336: Gary Owen and the Absent Gliding Father

Summary

Podcast Summary: The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler
Episode 336: Gary Owen and the Absent Gliding Father
Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 336 of The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler, host Ryan Sickler welcomes stand-up comedian Gary Owen for an intimate and revealing conversation. This episode delves deep into Gary's tumultuous upbringing, his strained relationships with his father and stepdad, his time in the Navy, and his journey into comedy.

Gary Owen’s Early Life and Family Background

Gary Owen opens up about his unconventional and challenging family life. He was born to parents who were high school sweethearts, older in age, which led to a complicated family dynamic. At age ten, Gary and his mother moved to a trailer park in Oxford, Ohio, marking the beginning of his life in a low-income environment.

Notable Quote:
Gary Owen shares, “[My] parents were in their twenties... my mom had me in high school” (09:10).

Relationship with His Father and Stepdad

Gary's father, a Navy serviceman, had a sporadic presence in his life. His father’s service led to frequent absences and minimal involvement, leaving Gary primarily under his mother's care. The introduction of Gary’s stepdad, Rod, added another layer of complexity. Rod was abusive and had a quick temper, often engaging in fights and contributing to a hostile home environment.

Notable Quote:
Gary reflects, “When you have an asshole stepdad that is abusive... it's like a nightmare” (19:12).

School Life and Sports

To escape the difficulties at home, Gary immersed himself in sports during his school years. He played multiple sports, including wrestling, where he humorously recounts his struggles: “I ended up being pretty good at it... but I only won three times and lost thirty” (31:45). Despite his lack of success, wrestling became a sanctuary for him.

Notable Quote:
Gary jokes, “I used to tell guys, 'Just let it happen. I'm gonna pin myself'” (32:28).

Joining the Navy

At seventeen, influenced by his friend Mike Hyneman, Gary enlisted in the Navy. Initially aiming to be in the honor guard, Gary found the experience both challenging and transformative. His role in the honor guard allowed him to participate in significant ceremonies, including President Clinton’s inauguration.

Notable Quote:
Gary describes his honor guard experience, “We marched down Pennsylvania Avenue... it was a very cool experience” (55:24).

Life in the Navy

Gary served six years in the Navy, primarily stationed in San Diego and Washington, D.C. His duties included serving as a Navy cop, handling incidents like drunk driving and bar fights on the base. Despite the structured environment, Gary reminisces about lighter moments, such as sneaking food from the base daycare.

Notable Quote:
Gary humorously shares, “I was the one you catch them like, dude, just get a room, bro” (56:52).

Struggles with Family and Addiction

Tragically, Gary’s brother, Dallas, struggled with heroin addiction and ultimately passed away from an overdose. This event profoundly affected Gary, leading him to write an article for BuzzFeed that addressed addiction from a family member’s perspective. However, this attempt at healing was met with resistance from Rod, who blamed Gary for Dallas’s death, further straining their already fragile relationship.

Notable Quote:
Gary candidly states, “Rod called me and tried to blame me for him dying. And I said, we're done” (66:06).

Reconciliation and Ongoing Tensions

Following Dallas’s death, there was a brief period of reconciliation between Gary and Rod. However, tensions resurfaced when Rod accused Gary of exploiting their family tragedy for his career. This confrontation led to Gary severing ties with both his father and stepdad, prioritizing his mental well-being over familial obligations.

Notable Quote:
Gary advises, “Gary, when you run away? Don't look back” (72:53).

Gary’s Journey into Comedy

Gary transitioned into a career in comedy as a means to cope with his past and share his experiences. His comedic style is deeply influenced by his life’s hardships, using humor to highlight and laugh at life’s lowlights. Throughout the episode, Gary promotes his latest comedy special available on Mint Comedy and discusses his ongoing tour.

Notable Quote:
Gary enthusiastically promotes his work, “My latest special is on MintComedy.com. So it's nothing you've seen before” (02:31).

Reflections and Advice

Towards the end of the episode, Gary reflects on his past with a sense of resilience and offers heartfelt advice to his younger self. Emphasizing the importance of moving forward without dwelling on past traumas, Gary encourages embracing the future with strength and determination.

Notable Quote:
Gary advises his younger self, “Gary, when you run away? Don't look back. Straight ahead, brother” (72:53).

Conclusion

Episode 336 of The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler provides a poignant glimpse into Gary Owen’s life, showcasing his ability to find humor amidst adversity. Through candid storytelling and introspection, Gary shares his journey of overcoming familial struggles, serving in the Navy, and establishing himself in the comedy world. This episode not only highlights Gary’s resilience but also underscores the enduring impact of personal experiences on one’s career and outlook on life.

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Note: Timecodes are based on the provided transcript and correspond to the sections they appear in.

Transcript

[Gary Owen]

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[Ryan Sickler]

Dippable chicken in McDonald's history.

[Gary Owen]

Dip it in all the sauces. Dip it in that hot sauce in your bag. Dip it in your McFlurry. Your dip is your business. McCrispy strips at McDonald's.

[Ryan Sickler]

Baltimore. I'm coming home. We're gonna wrap the Live and alive tour up Saturday, June 28th at the Horseshoe Casino. It's gonna be a great night. I got Justin Schlegel from 98 Rock gonna be out there with me.

[Gary Owen]

We're gonna.

[Ryan Sickler]

We're going to have some surprises. It's going to be a really big deal. Get your tickets now@ryan sickler.com the Honeydew with Ryan Sickler. Welcome back to the Honeydew, y' all. We're over here doing it in the night pants studios. I'm Ryan Sickler. Want to start this episode like I start them all by saying thank you. Thank you for watching this show, supporting this show. Thank you for supporting anything I do. All right, Come see me if you're in Baltimore. It's the last show on the Live and alive tour. Saturday, June 28th. I'm at the Horseshoe Casino. Tickets are flying right now. Let's lock it down and do it right. All right, that's it. You know what we do here? We highlight the low lights. I always say these are the stories behind the storytellers. I'm very excited to have this guest here. First time on the Honeydew. Ladies and gentlemen, Gary Owen. Welcome to the Honey.

[Gary Owen]

Gary Owen. Thank you. Thanks for getting my name right. I appreciate that.

[Ryan Sickler]

Ryan.

[Gary Owen]

You.

[Ryan Sickler]

You got it, man. I appreciate you. Not right there. Just saying Brian.

[Gary Owen]

It was too easy. That was like comedy 101. I just want to do that.

[Ryan Sickler]

So before we get into that story and any other stories, plug promote all everything, everything. Books, pods, shows, tours, socials.

[Gary Owen]

My latest special is on Mint comedy dot com. So we went a different route with this one.

[Ryan Sickler]

We.

[Gary Owen]

I think people are so conditioned to getting everything free, you know, Which I understand, but I was like, it is nice to have something exclusive. So I was like, this. The streaming company Mint Comedy, they. They say, yo, you want to put it on our platform? Basically, they. They rent it for three months, and then I get it back and I figure out what I'm gonna do with it. So it's on there. It's good. 13 bucks. You got it for the rest of your life.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay, so it's exclusive for 90 days, and then it goes to wherever you want.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Your YouTube, a Hulu or whatever, after. Okay.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right.

[Gary Owen]

So it's all nothing you've seen before. So it's. I think it's the greatest special of all time. So.

[Ryan Sickler]

Hey, what you're supposed to.

[Gary Owen]

You know what I mean?

[Ryan Sickler]

You're supposed to.

[Gary Owen]

If you guys ever wonder what it's like to see LeBron practice, your shirt look like that. You know what I mean?

[Ryan Sickler]

Sprinting up. Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Want to go to. You want to get run over by Ray Lewis?

[Ryan Sickler]

I always laugh, like, people say it when a quarterback's like, yeah, I think I'm the best quarterback in the league. Like, if my guy doesn't think that, what the fuck I want him from? He's like, I'm all right. I'm like, what?

[Gary Owen]

What are you talking about? Kicker doesn't get the best massages. What are we talking about?

[Ryan Sickler]

You mean our old kicker? You mean old kicker?

[Gary Owen]

He gonna get a job?

[Ryan Sickler]

Our old kicker.

[Gary Owen]

That's somebody gonna get a job.

[Ryan Sickler]

See, he's definitely getting a job. He's definitely getting a job, everybody.

[Gary Owen]

It's funny how when it comes to football, people on these moral high grounds, and then there's gonna be somebody that loses a game or two because they're kicker, and they be like, justin Tucker's sitting there. Bring the masseuses.

[Ryan Sickler]

He's loose and ready, too. You know what I'm saying? He's all.

[Gary Owen]

Kind of. Makes sense why he missed some of them kicks last year. He knew this was coming.

[Ryan Sickler]

It was all mental.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. This was not just happening.

[Ryan Sickler]

Nope, nope. It was new.

[Gary Owen]

It's similar to. So funny. You're a sports fan. So am I. But when Bingo's drafted, Joe Mixon from Oklahoma, and he wanted that video out of him punching that girl in Denny's his freshman year, even though it was three years old. He was 18 years old when it happened. There was so much more of that story. Can we find out? Like, she was wild and spitting on him and stuff. And then I remember when the Bengals drafted. There was people and sits like, that's it. I'm gone. Not watching team tomorrow let that score two touchdowns like this. Yo, we're going to Denny's. We're protesting Panera Bread from now on. McAllisters. What are you doing?

[Ryan Sickler]

That's so true. Dude. Real quick getting your name right. So I. I saw you outside and I was like, listen, I've been. I have. I've been waiting for this a lot. You know, it's funny. One of the things it's. I'm 52. One of the things in life, it's taken me a while, and I still don't trust it all the way, but I should is 9 times out of 10, shit's going to handle itself. It's going to come full circle sooner or later.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

A lot of times later. And I waited for this moment. It's probably. God, I can't even remember this is where. At the old improv before they moved it to the big one, you know?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dan Godfrey's GM back then.

[Gary Owen]

And. Geez, that's gotta be 2000.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's what I'm saying. It's probably. I was gonna say it wasn't 99, but it's probably about 2000. 2001. You're headlining, I'm OP. I'm MC for the weekend. And I was never. I'm not a rah rah guy, you know, you used to have to do that when you come up. But I was never a guy that was like, let's get him going. I was never that guy. And I went up. I was excited to work with you because I knew you were Marine.

[Gary Owen]

Navy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Navy, Navy. That's right. And thank you for your service. Appreciate it. And I go up confident as shit, and I introduce you as Greg Owen. Now I know everybody. I was so focused on not saying Owens.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

You know what I mean? Because one of your specials, too.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, when it's out. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

No comedy.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

I so focused on that.

[Gary Owen]

Called you Greg.

[Ryan Sickler]

And I fucking was. And I knew when it came out.

[Gary Owen]

I was like, oh.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you got up there and you did like. I said, exactly what you should have. And I walked to the back of the room and I turned around, I said, I'm just gonna stand here and take it. And I mean, for a good two minutes, you ripped me. I mean, you all over me. And I loved every second. And I never anybody's name up after that.

[Gary Owen]

I'll tell you, there's a blessing in disguise shape, bro. Now, how long had you been doing stand up to that point man, two years. Oh, yeah. That's nerve wracking, though, because you're. You're so like, God, I want them to laugh. I want them to laugh. And that. Had you hosted a lot before?

[Ryan Sickler]

Hell no. Because they started me, so I had. I gotten into the improvs and it was like, all right, you're gonna be. You're gonna host a lot of these shows. So I would get booked by them to come down and do a weekend, and they. They wouldn't. They wouldn't never care about pairing the. The MC with the headliner. Yeah, we did work. Our comedy worked well together. I just. Your name.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. And that's a. Easy.

[Ryan Sickler]

I only it up on Thursday, bro. Just so you know.

[Gary Owen]

Gary Owen is so easy.

[Ryan Sickler]

This is how back in the day, I got it right. The two shows Friday, the three Saturday. Remember they used to do a 7, 9, 11. They don't do that 11 much anymore. And then we did a Sunday, too. I got it right.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

The rest of the weekend.

[Gary Owen]

God, you got lucky. Can you imagine? At that stage, you're nervous. You got a Chris Delia. I. I can't imagine. You did with his last name. Chris Delilah. Chris delilo. Thank God I only had two syllables.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, I got it wrong, bro. All right, You're a Cincinnati guy, born and raised. Is that right?

[Gary Owen]

Huge.

[Ryan Sickler]

I see. I thought. I know you're AFC North. I watch. I watch your.

[Gary Owen]

I'm all Cincinnati, though. Like, we get a boxer comes out of there. Someone. We has like some girl on the Olympic volleyball team. I was like, yeah, I'm all about the.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm like that. Maryland and Baltimore. My. A buddy of mine's like, you know, we got a. A guy riding one of Baffert's horses in the Kentucky. I'll certainly put that. He's from Maryland.

[Gary Owen]

Put that curling on at the Olympics.

[Ryan Sickler]

This guy.

[Gary Owen]

He does this.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is your family from there? Like, do you have roots going back in Cincy or.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, everybody.

[Ryan Sickler]

So tell me about your family. Tell me about your mom and your dad.

[Gary Owen]

Mom and dad had me in high school.

[Ryan Sickler]

They did?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. My dad confirmed it one day. Why'd he share that with me? I was conceived in the back of a car when I was young. He shared a little too much to like a 10 year old. So the fact that I always knew where I was conceived, like, he told you, literally. This is what he said.

[Ryan Sickler]

Tell me what he said.

[Gary Owen]

I just want to say your mom wasn't a hoe. Okay. I think it might have been the first, but yeah. Coleraine High School parking lot. What?

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, he's saying it like it's a.

[Gary Owen]

Badge of courage, you know? It was a wild night, so I did the math. My birthday's in July, August, September, October. Homecoming, baby, right here.

[Ryan Sickler]

Your homecoming.

[Gary Owen]

They had a good night.

[Ryan Sickler]

They were right outside. They couldn't even wait.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, my. My dad, which we don't really talk anymore, but when we did, he was really funny because I remember one time he told me, he goes, gary, man.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh.

[Gary Owen]

When I was in high school, he'd say, dumb. He goes, I don't know why these girls like me, man. I ain't got. I ain't got no money. I ain't got. He's got a big ass dick. I was like, damn, 12. But I can't wait to hit puree. Hopefully that doesn't skip a generation. It's not like balding. Are you skipping generation? I go, oh, them dicks just keep slanging. I got a big ass dick.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, so how old are they when they have you?

[Gary Owen]

High school, but 17, 18.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's young. Yeah, it's super young. 17, 18, man. So their parents in high school? Are you their only child?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, I got. I got seven brothers and sisters.

[Ryan Sickler]

They're all half okay, but none for how many from mom and how many from dad?

[Gary Owen]

My dad had two girls. He had twin girls after at like, God. I was 18, 19 when they were born, so I was never raised.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

And then my mom had three. And then we also had a. I had a stepsister from my stepdad that was with us. So that's where the seven came from. So four. When is my math right? There was five of the trailer park. There's seven total, so six. Sorry.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right, so your parents, they were never married or anything then?

[Gary Owen]

Or did they got married? Because that's what you did back then. He said, then my dad joined the Navy, got stationed in San Diego. So I was born in Cincinnati, I think my first seven, eight months I was in Cincinnati. Then I was in San Diego for two years. I don't remember it. One to like three. And then found out later my dad got kicked out of the Navy and he. He told him, fly me back to Ohio, not San Diego. So me and my mom, I guess that was his way of saying we're getting a divorce.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, hold up. He just took himself.

[Gary Owen]

He just took himself to Ohio. We drove. You know, you don't have memories till you're three or four, right? The literally the first thing I remember in my life is we had a Volkswagen Bug and there was a balloon in it. And I remember riding with my mom in this bug and looking at this balloon. And that one song kept coming on the radio. Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future. I remember. And I remember we stopped at like, had to be Arizona, but it was like some Grand Canyon looking things. I remember there was like a totem pole and, and some Native American stuff. And I was just like, that's my first memory. And it was just me and my.

[Ryan Sickler]

Mom just driving back to Ohio.

[Gary Owen]

Back. I didn't realize that, but we were leaving San Diego because my dad was like, yeah, kicked out Navy. Yeah, I'm going to Ohio.

[Ryan Sickler]

You know why he got kicked out? You ever find out?

[Gary Owen]

I found out later. What did he say? Some black guys were saying they're about to. They're going to kill him.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, really?

[Gary Owen]

Beat his ass. That was a different time. That was for cell phones and stuff. So the ship was like, we got to get him off the ship. Something might happen. So I don't know what.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, wait, black dudes that were in the Navy?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Not just some guys out and no.

[Gary Owen]

No, no, because he was, he was over in the Philippines. So there's not a doubt in my mind. I, I got brothers and sisters over there. There's got to be like some guy killing karaoke. Cracking people up.

[Ryan Sickler]

Craig, Owen.

[Gary Owen]

Greg. Hey, we got Greg. Back down on the mic right now. Bring it down. Keeps on pipping. Pippin. Pippin. Been to the pew burn.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

All right.

[Ryan Sickler]

So that's dad. Mom takes you back to Ohio and that's what there. Is that the trail? Is that where the trailer park starts?

[Gary Owen]

We moved to the trailer park when I was 10.

[Ryan Sickler]

So are you going back with dad for a minute when you get all. Get back to Ohio?

[Gary Owen]

No, I don't ever remember living with him. So he'd show up every now and then. Not every weekend, but he'd pop up every now and then. And then it was just me and my mom. And then she started dating this who end up being my stepdad, who's still the guy she's married to this day. Started dating him around three or four years old. And then at this time still she's like 21 still.

[Ryan Sickler]

She's a baby. Well, he went to jail.

[Gary Owen]

He went to jail and rehab.

[Ryan Sickler]

What'd he go to jail for? I don't know.

[Gary Owen]

I have no idea. And then he went to jail and he was gone. And then he came back and then he went back to jail. Well, I remember, shoot. They got married. She she was pregnant with my sister Ashley. She had Dallas. So this is probably 82, 83. Because I remember we went to visit him in jail and then, and then he got out. So I can't remember the first time. First time with the jail. I can't remember why. I remember they broke up. Here's a crazy story. They broke up and she's starting to start dating this new guy, Billy. Billy was cool. He was redneck though. But my stepdad broke into the apartment and beat the out of Billy one night. He was laying about my mom, are you there? I'm on the couch. I slept on the couch. No, I don't know. I'm asleep.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, okay.

[Gary Owen]

I just remember my mom woke me up in her 90 and she goes, we gotta go, we gotta go. And I heard a. And I'm like. So she takes me to her friend's apartment and I thought it was great because I had to go to school for the week. I'm like in first grade something kindergartner first. And the. I remember went back to the apartment a couple of days later and I just remember there was a mop bucket and it was red. There was definitely blood soaked water in the mop bucket. And then the, the fridge had a dent and there was a hole in the wall. And we never saw Billy again. I would be gone. You're asleep with a woman and starts pummeling you. Yeah, I'm like my mom.

[Ryan Sickler]

I think about that all the time. It doesn't matter if you're the rock. It doesn't matter if you're Jon Bones Jones. If you're. If you're asleep, puts one in your neck, it's over. It doesn't matter how badass you are.

[Gary Owen]

But I also wonder. My mom's must have been amazing.

[Ryan Sickler]

It must have been, bro.

[Gary Owen]

That's some fire pussy.

[Ryan Sickler]

I look like a. I'm thinking that's a bullet hole.

[Gary Owen]

My mom, I don't know. Suck starting Harley's, I guess. I don't know what's going on there, but she.

[Ryan Sickler]

Your dad told you she wasn't a hoe.

[Gary Owen]

But she had fire.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's what it was.

[Gary Owen]

That's what it was.

[Ryan Sickler]

That back seat fire P. Yeah, baby maker.

[Gary Owen]

She's. Yeah, yeah. So then.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, we didn't see there's three of you now at this point.

[Gary Owen]

Well, when the. When I. When. When she got beat up. When she. No, when he got beat up. When Billy got beat up, there was nobody, nobody there. And then he just went away and I didn't See him for a year or so. And this is how I remember my step that came back in my life. We had moved. Now we're living in a different apartment. And my mom goes like, because he had a daughter. I really liked my sister Michelle. Now my sister Michelle. But his daughter, she was, hey, I got some old friends coming over today. And I was like, who? And he was like. She was like, rod and Michelle. And I was like. I was thinking, rod's coming back. So then I remember I never saw Michelle. I didn't see Rod that day. But the next morning, I'm downstairs eating cereal, watching, like, the Great Space Coaster. Oh, yeah. So. So I watched the Great space coaster, and Rock came walking down in a robe, and I went, oh, he stayed all night. Now you look back, he definitely my mom that night. But I was like.

[Ryan Sickler]

And he never let a robe too, though.

[Gary Owen]

The audacity fixing it. You see, like, residue here. My God. Post God never left, bro.

[Ryan Sickler]

Rod's his name.

[Gary Owen]

Rod. I still don't like Rodney. I would have did your name was Rod Stickler or Stickler. I would have been like, I did on purpose. Hey, you want to do Rodney Stickler's podcast? I'm good. Yeah. Bar, I think that ptsd. Yeah. You never left over that.

[Ryan Sickler]

That was it. And there's today. Still married today, huh?

[Gary Owen]

Still together.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

He still ain't had a job now, why?

[Ryan Sickler]

Also, and I'm not no shade or anything here. Trailer parks and all this stuff. Was there addiction in the family or is this just. Were they just young and had a baby and they're low income and trying to work their way up? Because I don't think only in their twenties at this point.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, My mom, I don't think ever did anything. Rod and my dad, I think they did everything known to man. Yeah, there's the time to late 70s, 80s, you know, they were. They. They went hard. My dad's the one that has told me now, like, he definitely went hard. I found out later Rod definitely was doing drugs in those days. Yeah, dealing.

[Ryan Sickler]

And is that why he's in and out of jail and stuff?

[Gary Owen]

I don't know. He was quick to fight, though. I'm sure it's bar fights. And that's the problem. When you got an asshole stepdad that is abusive. You tell your kids at school and they'll tell you. I go, no, no, no, he can fight. That's what made it worse. I was like, no, no, he's good. Can't talk back.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

In the movie, you stand up to your stepdad and you him up one day.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, he's gonna Marvin, get your ass.

[Gary Owen]

I've seen him knock numerous dudes out.

[Ryan Sickler]

You've seen it? Oh, tell me.

[Gary Owen]

No problem.

[Ryan Sickler]

What do you mean? Why, what are you seeing? Like, he fighting over parking spots and. Or like.

[Gary Owen]

It's crazy. The. The. The. The one hitter quitter I saw, I was like, whoa.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is he just like zero to a thousand, like, immediately? Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Over nothing.

[Ryan Sickler]

Right?

[Gary Owen]

So my. My grandfather was a pipe fitter. And they used to this thing every summer in Cincinnati called the pipe fitters picnic. And they rent out this amusement park and everything was free. It was. It was better than Christmas to be 11 and 12 years old going there because there was a lot of different girls there as the Dude. There's rides keeping going to amusement park and everything's there.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, the food, soda, all you can eat.

[Gary Owen]

I used to kill the chocolate milk.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Not smart in July.

[Ryan Sickler]

No. You know, that's a summer Christmas.

[Gary Owen]

The sodas are just lined up and I'm just like. It was the best. One year they decided to have an arm wrestling contest here, right? So all these guys are arm wrestling. And there was a. There was a group of black people that were winning right there. They kept winning the early rounds, but then as you kept going, then these white boys started to win a little bit, right?

[Ryan Sickler]

And real quick, not to interrupt. Sorry. People are gonna yell at me. Rod, give me a physical description. Is he a big dude? Is he like a little Tasmanian devil?

[Gary Owen]

He's average, about 5, 9, 5 10. He just got fire in probably about 170, 180.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right. Average kind of look. Is he. Is he strong, though?

[Gary Owen]

Stronger?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Owen]

He had some. He had some arms on him. Kind of look. Looks like. Who. Who would be a good example of what, Rod?

[Ryan Sickler]

Little Bruce Willis?

[Gary Owen]

No, Jeff Bridges.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

With a beard.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah, yeah. All right.

[Gary Owen]

That type of. Of look.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

So to speak. Jeff Bridges, right? That was the dude in the Big Lebowski. But now he's in the old man. Yeah, that guy. That's. When I see him on screen, I'm like, if they ever did this life story of my stepdad, he could play it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

But anyways, thing called the pipefitters picnic. And the black guys went on the early rounds, right? And then they started to lose a little bit. And I don't know what happened, but this white dude beat the blacks in the arm wrestling contest. And the referee was like, we're gonna do it over. And like, a couple white people was like, that's bullshit. You would have did that if that was a white person that lost. And it got real tense, real quick. Long story short, pipe fitter picnic, and then this. This whole big fight starts, but it's white people versus black people, but it's only adults, so I'm probably 14. All the kids. Women and children went underneath where all the picnic tables were in this cupboard. And all the black women, all the white women, all the kids were still like, stop. None of the women fought. It was all these dudes. And I saw this brother, he had a white tank top and blue biker shorts, right? And a Jerry curl telling the age. He pushed Rod or something from behind. And Rod didn't even look. Rod just went, ka pink. And I just saw that brother's shoes go. And I went, oh, shit. So when everything calmed down, this dude's laid out, and then he's got two women walking them out. They're walking when everything. When the dust settles. Yeah. Pipe fitter's picking baby. Plumbers be getting plumbers. Get it in. They're walking him out, and he's got these two. And he's looking at. He's like. He goes. He goes, I just got knocked out. I never got knocked out. I just. Who knocked me out? Like, I was just like, oh, I'm not talking back to him.

[Ryan Sickler]

The pipe fitters pick me, baby.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. Oh, man. So they never did the arm wrestling contest that was over?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

You know what's cool about that story? I've shared that story in Cincinnati a couple times, just on stage reminiscing. So looking back on it, it sounds like. And. And it was a racial thing. Right. And I've told that story numerous times, and there's been at least three or four black guys that were there.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, come on.

[Gary Owen]

That have come to my shows. Go, yo, dog. We remember that. And now we're laughing about it and stuff, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll never forget. They'd be coming up like, man, we were there. We was on the highway and we lined our cars up.

[Ryan Sickler]

I go, yeah, really?

[Gary Owen]

Cops came in and pepper sprayed everybody.

[Ryan Sickler]

How many people was going at it.

[Gary Owen]

You think, oh, 100. That's a lot.

[Ryan Sickler]

I mean, listen, a lot of people fighting is a lot of people.

[Gary Owen]

A lot of people. Yeah. It was all over an arm wrestling contest that they let the black guy get a second chance, basically. And it just took one or two people. Be like, you wouldn't do that. It was fine. And then it took the. Of course, the black shut the up. And then the dude, hey, don't talk to my girl like that. It just, it went. When I say it was 30 seconds, it was 0 to 100. I go, Whoa, whoa. This is arm wrestling. And like first prize was like a gift card to.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's not just regular people either. This is all. You got to go see them tomorrow.

[Gary Owen]

Like what is going on right now?

[Ryan Sickler]

Got to work together on Monday, y' all.

[Gary Owen]

Like there was a million dollar grand prize. Your free spark plugs from. From Best Buy and so stupid. That's the first time I see him. Just knocks him out with a one headed quitter.

[Ryan Sickler]

You ever see him get up? No, I knock Never. You never seen him take an L?

[Gary Owen]

Never saw him take an L. And it's impressive. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

If you're fighting. If you're fighting.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. Well that. What I found out later about his life is he was. He got. He had puberty early. So I guess he was like a grown man, like 14. He's one of those dudes, he would go to downtown Cincinnati and fight in those street fights for money. Oh, have you seen Hard Times with Charles Bronson? Yeah, yeah, great move. Yeah. Where he's. He's street fighting. That's what he's doing since. Hey. But he was. Nobody knew he was like 14, 15 years old.

[Ryan Sickler]

Like old school. Any which way but loose.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that. Like they, they find somewhere to be money bet and, and just go bare.

[Ryan Sickler]

Knuckle in the streets and then.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, so yeah, damn. I'm saying what could possibly go wrong with your life at 15 years old if you're doing that like you're definitely going to be solid. Like the older I get. You know what I mean? Like yeah, you. And he was, he was just an asshole to me. Very abusive. Just the everything you want to think a nightmare step that he was that. But the older I get, the more empathy I have because I'm like, dude, if he was that way to me, what was going on with him?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So what I figured out were that.

[Ryan Sickler]

Generation, we're the I love you dad for sure. You know the U.S. also they're, you know, they come from World War II parents Vietnam era. And they're like, dad, I wanna, we're like, I want to go dance.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you talking about.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, we found out talking to various family members on his side. He was an asshole. His family was amazing to me. His brothers. His grandma was my favorite. His mom was my favorite grandmother. My fucking grandma. Randall, shut up. She was the best. His brothers were cool.

[Ryan Sickler]

He was Just a dick.

[Gary Owen]

Well, he was. Here's the thing. He was the oldest. They had him just like you said. Got back. His dad got back from World War II. It was just him and his mom. And then Rod was born. And from what I take, the attention went away from his dad now. And his dad was. His ship got sunk in World War II. Oh, it was one of those, like, he saw his boys die.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So he comes back. You know, back then, there wasn't no therapy. There wasn't no dealing with that. You just went off on people. And I heard his dad was the type would fight a drop of a dime. They said if. If they went to high school games, they hated it. Because if anybody wasn't standing or talking to a national anthem, like, he would.

[Ryan Sickler]

Snap, guys, I beat the fuck out of you.

[Gary Owen]

You better take them. Because he's looking at it like fucking Jimmy and Johnny died for this shit.

[Ryan Sickler]

For real.

[Gary Owen]

If you don't put that motherfucking chico stick down, you know?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So I kind of have empathy. A little empathy now because I. You gotta think when somebody's like that, like, go back to when you're like three years old. What. What happened? Where'd it go wrong? At some point, you know, so I'm not as. Not as vindictive as it was.

[Ryan Sickler]

What. What's the age difference between Rod and your mom? Was he also young?

[Gary Owen]

He was older, but only like a couple years. Yeah. Three year difference.

[Ryan Sickler]

So we're still talking about all these. Sounds like the parents in your life are all in their 20s.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, completely.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Okay. Kids. I mean, that's young for parents. It is.

[Gary Owen]

Think about it.

[Ryan Sickler]

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[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you're living in a trailer park in where?

[Gary Owen]

Oxford, Ohio.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oxford, Ohio. And what's. What's life like? What's school like? Are you. Are you involved in sports? Like, what are you doing?

[Gary Owen]

I played every sport possible.

[Ryan Sickler]

You did?

[Gary Owen]

Just to not be home. To the point where my junior year, wrestling, I was 3 and 30. I won three times and lost 30.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, I had to hear it again in my head. I was like, damn.

[Gary Owen]

No, no, no, no.

[Ryan Sickler]

It was.

[Gary Owen]

I was so bad.

[Ryan Sickler]

3 and 30? You rather get your ass whooped on the mat? Yeah, there's a referee in a whistle.

[Gary Owen]

When you get your ass up on the mat, you have complete control. Like, I used to tell guys, like, just let it happen. I'm gonna pin myself. And I go, let this happen. Just go with it. Sometimes I'd be looking at guys like, dude, I'm trying to help you here. Tell your mom, get the camera out. This is a good shot.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

I was guy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Whenever I give you some back points.

[Gary Owen]

Every time another team had like a disabled kid or a special needs kid, I'm the one you would, dude, I know how to fucking make people look good. Oh, man, I. I used to make a joke. Like, there's not a high school gymnasium in Cincinnati, Ohio. You show me the ceiling, I'll tell you what school it is. I saw, baby. Saw them all.

[Ryan Sickler]

3:30. Who are the guys you would have. Who are the three?

[Gary Owen]

Oh, be the same guy three times.

[Ryan Sickler]

Come on.

[Gary Owen]

Sort of God. So really name is Nathan E.B. went to Edgewood High School in Trenton, Ohio. You could.

[Ryan Sickler]

He wouldn't take one. He was that bad.

[Gary Owen]

So here's. Here's how I beat him. My mom had never come one time to see me wrestle. I've been wrestling three years at this point. She's never been to a match, nothing. She says, I'm coming to see you tomorrow. I go, what? No, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. She says, I'm coming this week to go see you. So I'm like, what? So she tells me on like Monday, and the match is Friday. All week, I'm looking at my coaches, I'm looking at the guys. I go, guys, I know I suck. I gotta learn one move. And I'm just gonna work on the one move. I can't. My brain doesn't work like this. I'm not here on this earth to be a wrestler. Give me one move. All week we worked on this move. The head and arm, they call it, Right. And so that's all I did. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday comes, we go the weigh ins. He's not very intimidating. I go, yeah, because sometimes you get those muscle bound dudes.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Or dudes with hair on their legs. Like, I'm wrestling a man.

[Ryan Sickler]

We had to do one time, took teeth out. And another time, a dude just snatched his necklace off. He purposely got it. It was like going like this. He just hunt like this. And it went.

[Gary Owen]

Oh, no. Yeah, that's what. That wasn't anything.

[Ryan Sickler]

I've seen a couple of those. Like, I took teeth out.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, no, this wasn't Even school. When I saw him, I go, this might work, this motherfucker. This. My plan might come to fruition. So we get out there. I see my mom. She's in the stands, and my whole team's in on it. They're looking at her, too. I don't think anybody's ever seen my mom. So they're looking. We go to shake hands. This guy, Nathan Eby, he tries to do a head and arm on me, and I go, that's my move. He, like, immediately went for it. I go, whoa. So took a minute. I got him in it, pinned him. And I got up and I did, like, the gun and all. I know my mom stood up and she goes, oh, my baby. Good. I was like, that makes me, like, 1 in 20 right now.

[Ryan Sickler]

That was good today.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. And then I. You know, he's. That. That school was in our league. So now here's what's funny. Now you go to, you know, the. The league championships. We had eight teams, and we had eight schools in our league. I. Somehow I got to buy the first round. So I'm already in the semis. How the hell Nathan E.B. be somebody else.

[Ryan Sickler]

Nuh.

[Gary Owen]

I'm wrestling Nathan Eby now in the semis.

[Ryan Sickler]

He standing up between you and the finals.

[Gary Owen]

Hit him with the head and arm. I'm in the finals, baby.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah.

[Gary Owen]

I'm like, 2 and 28, wrestling for the MML Championship, Mid Miami.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's the worst.

[Gary Owen]

So. So. And then they posted on the little brackets, it looked like a misprint because everybody else got these amazing.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you gotta be 20.

[Gary Owen]

I go out there and I just remember this. Keep my wrestling. Nobody goes to wrestling matches. You get to the league championship, that gym is packed. That's the first time I took pride in my wrestling because all I said was, I ain't getting pinned. I ain't getting pinned. All these people, I ain't getting pinned. My coaches are going, oh, yeah. I go, I'll. I'll lose 10 to 1 before I get pinned.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's right.

[Gary Owen]

So.

[Ryan Sickler]

But you made it to the finals, dude.

[Gary Owen]

Finally didn't get pinned.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's great.

[Gary Owen]

But I lost.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, that's all right.

[Gary Owen]

I got my medal. I kept that medal for years. I was like this whole.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you did all right. Yeah. I mean, yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Well.

[Ryan Sickler]

Then, okay, so when do you get out? When do you leave home?

[Gary Owen]

17, right? Right after high school.

[Ryan Sickler]

You do so graduate.

[Gary Owen]

Graduate in June. I was in the Navy in July.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, you went right to the Navy.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, I turned 18 in boot camp.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did you know you were going to do that before you did it? Or were you like. No, no, it was.

[Gary Owen]

Here's how I end up in the military. It was December of my senior high school, and one of my best friends of this day, his name's Mike Hyneman. He was. He had already joined the Navy. I don't know how they got in the trailer Saturday morning, but he goes. He's standing over my bed, and he goes, gary, wake up, wake up. He goes, come on, man, let me take you down. Recruiting station. Because I guess when you join the Navy, once a month on Saturday morning, they have these things for recruits that are going in because they're big. They're. They're. Their big audience is seniors in high school. So you got all these seniors that like, I'm our school. Yeah, they did, too.

[Ryan Sickler]

It would be in the lobby. Yeah, yeah, they did that, too.

[Gary Owen]

So he goes, I went down there, and it was a bunch of guys that were in high school that were going to the Navy when they graduated, and everybody was in the same building. So it was the Marines. They were all across the hall from each other. So I met with everybody that day. I went with the Marines. I met with the army, with the Navy. And the Navy guy was most honest with me because army guy go back to wrestling. He goes, so you wrestle? I go, yeah. He goes, you know, the army has a wrestling team. He goes, if you join, you can get on the army wrestling team. And all you do is wrestle. And I was like, I'm three and 30, bro. I don't want to wrestle anymore. I just wrestle. So I didn't go here.

[Ryan Sickler]

You went to the finals, though, man.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, yeah. And then the Marine guy, he.

[Ryan Sickler]

Which you know is. By the way, you could have been 30 and 3 and UAS 8. Just wrestling. Yeah, that part you're wrestling with the decision you made to believe this. What are you doing?

[Gary Owen]

And the Marine guy just made it sound too hard. We're gonna get up at this morning, we're gonna do this. I said, no, no, I don't want to be the first one. I want to. I don't want to be first one no more. I'd rather be second. Who's second? I don't be on the front line. Maybe I was just honest. He was like, oh. Literally. I remember he came to the trailer thinking, dude, I can get you this. Like, I could definitely give you a better life than this. And then. So that's why. That's why I joined the Navy. It was pretty Much. I was the easiest sell. But to this day if Mike would have woke me up, I don't know what I was going to do because I didn't nobody in my family to college. So I didn't know nothing about take the act sat. I know nothing about that. So thank God he woke me up and I went with him. So I joined David 17.

[Ryan Sickler]

17. And it had nothing to do with the fact that your dad was in there or anything like that?

[Gary Owen]

No, yeah, nothing. It was just. I mean I think I'm third or fourth generation because my grand. Both. My grandpa's were in the navy. My dad was in the navy. I was.

[Ryan Sickler]

My dad was in the navy. His father was Air force though.

[Gary Owen]

Oh really?

[Ryan Sickler]

In World War II. Air Force, which he died. I wish I could have asked him some. Yeah, you all flying in World War II?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. You see those movies? You're like, ye. What?

[Ryan Sickler]

Like I would have never even gotten. I would I take a picture outside that plane?

[Gary Owen]

Hell no.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh no, that Memphis Bell. That one.

[Gary Owen]

Oh no, it must be crazy. I ain't getting that plane. Get the top part. Shoot.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's tight too. Yeah. You said your dad would show up at times. When would he do it? Like for birthdays or just ran like random Sundays, man. Random Sunday. And what would he take you to do? Would he take you somewhere to do something? He'd come gliding. What?

[Gary Owen]

Hang glide.

[Ryan Sickler]

What do you mean?

[Gary Owen]

You know what a hang glide is?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So we. He picked me up in his Toyota pickup and the hang glider be on top.

[Ryan Sickler]

Hold on a second. Does it blow you away? You're a father.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Does it blow you away that a man ignores his whole family and then he'll show up and he's already hang glide. Like it takes a lot to get the glider and the equipment. You know what I mean?

[Gary Owen]

I never thought of it like that.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's like I'm an effort. Like you're not. You know what I mean? We're not just going horse riding to somebody else's ranch or something. Yeah, it's his.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. So this made it worse. You got to walk to the top of the mountain and then you jump off. Well, how am I getting down? I gotta walk back down. What could go wrong in eight? You're all walking in the weather.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, you walk the hang glider up.

[Gary Owen]

With your dad and he's got all his hang gliding buddies. He jumps off. See Larry. Gary, I gotta walk back down.

[Ryan Sickler]

See you later, Gary. Oh, dude. But that is absurd.

[Gary Owen]

But I. Let me tell you why I enjoyed It. Because I knew when we was done hang gliding, we was getting something to eat, and we got to go out to eat. So burger King, Subway, McDonald's. That was a great day, bro. And here's the best part. If it wasn't hang gliding, it was racquetball.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right, before you tell me about racquetball, how many times is he going up the hill? Just a one and done. Are you hiking that thing up?

[Gary Owen]

No, I think it's a one and done. These weren't short hills. And he. He'd be on that glider for an hour. Because I remember you go down and all the trucks are parked in a field, and I just sit on his tailgate, like. And you're just waiting.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm just picturing this man who is avoiding his family by floating in the air.

[Gary Owen]

Imitating life. There's my son down there. I'm not doing nothing with him. God, that guy. That's wild. You look back, you don't know any better.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's a while. Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

But I'm thinking, what could go wrong in the woods by myself?

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, God, that is hilarious.

[Gary Owen]

At 8?

[Ryan Sickler]

That is absurd. Any. What. What else? Any good time. You ever have like, a. I know. You said that was good because you're getting Burger King. Do you ever have a time where you went to a ball game or anything? Like, what. What made you such a sports fan?

[Gary Owen]

I don't know. It was. It was my age because I was, like, six or seven. The first time the Bengals went to the super bowl and Super Bowl 16.

[Ryan Sickler]

And that was against the 49ers, right?

[Gary Owen]

No, that was. That was Kenny Anderson.

[Ryan Sickler]

Kenny Anderson, Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So the whole city, you know, at that point, your own elementary school's got bingo stuff over. It kind of takes you over. So. Mike, the first football game I ever watched was Super Bowl 16 to Bingles and 49ers and everybody. You know, the. You're watching it with, like, 40 people, all adults, and they're all over for the Bengals, so you just kind of get caught up. And I live there, so that was my team. That was. I never watched them any game before that. It was Super Bowl 16, was the first NFL game I watched, and I go. Then they never left me. That was it after that.

[Ryan Sickler]

What were you good at? What sports were you good at? What were you like? I'm good. Wrestling, obviously. No, no.

[Gary Owen]

Football is average. It's crazy. The best sport I was. Was the discus disc.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. Track and field. Yeah. Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So my. My senior year, something. I just didn't Want to be home. So I was like, I didn't like the baseball coach because I played baseball at that point, I go, just get on track. So I go over the track team, and first round the bat. We're running like eight times around the track. I go, okay, this ain't gonna work out. What else we got? I looked up on the field and there's somebody doing a shot put. I go, I'm a little small, but I'll go up there. And they was like, all right, we only got one shot putter. And they go, we ain't got nobody throwing the desk. I'll throw a disc. I end up being pretty good at it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

After that. So I was like, oh, But I just remember that was a big man sport, and I wasn't that big. So every time you go to track meets, it was all the guys that were like, lineman. Yeah. When you play high school football. Yeah, Here I come in all wiry, but I wasn't too bad at it. That's probably. Honestly, that was my best sport.

[Ryan Sickler]

Let's go back now real quick. Racquetball. You were starting to say next was racquetball.

[Gary Owen]

So you always in the hang glider. I'd see that racquetball in the back seat. I'd be like, oh, we're going racquetball courts. Optimize your nutrition this year with factor America's number one ready to eat meal service. Factor's fresh, never frozen meals are dietitian approved. Ready to eat in just two minutes. Choose from 40 weekly options across eight dietary preferences like calorie smart, protein plus, and keto. Eat [e-mail] listen50 and use code listen50 for 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. Factormeals.com listen50 code listen50. So he would play racquetball all day and. Hold on. Wouldn't leave me any money, though. I couldn't eat.

[Ryan Sickler]

Where are you going? Just sitting there watching through the glass. Just outside. Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Remember? No, the one had a bar and they had a little tv. So. Good thing is he picked me up on Sunday. So football season was great because I could just watch whatever games on. And then there's a couple instances in my life where I had just. Guys just looked out. They see this little kid sitting there. So this one guy, you weren't supposed to be at the bar, but this one guy, he had to be like, probably mid-20s. He goes, hey, just sit here at the end. So he'd sit at the end and the would just Give me a Pepsi, throw me a burger, and I wouldn't have to pay for it, you know, like, I was the best, you know what I mean? And then you sit there and he'd sit there and nobody be coming. He'd talk to games, you know, I remember him going like, this guy, he's wild. He's talking about Mark Gastono. Yeah, quarterback. He starts dancing, watch his. And it was like the next play I go, you know that. You know what I mean? But he was, he was cool. So I always, like, whenever I saw him at the bar, I go, this is going to be a good day. But when he wasn't working, I was like, this guy's going to make me pay. So just, just kind of sitting there all day, though. So that was my, my childhood with my dad, racquetball, hand gliding every now and then.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, did you ever go, okay, go ahead. I don't want to stop. I want to know if you ever win. Okay, but do that. I gotta go back. All right.

[Gary Owen]

My stepdad tried to fight my real dad.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, he did.

[Gary Owen]

So this is, this is such a. Interesting story. I wake up my step that goes, hey, next time Owens calls, let me know. He never called my dad by his name. He called him Owen. So I go, what happened? So I knew something was up. My mom tells me your dad called last night and cuss rod out. And I went, why? Well, here's what happened. My grandpa, this for cell phones. This is when you write people's numbers down next to the fridge. My Grandpa put Gary Jr. Gary Sr. Because I'm named after my dad. He, My grandpa thought he was calling my dad, but he called the trailer park, right? Called my stepdad. My Stephanie answer the phone goes, hello. And my grandpa goes, I speak to Gary. And my step that goes, it's kind of late to be calling, isn't it? And my grandpa goes, who the are you? Put my son on the phone. And so my stepdad goes, what? So they, they're cuss each other out and they hang up. They don't realize this was my grandpa thought he was calling my dad, but my grandpa called us. So now my stepdad thinks my dad called and cussed him out.

[Ryan Sickler]

So he's telling me he thinks it was your dad.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, he thinks my dad called for me and now cussed him out. He's like, next time he calls, let me know. A couple weeks later, my dad finally calls, it's a Sunday. He goes, can I come get you? Like he always. I said, yeah. So usually he'll call like 9 in the morning. He'll come about 12. And we're. And I had this big bay window in front of the trailer. So I'm looking out the window, I'm like, please don't show up. Please don't show up. Because there was times he wouldn't show up. I saw that Toyota truck coming down the road. I go. And Rod goes, go in the back. So I go in the back of the trailer, and I thought he was about to beat my dad's ass, right? Because all I heard was the screen door popped over. He'll come and cuss me out. Rock comes walking in like 30 seconds later laughing. And I go, what happened? Because you can go now. I go in, and my. My dad's in his truck. And he goes, what the. What's that? Keep in mind, my dad is in his truck. He sees this wild man run out of the trailer. My dad went, boop. Locked the door, rolled the window up, right? So my dad cracked the windows going, that was my dad. That was my dad. That wasn't me. So guess they figured it out. But. So now I'm with my dad all day, and he's. All he's talking about is like, he was trying to fight me. It's so all about him, right? And then he just. We spend the day together, and he just takes back to the trailer and drops me off. And I remember thinking, when I got older, I go, if my son is living with a man that would run out of a trailer, keep mine, not a house, wanting to fight, I go, I'm gonna inquire about that man. At that point, I'm be like, is.

[Ryan Sickler]

He always like this?

[Gary Owen]

Nah, my dad was like, I got. I got a rack of invitational. I'll be up in the Air City championships next week. I'm hang. Glad to end.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did you ever get the hang glide? No. Come on, dude. You never got the hook up and go one time?

[Gary Owen]

Never. One time he would tell me too. He was like, I'm gonna do it. When you're nine, I'm gonna do it. He never did this. Hooked a woman to him one time.

[Ryan Sickler]

What do you mean?

[Gary Owen]

He probably brought like his girlfriends, his hoes with it.

[Ryan Sickler]

He never looked you once.

[Gary Owen]

I think I saw insertion at one point. You go in there. God.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, dude.

[Gary Owen]

Oh, man.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

All right.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you go to the Navy, and you're in the Navy for how many years?

[Gary Owen]

Six.

[Ryan Sickler]

You do six years where? All in San Diego.

[Gary Owen]

First years in D.C. i was in honor guard. So we were doing the parades, the funerals, the things you see on tv. Presidential honor guard. Because I was in boot camp, they said, everyone with a 34 inch waist or under and over 6ft tall come down the field house. Because everybody has to look the same in the honor guard, right? So I go down there. I was. I was the perfect person. I was like 6, 2. You know, I'm 17, 18 years old. I'm very skinny. So I sign up, I said, you know, I'd rather do that than what I was going to do in the Navy. Because they. They show this video and it just looks amazing. Amazing, right?

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, we're gonna be jet mechanic.

[Gary Owen]

No, I was gonna be a yeoman. I literally want to join the Navy. I said, I don't want to be outside. I don't deal with the heat that well. Air conditioning. He's like, oh, you want to be a yeoman? So I went and told my family. I go, yeah, I'm gonna be the admiral's assistant. I put a lot on it. Yeah, I'll be the admiral's assistant. Wherever he goes, I'm right there just making sure everything's in order. So they. They tell me, like, yeah, you, you. You got in the honor guard. I was like, oh, I didn't realize when I was in boot camp, when I said, yeah, I want to do it, there was like 80 guys that said they wanted to do it. Four of us made it. Oh, because they. They're going back doing background checks. Because you're on the White House lawn, you're literally this close to the president. You're not seeing them because you're looking straight ahead, but the right here. You know what I mean? I just remember.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is that the rule? You're not. If you, if you get caught looking, are you done?

[Gary Owen]

Oh, you just. Yeah, you. You will never be back. Yeah, yeah, you're straight, bro. Like some of our ceremonies when I was in the honor guard. Oh. What I was getting at was four of us made it. I didn't know they went back and did background checks on all of us. So they went and talked to the principal, find out if we have police records. They went to the damn mayor.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, we talked to Rod.

[Gary Owen]

Rob was probably a very short conversation. What.

[Ryan Sickler]

Probably punched one of those.

[Gary Owen]

So. Yeah, that'll be funny. I'm glad he didn't talk to him. Thought it went wrong, but what was I getting?

[Ryan Sickler]

You got signed off on. You got.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, so I got in. I didn't realize they went and all did that.

[Ryan Sickler]

So I went out of. Out of 80, you're one of the four.

[Gary Owen]

One of the four.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. And what do you. What's your job now? What do you do?

[Gary Owen]

We. You get to D.C. and your first two months, you're in a thing called train, a platoon, where you're basically living in the attic of Independence hall, which is the barracks, and you're right in D.C. and you just live in this attic. And. And they're just teaching you how to march, how to do your clothes. You know, you're just. Because you got to be flawless, basically. So you just learn all that the first two months, you learn the commands.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you doing the rifle and all that?

[Gary Owen]

Well, you do a little bit of everything. But then when you actually get in the honor guard, depending on your build and height, you're either a body bearer, which is guys that carry the caskets. Your drill team, which is those ones actually throw. Everyone carries arrivals and do basic moves, but the drill team is the one that are doing the wild shit.

[Ryan Sickler]

Throwing it.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. Throw it to each other and stuff. And then you got the. The flag bearers. Those are more main. The tall, lengthy guys, because they're the ones carrying the flag. So once you get down there, they put you in different categories. The crazy part is, though, some of these ceremonies are in the summer, and you're outside and it's hot.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Guys be passing out.

[Ryan Sickler]

D.C. is human.

[Gary Owen]

You know, guys will go down well, they'll drop off. Drop.

[Ryan Sickler]

And you can't look either.

[Gary Owen]

I had one guy.

[Ryan Sickler]

You can't help him.

[Gary Owen]

Yo, I was standing there one time, and the dude, like, I felt him. He was on my shoulder. And I remember I was singing. I was trying to My peripheral. I was trying to see, and it was. I'll never forget. His name was Gerald. Bright black dude. I remember he was on my shoulder coming. He passed out. He was looking at me with a blank stare, like, got knocked out.

[Ryan Sickler]

He's like.

[Gary Owen]

So the whole time I'm going like this.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait. He was still holding up.

[Gary Owen]

No, he was out. But he landed on my shoulder.

[Ryan Sickler]

He's still leaning there.

[Gary Owen]

But I think, like, fall down. Because if they fall down, they got to come get you. Yeah, this is really what I'm doing.

[Ryan Sickler]

On your shoulder.

[Gary Owen]

And I'm going. I can see his eye. Is he dead? And then he just. They finally came and got him.

[Ryan Sickler]

They did come get him.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, but you. You'd hear, like, bushes shaking. Sometimes you'd be standing here like, you. Somebody went down, baby. Can't lock your knees.

[Ryan Sickler]

Who was president when you were There.

[Gary Owen]

I did the inauguration for Clinton.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, you did? Okay.

[Gary Owen]

So when I got there was the first book.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Gary Owen]

And then right when I. Right when I got there, Clinton was. He was already elected. But we got through the inauguration.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Gary Owen]

So we did the. We marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and we marched right by him. He's on a stanchion. Obviously, there was like bulletproof. Bulletproof glass in front of him, but it was Gore, him, their wives. And then I was in a perfect spot, though, because if you're closest to him, you gotta. Your eyes stay forward. Everybody else does the eyes left to show the respect. And I was right in the second row. So when we went eyes left, I was on them. I was like, oh, okay. So it was cool. It was very cool experience.

[Ryan Sickler]

And was that your job the whole time in the Navy?

[Gary Owen]

No, no, that was the first two years.

[Ryan Sickler]

Two years.

[Gary Owen]

And then I became a cop. A cop in the Navy?

[Ryan Sickler]

What is that?

[Gary Owen]

Just regular cop? Just on the base.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, cop on the base.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Do you have jurisdiction off the base if you. No, no, got no jurisdiction.

[Gary Owen]

You have to call whatever the local San Diego PD or Coronado pd. Yeah, but it was just. What you think. I mean, it's. Gun. We had a gun. We. I mean, it was everything.

[Ryan Sickler]

You ever have to arrest anybody?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, a couple arrests.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

But the only thing the base doesn't have. We ain't got murders.

[Ryan Sickler]

What are you getting a lot of drunk driving and like that.

[Gary Owen]

Drunk driving. Bar fights.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Guys trying to sneak in the girls, barracks.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Get that a lot. I used to let everybody go.

[Ryan Sickler]

It sounds like college, dude.

[Gary Owen]

I used to tell the guys, like, you catch them like, dude, just get a room, bro. Go off the base. You know, because guys, especially when guys give you a hard time, you're like, dude, I. I never want to rest people. I'd be trying to talk sense into him. Like, dude, she ain't that. She ain't that fine. I heard that stinks, bro. Like. Like what? Foul. I did you a favor, all right? You think you're the first one to sneak in her room? Robin on patrol for two years.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Gary Owen]

You know, I remember I used to sneak. We had a daycare on the base. That was the best. I'd sneak in the daycare and crush that food in the fridge, though.

[Ryan Sickler]

You getting that milk?

[Gary Owen]

Oh, that milk. Cereals, little cereals. I'm like this. Oh, it's Burrito Tuesday beginning. Because it's all laid out of the plastic, bro. I stole so much food out of daycare lunchables they could have arrested me for?

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Gary Owen]

Hell yeah. Cuz we had keys to every building, bro. Yeah, we could get in everywhere. Oh, I would never steal, but I don't know. That daycare had the best food, bro. I'd be looking at them kids like, I don't know how good you got it here.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We were talking briefly before you started recording, and we were talking about, like, how you go spend the night somewhere, someone your kid or you go somewhere else and you realize that that home isn't normal.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Like, when did you start realizing, like, oh, what's going on with Rod and trailer is not what's going on. My friends at school. Did you do sleepovers or do you ever have any at your place?

[Gary Owen]

Either. Both. Mainly. I'd sleep over other people's houses. But do you have a favorite?

[Ryan Sickler]

Like, I'm gonna go over here. Mrs. Mrs. Williams.

[Gary Owen]

Oh, the same guy that got me into the Navy, Mike Heinemann. Dude, it. I got so comfortable because they. They lived like a block away from the high school, so 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. I'd walk over their house. It got to the point I just walk in. Like, it got a point where they're like, where's the frosted Flakes? I'd go, second shelf. I moved behind the pancake battery. It's right there. Like, I knew where was bro. But that family took me in, bro. To this day, I'm so indebted to them. This. This how much they meant to me when his. When his mom passed. I was in Richmond, Virginia. The funerals in Cincinnati, Ohio. There's no, you know, it's a small airport. There's no directs. I said, what. What time's your funeral? And they was. I was going to take the weekend off. Like, I got to go to Ms. Hyneman's funeral. And they was all telling me, no, Gary, she knows you loved her. You ain't got to show up. I said, no, this is. This is. This is very personal for me. So I get done with the show. I guess it's like 11:30. Me and my feature drove the DC because that was the only direct flight that could get me to Cincinnati. So I was on the 6am flight. I got Sensei 8. The funeral was like a 10. And I stayed till about 2, and then I got back on a plane to get to DC. Lan. DC at like 4. And then we drove back to Richmond, which is like two hours from Dulles So the. The whole day was get off. Get off stage. Friday night, drive. D.C. i remember, got a holiday in. I took like an hour nap. He stayed there all day to shout out to my feature. At the time, he just stayed and ran around town and then he was there to pick me up. And I landed at like 4, and then we drove back to Richmond and did the shows. But, I mean, that's how much she meant to me. I was like, ain't no way. So I didn't have to cancel my shows, but I was able to still make the funeral. And I got like four hours at home with everybody. So it was cool. That family. Yeah, they. They probably meant more than anybody else.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

When I. When I ran away, I called Mike and was like, okay. It was funny when I ran away. It was the night the Bills played the Giants the first time in the super bowl when Scott Norville missed that kick. So my dad picked me up to go watch the super bowl with him. So I got back to the trail, like midnight. I walk in the trailer, and my stepdad was on one that night. He was just going off about something and he told me to, like, do the dishes, vacuum the living room. This is all like 12:31 in the morning. I'm like, what the fuck? And then I remember I had to take the garbage out. And we had a shed next to the trailer and I took the garbage out and I looked at the trailer and I just went it and I just started running. Right. And you see those horror movies when they fall. Yeah, that shit's real. I did the front row. I look back, I go. That's why they. I can't imagine Jason. Michael Myers is chasing me. I need a full because I'm looking back like, are they gonna come after me? And then I went to some other buddy of mine's trailer. And then I said, I walk. I mean, I walked in, I said, can I use your phone? And then he let me use my. His phone. I called Mike and literally I'm damn near crying on the phone. And I said. I said, mike. And he goes, rod. And I go, yeah, I just ran away. Can you meet me somewhere? So he told me where to meet him. So I ran in the woods. I'm hiding in the woods and on the street, flashes lights, got in the car, took off. And so I went over his stay to his house for like a week. And I just remember I called my mom the next day at work.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did she know that family and know where you were and shit?

[Gary Owen]

I told her the next day, because I went to school, I was wearing Mike's clothes. Everybody's calling me Gary Hyneman at school because I'm. I'm wearing. This is when the overalls was in.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So I had the overalls and shit one off. And, yeah, he had more money in me. So I was like, dude, I'm living life right now. I got the Z Cavaricis, got the merry go round hoodie.

[Ryan Sickler]

And so.

[Gary Owen]

So I called my mom. I said, mom, I ran away. And she goes, yeah, I. I think I noticed. I think I noticed. I think, because, yeah, I left in the middle of the night.

[Ryan Sickler]

And they were a trailer, not a palatial mansion.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I said, I'm in school. Everything's fine. I'm staying at the Hynemans. I just. I said, mom, it's January, right? I said, I'm leaving for the Navy in July. I say, dude, can I just enjoy these last couple months? Because that's what made me run away. When he was telling me to do the dishes and he's telling me to. To clean the trailer, he said, you gotta get a job. And I go, well, I don't have a car. He goes, I said, how am I gonna get to work? He goes, I don't care. You gotta get a job. I'm sick of you freeloading off your mom. And I was like. I was thinking myself, you get a job. Because he ain't got a job either.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, is that right?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, he's unemployed.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

So I'm just going, you get a job. And then I didn't say that, but I was like, oh, this is. I said, dude. And now I told him. I said, I joined the Navy. I'm leaving in July. Can I just enjoy my last couple months? And he was. He was just like, nah. I was like, ah, I'm a. I. I felt like I finally had the balls run away, because I felt like I had somewhere I was gonna go. Like, I'm going to the Navy in July. So I finally had a place that could get me out of there. So that's really why I had the balls run away that night. And then it took, like, a week or two. I stayed at the Heineman's. It was great. It was great.

[Ryan Sickler]

Two weeks, right?

[Gary Owen]

My mom showed up at a high school basketball game with my little brother, who was like two or three at the time. And everybody's like, your mom's here, man. You gotta go home. And I go, no. And then my little brother kind of got Me. He was like, yeah, where you at? And stuff like that. And I was like, at the game.

[Ryan Sickler]

They'Re guilting you like this?

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Not practice?

[Gary Owen]

Nah. And then I. I went home that night, and I remember Rod never. Never said he's sorry. He's. All he did was he goes, you good? Another? Yeah. All right. Smells it.

[Ryan Sickler]

So what's your. We'll wrap up with this. What is your relationship like with your mom and Rod today?

[Gary Owen]

I don't have one with either of them either.

[Ryan Sickler]

You don't talk to your mom at all? No, no.

[Gary Owen]

The thing when my brother Dallas, I have a heroin overdose. So when that happened, I did an article for Buzzfeed back in 2014, and the article was about how this white guy was one of the top grossing black comics in the country. How does that happen? That was what the article is about. Within this eight page article that you can see. Go to buzzfeed.com and search it. It's on there. It's like eight pages. There's a paragraph where I talked about my stepdad because the guy was trying to get him on the phone, and he wouldn't get on the phone. And I literally. I'm in the car with him. I go, he's an, bro. He's an. He put that in the article. And so in their world, that whole article was about me calling Rod an.

[Ryan Sickler]

Right. Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

No, it was very quick. But I did call him an. And so he's already on the fence, like, tense with my mom and him. And then when my brother died, he kind of reconciled a little bit.

[Ryan Sickler]

Now, is that your. Your brother? Is that Rod's son?

[Gary Owen]

Rod's son and my mom.

[Ryan Sickler]

Mom.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah. He. But he was the one I was closest with. He was cool. And when he died, he kind of reconciled a little bit. And then Rod called and tried to blame me for him dying. And I said, we're done.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, bro.

[Gary Owen]

Because he said, you know, because Dallas said he had overdose probably four times before he actually overdose and died because there was fentanyls and all that. Yeah, he bought. He was a heroin addict, but he. It was. Lace. Was fentanyl.

[Ryan Sickler]

All of it was.

[Gary Owen]

It was like he went down like that. He didn't feel anything. So Rod called me and I thought I was. I did this thing called facing addiction in D.C. i was going to speak not as an addict, but as a family member, how it affects us. And I told him, I said, I threw an olive branch out there. I said, why don't you guys go with me? Could be Good. I said, you'll see. You'll be. There'll be other families that know you're going through. Rod called me. I'll never get. As long as I was in Des Moines, Iowa, at the Funny Bone that weekend, I'm thinking he's gonna, hey, I'm trying to get some information on this thing. He goes, man, I gotta tell you, you better not be using his death to benefit your career. And I went, what? I was like, oh, my God. And he said. He said, you know, because I'm gonna share a story with you, man. Dallas was doing fine. He was good. He was healthy. He was working. He goes, and then that article came out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Nah.

[Gary Owen]

Swear on everything. And he goes, and then everything was different after that. He tried to say, that buzzfeed article.

[Ryan Sickler]

That you call Rod an.

[Gary Owen]

That's what Dallas just went down after that. I was like, I don't mean to laugh.

[Ryan Sickler]

That is laugh.

[Gary Owen]

I was like, oh, I God. God bless Rod for finding a way, though. Because I kept thinking, they can't, but. Because I was the one that would put Dallas in rehab when he would overdose. I'm the one paying for it. So I'm like the one son that never did drugs. Me. Never did anything. You're blaming me? I was like, oh, I say this guy's amazing, the way he can flip. And he did it. He figured out a way in his brain to flip it. When he called me go, oh, that's. And that's that point. I was like, yeah, yeah, you can still love him and forgive him, but you just can't be around them.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, I'd live and be. Well, far away from me.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's all like, do your thing. Go be good.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, it's kind of like the. What about masseuses and Justin Tucker? They have great massage lights, just not with Justin.

[Ryan Sickler]

Here's the thing, bro. You knew when. When Tucker saw the Ravens. In the history of. The Ravens, since 1996, have never drafted a kicker. He's an undrafted. Why would you. The Raiders going after Janikowski in round one. They never drafted a kicker. They drafted a kicker.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, I knew that. Right. Was on the wall.

[Ryan Sickler]

And they said, hey, we're going to leave it up to the NFL. They're doing their own investigation. Then they said, we're going to have to let you go. Guess what? The NFL look, if they really are following suit, the NFL's got a bunch.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

So I'd have to settle. But that's the last question I want to ask you. Well, I have Two more. Your relationship with your dad, is he of all floating in and out of your life at all?

[Gary Owen]

That relationship went left. We lost touch for a couple of years, right? And then we got back in touch. And he's, he's. He's kind of a user. Like I was, I was, you know, I was on my way to. You know, I want to call me famous, but I'm doing my thing, right? He, I never seen my. Want to benefit off of it, right? He was about him. And so every time we out to eat, I'm paying. He came to a show, he'd ask if I could fly him in, can I get the hotel, shit like that. I'll say this, I gotta know.

[Ryan Sickler]

Where is he?

[Gary Owen]

He's in Cincinnati. This all gonna know about my dad.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, hold up. I'm sorry. He wants you to fly him in? Like if you're in Dallas or something.

[Gary Owen]

I got the endless amount of money. Well, I can just stay with you, right? I go, no, you're not staying in my room.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Gary Owen]

I can't jack off with you in the room.

[Ryan Sickler]

Asked me to stay in my room.

[Gary Owen]

Say no. Slumber party, bro. This is, this is all you gotta know my dad nuts show. I'm filming my special in Vegas, Mandalay Bay 2011. I said, I fly him in, I put him up. Well, the, the casino gave me a bunch of rooms, right? I flew him in, I gave him one of the rooms and it was a suite. And he had to leave his credit card for incidentals. There was a mix up and they end up charging his credit card for the room. And it was eleven hundred dollars. So. Which is two nights. That's a hell of a. That's 550 a night for him. That's a lot. So he kept calling me going, dude, they charged my credit card. I said, all right. I call over to Showtime, they apologize, we'll get a check written out, no problem. I said, dad, they're going to take care of it. It's going to be a couple weeks, but you got it. I said, give me your address. Showtime writes a check for a thousand dollars, right? He gets a check. He goes, yeah, I got the thousand. He goes, it was 1100. And I go, all right. This dude would not leave me alone about that hundred dollars. I'm going, for how long? So hold on. He said, I need your manager's number. I go, I'm not giving you my number. $100. And then he was like, I finally just told him I said, dad, take the L. I said, you went to Vegas for free?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

You didn't pay for. She didn't pay for one meal, one drink, nothing. I said, just take that. You got the thousand back. I'm not. But he wanted me to call showtime. No, it's not show time. That's all I got over my dad. But our relationship ended four years ago. I came in town of Cincinnati, I went to a Reds game and I got a suite and I didn't invite him. I'm not, I'm not obligated to invite you to everything I do. He found out, left me a voicemail, cussed me out like, you don't respect me. And I called him back, I said, yo, this is over a Reds game. And he goes, he goes, yeah, man. And he's like going in, right? It just got real tense. And then we just start. I never cussed him at him in my life, but I snapped.

[Ryan Sickler]

Really? You never did up until then?

[Gary Owen]

Nah, never. I was very respectful to everybody.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Gary Owen]

No, dude. He said something to set me off and I said, you, you ass, wife, your family, homie. And hung up. That was it.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's it.

[Gary Owen]

And then that ended it. Pretty much. That ended the relationship right there.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude, I. I appreciate you doing this episode.

[Gary Owen]

Yeah, this was awesome.

[Ryan Sickler]

I love talking to you, dude. And last question, advice you'd give to 16 year old Gary Owen. What do you. What are you telling 16 year old.

[Gary Owen]

Gary when you run away? Don't look back.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's actually good.

[Gary Owen]

Straight ahead, brother, because that shit's real. Yeah, there was snow on the ground and I was rolling. No, I was like, oh, there's something to these horror movies. You know, comedians always be like that, man. Especially black man. Why people always be violent? I'm like this, dude. You don't know. We get scared.

[Ryan Sickler]

Please, one more time, promote everything you like.

[Gary Owen]

Gary Owen. No S is on mint comedy.com right now. What's your socials at Gary on Comedy? It's pretty much all of them.

[Ryan Sickler]

And catch you on tour, you're out there on the road every week.

[Gary Owen]

Garyon Live is my website that's got all my dates on.

[Ryan Sickler]

Thank you for doing this for real.

[Gary Owen]

That was awesome.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, thank you as always, Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to you all next week. Sa.