← The Antihero Broadcast
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- [00:24]
A
JV team for life. Good morning. It is Wednesday, Friends Day, March 11, 2026. The Anti Hero broadcast is the news entertainment broadcast for all veterans, first responders and blue collar Americans. This show of course is brought to you by Ghostbed. Go to ghostbed.com forward/antihero. Save 10 on their already ridiculously low prices. Pillowcases, mattress toppers, cooling patented technology sheets in their award winning mattresses. 60, 000 5 star rating and reviews in house, customer service, free shipping or free returns if you don't like it. So free shipping's a big deal on those big ass mattresses. So if you got to replace anything in the bedroom, go to ghostbed.com forward/antihero. Save 10 of the tone that we sent you. And of course elevated silence. Go to elevated silence.com. use promo code ANTIHERO15 and get 15 off your suppressor. Everything from 22s to 50 cows. You need it, they got it. It is not a hard process. Exercise your second amendment right. Get yourself a can. Jim will walk you through it. Jim's a great dude. He's a big supporter of ours. And if you use promo code ANTIHERO15 at checkout, you'll get 15 off your can. And
- [01:31]
B
if you're a tactical athlete looking for an edge, try our moisture activated ray tape. It's made from ultra soft blend of synthetic fibers, natural cotton plus Proudly played.
- [01:41]
C
I'm done.
- [01:42]
B
I give up.
- [01:42]
C
I'm done.
- [01:43]
B
Today proudly America, you gave me the curveball before we started because you launched the show mid question. The black ray tape is back in stock. So go to goontape.com use code ANTIHERO15 for 15 off raid responsibly. Better than stutter. Like if I, if nobody remember, they're like, damn, the dude's stuttering. What is he stuttering about?
- [02:03]
A
And then it's people say they want to be like Mike. Mike wants to be like Tyler.
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C
Yeah.
- [02:09]
A
At least for the ad reads, hey,
- [02:11]
B
next week they're gonna get it raw for me every day. So we'll see. We'll see what happens.
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A
You know it's funny is we're not on X or Facebook today.
- [02:20]
B
Really.
- [02:21]
A
We're only on YouTube. Yeah, you can add it how? Right now? Mid show.
- [02:25]
C
Yeah.
- [02:25]
B
If you go up to the top where it's streaming, it shows you the locations. You click on that and add and highlight those locations.
- [02:31]
A
Where does it edit?
- [02:34]
B
The top, right? Yeah. Where you're streaming and then just add those locations and then hit save and it'll jump on There as well.
- [02:42]
A
All right, let's see.
- [02:43]
B
When we had just something weird when we had Shadowgate, Jimmy created the wrong. The wrong room. And then I went in it and used his stream. I had to do that.
- [02:55]
A
Oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, I just added him. We're good. We're live on Facebook and X now. So without further ado. What?
- [03:03]
B
You're welcome.
- [03:04]
A
Yeah, I know. I want to be like, Mike, hey, that dude that I said that might reach out to me just texted and said it's homeboy is going to be reaching out to you soon. So
- [03:16]
B
for those that don't know, make sure you stay tuned in Patreon because we're going to keep a lot of stuff in there. So we may even have an update for you after the show. Maybe a Patreon live later today with some breaking information. But we have a guest today that's more important. We'll get to that Patreon stuff after the show.
- [03:31]
A
And like I said, without further ado, we have Michael d'. Angelo. He is a marine and he is a stand up comedian. He's got a hell of a story from the origins of when he was a kid all the way up till now. It's a crazy story. He was actually on Justin's donut shop podcast just. Just recently that launched, I think like two days ago. Great story, Michael.
- [03:56]
C
Good morning. Good morning. Every time I look, I'm just more out of frame. Sorry.
- [04:03]
B
You look great. But I'm gonna tell you what, you look like my old partner from the D A. Task force and he tried to indict me. So I'm gonna be nervous the whole time that we're in here.
- [04:11]
C
You call me gay?
- [04:12]
B
No, not. He wasn't gay. He was just. He had a last name that ended in a vowel. He looks. Had the slicked hair and he tried to put me in prison. So other than that, you look real.
- [04:23]
A
You do look like. You do look like you could star in a movie about a DEA task force guy that's like deep undercover.
- [04:29]
C
Like, hey, man, I got the snitch scar. Come, cat, you got it all.
- [04:33]
B
That's what I'm saying. You got the name, everything's there, dude. The gang's all. As my wife would say, the gang's all here. You got. You're ready to roll?
- [04:39]
C
Yeah, we're here to gang bang.
- [04:42]
A
Yeah. So you, you are a legit go to war, go to jail type candidate, right? When I went to basic in 07 in the army, I was like. Half my platoon was like, oh, yeah, my Lawyer told the judge, since we're, there's a surge to Iraq, I'll join the military. So I was around a lot of go to war, go to jail type people, and they. Great soldiers, dude. Great soldiers. I just wasn't. I was from suburbia. Wasn't used to that life.
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C
You got that you got to go to war, go to jail. Tattoos.
- [05:12]
A
Yeah, I looked apart for sure. Well, you have the face scar.
- [05:16]
C
Yeah. No, for real, It's. It's crazy, the look people get. They think like, oh, you. Everybody sees the scar and they think it's from, like, oh, man. You get that in Iraq or Afghanistan. I went to war before I joined.
- [05:29]
A
Yeah, dude, I was just from the streets, dog.
- [05:31]
C
Yeah, it's crazy. My whole Marine Corps career was so, like, chill. I'm almost ashamed of it, you know?
- [05:39]
A
Well, I mean, it's hard to get. It's hard to top that when you kick your life off with the lifestyle that you live, which we'll get into, because your story is amazing. Like, you were in the lifestyle, but you were trying to not be part of the lifestyle. It seems like at the same time, the same time, you kind of, from what it sounds like, you know, your. Your dad would give you sound advice like, this ain't cool, dude. Like, anything. And it kind of like, from what I gather, I'll let you tell the story. Made you open your eyes. Like, I might need an exit strategy from this lifestyle.
- [06:09]
C
Yeah, yeah, I. I came online pretty early and. And, you know, when you're a kid and your parents are drug add, you had no control over any of that. It's kind of ride the wave and grit your teeth and go into survival mode, which, you know, and I've been in for the last 30 years now. I'm trying to rewire all that to calm down as a person, but at some point, you know, 17, I was like. I had a little bit of, like, leeway to get the. Out of there and be like, okay, well, I can. I can join the military at 17. Let's. Let's. Let's go now. Let's get out. And I. Yeah, you know, the whole story, it's. I myself just rushing to get out, but also the Marine Corps saved my life for sure.
- [06:49]
A
So how was your childhood growing up? What was that like?
- [06:52]
C
It's miserable, dude. It was. It was awful. It was.
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B
It was.
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C
It was, dog. It was. It was so bad. I try, you know, every time I do one of these podcasts, I get done after the podcast. They're like, all Right, man. Thanks for coming on.
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B
Goodbye.
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C
Then I got the podcast. I was like, what the happened to me?
- [07:06]
A
I over talked again.
- [07:08]
C
Yeah. Good night, guys. No, I. Yeah, man. My parents were. My. My dad was like, successful. He was doing great. Ran a construction company in Las Vegas. And my mom was. My mom was the problem. She was. She was chaos. You know, she a good. You know, a woman can really lead a man astray. My dad made his own choices for sure, but basically mom was a drug addict. Dad tried to help her, and somehow in all of that, having two kids with her and. And trying to run a business, he kept trying to take. Spent more time taking care of her than he did the business and lost his business, started doing drugs as well with her. And by the time I was six years old, we had lost everything. Like, just, we. We had like a nice custom home out in the desert in Vegas. And you know, my. Just everything that, you know, the. The classic successful construction company guy had, he just lost it all. We were like, living in people's living rooms while. While my dad was like, cooking meth with people and like that. And I went to a. I went to a different school every year from like kindergarten all the way up until I joined the Marine Corps. Not because I was a. A shitty kid. My parents were just like, you know, people who do meth, they move around a lot. That's what they do. And yeah, I spent like, you know, elementary school, and by the time elementary school was like, real crazy. We were homeless, living in the truck. My mom kind of took off my sister when she turned 16, she. She took off as fast as she could. So it's just me and my dad for a long time, and he's still struggling his addiction, yet he's just like. He lost his company and then he still had to feed me, so he had to go back to work for the union and like, tuck his tail between his legs, like, figure out how the. To take care of me, even though he did, you know, deal with the fact that he lost everything. Yeah, and, you know, we're like living in our truck. We live at like, random people's houses. My dad's, like, cooking meth with people. We're living in fucking random play. We do at one point in fourth grade. I'm trying to like, write bits about this now, but me, my dad live with this dude named Neil, and Neil cooked meth with my dad in. In his house. I mean, my dad lived on his, like, Lazy Boy recliner and in Neil's kitchen, he had a Full grown male chimp living in a cage in the kitchen. He's got a four bedroom house. You could have put that anywhere. But like, that's just one example of all the crazy, different random places we lived and. Go ahead.
- [09:47]
B
A monkey living in the kitchen of a meth house.
- [09:50]
C
Yeah, not even a monkey. There's like monkeys. There's like little monkeys. This is a full grown chip in a giant cage in this dude's kitchen.
- [09:57]
B
How do you think he acquired that? Like, how does that. How do you think that happened?
- [10:01]
C
I do. I don't know. When you do math, anything is possible. I've seen tweakers. Crazy, bro.
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B
Like, yeah, I make memes about that. Like, that's like some out of like hangover. Like, hey, there's a monk chimpanzee in the kitchen, dude.
- [10:15]
C
Yeah, like, how much copper wire you got A strip to get a ch.
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A
Holy.
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B
How do you feed that thing? Did he ever let it out?
- [10:22]
C
I mean, when we weren't in the house? Yeah, he would let it out and he fed it. The whole house just stunk, bro. It was terrible. Smell like piss. And why would you keep it in the kitchen, dude?
- [10:34]
B
Outside. So the thing stuck.
- [10:36]
C
Oh, my God. It was. It was miserable. If you got too close to the cage, that would grab you, dude. It was. It was goodness. But so middle school was like. Or middle school. Elementary school was like super unstable. Very like sleeping on floors. And when I was in fifth grade, we were like living on someone's living room floor. And I remember waking up looking at the TV and 911 was going on and I just woke my dad up on the floor. I was like, yo, someone hit the towers. He's like, get ready for school.
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A
Nothing stopped it.
- [11:06]
C
He's like, you're going to school, motherfucker. So and then by. So by middle school, we kind of started getting like apartments and stuff. But we'd get evicted at this point. My dad kept letting my mom kind of come back into our life. And every time she'd come back, she'd do crazy and just like get us evicted from a place. Or like, freak out, steal from us, fight. My dad. My sister would come back. My mom. My sister would be at each other's throats, stealing each other's drugs. Just classic dope doer. And this whole time, like, I'm witnessing all this shit and I don't know if I was like, maybe I got like some sort of, I don't know, neurodivergent thing that I was just born with. But like witnessing all this shit certainly didn't help because I was like constantly like hyper aware. I didn't grow up super early. Like I was. I've been doing my laundry since I was fucking six years old, you know. So by the time I got into middle school and I didn't have to, like, I was old enough to not like have to be around my parents all the time. I had a little bit of my own agency. I was immediately out in the streets all day, all night. As soon as I woke up, I would just. It would go to school. Then when I got off school, I was just outside all night and. And I would come home like late at night. And I was a street kid in middle school and I started to find like community and I found like the other street kids and I kind of started to find my group. I, I grew up all over. We moved all over Vegas. But right around middle school we kind of started. I stayed in like a couple certain areas and I started to find like main. A main group of friends. And they were up kids too. They were wild. They were, they were crazy. And the difference between. The way I explain is like, I always, because I had witnessed so much chaos and I always kind of like sought out or I guess hoped for one day, like structure and control. I was like, yeah, I can't wait to like get a job and earn money and be able to like, have financial security and stability and my own clean home and, and my own in my car. And like, I. I wanted like a normal life. And the kids I hung out with all wanted to be like gang bangers. They wanted to be like. They thought going to jail was cool and all that. When we were in middle school, it wasn't so much that it was more of like small time, you know, getting into fights with each other, breaking windows and starting fire, stealing from the grocery store. Little dumb pork. Do what?
- [13:27]
A
It's an arson. Just small time.
- [13:29]
C
Yeah, little fire. Small fires, you know, nothing, nothing too big, you know, in an apartment. That's the great thing about starting fires in apartment complex. There's fire extinguishers everywhere. So you're good. Oh, oh, oh. Dude, that was like. That is a scene out of every other day. Like, go grab the, get the extinguisher. We're gonna start keeping them on standby. Yeah, we used that one yesterday.
- [13:49]
A
We gotta go run and get the other one.
- [13:51]
C
Why the. Are they all empty? Yeah. And then, yeah, middle school kind of escalated into, you know, getting to high school and the stakes started getting higher where like when I turned 15. Like, I was always working. My dad, since I was, like, real little, he had to bring me with him to a lot of, like, construction sites. And. And so I've been, like, working since I was, like, 10 years old on, like, random with him. But the day I turned 15 and a half, you're allowed to go get a work permit in Vegas and go get, like, a. A real job on a W2. So I went down to the family courts, got my work permit, and I got a job at Papa John's. Like, day one of being old enough to do it, I got a job there. I saved every check and bought my first car. And all my friends, like, didn't. That nobody wanted a job. They started stealing cars. Everything kind of just went up another degree. They started selling, like, weed. They would start, you know, getting into fights with, like, grown men and. And just, like, worse. Worse things for them. And I was always with them because I. I couldn't. I never wanted to be at home. And I was looking for. I didn't have any brothers, you know, so I was looking for that camaraderie. I was looking for that connection. And, you know, I was also a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, too. Being around it, you know, it's exciting. You're just a wild kid out in the streets and to witness it and be near it and talking shit and having fun. You know, I don't have to steal a car to. To enjoy the excitement. You know, I can just be in the passenger seat.
- [15:22]
A
Hey, bro.
- [15:25]
C
Yeah. Yeah. And it was. It became this thing where I noted my dad was always in and out of jail all the time. And my mom actually went to prison for a little while. But it became this thing where I was. I was starting to notice that my friends were. It went from like, oh, we're just kids around fun, to being like, oh, some of these guys are idiots. Like, these guys are, like, truly stupid. And it became really clear to me when we would get, like, stopped by the police, because by the time we were coming out of middle school into high school, we, like, rolled around in big groups. We were like. We walk in, like, groups of five or 10. There was just a lot of us hanging around at once. And the cops constantly stopped us. They would constantly roll up on us, handcuff all of us, take pictures of us for gang unit and, like, clips, you know, get a. Get a profile on all of us. And then when we were, like, doing dumb and we got caught up, my friends would, like, talk to the police, like, Just, just, just like, like the police ain't the police, dog. Like, what are you doing? Like I was, you know, I watched my dad get like up by the police. I, I've, I, I've gotten manhandled by the police before. My, my buddy, my dad was always very clear with me. He's like, it's yes sir. No a doser. When you talk to a cop, they, they can do whatever they want, you know, like this was. Nowadays, I think it's a little different. I think it's a little harder to be still be a shitty person anywhere in place in life. But I don't know, back in like early 2000 and 90s it was, it was a different conversation when it came to. Nowadays everybody's like, you know, these, what do they call them?
- [16:59]
A
They're.
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C
They're constitutional stops or whatever they start like I don't consent to.
- [17:03]
A
Bro.
- [17:04]
C
What are you talking about? Bro? They 20 years ago your car. But anyways, my friends did not subscribe to that at all. They were very like anti you authoritative figures and they were started getting like their asses whipped by cops and getting sent to juvenile hall. And I, I always got let go. I was like yes sir, no sir. And I didn't, I didn't carry drugs on me. I didn't carry weapons on me. No. Like that and high school, it started getting scarier. You know, they elevated from like selling weed to like guy started selling meth and coke.
- [17:37]
A
Did you, did you ever dabble in narcotics at all?
- [17:40]
C
No, no, dude, I'd smoke weed. I eat mushrooms. And I actually quit smoking weed last year. But no, I, my, I watched my parents destroy themselves with that. So I've never touched any of that. I got an addictive personality. I don't need.
- [17:55]
B
I don't.
- [17:56]
C
No pills, no pain pills, no sleeping pills. None of that for me, man. I just lay awake at night and scream, you know, like supposed to do.
- [18:03]
A
Yeah. And I. You said something like the moving schools every year. As, as menial as that sounds to a kid growing up, that I would imagine is the biggest part of no structure is a new school every year. And, and I get it. Military brats have to do it. But to, to have to move schools every single year. And I, and I guarantee. Well, I say I can't say again. I would imagine that killed your dad. Having to movie schools every. You can't, you, you can't make solid friends. You know that, that really I think is a detriment growing up to kids. Is that right there?
- [18:38]
C
Yeah, it Was. It was rough. And, you know, it was one thing to, like, move schools, but, like, particularly in elementary school, we were so homeless that I had all the things that I owned in my backpack every day when I went to school. I didn't know where we were next, you know, that. That kind of, like, instability, you know? And, yeah, it just became. It became like this. This mode of, like, now I. It's funny, just in this last, like, few months of my life, I've really been dealing with my own anxiety and shit and trying to figure out how to manage what the fuck's going on in my head that gets me so worked up all the time when I don't need to be worked up. And a lot of it is, like, from back, like, seeking out, like, trying to get ahead of things, because it was always reactive. Like, oh, this happened. So now we're dealing and just being a kid and watching adults constantly make mistakes and be reactive to the world around them. Okay, now we got to do this. And it keeps feeling. I remember looking at adults being like, why is this happening? Why don't you guys get your shit together? And. And. And it just made me create a brain pattern in me that is like, all right, I'll prepare in this way. I'll. I'll figure it out this way. So I'm constantly, like, in this worry state of, like, how do I get ahead of all the problems? And it just. It's kind of a miserable way to live. And I'm figuring out now how to just. Yeah, I'm. I'm learning. I'm getting good at. I'm learning how to just blank out. Just, like, not. Not, like, disassociate or anything like that, but just how to, like, not think about anything, to not be, like, trying to figure out what. How to solve, like, the next thing or get ahead of something. Like, no, man.
- [20:07]
A
Just.
- [20:07]
C
Just kind of. Some could just happen, and you can figure out when you get.
- [20:11]
B
Isn't it nice people actually have that ability. I have a friend that has, like, no reaction to anything for his whole life, and I just. Look, he's like, dude, just forget about him. Like, forget about it. Like, the. Do you mean, like, something happens? I'm like, he's like, dude, just forget about it. I'm like, how do you forget? He's like, I just forget about it. I'm like, well, I wish I had that. I wish I had that drug to forget about it. I get what you're saying. Like, that constant. Like, you came from nothing. You don't want to ever be nothing. I'm sure you try to get ahead of every problem to make sure you don't ever end up in that situation yourself.
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A
Yeah.
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C
Yeah. And it's. It can be. It can be bad. My. I was just talking to a buddy of mine at the Comedy Store the other night. He said. Said something to me that was, like, really power. So simple. I literally have it written on a sticky note right now. He goes, worry is the negative form of meditation. Like, to. To sit and worry about some. It's one thing to, like, have a problem and to think about solving it, but to, like, not have a problem and to make up and just be like, all right, well, what if this happens? Like, bro, you're focusing on, like, problems. That's negative meditation. And he was. It sounds so simple, but he was like, don't. If you feel yourself overthinking, like, let that go. Like, deal with it when it happens. Whatever. Whatever you're worried about the little. Let it happen. If you. If you can't fix it right, Then let it happen, and then deal it when it happens. Give your mind, like, space to just be. And it sounds so simple. And it's. When you're in that anxious hole, nothing's gonna get you out of it. But.
- [21:36]
A
Yeah, no, I. I get it, man. That. That. The. The anxiety thing is I've learned to just go to sleep. I'm. I'm. What do you call that? Grateful that I can do that. And I used to have super bad anxiety. Sit there and worry about everything. And then at the end of day, I'm like, you know what? Like you just said, it. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. This is how I'm gonna handle it if it does happen.
- [21:58]
C
Yeah. Because it. It's. It's. It's, like, old. It's like you. When you were. You make it twice as bad because now you're worried about the thing that might happen, that it's. If it happens, it's. But you sitting here the whole time going, oh, God, it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. You're making it worse, bro. You're just making it longer. It's like, it's happening now, and it's gonna happen later. That.
- [22:18]
A
So you're growing up. And, I mean, you are. You have a beautiful face, but you do have a scar on your face. And I'm assuming that that was. Since it wasn't from the military service, that was probably from your time on the streets.
- [22:33]
C
Yeah. So high school started to Escalate. My friends, like, I never like to fight. You know, people look at me and they think I'm this.
- [22:43]
A
Yes, you look like you do.
- [22:44]
C
People are afraid of me, man.
- [22:46]
A
It's.
- [22:46]
C
It's been really. It's been really hard. Whether it's like romantic relationships, not like women think I'm gonna hit them, but like, people get like a real. They get the wrong picture, man. You know, Do I have the potential for violence? Sure, but I don't have the propensity for it. Like, I'm not inclined to do that. Like, that's not. I don't yet. I. When I go to sleep at night, I sit and make up fake scenarios in my head. And I get all. From witnessing so much violence. You lay down at night and then you just. Ten minutes later you realize your heart rate's up and you're all tight. Thinking about beating people up. And yet I don't beat people up. I don't do that. But as a kid in high school, it just became. Things became much more violent and I was just there for it. And because of that, I never started any fights. But I got my ass whooped a lot because I was with those guys and for fun, like for fun in middle school, you know, it was different. Cause when you're a kid, it's like low stakes, you know, you're not big and strong. I was a very little kid for a long time. I didn't get my. I was like fucking under 55 until the summer between sophomore and junior year. I was always a little guy and I was just constantly getting my ass whooped. But me and my friends, we would always like around and box and slap box and shit like that, and it was cool.
- [23:59]
A
Cool.
- [24:00]
C
But when they started like getting into fights with like grown men and, and, and guys started getting like badly up and injured and. And guys started carrying guns and all that, I started to like. Then it would become like this fearful thing. A fight would kick off. And it wasn't like this, oh, like, well, what's gonna happen? Oh, oh, it's. It's chaos. And it was more of like, like I would get like really like fearful and.
- [24:25]
A
And yeah, that reality is coming, you know, now it's 2026 and everything's recorded, especially every single fight. And I've seen two or three clips where just regular street fights ended in death because somebody came up with a gun and shot someone to death over a, over a fight, which, which is what you're saying has always been the case. But now we're getting to see on the Internet, especially Instagram, before, before Instagram realizes that somebody being murdered. It's right there. A couple dudes fighting or even just like the whole. It makes me really uncomfortable. You know, you, you've been in fights. Street fighting is, there's unsaid rules. When someone's unconscious, they're done, they're, they're done kicking someone in the head, you know, and now there's just no rules, dude. Someone gets knocked unconscious, then people are coming up and skull kicking them. And I'm like, man, that's, that's attempted murder, dude. You can't do that. That's.
- [25:18]
C
That's a whole nother ball game.
- [25:20]
A
And so now I get it when people are like, well, we got to bring guns just in case my buddy gets his head kicked in. And it's just, it's nuts. So what. Yes. What you're saying is street fights as teenagers.
- [25:30]
C
Yeah.
- [25:31]
A
Develop way worse.
- [25:32]
C
Yeah. The stakes started getting higher and like people getting jumped and like that. And it got, it got to the point where it was. Yeah, it wasn't this like, exciting thing anymore. Around with your friends getting into little scraps. And it was more of like, it was, it was weird. I could feel it right around freshman year. Like fights used to be like chaotic and loud and crazy. And there was like this silence that would fall over a fight, you know, where it would be like you kind of like you just like hyper aware, looking for someone to pull out a gun or a knife or. When, when is it going to turn into a brawl? Like, when are their friends going to show up and jump in? And in my, in my sophomore. So Fourth of July, 2007, the summer of my sophomore year, like right, right as I was getting my growth spurt, one night is fourth July. We're. We're hanging out, talking shit, you know, drinking beer, smoking weed. We're hanging out this apartment complex. And my buddies, again, just like chaotic guys, always looking for action. They're getting drunk, they're. They're around. And one of my buddies is like in the street next to the apartment complex. And he's out in the street kind of walking around, fireworks going off, you know, and he's a little drunk, he's riled up. And this truck drives by and there's like loud bump music playing. And the truck slows down and start the, the passenger rolls the window down. He starts talking to my buddy and my buddy's like talking. It starts like getting heated and the passenger gets out and it's like A grown adult and starts fighting with my buddy. And then, yes, that dude got a full size dick on him, bro. And my buddy starts fighting with this dude. And then all the doors open on this four door pickup truck and like four or five guys surround my buddy and start beating on him. And I jump. I'm like sitting on this wall and I got. There's like 10 or 15 of us behind this wall, like kids. There's a couple of like older guys that like live in the apartments with their girlfriends. I jump over the wall thinking everybody's coming with me. And I run up the street to, to like get in there, like try and help my buddy. And I get up there and no one else came with me. I'm like, now, now me and my buddy are getting our asses whooped. And it's like, yeah, let's go. Hello, Hello. And I just start getting beat on in the street and, you know, adrenaline's up and I remember getting hit in the neck and the chest. I don't remember getting hit in the face at all, but I just remember getting like rag doll and thrown around the street and. And at some point, finally someone from our group makes it up the street and they pull a gun out and everybody kind of like, oh, everybody stops. And the guy that's across from me, which, which was the guy that my buddy started with, his hands are up and in his hand there's a, A big neon yellow handle that's like a. For one of those old school cowboy straight razors that fold out. Look at your face. And I reach up and put my hand in my face and I was like, oh. And my buddies look at me, they're like, oh, dude, he got you. And I, I like immediately just go into shock. I'm like, I like walk up the street and I'm like, someone called 91 1. There's a cell phone in my pocket the whole time. And I get up the street by the by, back up to where I had hopped the wall and I, I climb the wall and jump over it. And again, like, no pain or nothing. All the adrenaline and shock, my lips started going numb. But I walk into my buddy's apartment. He's got this big ass mirror in front of his sink, and I. His kitchen sink. And I take my hand off and it's just open. It's like right here. It's deep. I can see inside of my mouth and I'm just like, my dad's gonna kill me, dude. And his, his girlfriend. Yeah. I was like, because. And that was this moment, too, because I had been in so much. Like, I had so many close calls, bro. Like, so many. Whether it was, like, almost death or violence or going to jail or just, like, crazy. And my dad knew I was out in the streets, running around, chaotic, and he kind of. He let me in a lot of ways. He didn't stop me from too much. And he would always tell me, like, he goes, like, you're smarter than your friends. I know you are. He's like, be careful. Like, don't. Don't up. Be careful. Be. Be careful, B.K. you always say that. Just be careful. I know you're causing chaos, but I. Be careful. And I was like, this is it. I finally got caught up. And his. This. This dude's girlfriend or wife brings me, like, a clean washcloth to put on my face. And now to this day, when I smell that. That, like, citrusy detergent, whatever that detergent was, if I'm somewhere and I smell that, I'm, like, right back there in the kitchen, man. It's wild. So the ambulance comes, paramedics, all that. Everybody, like, dispersed. I didn't. Nobody knew who those guys were. Wouldn't recognize them if I saw them again, either. There's random people in a truck. They all. Everybody left. Cops show up. I get in the ambulance, blah, blah, blah. They give me 32 stitches. I felt every one of those motherfuckers. And then the next day, I'm, like, at home with my dad, and he's like, you can't. You're done.
- [30:43]
A
You.
- [30:44]
C
You're hanging out with those guys anymore. And I was like, all right. Yeah, okay. And it. You know, I started to take it all into account, you know, my. Between my face and my buddies, like, getting sent off to, like, youth camps and jail and all this, and guys started getting shot, and. And I was. I just knew. I was like, I'm gonna. And I. Even though he was like, you can't hang out with them anymore, I was like, I'm probably gonna go hang out with those guys again, you know? And I just knew. I was like, I don't want to go to jail, man. I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to die. I'm halfway there now. So the. I. You know, I had stuff. That was the summer before junior year. I go. I start school junior year, and I'm, like, dealing with all this, thinking about all this. And when they release us for winter break junior year, I go to the school, I go to the office, and I get My transcripts and I go down to the community college and I sign up to take my ged and I get the results like two weeks later and I take them down to the Navy recruiting office. And I was like, yeah, I want to be a Navy seal. And they were like, yeah, you and everybody else, bitch, get the fuck out of here. And they were like, they're like, we're not taking gds right now, man. You have to get on a waiting list. I was like, no, no, I need to go. And so the Marine Corps office right next door, I went over there, I was like, yo, man, you guys fuck with GEDs? They were like, we got. Could. We could work with you. We can figure some out.
- [32:03]
A
Yeah, you're overqualified, son.
- [32:05]
C
Yeah. Breathalyzer. You pass, you're in. Yeah. And so, yeah, I got my face sliced open in. In July of 2007 and August 2008, I joined the Marine Corps. So like a year later I joined and I went, I, you know, I brought the paperwork to my dad because he had to sign because I joined when I was 17 and a half. And he was like, he's like. My dad was like, you sure you want to do this? Because I'm, I'm not. I was never like a patriot, not a military family. My uncle was like drafted in Vietnam on my dad's side. On my mom's side, a couple of my uncles were in the Navy.
- [32:38]
B
And.
- [32:39]
C
But like, there was never even looking back. Sometimes I'm like, what the did I do? How did I do that? Why did I do that? You know, especially you talk about like being kind of like growing up as a control freak and, and like giving up control to, you know, the government or the military, like that would just so doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Why would I do that? But it was literally a form of escape. I was just trying to get away. I was trying to get out.
- [33:05]
A
Yeah, well, and from what I hear, like me, your recruiter wasn't the most honest person to you when you signed up. Didn't tell you everything or gave you the whole, you could definitely do this. Like in theory, possibly one out of a million. This could happen. Kind of sold it as in, like, yeah, just go do this when you get there.
- [33:27]
C
Yeah. So my original contract was for like Motor T. I was gonna be like a mechanic or a truck driver or something. I had a, like a ten thousand dollar sign on bonus. I was supposed to leave September something, but I was like, I was so like, man, I gotta get the out of it. I told my recruiter, I was like, hey, man, if someone drops out of this delayed entry program, I'll take their spot. Like, if I can leave early, I'll leave right now. The paperwork's on. I don't need to go home and check in. I can bounce to a day.
- [33:54]
A
I got all my stuff in my backpack.
- [33:56]
C
Yeah, for real. And he goes. He goes, all right, man, we'll let you know. And sure enough, someone dropped out. He called me. He's like, yo, we got an early day. You can leave, like 25 days early. I was like, perfect. Let's. What? Let's go. All right. And he goes, but, you know, you got to change your mos. You gotta. It's. You won't be a truck driver. You'd be a machine gunner. I was like, that sounds cool. As, Dude, I'm in.
- [34:20]
B
They got you real good, Machine gun.
- [34:23]
C
Let's go. And then he goes. He goes, and you lose your sign off bonus. I was like, I don't give a about that. I don't care. I don't need that check. Want to join? And he goes, and you got to be a reservist. And I was like, I don't know what that is. He goes, well, so basically, you'll go to school, you'll go to boot camp, you go to machine gunner school, and then you'll come back here to Las Vegas and check in with your unit at Nellis Air Force Base. And then you'll drill, you know, on the weekends. And then, you know, you get the. The. The annual training, and then you'll deploy. When they get into rotation for a deployment, I was like, so I'm. I come. I'm living in Las Vegas. Like, I'm not gonna go and check in with, like, a unit. And you're saying that I'm only doing stuff on, like, the weekends. Like, I don't. This doesn't make sense. He goes, well, you know, you see the reservist this, that. And he like, sugar coat. He's like. And what you can do is, yeah, you can submit your paperwork for active duty, because we just want to get you in right now. You just want to join and get out of here. I was like, yeah, yeah. He goes, so when you check in with your unit, you just submit your paperwork and say, I want to be active. I don't want to be a reservist. And then you can just switch over to active duty. And then you won't have to. Like, there's no Downtime. I was like, okay, cool. He goes, plus, the unit you check in with is supposed to go to Iraq in April. So if you. If you don't get, like, recycled or held back in your schooling, then you'll get to go to Iraq with them. And you can submit your paperwork to go active before you leave. So when you get back, you'll be active. Bada bing, bada boom. It's all good, buddy.
- [35:46]
A
A lot of easy paperwork submission.
- [35:49]
C
I wouldn't. You puts his dick in my ass.
- [35:51]
A
Yeah.
- [35:52]
C
So I'm like, all right, cool, man. Let's go. And I sign up. Did it all go to boot camp, go to machine gunner school? And in machine gunner school, I'm starting, like, the last couple weeks, everybody's starting to, like, get their. Their orders and find all this. It's starting to hit me. Like, oh, I'm going back to vague. Like, man, I don't want to do that. And what's interesting is, so when I was in machine gunner school, they sent us home for, like, four or five days around, like, Christmas. And I. Sure. I went. I came home. And the first thing, the first night I was home, I went and saw those guys. I was. I went and hung out with them. And we're hanging out in some shitty apartment complex in North Las Vegas, and a giant fight breaks out. Just chaos, just people breaking bottles on each other. And. And the cops show up, and it put everybody in handcuffs. And they're going through all our wallets. And at that time now I have, like, a military id. I got my cat card in my wallet, and the cops pull it out, and they look at. They go, what the. And they pull me off to the side. They go, you're Marie? I go, yeah, I'm just home. I'm on leave for, you know, Christmas from machine gunner squad, just joined. And they go, what are you doing hanging out with all these idiots, dude? Like, these guys all got priors. These guys are idiots. Like, you don't have any priors. Like, all these. He goes, all these cops are Marines. He's like, what are you doing? Why are you here, bro? I was like, I used to know these guys. I just want to say hi. He goes, don't hang out with these. He's like. He's like, we're gonna.
- [37:13]
A
We're. We're.
- [37:14]
C
We are not just letting you go. We're telling you to get the out of here right now and don't ever hang out with these guys again. I was like, all right, good to go. And I haven't seen any of those guys since.
- [37:24]
A
But damn, dude, that's awesome.
- [37:26]
C
Yeah. I'm telling you, man, just getting. Getting very lucky. People call it, you know, white. White, not privilege. White privilege. And. And sure, sure, I'll take a little bit of that, sure. But. But also, like, you know, I also made a lot of good choices in my life that, that, you know, at the right place, at right time, people see them and they reckon whether it's speaking to law enforcement the correct way or.
- [37:55]
A
Well, I just, I like, we talk about Marines all the time, and I really respect the. I don't want to call it a brotherhood, and I want to call it a cult, because it doesn't really. They are brotherhoods and it's kind of a cult. But like, the being a Marine, like, those cops, they altered what they would usually do for a Marine. Like, they were all Marines. Like, they kind of like, stepped out of character. Like, what the are you doing, dude? And I. I mean, cops do that a lot for military in general. Like, you know, especially if you're on leave, like, you. Do you really want to be the cop that. This dude for the rest of his life? Like, no. And. But I just love the. The culture of the Marine Corps. Like, dudes get handcuffed by other dudes and they're both got marine tattoos and, you know.
- [38:40]
B
Yeah.
- [38:41]
C
They're like, come on, man, what are you doing out here? Why'd you kill that hooker? Come on.
- [38:47]
A
I'm gonna let you go this one
- [38:48]
C
time, but put her money back in her pocket. Okay? Don't take her money, too.
- [38:53]
B
But you said, like, I know you. We joked the white privilege thing, but honestly, it sounds like you were. You were smart enough to understand that being a dick wasn't probably the right answer. So it wasn't like you were. You're a complete maniac, and they're like, let's help the white guy. You were, you were smart enough to be like, I probably need some help here. I should probably be professional or I should be nice to these guys, not be a complete. Is that accurate? I mean, you weren't a dick either.
- [39:18]
C
Yeah, and I also didn't sell drugs. I didn't carry weapons on me. I didn't do any of that other dumb. And anytime I was breaking the law, I was smart. I mean, you know, call it like a control thing or maybe a self awareness or some sort of neurodivergent, but anytime I did crazy as a kid, I, like, I just sat down with pen and paper first, you know, it's like, all right, this is what we're gonna do. So I was. You know, I made some better choices, but, you know, fast forward these guys. Let me go. I have a moment. All right, that's it. That was. That was the sure sign. I. You can't do that. You can't hang out with these guys anymore. And I go back to machine gunner school finish. I come home to Vegas, I check in at Ellis Air Force Base, and they go, my unit's like, all right, you know, you have any questions? I go, you. Yeah. So, you know, when do we deploy? You know, when do I. When do. Are we going to Iraq or what, dude? And they go, the. Like, the company commander, all that. They're standing there and at the time, so it's like, nobody's there. It's, like, kind of the skeleton crew, and it's like INI staff for the reservist. So there. It wasn't like, I didn't get to, like, meet everybody in my unit. It was me and, like, two other guys checking in and some office staff, and. And it was reserved. So, like, they weren't drilling on that time when we checked in. So I'm like, where's everybody at? Like, we go to Iraq, like, what's up? And they're like, no, man. They started their work up in November. You're not going to Iraq with them. And I was like, oh. My recruiter said, they're like, yeah, yeah, you're not going after Iraq, buddy. Deal with it. And I was like, okay, well, what about, like, going active? Like, because I don't want to be reserved. So how do I. How do I sign up to go active? And they go, you're not going active. I go, well, my recruiter said. And they go. They go, no, man. You have a billet to be a reservist. You're not. You're not going to be active duty. And I was like, I. I. And I started having this moment. I'm like, wait a minute, man. What the. Like, I just did all that boot camp and machine gunner school, and. And I had, like, this plan in my head. I'm like, what the, dude? I thought that it was all gonna. I thought this was gonna go down like this, and now you guys are telling me no. And I'm. Now I'm like, my dad's, like, living. Renting a room from somebody in Vegas, and now I'm, like, living in this room with him, back from machine gunner school, thinking I had, like, this career path, this life, and I'm Just like, what the fuck, man? What am I gonna do? And someone told me. I don't remember who. Someone's like, they told. They lied to you. You should write a letter to your senator. And I was like, all right. I fucking. I wrote a letter to Senator Harry Reid. Being like, hey, I'm a young Marine. I just, you know, I just came out of schooling. I was told that I was going to be able to do this, and now they're telling me this. I'm confused. I. I'm. I need to get out of Las Vegas. I would really like to be active duty. I'm capable, I'm healthy, I'm able bodied. Sent a letter thinking that I'm gonna get orders in the mail. Like, all right, go check in with your new unit. No, that called Headquarters Marine Corps and was like, hey, we got a marine that's saying he's being treated unfairly. And then Headquarters Marine Corps called my unit, and it was like, hey, you got a Marine writing letters to senators. You got better figure your out.
- [42:26]
A
Yeah. Un yourself, dude.
- [42:28]
C
Yeah. And they called me in and they lit me the up, dude. They were.
- [42:32]
A
Who the.
- [42:33]
C
What the you think you. And because basic. Because they up, technically they should have let me file paperwork to try and, you know, get to be active duty. Technically, they could have lost the paperwork or just, you know, denied it, but they didn't even let me submit the paperwork. So it made them. It made them, like, backpedal. Like, oh, well, who's. No one told you, dude. I was like, you were all standing in the room when they said this, but they were so pissed off at me for bringing heat on them. And. And I was like. Kept pushing back of like, yo, like, I want to get the out of here. I don't want to be here with this unit, you know? And it just kind of put me on their shit list. And I became like. It became this. This thing where I was like, oh, you guys are me. You me.
- [43:19]
B
Oh, you.
- [43:19]
C
Oh, you me. Huh? Okay, cool. Well, I back. So prepare, you know. And I just became on me. Yeah. Because it just became this thing where I was like, I'm not afraid any of you, for starters. Like, none of you. You guys yelling at me and all this. I don't give a. About any of that. And. And two, like, I wasn't like, you can't get me in trouble for anything. Like, I'm not. I'm not a bag. Like, I. I know what I know my job. I don't up. I'm not a piece of I'm a PT stud, like, and being in that reserve unit, not every, you know, the reserves get like, really bad, you know, bad reputation. And there's a lot of pieces of. There's. There's total. A lot of shitty people in there. And the I and I staff are like, case in point, there's a lot of like, fat body old dudes that are just like, power hungry or whatever just on power trips and. And any chance I had to like, make their life more difficult, you know, or just like, you know, just talk or add my 2 cents. I started to get in the habit of doing that, and it just put me, like, deeper on their shit list, you know. And yeah, you know, fast forward. I was stuck in Vegas and I would try to find as much as I could do on base. Whether it was like, literally, man, like, doing funerals or going to. Going to the armory and like, just trying to volunteer to clean weapons and in there and, and like, trying to go into supply and organize in there, spend as much time on the base as I could and like, just, just do or like, PT or whatever. And then I had, like, security job. I do what every reservist does in Las Vegas. I got jobs doing security. And it was kind of miserable, but I started finding, like, better security jobs in Vegas and got like, a valet job at the Mirage. It was making, like, crazy money doing that. And I was such, like, I was so, like, hungry to be like, a good Marine and like, be strong and be good machine gunner and always be able to, like, have this endurance to just be a badass, you know, I. I got, like, heavy into fitness and smoking myself, and I started, like, kind of like a fitness endurance training company where I bought all this, like, crazy gear and I would go to parks, set up courses and, and let people run through them and like, you know, whether people were just training for something, want to get in shape, blah, blah, blah. And yeah, that was kind of how I dealt with what the position I was in. I just went to work, started working a lot, and I was just pissed off at the Marine Corps. And eventually, you know, I got to leave country A couple times I went to Southeast Asia and Central America, and it was beautiful, it was a lot of fun. But in the downtime, I was like, in Vegas trying to figure out my life because I didn't end up in the fleet like I thought I was gonna end up.
- [45:54]
A
Man, that's crazy. So you. Did you ever go active at all?
- [45:59]
C
Yeah. Well, when you deploy, you activate. No, they didn't they never let me go active in that. It just became this thing where, yeah, they. The I and I staff there. I cannot say enough unkind things about them. They me so hard. And not just me, plenty of Marines in my unit. Like, if you wanted to go to, like, a school, you want to go to, like, marksmanship school or I tried to go back to machine gun leaders course so I could, like, you know, just go back to Pendleton and train and, you know, learn more or whatever and be more high speed. And they would, like, sign you up for all this. Okay, let's get your packet together and we'll do all this. And then like a week before we. We were supposed to go, they'd be like, ah, you didn't get your blood work in. In time. Like, what the are you talking about, dude? Even the corpsman was like, you don't need to do blood work up for that. Kind of. Like, these guys are, like. It was like, very clear. Like, these guys are terrible at their job. They're you. They would, like, siphon off money and for, like, take like, ski trips with the I. I staff. And just like that. And it was. It was. It was. They pissed me off really bad. And I got lucky eventually, you know, I did get to, like, do a really cool, like, nice deployment where I went to Southeast Asia, and it was amazing. I got to, like, do real Marine versus, like, you know, the last 30 years we've been in the desert, you know, and doing desert mountain warfare, which is fine, but it's like, when I went to Southeast Asia, we got to, you know, be on ship, get on AAVs, push onto the beach, raid the beach, go up into the jungle, like real Marine. And it was incredible, man. It was. It was. It was like, awesome training. I love that climate, that environment. I. Running through the jungle with gear on your back and machine guns and. And sleeping in the jungle and learning how to survive in the jungle. It was. It was. I had a great experience, man. It's. That's what I said. Like, besides the getting over by shitty leadership, like, my Marine Corps experience was, like, amazing. It was beautiful. Even, like, from the beginning, coming from where I was at all this instability and, like, being poor and. And then I joined the Marine Corps, and in boot camp, you're getting, like, three meals a night. You're sleeping in a bed every night. It was like jail.
- [48:10]
A
This is amazing.
- [48:11]
C
I was like, what. How is this easier? How is. How is this. How am I, like, calm? Like, this is wild. So, yeah, you know, I ended up getting to do some cool stuff and fun. But if it my head up, man, it pissed me off for one, that I was like, lied to and manipulated. And then for two, it like it with my head about, about my own, like, service. Like, I feel, you know, there's. It made me, like, shameful to even be a reservist, you know, all this bad. Oh, you're a reservist? You're a, You're a loser. You guys tampons or what all the people say about reservists. And I, I felt like, damn, dude. I didn't even get to, like, sometimes I don't even feel like I got to, like, be a Marine the way I, the way, you know, people are Marine people. Like, oh, you're a Marine? It's like, yeah, you know, I joined and I got to do some cool, but I never made it to the fleet, man. It's like, I don't. There's like some pride that with me in there, you know, and it pisses me off there.
- [49:05]
A
I know, I know plenty of Marines that signed to go to war, my brother being one of them. My brother signed. He got infantry, and they were like. And they told him up front, and I told him, don't do it. But he, they were like, you're gonna do two years as Marine security forces and going to be guarding nuclear bases conus for two years before you go to the fleet. So he got his, like, landscape. I don't know what the rank, though. He's like E4. Before then, he had to go to the fleet with a bunch of kids and dudes that had already been to Afghanistan and he had no combat time. And then he never got to go and he got out until, by the time, you know, it was. He had to make the decision to get out. The war was winding down, so they weren't even planning on going. And I know another Marine that infantry again, like, fat, did the fast take, did everything he could, and still just. And then they, they're like, people live with that. It's weird. Like, you know, I was a Marine, but I never deployed. And I like, I, I, I've never, I've never gotten the whole bragging thing, like, oh, I got to go. Like, especially when you get older and you're like, the Iraq War, like, really? Like, I went to Iraq, I was in Baghdad. I don't. I'm not trying to sound like a hippie. I swear. I do not walk around telling people I went to Iraq. Like, in 10 years, that's almost going to be, like, frowned upon.
- [50:18]
C
Yeah. You know, so that in hindsight now, you know, more perspective. Hindsight, 20 20, on a lot of that. Because, you know, it's funny, my unit that I checked in with, when all those guys circled back, when they cycled in and came back from Iraq, they were like, that deployment sucked, dude. There was. All the action was done. They didn't get to do. They, like, heard some pop shots. They, like, cut. One guy got shot, but there was, like, nothing going on. They hated it. It was miserable. So I saved myself there. And then zooming out, like, even bigger picture, knowing what I know now is like, my prefrontal cortex is developed now, like, realizing I didn't have to kill anybody for this country. Oh, my God. I got buddies that gotta live with that. And I'm just like, I, I, I,
- [51:04]
A
you know, I, well, and it's not even kill people for the country. It's kill people for Dick Cheney and the war machine, you know, like.
- [51:10]
C
Right.
- [51:12]
B
Yeah.
- [51:12]
C
In the same breath, it's like having to live with the fact that this, this war machine could have put me in a position where I had to kill a bunch of people or whatever. And it's like, do bad guys need killing? Absolutely. You got to kill bad guys. I'm not. There's no, there's no, there's no debating that. But also getting out of the military, realizing you fought for these to play some weird political game and just move us around like pawns that I have. I have a weird conscience where I have a hard time, like, lying and, and just, like, thinking a lot of weighs heavy on me. Even mistakes I made just in my past, in my life. And yeah, if I had to also deal with that, man, I, I don't, I don't know where I would be mentally. And I got buddies that struggle with that. And I, I got enough PTSD from my childhood in my, My sleep there. And like, the little bit that I have from, like, weird in the Marine Corps is nothing compared to what it could be. You know what I mean? Like, I'm so lucky.
- [52:13]
B
Think about kids. Like, I think about it as being a cop in the military. What is the first question they always ask? Did you shoot anybody? Have you killed anybody? It's like, even kids, as young kids walk up to somebody in a uniform, it's like, oh, you have a gun. How many people have you killed? Then it's like, bro, you're three years old. The. Yeah. It's like, if you don't in some world, it's like, yeah, you're only validated in that world if you did something like kill somebody. I'm glad I didn't have to kill no. Anybody. I'm the same as you. It's like, it. I'm glad I didn't have to kill a soul. Like, I'm, I'm good with that. I don't know how I would have reacted. So I, I completely understand what you're getting at, where people will be like, well, if you didn't kill 27 guys in the gwad, did you do anything? Like, you, you signed up, dude, you did, you did what you had to do and you know, you can't. That's admirable.
- [52:54]
C
Yeah, Yeah. I look at it differently now. And, you know, it's. It is what people. Everybody's got their opinion, but, you know, I've moved on in my life now and doing, doing other. I don't think too much. It's now, you know, now I. With the Rapid Fire tour, it's crazy how it's come full circle and I've re engaged myself with the military, but
- [53:13]
A
that is, that is exciting. And what. Before we take a commercial break, what I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you. What. Getting ready for the stories that we're about to hear, which is young artists, survival, right? Band acting, stand up comedy. The first years, when you hear the stories, you're like, oh, you lived hell. You know, like when you're trying to be some kind, like some form of art that's not paying you and you have to dedicate all of your time to it, and you don't really have that much time to work because you got to date everything. Dedicate all your time to something that's really not paying you. The stories are insane. And what helps you more prepare for these stories that we're about to talk about? Was it your childhood, having nothing, or was it the Marine Corps?
- [53:53]
C
I think it was my. My childhood. It's. It's funny. That's like a constant theme. I meet people and they, you know, people get to know me or, you know, whatever you do, whether it's like excel at something or just the way you react to a situation, people go, oh, man, that's because you're a Marine. It's like, no, no, no. The Marine Corps attracts people like me is what happens.
- [54:12]
B
Yeah, I grew up with a chimp.
- [54:15]
C
Yeah, dude, I used to be having chip in the kitchen. Why do you move when you're in the kitchen? Why do you move so fast like that? Because you're a Marine.
- [54:24]
A
Grab the cup and go. All right, we're gonna take a quick commercial break. We'll be right back with Michael's stories as how we got into stand up comedy and the craziness of that journey. We'll be right back.
- [54:37]
D
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- [56:09]
A
And we're back. Michael, I forgot to tell you, if you had to pee, that was the time.
- [56:12]
C
Oh, it's all good.
- [56:15]
A
He's just been pissing in a bottle the whole time.
- [56:17]
C
Yeah, I got a piss bottle.
- [56:22]
A
So you're, so you're, you're getting that you're out of the Marine Corps. I know you, like you said you did some work in security. Justin, on his show, you talked about your back being up and that was kind of like detrimental to you because fitness was kind of like. It seemed like fitness was your income at the time, personal training or something like that.
- [56:42]
C
Yes, I was, I would, I took. I became like a workaholic just trying to keep myself busy and, and not, you know, I mean, one, when I checked in my unit, I was still just like 18 years old. I turned 18 in boot camp. The day. Day, actually the day I became Marine was my 18th birthday. So I come home and I'm still like, I'm still a kid and now I'm like, I gotta find work and all this, and I just try and keep myself busy so I don't start doing dumb and I start working a lot. Like, I'm working so much that I end up kind of in this weird, like, grind mindset where I'm like overworking myself between, like trying to train to be, like, this solid Marine and smoke myself. And I'm getting high on the endorphins and just working, like, three or four jobs where I would, like, put all my. In my car. Like, I would. I don't know if it's just, like, habit from being a kid, but I would, like, load up, like, all my, like, socks, underwear, work uniforms, and, like, canned food and. And I would just go to work for, like, two or three days at a time and sleep in my car between. Between jobs. And I would. Literally, my move is I would. At red lights, I would, like, put my car in park and go to sleep and wait for someone to honk and wake me up. Because I was working. Like, I was working. Like, I was working. I would do my training, my. My training stuff, like a couple days a week at the parks, and then I would do security at night. I would do valet at the Mirage during the day, and then I would. I was like, also helping, like, manage a gym. It's doing a bunch of. And it got to the point where I was, like, overworking myself and definitely over training. I didn't know enough about, like, recovery and all that. You know, when you're, like, getting. When you're smoking yourself in the Marine Corps, nobody's like, hey, also, rest and recovery is important.
- [58:33]
B
You know, just like, don't forget to sleep and eat.
- [58:38]
C
Pain is weakness leaving the body. Turns out, no, that's cartilage. And it gets to this point where I start having, like, little back things. I'm like, ah, you know, maybe it's just, you know, I talked to my corpsman about it. I'm like, hey, you know, I get. I'm getting like, some. Some stuff in my power. No. And he's like, oh, you just, you know, you pull a muscle, dude, you're. At the time when it started to, like, catch up to me, I was like. I was like 22 years old and I was like, he's like, no, man, you're good. You just, you know, just like, you know, just don't work out as hard today. It's. You pull the muscle, take some ibuprofen, you know, and it just gets worse. Starts going down into my ass. Cheat. Now it's like a nerve thing. And I'm like, oh, I think I pinched it nerve. And they're like, oh, we'll get you some, you know, some X rays, some muscle relaxers. And doctors are telling me, like, you know, bed rest, bed rest. Just don't do anything. Take two days off and Just eat these muscle relaxers and spend some time watching tv. Just relax, you know, take some time off. And it got way worse. It got so bad and to the point where I, like, couldn't walk. And I'm, like, having muscle spasms in the middle of the night. It. It scared the out. It freaked me out. And it got to the point where I, like. I'm dealing with, like, now inability to even take care of myself, let alone PT and exercise. And at this point, I had been in for about five years, and my unit, I talked to my corpsman. He's like, listen, we can figure out a way to get you a new job or you can get out. And I was like, I'm done, bro. This unit let me out. So they. They medsept me. And I went from, like, I was making. I was making a bunch of money. I got my, like, first apartment by myself, and I'm like, I was making decent money. I was saving money. My fitness company was taking off, but now I can't do anything. And I'm like, there's a couple security jobs. A lot of security is, like, sitting on your ass or standing around doing nothing or just walking around. And walking was actually good for my back. That was the only thing that was kind of helping was, like, just slow walks.
- [60:36]
A
And
- [60:38]
C
I. I didn't. I didn't have any good advice from medical people, so I was, like, going to physical therapy. It was flaring me up, and they kept trying to get me to take pills. And now I'm at home, like, freaking out, thinking, like, I'm gonna get it. Because my dad was addicted to pain pills at this time. Like, he'd worked construction for 40 years. His back's all fucked up. And I'm like, no, man, I don't want to take these pills, but I'm in pain, but I can't work. What am I supposed to do? I'm freaking out. And I got really lucky somebody that I did security for one of these clients I was working for. Really good dude. Wealthy guy. He was like. He noticed I had been missing work, and he's like, what's going on, man? Where you been? And I was like, yeah, my back. And he had really bad back problems. He goes, awesome, you're my guy. And I was like, dude, I'm on, like, tricare. I can't pay for that. He goes, no, no, I'm gonna pay for it. Don't worry about it. And he sent me to his physical therapist for, like, a year, like, twice a week, man. And Paid for all of it. And it changed every. It still took me a couple years to, like, really get back to a place where I was, like, confident and not, like, guarding every movement. I did, you know, really overworking, but it changed everything, man. It helped my injury so much just being. Meeting the right, you know, medical professional to help me with it. But in that process, I realized I quit a bunch of my job, I let my training company go, and I realized, like, fuck, I can't work like that anymore. I can't, like, sleep in my truck. I can't work crazy long hours. I can't work multiple jobs. I can't work like, so physically I'm gonna have to find, like a high paying job where I'm like, like, just not physically exerting myself in that way. I was like, I'm gonna have to get into sales or something, some white collar stuff. And I didn't know how to, like, really talk to people in a professional sales setting. It's like, oh, man, I gotta figure out how to do that. Like, I gotta get out of this comfort zone of, like, being nervous to speak in, like, a professional setting like that. And I've always had, like, notebooks of crazy that. Whether it's like bar jokes or like silly or weird ideas or just crazy stories, it's like, I should take one of my notebooks to an open mic and go do like a comedy open mic and, like, work on talking in front of people. Get over these nerves. And I went. I signed up for this little shitty dive bar open mic in Vegas at a bar called Meatheads, a little Detroit Lions bar. And I went up and it's crazy, like, my life, I've had some very scary experiences up until that point. And I'd never been so scared, never had such an adrenaline dump that I almost pissed myself. And I was so scared about to go on stage. Like they tell you, like, you know when you're in the hole or on deck, before you go up, like, there's three comics before you, there's two comics. You're next. And I'm waiting, and there's like two more people before me. And I'm like, man, I gotta piss. I go piss. I come back, they're like, all right, one more guy than you. And I'm watching it, like, I gotta piss again. I go piss. I come back, they're like, all right, he's about to get off stage in one minute. Like, damn, why do I feel like I gotta piss again? And my heart rate's all up. I, like, I feel like I'm about to get into a fight. My adrenaline's, like, pushing, dumping cortisol, all this. And then I get up on stage, and as I'm coming on stage, like, I don't outright piss myself, but I can feel. Feel myself pissing in my pants a little bit. I'm like, yo, dude, I've never. I have never. I've been jumped in the street, bro. I've never lost bowel control, dude, ever. And. And I. I go up and I. I didn't have this, like, amazing crusher, said, oh, my God, I'm so good at this. I'm gonna be a comedian. It was just, like, fun, man. I got off stage and I was like, wow, that was. That was legal. That was free. I'm not in trouble. Nobody got hurt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What an adrenaline run. That was cool, man. That was fun. You know, I got some laughs, so I was like, oh, I want to. I want to keep doing this, you know? And I ended up getting into sales and made some okay money and didn't, like, the open mic scene in Vegas around, having fun with it. And a couple things happened that led me to, like, getting into stand up, where, you know, that pushed me into, like, just trying to get out of my comfort zone to talk in front of people. But then I got an opportunity to do a sales job in Chicago, and I went up there to work for a little bit, and I was living in one of the suburbs out in Naperville, outside of Chicago, with a family that I used to do security for. They invited me to come up and, like, teach me sales. They were like, we'll help you out. And I was like, I should do some comedy while I'm out here. And I went and did a couple open mics. And one of them that I did was at the time, same little place called the Comedy Shrine in Aurora. And it's like. It's kind of like a museum to comedy, but it's also a little club, a black box club. And it was the first time I had performed in, like, a club setting. Every show, everything I had ever done up until that point was in, like, bars that were smoky. There's TVs on, people aren't there for comedy. It's. It's not set up. The seating's weird. It's. It's just loud. It's shitty. And I go in and I do this set in this, like, black box theater. You know, it's very. Like, everybody's faced the same way. It's Dark. It's. It's, like, meant for comedy. And it's mostly comics, but it's an open mic. There's some. A couple real people there. And I go up and I do crush. I have, like, this really good set, and I'm like, oh, this is kind of how comedy's supposed to be. Like, I'm. I'm kind of good at this. In the right setting. Like, in a bar, it's like, work like you're boxing, you know, but in, like, a club setting. This is. This is good. This. People come to laugh. Like, I'm. I'm having way more fun. This is how it's supposed to be. And it kind of reignited. Like, oh, I should. This is. I am good at this. Maybe. Maybe I am kind of. Maybe something's here. And then fast forward a few months later, I got talked into doing some sales in NorCal for solar. Solar was real big at the time. And all the money, the numbers they showed us look so good. I was like, man, I could go make, like, a couple hundred grand in a few months. Like, let's go. And I get there, and then the money opportunity was good. Like, the numbers were real, but they didn't have any leads for it. Us, we had to go door, knock. And I was like. And I didn't have a place to stay out there. I was just gonna sleep in my car and, like, you know, try and grind it out, make some money in a couple months. And it was summertime, so I'm, like, knocking on doors with a scar on my face. At the time, I was still shaving my head, you know, so I look like a monster trying to like, hey, can I come in your house and talk to you? No.
- [66:47]
B
Yeah.
- [66:48]
C
Get you to spend a bunch of money.
- [66:50]
A
Nine, one, one.
- [66:50]
B
What's your emergency?
- [66:51]
C
Yeah, for real, dude. People would call the cops on me, too.
- [66:55]
B
I got some Italian gangster dude at the door with a scar.
- [66:58]
C
Yeah, dude. And for, like, two months, I'm dealing with rejection. Like, I'm just like, come on, man.
- [67:02]
B
You got.
- [67:03]
C
It's all right. It's gonna happen. You're gonna close a deal. Just keep pushing, dude. Keep pushing. And one day, I'm, like, sitting in the front seat of my car. It's hot. I'm getting doors slammed in my face. Just rejection all day. I'm eating canned ravioli and Ritz crackers in my front seat, sweaty, pissed off. And I'm just like, damn, dog. Like, I'm good at, like, sacrifice. Like, I know how to work hard. I should, I should like focus on something that I actually like to do. I should take this energy and do something that I want to do. And I started thinking about stand up. And I was like, man, I'm. I think I'm gonna go and like, really, I'm gonna really try to. I'm gonna try and do it. And I, I started my car up and I drove back to Vegas and I got like a couple shitty little sales jobs. I was doing some little insurance sales stuff here and there. But I started every night. I was at open mics, doing bar shows as much as I could. I started coming to LA to take like writing classes. And I was trying, I was trying to just like get better. I was like, I'm gonna spend the next couple years just trying to get good. I want to get better. And I was coming to LA once a week for like a year. I was taking classes at Second City. I was taking some writing classes, I was taking improv. I was taking. I was helping a buddy produce a weekly show above a Hooters on Hollywood Boulevard. And it was like a badass shows. It's like a little underground independent show, but it was like killer. We were, we had like a system. We were barking people in off Hollywood Boulevard, getting them up to the show and like doing this like, it was like punk rock as it was so much fun and it was developing me and in. I would come out for like two days at a time. I would take classes one day, sleep in my car and then do the show the next night. And the night where I didn't have a show, I would go sit at the Comedy Store in the back of the original room and I would watch these guys who were like big deals now, you know, Hinchcliffe, Theo Vaughn, a lot of these guys that are like, you know, massively successful now. And I would watch them work, these late night crowds, these crowds that have been sitting there for six hours. The crowd's tired, they're drunk, they're foreign, they've heard every joke. And I'm watching these guys work. Like, I'm so obsessed with the craft. I'm like watching these guys figure out on stage. I was like, dog, if I want to get better, I'm gonna have to move to la. That's what I did at the time. I owned a condo in Vegas and I was like, like, I don't want to pay my mortgage in Vegas and I don't want to also have to pay rent in la, but I'm not going to sell my condo. And I don't want to live with 10 dudes. I've been there, done that, that I'm just gonna live in my car. So I moved out to la and I just. I packed up my car and, like, got a little. I put a big, thick sleeping bag down in the back seat and. And I moved out, man. And four days after I moved here, I got hired at one of the comedy clubs as a do door guy. And it just became this, like, very exciting thing where, bam, now I'm in la and all I want to do is get better at stand up. So I'm, like, doing all these open mics. I'm still helping my buddy produce the weekly show. And that show's, like, growing and getting better. I'm helping him, like, turn into, like, this, like, really good. We became like, you know, we would like.
- [70:00]
A
What kind. What kind of car did you drive?
- [70:04]
C
2014 Toyota Prius.
- [70:07]
A
Oh, man. So you were packing in a car? You weren't like, in a van that you were just calling?
- [70:12]
B
What do you put on your address on the application? Just outside,
- [70:17]
C
down the street? No, I would use, like, friends addresses in LA and like that.
- [70:25]
A
Okay.
- [70:26]
C
But yeah, I lived in that Prius for four years. Damn, dude. Lived in a Prius for four years? Yeah, man. Showered.
- [70:34]
B
We could do a whole show just on that, dude.
- [70:36]
C
It was a lot chronicles. It was wild between, like, trying to have a romantic life and what's it.
- [70:44]
B
What's a Tinder date look like in a pretty.
- [70:50]
C
You do not tell them. All my buddies and two, they'd be like, why don't you find some cougar, man, and start some cougar that'll buy you a car and, like, put you up. And I'm like, nah, man. I don't want to be like. I don't want to be at, like, some old bitch's whim. Like, where are you at? All that dude, I don't want. I don't need that dude. I'm good. So I just like. Yeah, the car thing was. It was exciting, man. Especially, like, the first year felt like the coolest thing I had ever done, man. I'm. I'm like, I'm living in paradise. It's California, so it's beautiful out here.
- [71:22]
A
I'm.
- [71:23]
C
I'm, like, developing as a comic. I'm hired as a door guy to comedy club, so I'm watching comedy every night. I'm. I'm like, helping my buddy produce, like, the number one underground show in la. Like, we are. We are packing it in with Real people. It's hard to find open mics in LA that have real people. And we're just like, we're doing cool and. And I'm living in the car. It's just exciting. I'm like, chasing the dream, man. I would. I would get off work at like 2 or 3am and I'd stand out on Sunset or Hollywood or Melrose. And I should be like, dude, I'm doing it, bro. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is where I'm supposed to be. And then, you know, mistakes are made. Like, one night I got off late and I got in my car and I was like, trying to brush my teeth and I opened a bottle of water and I filled my mouth and it was piss. And I was like, I don't know if this is where I'm supposed to be. I don't know if I'm doing was. So, you know, there was some rough too, but. Yeah. And then the second year, still, like, it was awesome, man. It wasn't till like year three that my sleep was like real bad from, like, just being in this little car and sleeping on my shoulders and my back started like, having my back get weird on me again and covet happens. Year four and for like, you know, they shut everything down. And now I'm just like living in my car with nothing to do. And I went from. Man, I was. I also had like a little retail job. I was working at Burton Snowboards during the day. So, like, I. I found this flow in my life again where, you know, at night I'm working at the improv from like 5 to 2, 5pm, 6, 7 to like 2am, I get off work, I drive to Santa Monica, sleep in my car next to the. The gym, wake up, go to the gym at like 7 or 8am, go work at Burton Snowboard from like 9 to 5, get off work, sit in traffic for an hour, go back to the Improv. And nights, when I wasn't working at the Improv, I'd go do shows. And then during the day, if I didn't work at Burton, I'd be at the Improv, like, writing all day, smoking weed, drinking coffee, eating mushrooms, like, working on jokes up in the green room. And so I'm like, I'm just like constant like this for years and years and years and, like, really constantly busy and in this flow. And then the country shuts down and for like four days I'm kind of like floating around, hanging out with buddies. We're like, do a little Bit of acid, you know, And I'm like, all right. But after, like, a week of that, I'm like, all right, man. Like, now I'm just a drug addict. Like, I'm. There's no. We're not doing anything. I can't do this. I can't just sit on the couch with these talking guys. I was like, I'm gonna go back to Vegas. My sister at the time was renting a room for me in my condo. So I was like, I'm just gonna go back to Vegas and, like, see some family and sleep in a bed. And, you know, I'll be back. I'll come back and I go back to Vegas. And for like, the first month, you know, I'm like, my sister's cooking for me, and, like, I'm sleeping in a bed every night. So I'm like, all right, cool. I'm like, resetting, you know, I'm getting rest, you know, and then, like, you know, second, third month, I'm like, going out on hikes every day, just trying to get out of the house.
- [74:11]
A
Yeah.
- [74:11]
C
Smoking lots of weed. You know, I'm like, trying to stay busy. Fourth, fifth month, I'm like, starting to get, like, real anxious. I can't sleep. I stop sleeping, and then I kind of stop eating. And I'm like, what happened to all this momentum I was building? Like, what's gonna happen to comp. Like, did I just waste the last four years? Like, I'm starting to spiral a little bit. And because I wasn't sleeping and eating, it started to come. It started to compound on me. And it got to this place where I started to have, like, kind of a. A nervous breakdown. And I went to, like, a friend's house one day. I was like, I just gotta get out of the house. And they were having a barbecue. And I went and she saw me, and right away she was like, yeah, all right. Like, something up? And I was like, yeah, yeah. I just not sleeping real well. She's like, come over here, Let me talk to you. And like, she pulled me aside and immediately I just lost. It was the first time I ever had, like, a. A nervous breakdown. I just started sobbing, like, freaking out about my life and everything. Like, what's gonna happen? And she, like, force fed me colonopin and Xanax. She's like, you gotta calm the down, dude. She's like, you're freaking out. You're being a right now. She didn't say that, but she's like, you're. You're freaking, dude. And she made me like go see her therapist the next day and all that. And, and that was the first time I ever went to therapy. And I realized like, I get a lot of myself sense of self worth from like work and doing, you know, which, you know, most people were struggling with that in Kobe. Like some people were baking bread and some of us were like, yo, dude, I need to like do things with myself, with the life. And I literally, I realized like, I have to go back to work. I just have to do something. So I got a job at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas, the hotel doing security. I was like, I just need to do something, bro. I have to wait for these clubs to open up. And then my buddy was like, my buddy that actually long time ago, used to work at the Cosmo, also a comic, also living in his car from Vegas. He's living in his car in la and he found out I was working at the Cosmic. He goes, what the are you doing? I was like, I just need to do something, man. And he stayed in la, kind of just like, you know, doing drugs, floating around la. Didn't come back to Vegas really. And he was like, nah, man. Clubs are open in Arizona and Texas that quit that job. Let's go, let's go to Arizona, let's go to Texas. Let's go figure it out there. And I did. So I only worked at the Cosmo for like two months and I went with him and we started like, you know, scoring on the road, places we could. And by that time the clubs did finally start to open back up and it was very like 6 foot distance vaccine cards, temperature guns. But the improv opened back up. So I went back, got my job back there. I met some. I met a woman during COVID that was going to school at UNLV in Vegas and she was like, she knows, like living in my car. She's like, well, I'm doing my, my graduate in my, my. She's like, I'm. I'm finishing at UNLV and then I'm going to la. I'm gonna be going to school out there. I'm gonna get a place, you can come stay with me. And it was, you know, while I was doing the four year, the first four years in la, there was no, like, there was no girlfriend, there was no time for that. I, I was not looking for that kind of at all. So it was very like, I could never live with somebody or anything like that. But at this point I, she was, I met her and she was great. She was, it was the first time I met a chick that I had liked in a while, you know, So I was like, all right, it. When you come out, I'll, you know, I'll see what it's like, you know, we'll crash with you a few nights, you know, mainly just come over to use your shower, you know. She moved out, and then I started staying with her. So then I lived with her for, like, a couple years, and I didn't have to live in the car anymore. And it was. It's nice, man.
- [77:27]
A
Like, where are you at? Where are you at?
- [77:29]
C
No. Yeah, like that. She was. She was great, man, but backing up a little bit. How we get into rapid fire is. When I first moved to la, I came out here trying to, like, develop as a comic. I wanted to grow. I wanted to get stage time and in LA and work on these sophisticated crowds. Just these better rooms, these club crowds. Yeah, But I came out here as this, like, Marine. This kid that's got a bunch of, like, you know, my sense of humor is all crazy, be it from my childhood or the Marine Corps or whatever. And I was a bar room comic, so I was very rough around the edges. Very few. My buddy that produced that weekly show was the only one that was really developing me. It was very, very hard to get stage time. And I had this moment where I was like, man, I moved out here and I'm not, like, I'm not getting. People aren't booking me, like, what am I supposed to do? How do I develop myself? And I started thinking about, like, all right, these people don't like me, but who is my crowd? Who am I supposed to be performing for? And I realized all my buddies in the Marine Corps are the ones that were like, yo, dude, you should do comedy. Like, you should if you don't try stand up, dude, you kind of wasted your life. Like, you're crazy, bro. You say crazy, you're wild. It's like, it. So I sent 400 letters out to Marine Corps units. Well, first I hit up, like, the USO tour and Armed Forces Entertainment. They all hit me with, you know, they all got their good old boys club. Kind of like, I have mine now, you know, I have. I always try to bring a new comic on every show, you know, and bring some fresh, fresh blood on. It's fun, exciting. But I have a group of guys that I book, you know, I have my buddies that I. I have my roster. They do, too. So they kind of hit me with a. Yeah, you know, man, we're not looking for anybody right now. We'll get back to you. And the USO tour never got back to. They don't give a about. You know, that's such a big organization. You gotta, like, know somebody or like, really? Yeah, to get in there. So I was like, man, I'm just gonna start my own thing. And I sent 400 letters out to Marine Corps units, really all over the country, but mainly Southern California, being like, yo, I'm a Marine, I'm a comic. I'll come perform for you guys anytime, any place. Just you just let me know. Because I had like a mobile speaker. That was another thing I started doing. I got here and I couldn't. I couldn't get stage time. So I bought a little speaker and a stool mic stand and I would go down to like, Santa Monica in Venice and I would just busk. I would like, talk on, you know, just talk out to people walking. So I was like, oh, I have the. To just do a show. So I'm just gonna. Yeah, I'll hit them up and I'll bring my gear. And I did the first one. Some unit hit me up and I did. I went, I went alone. I didn't bring any comics with me. I was like, this could be weird. It could get canceled last minute. It's a long drive. It could suck.
- [80:02]
A
The.
- [80:03]
C
Just go on my own and check it out. See, you know, let's check the vibe first. And I went And I did 45 minutes for like 250 Marines. And they treated me like I was Dave Chappelle man. I was. They love. They. I cry. It was amazing. And I had a, I had another like, aha moment. I was like, oh, this is my crowd. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is, this is the audience I need to, like, connect with. This is. This is it. And that kind of spiral it started to turn into, like, then I started bringing my buddies with me. Then we started like, bringing a bunch of comics because the format is great for like, military age males with short attention spans. Instead of me trying to go. First of all, comedy is like, way better when you get to go with your buddies. Like, I could go do a show by myself and, you know, have more stage time or even if I'm on the road at a club, like, you know, make more money to myself. But it's like, if I can bring a couple of my buddies along, the hang's better. It's a, It's a fun, fun vibe.
- [80:59]
A
You're, you're.
- [81:00]
C
It's. It's better that way. So I started bringing people out with me and, and sharing the stage time. And it's just. Then it's also another thing is it's better for the Marines too, because it's more high energy when there's like five comics on the show. Everybody's doing short sets, they're doing their best stuff.
- [81:16]
A
They're hot.
- [81:16]
C
The show's tights. It's a bunch of different comics. So you get like different points of views, different type styles and all that. So I start bringing guys out and then I create like this format that's like. It's rapid fire. I bring like eight to nine comics out. We're all doing 10 minute sets. It's like a 70 to 90 minute show. And it's. It's like fast, it's high energy, it's in your face. And it became like this thing where 1. My needs are getting met. I'm getting stage time, I'm having a blast. I'm connecting with these crowds. But then like, these comics I'm bringing are like, having this experience where on the van right up. You know, they're all talking shit. It's kind of like a podcast. It's not recorded. Florida, you know, it's like this crazy. It's fun. Comics are bonding. They're meeting new comics that they wouldn't have met before, building relationships. And then we get there and we set this show up and you watch these guys get kind of nervous. They're like, oh, like, I'm about to perform for the Marines. And it kind of hits them.
- [82:07]
A
There's a lot of Marines out there.
- [82:09]
C
Yeah, yeah. And they get nervous. You know, they're like, oh, what should I? And then they go up and they have a good set. Sometimes they crush. And they weren't expecting it. And they're like, yo, I get to watch that happen with them. And that was kind of like the beginnings of it. And then I started the. The. It was so exciting in such a rush, you know, I finally, after a bunch of. We did like, you know, a few dozen of them. And then I start to, like, really see what's going on with the Marines and realize, oh, yeah, it's more than just like, yeah, these guys are having fun. It's like, we are. You know, leadership would come up to me, or Marines would come up after shows and they'd be like, yo, dude, we thought this was gonna suck. We thought this was gonna be whack. Like, this was awesome.
- [82:46]
A
Nothing better to do.
- [82:47]
C
Yeah, like, we thought, you know, mandatory Fun. We thought this was going to be dumb, bro. You guys rock. Like, we needed this, man. Like, we're pissed off at the first hour. They've been us, this, that, and the other. You know, we've been out in the field all week. It's been miserable. Like, thank you. Like, this was awesome. And leadership coming up to me too, and being like, yo, man, like, these Marines have been like, having problems all week and like, you guys brought them together. Like, this was for you. You guys did great. And then like writing letters of recommendation for us. I was like, oh, like, this is bigger than just me getting stage time and having fun with my buddies. Like, we are having an effect on these guys. And I realize also another thing that I never saw coming was that a lot of these guys, most of these guys have never been to comedy clubs. A lot of them, I mean, stand up now is bigger than it's ever been. But yeah, a lot of these guys don't watch stand up. They've never been to a comedy club. They've never been to a comedy show. So this is their first experience, experience of stand up comedy. I get to like, bring them into this world for the first time. And not only that, but, you know, the Marine Corps, you know, people come from like, weird places and they don't, they don't. They never thought they would like, laugh at a gay dude or they never, they've never, they've never even met a trans person. I bring this trans comic from LA who's funny as. And now these Marines are laughing and they're like, yo, like, trans people are cool. Like, you know what I mean? Like, okay, God damn it, I'm gay. You know, like, we're not so different after all kind of moments. And it's like, now I'm exposing these guys to like a culture that maybe they would have never been exposed to in a positive light, you know, so it really developed and grew. And then in, in 2019, I. I decided, I was like, oh, you know, I want to try and keep this as free as possible because it's so hard to get money from the Marine Corps. And, and it just, I, I wanted to turn into like a non profit. I was like, if I turn a non profit, I can find sponsors. And then I. The money that does come in, we don't have to pay taxes on it. And we got approved to be a 501c3 nonprofit a month after the country shut down. So now I'm like, what, What a way to launch it. I'm calling, I Made like this big spreadsheet of like 500 companies and I'm like calling and emailing, hey, this is who I am. This is what I've been doing. We'd like to. Everybody's like, no, dude, the world is ending. Like, you can't, we have no money for you, we're closing our doors type. So it was like a rough start, but you know, it's, it's really developed into this thing where I'm working now with like Vet TV is helping me and you know, people, people find us online and, and they, you know, you go to the website, people donate. Just our expenses aren't very high. Like again like I, I'm doing most of this work for free. Every once in a while I'll find a unit that has their together and they'll have the funding and the, the, the organization to get it all approved and they will pay us. And it's awesome. Sometimes the one, the first time I got paid, it took them 10 months to fucking pay us, but they paid us. So sometimes there's, the money comes in, but a lot of times it's people finding us and being like, oh, like you guys are renting a van and filling with gas. Like, yeah, I can fucking, I got some gas money for you guys. And they'll go to the website and they donate. But now it's turned into this thing where I'm like looking at my career as a standup and what I want to be doing and how to develop, you know, this into something much bigger and, and actually get like real money coming in so I can, I can pay my bills. Not trying to like get rich and buy Lamborghinis and shit. If I can pay my bills and not have to. I work like people. I'm not a full time standup. Like I fucking work three jobs in la. I'm using my VA benefits to go to school so I can help pay my fucking rent. And I'm trying to transition to this place where I can do shows for the military, law enforcement, first responders, all this. And a part of that is doing this, this podcast run and like getting out and letting people know, yo, this is who we are, this is what we're doing.
- [86:36]
A
Are you stuck in like, not stuck, but are you primarily out in this like the west, like California and stuff?
- [86:44]
C
Yeah, I mean, you know, all the main Marine Corps bases, you know, you got 29 palms and, and Pendleton down here. Sense to be stationed out here for it.
- [86:53]
A
Yeah, because we're trying to do the same thing and I can. I can agree with you. You know, we do this five days a week. This is nothing for us. We can sit here and do this. We go and do a. We want to do live events. And I've been watching how the engagement in stand up comedy isn't really something that you see on a Netflix special. Like when you watch a comedian work the wittiness of working with somebody, hey, what's your name? And then you're just reacting. And if it's funny, I'm like, man, that's a skill like this. They just picked a person, started engaging with them, and made it hilarious. Like, that's a one. That's one shot. And I was like, man. So I was telling Mike, like, we need to just go start cutting our teeth at like, bfws or something, dude. Just the first time we did it, we had some old lady just start giving it to us, and we're like, man, this is gold. Like, this is gold. Her name was. What was her name? Carolyn. Mike. She let us have it. Hated Tyler.
- [87:45]
C
Oh, God.
- [87:46]
A
And I was like, man, we can make clips out of this because we did the same thing, dude. We bought our own PAs. We got our. Our little mixer that for a loudspeaker. And we're like, man, but we're the same thing. We're kind of like travel and logistics. It eats up the wallet, you know, as far as, like, making it worth your bank, your buck, you know, so we're trying to. But we're stuck in Florida. So I was just kind of seeing, like, logistically, if you guys ever made it out of Cali or if it's just right now kind of like focusing in Cali.
- [88:13]
C
Yeah. So it's. It has started to spread. I. I've been up to Wisconsin. I did a big show for the 9th Marine Corps District up there. And now. So now with this podcast run it.
- [88:24]
A
The.
- [88:24]
C
The reach has gotten bigger where, like just yesterday I was on the phone with somebody who's got a big, like, gun event up in Maryland, and he wants me to come out for the gun event and produce a show out there for him. So that's part of it is I want to get everywhere. There's. There's no people like, oh, would you ever go overseas? Yeah, dude, I had a unit in, like, I'll go to the combat zones, all that. Don't care. But I had a unit. I actually have to email them today to follow up. They're in Italy, so it's some. I think it's an army unit or something. Like that.
- [88:49]
A
But 173rd, they're airborne.
- [88:52]
C
Yeah. So, yeah, they're having a big gala in, in April for, like, their commander's retirement. It's like his last year with them, and he's like, dude, it'd be sick if I could bring you out. You could put on a show. Like, that'd be. That would be awesome. I was like, dude, let me know, bro. I'm down. Like, I want to make it work. So it's. It's just about spreading the word. A lot of people don't know about us. You know, it. It's in SoCal, it's easy to be like, yo, man, if your unit can't get their. Together, we'll come out for free. Like, it's. It's. Yeah, it's a rental van and a van full of gas. There's money in the account for that. But it's like, yo, you want me to come to, like, North Carolina or you want me to come to Italy? Like, yeah, you guys got to get a budget together. You got to figure this out. And also, like, that's a part of the conversation. I was like, yo, here's the value. It's not like, hey, I have this idea. I'd like to. You guys think we could like, no, I've been doing this. Yeah. Here's our track record. It took me a couple years to, like, finally get a good website together. But, like, our website has everything on it. You can go read about it, see the letters of recommendation from all these shows, watch post show interviews of these guys. You can donate and just learn about how everything started. It's like, go check us out and realize, like, there's value here. Like, it's. It's worth the market value of being like, all right, I want to pay these fucking five comics to come out across the country or whatever, Renovan and come out and produce this show for us. And I just want to let people know that we're here, we're out here, we could do it. And if. If you have, like, friends or family in the military, you can also go donate, help, support, basically sponsor a military member. Because again, a lot of these shows are free, and that's the way I'd like to keep it. Ideally, best case scenario, my goal is to find sponsors and donors so that I don't have to, like, negotiate with groups of higher ups and be like, yeah, this is, you know, and this much money to. No, I can just be like, hey, man, we're coming to North Carolina on this date. Come the out tickets are free. Rsvp, this is the night. And then we just come out and put on this show for them. Sponsored by xyz, you know, suck our dick, backpacks, your girlfriend's fat and ugly, protein powder, whatever. You know, like that and just being able to put on free shows and do that full time, that's the real goal. But you know, most importantly, I want shows. So I'm looking for whether it's a military unit or just first responder groups that are having some sort of get together party class, training, they want to end it with a bang, hit me up. I want to come do shows. And then the second part is like, yo, sponsors, donors, groups that can pay. Come find us, man. Go to the website, check us out. I'm sure you guys have all that listed in show notes, but rapid fire comedy tour.org man, trying to. I'm trying to spread the word. That's what this podcast run is about. Wow. This is the new market.
- [91:25]
B
Yeah, yeah. And it's actually a very similar. Well, if you just want to sit in a room and talk about military stuff and be boring, then there's podcasts that do that. But for, for. What you're talking about is kind of what we're seeing is like, I don't want to just sit here in a room and talk about old. I want to get out like current event. It's almost the same thing, like comedy slash broadcasting where we, you know, I can see in the future, man, where we would be at the same place and like we would live stream the whole show, talk to guests. You guys are on stage, you come off, you meet the crowd. We are on the Internet. We're broadcasting it as well. That's kind of what we're doing is. I feel the same way. I'd rather get out, interact with people and get to know people out in the community. And then that spreads. That's like free advertisement. Somebody meets you in person and goes, dude, this guy knows he's funny. Comes off stage, he talks to you, hangs out, he drinks a beer with the boys. You gotta go see him. Then he tells all his friends. And then you start a little tour.
- [92:18]
A
The ten. The ten. The ten. The ten. The ten. You know, like, dude, this guy is cool as, like I got to shake his hand. He talked to me for like 30 minutes. Like that blows people's minds. Like I'm a normal dude.
- [92:28]
C
Like, yeah, you got. You're 100, man. You're right.
- [92:32]
A
You know. Do you know what's the. It's Interesting. Like, have you ever. What? Have you ever. I mean, I'm sure you have the Adam Driver story, the dude from Star Wars.
- [92:42]
C
I know he's a Marine. I don't know his whole story, though.
- [92:44]
A
He got. He does. He does a TED Talk, man. It's really good. And he talks exactly what we talked about. He talks about how he joined for war, and then he might have. I don't quote me. He might have been medically discharged and he didn't get to. And it with him so hard. He was like, I was set to be a Marine, and then he went to acting school. And I just thought, like, I was like, man, dude, like, I really wish it was like, easy to get a hold of people like that, like, because, you know, he's in. He's embedded in Hollywood now. I guarantee you he doesn't check his phones for dms. But then there's another one too, out out west. Bryson Banks.
- [93:15]
C
Yeah, I know Bryson.
- [93:17]
A
Yeah, yeah, I've talked to him a couple times. I think we were. At the time, we were a little too edgy for people. People were like, dude, I love your show, but they're like, I don't know if I should. If I should be on your show, you know, because we saved some dicey stuff. But, yeah, he seemed like a cool dude, and I, you know, he's.
- [93:34]
C
That.
- [93:35]
A
You're out in Cali, right?
- [93:36]
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bryson, he's out on the road a lot. I haven't seen him in a while. Have to reconnect with them.
- [93:45]
A
But yeah, man, I, I posted your. Your. Your link and I pinned it. Rapidfirecomedytour.org if anybody wants to go in there and throw a couple bucks, you know, it's really. That's. It's crazy because that's what we're trying to. Not. Not as probably as often as you or. It's not really a huge part of our business model, but like, man, we're like organic growth. That is the way to do it. Just go meet people, get yourself in a van, keep it as cost effective as possible, and then sling some shirts, link some stickers.
- [94:16]
B
And what I hear from you, like, the way, like, immediately, it's easy to tell when you're dealing with somebody who's. When I use the word real, like a good dude. Like, I hear you talking about dragging dudes along, trying to get everybody on stage for 10 minutes, creating that environment. I know that resonates well with our fans because that's kind of how we are. We. We do the Same thing. It's like, how can we help everybody in a collective way to. You know, there's a common goal at the end. Eventually, yes, money. You have to live, you have to eat right.
- [94:41]
C
But that's not first.
- [94:42]
B
The first is building an audience, getting out, helping other people. And that's what. Listening to your whole story. You know, I don't say much, but that's what I took from it. Like, here's a genuinely good dude who suffered his whole life, made it to a point where he's not. He's still living in a car a couple years ago, but he's also got a mind to, like, I'm going to drag some dudes with me that have the same goal, and together we're going to get somewhere. And that. That's what. Hearing your story, if I was going to give a synopsis, that's what I hear. A really good dude who suffered, worked really hard, did things that most people couldn't even imagine doing, like living in a Prius for four years, and at the end of it, still has the mind of, I'm going to drag these guys with me, we're going to stay tight, and we're going to go do this thing together, and we're going to get somewhere. That's. That's really cool, man. I really appreciate hearing that story, and I think you're jam up, dude.
- [95:28]
C
Thanks, man. Yeah, it's. I appreciate you guys, like, bringing me on and giving me the opportunity to speak for you, for your audience. You know, it's. It's a big deal. So you guys, you know, re. Learn about me and trust me enough to come on and speak for you guys. These podcast platforms are. This is. This is the future, man. Like, literally. I don't. Maybe you guys know this or maybe you don't think about it, but you guys are the. You guys are the new gatekeepers and gatekeepers. Like a powerful. That's like kind of a negative connotation. But you guys are the new. You are the ones that are going to really help the next generation of shakers and movers. You know, people that are out there hustle and. And being able to get on a platform like this and share stories. Before. Before this, what were your options? You had to, like, find representation and go on a talk show or. Or get on the news or a book run or maybe on the radio,
- [96:23]
B
get on one of those stations that are owned. Get on one of those stations that are owned by a certain group of people, and you have to.
- [96:30]
C
The power structure has changed. Completely. And I'm so grateful for it. And. And I just. I. It's. It's the new model, man. You know, that's the thing is for these shows, too, like, the way I was getting shows every week, I still drop a letter in the mail. I drop. I'm still mailing out units. And it's like either they get a letter or someone that was at a show goes to a new unit and recommends us. That's how we get shows. But now, like, podcasts happen and people, yo come out for my boys, you know, like that, and it's easier to spread word. In fact, that's something I wanted to say. There's something I'm working on right now that I really. I don't. I haven't done it yet, but I really want to do it. And this is a good opportunity for anybody who's listening that's in that stationed at Pendleton. Specifically, if you're in Pendleton and you're listening this, you live at the barracks, you live on base. I want to start doing weekly shows at Pendleton. Really, like, hit pocket school circle behind the barracks or out in the dirt field shows instead. Because, you know, these letters go out to, like, platoon commanders and company commanders. You got to hope that they. Okay, well, we'll have you come out on this date for trans like that. I know there's guys hanging around on base on Saturdays. I want to come out, set up my speakers in a spotlight at like 8, 8:30pm and put on like, a quick show for these guys again for free. But I need to. I need to find groups of Marines that are like, yeah, I'm on base on. On weekends a lot. I have a group of guys. Because even if it starts out at just four or five guys, word will spread. Doesn't matter. I'll come out for just a handful of you and your buddies. Bring some comics with me. It'll be fucking fun. So if you're on base, you live out on base, and you're a young Marine, you're like, yo, we just want to fucking put on. On a little show. Hit me up. I want to come out and do that, and I want to start. And you can be some of the first Marines to help me get out there and do that and really kick off weekly, like, barrack shows. I want to do that. I think
- [98:22]
A
that is punk rock, dude.
- [98:24]
C
Yeah, it would be so much fun. And I know we could do it. And I know it would, like, grow into something amazing. And I just need to. I need to find the Marines that are on base, that wants. Want to do it, that are.
- [98:33]
A
Yeah, we'll try to get as many Marines as possible that way. If. Oddly enough, if there isn't one Pendleton Marine that's here, it'll get to them, you know.
- [98:42]
C
Yeah, it'll get to, you know, 29 palms will come out there too. You know that. I'll make it work. You know, I'll make it work. Wherever you guys are at, it's. The thing is, if you got a group of buddies, you guys just want to sit in the dark and listen to me and my friends talk about weird for a little bit, I'm down, man. That's all I want to do. That's all I want to do.
- [98:58]
A
Hell, yeah. Yeah, we'll definitely make. We'll. We'll put it out there. What we do is we. We do these, and then we make like three or four social media reels that we try to make pop out there. And you know, that usually, honestly, Instagram reels is what for us, per. In particular, our tick tock is kind of lame. Doesn't really do anything. Our Facebook is growing. We're at like, over 6, 000 followers. We just started that, like, a couple months ago. And then Instagram, though, is where we. We really get our word out there, and so we'll definitely do what we can to help you, man.
- [99:31]
C
Thank you.
- [99:35]
A
All right, I guess we'll. We'll wrap it up here. We got another meeting and then meetings. Dude, I hate meetings. And it seems like every day we have a meeting.
- [99:46]
C
So, like, safety meetings. And.
- [99:51]
A
No, they're not. But sometimes when you have meetings, they're just. They're productive. But then at the end of the meeting, you're like, now I'm. Now I have, like, 15 things I gotta do. Like, that's not. So now every time I go into a meeting, I'm like, I know I'm gonna come out of this meeting with more tasks, and then now I have to have more meetings to make these tasks happen. It's just like never any cycle.
- [100:09]
C
Hopefully you got a productive group, though. Sometimes you get a meeting, you leave it with 15 tasks, you show back up to the meeting, you've done all 15 tasks, and everybody's like, oh, no, we didn't get to a. Like, am I the only one working on this?
- [100:20]
A
Yeah, like, you, man, we. We've. We've surrounded ourselves with dudes, and we, Me and Mike have been very fortunate with our. With our broadcast. And, you know, there's a lot of dudes that are. That are fighting, cutting their teeth, you know, trying to get it. So we bring them on as much as we can. We pay them what we can, and they contribute a lot. And a lot of people. I shouldn't say a lot. Some people work for us for free. They're very blessed and they believe in our show and they try to help us out. They have. They sometimes work harder than the people we pay. So it's a weird. It's a weird relationship we got with everybody, but we're growing and I look forward to, like Mike said, working with you in the future. I think that would be super fun if we got to come out to Cali and set up a live show and do a live broadcast, you know, like you.
- [101:03]
B
We.
- [101:04]
A
We're going to Myrtle beach right, next month, and we're like, dude, let's just find a publisher. You got it. Hey, you guys got any issues with the first responder night? Like, no, Like. All right, cool. We're gonna set up the two speakers. We're just gonna bring a bunch of dudes from this convention over and have a bunch of laughs. Like, usually you don't have a problem with that.
- [101:21]
C
Hell yeah, dude. That sounds like a blast.
- [101:24]
A
No, no, it's been good.
- [101:25]
B
Yeah, we've done it a couple other places smaller, but this one should be bigger. But that's. That's really the mission is just get everybody together. That way we get guys like you, recognition. Everybody in this same type of like minded, hard working community of just doing. Doing good things for people is really what it's about. So that's. That's our next venture. And it's so far is going well. And you see our. We have a dedicated fan base. That's amazing. So it's. It's been going very well.
- [101:48]
C
Hell yeah, dude. I'm happy for you guys, man. It's. It's good to. It's good to see it working.
- [101:55]
A
All right, Michael, well, stay safe out in Cali. I know you got the rest of your day ahead of you, and I'll be out there next week, actually. So I'll hit you up in the email, see if you're busy. I'll be on Southern California.
- [102:07]
C
Yeah, man, hit me up. Go hang out one of these comedy clubs. Have a beer.
- [102:11]
A
All right, man, Sounds good.
- [102:13]
C
Later, guys. Appreciate you.
- [102:14]
A
Okay. Wow, man, that was a really good interview.
- [102:19]
B
Yeah, he's a good dude, man. It's not, you know, it's one of those things, like, as a cop, you just meet somebody and I hate that. I'M so judgy. But you start talking to him and immediately you're like, yeah, dude, this guy's. This guy's cool. As I've had the same opposite opinion about some other people I've met right away. So that was a good one.
- [102:40]
A
Yeah, we do. You didn't. You don't know about it.
- [102:43]
B
No, I don't.
- [102:44]
A
Yeah, we have a meeting. By the way, Liz coming in on the back and love your story. Thanks, Mike. Don't get sued. I didn't get sued in Tyler. Absolutely, Liz. All right, well, we'll. We'll be back. Oh, tomorrow's the flagship one, baby.
- [102:59]
B
Tomorrow's in studio. Flagship. And then Tyler hit the road. So I'll be night shift tomorrow night. I'll be on remote on the counterculture network.
- [103:09]
A
Oh, I thought you said Cece was
- [103:10]
B
staying next week longer than me.
- [103:15]
A
Dude, you're on it. All right, we'll see. We'll see you guys tomorrow morning, 11am, Facebook X and of course, YouTube. Thank you guys so much. Jv team for life.