
Jay relives his early stand up days when he played a song and undressed for the crowd. Dave Temple and Derek Gaines discuss comedians that used gimmicks like using music cues in their act. They all take bad advice when they first started out in comedy. Bobby and Derek were recently hanging out at the Comedy Cellar and were snapping on new comics like the old days. Dave and Derek are currently on the "Let's Get Pizza" tour. *To hear the full show to go www.siriusxm.com/bonfire to learn more FOLLOW THE CREW ON SOCIAL MEDIA: @thebonfiresxm @louisjohnson @christinemevans @bigjayoakerson @robertkellylive @louwitzkee @jjbwolf
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Big J Okerson
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Bobby Kelly
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Big J Okerson
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Derek Gaines
And now the bonfire with Big J.
Big J Okerson
O and Robert Kelly world debut.
Dave Temple
I know they going f everything.
Big J Okerson
I'm going to re bring it up, Bobby, because our guests will think it's cooler than. You didn't really care that much.
Bobby Kelly
What?
Big J Okerson
Sitting across from Jadakiss on a plane two days ago.
Dave Temple
Hell yeah.
Big J Okerson
Pretty cool.
Dave Temple
Hell yeah.
Big J Okerson
Hell, yeah.
Derek Gaines
I mean, you had to be first.
Dave Temple
You get a lot of that. Dude.
Big J Okerson
It's twice now been Jadakiss. But both times, the unspoken acknowledgement we gave was. And both times almost I had to look over a white person who had no idea who that was. Jada Kiss. Almost confused by the riffraff of me and Jadakiss being in this area of the plane.
Dave Temple
Absolutely.
Big J Okerson
And then. But then Jadakiss and me see each other and then we acknowledge where I give a nod both times a nod of like, dude, I know you're Jadakiss. And he gives me a nod of like, you've now recognized Jadakiss. And I accepted it both times. I promise you, he didn't remember the other time. Last one. My other one was Fat Joe where I rehearsed my entire. The entire plane. The thing I was gonna say to him and then I went up and said it to his face. He looked concerned, and then took his headphone out and went, what? And I went, ah, this is a fan. And I jogged away.
Bobby Kelly
What did you say?
Derek Gaines
Yeah, what did you say?
Bobby Kelly
I do a radio show, somebody looks just like you.
Big J Okerson
No, no, My plan was you look more like Joe. My plan was he was talking about himself.
Bobby Kelly
I was?
Big J Okerson
Yeah. Okay. My plan was to say it was layered. Hey, man, I've been a fan since Flo Jo came on the box.
Bobby Kelly
Jesus Christ.
Unknown
Wow.
Bobby Kelly
Why would you fucking say that?
Dave Temple
I've done that.
Big J Okerson
It's a good line. It's a good line.
Dave Temple
I did that once.
Derek Gaines
I know Flo, too.
Dave Temple
I did that to 50 cent one time where I just. Literally, we had been working together for two days, and then I finally. It was just me and him on the side of the stage, and I was just like, yo, man, I've been around for a long time. Like, I remember when you got shot in the mouth. I thought it was over, but I'm so glad to see how far you came.
Big J Okerson
Bring up his worst day of his life.
Derek Gaines
I got one. That Trump's always right.
Dave Temple
He rubbed the bullet hole. When I said that, I'm like, oh, like a villain.
Big J Okerson
Let me introduce you guys to everybody. It's my fault. I come out of the gates like a villain, fucking swinging for sure. Everybody, you know those voices. And if you don't, you're an idiot. Listen to the no need for Apologies podcast on Gas Digital. It is the no need for Apologies boys. Dave Temple and Derek Gaines, everybody, they're here. They're doing the let's Get Pizza tour with dates. Get why Bobby does comedy with dates. Coming up, Bobby's book dates for pizza. That's not a fat joke. You book dates for pizza.
Bobby Kelly
I was about to attack you. Yeah, and you're absolutely right. It was the best pizza in the country.
Big J Okerson
Absolutely.
Derek Gaines
That's what we looking for.
Dave Temple
Where was. Yeah, that's this whole tour.
Bobby Kelly
It was in Jersey. Oh, wow. Well, is it Morristown?
Big J Okerson
You see, I'm old Bobby, come back there. That was OG Bobby coming back there.
Bobby Kelly
What?
Big J Okerson
What's. You were like. You were about to get really angry, like it was an insult. You told me you done.
Bobby Kelly
Because fat on fat crime bugs me.
Big J Okerson
Oh, yeah, I understand. Yes.
Bobby Kelly
If you said it, you said, I'm fine. Well, fat on fat crime brings me back to old.
Big J Okerson
It bugs you. It bugs you because you're guilty of it, too. We all know.
Bobby Kelly
Exactly. But I just hate fat guy.
Big J Okerson
Can't wait For a fatter person to just fucking lay it into them. He goes, whoa. At least I got control of myself before I was that big.
Bobby Kelly
Exactly. That's why I apologize.
Big J Okerson
I ain't that fat.
Bobby Kelly
No, it's in mor. It's in Morristown, Jersey.
Dave Temple
Okay.
Bobby Kelly
They have, like. They had. They have, like, a tiny little room there. And this kid's been trying to get me to go. The producer for my show, Danny Braff.
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
And I was like. And then I saw the pizza guy from barstool, Dave portman, Did a thing where he's like, this is a nine, four.
Dave Temple
Okay?
Bobby Kelly
And I was like, that looks like great pizza. He goes, that pizza place is down the road. I go, you get me into that place and get me pizza, and I'll do your show.
Derek Gaines
Okay.
Dave Temple
Okay.
Bobby Kelly
So I went, you have to get in.
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
Morristown, you gotta kind of.
Derek Gaines
It's a rich part of Jersey, too.
Bobby Kelly
Well, you got to kind of. There could be a line a lot of times, but we didn't know. We went in, sat down. The guy, the owner came out, gave us a shitload of food, Brought these four pies out. Of course, Rich voss showed up. It's right down the street from my house.
Derek Gaines
He does show up to a show in Jersey.
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, you got free pizza.
Derek Gaines
He crashed two of mine.
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, he crashes.
Derek Gaines
He crashes.
Bobby Kelly
He really does just crash.
Big J Okerson
Does boss just show up to shows in Jersey?
Derek Gaines
If it's in Jersey, Voss going to show up, and he going to do 20 before you?
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, he walked. Uncle Vinny's wanted. He just walked by the room, and everybody knew who he was. Rich Voss. I'm like, all right, come up.
Big J Okerson
He drove down the point Pleasant to walk by your show in front of. You're already. It already sucks. Listen, it already sucks that we're being booked to perform in a place that you can walk by and look in the front window and see you on stage. That already hurts a little bit. And then when someone walks by, that draws attention. That's the worst thing. That was the club, Uncle Vinny's, where I had the thing with a lady who just hated my comedy, and she walked out furious. And then her boyfriend, or husband, whatever it was, had to walk out after, but he walked off way later after her, where it was almost like a, hey, dude, you should probably go get your chick. And then he went outside, and they just proceeded to fight in front of, like, the glass. So I was just. I told everybody. I was like, everyone, let's just watch. And, like, let's just watch what Happens. Anybody want to go outside and see what they're saying? Like, I'm like, there's no reason you cannot do possible comedy when it's like, hey, don't look over your shoulder, but something awesome and crazy is happening.
Bobby Kelly
Dude, I had my whole show leave because I had a guy on the watch in the Phillies game or the Flyers game. No, not nice. During the show.
Derek Gaines
Oh, you don't hate that?
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
And I'm like. And every. Every once in a while, I look over and to the point where I was like, what's the score? Just so that people. Because it was like. And then he said something to me, and I was like, you. His wife said something to. The lady next to him. Said something. Me? I said, you go yourself. Then his wife came up behind me on stage. This little tiny lady.
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
And she tried to grab the mic out of my hand, and some big guy stepped up in front of her. Then they dragged that fucker out. This guy pushed Dino's brother onto the ground. Then all of my fans who came to see me, they're pretty much, you know, fucking cops and firefighters and just alpha male fucking flag tattoos. And they just all left with them and fucking dragged that guy. So it's just me and a bunch of wives sitting there waiting for their husbands to come back.
Dave Temple
Tip your. Tip your staff and bartender, please.
Big J Okerson
It's only comedy. No one's ever been performing a concert. And someone in the audience goes like, give me the microphone. Give it to me. Enough. Give it here. Like, where they just, like, drunkenly. The interaction is brutal, but, yeah, a place where the fucking. The whole thing. Or when you just try to have anything like. No, just keep going on with your show in Miami. Last time I was there, the fucking fire alarm. That's a full speech, by the way. Went on for 40 of the 45 minutes I was on stage.
Bobby Kelly
I had that. I had that in Phoenix. The fire alarm went on as I got on stage. Went all the way. 45 minutes. And then I was like, you know, guys, all right, I gotta go. Good night. As soon as I went back and said good night, it just went, boom.
Big J Okerson
Done.
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
Cut off. Yeah, I've done that. Voss shows up in a lot, though. I did. Asbury Park.
Derek Gaines
Fitz, Jersey.
Bobby Kelly
They had. They had a beer room in Asbury park where they paid me a lot of money to go do this thing. And I did it. And it was. The stage was a balcony. You had to climb a ladder to get.
Big J Okerson
Is this very Jersey centric, this kind of thing? I think I'm doing, like, a show. Like, I have one. I haven't never done a private show in my life, but I have one for, like, a police. Like, something.
Bobby Kelly
Good luck.
Big J Okerson
Sure. No, it's probably going to be bad, but, like, they're paying, like, stupid money.
Bobby Kelly
Who are you going to call?
Big J Okerson
Ghostbusters?
Bobby Kelly
No, if something goes wrong in there, those are the people that.
Big J Okerson
The cops?
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, dude.
Big J Okerson
Oh, if someone, like, talks shit and you gotta fucking go at it. Yeah, they can kill me and never fucking make sure I'm never found again.
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, you're fucking done.
Big J Okerson
I know. My whiteness, really, whatever kind of white I am, has never really worked out with cops. With me.
Derek Gaines
Damn.
Big J Okerson
It really has it, doesn't it? You, of course, know I'm saying. I agree. I wish I'd be like. I wish I had. I've been with people who have been. I'm like, yo, like. Or they're getting pulled over or something. I'm like, yo. And they're like, relax. Like, we're a couple of fucking white dudes. And I'm like, this has not been my experience. It's not been my experience. I'm like. They make me get out of the car and they rip everything out of my glove compartment box. They ask me. They do the baton under the chin.
Bobby Kelly
Yeah, it might be the baton under the chin.
Big J Okerson
To look up at them. It's fucking.
Bobby Kelly
It might be your fucking Wu Tang hoodie. Might fucking trigger. Might just start doing Wu.
Dave Temple
Watching Jay relive all those moments in his eyes right now was hilarious, too.
Bobby Kelly
Start dressing like Derek and you might not have a shot.
Derek Gaines
Dress like Thanksgiving. Got all earth tones on.
Bobby Kelly
He dresses like Rambo.
Derek Gaines
This is Rambo. DJ Hip Hop Rambo. DJ Cornucopia.
Big J Okerson
You know the coo. I love this dude.
Bobby Kelly
I got. I have a gold. I have a gold badge. I got the gold badge.
Derek Gaines
Oh, look at you.
Bobby Kelly
It's a little tiny gold badge you can get when you do this gig for the cops, whoever books it, you have to go, yo, can I get a gold bat, One of the gold badges? When you have the gold badge in your wallet or with you, all you do is show that gold badge. Go ahead.
Big J Okerson
Hey, any of you Pig Ethnocleans? No.
Bobby Kelly
No, not that way.
Big J Okerson
Okay.
Bobby Kelly
I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that.
Big J Okerson
Well, they're not nice to me.
Bobby Kelly
You get a. It's. It's like the ultimate PBA card that you get, and it comes from the head cop there. He'll give you a gold badge, okay? And when you flap that when you get pulled over, all you do is you have your license and then you show the gold badge and you have to just know the guy's name, go, yeah, I'm friends with. Blah, blah, blah. And you just go, I have a gold badge.
Dave Temple
I was with you until you said head cop. Now I'm like, nah, he's full of shit.
Bobby Kelly
The head cup, the sergeant or somebody. You know what I mean? Like the head cup. Yeah.
Big J Okerson
Oh, they pulled the sergeant out for you.
Derek Gaines
Grand Wizard Cop. Yeah, I know.
Bobby Kelly
Oh, you guys.
Big J Okerson
Are you trying to fool black people with stories? That's what it sounds like. Then the sheriff came over and challenged me to a duel.
Bobby Kelly
I actually brought up. I was on the phone with Colin once when I got pulled over, and I was like, hey, check this out. You know Colin Quinn? He goes, yeah. And he goes, here's your ticket.
Big J Okerson
I was with Dante Niro one time. We got pulled over driving back from Toronto in the middle of the night.
Bobby Kelly
Apocalyptic Jeep.
Big J Okerson
Absolutely. It was with the cruise horn. I was driving. Dante was sleeping. And then Rob Mayo, a Canadian comic, was on a thing, a giant antenna, playing guitar. While he was swinging back and forth, he had another skull over his face.
Derek Gaines
He sound like that, don't he? Rob May also.
Bobby Kelly
Is that the angry comic or something like that?
Big J Okerson
So, no, no. But we were driving back and a cop pulled me over. From the time he pulled me over, he goes, hey, we're speeding. So it was one of those, like a school zone or whatever. Was like, it was nighttime, though. I don't know. Whatever it was, it was just like I was doing like 35. I don't really speed, but I was like 35 and like a 15 or something. It was such a dumb speeding thing. And he pulled me over and he was. This is far away from home, so, you know it's going to be a pain in the ass if he gives the tickets right away, asked me if I'm Jay Okerson, and then I was like. I was like, yeah. And he starts going, like, man, I'm such a fan of yourself, and talk to me for five minutes about the things I've done that he likes. And then he goes. He goes, just give me a second, my man. And he went back to his car and showed up with, I think, three or four tickets he gave. It was something nuts. Really? Yeah, it was crazy.
Dave Temple
To your show he had tickets that he gave you?
Big J Okerson
No, no, no, that'd be great. Look, man, look, I've got tickets. Will you sign these?
Bobby Kelly
Hey, dude, I don't want these. And here's your ticket.
Big J Okerson
It was wild. He gave me all the tickets. I'd like fight these tickets.
Bobby Kelly
He didn't cut you a slow. He didn't cut me a break.
Dave Temple
Those kind of tickets. Okay.
Big J Okerson
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he didn't give me a break at all. I'm a fan. He goes, just give me. And when he said he goes. He goes, give me two seconds, like quick formality, I gotta go back and kind of thing it sounded like. And then he just hand me. Because he goes, here's ease. And he goes, if you show up to court, though, I won't be there. So that was his break he was giving me. I go, yeah, but I live 7 hours drive from here. So what about that?
Bobby Kelly
He was like, probably already wrote him. He can't unwrite him.
Dave Temple
He's trying to figure out a way to get Big J to come back in town.
Big J Okerson
Oh, can you not unwrite. Yeah, can you not unwrite them, Bobby? Because I'll tell you what I've seen before which made me furious.
Derek Gaines
What's that?
Big J Okerson
Tracy Morgan, when he would pull up outside the Cellar all the time, and Chris Rock. I watched this happen to both of them.
Dave Temple
Yes.
Big J Okerson
A cop was out there writing the ticket. And then outside, Steve would come running out. I'd be like, no, no, it's Chris Rock or Tracy Morgan. Those are the two I remember. And the cop would be like, oh, man. He goes, tell Tracy the police. And I watched him rip the ticket up. Not even like the. You have to process it out or something. Like I was writing it, but it was. I'm not gonna give it to him kind of thing.
Bobby Kelly
What year was that?
Big J Okerson
It's a lie.
Dave Temple
I've seen.
Bobby Kelly
Is that before or after Black Lives Matter?
Big J Okerson
Well before.
Dave Temple
Well before.
Big J Okerson
Way before Black Lives Matter.
Dave Temple
I've seen it happen with both of them. Also where I've seen Tracy come out drunk from upstairs. And he's challenging the ticket guy. Oh, my shit not good. My shit not good. And then the guy, he's like, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you. But, like, technically it's not good. Like, there's no registration. You know what I mean?
Bobby Kelly
You're drunk.
Big J Okerson
Oh, yeah.
Dave Temple
He's like, I'll let it.
Big J Okerson
Stolen vehicle.
Dave Temple
I'll let it go.
Big J Okerson
Who's that child in the backseat? That child in the backseat is white and not yours. Hilarious.
Bobby Kelly
There's a naked drunk white guy.
Derek Gaines
Registered Lambo is Tracy Stouter. I've seen a lot of dude and.
Dave Temple
The Guy goes, I'll let it go if you take a picture with me, right? So. Which he poses for the picture, but Tracy never stops talking for the picture. And he's like disrespecting the guy. You see this shit? He don't even have no merch enough in the mind to say he a fan. He just wanna post on social media and get likes.
Bobby Kelly
First of all, what Tracy Merchant. What merch does Tracy have? What, a Walmart.
Derek Gaines
Walmart T shirt? I was just about to say the Walmart T shirt.
Big J Okerson
It's like a Hesh truck, but it's smashed in.
Derek Gaines
God damn.
Dave Temple
A Christmas Hess truck?
Big J Okerson
Yeah, yeah, the Christmas S truck. Hey, what's a Tracy Morgan Hess truck?
Bobby Kelly
You know the thing with Seinfeld when the. He pulled up and the guy was giving him a ticket and Steve came out, he goes, yo, that's. That's Jerry Seinfeld's car. He goes, oh, my son's a big fan. Just tell him to sign the ticket. I'll squash it. He went in, he goes, jerry, the guy was just about to give you a ticket. If you just sign it, he'll squash it. He goes, tell him to give me the ticket.
Big J Okerson
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great.
Bobby Kelly
What a dick.
Big J Okerson
I know. I also kind of respect that because I have said this. When cops have. When we lived on fifth street there, and the cops were across the street, there was like one or two in there that were fans, and the rest of them always treated us like jerk offs, like all the time. And I would have things where I went over there and I was like, there was a time where the guy used to just like slap his dick around in the window, which I would have gone to the cops about. I thought it was funny until I realized that we live on a street with a school also.
Bobby Kelly
He would slap his dick in your window. Of your car?
Big J Okerson
No, no, no, in his window.
Bobby Kelly
He put it on the glass. I thought it was a guy walking up to your window in your car and just dicking.
Big J Okerson
Dick.
Derek Gaines
Slapping the cars.
Bobby Kelly
That's kind of fucking dick slap on.
Big J Okerson
Take a shower and he would just like scrub his dick.
Bobby Kelly
Where is this? I want to go see that. It was the second floor and the window to the shower was on the street. And he would just face the street, like really scrubbing his dick. Every day, like a romance.
Dave Temple
Was his shower in the windows?
Bobby Kelly
Yeah.
Dave Temple
Okay. Cause I had an apartment like that in Flatbush. I would do that, but I was on the fourth floor.
Big J Okerson
Yeah, but he also had a curtain. You also hope People were looking at your beautiful dick.
Bobby Kelly
Yeah.
Big J Okerson
Cause I would do that, too, but it was the fourth floor still. I did it like this.
Dave Temple
So funny. It does feel good, though, having an open window in the shower and just letting all of that cold air in.
Bobby Kelly
I would never in a million fucking years have my dick in a window. No shower with cold air.
Derek Gaines
You ain't got enough hay.
Bobby Kelly
If my wife walks in, I turn and face the corner like Blair Witch. Are you crazy?
Big J Okerson
Don't come in yet. Don't come in yet.
Bobby Kelly
She showers in the dark.
Big J Okerson
I do. And then if Christine walks in the shower. If Christine walks in the bathroom in the shower, I do the head immediate out of the things, like, what are you doing here? I'm getting out a second. Don't look at it now.
Dave Temple
Oh, God, I am such a strutter. You don't understand how much I am naked even when it's cold in the house.
Big J Okerson
Okay.
Bobby Kelly
Jay was giving me shit a couple weeks ago because I was hanging out with you late night.
Derek Gaines
Oh, that was great.
Bobby Kelly
Late. He was giving me, call me a fucking boomer and that. He was. Call me a fucking boomer that I should go home.
Big J Okerson
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
And.
Derek Gaines
But we snapped on everybody.
Bobby Kelly
We were.
Derek Gaines
I never. I felt so great to be able to snap with Bob snapping on other comedians.
Big J Okerson
It was great.
Bobby Kelly
They were all. I was at the Cellar. It was boring.
Derek Gaines
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
And then I walk. I'm like, I'm out. I walk around the corner. You're hanging out. I'm like, all right, we have a good time. There's some shit over here. And we started smashing Dan Davies, Dan Davis. This fucking South African street.
Derek Gaines
Oh, you talking about Trevor Noah's opener.
Bobby Kelly
Trevor Noah's opener was some African dude.
Derek Gaines
And we did was bad.
Bobby Kelly
Oh, my God. We were fucking smack calling him, coming to America. He should have a lion on his shoulder.
Derek Gaines
All kinds of shit.
Bobby Kelly
We were smashing that fucking idiot.
Derek Gaines
It was bad.
Bobby Kelly
And he was trying to come. We made him. We made him American black.
Dave Temple
Oh, God.
Derek Gaines
Dan did. We threw his joke book all over the street.
Bobby Kelly
We were fucking with a stupid mustache that he grew just so he could.
Dave Temple
Get in with SD Traveling the country just to get bullied.
Bobby Kelly
What was the other kid's name I got?
Derek Gaines
It was me, Dan Davis, dude. I don't know. I don't know.
Dave Temple
He doesn't have to know people.
Derek Gaines
He was with Matt Richards, trying to chum up with Matt because Matt hosts.
Bobby Kelly
All the shows, dude.
Derek Gaines
So we was like, yo, who the is dude? And he was like, some dude from Africa. And then when you came around, you just. He was like, well, this is the guy.
Bobby Kelly
He was. He was trying to snap back with that aristocrat.
Derek Gaines
It was bad.
Bobby Kelly
Why, why you. Why you do this stuff to me? Some shit and we fuck with. And then he finally went.
Big J Okerson
That was will.
Bobby Kelly
He finally went like this. He goes, listen. Yeah, do that.
Derek Gaines
And we was like, talk, black talk like that.
Bobby Kelly
Talk like that.
Derek Gaines
It was great. And he tried a few times, but then he went back to Africa. He was like, yo, man, just get out of here.
Big J Okerson
Just beat it.
Bobby Kelly
That was fun. That was like old school.
Derek Gaines
That was great. We was throwing joke books around, snapping on people, talking.
Big J Okerson
I just remembered my first ever, like the ball bust of comedy. Like an older comedian versus being like, how you would handle that. Not in a comedy, like older comic, younger comic, like setting where they do something so shitty. But you're like, I think I'm gonna punch this guy. You can't punch that. Like, he's the one of the big dogs here, whatever. But I remember I could walking up those. You remember the Laugh House was stairs right away. Yeah, I got the top of the stairs. It was like the first week, I believe I started bringing like. I was like, I'll carry around a spiral notebook with a pen because what if thoughts come to my head and I gotta jot some stuff down? And it was the top of those steps that somebody goes, is that your joke book? Let me see it. And then just threw it all the way down and you have to go down and get it down the steps and just accepting those things.
Bobby Kelly
And as it landed, there was nothing in it.
Big J Okerson
Have you ever?
Bobby Kelly
It just said Jay Okerson with his address and his phone number. If found.
Derek Gaines
I am.
Bobby Kelly
Spiral notebook. It stinked and it's empty. And it's stickers from his childhood he decorated before he got doodles in it.
Dave Temple
He been doodling in it the stamp property of.
Big J Okerson
Well, I started a time too, where there was a time to do all the things I remember doing, because I started at that Laugh House and you were just taking advice from like people who were like low level in it themselves, but they'd just been doing it for a year or two and kind of navigate it. So I mean, the things I went out, I went to Office Max and got like a cheap. I was like, I'm gonna be needing a lot of business cards from people. So I go, let me get a thing that's got like a flip page of just business cards. I could take everyone's business card and call them for spots and shows.
Bobby Kelly
Oh, you had the thing where you put the business card in it.
Big J Okerson
Not a Rolodex, like almost like a baseball card, but you know, small. But that was just part of like. But it was that. It was an address book where you'd have to write everybody's thing there. Oh shit. It's so bizarre. But not knowing and taking those advice things too. When work gets crazy, I like to stop by the bar after, have a few cold ones.
Bobby Kelly
I don't drink at all until 4:00. We limit ourselves to one bottle of wine a night.
Unknown
Excessive drinking has a way of sneaking up on us. A few drinks, a few nights a week, it can add up and suddenly we're at greater risk for long term problems like heart disease, cancer and depression. Reason enough to rethink the Drink more at rethinkthedrink.com an OHA initiative.
Big J Okerson
At Metro get an iPhone 12 with 5G and a dual camera system on us. Take amazing pictures and share them instantly. And don't put up with life's yada yada yada like photo bombers. Zoom, crop out and bye. You don't take yada yada in life. Don't take yada yada from your wireless provider. Get iPhone 12 with 5G with no activation fees and nada yada yada. Only at Metro by T Mobile Switch now bring your ID and sign up for a Metro Flex plan offer. Not available. If currently at T Mobile or been with Metro in the past 180 place.
Unknown
We'Ve all got a thing. For me, it's vintage furniture and now talking about how I found it on ebay is like my whole personality. Even at 2am when I can't get 19th century sofas off my mind, I'm on ebay for sure. Scrolling my favorite seller's storefront, setting search alerts and building the watch list of my literal dreams. I know antique lamps aren't everybody's thing, but the best part about ebay is it doesn't matter what you're into. Fashion, car parts, trading cards. It's all there. So go find the thing that keeps you up at night. Ebay Things People love Are you holding.
Bobby Kelly
Back on travel plans this holiday break because you're afraid of a language gap? Well, no need to mind the gap if you have Babbel. I use Babbel all the time. I just went to Cuba. It was so frustrating and not be able to ask for certain things. You know what? I just turned on my Babbel app. All of a sudden I was speaking sentences, saying good afternoon I got to go in and say por favor queso, which means please cheese. This app was amazing because it teaches you in a fun, relatable way that all of a sudden you just know words and they're in your lexicon. I'm learning Italian with my son. I put my whole family on babbel right now with a quick 10 minute lesson handcrafted by over 200 language experts. Babbel gets you talking in a new language just three weeks. And with the advanced speech recognition by babbel, it's like having a personal language tutor in your pocket, helping you pronunciate whenever you open your mouth. I got babbel. I hopefully know Spanish and Italian by the end of the year and I already know a bunch of words. I know a couple swears too. Not on there. From the guy I met in Cuba. Here's a special holiday deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription, but only for the bonfire with big J ogerson and Robert kelly. Listeners@babbel.com Bonfire get up to 60% off babbel.com Bonfire spelled B a B B E L. Rules and restrictions may apply. Tiamo. Gracias.
Big J Okerson
Do my fucking first business. My first and only business card. But someone found one recently. We had it somewhere. It was just like clip art, like a star. It said big J. It had the wrong kind of microphone on it.
Bobby Kelly
You had the crooner mic, of course.
Big J Okerson
The Elvis71 comeback.
Derek Gaines
Joke to come down.
Bobby Kelly
All his jokes said, where are you from? Where'd you get that shirt?
Big J Okerson
I only wrote crowd work back then.
Derek Gaines
This is underwear Jay, right? This is when you usually go on stage and strip down your tighty whities.
Big J Okerson
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't write that down. The book so much as I drew the schematics.
Derek Gaines
Would flip a black club 90 times because I was doing open mics run at times. So I used to see that flip a room.
Big J Okerson
The best part is. The best part was a swagger of that and then Keith Robinson just crushing that down in me when we went. The first time I met Keith, we did a gig in Minneapolis. My first time flying for a gig. Michael Blackson put me on a gig that I didn't realize I was. He didn't get the word that I was retired from comedy and gonna go back to college. Word didn't spread. Never made its way to Mike Blackson. So he booked me on this gig and with Keith and I did that show. It was a black show and I killed with that bit at the end of it, too.
Dave Temple
Nice.
Big J Okerson
Murder. And Keith did really well. But, like, I definitely had, like, that thing. Me getting negative, essentially, was the biggest reaction of the night. And I remember Keith going up. I didn't know Keith at all from, like, anybody. So, like, I'm there, and he seemed like a nice guy and everything, but he's trying to give me, like, sage and sound comedy advice, for sure. And I'm almost looking over him, so I'm like, if you'll excuse me. Dude, what's it, Keith? I'm gonna go. Yeah. I have to go take a picture of these two fat black ladies. These two fat blacklies. Wanna take a picture of me? I was always in front of an airbrush picture of a Corvette or Tupac or something.
Derek Gaines
Or the stack of money.
Big J Okerson
Yes, yes, yes. Two fat black ladies airbrushed.
Bobby Kelly
What type of underwear did you get down to?
Big J Okerson
Leopard print.
Bobby Kelly
I'm gonna throw up. You should.
Derek Gaines
Jay did it, man.
Big J Okerson
Yeah, I was committed. But before he had the jokes. The bodybuilding bit. Yes, I was doing. But I'm saying, like, that's exactly. I can only imitate down to the underwear. Yeah, but I would tell you what. No tank top.
Bobby Kelly
Did you have to put your pants back on?
Big J Okerson
Yes. But the time, it didn't work. That was the thing. It never seemed like a lot of time pulling those pants up until it's happening in a deafeningly silent room and you have to keep reaching for it and missing it.
Bobby Kelly
You just feel like, the same feeling.
Big J Okerson
You're pulling the belt out.
Bobby Kelly
It just got raped. Yes.
Big J Okerson
Metzger said the time it happened, Metzger said I should have walked off with him around my ankle still and just, like, waddled back to the green rooms. It went so bad when I went back, but it would fucking kill. But it's not that again. I didn't know any better. So I don't even feel bad for that. What I feel bad for is, you know, I always thought I had a pretty good relationship with everybody for the most part. You know what I mean? Like, and I was like. At whatever level I was at, I was like, I think they're respecting the comedy at least. And when you think back to something, like some fucking Bobby Slaton or some fucking thing that I would open for randomly at a place, had to deal with me coming back with, like, pull my pants back up and be like, have fun headlining. And it's just like. Like, they should have been like, oh, yeah, I guess I have to go up there and do talk with my words. And do comedy instead of a fucking jerk off taking off your clothes and music. Yeah. I was like, they may have something left, but I think they're all exhausted now. He goes, yeah, I just pulled the bit. And I'll tell you, the time before it bombed was because we switched venue.
Bobby Kelly
What was the bit again?
Big J Okerson
It was about bot. My stepfather hung out with a bunch of bodybuilder dudes, and he was like a weightlifter guy and said, bodybuilding's so gay the way they do all this. And then the music, the 2001 theme.
Bobby Kelly
Oh, you had a tape. You had to put a tape on.
Big J Okerson
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
You had to show up and go, dude, just hit it, play it.
Big J Okerson
When I. Walker, let me tell you something. They were happy to do that for me because where we were going, these places, it'll be me and Kevin Hart. And Kevin Hart gave him a fucking. A CD binder and was like, all right, this one, track four, three and a half minutes in this one. When I say this word, you're gonna go, fuck. He had a fucking list. He had a stack of CDs he had to give.
Bobby Kelly
You had to do.
Big J Okerson
Some of them were mines. He was like. He'd be like. He had a joke, Kev, that was like, hey, this is how different. It's so funny just being so young and being like. At the time, I was like, it's good, Kev. It's killing. And I meant it. It's. This is how different ethnicities walk into the club. That's all it was. And, like. So he would use, like, my Metallica CD for, like, that. Oh, you know, I mean, when I.
Bobby Kelly
Hosted the Cellar, there was one comic. I forget his name, but he had a tape. And I had to squeeze. This is back at the old Cellar. I had to squeeze in between the crowd to go to that back.
Big J Okerson
Oh, that little booth.
Bobby Kelly
And I had to do as the host. You had to. You had to go back and listen to his whole set. And then when he said this, you had to push play and then you had to push stop and then play again. I. And the place would go mental.
Derek Gaines
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
Every time I wanted to rip the tape out of the tape and just. Just snap it so many times and. And everybody hated him, but he fucking murdered. Yeah, there's something about gimmicks that motherfuckers love gimmicks. They love a fucking bells and whistles.
Big J Okerson
Do you remember Willy Robo?
Dave Temple
Yes.
Big J Okerson
Willy Robo would fucking like. I hate him as a human being, but he's one of the only People I've ever almost like, literally had, like.
Bobby Kelly
They stopped me from fighting people with the gimmicks. You like them as people. They have to at least be a nice person.
Derek Gaines
He definitely is not a nice person in real life.
Big J Okerson
This guy's not a good dude. But he doesn't think. But he doesn't think of the mc. This is the kind of kill that, like, unless you're physical youl'll never even understand what he's doing. The gorilla, right? Fucking joke. It's towards the end. I think this might be it.
Dave Temple
Yeah. Woman do that to me.
Big J Okerson
Boy, straight. By the way, he was born with, I think, three hair lips.
Dave Temple
Oh, really?
Big J Okerson
I don't know. But I mean, his lips are all.
Dave Temple
Crazy weird happening in there. It's scar tissue.
Big J Okerson
But you can't argue. This is pretty silly. This is funny as hell.
Dave Temple
The comics that know that they could do this. What do you think? That's like practicing that at home.
Big J Okerson
How you getting your 10,000 hours in on that?
Bobby Kelly
You have a special room in your house. Yeah, this chair can slide.
Big J Okerson
You got to practice that.
Dave Temple
Have you ever been to a comics house that has a stool and a mic stand set up for that kind of shit?
Bobby Kelly
No.
Big J Okerson
You have?
Dave Temple
Yeah. Solo. Y'all know Solo Jones?
Big J Okerson
Solo sounds like a shoot. Is that a cartoon character?
Derek Gaines
Is that.
Bobby Kelly
Is that a black superhero?
Dave Temple
It's funny because he's like an Atlantic Solo Jones. But yeah, he. He. I remember I met him on a set of, like, Law and Order. We were doing background work together, and he took me to his apartment afterwards, and he was showing me, like, all of the green screen work that he does in camera work. But he had a stool and a mic stand so he could practice all his physical stuff. He could do stuff in the house.
Bobby Kelly
I mean, I did a show with a guy once where he was rehearsing his set verbatim before his set, like, going. But he was. He was waiting for the pla. The like the crowd laughs as they were laughing. But he's in the back. He's like, yeah, I know you like that one. Like, he would talk.
Derek Gaines
Not that part, buddy. Not that part.
Bobby Kelly
He did anticipate the laughs. All the parts. All the parts. And the funny part is he go. He just bombed. There was no laughter. But he was going, you like that? He just still. Did you like that one? They were like, no, we actually did it. And we showed that by not laughing. Remember the guy? Remember the black, old black guy with. He had ever.
Big J Okerson
Who was it he used to do.
Bobby Kelly
The Boston all the time he was an old black dude, he used to show up and he'd come up and he was very distinguished. He had, like, an ascot. So it'd be like. It'd be like, me, Jay Moore, Patrice Norton. You know, I remember Chappelle. And then this guy would go up and like, hello. And he would do William something. And he. In the middle of his set, he would do a joke, and then he would just pull a cup.
Big J Okerson
Full glass.
Bobby Kelly
A full glass drink that was in his pocket.
Derek Gaines
He didn't have, like, a masturbator joke, did he?
Big J Okerson
That was always the case.
Dave Temple
I got a friend of mine back in Philly, and he's my friend, so I'll put this out there. Nate, the landlord is my homie yeah, yeah, yeah, Nate. But Nate used to wear slinkies in a bra underneath of his outfit. So that he had this joke about when you go take an old woman home and she's got slinky titties, and then he pulls it out and does the whole thing.
Bobby Kelly
But doesn't even do that with a microphone. I do that with the mic now and the cord.
Dave Temple
But the thing was.
Derek Gaines
And the sound of the mic hitting the ground.
Dave Temple
The thing about it was he would show up to places, like, and look for guest spots. And if you give him the guest spot, he already had the bra and the slinkies on.
Derek Gaines
That's a Philly thing. Buck used to wear.
Bobby Kelly
How do you get pussy with.
Derek Gaines
Buck used to wear that fake dick, remember? But fake dick for shows.
Dave Temple
Have a fake dick under a leotard and tear away dress pants so that he could do this. Another one that he would need you to have the music, and you have the song. Song. He would always invite somebody to come up, usually a dude, for his birthday, and be like, no, I'm gonna buy you a drink. Come on, man. Dance. Like, really dance. And once you dance, then the guy actually gets into it. You look over and Buck then ripped his clothes off, and he's standing in a leotard with a big hard dick going down his legs.
Big J Okerson
That guy went to prison. That guy went to prison after that.
Bobby Kelly
He went to prison with the dick.
Big J Okerson
He went to. He went to prison after he was doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bobby Kelly
Do you ever do an imp? Do you ever do. Like, I did a college once and I. I just improv this thing with a kid and the music came on and we did this whole crazy in the moment improv. It was just an.
Derek Gaines
I don't know, like a yes. And it was.
Bobby Kelly
I don't know, it was this dance and he started dancing and I. And then the whole. It was just this moment that happened. They rebooked me and I tried to.
Big J Okerson
Relive the moment.
Bobby Kelly
Because I went up trying to do jokes and it wasn't working. And they were like, you're famous. I was like. Like, we talk about you all the time. Oh my God, please. And they booked me back. It was four, buddy. Let me. I tried my ass off. And it. You can't relive the moment. I try. I brought a kid on stage and this kid wasn't into it. Dude, I bombed so bad trying to improv a moment that. And all the kids that booked me, they were up at the top smiling. And when I looked up, they were all gone except for one kid just looking at me, sad.
Big J Okerson
I have a quote. Does any other city have. I know there's like black clubs in other cities, but one thing I thought was cool, like Philly kind of seemed like in New York, like was. There was a scene to it. It was its own scene. It was cool. I mean, some of the most. Some of the most. No, no, no. Black clubs, but. Or black rooms or whatever. But like in New York had a bunch of them too. And. But Philly had a bun. It wasn't just the laugh house. There was some other things going around, but I will say, like that circuit probably more than a Boston mainstream open mic. I would put Philadelphia's local laugh house scene, the characters in that, as some of like the all time. Oh, yeah, just. I mean, that Wednesday was beefy funny.
Bobby Kelly
Boston had.
Big J Okerson
I mean, these people are. No black scene.
Bobby Kelly
They had no black scene.
Big J Okerson
Yeah, I believe. I think that's true. I don't remember ever even going out there.
Derek Gaines
Slates came, but Slates came later with Jonathan. I forgot his last name, but yeah, he did Slates.
Bobby Kelly
When we came out, there was no black. It was just rooms. When we came to New York, it was my first Sunday at the Boston. Sunday at the Boston was my first time I ever did a black room. It was.
Big J Okerson
That was. That wasn't even a good gauge though, because that room was fucking hot.
Bobby Kelly
That was. I did Le Bat. I don't know if you remember the.
Big J Okerson
Bar Bat, dude, I ate there plenty of times. It was the After Work comedy jam hosted by talent who they weren't that stoked to see either. They just wanted to go hook up after work. Yeah, yeah. It was like trying to do comedy at a Waiting to Exhale party or something. It didn't make sense. Everyone was dressed Real nice after work. And then talent would go on stage like a football jersey. And Duke, he'd make him laugh because they remember him always from Def Jam, wasn't that far removed from that.
Bobby Kelly
I went there with Keith one night. He goes, come on, you're gonna go up in this black room. I'm like, all right. Because I did Boston a couple times. Come on, they're good. And I went up there and ate my twat. And he put me up last. What a douche. Put me up last. You guys ready for one more? They were like, now, but the characters. I have my baggy boot jeans on and my baggy boot flannel.
Derek Gaines
Oh, shit.
Big J Okerson
Tommy Too smooth. I may have shown you before. He was the man of four faces. Yeah, the man of four characters. Yeah. He. Tommy was like. He would Go on. He was another. He would wear. He did a character named. We looked this up, I think, once. Feliciano Fernandez.
Derek Gaines
Absolutely.
Big J Okerson
And his move was in that. Again, this is like the same show off your dick thing. Feliciano Fernandez would wear yellow pants. For some reason, that character didn't wear underwear. So when he would go. His character, you'd be like, something, something. Fuck that. When he would say fuck that, I mean his dick. It was Anybody talked about in the room.
Dave Temple
Yeah.
Big J Okerson
You forget what he's talking about. You're like, yo, is this. Like, are we gonna get shut down? It's insane.
Dave Temple
Yeah. Have you seen his. The viral clip of him recently?
Big J Okerson
There's a viral clip.
Derek Gaines
He went.
Dave Temple
He's telling a story about how Michael Jackson beat Tupac over what's the name's Daughter.
Bobby Kelly
It was one of my clips. So if we're talking about.
Big J Okerson
Make it big, Tommy Too smooth.
Dave Temple
Yeah. It's a fascinating. I don't know what show it is. I just seen it. And more people are starting to piggyback on this story now as a result of it. It's spreading.
Derek Gaines
Good for him.
Dave Temple
Like, wow.
Big J Okerson
Yeah, really good for Tommy. Now, Tommy, can you tell to me, is Lula May Thompson.
Derek Gaines
Lula May kill. I remember one time.
Bobby Kelly
What's Lula May? What is Lula May?
Big J Okerson
Well, that's what got him another one. What made him get his. By the time I started doing comedy, Tommy was in Philly, in the black circuit for sure. Was like, one of the dogs, right? He was one of the guys. Even if he was doing comedy for four years, maybe that point. I have no idea. But he was one of the guys because he did Comic View, which was big credit at the time, and killed some of you and he murdered with this, like, Lula May character.
Derek Gaines
Oh, Grandma character.
Big J Okerson
Yeah.
Bobby Kelly
I want to see it. Can we see it?
Big J Okerson
But he just sings songs always, like, best singing song.
Bobby Kelly
Was it good?
Dave Temple
It would get the crowd going. He would get him clapping in unison.
Big J Okerson
Thank you, Dave. Yeah, Dave, that was so. That was. Thank you so much. He goes, jay, was it good? It was. It was. The crowd was into it.
Derek Gaines
But I remember he started to be sitting in the back of this room watching this go down at this place.
Big J Okerson
He'd be killing, murdering. He was. He was like. You didn't want to follow him because, like, he was, like, kind of level the audience.
Bobby Kelly
I think Lamont should do this.
Big J Okerson
Who?
Bobby Kelly
You know. Oh, I.
Dave Temple
Forget it.
Bobby Kelly
Nice talking to you.
Big J Okerson
Who's Lamont?
Bobby Kelly
You don't know Lamont?
Big J Okerson
You know.
Derek Gaines
You know I'm talking about Lamont.
Bobby Kelly
You don't know Lamont.
Derek Gaines
You know I'm talking about Lamont.
Dave Temple
Smoking angel dust.
Bobby Kelly
No, I thought Jay would remember, but he doesn't.
Big J Okerson
To reference. I'm blowing.
Bobby Kelly
It's all right. It's all right.
Derek Gaines
You don't know Lamont.
Bobby Kelly
It was before you. From.
Derek Gaines
From Roxboro.
Bobby Kelly
Forget it. Keep on.
Big J Okerson
Move on. I remember all his songs.
Bobby Kelly
I've never felt more uncomfortable in my life. When you had. Who's Lamont? Who is this guy?
Big J Okerson
Who's he?
Bobby Kelly
No, no, that's not him.
Big J Okerson
It's just looked up someone we know named Lamont.
Derek Gaines
Lamont.
Bobby Kelly
That was Lamont? Yeah, it was Lamont. Yeah, it was Lamont. That was who I was talking about.
Dave Temple
Lamont. I grew up.
Big J Okerson
Oh, was it really?
Dave Temple
Yeah, I grew up with a Lamont.
Derek Gaines
I remember Lamont.
Dave Temple
Yeah, it was a Lamont.
Bobby Kelly
4.
Dave Temple
Four doors down from me. A flaming homosexual since we were six years old.
Derek Gaines
Lamont.
Dave Temple
Yeah, like. And my mom, as a result. Oh, no, there's two. There's a Lamont and a Vermont.
Bobby Kelly
Lamont. Lamont.
Dave Temple
One is like, nose ring. He looks. One looks like you.
Big J Okerson
No, I know Vermont.
Dave Temple
And then there's another one with the high top.
Big J Okerson
It's Ralph. It's Ralph.
Derek Gaines
It's Ralph is the one that made it.
Big J Okerson
Yeah. Okay. Ramon's DJing on Instagram. That was where the. I'll tell you what. Ramon Harris, same as several people.
Derek Gaines
I took his comedy class, so I'm not.
Bobby Kelly
You took a comedy class?
Derek Gaines
My first year of comedy. Yeah, I took one, too, when I was, like.
Bobby Kelly
I was born.
Derek Gaines
I was 19 years old. I didn't know what to do.
Bobby Kelly
I was living in the. I was living in a house with this Maria Falzoni. Who was like a big comic in Boston.
Derek Gaines
Okay.
Bobby Kelly
And she taught a comedy class. And I was. I was paying like, 125 for a room in her house. And she made me take her class about that because I live there. And I got into a fight with the speaker that she brought in because he was like, you have to be clean. You can't talk about sex. It's about seven. I go, seven minutes of clean material. The Tonight Show.
Big J Okerson
That's not fun, though.
Bobby Kelly
And I told him, I go, listen, bro, I got out of jail, like, four years ago.
Derek Gaines
That's right.
Bobby Kelly
And all my life, all I do is I try to fuck and fucking have fun.
Dave Temple
Thank you.
Bobby Kelly
What am I supposed to talk about? I don't know. This life.
Big J Okerson
All's my life, I've had to fight. All my life.
Bobby Kelly
All my life I had a fight. And fuck.
Big J Okerson
Alls my life, I had Bobby Seeley.
Derek Gaines
That's Bobby. Ms. Mead.
Bobby Kelly
I got kicked out of the class.
Dave Temple
Founder of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Seeley. Bobby Sealy.
Big J Okerson
Comedy class, Vermont. Harris. It's always two. It's always someone who's like, you gotta ask everybody.
Derek Gaines
It was an improv class. That's all it was.
Dave Temple
Usually the club just kind of taps somebody on the shoulder, like, yeah, you want to make.
Big J Okerson
No, I know, but the ball bag, to be like, I've got valuable information. I'm 50 and still live where I live.
Derek Gaines
Yeah.
Big J Okerson
The picture. The guy who does it.
Bobby Kelly
I still live where I live.
Big J Okerson
The guy who does it at the Comic Strip. I mean, they have a picture of him that. When I first went in there. Didn't you say that, too? It looks like it's a memorial to a dead person. DF Sweedler.
Dave Temple
Is he still teaching it up there?
Big J Okerson
It's a crime. If he is, someone should put. Bring up charges on this. You can't charge because the teacher should at least know anything about the subject they're teaching.
Dave Temple
Right, right, right.
Bobby Kelly
Oh, shit.
Dave Temple
It's wild.
Bobby Kelly
We gotta take a break.
Big J Okerson
Oh, yeah.
Derek Gaines
Having a good time.
Bobby Kelly
We got shit.
Big J Okerson
Always a great time. Dave Temple, Derek Gaines are currently on the let's Get Pizza tour, with dates coming up. A city winery in Philly, November 29th. In the creek, in the cave in Austin on December 12th. After that, they're going to be in Houston, New York City, Tacoma. Those are fun cities for tickets. It's going to be fun. You guys are doing the right move, by the way. Go with friends. Yeah. Say, too much fucking traveling. They have to be lonely and shit like that.
Bobby Kelly
Take it from me and Jay to the loneliest Road. He doesn't answer the phone when you call.
Big J Okerson
We gotta talk each other off of Taco Bell ledges late night. For tickets and all tour dates, Visit link tree NNFA. Derek's also gonna be filming a special on December 10th at Second City in Brooklyn. That room is beautiful.
Derek Gaines
Beautiful room.
Big J Okerson
I just did it for the festival. That's again, second city in Brooklyn, December 10th. Dave Temple's gonna be back in Austin at the Sunset Strip Comedy Club on January 18th. Make sure you check them out, follow them on socials and make sure you.
Bobby Kelly
Check out Jay this Sunday. He's got one show. They added Sunday.
Big J Okerson
They didn't add it. It was there the whole time. I just didn't know about it the whole time.
Bobby Kelly
Make sure you check him out at Helium Comedy Club this week. He's going to be there. All of it's sold out.
Big J Okerson
Everything else is sold out.
Bobby Kelly
And then December 1st, he'll be at Stanford, St. Louis, West Palm beach for tickets and all other dates, visit Big J Comedy. Can't say no now, Jay.
Big J Okerson
I do have an opener for tomorrow, but there's another thing. But let me tell you something.
Bobby Kelly
Yes.
Big J Okerson
There might be an opening for that on Sunday. Sunday.
Bobby Kelly
There you go. Now you're in. I'm going to be all over. Uncle Vinny's is gone. I'm going home. I got a big fest, a big no more Uncle Vinny's family reunion. So I won't be doing that. But Gramercy in New York City with regs. And I'm going to be in Beacon, New York, at the theater up there. And then I'm going to be all over the place. Punch up.
Big J Okerson
Of course, every Tuesday night, Young Lounge, the comedy sellers.
Bobby Kelly
And I got a new web Robert Kelly comedy on YouTube. All my standup's gonna be up there. And check out our show. The Christmas show's happening.
Big J Okerson
Absolutely. And tomorrow you're gonna. Tomorrow you're gonna hear the pre record this week and then we'll be back on Monday. Everybody have a great Thanksgiving. Thank you so much, Dave. Thank you so much, Derek.
Bobby Kelly
Thanks for coming in, guys. You guys are hilarious. We'll see you guys next time.
Big J Okerson
It's a bonfire.
Unknown
If you could hear love, what would it sound like?
Big J Okerson
Son, can we talk about your drinking?
Dave Temple
Yeah, Dad, I think we should.
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Podcast Summary: The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Robert Kelly
Episode: Gimmicks with Dave Temple & Derek Gaines
Release Date: December 4, 2024
Introduction
In the December 4, 2024 episode of The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Robert Kelly, hosts Big Jay Oakerson and Bobby Kelly engage in a lively and candid conversation with guests Dave Temple and Derek Gaines. The episode delves into the intricacies of the comedy scene, sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the road, interactions with fellow comedians, and the challenges of performing in diverse venues. The hosts and guests provide a humorous yet insightful exploration of what it takes to succeed in stand-up comedy, emphasizing the role of gimmicks and personal experiences.
Encounters with Fellow Celebrities
One of the highlights of the episode is the discussion about encounters with renowned artists like Jadakiss and Fat Joe. Big Jay shares amusing stories about flying alongside Jadakiss, highlighting the awkward yet memorable nods exchanged between them.
Additionally, Big Jay recounts a humorous incident with Fat Joe, where his attempt to engage with the rapper resulted in an awkward and unsuccessful interaction.
Challenges with Audience Behavior
The conversation shifts to the unpredictable nature of live performances and the various disruptions comedians face. Bobby Kelly shares a particularly intense experience during a show where a fan at a sports game disrupted his routine, leading to a physical altercation that resulted in many audience members leaving.
Big Jay adds to this narrative by describing an incident at Uncle Vinny's, where a fight broke out between audience members, highlighting the sometimes volatile environment comedians must navigate.
These stories underscore the importance of maintaining composure and continuing the performance despite unforeseen challenges.
The Role of Gimmicks in Comedy
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing the use of gimmicks in stand-up comedy. The hosts and guests explore how certain comedians incorporate unique traits or behaviors to captivate their audience, sometimes to the detriment of their overall performance.
Big Jay reminisces about his early days, recalling how he used to carry a spiral notebook to jot down jokes, only to have it discarded by a fellow comedian.
Bobby Kelly shares his frustration with comedians who rely heavily on gimmicks, such as exaggerated physical antics or repetitive jokes, which can ultimately alienate the audience.
The guests cite examples of comedians like Solo Jones and Buck, who used over-the-top physical stunts and props to enhance their acts. These anecdotes serve as cautionary tales about the fine line between engaging gimmicks and distracting performances.
Experiences with Comedy Venues and Tours
The episode delves into the logistics and experiences of touring, with Dave Temple and Derek Gaines discussing their ongoing "Let's Get Pizza" tour. They share insights into performing in various cities, the unique challenges each venue presents, and the camaraderie among comedians on the road.
Bobby Kelly and Big Jay reflect on their performances in cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, describing the distinct comedy scenes and the diverse audiences they encounter. They highlight the importance of adapting their material to resonate with different crowds.
Reflections on Personal Comedy Careers
Big Jay and Bobby Kelly take a moment to reflect on their personal journeys in comedy. Big Jay shares nostalgic memories of his early career, including struggles with writing material and building a network of fellow comedians.
Bobby Kelly recounts his experiences with comedy classes and confrontations with instructors demanding clean material, which clashed with his raw and unfiltered comedic style.
These reflections emphasize the perseverance required to navigate the competitive and often harsh environment of stand-up comedy.
Current Projects and Future Plans
As the episode nears its conclusion, the hosts and guests discuss their current projects and upcoming events. Dave Temple and Derek Gaines promote their "Let's Get Pizza" tour, detailing dates and locations, and share plans for Derek’s special filming at Second City in Brooklyn.
Bobby Kelly announces new developments in his career, including a new web series and upcoming performances at various comedy clubs.
Big Jay mentions his busy schedule, including an additional show on Sunday at Helium Comedy Club, which has already sold out, illustrating the high demand for live comedy.
Conclusion
The episode wraps up with a heartfelt acknowledgment of the camaraderie among comedians and the relentless pursuit of humor amidst challenges. Big Jay and Bobby Kelly thank Dave Temple and Derek Gaines for their contributions and emphasize the importance of supporting fellow comedians.
The hosts sign off with a reminder of upcoming shows and the continuous journey of making audiences laugh, encapsulating the essence of The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Robert Kelly.
Notable Quotes
Final Thoughts
This episode of The Bonfire offers a deep dive into the world of stand-up comedy, exploring the delicate balance between performance and personality. Through engaging anecdotes and honest discussions, Big Jay Oakerson and Bobby Kelly, alongside Dave Temple and Derek Gaines, illuminate the often chaotic yet rewarding path of a comedian. Listeners gain valuable insights into handling difficult audiences, the strategic use of gimmicks, and the enduring passion that drives comedians to take the stage night after night.
For fans who haven’t yet tuned into this episode, Gimmicks with Dave Temple & Derek Gaines is a must-listen, providing both laughter and a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of stand-up comedians navigating the ever-evolving landscape of entertainment.