TCB Infomercial w. Tom Papa

Summary

The Commercial Break – “TCB Infomercial w. Tom Papa” (March 12, 2024)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Commercial Break welcomes acclaimed comedian Tom Papa for a lively, irreverent “infomercial” episode. Hosts Bryan Green and Krissy Hoadley riff on comedy, podcasting, parenthood, internet culture, and—of course—bread. The conversation blends Tom’s wisdom, showbiz stories, and self-deprecating humor from both the hosts and their guest, staying faithful to TCB’s chaotic, unfiltered vibe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Late-Night Comedy, Industry Change, and Podcasting Evolution

• The Changing Path for Comedians (32:28 – 35:45)
  • Tom recalls his frequent appearances on late-night shows like Letterman, Conan, and Leno, noting the process and excitement but also how “the infrastructure even for doing those shows is so they can get content for social media now” (34:34, Tom).
  • The hosts and Tom discuss how podcasting and platforms like TikTok have overtaken late-night in importance for comics' careers.
  • “More people will see your joke on social media than will ever see you on a late-night show now. It’s almost like the late-night sets are just for the clips.” (34:24, Tom)

2. The Podcast Hustle: Origin Stories & Shared Struggles

• Starting Out and Pandemic Podcasters (14:32 – 17:43)

  • Both TCB and Tom’s "Breaking Bread" podcast started just before or during the pandemic, evolving from side projects to real creative outlets.
  • Tom is reluctant to call his endeavors “pandemic projects,” emphasizing he was “baking bread a couple years before the pandemic [...] people are like, oh, yeah, because of the pandemic. I'm like, no, no, I actually do it and like it and shut up.” (16:29, Tom)
  • Memorable moment: Bryan jokes he had “three children—two of which during the pandemic... I don't think that was a pandemic project..." (16:44, Bryan)

• Monetization & Family Support (27:03 – 29:21)

  • Discussion on the reality of podcast/Youtube earnings; the joke, “I'm doing boner pill host reads. Just trying to make a living. They don't pay very good and I have to use them in order to get a personal experience... It's a miserable life I live.” (31:00, Bryan—humorously referencing podcast ad reads)

3. Parenting, Kids & Generational Gags

• Kids’ Unfiltered Honesty (04:11 – 08:29)

  • Hilarious anecdotes from Bryan and Krissy about how children repeat private or unintended comments (e.g., “Daddy, I think I've heard you say Blue’s not gonna be alive for very long... sometimes you say, I wish you were dead.” 05:35).
  • Bryan’s attempt to teach compassion and tact after a child refers to grandma's "big belly" (07:23).
  • Tom describes his own kids’ transition to college and marvels at the digital world of youth (25:40 – 27:57).

• Subscription Mayhem & Digital Mischief (27:54 – 30:47)

  • Both hosts and Tom recount kids and teens running wild with parental PayPal and streaming accounts for games and shows.
  • “My five year old has made more damaging charges on my card than I can tell you... I wake up—PayPal $119 Hot Wheels app...” (27:57, Bryan)
  • Tom on lingering app subscriptions: “My daughter, at 5 years old, her password was a unicorn. Fuzzy lamb chop. 543. Right. And we had no record of it...” (28:50, Tom)

4. Showbiz, Writing, and the Craft of Comedy

• Onstage Nerves & Evolving Venues (19:14 – 22:58)

  • Tom explains he’s confident doing standard stand-up shows (“I’m as comfortable there as I am other places” 19:24), but special events (like award shows) still bring nerves.
  • Tells “best and worst” stories about hosting different events—nice riff on the unpredictability of crowds.

• Shared Bonds Among Comedians (23:57 – 25:21)

  • Even among comics who “think we know each other even more than we do...there's this—it’s like when you see a cousin...there’s just this...you light up” (24:01, Tom).

• Influence and Student Mentality (45:55 – 48:54)

  • Tom gives shout-outs to Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Cosby, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor.
  • “I gravitate towards the ones who are a little more written, who are like, really kind of attack it that way... That was the biggest thing that calmed me down as a young comic—learning that it was a craft you could get better at...” (47:57, Tom)

• The Myth of Mastery (50:59 – 52:28)

  • Tom shares his persistent “impostor syndrome,” admitting, “I don’t think I’m grown up yet,” and that the vulnerability of creating and presenting new material never really goes away.

5. Social Media: Opportunity & Overexposure

• Access, Mystique, and Brand Building (37:02 – 43:55)
  • Tom marvels at today’s creative freedom: “It’s insane you have a TV studio in your pocket...I can literally put on a stand, knead some bread in my kitchen and put it up and 500,000 people get to watch it.” (37:23, Tom)
  • Warns about loss of mystique: “If I was a kid...and I could be on my phone and see [George Carlin] talking to me [...] It does also take away some of the mystique...there's only so much we know about him.” (42:00, Tom)
  • Hosts agree that comedians are expected to be ever-accessible, while movie stars (like Matt Damon, whom Tom references) can benefit from remaining rare.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On podcasting versus late-night:

  • “The impact that it has for your career is so diminished from what it was. I could see it not being a goal for...I mean, I truly don't think about it all that much.” (34:36–35:07, Tom)

• On teaching kids tact:

  • “He goes, oh, I want to give you a hug on your big belly. And I was like, oh, don’t say that, don’t say that...” (07:23, Bryan)

• Comic camaraderie:

  • “It’s like when you see a cousin...It’s just different, and they just light up. It’s different than seeing a friend...it doesn’t even—we don’t necessarily have to know each other, but we know we are part of that same family.” (24:01–24:25, Tom)

• Bread, bread, bread:

  • “My favorite bread is this olive loaf. It has, like, green olive and kalamata olives, herbs de provence and lemon zest mushed into it...that bread is like—that one, really.” (53:36–54:04, Tom)

• On perpetual uncertainty:

  • “It may not be youthful...but it makes you feel vulnerable. So as much as you can have things on your resume and all that, you still feel a little wobbly when you've got to take this new dumb idea and think that it's important enough for all these people to listen to it…” (51:49–52:28, Tom)

• Tom on crafting jokes:

  • “...the thing that calmed me down the most as a young comic was learning that it was a craft that you could get better at. You were all funny when you start, but then how do you harness that into being a standup comedian for your life?” (48:12–48:54, Tom)

• On social media’s TV-studio-in-your-pocket power:

  • “I can literally take my phone and put it on a stand and roll some...knead some bread in my kitchen and put it up and 500,000 people get to watch it. I mean, that’s insane.” (37:23–37:43, Tom)

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Structure, Banter & Tone

• The tone throughout is loose, unfiltered, self-aware, and riff-driven—“the Cheesecake Factory of comedy podcasts.” The hosts blend personal oversharing, meta-commentary about their podcast hustle, and awe at their more famous guest—even as Tom tries to keep things humble.

• Tom is charmingly approachable, happy to talk process, subscribe to gentle self-doubt, and roll with TCB’s anarchic energy.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |----------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:40 | Show opens: riffing on “Netflix Is a Joke,” intro to Tom Papa | | 03:50 | Discussion: Tom as “Papa of comedy,” family anecdotes | | 10:28 | Tom Papa joins the conversation | | 14:32 | Tom/hosts compare pandemic-era podcast starts | | 19:14 | On nerves, hosting, and award shows | | 23:57 | The subtle bonds among working comedians | | 27:54 | Parent/kids digital chaos & subscriptions | | 31:00 | Jokes about podcast monetization struggles | | 32:28 | Changes in late-night/showbiz landscape | | 37:02 | Social media’s influence and power for comics | | 45:55 | Carlin, writing, and reverence for the craft | | 53:36 | Baking bread: Tom’s favorite recipe revealed | | 54:46 | Jokes about “cruising” and bread |

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Additional Highlights

• Bread talk is sincere and enthusiastic—from sourdough English muffins to Tom’s olive loaf (53:36).
• Frequent callbacks to the “trattoria vs. trattoria” pronunciation debate (20:58, 55:19).

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode is a rambunctious yet insightful journey into comedy’s present and past with Tom Papa, mixing inside-baseball standup lore, pandemic podcast confessions, parental fails, internet absurdities, and bread worship. Tom is candid about vulnerability, the discipline and craft of standup, the vanishing mystique of fame, and how the world’s changed for comics—and just as happy riffing with two hosts who come at the chat with warmth and giddy admiration.

If you like conversational improv with a blend of self-aware chaos and genuine insight, plus a hefty sprinkle of bread puns, this episode is a stand-out comfort listen.

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Links:

• Tom Papa: tompapa.com
• The Commercial Break: tcBpodcast.com

Notable closing sentiment:
“Don’t believe the good news or the bad news. None of it’s real... That’s a good mindset when you’re creating—it drives hunger, makes you want to be better.” (52:30–53:20, Bryan & Tom)

Transcript

[A]

Is your inspirational quote, we're all fat, so eat more bread. On this episode of the commercial break, I wrote him. I said, please, I'm a podcaster. Do you understand?

[B]

I work for free.

[A]

I'm trying. I'm doing boner pill host reads. Just trying to make a living. They don't pay very good, and I have to use them in order to get a personal experience. Experience. It's a miserable life I live.

[B]

The next episode of the commercial break starts now.

[A]

Yeah, boy. Oh, yeah. Guys and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and beautiful co host of the commercial break, Kristen, Joey Hoadley. Best to you, Kristen.

[C]

Best to you, Brian, and best to.

[A]

You out there in the podcast universe. Netflix. Netflix, take note. I just want to say this out loud. Netflix, take notes, take note. And I think every person who has it was on Netflix as a joke this year is swinging by the commercial break for a little. How you do.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Yes. Feels like we're the. You heard it here last. I think Netflix has an order, you know? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, Conan. Yeah, get him on there. Ah, Stern. Maybe. Maybe Stern will do a two hour long interview with him. Uh, what about Jimmy Kimmel? Sure, put him on Kimmel. And then they go down the list, down the list, down the list. And then they're like, the commercial break, I guess. I mean, if we fucking have to, I guess we'll throw them there and we're blessed to have them. Don't. Don't make mistake. I'm super blessed.

[C]

Oh, I know.

[A]

I'm just noticing a little pattern that's going on and I'm happy to be a part of it. Happy to be a part of it. But I want them to take note because next time Netflix is a joke comes around in 2025, I think it just would be appropriate if they would just send us to some of these places where Netflix is a joke is happening and let us do the interviews live there where they're actually doing a set or whatever it happens to be. Netflix is a joke.

[C]

Some great idea.

[A]

Yeah. Some of them are recorded for Netflix and then others are just shows sponsored by Netflix. And then I guess some people are doing, you know, specials during that Netflix is a joke thing, it seems. Feels like Netflix is a joke. Lasts all year, doesn't it?

[B]

Isn't that.

[A]

I don't know. I don't know. We'll get. We'll get the lowdown. And Reed, where's the Dinner invitation. I'm serious. Mr. Hastings. I should be respectful. Mr. Hastings, if you don't mind. Where's the dinner invitation, the private plane, the limousines? Tom Papa's bread. Yeah, Tom Papa's bread. Tom hasn't sent us any bread. And I'm gonna ask him because this is a TCB infomercial day and Mr. Tom Papa is going to be joining us.

[D]

I know.

[A]

I can't believe it.

[C]

Yeah, I feel like I love him so much.

[A]

He is great. I think the first time I saw him must have been Letterman, don't you think? Don't you think it was like way back in Letterman or something like that?

[C]

Yeah, I've seen quite a few of his specials and I just love his brand of humor.

[A]

He feels like. I don't want to say this pejoratively, like negatively, but. And I'm not even sure those two words mean the same thing, but. But they sound fancy, so I'll say them. I feel like Tom is like your best friend, like the dad of comedian. Like, he's really level headed and very, you know, calm, cool, collected. And all of the comedians that I have seen him with, and I do listen to his podcast. All of comedians that come or stars that come to his show, they all seem to be so reverent of Tom. You know, he's not like, he doesn't get a lot of ball busting. He's just like a. He's like the guy that everybody wants to go have a conversation with. The exact opposite of the commercial break. So it makes sense that he's on the show today.

[C]

Yeah, we'll ask him about that.

[A]

I do love me some Tom.

[C]

He's like the papa comedy.

[A]

He is like the papa of comedy. Speaking of papas, I do have to tell you just like a little, a little side note, a little funny conversation that happened between me and one of my children the other day. I said, hey, kids, what's going on at school? You know, I like to check in with them once, of course.

[C]

How was your day at school?

[A]

Once or twice a year, I like to check in with them, make sure they're doing okay.

[C]

How was your year at school?

[A]

Yeah, how was your year at school?

[B]

How.

[A]

How's your last year of high school going? Good. Yeah. No, I'll probably make it to the graduation ceremony if I don't have an interview from someone with Netflix as a jo. And. And I. And he's kids said. One of my kids said, yeah, it's going great. Today we're learning about things that are alive and not alive. So they're very young. All my children are very. All 22 of them are very young. They're all under the age of five. Figure that out. It's a good Irish Catholic family. Irish Catholic, Venezuelan family we got going on here. Some of them don't look much like me, but I'm not going to complain. I like them, so I'm not going to complain. So. And I like my wife.

[C]

He goes, they're tax write offs.

[A]

Yeah. He goes, yeah. Or I said, wow, things that are alive and not alive. Give me an example. He says, well, that ball over there is not alive, but my sister is alive. And I go, oh, that's right. Give me another example. He says, the table is not alive, but the dog Blue is alive. And I said, oh, that's really good. Listen. And I go, oh, that's really good. So Blue is alive and the table's not alive. And he goes, yeah, but Daddy, I think I've heard you say that Blue's not going to be alive for very long. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he goes, well, sometimes you say, I wish you were dead.

[C]

Oh, great.

[A]

And I was like, oh, no. He's been listening into the commercial break door. Because I really don't talk like that in front of my children. No, no, I just. I just throw the dog in another room and go, go yourself. And I was like, oh, this is it. These kids pick up on everything.

[C]

They always do. Way.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do your little nephews pick up on everything?

[C]

Yes. Luca is very smart and remembers the memory.

[A]

It's unbelievable. Yeah, I know. They're like little, little cages. It's like they throw them in there and they. It's like jail. It's like solitary. Their brains are filled with none of the concerns that we have. Money, children, right? Time, energy, effort. We got to go here, we got to go there. I got to get insurance, Whatever the deal is. They're not filled with all of this junk that our heads filled. Who's going to be the next president?

[C]

You know, everything's new.

[A]

Everything's new. So when they pick up on something, it literally goes into solitary confinement to be let out in the most inappropriate of ways. So we have larger members of our family.

[B]

And.

[A]

And I don't think I. She would mind sharing. Grandma, Kiki, Vicky, my mom is a larger lady. She shared that on the show before. And so we were watching. I was watching my 600 pound life one time, and one of my kids said, why are they so big? Why is Their belly so big. And I said, well, you know, it could be a number of things. Maybe they ate too much, maybe they're sick. Maybe they, you know, whatever. I was kind of going through explanations that I felt wouldn't unnecessarily prejudice him into weird conversations that sounded judgmental. Right. I was trying to be, like, as nice as I could about it.

[C]

Sure.

[A]

And so Grandma Kiki comes over one day, and Grandma Kiki says, come here, you know, give me a hug. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, oh, I want to give you a hug on your big belly. And I was like, oh, don't say that, don't say that. And this is like two months after we had this conversation about my 600 pound life. And so I pulled him aside and I said, hey, you can't say that. Like, you don't say that to people's faces. Like, it's really hurtful. And he was like, oh, okay. He didn't understand a word I was saying because he went right back to my mom and he's like, are you sick? Do you eat too much candy or pizza? And I was like, oh, here we go. Here we go. How do we teach these kids? How do we get them? And they're also at the age where they start saying things and you have no idea where they learned these things. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. No idea where they learned them and. And they start saying them to you. It's like on a television show or something. They start saying it, you know, like, get the heck out of here. The other day, one of my kids was like, get the heck out of here. And I was like, where did you learn that? Who says that to you? Mommy says it behind your back all the time.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Good old Mommy. You can always count on her. All right, listen, Tom Papa. Tompapa.com he's got Netflix specials. He's on his fourth. He's got a podcast, Breaking Bread with Tom Papa, which is great. He's on Sirius XM for what a Joke with Tom Papa and guests. I feel like in a lot of ways our podcast journey has been similar. While I don't feel we're as funny as Tom Papa, nor do I think it was as famous as Tom Papa, but I feel like in a lot of ways our podcast journey is similar. I'd like to talk to him about that.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

So many great things, but Tom Papa has done, including some movies that are some of my favorites. Behind the Candelabra. He's also was in the Informant with Matt Damon, which is a brilliant movie and he stars alongside Matt Damon. I'd love to talk about that. And we'll get a chance to ask him about all of this stuff. You guys, go to tompapa.com, check out his tour, check out his Netflix special, check out his new book, SiriusXM, all that good stuff. We'll put all the links in, the pertinent details inside of the show notes so that you don't have to do too much Googling yourself, you lazy bastards. And then, you know, we'll ask him about his kids, too. We'll ask if his kids have little mind traps also. What do you think?

[C]

I bet they do.

[A]

Okay, so Tom Papa with us. After this, we'll be back.

[D]

I know you're already on your phone, so pull up Instagram and follow us hecommercial break and then follow us on TikTokCBpodcast.

[A]

Done.

[D]

Perfect. Thank you. Since you're at the ready, why not text us hello at 212-4333, TCB. Or if you've got some drama in your life, a little fun story or anything, really. We're desperate for content. Call and leave us a message at 212-433-33, TCV. And don't forget to check out tcvpodcast.com because that's got it all. Speaking of having it all, let's listen to our fabulous sponsors and get back to the commercial break.

[A]

And Tom Pappa's here with us now. Tom, thank you so much. It's wonderful to have you on the show.

[C]

Hello, Tom.

[B]

Nice to see you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for wearing the same glasses that I have.

[A]

Yeah, well, I don't know if they're exactly the same, but I did have that pair of. How long have you been wearing glasses? That's a great question.

[B]

I've been wearing glasses for, like, 10 years.

[A]

For 10. I should have been wearing them since I was about 12 years old, but I took a break and I think one time.

[C]

A cool break.

[A]

Yeah, a break. And then it made my eyes worse, so now I'll be wearing them forever and ever and infinity. Tom, before we get into the meat and potatoes of you being here on the show, Chrissy and I have a pressing question to ask you. Do you have a will? Are your legal affairs in order should you pass away?

[B]

Yes, they are.

[C]

Okay, just.

[A]

Just wondering because we're going through some family drama with wills and estates. We had a long conversation about PSA.

[C]

For everybody out there.

[A]

Get your affairs in order.

[B]

It is a very uncomfortable subject. For sure. Yeah. You kind of like, you feel like, are we talking about this? I'm putting the whammy on us at the same time. Then there's all of the who's going what to who? And then we did it. My wife and I drafted it. And I was literally thinking the other day, where is it?

[C]

Right.

[B]

Is there a copy? Like, they literally. Old school. Give you the binder.

[A]

The hard copy. Yeah, the binder.

[B]

Yeah. Big hard copy thing. It's like, this should be like a PDF. Like, why is.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

There should be a copy of. Why did you give that to me 10 years, like 20 years ago? And where is it? I don't even. I don't know if my second child is on it. Here's the other one, though. Is. Okay. You've got to do that, like, official thing. Okay. We know where everything's going and who's going to take care of the kids when they're little and blah, blah, blah. But there's all these other uncomfortable conversations you should be having, which I know my wife and I haven't had, which is okay. So if you die, what do you want us to do? Yeah. Do you want to be scattered somewhere? Do you want to go back to New Jersey? Do you want to be. What? Like, we haven't discussed that at all.

[A]

Oh, you got to have that conversation.

[B]

I know. Otherwise you're just putting it on the other person. And you know, when you're in a relationship for a long time, you love that person and you don't really support all their decisions.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Or any of them.

[B]

I can see my wife, like, I can see my wife coming up with a horrible idea. So I. And do it. Do you have to write that down, or can I just tell her.

[A]

You can just tell her that shit. You don't have to worry about. Like, if you.

[C]

But what if she gets dementia? Then.

[A]

Oh, what if she does have dementia or something like that? There's all these little things.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

You might want to write that down or. Yeah. Or you're. I always thought about walking around Los Angeles with your ashes going, where did he tell me?

[B]

A little here, a little there. Yeah, I don't. I. I thought about. And I don't even know if I still have it. Of having a folder on my laptop.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Saying, you know, this is the. This is the final folder you should open, and in there you contain all of the uncomfortable things you don't want to talk about.

[A]

Yes. Here's where I keep all My secrets. My girlfriend gets paid $300 a month. Please send it here. The apartment is okay.

[B]

Don't ask questions.

[A]

It's over.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I told my wife, whose name is Astrid, I said Astrid. And I do have a folder on my laptop. Doesn't care. It doesn't contain, like, all the morbid details, but it contains some of the more details that she may not normally deal with, has nothing to do with finances. She handles those because I'm terrible. But it says, you know, like, in case of this podcast could possibly in the future, at some point, make actual money. So please protect it. And here's the people you contact who might be able to help you with that.

[C]

Wishful thing.

[A]

Wishful thinking. That's what I should like.

[B]

The optimism. I like the optimism.

[A]

You've been in the podcast business here. Kirsty and I were doing a little comparison because we've noticed we've shared some guests, and then we started to notice that there's a pattern. You. Not. Not necessarily a pattern, but you started your podcast very shortly after us, like a week or two after.

[B]

Oh, really?

[A]

Was this a pandemic project for you? You just felt like, let me do something. Because I felt like we started a week before lockdowns began to happen, and that allowed us to get a little bit more serious about it, because what the hell am I going to do otherwise?

[C]

Right?

[A]

I'm stuck in the house.

[B]

I know. They really.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I also have this. This SiriusXM show.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And we were in the studio, and then we shifted over and kept doing it from our home studios. And that thing was a lifeline. I mean, that we were doing that through such a weird part was. Was great. So. I know exactly what you're saying. But my podcast started, like I had different iterations of it, and I was always kind of doing it, but kind of like never really focusing on it. It was always just like, something I did on the side. I went through periods where I'd have great guests and all these great interviews on what was Come to Papa. And then I had my buddy Paul, who used to open for me. He would be on it. And then it kind of morphed. And then about the timing that you're talking about a week from you guys, I really started just dialing it in and really wanting. Starting to enjoy it more and kind of had a, like, a clear vision of, oh, no, I should really, like, focus on this and have fun with it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, you know, if I'm going to continue doing it, I should want to get to the mic and have some fun.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

And, yeah. And so that's when it kind of, like, when it. When it kind of clicked in. It's funny. I have a hesitation of saying anything is a pandemic pursuit. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like, because.

[A]

Is it over now?

[B]

Yeah, it's like, yeah, like, I bake bread all the time. And I started that, you know, a couple years before the pandemic, and people are like, oh, yeah, because of the pandemic. I'm like, no, no. I actually do it and like it and shut up.

[A]

I had three children, two of which during the pandemic, and someone's like, oh, pandemic babies. I'm like, no, I don't think that was a pandemic project. We were kind of knocking it.

[B]

We were.

[A]

We were doing that long before the pandemic started. But while we're at it, I guess so. But then I. I can blame all their silliness on the pandemic. I'm like, I don't worry about them. They're a pandemic baby.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, right. Exactly.

[A]

When the teacher calls like, they're not.

[B]

D students, they're pandemic babies.

[A]

The teacher calls and is like, your son tried to gouge somebody's eyes out today. He's a pandemic baby.

[B]

You got to 20, 20, 2020.

[A]

The good old days. I think, for Chrissy and I, where I. I think we had a kind of a. Something similar happen to us in that it was just something fun to do at first. We said, well, if we're having fun doing it, then why not? Yeah. And then, because 2020 hurt a lot of us financially, Then we thought, well, maybe we could make this into a business. We're still waiting for that to happen, but.

[B]

Right.

[C]

We're still trying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. The supply chain's back and inflation's down, but still trying to make money off.

[A]

And that's the case with almost every podcaster, I'm sure of it. But then. Yeah, it's like. Then you start to focus a little bit more on what. What actually is happening on the show. You give it some personality, and the show takes on its own personality. And I think yours has a. It's got a. It's a great premise. And then you have these, you know, comedians mainly, and I'm sure you've had others on, too, but you have this. Comedians that come in and they're. You sit at this table. On the YouTube version, at least, you sit at this table. It's got A checker, red and white, checkered table, like an Italian trattoria. And you've got a bottle of Chianti sitting there and you break bread with them and it's just, it's so cool. It's familiar to me. I worked at a trattalian, an Italian trattoria for a long time, and I look at that and I, I. It brings back memories of the time that I was working at that trattoria with a bottle of Chianti on every table. On every single table. You get so much reverence from your guests. I. You've been doing this for, I don't want to say so long because I don't want to date you, but I feel like I might have seen you first when you were on Letterman back in the day. And do you feel, having been having done this so long, do you feel now so comfortable getting up on stage and doing a set, or do you still get some nerves around it? What's that feeling, that seven.

[B]

What do they call it?

[A]

Seven foot walk? Is that what they call it? The seven foot walk to the mic or something?

[B]

It depends on the situation. You know, I mean, I'm, of course, you know, 30 years in. I'm very comfortable there. I'm as comfortable there as I am other places.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But there, it depends if it's a new situation, like, I just had to host this award show last Saturday night, and you're walking into an environment where they aren't there to see me. They may not like comedy, they may not stop talking. They may. It could go horribly wrong. So that day is ruined. Leaning up to that.

[C]

How'd it go?

[B]

And it went great. They were awesome. They were all paying attention. And I got to kill right off the top. And then it was just. I was a hit for the rest of the night, which is not how an award show a month earlier went. You just walked the whole time, did not care. You were like a substitute teacher and just a nightmare. So anyway, the. If it's an unknown situation, if there's factors that are out of my control, of course you could. The nerves will be there a little more. But if I'm in a theater just doing my thing, you're not nervous, you're heightened. Of course, you're about to walk in front of a thousand people and. And you're the only one who's supposed to be talking.

[A]

Yeah, they paid good money to see you. You don't want to ruin their night.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So you're definitely heightened but not nervous. You know, Back to the way you were describing my podcast with the table checkered thing. I had somebody contact me online and say that it's not pronounced trattoria, it's trattoria.

[A]

Trattoria. Oh, really? Were you saying trattoria? For a while?

[B]

She was kind of like attacking me. Like, you're from New Jersey and you're Italian and how dare you call it a trattoria. It's a trattoria.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

Well, that's aggressive. And I'm not really sure you're right.

[A]

I don't think so. I had a real Italian owner from Italy. Italian. Like he had just been here for 20 or 30 years. He was an older gentleman and every one of the managers was exactly the same. Like real Italian human beings that had lived in Italy for a portion of their life and shipped over here, I think, just to manage the restaurant and give away free bottles of Chianti. And ye. I think they all said trattoria.

[C]

Yeah, that's trattoria.

[A]

Trattoria.

[B]

I mean, trattoria sounds cooler, but it's tomato.

[C]

Tomato.

[A]

Trattoria.

[B]

Tour de France. Tour de France. Yeah. I don't know, but she has made me a little self conscious about it. But I do like that. I do like the. That aspect of it. I'm hosting in my house all the time.

[A]

And is that in your house? Do you do that in your house or do you do it in.

[B]

No, no, I have a studio and we just got this new booth made, which is really co. And I really. Yeah, and I'm working on, like getting all of the bad headshots and stuff behind us. And that part of it.

[A]

You gotta work it out.

[B]

Yeah, but the breaking bread part, I mean, there is that thing that I'm always hosting and doing and I'm always playing around with, like, do I feed them? Do I do this? Do I do that? But it's. It's really. I think there's something very funny about the Italian grandparent thing of. During the podcast. It's hard because you don't want people chewing on Mike that much. Yeah, no, that sounds very pissed off about that. But here's an espresso or. And just keep just. Just in the middle of talking. Just eat this, eat this, have a bite, have this, have more of this. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, that part to me is really fun.

[A]

I think it's very disarming, you know? Do you know Steve O. From Jackass? I know, I know you don't. Okay, so Steve O. Came on the show and One of the things that he said, you know, he's had some very interesting conversations on his podcast and I find that some of the folks you may not normally think would go talk to Steve O. And they're disarmed by Steve O. He's very, you know, he has a conversation with him and he says, you know, the key is, Brian, is that I have my dog there and I roll up in a van to their house and you know, I host them inside the van so they don't have to go anywhere, they have to do anything. And then I think the dog kind of disarms them. I think in a similar manner, you're breaking bread with them, you're all offering them something and then probably you're friends with almost, you know, a lot of these people you've been around for, for a while. So I imagine, yeah, you've done something with them at some point. It seemed like when we were listening to you with Donnell, it seems like you had, you obviously you guys have known each other, so.

[B]

Yeah, but it's an interesting thing. I mean from the comedy part of. And you know, I'm trying to expand outside of it, but you know.

[A]

Yes too. But that's.

[B]

But, but, yeah, but the. But the comedy part of it is like Donell and I know each other. We think we know each other even more than we do just cause we've seen each other around for so many years in the club. Like we've never sat down and really talked like we did on that podcast ever. You know, we had maybe a three minute conversation at most, but we'd see each other and just liked each other and liked each other's acts and knowing that you're both come from that world and you've also been doing it the same amount of time. There's just this, it's like when you see a cousin, like when I would bring my kids to see their cousins and they wouldn't have, you know, they were little and they haven't seen these people ever or only a couple of times. When they get around family, there's something different and they just light up. It's different than. Yeah, than seeing a friend. Yeah, yeah. And it's that way with the comedians. It's like, it's, it, it doesn't even. We don't necessarily have to know each other, but we know we are part of that same family.

[A]

Well, I think there's two like a journeyman aspect, journey person aspect to comedy and so a lot of. There's shared trauma and experiences and Joys and highs and lows. Even though you may not have shared that with each other directly, it's kind of like there's a commonality. We've been through this. We've seen this. And, you know, Danelle's been around for a long time, too, and so you.

[B]

You.

[A]

You even. You see each other in the clubs, and then when he has a chance. When you have a chance to take a breath and talk, there's these shared common experiences that you have. The highs and lows of being in the entertainment business and being. Do you still enjoy the travel of the getting out now? You have. You have. Do you have two. Two children?

[B]

I have two daughters, but they are now in college.

[A]

Oh, they're in college. Oh. I thought that they were younger. For some reason. I thought they were younger.

[B]

No, they just.

[A]

Well, good for you.

[B]

Left. Yeah.

[A]

Good. You want to swap? Yeah. Well, we often joke that we have. I have 13 children, but every one of them is under the age of 5 years old. And so. Yeah.

[B]

And such a long way to go.

[A]

I know. And I think you and I might be of similar age, so just imagine.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

I know.

[C]

And ours are out. Just off to college, too. And I'm like, oh.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I know.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's such a. It's such an intense experience for so many years.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I feel like I'm really kind of enjoying it, but I know it's a break also, Like, I know, like, my daughters are coming home for spring break next week, and it's like, all right, here we go. Kitchen's gonna be a disaster room. Yeah, it's just gonna be. Yeah, it's like. It's kind of a peaceful thing when they go for you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like, 20 years. I think we're allowed to enjoy it. I don't think we have to be pining and just, like, pretending that we're sad all the time.

[A]

Do they come home and are they like, hey, dad, can I have $20?

[B]

$20?

[A]

I'm trying to be nice. Assumptions.

[B]

No, it is now, like, a highly advanced digital currency scan. Yeah, they, like, they have access to all of my accounts through all of my apps, all of my things.

[A]

Venmo Cash. I went through Bitcoin.

[B]

I went through the. I went through the subscriptions that I'm paying for.

[C]

Subscriptions.

[B]

I'm like, what are we paying for? Okay, so we know we have Netflix, and we know we have Hulu. Did we ever get Max? Yeah, we have three versions of Max. We have stars. We have Peacock. We have the Hallmark Channel and like in different tiers because they just see a show and they're like, I'm gonna watch this now. And I can press this on my phone and use my dad's account, Right?

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

Hundreds of dollars.

[A]

Tom, let me tell you, even when they're five and under. My five year old has made more damaging charges on my card than I can tell you, because he knows how to work these systems almost better than I do. I walked in the other day and one of my kids is playing like this Hot Wheels game, you know, on the iPad. And here I come in there. Oh, cool. Hot Wheels game. You drive and build your own truck. That's really cool. This morning I Wake up and PayPal $119 Hot Wheels app. And I'm like, you paid for the Hot Wheels app? And I go, there's a code on there. And he goes, yeah, it's 2217. And I'm like.

[B]

I got more coins.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

There was one, there was like animal. It wasn't Animal Farm. It was something like that.

[A]

Yeah, I think it was called Animal Farm. I do remember that.

[B]

Was it Animal Farm.

[A]

You played on iPhone? Yeah.

[B]

And we paid for that for years beyond when the kids, like, we didn't even like it was gone. We didn't even know. And then we took a look at it and we're like, wait, we've been. And we couldn't find the password. Cause my daughter, at 5 years old, her password was a unicorn. Fuzzy lamb chop. 543. Right. And we had no record of it. And they would not let us cancel it. And we went back and forth for years. I gave these people money.

[A]

I'm having a fight with one of them right now. Yeah, you are, are you? Yeah. You know, I was like, you know, like everybody. I went my 20s, I went through this like, you know, reflect inward self awareness meditation, which I took a lot away from. But I got involved in and buying one of those apps, you know, I don't know if it's a meditation app or one of these things. And they charged me, whatever it was, 19.99amonth. About a year and a half ago, I realized that they're still charging me 19.99amonth. I'm sure I've changed cards like 15 times. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they're still somehow charging my this same account. So I, I write them and they say, no, that's not us. It's a similar app with a similar name. So then you know how on PayPal they give you the phone number. You know, it says, hey, contact these people. So I Google the phone number. It's the same damn application company. So I write back and I say, no, it's not here, look, it's this chart.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Well, you have to talk to this department. We'll give you their email.

[C]

Did you meditate on it?

[A]

Yeah, I meditated. Yeah. And I said, I'm too old for this. When I didn't have kids, I could be a hippie. But now I'm done with it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, no, Zen. I don't have time for Zen.

[A]

I'm a militant hippie. That's what I am. I want to be a militant hippie.

[B]

It is ridiculous.

[A]

You.

[B]

I know. It's almost like you should just get rid of all of your credit cards and start new. The only thing that's going to stop them.

[A]

Yeah, well, I thought I did charge you. I mean, I was. When I got this. What's that?

[C]

So they were at least at the limit.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[C]

The balance limit.

[A]

Eventually. Eventually. Most months. They don't have enough money to charge. Maybe they're just charging me from when I didn't pay them a couple years ago.

[B]

Just max me out.

[A]

That's right. Wrote him. I said, please. I'm a podcaster. Do you understand? I work for free. I'm trying. I'm. I'm doing Boner Pill. Host reads. Just trying to make a living. They don't pay very good and I have to use them in order to get a personal experience. It's a miserable life I live. Well, I want to go back. Like, I wanted to ask you a question because I. I do think I. I've. We're all familiar with your work, and some of your work is. Chrissy and I were going over it before the. I mean, you were in the Informant, which is a brilliant movie, by the way, and you're so good in that movie behind the Candelabra. But I do remember seeing you first, maybe on Letterman, because I was a deadhead Letterman watcher. Like, I loved it. I had to watch it every single night. And it seems like you were on almost every one of those late night television shows. I mean, you went through all of them. Conan Letterman, Jay Leno. Yeah. When you went. I just have a question, like, about the minutia of all of that. When you would go on those shows where the experience is vastly different from show to show, depending on who the host was or who the crew was. Or did you have like a favorite, like Was there one show was like, oh, this is so laid back. I enjoy these crowds, I enjoy these people. Or was it just kind of like, I'm so nervous about going out in front of 12 million people. I don't, you know, now they were.

[B]

They were pretty similar. You're pretty locked into what you do and.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the crowds are always, you know, pretty great. Pumped up, warm up guy and they're excited to be there and all of that. And I mean, the rooms could be a little different. Like Conan's back in the day was like the audience was far up in the rafters. There was nothing down low. And the Letterman, where Colbert is now, that Sullivan Theater, it was like nirvana. It was just such a perfect atmosphere of like real theater seating and the balcony even was like right on top of you. And it was only the structure of the room that changed because you were doing your thing, your way and, and it's a, it's a great kind of an environment, for sure. Yeah, it was. Yeah, they were fun to do, for sure.

[A]

Do you, do you remember Eddie Brill from Letterman? He was like one of the guys who, I guess coordinated talent, you remember? I don't know if you were ever on Clubhouse, which was a thing during the pandemic, for six and a half minutes, it was like audio.

[B]

I never did that.

[A]

Yeah, for six and a half minutes, literally was the hottest thing on earth. And then it's, it's just gone away. But I met Eddie on that app and he. And we did some, some rooms together and some interviews together and he would tell us about the minutia behind the scenes at Letterman. And that kind of stuff was always fascinating.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To me it's like how, how it all worked and how it all ticked. I think late night, as in general, seems like it might be going away. I mean, Kimmel's ready to replay.

[C]

It is definitely different.

[B]

There's not a. I mean, there's still a thing I could see with young comics where they want to, you know, check off the Tonight show and. But it's, it's crazy. The impact of it is just so different now. I mean, it's so like you can go on a great podcast or have your own podcast.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or just have your own joke on TikTok. And more people will see it than we'll see that late night show.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

Which is so bizarre because it's still, still fun to do. Those shows are still great. But it's almost like the infrastructure even for doing those shows is so they can get content for social media.

[A]

For social media.

[C]

Right.

[B]

It's such a bizarre. I mean, it's so fun. You get to go in and you're in a dressing room and there's somebody cool on the show and this host is amazing and you walk out in the cameras and it's show business. It's like, it's so great, glitzy and glamorous, but the impact that it has for your career is so diminished from what it was. And I could see it not being a goal for. I mean, I really, truly don't think about it all that much.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, which is a shame because I really love the process of it. The great thing as a comedian is to get to do those five minute sets. It was like 20 minutes of material boiled down to this perfect set. So it always kept you sharp, it always kept you refining and writing. And it was a good thing that kept you really in shape and really diligent about your act. And that is kind of like, you know, it's not the same. Yeah, no, it's like just how about do an hour special and if you're lucky enough to be on the streamers, great. And if not, post it on YouTube yourself and see if the audience likes it.

[A]

That's it. You can be self produced in a lot of way. We were talking to this young comic, Hannah Burn, the other day and she was explaining that, you know, the social media is the great equalizer when it comes to comedy now because. Or, you know, maybe not in all cases, but in her case where she's putting out a lot of content, Netflix Special and all this other stuff, she's like, I don't think without social media I would have been able to go into some of these clubs at 2 and 2 in the morning and, you know, Jersey and you know, knocking around sets because it's just a different vibe. But when I reach my audience directly with social media, then I can kind of engineer it backwards where now I can go into the clubs at midnight and be opening for a headliner and it feels different. She doesn't need the benefit of these late night shows. I think even Jon Stewart said one time when he retired the first time, he said, it's just different now. You know, Trevor Noah went on to the Daily show and killed it because he put those clips on social media and the 1 and 2 minute clips are what people saw of the Daily Show. That's how they knew the Daily show. Not from watching the Daily show, from the clips on. On social media. Do you. Yeah. Do you Engage. Do you find social media to be an interesting process for you? Or is it like, I'm doing it because I want to reach out to my audience and stay connected with them, but it's not my favorite part of comedy.

[B]

It took some time to get in to. To understand it just because I was so. From the old model of trained in the way of doing it. And so it took me a little. It took me a beat. But I do really enjoy it. Like, I really like. It's insane that you have a TV studio in your pocket.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You literally have a. Like, I can literally take my phone and put it on a stand and roll some. Knead some bread dough in my kitchen and put it up and 500,000 people get to watch it. I mean, that's insane. That is kind of crazy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you don't, you know, as a comedian, you don't get into this business to be anonymous. So the idea that you can do that is exciting. I think it takes a beat to learn how to do it your way. And I think you also, you know, with having your own studio in your pocket, you also need help. You also need people to. To cut down your clips and narrate them or caption them and do all that other stuff. And I think now at this point, I've figured it out and have the right people in place to do it. And I like it. I mean, other than that trattoria lady, most people are nice, right?

[C]

I was gonna say the personal interaction, which can be good and bad, which can be good.

[A]

And by the way, you said that nobody gets in this to be anonymous, Chrissy. And I actually did this to become anonymous. It's working just great. I'll let you know that.

[B]

Good for you.

[A]

I can walk into any stor not fearful. That's me. But I have a face for radio, so, yeah.

[B]

It'S funny. Like I. I host. Wait, wait on. Wait, wait, don't tell me.

[C]

NPR love that.

[B]

And I get to guest host it sometimes and also appear on it. And that. That has such a huge reach, that show. And it's funny how many places I'll be in and people don't recognize me and then they hear me order my coffee and they're like, hey, it literally the voice more than the face. It is a very strange thing.

[A]

It takes it off. Yeah. I mean, that's a huge show. Right.

[C]

I love that show.

[A]

Must reach, I don't know, whatever. Millions and millions of people.

[B]

Yeah. One of the producers was saying the other day, or last time I guest Hosted was that when Jon Stewart came back to the Daily show and they were talking about how great it was that their ratings were up to like a million two or something? And they were all so excited that the Daily show had. Had got those numbers again. And that's half of what? Wait, wait, don't tell me.

[A]

Wow, that's insane. Yeah, but you can have a podcast and reach millions of people or millions of downloads too. I mean, it's just. You're right about it. It's like the RSS feed isn't technology agnostic. You put it out there and if people like it, they'll find you. Yeah, and. And that's. I don't know. I think that every one of the, The. I think every one of the people that we have interviewed, comic wise in 2024, at least everyone has a podcast. And that's because it's just an extension of the brand. It's another place to practice. It's another place to get your voice out there. And like you said about having 500,000 people watch you knead bread, you might go on, you know, I don't know, maybe you go on Jimmy Kimmel these days. Right. And there might be a million and a half people watching, but the difference is this. A million and a half people.

[B]

People.

[A]

Probably not every one of them. You're their brand, you're their flavor of comedy, right? Yeah. But if you do half a million people watching your Instagram reel, it's likely most of those people are engaged in content that is similar or they have directly said, I want to see Tom Papa's content. Right. So it's like you're curating that audience and feeding them directly as opposed to showing up on a late night show once every three months and, and saying, oh, there's, you know, I hope I like that.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely more of a conversation. I mean, think about how bizarre it is even to like go through like the search on Instagram and you're seeing Anthony Hopkins or Robert De Niro, like these giants, like in their kitchen, they're doing meme videos. The Access. Yeah, I mean, the Access is. Is kind of insane. It's insane. Like if I was a kid, like, I've got that George Carlin painting behind me. Like if I was back to when I was 16, discovering him, and then I could be on my phone and see him talking to me and then hear him talk on podcasts and I mean, all I had was HBO cs. He'd pop up on. Yeah. Special. And then once in A while he'd do late night and that was it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you just walked around waiting for the next time he got to hear something from George. And as a kid, I mean, it would be the coolest thing ever if I could digest all of that stuff.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

But it does also, I think, take.

[A]

Away some of the mystique.

[B]

A little bit of the mystique, yeah. You know, like, I love that my friend Matt Damon is not on it. Like, I like that. I think it helps. I think when he does a film, people are excited to see him.

[A]

You're right.

[B]

Rather than see him, you know, at the beach or at the mall or in a game. And, you know, it's like, it's nice to have, but that's different. I think movie stars is a different thing. I think at comics, it's like you. I think the machine is built that you're supposed to be putting out funny stuff and there's all these places to do it, so you just gotta constantly feed it. I think it's. I don't. I don't think comedians really have much allure.

[A]

Well, I think, you know, there certainly are comedians I'm sure we could say have had allure. Like, Right. You know, like Eddie Murphy back in the 80s, George Carlin, like, there was just this certain sheen about them. They were really good at what they do, but they weren't as accessible. And I think it does take away some of the mystique because it makes. It makes you realize as a fan just how everyday, common, your celebrity, whatever, you know, the person that you like is just like you doing the things that you do. But you're right about Carlin. And part of the reason why I think of George Carlin as kind of like a comedy God is because there's only so much we know about him. Right. There's only so much that's out there. And I don't know what George Carlin was baking for making for breakfast. I have no idea. I don't know what he thought of eggs and strudel. Down to the restaurant down the street. And I think. Yeah.

[B]

And he didn't even talk about his family. Like, he. In his act, it was all issues. And I think that's why it lasted more than other comics. But we also left you wanting to know. Wait, wait, like, when his daughter started her show and. And we got to hear it. Like, you were thirst, you were thirsty for it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You wanted to know more about it.

[A]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[B]

It's definitely. It is an interest. It is an interesting time But I think that, look, I think for comedians specifically, it's just our job to create funny stuff and stuff that connects and you should be constantly mining it and constantly developing it. For the sake of creating it and developing it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And how it gets sold and who. All that stuff is extra. I don't think you can go into any of these things. Social media, the podcast, thinking. I'm trying to get people. I think it's gotta be. I am expressing this, I'm having fun with this. I'm putting this out in the world.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think, I think that keeps you interested in making it and then, you know, maybe people will show up.

[A]

I, I don't know if Chrissy feels the same way. We've talked about this, but I feel like the energy. I think we're best when we're not worried about who the next listener is. When we're, we're. When it's just kind of coming through us.

[B]

Right.

[A]

When we're here, creating the energy is here. It's in the right now and we're having fun with it. And it's two best friends just, just around. Yeah, yeah. And I.

[B]

And that doesn't mean you're not going to have lulls and be like, I just talked to her yesterday and I'm tired. Exactly.

[A]

Chrissy says that. That's actually what she says every day.

[C]

When she comes in.

[A]

She's like, I just saw. You have to. Yeah.

[B]

You know, it would be really good if you could download some kind of meditation app to your phone that you could listen to right before you did the show.

[C]

That's exactly right.

[A]

I'm paying for login.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I wish I had my login.

[B]

You might as well use it. You're paying for it.

[A]

My next email should be. Not cancel my subscription. But can you get my login? If you're not going to refund me, at least let me use the app, for God's sake.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is Carlin, is Carlin a huge influence on you? Is he one of your tops as far as comedy is concerned?

[B]

Yeah, for sure. It was early, like before I was a comic. It was Eddie Murphy, it was Carlin, it was Cosby, Steve Martin.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

You know, those were like the first ones that I really kind of. Richard Pryor. The first ones that like at that age when they were. I was just realizing that was a job that was. That there are grown ups doing this for a living.

[A]

It's like the Four Horsemen of 80s comedy right there. Yeah, I know.

[B]

Just so huge. But Carlin, I think 70s?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I just think that over his career, just watching his integrity, his. He could be silly, but the integrity of trying to be great and trying to communicate was. Was really, really inspiring. I think it. I think he was probably the. The top one.

[A]

He had a way of looking at the world and making it. It all make sense and knocking down hypocrisy at every turn, especially at the. Toward the end of his career, that I just think there's no one so good at that sense who has been, at least in my opinion, who has been as rhythmic, as musical, as on top of it, as quick as Carlin was at his best, in my opinion. Well, if you.

[B]

If you ever listen to interviews, he really treated standup with such reverence. He really, really was a student of the craft and. And wording and pacing and different types of jokes and how he would go about putting it all together. I mean, he really was a taskmaster. Like, he. That part of it, I really. I gravitate towards the ones who are a little more written, who are like, really kind of attack it that way. That's when I worked with Jerry Seinfeld for years. That was like. That was a perfect. He's of that ilk. And just to watch them play with words and. And really just treat it with respect, like you put all this stuff into it and you get this great life back was. Yeah, those are great.

[A]

Are you one of those. Are you one of those, like, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A study of the craft and. And you spend a lot of time, you know, kind of breaking down what other people are, what other people that you admire are doing and how they're doing it and playing. Yeah.

[B]

I think that was the biggest. The thing that calmed me down the most as a young comic was learning that it was a craft that you could get better at. This wasn't this just vibe of, you know, you were all funny when you start, but then how do you harness that into being a standup comedian for your life? And that there was actually rules to it and you could actually craft it. And there was. Yeah, all of that. That there was a working structure to it was really calmed me down and, and made me realize, oh, you know, I can do this in increments, and I will if as long as I keep doing it the right way, I should be getting better each year.

[A]

Is that because there was like, you found a method in the madness. Like, you know, you get out there at first and you're just like, trying to find what's funny, but then you realize, like, hey, there's like a, A math to this. There's a science and an art to this. And I can.

[B]

Yeah, and there's also. I think it's also finding examples of people that you could emulate because you work that way. When I was starting in New York, there were guys that would just get up there and Riff and Chappelle would go up and just be up there for an hour and David Tell would be smoking cigarettes and look like he just came out of his apartment onto the stage and it was like, I don't know. I don't know if I'm that guy. I don't know if I'm that guy. But when I would hang out with like Colin Quinn and Jerry Seinfeld and it was like, oh, no, these are writers. And even Carlin said, like, he was a writer before he was a comedian. Yeah, he considered himself a writer. Like, then I was like, oh, okay. So I. That makes sense to me that I could take my notebook to the diner and sit there every morning and go over my. Like that made sense because I never look cool holding a cigarette.

[A]

I never did either, but I sure did enjoy it for a hot minute there.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, this, this is it. Seems like things turned out okay for you, Tom. I'm just sharing that with you. Seems like everything worked out.

[B]

Maybe it could all fall apart at any second.

[C]

I don't think so.

[A]

Riding the rail, though, I mean, that's what I say. I say we're riding the rail and it sure does feel fun while. You know, it's fun while it lasts, right? And I think, yeah, I don't.

[B]

It's funny. The thing I'm going through now is like, okay, I've been doing this for a time, long, long time. But I have no, I have barely a sense of that. Like, I truly, like when I run into other people my age like that have, like run businesses or like that, you know, they're politicians, you'll read stories. And it's like, I do not see myself as them. I still see myself as like the 25 year old being like, right, guys, right? The things I say, like, I don't.

[A]

Is that funny?

[B]

I don't think I'm grown up yet. Yeah, I don't think I'm. I've grown up completely. Like, I have a family, I pay my bills, I do things. But there's another part of me that truly, truly feels like I just got here and I'm like, is this gonna work?

[A]

You know what's funny is that Chrissy and I were having this conversation is that I think we see you as kind of the opposite. Like, as one of the statesmen of comedy, one of the people who has made it and one of the people who is consistently on their game. And so. Yeah, but I know. But I know that he's like, no, it's not true.

[B]

Yeah. I think the part of it. I don't know. I mean, it could be a mental deficiency, but it could also be a. If you're constantly making stuff, you're always going to be a little vulnerable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, if you're always trying to make stuff in and feel like, will this be better than last time? Is it. Does anybody like it? You always kind of have this feeling of uncertainty.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

You're never really on solid ground, so I think that that makes you feel. It may not be youthful. It may. But it makes you feel vulnerable. So as much as you can have things on your resume and. And all that, you still feel a little wobbly when you've got to take this new dumb idea that you have and think that it's important enough for all these people to listen to it and respond the way that you want them to.

[A]

Yeah. But, you know, you don't.

[B]

You're.

[A]

You don't want to become fat Elvis. Right. It's like you. You. You want that kind of uncertainty because I think that drives a little bit of ambition. Like, if. Yeah, yeah. I felt like if I came in here and thought that I was the hottest podcaster since sliced bread, which I know I'm not. But coming in here with a little bit of humility and believing that, you know, not believing your own hype or not belief, you know, there's an old. Like, there's an old. I don't know what it is. It's from Buddhism, and it says, don't believe the good news or the bad news. Right. Don't believe the good news or the bad news. None of it's real. And I think that that's a good, like, kind of mindset to have when you're creating is like, I think that's part of the ambition. It drives the hunger, and it makes you want to be better. If you thought you were the. You would say, well, I got nothing left to do. Right. I'm here. That's it. I'm Matt Damon. I don't need to do anything else.

[B]

I'm the best.

[A]

No offense to Matt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Tom, I wish we could spend another two hours with you because you're. You're such a good conversation.

[C]

I do have One more question. What is your favorite bread? I'm a huge bread fan.

[B]

My favorite bread to make is. You know, it's all sourdough based. It all comes from that method and using that starter as your. As your yeast. My favorite bread is this olive loaf. It has, like, green olive and kalamata olives, herbs de provence and lemon zest.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Mushed into it. Yeah. That bread is like that one. Really?

[C]

That sounds incredible.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. I gotta let you go because I have some wonder bread in the pantry.

[C]

I just made a whole batch of sourdough English muffins, so I'm trying sourdough recipes.

[B]

I've never done that, but people say that's very satisfying.

[C]

Oh, so good.

[A]

Oh, I wish you would bring those in here. Sorry.

[C]

I know we're eating them. Mall at my house.

[A]

What's going on? I thought we were best friends.

[B]

Yeah. I thought you liked me.

[A]

Yeah. See? Never believe in your own hype. It's not true. Tom, we. We thank you so much. We will have you back because I'd like to finish this conversation. I'd like to debate cruising with you. That we didn't get to, but I'd like to debate cruising. Yeah, the cruising take.

[C]

I agree personally with you, Tom. Brian's a cruiser, though.

[A]

Well, listen, I also have 15 small children, and cruises are a great place to just huddle them all. What's the worst that can happen?

[B]

Yeah, and if you get killed by E. Coli. You did your best.

[A]

At least I'm getting some sun, right? There you go. Tom Papa, he's on tour. He has a new book, multiple Netflix specials. He's done it all. And anytime you want to invite us to the trattoria, we would be happy. Yes.

[C]

We're calling it.

[A]

Trattoria.

[C]

We're sticking with Trattoria.

[A]

We're sticking with the Trattoria. Yeah.

[B]

They're wrong. We're right.

[A]

Yeah. Thank you so much. We'll put all of the pertinence inside of the show notes, as we all do. Thank you, Tom. We appreciate it. Thanks.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

Enjoy. I'll see you again.

[C]

Okay, thanks.

[A]

I don't even think those letters are in the word. Like, it makes no sense that it said trattoria. But of course I'm going to be called out on this and we're going to get hundreds of text messages of people telling me just how wrong I am. But I swear that those managers used to say trattoria. But anyway, Tom Papa was fan.

[C]

Gosh, I've loved him for so long. I was a little starstruck.

[A]

I was.

[C]

Be honest.

[A]

Yeah, I think I was.

[C]

But he was like so nice and. And disarming.

[A]

I mean, he was down to earth. Totally disarming. He is the. One of the statesman's. I'm not gonna say elder statements statesman because he's not that old, but he's like one of the statesmen of comedy. He's been through it 30 years he's been doing comedy. He's been on every late night show under.

[C]

He's just wrote for Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld.

[A]

Didn't he do something with a daily show for a little while? I mean, the guy is great and he is constantly.

[C]

What an honor.

[A]

Yeah, what an honor. And he's constantly on tour and we would love it. If you go to tompapa.com get his new book, which is, I'm sure great. I haven't read it, but I'm sure it's great.

[C]

I'm going to read it.

[A]

You are, You're.

[C]

You're a book reader.

[A]

Yeah. You have time to do that kind of stuff? I do. You read and let me know how it. I'll give you the course notes. I can't even believe I that far in Reggie Watts's book, to be honest with you. I was like reading pages while my kids were taking a bath.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It was kind of insane.

[C]

Yeah. It's called we are all in this together. So make some room.

[A]

Make some room.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

And. And he's a great bread maker. And I hope that he does.

[C]

The cherry on top is that he makes wonderful bread.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

From scratch.

[A]

You know, I thought I heard him say, you have to come to my show to get that bread. So can we come to your show, Tom, is the question that we forgot to ask you directly, but Chrissy pointed out long ago when you ask them on air if they'll come back to your show, if you can be back on their show, of course they're going to say yes. They're not going to be a dick. I would be honest about it if someone asked me, you know, if I was like a guest on their show. We'll see. Like my children. Yeah. It's like parenting by distraction. It's like, okay, let's clean up your room and eat dinner and then we'll talk about the Mickey Mouse watch. Okay. In hopes that you forget it. But of course they don't because they're like little animals with cages in our brains and they don't do it. I. And you know what I really enjoyed? I enjoyed when he was talking about. About George Carlin and, you know, being a student of comedy. I like that. I like that kind of talk. I know it might bore some of the audience, but I like it. I like talking like that.

[C]

I do, too. You know, I mean, in this day and age now, everything's kind of instant, happens quick, and you can say some funny things and get traction going viral, but can you sustain the school from the. From the old school, which is tried and true, quite frankly.

[A]

I agree.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You hone your craft for the length of your career. Yeah. You have to hone your craft.

[A]

Yeah. It's kind of like us. Like, we managed to be funny enough to get some listeners, but have we really done anything since then that has improved our craft? Probably not.

[C]

We got a new curtain.

[A]

We did. We got a new curtain.

[C]

Did our logo. We updated.

[A]

This is the third room we've been in. So there we go. We updated the logo. What else do you guys want from us? How much more can you ask from this stupid podcast? It's free. It's not like going to see Tom. And you pay $70 for. For good seats.

[C]

Right.

[A]

You don't pay anything here. So don't complain if we're not students of the podcast craft, because I don't even know what that means.

[C]

I don't think there's a school.

[A]

Listen, we're two white people pretending to be funny. There's a thousand of us out there. It's like we multiplied during the pandemic. I like when he said that, too. People ask me, is a pandemic project?

[B]

Not really.

[A]

I actually thought of that on my own without the help of the pandemic. Thanks very much. Tom was great, man.

[C]

Tom was fantastic.

[A]

Tom goes on the list. I can't think of too many people we've had in 2024 that don't go on the list.

[B]

I know.

[A]

People we didn't have enough time with. You know, sometimes, you know, just a little, like, pull the magic. The curtain back a little bit. And I'm sure it doesn't take a genius to figure this out, but we have a little bit of conversation probably two or three minutes before we actually bring them on air. And so during the break. So when we do that, you know, we just say hello, and we don't.

[C]

Want to waste all the good talking technical stuff.

[A]

Work. Yeah. Make sure that you guys can actually hear them. And so. Make sure we actually record the segment we're about to do. So you can actually hear it. Yeah. But when we were saying hello to Tom. I just. I forgot what I was going to say. There you go. I am not a child.

[C]

I thought it was funny in the couple minutes before we actually did the interview that he was trying to know. Go full screen to see us.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

And so then he was able to. And he said, oh, okay, good.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

If it was a bad. Yeah, it was a bad picture. I was gonna min.

[A]

You know, minimize. I think we should just go with a dark screen. You know how on zoom, you can just. Like, that's a little tile that has your first initial, like B. Why?

[B]

Need.

[A]

Why? Even if we put this on YouTube, people are there to see it us. They don't care. Even on YouTube, our audio version gets so much more traffic than our video version. I'm just embarrassed. I'm like, people really don't like the way that I look. I'm sure.

[C]

I like it that way, though. It keeps the pressure down.

[A]

Yeah, it keeps the pressure down. That way. We don't. We're not going to become famous. Like. Like Tom said, we're not superstars.

[B]

We're.

[A]

No Matt Damon's here. All right, well, we want to thank Tom for coming on tompapa.com for all things Tom Papa. Tickets to his live events, his live shows. You can get the book straight from there.

[C]

I think we should send him a.

[A]

Bottle of G Classico. The triaria. What's that? Tremaria. Whatever that lady wanted to call it. Yeah, it's not a tremoria. It's a trattoria. It's a street cafe. I think that's what it means, like, on the street. Tria means street, I think. Right. In Italian. You're Italian.

[C]

I know. I've been to Italy.

[A]

Have you been to Italy?

[C]

I've. I've been to trattoria. Yeah, I'm sticking with trattoria.

[A]

It's your mother tongue. You don't know it. Okay. All right.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Hey, listen, you know what? We're gonna start a whole new segment here on the commercial break. Then we would love you to be a part of it. Ask TCB Live. And I don't mean live like you'll be hearing it live. I mean live like you come on the show and we talk to you about it. We'll answer your questions, we'll give you life advice. We want to hear all about you. The average Joe, the regular listener, not like famous people like us. And Tom Papa. I love how we compared. I like, was comparing our podcast, and he's like, yeah, actually, I've been doing this for a lot longer than you have. He called me out. But anyway, we want you on the program and we're super excited about this new segment. So please do us a favor to aisle us up 212-433-TCB that's 1212-4333, TCB. Text us, tell us you're willing to come on the show, give us a little synopsis about what you want to discuss and we will contact you for future communication. You can also drop us comments, questions, content, ideas and concerns right there to that same line online or leave us a voice message and we may play it on air here on the commercial break. TCBpodcast.com that's where you go. You find out more about the show. You can get all the audio and all the video from one location. TCBpodcast.com also get your free piggy fronting sticker by hitting the contact us button drop down menu. I want my free sticker. Give us your address, we'll send it to you. No problem. No muss, no fuss. At the commercial break on Instagram TCB podcast on tick tock and YouTube.com the commercial break for audio version, the RSS feed version. You can now listen to it on YouTube and the video version. We put all of our interviews up there. We love you to death. Thanks again to tom papatompapa.com okay Chrissy, I guess that's all I can do for today.

[C]

I think so.

[A]

But I'll tell you that I love you.

[C]

I love you.

[A]

Best to you, best to you and best you out there in the podcast universe unto until next time Chrissy and I will say we do say and we must say goodbye.

[B]

I.