about that.
- [19:26]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Can you let us know when the Mexicans will be arriving for them? We hate to be surprised by that.
- [19:33]
Trey Crowder
We like to put it on the. The neighborhood Facebook page the day before. Just everybody knows how many Mexicans are going to be in the neighborhood and at what times.
- [19:41]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That's hilarious. So did you do it yourselves?
- [19:44]
Trey Crowder
I mean, we haven't yet. This is literally just like last week. Okay, so that's the. That's the. The plan.
- [19:49]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Now, was she a redneck, too? I mean, can I say redneck?
- [19:53]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [19:53]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [19:54]
Trey Crowder
All for it. That is like. It's a weird thing because, like, where I, you know, I grew up in, like, I was a kid in the 90s in rural Tennessee. That was the height of Jeff Foxworthy and all that stuff. And it was like, in my hometown, it was just a. I don't know, like, people were like, you know, proud to be rednecks or whatever. They wouldn't have taken, like, offense to it or anything. And then. But I guess that's heavily dependent on where you're from and your sensibilities, all that shit. But I don't give a damn, you know, you call me anything, that's fine. But she's, again, relatively speaking yet, like, I think She's a very. She's like the most California y white woman that I ever met back there because she fucking loves Lululemon and you know, yoga and Starbucks and all that type of. She's very like kind of like crunchy, but at the same time compared down here, I mean. No, she's definitely pretty. Pretty white trash.
- [20:49]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I love that. Starbucks is your reference for like earthy, crunchy.
- [20:54]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, I mean it, I mean it is.
- [20:56]
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's a fast food restaurant.
- [20:58]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, I know, but I mean, that's what I'm saying. But it's like we live my hometown. We didn't have any traffic light lights or like any. We had a Dairy Queen, which. But we didn't have any McDonald's or anything like that. We got a Subway sandwich shop. It was like front page above the fold news.
- [21:14]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, no kidding. Wow.
- [21:16]
Trey Crowder
Which we do have. It's weird that we even have a newspaper, but it's literally one dude in his house. But like it's Deadwood or something. Yeah, one guy who saved up for a printing press in the 80s or something like that and he's been doing it ever since.
- [21:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And it's just ad supported.
- [21:31]
Trey Crowder
Just local and local subscribers.
- [21:33]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right. Oh, I love that. Do you still get a copy of it?
- [21:37]
Trey Crowder
I do not. And I. Well, this isn't why. I was gonna say because. But this is not why. But what's funny about that is like I. My, like I said Subway, front page by the fold news. I got a. A guy who's really good friend of mine, he was kind of like my older brother growing up who like lives out here and is an aspiring actor and has done a bunch of like, you know, commercial work and that type of thing. Or he'll. He'll show up as like the heavy CSI or something every now and then. And he's from my hometown too. And so like when he has done that, like that also is front page news. You know, watch out for ncsi, NCIS or whatever this week because. Because local boy is going to be on there and like, you know, I've been on HBO multiple times. I had a ABC send a crew to my hometown to do a thing there, you know, with me. And because of them and all this stuff.
- [22:27]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And this is for the development deal.
- [22:29]
Trey Crowder
No, like, this was like a fucking like Dateline special. Like you're really. Yeah, like kind of highlighting just how fucked up things are in my hometown, which should have foreseen them not taking very well.
- [22:42]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
- [22:43]
Trey Crowder
But either way, the point is like. And I'VE like never been acknowledged my existence in the. In the paper. Probably because of the political nature of my. You know.
- [22:55]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, yeah, I mean I get. Would you say your town is just solidly red or is or were you part of a small faction of liberal.
- [23:06]
Trey Crowder
So it's weird. Cause I guess it's kind of both because like my. My hometown is weird because when I was growing up there I would have described most people as apolitical. Like in the night they was just kinda like they're all full of shit, fuck em all type of thing.
- [23:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [23:21]
Trey Crowder
But even like general elections. Clay County, Tennessee up until 2008. Don't know what that was about. But up until then it was like a blue county, you know, in every general election. And now it's like hardcore deep ruby red Trump country. Right in the night. There was for years there was a big clothing factory there. Oshkosh Bagash overalls and all that stuff. Yeah. The most whimsically named company to ever murder a whole town. Because they left in the 90s and it just like wrecked my town completely really. And it's been like depression era levels of unemployment and also. So what I like my kitschy little thing that I say, which is true, is that the job showed up forever and the pills showed up for good at the exact same time in the 90s like that factory left. Right. As Oxycontin and Percocets and all that became a thing.
- [24:14]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [24:15]
Trey Crowder
And the combination of that just, I mean ruined my, my hometown. And then that also. So like everything like our. The football team got shitty.
- [24:26]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [24:27]
Trey Crowder
You know what I mean? Like everything went right just off a cliff.
- [24:31]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did you have friends that got on opiates?
- [24:34]
Trey Crowder
Oh, I mean my mom's like, you know, she's in recovery now. But like my mom, my mom was. I was basically raised entirely by my dad because my mom was like not only hooked on opiates but was. She was also like selling them too and got caught doing it and went to jail multiple times.
- [24:51]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No kidding.
- [24:51]
Trey Crowder
When I was a kid.
- [24:52]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Really?
- [24:53]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. So we don't have. And then years later and then my. So we're like, we're. We're all right now. You know, it's like. But you know, we're not like super close because she just wasn't.
- [25:04]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [25:04]
Trey Crowder
You know, she would show up to like, you know, take the guitar my grandma got me for Christmas to pawn it type of thing. Yeah. It's always. Yeah. It's always like some white trash stories are a lot of fun. Yeah, right. So I don't know. But. Well, so it was that type of thing. And my cousin, her. My aunt, her sister, she died. My aunt's son, my first cousin, you know, OD'd and died. His, like I had. I mean, and my family's like, every family in my town is like that. Like, everybody's got people that are, you know, either got hooked on it and didn't make it out or ended up in jail or maybe they're okay now or not. But that's just like how it's. I mean, it's just.
- [25:45]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And the thing I was amazed by is like, where do all the pills come from? Because if it's a small town, there can't be a lot of pharmacies.
- [25:53]
Trey Crowder
It's funny you say that because. Because the way that like the pharmaceutical companies, they like, it's been like, proven now, they like targeted communities like mine, right. For, you know, for like starting the spread of this whole thing or whatever. Because it's like working class people that have a lot of aches and pains and that type of shit.
- [26:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
They work in mines or manufacturing jobs.
- [26:15]
Trey Crowder
Right? Yeah. I mean, that's what happened about. She worked at that factory, fucked her back up at the factory, went to a doctor who prescribed her, you know, Percocets, whatever. And then that was just that.
- [26:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And that doctor had been coached by the pharmaceuticals. Yes.
- [26:27]
Trey Crowder
He had been told these are miracle drugs because the great thing is they're not addictive at all. And like, they told people that. And so it was like a very concerted effort, but. And a lot of people were making a lot of money off of it because they were just giving them out like candy. So my hometown, which I already told you, has no traffic lights and no fast food places, whatever. When I was a kid there, there was four different pharmacies in my hometown.
- [26:52]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No shit.
- [26:53]
Trey Crowder
And one time Geraldo Rivera showed up with a. With a camera crew because they, they did a raid on. On those pharmacies because they were all like, crooked and, you know, giving out pills illicitly and that type of shit. So it's like. No, that. I mean, that's. There was no. No, there should have been one mom and pop pharmacy, period, but there was four all in, like, nice buildings and shit because they were just, you know, hooking everybody up.
- [27:23]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So what happens when those places get raided, get shut down and there suddenly is a dearth of. Dearth is a lack, right?
- [27:31]
Trey Crowder
Yep. Dearth.
- [27:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
There's a lack of pills available. What do people do?
- [27:36]
Trey Crowder
You know? Well, now I mean, it's like, for a lot of people, a lot of places, it's like heroin and then now fent fence, fentanyl, that type of thing. Like, people replace it with that. So.
- [27:48]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Is that what your mom did?
- [27:50]
Trey Crowder
No, she. My mom. So my mom got. She was real wrapped up in it in the height of all that, in the late 90s and 2000s. Yeah, she's. She's been off of that. She still, you know, she still got her issues, but she's been off of that and out of jail since 2011, something like that.
- [28:07]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay, got it.
- [28:08]
Trey Crowder
You know.
- [28:08]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right. So for a while before the crackdown started and the.
- [28:12]
Trey Crowder
Right. Well, what's weird about that? You. They had crackdowns and shit before, but then nothing would happen. Like, the places would stay open, right. The doctors would keep their license and, like, nothing would change. It was weird, right? Every now and then, like, people. There'd be some big raid and everybody would hear about it.
- [28:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [28:29]
Trey Crowder
But then nothing at all changed.
- [28:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [28:32]
Trey Crowder
You know, like, I. But they finally did really crack down on it. And I guess it is different now, but it's still. I mean, you know, I mean, my town is still. Even that notwithstanding, it's still pretty fucked.
- [28:44]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did you ever fuck with it at all?
- [28:47]
Trey Crowder
Not really, but I do kind of get it because I went during that time period When I was 18, I had my wisdom teeth cut out, right. And do. This is such a. Like, this is one of those things was like, I didn't. I'd never been anywhere else. I didn't understand what. What really. My town and my life and everything was like. Like I had no frame of reference for how crazy a lot of this shit was or. But like, there was no dentist or anything in my hometown that could. That could do that. Maybe a wisdom teeth cut out. So there was these people, the. These dentists who, like, would come through in a van, right? Like a traveling band, really, that would come through town in a van.
- [29:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [29:30]
Trey Crowder
And you'd know when they were coming. You make an appointment, and they would, like, you know, cut your teeth out of your hand. And. And so I got my wisdom teeth cut out by the. The van dentist. Right. And they, like, they. You have your wisdom teeth. Did you have them cut out or anything? Or do you have.
- [29:47]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I had one taken out.
- [29:48]
Trey Crowder
Do you know how they, like, typically, they tell you about, like, the possibility of dry sockets and stuff? They're like, don't drink through a straw for this amount of time.
- [29:57]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
- [29:57]
Trey Crowder
Keep them flushed and all this stuff because, like, dude, Literally none of that.
- [30:02]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [30:02]
Trey Crowder
Like, I just showed up, they knocked me out, cut my teeth out, and then like, you know, sent me on my way with a big old bottle of pills. Right.
- [30:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Really?
- [30:10]
Trey Crowder
So, a. I was not told how to take care of any of that. So within a couple weeks, they had all gotten infected. It was disgusting and awful, and now.
- [30:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You got no dentist in town to deal with it.
- [30:22]
Trey Crowder
Right. And. And yeah, so I had to go to, like, the big town nearby where there's a mall and a movie theater to get that.
- [30:28]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Like the crazy city to get.
- [30:30]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, right. Yeah, it really was like the city to me. But it's a place. It's called Cookeville, Tennessee. It's like halfway between Nashville and Knoxville and it's. There's a cow college there. It's like a town of 30,000 people or something. But it was like the major metropolitan area of. Of Putnam county to me. But I went there, got that all dealt with. But they, like I said, they also gave me a big old bottle of pills. And at first I was, you know, I mean, my shit was pretty fucked up at first. So I'm taking. Taking these pills because they help.
- [30:59]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [31:00]
Trey Crowder
But then, you know, fast forward a week or two or whatever it is later, and it's like, this is pretty much okay now. And I'm still taking these pills and just playing Dreamcast room.
- [31:10]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [31:10]
Trey Crowder
You know, because they're pretty awesome.
- [31:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
They're awesome.
- [31:14]
Trey Crowder
And then I. And then they. I ran out and like, I was up finally. And I went to some. I've. I'm so white trash. I also have a cousin named Trey. So my cousin Trey, I went to my. I went to his trailer. Cousin tries trailer and that night to play Halo or some. And I'd run out of my pills. And his dad had a lingering back issue. So he had prescript. He had a script, you know, and I knew that and I never brought it up before.
- [31:47]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [31:48]
Trey Crowder
But I get down there that night and I'm like, hey, what. You know what we should do? We should like, go in the. In the kitchen or the medicine cabin, whatever. We should, like, grab some of your dad's pills, you know, and he immediately was like, what the fuck? No. You know, because he had fucked me. And I genuinely, in my head at that moment, I was like, why are you being a dick about.
- [32:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [32:10]
Trey Crowder
You know, like, that's how I felt. I was like, it's right. They're right there.
- [32:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [32:13]
Trey Crowder
Fucking. It'll be fun. Like, why are you being an asshole?
- [32:16]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [32:16]
Trey Crowder
You know, and he, the whole time was like, dude, what's wrong with you? Like, we're not going to steal my dad's pills. So I, like, left in anger.
- [32:23]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Really?
- [32:24]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. And. But he refused to do it, so we didn't do it. So I had no access to him. And then after. I mean, I probably could have called my mom, but I didn't want to do that, so.
- [32:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So you already knew your mom was in trouble with these kinds of pills, and yet that wasn't, like, a red flag to you not to mess around with them?
- [32:41]
Trey Crowder
I mean, it was, but once I again, I got them, I knew it could really fuck your shit up.
- [32:48]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [32:49]
Trey Crowder
But I. We. None of us yet knew the reality of, like, how they were presented and meaning, like, I knew that had happened to her.
- [32:58]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [32:59]
Trey Crowder
But a doctor had given me these. Right.
- [33:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [33:02]
Trey Crowder
So I was like, so that's fine. And I'm saying by the time I got to the end of it, in retrospect, I realized, like, clearly my, you know, my brain, I wasn't thinking about it. Right. That's what I'm saying. It's like, I didn't. So it fucks up the way you. You think, look at things.
- [33:18]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Slides right in there.
- [33:20]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [33:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
It changes, and then it rewires your brain.
- [33:22]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [33:22]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Once it gets in.
- [33:23]
Trey Crowder
And then I. I couldn't get in. A couple days later, I was like, what the was that about? You know, I realized how crazy that was, and. And that was. That was it. That was my closest ever dalliance. But if he had been on board with that. Yeah. You know, I mean, I. Who I might be, like, cousins. Yeah.
- [33:40]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Well, I mean, I got into a thing where I got shoulder surgery and I'd always, you know, I've been off alcohol for 35 years. I quit when I was like, 25 years old and 25. 23 years old when I quit, 24, and. But I always, you know, took a lot of pills back then, did a lot of coke, and then I would occasionally take, you know, pills for pain. And when I did, I really responded. Like, I was like, wow, this feels. As an addict, you know, I just felt it.
- [34:11]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [34:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So I got shoulder surgery about 10 years ago, and they prescribed me some Percocets or I cameras, Hydrocodone. And then I had a second doctor. So the surgeon wrote me a script. Then my general practitioner wrote me a script, and then I went to, like, a therapist who wrote. So I was getting them from three places, and then I had a friend who could get them from a doctor So I went, like, for six months where I was taken, like three or four a day. And I was in such denial, right, That I was getting into trouble with this.
- [34:45]
Trey Crowder
Right? Because the problem is surgery. I have a problem. Doctors told me to do this.
- [34:49]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right? And the problem is, it gets into your receptors, your endorphin receptors or your whatever. Whatever. The chemical that makes you feel good. Yeah, you have receptors. Yeah, dopamine receptors. It clogs them up so that now you. The normal dopamine your body produces doesn't get in because the drugs are in there, and it's synthetic. And so you. To withdraw means to not feel anything good until those clear themselves out, which is why it's so impossible to get off of them.
- [35:24]
Trey Crowder
Right. How. How long ago was that, did you say?
- [35:27]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Like, probably eight years ago.
- [35:29]
Trey Crowder
Right? Because that. The other. The other side of this is like, I. These, like, mythical doctors, you just show up and it's like, you know, like that famous Mulaney bit about, like, oh, I'll just go there. And I say sometimes I get nervous on airplanes, and they'll give you Xanax or whatever. And, like, my buddy Joe Zimmerman had a bit about. Like, he said he went to the doctor and told him. He's like, I think I have adhd. You know, like, talking about Adderall. And the doctor was like, well, let me ask you one question. Do you have insurance? And he was like, yeah, I do. And the doctor goes, yeah, you got it right. And, like, I hear people talking, and again, in my hometown, I know it was like that, but I've never had that experience. Like, I go like. I'm like, nearly on my deathbed, coughing with some sort of horrible bronchial infection or something like that, and I can't. And, you know, they'll. Maybe they just can tell. Maybe they just know he's from a fucking addict's bloodline. Like, we can't trust it. But they just never got a camo.
- [36:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Hat on, like, many opiates, right?
- [36:26]
Trey Crowder
Yes, exactly. Like, but when I, like, need something, you know, like legit cough syrup or something like that, I can't get it.
- [36:33]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [36:33]
Trey Crowder
Because they're so. You know, they're so wary about that whole thing.
- [36:36]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right.
- [36:37]
Trey Crowder
But then I hear people talk about it. It's like every doctor I go to, it's just like, you have these. You should have these. Here's some of these.
- [36:42]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Now, I was in South Africa for Christmas, and I had a year. Yeah. For three weeks. And I got a really bad chest cold on My way over and I started being able to like not breathe. So I went to the pharmacy and I asked her, I go, give me your strongest cough medicine. And they gave me this bottle is a codeine on it.
- [36:59]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [37:00]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And I knew I was. Shouldn't fuck around with it, but I, I took it and it did feel if it fucking worked and it felt really good.
- [37:08]
Trey Crowder
I still, even after everything with my family and all that, I feel like especially, you know, if as you get older and everything, if you're really fucked up, if you're like, you're sick for real, you can't stop coughing or like, you know, you're in genuine pain, you know, I think that responsible adults should be able to get and take that.
- [37:28]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
- [37:29]
Trey Crowder
It's up to them to not get, you know, hooked on it again. Especially now.
- [37:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [37:32]
Trey Crowder
But it's like it was just misrepresented to a lot of people.
- [37:35]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. So your dad took over. Was he. Because did he have a. Did you have a stepmom or did he have a girlfriend or. He just kind of stood up and.
- [37:44]
Trey Crowder
He had one girlfriend right after that. They split up when I was seven. He had a girlfriend when I was probably eight or nine. And then that was it. From there he got. Yeah, he ran the video store in my little town, which was a converted single wide trailer that he put these letters on it said Crowders on the side. So it was Crowders video. But again it was the video store in that town. So we rented. And buddy. The back room with the curtain where the big box pornos were at. That's what kept the lights on. Really?
- [38:15]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh yeah.
- [38:16]
Trey Crowder
All these Christians having to come in there one at a time to go out there and get there.
- [38:21]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, that's hilarious.
- [38:23]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. And. But we. So he was so he was like a long haired, like weed smoking, jean jacket wearing fucking, you know, rock and roll hippie dude. Like he didn't fuck with the Lord. So I didn't grow up in church, which is weird for, for there.
- [38:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [38:40]
Trey Crowder
And. And he liked, you know, he liked fucking David lynch movies and David Bowie and that type of thing. So that's, that's what started. You asked me if I'm like from a pocket or a faction of, you know, queers. But like I'm. But I am kind of, I mean like a lot of people at the end of the day, I am sort of the way that I was raised to be. Really. Because I. Because again, he was very much an outlier in that town. Like I said, he didn't send Me to church. A big part of that, I think for him, his brother, his only sibling. His brother, my Uncle Tim is gay.
- [39:10]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [39:11]
Trey Crowder
And so like, oh, right.
- [39:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That was a big effect on you in terms of not.
- [39:15]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [39:15]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Not liking the way the church treated gay people.
- [39:18]
Trey Crowder
Right. So, yeah. Why I kind of didn't even grow up going to. When I was real little, I went to church and thought nothing. It's like, oh, you know, coloring books with Jesus in them or whatever then because my dad. My parents got divorced and was just my dad. He didn't make us go to church.
- [39:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [39:33]
Trey Crowder
By the time I went back to church because I had friends who were. They were like, oh, we're going to take a trip to Nashville Shores or whatever. The churches was like, well, that sounds fun. I want it. So. And I tried church out at like 12, 13 or whatever. I knew that my Uncle Tim was gay and I would like, you know, hear to Stu, you know, homosexuality being an abomination and that type of shit.
- [39:55]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [39:56]
Trey Crowder
At that age. And that's when I was just like, well, I don't want to fuck with that. And when I told my dad, you know, he was just like, hell yeah, I don't fuck with it either.
- [40:05]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You know, your dad with his brother, there was no.
- [40:09]
Trey Crowder
Oh, no. They were very close. My dad. My dad died of pancreatic cancer in 2013. So he's been gone for a long time now. Uncle Tim is still around, but they were very close. And they're like six years apart too. But, I mean, they were tight.
- [40:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And how did the town react to your uncle's?
- [40:23]
Trey Crowder
That's another thing that's weird about my. It's like. It's a weird place because, like, it is very crazy. White trash redneck in so many ways. But at the same time, like before that aforementioned factory Left in the 90s, right. My uncle and his partner, my other uncle, my uncle Tim and my uncle Mike, right. They owned a deli together on the town square called the New Day Deli that they.
- [40:56]
Greg Fitzsimmons
The New Day Deli Deli.
- [40:59]
Trey Crowder
They ran together and everybody knew they were a gay couple. And it was like the deli did well. It was popular, like a lot of people out there, and it was fighting like nobody ever threw a brick through his window.
- [41:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But they did call it the new gay deli behind the garage.
- [41:12]
Trey Crowder
I'm sure that sports. They did. Yeah. Well, that definitely. Because, I mean, I got. I got, you know, like uncle, like nephew. Because, like, I also. I read. I liked books and shit. Super gay.
- [41:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [41:24]
Trey Crowder
You know so, like, that plus a gay uncles. Like, I got a lot of it. But.
- [41:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But like I said, me spirited or teasing?
- [41:31]
Trey Crowder
I mean, both. Yeah, there were some, like, real redneck, dumbass motherfuckers who I. I think also just kind of resented me because. Because I was also, like, the smart kid in my school. I liked books, but I, like, made good grades. And I was like. I was. I was a smart kid in my school, which I realized now, looking back, I realize that's like being the straightest dude at a Cher concert or something. Like, it's not. Yeah, the bar is pretty low. It's not that impressive. But I. But I didn't know that. And at the time, I mean, I thought I was hot shit intellectually.
- [42:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [42:01]
Trey Crowder
Like, I graduated that school truly believing that I was like, goodwill hunting. Like, I thought I was that type of genius.
- [42:08]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [42:09]
Trey Crowder
And so, you know, I mean, frankly, to be fair to them, I was definitely pretty pompous. And, you know, like, I just thought I was. I didn't think I was smarter. I was utterly convinced of the fact that I was way smarter than everybody else around me, you know?
- [42:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Do you think part of it was just that there. Is there a culture there where studying is not acceptable or cool?
- [42:31]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, well, it's definitely not cool. I mean, it's like, acceptable, I guess, but like. Yeah, like.
- [42:37]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But the cool kids are more into sports.
- [42:39]
Trey Crowder
100%. That's the only thing that's cool is playing sports. So, like. And I played sports and also let a lot of athletes cheat off of me. Right? Like, cheat off my copy, my homework and stuff. So, like, my school was so small. There's no clicks like you see in high school movies, people for clicks. No, there's just. There's literally just. There's. You're either popular or popular. Ish. Or you're not.
- [43:04]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, right.
- [43:04]
Trey Crowder
Like, that's all there is. And I was one of the. I was in, like, the popular group because my best friends were the captain of the football team and the homecoming.
- [43:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because you let.
- [43:14]
Trey Crowder
Because I let them copy off of me. And also because I was funny and all that. And I was on the teams, but I was not good, you know, but that's how I, like, survived. But in, like, middle school, socially, I mean. But in middle school and shit. Yeah. I mean, people. I used. Like I said I used to get just ripped. People would. Like a kid, they literally would be like, trey fucking. You know what he thinks is fun is reading. He reads books for fun. That's what. Like, that type of Shit, yeah. And would.
- [43:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
What about the girls? Did you get any girls?
- [43:41]
Trey Crowder
They were like. I'm sorry to say, they were like the worst about that. Like, there was this group of girls. It's so, so pathetic. But I got like kind of bullied by a group of girls. They would chant because of the like, reading for fun thing and all that stuff. They would chant, you know, trey is gay. My name rhymes with gay Trey. And I've got a gay uncle. Trey is gay, Trey is gay. And not in a happy way. That's how they would. That's what they came up with. Really? Yeah. And that was a good. Like, the dudes were cool mostly.
- [44:11]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So were you a virgin until you got out of high school?
- [44:14]
Trey Crowder
No, I was a little bit off astray. Yeah. Yes, very. Yes. Also this again. Some of the shit that's true about my background is wild how white trash it is. The girl that I lost my virginity to, later, her dad would murder my uncle in cold blood for a completely unrelated thing.
- [44:36]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Different uncle?
- [44:37]
Trey Crowder
Yes. Not Uncle Tim. My uncle Bubbles. Rest in peace.
- [44:40]
Greg Fitzsimmons
This is your father's brother?
- [44:41]
Trey Crowder
No, it's my mom's. It was my aunt. It was my aunt's husband, my mom. So it was like my uncle in law, but they were like together my whole life. He was always like, great to me, but he was like. Both of those dudes were not great. Like, my uncle Bubbles was in and out of prison my whole childhood and was like a motherfucker, you know? Like, he literally. He just. Any kind of redneck criminality you came up with, he was involved with. But the dude, the girl that I lost my virginity to, her dad, the guy that killed him, he also was a huge piece of shit.
- [45:11]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So is it like a drug deal gone wrong or something?
- [45:14]
Trey Crowder
Way dumber than that. It's like they. My younger cousin and her. Me and her were. I was already gone when all this happened. And me and her had had nothing to do with each other in a long, long. So I'm completely separate from this. But it's a small town. Her younger sister and my younger cousin. My uncle's son.
- [45:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [45:33]
Trey Crowder
Were had been a couple. And then like, there was drama between them. Cheating and a breakup and whatever else. And that led the dads to start shit with each other over a high school relationship. Yeah, no, I was. Yeah.
- [45:47]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So he killed a guy over his child's breakup.
- [45:51]
Trey Crowder
Yes. But I think. Look, man, I should. This was like 20 something years ago. Okay, so we should put. We should put allegedly in front.
- [45:58]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay, Allegedly. Right, right.
- [45:59]
Trey Crowder
Because I don't. Because this is like, we're talking about murder and slander and stuff. I know I haven't said any, any names here, but still, I mean, other than Bubbles. But I guess the, the. The story was they were talking a lot of. To each other in the whole thing. Bubbles, like, I'll come out there and like, went to his house and had a gun on him, and he's now on this guy's property with a gun. And then the dude shoots him.
- [46:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Which is a right to stand your ground.
- [46:26]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, exactly. That's the version of it that I always was given to believe. You know, I don't know exactly how it shook out, but just, you know, crazy white trash. But that, but his daughter that lost my virginity to. I think I was 16, like halfway to 17 or something, because I finally figured out I also, on top of all this, I was a fat kid, right?
- [46:46]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No.
- [46:47]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, big time. And. And in high school.
- [46:50]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Way to bury the lead on that one. She told me that earlier.
- [46:53]
Trey Crowder
Fat dork. And I'm still a doughy motherfucker. But I mean, I was like a fat kid. And I. In high school around that time, I got a big growth spurt and also, if this is true, realized that liquids had calories in them, because I did not know that. And like I said, I was the smart kid in my school too, but I didn't realize that I thought only food could make you fat.
- [47:19]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So soda you're talking about.
- [47:20]
Trey Crowder
I was drinking. So, like, the year before, I actually lost weight. I had, like, tried to just stop eating as much. I was basically starving myself and I wasn't losing any weight. And I was like, what the fuck is going on? I was very frustrated by it. And one day I came home from school and I did the same thing I did every day when I got home from school, which is I went to the refrigerator and I pulled out the bottle of Sunny D, Right?
- [47:40]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [47:41]
Trey Crowder
And just, you know, took three, four big plugs of it, shoved it back in there. This day, when I shoved it back in there, the back of the bottle was facing me, the nutrition information. I shoved it back in there, went to close the door, and I was like, what the fuck? And I, like, grabbed it and looked at it. I. No way. It said, you know, one serving of sunny days, 180 calories or whatever it was. And I was like, why did somebody tell me this is crazy? And so then I stopped drinking everything but water or booze if I was at a party, but I stopped drinking sodas. Sugary drinks, any of that shit. And I had a growth spurt, so like, sophomore to junior year, those two things combined, I lost like 40 pounds and shot up six inches. And so that. That helped a lot. I was still a fucking, you know, smart kid, nerd or whatever. Yeah.
- [48:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I'm guessing this girl you lost your virginity to wasn't Slim either.
- [48:33]
Trey Crowder
No, not particularly. Okay, yeah, well, Salina Slim, you know. Okay. Yeah, that was actually her dad's name. He was a riverboat gambler and a criminal. Salana Slim.
- [48:46]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So you. So your dad. Were you guys close then? And do you have siblings?
- [48:52]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, I have one younger sister.
- [48:54]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So your dad. I just can't believe your dad was able to step up like that and raise two kids on his own and put you through college and grad school. Or, I mean, not put. You maybe didn't pay for it. No, he supported you through it.
- [49:08]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, yeah. And also all, like, comedy and stuff, too, because, like I said, because he ran the video store and. Yeah, his. His dad, my grandfather was like, really the patriarch of the family, and he was an old gearhead who, like, built and race stock cars in the 50s and 60s.
- [49:22]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Really.
- [49:22]
Trey Crowder
Shit. And now he owned a garage and a car lot and all that shit, all of which also closed when the factory left. But he. He was, like, real man's man type dude. And. But he had the position of, like, he knew I was smart and make good grades, and he was like, that's good. You're not going to do any, like, grease monkey shit. He was like, you can do whatever you want to do. But what he meant by that was, like, I could be a lawyer, a doctor, you know, I could do some fancy businessman stuff or whatever because I was smart. And so when I'm like, a teenager, whatever, and I tell him I want to do comedy and show business, you know, he's just like. He's like, fucking what? Yeah, he's like, no, you've got a golden ticket. You're throwing it away. What are you doing? Yeah, but my dad, the whole time was like, I think that'd be cool as hell, boy. Like, he.
- [50:06]
Greg Fitzsimmons
He was.
- [50:07]
Trey Crowder
He was very on board with it.
- [50:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [50:09]
Trey Crowder
And so he was. He couldn't have been more support. We had no money and. Yeah, I mean, I put, you know, I had, like, a bunch of grants and scholarships and stuff to get through college and worked the whole time, too. But, like. But, like, emotionally and all that, he couldn't have been more supportive. He was like, yeah. I mean, me and my sister talk all the time about how, like, we're statistical outliers in a lot of ways. Like, we are, like, background and everything and where we are not dead or in jail or hooked on drugs and all that type of shit.
- [50:37]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [50:38]
Trey Crowder
But, like, I mean, the truth is that's pretty much entirely because of my dad. Like, if my dad had not done that and been that way, then I, you know, I probably would be, you know, turned out the same way as a lot of my cousins did.
- [50:51]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so you grew up on the. Sort of on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.
- [50:55]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [50:56]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And what is the difference between those two states? Because a lot of us don't know.
- [51:00]
Trey Crowder
Well, I mean, where I'm at. So, like, that's north, middle Tennessee and south, Middle Kentucky. I mean, fucking literally nothing.
- [51:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [51:09]
Trey Crowder
Like, this side of the line, it's, you know, Big Blue, and this side of the line is Go Vols. And that's. That. That's really about it. But generally, Kentucky is a lot more nuanced of a state, in my opinion, than Tennessee is. I, like, parts of Kentucky are very, like, east Kentucky coal country shit is like hillbilly as hell. And it's very much like the South. And like, the part that I grew up across from, it's the fucking south, you know, but as you get up into Kentucky. And also they, you know, they were neutral in the Civil War and all that. They weren't part of the Confederacy.
- [51:44]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, that's right. That's right.
- [51:45]
Trey Crowder
They were one of the three or four. They were a slave state, but we're not part. They didn't secede, not in the Confederacy. So it's like, you know, it's a.
- [51:54]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So their slaves weren't as tightly guarded. They were like, free range.
- [51:59]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. I actually think it's more like they. Just because they were cool with. Because they didn't succeed at first. The Union was just like, for a minute they were like, we'll let them have slaves for a second until they couldn't anymore. But so, because of all that.
- [52:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But then you got like, Lexington, right?
- [52:15]
Trey Crowder
Louisville. Lexington. That up there is like.
- [52:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's horse country.
- [52:19]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Right. There's people with money and horses and stuff. It's more basketball than football oriented. And like Louisville. I was just in Louisville. And like, I like Louisville a lot.
- [52:30]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Love Louisville.
- [52:31]
Trey Crowder
It doesn't. It. It does not feel like, you know, like a Southern city or anything to me now. But parts of Kentucky, whereas, I mean, Tennessee is just. I mean, it's the fucking south all the way through it.
- [52:42]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Except Nashville.
- [52:43]
Trey Crowder
Well, yeah, I Mean, but I found that. I mean, even. Even Nashville. Nashville is where like frat boys from Ohio go to cosplay as a redneck or whatever. You know what I mean? So it's like it. They got a whole kitschy fucking cowboy hat and, you know, boots type yee haul thing, and all the women are.
- [52:59]
Greg Fitzsimmons
There dressed up in Daisy Duke shorts and cowboy boots.
- [53:04]
Trey Crowder
Right. And they do all that because of how, you know, it's like we're going to the south for a thing. Right. But I mean, yes, the city, you know, like, Memphis is black as hell, obviously.
- [53:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [53:14]
Trey Crowder
And not at all redneck, but still Southern in a black Southern type of way. And like, there's. I've found that most states in this country, the cities are, you know, different than the other parts, obviously. Like, when I drive, there's parts of California I drive through that look like. I mean, maybe not topographically, but culturally look like, you know, parts of middle of nowhere in Tennessee.
- [53:37]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right. Yeah. So which brings us to your politics coming out of there. What's it like when you go on the road? I mean, I assume you attract most of your audience.
- [53:52]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [53:52]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But there also must be a certain percentage of passive people. Say you're playing Chattanooga, Tennessee, which I think is coming up on your calendar.
- [54:00]
Trey Crowder
It is. Yeah.
- [54:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Then you go into a place like that, say 20% of the people come in because it's the Chattanooga Comedy Club.
- [54:07]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [54:08]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And they don't know your politics. Do you get pushback and how do you deal with that?
- [54:12]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, that whole thing is definitely a thorn in my side because, like, I. Even in front of my, like, regular. If I know it's just all my people. Right. I still don't. I would say 80 plus percent of the stuff that I try to do is not, like, overtly political or whatever, but I have this thing in my head where it's like, I want to give, you know, I want to give them what I think they came for.
- [54:40]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because you're, You're, You're. Your Internet following is much more political.
- [54:43]
Trey Crowder
Very. Yeah. Right, Right. And so what I typically try to do generally is like, I'll start right out the gate with like 10ish minutes of stuff that's pretty overtly political, you know, to just. So people that came to see me are like, oh, he's doing the thing. He did the thing. And then after that, I just talk about whatever I want to.
- [55:02]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [55:03]
Trey Crowder
But I tried to have a read on what you're talking about. And it. Sometimes it works out better than others where it's like, sometimes I'm in a club because I also. I'll do like in Chattanooga. That's like a smaller, ish theater. Like, sometimes it's theaters and not clubs.
- [55:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [55:20]
Trey Crowder
And those people, they're not getting a lot of, like, passive.
- [55:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [55:24]
Trey Crowder
Just regular it. Those are. Those people I'm actively fans are fans of mine are there to see me, so I'm not worried about it.
- [55:30]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [55:30]
Trey Crowder
And then in some clubs, I, you know, if I have a sense that. That I'm getting a good number of those people, I, you know, I try to fucking rein it back in.
- [55:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [55:39]
Trey Crowder
I don't want to. I don't want.
- [55:41]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Does it happen, though? Yeah.
- [55:43]
Trey Crowder
Oh, yeah, it happens.
- [55:44]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And how do you deal with that?
- [55:45]
Trey Crowder
Well, I say it's happened. Luckily, so far it's happened in a way. It's like, you know, every now and then I'll walk a table.
- [55:51]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Sure.
- [55:51]
Trey Crowder
Something and.
- [55:52]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But they quietly walk.
- [55:53]
Trey Crowder
Yes. So far I haven't.
- [55:55]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Which I love. I love quietly walking a table.
- [55:57]
Trey Crowder
Oh, yeah, that's fine with me.
- [55:59]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [55:59]
Trey Crowder
But I. I haven't. I mean, the type of heckling I get and stuff usually is, like, drunk fans of mine that are, like, overly excited.
- [56:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So, you know. Yeah. Because I found that, first of all, I respect that you still do it at all, because I know a lot of comics, they. They talk a good game when they're in LA or New York, and then they go down to the Houston Improv, and. And all sudden they're not doing the same material. And it's like, well, your material should be strong enough that you can do it no matter where you are. Your jokes should work. They should be, you know, mathematically good jokes. And so I think it's important that you do that. And I think that there's more of a fear of backlash than a reality of it. I think it's pretty rare that somebody with a MAGA hat is going to yell up, you know, make America great again, like, after one of your jokes. Like, most people just go with it. They may not like it, they may leave, but they don't really yell that much.
- [56:55]
Trey Crowder
I know, I agree. I mean, that's been my experience too. And yeah, I tried it. Like, I said, a lot of, like, again, the stuff I do at the very top, if I might, if I'm on a tour show and for my people, this. The first five or ten minutes is. Is going to be, you know, pretty overt. But a lot of the stuff that I taught, and I've always been this way too, like, even that's nothing too. That's wild is like. So I started in Knoxville and then in the surrounding areas, Chattanooga, Nashville, Atlanta, all that.
- [57:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right.
- [57:21]
Trey Crowder
15 years ago. And. And back then do like the most fucking whatever edgy or punk rock type thing you could do would be like bits that I guess people would call woke now but you know, making fun of the Bible on the Bible or doing a pro abortion joke or pro gay jokes and that type of thing.
- [57:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [57:40]
Trey Crowder
And it was like, you know, again, that was. That made you a fucking fire brand then and there you were like pushing the envelope. And so I did that. Now it's like a completely different everything that just the context and you know, now it's like pandering or whatever.
- [57:55]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [57:56]
Trey Crowder
But I try to do things that are like. Like I got a whole big chunk right now that I'm doing about the idea of woke schools. Woke public schools. And I talk about my. I went to a public school and how not woke it was. My sons go to a public school out here and it is woke.
- [58:16]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [58:16]
Trey Crowder
And I. And it's the type of stuff that I really do think that like generally it is like it's talking about stuff, but it's something that I would do in front of a mixed audience or general audience or because, you know, like I was in. I did that. I was in Springfield, Missouri early recently and Kyle Kanane was at the club I was at the next night. And so the night before I went and did spots on his show, you know, and it's. It's his audience but. But they don't. Most of them don't know who I am or whatever. And I did a bunch. Tried a bunch of that new stuff that, you know, because I want to make sure that it's like. Yeah. That it's not just. I hate the idea of. I mean, pandering one. But Clapter especially, like I try to.
- [59:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [59:01]
Trey Crowder
Because I think there's. It's kind of. It can be two different things. Like you could, you know, you can like. I mean, I'm not going to lie. There's some stuff I do every now and then that I know is kind of pandering, but I still do think that it's funny or like there's a funny joke in it. You know, Clapter is like, like it's just saying something that people agree with.
- [59:18]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right.
- [59:19]
Trey Crowder
There's no joke at all. And I try genuinely very hard to not do that.
- [59:23]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And I also think that the way you broach the subject, you know, obviously some people are more likable than others. So if you're a likable comic, you can usually take the crowd places that they wouldn't normally go.
- [59:35]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [59:36]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But it's also about not yelling out platitudes and going walking on and go, well, Trump's a. And here's why. It's like, no, go to the. Here's why.
- [59:45]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [59:45]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then if they want to extrapolate whatever they want from it, they can. Obviously your point of view is going to come through, but you're not making them sign on to the premise at the beginning or reject the premise at the beginning.
- [59:57]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [59:58]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You know, there's ways of doing it and I do a lot of anti gun jokes in the Deep south and I see people and I, I know my rhythm has to be a little faster.
- [60:09]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [60:09]
Greg Fitzsimmons
At that beginning when I'm introducing that I'm anti gun.
- [60:12]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Right.
- [60:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Don't give them a window or they will take it.
- [60:15]
Trey Crowder
Right. Yeah, yeah, that's. I mean, I got a, like, so I have a thing. I talk about my son's school or whatever, and I talk about how they have a land acknowledgment, like an office or whatever, which is where. And I, I genuinely think that a lot of people in other places, like, don't know what that is. Right, right. So I say it's like, that's like where they started. Start the day off by saying, we acknowledge that the land we are on was unjustly taken away from the indigenous peoples of the Insert tribes here, depending on where you're at geographically. Right. And a lot of times my crowd, people will like clap for that, you know, just because they're like, that's a great thing to do.
- [60:49]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [60:49]
Trey Crowder
But what I say right after that is, like, which, I mean, I get what they're doing, but I can't help but find it a little bit funny. Cause I feel like the underlying implication of that is, I mean, don't get me wrong, we're still gonna keep it.
- [60:59]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Like, we're not.
- [61:01]
Trey Crowder
You can't just have it back. All of our stuff's here. Yeah.
- [61:04]
Greg Fitzsimmons
But just giving a shout out.
- [61:05]
Trey Crowder
So it's like sometimes people will like. I'm explaining it and people will like clap at that part. But then the, the joke itself is like making fun of performative wokeness or whatever. Do you know what I mean?
- [61:18]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah, yeah. And it's also like, I have an abortion joke that seems like it's going to be pro choice. And it's actually kind of an indictment of how Lazy people are about getting an abortion, you know, and how entitled they are to the abortion instead of, like, way. And so. And I love catching women in that trap. Or I'll say, like. Or I'll say, like, God is whatever you want God to be. God's a manifestation of whatever you think the higher power is. And, like, God can be a man or a woman. Like, my God's a woman. And then women clap, and I go, she got big tits and she's quiet. And you just see that the smile turns into a frown.
- [62:04]
Trey Crowder
Right? Yes. No. Yeah, I love that. And I try to do versions of that, you know, type of thing.
- [62:10]
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, I want to get into Fast Dogs. Whoa. For Trey. Trey Crowler. I wrote Crawler.
- [62:15]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, Trey Crowder.
- [62:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
We got it. Right. So I want to talk a little bit about the. The sitcoms, because you've had three deals now. Are they all the same idea and different executions of it?
- [62:33]
Trey Crowder
The three deals that I had, yes. Were. I also sold another sitcom that I worked on with some other people that had nothing to do with any of that. None of which ended up going. But, like, I had three development deals that ended up in network sitcoms that. Yes. Were the classic, like, comedian gets a sitcom about it. So, like, semi autobiographical. Most of them had some version of, like, I'm moving back to a version.
- [62:57]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Of Fish out of Water. Right, right.
- [62:59]
Trey Crowder
And, you know, he's a fish out of water, even though he's from here. And that was kind of set up. And then for. I sold a show to Amazon that I didn't have a development deal for that I just worked with these people on, and it was. Had nothing to do with me. It was a complete. It was like a country music show.
- [63:16]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [63:16]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, but the ones from the deals were. Yeah, same.
- [63:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
- [63:21]
Trey Crowder
Versions of the same thing.
- [63:22]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Well, that's good. I mean, everybody says they're looking. Everybody in development says, we're looking for a strong point of view. And it's like, well, you fucking have one. You should have a show.
- [63:31]
Trey Crowder
Tell me about it. I've been thinking that for a long time. You hear the stuff about the point of view, and it's like, well, with my point of view, it's like people, executives and stuff. I mean, I think they like the. The idea of it or something, and then they don't know exactly how to deal with the reality of the whole thing. You know what I mean? They just don't really know what to do because it's so the world. I'm trying to represent Especially in shows that are, like, set in, like, versions of my hometown and shit. It's just so fucking alien to these Hollywood studio executives, you know, that, like, they don't. I mean, they can't connect with it, but they don't understand why I think it's funny.
- [64:04]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Or they'll Mayberry, right?
- [64:05]
Trey Crowder
They'll be like, is this right? It's like fucking, you know, pill addicted white trash Mayberry. It's like, yeah, fucking, you know, the Mayberry in hell right there. And they're just, you know, and it. They just. They don't get things. But also they'll be like, is that. Is this real? You should tone this down. And they'll be like, I already did tone that down before I even put it in there. Yeah, like, that type of shit is what I just kept running into.
- [64:30]
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, top three Southern comedians of all time.
- [64:35]
Trey Crowder
Jesus. Of all time, man. That's hard. You put me on the spot. I mean, I. In modern comedians. I mean, my guy, love him. I'm going to put Roy Wood Jr. At the top right now. Roy from. From Alabama. Think he's awesome. And these are. If you asked me tomorrow, I'd have a different list, but the first ones that, like, popped into my head, I guess. Let's see. I also, I mean, look again. I grew up loving Foxworthy is like the redneck Seinfeld or whatever. Like, he's like our guy.
- [65:08]
Greg Fitzsimmons
He's amazing.
- [65:08]
Trey Crowder
A lot to him. Next week, probably Ron White, you know.
- [65:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah. How about Theo Vaughn? Are you friends with him?
- [65:15]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, yeah, I know and love Theo. Yes. He's great, right? Yeah. Again, I just, you know, thought of those three guys first. But the. I think Theo's one of the funniest human beings alive.
- [65:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So funny.
- [65:25]
Trey Crowder
I mean, he's crazy funny.
- [65:27]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, he really is. He's just like, got something special. You can't fake that kind of funny. And then what about Andy Griffith?
- [65:37]
Trey Crowder
The. Like the actor or the show or the.
- [65:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, he was a comedian.
- [65:41]
Trey Crowder
Yes, he was. Yes, right. You're right. Yes. I mean, I know the football bit was. Was football.
- [65:46]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yep. Yeah.
- [65:48]
Trey Crowder
I don't. I've always. I've always heard that he was like a pretty big dick.
- [65:53]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, really?
- [65:54]
Trey Crowder
Yes. Right? Yeah.
- [65:55]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That's hilarious.
- [65:56]
Trey Crowder
I've just heard. Not saying it's true, I don't know, but allegedly, that's what I'd heard. I met this, like, old boy who was like a roadie for fucking Southern rock band for years, who had a story about meeting him when he was a Kid. And Andy Griffith, well, he's like 8. And Andy Griffith told him to go fuck himself at 8 years old or whatever. But that's not the only. I've heard other stuff like that, too.
- [66:18]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I wonder what. What Opie has to say about him.
- [66:23]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Ron Howard.
- [66:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [66:25]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. I don't know. It's a good question. I've never heard him talk about him.
- [66:28]
Greg Fitzsimmons
He doesn't talk about people. That's why he's lasted so long in this business.
- [66:31]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [66:32]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Are we gonna do a thing now called Fastballs with fits?
- [66:35]
Trey Crowder
Okay.
- [66:36]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You ready?
- [66:37]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. See how my swing is? Probably not great.
- [66:41]
Greg Fitzsimmons
What's the last fist fight you've had?
- [66:45]
Trey Crowder
College in a bar over a stupid girlfriend I had at the time who she was being obnoxious and started, you know, and some dude told her to stop, and I told him to, you know, go fuck himself or whatever. And then we just. I had a bunch of guys with me. I had a bunch of guys with him. So it just devolves into a fucking. One of those, like, cartoon smoke cloud melees, like, immediately but briefly before, you know, bouncers jump in and throw us all out. I don't even remember what she did, but remembering that girl, like, it was.
- [67:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Definitely the way that party started. I thought you were gonna say, so I punched her in the face. Much better.
- [67:18]
Trey Crowder
Well, in retrospect, I mean, I would have been all right with that if one of them had done it. You know, she kind of, looking back, she didn't not deserve it.
- [67:27]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [67:28]
Trey Crowder
But at the time, you know, I'm going to do. Yeah, that was in Panama City, Florida. Where else?
- [67:34]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Was it a spring break?
- [67:35]
Trey Crowder
Yes, spring break.
- [67:37]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Everybody's looking for a fight, right? Well, the problem is.
- [67:40]
Trey Crowder
Tiki bar at the Sandpiper Beacon. Shout out to one of the most trashiest, degenerate places on Earth.
- [67:46]
Greg Fitzsimmons
The problem is with spring break is that guys have this vision of going down there. They've seen movies and there's tons of chicks in bikinis. And you get there and you realize there's five guys for every girl. And they're mostly football teams.
- [68:00]
Trey Crowder
Yes.
- [68:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So you don't stand a chance, Right?
- [68:03]
Trey Crowder
That's true. The dudes that I was with in that bar, they were. They were football players. And the other guys probably were, too. So it's also one of those things where it's like, if these dudes hadn't been with me, I might have just been like, get your fucking shit together. Don't talk shit to that guy. You see how big that guy is?
- [68:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. You look at him and go, what's with this?
- [68:20]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, right. Yeah.
- [68:23]
Greg Fitzsimmons
What? Let's see. Have you ever borrowed a lot of money? We talked about college.
- [68:31]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Like, from anybody?
- [68:33]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [68:35]
Trey Crowder
I mean, like, so not a mortgage, not a car?
- [68:39]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, no, no.
- [68:40]
Trey Crowder
I mean, no, I've always been real proud about, like, I've been, like, totally financially independent since I was 18. And also something about the way that I was raised the way that I am. I have, like a deep seated aversion to asking people for stuff or for help or just for anything.
- [68:56]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right.
- [68:57]
Trey Crowder
Like, no, I'll take care of myself, I'll be all right type thing. So I don't think I've ever bought, you know, more than like, oh, I forgot my wallet gave me 40 bucks for this.
- [69:05]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Have you lent anybody a lot of money?
- [69:07]
Trey Crowder
I mean, you count my mom. Yeah. But I don't consider it lending because I know it's never coming.
- [69:13]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Right.
- [69:14]
Trey Crowder
So I've just. I just give her a lot of money, so.
- [69:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. When's the last time you apologized to somebody?
- [69:22]
Trey Crowder
My wife just got back from a trip, so probably today. But I can't. Can't remember what it would have been about. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a very, like. I'm kind of. I must have some, like, Canadian in me or something because I, like, I'm quick to default to, like. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm sure. I'm sure I was being a dumbass about something. It's also, like I said, I don't like asking people for stuff. Part of that is I don't like to feel like I'm putting people out. You know what I mean?
- [69:50]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [69:51]
Trey Crowder
So, like, on the road and shit all the time, you know, I'll be like, hey, I'm gonna be there, you know, a little bit later. And I thought I was. I'm real sorry about that. You know, it'll be like that type of thing.
- [70:02]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [70:02]
Trey Crowder
Like, I constantly apologizing for little shit that I don't really need to.
- [70:06]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [70:06]
Trey Crowder
It's just part of my whole thing. And I. So if it's like a big legit thing, I'll probably apologize too early. You know, it's like she probably thinks that I'm. I must not mean it because I dove into it too fast or whatever.
- [70:20]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [70:20]
Trey Crowder
You know, but I'm always just like, let's just. Please just. Let's just skip to the part where, you know, I was wrong and we moved past it. Like, I'm okay. With having been wrong.
- [70:29]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, that's a different kind of apology. That's. That's an. That's a.
- [70:33]
Trey Crowder
A.
- [70:34]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That's a pragmatic. Yeah. As opposed to on a deep level, wanting to make amends about something.
- [70:43]
Trey Crowder
All right. Yes. Right. So a very sincere. I'm sorry for the way I went about this type of thing.
- [70:48]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [70:49]
Trey Crowder
The first thing that comes into mind, not a fun story, is I had a friend that I made a. I made a. Like a remark to. About how everything was coming up, that his family, like, everything's going so great for you guys, because he just mentioned getting a promotion or something else, something like that. When I knew, but wasn't thinking about the fact that his wife had had a miscarriage recently. And I said that in front of all of them, you know, and then as soon as I did, immediately, you know, and so I was like. Immediately I was like, hey, just so you know, that was. I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have done that in front of everybody.
- [71:24]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You apologize.
- [71:25]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. Like, right. Right off the bat.
- [71:26]
Greg Fitzsimmons
As soon as I. Right, right, right.
- [71:28]
Trey Crowder
That's the first thing that popped in my head. Yeah.
- [71:30]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. That's a good save. Because if you do it later, then it's like you didn't deal with it. You let him sit with those feelings for a while as opposed to remedying it immediately, even though it would be more face saving to do it later. He did the manly thing and apologize in the moment. Yeah.
- [71:48]
Trey Crowder
I mean, I'd like to think that I'm pretty good about recognizing and acknowledging when I've been wrong about something. The flip side of that is if I'm. If I'm truly convinced that I'm right about something. Buddy, you talk about fucking righteous indignation. Like, I won't. Like, nothing makes me madder than being told or accused of being wrong about a thing that I know that I'm right. You know what I mean? Where it's like, I know that I'm on the right side of this and the other person is acting like I'm not. Drives me insane.
- [72:22]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. All right. Have you ever not finished a set on stage?
- [72:28]
Trey Crowder
No, I don't think so. I don't know. I don't think. I mean, maybe. No, I don't think so. Have you. I mean, what, do you have a story for that? Have you.
- [72:43]
Greg Fitzsimmons
I got hit in the chest with an apple while opening. But they might be giants at an outdoor show at a college. And I. I said, all right, take it easy, everybody.
- [72:51]
Trey Crowder
I was just with Some comic student shows. And we were talking about. Have you heard Larry Miller tell that story about going to that, like, Indiana Highway Patrolman's dinner that he was doing? He was. It's like a corporate. And they didn't tell him. He didn't know this. He just shows up thinking he's the entertainment for the night. But before his set starts, they do a memorial service for a fallen brother in the Highway Patrol who had just died in, like, the last two weeks. And his widow and two small children were there.
- [73:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, no.
- [73:18]
Trey Crowder
And they had them on stage and had slideshow and all this stuff, and they played this sad music. And not a dry. In the house. Everybody's crying. And at the end of it. At the end of it, he's like, all right. And now the comedy stylings of Larry Miller, right? And his point to the whole story is like. He's. He's like. You know, the thing is, like, it would never enter your mind to. To not do that. You know what I mean? To just be like, hey, this is. We're not doing this. He's like, it never occurred to me not walk up there. No, I got to. Fuck it. I got to. I gotta do it. So you do it. And it's like, I was just talking with a bunch of comics this weekend about that, but it is like. It's like, you know, getting hell gig situations, whatever, and you're like, well, I'm just gonna go eat shit for this amount of time.
- [74:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yep.
- [74:02]
Trey Crowder
And then be mad about it.
- [74:04]
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, we're soldier. I was just talking to Paul before the show about how, like, I don't know that I've ever missed in 35 years, I don't know that I've missed a show because I was sick.
- [74:16]
Trey Crowder
Right.
- [74:17]
Greg Fitzsimmons
You just do it. You just. It doesn't occur to you to go, oh, I can't. I can't do it? No. Because all of us struggled starting out, and we were so hungry and desperate for stage time that we. I've never taken it for granted ever since.
- [74:34]
Trey Crowder
Yeah, no, I. Yeah, same thing. I don't think I've ever missed one. Well, I pre. When I was still in Knoxville, and so three or four years in, I came back from a Bonnaroo once, and I was just. I don't, you know, either just whatever I ate or all the drugs and the combination thereof. I had. It felt like food poisoning. Yeah. I was fucked up bad for a couple of days, and one of those days, I was supposed to have a show, and I had to tell the Guy, I was like, dude, I'm sorry, but I can't. Yeah, I can't get off the couch. I think that's the only time in 15 years I've done that when I have to cancel a show for, like, some legit reason. Some, like, TV thing or something.
- [75:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [75:12]
Trey Crowder
You know, like, I hate myself for that.
- [75:15]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
- [75:15]
Trey Crowder
You know, let alone just because I, you know, couldn't. Couldn't do it. Right, you know?
- [75:21]
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, finally, what is the hackiest bit that you've ever done?
- [75:30]
Trey Crowder
I had early on, one of my closers was a bit about a bulldog. At the time, an English bulldog. It was a bit about watching him poop, you know, and he's, like, real struggling. He's up on his, you know, he's like tiptoes or whatever.
- [75:43]
Greg Fitzsimmons
And would you act out the tip? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
- [75:47]
Trey Crowder
And also take my hand, my finger, and put it right here and be like. And then his little. His little lipstick starts poking out his little red rocket. Red rocket. You know, I'm talking about fellas. So I said, then I get stuff like, fellas, I've taken a lot of good shits in my day. I ain't never shit my dick hard, boys.
- [76:12]
Greg Fitzsimmons
So, yeah, there's gonna be a night. Now that I've made you bring that bit up. You're gonna be having a bad set in the next six weeks, and you're gonna pull that bit out at the end just to get yourself off stage. Don't miss Trey Crowder, not Crawler, as I wrote in my script. He is just a great. Stand up. Your. Your special. When did that special come out?
- [76:35]
Trey Crowder
I think the one you saw was the last one. But my next one's coming out in, like, two weeks. March 13th. Trash Daddy.
- [76:41]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [76:42]
Trey Crowder
It's called.
- [76:42]
Greg Fitzsimmons
That's great. And it's gonna be on what, YouTube?
- [76:45]
Trey Crowder
800 pound gorillas YouTube page or YouTube channel.
- [76:49]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Why not put it on your own channel?
- [76:51]
Trey Crowder
Because they. Well, you know, they. They made it. They shot it and everything.
- [76:58]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did they pay for it?
- [76:59]
Trey Crowder
Yes.
- [76:59]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
- [77:00]
Trey Crowder
Yes.
- [77:02]
Greg Fitzsimmons
He's going to be coming to you. March 1st in Fort Lauderdale. March 2nd in Tampa.
- [77:10]
Trey Crowder
Tampa, yeah.
- [77:11]
Greg Fitzsimmons
The March 7th and 8th in Minneapolis, March 21st in Portsmouth. Then Boston, Binghamton, Austin, Lowell, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Eugene, Portland, Houston, Vegas, Tulsa, La Jolla. Go to trey t r a e crowder.com to get tickets. And also check out the podcast. He's got two of them. One is called the well Read W E L L R E D podcast. The other one is called Putting on Airs. And you know you put a lot of great material out there. I'm glad things are going so well for you. Very happy for you. We share an agent.
- [77:49]
Trey Crowder
We do. Yes, we do.
- [77:50]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Who? We love Valentine Sloot.
- [77:52]
Trey Crowder
Yeah. But no, yeah, no. I mean, I'm a big fan and have been for a long time. I mean, I was a, you know, a comedy nerd before I ever even started and I think still am.
- [78:01]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
- [78:02]
Trey Crowder
So I've been, you know, fan of yours for a long time and I appreciate you having me.
- [78:05]
Greg Fitzsimmons
Nice to hear, man. I appreciate it.
- [78:07]
Trey Crowder
Yeah.
- [78:07]
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right. God bless.
- [78:08]
Trey Crowder
All right. Thank you.
- [78:27]
Greg Fitzsimmons
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