CNLP 783 | Are We Too Critical Of the Church? John Crist Returns to Talk Cynicism, Hope, and Getting the Tonight Show

Summary

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The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast

Episode 783: Are We Too Critical Of the Church? John Crist Returns to Talk Cynicism, Hope, and Getting the Tonight Show
Date: February 3, 2026
Host: Carey Nieuwhof
Guest: John Crist

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and deeply personal episode, Carey Nieuwhof welcomes back popular comedian John Crist for an honest conversation about cynicism, hope, the journey to healing, and the complexities of leadership within and around the church. John opens up about his major milestone—performing on The Tonight Show—his evolving view of the church, the role of comedy, and why restoration matters in the aftermath of personal and public failure. With both laughter and vulnerability, Carey and John dissect the tension between being a critic and being hopeful, the power of true friendship, and how gratitude transformed John’s perspective.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution of a Comedian (03:06–12:52)

• John reflects on how his material and life perspective have changed over time, paralleling stages like youth group humor to more adult topics (relationships, aging parents, taxes).
  • “If you follow my journey, like what I was dealing with in my life back then versus now is different. It is wildly different.” — John Crist (03:06)
• Carey notes that authenticity and transparency were central to John's most popular podcast appearance.

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2. Landing The Tonight Show: The Comedian’s Super Bowl (05:31–14:00)

• John describes The Tonight Show as a career-defining moment for any comedian:
  • “For a comedian, the Super Bowl would be The Tonight Show.” — John Crist (05:50)
• Despite many obstacles, John persisted through repeated rejections and countless revisions before finally getting the coveted slot.
• The significance of the moment for his family and his younger self—dreaming of being Jay Leno at age 13.

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3. Cynicism & Critical Filters: Benefit or Burden? (12:14–15:59)

• John admits a comedian’s lens is often skeptical or cynical, always searching beneath the surface.
  • “I think everybody is full of crap for the most part. I mean, unless I think everybody... there has to be some kind of, I don’t know, skeleton in that guy’s closet.” — John Crist (12:14)
• Carey relates this to pastors, describing the difficulty of sitting in church without scrutinizing every detail.
• John and Carey both note the challenge—and necessity—of intentionally focusing on both the positives and negatives, rather than just taking shots from the sidelines.

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4. Comedy Roots & The Value of Trying (22:21–27:26)

• John recounts his path from journalism and wanting to riff on news stories, to taking the leap into standup after encouragement from a mentor.
• His first open mic in Atlanta: terrified, bombed, but instantly hooked.
  • “I threw up in the urinal... But driving home I was like, I’m gonna do this for the rest of my life.” — John Crist (25:17, 26:35)
• On failing forward: passion is proven by the willingness to try again after bombing.

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5. Friendship, Vulnerability & The Brag Table (45:49–52:55)

• John and Carey discuss the rarity but value of friendships where you can safely share both lows and highs ("permission to approach the brag table," from John Acuff).
  • “You’re vulnerable in success and failure... I care, I really care. And I can’t do that for everybody, obviously, but you need a handful.” — John Crist (51:34; 52:02)
• Friendship is described as being able to sit with someone in their pain as well as to celebrate their victories.

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6. Gratitude and Recovery: The Power of Perspective (54:12–62:13)

• Therapy and rehab instilled a habit and discipline of daily gratitude, fundamentally reshaping John’s outlook.
  • “You don’t deserve any of this, and neither does anybody… I walked out of that place and I go, well, I’m playing with house money now… Anything that happens now is water under the bridge." — John Crist (54:12, 62:13)
• Discusses practical exercises, like writing 100 goals post-rehab, to shift toward hope.

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7. Navigating Cancellation & Restoration (96:58–100:41)

• John reflects on being “canceled”, lessons learned, and the church's complicated relationship with fallen leaders.
  • “Sarah Silverman said this… In cancellation, we have to have a road, a path forward.” — John Crist (97:12)
• Stresses the need for a path to restoration—not excusing accountability, but not embracing perpetual banishment.

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8. Comedy, Church Critique, and Constructive Humor (101:07–105:50)

• John distinguishes between humor that wants to help the church and attacks that seek mere destruction.
  • “I poked holes in things to see it improve. And I wasn’t ever going to call a pastor by name.” — John Crist (104:22)
• It's time to shift from merely exposing the flaws of the church to offering support and highlighting the faithful majority.

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9. Signature Moments & Reflection

• On perseverance and the Tonight Show:
  • “I told Lydia, I go, man, if this one doesn’t go, I think I gotta… and it makes me emotional to say it. I go, if this one doesn’t go, I think I’m… it’s not for me.” — John Crist (38:01)
• On gratitude:
  • “We don’t have to do anything. And I go, hey, you know what we do for a living? Tell jokes. And there’s 2000 people in Hattiesburg tonight here to see us say the things that we just made up in our minds. We’re doing great.” — John Crist (56:11)
• On restoration and hope:
  • “The problem is we scapegoat people… you did the hard work. And you can hear it even in our conversation today that you’re not the same John Crist that disappeared.” — Carey Nieuwhof (96:53)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On career persistence:
  “If you thought you could do it, you would do it... The only barrier to entry is here.” — John Crist quoting Jerry Seinfeld (09:43)
• On openness and joy:
  “There’s a gratitude in you... There’s a capacity for friendship in you. And if you’re gonna call the whole thing, you’re sitting there criticizing, arms crossed, like, I know what’s really going on there, and yet I see a joy in you.” — Carey Nieuwhof (53:40)
• On restoration:
  "Restoration... there has to be. I'm not saying back to your career. I'm not saying... But you have to have a path forward for that person." — John Crist (97:12)
• On church criticism:
  “What about the 75,000 pastors that are working hard and have given their lives to this ministry that don’t have any money?” — John Crist (102:52)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------| | 03:06 | John on how his act and personal life have evolved over the years | | 05:21-07:59 | Childhood dreams and family support | | 12:14-14:00 | Cynicism—comedian’s and pastor’s filter | | 22:21-27:26 | First open mic, bombing, the call to comedy | | 38:01 | Emotional honesty about almost giving up before The Tonight Show | | 45:49-52:55 | Finding true friends for celebrating victories ("the brag table") | | 54:12-62:13 | Radical gratitude, rehab stories, and reframing success | | 66:27-77:22 | Behind the scenes at The Tonight Show; prep, nerves, and improvising | | 96:58-105:50 | Critique, restoration, destructive vs loving humor about the church |

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Critical thinking is powerful but should be balanced by hope and gratitude.
• Restoration and vulnerability are essential—not just for the individual but also for the greater community, including the church.
• Success comes with persistent, sometimes unseen, hard work and numerous setbacks.
• Comedy, when wielded compassionately, can spark necessary conversations without seeking destruction.
• Gratitude and openness to joy are antidotes for cynicism and burnout, in leadership, art, and life.

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Resources & Where to Find More

• John Crist’s book: Delete That
• John Crist’s Podcast: Net Positive
• Full episode transcript & show notes: careynieuwhof.com
• Previous interview (rehab/cancellation): Episode 604

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(For brevity, advertisements and non-content sections have been omitted. The summary preserves the warm, candid, and often humorous tone of both John Crist and Carey Nieuwhof.)

Transcript

[John Crist]

The Art of Leadership Network, man. If this one doesn't, this one doesn't go, I think I gotta. And it makes me emotional to say it. I go up. This one doesn't go. I think it's not for me.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Welcome to the Carrie Newhoff Leadership Podcast. I'm so glad you joined us today, man. I had so much fun interviewing John Crist. It's his second time on the podcast. He's actually one of our most most downloaded episodes ever. Last time I sat down with John, he opened up about being canceled, his journey through rehab, and I really want to encourage you to listen to that or watch it on YouTube. And today we catch up and talk about everything that's happened since, including getting the Tonight show, what he thinks is right and wrong with the church today, where comedy is going, and a whole lot more. So welcome to the podcast. Hope our time together today helps you thrive in life of leadership. If you're new here, welcome. We have a lot of young listeners listening. We love young leaders. And if this episode means something to you, it would mean the world to me if you left a rating and review wherever you're watching and maybe drop a comment as well. We'd really appreciate that. So John Crist is one of today's fast rising stand up comedians with more than 1 billion video views, over 7 million fans on social media, and sold out shows from coast to coast. Coast. John also hosts his own weekly podcast called Net Positive. I was a guest on that and we'll link to that in the show notes as well. So without further ado, my conversation with the one and only John Crist. John, I've been looking forward to this. Welcome back, man.

[John Crist]

I'm back.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Have you been looking forward to this?

[John Crist]

Oh, yeah. Well, the first. Since the first one, I mean, it was a really. It was really a. It was really a miracle that I. I always tell people that all the time. I go, I wouldn't probably do a podcast like, now we're friends.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

But at the beginning I was like, I would never do a podcast like that. But I go, first of all, we're in Peterborough, Ontario.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Shout out Peterborough.

[John Crist]

Yeah. So you go, we get this request to do a podcast. And I think it was. If it wasn't, I go, yeah, I'm doing nothing up there. And I was like, man, I should do that for my podcast. Like, like Taylor Swift. You were like, I can't get her in Nashville. But you're like, I'm in Manitoba. You're like, you are. All right, well, we'll do the pot. You know, Manitoba's biggest podcast. You're like. Or you know what I'm saying? Like I do. If you want to do a. Yeah, see, find the. Find the touring artists most remote tour stop and then say we do a podcast out of there and then he's more likely to probably do it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So we did. We shout out to the church that we were able to rent as our studio.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That was a big moment for you, wasn't it?

[John Crist]

Your podcast.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Well, not that era. My life. That era of your life.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Be on my show was a really big deal, wasn't it? Wasn't it, John?

[John Crist]

That was a big deal. I like to like in my, in my live show, like when I started I was talking about, you know, like youth group and you know, meeting girls at youth group. And then I kind of moved on to like, I live in LA and dating in la. And then I started talking about, you know, like, I started paying taxes and a lot of taxes. And then I started to have feelings about the government. And then I got in a relationship and my parents are aging and now I have nieces and nephews. Like, if you follow my journey, like what I, what I was dealing with in my life back then versus now is different. It is wildly different. So you say, do you want to edit that? I mean, you didn't ask that, but the first time. Do you want to edit this or do you want to change? Like, I have. No, because that's what. That's where I was then. And some of that stuff I probably don't align with as closely. Sure. But that's where I was then and this is where I am now. And then, I mean, we just talked about. You've had guests six, seven, eight times.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's what I like. I like the, the layers to guess because you're like, well, seven times. What is there left talk.

[John Crist]

Yes, it should be. If you're living. If it should be new every time.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You don't do that with your friends. Right. It's like we've seen you seven times, so that's enough.

[John Crist]

Yeah, yeah, see him every day.

[Carrie Newhoff]

No, you know, the, the episode really took off. It might be our most downloaded listened to, watched episode ever and it just took off. You were so transparent. You were so open and I really appreciate that. And like you said, I always give guests the opportunity to edit anything out that they're not going to want on the Internet.

[John Crist]

But you say it for the record that we didn't.

[Carrie Newhoff]

We did not. That was, that was uncut.

[John Crist]

I Don't think we did.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And, and I'll. I'll shout out your book again. Delete that. Which I think every single church leader should read. And you're just so transparent about it. So that's, that's incredible. You have some big moments in the last two years.

[John Crist]

This year because of your pot.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Because of my.

[John Crist]

I think that's right.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's right. I will take all the credit. No, the Tonight show, dude.

[John Crist]

Yeah. In June we did the Tonight Show. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So that, that is such, like, I mean, I don't know how long the Tonight Show's been going. Long before I was born.

[John Crist]

Long before. Yeah. And yeah, we'll be going when we're off the, off this planet.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Somebody will take over for Fallon one day. Walk us through that. Like, what is it like to be.

[John Crist]

On the Tonight show for every comedian? I think it's your. It's your Super Bowl. Like a music artist can do the Tonight show, but that's not Tonight Shows comedy. Yeah. Like to. For, you know, Avril Lavigne or for whatever. Like, I got the Tonight Show. Like, well, that. Yeah, it's not, it's not what it, it's not similar for a comedian to do it. Maybe it'd be like the, yeah. Getting the, Singing the national anthem at the super bowl or the half. That would be like the pinnacle for a music artist. Yeah, I think the super bowl halftime for the, for a comedian would be the Tonight show. And that is. Yeah. And it. You. We all grew. I. When I was young and my dad asked me one time, I mean, I was, I wasn't. I was probably 13. He goes, what do you want to do for your. What do you want to do for a living? What would you like to do for a job? And I said, I want to be Jay Leno. Because I remember we didn't have a TV growing up.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Okay.

[John Crist]

And I would, we either went somewhere and I had seen stand up comedy, but I was, I didn't know that that was like a job. You know what I'm saying? I didn't imagine that was like a. And I said, I remember watching and he, he was talking about what happened that day. You know, they talk about what happened.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the narrative.

[John Crist]

And I go, so hold on. I mean, I'm 12. I go, so that guy goes to work with. On the. And the, and lays the concrete for the buildings, a construct. And that guy does that. Yeah, that's a job in like a 12 year old. I go, this is because there was a Studio. And there was a set. I go, that looks like a job. That guy looks like he does this every day. And I go, you know, in your 10, how does that guy get to do that? And that guy has to be a roofer. Not why, dude. But I go, well, I want to do that one and shout out to my shoot. Maybe shout out to my family or my parents that I was never.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Your dad didn't say so law school, Med school?

[John Crist]

No, no, no, no. And we would always. We would always. Growing up, we would always. No one ever said I couldn't do anything.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's pretty cool. I remember you saying on your podcast recently. And maybe I got the story wrong, but there was your roots of comedy. I'll come back to the Tonight Show. But speaking of your childhood, it was like you were doing something with your friends and they were writing a script and you said, oh, I can make it funnier. You know what I'm talking about.

[John Crist]

Exactly.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Was that the first light bulb that. Huh? Okay, tell us about it.

[John Crist]

No, actually, no.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Okay.

[John Crist]

Okay. So when I was. I worked at a. I wanted to be a sports anchor.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, that's fun. Because I was like, you're really into sports?

[John Crist]

In college, I was into journalism. Broadcasting. That was my major. And I went to my CBS 42s where I was an intern at the. My senior of college. And I go. I was frustrated by the reading off the teleprompter.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

I go for a news story, I go, can you just like put the bullet points up there and I'll just riff it? And they were like, no, no, that's not how news works. First of all, just like be like, you know, six people or so got murdered. And it was like on the east side of town, it was like. And I would just like. And they were like, well, that's absolutely not. And John Mark Green, who's the guy, the cameraman that I would ride around with all day, he said to try stand up comedy.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, he gave you that idea?

[John Crist]

But that was when I started. It was a phone isn't like it is now where you can just have notes section. I just started writing things down that I thought were funny.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And you're how old?

[John Crist]

20. I was in college. 20.

[Carrie Newhoff]

20. 21.

[John Crist]

Yeah. I didn't have any knowledge of like any stand up comedy. It took me five years to. From the, the. I started when I was 25. It took me five years of like writing things down and like mulling it over in my head to. There's no comedy is the coolest job, I believe, on planet Earth. Jerry Seinfeld said, if you thought you could do it, you would do it. Like the NBA. If you thought you could play in the NBA, you would be playing in the NBA. And he said the only. Only barrier to entry is here.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's hard.

[John Crist]

I was telling you, there's no. You don't have to have any money.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yep.

[John Crist]

You don't have that. Like, if you want to go to.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Med school, you won't have any money.

[John Crist]

You won't have any money. I've said this before, but if you want to go to med school, it's going to be 12 years until you get the title. Dr. Stand up comedy gets the title on day one.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's true.

[John Crist]

It would introduce. There's an open mic tonight. If you wanted to go on it, I could get you on it. Or there's a. You could go on the East Room at 8pm in Nashville. The East Room. Everybody could do it. And every city in America, by the way, has one. Yep.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

You could start tonight.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Our mutual friend John Acuff did a couple nights of stand up a few years ago.

[John Crist]

Yep.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And decided it wasn't for him.

[John Crist]

It's not for everyone.

[Carrie Newhoff]

He likes his job.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So you're 20.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You're in news. How did that go you? I imagine you might have been not the most satisfied employee.

[John Crist]

I'm not satisfied anything, dude. Well, that's. Yeah, that's my fiance, dude. He's like, oh, here we go with this again. Yeah, Yeah. I think I just generally.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Are you unemployable?

[John Crist]

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I would have to. I mean, I think the general mindset of a comedian is just sit in the back and go, well, okay, I think to anything, right. To church, to politics, to social media, to the way your neighborhood work. Like, he's not going to be up there, but he's going to be. If that could be a title of a podcast, it can't. But, like, that's it. Which does make you great. I think it's stand up and then has severe limitations in my personal life.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Like what?

[John Crist]

Oh, that. I think. I mean, my fiance will tell you that. I think everybody is full of crap for the most part. I mean, unless I think everybody. I think, oh, he's lying. Oh, they're just doing that for clicks. Oh, they're just doing that to make money. Oh, he just wants power. Oh, he just, like. I boil it everybody down to, like, I don't. I don't believe the sincerity. Or there has to be Some kind of, I don't know, skeleton in that guy's closet or so. You know what I'm saying? Does that make sense? I think I do. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So there's a cynicism to it.

[John Crist]

Yeah. Which I think everybody has to have to be a comedian. And there's. But there look at. There's other people that, like, you look at a guy like Elon Musk or Trump or something like that, you're like, well, people say, like, mean things to them. I go, yeah, his brain's not like yours. It does. You know what I'm saying? Whether you agree with. He's like, to be able to take that level of, like, leadership in your company and be like, I don't. His brain doesn't work like yours.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You're not going to be like Elon Musk.

[John Crist]

His brain doesn't work like yours. Now he, now he. I think I shouldn't speak for him, but, like, he's got a bunch of different kids with a bunch of different people and. But, like, kind of like, same with. There's a lot of kind of leaders that, like, their personal life is kind of like, wait, what? You know, you hear like, a guy that, you know is unbelievable in this area, and then you go, wait, what about that? You know, the, the greatness of the quality causes challenges elsewhere.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Morgan Housel says, if you really admire someone, you gotta admire the whole thing. Like, you might admire their money or their success or whatever, but you're. If, if you want that gift, you sign up for the whole package. I think that's a really good observation. So you've got that, you know, pastors have a version of that. I have trouble sitting in church because I've led church for so long.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That. It's like this critical filter, man, that like, oh, why did you do that in the message? Or, oh, that worship leader really doesn't know how to do a bridge. Or, you know, she's flat or he's flat.

[John Crist]

My. My fiance is like, I have to, like, I go about something. And we go. By the way, we're on the road some. We go to other churches and she goes, you. She doesn't say you have. She goes, it would do you. It would benefit you to switch that off.

[Carrie Newhoff]

How do you.

[John Crist]

I mean, I, I think I.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I can't. I don't know.

[John Crist]

I can't. No. I mean, I don't know how to turn off can't.

[Carrie Newhoff]

My leaderboard.

[John Crist]

But it's. It's maybe not for. I mean, every. I think everybody. Every. Every couple. I could be wrong. They get into the. They get into. We went to a church on the road. We were on the road and some friends invited us to church. So we were not at our home church just a couple weekends ago. And I was like, I know exactly what me and Lydia are going to talk about in the car. I know exactly we're going to talk about. And I think it has to be coupled maybe with the way I can do it. But I go, I go. That being said, let's talk about the things we liked. You know, let's talk about the things we like.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I really appreciated this. I was convicted by this. That was excellent. Yeah, my wife's better.

[John Crist]

Let's put them both together. If we're gonna do that, you just have to snarl at the crotchet.

[Carrie Newhoff]

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[John Crist]

Yeah, he's great. Beautiful mind.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, he's got a beautiful mind. And, like, I'm seeing the same stuff, but I don't see it. But you've seen that for years. Yeah, right?

[John Crist]

Yeah. One of my biggest videos, this was probably about the same era that I came out of the pocket maybe three, four years ago now, is I. We were driving through Phoenix on the way home from a show. We have a runner that takes us in a van or whatever to. From the hotel. And I saw this white Porsche that had sensors on all four corners. Big. And then a sensor up top. I go. And we. I go, what is that? And somebody goes, that's a waymo. That's a driverless.

[Carrie Newhoff]

One of the first waymos.

[John Crist]

Yeah. And that. And I. And I go, what? They go, yeah, it's a driverless car. I go.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What?

[John Crist]

And then everybody. There's other people in the car. There's a lot of people in the car. And we've been there all weekend. The driver had obviously seen him because he lives in. And I go, wait, wait, wait, What? And not only did I see it, I asked about it. Then I. I go, what's the name of it? And I looked it up, and I go, well, I want to take one. And I did. That was my biggest video ever. I go, I'm standing here in a parking lot, and this driverless car is about to come get me. And it did. And I wrote it to Whole Foods, and it was like the Internet Now. Now we know about them. But at the time, I go, what's that? That's my whole. And everybody else.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Everybody else saw it, but you turned it into something.

[John Crist]

Okay, why is that? Like, I drove in here and I go, how could this house. How could it. What's their.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I had the same thing. I'm like, we're in middle America, Suburbanville with a house built in the late 60s or 70s. It's a podcast studio.

[John Crist]

Yeah. And Whatever. I go, I just need the explanation. I need the explanation. And then it's usually. And I go, what did you say.

[Carrie Newhoff]

When you walked in? I think you can say it.

[John Crist]

What did I say?

[Carrie Newhoff]

You said, well, clearly you're not paying the mortgage on things. This thing with the podcast studio, right?

[John Crist]

Yeah. I go, well, that doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, but. But that's a but. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You got the crew laughing. Yeah.

[John Crist]

Maybe it'll come off as like. Like, if I'm not friends with somebody, like, it'll come off as, like, abrasive or, like. But I go, well, I got. I'm just. I got questions about how this would work, probably because I want to do it. Or, like, if this is a good model. And I go, well, the SEO. I wonder if you just Google. I would think about that. I go, wait, what?

[Carrie Newhoff]

No, I think that's how we found this place. We needed a studio in Nashville for a month, and it was the SEO.

[John Crist]

I think everybody thinking, yeah, maybe if I get to the bottom, like, if you were going, you know, you got a family, and if you go.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I.

[John Crist]

Got to go down to. I'm gonna go down to Jackson, Mississippi. I'm gonna spend a. I'm gonna go down there. I like the. I like. There's a museum down there that I liked. I'd be like, all right, I buy that. I don't know you, but I buy. You're like, I. Every weekend he's going to Jack. I go, something bad's going on down there. You know what I'm saying? Like, you would be like, well, that doesn't make sense.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It doesn't make sense.

[John Crist]

Does that make sense?

[Carrie Newhoff]

But yeah, now you're starting to spin the filter on a story.

[John Crist]

Well, like, that's why everybody loves true crime. Oh, yeah, they love. Because they go, wait, so that. So the night before the murder, the police chief from three towns away texted her. Why does that make sense? You go, what? No, no, no, no, no, no. Why would he do that? Why would he do that?

[Carrie Newhoff]

This goes back to your childhood, to your early formation, ages back to that. Because we're going to get in the comments. What happened with those three friends with the script? What was that story that you were like, what, nine, ten?

[John Crist]

I was probably. No, I was. That was when I formally started comedy.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, it was. Oh, okay.

[John Crist]

I was a. I worked at a church in Colorado. This is. I was probably 25. 20.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You worked at a church?

[John Crist]

Yeah, I was like, on the. I worked at a New life church.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, yeah.

[John Crist]

In Colorado Springs. Yeah. Well, I was there and like, like on the college ministry, I led a couple mission trips over to.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, this is where Lauren Daigle, right?

[John Crist]

You're on a ministry team. Yeah, you're on a ministry team. It was that we were leading, you know, 300 people going to Africa for the summer. And they were writing a. I was on the leadership team and they're writing a script about, like, they're going to make a skit for everybody in there about what not to do.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Okay.

[John Crist]

Like, don't play your music loud in the airport. Don't culturally. And I go, well. And I walked into the meeting, I go, well, that. That you should. He shouldn't say that should say. And then he. What if he was wearing. And then what if he was flirting with all the other girls on the team? And then what if he was? And then they go, well, do you want to do it? And that's how my. That's how my.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's how you're like.

[John Crist]

And then I did it. And then the feedback was, you know, I'm at the time, I'm 22. You know, all the girls in the youth group said, so funny. And I was like, well, I'm doing this for the rest of my life.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That is supposed to be like a dating thing. I haven't dated in years. But, you know, if you can make a woman laugh, yeah, that's key to her heart.

[John Crist]

Is that right? I heard. Yeah. Well, that. That was so.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So that goes to what, open mics or 2009?

[John Crist]

June 24, 2009. That was probably. I was probably 22 there. That was. That was two years after the news, leaving the news. And I'm still writing things down.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

But I had. I was in Colorado Springs or Snow. And then I was 2009, I took an internship in Atlanta, Georgia, where my family lives. And I kept. I didn't tell my parents. Oh, wow. I was living with my parents. And I would. Every Tuesday I would go to first. I just started going to the open mic and I would just sit in the back and, you know, you watch Chris Rock or. Or Bill Burr, one of the greats, you go, I can never do that. But you got an open mic. I can definitely do that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I'm better than that guy.

[John Crist]

So I probably. And I was going all summer, every Tuesday I would go down there, watch. But. And then about after two months, I go to the lady that running the door, and I was like, I would like to do it. Then she goes, you want to do stand up comedy? I go, yeah. She looks at her paper. I never forget this. She looks at her paper. He goes, June 23rd, got two minutes and didn't give me a contact information. There was no sign up.

[Carrie Newhoff]

June 23rd, two minutes.

[John Crist]

And if I didn't show up for the two minutes, obviously they would have filled it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

They would have filled it. They weren't waiting for.

[John Crist]

Probably like, you'll be here any minute. It would have. Probably rather I didn't show up that night. And then I showed up and I was. I mean, I was out of my mind, terrified. Out of my mind, terrified. I was throwing up. I threw up in the back. In the. In the urinal. I did. I. I threw up in the urinal, which is not the. I don't think you're supposed to do that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

No.

[John Crist]

And I'll never forget the guy. There's a little, like the guy said, this black guy. I don't remember who he was. Maybe he's an angel. I don't know. He goes, you nervous, yo? Yeah. He could tell I'm very pain. He'd never seen me before.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Also, your pale, sweating.

[John Crist]

Yeah. He goes, well, think about this. They can't. They can't kill you, and they can't put you in jail, no matter what. No matter. And I go, huh? Like, oh, what is it? So scary. Yeah. The public speaking is the biggest fear of everybody. And then multiply that probably times 20 doing live feedback. And I go, yeah, why am I so scared of this? And it bombed. I didn't get one laugh, and it was horrific.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Get one laugh.

[John Crist]

I won.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Wow.

[John Crist]

You know what? Drove home at a silver Honda Civic, and I was driving home on Peachtree street in downtown Atlanta. I go, I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life. Even though you bombed, bombed, bombed.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Do you remember a joke from that first set?

[John Crist]

Yeah, I said, saw a guy walking out of Costco with a pallet of rice, four cases of D batteries. What does he know? The worst joke of all. Like. Like some. Some impending something.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What does he know?

[John Crist]

What does he know that I don't know? Why do. Why. You know what I'm saying? Why does he have that? As if some. It's like, yeah, I mean, that's. Very underdeveloped sense of humor at the time. But.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So what made you think I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life?

[John Crist]

And, yeah, Tim Hawkins, I talked about that with him. He said that's how you know that you. You're wildly passionate about something you could do. Run an event and the event bombs. We go, oh, okay. Next time we're gonna have the. You know what I'm saying? A sermon. Maybe two, maybe. Oh, yeah. Maybe a musician. Oh, dude. Okay, if we write that diff, like, immediately. You weren't. I wasn't defeated by it. I wasn't embarrassed by it. I was on. Like, I was in the clouds and did I. First of all, I think I was so proud of myself that I did it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, you should be.

[John Crist]

Maybe that. And I go. And then. I mean, this is probably a month later, my family were sitting at dinners. They go, where do you keep. Because I was old enough that I didn't have to tell them where I was going, but they were like, where do you keep going? And I finally, like, dropped it on my parents. I will never forget to see. There I was sitting table where I always sit when I sat, where I sat as a child. The second seat up from my dad, my dad here, my mom here, my brother here. And I go, I've been going to do standup comedy. My dad. If you set my dad down here, he would never forget that either.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, bad.

[John Crist]

He will never. He will go, what? I mean, that's. And I mean, I. I tell people that today with the same amount of enthusiasm. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What was the reaction?

[John Crist]

I mean, disbelief.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right. You.

[John Crist]

They were like, what?

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, because were you the kid cracking people up around the house?

[John Crist]

No.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You were younger.

[John Crist]

No. You weren't Very shy. Very shy. Oh, now I would be in the back. Like, if mom and dad would do something. Mom and dad would do something that everybody would come to me every. Like, look, it same with the.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah. So you're kind of the.

[John Crist]

Yeah, I was in the back of the whatever. And I would be. Always keep to myself. But I always had thoughts. A lot of thoughts. A lot of thoughts about.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You were shy. Why?

[John Crist]

Yeah, but I never would. I. And I would say that people wouldn't dis. People not be hard for people to believe. But I'm still like that now. Like, my fiance was like, there's this, like, we're in Times Square and there's this like, kind of karaoke thing. And I go, absolutely not. I'm not. I don't want to attract any. I like to do it on my own terms. Yeah. And that's when the comedy show and where people have come to see it and it's. But I don't want to go into karaoke. No, I would never. Hey, stand up on the get get. I'm still.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I'm the same way.

[John Crist]

I Don't want to be in front of anybody interesting ever. I like to do it on my own terms because I think I. But I'm still. I still feel that way.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What was the first time somebody laughed? You're doing stand up. Remember that? Was that a month later?

[John Crist]

Well, I remember I was at my aunt's house. My aunt lives in Goshen, Indiana, and I were up. I just started doing stand up. But not. Maybe I wasn't starting it. I don't remember. But I did the kind of like a. I thought it was so funny. This is back in 2006 or something. There's this website, all the commercials, all the time for Cash for Gold you would send. I go, well, what about the postman that picks up a package that's £5 and it's addressed to Cash for Gold? That's his last day on the job, he's quitting. Or then what about the postman that picks up the packages? You're sending back cash, so he's going to the Cash for Gold warehouse. You're like, I'm mailed. This all has to be cash. And I was like, it's just such a silly. And I remember telling this at my family Thanksgiving around the table, and people were undone. They were undone. I was speaking with so much confidence about how this is the silliest thing I've ever heard. The postman pulls up to the house and he's like, well, here's address the Cash for Gold. And I that's true. Yeah. I go, this is the wild. And then I think, I, yeah, there's instances like that that I was slowly gaining. I was money or people noticing me in the airport came way, way, way later.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Today's episode is brought to you by my Art of Leadership Academy. One of the key insights I took away from my recent podcast conversation with Les McEwen is this. If the church can only move at the speed of one leader's insight, a church is always going to be limited by that leader's capacity. I love having great guests on the podcast. Les was one of them. Put another way, church growth accelerates when leaders is shared. So my Art of Leadership Academy is designed to help you and your team think, decide, and lead at a higher level together. Your whole team is learning the same language. When you join, imagine that you share values. Imagine that your leadership frameworks are actually shared and you stop relying on one voice because you feel the pressure as a leader. Right? And you start building a leadership culture that lasts. That's what can happen when you Join the Academy. So here are a couple of simple ways to get started. You could, for example, read an article that we post in the Academy and talk about it together in a staff meeting or a Slack channel. You could download my preaching cheat sheet and bounce sermon ideas off each other and really move to team collaboration when it comes to your weekend services. Or you could sit down and work through a course like the Art of Preaching or fund the future and get moving on your future together. So if you want to get started completely free, just go to theartofleadershipacademy.com or click the link in the description of this episode. Remember, don't just grow as a leader, grow as a team. Click the link in the description and you can get started today for free. So back to where you were this summer, the Tonight Show. How do you get on the Tonight Show? They just call you up. No, it's like Jimmy Fallon going, john, I've been trying to get your number. Welcome to the show.

[John Crist]

Now you can, you can sub through your agent or management. You could, I mean, you can. The interesting thing about comedy is that there's no book, there's no. And there's actually no anything. And if, like, if you want to be a real estate, what do you have to do? Oh, yeah, okay. First of all, you got to get this stuff. You got to study the stuff. You're going to take a class, you're going to pass that test. Then you got to get with an agency once and here are all the agencies and like, here's how to do it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, there's a path. There's every comedy, right, Pastor?

[John Crist]

You got it. Or you go to seminary.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Go to seminary.

[John Crist]

Yeah, you got to go to. And then you probably be. Start as an associate, maybe youth pastor. There's no anything. And if somebody does say this is the path, they're lying.

[Carrie Newhoff]

There's no path.

[John Crist]

There's no. So you just got to go, how do you start stand up comedy? You go, well, if you really wanted to, you'd figure it out.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Good point.

[John Crist]

And that's exactly what I did. I go, I just looked up comedy. And then I just started going to it, that's all. And I just was obsessed with it. Yeah. So I go, where is there another one in this town? There I go.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You do it if you were paid for it. Well, you did it when you.

[John Crist]

It still would.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yep.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Don't tell anybody.

[John Crist]

Yeah. So I. So my. At the. I guess my agent, manager and I had submitted for the Tonight show before. I mean, and we Go.

[Carrie Newhoff]

They send him a. Like a clip?

[John Crist]

Yeah. And they said. I mean, no, there was like a couple different. And then. And then they goes, hey, we heard back from this. It's not Jimmy Fallon reviewing it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right, right.

[John Crist]

He said, they like. They liked the. They liked it, but there's a lot of things that need to be fixed. You know, this joke needs to go, this angle needs to go, this setup needs to go. Can't talk about these two businesses by name because they're advertisers. You got to switch this. And he goes, but, but.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But they like that.

[John Crist]

And that sent me down the path. The. Oh, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So you had to submit a couple times. You. Well, every Monday here.

[John Crist]

Wednesday, first of all, my home club is Zany's here in Nashville. So you can do. I can go there every night, film it and send it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Got it.

[John Crist]

So we did this before we got approved. 50 times. 50 maybe. And he goes, I like it. I just don't like that joke. What would it be like without that joke? I go, I just send it to you. Just. You. You know what it's like without that. Take that joke out because I want to see the whole thing again. You want to see the pacing, the rhythm, the setups, the. And then. And I remember because I'm. I do five, six hours of stand up on the weekends, and I go, I can't believe every Monday I'm coming back to go down to this comedy club for five minutes to practice. And I hated the idea of practicing a rigid set. Every word I go. I wanted to just go up there and freestyle my stuff. Oh, my comedy's like that. My comedy's not really fit for the Tonight show in terms of. I just go have an idea. So script every word, every word, every second, every look, every. Everything. And so you go, oh, gosh, it's so. And you can't. What I hated about it the most. Which is a good strategy to learn. You can't go up and introduce yourself either.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

Yo, what's up? What's going on in Peterborough? The show you came to. Good to be in Canada. We drove in. The gas stations up here are different.

[Carrie Newhoff]

We'll.

[John Crist]

We'll introduce. We'll do the.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You'll totally riff offs.

[John Crist]

We'll do the small talk. Before we get into the thing, I came here to say it would be disrespectful to just walk in the door and be like, it's it in the Tonight show. You don't have time for it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So it's like a TED Talk it's like getting a TED Talk. It's like they work with you for months. Everything's got to be scripted. No off script, no ad libbing, nothing.

[John Crist]

No, man.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Okay, so 50 attempts.

[John Crist]

I mean, yeah, but I, I, and I go, I told Lydia, I go, man, if, if this one doesn't, this one doesn't go, I think I gotta. And it makes me emotional to, to say it. I go, if this one doesn't go, I think I'm. It's not for me. I don't even know why that makes me emotional to say. I go, it's a dream. Yeah. And I think I was ready to like, hey, I got a lot of people that like me in this area and I'll just. Hollywood or whoever has clearly said that they're not interested. I'll just. Thanks for your time. Yeah. Yeah. Which makes me sad to think I'm sure there's like a million books about you were so close to success before you gave up or, you know, there's a bunch of, A bunch of leaders have come in here. My book failed 16 times. And then the 17th time it was.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You know, you're getting to the point where you were worn down.

[John Crist]

Worn down, worn down.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Once again, they didn't see it. Once again, they didn't quit. Quite. Wasn't quite good.

[John Crist]

It wasn't. Yeah. And I was like, guys, I don't know what more I can. I mean, this is. I feel like they were just messing.

[Carrie Newhoff]

With it to move the comma.

[John Crist]

They were messing either at this point, either I. You think I can do it or you think I can't do it. Yeah. Is. This is. I feel like it was like humiliation ritual that I kept. And then I was sitting at my, on the island at my, my kitchen, and I didn't see the notification come up because I was doing other stuff. And then I checked my email from my manager, said June 23, you got the Tonight Show.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And.

[John Crist]

It is. I think it's just, it was maybe a, That maybe that group had like cast me out or maybe I thought I was, I don't know. I knew I was a good comedian. I knew I was dessert. But maybe that we don't. Maybe I think there's a lot of, oh, he's a, he was a. He's just a Christian or he did. I don't do churches anymore, but they're like, oh, he's like the. He does churches or he. It doesn't count. And it's. And you know who told me that? Nobody. I was made up in my own head for the most part. Nobody cared. Nobody. Yeah, that's a made up thing. I made up anyway.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

To be like, hey, you are, I don't know, a part of this group or like, you earn this on merit. And this is very hard to achieve. And I had also put in a ton of work, not only on the road for 15 years, but in that set I put in a tremendous amount of work. And I almost gave up. And it was. And I, you know, it's the wildest part about it. I wrote about this in my book that. I got on TV. I got a Live at Gotham in 2009 or 2000 is like a Comedy Central show that was nobody. It was. No, it was on like Access TV or something. But I made it to tv.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Exactly. It's huge for the big league.

[John Crist]

For me. This is way a long time ago. And I, and I was in a very unhealthy place in life and doing it for likes and doing it for people's attention and for girls and. Yep. And I'll never forget this. I called my mom and dad and I said, I made it on tv. And I thought I wrote this in my book. I thought my, my parents were gonna be like, let's get a projector set it up in the backyard. Let's get 700 chairs. Let's invite the neighborhood. I don't know why. Right, right. Our son made it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

Let's invite everybody. Let's. I'm gonna get on the phone, I'm gonna tell everybody, we're gonna have a huge party. And then my mother. And we've worked through this since. But my mother said, we don't have that channel. I mean, Brother John, you know, I'm saying. And these are again, things I made up in my head or like, we don't have that channel. And it was devastating. Just so a debilitating of a feeling to call. And my parents, you know, I love them and they, this were at the time, they, they had no context of how hard it would be to get to even get. Yeah. They didn't know what it meant. And now I get to Tonight show and I have NBC. Well, they have NBC. Yeah, they have NBC. Funny enough, it's a network. You don't not have NBC that they go, I, I mean, that's what, 10 years later, maybe? And it was for, it was for everyone and no one for in. In a way that like, I did this for myself and I'm proud and I'm going to tell by the way, everybody and whatever their response is, that's okay. And I end my. And I call. I pulled over. I was on the way home right here in Franklin, pulled over from the golf course, FaceTimed my. Down the same road, really FaceTimed my parents. And my dad was taking a nap. And I go, can you go wake dad up? And I told my parents, and they were so happy and so thrilled and not. And I. And I. And I've done a lot of therapy. Obviously, I've been to rehab. And I go, like, I know that they said when you make amends to somebody from your past, that whatever they say is irrelevant. You need to make this amends for you. So if you say, hey, I mistreated you 10 years ago, I'm so sorry, hopefully versus goes, I receive that. I thank you for saying that and you're forgiven and I love you and let's be friends. But they could say, I don't accept that. I'm still hurt by what you said and I don't accept your apology. And I'm actually pissed that you called.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

That is. They are allowed to do that too.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But you did your part.

[John Crist]

You did. You have to do it. For you. For you. Yeah. Now I hope that my parents would. Would. And by the way, everybody I told, dude, I told so many people. I just said. And I go, dude, I got the Tonight Show. And everybody was like, dude, I'm so honored that you would call me before I just saw it. Yeah. On Instagram or I saw it. They go, I just want to let you know that, I mean, Dustin Nickerson, Aaron Weber, my old managers, Mace and my old tour manager, that we had been in the slumming it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And I go, dude, the bad hotel.

[John Crist]

And I go, I just made it on this Tonight Show. And they were thrilled, brother.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You know, that is one of the things that's so important. I've got a few friends too, that if something good happens, because you don't want to come off as flexing or bragging. But you know, if I land a particular guest or something happens in my life, that to me is a jump up and down moment, which doesn't happen a lot lot. It is so great to have those friends who are like, we are high fiving with you and who get it, who know what that means, because most people are like, oh, you're on the tight show. That's awesome. I don't know how that works.

[John Crist]

Blah, blah, that's it. And they're like, they give you eight minutes. How much?

[Carrie Newhoff]

I texted you when I saw it, and I'm like, I am so proud of you, because I know how hard you fought.

[John Crist]

Thank you. Really.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I know how hard you fought. I know. Climbing back over the last six years, I was just so delighted. I also know that that is a Super Bowl. I know enough. I'm not a comedian, but I know enough to know that that is not.

[John Crist]

You know, what do I always say.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Sometimes, you know, when my kids, they got into this really good. My oldest, into an engineering school, and I was really proud of him. And, you know, he gets intimidated. He's like, dad, everybody's smart. I'm like, hey, man, this was not an act of charity.

[John Crist]

Yeah. It's not true.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Like, they did not let you in. Jimmy Fallon didn't feel sorry for you.

[John Crist]

No.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And say, like, all right, come on here.

[John Crist]

And he's worked hard enough.

[Carrie Newhoff]

He's worked hard enough. No, dude. Like, that is really, seriously amazing.

[John Crist]

I think, to his credit, I first heard about that from John Acuff. He talked about. He talked about a thing called the brag table. And he would say, I think I've heard John, permission to approach the brag table. He would do in a way that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's a great phrase.

[John Crist]

You're like, yeah. And there are. There are people that were. That were. I try to do my best. I mean, when people would call me and tell me that they got good, then you go, yeah, dude, let's sell. Let's go to dinner. Or else what are we doing here? Right?

[Carrie Newhoff]

Because you'll reach out to those people when you're at the bottom. Yeah. When you're like, guess what? We just broke up.

[John Crist]

Guess what?

[Carrie Newhoff]

This isn't working. Guess what?

[John Crist]

Like, I gotta call you, um, Five months ago, maybe six, from a very, very. Someone very, very close to me and said that we just lost a baby. And it was, like, one of my best friends, obviously. And you go, yeah, it was sad. And we sat together for. You know. And we. They've come through it, obviously. But. But we go. After I told. I told my fiance this after a couple weeks, I go, you know what? I was honored to get that call because. And there's some other people very, very close to us that he told me. He didn't. And you would think to yourself, so that guy was in the dark, the darkest point of his life to this point. And he goes, I bet John could sit with this. Which is. I don't think there's any higher mark of a friendship. There you go. And I went, I. When I got to tonight, show this was. That was after that, and Lydia said, you should go to his house and tell him. You should tell him in person. And I did. You did. Yeah. And he was equally as thrilled.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Overjoyed as you were.

[John Crist]

Sad for him, obviously. Dude. Yeah. Because you go, yeah. Some people you're gonna FaceTime somebody like, dude, I gotta tell you this in person because I want to be there to. To celebrate or in pain, because otherwise. Now, if you get. If you get a. Let's see, a small, like, promotion at work or something like that, you get a 3, 4% increase. You're like, you want to tell your. We don't need to have authority for this. But you're like, you. You should be like, man, that's awesome. Get the. Get the waiter to put a candle in this thing and let's celebrate.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Bring it over.

[John Crist]

Just let's, like, otherwise, what are we doing here? What am I doing on earth?

[Carrie Newhoff]

I think there's so many people watching this who either don't have a friend that they could share a high with.

[John Crist]

Gosh.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Or wouldn't do it because they're afraid. I love Acuff's framing of the brag.

[John Crist]

Yeah. Yeah. I think you need to have.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I got two guys, three guys easy. Probably could expand that circle to four or five.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That I would be like, can I tell you some really great news?

[John Crist]

And if. And if this is incredible. And if he. If you like. I had a buddy the other day goes, my. My, like, daughter is. We went out of town for the soccer thing, and she scored four goals. And, hey, here's a video of my daughter scoring. Going through traffic and scoring a goal. How. I don't even have children, but how sad for someone to put that out and to be like, just put a heart on it. Does that make sense?

[Carrie Newhoff]

It makes a lot.

[John Crist]

And you go, man, I thought I was being so. Like that. I was being so. You're vulnerable in success and failure. They go, dude, my daughter just. We were all the way down there, and I go, dude, tell me about the other team. Tell me about. Dude. So who. What ages were this? So she just made that. How did she make that team? And how did she. Look at how. The way she.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Tell me about the play.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What was it like after? How did you feel? Like, I don't know.

[John Crist]

I. I care. I really care. And I can't do that for everybody. Obviously, neither can you, but you're like.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You need a handful. You need a small circle.

[John Crist]

Hey. That.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You can do that.

[John Crist]

She just got her video, just went Viral or whatever. Or you just bought a house.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

Or we just gotta, like, it's silly, it's commercial. But you're like, you just got a new car. Let me see it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Can I drive in it?

[John Crist]

Let me look at it. I just want to sit in it. Oh, dude, tell me about the. And you're not being disingenuous, but you're like, no, what are we doing? If we're not doing that to your close friends and you. And they can't. And you. I'm telling you, just like my parents, you go to that well and it is dry, you will not keep coming back to it with celebration or pain, by the way.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So I want to get back to Tonight show in a bit, but I was going to ask you about this because listening to your show and just seeing you, there's a gratitude in you. And I also see a heart in you. You know, it's a, it's a rare thing because I know a few comedians, I don't know a lot of them, the rumor is pretty unhappy life, that kind of thing. There's a capacity for friendship in you. And if you're going to call the whole thing, you're sitting there criticizing, arms crossed, like, I know what's really going on there, and yet I see a joy in you. You're in love. You're so far from where you were six years ago. It's really cool. First of all, John, way to go.

[John Crist]

Thank you. Secondly, thank you.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's a really cool tension because it's easy to be the cynic who's just shut down on everything. I don't know if there's anything to talk about there. I wanted to note it, but there is that joy. I see the relational capacity. And you got the busiest schedule of anybody I know. I look at your tour dates.

[John Crist]

You're.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You'Re on the Tonight show, and then you're in some place in Louisiana that nobody's ever heard of, you know, doing a show. Right.

[John Crist]

I mean, I thought I wasn't. This is another thing that I made up in my head. But I, I, I was in re when I was in rehab. And I go, man, this is, this is bs. I don't deserve to be here. I've been mistreated, people made up, lies about me, whatever. Some of it was true, some it wasn't. And then you go, she go, what? This little Peruvian lady in this, in Wickenburg, Arizona, sitting in this, like, shed of a therapy room, she goes, that's kind of narcissistic. That you think you deserved all that? What? Why did you deserve to not speak in a gratitude? Why do you. Why does that person you do. Why do you deserve all that money, all that success, all that. You didn't deserve any of this. You don't deserve any of this, and neither does anybody. None of us do. You don't deserve to. Don't even deserve to have the Internet. You don't deserve. You got a street that you could. I could drive down here on a road. I didn't have to hack my way through the woods. That's unbelievable. She's like, you didn't deserve any of this. Why? What. Why do you think you're so. Who are you that you deserve this lifestyle that nobody else? And I go, oh, and then I think I was left for. I think I walked out of that place and I go, well, I'm playing with house money now. I should be dead. I'm playing with house. Anything. Anything that happens now is water under the bridge like I should be. I can't believe I'm still alive in any kind. We. We have there's. The challenges we face daily are immense. I would. Everybody just. Monster challenges. Whether it's term for ticket sales or rising costs or the economy or a podcast deal gets struck. We make a new deal. Facebook monetization goes. They cut it. Employees, HR boss. And I go, we don't have to do anything. And I go, hey, you know what we do for a living? Tell jokes. And there's 2000 people in Hattiesburg tonight here to see us say the things that we just made up in our minds. We're doing great. And you go, oh, there's 30 seats in the top that aren't full. I used to be like. And now I'm like, this is unbelievable.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Was it you? It might not have been. I was listening to a bunch of pods recently. I think this might have been rehab. Might. Or part of a therapy where you had to write gratitude lessons every day. Yeah, he had to write something different.

[John Crist]

Was that okay?

[Carrie Newhoff]

Talk to me about that, Because I thought I had to do that for 30 days because it's. Yeah, it's mind bending.

[John Crist]

Well, everybody talks about a gratitude. I think that's a very common. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, I was grateful for my wife, my kids, first off.

[John Crist]

Yeah, that would be the first thing. I'm grateful to have a place to live. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful. And then you go, well, I'm grateful for my legs. And you go, I'm grateful for the idea that I Can get up and make food. I'm grateful for air conditioning. I'm grateful for. If I do want to come down here and see you, I have the means to do that. I'm grateful for air travel. I'm grateful for FaceTime. And you're like all these things that are just. And then it does. I remember we were all. We were all so sad. One day in rehab, everybody is coming there from burning their life to the ground in some way or another. And we. I remember it was like, maybe it was like, gloomy. It was like overcast. And the therapist could kind of tell that the mood around here was just so low. And they go, I want everybody. I still have this in my house. They go, I want everybody to write a hundred goals for yourself from upon leaving here. A hundred. And it could be as easy as. I want to stick my teeth and do a chicken chick Fil a sandwich again.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right?

[John Crist]

Right. I want to.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I want to waffle fries for the win.

[John Crist]

I want to have a birdie on the golf course. I want to see my nephew again. And they think it's smallest to largest. I want to be on the Tonight Show. I bet that was probably on there. I want to have a. I want to get married. I want to all those things, write them all. Smallest to largest. A hundred things that you would like to do. And I'm telling you, we all did it. And then we all started talking. Give us five. Or. We all started talking. And then she goes, look at the mood around here. And everybody was stoked. Does that make sense? We didn't know what she was doing, but she was doing an ex. And we go, dude. And when I get out of here. Oh, man. So my nephew, he has this outfit that he likes to wear, and we throw the football. And everybody was like. And she goes, look what. Look what just happened.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's awesome. No, I've same with the gratitude.

[John Crist]

Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, I've seen the same exercise.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And it's a.

[John Crist]

It's a good.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's a good test. You know, I'm having one of those. Yeah, we got a few stresses here and there and challenges and. But it's like, how did this. I get to sit down with John Chris. How did this become my Life?

[John Crist]

I'm at 10am I could come down here and I can we. And also, if we didn't want to do it, I didn't have to do it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Exactly.

[John Crist]

And you go, what your complaints are? What? Right. And I gotta go over like, my. My fiance's Cat is like going. She's going out of town for the weekend. She's like, can you go get my cat at my house and bring it over to your house so they can be there for the weekend? I go, yeah, dude, yeah. Yes. Versus the same day. I gotta go down to do Carrie's body, then I gotta go over to get the cat and then I gotta. And if you. It's the same like in promises. In promises and rehab, they're like, dude, is it. Is your life gonna get better? They're like, maybe, maybe not. Maybe we can't promise you that you're gonna have a career again or that you're gonna be. That you're gonna be sober, which I am, by the way. But they can't. We can't promise you all these things. Maybe. But also what. Like, it's. I feel like it's very easy to forgive. Or maybe the story of my past is, what if I didn't overcome it? What if I'm. What if, like I never got a chance to do standup again? Or like, let's put it in an athlete's terms where they're. They're a five star recruitment in high school and a kid comes around the edge and takes out his ACL and he never gets to play again. You know what I'm saying? We didn't really. Now, fortunately, I was able to, with the help of God and my family and to kind of right the ship, I guess, and be bigger than I was before. But that's not the case for everybody. So they were like, we're not promising you. We're not in here saying if you get sober or if you change your habits that you are gonna. But we are. It is gonna be. You can't. It's like.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But you see it as a gift, not an entitlement.

[John Crist]

No, dude. And I. And I'll be trying to talk to everybody. Every person. I can't say hi to everybody. And I don't go out. I probably go out in public less than I would normally, but anybody comes to the airport, my whole crew is like, he's talking again to. I got. Did. I wish I could. I say this in sincerity. I said this on my show. I wish I could come to everybody's Thanksgiving.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

In here.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

I wish I could come to everybody's family and be like, oh, dude, so this your uncle that believes in the conspiracy theories and then your. Your nephew that's trying to be like. And I want to hear about who the mom is saying passive aggressive things. And I like, dude, this is your. People say about how my jokes. They tell them in the group chat. And they. When we got married, it was because of we. And I was like, dude, awesome.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I heard Muhammad Ali once. I think Cal Fussman told this story. But Muhammad Ali in his older years, Fussman was following him around. And this woman stopped. I think her name was Linda. And I was like, are you Muhammad Ali? And he's like, yes, I am. Wonderful to meet you. What is your name? She goes, can I get a picture? And this was like, pre. Camera phone. So she had like a camera. And he takes this picture with her and then says, can I see it? I just wanna make sure it's right. Checks to make sure. Scrolls through. Says, let's do another one. Gets another one. That's great. Anything else I can do for you? No. Great. And then moves on. And Fussman says to Muhammad Ali, that's crazy. Do you do that with everybody? And he said, you know what? For me, that's number 172,000 or whatever. But he said, for her, it's one. I thought, that is so important. You can't do it for everybody. But if you get stopped in the airport, one. Just do it for one. If you can. If you can take that 30 seconds or that.

[John Crist]

Whatever. Yeah. And I. And I have been. I mean, there's certainly artists, Music artists. I would put a lot of music artists in there. I would put a lot of authors in there. I would. A lot of. I put a lot of. As silly as it sounds, I would put a lot of professional athletes in there that you go, there's a guy in rehab. Colin McHugh is a pitcher for the Braves. He used to play for the Houston Astros. And there's a guy in rehab, Houston Astros. And I go, I'm friends with Colin McHugh. And he goes, man, can you tell him that? I mean, this sounds silly to say. Can you tell him. When my wife was going through chemo, and I would sit down and watch those Astros games, and I love watching that guy pitch. Can you tell him that? And that's not even. We think maybe with what we do, we have some kind of spiritual. That's just a guy throwing a baseball. And imagine how much of a bummer it would be if you saw Colin McHugh and told him that. And you'd be like, Devastating. And that. This devastating. And you go, man, me and my wife met each other because we shared my videos. I just want to introduce you to her. And by the way, this is Our baby, dude. How. How did this happen? And how sad would it be that I. And by the way, prior to 2019, that was me. That I was so in my own head that I couldn't extend enough gratitude for that. That you go, I need to get to.

[Carrie Newhoff]

My car.

[John Crist]

I got to get to the valet. I got to get to the thing to go to the thing, because I need to do the thing. Because if I don't do the thing, then we're late for the thing. Then whatever, Whatever.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I'll tell you, this is good stuff. I want to go back to the Tonight Show. So you get it. You get that email sitting at your kitchen counter. You hear from your agent. Your reaction is 10 out of 10. 12 out of 10.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

What's the prep? Like, what happens when you go to New York?

[John Crist]

Well, there's another. First of all, there's another 50 times of the set after that. But when you get it now, you got a guy that's one on one with you for every joke, every punchline, every. Everything real.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So there were. And how long was your bet you were given?

[John Crist]

4 and a half minutes.

[Carrie Newhoff]

4 and a half minutes. So you got a guy walking through.

[John Crist]

Now he goes, all right, now we're. So now again, I've got it on. Like, I still was going, but now I had it. Now I was just making sure it was going to be lights out. And there's a lot of stuff that was actually very helpful revisions, which. Every word that does not contribute to the punchline, get it out. Wow. If it doesn't add to it, if it's a detail, they were like, all right, so we. I came down to see you today, and I, like, turned left on Franklin Pike. Instead of going down the interstate, like, get that out. Unless that's necessary for the punchline. Get it out. So you tighten it all the way down and in every word, every. And by the way, he goes, you time your walk up that. When you wave, introduce yourself all these type of. That you were just like. And I talked to a bunch of other comics that did it. Now I have it. Yeah. So like to tell me Nate Bargazzi, Dusty Slay, Aaron Weber.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So they're walking you through.

[John Crist]

Tell me about what your experience is. And then you got to go the night before to New York City and do it five times at the Comedy Cellar, which is the biggest club in. In one of the best comedy clubs in the world. They gotta. You gotta go with the booker. Meet me at the Comedy Cellar. We're gonna run it five times. Live together.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Wow. So the Tonight show people who are on the next night are almost always there.

[John Crist]

Always.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, interesting.

[John Crist]

Always. Now you're running it in person. And let me tell you, brother, I don't know if there's a leadership lesson here. It bombed five times.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Really?

[John Crist]

I'm telling you, brother, Bombed. And nobody. No, it. No, they're laughing, but. But I get off the stage, and the booker goes, perfect, perfect. He goes, this crowd is. We're just looking for. We're timing setups. We're like. Because everybody. It's almost impossible because the guy goes, you ever date a girl from Astoria, but you live on the 3 train in Queens? And you're like, it's just murdering. This is in Brooklyn at night. You're like. And I'm just. My first line is big news for me, guys. My girlfriend just added me to her family group chat, and I can't start and say, what's up? I'm in from out of town. I'm practicing my Tonight show set. None of that. You just gotta go up there. And it's. It's jarring. But Dusty Slay goes, the hardest thing about the Tonight show is bombing five times the night before. So I knew.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You knew this is gonna happen. You knew. But is there a part of you that's going, I know how to make this better. I know how to make this better. No, Let me have some creative control here.

[John Crist]

Was saying, we kind of working with each other because he goes, you know, do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this also. Just be yourself. Like, all right, well, I can not myself anymore.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Revisions both of these.

[John Crist]

And he said. I remember, he said, there's a joke about the algorithms they put. I got a Shakira video on my algorithm is one of the jokes. And my fiance is asking, why do you have a Shakira video on your phone? I. Maybe because I was at a Mexican restaurant and I heard. And that my phone heard a Shakira song or something like that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right, right.

[John Crist]

And then the next joke is, you know what? I ordered some Colombian coffee the other day. She's Colombian. Maybe the algorithm put that together. It's silly. So one of the last revision I did is I took that Colombian joker because it was bombing. It was bombing. And he runs up to me after one of the. At the. And he goes, you got to put that. What happened to the Shakira Colombian joke? I go, I took it out. I feel like it was just bombing. And he goes, you have to keep that in. I go, why? He Goes, well, first of all, Shakira is a friend of the Tonight Show. And she goes. He goes, we know Shakira. He goes, we know Shakira.

[Carrie Newhoff]

We know Shakira.

[John Crist]

Also, he said, if you sang Shakira's Mexican, you at a Mexican restaurant. This joke comes off very racist if you don't know she's Colombian. So I go, I was in a Mexican restaurant. That's like grouping all Latinos together. I was at a Mexican restaurant, and they heard her song that comes off as racist without my knowledge of her being Colombian. Because I. Because I thought, this is what you go back and forth with a thousand times. Why don't you say, I know she's not Mexican. Why don't you say, I was at a Latino restaurant? No one says that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

No, they say Mexican, and there's no Colombian restaurant. I mean, maybe there's some.

[John Crist]

Or if I was at a Colombian restaurant, the crowd to be subconsciously, like, what exactly. What does that have to do. Yeah, so it's these type of things that you have to. You have to go over a thousand times. You go, yeah, the. The. The Colombian coffee joke doesn't hit as hard. But without that joke, you seem. And this is a.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You've just, you know, feed off this.

[John Crist]

Kind of becomes offensive, or like, Americans think everybody south of us is all together. And I go, it's a great note. And I keep it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So you get up there, I watched your set a couple of times. It looked like you. Even though it has been the vibe 57,000 times. How do you stay? Because, I mean, you know, when you do your standup, you can do whatever you want, right? Like, you work for yourself. If, you know, it didn't work that night. It didn't work. You just fix it. And I'm sure you've got your team advising you, but now you're in this straight jacket, right? Where all you've got is, I. I gotta turn this way, I gotta wave this way. I gotta say this. I gotta pause here. I've got four minutes and 28 seconds. Not 29, not 27. Blah, blah, blah. You got to hit all these markers. And yet it seemed like a very recognizable John Crist. So what. What is going on inside you when you're doing that? Because there's a lot of communicators watching this who are like, if I did that, I'd be like, hello.

[John Crist]

Like, out the window. Whatever y' all need. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

How did you do that?

[John Crist]

Well, I was obviously terrified, but right before they introduced me and yeah, what's.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Going on in the back?

[John Crist]

Terrified. Standing back, standing.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Almost like back to your first stand up.

[John Crist]

And Jimmy Fallon, everybody asks, how is he? How is he? Like the guy going, yeah, he's that and even more. And he did. He did me the biggest favor when it was in commercial break. He goes, all right, everybody, we got a guy is making his debut. It's a Tonight show, and I want you guys. I want you guys to be so kind to him. And he goes, my fiance, my tour manager, and my director of operations were there with me. And he goes, all three of his friends are here, and three of his friends are in the back. Make him look cool to them, which is such, like, an extension of generosity that he did not have to do. And I think he's obviously a professional, but he. And he loves comedy, by the way. Loves comedy. He goes, I'm going to do everything I can in this commercial break to get these people.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So you're playing to the home crowd all of a sudden.

[John Crist]

So now everybody's like, we love this guy. Anything we can do. And on. And I. I walk out, obviously terrified. My first reaction is from the crowd that I need is actually. I go, I just got invited to my girlfriend's family group chat. It's an applause. It's not a. It's not a laugh.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's an applause, which is not as good, right?

[John Crist]

It's. No, no, applause after a laugh is an applause break is. But this is. I'm not asking for a laugh here. I'm just asking for a. Engage. So I was still nervous because it was just. But then I said, whatever. The first punchline is. Just boom. And I was like, oh, I know.

[Carrie Newhoff]

How to do this.

[John Crist]

I've done. And I was so annoyed with the preparation, but now I go. I mean, there's so many things that were like, walk three steps, look to your right, say hi to Jimmy. Walk three steps, look to your left. Acknowledge the roots. Walk up to this. There's a clover on the ground there. Stand right there. Deliver the punchline, Deliver the setup to the crowd here. Set up to the crowd or punchline to the camera. Set up, set up, punchline. And then here's the clock, here's the script. And I go, I've done this a thousand times. I've done this a thousand times. It. It could not go. It's almost next to near impossible that this could go wrong.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Have they put you on that stage numerous, numerous times to rehearse it with the cameras and everything like that?

[John Crist]

We did a Sound check before the crowd is in there that you just so you know where the markers are and where to look and everything. They. They. Yeah, there's almost. And I. And I. Somebody goes. Because I talk a lot to the crowd in my show. Like in a live show, there's a lot of interaction with the crowd. So I go. One of the setups of the Jokers goes, my girlfriend's friend got a DUI and she lost her job. And somebody in the car goes, ooh. And like, no one ever. This is in the deep dive into stand up comedy. No one ever has gone into the crowd on the Tonight show on their debut.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

And I go, okay, well, hold on a second. That's not. And I spoke to. I acknowledged the person in the crowd and then I did another joke and I go, okay, all right. That lady's throwing me off a little bit. And I got a bigger laugh. So what are you saying? It was me? Yeah. This is what he does. And then Jimmy, when I got up onto the Sat on the couch, he goes, I can't believe you. That's what they call it in comedy. Went into the crowd. No one has ever gone into the crowd on debut of the Tonight Show. That's what I do.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

And I. And I got into the.

[Carrie Newhoff]

He was a bit in awe of that.

[John Crist]

He got into the crowd and right back out. Because you got to still close at the right amount of time. So you're like, if I go in here, I can't.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, you can't add to your time.

[John Crist]

No, it's got to go. I got to go rap. I got. That's throwing me off a little bit. And everybody thought it was such a funny moment of like. Of like, this is real. This is really. I couldn't have prepped that. Yeah. So they made it even better. And yeah, I was on. It was just unbelievable.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And so afterwards, what's it feel like, man?

[John Crist]

I told my. The back to. I was open to this podcast of me going, like. Like, I was walking. I go, I just need some time for my. So I told my fiance, I just need to go walk around. I just need to go walk around. And I was walking. I was like, walking through New York City. By the way, trash smells, sounds horns, people bike lanes moving, yelling at you. Get off the street. And I was like, I wanted to give everybody a hundred dollars. Does that make sense? The opposite of it does. It's like, oh, everybody's doing great. I want to thank everybody. I would just. Everybody. I'm so happy with life. With like, I'm. I'm not annoyed. Like, hey, you. You. You got to pull up and park in the parking lane, and people can't get around you, bro. I might miss my flight. Nah, I might. Whatever it possibly was. Somebody calls me, it was. You're, like, in the clouds.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Dude, has your set changed since the Tonight show and all of those revisions and all of that editing? Like, did you take a lesson away from that as to how you do your sets now?

[John Crist]

Yeah, well, it was a good. It's like, if you go, You're. You're. You're preaching at your church, and then you, like, you're going to a black church, and you're like, wow, okay. And then you come back different or not or any kind of church. It's not yours. You come back to your. You're like, I'm. I'm. I got a different perspective now. I got a different worldview now. I got a. That you are way more confident that you're like, I deserve to be here. I know that this. This is good. I know that the. There's been validation from the outside that the ideas that I have are. I mean, it was The. It went huge on Jimmy's socials.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, it did?

[John Crist]

Yeah. They were very well. Very well for me. Very. Like, they were thrilled with it. We're. We're looking at going back here pretty soon also, which is, like, awesome.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Wasn't. Forget Seinfeld was on a lot.

[John Crist]

Hundreds of times.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah. And Nate was on a lot.

[John Crist]

Not hundreds of times, but he's been on as many. As many times as you want. Now Nate can just call Jimmy like, I got a funny idea. And he goes, you don't have to rehearse. You don't have to practice.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You can just come back.

[John Crist]

You just come back. Actually know what's. What's for comics is you want to go straight to a panel. So you just go to the couch.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, yeah. You don't have to do your set.

[John Crist]

No. To. Nate now would just go to the couch.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Is that still a thing where you may or may not get invited to the couch? That was a big thing in Johnny Carson. Yeah.

[John Crist]

Less. It's more now. It's. It's based on commercial breaks in time.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Okay.

[John Crist]

So if they. They go, hey. He'll sometimes come right down there, be like this. This John Chris. That's our show. Seth Myers is next. Sometimes invite you back. You go to a commercial break, you talk there, and then you're sitting on the couch, which is what happened to me. And then he says, that's our show. And then you get another little segment there. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

So you're going back?

[John Crist]

Well, hopefully, yeah. Yeah, hopefully. I maybe have to run it 25 times, maybe.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Not exactly. John, I'll tell you, it's. I'm. I'm just so excited for you. You're getting married, and I get married. That's cool, man.

[John Crist]

Which is. I would put that. Obviously, the same feeling when I posed that. I can't believe we did it. And I'm not even. I don't have any kids. We're not even married yet.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But he go, so your marriage book is coming out soon.

[John Crist]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we're already writing it. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Writing it right now.

[John Crist]

I like, imagine you have. You have couples that have been married for 30 years to somebody's. Oh, tell us. Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

35.

[John Crist]

It's good that you go, I can't believe that from where we. From where I came from to. It's like somebody told me that it would be like, I don't. I don't. I'll say I don't know him, but this is. Maybe it's a unfair comparison, but like, Steph Curry, the documentary is not going to be that compelling because he just was always successful. His dad was a unbelievable shooter. He was an unbelievable shooter, got drafted. Was an unbelievable shooter. Like, you know the documentary Michael Jordan, you go, got cut from the team, tried another way. High school was. Other people were drafted ahead of him in the NBA, had, first of all, all the things that came to for those first three championships. Then dad passed away, went to play baseball, lost, confused, then comes back, wins three more. Is like that. That documentary. Does that make sense?

[Carrie Newhoff]

It does.

[John Crist]

Well, why every. Everybody. A lot of people get married. It's an unbelievable, like, why was it so. I mean, all of my family was there to celebrate my engagement. I'm not even married yet. But, like, why was it so important, John? God, like, no, no, no. You. No, you guys do not understand. Does that make sense? You're like, this story is anybody that's followed me for any amount of time, you're like.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That.

[John Crist]

You. That you could. I mean, overcome. It is like a. I don't know if I love that word for it, but, like, could have thrown in the towel.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

I don't. I don't want to make it be like, somebody that was just trying to hold me accountable for things I shouldn't be doing is evil. Does that make sense? Or, like, I don't want to be like Most, I would say, overcome it for myself. All the decisions were of my own making and my own. The. If I. If I burn it to the ground.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You were really clear.

[John Crist]

I did it myself. Yeah, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But you know what? To. To find love. I remember when we did our first interview two years ago, you had said to me on the way out, I'm dating someone now, and I wonder if she's the one.

[John Crist]

I didn't say it. You didn't say that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I think you had just met Liz.

[John Crist]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I was, like, kind of cheering for you and like, oh, that would be awesome. Here we are, so.

[John Crist]

Well, it is.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And you'll get to make fun of the wedding industrial complex at some time.

[John Crist]

The wedding industrial complex is hilarious.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's like how to drain your bank account.

[John Crist]

I think it is. I felt. And I don't know why. I don't know why. It's the same with. At the beginning, you get ideas in your head like, no, but everybody was like, that are not true. That, you know, I thought I was gonna feel like, you know, I'm a man and I'm a leader, and this is where it's what I'm doing with my life. To bend a knee and to. To be on one knee asking a woman to marry you. I thought I would feel like a beta man, that I was a wuss or like a loser or like, oh. And I felt the exact opposite. I felt. Never felt more confident in myself, proud of myself, almost like in a. Hey, this is where I believe in myself and this is our relationship and I would like to. And he was like, dude, this. I feel like everybody else was like, yeah, dude, we've thought this about you. We were waiting for you to feel this way about yourself, like a leader. And it's like a man that could, like, the proudest being on one knees. Maybe like in a servant, not begging, but like, you be on your knees.

[Carrie Newhoff]

In front of somebody's like, it's an act of submission.

[John Crist]

Yes. And I felt like I would feel like I don't. Like, I don't know if I want to post a photo of me, like, on a knee. That's, like, embarrassing. And I felt the opposite. And I could see now why everybody. Is like, this is the way. Does that make sense?

[Carrie Newhoff]

It does. When you're not.

[John Crist]

When you don't. You can't tell somebody if the person's not right for them. You can't say, get married. Get married, no matter what, because it could end badly. But if you. If you choose that you Want to do this. All the other people that are on the team, they're like, yeah, welcome. Yeah, this is the best way.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You know, I was 24.

[John Crist]

Does that make sense? Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I was 24 when I proposed to my wife and, you know, got a 35 year marriage, which is at its peak, which is great. But lots is talking to Pat Lencioni this week. It's like, if you've been married that long, there's ups and downs and all that stuff. But I don't think I had an appreciation for what a powerful, awful. In the sense of a W E F U L. Right. Like awful.

[John Crist]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Moment that really, really was. And I think I have a greater appreciation of that now than I did.

[John Crist]

It is so, so very significant. I mean, it's. It's also silly that we got to get the, you know, all the stuff that we. But it's. It is such a.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Got a rent auditorium.

[John Crist]

Yeah, all that stuff is silly. We don't agree with that. But. But it, but it also isn't. It's also the most.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

And you can't. I see now why. It is an unbelievable. Yeah, it's an unbelievable challenge. Obviously that it'll be. But everybody's like, yeah, this is, this is the way. But you can't say that before. And I'm sure once you have a child, everybody with kids is like, yeah, now you get it. Yep.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Welcome to the club.

[John Crist]

Does that make sense? Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And I would say you, you don't understand parenting until you become a parent. It's gonna push you to limit. It's gonna be amazing.

[John Crist]

Yep.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And it's gonna be the greatest reward.

[John Crist]

And everybody on this like, journey is like, well, there's comedians that in their 20s were talking to like college kids about like, you know, I'll say immature topics. And. And then that now those comics never kind of grew in life. They're still single, but now they're. And he goes, why aren't these jokes working anymore? It was like, well, the people you're talking to, they got mortgages now. Does that make sense? You've matured.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You've matured your comedy.

[John Crist]

Yeah, it started like you said, it started youth groups maybe funny foibles of the church or whatever. And then it's like, oh, well, this guy. I mean, once you write a significant check to the government, you're like, why? I'm involved in this now? I'm involved in the. In. I'm involved in the country.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

And I got unions that we have to pay. And then we like all these things. You're like, well, this is what I deal with now. I didn't deal with this before. Yeah. And. And I'm the same with. Same with a pastor, by the way. You're like, yeah, yeah. Well, now, I mean, I make jokes about like, dude, we got to hit these kids. And like, I'm sure in three years, if I have kids, they will be like, you're. I'm not. Regret it. But you're like, you might.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Might change the joke.

[John Crist]

Yeah. Or you might. You'd have a different perspective on it. Yeah. Yeah. And then you like Nate. I think Nate Bargets is a guy that's gone ahead of us in a lot of ways, paved a lot of. A lot of ground for us especially, I would say as. As clean comics or maybe family friendly comics that you go, well, he lived in New York and he was dating when he started. Then he moved to Nashville, then he got married, then he had a kid. Now his parents are aging. You're like, yeah, we. All the fans kept with him because all your fans are changing, so you can't. You're like, well, this is what I started preaching about. This is what they like or like, well, you're. They're changing. So you should also be like, our podcast two years ago. I better go back and listen to it. We're like, I don't. Not that I disagree with it or not that it's.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, but that's where that was a.

[John Crist]

Timestamp that contradictory to what I am now. We go. Yeah, I would.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I would probably rephrase that.

[John Crist]

I would probably emphasize that less. And I would probably like to talk about this more. And by the way, in two years, hopefully we do it again.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah.

[John Crist]

It'd be the same. Like, I've been on the Tonight Show 20 times, and it's.

[Carrie Newhoff]

That would be awesome.

[John Crist]

And it was so moving at now to. To talk about the journey and get married. I'm sure we'll have different things to talk about. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

John, can't thank you enough. I didn't get to any of my questions, so just thanks for this. And I'm loving your podcast these days. You're having a lot of fun with it. Are you enjoying it? I don't know how you get it all done.

[John Crist]

Love it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

You're on the. Like, are you back in Nashville every few days or so.

[John Crist]

Monday. We usually do it in Nashville.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Monday.

[John Crist]

Yeah, it is. I would say to you. I would say that was the first. Coming after my cancellation or what? That was the first of Anything Christian that I did. I didn't do anybody's. I go. I'm. I think I go, I'm gonna do. Listen, if you're with me, you're with me. If you're not, you're not. I'm going this way. And I. And I feel like it's very hurt by the. Oh, no. Because I love, like, a lot of comics. Like, oh, I gotta go do a church. I got. I love the people of the church. My dad was a pastor. I grew up. I spent all. I would stay at church all day. Almost like, I compare myself to Jesus, but he would just stay at the temple. He's liked it. I was. Sunday afternoon. We had church Sunday morning and church Sunday night. Me and my brothers always asked if we could stay there. We just stay at church all day. And I. And I love to. Every time I get with a pastor, anyone, I love to talk about church. I like to go to church, see what they're doing there. How do they. Why are they doing this? How are they doing this? How are the good churches doing it? How are the bad churches? Why are they failing? I love to talk about it. And I go, man, I went to. This definitely happened between then and now. Winter Jam is like the biggest Christian tour. It's like a Christian music tour. Yeah, I did it in 2018. It was like a. It was in NBA arenas all over the country.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Wow.

[John Crist]

It was huge. Awesome. And I was like kind of the. The. The. The. The next generation of. Of Christianity or whatever, and everybody. It was huge. That's what put me on the map.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Seven years ago.

[John Crist]

That put me on the map. And. And I go. And I've never just. I go. I don't. I think all those people hate me. I think they all are embarrassed of me. Maybe I embarrassed the faith. Maybe they all think I'm. I don't know what they think of me. And last year, we had a show in Indianapolis. Winter Jam was also in Indianapolis. And the director would go, say, you want to come over and say hi to everybody? I go, yeah. I don't know if they know who I am or if they. And. And they go with. Skillet is the.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, Skillet.

[John Crist]

Oh, gosh, Skillet was Skillet, and they were friends of mine. And John Cooper from Skillet, he goes, do you want to introduce us? You know, that's where The Pacers play. 18,000 people. He's being introduced to us. I go, would they. I don't know. Do you think that's a good idea? Would they. I'm how do they. They might boo me or they. Do they know. Do they know who I am?

[Carrie Newhoff]

That's true.

[John Crist]

And he goes, yeah, to give it a shot. And I go, they go, we. The. You know, there's a, a video or something like that. And then somebody's like, we gotta, we got a guest here. It's gonna come introduce. He's gonna introduce the closing man. Ladies and gentlemen, John Christ. And standing ovation.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Oh, dude, I'm so excited for you, man.

[John Crist]

That was. I think they probably the Christians or the faith community. What's wild is always felt that way about me.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I remember they didn't.

[John Crist]

Whatever I made up in my head about like, I'm a loser. I'm like, you know what I'm saying? And they go, make up a lot of stuff.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, that's been a theme. But, you know, when we met on the outskirts of Peterborough, Ontario, shout out to. To the church that lent us. We were, we, we set up the stools. Camera crew was there.

[John Crist]

First time in a church. It was.

[Carrie Newhoff]

I remember you saying that you were kind of like. You walked in and you were like, this is my first church and first Christian podcast. I don't do Christian podcasts, but I'm gonna do yours. You said it to me and I just want to thank you, you know, and I hope as Christians that we have the capacity to not forgive. I didn't need to forgive you for anything, but to be open minded to, you know, our problem. And I said this to Henry Cloud in a couple of interviews that we've done with Henry. He wrote a great book on trust and last 30% of it, basically about restoration. And I don't know that you've read that part. If you read it, you probably went through all the steps and I mean, there's 42 of them. It's worse than getting on the Tonight Show. You gotta do a lot. And our problem is we scapegoat people like, oh, you're banished to the wilderness until you die, or you set up across town or across the street the next day and you're like, I'm back. Yeah, you did the hard work. You did the hard work. And you can hear it, you can hear it even in our conversation today that you're not the same John Cristian that disappeared.

[John Crist]

And there was a music artist, a big music artist in Christianity that experienced the same thing about this year, definitely. And I went to lunch with him like a couple weeks ago and somebody goes, well, what. I mean, this person's just getting crushed on Twitter just getting crushed. And somebody goes, my fiance actually goes, what if we're going to, like, a breakfast spot here in town? What if somebody sees you with him? I go, I'll be proud. I go, put it up. Take a photo and put it up. Because I go, what's. What's his like? Yeah, I understand somebody made some poor choices and they should definitely be held accountable for that. But what's your plan for him? What's he supposed to do? There has to. To your point, restoration. There has to be. Sarah Silverman said this. Not even a Christian. She's an atheist. I don't know if she's an atheist, but she's definitely not in favor of Christ. But she goes in cancellation. We have to have a road, a path forward. I'm not saying back to your career. I'm not saying. But you have to have a path forward for that person. You go to prison, there is a path forward for you.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Your life is not over.

[John Crist]

Yeah. Now, that means that, hey, if you. You don't have to be in solitary confinement. If you're better behavior, you can now go into the yard. You can maybe get visitation there. Yeah, maybe you won't be let back out into public. But there is a path forward for you. You have to be. But you have to be responsible for. For your choices. But there's a path forward. There's parole, there's good behavior. If you. There's a. You could go see a judge again. But cancellation is so tricky because you're like, done. You're like, well, then it. Well, then what? What? No, what about him? What about her? She's been, quote, canceled or. What about. There's pastors. That happened. It's happened since we met a thousand times, brother.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Sadly, sadly, sadly.

[John Crist]

And by the way, comics too. It's everybody. It's not just pastors, but. Yeah, that. You go, oh, he lost his job. He got a dui. Lost his job. I'll have lunch with him. I'll help him. Because I can help. I can help. I can help him. And by the way, I've. Everybody got a dui, cheated. I can help him. I'll meet him. Everybody calls me, hey, comics all the time. They go, I gotta still go to AA meeting right here in town on. There's a bunch of them. We go to. Comics are. Hey, it's hard to go to AA meeting by yourself. You've never been to one. It's so intimidating. You go, I'll go. You come with me. I know exactly to pick up your phone. And go, hey, dude, I heard that. I know that you're kind of sober and to pick up that phone. I know the path to that. The prior to that. And it's very dark because your phone.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Blew up with people who had been in that space.

[John Crist]

Oh, that understood.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Like, in 2019.

[John Crist]

Yeah. It's easy to get on the Internet and trash, crash, trash everybody. But that. I remember all I wanted to. I was kind of angry at religion at least, or I didn't really want to hear at the time, like, the Bible verses, to be honest.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Well, and I didn't need the Bible.

[John Crist]

Verses, but I needed someone to be like, hey, dude. Well.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And I want to thank you for not giving up on the church, because it would have been easy just to turn your back.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But for you to say, I'll do a Christian podcast and come back on and, oh, we're meeting in a church. Okay. And. Yeah, maybe you're not doing the church tour anymore, but I haven't.

[John Crist]

I haven't gone back yet.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Well, I mean, I go to church. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[John Crist]

But not. I haven't. Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But you know what we need? We need your voice. We need people to make fun of us.

[John Crist]

We need comics.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Such a great truth teller. Yes.

[John Crist]

And I think I've seen a lot of. There's a lot of comics that are. Now I'll say this, and we'll leave. We'll get. Okay. This is what I feel about humor in Christianity. When I started. It was. When I started in 2009, no one had ever gently made fun of these things. No one had ever said it. So it was so like, I can't believe this guy is saying this. And pastors with private jets, by the way. Now, I. Brother, we've dug up everything. We've dug up everything, dude. We made fun of everything in almost too far as, like, well, what. What now I feel like my voice should be like, yeah, this is. There's this thing with the baby formula. Whatever. You can look it up later. Yeah. When is this gonna come out next? All right, so this early, probably a lot of people that are coming after the church, but not to help. They're coming to. They don't. They don't. They wish for its destruction and they wish for its exposure and its embarrassment, and it's. And it's. They. They don't wish for it to be better.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yep.

[John Crist]

They wish for it to be embarrassed and to be ruined because they are hurt by it. So they want to just expose everything. Every pastor, dude. So 15 years ago, it was like, let's call out these pastors with private jets. And now I think we're like, what about the 75,000 pastors that are working hard and have given their lives to this ministry that don't have any money?

[Carrie Newhoff]

I know the 1% of pastors who make too much.

[John Crist]

Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

99% don't make quite enough.

[John Crist]

Enough of them. We get. We. That there's bad apples everywhere. And sure. But we don't. We got it. And what about the. Maybe the. Maybe the controversial thing now is it was controversial to go after it 15 years ago. What about now, I think is that. Where is it going? Where is humor? It is, hey, if there's a preacher that is shown that he is not leading people, like, what now? I feel like the onus is on the people. What are y' all doing? Still going there and still giving. There nobody forcing you to give. Right. I think the pastor is. He's going to be. I don't. I just. It's not to keep just.

[Carrie Newhoff]

We did hitting the same thing.

[John Crist]

We did it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

We did it.

[John Crist]

We did it. We got it. We crushed it all. And I think a lot of. I look at these other comics that are like, They're here to tear it down. And I said to some of my other comedian buddies, like, I can't really judge them because I used to be like that. He goes, they were like, no, you weren't. You were never like that. You poked holes in things to see it improve. And I wasn't ever going to call a pastor by name.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

And say this guy. I don't. From what I'm seeing, it's funny that a pastor has a Tesla garage in his church. That's a funny idea. But I don't know if he. I don't know his walk.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Right.

[John Crist]

I don't know if he's a heretic. I can see from here that maybe there's some funny things about a helicopter flyover for Easter dropping candy. That's a little absurd to me, but I don't. I never went after someone by name and said, this person is. And my comedy, I think, always led to, oh, yeah, that's silly. Like, Chris Rock makes a racial joke. Racist and racial is different. East. That makes a difference. Black people and white people are like this. If it's done well, you lay your head on the pillow that night and you think that's silly. That we treat black and white people different, not racism. Does that make sense?

[Carrie Newhoff]

It does make sense.

[John Crist]

Oh, that. Oh, yeah. We shouldn't as a church or As a faith community. That's funny. But that guy's got a point. Not that you thought black people were less than. That was not the point of the. Yeah, yeah. If it's done well. Yeah. Not. It just seems racist when it's. You just seem like all the content you see on the Internet about the church or people that are against it, you go. You're just hurt. You've been hurt by it.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's fun to see the cynicism and the hope and the joy and the happiness coexist. That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. And I think we need more of that.

[John Crist]

Well, how do we feel about. Well, it's not all. Throw it all out.

[Carrie Newhoff]

No.

[John Crist]

Or it's. Or sometimes it's not. I love everything. And they can do no wrong.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's that tension.

[John Crist]

Yeah. Which, by the way, if you have a healthy relationship, they should say, hey, we love the podcast. It's going good. But also, you spend too much time on the road, both of these things. And you can be like, be together fair. Hey. Oh, we don't bow at the. At the. At the. At the altar of likes and clicks and views. But also we believe in what we're saying here. We believe it's important. So you go, oh, dude, it's awesome that we. We won the awards. But also make sure your personal life is in order. Make sure, you know that both we can be. And you don't take that as a. You're saying, oh, that's ain't fair. I can receive that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

John, it's been a fascinating conversation where. So your podcast. Net Positive. I'm a listener.

[John Crist]

So you'll direct anywhere you can get podcasts.

[Carrie Newhoff]

And you are almost perpetually on tour.

[John Crist]

Yeah, we're going tour. We're touring the rest of this year. And I mean, we take two months off in the winter and two months off in the summer.

[Carrie Newhoff]

But we love any other place you direct people to.

[John Crist]

Oh, man. Let's see. The podcast should by delete that.

[Carrie Newhoff]

It's a great book.

[John Crist]

You look in the cat for that? Yeah.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Yeah, I did.

[John Crist]

Still holds up. Yeah. All right. Don't be here, brother.

[Carrie Newhoff]

Man, that was a great conversation. Really authentic, vulnerable. If you want to catch the original episode with the John where he talks about his whole rehab journey, it's episode 604. You can just scroll back and find it there. It was a couple of years ago. It's also on YouTube, one of our most watched videos ever. And I was on Net Positive. That was in December of 2020. 5, so you can find that, too. We had a really good time together. And we, my wife and I and a couple of friends, we went backstage and watched a new Material Monday at Zany's in Nashville. Man, it was a lot of fun. I just love studying the art of comedy and really encouraged by the progress John's made in his life. And I think he's an example of what can happen when things don't go well. You get your life together and you get back on the horse, so to speak. So next episode, we got Henry Cloud. Believe it or not, Henry really disagrees that leadership is lonely. He says it is not. And we talk about founderitis and why you're in more control than you think. Also coming up, we got Patrick Lencioni, Craig Groeschel, Dr. Wayne Chappelle. Together we sat down at Life Church, had a great conversation. Beth Moore, Katie Cole, and gosh, a whole lot more. This is going to be a great year for the podcast. And you know what makes it great? You make it great. When you subscribe, when you follow wherever you're watching, wherever you're listening, when you tell friends about it and send out a link, and when you leave a rating and review, it means a lot or even drop it, a comment. Would love to hear from you. Don't forget to share it with a friend. And thanks so much for listening. I hope our time together today really encouraged you and maybe even helped you break a personal growth barrier that you're facing. Catch you next time.