Zac Amico’s Morning Zoo – Episode 0073
Guests: Che Durena & Ian Lara
Date: December 26, 2025
Platform: GaS Digital Network
Episode Overview
This episode of Zac Amico's Morning Zoo is a riotous pre-holiday hang with comedians Che Durena and Ian Lara. The trio dives into personal stories about slacking off in school, cheating, weird online memes, conspiracy theories, the economics of supplements and self-help scams, bar and road life, rough party stories, the seedy side of low-budget filmmaking, and absurd sports controversies. It’s a wide-ranging, unfiltered, and hilarious conversation, peppered with deep dives into pop culture, stand-up life, indie film hustle, and the joys (and risks) of getting older and (maybe) wiser.
Key Topics & Highlights
Holiday Vibes, Senioritis, and Early Slack (00:23 – 05:00)
- Zac introduces the show and guests with high energy and jokes about “senioritis” as the crew wraps their pre-holiday shows.
- They reminisce about the feeling of not caring after getting into college early and relate that to adult life and workplace burnout.
“I got into college… my senior year? I fucking threw out my backpack.”
– Zac Amico [02:22]
- Discussion about cheating in school, from stealing answer keys—like Che’s self-described “Robin Hood” antics—to Scantron Morse code strategies and the social value of being crafty.
The Purpose of School & The Worker Bee Theory (04:23 – 06:25)
- Zac shares his “conspiracy” about American public education being a system designed to produce obedient workers, not leaders.
“The whole point of public education is to weed out possible middle management and get them ready and turn everyone else into worker bees.”
– Zac Amico [04:40]
- Ian and Che agree that while school subjects might not matter, learning social skills, time management, discipline, and conversational craftiness does.
Agartha and the Meme-ification of Conspiracies (06:42 – 15:20)
- Che introduces “Agartha,” a Gen Alpha meme derived from Hollow Earth conspiracies, now laced with absurdist and pseudo-racist overtones.
- The hosts hilariously try to unpack how memes like Agartha and characters like Charlie Kirk and Yakub have infected youth culture, serving as taboo, layered inside-jokes for the “unserious” internet generation.
“If you look like—my buddy… is a lifelong construction worker… he had to like, go through like a monster rehabilitation to stop drinking Monster.”
– Che Durena [08:29]
- Tangents into Admiral Byrd’s (not Bragg’s) Antarctic expedition and how vague, unprovable stories serve as perfect fuel for conspiracy theorists and meme culture.
- Discussion of astral projection claims (the “artist who could see Jupiter’s rings”), rabbit holes, and how quickly any fringe subject leads to “the elites.”
“There’s an artist who claimed he could astrally project… They had him do it for one of the planets that we didn’t know had rings… And then we went there and he nailed it.”
– Zac Amico [12:02 - 12:41]
Debunking Magic, Supplements, and Making Money the Shady Way (15:09 – 18:46)
- The guys break down viral mentalists and “magic” tricks—how most are basic sleights or set-ups disguised as psychic powers.
- The conversation morphs into fake internet gurus, supplement scams, and the modern hustle of selling image-based snake oil.
“I think that’s the path to make money now… you, you lie, but in the process of lying, you make $20 million.”
– Che Durena [15:50]
- Specific callouts: Alpha Brain, Mark Wahlberg, and the supplement industry’s huge margins: “You’re selling them an astronomical amount of product that costs you nothing to make.”
– Zac Amico [16:50]
Pickup Artists & Male Self-Help Scams (18:47 – 22:26)
- Zac shares tales of a friend obsessed with “The Game” and DVD-era pickup artist culture.
- The depressing reality: these schemes weren’t about “getting pussy,” but about conning insecure men with obvious advice repackaged as secrets.
“All the advice they give is basically: be presentable, take care of yourself, be nice, ask questions and listen.”
– Zac Amico [20:04]
- Che describes self-help grifts targeting men, exploiting insecurity, and selling “courses” with arbitrary rules.
- Discussion on how actual charisma, not canned tricks, matters more—especially for comics who gain fleeting status on stage.
Comedy Road Stories: Parties, House Dangers, and Misadventures (22:27 – 28:19)
- The comedians trade wild tales of post-show parties gone wrong: comics nearly shot by irate boyfriends, being stranded in the woods, getting kidnapped, and party rules (“never go back to the party”).
- Zac’s golden road wisdom: never follow to a second or third location—especially not casinos or hometown bars packed with rivals.
“You never want to go to some local yokel shithole bar because now you’ve lost your powers… And you’re in enemy territory.”
– Zac Amico [23:09]
- Che and Ian admit to breaking these rules for good stories (“the disaster is half the fun”), but with age, the afterparty loses its appeal.
The (Un)Glamorous Side of Bar Life and Getting Older (28:20 – 38:28)
- After-parties, after-hours, and the sought-after “lock-in” experience—a bartender closing the doors for a true insiders’ party.
- Che describes seeking an authentic after-hours coke bar in NYC and getting more than they bargained for: “And the coke was so good, dude, it was so good…”
– Che Durena [29:54]
- The progression of partying: with time, the thrill fades, hangovers worsen, and the clarity of chilling with a laptop or video games wins out.
- All three express increasing reluctance to risk “tomorrow Zac” for fleeting fun.
“That’s something I started asking myself—how is tomorrow Zac gonna feel about this decision?”
– Zac Amico [36:09]
- Joke about how, when not “chasing pussy,” there’s no good reason to stay up late.
The Flyers Announcer “Blow Me” Incident – Cancel Culture in Sports (39:55 – 43:48)
- Zac brings up a recent controversy: a Flyers announcer accidentally caught on-air making a dirty joke.
“The funny thing is that he still had his announcer voice… would you mind blowing me?”
– Zac Amico [41:15]
- The crew agree incidents like this are only fireable in today’s climate—formerly, this would have been a slap on the wrist, especially in “mean” towns like Philly.
- Tales of Philly sports fans causing chaos: “...they threw batteries at Santa.”
– Zac Amico [42:26]
- The hosts riff on Philly’s pride in their rough reputation.
Skid Row & City Decay: The Dark Side of Touring (44:12 – 48:43)
- Horror stories of Oakland, the Tenderloin in San Francisco, Vancouver’s roughest neighborhoods, and the prevalence of homelessness, addiction, and “hostile architecture” (e.g., spikes to deter sleeping).
- Che describes Montreal’s “homeless cage” story, where someone was locked inside gates overnight.
Low-Budget Filmmaking: Hustle, Scams & Odd Jobs (48:43 – 68:43)
- Zac recounts housing a “boxcar hobo” on a DIY film set: a stinky, unwashed art department guy, hired sight unseen, who ends up getting drunk, urinating on himself, and selling Zac’s old student film as his own.
“He took his dick out and started pissing in his own face while he was asleep. And he had his crew badge on with the name of the production.”
– Zac Amico [51:22]
- Broader discussion about life on ultra-low budget horror sets, the tradition of “producers” as local dentists, film grifting, and “found footage” genres (Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity).
- How to raise money for a bad movie: rich parents, crowdfunding, scamming doctors, giving one actor (e.g., Nicolas Cage) almost the entire budget for name value.
- Inside story on nearly hiring Cage for $500K on a $750K indie movie, and how he’s “crazy like a fox” with eclectic purchases for tax purposes.
“Nick Cage was $500,000… and no script. This was when he was, like, in tax trouble.”
– Zac Amico [67:03]
- Che and Zac riff on shifting priorities and the joy of building a bizarre IMDb page: “I want to have one of those IMDBs… 150 movies and they’re all garbage!”
– Zac Amico [58:29]
Nicolas Cage & Modern Indie Horror (68:08 – 70:35)
- Defense of Cage’s work ethic as a “working actor” despite weird career choices.
- Recommendations: Mandy (“banger!”), Pig (good Cage performance), Long Legs (“ass”).
- Movie nerd deep-dive into psychedelic fight sequences and what makes low-budget horror fun.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
On School & Cheating
-
“Dude, I cheated. I’d love to cheat… I’d steal the answer keys off the teacher’s desk… and hand them out to other kids. I was like a fucking Robin Hood, dude.”
— Che Durena [02:57] -
“This lets me know you’re gonna be okay.”
— Ian Lara on Che’s Scantron pants code [04:32]
On Conspiracies & Meme Culture
-
“Why does it have to be white? Why can’t it just be cool people?”
— Ian Lara [09:18] -
“I found like, Westside High School… they put their teachers up, ‘Accepted to Agartha, denied from Agartha.’ That’s how you’re cyberbullying your teachers.”
— Che Durena [11:08]
On Supplements & Hustle
- “Supplements cause jack shit to make… You’re selling them an astronomical amount of product that cost you nothing.”
— Zac Amico [16:41]
On Pickup Artist Grifts
-
“If somebody’s coming up with a magic trick, he’s trying to fuck me.”
— Zac Amico [21:47] -
“All the advice they give is basically: be presentable, take care of yourself, be nice, ask questions and listen.”
— Zac Amico [20:04]
On Comedy After-Parties
-
“Never go back to the party… If you meet a girl at a show and she’s like ‘we’re all going back to a party at my house’—no. There’s always some dude there who’s like ‘who the fuck is this guy?’”
— Che Durena [23:27] -
“That’s something I started asking myself—how is tomorrow Zac gonna feel about this decision?”
— Zac Amico [36:09]
On Low-Budget Film Hustle
- “I want to have one of those IMDBs… 150 movies and they’re all garbage!”
— Zac Amico [58:29]
On Partying with Age
- “If you’re not chasing pussy, what am I even doing up this hour?”
— Che Durena [37:26]
Important Timestamps
- Cheating in School Tales: 02:26–05:55
- School as Worker Bee Training: 04:40–05:38
- Agartha & Hollow Earth Memes: 06:42–11:41
- Astral Projection & Conspiracy Deep Dives: 11:47–14:01
- Debunking Magic, Supplement Hustles: 15:09–18:47
- Pickup Artists/Self-Help Scams: 18:47–22:26
- Comedy Road Stories, Party Warnings: 22:27–28:19
- Party Evolution & ‘Tomorrow Zac’ Philosophy: 36:09–38:28
- Flyers Announcer ‘Blow Me’ Incident: 39:55–43:48
- Skid Row, City Decay Tales: 44:12–48:43
- DIY Filmmaking Horror Stories: 48:43–66:58
- Nicolas Cage Budget Math: 66:58–68:08
- Nicolas Cage Movies/Mandy Rec: 68:08–70:35
Final Thoughts
This episode is a wild carousel of comedic storytelling, irreverent conspiracy dissections, old-school hustling, and the comforts of aging out of the party scene. Zac, Che, and Ian deliver nonstop laughs, surprising life lessons, and a heap of inside-baseball details about both stand-up and scrappy filmmaking.
Plugs:
- Ian Lara: “Material Boy” special on YouTube
- Che Durena: Podcast “Two Goons,” live at Comedy Store (LA) Jan 8, Stand Up Live Phoenix Feb 19
- Zac Amico: Instagram @zackisnotfunny, tour dates at punchup.live/zachamico
Key Quote:
“That’s something I started asking myself—how is tomorrow Zac gonna feel about this decision?”
— Zac Amico [36:09]
For podcast fans and new listeners alike, this episode perfectly captures the chaos and glee of Zac Amico’s Morning Zoo.