128: Rainbow Six Style with Marcus King | Soder Podcast | EP 126

Summary

Soder Podcast EP 128: “Rainbow Six Style” with Marcus King

Dan Soder with Marcus King | April 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

Comedian Dan Soder sits down with acclaimed blues-rock musician Marcus King for a deep-dive, freewheeling discussion about music, stand-up, their similar upbringings, creative evolution, the challenges of the road, growing up in complex family situations, and the importance of true artistic passion.

The episode weaves together stories from both men’s lives—childhood nostalgia, professional milestones, addiction and recovery, and their shared love of things like wrestling and crowd work—highlighting personal growth and the value of authenticity in art and relationships.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tour Life, Blue Note Residency & Creative Spaces

• Dan’s Road Update: Final dates of the Golden Retriever of Comedy tour (Charlotte, Durham, Munhall PA, Cleveland, Columbus, Iowa).
• Marcus’s Blue Note Residency:
  • Playing six nights at NYC’s legendary Blue Note, with two exploratory shows a night.
  • Collaboration with drummer Chris Dave (Rick Rubin’s favorite drummer).
  • The flexibility and looseness of a residency compared to one-off gigs: “It’s like wearing sweatpants to work.” ([11:40])
  • Loosening up on stage fashion, from his grandpa’s boots to casual sneakers.

"We're doing like… six nights and we do two shows a night. We just get, like, very exploratory."
—Marcus King, [02:59]

On Creative Community & Artistry

• Respect for Craft:
  • Dan emphasizes Marcus’s musicianship and face-melting guitar skills ([04:25]–[04:53]).
  • Both agree true artistry is about evolution and loving the craft, not just making money.
  • Parallel drawn between musicians who love music and comedians/chefs who genuinely love their work ([25:28]).
• The Artist’s Fanbase:
  • Value in conditioning fans to expect growth and change (“make ‘em a fan of you”).
  • Citing Queens of the Stone Age’s evolution as a model for allowing artists to grow up authentic.

“You guys all play like you love music… I’m watching comedians who don’t like comedy, I’m watching chefs that don’t want to cook. …But that’s not why we’re doing this.”
—Dan Soder, [25:28]

Childhoods, Family, & Emotional Growth

• Early Influences: Marcus started playing guitar before he could walk; both men had “lonely” or difficult childhoods that shaped their paths ([19:04]–[19:17]).
• Dysfunctional Families:
  • Early exposure to divorce and turbulent home lives created a “manual-less” adulthood.
  • Bonding over the lack of memories of loving parents—leading to self-reliance or uncertainty in future relationships ([34:43]).
  • Learning to own personal preferences and stop hiding quirks started in childhood with things like playing with GI Joes past the “acceptable” age.

“People don’t realize children of divorce don’t have the manual to go off of…”
—Dan Soder, [34:43]

• Owning Who You Are: Importance of accepting personal interests and not being ashamed—“be more like horse girls” (own it unapologetically) ([50:59]).

Nostalgia, Grown-Up Self-Acceptance & Letting Go

• Retiring Childhood Hobbies:
  • Both recall the bittersweet moment of putting away toys and the pressure to fit in ([48:52]).
  • Letting go of things at the right time, but recognizing the value and fun in loving them (e.g., wrestling fandom).

“There is a certain…point, but there’s also a letting-go era.”
—Dan Soder, [52:41]

Addiction, Sobriety & Social Life

• Life After Drinking:
  • Both reflect on going out/sobriety and how to keep real connections without substances ([68:09]).
  • The pleasure of small talk and the value of connecting with strangers in social situations.
  • “Nothing after the second location" rule to avoid trouble after parties ([69:37]).

Comedians, Musicians & the “Wrestling” Metaphor

• Big Jay Oakerson and crowd work compared to jazz improvisation; admiration for those who make every set unique ([08:39]–[09:52]).
• “Everything is wrestling”—comparing putting people over in wrestling to lifting fellow musicians and comedians ([57:48]–[58:53]).

“…when you play with people who are, you know, are occupied with themselves, trying to put themselves over…It’s really disappointing.”
—Marcus King, [59:01]

Working with Legends: Rick Rubin, Colleagues & Mentors

• Rick Rubin’s Influence:
  • Marcus was pushed by Rick to call his own shots and unlearn chasing commercial hits ([62:31]).
  • Rick as a real “Sensei,” not giving direct advice but creating situations for personal growth ([63:03]).
  • Marcus’s “jealousy” at seeing Rubin spend time with other artists, and his wife’s perspective check ([60:58]).

“Rick hates commerce. He hates creating for the sake of people buying it… you got to create for yourself.”
—Marcus King, [62:58]

• Notes that Changed Their Game:
  • Colin Quinn’s advice for Dan to “perform the jokes you took the time to write.”
  • Ron White’s note: If it’s going well, slow down; if it’s going badly, slow down ([65:25]–[65:40]).

Miscellaneous Standouts & Fun

• Rolling with old-school, wild stories: smuggling parrots, mafia-owned nightclubs, crazy dads, and out-there childhood experiences ([13:49]–[14:14]).
• Equating finding creative friendships to making childhood friends: “Do you want to sleep over?” ([42:28]).
• Wrestling references abound—Sable, Brock Lesnar, Bret Hart, and SummerSlam nostalgia ([53:03]–[58:19]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On respecting creative evolution:

“I like an artist that I can… it takes me a second to catch up to their next album because I go, well, they’re different people.”
—Dan Soder, [39:29]

On letting go of childhood habits:

“There’s a point where we had to let go. Let the horse run away. Don’t put a stick between your legs over the age of 20…”
—Dan Soder, [51:42]

On learning to be authentic:

“It’s the Colin Quinn bit about… Teach kids how to own what they like, ‘because I like it.’”
—Dan Soder, [50:04]

On the meaning of “everything is wrestling”:

“It is music wrestling. It is putting people over.”
—Marcus King & Dan Soder, [57:48]

On family dysfunction & relationship templates:

“It’s like not ever drinking water... and people are like, ‘Oh...’ It was like you had your first sip of water.”
—Dan Soder, [34:43]

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Timestamps for Essential Segments

• [02:42] Marcus describes the Blue Note residency and jamming with Chris Dave.
• [04:25] Dan gushes about Marcus’s talent and “face-melting” playing.
• [08:39] Discussion of Big Jay Oakerson’s crowd work as art.
• [19:04] Marcus shares his childhood and early guitar love.
• [25:28] Dan and Marcus talk loving the craft versus just making money.
• [34:43] Stories of growing up in divorced families, lack of relationship “manual.”
• [48:52] The bittersweet “retirement” of childhood toys/hobbies.
• [57:48] The philosophy of “everything is wrestling/making others look good.”
• [62:31] Marcus on Rick Rubin’s subtle guidance and anti-commercial art.
• [65:25] Ron White’s slow-down advice; importance of comfort and presence on stage.

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Closing Plugs & What’s Next

• Marcus King Band’s “Waltz Across Texas” Tour: Playing old dance halls, documented for posterity.
• Blue Note Residency ongoing—details & tickets on MarcusKingOfficial.com
• Fans in Texas: special shows in iconic venues—watch Marcus’s socials for dates ([72:32]).

“Listen to everything that Marcus King has ever made, because I promise you, he’s one of the most talented human beings walking on this planet right now.”
—Dan Soder, [71:58]

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Summary Tone

The episode is heartfelt, hilarious, and rich with personal anecdotes. Both Soder and King are sincere and self-deprecating, always circling back to the idea of perseverance, personal truth, and growing up “weird” but resilient. There’s genuine camaraderie and a message of embracing what makes you, you—and having patience for the evolution of both yourself and your favorite artists.

Transcript

[Dan Soder]

Hey, sweetie. Your mother showed me this Carvana thing for selling the car. I'm gonna give it a try. Wish me luck. Me again. I put in the license plate. It gave me an offer. Unbelievable. Okay, I accepted the offer. They're picking it up Tuesday from the driveway. I haven't even left my chair. It's done. The car is gone. I'm holding a check anyway. Carvana, give it a whirl. Love ya. So good you'll want to leave a voicemail about it. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up.

[Marcus King]

Fees may apply.

[Dan Soder]

Hey, everybody, I'm still on the road. Golden Retriever of Comedy tour is. It's. It's in the final stretch. We're in the home stretch. If you're in Charlotte, we're there this Friday. If you're in Durham, we're there Saturday. And then we're coming to Munhall, Pennsylvania. We're coming to Cleveland, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio, to Iowa. If you live near the Grand Falls casino. Those are the final dates of the Golden Retriever of Comedy tour. It's going on right now. Dansoder.com for all tickets. Come, come see the show. And then we're recording this in June. More info on that coming shortly. But dance odor.com I promise you, once the tour is done, you're not going to be seeing a lot of this pushing it on you. You know, we're going to be going back to clubs to work on the new hour which announces soon. That'll be fun. Come see me with a notepad. Bomb my golf. But right now. Danceoder.com Golden Retriever of Comedy tour I love this hour. I've been having so much fun on the road with it. Netflix is a joke festival. I know. Los Angeles. I was just there doing an hour in the fall. So Netflix is a joke. Was like, hey, come out, do a show. What do you want to do? Well, here's what I want to do. I want to watch a movie with Tim Dillon and make fun of it in front of an audience. One of those remember those movie watch alongs we were doing at the beginning of the tour? Doing a live one. Los Angeles, May 6th at the Agora 9o'.

[Marcus King]

Clock.

[Dan Soder]

Dance Otter.com for tickets. Come watch me and Tim Dillon watch a very fun movie which we're still trying to get cleared, but if we get it cleared, it's gonna be very funny. We're gonna make fun of a very fun movie to make that I don't think I've ever even watched. But on site, you know, it's gonna be a fun one to make fun of, especially with Tim Dillon. Dan Soder.com. go get tickets for Netflix is a joke. The movie. Watch along. It's gonna be fun. Not a giant place, you know, Just a couple hundred of us watching a shitty movie while Tim and I and maybe a special guest make fun of it. There's a lot of people in town. I might be having friends coming over just to sit down and make fun of. That's what you should do, right, Is make fun of the world. Dance odor.com for tickets.

[Marcus King]

Rolling, baby.

[Dan Soder]

You're doing that Blue Note show? Yeah, I saw that picture with Shane. I was like, yeah, yeah, that's what's going on, dude. I love that you're doing. I love that you're doing that. Are you doing it like, as a residency?

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That's fucking sick.

[Marcus King]

We're doing like. I guess it's.

[Dan Soder]

We just start recording all together.

[Marcus King]

It's like six nights and we do like, we do two shows a night. We just get like, very exploratory.

[Dan Soder]

That's awesome. Yeah, that's what's up. That's what a guy of your caliber of talent should be doing. Not like jingles for gambling sites. Chilling at the Blue Note.

[Marcus King]

I'm not above that.

[Dan Soder]

You go drafting, just wailing, and you're like, damn, dude. It's that DraftKings lick that got me hooked.

[Marcus King]

That's what I'm saying.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, but how do you like. The Blue Note is one of those places in New York City where it's like a legendary venue. Yeah. Like, people, musicians talk about it. I know the musicians at, like, the Cellar in the Village Underground are like all blue notes. The. Was it you or them that was like, hey, I want to come do a like a run there.

[Marcus King]

So the way this all kind of started. So, Chris, Dave is Rick Rubin's favorite drummer, which is like a crazy.

[Dan Soder]

It's a cool ass credit stat, you know? And he's like, I'd lead with that if I were him.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, you should make a T shirt like, Rick Rubin's favorite drummer.

[Dan Soder]

I'm Rick Rubin's favorite.

[Marcus King]

Like, you know, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top has business cards that say friend of Eric Clapton.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't know that.

[Marcus King]

Which are pretty sick.

[Dan Soder]

If I. If I were him, my business card is go, how, how, how? My business card. I go, billy Gibbons.

[Marcus King]

That'd be a good business card.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Now, so we did the record together, this record called Mood Swings, which is great.

[Dan Soder]

Check it out. By the way I don't do proper introductions, they get mad at me. Go listen to Marcus King. Go listen to every single thing Marcus King has done. Because I'm telling you, right, Listen to

[Marcus King]

Son of a Gary.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Marcus King is an elite performer, singer, guitar player. Un believable will melt your face. Just go watch him shout out to Dean Del Rey, who put me on the Marcus king band. Early 2017, 18. Around there. Killer.

[Marcus King]

Yes. I mean, unfathomable.

[Dan Soder]

Really, guys, a killer. And I listen, and I was like, that is how I would rate it. I listened and I sat back and I went, killer.

[Marcus King]

I went. I went and hung out with Dean. Last time I was in LA for the Grammy week stuff, he was. He does this tribute to Bon Scott every year.

[Dan Soder]

I saw clips from. Yeah, what a line.

[Marcus King]

Crazy. He gets all these out there. Like, homie was out there. So I got to hang out with. With him. You did.

[Dan Soder]

What'd you do? Night Stalker? What Bon Scott song did you do?

[Marcus King]

Yeah, Josh sang it. I forget.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, I think it was. Look it up. They did like, dude. But I don't know if you saw the clip of him and Dean talking about it. I mean, as a. As a huge Queens of the Stone Age fan. Homie put you over.

[Marcus King]

That's my boy.

[Dan Soder]

He was like that plugged in on a guitar that they found backstage and ripped. It's. It's one of my favorite things. Or watching guys that I love talk about guys that they love, which does sound very gay. But.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Night Prowler. What is it?

[Marcus King]

Night Prowler.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, Night Prowler.

[Marcus King]

Knight Rider, which is like a deep cut because Dean was like, yeah, we got the notes last year. We did a lot of hits. We're gonna do a lot of deep cuts.

[Dan Soder]

You got a good Dean Del Rey?

[Marcus King]

Well, I. You know, he went on the road with me. I know that for, like, a year.

[Dan Soder]

That's how that was with. The first time I met you was when you were on the road and you came into the bonfire and did some live songs, and you're like, I'm on the road with Dean Del Rey. And that's. I was like, oh. And I got to do. I showed you my favorite character, which is Detective Dean Del Rey, which is. I think he's the killer.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Ye. But I love Dean so much. But I have noticed, like. I think he says killer less now because of. It's kind of like how Eddie Murphy changed his laugh.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah. Which I completely get.

[Marcus King]

I get.

[Dan Soder]

I completely. I stopped doing Macho Man a lot when people do Macho man, you're like, I don't want to do it that much, but. So I get it. I say we signed a petition for Dean Del Rey to bring back Killer because I like it.

[Marcus King]

Bring it back.

[Dan Soder]

Bring it back, baby. Dust it off.

[Marcus King]

He's so. He's. He's one of the most confident people, and I love that about him. He's like, we took him on the road and, like, doing comedy, like. Like, Big J knows this because he went out with, you know, corn and stuff. So, like, it's hard doing a comedy set for a group of people there for music.

[Dan Soder]

Well. Because it almost feels like they're getting an announcement.

[Marcus King]

Yes.

[Dan Soder]

I don't think they lock in the way they do. When you're sitting down, watching a comedy show, when you're standing around and a guy comes out, how you doing? They expect you to go, so there's Meta Fire. That's what they're.

[Marcus King]

They're on edge.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. That's what it is. It's the. It's. They want music.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Like, I feel like the inverse, because back in the day, like, Eddie Murphy's, I think it's raw. They had boys. Yeah. He had a band open for him. Do you think that works easier. Music first?

[Marcus King]

I think it makes sense. I mean, I'd be curious to know, like, how. What Shane's experience was, because he did that with. With Zach. Brian.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus King]

And that's like 80, 000 people.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. He told me. He was like, I'm just going up there. I'm gonna go for a little bit, see how it goes, then I'm out. Yeah. It's like, yeah, you gotta go. It's almost like a heist. You're like, how many laughs can I grab? Big J is a different animal.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because Big J told me that once he got the cameramen on his side when he was opening for Corn, it brought the show to him.

[Marcus King]

Okay.

[Dan Soder]

Where he would, like, point people out, and he'd be like, look at this guy. And then they go to him, and so the guy's up on the screen, and then Jay's being Jay and just being hilarious. And it's like.

[Marcus King]

And, I mean, he. He is one of my favorite comedians. And. And you are as well. Like, I went to CJ the other night, and, like, his crowd work is just. It's like watching, like, a. A jazz musician.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. It's very unfair.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That Big J gets compared to modern crowd work.

[Marcus King]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because it is. It's like leaps and bounds. It's like me comparing you to, like, a boy band that learned how to play a song from the record label. Like, they're not actual guitarists. You're like, that's not real guitar. You're just watching them mimic. Because I've watched. I mean, I've watched big J over 20 years. I've watched hours of him do crowd work. And it's great watching him get to a place where you go. He's gonna open them up like a boxer. It's like he, like, walks, gets him into a corner, cuts off the ring, and you're like, they can't go anywhere. They gotta answer it. And also, what I like about it is as someone that doesn't do crowd work and just does bits, it's so, like, you watch and it's refreshing because you go, damn, I wish I could just be that. Like, it helps me be looser. But I also. I appreciate it because I'm like, you're seeing a different show every time. Those, like, those comedy club waitresses, they're seeing. They're listening to a different show every time, which is awesome.

[Marcus King]

I know.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, is that what the Blue Note kind of was for you is like, let me go in there.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. I mean, we kind of have these vehicles which are kind of like. You know, I'm sure Jay has, like, a few bits in his back pocket. Like, if it's a really shitty crowd, like, you can kind of fall back on some material. That's kind of how it is at the Blue Note.

[Dan Soder]

We're okay. So you guys have, like, a song. If you're like, hey, if this. If I'm not feeling this, what's the. How do you audible into that? Is it just like, can the. Because you were talking about Rick Rubin's favorite drummer.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then I went down because I'm a. ADD pothead. So. Chris, Dave. And you were like, hey, let's do a show just the two of us.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Well, we talked about doing, you know, some shows together for. For, like, three years. We talked about it, and then we finally. Our buddy Alex Kurland, who runs all the Blue Notes, he was like, do it here. Because Chris kind of does like, a. A residency there because he does a. A trio with Blake Mills and Pino Palladino, and he works with Robert Glasper a bunch. Like, he had a duo that he does with DJ Jazzy Jeff.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And a tap dancer.

[Dan Soder]

That's crazy.

[Marcus King]

Just, like, wild shit.

[Dan Soder]

That's like a real artist.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Where they're like, I'll Just, I can make it work. Yeah. Then you, us were like, I need a two drink minimum, decent chicken tenders, or I can't get my art off the ground. If you don't have a cocktail named after a dead comedian, I can't do this show. If you don't have the Bernie Mac margarita, I can't go up there. So when you decide to do this show and they go, hey, do it here for you, is that like wearing sweatpants to work? Do you get to relax and go, like, let's have fun and chill?

[Marcus King]

Like the other night, I. I mean, I wore this.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Like what I'm wearing right now, sweatshirt and sneakers. And I felt really insecure about.

[Dan Soder]

Really.

[Marcus King]

And I asked my. My. My tech with me. I was like, so Cam wearing sneakers on stage. He's like, yeah, yeah. Like you're sitting on a stool.

[Dan Soder]

What do you usually wear?

[Marcus King]

I mean, I usually, like. My grandfather was a professional musician, and he always said, like, you don't go on stage without a pair of boots on.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And it's like just so a wild concept to him to be.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Not dressed up.

[Dan Soder]

What, are you going to marry a black? Whoa. Holy shit. Grandpa. People, how do we get from boots to blacks?

[Marcus King]

Yeah, it's to the Dixie Grab.

[Dan Soder]

I remember when I started stand up, they were like, you have to wear. I started in Arizona and they're like, you have to wear pants. Because one time I came in in shorts. It's like 106 out.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And I wore shorts to the comedy club and the owner was like, you're lucky I don't make you wear a suit. And you're like, all right. So it is that, like, they were a different generation. They were like, I have to wear suits and boots and be gussied up all the time.

[Marcus King]

My dad was of a similar generation, though, because, like, when he was coming up, he would. He was working with this band down in Fort Lauderdale and, like, it was all Mafia owned. So he would come in and they. They made him like, dress up.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

So he'd wear like a blazer with like a tuxedo T shirt.

[Dan Soder]

Hell yeah.

[Marcus King]

But my dad looked really cool.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

If you don't look cool, that can be a little.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Annoying.

[Marcus King]

Annoying to something.

[Dan Soder]

Annoying is the first where it goes. It doesn't go crazy.

[Marcus King]

You go like, yeah, like this guy.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And all these like, Mafia dudes just. They loved him. But like, the bar owner there or the club manager was like, go home and change your shirt right now.

[Dan Soder]

Because he didn't want to get his legs broken.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dan Soder]

The mafia guys were probably, like.

[Marcus King]

They would take. They would take my dad out and just, like, see, like, how far they could push him. Because my dad would just do, like, lines of coke from his elbow to his thumb.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And just, like, get going crazy. He had this guy hung out with name Captain Pete that carried a parrot on his shoulder and just, like, smuggled loads and loads of cocaine in into Florida. This is like 80s, late 70s, early 80s.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, brother.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That is pure cut.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That's where our parents were of a different generation. These baby boomers got to do pure cut cocaine.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

They got that Colombian that was like, dude, I remember my mom. I think I've told the story before, but she let it slip because my parents used to live in San Francisco in the 70s. So they were partying about it. They were about it. And my mom just one time went. One time we got some coke so good. Your dad wanted to go out dancing. And I went, damn. I think I was like, a teenager. And I was like, yeah, what? Like, repeat it. She's like, we used to have this pen jar. My mom's, like, worked at an insurance company. She was like, I'm, you know, single mom, but like an 80s mom. Murphy Brown shoulder pads.

[Marcus King]

I love it.

[Dan Soder]

We had a pen jar next to our kitchen phone, and one time I'm, like, spinning it around, or I'm on the phone with someone and it spins all the way around, and it said dope on it. But I didn't put it together. I was a kid, and I went, oh, like, cool.

[Marcus King]

Like, cool.

[Dan Soder]

Like, cool. And then I grew up, and, you know, I was, like, smoking weed in the house by the time I was 16. And I was like, yo, was that dope jar? My mom, like, didn't even not look away from the news. She goes, yeah, it was my dope jar in San Francisco. And I was like, what happened to that? She's like, I think I sold it at a garage sale.

[Marcus King]

You're like, no, hell, yeah, Trish.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude, Trisha. She gave me her joint. Kids carrier from the 60s.

[Marcus King]

Oh, man.

[Dan Soder]

She was like. She was like, yeah, you want to. I'll show you.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, let me see it.

[Dan Soder]

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[Marcus King]

I got my dad's hash pipe from the 70s. Oh wow.

[Dan Soder]

Is that cool.

[Marcus King]

Oh that's so good.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Look how tiny their joints were.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, dude, they'd roll up some pinners.

[Dan Soder]

Exactly. I can't even fit modern fucking joints into this. But this is.

[Marcus King]

That's great.

[Dan Soder]

She found that shit and she's like, you want my joint carrier? And I was like, hell fucking yeah, you can't even, like, look at that. It's got the thing for the paper.

[Marcus King]

Make it work.

[Dan Soder]

You want it?

[Marcus King]

No, no, please. You got to use it.

[Dan Soder]

I do have to. You know what? I have to learn how to roll joints.

[Marcus King]

I'll stock you up. I use this thing. They're called King Palm Rollies.

[Dan Soder]

Okay.

[Marcus King]

And it's like Dan Auerbach put me on to them, and basically, they. They're made out of palm leaves, and you just, like, stuff your weed down in them.

[Dan Soder]

Get that all day. I could stuff.

[Marcus King]

They look like little cigars.

[Dan Soder]

Yes.

[Marcus King]

They'd fit in there perfect.

[Dan Soder]

Let's go. I think we just found a new sponsor. Pimp.

[Marcus King]

This podcast brought to you by King Palm Rollies.

[Dan Soder]

King Palm Rolls. Get them now and then. Just watch me show up with, like, six boxes.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Like, I. So when you do, like, the thing that. When did you. First off, when you see Marcus King play, you go, oh, you were born with a guitar in your hand and what it feels like. Did you start playing since. How old were you when you started playing guitar?

[Marcus King]

Man, I really was, like, two or three years old. Like, soon as I could. Like, before I could walk, I was playing a guitar. Like, oh, shit. But I had, like, a really lonely childhood.

[Dan Soder]

Shout out, dude.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

What's up, brother?

[Marcus King]

Pretty. Pretty rough childhood.

[Dan Soder]

I think I learned how to do voices because I had friends.

[Marcus King]

Exactly. Absolutely.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And I mean, I quote you all the time. And all my interviews is like, you think I'm going around from city to city begging for people's, like, approval because shit went well.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude. There. And people don't understand. It's like, a true gift and a curse of, like, when you have that and you get the motivation to go make stuff that will bring people in to, like, enjoy. There's a carbon dioxide that comes with that. There's like, a heavy. Like, that's the oxygen, but then you got to breathe some out. And if you don't take care of that, that's what I tell all my friends, like, that I. That I work. You know? Like, as I watch my friends, like, Shane and Nate and all these people get, like, really, really big, I'm always like, dude, let me know what your carbon dioxide is. Let's. Let's get that breath out of you. Because, yeah, you got to keep breathing. But that means breathing in and breathing out, you know?

[Marcus King]

I mean, it does. I mean, speaking of that, like, another thing you said that I resonated with was, like, the crossover between, like, I played with GI Joes and army men.

[Dan Soder]

Hell, yeah.

[Marcus King]

And my wrestlers till I was like, 12 or 13.

[Dan Soder]

Shout out, dude.

[Marcus King]

I started smoking when I was, like, 11 or 12.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, did you. Yeah. You had a dad that had a friend named Captain Pete? Yeah, my dad's friend's name was Jim. He wasn't a captain of. But he would build these motorized ducks that they would put in the lake.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And he'd try to get him over 100 miles an hour. Jim was insane.

[Marcus King]

That's sick.

[Dan Soder]

Sawed off shotgun under his couc. The couch when he lived with my dad. One time, I was laying on the couch watching tv, and you know when you're just, like, little, and you just, like, run your hand along the carpet and I put my hand under, and I was like, you. And I, like, knocked it out.

[Marcus King]

I was like, I found a penthouse like that when I was a kid.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude. Little. Your little fingers just brush up against something. You go, what the is.

[Marcus King]

I had, like, one of those, like, little spaz moments, you know, when you just. You have so many emotions. You're just like. And I had to go to the bathroom and just, like, sit down, and I sat on the ground and, like, I saw under, like, the. The vanity.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Where the heat comes out.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

What is that? Because I had older stepbrothers.

[Dan Soder]

Yes.

[Marcus King]

And I was like, penthouse. What is this?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Penthouses, by the way. That a starter kit?

[Marcus King]

No, it's not.

[Dan Soder]

That's when you see a pussy for the first time and you go, what is this, a surgeon's magazine? I'm not trying to see a open wound.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The first time. And this is crazy. And, ladies, you know, this is true. But the first time you see a vagina, you go, what the. You don't realize it's the coolest thing on the planet. It's the coolest thing on earth. You go, whoa. Chappelle used to have that great bit about. It's the only one. It only satisfies one sense the most, which is feel. He goes, because it. It doesn't look good. It smells terrible. And he, like, goes through all the senses, and he goes, but it feels incredible. Really does. But it's also funny when you're a kid. It's like that discovery thing. And by the way, I said shot. It was a pump handle shotgun. That's what it was. Because I felt the pump handle, and then I pulled it out. And as a kid, a 90s kid, you're like, yo, this is sick. Thank God I was an only child.

[Marcus King]

That's the first gun I ever bought

[Dan Soder]

was a pump shotgun.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Like six years ago.

[Dan Soder]

Sick.

[Marcus King]

I just got in my own place in Nashville and I saw like, you know, on the news, like, you know, I saw some crazy on the news and I was like, I think I should have a gun in my house.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And like, being in Nashville, they're like, they put your name in a little thing and they're like, here you go, dude. And you just walk out with it. No case. I'm like, am I allowed to do this?

[Dan Soder]

It's really funny when you buy a gun because I was with my roommate when he bought a gun at a gun show in Arizona. And in Arizona, all they do is high five you and they just give you the gun. They go, you got the cash? You go, there you go. You're a gun owner gave him a nine. He's like, all right, it's a shitty ass nine, too. But it is. I think that is. You know, Katie will probably see this and we'll have to have a conversation about this, but when we get a house, I'm getting a gun.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I love guns.

[Marcus King]

That's why they say, like, when you get a generator, you got to get a gun.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Because someone. Because what happens if someone comes for that generator? You think pleases and thank yous are going to let it be left?

[Marcus King]

Exactly.

[Dan Soder]

Just brandish the thing and you go, whoa. Yeah.

[Marcus King]

That's why I wanted to.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude, there ain't nothing cool. The only thing with guns that comes close to that is the. The slide going back. But the. The main one, the one that kicks you in your taint is the. Did you go to a range or like, it's Nashville.

[Marcus King]

It's never. It's never been fired.

[Dan Soder]

Never been.

[Marcus King]

The gun's never been fired. I mean, I've shot guns before, but like that one that I got for my home, like.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

I just. Luckily, I've never had to use it, thank God. Or grab it or anything.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. It is one of those ones where if you use it, it's the best bet.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because you go, well, it sprays.

[Marcus King]

Did you ever see that interview with. With Sturgill Simpson on. On Rogan he was talking about? He's got, like, an assault rifle and this guy had broken into his house and in East Nashville, and like, he came down the stairs like, like Rainbow Six style. And the dude just looks up and sees Sturgill Simpson and his tidy white. He's pointing an assault rifle at him.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And he just left.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, absolutely. Also, Sturgill Simpson has the face of a Navy seal.

[Marcus King]

Yes, he does.

[Dan Soder]

He, like, if you saw that, he looks a lot like my mom's dad. He looks a lot like my grandfather.

[Marcus King]

He looks like a Civil War soldier.

[Dan Soder]

Yes, he does.

[Marcus King]

He's got that face.

[Dan Soder]

Yes, he does. I. In football, I call that World War I face. Brock Purdy has it for the 49ers. Yeah. Famous catcher of the San Francisco Giants, Buster Posey.

[Marcus King]

Okay.

[Dan Soder]

They look like guys that got shot down over Europe in, like, 1916.

[Marcus King]

Just faces that you don't see anymore.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

They're all like, Kentucky.

[Dan Soder]

Yes. Well, he isn't.

[Marcus King]

He.

[Dan Soder]

Sturgel's from Kentucky. Where's dude?

[Marcus King]

Tyler Childers has the same vibe.

[Dan Soder]

You two are my guys.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. You and Sturgill are guys that, like, keep it. You, Sturgel, Homme. There's. There's. There's guys that I listen to that just keep evolving with music. And you know what it is? And I think this is because you're all stylistically very different. Y'. All. You guys all play like you love music.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And I think that's, like, we're in an era where that's lost in everything. Like, I'm watching comedians who don't like comedy. I'm watching chefs that don't want to cook.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You're watching musicians that don't want to play, but they're doing it because they're making more money than they've ever made, so why would they turn it off? And you go, but that's not why we're doing this.

[Marcus King]

Sure.

[Dan Soder]

You know, it's like you were playing the guitar before you could walk.

[Marcus King]

And I. And I have a great reverence for the art.

[Dan Soder]

Was that hard growing up with a third generation musician? Was there moments where you're like, do I want to do this?

[Marcus King]

I never had any doubt, man. I knew. I knew that it was gonna. It was going to be my profession one way or another. My grandfather, I mean, he was. He was a. Like a career military man, and he just played on the weekends. So I knew, like, at the very least, I could do that.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

I could work a straight job and then play on the weekends, and I could at least make a living doing that. But I always strive to do more, and I just always wanted to play.

[Dan Soder]

So what was your first moment of. Because you're around all these professional musicians, you know, whether it's your dad or even your grandfather playing on the weekends, when was the moment where someone that you respected as a musician saw you play and went like, Holy shit. Because, I mean, you're doing. For me, you're just doing magic. And I'm a simple man. Like, you could play a three chord song and I'd be like, but I'm talking about a guy that. Where you felt. I guess, you know, there's not a better way to say, like, scene, like where you were like, yeah, I can fucking play this.

[Marcus King]

I mean, I was. I was really lucky. I had. I had really good friends in the business that were like local legends that played on the weekends, and they would need guitar players and they would let me come out and I would just do it, you know, for pocket change, you know, because I just wanted the experience. I got. I got my learner's permit when I was 14 and I started, you know, and I had my dad's old minivan.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Pontiac Transport 94, baby. And then in that, it does make

[Dan Soder]

me feel old because I go, that's still a new car. I was 11 with 94. That's a. That's a great car.

[Marcus King]

I mean, at the time it was relatively new, I guess.

[Dan Soder]

No, but you're like driving around 14 in the south. They just let you. They go.

[Marcus King]

They just.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, they go, can you put it. Tie your own shoes? You drive a car. Here's a cigarette.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Then you go to the Pacific Northwest and they go, I just. You're 19 years old. I don't know if you should ride in the front seat.

[Marcus King]

A little cuddling. Yeah, but that's how it was. Like, hell, when I came up here, like in South Carolina, again, like, you can buy an enclosed trailer without a title, without anything.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, without.

[Marcus King]

You don't have to put a tag on it. If the lights are working, you're good. And we drove it up here and we accidentally went on a parkway. This one, I was like 18, and we accidentally went on a parkway and they pulled us over and they're like, you got a title registration for your trailer? There's no tag on it. And we're like, what.

[Dan Soder]

What are you talking about with your rules?

[Marcus King]

It was in Yonkers.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, buddy, they're just itching for something.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, dude, they. They saw us coming, man. They impounded it. We never got it back. We went. All our gear was in it. We went over and we were like, hey, you know, like, can we at least get our gear out of it? And they were like, you got to pay us at least half the impound rate or whatever. So we had to figure out how to find 500. It's like, we 500. At that time, we were like, what. What are we gonna do?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, you're almost go. We might as well just buy new equipment.

[Marcus King]

Exactly.

[Dan Soder]

500 bucks is a king's ransom.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. So we went in. I called my. My stepmom who worked at the courthouse. She was a clerk of court, and she went in, or she called them and, like, gave him the riot act, you know? And I went back over there. Because before that, I went in, and I was like, all right, we. We got the. Half the money.

[Dan Soder]

Here you go.

[Marcus King]

He was like, yeah, I lied.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude, let me tell you something.

[Marcus King]

That's what I was like, I hate New York.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Let me tell you something about New Yorkers that is. That's a superpower that they have.

[Marcus King]

It was sick.

[Dan Soder]

Where they go, hey, you on the parkway, Were you going north to south? They go south. That's 750. Yeah, there's nothing I can do about that. You go, you just said it was 500. They go, I know, it's crazy. You asked that 15 minutes ago, and it changed. It's like when I moved here, like, the little things with the moving goalposts, especially trying to find an apartment and shit. Like, I moved into that place in Queens with just cash, and the guy was like, you cool not signing a lease? And I was like, I mean, you going to kick me out? He goes, I'll give you a month. I lived in that apartment for 15 years. Whoa. Never signed a lease. That's month to month for 50. He increased it once, but he never fixed anything.

[Marcus King]

Damn.

[Dan Soder]

You can ask comics in my kitchen. Me and Vaccion live together. We had a leaky pipe, and it folded under our kitchen, so there was a ramp in our kitchen. Yummy. Comics. I know that twisted their ankle. Going to get a glass of water, and they're like, dude, you got to say something. I go, dude, you got to hit it with speed. That's what I would say. You got to hit that thing with speed and hope you launch, dude. So back to the smoking while playing with action figures, because I love meeting a kindred spirit like that did. At what age did you put down the action figures? Because I was maybe 13, but, like, knew I had to put him away.

[Marcus King]

I'm about the same. I think I just got too busy, like, working.

[Dan Soder]

That's what. Where you start going, like, you're doing real.

[Marcus King]

I don't have time for my hobbies anymore.

[Dan Soder]

I know. And you go, dude, my hobbies are setting up epic battles.

[Marcus King]

And I did.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude. Dude, good luck. All I know is if you were drinking with my mom in the 90s, I'm sorry that the stairc littered because that staircase. For kids that can't afford the. The aircraft carriers or whatever, the stairs are the best. It's.

[Marcus King]

It's a mountain range stairs cupboard, like, with, like, the wire, like, because I have a kung fu grip, so.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus King]

Grip onto the wire, like shelving.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, yeah. Dude. My. My stepdad's garage, he would step on GI Joe's all the time and be like, God damn it. You're like, he was hiding out. Yeah, he was hiding out.

[Marcus King]

My stepdad was crazy, bro.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Marcus King]

My stepdad.

[Dan Soder]

Like, when did your parents break up?

[Marcus King]

When I was like, four. Okay, five.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, same.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

So when. Because that is an age where you have, like, no memories of them being together.

[Marcus King]

The memories I have of them being together are bad.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Like just screaming in each other's faces.

[Dan Soder]

Are you the only. Are you their only child?

[Marcus King]

Me and my sister.

[Dan Soder]

Okay, so you had the two of them. So with your sister, you had someone to go like, you know, this is.

[Marcus King]

You believe this?

[Dan Soder]

This people are crazy. I always think that's weird with. Where we're very similar. Something I could never connect with with my friends who had parents that they saw them love each other.

[Marcus King]

It's insane.

[Dan Soder]

It's insane to me.

[Marcus King]

My wife's like that.

[Dan Soder]

Really? Where she's just like, they just. Yeah. Love each other and they're just there. And you go, like, when I.

[Marcus King]

When I come across that, it's like a psychological experiment. I gotta find who the up is in the family. So, like, the whole Christmas, I'm like,

[Dan Soder]

someone gets a little too drunk and you go, we have a front runner.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, they're not serving here. And you.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. How did you get that?

[Marcus King]

Exactly?

[Dan Soder]

How did you go outside?

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Did you take a walk? Yeah, I.

[Marcus King]

Or they'll be like, yeah, just make sure, like, you know, hide your. Hide your stuff.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. That was why. Who wants it?

[Marcus King]

I'm like, is there somebody snooping when they go to the bathroom? And they're like, just hide it.

[Dan Soder]

If you could just maybe, I don't know, tuck it up in the heat vent. You go, so you have someone here with a real problem.

[Marcus King]

That's what I'm saying.

[Dan Soder]

That was. As I got older, I started becoming more comfortable gravitating to my people in my family that would get up.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I'd go, ah. Everyone else was like, hi, how are you? And then, you know, you got a cousin or an aunt or uncle outside smoking weed. You're like, can I come hang?

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

That was immediately who I vibed with, because it was. You don't see, like, dude, I. My parents hated each other my whole life, and it took. I was in my 30s. My mom and I were in San Francisco, and she hadn't been back since, like, the 80s. And we were out there because she was helping me with my. My dad's mom's birthday party. And she was like, I'll fly out there with you. They had a good relationship. So I was like, you can help me with the birthday party, because I can't do it by myself.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

My grandma's turning 90. She's like, yeah, I got it. And we're driving through San Francisco, and my mom just, like, gets emotional out of nowhere. And I was like, you all right? She's like, last time I was driving down the street was, like, 1981 with your father. And we were, like, so in love. And I was like. And I came back and I told my therapist. I was like. It was the first time I've ever seen a glimpse of my parents being in love, of being like, I love that dude. He's been dead almost 30 years. So you're like, that's crazy to me. That people like you and I. It's like, not ever drinking water. Yeah. And people are like, oh. It was like you had your first sip of water. You go, it kind of hurt my throat. I didn't really like it.

[Marcus King]

Right.

[Dan Soder]

So I'm not used to it.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then you grow up, and you're supposed to have these relationships, and you're like, but I don't have any. I don't have a manual to go off of. I think that's what people don't realize children of divorce don't have. Yeah. They don't have the manual to go like, this is how you act.

[Marcus King]

Which I think in some ways, we're. We're favorable in that way.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Because it's like, when you don't have credit. Exactly. The bad news is you don't have any credit.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

The good news is you don't have bad credit.

[Dan Soder]

Exactly. That's a fucking great way of putting that. You know, you're not gonna fuck that you don't. Because there are marriages that sour that. It's almost better that, like, I always really respected the fact that my mom, even though she got divorced from my stepdad, I respected the fact that she was like, this ain't working for me.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. If you're unhappy and I always, I

[Dan Soder]

think that saved me from getting locked down into a lot of relationships that weren't probably good that I didn't realize because it was like, oh, that was the manual I got where I was like, oh, there's an eject button.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

My mom's like, here's a strap. Pull this, you'll shoot straight up.

[Marcus King]

I never knew about the eject button. I, you know, like my attachment style, all that. I mean, because I research all this stuff now, which is good as you

[Dan Soder]

get older and also is with a very public life.

[Marcus King]

Right. And again, it's because I had like two or three relationships, like real relationships with like women that I probably would have married if I. And I was just a terrible partner. Just a real problem.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And just like, like you said, you know, like calls coming from inside the house.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, dude. When you realize that where you go, like there's so. And I would never want to disturb their peace now that we're done. But I always thought there's like a lot of my exes that if I ever bumped into, I'd give them some knuckle and go, hey, come here, come here. Let's bring it in. Hey, sorry about that.

[Marcus King]

That's on me.

[Dan Soder]

Couldn't take in the emotions.

[Marcus King]

I just write about it.

[Dan Soder]

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[Marcus King]

Yeah, it's all perspective.

[Dan Soder]

Exactly.

[Marcus King]

And just evolving with the craft and.

[Dan Soder]

But the patience, I think, I think where you get a good fan base is, is where you install a patience with people, your fans to Go, hey, I'm. I'm growing too.

[Marcus King]

Make him a fan of you.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And then just go, hey. Because I, you know, there's queens of the Stone Age fans that I see that go like, no, man, I want to play in that 2002 Desert Rock. And you go, but that they were 28 year old guys, right now they're breaching 50.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Like you want them to be. I don't want that. I don't want people to. You know what I mean? Don't stay sexy. I want you to. You can stay sexy, but stay sexy in your own way.

[Marcus King]

In a. Yeah, a grown up way.

[Dan Soder]

In a grown up way. I just feel like a lot of entertainment now doesn't make room for that. So that's why I love seeing when you go to the Blue Note and you go, I'm gonna fuck around with a drummer.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Is it the drummer? Is it here? Is it Chris? The reason that you can trust it because you go, I know this guy will always, like, almost like a safety net, like, he'll catch you.

[Marcus King]

You got. You got to have that. And I mean, I have that with my band to the Marcus King Band. My drummer and I, Jack, we've worked together for like almost 15 years. So, you know, you gotta have people that you can trust.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, it is.

[Marcus King]

I mean, those are the strongest relationships I've ever built in my life. Or other musicians. So, like.

[Dan Soder]

Well, they understand you more. They understand that. You know, I think it's not that non musicians can't understand your life, but it's what we were saying, it's perspective. It's like you don't know what it's like to live in a van and travel and be on the Cross Bronx Expressway and get your jacked because a guy goes, what the is this? Yeah, the van. Yeah, with a trailer. You like, you don't know what that. You can go like, yeah, police can be mean. And you're like, not if they take your gear. It's beyond mean. It's cruel.

[Marcus King]

It is cruel.

[Dan Soder]

So you have that. So you feel like you have that with Chris?

[Marcus King]

I do, man. Like, just as soon as we met, it was like. It was me and my, you know, Briley, my wife. Now, like, it was our, like, third date. I had met her and I flew her out to LA where we were recording. And Chris, his wife was pregnant, so she was there and they connected great. And the four of us just became really close and just, I don't know, some people you just meet and you're just like, yeah, immediately just like, you

[Dan Soder]

know, it's the best.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

If that's. I mean, friendship rules. Because when you vibe with somebody and then you go like, oh, I think keep doing this. It is. It's interesting because you really do, like, feel like a child, like, of like, do you want to sleep over?

[Marcus King]

Yeah, exactly.

[Dan Soder]

You want to ask about you. Like, do you love movies? I love movies. I want to play it. Like, it's so. It is like. I remember the first time I worked with Shane. Literally, he's, like, emceeing at Helium, and I was headlining. It was like a Thursday night. I didn't have anything to do. And I'm just in the green room. I'm like, well, I brought my PlayStation. I'm gonna play mad. And he's like, I love Madden.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And then he. I'm not joking. He came to the hotel. We played Madden all night, and I couldn't find weed. And he was like, my boy makes edibles. And it was McCusker. McCusker made his own gummies. And he brought me a thing of gummies. And he's like, you should put these in the refrigerator. I don't know how strong they can get. That was what he said. And I ate one and it me up.

[Marcus King]

I love Matt.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude.

[Marcus King]

How McCusker Clan is.

[Dan Soder]

They're great.

[Marcus King]

Great.

[Dan Soder]

I just hung out with Billy in Pennsylvania when I went down with Shane. Billy's the man. War mode. I've been, like, telling Billy, I'm like, I need a War Mode shirt. I need the Val Kilmer Warmwood shirt. He's like, dude, we'll get you.

[Marcus King]

He sent me a hat.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, the hats are sick. Warm might have the best merch in the podcast game.

[Marcus King]

Low key.

[Dan Soder]

Low key. But be quiet. Don't tip anybody off.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I don't want their get stricken. I want that Heat shirt. Is Heat that War mode. Heat shirts. What's up? But I do agree you, like, meet people and you go like, that was my favorite part of moving to New York with stand up was kind of like that. Like the way that musicians vibe. It was like meeting people doing shitty mics, doing shitty bar shows. But you're like, oh, dude, like Joe List. And I just immediately were like, love.

[Marcus King]

Jealous.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah. We're just. But we were both obsessed. I remember the thing that linked us. We were both obsessed with the Jerry Seinfeld documentary comedian. And he was like, comedian. I was like, dude, that's one of the reasons I moved here. He was like, oh. And then we Just quoted at each other. And you're like, oh, we got similar shit. And then he would put me on. He would argue about the Celtics being the greatest team of all time. He'd be like, you never watched the 1984? And he, like, go to his apartment and we'd just be drunk watching it.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And that's what I love.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

As I think a lot of the times, you know, I don't know how it is about the music industry, but with stand up, you just meet people that. You go, you don't really like this, and it bums you out.

[Marcus King]

It is. It's a bummer.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Because you go, you're just a hooker.

[Marcus King]

It's. Yeah, it's. It. It is the most. I mean, you're. You're offering somebody something that. It's deeply spiritual and. And just important to other people, and you're just.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Giving it out for money.

[Dan Soder]

Yes.

[Marcus King]

It's disgusting.

[Dan Soder]

It feels the same. There used to be a strip club in Montreal called Super Sex. Right. It was sick. A Superman logo. It's awesome. The Joe List. We were up there in 2012, both of us still drinking. Joe List was like, let's go get lunch at a strip club. And I was like, as you do. As you do. Good deals, great burger, good price. It was good, one, bad. It was actually a pretty good burger. And then we got lap dances. And the. This girl, I just felt, you know, I was one of those guys that would just fall in love with one girl and be like, yeah, no, she loves me. Yeah. But this girl, I mean, was trying to rub the skin off me.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And I. And I was like, dude, I really think, like, ransom. And so then we do the festival, and I just signed with, like, a new agency, and the agents get up there on the weekends and they're like, bro, you know, they're got big bro energy and they're like, we gotta go to the fucking strip club, bro. And I'm getting hammered with them. And I'm like, yeah, hell yeah. It's like Saturday night. So this is like the A team.

[Marcus King]

My girl's gonna be there.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, that's what I was hoping. I was hoping. I go, oh, I wish I could have checked the schedule, but who's on the lineup tonight? Oh, oh, I need Rosalind. But we go. We go to Saturday night and it's packed. I mean, listen, I were there and there's like 10 people there, and we go, and it's fucking packed. And it's. I'm with at the time I was with caa, and it's like some agents from caa and they're like dropping cards and money so they get a good table, whatever. There's this beautiful. Not my girl, but just this beautiful girl, stacked. You could tell she was gorgeous. And I was pretty drunk. And I was like. I had dance. She's like, yeah, you can get a dance. And I remember the feeling of watching her check her phone while giving me a laugh dance. That's what it feels like when you find out people are doing Stand up for Money. Where you go, you just checked your phone? Yeah, this is Nickelback. I know how long this song goes. And she was like, dancing on me, and her phone was on, like, a thing. And she went like that. She was on me and I saw her go like that.

[Marcus King]

It's like when your therapist checks the

[Dan Soder]

clock or falls asleep.

[Marcus King]

You've had them fall asleep.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, pulled it on me today.

[Marcus King]

Damn.

[Dan Soder]

We're like. And I go, no, no, no. And he goes, sorry.

[Marcus King]

Oh, wow.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. I mean, he hasn't fully follows, but

[Marcus King]

he goes like, he nods.

[Dan Soder]

He. Not heroin. Not straight up heroin.

[Marcus King]

My bass player does heroin. Nods. But he doesn't do heroin. But he's just like, he can sleep.

[Dan Soder]

Sleepy boy, sleepy guy, dude. Sleepy guys, dude, you gotta watch it. Because sleepy guys, that has to suck to be genuinely a sleepy guy. And people to go, he's on heroin.

[Marcus King]

He's on something.

[Dan Soder]

He's on heroin.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because I've had friends when they're on heroin, they go, dude, I didn't sleep last night. And you go, I'm not a idiot. Yeah. Where it's 3pm and you're going like, yeah. And you're also in a real good mood. I don't think. I don't think sleepy boys get this good. Usually sleepy boys want to go to sleep. Sleepy boys on heroin are like, dude, everything is.

[Marcus King]

Everything's okay.

[Dan Soder]

Like, no, that's.

[Marcus King]

That's one that I never touched was good.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

The opiates.

[Dan Soder]

Let's do it, dude. Pinky swear. No opiates. Or else me and you are going to be putting on one hell of a variety show under a highway.

[Marcus King]

Each other.

[Dan Soder]

I go, marcus, play me on. You guys might have seen me eating a handful of down the street just in slacks. Just nothing but just slacks. No underwear. Yeah, man. So when. I mean, like, growing up a child of divorce like that and smoking cigarettes, when you put your action figures away, there is like a retirement ceremony where

[Marcus King]

you go, well, put the jerseys in the rafters.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude, and then you. If it feels weird because, like, Big Jay and I talked about this when people started sending me, like, wrestling figures. They're like, send it to me. There was a quick moment where you just go, like. And you got. No, I got nothing.

[Marcus King]

Lost the test.

[Dan Soder]

I lost the touch. It's like trying to start a car. You go. And you go, nah, just ain't there. I'd have to get jumped or. It was funny. They sent it. I unboxed it. And I was like, yeah, that's. That's always made Shane laugh. Just the thought of someone sitting there going, like, making the noise. Oh, look out. Or, like, sitting on your chest. You're like, did you ever get caught by your, like, cool friends playing with toys? Like, your friends?

[Marcus King]

Yeah. They come over, and they'd be like, what is this?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

I don't even. I don't even know.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, it's for my baby cousin. Yeah. My little baby cousins over here is a little baby.

[Marcus King]

That definitely happened.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. That's before I knew that I could just own whatever it was, man. Just be like, yeah, that's my. I'm into that.

[Dan Soder]

Teach that in middle school.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It's the Colin Quinn bit about Teach kids how to small talk. Teach kids how to own what they like. Because I really feel like that is a message that would hit everybody. Yeah. Every race, creed, color, religion. If you just Learned when you're 12 years old to go, because I like it.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

My sister tried. My. My older sister tried doing that.

[Marcus King]

They do that with, like, really, really big divisive issues.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. But it's like, maybe start small.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. And then let's start with maybe we

[Dan Soder]

start at an approachable level to where then they can understand who they actually are.

[Marcus King]

Comic books.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, comic books. Toys for horse girls. Keep your horses up, babies. Dude, crush that hair.

[Marcus King]

We all got to be more like horse girls.

[Dan Soder]

Be like horse girls. They love their unapologetically.

[Marcus King]

Unapologetically. Clomping around this room.

[Dan Soder]

Clomp, dude.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Clap for your soul.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, they would do it. And they could do the noises.

[Dan Soder]

It's just their hair is always braided perfectly. Perfectly. Dude, be more of a horse girl.

[Marcus King]

We all should be.

[Dan Soder]

If we were. If. If we had a good society, we would follow the lead of horse girls.

[Marcus King]

Well, now there's, like. There is, like, adult horse girls now.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

That do, like, you know, like, the stick horse.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, that might be. That's holding on, too.

[Marcus King]

That's a different thing.

[Dan Soder]

That's. That's. I would say let's. Let's early.

[Marcus King]

There's a, there's a point where we had to let go.

[Dan Soder]

They have to let.

[Marcus King]

They gotta let go.

[Dan Soder]

Let the horse run away.

[Marcus King]

Let it go.

[Dan Soder]

Don't put a stick between your legs over the age of 20.

[Marcus King]

Nope.

[Dan Soder]

Because I can't take you seriously. But a 13 year old girl that stands 10 toes down for her favorite, she can go horse knowledge all day.

[Marcus King]

Enjoy it.

[Dan Soder]

Great.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

But maybe we let go around 14, 15.

[Marcus King]

Absolutely.

[Dan Soder]

That's what I'm wondering. You wonder if the shame of what it is in us letting go is what got us evolved. But then you go, I wish I would have just had 10 of that. 10 more to go. Those are GI Joe extremes. Those rule.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I'm not embarrassed by that.

[Marcus King]

Absolutely. But there is also like, you know, I have a lot of friends. This maybe says more about me, but I have a lot of friends, adult friends who are still into wrestling. Very interesting. You're one of them. My buddy Dwayne Trucks from Westbrook Panic. Yeah, he loves wrestling. Lemaire, obviously.

[Dan Soder]

I mean, he lives it. That's what all we talk about. That's what we talk about exclusively.

[Marcus King]

You know, so there is a certain

[Dan Soder]

point, but there's also a letting go era. Yeah. Because people don't realize. When I was 18 to 23, I didn't emotionally invested. I can be. I can't be. I'll tell you what, I got a little too excited for Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi. Oh, no. That got. I was, I was trying to talk about it at the Cellar with people and they were not having it.

[Marcus King]

I went to a wedding. That dude was at his scary, huge.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude. He is legitimately super nice guy. I mean, he, he can be. Yeah. Because everyone else is afraid of him.

[Marcus King]

And his wife was with him.

[Dan Soder]

Sable. Sable. Yeah, dude.

[Marcus King]

I was like, hell yeah. What's up, Sable?

[Dan Soder]

What's up, Sable? Thank you. Thank you for pulling it out of me for seven years. Sable came when I hit puberty and I was like, oh, I was met. This was meant for me. The attitude era with them showing TNA the way they did. I was like this at an age where you couldn't get porn on your phone. I was like, this rule, I'll tell you. And shout out to the Nitro girls. WCW Nitro Girls never get the credit.

[Marcus King]

Hey, I agree.

[Dan Soder]

They did it, I'll tell you.

[Marcus King]

And it very well could have been a Sable. But for the sake of the story, just that part of you never really dies. You know, like I ordered a stone Cold Steve Austin poster off of ebay for my gym.

[Dan Soder]

Hell, yeah.

[Marcus King]

And it showed up. It was wrong poster. I think it was Sable or like, one of the, you know, wwf like, chicks. And I was like, oh, man.

[Dan Soder]

I wanted. Oh, I wanted a bald, tough badass. I didn't want this beautiful babe, Trish Stratus. Not today.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

So genuinely bummed out. And that was the thing that immediately, back on ebay, you go, now send

[Dan Soder]

me my rattlesnake poster. They. That was one of the things my mom really made me laugh about when I was on the phone with Stone Cold when we were doing that cartoon with him. And I got off the phone with him, and she was like, man, you were 12 years old again. But I really was. Because you're, like, talking to him. You're like, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm sorry, Owen. Heartbroken neck. I'm so sorry. I love you so much. But he's like, all right. Hell yeah, man. Dude. Hell yeah, dude. Just you. The first time, it's. What you're saying, it's still in you.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The first time I heard his voice, first time he popped up, when I pitched the show to him, it was during COVID When he popped up on that zoom call. I was like, oh, yeah. Like, jump scare, Right? Same way I felt. Stand up, New York. When Chris Rock walked in the first time and I saw him in person. Holy.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

I was like, dude, you're. You're like the reason I'm here right now. Bigger and blacker. And he was just, like, looked around and he's like, yeah. You know, and then. And then, I mean, like, with music, do you have that memory of who you were in the room with the first time that you're like, man, I mean, like, Rick Rubin is one where you go. I mean, yeah, obviously, like, created Def Jam. Yeah.

[Marcus King]

I mean, walking in the room with Rick, that. That definitely felt.

[Dan Soder]

Was that at Shangri La? Did you go to Rick's house?

[Marcus King]

I went to Shangri La and he was doing an interview in the yard with Mike Campbell from the Heartbreakers and, like, sick. I just. I drove past and I was like, two of the most, like, I easily identifiable people of all time sitting and talking to each other. And I just waited in the kitchen, and then he came in, and he was just, like, super stoked. That's the thing I really like about Rick is that he's. He's a fan first.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, yeah. He works with people he genuinely likes.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. And he's maintained that for all these years. Yeah, he does some.

[Dan Soder]

You know, we just. He's crazy old rich guy also.

[Marcus King]

Big wrestling fan.

[Dan Soder]

That's what I was just gonna say. Loves wrestling.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Honestly, I probably think one of my highlights of my life would be able to talk wrestling with Rick Rubin.

[Marcus King]

Absolutely.

[Dan Soder]

Because he's paid attention to the whole time that you can reference eras. And you go. And he's. He's there. You'll be watching a SummerSlam and you're like, fucking recruitment. Yeah. Right there behind the broadcast booth.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, I send him stuff all the time. Like, my boy Kevin Scott, bass player, he has a trio called the Wednesday Night Titans. I'll send it to you. Yeah, but they just play, like, old wrestling clips.

[Dan Soder]

Yo, I've seen that.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, they play, like, jazz fusion over it.

[Dan Soder]

Yo. Where have I seen that? I might have talked. I think you might have sent to me after you did the bonfire the first time.

[Marcus King]

Probably.

[Dan Soder]

I might have talked to Kevin about it.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, Kevin's the man.

[Dan Soder]

Kevin was with you.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

When we did that. So we're talking about Rocket League. We're gonna play rocket League on PlayStation. And we were talking about. Yeah, I think he might have said. Because it's cool as it's so badass. And that's awesome. They play wrestling in the background while they jam. And it's. But it's like they get like. Like AWA clips. They get.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, they go deep.

[Dan Soder]

They go like, NWA Charlotte. Like, 82. Where you're like, damn, that's Tolly Anderson. And Kevin Arm drags.

[Marcus King]

He was really into wrestling. And Kevin was, like, a student of Colonel Bruce Hampton, who's, like, our Southeast, like. And Colonel Bruce was in Sling Blade, you know.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Marcus King]

He was like the rotund guy that said, like, the poem.

[Dan Soder]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus King]

You know, in Doyle's apartment or wherever. And he's like, so Colonel Bruce. So now, like, when I work with Dwight Yoko, I'm gonna ask him about Colonel Bruce and stuff.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Hell, yeah.

[Marcus King]

Colonel was like, everything is wrestling.

[Dan Soder]

Everything is wrestling.

[Marcus King]

He's like, politics is wrestling. It is music wrestling.

[Dan Soder]

It is putting people over.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And that's what I love about it is, like, you know, and I've said it a ton of times, but when you're little, be a Hulk Hogan fan. And when you're older, you're a Macho man fan because you realize Macho man made everyone look like a million bucks in the ring. And it was all about, like, him making the match look as good as possible. Bret Hart, same way you could put Bret Hart in a ring with Any but. Bruce Pritchard talks about this all the time on his podcast. Put Bret Hart in the ring with anybody. He'd make him look like a world champ.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

There's this guy. There's a specific story. I forget the guy's name. They signed him to the WWF at the time. Guys. Built like a Greek God. Looks good. Good on the mic. They put him in a match. Bret Hart was still part of the Hart Foundation. They put him in a match with Bret Hart, and they're like, we got our next Hulk Hogan. This guy's crazy. And then they put him in a match with someone else, and they're like, this guy sucks. And you're like, he was all Bret Hart. That's what led to Bret Hart getting the push, because they were like, oh, this dude is truly amazing at it. But I agree with the Colonel.

[Marcus King]

It's the same way in music, too.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

You want to play with people who want to make the whole thing elevate.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And when you play with people who are, you know, are occupied with themselves,

[Dan Soder]

trying to put themselves over.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. It's just. It's. It's really disappointing.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah. That is. So when you're at Rick Rubin's house and he comes in the kitchen and he's just, like, stoked to see you, is there a part of the back of your brain that you're like, what the is my life right now?

[Marcus King]

Absolutely. Shortly. Shortly thereafter. Like, I. I mean, that. That would happen time and time again. But I was working there, and it was during the pandemic, because I met him right before the pandemic hit. And then I went overseas and I came back because I had to. And then I just sequestered myself at Shangri La.

[Dan Soder]

Really.

[Marcus King]

And they had this guy, Dr. Johnny, who retired after the pandemic because they had to bring him in every day to give Covid tests to everybody.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And I was working in the chapel, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were working in the main house. So, like, I would sit and get my Covid tests, like, next to Flee and Chad Smith.

[Dan Soder]

That's crazy.

[Marcus King]

Just like.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Anthony Kiedis is practicing a new life. Sorry, man. I gotta practice. And you go, no, it sounds good. Your brain scooped. Like, no, no. Go good. On a song. You have to have an aneurysm to make those noises or how does it work? That's. But, like, do you feel when you're in that situation, you got the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the main house and you're working in. In the other House. Is there a sense of jealousy of, like, how much Rick time are they getting? Because I feel like that's where I would go. I'd be like, you didn't even listen to my new riff.

[Marcus King]

You know, like, I saw when my boy Tyler Childers worked with Rick.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Hell, yeah.

[Marcus King]

I saw, like, his footage. And I was like, rick's in the room while the band's playing. Like, he didn't do that for me.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And I was like, I sound like such a dude. I was telling my wife that, and she was like, dude, shut up. It was probably. He was just that one day. It was probably just for that video, like, stop being a. Yeah. I was like, yeah, you're right.

[Dan Soder]

That's what I always used to do, where I'd be like, louis CK didn't bring me on the road. And she'd be like, dude, who cares? Katie's like, you don't need to go on the road. You're outlining yourself. And you go, here. I know. I was just being really nice to be asked. Being a. When you realize that, you go, I'm being a.

[Marcus King]

It's a tough one.

[Dan Soder]

That's. Find a good woman to call you a. That's what you need. That is.

[Marcus King]

End of the day, that's what you need.

[Dan Soder]

You need to go nut up. What the are you talking about? But not in a way that you take it personally.

[Marcus King]

It just. Just points out, like, it's perspective.

[Dan Soder]

They love you, so they're telling you, hey, you're, You're. And again, this is something that I think is common with people that watch, that grew up without parents loving each other, is that you go, well, I don't think anyone loves me. And you go, they do. You're just. You're going back to an old program setting.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

[Dan Soder]

Where you're like, dude, but I want Rick. Because I, I. That would even you telling me that. I go, I know exactly. My insecurity would lie.

[Marcus King]

Yep.

[Dan Soder]

That if, If Rick Rubin wasn't down at the house the whole time, going sitting cross legged, being like, damn, yeah, this is better than a big show choke slam. I'd be like, yeah, right. I'd be in my own head about it.

[Marcus King]

I know.

[Dan Soder]

But when you're making the album with Rick Rubin are there, and you see him, his influence put his, Put his fingers in it. Is it the moment where you go like, damn, you are. You're Rick Ruben.

[Marcus King]

There were moments of that. A lot of it was just retrospective and seeing, like, how much he made me do it myself.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

You know what I mean? How much he kind of isolated me to be the one to call the shots.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And how much. How much bad behavior I had to unlearn from. From having lived at that point, like, two or three years in Nashville at that point, and just trying to construct a hit.

[Dan Soder]

Sure. Because Rick forcing it out of you.

[Marcus King]

Yeah. Rick hates commerce. He hates creating for the sake of people buying it.

[Dan Soder]

I love that.

[Marcus King]

Like, you got to create for yourself. But he wouldn't really tell me any of this directly.

[Dan Soder]

That's a good sensei.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, he was a Sensei 100.

[Dan Soder]

He's just like, no, now you're learning. I made this. And he's like, finally, I'm just waxing Rick's. His car collection can suck my dick. But still, I learned a lot from it. Yeah, there is. You know, I think that you do have those people that teach you, like, hey, relax. You're doing it. You know, Colin Quinn gave me one of my greatest notes of all time. He's basically comedy's Rick Rubin. He really is comedies Rick Rubin. And there was a moment we're doing a show, and this was 10 years ago in Woodstock. We're doing the Woodstock Comedy Festival. And he watched my set, and he got off stage and he did, like, you know, the aggregate. He's like, you. He's like, you write all these jokes and you don't perform them. He's like. He just stand there and say a joke and he's like, perform him.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

You spent the time writing it. You spent the time doing. Perform the joke. And you're like, damn, you go to LA and you go, oh, they're all performing their jokes. Wow, New York. We just stand there and we go, this is my joke. And I wrote my joke. Then you go to LA and you're like, these are selling.

[Marcus King]

No, I know. I. It. I get the same way, man.

[Dan Soder]

Really?

[Marcus King]

I go see people. I'm like, yep. And the crowd goes crazy for, like. Like, I went to a Billy String show, and, like, yeah, Billy will. I mean, he rips. And like, we started out together, so, like, really?

[Dan Soder]

I didn't know that.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, we both moved to Nashville around the same time. We were neighbors.

[Dan Soder]

That's sick. Yeah, that's sick.

[Marcus King]

It's kind of one of those things.

[Dan Soder]

So you guys have just jammed?

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

The thought of Marcus King and Billy Strings jamming is just making me go, like, the. Is going. That's fudgeing. Awesome.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, man.

[Dan Soder]

And. But you were saying you watch Billy

[Marcus King]

Strings, like, yeah, like, watching Billy's show. Like, he knows how to work a crowd.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And, like, you know, it's the same thing again. I talked to my wife about. She's like, yeah, you do just kind of stand there. And I'm like, well, okay, I'll. I'll perform a little more.

[Dan Soder]

You know what's funny is it similarly like, we went. This is a couple years ago, Katie and I went and saw Nate. He was doing this, like, giant theater in New Jersey, and we were watching him, and afterwards, we were driving home, and I was like, he's so comfortable. And she was like, yeah, you could be more comfortable. She's like, take your time with it.

[Marcus King]

It's a good note.

[Dan Soder]

And you go, shit. And then it is. It's just like, from watching someone that you know, that you respect and love, and you go, fuck. I could. I could probably use a little of that.

[Marcus King]

I don't remember who he said it to or who said somebody was talking about. Ron White said, if things are going really well, slow down. Yeah, things are going really bad. Slow down.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And I take that advice before every show, really.

[Dan Soder]

That's. That is very good. And Ronald White's one of the gods. I mean, just like, the first time I went down to Austin, he was around the mothership. I had to stop myself from calling him sir. I do, because I love Ron White. He was like, how you doing? He sat down. I was like, hello, sir. You're the only thing worth a. On the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Like, you want to say something, you go, you were the Bernie Mac of the white version of Kings of Comedy.

[Marcus King]

He's so sick.

[Dan Soder]

He is. And it is like, there is a thing that is. You know what I would say? Everything is wrestling, because that's what. When you see celebrities, when they talk about doing the WWE stuff like Stephen Ammo, or like the people that have done, like, real matches, they say, triple H says call. Slow down. Take your time more. And you're like, oh, yeah. You don't realize it because you. I think that's for anybody in life, even if you're at a. Even if you work in an office and you're like this, I promise you can apply to something. Just take your time and slow down.

[Marcus King]

Be present.

[Dan Soder]

That's it, man. And that's the hardest the world. That's the reason Buddha achieved nirvana is because he slowed the down and just was there. It was just present and just lived in himself.

[Marcus King]

I mean, I try to apply it to every part of my life, man. Like, if I'm Going to a wedding I don't want to go to with my wife. I'm like, I'm gonna find somebody here that I can connect with over something.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And, like, you'd be surprised. Like, you meet, like, her friends, like, cousins, husband. Who also doesn't really want to be there, but he microdoses mushrooms, and I'm talking to him about him growing mushrooms in his bathtub. You know, I'm connecting with somebody.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, exactly. I went to Katie. Had her high school reunion up in Boston, and I was there, and I connected with all the plus ones.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Because we were like. They did a full class photo, and there's, like, me and three guys and a girl sitting around. I go, are you guys plus ones?

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And they're like, yeah. And I go, them? You want to get a plus one photo? Took a selfie. Hey, Framingham High, we're the real stars. No, but shout out. Framingham High, Go, go, go. Flyers. Always. It's fly or die, you know, until you die. But, yeah, man. I do think, man, in an age of digital isolation, where everyone can just be by themselves and make themselves feel crazy, finding that time to slow down and connect with people. You know what I miss is, like, connecting with, like, small talk at, like, grocery stores and shit.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It doesn't happen. Like, I. I don't miss drinking, but I miss connecting with people through drinking.

[Marcus King]

I've just gotten to the point where I can go out and really just, like, I can have a few Heineken. N A's or.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Shout out. Thank you for making it taste like Heineken.

[Marcus King]

It tastes so good.

[Dan Soder]

It tastes just like Heineken.

[Marcus King]

Like a Guinness. Zero is awesome, too.

[Dan Soder]

Give me a club soda with a lime. Makes me feel like I'm having a little bit of a. I'll go to an airplane airport bar and have a club soda with a lime and end up talking the way that I used to talk when I was doing two shots and a beer.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Where you're like, oh, I'm talking to this roofer from Cleveland.

[Marcus King]

It is.

[Dan Soder]

Dad died.

[Marcus King]

It's a comfortability thing.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

And what I realized is, like, going out, it's like, I don't have to lower my. Like, I mean, you do, but it's because everyone else does. Everybody lowers. The veil's been lowered.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And you can do it, too. And it is. That's what they said in that book that I used to quit drinking. The easy way to stop drinking is he's like, there's a whole chapter about the social anxiety of stopping drinking. And he goes, you're the same as you were when you were six years old and you went to a birthday party. You're scared and nervous for 10 to 15 minutes, and then 30 minutes in, you're playing pool with a guy you just met, and you're like, oh, this is actually fun. I'm. You know, that's how I feel. Like, I'm like, oh, yeah, just give it a little bit of time. It's also nice when, like, we went to a wedding and Katie noticed it. She's like, oh, you stay the same intelligence, and everyone drops down and you go, yeah. That's when you know it's your time to leave. Yeah. When you're seeing people be too stupid, you go, I gotta go.

[Marcus King]

I always tell my wife, it's like nothing after the second location.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah. You've been listening to Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Never fought, of course. Lemon, you never follow a hippie to a second location.

[Marcus King]

Well, yeah, well, there's definitely that. I've always followed that, you know, that's just.

[Dan Soder]

That was born into my brain, you know? Follow a hippie to a second location.

[Marcus King]

Yep. Because we were at this wedding, and it's like, oh, we're all going to the bar. And it's like, oh, this bar closes at 11. We're gonna go to so and so's room.

[Dan Soder]

I'm like, that's where it stops.

[Marcus King]

That's where I'm out.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. And your friends. Bert's really cool about that. When I'm on the road with him, he knows I don't want to hit a second location, so he'll get me out to, like. All right, we did the show on the tour, and then we're gonna go to this place, like, Florida, Alabama. Yeah, but you ain't gonna get me to the thing.

[Marcus King]

Right.

[Dan Soder]

The next place is where my bed and my steam deck is at. So.

[Marcus King]

I mean, I used to do drugs. I would always go to the. To the after party, and then I would end up in, like, an apartment with just, like, a lamp. You know what I'm saying?

[Dan Soder]

Yeah.

[Marcus King]

Just, like, some lawn chairs.

[Dan Soder]

It's just a cat that's not nice to you.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

And you go, what are we doing here?

[Marcus King]

I just, like, cutting it up on, like, a Bible.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah, dude. You go, this isn't where I want to be when I. Dude, when I was drinking, I would, like, wake up on futons where I'd be like, how the. Am I on Long Island? Yeah, I gotta Ride a train back, dude. I went drinking one time in Denver. This is after I moved away and I came back and I woke up in, like, an apartment with a guy I went to high school with that I wasn't even close with. And I was like, what the. He was like, you were hammered last night. You're like, how far away from you? Like, trying to find out where my mom's place is. Like, how the am I gonna get home?

[Marcus King]

I've had a lot of those.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. But now you. That's the best part of growing. Getting over that. Now you go. That's the relief where you go, I never have to have that moment again.

[Marcus King]

Never have to wake up and be

[Dan Soder]

like, yeah, waking up. And you go, exactly where I went to bed.

[Marcus King]

Exactly what I said to that person, I don't like.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's what it is. It's like, I. I truly think that's the most refreshing part is, like, almost finding out everything we've been talking about, whether it's, like, stuff you want to make or playing with figures and stuff. It's just, like, ownership that you feel that you go, I don't need to do that anymore. And I'm. I'm okay with that.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

There isn't, like, I'm better than anybody or my life is better. You just go like, this is who I am now.

[Marcus King]

Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

It's the ownership, absolutely. Horse girl mentality. Buy, listen. Don't buy. Listen and then buy. But listen to everything that Marcus King has ever made, because I promise you, he's one of the most talented human beings walking on this planet right now. To watch him play guitar live is truly one of my, Like, I've got to do it a couple times. You rip. Look out if he's. How many. Are you gonna do another one of these? Blue Note, man.

[Marcus King]

Yeah, I'm doing the Blue Note right now, so keep an eye out for that. It's all on my website.

[Dan Soder]

Yeah. Marcus king dot com.

[Marcus King]

Marcus kingofficial dot com. I gotta mention, Waltz Across Texas is happening. We're playing Stagecoach, and then we're just working our way across Texas, baby.

[Dan Soder]

Sick.

[Marcus King]

We're playing all these old, you know, dance halls and, like, honky tonks and.

[Dan Soder]

With the Marcus King Band.

[Marcus King]

Marcus King Band.

[Dan Soder]

That's fucking awesome.

[Marcus King]

Trying to do a documentary around it just to, you know, shine some light on these old honky tong dance halls like Flores Country Store and Helotes, Texas. And Green hall out in Green, Texas.

[Dan Soder]

So if you live in Texas, be on the lookout for that be on the lookout.

[Marcus King]

A lot of people on the wet on the Instagram and stuff saying there's no Texas states, but it's its own thing, baby. Yeah.

[Dan Soder]

Which is great. So you go, no Texas dates. And you go, how about I just give you your own tour, get your own thing. We'll go play in some old school venues. Dude, you're the man. I'm so glad you came by to do this.

[Marcus King]

Thanks for having me.

[Dan Soder]

You're one of the best sa.