Chrissy (2:07)

Have you long lived there? Are you a long time Los Angeles resident?

Billy Gardell (2:11)

I have been here. I'm originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so I still consider myself a yinzer. But I've lived in Chicago, New York, Orlando, Atlanta, worked all over the country. But I settled out here about 1996.

Chrissy (2:26)

And why did you travel so much? Like, why so many places? Just, just as you were following the Dre moved from place to place.

Billy Gardell (2:34)

That's kind of, you know, kind of where my standup career led me. Like I started in Orlando and then worked all the gigs and kind of Florida back in the late 80s started in 87. And then I moved up to Atlanta and kind of branched into working all the southeastern states. You know, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia. And then made my way up to New York for a little bit and did the Northeast corridor and then Chicago, worked the Midwest states and then finally made my way out here and about 25 years doing overnight success. That's what I usually tell people.

Chrissy (3:08)

Well, we've talked to so many people and I say this a lot on the show. An overnight success never happens overnight. There's 95% of the time. I mean, unless you're just some social media, you know, flu.

Billy Gardell (3:20)

Well, I was going to say until this Internet slot machine came along. Yeah. You actually had work at what you did before you got good and got picked.

Chrissy (3:28)

Yeah, yeah. You just told the story. I mean, you told the story of how people have had. Traditionally had to do it, which is find your. Yeah. Go out there and work the crowds. Until. Until you have an audience large enough to be paying attention to and you cut.

Billy Gardell (3:44)

You had to bring. You had to break into television in some way, too. Nowadays, TV is the smaller component. Internet is the bigger component. And I'm in awe of what some of these guys have done through the Internet. It's amazing.

Chrissy (3:57)

So are we really. And we have them on like. Holy.

Brian (4:01)

No, no.

Billy Gardell (4:02)

I mean. I genuinely mean like the landscape and entertainment and what we. What. God bless you. What we find in, you know, what were our. How our viewerships shift every year. And then now what it is. It's. It's. It's so different. You just don't know what's going to catch or why it's going to catch. And so I think the odds are kind of good for young artists, you know, with. With the Internet. But the other side of it is there's. Everybody's doing it. You know, whatever that 15 minutes of fame saying was, that. That's very true.

Chrissy (4:36)

It says in the future, Everybody will have 15 minutes of fame. That was Andy Warhol, and he was right.

Billy Gardell (4:40)

We're here.

Chrissy (4:41)

Yeah, we're here. We're in the moment. Right. And you know, like you said when you got on, when you were on Mike and Molly, that's like a huge, phenomenal success where millions and millions of people are tuning in every week in syndication, rolling and rolling and rolling. That is now so less likely to happen to somebody, to have that captive audience every week after week after week.

Billy Gardell (5:06)

And no, that'll never happen again. That kind of. That kind of television viewership will never happen again. Just because 1. The Internet has taken over all of mass media and, and that's okay. That's just what the game changes. You evolve with the game or you, you just get out of the game. Yeah. And so, but the idea of us all watching something at the same time again and talking about it on Monday, those days gone, you know, now, now you see something and you go, did you see. And someone goes, no, I didn't see that. And they have to look it up. And there's just a lot of stuff, man. There's a lot of moving parts.

Chrissy (5:40)

Yeah. I think we discussed this a little bit before we started the interview. But there, there is this kind of double edged sword where one is now, you don't have to wait. You can find your audience. Right. There is an audience out there for almost everybody. If you have a lick of talent or, or a good idea or one joke that. Yes. Then people can find you or you can find. Is no mass media attention anymore. And it's. The audience is so fragmented and you have to rely on the algorithm to get you there. And that may not happen for everyone who's talented. There's kind of like no, there's no farm team anymore. Right. Like you were. How long did, how long were you here in Atlanta? We're in Atlanta. By the way, how long did you.

Billy Gardell (6:22)

Were you here? I lived, I lived in Atlanta for about, I want to say four years before I headed up to Chicago. I lived in Marietta, right outside of the city, which I just unloved. I lived off of Delk Road.

Chrissy (6:38)

I've lived off of Del Cruise. Of course. I've lived everywhere.

Billy Gardell (6:43)

There was a great little barbecue joint in my neighborhood and you could get a two bedroom apartment for 700 bucks. And it was a different time, you know.

Chrissy (6:50)

Did you live in Atlanta during the Olympics? Is that kind of during that time period?

Billy Gardell (6:56)

I don't. When were the Olympics? No, I left. I left right before that. That's when I headed for LA. I had actually left for Chicago in like 94 and then headed to LA in 96, I think.

Chrissy (7:10)

How did you come upon Mike and Molly? Excuse me for not knowing the story, but how did you come up.

Billy Gardell (7:16)

No, it's okay.

Chrissy (7:16)

How did you come upon Mike and Molly? I'm interested to hear this.

Billy Gardell (7:20)

Well, my thing is I've always. That that was my goal when I set up. You know, I was always a sitcom fan. I'd watch him with my dad. And so when I was a young, when I was very young, I, I wanted to be a standup. I knew that right away I knew that at like 9 years old. And then I wanted that to lead me to a sitcom because, you know, that was what I was interested in. And I was lucky enough to get to do two of them. You know, I did Mike and Molly and then Chuck Lori came up with another idea and said, I think you're right for this one too. Which is unheard of. You know, that's two Super Bowls. But Mike and Molly was at a weird time, man. I was at a place where I was actually thinking about leaving Los Angeles and moving back to my hometown of Pittsburgh and maybe jumping on the radio there and having a good life, just doing that. And I was kind of at my ropes end out here. And I told my friend who was going to put me on the radio show, Randy Bauman from wdve, that I said, I'm going to ride out one more pilot season. And that used to be a time out here where there'd be like a three month stretch where they'd order 50 pilots. And to give you perspective, nowadays they order five. I mean, it's really shrunk down, so. But you would try to get on a pilot and hope it got picked up. So I said, I'm going to ride out one more pilot season. And I only got, I want to say I remember it as six. It might have been four auditions the whole three months. And the last one was Mike and Molly. It was literally a Hail Mary. Hail Mary into the end zone, literally.

Chrissy (8:49)

And this.

Guest or Co-host (8:50)

That's incredible.

Chrissy (8:50)

Changed your life basically overnight. It's just.

Billy Gardell (8:55)

Yeah, I mean, I had no idea at the time. I think it was really the last classic sitcom. That's why I'm really proud of Mike and Molly. Like, I think that was the last really classic. Become one of those, you know, dinner time shows or shows before you go to bed that you would watch. And it ran. Mike and Molly ran in syndication from 2016 to this year. Wow. And so it was an unbelievably historical run. I don't know that you'll ever see anything do that again. And then working with that cast, I mean, Melissa McCarthy and Reno Wilson and Robin Reed and Lou Stillo and Susie Kurtz and Katie Mixon and Namby. Namby. I mean, we had this wonderful team where there wasn't a weak link on. On the team. And then we had Chuck Lorre and his writing staff, which was the best in the business. We got directed by Jimmy Burroughs, who directed Friends and Cheers and Taxi and Mary Tyler Moore. So we had this historical collaboration Of. Of really amazing television people. And. And at the time, Peter Roth was running Warner Brothers, just one of the last great television men ever. So I got to really be the caboose on the tail end of television, which was pretty amazing.

Chrissy (10:09)

Yeah. I was thinking about this this morning when I was thinking about interviewing you. Is Mike and Molly is part of that group or maybe one of the last kind of traditional, huge success in syndication for a long time sitcoms, they're not. They don't exist anymore. I don't see them on television. And that's not to say maybe one or two of them might not pop up in the future, but it's just not. It's not the same. When you get Mike and Molly. Are you like, you start walking out on the streets of Los Angeles? Are you instant. Are you instantaneously recognized after a couple of weeks of this show? Kind of.

Billy Gardell (10:43)

It was actually after. After the first season, you could feel a change. Like everywhere I went, I got recognized after the first season, you know, and. And everybody would yell Mike in public, which was funny to me. Hey, how are you? And then Bob Hart's Abashola came on, and there was a pocket of people calling me Bob. So at this point, I'll answer to just about anything. Yeah. But, yeah, it was wild. And I had such great. There's such great fans from Mike and Molly. They were always very cool fans and just enjoyed the show so much and very, very grateful for all of that that happened to me. And then, you know, I did my second show and I took some time to get healthy. And when I did, I stopped doing standup for about. It was when Covid had first hit too. So we were working without an audience, and I was heavy, and I had some other medical stuff going on, and I thought, I better get it together here, so this thing doesn't get me, because it was that first wave. And so I made a change. I got healthy. I did not do social media like they told me to start in 2013, because I thought, what are you talking about? I'm on tv. Basically, I came out of Mike and Molly or I came out of Bob Hart's Abishola, unrecognizable, with no social media. Yeah. So what a great place to start.

Chrissy (12:08)

I mean, to point out the obvious, Billy, you look like a different human being. I mean, you're bringing it up, you know, when. When you look at pictures after, you know, you look at Mike and Molly or you look at Bob, and then you look. A couple years later, you look just Like a different human being. It's one of the most stark transitions I have seen in my personal life in Hollywood. You look great.

Billy Gardell (12:30)

I. I don't look bad for the wear and tear that I've been through. You know, I always say I went from a young Jackie Gleason to an old Paul Newman. So that's. That's kind of where it happened for me. What's weird, though, is, you know, people who just knew me from Mike and Molly see me nowadays, and they go, my God, he's aged. And I'm like, well, I've lost 170 pounds. I'm gonna have a few wrinkles. And that was 15 years ago.

Chrissy (12:52)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (12:52)

But, you know, it's. It's fun how people picture you in your head, in their head from what they know you from. So this has been about reintroducing myself to just wanting to get back to stand up. Yeah.

Chrissy (13:03)

And a standup is such a big part of the story arc here. Right. It's a majority of the first part of your career, and then you have these huge.

Billy Gardell (13:11)

Television gave me everything. Yeah, it gave me everything. It opened the doors for everything I've been able to achieve in my career.

Chrissy (13:17)

Was it hard to. You said you had to take a break from stand up, get healthy. Was it hard.

Billy Gardell (13:22)

It.

Chrissy (13:22)

First of all, was it hard to get healthy? Was that a hard transition for you to make, or did Covid and whatever other medical issues you're going through really kick you in the ass? And you said, okay, this is it. I got to do this.

Billy Gardell (13:33)

Yeah. I think at the end, that forced my hand to do something extreme. I had. You know, I had. Had that thing that a lot of heavy people suffer with, where you lose 30 pounds and then you gain 35. Yeah. And you lose 30 pounds and you gain 35. And, you know, for people on a smaller weight journey, that. That happens to them, too, where they, you know, lose five, game 10. And it's. It's a hard thing to do. But I got to the point where I was up to 379, and it hurt to exercise. So I was like, I need to do something drastic so I can move. I need a window of opportunity. So what I did was I elected to have bariatric surgery, and I did that, and I followed every single rule they gave me, and I lost the weight successfully. I hired a nutritionist so that I could kind of get the mental part of this down, because that's really what it is. It's not your. It's not your portions and what you're eating, that stuff all plays into it. But the real change comes between your ears. If you're not ready to mentally change everything, nothing will stick. And I finally found something for me that would stick. I don't tell anybody what they should do, but I do tell people if they're going to have this surgery, make sure you study about what you have to do on the other side of it to maintain it, because it's still just a window. One in four people go back to being heavy after this surgery. So I've been very blessed that way.

Chrissy (14:58)

Yeah. I think I've known some people who've had the bariatric surgery. We've known some people who have been on the weight loss, the weight loss medications, and we've known people who have just kind of, you know, bit the belt and exercise their way to a healthier self. Even when you're, even when you don't. Wouldn't think of somebody as having a weight problem. That journey is so hard. Try and lose £5 at 40 something years old and keep it off. It just, just. It's so impossibly difficult because your mind plays tricks on you. And this is not when your body.

Guest or Co-host (15:30)

Wants to go back to what it was.

Chrissy (15:32)

This is not heroin or gin and talk.

Billy Gardell (15:34)

No.

Chrissy (15:34)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (15:35)

It's not something you stop doing. You still have to keep eating. So you have to retrain at least. I had to retrain my brain on my relationship with food. And my nutritionist, a woman named Terry Ublick, really changed my. The way I thought about food, how I reacted to food, what I used food to comfort, what I used food to celebrate. And she really started. Started making me look at food as fuel. And what kind of fuel do you want to put in there? And you have to have a different relationship with that. And so once I started to get that, I was able to maintain the loss of weight that I had.

Chrissy (16:06)

Let me ask you like a little bit of a deeper question. Does being in entertainment does that. Is there a, was there a mental block somewhere where if I lose this weight, I may not be seen as the same person? Like, you're not, you don't look like the same person. Right. But no, was there ever like a mental block like, oh, if I lose this weight, then I'm going to lose the role?

Guest or Co-host (16:28)

The thing that made me famous, the.

Billy Gardell (16:29)

Thing that made me famous, that happened to me and that's happening now. I'm literally, you know, re reintroducing myself as a stand up and, and a lot of people didn't know I did stand up even when I was on tv, which was weird. I did everything backwards. I got a sitcom. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I did have those thoughts and there is some truth to that. But I look at the positive, which means I can start to go out for roles I wouldn't have been able to go out for before, which is kind of happening now, which is nice. And I did have to reintroduce myself to the industry. And now I'm an older person, so I have to look for those kind of roles as well. But what was going on with my health superseded all that. Like, I have a wife and I have a wife and a kid and I was like, what is the point of if I keep working? But I'm. And then I just drop dead somewhere because I was like. Was overweight. I was a smoker at the time. Sleep apnea, asthma, type 2 diabetes at the time. And so, you know, I was a walk in time bomb. My resting heartbeat at one point was like 136. That's sitting still. Yeah. And so I knew that, okay, you've had this success and you've been blessed, but now if you don't get healthy, you're not going to be around to guide your son and annoy your wife. And I love both of those things. They've been my two favorite things.

Chrissy (17:49)

You say you, like me, take great joy at annoying your wife and you got to stick around for that favorite.

Billy Gardell (17:55)

Person to annoy my favorite person.

Chrissy (17:57)

Well, I say congratulations on the, on, you know, getting to a point in the journey where you're feeling good because that is an immense accomplishment. And you're right. Anything else pales in comparison. If you're not around to enjoy, enjoy the success, then what does the success.

Billy Gardell (18:13)

What's the problem?

Chrissy (18:15)

That's right. Do you. Are you finding it, you know, hard to reintroduce yourself or. I mean, you're right about something.

Billy Gardell (18:23)

Yeah.

Chrissy (18:24)

When you're older and when you look different, Hollywood is not very fickle. It's very fickle. It's not skinny.

Billy Gardell (18:33)

Once they stamp you into what you are, like you're the overweight guy, the blue collar guy or whatever that is, they see that you've made money off that, so they want you to continue to be that thing. That's just, that's just math. But you also have to be brave enough to, whether it's a health change or the kind of roles you take or the kind of art you do, whatever you want to present. If you Want to go to that next thing. There's always going to be a period of transition where you just have to trust that your talent is going to push you through to the next thing. Like I. The other example I could give was in the club settings back in the day. There was the MC who did 10 minutes and made the announcements. They were usually a local act. Then there was a feature act who would do 25 to 30 minutes. And then you hopefully transitioned up into being a headliner and you would close the show. Well, in the days where I was transferring from feature act to headliner, my manager at times said, you know, we're going to tell all these clubs you're only coming back if you headline. Half of them are going to say yes, the other half of them are going to say no. You got to figure out what to do for the weeks that you're off, because if we go back on one, all of them will go back. So we have to be able to say no. So I jumped on a paint truck and was painting houses half the time and headlining half the time until I could get my calendar full of headlining dates. So it's kind of that same thing where you go, yeah, okay, it's going to take a few people to not, oh, wow, he looks different. We don't know what we can do until you see that one person that goes, you know what, I want to try him in this because I think it would be a different look for him. And then you gravitate to that and you hopefully move forward as an artist.

Chrissy (20:10)

How difficult has it been to get? So now you're taking this, you're taking the stand up on the road. You're going and doing theaters, which is already great. Right? So you're doing theaters. It's not like you're, you know, sitting in 100 person seat.

Billy Gardell (20:26)

No, I went back to the clubs for the first year and a half.

Chrissy (20:29)

Yeah, tell me about that.

Billy Gardell (20:31)

I went back to the clubs and that started even before that. I just started going back to open mic night because I hadn't done it in three years. And it's like a golf swing stand up. The longer you stay off stage, the worse it gets. And so, and I had this big hang up in my head, like, you have to deliver. You were on tv. If people recognize you, you can't go away with a bad show. And if you do that, you never give yourself room to improve. So I had to remind myself, it's just Tuesday, it's an open mic night, there's 18 people here. Go up there and your jokes. Yeah, it didn't matter. So. So in a way, it was kind of. It was cathartic because I was able to let go of all of what I thought I should be and walk into what I want to be next.

Chrissy (21:12)

You know, this is a metamorphosis. You know, there's like a. There is a. I think it's a. A Buddhist philosophy that every seven years you just, like, you transform as a person. You're a caterpillar, you, whatever, you're going through one of these stages, like live and in real time. And that. That is never easy. We've all done it. If you live long enough. Yeah. But it's inspiring because, you know, this guy, you're.

Billy Gardell (21:36)

You're.

Chrissy (21:37)

What is it, 12 million people every week watching you? How many people were watching? An average.

Billy Gardell (21:41)

Yeah, yeah, we were between. We were between. We were between 11 and 13 million a week on Mike and Molly, and we were between 6 and 7 million a week on Bob Hart's, because that's when the real transition to the Internet was really starting. So. And. And I. And it's funny, too. I never, you know, I've always been on Monday night night on television, which is the toughest night of the week. Like, if we were on Friday nights, I'd still be on. No one would know.

Chrissy (22:07)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (22:07)

But Monday night was like, you're fighting. You were fighting Dancing with the Stars and Monday Night Football. And, I mean, you really had to be good to survive. And so those lessons taught me some perseverance, too. And I just think you have to keep growing. I mean, if you're not continually growing, if at some point you think you've reached boss level, I just think you're on. Yeah, I think you have to keep growing, pushing yourself.

Chrissy (22:30)

I do think that is the death knell of a lot of entertainers and musicians is that they do think they reach boss level and they stop pushing themselves to make that next leap, to make that next evolution. It's the bands or the musicians or the entertainers or the comedians, whatever, that you see that keep evolving. Like Carlin and Chappelle or whoever. Right. They are not afraid to be the next thing because it's.

Billy Gardell (22:53)

Well, I think they just stay very authentic. And the more authentic you are, the more I think it can you. You connect with people if you just stay authentic.

Guest or Co-host (23:01)

That's true.

Chrissy (23:02)

And when you're doing these open mic nights. Back to this. When you're doing these open mic nights and there's 18 people in front of you, I Guess maybe not looking the same as you did on TV may play in your favor in this sense. Like, maybe it takes some people a minute to realize, oh, that guy, that's. That, that's Bob. Or that's my.

Billy Gardell (23:20)

Yeah, I would get that a little bit after the shows. During the show, it was a huge transition because they didn't recognize me, which means I was getting an honest, honest reaction. And so you had to dig down to actually do the job well. And. And then the other thing was I had to get used to being this size on stage. I used to take up so much more air, no pun intended. But, like, I had a bigger energy on stage. You know, I went from the guy that used to be like, get out of the way to, I'm sorry, did I bump you? So I had.

Chrissy (23:50)

I.

Billy Gardell (23:50)

It was like going from. It was like going from a minivan to a coupe. You know what I mean? I had to just have different movements, different everything. But then I found my feet and. And it really came back to me, and I'm grateful for it.

Chrissy (24:02)

Yeah, I bet when you have. When you lose that much weight, you have to learn how to maneuver differently.

Billy Gardell (24:07)

One of my everything, I fell down twice. When I. When I got to my goal weight, I've fallen down twice. It took a corner too fast. Wasn't used to the equilibrium. Went right over like a Fred Flintstone. Yeah. No, that's real. They used to say, you're gonna have ghost weight and your equilibrium is going to be off a little bit. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I literally walked around the corner, talked to my wife, fell down mid sentence twice.

Chrissy (24:33)

It's the little things that I'm sure add up over time. When you're like, wow, life is so drastically different than it was before. So now you've got this. So what do you're touring with a brand new hour or an hour you've been cutting for the last two or three years? Right, right.

Billy Gardell (24:49)

Yeah, I'm probably at about. Actually, I'm probably at about 45 minutes new and 15 minutes greatest hits. Because there's a few things that the fans that do remember me like to hear. And I think I've mixed. I've made a nice blend of that. And, you know, I'm always been a guy who kind of talks about what's happening in his life. And once I figure out my four quarters, I always look at my hours like football. First quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter. Once I figure out what those four things are, I start writing for those things. And the first one is, you know, obviously I talk about my weight loss in that journey because there's some funny stuff in there. And, you know, I refer to it as the elephant. It's no longer in the room. And then. And then the second quarter, I talk about being married for 25 years and actually having a great marriage. And it's not free and it's not easy. You got to fight for it. But boy, if you get to that spot, it's pretty magical. And I think that's a nice message.

Chrissy (25:44)

Beautiful.

Billy Gardell (25:44)

I'm proud of that. You should probably have been married 20. I really. I really am grateful for my relationship with my wife. Wife. I realized these days that she stood beside me, in front of me or behind me, no matter what I needed my whole journey. So it's about her now. And then the third quarter is about. I talk about my son who's 22. And I try to talk to this generation and root for them because I. I think it's low hanging fruit to, to just rip on these kids. I think they're dealing with so much more than we had to deal with. They don't have the freedoms we had. They don't have the imagination we had. They don't have the drive we have because they've got this machine telling them that everybody' Better than them 24 hours a day and they're worthless. So I go the other way. I root for the kids. And then the last 15 minutes is really an homage to my father, who was my biggest fan. And he passed a few years back from lung cancer. And it took me a minute to start being able to write about that, but. But when I did, I think I found something pretty healing through that whole journey.

Chrissy (26:43)

I'm sorry to hear about your father passing. I know.

Billy Gardell (26:45)

That's okay, man. He's with me every. He's with us right now. My fault. My wife. My wife always says you're just a hack ripoff for your f.

Chrissy (26:56)

There must be a. There must be some truth to that in all great comics is that they're taking 100. Yeah. They're taking away their. Their experiences. I like how you're rooting for the young kids because as a. Yeah. And as a guy who has young kids. Like young kids. Right.

Billy Gardell (27:08)

Yeah.

Chrissy (27:09)

I see. Well, how incredible. What do you have?

Billy Gardell (27:11)

How. How old do you have?

Chrissy (27:13)

I've got three of them. All of them under the age of 10 years old, so. And I got, yeah, two girls and a boy. And they are the love of my life. I. I'M yeah. There are two things in my life that I'm realizing are the most difficult and rewarding things ever, and they are equal in both. That is my marriage that's now 10 years in, and my. And raising children in this day and age, they're equally challenging.

Billy Gardell (27:40)

And if you know that that's what you want to do, and I respect people who know they don't want children, but if that is the journey you want to take, which is what I wanted to take.

Chrissy (27:48)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (27:49)

Then I'm not going to be a hypocrite with him and I'm going to try to guide him to the best of my ability. Because you got to remember, these kids are going. All the adolescence that we went through, the fears of adolescence. Who am I going to be? Is anyone going to love me? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? And then you add social media, and then you add the political environment of this world, and then you add the cost of living to this world, and then you add the environment, and then you add the brink of war everywhere. I mean, you wonder why these kids are a little shell shocked. They have to deal with all that. And we overcompensated for them and raised a generation of house cats. They're not prepar for this mess. So we got to step up to some accountability to this.

Chrissy (28:31)

You know, I love, I love what you're saying, and it. It makes me like I'm hearing what you're saying and I'm realizing as I'm guiding my own children, I've been realizing this for the last couple of years, is that, yeah, this is the most difficult time to be a human being. And I cannot imagine being an adolescent with all. I grew up in the, in the golden circle of the 1980s and 90s where everything.

Billy Gardell (28:56)

Me too. Me too. Yeah, it was great.

Chrissy (28:58)

I could run. Yeah. I could sneak out of my house at night and not, you know, be afraid of being arrested for terrorism or. Or shot, you know, whatever it was. It was just a different time.

Billy Gardell (29:08)

Yeah, exactly.

Chrissy (29:09)

These kids can't leave the house without fear of some. And that is.

Billy Gardell (29:13)

No. And, you know, the phone and the phone has made them anti communal. Yeah. It's. It gives the illusion of everybody being connected but in trouble. Truth, it's not. It separates us all. And then it puts you in a little bubble and you talk in your echo chamber and they talk in their echo chamber like we had to go, you know, in the late 80s, early 90s, like you said. I imagine we're about the same age, I just look older. But, but that time was a time of freedom where you did, you had to go find things to do with your friends, you and you had to go find your friends, you know. Yeah, but you had to be, you had to be in movement and there were, there were places that were communal. Like I, you know, I, I hate that they never got the experience. Let's go hang out at the mall, let's go to the movies, I was going to say. And then, you know, let's, let's go, let's go to a place where we're all hanging like. And I love too that music was in the air back then. Like, you know, in the 80s and 90s, you know, you'd be in a mosh pit Friday night and you'd be seeing, you know, 10,000 maniacs on Sunday. It didn't matter if it was good, it was good.

Chrissy (30:18)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (30:18)

And you went with the vibe of what it was. You weren't just stuck in this one little thing, this place that felt like it had no exit. And then, and so I try to open my kids mind to the possibility of that.

Chrissy (30:29)

Wow, I want to be your kid.

Guest or Co-host (30:30)

I know.

Billy Gardell (30:33)

I'm sure he's got, I'm sure he's got some counterpoints.

Brian (30:37)

Oh, I know he does.

Chrissy (30:38)

The tribalism. I think the tribalism and the, and the separation of idea and thought. You know, I, I say this often when I was a kid and maybe your dad was like this too. When I grew up in Chicago. I was born in Chicago and then spent, you know, majority of my life here in Atlanta. I remember asking my dad after a presidential election who he voted for. And the table went silent. He literally put his utensils down and said, you never ask someone who they voted for. That's my business. No, not yours. My dad would not tell me.

Billy Gardell (31:12)

My dad used to drink a bar in Pittsburgh that has a sign over the bar to this day day that says, no religion or politics discussed at the bar or you will be asked to leave. Yeah, because they knew, they knew that we were supposed to respect each other's opinions. We weren't supposed to be at each other's throats. Yeah, and, and, and I don't know where we lost that. My dad taught me a very cool thing about voting. He said, never listen to the politician and never listen to just the news. And that was back when all the news has had one story. Now it's whatever you want. Watch. Yeah, but his thing was go find out who your local representatives are and who you want for president. Go back and look online@Government.org and look at their voting record. And does that line up with things you believe? Do you. Okay, if you believe. Do you believe in health care? Do you believe in Medicaid? Do you believe in Social Security? Do you believe in social programs to help the less fortunate? Do you understand how those programs work? Do your investigation. And then look at. Did this person vote for higher wages in my area? Did this person vote for lower taxes in my area? Because they're going to say whatever they're going to say, but you cannot hide from a documented vote. And he said, inform your opinion that way. And I always tried to do that because I think it was very smart.

Guest or Co-host (32:34)

Very smart.

Chrissy (32:35)

I'm giving a piece of advice to all of the young, younger folks who listen to this show. And I know there's some. Go see Billy when he's out on tour because this guy's gonna.

Billy Gardell (32:47)

I'm rooting for you, kid. Rooting for you.

Chrissy (32:50)

They need somebody to root for. They really do. Because you're right about this. Is that every comic, every show, every. You know, and God bless the daily shows and all that. I love. I love them, but they do take low blows at the generation because they see them as ladies.

Billy Gardell (33:03)

It's an easy shot. Yeah, it's. It's an easy shot to say these kids today, you know, okay, yeah, but how about we work on a solution? The solution can be funn as well.

Chrissy (33:13)

You know, There you go.

Billy Gardell (33:14)

And we have to laugh at ourselves, but until we take accountability, we can't change anything. And. And look, we were the parents from Gen X, so no one was watching us. We were feral cats. We were literally thrown out of the house at 17 and good luck to you. And. And so no one was supervising. So of course the natural reaction was going to be to overcompensate and tell these kids how wonderful they were. And. And we messed that up. They didn't mess that up. We messed that up. And so I think we have to own a little bit of that. And that always comes from open conversation. True.

Chrissy (33:49)

I. I appreciate. I could probably talk to you now about parenting. Okay, tell us about. But I want to get to something before we project. Yeah. Tell us about your new Amazon movie.

Billy Gardell (34:01)

Well, it's not. We released it. It was released about a year ago, and we did it in the art house theaters, kind of grassroots. And from there it was picked up by Apple to. I don't even know what to be is. I probably shouldn't say that. And what's the other one? Prime. Amazon prime, but it's called the Vortex, and it's about a comedian who's working at the MGM casino in the 80s. And there was actual real fire there in 1987, and they don't know how it started. And in this movie, this gambling addict, Pete Finnegan, this guy I play, has kind of a spiritual awakening and a choice he's going to have to make to either start stop or not stop. And it may or may not connect to the fire. There's a little artistic liberty there, but it's a good story. Christopher Titus is in it, who's another comedian buddy of mine I like, and my buddy Joey o' Connell and a lot of great character actors. And we did this thing for a shoestring and, you know, those are the projects that, you know, sometimes you do it out of the love of the game and something cool happens. And we've gotten a lot of nice reviews. And it. It is now a piece of tape. Like, this is what we're talking about earlier. I have to prove to the industry I can do something different. So now here is a piece of proof. Because I did it out of the love of the game. The reward was, here's an example of what I can do as a dramatic actor. And so it becomes a useful sales tool. And it was just from wanting to do something different that came.

Chrissy (35:25)

I like Christopher Tight. I like the idea of this movie. I like the thought that it's. I love Christine. I were just talking about this the other day. I like television shows and movies that have one foot on the ground. Like sometimes some of these television shows, they take so many liberties. Like, I was talking about Jack Ryan, which I love. I love Jack Ryan. I love Krasinski in this. In this role. I think he's great. But now on to the fourth season. It's like, you know, fantastical. They're shooting guns all over the place, but every bullet misses him, Right? And it's like sometimes I wish that they would just put one foot in reality. So I like the idea that this is surrounding an action actual event. There was a.

Billy Gardell (36:02)

Some of it. You got to remember too, what you're going in for. Like, you got to keep yourself in the right gear. Like you. You want that grounded stuff, you got to look for that. And then you got to remember sometimes stuff is just popcorn.

Chrissy (36:12)

Absolutely.

Billy Gardell (36:15)

That stuff's good popcorn stuff.

Chrissy (36:17)

I'm still watching it. I still love John, but I'm just. I'm. I just wish that a bullet would Hit somebody.

Billy Gardell (36:26)

Those firefights pretty good.

Chrissy (36:28)

They do. And his hair is perfect every time. And it's like, come on, man, is your hair really.

Brian (36:33)

Look, you know what?

Billy Gardell (36:33)

If I had, if I had that hair, I'd make sure it was perfect every time.

Chrissy (36:38)

I would take another. Take another season of Jack Ryan. It's really good.

Guest or Co-host (36:41)

So the vortex.

Chrissy (36:42)

Yeah, so the vortex. This, for those of you that don't know this fire is real. It actually did happen and it was a, it was a bad fire. Right. Didn't some people pass?

Billy Gardell (36:51)

I think 700 people lost their lives in that.

Guest or Co-host (36:54)

700.

Billy Gardell (36:55)

Wow. Yeah. And they could, they could never figure out how it started. All the fire inspectors and stuff, they could never figure out how that fire started.

Chrissy (37:02)

I watched a documentary about this a couple years ago back maybe back during the pandemic. And you know, the, the theory was something about, you know, somewhere in catering or something like that. But they never did come to a conclusion. The fire inspectors didn't. And a lot of people, you know, got stuck in the, in the hotel because they didn't think there was a fire. The, like fire alarm. Am I right about this? The fire alarm went off, then they turned it off.

Billy Gardell (37:25)

A lot of people, A lot of people thought that, at least the stuff I read, a lot of people thought it was like, oh, they're testing the.

Guest or Co-host (37:32)

Fire alarm, faults alarm.

Billy Gardell (37:33)

And then it was, you know, scary. So you hear an alarm go, anyway.

Chrissy (37:37)

So here is why this is interesting that you're making a movie about this, because I remember watching that documentary. Then I go to a conference in Denver and I'm in this hotel and I'm like the 7th, 8th, 9th, whatever it is up, up there, you not jumpable. Right, right. And it's three o' clock in the morning and the fire alarm is just blaring. It's going off. I jump out of bed and I get this scar. Scary sensation that I need to be making my way to the exit. Where normally I would think to myself, eh, it's just, they're just. The alarm went off or someone pulled it, you know, someone's smoking in the room or whatever. And I remember getting out, getting up, getting dressed. Yeah. And going downstairs. It ended up being nothing. But I went downstairs because I had watched that documentary about all of those people who also assumed that that's. So when you're taking on the serious role now you're doing this, you're doing this on a street shoestring budget with friends do. Did they do this? Is this part made for you or did you have to go and audition for the part?

Billy Gardell (38:36)

No, the guy directed the film. Richard Zaker is a gentleman I've known for a long time. And he said, listen man, I, I got this idea for this movie and we have just enough to make the movie, but we're barely going to be able to pay anybody. Would you read the script and if it's something you're interested in, would you let me know? So I read it and I thought, I can play this guy. And like I said, sometimes you have to bet on yourself for no money to end up making money later to show that you can do another thing. So like I said, my whole motivation going in there was let me show the industry that I am able to do this kind of acting. And so that was my whole goal for that. So it wasn't like anybody made any money off the movie. At least the actors didn't. I'm sure the producers find a way to do that. That's producer math is always better than actor math. I heard a guy tell me a long time ago, he said, you go to an actor's house, you see a picture of them with another famous person. You go to a producer's house, you see a Monet.

Chrissy (39:36)

Yeah, exactly.

Billy Gardell (39:39)

But I went into that knowing that I wasn't doing it to make money. I was doing it because I wanted to keep evolving as an actor. That was why I did it.

Chrissy (39:49)

Yeah. Well, congratulations on that success. Tell us a little.

Guest or Co-host (39:53)

I know that I'm excited to watch it.

Chrissy (39:54)

Yeah. Actually I do want to watch it now. So tell me a little bit about your tour of these theaters. Starts at the end of this month, right? January.

Billy Gardell (40:02)

Yes. I got, I start the end of January and then we're out like two, two theaters. One Friday, one Saturday. And then we do one weekend in February and then March and April. It's every weekend until the end of April. Wow.

Chrissy (40:18)

Is it difficult? Yeah, you are grinding. But that's what the, that's being a stand up comics all about, right? It's like.

Billy Gardell (40:24)

Yeah, it is these days. The travel is a little harder on me, but other than that, it's great.

Chrissy (40:29)

Yeah, well, you're doing it smart. You do Friday and Saturday, you take the week off.

Billy Gardell (40:33)

Yeah, I got. Well, I'm like, I'm like an old baseball player. I need four days rest.

Guest or Co-host (40:37)

Yeah, I hear you.

Chrissy (40:39)

You're a starting pitcher.

Billy Gardell (40:41)

I don't know if I'm probably middle relief these days, but I still need about four days.

Chrissy (40:45)

Well, hey, I find you to be a terribly Enjoyable human being to talk to.

Guest or Co-host (40:49)

You are absolutely.

Billy Gardell (40:50)

You guys were a treat, man. Thank you.

Chrissy (40:53)

Billy Gardell watch his movie Vortex, now available on Tubi prime and Apple. And then I will put L links in the show notes so that you can buy a ticket. If he's coming close, go see him. Don't. Don't let your age dissuade you from seeing Billy. If you're 20 years old, he's got some good advice for you. He's literally.

Billy Gardell (41:13)

I'm on your side.

Chrissy (41:14)

Yeah, he's on your side and you need somebody on your side. That's why. That's. I was talking with someone about this. Maybe it was you, Chrissy. That's why all of these dad accounts that are popping up all over the place where these older gentlemen are giving advice to the younger generation are so incredibly popular. Because I think a lot of kids, they feel lost and probably, you know, babying small children, babying children through life maybe wasn't the best idea, right?

Billy Gardell (41:40)

No, it wasn't. And I also find too, that here's a good dad tip. I don't have a dad thing, but I mean, like, I wish I had.

Chrissy (41:49)

Maybe you should.

Billy Gardell (41:50)

Well, my son said I should do one called Ask Pops, but I should. I will give you a good piece of advice as father to father, especially when you're at the 10 year old. So spot as they get into their teens, share your experience, not your opinion. In other words, it's much easier for them to feel like they're included and they have a choice. When you use words like I instead of you. When you say, I went through that, this is how I felt. This is what I did.

Chrissy (42:20)

Yeah.

Billy Gardell (42:21)

And that gives them the ability to one, choose for themselves. Two, recognize that three, feel like they're included and not just being lectured. Because if you wag your finger at your kid too much, they just roll.

Chrissy (42:32)

Their eyes and go, yeah, it turns them off. Yeah. But it's like my wife said, if I share all my teenage experiences, I was a real idiot. So my kids.

Billy Gardell (42:43)

Gotta edit some of that stuff.

Guest or Co-host (42:46)

Yeah, yeah.

Chrissy (42:47)

Dad smoked a doobie every once in a while. But I was not arrested at a strip club with a bag of whatever. No, I'm kidding. All right, Billy, you're welcome back anytime.

Guest or Co-host (42:58)

Thanks so much.

Billy Gardell (42:59)

I would love to come back. You know, I always watch the podcast, podcasts that I'm coming on and, and I enjoy you guys. You guys are good. And I. And I appreciate you having me. I really do. Thank you.

Chrissy (43:09)

It's been really enjoyable. I'M I'm super glad that we got this done. Thank you to Billy. All the links in the show notes. We're rooting for you.

Billy Gardell (43:17)

Let's go.

Chrissy (43:18)

Talk to you soon.

Billy Gardell (43:19)

Thanks, guys.

Chrissy (43:19)

Okay.

Rachel (43:22)

Okay. You're probably wondering why I, Rachel, have taken over the voice duties at TC cb. It's pretty simple. Astrid asked me to shut Brian up, even for a minute. Well, lovely Astrid, your wish is my command. Do you want to help Astrid too? You know you do. Leave a message for her or me or Chrissy at 212-4333 TCB. That's 212-433-3822. You can be on the show too. Just call and say something, anything. Or text us and we'll text you a right back. Promise. Then head over to tcbpodcast.com and get your free sticker. It's your constitutional right to a sticker and we must abide. You get the point? Follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and watch all the episodes on video@YouTube.com TheCommercialBreak Best to you and Astrid. Especially Astrid.

Brian (44:21)

I mean, what. What happened? I don't know what I expected, but I don't know what happened. I felt like my dad, my best friend and my brother all showed up in the same human being and his name was Billy Gardell. And yes, he looks completely different, but it was a life saving opportunity. He took it. Good for him. May we all be blessed with many years of Billy Gardell's health, his wisdom and his wealth. I'll taking his money, that's for sure. All right, all the links are in the show notes below. So just go there and you can go to. I think it's BillyGardell.com. it is BillyGardell.com. you can go there. He's of course doing a few shows. He's going to be in Iowa, I see here, Napa, California, Las Vegas, Eugene, Oregon. He'll be doing both small and big venues. So if you can go get your tickets. Young kids, young kids, do not be afraid to go see Billy Gardelle. You might learn something. And we all need to learn something. He's rooting for you. He's on tour. He's got the new movie, do it All, See it All. And then of course, Mike and Molly.

Chrissy (45:27)

I heart Abashola.

Brian (45:29)

I think those are both in syndication on one of the many streaming platforms we are all currently struggling to pay for. I don't know about you, but we're going to have to make some tough decisions pretty soon. Am I going to keep BBC on prime or am I going to have.

Chrissy (45:46)

To let go of Pluto plus?

Brian (45:48)

I don't know yet. But I will make those decisions soon and I will keep you posted.

Billy Gardell (45:53)

Okay.

Chrissy (45:54)

All right. Okay. All right.

Brian (45:56)

Now let's talk about the commercial break for a minute. If you would like to join the commercial break live during a recording, Tuesdays and Thursdays, right at about 1pm Eastern Standard or Time, we go live on YouTube.com thecommercial break. You can get in there, you can jump in, you can do some commenting. We do now have the ability to bring people into the show on video. So I imagine we will start that, if not next week, the week after that. We'd love to have you come and be a part of the show. A lot of you have now texted in about the new TCB Classic that will start running on Tuesdays. So if you have a have an idea for a TCB Classic, let me know and roll your dice. Who knows, you could be one that.

Chrissy (46:39)

I talk about on air right here.

Brian (46:40)

At the commercial break on Instagram and tcb podcast.com for all the audio, all the video and your free sticker. Okay, no, Chrissy, I guess that's all I'm gonna do for today. But I will say that I love you. Best to you and best you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time. I will say, I do say I must say goodbye.

Chrissy (47:31)

If you got a softie in your brain, you're going to have a softie in your pants, you know what I'm saying?