246: #246 America's Pastime ft Henry Cho

Summary

The Nateland Podcast – Episode #246: America's Pastime ft. Henry Cho

Release Date: April 2, 2025

Hosts:

• Aaron Weber
• Brian Bates
• Henry Cho (Guest)

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1. Nashville Comedy Fest and Upcoming Shows

Timestamp: 03:10 – 04:34

Aaron Weber kicks off the episode by promoting the upcoming Nashville Comedy Fest, highlighting the event hosted by Nate Land at the Ryman Auditorium on April 8th. The lineup includes notable comedians such as Ryan Hamilton, Dustin Nickerson, Derek Stroop, Lace Larby, Mia Jackson, and Paula Kaczynski, with Aaron proudly announcing himself as the special host.

Notable Quote:

Aaron Weber (03:44): "We’re doing our thing out here."

2. Touring Tales and Stand-Up Experiences

Timestamp: 04:34 – 11:10

Brian Bates shares his hectic weekend, detailing his flight experiences across three different airlines and multiple comedy gigs in Pittsburgh and Detroit. He humorously recounts his decision to switch to Delta after feeling good about his performances, only to face delays and logistical challenges upon returning home.

Notable Quote:

Brian Bates (06:04): "His shows were great. Crowds were great. It's a lot of fun."

Henry Cho praises Aaron and Brian's comedic abilities, noting how audiences initially skeptical of their stand-up acts are often pleasantly surprised by their performances.

Notable Quote:

Henry Cho (07:52): "Comedians are around 50. 50% of the guys are always on. Never turn off."

3. The Struggles and Strategies of Being an Opener

Timestamp: 11:10 – 22:18

The conversation delves into the challenges of being an opening act in comedy clubs. Henry Cho emphasizes the importance of maintaining quality as an opener, arguing that headliners like Nate and Dusty set a high bar that openers must meet to retain audience interest.

Notable Quote:

Henry Cho (12:00): "You're headlining your own shows, and they may not be packed arenas or theaters, but you're headlining."

Brian Bates humorously admits to adjusting his career trajectory to remain as an opener, appreciating Henry's support over the years.

Notable Quote:

Brian Bates (12:06): "I'm not going to be available for dinner because I'm going to go do Nateland with Brian and Aaron."

4. Behind the Scenes: Comedy on the Road

Timestamp: 22:18 – 37:24

The hosts share various anecdotes from their touring experiences, including the physical demands of performing multiple shows in a short span and dealing with hecklers. Aaron recounts a particularly challenging experience at a Chicago club where a heckler disrupted his set, leading to an unexpected exchange that left the audience reacting.

Notable Quotes:

Brian Bates (15:19): "Nobody cares."

Aaron Weber (18:44): "We are rocking and rolling here at Lateland Nateland."

Henry Cho discusses the rigorous touring schedule, reminiscing about his early days performing 50 weeks a year and the relentless pace of life on the road.

Notable Quote:

Henry Cho (17:10): "I did 32 colleges in 30 days. It was nuts."

5. Listener Interactions and Baseball Banter

Timestamp: 37:24 – 87:48

The episode transitions into a lively segment where hosts respond to listener comments, predominantly focusing on baseball. Henry Cho and Brian Bates engage in spirited discussions about Major League Baseball, touching on topics like innovative equipment (e.g., Yankees' torpedo bats), rule changes, and memorable baseball moments.

Notable Quotes:

Henry Cho (28:44): "It is 80% harder to do clean comedy."

Aaron Weber (65:08): "Baseball can mirror America in this way where there's this tradition and then there's, like, a resistance to change things."

The hosts also share personal stories, such as Henry Cho's encounters with legendary baseball players and his grandfather's impressive pitching skills in Korea and Japan. They analyze recent baseball rule changes, debating the balance between tradition and modernization in the sport.

Notable Quote:

Henry Cho (72:42): "You can get walks, but you can't swing for a thousand at-bats."

6. Promoting Shows and Final Thoughts

Timestamp: 87:48 – 115:31

As the episode nears its end, Aaron and Brian promote their upcoming comedy shows across various locations, encouraging listeners to attend. Henry Cho provides a rundown of his sold-out shows, highlighting key dates and venues.

Notable Quote:

Brian Bates (112:21): "I'm headlining in South Bend for the first time ever, so that's a big show for me. The Stock Room east is the name of the venue. May 31 in South Bend, Indiana."

The hosts wrap up the episode with expressions of gratitude towards Henry Cho for filling in and sharing engaging stories from his extensive career in comedy and baseball.

Notable Quote:

Aaron Weber (114:13): "Baseball, bringing us together."

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Conclusion:

Episode #246 of The Nateland Podcast offers a rich blend of comedy, personal anecdotes, and passionate discussions about America's favorite pastime—baseball. With Henry Cho joining Aaron and Brian, listeners are treated to a dynamic conversation that traverses the highs and lows of touring, the intricacies of stand-up comedy, and the timeless appeal of baseball. The hosts' camaraderie and insightful exchanges make this episode both engaging and informative, perfect for fans seeking a deep dive into the intersection of comedy and sports.

Final Thoughts: For those who missed the episode, The Nateland Podcast continues to deliver compelling content that captures the essence of stand-up comedy and its cultural intersections. Stay tuned for more engaging discussions and laugh-out-loud moments in upcoming episodes.

Transcript

[Aaron Weber]

Foreign. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Nate Land podcast.

[Nate Bargatze]

Hello, folks, and hey, Bear. I'm Nate Bargetti. Welcome to the podcast. I'm not on this podcast. I just wanted to pop on and let you guys know the theatrical release of a new movie we're going to shoot. We haven't started shooting yet. We're about to start March 13, 2026. The breadwinner. Very, very fun, Very exciting. This is a big win for Nate Land and the productions. If you've been following along, you know, if you're invested in the other stuff that we're trying to do, I think this will be a giant thing. I. I will be gone. You know, I think I'm. I've got to go to Europe. I'm gone for a good bit. I wasn't here for this one that you're about to watch, but it's, you know, everything's still rolling. I just wanted to let you know, say, you know, I'm coming back when I can come back. Just bear with me as get through all this schedule. We're shooting this down in Atlanta, like right outside Atlanta, the movie. So I'll be back and forth, and then I have my tour, and so I'm still doing a bunch of that. So it's going to be a crazy year. Obviously, it's always been getting crazier, but we always think of you guys and yeah, just keep plugging along with us if you don't mind. We. We'd love to have you. So enjoy the podcast. We have Henry Cho, Aaron Weber. Baits are here for this one. We're have some people jump in and, you know, should be fun and funny as always. All right, I'll see you when I get back.

[Brian Bates]

Thank.

[Aaron Weber]

Hello. Hello, folks. And hey, Bear. Aaron Weber here alongside Brian Bates.

[Brian Bates]

All right.

[Aaron Weber]

And filling in for Dusty Slay and Nate Bargetti. We needed somebody to fill two pairs of shoes. Henry Cho is in the building, ladies and gentlemen. How you doing, Henry?

[Henry Cho]

I'm doing great, of course. Always happy to fill in for either one. Or both.

[Aaron Weber]

Or both. I mean, yeah, it's a bit. That's a tall task.

[Henry Cho]

It's a huge task.

[Brian Bates]

So Nate's been doing comedy for, I think, 22 years and Dusty about 15.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, they're not there. 39, dude.

[Brian Bates]

They still don't have you.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

You're better than both.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Combined.

[Henry Cho]

Go get somebody here locally and bring them in here.

[Aaron Weber]

We needed 37 years of combined experience. And you top that.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Open micro to join them. Just to.

[Henry Cho]

Just to do it. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Balance it out. Thank you for being here, man. It's been a while since you've been on. I think it's your first time in the new studio.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah. Last. The only other time was early on. I mean, you know, coming in here and y'all getting free stuff from cool places. I went, what's this? I mean, y'all were like, ask me to bring waters.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. The first time.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, it's crazy. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Henry, bring some fruit snacks by the studio.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Hey, if you want something to drink, you better bring your own. But, yeah, it was at. Yeah. Nate's house, and we just hung out.

[Brian Bates]

We still asked you to bring stuff. We were in this house.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's true.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, we've got a lot going on here at Nate Lane, as. As you've alluded to. I want to play a couple of things before we get rolling here at the Nashville Comedy Fest. Festival is coming up in just a week. I think next week.

[Henry Cho]

It starts in early April.

[Aaron Weber]

Bunch of shows going on, including big one for us here at Nate Land. Nate Land presents Good Clean funny at the ryman auditorium. That's April 8th. It's got an amazing lineup. Ryan Hamilton, Dustin Nickerson, Derek Stroop, Lace Larby, Mia Jackson. Paula's again. Paula Kaczynski. I'm hosting it.

[Henry Cho]

You're hosting?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I'm the special host. I don't know what special host means. Just the wording of that makes me.

[Henry Cho]

Well, yeah, they should have just said host, because special people gonna just curtsy laugh the whole time. That's what's gonna.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, like I won a contest.

[Henry Cho]

Yes, exactly.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You collected most box tops, and you're in box tops.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. So anyway, it's gonna be at The Ryman Auditorium, April 8th. Come on out. And then the other thing, we want to plug Nick Thune, who's done the podcast. You know him? He's part of the Na Land family. He has a brand new half hour special out from Nateland called Born Young. Very funny. Go check it out on Nateland Entertainment's YouTube. And then, as always, check out the consumers every Tuesday. Don't make me come back there every Thursday. We are rocking and rolling here at Lateland Nateland, and today is no exception. Brian, let's get into it, man. What do you think?

[Brian Bates]

We talk about our weekends.

[Aaron Weber]

Let's talk about it. Where we been, where we're going. Let's get right into it.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I. I flew three different airlines this weekend, Aaron. I started off on Southwest, went with Henry to Pittsburgh.

[Henry Cho]

Pittsburgh.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Had a great set, feeling good about myself. I said, you know what? I'm going to fly Delta to my next gig.

[Aaron Weber]

Just to treat yourself a little.

[Brian Bates]

Exactly.

[Henry Cho]

He flew. He did Flag Delta.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Y.

[Aaron Weber]

Now, Henry, be honest. Do you think he did well enough to. To move up an airline? No, not at all.

[Henry Cho]

I thought he was going to bust it, but no, we were.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, take the.

[Henry Cho]

I will tell you this. The great thing about us flying. We flew the same flight to Delta to Detroit.

[Aaron Weber]

You sit next to each other.

[Henry Cho]

Of course he walked past me. Are you kidding? I was on 30 minutes sleep before I got on. Yeah, I was. I read, like, half a book. And then he finally came straggling on Group nine. Yeah. No, but then you want. You tell them about your. The last one you took.

[Brian Bates]

Wow. Okay. I was good there. So then I bombed so bad that night. I flew home on Spirit, and it.

[Henry Cho]

Was so bad that they delayed his flight.

[Brian Bates]

We were already pulling away from the.

[Henry Cho]

Gate, and they said, brian Bates is on.

[Brian Bates]

And they. He comes over and is like, we got to make this issue. Had to go back to the gate, sit there for an hour.

[Aaron Weber]

You're already on the move.

[Brian Bates]

And they did that already pulling away.

[Henry Cho]

They pulled off from the gate.

[Aaron Weber]

So they don't do, like, the checklist until they're already going to the. It's Spirit.

[Henry Cho]

They do it on the run.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Yeah. So anyway. No, I. All that's true, except he did great shows. His shows were great.

[Henry Cho]

His shows are great. Crowds were great. It's a lot of fun. I was. You know. You did great, man.

[Brian Bates]

Thank you.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Thank you.

[Aaron Weber]

Don't sound so surprised.

[Henry Cho]

I am shocked.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. It's funny how you get complimented to the point where it starts feeling like an insult.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, man, that was really good.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. The way they say it with their eyes.

[Nate Bargatze]

Like, what?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, we'll get a lot of those. Henry, We've noticed is because people that listen to the podcast regularly, they know Nate and Dusty are accomplished comedians, but then they'll go see me and Brian, and they're like, oh, you actually did stand up. Like.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

They go, we'll be honest. We came in thinking this would stink. Yeah. But it was all right.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. You guys kind of know what you're doing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Set the bar low.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's it.

[Aaron Weber]

We're doing our thing out here.

[Henry Cho]

You know what? I. I love where you guys are going. And that was. That's the whole plan. You know, I told you that early on.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know, you go out, you work, you write, you work. You just keep plugging away, and, you know, you end up headlining your own shows, and they may not be packed arenas or theaters, but you're headlining. You get doing the time. And Brian and I were talking about, you know. And I've talked to you about it, too. You know, the hardest part for any of us who are clean is who goes up in front of you in a comedy club. And you and I have discussed this many, many times. Yeah. I get texts from you guys going, this guy in front of me. And that's the hardest part of being able to get to the point where you can command and demand how the show is gonna run. And I told Brian, I said, you know, I would use this as that little leverage. I don't know how much you can push it. But, you know, hey, you know, I'm Nateland, and, you know, we do this, and people come see me because of the show. They're coming to see you because they see you here. Not because.

[Aaron Weber]

No, totally not. Because you come in with an expectation of how the show's gonna go because of that. So there's. There's a little pressure to like, to. To deliver on that expectation.

[Henry Cho]

No, there is. And maybe you use this as a little more leverage to, wherever you're going, say, hey, you know, can I bring somebody? Or whatever.

[Aaron Weber]

But you'll get emails when Brian opens for you. Like, can't believe how crude that guy was. Vulgar.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah. Well, he talks about, you know, pulling his groin. I mean, who does that? Come on.

[Aaron Weber]

Do you have a pull in your groin vet? He did.

[Brian Bates]

Did I?

[Aaron Weber]

You did the act out on stage.

[Brian Bates]

I do. I can't remember what the joke was.

[Henry Cho]

It wasn't any good. That' it was. I thought he was your top five, but it was really not. I'm kidding. Bron's hilarious, man. Now, here's what I. So I was telling Amy, so I was texting my wife, and I said, hey, I'm not going to be available for dinner because I'm going to go do Nateland with Brian and Aaron. And she goes, the two guys you told to stop their day jobs and do stand up. I said, yeah. So she goes, you sure it's not a setup? I said, I don't know.

[Brian Bates]

Gonna attack you in the parking lot.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. These cameras aren't rol right now, Henry.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, good.

[Aaron Weber]

Now we're here to tell you what we really want to tell.

[Henry Cho]

Really want to say.

[Brian Bates]

Don't you think the business has changed, though? Where used to be. I assume you probably had a different Opener every weekend. And now and then a few years ago, I feel like it became more accepted. Headliners started bringing.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Openers.

[Henry Cho]

Well, here's the thing, you know, you'd book. The old standup world was comedy clubs. No one was doing theaters, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I remember in the early 90s I got approached about doing theaters and you know, they would say, yeah, you know, like, I'm in San Francisco. I would go to San Francisco 12 times a year. There were six comedy clubs. I'd go twice. I was up there just killing it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And I went different clubs in the same city. Yes.

[Henry Cho]

Six different ones. That's the way it was.

[Aaron Weber]

That's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

So I do them twice a year and you know, the whole Bay Area thing. And I love golf as you know. So, you know, I was up there playing golf. I mean, you know, 12, 12 different trips a year. So then I get approached to do a theater and they said if you do this theater, you can't come back for two and a half, three years. And I'm like, what? No way. And then, you know, I'm a name drop here. Jamie Foxx got approached also and he said, man, I think I'm going to try them. You ought to do them. And I said, man, I like coming up here six times a year.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know, so he did. And. And that was the thing. He couldn't come back for two years. That. But of course he made it work. So. But in the beginning, you just showed up at a comedy club and they already had the op, the MC in the middle already booked. And my personal rule was I was never going to bump somebody who already had the gig.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

Because that's just, to me, that's, that's just not.

[Aaron Weber]

And they've already mapped out their whole.

[Henry Cho]

Month and yeah, I don't know what's going on.

[Aaron Weber]

And it was Tuesday through Sunday at this point.

[Henry Cho]

Yes. Yeah, we worked like a job. So, you know, we were doing nine shows.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, stuff like crazy. We're lucky to get like a five show weekend.

[Brian Bates]

Five's a big one.

[Henry Cho]

That's a max. Right.

[Aaron Weber]

If you do, you can do six or seven if you do like, I don't know, Sunday shows or whatever. But usually it's. You're. If you're lucky to get a Thursday, at least I am. Two shows Friday, two shows Saturday, and that's like a big weekend. So to hear these nine, I mean.

[Henry Cho]

There was something to Chicago improv. When they opened first up, it was so hot. We'd do two on Thursday, three Friday Three Saturday and one Tuesday, Wednesday, and one Sunday. I mean, we were up there forever. But so I'd show up and it would be whomever, right? And I never wanted to handcuff anybody. So I'd just say, you know, once I got exposure and people were coming kind of to see. See me, I said, you know, it will. I think your show will go better if you work clean. I'm not saying you have to. I'm just saying I think it will help you.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And so then I got to the point where I could just say, you know what? I'm bringing my own guys.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And that's what I did. And, you know, probably been doing that over 25 years, bringing who I want, and all these guys come through and I appreciate it. I mean, we.

[Aaron Weber]

Brian and I have been those guys, so we're very thankful that it was worked out that way. No, it's three shows.

[Brian Bates]

I was so appreciative that I've really sloped my career down trajectory to stay as an opener.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Trust me, you're not the only one.

[Brian Bates]

Mr. Fancy Pants over here shooting up the ranks. But I took it slow for you, Henry.

[Henry Cho]

You are still the first one I go to the last two decades.

[Brian Bates]

I'm like, yep.

[Henry Cho]

But you're not the only one. I mean, there's a lot of guys that still do that, and it's a process and everybody's different, you know? You know, my openers go way back, and, you know, a lot of them are like super famous movie stars, guys who used to open for me, and. And that's just the way it's supposed to be. And that's the way the. Whatever you want to call it, the whole running, touring with me, how that machine's supposed to operate.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know, if it's done correctly, it's. You're gone.

[Aaron Weber]

It's hard to explain for people that don't do stand up. And it sounds like such a dumb complaint, but I hear three shows Friday, three shows Saturday. That sounds so exhausting to me. And I know if you watch stand up, it's literally just a guy talking or it doesn't look that tiring. But I had. I mean, I had to bring out the sweat towel this weekend on stage, do two shows Friday. By the end of that second show, I was like, I'm working up here. Yeah, you can't explain it.

[Henry Cho]

No, you dropped eight pounds. But. Well, here's what I tell people who sit there, because my wife was the best. She was. All you do is go out there and talk for an hour. I said, okay. I tell you what I said. Once you stand, I said, you can pace 10ft. I'll come back in an hour. She's like, what? I go, just stand there. And she's like, what? What? I don't have time to do that. I go, well, just pretend because you won't last an hour.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And sure enough, she's like, wow. Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

I go, now just the standing.

[Henry Cho]

That's just standing. You're not talking, breathing, thinking. Yeah. A million miles an hour. It's exhausting.

[Aaron Weber]

Brian does a lot of act outs with the stool and stuff like that. Could be very physical.

[Henry Cho]

He always sits down a lot. You notice that he's got all these bits.

[Aaron Weber]

Sit down. He'll smoke a cigarette during his set, during the clubs.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. This weekend he was like putting his shoes on. He was like, hey, don't y'all hate it when your shoes do this? And he sat down and it's crazy.

[Brian Bates]

Well, almost. I feel like you can identify with this, Aaron. The late show at our level is usually, almost always going to be worse than the early show. So you have a great show, you feel great, you got up for it, your adrenaline comes down. Then you got to go back out there again and yeah. Go home.

[Aaron Weber]

Like, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Everybody still hates Late Show Friday, no matter who you are. Late Show Fridays have always been the worst because people are to work. They go out, happy hour, whatever. They come straight to the club. They haven't been home since 6:30 in the morning.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And you know, and we used to do 8 and 10. So, you know, I'm getting off stage at midnight on a Friday night and these people are toast. They're ready. They hate you at this point. Yeah. So it was. It was like you said, it was work.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I had a late show Friday this weekend in Chicago, and I got to the point of the set where I go, hey, if you want to say hi, I'll be. I'll be outside the club. And this guy in the back just goes, nobody cares. I was like, whoa. It was so mean. The rest of the crowd was like, whoa, buddy.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, now we have to go out there.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I wasn't. I wasn't going to go, but now I have to go because.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, exactly. I was like, man, that's wild.

[Brian Bates]

You know, people always ask me about hecklers and it's. They think heckler is that where someone's trying to make you look bad. It's usually a drunk person that can't shut up or thinks they're contributing.

[Aaron Weber]

Trying to help.

[Brian Bates]

Trying to help. Yeah, but you had a bonafide heckler.

[Aaron Weber]

That's the first time in a while I've had just a guy with just malicious intent. No one, Nobody cares. I was like, I don't know. I've been talking about myself for a while now and it's been going okay. Yeah, I think some people care a little bit. A little bit.

[Brian Bates]

Where were you?

[Aaron Weber]

But it stung me, dude. Chicago. At Zany's. Yeah. Yeah. And I bet if you, if I talk to that guy, he'd be fine. But I don't know, he just thought he'd yell it out. Yeah, nobody cares.

[Henry Cho]

Nobody cares. It's past our bedtimes anyway.

[Aaron Weber]

Nobody cares.

[Henry Cho]

But yeah, late shows are, are tough. I mean, I still get, you know, I gotta ask. Matter of fact, I think I'm, I'm here, I'm at Zany's in October and I'm just doing one show Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And they said, hey, you know, you always, you know, do well here. Why don't we add a show Saturday? And I said, no.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And they're like, why not? I go, I no, I'm doing, I'm home. I'm just gonna do one blow in, blow out. And you know, I just don't do late show Fridays. I hadn't done Late show Friday in forever, just not. But I don't do that many comedy clubs, so the handful I do. I still don't do late show. I do one show Friday. That's it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Well, that's awesome. To get to the point where you can do that. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you how I'm doing the weekend.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm like, I'll do whatever, you know, I'll do a set at 9am in the kitchen.

[Henry Cho]

If you want me to know, hey, I did that.

[Aaron Weber]

I know. That's what I'm saying. You've put in the years and years of doing that.

[Henry Cho]

That, that was the thing, you know, working. I mean, my first two years doing stand up, I worked 50 weeks a year.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, it was just non stop.

[Aaron Weber]

It's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

I was out for 18 weeks.

[Aaron Weber]

Christmas and Thanksgiving, the only two weeks off.

[Henry Cho]

Wow. Yeah. Nonstop. And I would leave town, like I said, you know, we're doing all week. So there's none of this back home. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. There's no right doing this on a Monday. Are you kidding? I'm traveling.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So would you say you did 30.

[Brian Bates]

Colleges in 30 days?

[Henry Cho]

I did 32 colleges in 30 days. I did two daytime shows. 1988, I did a NACA conference in D.C. and I booked 90 colleges.

[Aaron Weber]

So explain how NACA works. I know people know that we do shows at colleges, but NACA is like, you set up a booth and audition, right?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So I was doing. So you have to go back. So I started standup in 86, Funny Bone, Comedy Club chain. You know, Jerry Kubach hired me, put me on the map, Got me going immediately. So 87 ish. They started a little side deal and they were going after this college market. So they got me and Vic Henley, big comedian, used to be in New York. Passed away a few years ago to go showcase. So I said, sure, I'll go showcase. And you know, they're like, you make it, you know, five, 10, don't worry about it. And I got 90. No one's ever heard of it. So I had 90, trying to think.

[Aaron Weber]

If I could name 90 colleges.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, I know. So they said, you want to do all these? And, you know, at this point, you know, a lot of my. My mentors and heroes were like, man, you got to move to la. You got to move to la. And I didn't want to move to LA just to be a road comic like a lot of guys I know did. And so I thought, you know what? I'm going to do these 90 colleges and just bank it. So when I go to la, I'll be able to stay.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And that's what I did. And it worked out. But I did 32 shows in 30 days.

[Aaron Weber]

That's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

It was nuts. I mean, I was telling Brian, you know, for like, eight consecutive nights. The bathroom was to the right when I got out of the bed.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And I slammed my face in the wall on the ninth night.

[Aaron Weber]

Because they moved it on you. Yeah. It was like, what percentage of those are good shows would you say?

[Henry Cho]

Two. Two percent? Maybe two. That's stretching. Yeah, I mean, I was doing. So some of them were good, some were actually set up, then there was an event. But most of the time, man, I stood on an ottoman in the student center at Slippery Rock University. Where's that?

[Aaron Weber]

Sru.

[Henry Cho]

Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

[Aaron Weber]

Slippery Rock University.

[Henry Cho]

Anyway.

[Aaron Weber]

That sounds like a beer.

[Brian Bates]

No, that's 16 seed if they were in the tournament.

[Aaron Weber]

Butler County, Pennsylvania.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, so Pennsylvania. So. But I'm on ottoman and students are walking by. Okay. And I'm 26 at the time, and I'm yelling at people, hey, I'm up here to do a show. You mind stopping for a second? I mean, it was like it was brutal, man.

[Aaron Weber]

You're just doing it in a hallway.

[Henry Cho]

I've did it. I did probably half a dozen in the cafeterias, standing on the table, ambushing.

[Aaron Weber]

Them with a show.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah, people are going through line. They got their trades going through line, and I'm firing jokes at them.

[Aaron Weber]

Stuff like. That's good to hear because sometimes I feel like a diva. If I'm like. I don't know, if the mic's a little weird, I get upset. But then you hear, like, the shows that a lot of these guys.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, man, are you kidding? You had a microphone. I mean, that's what we were saying. Come on. But yeah, so very small percentage were great because they're not like college shows now where you go and it's set up and you're in an auditorium or whatever. I mean, they put you wherever because, you know, the. The entertainment committee had. Has a budget. So, you know, back then, you know, they. They'd spend their wad on Jimmy Buffett and then they'd have a few hundred dollars left over. They're like, well, we' do this alone. Let's get that comedian we saw. And that was me.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

Well, we're gonna put them. I don't know, find a place, you know, and you're just there. You're just there.

[Aaron Weber]

Just put them in the courtyard between classes.

[Henry Cho]

I would take that. I'd be outside. I could actually do something. But I mean, just. I mean, it was brutal, man. Some of them were just brutal. But, you know, got good.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah. You have to be baptism by fire. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, yeah. You go do 45, 50 minutes to nothing.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I have. It's not at the college.

[Henry Cho]

No, that's true. Well, you know what?

[Aaron Weber]

I did that at the Funny Bone last night.

[Henry Cho]

That's right.

[Brian Bates]

I do that all the time.

[Henry Cho]

But I'm talking about no one there. There's actually people there, and you still got nothing. That's the difference.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, exactly.

[Henry Cho]

Not nothing I've seen you get.

[Aaron Weber]

We're joking. These jokes wouldn't be funny if you were actually bad at comedy.

[Henry Cho]

No, we wouldn't have done this five years ago.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Bates]

Hit a little too close to home. Aaron, do you remember that episode of Seinfeld where George's wallet was so big it was messing with his back?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

It's a classic episode. I had the same problem. I had this big, bulky wallet always in my pocket. I got sick of it. So then I went to one of those phone wallets.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

But then my phone's all Bulky.

[Aaron Weber]

Exactly.

[Brian Bates]

And then those things start falling. I was afraid they're going to lose it.

[Aaron Weber]

So then if you lose the phone, you lose everything.

[Brian Bates]

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. But then I switched to Ridge Wallet. This is awesome. Look at this. It's so nice. Convenient. You just put your cards in there. You got a place for money now. Right back there.

[Aaron Weber]

Love that.

[Brian Bates]

It's awesome. I got the titanium one. It was time for an upgrade. It's sleek, minimalist, just like myself. A game changer. Ridge wallets are extremely thin, yet can securely hold up to 12 cards plus cash without adding unnecessary bulk. Made from premium high performance materials like carbon fiber, titanium and stainless steel, they're built to last. And for a limited time, our listeners are getting 10% off of your entire order when you use code nateland. That's 10% off when you use promo code [e-mail] nateland it's not. It's not just about looks though. Having a bulky old wallet really will misalign your spine and can lead to chronic back pain. Similar, a slimmer Ridge wallet fixes all of that and helps you keep your posture and keep your back pain free. Plus every which wallet. Ridge wallet comes with RFID blocking technology to protect you from digital pickpockets. How about that? Scammers can now scan your pockets and steal your credit card info wirelessly. But Ridge has you covered. So for a limited time, our listeners get 10% off of off at Ridge by using code Nateland at checkout. Just head to ridge.com nateland use code nateland and you're all set. After your purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. I want to say this though. You have the best luck, I feel like, of being in a market where the baseball team is at home. I saw you went to a White Sox game.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, this weekend. Open a day, opening weekend. Now, the Cubs were out of town, but I've been to a game at Wrigley. Yeah, but Adam who works at the. I'm gonna give a shout out to Adam at the White Sox who's a fan of the podcast. He hit me up and he took us out to the game. I had the best seats I've ever had. There you go at a professional baseball game. Seats where a server comes to your chair, brings you whatever you want. I mean, we lived it up. Dude. Watch the whole game. Got to see Mike Trout play in person. He's one of those guys that I want to see before he inevitably gets hurt. This season or. Or retires. I got to see him. He went over for.

[Henry Cho]

But you got to see him.

[Aaron Weber]

I got to see him. I mean, I was.

[Brian Bates]

That.

[Aaron Weber]

I was that close to him, dude. So great weekend, dude. You're right. I am pretty lucky about that.

[Brian Bates]

I get jealous because we were in Pittsburgh and Detroit this week, both teams away. I mean, back in Detroit in two weeks. They're away.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, really?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I think they're doing it on me.

[Aaron Weber]

That's the first thing I do now when I get booked at a place. I look at whatever sports teams are there.

[Henry Cho]

So you need to do it backwards like I do, because I book my golf and then I book my shows around it.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, this is what I'm saying. Well, eventually I will get to. I'm at the mercy of.

[Henry Cho]

Right, right. Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm in Phoenix in July. I'm in Alaska in January. I'm in the worst time of year to be somewhere. Right.

[Henry Cho]

Well, no, I was. I've been there. I've been there.

[Aaron Weber]

Totally. That's what I'm saying. But that's. The goal is.

[Henry Cho]

The goal is you look at the. Their baseball schedules and you go, hey, I want to be in Philadelphia.

[Aaron Weber]

Book me in New York that weekend.

[Henry Cho]

That's it.

[Aaron Weber]

Something like.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's exactly how you do it.

[Aaron Weber]

That's the dream, man. Notre Dame playing in, you know, North Carolina.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

Book me again.

[Henry Cho]

That's it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. That's very fun.

[Brian Bates]

You want to get into these comments?

[Aaron Weber]

Let's get into it. Let's get into it. The comments, as always. You want to read them, Brian, or do you want me to?

[Brian Bates]

You do. I read them last week.

[Aaron Weber]

Comments come, as always, From Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Apple podcast reviews, and Brian Bates meet and greet at any of his shows.

[Brian Bates]

No, no, no. Nate land@nate bargetzi.com or if you see.

[Aaron Weber]

Him in public, say it to him. First comment comes from Carrie. Noise. Carrie. Noyes.

[Henry Cho]

I thought I said no. Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

No. N O Y E S. Yeah. Carry.

[Henry Cho]

No.

[Aaron Weber]

Yes. It's confusing. I recently listened to the Nate Land episode featuring Henry Cho. I didn't realize until I Googled him that he's the man on Designing Women who shared his bed with the Sugar Bakers when they went to Japan to see their mama. So funny. Nothing funnier than a voice that doesn't match the visual.

[Henry Cho]

Wow, 1989.

[Brian Bates]

This is a clean podcast, Henry. So I don't know what filth you were doing, but.

[Henry Cho]

Well, they put me in bed with them. What can I say? You know? And Delta took Up a little more room than. But so I'd been in LA about three months.

[Aaron Weber]

Say this is 89. You started stand up in 86.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So my 89, you're on a huge television.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, so I moved to LA in 89 with all my college show money.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And I don't know, one of the shows I did, I did. Pat Sajak used to have a show I did that did Arsenio. And then Linda Bloodworth, the producer of Designing Women contact, said, hey, I wrote a role for Henry. You want. You want to do it? I went, sure. So I did it, and it worked out great, and everybody was great and it was fun, and she just. She was amazing. Oh, there it is coming up right there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, we got it right here. You know what? Every time I see airplane depicted on a TV show or a movie, I go, it's. It's. I've never seen a plane that spacious. Yeah, they got a lot of room.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, there was a lot. That's in Coach.

[Brian Bates]

That's some great acting there, Henry.

[Henry Cho]

Well, the good news is that was my first. That is my first scene. So I had. I knew my mark because here's what I didn't know. I've never acted in my life. All right, so we're doing. They have marks on the stage for camera blocking. Well, for the live taping, they removed the marks and no one told me.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, wow.

[Henry Cho]

So the scene after this, I walk out and Delta and Dixie are standing there. And first I have some line, but I just walked out and went, where'd my mark go? And the director goes, cut. And Delta's like, you really don't know? I said, I told y'all never done it. Wow. Yeah, it was cool.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Brian Bates]

That's awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Carrie. No. Yes.

[Henry Cho]

Carry. No. Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Carlos Vilafana. It's a great name. Vilafauna. Just last week, my wife and I enjoyed a cruise vacation. The comedians that were part of the entertainment did PG shows early in the evening, and R rated shows were performed later those same nights. During the PG shows, the comedians seemed to struggle in performing funny material. You guys deliver hilarious material that is clean. Is it more challenging to perform clean material as opposed to stuff that is adult?

[Henry Cho]

It is 80% harder to do clean comedy.

[Aaron Weber]

80%.

[Henry Cho]

So I get interviewed this years ago, probably 10 years at least. And the woman interviewed me says, hey, I read that it's 80% harder to do clean comedy than any other comedy. And I said, are you. Do you have the article in Front of you. She goes, yeah. I go, read a little lower. She goes, oh, says, henry Cho. And I made that up like 30 years ago. And she goes, well, Bob Newhart agrees with you. And I said, well, Bob's a smart man, but I just made that number up. So now it's. It's fact. 80%.

[Brian Bates]

I was about to ask you how you came up with that number 80%.

[Henry Cho]

I just, I. I mean, I rolled that out 30 years ago, and it's somewhere. It got out there. And then this woman was telling me that it was. She heard it was 80%. I go, yeah, because I said that.

[Aaron Weber]

You were the primary source on that.

[Henry Cho]

It is harder. And what I don't understand on these cruises, because a lot of my, A lot of my guys, like you guys, do some cruise ships and they're. They're forced to do it. They said, hey, man, they want me to do a dirty show. You know, I go, forget that. Just do your show. Yeah, yeah, just do your show. They go, really? I go, yeah, man, you'll never notice. Yeah, it'll be funny. So. And they go, okay, well, I was supposed to do a dirty show. No one cares. Trust me. Yeah, just do it. But I don't know when this happened. When you got to do a dirty show on a cruise ship. I don't know when that happened.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I've heard. I mean, Nate said the same thing. They asked him to do that, and he just did his act for both shows.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, right. And they're nobody funny.

[Brian Bates]

Nobody's.

[Aaron Weber]

Who's going to complain. I want to hear. Yeah, some gross stuff.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

Sorry about that. Next comment comes from Clay Z Bly. Clay Zbli Klazi. What's yalls opinion on Craig Ferguson? I really enjoyed him, but he may have been like Conan ahead of his time. I don't like who he booked on his show.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, I did it like eight, nine times. I don't like the people. I don't like the booker. The booker was a. He was a joke. Yeah, he's sitting right over there.

[Aaron Weber]

Were you really? Oh, I didn't know that.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Craig. So I can actually, I actually have some insight on this because Craig helped. Well, he was my executive producer on a show I sold to CBS back when he was actually on the show and with cbs. Craig, is he. Was he ahead of his time? You know, maybe, you know, Conan was. Conan was. No one understood Conan. And Conan came out of nowhere. You know, it's a big deal. Who was going to Take over after. After the Tonight show. And Conan was a writer for the Simpsons. He'd never done any of this.

[Aaron Weber]

He was so different from everybody else. Right, right. My dad, to this day, never understood Cone. Every time I'd have Conan on, my dad would walk in and go, this guy's a nut. Yeah. He just wouldn't get it.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, they didn't get it. They didn't get it. Conan was great.

[Brian Bates]

My parents. Sorry.

[Henry Cho]

No, go ahead.

[Brian Bates]

They grew up on Johnny Carson. So Letterman. They never got just the. His style of humor. They're like, I don't get it.

[Henry Cho]

Right. People didn't. They didn't get Letterman. They didn't watch it. So then Conan. Conan did his thing, and then, you know, Craig was in line. I mean, he was on the late, Late Show. He was in line. It was a big pants production. He was in line to take over.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And then when that didn't happen, it was not. Not a good thing because he should have just stepped down an hour earlier and taken over. That was the whole deal. Because he was. Craig was phenomenal. He was so quick. I thought he did great.

[Aaron Weber]

Does he do just straight stand up?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So he was a straight stand up. And, you know, across the pond. And then he came here, was doing stand up, and then he got on Drew Carey's sitcom.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

As Drew Carey's boss. And it went from there. But. So that's where Craig came in. Craig came from the standup world. So him getting a talk show, getting a late, late show wasn't that big a stretch.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

So.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

And he was. He was so good. So. Yes. Clay Z. Bly. He was ahead of his time.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Daniel Koning, could you win the. Oh, this is a good question. I'm glad Henry's here for this. Could you win the Masters if every other golfer has to tee off from the normal spot, but you got to start on the green and only had to putt, you'd have to start from the furthest possible spot on the green from the pin, but you'd only have to putt. Could you win?

[Henry Cho]

I'd win by 15 shots.

[Aaron Weber]

You would? Yes, yes, yes, exactly. This becomes something resembling a good question. If you're talking about me or Brian.

[Brian Bates]

I don't know. I. I would say it comes a good question if you shot like a 90. I think you and I, we're not gonna.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh. I think the answer is no.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But I think it's way closer. I mean, Henry's.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're gonna win easily.

[Aaron Weber]

Yes.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. But I think you guys could say you three putt every hole. Okay.

[Brian Bates]

I don't know.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, wait, at the Masters. Nevermind. Say you five putt every. Okay.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, seriously.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, No, I agree. Hey, trust me, trust me, it's hard. I mean, I've been blessed enough play there a few times and it's, it's really hard and golf's hard. But I mean, I will tell you this. They can put balls during Augusta in a spot away from the flag that you could almost. You have to make a 15 footer coming back to two putt.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah. So.

[Henry Cho]

And that's if you keep it on the green.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I would roll it off the green.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

In the sand I'd only have my putter and I'd be trying to get out of the sand.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, well, you wouldn't be the only one that's happened. First time I played it, one of my guys playing with pin was front left on number one and he was on the back rack corner and he looked at me. I go, super fast. The fastest putt you've ever putted in your life. He had like, you know, 45ft.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And he hit it and he goes, good. I go, that's in the bunker. He goes, what? And it rolled off the green into the bunker. He's like, yeah, tough.

[Aaron Weber]

Now let me ask you this, Henry, as a. I think this might be a better question. And I've had this debate with Brian. Me and Brian playing golf. Brian plays with clubs. I just throw the ball instead of hitting it. I throw the golf ball. So no clubs. So I, we, we did this at a topgolf. I threw, I threw the ball as far as I could. I can throw a golf ball 100 yards or so.

[Henry Cho]

That's pretty good.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Now my arm's going to give out.

[Henry Cho]

That's what I was getting ready. I think if you play golf, if you do 18 holes just throwing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I bet you can't.

[Aaron Weber]

What about a par three course?

[Henry Cho]

Oh, there you go.

[Aaron Weber]

Me versus Brian. Brian's got any club he wants. I'm just throwing it.

[Brian Bates]

Now. That would be.

[Henry Cho]

That's, that would be.

[Brian Bates]

I think you'd probably win that.

[Henry Cho]

I think you would too.

[Brian Bates]

I think I would do better throwing than.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Than playing. Yes. I've been, I've played with you, definitely.

[Aaron Weber]

That's both of us. We're both. I'm not.

[Henry Cho]

That's no brainer. Hands down.

[Brian Bates]

No, I'm talking about. Yeah. On a par three for sure.

[Henry Cho]

Par three. No, I, I that would be close. I think you guys should actually try to.

[Aaron Weber]

I think we should do it one day.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Just to see. Because there's times where I play golf where I go, if I could. If I could throw it, I could just get up there.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. If they didn't have rules, if the.

[Aaron Weber]

Whole sport was different, I'd be really.

[Henry Cho]

Good at this game. If I could change everything.

[Aaron Weber]

Exactly.

[Brian Bates]

This was baseball.

[Aaron Weber]

But it's annoyed that I have the control to just kind of. I just want to toss it up there.

[Brian Bates]

I know.

[Aaron Weber]

Basketball. Maybe if I'm off the green.

[Henry Cho]

Here's the thing. So when you're chipping.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

That should be your thought. How would I. How would I just toss this up there? That should be your thought. That is it.

[Brian Bates]

When you're chipping a lesson.

[Henry Cho]

That's chipping. That is only chipping. But. Yep.

[Brian Bates]

Huh.

[Aaron Weber]

Henry did a thing playing golf where he watched me swing, and he goes, why don't you do this? And I moved. I don't even know. I moved my foot like, an inch or something, and it changed everything. And just small little things like that.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I don't think I've ever been more nervous than when I played golf with you first time.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I was, too, but he's remarkably patient.

[Brian Bates]

That's what I was about to say. Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Only in golf, because that's the intimidating. Only in golf, not in comedy.

[Henry Cho]

No. You better be funny faster.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, you better do everything faster. Get in the car.

[Henry Cho]

Hey, I said 850. So no, but I love golf, and I love watching people play golf who want to play golf. And, you know, I can tell. And I play with everybody, you know, I mean, trust me, as far as guys my age who do comedy in the golfing golf level, I'm pretty high up there. But I also play with the guys who do it for a living. And I know that I'm like, y'all compared to them. You know, it's just a standard.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, the gaps are so huge, so. But no, I love playing golf, but I. I don't want you to be nervous when we play.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, well, not anymore, because a few times we play. You've always been so nice and patient, but the first time, I was scared to death because I'm like, I already stink as a comedian. Now I'm going to get stink as a golfer.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. And I'm. The whole time I'm going. And I told him to quit his job.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You didn't tell him to quit to pursue golf, though.

[Henry Cho]

No, I didn't. No, I did.

[Brian Bates]

We were playing one time. I forgot where. Maybe down in Alabama. And the cart path had a little ridge rock.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And I was right there by it. And somehow it was like a pinball machine. I hit and it went.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That was crazy.

[Henry Cho]

It was crazy. No.

[Aaron Weber]

How far to go?

[Brian Bates]

About five feet.

[Henry Cho]

It didn't go far, but it was really cool.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It literally was like Plinko. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that's funny.

[Brian Bates]

Bouncing off the wall.

[Henry Cho]

It was great. I mean, I don't even know. It'd be hard to do to even if you tried. Yeah, it was that cool of a shot.

[Aaron Weber]

It's official. I look in the mirror and I see gray hairs. I got gray hairs all over my head, dude. I'm getting old. It's happening. The world's collapsing around me, but I don't have to give into that, dude. And, you know, hair dye kits and all that, going to the salon, that's a hassle. It's a mess. This podcast is sponsored by Simpler Hair Color. Simpler Hair Color is the easiest way to eliminate grays. Modern men deserve simpler, safer ways to care for their appearance. With simpler Hair Color, you've got gentler ingredients without the messy mixing or constant trips to the salon or the drugstore. If you're tired of conducting a science experiment every time you need to dye your grays, you gotta try Simpler Hair Color. Simpler Hair Color has a full variety of shades to match any guy's hair and beard. I tried the medium shade. It blended with my natural color perfectly. Simpler Hair Color was started by two dudes, two men who appreciate better dyeing options for hair and beards. And they've imparted that vision onto this company. A simple can of simpler Hair color has you covered. It can provide. Okay, one can. I'm reading this wrong because it sounds too good to be true. One can of Simpler Hair color provides as many uses as up to four boxes of drugstore hair.

[Brian Bates]

What?

[Aaron Weber]

Too good to be true. I love that it is an all in one product that you can use in your hair and your beard. Say goodbye to grays the easy way with Simpler Hair color. Head to simplerhaircolor.com nate and use code nate for 10% off your order. Once again, that's simplerhaircolor.com backslash nate for 10% off. And make sure you use my promo code Nate. So you know we sent you Lauren Grossman. When waiting tables, I've learned to never assume. I once took a table of middle schoolers that nobody wanted. They had never eaten out by themselves before, and each of them tipped me 50%. I'm sure their parents were ticked, but it worked out great for me. So we were talking about.

[Brian Bates]

He was saying how Asians are forcedly bad tippers. And I said, you can't just judge people, Aaron.

[Henry Cho]

No, it's not that we're bad tippers. We're just great at math. So we would never tip 50% because we know exactly how much to tip.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I learned Aaron doesn't like to round up.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, he's not a round upper. Remember you told me that. Do you not remember you told me that with.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay, I do remember it now. Yeah. I don't like to do that. Yeah, but I. I tip stupid at. At restaurant. And I learned that from you. I remember because we would go. We go to Waffle House or ihop. You remember we went to that at Denny's. It was like during COVID And one employee.

[Henry Cho]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Was running the whole.

[Henry Cho]

Everything, everything.

[Aaron Weber]

She was the host, the server, the cook, everything, everything.

[Henry Cho]

That was. That was crazy.

[Aaron Weber]

And she was like, it's gonna be a minute. And you were like, it's okay. Take your time. Thank you for showing up. And then you took good care of her. And I think about that a lot. So.

[Henry Cho]

Yep, you got to tip them. Got to take care of them. Just like the lady we had this past weekend. She had her six year old. Six year old daughter there working at a Dave and Buster's. We went there to watch ball games after the show. You know, it's midnight.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And you know, there's nothing she could do. And you know, I told Aaron, you know, I mean, I told Brian. Brian's like, you know, I feel sorry for the girl. I said, no, I get that. I said, but you know, she's. This mom's trying. She's here working. You know, it was crazy. And I tipped her very well.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Do you remember Henry once. This probably happened more than once for you, but we were at some restaurant and our server was an Asian girl and she. And you asked for a water and she was like, she didn't bring. You put ice in yours because she assumed you wouldn't want ice in your drink. Right. Do you remember that?

[Henry Cho]

Yes, I do remember.

[Aaron Weber]

What is that about? I'd never heard that before.

[Henry Cho]

Well, yeah, I mean, there's ice in this and it's killing me. We don't do ice.

[Aaron Weber]

Did you know that? I. I had never heard that before. It blew my mind. That.

[Henry Cho]

And did you have, have y'all noticed that I never drink while I'm eating. I. I don't drink until I'm done.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

No, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Because it's factual. You're supposed to drink as little as possible while you're eating so your digestive system will work. And the more you drink, the more you dial dilute, so it slows down the process.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

And so I don't. I don't drink. Tom, finish now. It's not like I was. We weren't allowed as children. It's not like my dad said, no, you know, or whatever, but that just is how I do it.

[Aaron Weber]

But it was a cultural thing that this girl understood that. I guess it's not common to have ice in your.

[Henry Cho]

No, no, no. You know. Well, you should have known that she was respecting me when she washed my feet when I came.

[Aaron Weber]

Kidding. Had a waffle. Crazy.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, Mr. True.

[Aaron Weber]

I thought that was. That was just like, a cultural thing that I'd never heard of. I blew my mind.

[Brian Bates]

No, I've never noticed that. But you're the most hydrated man I've ever met.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know what I drink? A lot of people always say I drink almost two gallons a day.

[Brian Bates]

We were pulling out of the rental car place. The guy, he's like. Henry's like, hey, you got two bottles of water back there?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

He's like, there's a 711 down the street, like, and.

[Henry Cho]

But I had some water in my water bottle that I have, so I just needed more.

[Aaron Weber]

The number one thing I impart on to people from the Henry Cho school of comedy is fill up your backpack from the green room before you go back to the hotel. Yeah, I teach everybody that. I go, hey, open up that backpack. Let's take all these waters. They already bought it. They bought it for us. Let's get it.

[Henry Cho]

That's it.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, that's it.

[Henry Cho]

You got to do it.

[Aaron Weber]

And I do. I take the Red Bulls and everything. I feel.

[Brian Bates]

I saw John Witherspoon here at Zany's take a bottle of Eminem's and just poured it into his bag. We were at the hotel. Just stick the whole thing.

[Henry Cho]

Jump loose ones in there. That's awesome. Well, he's old school.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

We didn't have backpacks.

[Brian Bates]

It was like a briefcase.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, we used to. I remember my jean jacket. You know, I wear a lot of jean jacks. I remember having stuff in my jean jackets like that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

They'd had, like, these candies out there and some peanuts. I remember putting peanuts. Just dumping a bowl of peanuts filling up in my inside, and people Go, what are you doing? I go, dude, I. You know, I don't. I gotta have food later.

[Brian Bates]

Are you kidding?

[Aaron Weber]

But I've left Henry shows with cases of water in the back of the car.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, why not?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, they already got it.

[Henry Cho]

They got it.

[Aaron Weber]

It's there. Take it.

[Henry Cho]

You driving? Yeah. Take all that.

[Brian Bates]

We got a flight in six hours. I'm like, I'm gonna be up all night just down in this water.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's the crazy thing now do give the rental car guys all these waters. I'll tell them. I'll say, I got like seven waters. Yeah, it's all yours. Yeah, but, you know, you're not the only one, because that's, you know, Ron Hortman, who you guys know. He was with me and I came back to the.

[Aaron Weber]

Great.

[Henry Cho]

To the green room. We're getting ready to leave, man. He's just stuffing his bag and there he goes. Learn it from Mr. Cho.

[Aaron Weber]

There you go. That's right.

[Henry Cho]

That's it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Todd Junker. Next comment. Todd Junker, great name. The Junker family.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, Mr. Mrs. Junker. As a 23 year veteran P.E. teacher. I mean, a P. Teacher named.

[Brian Bates]

He had no choice.

[Aaron Weber]

Mr. Junker, you have to be a pet.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I can tell you four square is alive and well in my gym. I teach kindergarten through eighth grade and the middle schoolers are the ones who play the most.

[Brian Bates]

You got some heat on this.

[Aaron Weber]

I stand corrected. It just feels like such an old school game.

[Brian Bates]

You know, I wasn't familiar with it. Somehow it had not made it to Lebanon. But I learned it well.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, because there's not four people there. You can't have a triangle. It doesn't work.

[Brian Bates]

But I learned this last year on tour from Nate's daughter, Aaron.

[Aaron Weber]

Really?

[Henry Cho]

Harper was playing foursquare?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Well, it's a version of spike ball. You know what spike ball is?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, sure. Okay.

[Henry Cho]

It's a version. I'm sorry. Spike ball is a version of foursquare.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't think. I mean, we might have had this spray painted somewhere on the asphalt at my school, but I don't ever remember playing a game of four square.

[Henry Cho]

Really? We used to play it all the time.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, ball dodgeball.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, we play four square when something. If it rained and you couldn't play somewhere else and we had to stay on a concrete or whatever.

[Aaron Weber]

Right, right.

[Henry Cho]

And then, you know, when we got older in middle school, we played four square because the girls were playing.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's why.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

But it's like A, you know, it's like a two step pickle ball with your hand. It's what it is.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. That's a good way.

[Henry Cho]

So I think it's good, you know that picture. Can you see?

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know. But these adults.

[Henry Cho]

Can people see these? Yeah. Those are grown ups playing. So that I think that's what's happening. If you can't play pickleball, you're going back to this because that's. You don't got to take like two steps.

[Aaron Weber]

Right. Okay. We were big. You're playing wall ball.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So that's your generation.

[Aaron Weber]

Right?

[Henry Cho]

Your generation.

[Aaron Weber]

Big wall ball, guys, tennis balls against the wall.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And then we peg each other with the ball. And then if you get three outs, you had to spread eagle on the wall.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And they throw it out and people throw it.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, we would get hurt.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. We played it once on the road.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, we did.

[Brian Bates]

The night before Bridgetone arena show.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And after a while we're like, maybe we shouldn't be throwing balls at Nate's head.

[Henry Cho]

He goes out there with a big shiner. Exactly what you're playing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah. So I stand corrected. I'm sorry about that. I was really trashing four Square Dusty. Dusty said he played a lot of foursquare growing up and I asked if he went to school in the 30s just because it felt like such an old, old game.

[Henry Cho]

It is an old game. I mean, I played it and I'm older than Dusty.

[Aaron Weber]

But things come back. Things come in waves.

[Henry Cho]

They do. And. And it's alive and well wherever this guy Junker teaches. Because I haven't seen it.

[Aaron Weber]

Mr. Junk.

[Brian Bates]

Coach. Junker.

[Henry Cho]

Coach.

[Aaron Weber]

Junker.

[Henry Cho]

Coach. Jump.

[Aaron Weber]

Next comment comes from Lindsay Williams. I was raised by a single mom who was a waitress at the Stardome Comedy Club. Club. I remember getting to meet lots of comics when I was a kid, including Sinbad, Pauly Shore, Dave cooy. Back in 93, Birmingham had a historical blizzard with over 12 inches of snow. During that storm, the comedy club caught fire. Carrot Top was supposed to be performing that weekend and it was a really big deal because his box of props was burned up in the fire. My mom has since passed, but I always remember comedy being something that kept her happy even though times were tough.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, that's nice.

[Henry Cho]

So the Birmingham Comedy Club I've worked, that's the only club I've worked every year for 39 years.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

And it used to be down the road. Now it's a big Stardome club. I've had you guys there. And the night that it burned, Scott Thompson. Who. I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't say his real name.

[Aaron Weber]

I think people. I think it's public record.

[Henry Cho]

Okay, that's carrot tops.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So Scott and I go way, way, way, way back. And as a stand up comedian, you know, Scott got a lot of flack for being a prop guy, you know? You know, people made fun of him, didn't really appreciate his act, blah, blah.

[Aaron Weber]

Was it more common back then to have props? Because it's. It's. I would say I don't know anybody.

[Henry Cho]

Like, it's never.

[Aaron Weber]

And it's never been common, but, like, puppets used to be more common, that kind of stuff. Right.

[Brian Bates]

Ventriloquist.

[Henry Cho]

Ventriloquist, Unfortunately. Okay, so.

[Aaron Weber]

But even then there was even that.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, yeah. And as they should. But so he took a lot of flack.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So his act burns. So Scott calls me and goes, well, you're my friend, so I can tell you this, but, man, am I going to hear it. I go, what? He goes, I'm supposed to do the Tonight show on Tuesday, but I can't because my act burned. He goes, how many comedians can say their act burned? And I said, a real comedian would never say that.

[Brian Bates]

That's hilarious.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Scott Thompson. Oh, yeah, I. I remember. I know when that happened. I know exactly what she's talking about. Wow, it's great.

[Aaron Weber]

The Stardome after it reopened. After the.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So insurance. Blah, blah. And he open Star. So Sinbad. I was. He and I were doing a benefit. Gosh, probably. He was healthy. 100% healthy. So s. 5, 6 years ago. And we were doing a water initiative benefit. And we were sitting there and somebody goes, what's the worst place you had to stay and eat? And I said, birmingham Original Comedy Club. He goes, the hotel up on the hill. And I go, yeah, in the Waffle House at the bottom. He goes, yeah, that's it. Wow. And we both just. Bam.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, they got a nice hotel there now. Oh, it's awesome.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, yeah. But back in the day, we were just glad to be in a hotel. We're out of the condo, baby.

[Aaron Weber]

Josh Green. Have you guys ever noticed that sometimes Aaron will be defending a position or questioning an argument and will say dude at the end of every sentence? I am not hating on him. I love it. I've caught myself listening for it and get so excited every time he says it.

[Henry Cho]

Dude.

[Aaron Weber]

Dude. I haven't noticed that.

[Henry Cho]

Well, I haven't either. Unless you're inventing a new Drink game or something. So, dude, so if you defended a position or question, you'll say dude at the end.

[Brian Bates]

Dude, come on. You know that.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay. Yeah, I will do that. Yeah, I will do that.

[Henry Cho]

I can see you say it at the beginning, right? But he says at the end.

[Aaron Weber]

Come on, dude.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, okay, gotcha.

[Aaron Weber]

Maybe. Maybe I can see it. Well, now I'll be thinking about it. Thank you, Josh.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, now it's stuck.

[Aaron Weber]

Pointing that out. Yeah, I'll be thinking about that. This is like the guy pointed out how Dusty says all the. The words.

[Brian Bates]

The.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. T's on the end of words. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Rebecca K. Clemenson, Clementon. While I don't have any desire to be a comedian, I am finding that I love to laugh and make other people smile and laugh. Is there a way to become more funny just as a regular person in real life? I know you guys are pretty gifted as comedians, and most of your craft is putting together a clean, cohesive show on stage. Is there something that you've done or did to develop being comedic in daily life? I'll take this one, boys. Just kidding.

[Henry Cho]

Well, I was gonna say. Did. Did Brian write that?

[Brian Bates]

Well, I was gonna.

[Henry Cho]

I was gonna say, Rebecca, I. I feel your pain.

[Aaron Weber]

Let me know.

[Brian Bates]

I was gonna be mean. Well, well, you're a woman, so you got a little bit headed. Problem. But before I could even slam her, you got to slam me.

[Henry Cho]

Well, that's why you're here. You got to get out ahead of it.

[Brian Bates]

You got to get ahead of it. That's right.

[Henry Cho]

That's right, Rebecca. No, I don't think there's anything that we've done to develop in a daily life. So here's my take on this. Comedians are around 50. 50. 50% of the guys are always on. Never turn off. The other 50, just kind of do comedy. It's our job. So we may notice funny things and we'll keep it to ourselves because we're gonna work on it and do it later. I have friends that when we go eat, they sit down and they're doing bits to the waitress, you know, and it's fine. You kind of want to go, shut up. But yeah, right. But it's fine because that's how they are, and they're just kind of trying to do it anywhere they can. So, Rebecca, the Rebecca K. Clementson. Man, Dusty would have a hard time with that. The great thing is that you like to be funny and you like to make people laugh. And the other great thing is that you're not going to try this. I'm kidding, Rebecca.

[Aaron Weber]

Of course. Of course. Yeah. Well, just. Yeah. Become obsessed with it. Watch a lot of comedy. There's a lot of great comedy.

[Brian Bates]

You tell the story when you first. First went and tried out. Very first time at the Funny Bone, Right?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Your friend said you're not funny, Right?

[Henry Cho]

They did.

[Brian Bates]

So they were wrong.

[Henry Cho]

I told my buddies I was gonna try stand up. They're like, you're not funny. I go, no, but I think I can do it. They go, well, there is that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Confidence.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I think I can figure it out. Jesse Rothacker, longtime friend of the pod. With all your years of performing, if any of you totally blown it and completely missed the Showtime.

[Brian Bates]

Dusty was just saying how he almost missed a win or his opener, Almost missed a show in Chattanooga because he didn't realize they were in Eastern time.

[Aaron Weber]

How the time zone will get you.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, we talked about that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I've never missed the show ever. 39 years.

[Aaron Weber]

That's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

Due to blowing it. Okay. I've missed two in my career. One was a snowstorm in Dallas.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Missed a flight.

[Aaron Weber]

We'll allow that. One, that snowstorm in the desert, and.

[Henry Cho]

The other one, I got sick and couldn't do anything about it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Brian missed a show with me one time.

[Brian Bates]

The only time I've ever missed one.

[Henry Cho]

Yep. So he was still working.

[Brian Bates]

Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

Was this in Atlanta?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Everybody's heard the story. Like, how would you know, Eric, When.

[Aaron Weber]

I started working with Henry, this was given as a cautionary tale. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I played a video.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Watch this before.

[Henry Cho]

Watch this before you agree to showing up.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

No, yeah. Brian got caught in traffic because he was shocked there was traffic in Atlanta.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But didn't he.

[Henry Cho]

On a Friday night, didn't he call.

[Aaron Weber]

You and say, can I do time after you?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Here. No, no, no, it wasn't after me.

[Aaron Weber]

Just kidding.

[Henry Cho]

No, no, it was. It was. It was Brian, Ron Hortman and myself.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And so he was. He kept calling, and now he knows that, you know, before a show, the last thing you want is your openers.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

Calling you, figuring out, trying to figure out you're getting there.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So he called and said, hey, man, there was a wreck in Chattanooga, blah, blah. I said, yeah, that's okay. He goes, I'm. I don't know what. I'm not sure if I'll make it. I said, that's fine. Ron's here, you know, no big deal. And then he calls again. He goes, there's a wreck in Atlanta. I don't think I'm going to make it. We were doing two shows that night, Lawrenceville, and he said, I'm not going to make it. He goes, is there any way Ron can go on first? And I said, no, because I hired you to go on first and Ron go next. And then. So we'll just do a two man show if you don't get here. And he goes, well, what do I do? I said, well, you can help Ron sell merch and then do the late show.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

You can clean up afterwards if you get here.

[Henry Cho]

Don't forget to take waters on your way home.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So sweep up. Yeah, so he did. He showed up while Ron was on stage and I said, just do the second show.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And that's what we did.

[Brian Bates]

That's right.

[Aaron Weber]

That makes sense. He already got the flow. You already got it going, Just kind of. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It's just the way the show was.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Booked.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Like you said, I still had a day job.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I worked a half a day, took off half a day vacation at noon.

[Henry Cho]

Hit the road, which was 1:00 Atlanta time.

[Brian Bates]

That's right.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

Chattanooga was a wreck. Had to go around the city.

[Aaron Weber]

Chattanooga, sneaky. Horrible traffic.

[Henry Cho]

It has been.

[Aaron Weber]

It doesn't get talked about, but it's a nightmare.

[Henry Cho]

It's.

[Aaron Weber]

It's so bad and you don't think about it because you're gonna hit Atlanta, which is worse. But Chattanooga's terrible.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. You. You have like two windows to get through Chattanooga and they're both early am. That's it. If it's daylight, I don't know what it is. I always make fun of when I'm there. You know, it's that one curve that goes uphill.

[Aaron Weber]

Yes.

[Henry Cho]

And I go, can't y'all just turn and accelerate simultaneously?

[Aaron Weber]

And they can't.

[Brian Bates]

It helps to. If you have a truck driver who knows who you are and can clear traffic for you.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I almost missed the show. This was awesome.

[Brian Bates]

See, that's the difference between him and me. He has people helping him out.

[Henry Cho]

I almost missed the show. I was doing the comedy catch in Chattanooga and Jake Gullage, brilliant entertainer. This is the first time he's ever working with me. So he's never done a show and all. He. He was a worship leader. But he had this whole thing he did. And his whole thing was, if Henry doesn't get here, I can only do like 20 or 25 minutes. The only thing I know to do after this is like have an invitation.

[Brian Bates]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And bring people down. Front to okay. Very different to convert them.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So all sudden 24 just past mon Eagle stops. So everybody stopped. I get out, I go up to a trucker and I say, hey man, you know what's going on? He said, yeah, truck flipped, both shoulders, everything. We're going to be here a long time.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

He goes, don't you have a show tonight? I said, yeah, in Chattanooga. So I get out, start walking. People are like going, hey man, aren't you in Chattanooga tonight? I said, yeah, I'm trying to get there, blah, blah. So I'm walking up and down and I look and luckily it hadn't gotten to the point of 24 where it's like mountainous. There was actually a median that I thought I could maneuver. And I was in my old truck, my old Tundra 2001 great truck. Anyway, I went up to like 20 cars because they're going, what can you do? I said, I need these 20 cars to go as far right as you can. I'm going to go along the left shoulder guardrail and whip a ue and try to get up and go the other way and get there. And so I put in four wheel drive and I made it. And when I got to the top, hundreds of cars were honking their horn. People were screaming. And so I made it. So I called Mark Mike Alfono on the club and I said, I made it. I'm going to cut through Jasper and get there. He goes, okay. And I got there when Jake had about five minutes left on stage.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And y'all never met in person.

[Henry Cho]

Never met in person.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

And he was sweating bullets.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So if you had a great story even a little bit later.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. If I'd have spun out for a few minutes, I'd have been dead. But it was iffy, but I was doing it if I could.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

That's awesome. Kirk White. Kirk White. Recently, my son and my father in law were playing in a three man scramble golf tournament when we noticed my father in law putting chaps. I was a putting, putting chapstick very casually on the face of his driver to reduce spin and cheat in a church tournament. We thought maybe him hearing it here that he, Mike is a cheater would be easier than me calling him out.

[Henry Cho]

That's what you're going to be known for. People start sending all these. Can you tell my wife that I don't like that is so great.

[Aaron Weber]

I didn't even know chapstick on the face of a driver to reduce spin. Aren't you Trying to increase spin.

[Henry Cho]

No, but here's the thing.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

If you're chapstick on your driver.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I'm not afraid of you.

[Aaron Weber]

That's fair.

[Brian Bates]

As he puts chapstick on.

[Aaron Weber]

So I thought spin rate was.

[Henry Cho]

No, no. It depends. So your iron, she'd like a lot of spin because then it would go higher.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So it depends if you want to launch your. If you have to launch it over trees, you want a lot of spin so it'll catch the air and go high.

[Aaron Weber]

Wipe the chapstick off.

[Henry Cho]

You wipe it off and then you put Vaseline all over your ball. So to hit a driver and for it to carry further and not just kind of balloon on you, you want less spin. There's optimum spin. And you know, all the pros have their numbers and lot lofts and stuff like that.

[Aaron Weber]

Did you see. This is slightly related. Did you see the bats that the Yankees.

[Brian Bates]

We're gonna talk about it.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay. That's okay. I want to get into that.

[Brian Bates]

All right.

[Aaron Weber]

Brian, you know what time it is? Spring is almost here. Are you excited?

[Brian Bates]

I am excited. It is here.

[Aaron Weber]

It is here.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's time to shake off those heavy layers, bust out the old beautiful legs. I mean, I wait all year for this dude and people wait on me, dude. They go, I wish you'd stop wearing jeans. I want to see those thighs. Whether you're on spring break, heading to a backyard barbecue, playing around the golf, delivering a podcast read, Chubby's has the styles for any spring occasion. Taking that well deserved spring vacation, Chubby's has the ultimate training shorts for you. Looking for something more casual and comfortable, Chubby's original shorts give you that classic feel with a modern look. And get this, they've even got everywhere shorts designed for performance and casual vibes at the same time. Listen for a limited time, Chubby's is giving our listeners 20 off your order with our exclusive code use code [e-mail] I have the original stretch shorts. They fit me great. 5.5 inch length. It's a little shorter than you'd think I'd be comfortable with. But once you wear them and you feel the quality and it's a. It's a good look, dude. You know, the days of the, the, the long baggy below the knee shorts are over, dude.

[Brian Bates]

I've noticed that even in basketball, in.

[Aaron Weber]

The NBA, they've gone back. And I get all my fashion from the NBA.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Now, this wouldn't be a true ad read if we didn't mention Chubby's classic line swim collection. Absolute top of the men's swimwear game. Whether you're squeezing out as many beach days as possible or just swimming laps at the gym, they're Ulta Ultra vibrant trunks built with a quick drying four way stretch fabric are the best swim trunks humankind has ever created. Anything below the waist, Chubby's is your go to. It's my go to. Whether you're getting dressed for your workday, a workout or a weekend getaway, Chubby's has you covered for a limited time. Chubby's is giving our viewers 20 off your order with Code Nate at Chubby Shorts dot com. That's Code Nate at Chubby Shorts.com support our show. Tell them we sent you. Don't blend in with the crowd. Stand out with Chubbies. Yeah. Next comment comes from Amy Mitchell. It's the last comment. I live in Houston, but made a last minute trip to Fairbanks, Alaska to visit my best friend. We were sitting at the Midnight sun game. Oh yeah, the Midnight sun game. When my husband texted to let me know you talked about it on the podcast. Interesting tidbit. The Midnight sun has been going on for over 115 years and Barry Bonds played in this game in 1980.

[Brian Bates]

Cut off.

[Aaron Weber]

It cut off in the 1980s.

[Brian Bates]

I think it was 83.

[Aaron Weber]

83.

[Brian Bates]

That's so funny.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. The Midnight sun game. That's the game they play baseball game at midnight.

[Brian Bates]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

In Fairbanks.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. In Fairbanks, Alaska.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I looked it up. It's June 20th this year. I guess it's probably around that time every year. And daylight.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, it's awesome. The old gig in Anchorage. I told you all this. You know, we used to do it because she'll be over at 10 o'clock and we'd go out and play 36 holes.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

The golf courses stay open 247 for like, you know, three weeks.

[Brian Bates]

That's wow.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, it was awesome. We'd play non stop.

[Brian Bates]

Just play all night long.

[Henry Cho]

All night long. And I, I mean I always took aluminum foil so I'd be like Elvis and black out my room because it's daylight. It's crazy. Yeah, crazy. But yeah, the baseball game would be fun. There you go. You should make that happen. Yeah, I'd love to see.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Book me a show in Fairbanks. Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

In June.

[Aaron Weber]

In June.

[Brian Bates]

What's a good segue? Baseball. Major League Baseball season started last week so we're all big baseball fans so we can talk about some baseball this week. So you. How many stadiums have you been to now, Aaron?

[Aaron Weber]

I've been. I think I've got like 10 left that I have to go to. So I'm slowly, slowly making progress. I've been to like the three. There's only like three historical stadiums left. I think it's Fenway in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Dodger Stadium in la. I haven't been to Dodger Stadium yet, but I've been to fedway. You did the other two and I did the other.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, that's huge.

[Aaron Weber]

So I'm, I'm working through them.

[Henry Cho]

That's awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

So there's 30 total and there might be more soon. Who knows, we might have some expansion teams.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, I may have one down the road.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And I just missed the Oakland Coliseum. I'll never, never get to go to. Ah, you know I missed that one.

[Henry Cho]

You know that's a crazy thing because I used to go to games all the time also and there was a time I'd done them all. But those, most of those stadiums are non existent now.

[Aaron Weber]

Yes, some of them.

[Henry Cho]

So if I had to. People ask me, hey, have you ever been to. No, haven't been to there. Yeah, so I mean I've never been to new one. Yeah, I did that but I've never been to the new ones.

[Brian Bates]

You know, we were in car recently and he was telling me how the Dodgers always ask him to throw out first pitch, first pitch. He would never do it, never do it. And I said, well, you know, Aaron and I threw out the first pitch at the sounds game. He's like, well that's what you guys should be doing.

[Aaron Weber]

That's true.

[Henry Cho]

That would be good for y'all.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I wanted, I was thinking because I was at the White Sox game, I was like, man, they should let me throw out the first pitch this weekend. And then it was Derrick Rose throughout the first pitch in Chicago. So I was like, well, yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Can't have two big stars back.

[Henry Cho]

No, no, no.

[Brian Bates]

It's overkill.

[Aaron Weber]

But it's a great. I feel like baseball is such a great thing for comics because these games are during the day and you just can't find no other sports playing a game at like Friday or Saturday at 1:00pm no, no. So it's just great way to kill a day. Just sit and hang out.

[Henry Cho]

There's a lot, lot of comedians even, you know, back, back in the day just always do baseball games. You know, I always played golf, but I would occasionally, you know, I take a day on the weekend because we're there all week.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Henry Cho]

So, I mean, you know, we'd go to a lot of baseball.

[Brian Bates]

Was it Oakland where your buddies played that joke, where it was an empty stadium?

[Henry Cho]

That was a football game. That was a football game where the Rams Raiders were playing and there was no one in the upper deck. There were probably literally 4,000 people at this game. And so we're all at this game and there's one guy in the big top section of the upper deck sitting all by himself. And my buddy looks over at me, goes, hey, you see that guy up there by himself? I said, yeah. He goes, I'm going to go tell him. He's in my seat. And he did it. Took him the whole half a third.

[Aaron Weber]

Quarter to walk all the way around.

[Henry Cho]

And he walked and he waved to us. We're watching, goes down, shows the guy this ticket, and the guy just starts laughing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that's so funny. That's real commitment to a joke, too.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. He didn't care about sports. He was just there to hang.

[Aaron Weber]

He's just there to hang.

[Henry Cho]

He didn't know any of that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, he's not worried about missing the game.

[Henry Cho]

No, he didn't care. He didn't know who's playing.

[Aaron Weber]

Ran. This is the la. Was this LA Rams.

[Henry Cho]

LA Rams. Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

Oakland Raiders. Oh, they were Oakland. At the.

[Henry Cho]

Oakland.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Brian Bates]

So, yeah, this torpedo bat, I just learned about that. I thought it was a joke at first.

[Henry Cho]

The Yankees new bats. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

But it's legit and it's legal, at least for now.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah. So this was, this was the big news, I think, for baseball over the weekend is we've been playing baseball for hundreds of years and as far as I know, nobody's thought until now to. To reshape the bat. So the Yankees played this weekend with. They're being called torpedo bats, where they've moved the thickest part of the bat to the middle. And it's subtle. It's almost like if you didn't know that's what you're looking for here or down the barrel, you'd barely see it. Yeah, they, they, they had these players hit with the bat. They determined which part of the bat they were actually most likely to hit the ball with. And they move the thickest part of the bat to that. So they look kind of silly, they look absurd.

[Henry Cho]

But, But Judge hit three home runs.

[Aaron Weber]

That's true.

[Brian Bates]

Judge doesn't use it, though.

[Aaron Weber]

Judge was not using it. Judge just superhuman. But the Yankees put up 20 runs or something, so they, they played out of Their mind with these bats. So I think. I think you're going to see a lot more teams start to do this. It. That's. I love that we've been. Baseball's been played forever, and there's still stuff like this happen. I think a lot of people hate this. I actually love it. I think it's awesome. I think every team should. Should work within the confines of the rules like this.

[Henry Cho]

Well, yeah, every other sport does exact golf games.

[Brian Bates]

I didn't like it when they. A few years ago, they did away with the shift rule. I mean, they made a shift rule where you can't shift.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I wanted. Even though that wasn't something I came up with, the fact they've thought about it, I wanted to stay that way. If you can't hit it where they're not, that's on you.

[Henry Cho]

Yep. I mean, the shift rule should have stayed, but you know what? Then you go all the way back before designated hitter, which y'all weren't born, but.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I was.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's right, you were. You just didn't understand.

[Aaron Weber]

It's.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, but it's just been, what, two, three years that the DH is in the National League now.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Which I think more than that, but. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, but. But then. And that was the craziest thing, you know, because the. The strategy of, do you pull your pitcher or not when he's. When he's on fire, but you're down, too, and he's coming up the bat. I mean, do you leave him in or do you pull him? I mean, all these things. And who do you replace? Do you replace the center fielder now to shake up the lineup next time around? And you put the relief pitcher in a different spot. And now you got a guy who hadn't been playing all day in center field, and all of a sudden he's got a. You know, he gives up sacrifice fly because he's got no arm. You know, all these things, all that strategy is gone.

[Brian Bates]

I know.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, this is part of what I. I think baseball can mirror America in this way where there's this tradition and then there's, like, a resistance to change things. But it does slowly adapt over time. I think it reflects our society in that way.

[Henry Cho]

No, I agree.

[Aaron Weber]

If you'll let me get romantic.

[Henry Cho]

No, no, no. I think it's great. And. And I love it. The time clock's great. I mean.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, the pitch clock, that really changed baseball.

[Aaron Weber]

It sure did, man.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, it's amazing.

[Aaron Weber]

That White sox game was two and a half, two and a half hours.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Which is awesome.

[Brian Bates]

It's great. Shortened it by 24 minutes in the first year. The average baseball game wild. They did the pitch clock. This was two years ago. The pitch clock, which is the biggest. And then the bases are bigger now, so there's more stolen bases. And that's just more fun.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Because in the 80s, which was in my heyday of watching Ricky Henders was still over 100 bases a season. Vince Coleman would, Tim ray would get 70 or 80. But nowadays stolen bases just aren't a big, big thing.

[Henry Cho]

No. And they used to talk about it all the time. It was a top topic of the day of how many stolen bases is so and so going to get all this. And when that player came at the bat, they had the split screen. Always.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So.

[Aaron Weber]

And that's when that all started tracking it.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

My father in law sent me this this morning. The guy who created the torpedo bats for the Yankees, his name is Aaron Leonhardt. Look at this career. He got a PhD from MIT. He worked on a NASA funded research team. He was a physics professor at Michigan for seven years. And then at 40 years old, he said, I want a career in baseball. He left academics, started working at a community college, became a minor league coach for the Yankees and then just worked his way up from there. And then he says, I mean he has the idea to go let's, let's make the bats a different shape.

[Henry Cho]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, so smart guy.

[Henry Cho]

So it's pursue baseball. That is that playing or just coaching or coaching.

[Aaron Weber]

I think he's a 40.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, I was going to say, I was going to say he should have brought that back then. Changed the game back then.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Another thing they've changed recently. Speed up the game is the pickoff. You can't throw over there a million times.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

Only. Yeah. You got a limited number of moves over there.

[Henry Cho]

Is it two?

[Brian Bates]

Two?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, two, Matt.

[Henry Cho]

See that's crazy. So all you got to do is get two and then you can take the biggest lead as you want because he can't throw over there. And the bases are bigger.

[Aaron Weber]

The bases are bigger.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I would steal 150 bases.

[Brian Bates]

Were you a good baseball player?

[Henry Cho]

That's all I did. Yeah, that was what I was going to do. And you know, I was fast. I wasn't the greatest hitter.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

But I had a great arm for a little guy. Center field, center field, left field, outfield my whole life. Played shortstop early on. I mean outfield my whole life. And then they I played shortstop early on. And then in Little League I used to get one haircut a year.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So one year I would start baseball season start. My hair would be down like here.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know, everybody called me Mowgli from Jungle Book. It was so long. So. And my second year in Little League, coach said, hey, you're going to have to cut your hair. And I said, no, I'm not cutting my hair. I don't cut it until after the season every year. And I get it cut really short. That's just what I did. And so opening game, I'm not playing second base or shortstop. He's got me in right field and his son was playing center field. Fly ball was hit. I chase it down and I throw a guy trying to tag going to third and then I just shove his kid to right field.

[Brian Bates]

You made the coaching move and I.

[Henry Cho]

Stayed in center field. I played out there the rest of my career.

[Aaron Weber]

You just go. I think that's evidence enough. I need to be up here.

[Henry Cho]

I did. Because his son was standing there like this and the ball was clearly 20ft behind him. Yeah. And I ran it down, backhanded and gunned the guy.

[Aaron Weber]

So fucking just grabbing a kid by the shoulders. You're going over here. Yep.

[Henry Cho]

Now I kind of grabbed his numbers in the back and just kind of.

[Brian Bates]

Shut the coach's side. It makes even better.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It was the coach's son.

[Brian Bates]

That's awesome.

[Henry Cho]

And by golly, he left him out there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. He's like.

[Brian Bates]

Even he knew.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I get it. Yeah. It's so funny, man.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Didn't you say you shag some fly balls though?

[Henry Cho]

Tim Rains, man. So I used to go down to spring training. Expos were there. Brent Smith was a pitcher and Tim Raines and Tim Wallach. Eli Wallach. And you know, just one day, just. Hey, Henry, did you play ball?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, I thought we did. Yeah, I thought you did. Why don't you come on, Come on. Go out and shack some flies. God was the coolest thing ever. So then I grabbed Tim Rains and pushed him towards center.

[Brian Bates]

He never left.

[Aaron Weber]

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[Brian Bates]

So there's a. There's been talk about another pretty major rule change, which I'd be for requiring starting pitchers to go at least six innings unless they throw 100 pitches or give up four runs or more or get injured.

[Henry Cho]

Okay. So there is a stipulation on the. On earned runs. Okay. Yeah, yeah, that. I agree with that.

[Brian Bates]

When I was a kid, the starting pitcher was as big of a star.

[Henry Cho]

As they go nine innings.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Every everyday player. And nowadays it's just all against strategy.

[Henry Cho]

But they all specialize.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's super rare for the guy who starts the game pitching to end the game pitching. Super rare. Where it used to be way more common.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But like there's a game this weekend against the Yankees where the first three pitches of the game were home runs. So.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah, it was Nestor Cortez. He was coming back to the Yankees. He was on the Yankees years ago. Yet last year, first three pitches were home runs. So you're like, well, you got to be able to pull that guy if you want to, right? So there's like.

[Henry Cho]

Well, it's a full stipulation, four runs, but those are three. Three straight solo home runs.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

So now he's got to do. He's got to throw to one more guy. I guess you just serve one up.

[Aaron Weber]

I know. Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

We'll be down four, zero. Get them out.

[Aaron Weber]

But they'll do this every now and then they kind of propose these crazy rules and then everybody gets mad and they debate it and then they. Most of them don't happen like they did some of the golden at bat rule. Remember they were talking about like that was going to be. That's why the idea. The idea being that once a game you can put anybody in to bat One time in the game.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So you're like, well, that's just like, what are we even doing here?

[Brian Bates]

It's like a kids.

[Henry Cho]

That came after American Idol's golden ticket. Right. That's where they got it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, Same. Same concept.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Now, did I hear the Yankees just change the rule on facial hair?

[Henry Cho]

I don't know about that.

[Aaron Weber]

They did. They just. They just changed it. Yeah. Where it used to be, you had to have a clean shaven face.

[Henry Cho]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

To play on the Yankees, it was that way forever.

[Henry Cho]

And it was that way for a lot of teams.

[Brian Bates]

With the Reds too.

[Henry Cho]

Wasn't a Red. Really. Yeah. Back in the Big Red machine days.

[Aaron Weber]

So it was only. It had. The Yankees were the last team.

[Henry Cho]

Last one.

[Aaron Weber]

Hold on to. So you know these. You'd have these guys who were famous for having a mustache or long beards and then they'd play for the Yankees and they had to cut it all off. I think you could have a mustache still.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You couldn't have anything on the chin or the side.

[Brian Bates]

So even employees, I think.

[Aaron Weber]

Really?

[Brian Bates]

I think so. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Men and women.

[Henry Cho]

See, I wasn't going there.

[Brian Bates]

So I was looking at greatest teams of all time. The 27 Yankees is often. That's what people refer to.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

But the big Red machine you just referenced. Pretty crazy. The lineup they had there. They had three MVPs and would. I'm sorry, three hall of Famers and should have been four. Pete Rose had gotten in six National League MVP selections during that time.

[Aaron Weber]

Crazy.

[Brian Bates]

It's just like a murderous row of team 25 gold clubs, three batting champions.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, it was.

[Brian Bates]

And that was your team, right?

[Henry Cho]

That was my team. I mean, you know, just listening to the radio in my driveway back in the, you know, mid 75, 76 and listening to it at night. And then when I was in high school, so Knoxville is where I'm from, Atlanta was three hours in ish, and the old Brave Stadium and Riverfront park in Cincinnati was just less than 4. So in high school, during baseball season, you know, if we were. If our practice was rained out, we would find out if the Reds or Braves were playing.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And me and a couple other guys, we'd jump in the car and drive and watch the game and drive back.

[Aaron Weber]

That's awesome.

[Henry Cho]

The longest I've been to Cincinnati during high school. I was probably there, you know, 10. 10 times. Probably the longest I'd ever been in Cincinnati before I started. Comedy was like three hours and 50 minutes, because it went one game, went 10 innings. That was it. We'd cross the river into Cincinnati, go to the game and leave. That was the only time I was ever there, But I was there 10 times.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Aaron, have you heard the story about him beating Johnny Bench?

[Aaron Weber]

No, I don't think so. So I met your buddy who's. Who was on these Reds teams.

[Henry Cho]

Doug Flynn. Yeah, he met Doug Flynn, who was the utility guy. Yeah, Doug. Golden glove winner in 1982 for the Mets. So. Yeah, you met him in Lexington. So Doug and Johnny hosted this golf tournament, and so I met Johnny Bench, and I said, man, when I was a kid, I was up there, and I went and got your autograph, and I gave you this picture, and it's a picture of Johnny Bench coming out. He's got his glove in one hand and his mask in the other, and he's walking. He's got his shin guards on and his. And his chest protector and his white leg, you know, white uniform pants. And he signed his name on the pants, and I told him that. He gave me an autograph, and he goes, I remember you.

[Brian Bates]

You remembered him.

[Henry Cho]

He remembered me.

[Brian Bates]

Apparently, there's not many Asians with a Southern accent.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. With long hair.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

He probably thought I was a girl.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, he remembered me.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. He goes, I remember when you came up and got my autograph, I said, really? He goes, yeah, man.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

You play golf a lot of these guys?

[Henry Cho]

Yes. So I got to meet all my heroes. Most of them, you know, Ken Griffey, Senior or Junior Doug Flynn. I met them both. And the coolest thing is when I met Junior, he goes, man, my dad loves you. And I go, oh, get out. And so we did a FaceTime call.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

And Ken Sr. Answered. And he goes, henry, man, what are you doing? I said, I'm here. With your son, it was like crazy. Joe Morgan, George Foster, Tony Perez, I met briefly.

[Aaron Weber]

But yeah, all my heroes, Almost all these guys.

[Brian Bates]

Who was your favorite player growing up?

[Henry Cho]

Joe Morgan. I was number eight when I was playing. He played second base. The whole batting I did, and no one knew what I was doing. But so I asked. Mr. I asked Ken Griffey, Mr. Griffey. When I met him, I said, hey, when you went up there, you would always. I mimicked you in the dugout, dragging your feet around. And he said, you know why I did that? I said, no, why? He goes, because I let off. And Joe Morgan was second. And Joe Morgan said, by the time, his second time up, that back line better be gone. So he could cheat back two or three inches. That he goes, that's the only reason I was doing it. I was a rookie. He goes, that back line's better be gone.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So cool.

[Henry Cho]

I said, well, Hank, I wasn't doing that. I was just moving my feet. Like, how funny.

[Aaron Weber]

You were just imitating me, right?

[Brian Bates]

Who's your favorite player growing up?

[Aaron Weber]

Chipper Jones.

[Henry Cho]

No, you Chipper Jones guy.

[Aaron Weber]

Chipper Jones was the guy.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

For anybody grow. I grew up in Alabama. The closest team is Atlanta. All the Braves games are on tbs. Chipper Jones. It was a fight every year to get number 10 because of that.

[Henry Cho]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

It was like, you. Even in football, you were like, I wanted 10 because of chipper Joe. Chipper Jones, yeah, he was that cool.

[Henry Cho]

He was good.

[Aaron Weber]

I tried to be a switch hitter for a while because. Because he was a switch hitter. And then I read, like in Sports Illustrated for Kids, I read an interview with him about how he became a switch hitter. He's like, I just decided to try to hit with the. I was out in the backyard trying to hit left handed, and I got so. I'm so impatient. I was just like, this stinks. I never did it, but I tried because of him, because he did. I wanted to play third because Chipper Jones did. Like, it's hard to understate or overstate the impact that that guy had on almost every decision I made as a kid.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

Was like, you want to be like Chipper Jones?

[Henry Cho]

No, no, no. That. But I get that. I mean, you know, if you grew up a certain way and there's, you know, you got your little sports heroes out. Yeah, I was the same way.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I told him, Del Murphy poster on my wall.

[Aaron Weber]

Right, right.

[Brian Bates]

Pete Rose and Dwight Gooden. I became a big Dwight Gooden fan.

[Aaron Weber]

Did she really because when I was.

[Brian Bates]

14 or 15, he was a 19 year old phenotype. I'm like, yeah, this guy's not much older than I am.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

He was unbelievable.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. For those first few years, he was the best ever.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Out of the gate.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. What happened?

[Brian Bates]

Drugs.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Oh. You looked at me like you really didn't know. I was like, okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Happened to Daryl Strawberry.

[Henry Cho]

They were hanging out together.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

There's a 30 for 30, I think about them a couple years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I've seen. It's really good.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. So what do you think about. They tried this this year in spring training. Experiment with it where you can challenge the balls and strike and then they go to a computer to look.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. This is like a larger philosophical question about how you want sports to work. Do you think human error is part of the game? And I, I tend to think that for baseball, it is part of it. I think that, like a call getting slightly. The great irony in all this is that the umps have never been better. If you look at, like, the statistics, like, the umps are really good and there are a few that we know of that are bad and there are bad calls every now and then, but for the most part, like, we're talking about a very small number of calls that they're not getting. Correct. Yeah. It's like, do we want to just remove any human element from. Why don't we just put computer chips in the cleats and on the bases and in the ball and just like do it that way? Like, where does it stop?

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

If you're doing automatic balls and strikes.

[Henry Cho]

No, the balls and strikes, you can't argue. That's just part of the game.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And as you, we all know, you know, different umps behind the plate have their different strengths.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So, you know, there's something romantic about that.

[Aaron Weber]

I agree, I agree.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, it's part of baseball. I think it's just part of baseball. And. And yeah, they're probably doing really well getting calls. Right. Because they really have to now. Yeah, I mean, it's. I mean, there's, you know, there's some blatant calls that World Series called Kansas City, St. Louis, you know, guys like two feet from touching first place and you already see them.

[Brian Bates]

Don. Digging.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Doing that. It's like, okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So, yeah, there's been some terrible calls in history, but they are getting better. And now there's a box on the.

[Henry Cho]

Screen, which is cool. Yeah, I think that.

[Brian Bates]

But that shows how good they are for What?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, for watching baseball, the strike zone on the screen and where the pitch. It's kind of like golf and the tracker.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It really enhances watching baseball.

[Aaron Weber]

Totally. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

We were joking this. I mean, we. We had great seats to the game, but, like, the fact that I. I had a terrible view of the strike zone where I was watching. It's just very funny to, like, yell about balls and strikes from up there right now.

[Henry Cho]

Can't see it. Come on, blue.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Can't see where the ball is.

[Brian Bates]

Man, that picture you have on the screen, I don't. Where is that? Is that Cincinnati?

[Aaron Weber]

This is the old Cincinnati Red Stadium.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that Astro Stadium brings back so much memories because again, as a kid, it was. That astroturf was everywhere, right?

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah. All that is is carpet on concrete.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It's just that field would get like 50 degrees over the temperature. That's probably 120 degrees right there.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

It's crazy.

[Aaron Weber]

It's so dangerous, right?

[Henry Cho]

Oh, yeah. So many injuries. But Conception, playing shortstop, would field a ball like where that. That black mark is on the screen. Yeah. He'd filled one there, and then he learned how to one hop it to first base. And after it hit the ground, it would actually accelerate because of the.

[Aaron Weber]

It pick up speed.

[Henry Cho]

It would pick up speed. Yeah. It was crazy.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. You know, one reason I read that they said pitchers, if they had to go six innings, another good thing is nowadays it's all about power. Everybody can throw 100 miles an hour or more, but if you had to go a certain amount, you can't do that. You got to strategize more, you know, which I think would be better for baseball than just pure power.

[Henry Cho]

No, I agree.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. These guys that come in and just empty the tank because they're only going to pitch one inning.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're a relief pitcher, that's fine. Ninth inning, eighth inning, whatever. But if you're starting, you shouldn't be able to go out there and just give it gas for two innings, three innings.

[Aaron Weber]

Let me ask both of y'all, right now, right now, not you at your prime. Like right now, you get a thousand at bats in a major league game. What are you doing? Are you getting a hit? What are you. Are you. Are you getting.

[Henry Cho]

Is there. Are there defense? Is there a defense out there?

[Aaron Weber]

You're in a game, I'm in a.

[Henry Cho]

Game, I get a thousand at bats.

[Aaron Weber]

A thousand at bats from a major. Let's say an average major league.

[Brian Bates]

We're trying to walk.

[Henry Cho]

Okay. I would Walk. Because I used to walk a ton. At a thousand, I would walk 10 times.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And then I would strike out the rest 990 times. Yeah. @ this age, right now. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I think. Well, these guys are so good. I think even if I just didn't swing for a thousand at bats, I don't know how many walks I could draw.

[Henry Cho]

That's what I'm saying.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. You just get lucky and.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, but I get hit by a pitch, maybe.

[Henry Cho]

I mean, boy, I wouldn't want to do that.

[Aaron Weber]

God willing, I'll get hit by it.

[Brian Bates]

Exactly.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But I don't. I mean, I just get. Here's like, the difference is if you put us in an NBA game, I feel like, give us a thousand shots, we'll find a way to get a shot in.

[Henry Cho]

But if someone's guarding us in the NBA.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm saying. Yeah. Just exist out there on the court long enough, you can throw a shot up and get it in. I think.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Yeah. I could camp out in the corner and.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

If they would eventually pass me the ball and there's no one, I can get it off before anyone can block it.

[Brian Bates]

That's why bowling, I feel like, is the only sport where you could do the best thing. You can't bowl a perfect game, but you could roll a strike, which is the best the pros can do.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. It's like hitting a home run.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know, it's like making a birdie.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't think you give me a thousand at bats. I don't. I don't know. I mean, I may be tip the ball once.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

With the bat. These guys are just so good.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, they're. Trust me.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I.

[Brian Bates]

It would really, really hard for me to stand in that batter's box with that coming in.

[Henry Cho]

They throw one big hanging curve at your head. You're done.

[Aaron Weber]

I remember JV baseball. A player on our team jumped out of the way from a ball, and our coach was so mad that he didn't just stand in there and take it that the next day at practice, one by one, we just lined up and he just threw the ball at.

[Henry Cho]

Us and nailed you.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And just like, you got to learn how to just stay in the box and take.

[Brian Bates]

Works.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't. I don't know if it worked for me. I think I'm still. Still a little scared of it, but I stood in there and took it, man. That might be old school coaching. I don't know if they're still.

[Henry Cho]

It is old school. Coaching. I remember in middle school I was. I was pretty good. I could handle the bat pretty well, but everybody had to stand in the battery box. And we practice suicide squeezes. Squeezes. That's where the guys on 30s running home. And you've got to lay that. You got to lay the. And the pitcher is supposed to throw it at you if they see you do that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And so our coach would throw pitches right at us. And you'd have that bat right in front of you.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And you, you got to get it down or it's going to hit you in the face.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And man, so many guys got nailed and you had to do it till you got it right. Yeah. That's old school pitching.

[Aaron Weber]

I never work. I never work cup in baseball.

[Henry Cho]

Bragger.

[Aaron Weber]

No, I was really. I had a kid.

[Brian Bates]

Did you play?

[Aaron Weber]

I pitched and played third base.

[Henry Cho]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

I never wore cup because I could.

[Henry Cho]

Have a kid because Chipper Jones. Did.

[Brian Bates]

You checked?

[Aaron Weber]

No. I probably should have. I just. It was so uncomfortable to wear. And then there was this kid growing up. This is like. This story's almost been mythologized in the Montgomery, Alabama baseball community that I don't, I don't really remember what's true about it or not. But the story I remember being told was this kid caught a ground ball up into his groin and because of the. The ball hit the cup and the cup didn't work and it caused damage. Cause I mean significant damage. And. And he had to be like airlifted to a hospital or something. I don't know. I don't remember what's true. All I remember is that scared me enough that I was like, I. I'm just not going to wear a cup. And it's like the person who wears.

[Brian Bates]

The seat belt and then they can't get out from the wreck because they're so. I don't wear seatbelts.

[Aaron Weber]

That's a perfect analogy. It makes zero sense. But. But the visual of what happened to that kid stays with me to this day.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, I. I didn't even know about it and I can't. It's hurting me right now.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

You know what I'm saying?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. I don't. I wore a cup when I played infield. And then once I shove that kids that coach's kid over. Never wore one again.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You don't need one in the outfield.

[Henry Cho]

No.

[Aaron Weber]

I put one out when I caught a few games. I had to, I had to wear one.

[Brian Bates]

Is baseball your favorite sport?

[Aaron Weber]

It's. It wasn't until, like, recently, last few years, I don't know. For whatever reason, I picked it back up. I, like, I stopped paying attention to it. And then that's the fun thing. It's like a baseball season. This is what's fun about it, is I feel like football, that demands your attention because you got one game a week and you got to pay attention to it. Baseball, dude, there's 162 games. You can fade out. You can not pay attention for a week because you got to live life. Right. And then you get back into it. The game's still going on. That's how baseball feels as a whole to me. Like, I took a couple years off. Still going on. It's the great constant in American life. You can pop back into it and.

[Henry Cho]

No, I agree. Hunter games a lot.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

As a kid, I used to keep up with it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And now, I mean, it's like every two years, I go, are they any good this year?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, exactly.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And I think it's designed to. To be. I think that's a. A feature, not a. Not a bug. Right.

[Brian Bates]

It's a good way to look at it, because with a kid now, I feel like baseball is the last sport I could keep up with because there's so many games. But to your point. Yeah, just dip in and dip out, dude.

[Aaron Weber]

Put the game on and then wash the dishes. Like you don't have to.

[Brian Bates]

That's women's work. Am I right, Henry?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Who washed.

[Aaron Weber]

It's borderline. I mean, I. I will. If I'm at the game or if it's a big game, I will watch it very intently. But like I said, 162 games.

[Henry Cho]

But when do those games come up? World Series playoffs.

[Aaron Weber]

Exactly.

[Henry Cho]

So you don't have to. I agree with you. Football. That's why football is such a huge television monster.

[Aaron Weber]

One game a week.

[Henry Cho]

One game a week. Thursday, Sunday, Monday. That's it. Those are the. And you have to pay attention. And you want to pay attention.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

And also, it's only going to go for 18 weeks.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. You know, there's a ton of games being played right now as we're doing this podcast. That's what's great.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Pop it on. Look at it. Take it off. It's awesome, man.

[Brian Bates]

So the 1981 Stay Reds had the best record in the National League. Didn't make the playoffs.

[Henry Cho]

Nope. Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

Wait, what happened?

[Brian Bates]

There was a strike. Season Shortened season, the middle of the season. And they were in second place when the strike happened.

[Henry Cho]

And they were second place on the second half.

[Brian Bates]

Second half. The overall had the best record in baseball. But since they didn't win either half, they didn't get to go to the playoffs.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that was crazy.

[Henry Cho]

Yep. Yeah, I remember that. I was. Everybody was furious.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That was Tom Seaver. You're right.

[Henry Cho]

Tom Seaver went 14 and 2. Did not win aside young. Because they gave to Fernando Valenzuela, who went five and six in the second half or something like that. Yeah. He was eight. No. And then five and six.

[Aaron Weber]

That's crazy.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So I was looking up some minor league stats. Who do you think is the best? What's the best minor league baseball team name?

[Aaron Weber]

I'm extremely biased, but I think the Montgomery Biscuits have a heck of a cat.

[Henry Cho]

That's a good one.

[Aaron Weber]

Montgomery Biscuits. You know, Montgomery's famous for its biscuits.

[Brian Bates]

I did not know that.

[Aaron Weber]

We're not at all.

[Brian Bates]

You said joke about that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I was like, we're not. We're not known for biscuits or anything.

[Henry Cho]

No.

[Aaron Weber]

But we had a poll. I think I remember we had a poll. The city got to vote. It came down to the Montgomery River Rats or the Montgomery Biscuits. And Biscuits won by a landslide because.

[Henry Cho]

You know, because River Rats, there's all those mud. Mud.

[Aaron Weber]

Mud. Cat feels very like.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Kind of unoriginal.

[Henry Cho]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

Biscuits is.

[Henry Cho]

That's it.

[Aaron Weber]

It's awesome. Dude. And then the puns just got churned. I mean, Biscuit season tickets. Get them while they're hot.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, it's. Every billboard is.

[Henry Cho]

It's pretty hard to do that with a River rat.

[Aaron Weber]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Huntsville is the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

[Henry Cho]

Yes. The Trash Pandas is always a good one.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. There's some crazy minor league names, but.

[Henry Cho]

That'S why they do it. I mean, it. You get the logos and you get the merch and people know what it is. I mean, that's.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. You could just lean into the silliness of it.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So the most seasons in the minors before you get. Got called up. John Lindsay. Sixteen years in the Miners.

[Henry Cho]

Did you look at Ray Knight? Did you look up Ray Knight? Remember we talked about that?

[Brian Bates]

I did not look up Ray Knight. You said he spent a way long time in the minors.

[Henry Cho]

Ray Knight spent like 12 years in the minors because he was behind Pete Rose.

[Aaron Weber]

Huh.

[Henry Cho]

But then I said it may have been nine, but 12 just sticks in my head. It doesn't say.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, he's the man who replaced Pete rose at third base.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Drafted seventh. Okay. 1970. Yeah. I think he was in there for 12 years.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

There's another guy. So we have a friend of the podcast, Doug Buckler, who's the pitching coach for the Toledo Mud Hens.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Henry Cho]

That's a good one.

[Brian Bates]

And that is a good one. The hitting coach for Toledo is the minor league's all time home run leader. Yeah. He's hit 430, 33 home runs in the minor league. 419 seasons. Wow, that's crazy.

[Aaron Weber]

What's his name?

[Brian Bates]

Mike Hessman.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. So all these guys, they compare to Crash Davis from Bull Durham Crush. Davis was a real player. I looked up.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

That the director of the movie knew of or found and said that'd be a good baseball name.

[Aaron Weber]

Crash.

[Henry Cho]

That is a great name.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah, that's great.

[Brian Bates]

What? You have a favorite baseball movie?

[Henry Cho]

The Natural Pro. Probably Robert Red.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, that's a good.

[Aaron Weber]

Natural is great. I think Brian and I have the same answer here. I think Moneyball is my favorite.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Baseball.

[Henry Cho]

Oh yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Moneyball might even be my favorite. And actually you remind. I've meant to. You kind of remind me. If you watch that movie, Henry, Brad Pitt's character reminds me of you.

[Henry Cho]

I get that a lot.

[Aaron Weber]

Not. Not. Yeah, just like the way he acts. I watch it next time and think about Henry while with Brad Pitt's character.

[Brian Bates]

And what's the other guys.

[Aaron Weber]

Jonah Hill.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Kind of reminds me of me now. Think about it.

[Aaron Weber]

He should remake.

[Henry Cho]

You get that a lot.

[Aaron Weber]

You get that a lot.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Huh.

[Henry Cho]

Watch it and see what you're saying.

[Brian Bates]

Have you ever auditioned for a movie that. A baseball movie?

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So they were talk the. The old Major League Series.

[Brian Bates]

That was. That was my favorite movie as a kid growing up.

[Henry Cho]

And then they had already had the Asian guy in the second one. And so I didn't want to be the Asian guy. I wanted to be Wesley Snipes character.

[Brian Bates]

Because they replaced him the second one. I think I was.

[Henry Cho]

I was trying. Yeah, they know. You know, they had me over here. No, you got to go in that room. I'm like, I'm not going in there. And I just left.

[Aaron Weber]

What's a sports event team? Something that you wish they made a movie or even a documentary about.

[Henry Cho]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

I think they're gonna make one about torpedo bats if it keeps up.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. If it can't be Moneyball 2 about the torpedo bats.

[Henry Cho]

You know, I. I watch so many sports that all the great sports moments and stuff. I think I've seen like replays of it. So it feels like it's a documentary even though it's not some stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

There's just not, like, great footage of it. You think about, like, even the miracle hockey game. Yeah, yeah, I've seen the movie. The movie's unbelievable. Right? The movie is how I think about that moment because I wasn't alive when it happened in real life. But the footage of the game stinks, dude.

[Henry Cho]

Right. Well, you know why no one watched it. We didn't watch it. The only reason we watched it is because people were going around telling, hey, the United States may have a chance to win. We're like, what? There's no way. And then all of a sudden you tune in. So whoever I saw the last, I'd probably say there was probably eight minutes left in the game by the time I actually got to where I could watch it, because I heard as it was happening that this was happening. So there are things like that that. I hear you. The movie version is all, you know, and it's also my generation, probably most people also. Because no one really watched it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And it's just if. If it only had the actual footage of it, it's just kind of, you know, it's like grainy. It's like one camera. It's like it deserves its own.

[Henry Cho]

It's like the immaculate reception. You don't. You don't.

[Aaron Weber]

I can only see the little grainy.

[Henry Cho]

Footage of it, and then you see Harris going and picking it up off the ground. But you. There's no shot of.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, like a cinematic shot.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. They need to recreate that digitally. Do a little CG on it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Because, you know, he always said I was always coached to follow the ball, so that's the only reason I was running that way. So.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Well, with AI, we'll be able to do all this.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I'm sitting here trying to think of some. They made a movie. Dennis Quay played the guy who became a rookie, like 35 years old.

[Aaron Weber]

Rookie.

[Henry Cho]

The rookie.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

That's a great movie.

[Henry Cho]

That was a great movie.

[Brian Bates]

Great story. In real life.

[Henry Cho]

Yes. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

They made almost every Kurt Warner. You know, there's a movie.

[Aaron Weber]

You know what's funny about the Rookie is a real life. The guy was like 35.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And it's like the. The plot is like this old man I know come back, he's 35. Dennis Quaid was way older. It's a better story when.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. He was like 50 or 40.

[Nate Bargatze]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. You're like, oh, this is a 35 year old. That's me.

[Henry Cho]

There's guys still playing.

[Aaron Weber]

I know, I know. It's Crazy.

[Brian Bates]

I was telling Henry in the car. This weekend, there's a documentary called the Battered Bastards of Baseball, and it is so good. It's about Kurt Russell's dad bought a minor league baseball team in Portland back in 60s or 70s and just had open tryouts and this ragtag team of guys, it's just like. I mean, it's a documentary, but it feels like a movie. And they just did crazy stuff. It's.

[Aaron Weber]

It's.

[Brian Bates]

It's really good because that was a.

[Henry Cho]

Big thing, that Kurt. His son. Kurt played baseball. Yeah. Now we know how his dad had to.

[Brian Bates]

There's a lot of country music stars that were good baseball players.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Charlie Pride, I think he played maybe in the minors.

[Henry Cho]

Charlie Pride was good.

[Brian Bates]

Conway Twitty, I think, played.

[Aaron Weber]

Did he really?

[Brian Bates]

Ronnie Millsap.

[Henry Cho]

He was an op.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. What's he.

[Brian Bates]

I'm joking.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

I'm joking. Here's some more.

[Henry Cho]

Hey, I saw Ronnie last week. You can't talk about that.

[Brian Bates]

I know. That Opry thing was great.

[Henry Cho]

It was crazy. Great.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. We didn't talk about that at all. That was. Looked awesome. The 100th anniversary of the opera.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. It's crazy.

[Aaron Weber]

You're. You were part of it and.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. You know, being a member, they. They. So we did rehearsal, and I'm up there, and I see where they put our pictures in the seats where we're gonna sit, and I see where I am, and I'm like, okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And then they go, hey, there's things gonna happen here. So you and Amy are there. I said, all right. And I looked over, and there's, like, some of my pals further back. And I felt bad for, like, five seconds.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah. You had a better seat? Yeah, Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I went, oh, that's a bummer. Yeah, I should. Nah. Okay. And at the end, got to go up on stage.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Crazy.

[Aaron Weber]

That's so cool, man.

[Henry Cho]

I was standing there because I was on the back in the middle, and I got to look. I had the best view of everybody up there. I went, wow, this is it. This is all the members except a handful that couldn't make it. Yeah, it's really cool. Cool. It was cool.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. You were at Texas. You're on there more than Blake Shelton, who hosted it.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, that's what everybody was saying.

[Brian Bates]

I saw John Chris a couple times and Theo Vaughn just in the crowd. Yeah, but they were a lot further back.

[Henry Cho]

Well, they should have been.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. They're not members.

[Brian Bates]

Theo's never even done the opera yet.

[Henry Cho]

They didn't have their Pictures, anyway. Trust me.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah. Field of Dreams. That's another.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah, Phil, Dreams was good.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You know how dumb I am. I was in Dubuque, Iowa, and I was like, oh, the Field of Dreams field is like 35 minutes from here. Let's go. So I drove out there and then I got there and I realized this is the dead of winter. There's snow everywhere. There's no corn and there's.

[Henry Cho]

You can't see the field.

[Aaron Weber]

It's just all snow. I thought corn. I thought the corn would be gone, but the stalk would still be there. Year turns out, the whole thing.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. They cut it down every year. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I had no idea. And it kind of loses its magic when the corn's not there.

[Henry Cho]

Dude.

[Aaron Weber]

It's just. It's just a field.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Aaron Weber]

Covered in snow.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Brian Bates]

So if you were gonna do.

[Aaron Weber]

I felt like such an idiot, dude.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, the Bad News Bears.

[Aaron Weber]

I did it. I did it. I said you should.

[Henry Cho]

Dude. I know. I was gonna. You've done it a bunch. I was gonna point it out.

[Aaron Weber]

Golly.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. Bad News Bears was good. Walter Matthew. Yeah, that was good.

[Brian Bates]

So if you're going to a Mount Rushmore of best baseball players all time, who would have on there?

[Henry Cho]

Well, I'm not going to go way back because I didn't see him play. I'm not going to do.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, tell them the story about your grandfather.

[Henry Cho]

Oh. So my grandfather was a pitcher in Korea and he was crazy great, and he played on this Japanese baseball team.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

And so when the Yankees in the 20s won the world Series, they went to Japan and there was an exhibition game and my grandfather, who he couldn't communicate well, but he had Babe Ruth 0 and 2. And the third pitch, and I said, what happened? He goes. But then he struck him out the next two times.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, wow.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. It's crazy. My grandfather Bass.

[Brian Bates]

Babe Ruth.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

That's so crazy.

[Henry Cho]

His right hand on his finger was checked like that permanently from taking a line drive on his hand. But it was like, wow. Yeah. Pretty cool.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Brian Bates]

Okay, that's fair. So you're only going to do players that you've grew up with or seen, not guys.

[Henry Cho]

Not guys in the past. Because then we're going to get stuck. Stuck on.

[Brian Bates]

I think baseball is harder than any other sport because, I mean, football, you really. You're talking about the super bowl era, which is, you know, that's what you think of is modern football.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

Basketball, it's been around maybe 75 years. Modern baseball, we're pushing 150 years.

[Aaron Weber]

And all these guys from, like the tournament.

[Henry Cho]

Wagner.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, you know, Ty Cobb.

[Henry Cho]

Ty Cobb would be one.

[Aaron Weber]

We'll do. Just guys from our lifetime that we've. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

We have more to work with than you do, but.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So mine would be. Wow.

[Brian Bates]

They can't. They can't do steroids.

[Henry Cho]

They took my top three.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I'll do. Let me go.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Go.

[Aaron Weber]

Dale Murphy.

[Brian Bates]

No. King Griffey Jr.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

I think he's got to be on there. Even if. Even if he did cheat. Barry Bonds was one of the best baseball players.

[Aaron Weber]

He's probably the best ever.

[Brian Bates]

Ever. Yeah. Mike Schmidt.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Brian Bates]

He was probably best third baseman ever. And I'll throw a picture in there. Greg Maddox.

[Aaron Weber]

Greg Maddox.

[Henry Cho]

Wow. Maddox. Definitely.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Mine would be Cal Ripken Jr. Nice. I'd have to go Joe Morgan.

[Aaron Weber]

Pete Rose. You putting them on there?

[Henry Cho]

I'm not, I'm not. I was going to do four Reds, but.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. Okay.

[Henry Cho]

Dave Winfield.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, nice.

[Brian Bates]

Get drafted in all three sports.

[Henry Cho]

Yep. And then my last one would be. Wow. It's a tough one.

[Brian Bates]

Johnny.

[Henry Cho]

That's another Red. I'm gonna stay. I'll come back to you.

[Aaron Weber]

Do a picture.

[Henry Cho]

Do a pitcher.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

Saberhagen.

[Aaron Weber]

Saberhagen.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, that's a saver. That's a good one. Brett Saberhagen.

[Aaron Weber]

Good one. I'll do Barry Bonds. Griffey Jr. I'll do chipper Jones. And I'm gonna put Shohei up there, too. I know, I know it's early, but I'm with you. Shohei Ohtani, if you're, like, not into baseball, you haven't watched it in a while, like, now's a good time to get back. We're in the middle of like a once in a multi generational player playing with the Dodgers. And Shohei Otani's. Unbelievable. Yes.

[Henry Cho]

And you'll never see. You may never see this again.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't think you ever will. We never have before.

[Henry Cho]

We haven't.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Nobody has.

[Henry Cho]

No.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. So when I grew up, I think you got to lose this. Growing up here in middle Tennessee, it was the Braves, Reds and Cardinals were the three closest teams.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

More Braves than anybody because they're probably the closest. But my friends who lived in Clarksville, they would go see the Cardinals because that's an hour further that way. And, you know, they were all Cardinals fans, so there's a lot of Ozzy Smith fans growing up.

[Henry Cho]

Yep.

[Brian Bates]

Del Murphy, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

I could have put Ozzy on there.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

How could.

[Aaron Weber]

He was on as Far as, like, entertaining players. He's up there for sure.

[Brian Bates]

Hey, I was telling you recently about Eric Davis. Remember him for the Reds?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

He was going to be the next.

[Henry Cho]

Big thing, like, but he got that injury.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Henry Cho]

That. His kidneys or something. Got hit. Never was the same.

[Brian Bates]

Yep, yep. All right.

[Aaron Weber]

That was fun. I think if you're not. Listen, if you're not into baseball, I'm sorry. We got into it, man. There's a lot of inside baseball.

[Henry Cho]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

This week.

[Henry Cho]

Inside baseball.

[Aaron Weber]

It's great, dude, but I had fun talking about it. I'm sorry if you didn't, but, you know, you got to get with the. You got to get with it. Yeah, dude, that's on you. It's America's pastime. And just like baseball, you. Maybe you're not in the mood to listen to this podcast now. Give it some time. Get on with your life. We'll be here when you're ready to come back. You know what I mean? Just like a. This is a. This is 162 game season of a podcast, and we're in. We're in April, so we'll see at the All Star break. You know what I mean?

[Brian Bates]

I don't know any of that means.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't. I don't really know what I'm saying. I'm saying we talked about baseball. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I liked it.

[Brian Bates]

It's the last great cross section of America.

[Aaron Weber]

I mean, I was refraining from using that exact terminology. Yeah, I get romantic about it. There's a line in Moneyball. How can you not be romantic about baseball? I think about that.

[Henry Cho]

I agree quite a bit.

[Brian Bates]

There's a line in the sandlot. You hit like a girl, right?

[Henry Cho]

Yes, Yes, I wrote that.

[Brian Bates]

All right.

[Aaron Weber]

That was great, dude. Henry, thank you so much for coming, man.

[Henry Cho]

Always, always happy to show.

[Brian Bates]

Let's promote our shows.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay, let's do it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. This. This Saturday, I'm at the Packard Playhouse in Columbia, Tennessee. April 11th and 12th, I'm back in Detroit. Detroit House of Comedy. April 26th, I'm in West Bend, Wisconsin, at the Bend Theater. I'm a theater act now, Henry. I know you are, so come see me in April at one of those locations.

[Henry Cho]

I'm very fortunate this month. I have several shows, but they're already sold out, so I'm not worried about it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I love it. I love it.

[Henry Cho]

So we're gonna go. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Pull up the Henry Cho tour there.

[Henry Cho]

I'm in Huntsville this weekend, and then I'm in Bartlett. And then. Yeah, slide that down.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Tour dates here. Huntsville.

[Henry Cho]

There we go.

[Aaron Weber]

You are. Tell you what, Pensacola kids out of the house. You've been after it.

[Henry Cho]

That's right, man. Yeah. So Pensacola. That one's got some tickets left. Let's do the April 24th. Added the show in Hattiesburg. So jump on that. Here's where I need you. Concord, New Hampshire, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jump on those. And then I'm going to the west Coast. Got Boise and Portland. We had a show in Portland. Had a show in Boise and then Denver. Jump on that.

[Aaron Weber]

Awesome, man. The Wilbur in Boston.

[Henry Cho]

Yeah. So, hey, the. The Boston, New Haven, and D.C. get on there because those shows have plenty of seats left.

[Brian Bates]

Fort Wayne, Indiana. Baseball reference. Aaron's glove. Wasn't that where it was found?

[Aaron Weber]

That's where it was found.

[Henry Cho]

Oh, that's right.

[Aaron Weber]

That's where Steve Byrne found my childhood baseball.

[Henry Cho]

I remember you told me.

[Aaron Weber]

Isn't that crazy? That's.

[Henry Cho]

That's crazy.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

That's awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Here it is. Baseball, bringing us together.

[Henry Cho]

That's right.

[Aaron Weber]

That's what it's all about. I want to plug one show and one show only. May 31st, South Bend, Indiana. I'm headlining in South Bend for the first time ever, so that's a big show for me. The Stock Room east is the name of the venue. May 31 in South Bend, Indiana. Come on out. Go Irish.

[Henry Cho]

Cool.

[Brian Bates]

All right, Henry, thanks for doing us a favor and hopping in here last minute.

[Henry Cho]

Always. Always happy to come. Hang.

[Brian Bates]

Filling in for two guys. Appreciate it.

[Henry Cho]

It was hard. It's really hard. Those are two big guys. But I can talk, so. And I got a couple stories.

[Brian Bates]

Yes, you can.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, you can. All right. All right, signing out. Let's go. Good. Goodbye, folks. We did it. None of it's lost on us. We love you and have a pleasant evening.

[Nate Bargatze]

Nateland is produced by Nateland Productions and by me, Nate Bargetze, and my wife Laura on the AudioBoom platform. Recording and editing for the show is done by Genovations Media. Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to catch us next week on the Nateland podcast.

[Henry Cho]

Sat.