Episode Overview

Podcast: Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast
Episode: 584 – The Buzz Man (feat. Marcus King)
Date: November 4, 2025
Guests: Marcus King (musician)
Hosts: Matt McCusker & Shane Gillis

This episode features an energetic, funny, and deeply personal conversation between comedians Matt McCusker, Shane Gillis (Shane is not present in the studio for this episode), and their guest Marcus King. The trio covers a lot of ground—life on tour, the struggles and stories behind sobriety, the quirks of band and comedy life, addiction, impostor syndrome, and the endless search for a buzz. While laced with characteristic humor, the dialogue also dives deep into vulnerability—offering both laughs and hard-earned insight.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Touring, Band Life & Making Music

• Marcus brings the Wall of Sound: Marcus describes prepping for a big show with all parts of his band present—horns, strings, background vocalists.

  • "The non cost effective group...Got the horns, BGVs, strings." (00:11)
  • Flying and coordinating so many musicians can be a logistical beast (strings and BGVs are local, but much of the band flies in).

• The Power of Horn Players

  • Matt jokes about feeling powerful transporting brass through the sky.
    • "If I knew I was moving brass players through the sky, I would feel pretty powerful about that." (00:52)

• Quiet Acknowledgement of Musical Peers

  • Marcus is humble about his guitar skills, noting there are plenty of quiet shredders out there, not just him (01:16).

• Tertiary Market Touring

  • Marcus discusses the band's strategy of starting record release tours in secondary and tertiary cities to build buzz, allowing time to promote to A-markets.
    • "The first leg of the album release tour ended up being only tertiary markets, which is kind of nice because it gives us like six to nine months to build the rollout..." (06:34)
  • The band improvises the lineup for different cities (no horns for Madison, Indiana!), and Marcus describes how people miss certain band members, especially his wife, when they don't come (07:49).

• Wives & Recognition

  • Both Matt and Marcus discuss their wives being recognized at shows—a strange, funny side effect of success.
    • "She gets kind of like, she's freaked out...Four-time WNBA superstar." (08:22)

• The “Loggins or Messina” Dump Scale

  • On tour, the band uses a code for bowel regularity: a solid bathroom experience is a “Kenny Loggins,” while a problematic one is a “Messina.”
    • "If we're having solid dumps, we call those Kenny Loggins. If you're not, then it's called the Messina." (03:33)

Sobriety, Addiction & The Pursuit of a Buzz

• Band Hygiene & Tour Bus Woes

  • The tour bus inevitably starts to smell, but it’s impossible to pin down one person. Marcus tells a story of passively addressing poor hygiene by gifting deodorant to a bandmate (04:52).

• Gambling, Addiction Hierarchies & Laxative Abuse

  • Matt and Marcus debate the “lameness” of gambling addiction compared to others, arriving at laxative addiction as the most pathetic (in jest).
    • "I had a problem with laxatives...A doctor told me it's a form of bulimia." (17:36)
    • Marcus describes a harrowing (but now hilarious) story of shitting his pants on tour in Japan due to laxative use and drinking, and how he tried to “get ahead of the story” by announcing it to everyone in the hotel (18:02).

• Quitting Drinking, Slipping Up, & Sobriety Stages

  • Marcus gives a candid account of his journey with alcoholism—drinking from a young age, mixing with benzos and antidepressants, and eventually hitting a wall.
    • "My wife was really the thing that motivated me to change it up...But I just thought I could drink like a gentleman...It would always turn into 18 beers." (28:54)
  • He shares a story of falling off the wagon spectacularly during a podcast appearance with Bert Kreischer, right before a Sober Nation talk.
    • "I was hungover when I got to Bert's house...And the next day, I had to speak at a Sober Nation event." (21:32)
    • On being honest at recovery events: "The thing about the wagon is you fall off the wagon, you get back on." (22:36)

• The Constant Search for a Buzz

  • Jokingly, Matt coins himself (and his dad) as “buzz men”—always needing something to change the way they feel, whether it’s coffee, nicotine, or weed.
    • "I might be. I’m a bit of a buzz man myself. I just need, I just want the buzz." (36:57)
  • Matt tells about his dad quitting booze only to pound 60 oz. of coffee or smoke four cigars a day, and how that need for a buzz is perhaps inherited.
    • Notable quote: "He would drink two 24s and then a 16. I asked him like, why do you drink so much coffee? He was like, did I quit drinking? You gotta abuse something, man." (36:15)

• Microdosing & Managing Panic

  • Both hosts and Marcus discuss the perils and (sometimes) the help of microdosing mushrooms in mitigating anxiety and taking the edge off humiliation (53:19).

• Wanting to Look ‘Normal’

  • There’s a funny sidebar about wanting to be a “tucked in shirt guy”—Marc and Matt both want to, but are too chicken to really pull it off.
    • "I want to tuck my shirt in so bad, dude. I'm too chicken. I like the feeling of having my shirt tucked in." (55:43)

Comedy, Sports, and Social Interaction

• Not Caring About Sports & Social Bonding

  • Both Matt and Marcus express feeling like outsiders among dudes who bond over sports. They try to fake it, but always get caught.
    • "It's so disappointing when you're in a group of dudes and they're like, Eagles fan? And you're like, I don't really care..." (09:05)

• Addictive Nature of Gambling

  • Matt explains the gambling “flow state” for some people, where it's not about winning or losing but the feeling of anticipation.
    • "For some people... it's not even about winning or losing... You're just kind of like, you're fully on while you don't know what's going to happen. They get addicted to that feeling." (17:05)

• Performance Nerves & Pre-Show Rituals

  • Marcus shares, with humor, his pre-show buzz: called a "Carolina Speedball," it's a joint and two Red Bulls. He uses it to combat pre-show anxiety that makes him want to just go to bed instead of perform (38:19).

• On-stage Brain Worms and Handling Tough Shows

  • Marcus and Matt commiserate about on-stage anxiety—Marcus worries people in the crowd are there to laugh at him, and Matt relates to reading negative faces in the crowd.

    • "One of my thoughts last night was like, how willing I am to believe that somebody would buy a ticket just to come and stand in the front row and laugh at me." (42:14)

  • They joke about the unique agony of crowd indifference at music festivals and the power of seeing even a single person—like the ASL interpreter—getting into it (44:37).

Industry & Relatability

• Industry Realities

  • Marcus explains the album-making process: working hard on tracks that don't make the cut for the final record, only to become "B-sides" that he loves (57:59).
  • Talks about upcoming residencies in LA, rehearsals for Austin City Limits, and a special “B-Sides” edition album drop for Record Store Day (58:41).

• Acting Anxiety & Embracing Humiliation

  • Both hosts recount the awkwardness of shooting and sending in self-tape auditions for acting spots, and how they've become less embarrassed by rejection as they’ve gotten used to it (51:19).
    • "I don’t worry too much about humiliation that much, as much as I used to." – Matt (53:13)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being addicted to everything but gambling:
  "I never got into gambling, man. I've been pretty much addicted to everything else, but..." – Marcus (16:05)

• Marcus’ tour hygiene diplomacy:
  "I had a keyboard player one time I just bought deodorant for. I was just like, hey, man, I got you this." (04:54)

• On falling off the wagon (sobriety):
  "The thing about the wagon is you fall off the wagon, you get back on, you know, which was true. And I really had to finesse that because I felt a little judgment." – Marcus (22:35)

• On inheriting the need for a buzz:
  "You gotta abuse something, man." – Matt's dad, as quoted by Matt (36:15)

• On performance anxiety and the “Carolina Speedball”:
  "My pre-show buzz is like, I'll smoke a joint. I call it a Carolina Speedball…a joint and like two Red Bulls." – Marcus (38:19)

• On humility and microdosing:
  "Microdosing helped a lot with that. It helped with my panic attacks. Like, even now when I get too high, I'm like, just enjoy it because it's going to be over..." – Marcus (53:26)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:04 – Marcus discusses bringing his full band together for the show
• 01:11 – New album ("Darling Blue") release
• 03:33 – “Kenny Loggins or Messina” for tour-life bowel movements
• 04:52 – Handling hygiene issues in the tour bus
• 06:34 – Tertiary markets, tour strategy, and B-sides
• 17:36 – Marcus admits to laxative addiction, a dark and funny tour story
• 21:32 – Marcus falls off the wagon with Bert Kreischer and faces Sober Nation the next day
• 28:54 – On attempts at "gentleman" drinking and why it failed
• 36:15 – The "buzz man" mindset and Matt's father’s coffee confession
• 38:19 – Pre-show rituals: the “Carolina Speedball”
• 42:14 – Marcus' on-stage intrusive thoughts and handling hecklers
• 44:37 – The saving grace of the ASL interpreter at a tough gig
• 51:19 – Awkwardness of acting auditions and dealing with humiliation
• 57:59 – The story behind album B-sides and upcoming Black Friday release
• 58:41 – Details about Austin City Limits, LA residencies, and Record Store Day news

Tone, Banter & Closing Thoughts

The tone is unscripted, rawly humorous, and often self-deprecating. Their storytelling is highly confessional, swinging from wild road stories to intimate accounts of personal struggle, all delivered with an undercurrent of camaraderie and irreverence. Guest Marcus King proves an excellent fit; his openness about sobriety and self-doubt is met with Matt's honesty about his own habits and imperfections, wrapping up in a spirit of mutual respect and comedy.

Notable final exchange:

"Dude, Marcus, thank you for coming, man."
"Thanks for having me, bro."
"Bought me another week. Now I can survive for one more week and figure it out."
"Anytime, brother."
(59:51–59:58)

Summary

Ep 584 – “The Buzz Man” is a ride through the peculiar, sometimes messed-up, always funny world of stage performers. From tour bus living and musical logistics to the very real search for a daily buzz—whether through caffeine, nicotine, weed, or the applause of a crowd—Marcus, Matt, and Shane dissect their lives with a mix of joyous absurdity and raw confessional. Perfect for long-time fans or first-time listeners—whether you're here for the stories, the laughs, or the wisdom hard-earned on the road.