277: #277 Scams featuring Stephen Bargatze

Summary

The Nateland Podcast: Episode 277 – Scams (feat. Stephen Bargatze)

Release Date: November 5, 2025
Hosts: Brian Bates, Aaron Weber
Guest: Stephen Bargatze
Theme: Scams, Con Artists, and Magic (with detours through comedy, birthdays, and magic show stories)

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Overview

This episode of The Nateland Podcast is a deep dive into scams of all sorts — from classic con artists, Ponzi schemes, and fairground tricksters to modern spam texts and comedian-targeted podcast scams. With Nate and Dusty both out, master magician and comedian Stephen Bargatze (Nate’s dad) joins Brian and Aaron to share stories from his long career, muse on audience psychology, and swap both scam stories and magic secrets. The conversation is candid, filled with playful ribbing, and rich in behind-the-scenes glimpses of both the magic and comedy worlds.

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Table of Contents

• Host & Guest Catch-Up / Weekend Recap
  • Stephen's Taped Special & Performing Stories
  • Birthday Banter
• Comedy & Magic: Audience Dynamics and Mishaps
  • Picking Volunteers & Audience Psychology
  • Mistakes On Stage
  • On Bombing: Comic vs. Magician
• Listener Comments & Banter
• The World of Scams
  • Modern Day Text/Email Scams
  • Podcast/Comedian Scams
  • Classic Cons & Carnivals
  • Famous Con Artists
  • Morality & Human Nature in Scams
• Magic Community Insights
  • David Blaine, Criss Angel, David Copperfield
  • Young Magicians: The Importance of Patter
• Tour Dates & Plugs
• Quotes & Memorable Moments
• Timestamps for Key Segments

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Host & Guest Catch-Up / Weekend Recap

Stephen's Taped Special & Performing Stories

• Stephen recounts the saga of taping his long-awaited special — postponed multiple times, with ownership of music rights (especially "My Heart Will Go On") causing headaches (02:00–04:39).

  • “I’ve waited 45 years to get it done, but I just wanted it over and stuff, ‘cause I just been... ignored it.” — Stephen Bargatze, 02:13
  • Hilarious insight into using "free" music and struggles performing to unfamiliar cues.
  • Peanuts theme rights acquired thanks to the family's fandom: “Turned out that family’s a big fan of Nate, and they kind of gave us a deal.” — Stephen, 03:43

• Audience management, hecklers, and psychic tricks: Stephen explains the science of picking the right audience volunteer, aiming for those who aren’t there to steal the show (07:12–10:22).

• Memorable performance tales: The "plunger-on-head" bit, school shows, and the trickiness of improvising when volunteers try to outsmart the act (07:12–12:25).

Birthday Banter

• Birthday celebrations for Brian and others (16:01–16:35, 25:42–26:15): Running joke about everyone’s birthdays being days apart.
• Brian shares his recent struggle with pink eye (16:12–17:12), with jokes keeping it light:
  • “I decided on my 54th birthday to wear my glasses, so…” — Brian Bates, 16:12
  • “Stephen slid to the other end of the tank.” — Aaron Weber, 16:31

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Comedy & Magic: Audience Dynamics and Mishaps

Picking Volunteers & Audience Psychology

• Stephen explains his years-long process for vetting audience volunteers — older ladies used to be his go-to ("the older, the better"), now tricky since he turned 70. He avoids volunteers who want to be the star:
  • “You don’t want someone who’s going to want to be the show.” — Brian Bates, 08:02
  • “You can get away with everything if it’s an older lady. ...You could do anything.” — Stephen, 09:28

Mistakes On Stage

• The terror of predictable tricks going suddenly wrong:
  • “If that ring doesn’t come out or you hear it go crunch in the gears, there’s nothing you can do but go, ‘Me and you are gonna have to go talk in the back when this is all over.’” — Stephen, 38:07.
  • Elaborates on always having a bailout plan or ‘out’ for tricks (38:04–39:14).

On Bombing: Comic vs. Magician (37:17–41:31)

• “What is worse, bombing as a comedian or bombing as a magician?” — Listener question (37:17)
  • Aaron: “Magician’s got it easy, dude, up there with all your props.”
  • Stephen: “For magician, sometimes you can get a laugh with a funny line if something flops. But if someone intentionally ruins your trick, especially mind reading, there’s just not much you can do.”

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Listener Comments & Banter

• Conspiracy corner: Listeners and Stephen joke about being on the "Dusty wavelength" regarding the evil in the world — including the possibility of all refs being demons, and the ongoing demon/alien theory with Dusty (27:04–28:50).

  • “The big thing me and Dusty always agreed on is that I think aliens are demons. And he does, too.” — Stephen, 28:28

• Podcast routine ribbing: “Well, there’s four of us, so [the commenter] didn’t even count me as part of the group.” — Brian, after a compliment to Aaron (29:28)

• Buc-ee’s bathroom tangent (33:00–34:20) — why are their stalls so phone-signal-proof?

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The World of Scams

Modern Day Text/Email Scams (70:56–74:37)

• Brian reveals recent spam texts and wrong-number scams and the hosts ponder how the innocent first messages (“Are you still driving?”) might become financial cons.
  • “Are you still driving? …That’s a great question to ask.” — Stephen, 71:55
  • Stephen: “My wife always told me, don’t ever say yes or hello. I mean, it’s one of those. Yeah, that’s all they want. You say yes, they’re gonna record your voice...” (73:39)

Podcast/Comedian Scams

• Both Brian and Aaron have received emails offering thousands to appear on "big" podcasts.
• Aaron shares how these scams ultimately aim to seize control of comedians' Facebook pages:
  • “That particular scam is designed to get control of your Facebook page... ‘add us as admin’ ...and then they take your Facebook page.” — Aaron, 76:33

Classic Cons & Carnivals (78:54–83:33)

• Stephen’s personal stories:

  • Lost all his money at a county fair scam game (bowling pin trick, 78:54).
  • Getting conned into buying three versions of the same magic deck as a kid.
  • The classic ‘mark’ chalk on the back con.
  • Insider secrets:
    • Bowling pin games are rigged by tilting the platform.
    • The "mouse pick-a-hole" trick uses hormones to guide results.
  • “But what got me is they did three different tricks and they all had different—the one card that was the same was different... I bought three decks and got home. I had the same deck three times.” — Stephen, 80:57

• Aaron’s personal scam story: Lost $30 to a Venmo conman in a diner, then found a mini-online community of others conned by the same guy (83:29–86:52).

Famous Con Artists

• Ponzi Schemes Explained:

  • “Ponzi scheme, you get it all is all about getting new investors and you take their money and pay the original investors…” — Brian, 91:39

• Historical Scams:

  • Even Isaac Newton was conned in the 1700s by a fake investment scheme (92:36).

• Morality & Human Nature in Scams:

  • Stephen muses on the thin line between the scammer and the ‘mark’ — both trying to get over on the other (93:02–94:17): “Am I really scamming you or are you trying to scam me?”

• Future Scams (95:17–96:38):

  • Aaron predicts AI will escalate these scams — “imagine my grandmother gets AI video of me saying I need help... who’s not going to fall for that?”
  • Stephen: “You’re going to have to have a code word... That’s the only way to beat that!”

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Magic Community Insights

David Blaine, Criss Angel, David Copperfield (58:53–63:32)

• On Blaine:

  • “He’s the closest we have to what Houdini was… In the beginning, the magic world did not like David Blaine because he took simple tricks that all of us knew and he got a special with it and then he killed it… He made magic popular again.” — Stephen, 59:19

• On Criss Angel:

  • “He just seems like somebody that wants to be a rock star but couldn’t do it. So he decided to be a magician that tried to be a rock star.” — Stephen, 62:21
  • Wild story about Criss stopping his Vegas show to scold a critic tweeting in real-time (62:11).

• On Copperfield:

  • “I still think the flying... was the greatest moment of my magic, seeing that.” — Stephen, 62:36

Young Magicians: The Importance of Patter (53:59–57:01)

• “Patter is how... The worst kind is when you’re just telling people what they see. A patter is when you make the trick interesting — connect it to a story, a little lie, something memorable.” — Stephen, 54:06
• Advice: Focus on technical skills first, then on crafting interesting and unique presentation. No one cares about the method; they care about entertainment.

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Tour Dates & Plugs

• Brian: Stand-up across the US and first-ever Canada show in Leamington, Ontario (108:21–110:42); multiple tour stops announced.
• Aaron: Weekend in Dayton/Toledo (113:01–113:22); more Ohio dates following.
• Stephen: Upcoming shows, pickleball tournaments, and college events (“I was hoping to take a couple weeks off but I got something for Dave Ramsey on Wednesday that none of you can come to…” — Stephen, 111:14).

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Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On feeling old as an entertainer:

  • “I’m 70 now. I could go at any minute. And if I do die, they’re going to run that tape by my casket.” — Stephen, 23:14

• On Conspiracy:

  • “I think the big thing me and Dusty always agreed on is that I think aliens are demons. And he does too.” — Stephen, 28:28

• On modern scam texts:

  • “I fall for the dumbest one. I hate the one. Now, the ones that say, ‘Hey, are you around?’” — Stephen, 71:01

• On the anxiety of trick mishaps:

  • “If that ring doesn’t come out or you hear it go crunch in the gears, there’s nothing you can do but go, ‘Me and you are gonna have to go talk in the back when this is all over.’” — Stephen, 38:07

• On Blaine’s impact:

  • “When he came out, he made magic popular again. ...at once, Doug Henning in my life, [then] David Copperfield made it popular... Most people know Blaine, and right now, he’s that guy.” — Stephen, 60:20

• On classic cons:

  • “He bet somebody he could drive a golf ball 500 yards... waited till wintertime when it was an icy lake.” — Brian, 103:44

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:00–04:39] – Stephen's special, music rights headaches, family stories
• [07:12–12:25] – Working with audience volunteers, heckler anecdotes
• [16:01–16:35/25:42–26:15] – The great October birthday run
• [33:00–34:20] – Buc-ee’s bathroom theory
• [37:17–41:31] – “What’s worse: bombing as a comic or magician?”
• [53:59–57:01] – Young magicians, the curse/blessing of patter, advice on learning performing craft
• [58:53–63:32] – Magic’s celebrity hierarchy: Blaine, Angel, Copperfield
• [70:56–74:37] – Modern scam texts, “are you still driving?”, comedian podcast cons
• [78:54–83:33] – Real-life scams, carnival cons, losing all your date money to the bowling pin trick
• [83:29–86:52] – Unpacking a Venmo scam, community of the conned
• [91:39–94:17] – Ponzi schemes explained, scam morality
• [95:17–96:38] – The coming era of AI scams
• [103:36–104:40] – Titanic Thompson stories, legendary real-life hustles

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Final Thoughts

Episode 277 delivers an entertaining, candid, and educational look at scams—on stage and off. Stephen Bargatze elevates the conversation with stories that blur the line between magic, comedy, and the psychological games of everyday life. Whether you’re curious about the mechanics of fairground cons or the psychology of picking a good audience volunteer, or you’re a fan of deep-cut magic history and casual conspiracy tangents, this episode is rich in both insight and laughs.

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[For more, listen to The Nateland Podcast, episode 277: "Scams" wherever you get podcasts.]

Transcript

[Aaron Weber]

Here for the Lowes, early Black Friday deals.

[Brian Bates]

You're right on time. For some of our biggest savings. We're talking up to 50% off. Select major appliances, plus up to an extra 25% off when you bundle. Select major appliances. Holiday lights going up soon. Select ladders are up to 50% off right now. Get Black Friday prices without the Black Friday crowds. Lowes, we help you Save. Valid through 1119. Selection varies by location. Select locations only while supplies last. For more details. Hello, folks, and hey, Bear. Welcome to the Nateland Podcast. As always, Brian Bates here. Aaron Weber, the core.

[Aaron Weber]

The core of the Nateland podcast.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's all we need. We just need you two guys.

[Aaron Weber]

They'd like a little more, but that's all they need is me and Brian.

[Stephen Bargatz]

This is it.

[Aaron Weber]

Bare bones.

[Brian Bates]

We're the ones that never have anything else going on. So we're here sitting in for Nate and Dusty, the wonderful Stephen Bargatz. You're kind of a combination of both. Obviously, you're a combination of Nate, but some of your beliefs are kind of like Dusty, so.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that's a shame to hear that, but probably so.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Yeah. The good ones, though.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Thank you for being here. You had a big weekend.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yes, I did. I had a great sweatshirt all weekend, said, greatest weekend ever. And I was wanting to wear it today, and I was told it had too much food on it that I've eaten all week. I wore it two days, and I go, I can get one more day. I just want this one to finish the weekend off. No, no, no, no.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, tell the people what happened this weekend.

[Stephen Bargatz]

We celebrated Brian's birthday the whole weekend. And, you know, this guy throws a party like you have never seen. It goes on and on. We actually filmed my special that Nathan's done that y' all have never talked about much. Maybe once that I.

[Brian Bates]

Because you sold it out immediately.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I know, but I don't mean you don't ever mention it again. You know, to get people excited. And we. And we had some people that didn't show. We could have snuck them in there and stuff. But we filmed it on November 2. It had been. It's all right. It was moved three times because apparently Nate has other stuff going. But every time, it was always something so big you could go, just move it. But I am just thrilled to get it over with, you know, I mean, I've waited 45 years to get it done, but I just wanted it over and stuff because I just been. Because ignored it. The weirdest thing for me was I got locked into that set.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And what y' all do. I mean, that's. Y'.

[Brian Bates]

All.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I like what I'm doing now and the tricks and everything I'm doing, but this was, like, some stuff from my old days, and it. And I had to kind of work off through that, and it was like. And the very worst thing was, for me, I've been doing this so long, when I hear a song, the music that I know up. I hear Titanic. I know exactly where I'm at, what I'm doing, and I'm in the right place. And this was all. Whatever, free music. I didn't know none of it. Every time it would play, I go, I have no idea what. That's. What's supposed to happen next.

[Brian Bates]

Nate wouldn't pay for the rights to Titanic.

[Stephen Bargatz]

He paid. No, he wouldn't. I think they really wanted. They were really proud of that song.

[Brian Bates]

Song My Heart Will Go On. Probably the most expensive song.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Goodbye ever. He did. We did get the rights of one, and it was a very important one, I think.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I don't know. Can we say. Oh, we got peanuts.

[Brian Bates]

Oh.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Turned out that that family's a big fan of Nate, and they kind of gave us a deal. I still thought it was Troll Schultz. Yeah, yeah. The. The big fans. And so they said, whatever it'll take, we will make it happen. And they did it.

[Aaron Weber]

That's amazing.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that is amazing.

[Aaron Weber]

We got to get Celine Dion to become a Nate fan.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. This is the worst thing. So I go to Vegas and I'm practicing. Well, they don't tell me that they bought the rights of that song. I mean, they didn't know it.

[Aaron Weber]

So they just.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They just sent me the list that these are your songs and get them in and learn them. So I'm in Vegas and I'm playing it for the sound guys and. And the manager of the. Of the club and everything. And again, so we're going through all the songs, and it gets to that. They go, that. That. That's not. That's. That's free. And I said, yeah, everything is.

[Brian Bates]

They just.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They, you know, I don't know how they do it. They take notes out, and they can keep playing. Sounds a little bit like it. They go, it sounds exactly like it. I go, well, it ain't. They were the one to argue with me. They go, I'm pretty sure you're going to go to jail with that. They're going to knock you out. I ended up having it. They bought the right. So we filmed it. Did the two shows and Aaron, Dusty, they didn't show up. But you did.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I didn't show up for the show. I showed up for the after party.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I wasn't going to throw you under the bus about that part. You just got there for the. For my birthday celebrate.

[Brian Bates]

That's right. That's right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And the after party, he kind of, he missed it. And I'm big. Brian's mom is a big fan of mine. I know Nate, y' all got your fans.

[Aaron Weber]

His.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Me and his mother, we bonded.

[Aaron Weber]

All right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And she likes, she likes my material and I was really. You could have stayed, just sent her and she would have been fine. But it's over and it felt great. And I mean, I know you guys know all this stuff. You've done that when you get that first one done and they say it's good.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, then it will. I didn't, I didn't have that. But I remember the relief of it, of it being done.

[Brian Bates]

He's still waiting.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Why didn't you have the. The first one wasn't that good.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know. I think I was just sweating and I was just like. I don't know, I just wasn't. It was my first time real tape and something right. That felt like that serious. So I, I didn't know what it felt like to, to feel good about it. And I don't know if you're like this but like though that the next weekend I felt like I found a better way to tell every joke that I recorded. I like immediately punched everything up. I was like, oh, it's so much tighter now.

[Brian Bates]

That would be funny after 45 years.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I got one.

[Aaron Weber]

I cracked the trick finally.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. I came up with a couple of new ones in the second and in the first, my first one, audiences were great. I had three little mess ups that people said something during the timing of a joke and I didn't get to say that joke or I didn't get to do these three things and stuff like that can kill anybody. You just don't. I wanted to say that and so. But it was all so good that they said you don't have to worry about the second one. So that felt good.

[Aaron Weber]

So you just have fun. The second one.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. And I did and everything. I went longer, took my time and I threw in a bunch of extra little stuff and so I made it for me. I enjoyed the second one, but they enjoyed, as two people think, the first one.

[Brian Bates]

Okay. I was gonna say I asked Abigail and asked Jason Michaels and they each Told me a different one was the better one.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, really? Abigail said second, I bet. No, no, really.

[Brian Bates]

She said first. Oh, Jason said second. You have to talk to her. She said you had a couple hecklers or. Or people get a little rowdy.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I don't. She hasn't seen rowdy. I thought they were pretty good. I've seen a lot worse. I didn't have. I had one lady that. And this is. I, I. And I had this happen in Vegas several times. I don't know what. What I'm doing different and where they. I want them to win. I'm playing that game, the ball hidden under the cup, and I want him to win a couple times. So I'm setting them up for when they're going to lose, but they're already ahead of me, so. So, I mean, you see it. It's under the cup. I saw it. You said it's on there real slow. And they did. They want to go. It's in your pocket. No, they try it again. No, no. Like three or four times. I can't get them to say, yeah. You know, just like, don't try to out. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Don't try to be clever about.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah. Right, right.

[Brian Bates]

It is such. I've watched you so many times pick out your audience members and such a science to it because you're looking for such specific things. You don't want someone who's going to want to be the show.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right. But you don't have that in Madison Square Gardens.

[Brian Bates]

No, I wasn't there.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I didn't get invited that way. You were in Louisville.

[Brian Bates]

I was.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Don't say that. You've been invited a lot more than I have. But. But in Madison Square Gardens, I got. I thought I had the perfect lady. What? I can't. You want somebody that doesn't really want to come.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But will come.

[Brian Bates]

Perfect.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They're not there. They just like. Just get me off. Get me. I'll do what I got to do. This will be fun. And let's go. A little bit nervous. And it's even better if the husband goes, no, no, no. You do it. You'll be great. Great. And this lady was all of that, but apparently she was a ballroom dancer. And so as soon as I got up, I do a little dance with her. It brought back memories. She was spinning top. She was. It was a show. I couldn't stop her. I literally had to go, okay, that's enough. So you don't want that. You don't want nobody.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

What I actually do is look I used to look through the curtain now I kind of like to talk to them just I don't say hey this is what we're going to do especially put a plunger on somebody head. I'm going I don't want that slip out yet. But I just see the personality and talk to them. I would look out. I don't look for the lady that's sitting there with her arms folded and and you know did not look like she's having fun. Not really talking even to the person she came with. No. I like the older loader for me the better becoming very hard to do now that I had my birthday in 70 the ones that I do I have trouble because of the walker to get them up but. But other than that so I'm having to drop back down. I mean I used to. I wanted because I don't. I think you can get away with everything if it's an older lady. Yeah. I mean you can just. You could do anything. I used to fake kiss them my cut off do all that. You can't Aaron don't do that. This was when it was okay. I would put my good old days.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I would put my thumbs like here and just act like that. My old joke would always go wow. I was. Your tongue surprised me and it was my favorite joke of the whole bit and but if old lady would just hug and love you and everything you could never do it with somebody. So I can't even do that because I can't pick old people. But I'd look for a lady that if she's up talking to everybody.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And she's kind of the life of the party. She may be good because she's not going to be afraid to get up there. And when I used to do schools and high schools and stuff I wanted the football player. I wanted the one I don't want the big show off but I wanted the one that everybody knew and he. So he's out there. He's the star of the. He's not going to. I can make fun of him. I can wear him out. He has self confidence. You're not going to hurt him.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You don't want that little kid get really shy that you know the guy that's you know president of the chess club necessary because I don't want to embarrass treasurer Aaron was both treasure even worse. I knew he was in there but no you just get. I want to get people cheer. I mean you want people that's not afraid to get up there but too much. They want. They think they're in show business.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Like in Louisville, we talked about this. The two kids.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Teenagers, Right.

[Brian Bates]

One of them. One of them was particularly. Seemed pretty nervous, which. Who could blame her? She's from 17,000 people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right, right.

[Aaron Weber]

And yeah, we're nervous.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I kind of felt bad for her. But you. You talk to them ahead of time.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, just especially now doing. We ain't putting them in front of that many people.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You know, you're going. I'm just gonna say, hey, look, I'm gonna bring you up. We're gonna have really fun. I'm gonna tease you and stuff. You just laugh and have fun. If you're laughing, the audience is gon Always trying to say that. And you're going to walk away the hero. And I say that on everything, on every trick. That's basically what I'm telling the person. We're going to come up and say it. I'm going to tease you and make fun of it sometimes. But you're part of the show. You're every bit as important in that. I am. And all you have to do is have fun. And if you're willing to do that, we're going to be great. And I mean, I still hear from people that. That, you know, that helped me years ago and say, I remember we did that show. Everybody loved us.

[Aaron Weber]

That's really cool.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I love the plungers because they'll go rem you. We just pointed. Got stuck on my head. Remember that? I had to be the only guy in the world that it ever got. Yeah. Really. You're the only one and stuff.

[Brian Bates]

Let me share some Nateland news.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, that was enough of my crap. I like that. It wasn't a good little intern right there. He just didn't even go in.

[Brian Bates]

Okay, thanks for coming, Steven.

[Aaron Weber]

That's enough of that. Steven.

[Brian Bates]

Anyway, yeah, there's the door right there. Thanks for coming in.

[Aaron Weber]

A hard cut that was bank. No transition.

[Stephen Bargatz]

There was nothing.

[Brian Bates]

I was getting bored. I mean, it just kept going.

[Stephen Bargatz]

This ended. It's in debt, baby.

[Brian Bates]

No, we'll get back to it. We'll get back to it. I just didn't want to forget this. This is Nateland, debuted last week featuring Gritty from the Philadelphia Flyers. So curious to see which mascot joins them this Friday. I know they've got a bunch those. This is SportsCenter ads. Maybe my favorite commercials of all time. They were so great, so funny, so creative. I was watching football this weekend. The quarterback lifted up the little thing where he looks at the plays on his thing. And I remember the Tony Romo where he was the receptionist at the desk and somebody would call. He would look to see what number. It was just so funny, so creative. And now we're having fun with that. The first one, gritty, was so funny. So check out another one of those this Friday. See which mascot we have this week. The Big Dumb Eyes tour will be in Seattle and Portland this weekend. Check out the tour vlogs each week on the Nateland YouTube channel. Are you doing those?

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I'm not. I was really wanting to go back because Portland is the dead horse. Seattle's well actually ride going across.

[Brian Bates]

No, it was. I was with Nate. It was. We were in Tacoma.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I was setting you up. Okay, Brian, if you have to be told everything. I knew you were with him. I remember, but. All right, you tell the story since you were there.

[Brian Bates]

I feel like Nate is here.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You don't know.

[Brian Bates]

How true. And he has new dates on sale for 2026. Get out there and see a show. We've talked about that on here. Yeah. Tacoma, which I'm at next week.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Dayton, Ohio. Toledo, Ohio, this weekend. Funny Bones, Aaron Weber.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, are we doing that?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, you just plugged it. I was waiting. Well, just because I was waiting for you to plug one. So I had an excuse. I mean, it was a soft plug. I hit mine a little harder. If you want to see more of that sharp wit, come on out to the funny bone. Dayton, Ohio. Toledo, Ohio, this weekend.

[Brian Bates]

Well, speaking of Canada, I will be there this Friday. I couldn't think of a way to get into it, but since we're talking about our dates, I'm going to be.

[Aaron Weber]

In Toronto in January. If you're in Canada.

[Brian Bates]

Could have waited till the World Series talk. Maybe, and then that way. But anyway. All right. This Friday, I am going to be in at Lake Point Church in Leamington, Ontario. My first time ever to Canada.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

Doing that. So let's hope I get back across the border.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Try not to be a magician, because that's ten times harder.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. They don't want you all your stuff and they're gonna. They're gonna get you. A matter of fact, that's why I don't go anymore. Just because the props. And the last time we were going, like, it's. We went somewhere, they go. It's better for you to stay here. We'll go do the show and come back. Just because you want. They want to get in and out. And if you have all those props and stuff, now they want to go into all the detail and you got.

[Aaron Weber]

Stuff hidden all over your body.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Whatever you think.

[Aaron Weber]

I just always imagine little bunnies got a little ace of spades in your shoulder. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay, that's possible.

[Brian Bates]

Let's talk about our weekends. We've already talked about Stevens a little.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Bit, but I wasn't done. But apparently we were.

[Brian Bates]

Well, we'll get back to you. Well, today is my birthday.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Happy birthday, Brian Bates.

[Brian Bates]

I decided on my 54th birthday to wear my glasses, so.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole new look now.

[Brian Bates]

The reason I'm wearing those, because I had pink eye last week.

[Aaron Weber]

Whoa.

[Brian Bates]

And.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay. All right, tell us about that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I'm sure Aaron has something worse right now.

[Aaron Weber]

Steven slid to the other end of the tank. You think I have something worse right now?

[Brian Bates]

Come on.

[Aaron Weber]

I haven't had pink eye in years.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, conjunctivitis, right?

[Aaron Weber]

Isn't that what it's called?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that's what I. Conjunctivitis, I think. Yeah. That's what I've been telling people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Pink eyes, so much easier.

[Brian Bates]

But.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, all it is, is like your eyes itch, Right?

[Brian Bates]

Well, my right eye was very red. I think it's pretty much clear now.

[Aaron Weber]

It looks. I didn't even know.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I. I could have picked. I would have picked that eye. I would have said it's that eye right there.

[Brian Bates]

Okay. But it's, you know, it's almost good, but.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No.

[Brian Bates]

Yes.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm kind of. I mean, I don't know, because I know when our kids had it, you couldn't send them to school. Well, not alone. A pop.

[Brian Bates]

I think it's supposed to be contagious for 24 hours. Once. Once you take. Start taking medication. I'm taking drops.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay. And when. How. When did you take them?

[Brian Bates]

I started this morning.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, yeah, that's what I thought.

[Brian Bates]

I've been taking them since Friday, I guess.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. And came to my party. Okay, great.

[Brian Bates]

So, yeah, I was at the Opry.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Did your little girl get it?

[Brian Bates]

No, just you, usually.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So you can't say you got it from the doctor. You get it. Usually they give it.

[Brian Bates]

They get it at school and give it to you. It's the other way around. I'm her. School's gonna close because of me. I did the opera last week and I was texting with Aaron and Dusty. I was scheduled to do 10 minutes and I somehow missed time so much my set that I was on my last joke and I was like, at the six minute mark, I'm like, what happened?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And I. I had to think of like four jokes on the fly just to fill my time, which is kind of weird that I messed up so much, but kind of amazing that we can think of jokes that quickly in front of all those people.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And it's seamless.

[Aaron Weber]

You're, like scrambling to put together basically another set in your head.

[Brian Bates]

As I'm telling one joke, I'm thinking about what joke to do next.

[Aaron Weber]

If you're listening, if you're wondering why, like, we would stress out about a four minute difference. It doesn't seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but the way the Grand Old Opry works is it's live radio, so there's kind of a strict schedule to it. And oftentimes they use the comedian to kind of get the show back on schedule, depending how long or short the musical act. Right before you went. So they were relying on.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Are you saying they could. Sometimes it's not 10 minutes. They could say only eight.

[Aaron Weber]

I've done everything from six minutes to 24 minutes.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No way.

[Aaron Weber]

Depending. And you don't really know until they push you out there because they're waiting to see how much time the person in front of you does.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, that would be. I'm kind of glad I've never been on. That would be terrible.

[Brian Bates]

Well, you're more tricky. Yeah. Yours is pretty tougher because your tricks. There's not any short tricks.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. I can just talk faster or slower.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Squeeze something in. But a trick will be much more difficult. Yeah. I remember one of the first times I did it, I think they told me 11 minutes. And then Charles Eston went really short. And as they were pushing me out, they were like, get off at 8:53. And it was like 8:30. And I was like. So I'm like doing the same thing you did, where you're like. I was like waving hello. And in my head I'm like, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And he just.

[Brian Bates]

That's a major.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Did you save your closure for the closure? Did you keep it?

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. Pretty much all my jokes are closing.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It is what he thinks they're fixing in the edit. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I did my closer in the middle and then it got the second weaker.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I like to start it off.

[Brian Bates]

And then Saturday I did a. I was in Kansas City, did a corporate with Angela Johnson. She said, tell you happy birthday.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, good. And my church wants to hire her until. So they told me to call. They said, you're really good friends with her. I said, well, now I can say, well, she didn't wish me happy birthday. Maybe I should try to get her to come.

[Aaron Weber]

That's the end.

[Brian Bates]

Let them know she's not available. But I am.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay, yeah, I'll tell them that. Yeah, you. You can get Brian. He got a better res.

[Brian Bates]

Didn't even give him the date. He just said he was available. Guys, let's be honest. Finding clothes that feel just as good as on your couch as they do out in the world is nearly impossible. But then I tried Vori and yes, the hype is real. You know, I wore Vori to church yesterday. And you know how when you come home from church or anywhere where you dress up, what's the first thing you want to do?

[Aaron Weber]

You want to kick off your shoes? You want to get in something more.

[Brian Bates]

Comfortable, Something more comfortable. And I didn't do that yesterday because Vori clothing is so comfortable. Playing with my daughter and my wife was like, aren't you going to change? I'm like, I didn't even realize it. That's how comfortable these clothes are. They're versatile. Versatile. They're comfortable. The loungewear wore that this weekend at the airport. I don't think I look like a slob. I think I look great.

[Aaron Weber]

You look sharp.

[Brian Bates]

And I'm excited to get the Coronado hoodie and the seaside pullover hoodie. Those should be coming soon. So Viori is an investment in your happiness for our listeners. They are offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the [e-mail] Nate that's V U-O-R I.com Nate Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Go to Vuori.com Nate and discover the versatility of Vuori clothing exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. You want to talk more about?

[Stephen Bargatz]

There is nothing to talk about me.

[Brian Bates]

Well, happy birthday.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I think what happened, what I think yesterday is I always say I take a lot of photographs for the family. I'm the camera guy. Okay, so what that means, are you.

[Aaron Weber]

Good at it or are you just the most?

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm the guy that says, get up, everybody. Get over there. So what that means is I'm not in a lot of them, right? That's what happens. You're going to find that out when you get older and stuff. One time for Christmas, my wife gave me and we have it, still have it. A big picture of my. Just her name and I wanted to cry. That's the worst picture of my life. It's like, where's your husband? And stuff. And nobody took it. She went to meals and had it made. That was supposed to be my gift. Who wants a gift of your wife and kid and you're not even involved. And so I think that this is just their attempt because if I. I'm 70 now, I could go at any minute. And if I do die, they're going to run that tape by my casket. So the people, you know, like they do in the. I just went to a funeral.

[Aaron Weber]

Audio off.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, they have all that stuff and it just runs. And I'm not. They can't show photographs. I'm not in them. So we're going to have to show this clip. Just this comedy bit is run into me the whole time. So they can go, well, he worked. He actually was not bad. Which is the reaction when I opened it with Nate. I think most people are very surprised that I actually can do what I say I do now.

[Brian Bates]

Do you still. I don't want to give away. Did you still close in the bet where you pretend to be emotionally.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I did really well on my special.

[Aaron Weber]

That bit where you pretend to be proud of Nate.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm really.

[Brian Bates]

This guy's a great actor. He can cry on cue.

[Stephen Bargatz]

On cue, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

What about you, Aaron?

[Aaron Weber]

I was in Tampa, Florida at side Splitters Comedy Club all weekend. It was just great. Halloween was a little. A little tough. Halloween is, you know, it's a family holiday for a lot of people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So it's hard. It's a hard ask to come on out at 7:00 and watch me do comedy.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So 9:30 would be good. You should have done maybe after the.

[Aaron Weber]

Kids go to sleep or something. But we did two shows and second show was worse than the first, but.

[Stephen Bargatz]

All hiked up on candy. Then they were. Yeah, that's what it was.

[Aaron Weber]

No, they were good, the people that came. Thank you. And then the Saturday shows were great. It's just a great. It's a great club, great city. They take Halloween very seriously. There's people dressed up everywhere. And then we were watching the World Series the whole time we were there. There's a TV at the bar in the lobby. And then after the late show Saturday, we're watching it. You know, everybody's gone. We're still watching the game, it gets to, you know, the ninth inning, and I'm like, I convinced the owner BT who's the man? I was like, can we just stay till the end of the game? And he's like, yeah. So it's just the comics and him sitting at the bar, and then it goes to extra innings. Okay, I feel bad. We should leave. So the only place open was a Mexican karaoke bar. So it's just me.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm gonna bet they didn't have the game over.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, they had. They did have it on, but it wasn't. It wasn't the focus of the night. So me and Jay Flake sat at a bar and watched the end of the World Series while people were just screaming in Spanish behind us. But it was. It was a great weekend. Thank you to everybody who came out to see me in Tampa. That's one of the. It's one of my favorite clubs. They just. I don't know. They just get it. Like, they just. They just get it. So it was great.

[Brian Bates]

You know, all three of us have birthdays, like, 10 days apart.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Bates]

Mine today. Yours is 12th.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. 13th.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. How about that?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Bates]

And we're all about the same age.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. We can do some math.

[Brian Bates]

I'm closer to you than I am to him.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No way.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You're closer to 70, then.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I'm 54, and he's 33. About to be 34. So you and I have more in common than he and I do.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But he looks older.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

These comments.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, comments come From Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Apple podcast reviews, and our new email.

[Aaron Weber]

The new one.

[Brian Bates]

Mail@nateland podcast.com. boy, that new email is working great. Thank you, Tristan.

[Aaron Weber]

Is it really?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It didn't sound sincere.

[Brian Bates]

No, I'm serious.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

It's great.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah, the email is working. Awesome. Thanks a lot, Tristan, for your help with that, man.

[Brian Bates]

I only asked for six months, but thank you, Tristan. Aaron J. I really wish Dusty was here. Dusty is the only one with a clue about how evil everything actually is. The others haven't had their eyes open yet, apparently. And I used to be optimistic and naive, just like them, so I don't blame them. But they'll see eventually. More people are with you daily, Dusty.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm with Dusty 100%.

[Brian Bates]

I said, y'. All.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, we. We in this part. We're right. I think it's always the devil we were talking about.

[Aaron Weber]

A lot of times people attribute malice to things. That's really. It's Just people who are not good at their job.

[Brian Bates]

Incompetent.

[Aaron Weber]

Incompetent. Oh, and Dusty said, no, it's never incompetence. It's always evil.

[Brian Bates]

Surely, specifically, we were talking about sports and whether it's bad refereeing.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You know, I listen. I remember all of that. All that stuff.

[Brian Bates]

That was a week ago.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So we weren't sure if, you know, I've listened every. Every week I listen to. I've tried to go to sleep by it, but it really works pretty good, you know, great.

[Aaron Weber]

I get.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You know, I never get you.

[Aaron Weber]

You'll go, I fall asleep. Your podcast all the time, it's so good.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's like melatonin.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I don't. I don't know. I think, you know, we're not. We're born into thin. You know, Obviously, obviously we had that nature.

[Aaron Weber]

Sure.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So.

[Brian Bates]

Sure. Sure. Obviously. I think there's evil in the world, but I just think in sports, particular.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I don't know. Except that Vanderbilt game, there were some bad. You just want to go, that guy has to be a devil or demon or something to call some of those calls.

[Aaron Weber]

But they're working off of Vanderbilt.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They were this week.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That never happened. That's why, you know, it's somebody. It has to be something higher power or anything. No, I think the big thing me and Dusty always agreed on is that I think aliens are demons. And he does, too. So that's the big thing where we. It's the only thing we would bond on probably ever, but we. We. We have that.

[Brian Bates]

He also thinks magicians are demons.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I know. I know he does. That's what causes all the other problems. And, you know, it's really funny. I. I mean, I could. I know how to freak him out.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

There's certain tricks that he's just going to freak out on this, so. But then I almost have to explain it to him before he'll talk to me anymore. I mean, he'll just want to go over there and light a candle and. And stay away from me. So you have to go. All right, Dusty, let me just show you how it works. And then he calmed down. He goes, oh, so it's a trick.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Now, Dusty loves you. He. He knows you do sleight of hand for sure. Almost. Evan Almighty. Evan. Excuse me. My glasses.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They were doing great.

[Brian Bates]

Aaron has grown on me so much. He is a good guy, and I love his sense of humor the most out of all three. Keep it up. Well, there's four of us, so they didn't even count me as part of the group.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, I don't know if I blame Almighty Evans. You're the one that picked this one. Why would you pick one that would leave you out?

[Brian Bates]

For company purposes.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So you throw yourself under the bus.

[Aaron Weber]

He probably met Nate.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I was. I'm thinking that unfortunately it's probably Nate.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But no matter what, in last place, I mean, you're not.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I'm certainly not first. That's there.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I know that. I would say Aaron won it. Such a good guy.

[Aaron Weber]

Almighty Evan.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Evan Almighty.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

See that movie?

[Brian Bates]

You know, I never did.

[Aaron Weber]

It's pretty good.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, it is pretty good.

[Brian Bates]

That's the Steve Carell. Sarah Stevenson. We need an update on Stephen Bargetzi kitchen. Last time you were here, you just burned the house down.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, and it's not my kitchen anymore. I sold that house. I'm out of there. There's demons living in that house. You know what that we. That was like. That was the burned at the actual.

[Brian Bates]

When you were making a bratwurst.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, we don't have to bring that up. It's still. That's still under investigation. But I. It was the week that Nathan was on Saturday Night Live for the first time. That's when it happened. And so when he came home, we were living with him.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And it took about six months for. For them to get my house fixed. And this. It ended up being the best condo in the whole thing. Had the. Because they, you know, back then they had walls. They had. You had to look through your kitchens. So we just opened everything up.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, nice.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And we did. And since we were doing it, we would remodeled the whole house. And I was hoping to stay had above ground. Koi pond. How do you beat that? You don't get those everywhere. Yeah, but they wanted. Carol in the meanwhile, was just looking. And then her Nate came up with this plan to put us in a 55 and over.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, I can move in next year.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, you're in. One more year.

[Brian Bates]

They don't put me in there.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You have to wear these sweaters.

[Brian Bates]

I like that.

[Aaron Weber]

What do you call that kind of sweater?

[Stephen Bargatz]

These I like. I've always loved that. And this one's a target one I got. I had one for my special that cost $185 that I would never buy. But it's beautiful. But this one is just a target.

[Aaron Weber]

If you're listening, it's almost like a bowling shirt. Cardigan.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yes. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And I like it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I love this style. It's open and it hides. And you can hide some of this stuff. This would be good.

[Brian Bates]

You don't have as much to hide these days.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I'm doing well.

[Brian Bates]

You're looking good.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, but. But we bought. We got a new house, new kitchen, but that old one. Everything looks great. Better than it was. We left it better than it was.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Great.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I can't believe it's been two years since you've been on, but I think that was the last time when Nate did.

[Aaron Weber]

I think so.

[Brian Bates]

First snl.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, it was my. My first time at Zany's. It was at least two years where they had me back.

[Aaron Weber]

Really?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Stuff. Yeah. I remember being young, just being able to come up here, and they go, yeah, we loved you. Come back two years. That's what it takes. Then it was another 30.

[Brian Bates]

I met one of your magician friends last night at your party, and he said I had tickets to see you in Indianapolis. And then we forgot about the show. He said two days later, I'm like, when was that show? Not even, like, later that night. Two full days later.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, he thought, oh, yeah. You know what? What do you care? You get the money.

[Brian Bates]

That's what he said.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, okay. That's the way I would think.

[Brian Bates]

I would just.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I got the guy the money.

[Brian Bates]

Russ. Hobby. I have a theory about the bathroom styles in Buc EE's. That they have cell signal blockers to keep the number two visits phone free. I travel throughout Texas for work and stop at mini Buc EE's. And it's the same way at every single one. Perfect reception in the store, terrible reception in the stalls. One more reason why they have the best bathrooms on the road.

[Aaron Weber]

It's an interesting theory, though. They do have WI fi at the BUC EE's.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right?

[Aaron Weber]

Who's taking straight up phone calls in a bathroom stall? That's insane behavior. I mean, if you're killing time in a bathroom stall, you're scrolling through the Internet.

[Brian Bates]

Right? Right.

[Aaron Weber]

You're not.

[Brian Bates]

Cell signal blocking us. Yeah, I guess you're right. I was just thinking they would be. It'd be blocking Internet and everything, but I guess you're right.

[Aaron Weber]

But I mean, the WI fi has got to be available. I'm guessing Buc EE's has a. A free WI fi running through the whole store.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I guess y' all not married. You've never text your wife from the bathroom and saying, bring some more paper. We've all done that. That's happened. I love. There's nothing better. I don't care what they do in Bucky's bathroom. It's the greatest bathroom I've ever been. It almost. It almost made me cry when I first saw it. Although. Oh, man.

[Aaron Weber]

This was.

[Stephen Bargatz]

This was awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I didn't even have to do a number two, but I wanted to go in there and see and look around.

[Aaron Weber]

There's always people cleaning, too. It's like there's just a guy just in there.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I think there is. If you look at that sign. What they pay for people. Bathroom guy.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It's more than maybe the cook. Somebody. He. He's up there.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, he deserves it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Whoever it is. But I think can you like a cell phone jammer? They do have those, but I wonder if those are legal.

[Stephen Bargatz]

We put something on ceiling that would make it just put a.

[Aaron Weber]

It's an interesting theory. I like it. I like it. Russ, flush it out a bit.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I bet Dusty would know what to put in the ceiling. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

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[Brian Bates]

Can we please address the way Aaron pronounces, folks? Everybody from the south knows to just drop the link sound and say folks. Aaron pronounces pronouncing every constant makes him sound like an outsider trying to fit in. Just trying to help him Out. Love the podcast.

[Aaron Weber]

I ain't an outsider. Yeah, I do say it wrong. I don't know. It's one of those words I have trouble with.

[Brian Bates]

I don't think I ever thought about.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, sometimes you can think about a word too much and then there's no more instinct. Like you overthink it every time you say it. Folks, folks, folks, folks. I think There is an LN there, though.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I need Mr. Birdsong to know I have a speech impediment. I don't want another paragraph next week on all the words I mispronounce. There are a few letters I can't say no matter how hard I try.

[Brian Bates]

That's right.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Aaron, you could be the next coach at lsu.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Yeah, I could be. My family. My family down here in Baton Rouge. I hope he's doing well. Ryan Kelly.

[Brian Bates]

Robert Burwell. What is worse, bombing as a comedian or bombing as a magician? Comedian.

[Aaron Weber]

Magician's got it easy, dude, up there with all your props.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Look at you throwing the little prop word out there and stuff. We hide behind our props.

[Aaron Weber]

I'll tell you. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. But my instinct is it's so much easier to bomb as a comedian because you can just. You can stop talking about what you're talking about at any time.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right.

[Aaron Weber]

And just move on to the next thing. Or you can just straight up address that. That didn't go well.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I always get to laugh for some reason. Yeah. I think that was funnier in my head.

[Aaron Weber]

Or comedians got all these little lines. Save lines that you. Can we go up. You guys are a big whatever crowd. You know something and you don't. You don't really have that luxury as a magician. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So as a magician would be, the trick did not work.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's right. And. Yeah. And there is. And this. There's always an out. I always think. And every trick before I would bring it to stay, I want to go. If this goes wrong, what can I do? And to make it. To make it come right. But, like, you know, I do the trick called the gumball and the ring and money and everything. If that ring doesn't come out or you hear it go crunch in the gears, there's nothing you can do but go. Me and you're going to have to go talk in the back when this is all over. But I don't really do it that much anymore. But I used to always carry an extra little something. It may be a dumb trick, but it's something I know is going to work so I can kind of get out of it. But that's what. But it's not. It's a comedy. Magician is fine, I think, because still you can go. My biggest line. I used to Opryland all those shows. I had several tricks I'm learning. It wouldn't work. Like when I first learned in that newspaper, tear it up. And then I can look down and go, okay, this is not working. And it's not going to go. It's not going to restore. I could go, wouldn't that be impossible? I agree. That's impossible. And I just would throw it up. Everybody thinks it's a dumb joke.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And they just laugh.

[Brian Bates]

So.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So we.

[Brian Bates]

So many. So much of your act is you pretending like you don't know what you're doing, but then in the end you do.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. You hope it does. Yeah. That was really funny because we had great direction. And Mike the pimp. What do y' all call that guy?

[Aaron Weber]

Homeless.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Homeless Pick. I hate it just bothers.

[Aaron Weber]

Mike Lavin.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, Mike, he's fantastic and stuff. I think he probably has. If you live in your car, is that really homeless? I don't know.

[Aaron Weber]

Mike's doing very well. Mike's very successful.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. And I think my special is going to really help his career. But it'll put him over the top. Yeah, that's what I kept telling him last night. But he had. They had a good idea. Him and a friend of mine named Taylor Hughes was just all my. In the beginning of my show, the first three, four tricks I do don't work. But, you know, at the end, they all work. Yes, but he was. They were saying on television, people are not going to hang into the end. If you suck on your first three tricks, they're going to go, this guy's terrible. And they're never going to find out. And that's what happened when we were on Monday Night Football with Peyton Manning, because it was supposed to mess up. And we told him 100 times, it's going to be wrong, then blow on it and it'll be right. And as soon as it was wrong, Peyton goes, well, that was a good try. Let's go on. And he just. They left. They cut me and they never showed it. It was. I had it the whole time. Right. So. And it was. So Mike made a good point. I said, we have to rewrite. And that. That was nerve wracking because now I'm doing things out of order. But I had to do the funniest thing I do. Then I Had to do a trick that worked and then I could mess one up and then do tricks that worked and then maybe kind of mess up.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Just so that they can stay. But I mean, man, if there's something like in domestic mind reading, you go through all of that and here's what gets me. The thing you don't have is I have. I'm working with people. You, I mean, you're just going to be funny. And if they're funny, they don't laugh. They didn't laugh. You got to be careful. Know the room or something. But if I'm reading your mind and you took a card and I do this and all of a sudden you really forgot your card, or you're being a jerk and you go, it was a joker. It was a 9 o'.

[Aaron Weber]

Clock.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And you go. And you know it wasn't a joke and stuff. There's. What do you do? You can't call him a liar.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You can't say no, that was. But I have ways to get out of that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. What do you.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Do you want to see what I do?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I want to see if you're listening. Steven, the radio.

[Aaron Weber]

See, I told you. You got stuff on. You got a pack of cards in your pocket.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm a prop God. You just said that. How many times you want to say it? All right, who wants to see?

[Aaron Weber]

I want to. I want to. It's Brian's birthday. I want to see him.

[Stephen Bargatz]

All right, so Brian's going to see what happens.

[Brian Bates]

Happens. Okay.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, I see.

[Stephen Bargatz]

All right, so I'm gonna lay a card down here. And I mean, I guess you just don't look. But anybody looking at this can see the card. And we'll tell you what's happening a bit later. And I can't change that card. I want you to name any card in the deck. It can be any card.

[Brian Bates]

Me or.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, Aaron.

[Aaron Weber]

A four of clubs.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So he says the four clubs. And I go, I'm pretty sure I don't have a four clubs in this deck. So that proves it to me. That. That. That's probably the four clubs. And if this is the four club, would you be impressed?

[Aaron Weber]

Yes, I would be.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Show it to the people.

[Aaron Weber]

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Now, what did you see?

[Brian Bates]

I. I didn't see everything, that's for sure, because I'm so quick. It was a seven of clubs.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's right. So this is. This is what happens if he becomes not a. And I. And this goes back to. Do you think all referees are Everybody's evil. I don't think always this guy is just trying to mess with me. Sometimes it is. I think sometimes they maybe had something to drink or maybe somebody just literally forgot. And sometimes you control them the deck say, think of a card and you see them look at three or four cards, you think you got them, but then. But their mind, they're going, okay, I like the. You know, and they picked something that wasn't even there. And so that mess up. So I lay a card down. And so for the radio, they see, Brian saw that I laid the seven of clubs down. The reason why I did. A lot of men will pick a seven if they don't take an ace, spades. And I would tell him not to pick the ace of spades. If you, if you just give them a few things not to say. That's a very popular card, really. 30, 40%, which is not horrible. But if it's right, I'm on a killing because I wanted to go touch it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But now he name a different card.

[Aaron Weber]

Eight of hearts.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So now I know I'm wrong and so I can go, I'm going to. Sorry. I'm going to look through the deck real quick and find. And this is what people don't realize magicians can do is I can find that 8 of hearts really fast. And I got it. So I'm just looking through the deck and I'm looking for the eight. It's already on top. I already found it and put it on top. And so then I go, all right. You know, my lie is going, oh, I think it was. Yeah, I don't see an eight. I got it. And now I'm going to pick up the wrong card and put it near the deck and I'm going to point at him and say, hold your hand out. And when he does, I switch it right in front of him to that top card. And now it looks like I'm out. Is it as good as him picking it up or, you know, by himself? No, but it's called it out. I can get out of that trick.

[Brian Bates]

Right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But if it's a mind reading your mother's name and your birth or something, and they, you know, and I've seen magicians set things up with a guy and then they had too much to drink and they picked the wrong guy. So then they go, all right, think of your mother. And they think it's the guy they've already talked to and they got his information and that guy's not being a jerk. Yeah, you're Talking to the wrong guy. The guy over there, he does it. And I got two short chairs over go. My mother's got that name. She was born.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I did a. I may have told you this before, but I was at a type of fundraise charity luncheon and they had a magician go around each table and he picked me to just at our table just to do whatever. And he had me doing something here on the table to focus on this. And then I camera what that was. But then he was done. He's like, I can't figure out how you're watching it up on my arm. And he had taking my watch off over here while he had me focus on here.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I love it.

[Brian Bates]

And I had no idea.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's wild. Did you?

[Brian Bates]

But you do that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, but I don't, I don't get him to do one hand while I'm jerking this hand all around. Yeah, but there's a guy in St. Louis. I sorry, I wish I could think of his name. And there's a guy named Apollo is fantastic. He could do. He can take any watch anytime. Any. But this guy goes up to a table four and he takes everybody's watch off and puts them on other people.

[Brian Bates]

So.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I remember going, I saw him, I go, there's nobody can do that unless you're so entertaining that you have to distract them and you have to have reasons for touching these people a thousand times. And he, he had a little sponge balls, little bitty one. And they were showing up in their glasses. He was loading them on people and everybody was jumping. He kept grabbing the hand. Is it under your arm? He's just taking. Everybody watched and he was taking yours. And then he'd lock it on you.

[Brian Bates]

That's amazing.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I mean it took about 12 minutes it seemed like. But he, when he got done, I. I had betting he wanted a trick of mine. I said let me go see it. If you could do it, I'll teach it to you. Yeah, yeah. He's doing my trick today.

[Brian Bates]

He did it. Wow, that's cool.

[Aaron Weber]

So you could be a pretty successful criminal if you wanted to be.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I don't know about successful. Yeah, I mean there's some little cool little things that do. Yeah. But go back to the comedian. If you die, if you offend the audience, do you think you can get out of that? Do you ever do local jokes or make fun of the. You know, like yesterday in our show, our guy, he made fun of the titans. And in the first show, too early. First joke.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, they didn't know anything about it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They didn't like him. It kind of died. Second one did it in the middle. They. They allowed applause. It was really weird. I thought you. Because they set him for Michigan. You can't attack those yet. The. The football team here.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, well, maybe the first. You know, the Titans were playing during the first show, so. Yeah, they weren't Titans fans. Anyway, the second show, they know they lost. They lost again.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that could have been it. But I would think that as a comedian, if you lose them because of something you said, it'd be awful hard.

[Brian Bates]

Well, we're not offensive comics, so.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Yeah, we're not gonna know.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's. That you never do.

[Aaron Weber]

Put.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You do local stuff.

[Brian Bates]

But that. That fundraiser I did this weekend with Angela, they gave us a list of things not to talk about, and it was for a. Like a domestic violence shelter.

[Aaron Weber]

And it's half your act.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that's what I. I'm not talking about my wife.

[Brian Bates]

And your first blush is this ain't gonna affect me. But I start going through my set, and sure enough, sometimes you don't even realize it till you're up there telling the joke, like, oh, maybe I shouldn't say this word just because it. I don't know. He gets in your head about it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm worried about you. Now. What is the word that you couldn't say it was?

[Brian Bates]

They said, don't do any jokes about homeless. And I have a joke about being in line Chick fil A. And they come out there to meet you. So far, I thought it was a homeless guy with an iPad, so I just.

[Aaron Weber]

You changed it to unhoused?

[Brian Bates]

I guess. I don't know. I just changed it to, like, some random stranger on an iPad or something like that.

[Aaron Weber]

So I remember I. I said home. I did a gig in New York City, and I said, homeless guy. And the joke didn't go well. And I asked another comedian. I go, do I need to say unhoused guy in New York City? And he goes, oh, no, it's just not that good of a joke. All right, I appreciate it. Oh, no, they don't. Yeah, the joke's not good.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Nothing to do with it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Adam Gibson. Does a comedian pick who their opener is or does the venue? Well, that's a good question. Kind of depends on what level you're at. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

The more successful you are in comedy, the more control you have over everything. Right. So Nate controls every moving piece of his show. At this point, you're not going to see anybody that Nate doesn't want you to see at his show. Brian and I, you have some control. But for the most part, the host is going to be booked by the club. And then oftentimes, though, if you can't get a feature to travel for you, then it'll be. It'll be somebody from the club, too.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But you get that option to bring a feature.

[Brian Bates]

Don't you get that more and more? I think even for people at our level now, most of the time, the club will allow you to bring a feature. Now, I don't think that's always been the case.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And I hear a comics say all the time the club likes me, that whatever town they live in, it's just that every headliner brings their own feature.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

So they just don't get a chance.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Now, being clean, having to have the opener, be clean really makes it easier because there aren't a lot of clean comics in some of these scenes where they can just. They have somebody to pull. So you're like, I'll just bring somebody who I know I trust to do it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Nathan used to get open for some Bob saget, Ralphie May, and some of these acts that clean guys. Yeah. But I thought so me and my wife came here with. With Bob. With Bob Saget. We knew nothing.

[Aaron Weber]

Danny Tanner.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that's what I thought. This is going to be the greatest thing. Not only. Not only did we come, I brought my deacons, and they're his wife. So it's me, my wife, and my deacon. And then we go, this is Nate. Nate was great. We loved it. And then here comes Danny and all that and his first joke. I went, oh, yeah. I go, I'm gonna leave.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I was over there and I go. I told Carol and them. I go, just uncomfortable. I'm going to leave. I'm going to sneak out. But don't you leave. Everybody leave at once. If you want to leave and you don't want, that's fine, but I'm going to go out. So I. And I shouldn't. I sneaked out and as soon as I got to the door, I turned around, all three of them were there, and they go. His second joke was worse than the first. And. But he saw us and somebody told him who we were. And he called me and we talked for about. Almost 40 minutes, just about him, you know, and he's saying he was trying to. And when he passed away, he was trying to clean up and do. He said, I wish I'd have took the path your son Took. And I mean, he. It was so awesome. I really felt like we kind of bonded and I was trying to go, look. I just was. I was with my. These are my. Deacon and stuff and stuff. I don't know what you want me to do.

[Brian Bates]

Right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And stuff. And I said I tried to be. Well, you were. It's the three after you that blew it. When they stood up their arms, I heard.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't even know if this is true, but I've heard people say Bob Saget's the reason some clubs started putting, like, movie ratings on their calendar for people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

You know, like a G. Pg, whatever.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Because so many people went to his show with the wrong idea because of that. Because he played, like, the most wholesome character of all time on the biggest show on television. And then his act is so different. It's very different.

[Stephen Bargatz]

What do you. I have both of you. This. I'm asking questions and stuff. Do you. Are you think you got a better advantage following a dirty guy because you're going to be clean in your fans? Or do you. You'd rather have all clean or you.

[Brian Bates]

Don'T care if it's my fans? I mean it. Yeah, I do have a better advantage because they appreciate clean. But I still don't want them to feel offended, you know, like they. I still want them to have a good time. So I would rather have all clean openers. Because a lot of people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I'll have people even email me, say, will your openers be clean?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I get that, too.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And unfortunately, too. I'm sorry. I'm 70 years old. Some people say, oh, yeah, I'm clean. And that doesn't mean they're clean, of course. Want to go. Okay, we need to talk.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, that's why I've started to bring in people who I know that fit. Yeah, it is what it is. And it's not like. It's like we all like dirty. I like a lot of dirty comedy. It's just. I want the whole show to be. Especially if people know me from this or they know me through Nate. They have an expectation that it's going to be. Be one thing.

[Brian Bates]

You know, sometimes the club will even say, we're letting this guy do a guest set, and I don't have any say in it, you know, and that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But most time. Are you listening?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I listen to it. I listen close to what they're saying because I'm so on edge about them being dirty.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I'm usually in the bathroom. I got to pee a lot before.

[Aaron Weber]

You Know the cell signal doesn't work back there?

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I thought I can't go in.

[Brian Bates]

Tom Eaton, My son Noah, who's 16, has been messing around with sleight of hand since he was 5 and studying it with passion. For several years now he's been working on putting together a Chris 20 minute set. His technical skill is quite good, but by his own admission, he struggles with patter. Do you have any advice for this?

[Stephen Bargatz]

All important aspect of the craft, you're 1000% is the.

[Brian Bates]

Well, I think tell us what patter is.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Patter is how you know you can go. This is a card. You took a card. Okay. This is your card. And I think the worst kind of pattern is when you're telling people what they see. Okay, now I'm going to take that card, we're going to put it in this deck or if it's a card, apparently he did clothing. We're going to take this girl, we're going to put it in a box and we're going to cut her in half. And one box, they see that. So a patter is when you came up. This is a trick that Houdini owned one time and it did it first time. He did it with this one. Now you made it very interesting.

[Aaron Weber]

Lies.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, it's all lies. It's all lies. But, you know, but funny thing was I used to get little kids and the best thing to do when you first and everybody does it, the director, you sell you. I sell my pattern with my trick that if I show to people and so they end up doing your pattern, you get some little kid here. This next trick, this is one. When I was in Vegas and I conned these five men out of the money in the poker we were. You've never been to Vegas. You know, tell your story, take it from a kindergartner or, you know, you just got to make your, your stories fit in that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It'S really great. That what I like about him is that Noah is he's learned the, the hard part, which is you, you. I think you have to learn the techno skill first. You have to kind of get that and then you have to set aside. All right. You have to get to the point where I'm not worried about what I have to do. I don't have to worry about my slight and I got it down. So now you can make it funny for your brain. Yeah, yeah, now you can do it. But yeah, you want to make this, you want to make it interesting and if you can make it connect to the next trick or for in a 20 minute act it'd be good if all of them took place in one setting or something like that. But again you can. Don't have to that. But. But a pattern is what makes it the difference.

[Brian Bates]

I mean I've seen it in lesser comedians than you. Yours is so entertaining, it's so funny. And I've seen comedians that are great. I don't know how they did the trick, but it's not as enjoyable, it's not as interesting.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

Because it's just a bit more technical.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. And I've seen what kills me sometimes and I see it all the time, especially with young guys and stuff. They learn three different tricks on how to find the four aces with your shuffling. And they're not related at all. They're way three different. What they don't realize to the person watching, they just saw the same trick three times. They don't know that for that one you did a different slight than you did over here and you were ahead and they just saw it. Oh, we found them again. There they go again. Oh, look how good he found. They found him a little faster but he found. So you got to get that out of your head and realize what, what the people are watching. So I mean the best thing is to take, you know, record and watch that, to watch it back. Then you can say wow, this is really boring or just really need to be taped.

[Brian Bates]

I gotta think that's probably normal for young.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Kids to get the technical down part before they get the pattern.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right. I agree. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, yeah. But it's really funny. Like on the Straight Jacket I just had the joke. I start sometimes with just one joke and then it builds from there and stuff. One line, one thing that I want to say and then I can build a trick around it.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, that's all.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. The Straight Jacket. I don't even really even think of that as a trick so much. It's just so. It's just you being funny getting out of it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, I guess it is a trick.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, it's. It's me being. Trying to be. I love Danny Kaufman.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And so back then I was doing. In the early 80s, they had clubs everywhere. They were in Bowden Alleys and they hotels. Everybody had Friday night comedy night. And so I would do all of those and my idea was to be Kaufman. I would get in it and not get out. And it was, it wasn't crowded until maybe the weekends. And even crowded was 30 people. But, but you know it might be five or six on two, Wednesday and Wednesday. So I would just go and go, I'm going to see how long they'll watch it. It's about four and a half minutes. And they get pretty upset if you're not out of that thing or at least making an effort towards it. And then. So that was the whole bit. My whole bit was I couldn't get out of the actual jacket, my sport coat first. I couldn't get out of that. That was where it started. And then it just went there. One night a drunk came up and started helping me and we started fighting and it became what it is.

[Brian Bates]

Do you pick a large man to help you?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yes, because I, you know what, Because I don't like this fake stuff. I get out. I want. Things really happen. I, I actually just fall into them and stuff. So I mean, so I do it like I pass out. That guy's got. I don't warn him, I don't say nothing. I just, I hit him full blast. And it me is the very funny moment.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, it's very funny.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Jonathan Williams. This is more of a question for Nate's dad than for any of the guys.

[Stephen Bargatz]

We've had enough of Nate's dad.

[Brian Bates]

I agree. But I would love to know what he, as a working magician thinks of David Blaine. Does he dislike him, think he's a showboat or does he think he's great and brings magic into the spotlight every couple of years? Would love to hear his view on it.

[Aaron Weber]

It's. It's very funny to call a magician that guy's a showboat. I mean, yes.

[Stephen Bargatz]

The whole.

[Aaron Weber]

He says ta da. I mean, he really into it, you.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Know, he's the closest we have to what Houdini was. Yeah, he really was. I mean, the things he did, Houdini would do. I mean he, he has everything. And Houdini was the greatest showman of all time. Magician, pretty good, but showman, you know, go hang upside down in a straight.

[Aaron Weber]

Day, hold your breath for all that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Time, put his life into. And that's who he is. In the beginning, the magic world did not like David Blaine because he took simple tricks that all of us knew and he got a special with it and then he killed it.

[Brian Bates]

But his pattern was so good.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But his brain was, they don't need to see me do this 10 times. Let's turn it on the audience and show how they react. And that's why everybody, all of a sudden, everybody loved David Blaine because there's a look at these people. He Showed the reaction for me, personally, I was working. I was trying to make money. When he came out, he made magic popular again.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Everybody was. All of a sudden, we got to have a magician.

[Brian Bates]

The Tiger woods magic.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. I mean, he. At once, Doug Henning in my life, made it, got it back. David Copperfield made it popular. And then those guys kind of. You know, there's a lot of people young, don't know who David Copperfield is.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Most people know Blaine, and right now, he's that guy. And because of him, it gave me work and jobs and everything like that.

[Aaron Weber]

That's amazing.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So I thought that all that was fantastic, and I think the magician world did it. He went out and made a difference, I mean, because he was doing regular tricks like anybody else. But then he realized he got that, got a little bit of faith. He goes, I should be different. And, boy, is he different.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Are you saying he literally turned the cameras around?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Was he the first guy to do a special where it's, like, on the street?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, I think there might have been, but not like him. Him. Yeah, yeah. He just really showed that he made that street magic famous.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, for sure.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Like that. Just seeing the reaction of people, which is what they like.

[Brian Bates]

What about Criss Angel?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay, let's just keep talking.

[Brian Bates]

That's a whole different thing, isn't it?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Chris is a different bird, and I like Chris, and I don't have. His magic is good. Way better. He got more stuff than I have. He just seems like somebody that wants to be a rock star but couldn't do it. So he decided to be a magician that tried to be a rock star and stuff. And again, no problem with his magic. There's a lot of people argue and fight about him. I've been to a couple of his shows where he's gotten mad at the audience, where, like, somebody tweeted, this show sucks, and then he will stop and go. He's got people in real time, but it might be a. It's a celebrity out there or something. Somebody's following them. I was at one show. I ain't gonna say it, but she said that he stopped the whole show and balled all of us out. I didn't text that. Nobody was Just heard that texted. But, I mean, he lost his mind. And I just remember going, it ain't worth it. You need to let that go. We didn't even know that she thought that.

[Aaron Weber]

Thank God me and Brian don't have access to Twitter during our shows.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, my gosh.

[Aaron Weber]

We Stopping them all.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So wait a minute, where's Billy? Where's that guy now?

[Brian Bates]

I'd be. It'd be easy for me to find him. Which five of you got your phone out? I'd be excited, actually. They're talking about me.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, there you go.

[Aaron Weber]

Get the ball rolling. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Is David Copperfield the most famous magician?

[Stephen Bargatz]

It was really funny because last night I had five guys with. We all went back and we watched two of his old specials just for. Because the feeling they gave us. I still think the flying. The time he flew and went in the bus was the greatest moment of my in magic, seeing that.

[Brian Bates]

And I remember when he made the Empire State Building. I mean the Statue of Liberty.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah. I mean you just thought nobody knew what he was doing and stuff.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I still think he's great. And you know, for me he'll be that guy because that was the guy I grew up. But I see some of these Spanish magicians. Depends what you like. Because you know her over here said he was working on close up and putting on sleight of hand show. It's way different. There's some people, Juan Tamaraz from Spain. I mean there's guys in Europe that are just doing stuff that you just go, there's. It's impossible. So they would be a guy named Die Vernon kind of made card magic famous and sleight of hand. But. And now there's more and more shows in Europe. You can go any night and you can just go see a guy do card tricks all night.

[Aaron Weber]

I would say the big guy now I see everywhere is Oz. The Oz the mentalist. Yeah, that guy. I can't get away from that guy.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Asi win. Ozzy win. And he has a show on Broadway and stuff like that. He has. He's unbelievable. From Israel. But Oz too. Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

60 Minutes just did a piece about Dr. Oz.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And he's very open about like. I'm obviously not mind reading. I'm doing research and I'm leading questions and all kinds of stuff. But he's just so good at it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's cool.

[Brian Bates]

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[Aaron Weber]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

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[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, it's good, right?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, absolutely. That's what I wanted for Halloween. It's my favorite flavor.

[Aaron Weber]

Handed them out to trick or treaters.

[Brian Bates]

No, I asked at people's door. You got any IQ Bars in there? My favorite's the one with salted caramel chip, but I just saw they have almond butter chip, and I'm excited to try those out, too. So right now, IQ Bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off of all IQ Bar products, including the sampler pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20 off nick, text Nate to 64,000. Text Nate to 64,000. That's Nate to 64,000. Message and data rate may apply. See terms for details. Okay, it was one other thing I was gonna ask you, but now I can't remember.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay, It'll come back 57.

[Brian Bates]

54, thank you very much.

[Stephen Bargatz]

In 57.

[Brian Bates]

Dave Stanley, you would love the fascinating backstory of Monopoly again. I thought Dusty was gonna be here for this. Lizzie, Maggie patented the landlord's game in 1903. Charles Darrow stole the idea, had an illustrator redesign the board, patent it in 1935, and sold it to Parker Brothers for millions.

[Aaron Weber]

Redesigned the board isn't the whole. The game is the design of the board. Right.

[Brian Bates]

That's a good point.

[Aaron Weber]

So what did Lizzy. Maggie really. Patent? Just rolling dice or what?

[Brian Bates]

I don't know.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I mean, a different city.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't know.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Is it the same kind of. Was he that big of a thief? Yeah, it was.

[Aaron Weber]

To see her patent versus his design.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, because somebody stole it lately. Because you can get them Nashville, you can get them everywhere now. That's the big deal.

[Brian Bates]

Josh Wicker, Has Dusty ever discussed the Opalika tech scammer? If not, that'd be fun to get his take. Well, I'm sorry Dusty's not here. We'll ask him when he's back, but I've never heard him mention it. I didn't know the story, but I don't know it. It gets us into today's topic, which is scams. So this is a pretty fascinating story. There's been a couple documentaries on this. Basically, this was 2014, I think, not too long after the tech bubble. I mean, the crisis and all that.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And this guy comes to Opelika. He said he's a former Google executive.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

He.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I would buy that by looking at.

[Brian Bates]

Him, he was driving a Jaguar, which probably not a lot in Opelika. And he said he's opening an incubator for startup companies.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

And he needed investors in Opelika. Yeah. Because there is a reason, though. Opelika was the first gig city in Alabama. All wireless Internet. So he had a reason. His wife was from Alabama. I think that's true. So he came back, she wanted to raise a family there, and he chose Opelika to start this. And then so he starts taking people's money. There was some kid, had a 16 year old kid who came up with an invention, a vending machine for medical supplies. Like if. Band Aids or whatever. You know, he's like, I was at. He was at a ballpark and kids would get hurt and parents are scrambling trying to find, you know, something. So he said, how about a vending machine that sells this stuff? And he pitched it to this guy. This guy said, this is a multi million dollar, you know, idea. So all these people started putting all this money in, and it was about $2 million that people put in.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Brian Bates]

And he was just using it to spend on himself and other things and pay for other things. And finally they figure it out. He skips. He closes the business and skips town and. But about 50 people in Opelika lost some money.

[Aaron Weber]

Did he get arrested or anything or.

[Brian Bates]

He did get arrested For, I think two charges. I think he's maybe sentenced to 40. 40 years in prison.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Really? Wow. Whoa.

[Brian Bates]

He was already. He'd already done some previous crimes once they researched him. He was starting a new crime, a new fraud when they got caught up with him. So he was.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

What was his. You always wonder, like, what. What did he think was gonna happen? It's almost like he knew it would all come to a head at some point. Right.

[Brian Bates]

Like, oh, and the other interesting thing. I'm sorry to interrupt. McAfee of. McAfee.

[Aaron Weber]

John McAfee, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

He lives there in Opelika and fell for it. John Mac.

[Aaron Weber]

John McAfee died.

[Brian Bates]

Who is who? Well, maybe in 2014.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

And he took him under his wing. And people are like, well, if John McAfee was vouching for this guy.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Then he must be legit. But he just fooled John McAfee, too. Wow.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They apparently, they never watched Andy Griffin. When that guy came to, recorded all the music, he was going to skip town. It's all been done before. Seen it.

[Brian Bates]

Well, there was a musical, the Music man, you know that? The Music man, that's a musical from like, the 50s or something, where a guy comes to town and starting a band or whatever, you know, getting kids involved, but he's just a con artist. But then, of course, he falls for the librarian and happens every time and ends up, you know, ends up. They figure him out, but he stays and, you know, ends up being a good guy.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh.

[Brian Bates]

So, yeah, and then there was a Simpsons episode called the March versus the Monorail. Do you know this one, Aaron?

[Aaron Weber]

No.

[Brian Bates]

Conan o' Brien wrote this episode. It's one of their most famous ones. Mr. Burns had to pay $3 million to the city or something for dumping stuff illegally. So they gotta figure out what to do with the money. And some con artist comes to town and convince them they need a monorail. So they put all the money toward that. And it's a very funny episode. But today we're talking about scams. Steven, you ever been a victim of scam? I mean, you're 70 now. This is kind of intervention all the time.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And, you know, I try. And now I'm blocking everything. I ought to be close to where I can't get any anymore, you know, Because, I mean, I'm. I'm way up there saying, block, report this. I fall for the dumbest one. I hate the one. Now, the ones that say, hey, are you around?

[Brian Bates]

Okay, I sent you some examples. I get this a lot.

[Aaron Weber]

Now, are these all ones that you've.

[Brian Bates]

Gotten Brian in the last month?

[Aaron Weber]

Okay, so these are text messages. We pulled up random numbers sent to Brian, Read through some of these.

[Brian Bates]

This is when I got yesterday. Hello, Dr. Lisa. I would like to schedule an appointment this week to take my Labrador poodle cocoa, three years old, for annual vaccination. Are there any openings in the next few days? And they're all. That's elaborate. Sorry to contact you, but I thought if you had time, we could have.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Coffee and I'll get this one. And they don't show up.

[Brian Bates]

I mean, are you feeling.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Man, we got the same guy.

[Brian Bates]

Well, we're about the same age. So. Are you still driving?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Hey, why would you not answer that?

[Brian Bates]

You know what?

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's a great question to ask.

[Brian Bates]

It is a great question. They're really good at reeling you in the very first time. If you're pre. If you're free, let's play this weekend. If not, no worries. We can pick another day.

[Aaron Weber]

So what?

[Stephen Bargatz]

That one would kill me. I would say. I would sign that one in a heartbeat. So what are we playing?

[Aaron Weber]

How would this lead to. How would that text. If you're free, let's play this weekend. If not, no worries, we can pick another day. Walk me through the path from that text to me giving that person money.

[Brian Bates]

I have like what I did the very first time I got one of these. I did reply to them. They were asking about somebody, how they're like, they've been sick, how they're doing and being a nice person. I just replied like, hey, I'm sorry, but you got the wrong number. And then they replied, oh, my bad, I'm so sorry to bother you or whatever. I was like, no problem.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But then they got what they want, apparently.

[Brian Bates]

But then they follow up and they don't just leave it alone. Then they said something like, I can't remember. It was just something very casual. Nothing like, what's your bank account? But. But I'm like, why would you still be communicating with me when it's clearly a wrong number? And that's when at first I was first like, maybe this isn't what this may be not innocent. I have no idea, Aaron, how it goes from that.

[Aaron Weber]

It could be. My thinking is maybe they're just trying to verify it's you like to qualify the lead.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Basically, you think they just have a number and they're trying to find a name.

[Aaron Weber]

This is just a mass. Just sending it out to all these numbers and then you can find out who. Who they are. Verify your. Your information on there somehow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

My wife always told me, don't ever say yes or hello. I mean, it's one of those. Yeah, that's all they want. You say yes, they're going to record your voice and then call somebody else. Do you want to buy a car? Yes.

[Aaron Weber]

Your boy like, okay, so, hey, let's go fishing tomorrow. Yeah, well, I can't, but here's my credit card information.

[Brian Bates]

Sometimes I will say, we need a.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Down payment on this boat.

[Brian Bates]

And maybe I shouldn't be. Maybe I should never reply to them. But sometimes I do like to mess with them a little bit. I just had somebody reach out to me on behalf of a podcast and said, we'll pay you X amount of money to come on this podcast. And I didn't reply to it. And then they followed up later. Hey, I didn't hear from you. You know you want to do it? And I said, yeah, I'm all in. Should I just give you my bank account, you know, so you can send the money? And then they never replied to that. They could tell, I guess, that I was on to them. I was missing. I was missing.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Why would you fall? I would have thought it was a podcast.

[Brian Bates]

So this. If it wasn't so much money. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

This is a big scam going around comedians right now. I've had it from Samantha B. You get an email like, hey, I work with Samantha B's podcast. And then they have a few lines from, like, the bio on your website. And then they go, we'd love you to do the podcast. We. We pay $3,000.

[Brian Bates]

That's what it was. 3,000?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. And you're like, well, I don't know anybody that really pays to do podcasts. Yeah. So you're like, well, this is crazy. And then I had, like, basically the same email for like, I don't. Kelly Clarkson's podcast. Like, does she even have a podcast? It's a bunch of these going around. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, the podcast, that.

[Brian Bates]

I didn't know this podcast, but I looked it up. It was a legitimate podcast. It wasn't so big that I'm like, that's ridiculous that they would want me, but it was big enough where I'm like, maybe, maybe. But then, you know, $3,000. I'm like, nobody's doing that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I get asked all the time, but they're trying to get Nate. It turns it. You know, that's how my kitchen burnt down.

[Brian Bates]

No, it was the bratwurst.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Well, the bratwurst was. But the actual. What made me lead the bratwurst? I don't want to say it, but.

[Brian Bates]

We'Re going to play golf.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Who's the bicycle? The famous cycler. I can't think of his name.

[Brian Bates]

Lance Armstrong.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Lance Armstrong.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And him and stain. They were. They. His person called and you can't be mean. Hang up on Lance Armstrong. And so I was cooking it, and it was boiling, and then I got that call, and it was going, hey, talk. I want to reach out to you. Would love to have you and bring Nate and do a father son for father. So that's what it was all about. That. And so I was trying to politely say no.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. If Nate's with you.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah. It would be a great.

[Aaron Weber]

Feel free to have him hop on. You know what I mean? But if he's not, I think we. We can maybe do this another time.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[Aaron Weber]

Crazy.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Cost me my whole kitchen. I guess that's a scam.

[Aaron Weber]

I just.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They wait.

[Aaron Weber]

I just searched for $3,000 on my Gmail. I got one to do. Sarah Evans podcast from this country singer. Dusty told me, or I think Dusty told me. That particular scam is designed to get control of your Facebook page because they'll go, we'll do a live podcast. Add us as an administrator or something, and then we can do a live podcast together. And then they take your Facebook page.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And what do they do with it?

[Brian Bates]

Bad stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

I don't. Yeah, they can do whatever they want to.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I got a lot of pickleball talk on there. Is that what they're after?

[Aaron Weber]

You're. You're pub. Like a public page, not your personal profile. Oh, but like your page. Like if I have. If you have a lot of followers on it, they can do whatever they want with it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Huh.

[Aaron Weber]

Do you ever feel like your money just disappears each month? It's easier than ever to overspend. You know, one time in college, I ordered pizza from the same place three nights in a row. My bank flagged it and they called me and they're like, somebody's ordering pizza. And I was like, yeah, you better figure that out. I lied to my bank. But it's easier than ever to do that. From subscriptions piling up to impulse buys after seeing an ad on your phone, to ordering takeout a few times a month or three times a week, Rocket Money helps you rein it in by showing you where your money's going and helping you make a better decision so you can keep more money in your pocket. Rocket Money, as you know, is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money has saved users over $2.5 billion, including over 880 million in canceled subscriptions alone. Their 10 million members save up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. You're losing money not being on Rocket Money right now. Get on it. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com Nate today, that's RocketMoney.com NateRocketMoney.com 8.

[Brian Bates]

Have you ever, like, in your day to day life, encountered somebody that was con artists, like out and about at the Wilson County Fair or.

[Stephen Bargatz]

My first official date with my wife. Now we were 1932. Yeah, we were in the eighth grade. Ninth grade. We go to the Louisville county fair and I had seven bucks, which might not sound like a lot, but in the fair that would take you a long way. You could get back then 74, you could do a lot for $7. I could have. I could have fed her. We could have had some good times. And walk in. And the very first thing was this guy called me over and could for. Believe it or not, it was $7 is all it cost. But if that bowling pin thing had a big bowling pin there, it had a string with a ball on it. You had to swing it out. And you got three tries to hit that pin. Yeah. And, man, he did it. Even let me practice it once. And I hit it and he goes, okay. But no, it's different when you put pressure and you have to bet the money. But you can double or triple your money if you hit it. And I didn't even get. And so within five minutes, I had no money. It was the worst date ever. You thirsty? Tough. We gotta go find. They gotta ask for, like, let's go to the free ice cream booth, because I have nothing.

[Brian Bates]

This was your first date?

[Stephen Bargatz]

First kind of like where we actually went somewhere. Yeah, we met there. And there was no dating back when I was. Yeah, you just met them. You did things. But that was our first time. I had nothing. Couldn't feed her, couldn't do. I think we had some free popsicles. And luckily, some church was giving them away and stuff. How we became Christians. They feed you a lot better. So. So it took me hard. I also got tricked with the magic deck. I remember one time with Junks, they have trick cards and. And it was the same trick that. That you. You could show the deck, regular deck, and then they can all be the same and stuff. It's called, like a spingali deck or something. And they would sell them. And so you were going there. But what got me is they did three different treads and they all had different. The one card that was the same was different.

[Brian Bates]

Were you a magician then?

[Stephen Bargatz]

I was wanting to be, yeah. So this guy does a trick for me. Oh, my God. This deck is, you know, it's $3 or $2, I gotta have it. And I walk a little bit later and they go. They go, oh, you get that deck. You like that? Wait to see mine. And they're doing. They do a completely different trick, but it's the same deck, different card. So I bought three decks and got home. I had the same deck three times. I bought it. So, I mean, I felt horrible, you know, about that. And you know what? That's the original. That's what they would call a mark. Because I always heard this. I don't know if I did, but a guy would put a chalk mark on you, on your back, and that would tell the other guys you fell for it. And Then they know to hit you.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So let's go get that guy on that bowling pin thing. The platform and I studied all this. The platform that the pin's on, they tilt it, it just moves to an angle so you can't see it. But it's impossible to hit that pin.

[Brian Bates]

Really?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. So once you try it, I All this one of my favorites. You've seen the one with the little mouse and stuff runs into the hoe and the color. You come up there and they got a bunch of people and you bet on a color on the hoe that you think that thing's going to run into hamster or whatever it is. And what they kind of do, I mean, the prizes they're giving away doesn't cost anything. So they're making. They already know I got this many things I'm going to lose here. But they just, they can look and go, all right, there's not many people on blue or whatever color they see that nobody's picking on. And then he. I read about this. There's a sponge there with some kind of mouth hormone that attracts of a female. So he'll touch his finger on it and he'll put his finger on in that color hoe and spin it. And then that thing, he looks up, he smells it, goes right in that hole.

[Brian Bates]

Wow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Isn't that great? Wow, what a great way to take your money.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I don't. I don't really mind it. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

He's thinks she's having a good time.

[Aaron Weber]

I heard a something about, you know, these carnivals, the fairs where like you pay money and then they guess your weight and then if they get it right, you get a prize.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I read that a lot of these places, the, the, the what the prize cost them is actually less than what you pay if they just buy these stuffed animals in bulk.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's right.

[Aaron Weber]

So they're like, I don't even care if we get it right or wrong. We make money even if they don't.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Even if you win Zoppelin, when I was there, they did that. They get to wait in the age and they would put somebody who's never done it. They go, you'll be good by noon.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Because it really didn't wait. You're exactly. You're making money anyway.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Not much, but still then you'd be surprised how good you get at it.

[Aaron Weber]

I got scammed by a guy a few years ago, restaurant called Bailey and Kato. It was like a Meat & 3 restaurant in Madison where I used to live. And I was there on a Sunday afternoon, long line, and there's a guy behind me, and he looked a little something was a little off, but he goes, hey, man, you know, I lost my wallet. Can I, can you buy my meal and I'll Venmo you? And I go, yeah, sure, why not? He goes, tell you what, can you just give me $30 cash so I can get a, you know, a, a ride back to my. I don't even remember what he said. The deal was he, I give him $30 cash. He Venmo's me. $30.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

So I go, okay. So I take out my phone. He goes, I gotcha. He grabs my phone, he Venmo requests $30 from himself from my phone. And I remember thinking, all right, that's a weird way to do that. Yeah, why don't you just pay me 30, right? So the request is just sitting there. Probably about 10 seconds go by. I go, I think I just got scammed out of $30. But, like, what am I going to do? Like, start a fight in the line at this restaurant, right? So I don't know, like a week later, I'm thinking about it, I go, the guy still hasn't paid me. He's never going to hit accept on that request, right? So I open it up, I click on his profile. He has one public transaction on his Venmo profile, and there's like 85 comments. And I go, oh, man, I gotta see. It's just a huge list of people he had done this exact same thing to. They were like, accept my request. Accept, blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. So this is just a scam, is that he, he exploits it, you know, being an awkward situation where I think even in the moment I registered, I just got taken. But, like, what am I going to do?

[Brian Bates]

But you would have given him the money even if he hadn't took that step, right?

[Stephen Bargatz]

I mean, don't you have a heart?

[Aaron Weber]

I would have just bought him.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

If he, he looked maybe like, yeah, like, like he could have been. And I would have just bought him a meal. But the way he did it, you.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Would have saved money to meet and.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I know, right? So anyway, so I was like, I was so curious about this guy, looked it up. He had a long arrest record for all kinds of stuff. And then I find he doesn't have a Facebook page, but his mom has a Facebook page page. So I start looking.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Who are you that you can find a guy's mother?

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I just looked. I, I, it's listed on a lot of his.

[Brian Bates]

He's a scam artist himself.

[Aaron Weber]

Well, I was just so curious about this guy who's just known all around is just scamming people. 21 person was like, I gave him like, a hundred dollars, and so he's taken legit money from these people. So I find his mom's Facebook, and she has one picture with him from his high school graduation. And there's just a hundred comments on that. Tell your son to give me my money. I felt bad for her because it's like, you know, it has nothing to do with her. Her son just became kind of a. A ne' er do well.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

I got. I got scammed out of it. It's kind of funny. There's like a little fraternity of us that have been scammed by this guy. We were, like, talking to each other in his Venmo comments. Yeah, like, how. How to get you. How to get you all this stuff. So it's kind of fun.

[Brian Bates]

I don't feel like you really got scammed. I feel like you have a good heart, and in your heart, you already knew. There's a good chance I'm never going to see this money, but I'm going to buy as much for it.

[Aaron Weber]

But by the time I really realized it was done in such a way that I wasn't really thinking about it until right after it was done. And then I'm like, well, the die is cast. Like, what. What am I going to do at this point? Start yelling at a random dude in a. In a restaurant?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Both my wife and my daughter has been shortchanged. Where the guy Abigail was working at McDonald's. My wife was working at the Pinnacle bank. I couldn't think of which bank we go to. She was at Pinnacle, down by Weston, by Vanderbilt. And I know on Abigail, a guy will come in and get changed for 100. You're going to buy some stuff or whatever. And then something happens. Some lady falls and drops her stuff. And then. Then as soon as that's happening, they go to work. Yeah, no, no, here, just give me the two. Okay. Give me two twenties. I'll take this. Give me this, this. Give me a 50. Look, look, let me just give you the 40. Give me back my hundred. And. And she ended up losing 200. And my wife had the same thing kind of happen to her at the bank, and she lost like, 300. I think, with this guy. Just. They're the nicest people. They're so nice. Yeah. You think they can't be Scamming me. But boy, are they. They're really good.

[Aaron Weber]

There's a great YouTube channel called Gas Station Encounters. And it's this guy who owns a gas station, I think, in Cleveland, and he's got his entire gas station rigged up with all these high definition cameras. And he just catches people like that all the time and breaks down how they do it. He's just so familiar with these scams now. He's like, you can kind of spot them when they walk in. Like, almost everybody who steals from a gas station, they go to the bathroom first or something. Or like they walk in. He's like, if you walk in and you look at me too much and like, make it a point to say something to me, I immediately. I think he's up to something. It's really interesting to watch a guy. But they. I watched a bunch of people trying to shortchange like that. And he'll just call him out, he'll go, nope. You want to watch the footage of it right now? I saw exactly what happened. So that's awesome. Crazy. You got to think, your first time trying that, what a rush that might be. Try to just like, let's just walk in and scam it.

[Brian Bates]

Seems like magicians would be more inclined to try that stuff.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, definitely. My first watch I sold was from a police officer. I was. My heart was beating so fast and.

[Aaron Weber]

As part of an act.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I mean, I was just showing him a trick.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, okay.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

But you said the first watch I ever stole.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, you can, you can, you can know that he's not watching. You're. I'm going to give it back no matter what. But he could have took it wrong or anything. Sure. I think you scam kid. There's some great things. What you got me. And when you said they go to the bathroom first, it's just really strange. And I don't know if you. Maybe I shouldn't be telling everybody this, but like if you ask in Abigail's watching, if you ask a kid to pick between two things, they'll always pick the second thing. Oh, do you think it's red or blue? They're going to go blue. You want to go here or there. And I mean, a young, young kid will always pick the second. And so you can just set them up. Look. And we'll give you your choice. You can pick the blue box or the red box. Whatever's in. That's what we're going to do. They're going to take they usually 90% of time. They Take whatever you name second. So that's a good thing to know in your head. You can set them up.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, yeah. But you know, human nature. So much. So you would also probably be like the guy who's with the cameras because you.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, yeah, I would. I wouldn't look up his mother. I'm not going to go that far, but.

[Brian Bates]

Well, that was Aaron that did that. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But I'm going to like to look at the film, like to see and if I could use it. I do a short time, short change. I did it in my show yesterday and the second show and stuff. And it's one of my most popular tricks that for magicians, I don't think lay people care all that much. It's okay. But lady. But the non magicians. But a magician person.

[Aaron Weber]

Civilians.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, you Muggles. But magicians.

[Aaron Weber]

Steve Barghetzi dropping a Harry Potter reference on the podcast.

[Stephen Bargatz]

There you go. That's what I was on Halloween.

[Brian Bates]

I was talking to some comics after your show last night that were there, and everybody was just talking about how funny you are. And Julian McCullough said to me his funniest line was when he asked some woman, what's your name? And before she can even get it out, you're like, big deal. He said, I don't hear big deal that much anymore. But it's so funny. It's great. It's great. So the most famous scammer of all time, Charles Ponzi.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, yeah, my friend.

[Brian Bates]

Scheme. Yep, Ponzi scheme. So basically. Well, you guys know what a Ponzi scheme is?

[Aaron Weber]

Kind of.

[Brian Bates]

It's very similar to pyramid scheme, right?

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's right.

[Brian Bates]

But Ponzi scheme, you get it all is all about getting new investors and you take their money and pay the original investors. And it's just, you know, it just keeps going like that. So you're not investing in anything that's real. You're just paying, taking the new investors and paying the previous investors.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

And there's a lot of variations of that pyramid scheme. You're getting new members.

[Aaron Weber]

So can you keep it going indefinitely? A Ponzi scheme? Kind of.

[Brian Bates]

Eventually, I guess, in theory, but eventually they always figure it out. But like Bernie Madoff, I was gonna.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Say we just had. Yeah. Bernie was like major money.

[Brian Bates]

Millions. I mean, billions.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Dollars. Yeah. Pretty made off last few years ago. So Ponzi schemes, that was in the 1920s, I think, when Charles Ponzi first did that. But I read one 1700s, Isaac Newton was got scammed.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, they were Something about. I forgot what it was now, but they were saying how they're bringing all these goods and stuff from South America and get in on this, you know, get. Invest in this boat company or whatever that we're bringing all this stuff in. And it was kind of a fake, like they weren't really doing it. And Isaac Newton lost money in the deal.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow. Like the smartest guy ever.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And he got. He got tripped.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So here's the deal, though. That a good question, a moral question in all of this? Am I really scamming you? Are you trying to scam me? You is. You think it's a. This is an easy way to make money. Same thing if. If I'm playing, doing a card trick and I'm scamming you. You think that your card is not. But you see that there was a little mark on that card. You now know that's not my card. I mean, that's my card over there because that. The mark is now over there. But I'm just saying, I don't know. You have two cards and you're sure this one's yours? And I accidentally put a bin in the corner.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I act like I don't see it. Right. So I go, and you get it a couple times. I go, I get you this time. And what I can do with my little finger, Take that bin out and put it in the other card and I'll do it. And now you think you see it.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay. Now who's doing the evil thing?

[Aaron Weber]

I think we're all evil.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

That's right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You think. You think I got him. You're not admitting you're trying to cheat me.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And I'm just going to be a better cheater than you are.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And in all of these scam things and everything you do, usually it's a. I'm getting rich quick.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Everybody's trying to take advantage of a situation.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

In some way. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

So it's almost like, yeah, you got me and stuff. So it's the most.

[Brian Bates]

The most comic scam for 60 and over is tech support scams. My mom's will get stuff where it'll pop up on her.

[Stephen Bargatz]

My computer's gonna blow up. In any I've had. Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

What do you do?

[Stephen Bargatz]

I let it blow up. No. I fell for it all before.

[Brian Bates]

Have you given them money?

[Stephen Bargatz]

No, I don't think I've ever had money, but I've given them control of my computer once and stuff. That wasn't pretty.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

What ended up Happening.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I had to buy a new computer. Had to go low and stuff.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But I can't remember. I've done stuff like that. Anything. I fall for all that stuff, but I don't do it. I don't answer anything anymore. I have to send everything to Carol and. Or Abigail. They tell me what to do, and it's always, delete it.

[Brian Bates]

And how many Nigerian princes have you helped out over the years?

[Stephen Bargatz]

I've been pretty invested in those guys and stuff.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

You got to think just how much worse this is going to get with AI. Like, imagine I'm just imagining my grandmother or something, and somebody creates an AI video of me asking her. You know, I'm straining on the side of the road. I need money. Can you send it to me right now? And it looks and sounds exactly like me. I mean, who's not going to fall for that? So it's like. It's real scary. So they got to put safeguards in place to prevent that. I don't know how they do it, but I imagine this is going to become like, a real, real, real big problem.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You got. You're going to have to have a co. Word. Like, I have, you know, my cat, Cole. You have to name some kind of. You know.

[Aaron Weber]

Don't say it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You have to say. You know that.

[Aaron Weber]

Don't say it on the podcast.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, no. Okay.

[Aaron Weber]

Don't say no.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But you have to say, this is how it starts. All right, grandmother, if I am a desperate. I'm gonna talk about Cole the cat. If you hear me say, I need money for that. But you. I mean, that's the only way to beat that. I would fall for that if it was your face and your voice.

[Aaron Weber]

Right, Right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I would wonder why Aaron's calling me, but I would go, he needs a hundred dollars and Venmo. I don't know. I wouldn't know what that is.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I could see my mom if it was audio and.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, it matches your face well. Or even auto.

[Brian Bates]

My mom doesn't even know how to, like, probably pull up a video that.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Okay.

[Brian Bates]

I'm not sure.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It'd have to pop up on his own for me to see it. Yeah, I'm not doing it.

[Brian Bates]

But a call. If she took a call and it sounded like me. Yeah, Then I could.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Have you ever, in your married life called and asked her for money to do it? Like a male. I mean, Nate has us a lot, but. So Nate might fall for it, but.

[Brian Bates]

Not my married life. But I didn't get married till I was almost 50.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Have you ever asked your parents for money to send you money anyway?

[Brian Bates]

Probably.

[Aaron Weber]

I'm trying to. I'm trying to think they would. No, I mean, I knew that they were always there. I always had the safety net of them, but I don't. I don't ever remember calling and going, like, can you just give me a hundred dollars to get. To get through the week? But they, They. I mean, I. I live with them for almost a year after college, so. Yeah, so they were. That's basically. I mean, it's better than money.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Yeah. You owe them money.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, I definitely do owe them forever.

[Brian Bates]

He was scamming them all through college.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Let's get them on here.

[Aaron Weber]

It'll never be even, that's for sure. But I'm just imagining a phone call. AI phone call of you, Brian, we. To your mom. Will you accept a phone call from the Davidson county jail?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And then it's. Hey, it's Brian. I messed up. Can you. I need you to wire 15 grand to whatever. Like, I would fall for that. You could get that out of me?

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. My mom would be like, can I write a check? My mom was. Just. Told me she was at the grocery store and she pays things in cash and she didn't have enough money on her, so she said, I'm gonna have to write a check. She gets out her checkbook, and there was a woman behind her, and she said, I'm sorry I'm holding you up, writing this check and the lace. Look, it's fine. I haven't seen anybody write a check in 20 years. I just want to watch.

[Aaron Weber]

Excited she was.

[Brian Bates]

That's what she said. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Wow. I didn't know that was possible to write a check. Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

It is crazy, isn't it, that they'll accept a piece of paper saying, I'll pay you later. I mean, because even you show ID.

[Stephen Bargatz]

The original Ponzi scheme.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

This paper will get you what you need.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

That's crazy.

[Brian Bates]

Richard Minsky. He would cold call people and whisper on the phone, like, where you couldn't hear him, like. And be like, what. What were you saying? He eventually would wait until they said said a name, like, is this Stephen? Or whatever, and then he would pretend like he's the attorney for whoever name you said, I'm calling on his behalf. And he would get people bail money from or something. Yeah, he would say, you know, the. The witness says if you give him this amount of money, you know, he'll drop the charges or whatever, and. And people would fall for it. But he was waiting for you to say a name. Say something. Yeah, man. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's like that's the. The layer of evil for all this is like you're exploiting people, wanting to do good for others. You're like, that's what you're capitalizing on. Because most of us would go out of our way to help our friends and family like that. And somebody goes, I'll take advantage of that. It's a real darkness.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I can't think of a friend that in my world that I would go, you need $15,000. I got it. And be honest. Nathan and Derek and Abigail, I think it'd be good for them to spend a couple times days in jail and it might turn them around and then I could give me some time to investigate.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, that's a good.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Maybe they're stealing from me. I'd like to know.

[Brian Bates]

Have you guys seen the movie I love you, Philip Morris?

[Aaron Weber]

No, Jim Carrey.

[Brian Bates]

I haven't either. He was playing a guy, Stephen J. Russell, who poses a millionaire from Virginia. And he finally got caught. Then he pretended like he had a heart attack and they took him to the hospital. And while he was in the hospital on security watch, he impersonated FBI agent and called the hospital on his cell phone to tell them let him go. And he walked out of the hospital. Wow. So.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Wow. Based on a true story.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Yeah. Jim Carrey played him. Yeah. What about. You were telling us about Titanic Thompson.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. Sting, I think is one of the most famous con kind of movie. Yeah. And it was supposed to be based off stuff that.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, really?

[Stephen Bargatz]

That he did.

[Brian Bates]

Robert Redford.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. He. He was post. What's the name of his book?

[Aaron Weber]

Titanic Thompson. The man who bet on everything.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

The true story of Titanic Thompson.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And you just wonder if some of the stories. I just remember a few just because they're so crazy and the stuff they did. I mean like he was. He practiced and did everything. One of the things he did, like remember the old time hotels where the little mailboxes that was emptying the key and your mail was in that little box. He built one at home. He had one in his house.

[Brian Bates]

House.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And so he would practice hit, throwing his key right into each one. He could hit any. And his odds were really good that he could just go, how much you want to bet? I can just throw this right in my. Whichever my room and boom, he can hit it. Because he'd done it a thousand times. So he would do that kind of. He could. He had a way of talking people into betting. He was a. Almost hung out with professional golfers. He was close. Could have been professional golfer. This was in 1920s and stuff. But he was left handed. But he was just as good right handed. So he would play people right handed and let them just barely beat him. And he goes, I was just having a bad day. I'll play again. And he act Jordan Monk and he'd say we'll bet $200 on it. I'll play left handed. And they go, well, okay.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

And then he'd kill him. Yeah, but he wouldn't, you know, he just would always win. He was smart. He never. He'd really, you know, in any scam, you don't. You don't destroy him. You just got to barely beat him and do it. But a couple. Two of my favorite ones that I. And then I. It was. He, he. They would. He would have a fly in a jar and he would like in this room right here. And he would throw out. He would chew on a toothpick all the time. So he'd throw out five sugar cubes and he would make a bet on which cube the fly would land on first. And then. And people, you know how much he'd get. Everybody in the room put up 100 ducks or anything like that. And he would just point, touch. They. He'd go this one right here. And he'd touch it with a toothpick like that one. So you know the one he wants that fly would land on it and he would. It was the saliva in his mouth released the sugar on that, on the cube. So when he went out and touched it, a little drip, that fluid. It made that sugar resolve. So now the fly saw it and the fly would go laying right on little. I mean he. He knew stuff. He bet somebody he could outrun a Kentucky Derby horse that was in the derby, didn't win, but he outran him in 100 yards and. But he had it where it was 50 yards. And he said we're going to go to that 50 yard line and back. And the horse, the horse goes. He couldn't turn around. He just turned around and came right back. You gotta love.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, I read where he bet somebody he could drive a golf ball 500 yards. And then he waited till wintertime when the. It was like an icy lake.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And he did it there.

[Stephen Bargatz]

One of my favorite. I mean this, this guy was a genius. He tell people he could tell the distance of engulf and everything just by, you know, just looking at it. He'd tell you the Distance, but. And he was good enough to almost do that and then get really close. And then back then they didn't have the. The yard. Everything wasn't perfect.

[Aaron Weber]

Right.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But you could tell on some automobiles and things like that how far something is. So he said, he goes, I know this, that. You know that coming into the hotel, it said four miles to the hotel. He said, it ain't right. It's closer to five. And they go, he goes, I bet you it's closer to five. But the night before, he actually went out there and dug the sign up and moved it back two and a half miles farther and replanted the sign. So when they went out there to bet, all these guys bet they measured, it was closer to five and he won. But he actually moved a state sign.

[Brian Bates]

You just think people that creative could just invest their. Towards something good.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. Instead of just being a scumbag.

[Stephen Bargatz]

But it's all genius.

[Brian Bates]

It is genius. It is genius.

[Stephen Bargatz]

What do you think? A security company, they hired these professional bank robbers to show how to go. They wouldn't. They said, really going in and rob that bank, but just leave the money on the floor in the safe. Don't ever take. Don't take anything. So then the next day they come in, they sell them a security system.

[Aaron Weber]

Wow.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You call it pretty. It's pretty sneaky. It's a way to sell stuff.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

I read where the guy who, you know, the Mona Lisa got stolen from the Louvre, Right. The story I read was a guy got an employee at the Louvre to take it out underneath his jacket, leave with it, and then the guy then that. Then he never got that painting from the guy who worked in the. He just made six copycat paintings and sold those to six different people.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, for real?

[Brian Bates]

They all thought they were getting the original one. Yeah. So he never even tried to meet up with this guy to get it. He just wanted someone to take it so he could sell six fake ones.

[Aaron Weber]

And it worked.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah, I mean, I think eventually he got caught, but yeah, they always do.

[Stephen Bargatz]

What was his crime? So, yeah, he didn't sell the real one. I didn't. He didn't steal it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I don't know. That's a good question.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I believe you looked up. You looked up, I guess. Yeah. I bet if you looked up his mother. I bet she knew about it.

[Brian Bates]

I bet there was a lot of comments about it.

[Stephen Bargatz]

We gotta find his mother.

[Brian Bates]

When Gary Veder was on this podcast.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's the best. I don't know. That's one of the Best podcasts you guys did.

[Aaron Weber]

It is great.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I've ever heard.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I tell more of my friends. Nobody can bleed that.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. That was a long time ago when we did that episode.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah, that was so long ago that if you're newer to the podcast and you're. That's a good one to go back to. It's just Gary Veder kind of telling his life story about his relationship with him and his father. And it's just. It was just great. We were just locked in the whole.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Whole time.

[Brian Bates]

It's. It's very different than most episodes because you got. Someone here actually knows what they're talking about because he's talking about his dad.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right, Right.

[Brian Bates]

How he would get him in all these major sporting events by posing as someone he's not. So it's pretty great. We can wrap it up.

[Aaron Weber]

Okay. All right.

[Brian Bates]

You remember, I'll do one more. Well, well, I need.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I should mention, Frank says the email I got from Abigail saying I'm getting $3,000 for this podcast, I'm. I'm. It's not going to happen. Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Just. Venmo request.

[Brian Bates]

Okay. Yeah. Frank A.B.

[Aaron Weber]

Abagnale.

[Brian Bates]

Abagnale Jr. Played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Bates]

If you can. He was probably the ultimate con artist in many ways. Right. Because he did so many things. He poses a pilot and a doctor.

[Aaron Weber]

And I thought you were going to talk about the. The real con was that he did none of those.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, he did. That's what I say. I heard he did. Yeah. Nothing. But the check thing. I thought he was a check.

[Aaron Weber]

I think he done some of it, but a lot of the. More like the crazier elements, that story he had completely made up.

[Stephen Bargatz]

That's what I heard, too.

[Aaron Weber]

And then he gets a movie made about him and Leonardo DiCaprio plays him. It's almost like that's better than actually doing all the things.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

You know, that was the. Yeah, I. I heard that, too. We had. We had talked. We. When I was talking to some friends about this the other day, they all brought that. They didn't think that he did it all. That. It was all.

[Aaron Weber]

Great movie, though.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It was a great movie.

[Brian Bates]

All right. This weekend. I, like I've already said, I'm in Canada for the first time. I'm in Leamington, Ontario, this Friday. Come see me there.

[Aaron Weber]

Are you thinking about your act at all and how it'll play in Canada?

[Brian Bates]

A little bit, yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

It's interesting, right?

[Brian Bates]

And it's so funny because as I've said before, I'm flying in to Detroit and driving south.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

So, you know. Yeah, it's crazy. It's a suburb of Detroit, basically is where I'm going. But, yeah, I am thinking about it a little bit. It's in my head. And then. First time I've ever done Stand up in another country.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, really?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. So that's. I mean, it's something.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. And then you don't have to change.

[Aaron Weber]

Anything, by the way.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I.

[Aaron Weber]

The first time I did it here with John Crist, some church and, I don't know, Canada, I was like, do I. Can I say bathroom or do I have to say water closet or whatever? They were like, they all know everything. You're fine.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, I know. I was in England my first time. I had a John Archer, a very funny man from England. He saw my act and the straight jacket and everything. He came back, he goes, you gotta change these. And it was obvious. One of my. One of the things that they like, they're trying to pull a strap and they got. It's gonna be my underwear. They're pulling it up. And I go. It kind of reminds you of prom night. Not a. Not a cracker, nothing. Because what they're doing, they're all talk. They're going, what's wrong? What is that? They're trying to figure it out and they don't have prom. So he had told, you know, you had to say something, called it prome Walmad. But. But he gave me. He gave me that. There was about five words, you know, that. I mean, he said, it doesn't matter. They know mom, but mom is better and trunk. And there were certain things that he told me to change I thought was worth it. So how many shows you doing?

[Brian Bates]

Just one.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Forget it. You'll be gone for anybody cares enough to go. I thought if you're going to be there for a couple, I'd listen to the local guy. Yeah, I think. I think they love it when you do try to do that. When they see you trying.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. I mean, your situation is a little bit different again than what I'm going to be in, which is a suburb of Detroit. But. But I don't know there's gonna be any major.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Word differences. And then next week I'm in Plano, Texas. Waco, Texas, two nights in Tacoma. Those shows in Tacoma, the early shows, by the way, are 13 and up, so.

[Aaron Weber]

Oh, cool.

[Brian Bates]

I like to let people know that if you have teenagers, bring them to the show. And then I'm in Portland, Oregon. That's all wow. Wednesday through Sunday.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah. That's a week.

[Brian Bates]

That is a week. And then I'm in Georgetown, Kentucky and Abington, Virginia.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I've been to Georgetown a lot. It's a little place.

[Brian Bates]

Same place.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Oh, are you that church? That's a great church.

[Brian Bates]

A Grace Christian church. That's where I'm at. Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I've been following your church program. If they hire you, I call them.

[Aaron Weber]

Hey, you know.

[Brian Bates]

Well, you got in first.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I gave them your number. All right. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I have pickleball on Wednesday night and stuff and I play on Thursday night. Looking very much forward to doing all of that. Actually, I was hoping to take a couple weeks off, but I got something for the Dave Ramsey on Wednesday that none of you can come to. And TRA Nazarene College on. In a pickleball tournament mix. That's how they got me to do this show.

[Brian Bates]

Whoa.

[Stephen Bargatz]

They go, you. We're not going to pay much, but we're having a pickleball tournament and you can bring some people to that. So sign me up. I'm doing that on the seventh at tra. And next weekend I have Harper's Horseshoe and looking really looking forward to that.

[Brian Bates]

Well, that's exciting. Triveca is a pretty small college, isn't it?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

And then they've had.

[Stephen Bargatz]

It's a university now, though.

[Brian Bates]

Well, okay. University. They've had the dad that of Nate Bargazzi and the dad of James Austin Johnson.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yes, they did. We went to school. He was a year ahead of me, but so for three years we were there together. He's the one that caught me into this pickleball thing.

[Brian Bates]

Oh, that's cool. Small world.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

And when should we. I mean, I. You just ate the special, but. Any idea. We'll just keep an eye out for it. But.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah.

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Until I die. And then it might be there. Come out and see it. You know, I don't know. The funniest thing for me is. I don't know what. I don't know what. What it did for you, but I don't need more work. I'm trying to do less a little bit.

[Aaron Weber]

Just.

[Stephen Bargatz]

I just want to have fun do. I don't want people calling me up and go, yeah, bring your new hour and come. I'm not. It ain't going to happen.

[Aaron Weber]

That's exactly what I want.

[Stephen Bargatz]

One. Yeah, I know that's what you need. And so I've been there and did that, but I'm not really looking for it to change my life.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Put out another one in 45 years.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, that's right. It'll be a great. Call it from the grave.

[Aaron Weber]

Aaron Weber here. Dayton, Ohio, this Friday in Toledo, Ohio. On Saturday, I'm at the Funny Bone in both cities. Excited? Dayton and Toledo next weekend, Cincinnati, Ohio. Technically, Dayton, Kentucky, but Cincinnati, Ohio, Commonwealth Comedy Club. I'm all over Ohio next couple weeks, so come on out.

[Brian Bates]

All over Dayton, Oliver.

[Aaron Weber]

Dayton, Ohio, and then Dayton, Kentucky, which is technically Cincinnati, Ohio.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Right?

[Aaron Weber]

Yeah.

[Brian Bates]

Awesome.

[Aaron Weber]

Appreciate it.

[Brian Bates]

All right.

[Aaron Weber]

We love you.

[Brian Bates]

Thank you so much. Aaron gave me this for my birthday. It's a drone.

[Aaron Weber]

Better rookie.

[Stephen Bargatz]

No way. How about that?

[Aaron Weber]

The bus and Aaron.

[Brian Bates]

Great.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah, we got to meet him.

[Brian Bates]

You did?

[Stephen Bargatz]

Yeah. He was playing with Nathan last year in Tahoe. We got. It rained and we all had to go in a shelter and luckily for me, I had a deck of cards.

[Brian Bates]

And that was all over.

[Aaron Weber]

Thanks for coming by, Stephen. We appreciate it.

[Brian Bates]

Yeah. Thank you so much for filling in for both Nate and Dusty.

[Stephen Bargatz]

All right, see you in two years.

[Brian Bates]

All right, see you then. Thanks, Mike.

[Aaron Weber]

It foreign.

[Brian Bates]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. As winter approaches, make sure you set aside some time for self care.

[Aaron Weber]

Now through December 2nd. Get great savings on personal care essentials when you shop in store or online.

[Brian Bates]

Buy two participating self care items and save $3.

[Aaron Weber]

Shop for items like Tresemme Shampoo, Dove Shampoo, Dove Men's Care Body Wash, Dove.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Body Wash and Axe Shower gel.

[Aaron Weber]

And save $3 when you buy two or more items.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Offer ends December 2nd. Restrictions apply.

[Aaron Weber]

Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Stephen Bargatz]

This time of year, most of us.

[Aaron Weber]

Are checking off our holiday gift lists. But identity thieves have lists, too, and your personal information might be on them. Protect your identity with Lifelock. Lifelock monitors millions of data points every second and alerts you to threats you could miss.

[Brian Bates]

If your identity is stolen, Lifelock will.

[Aaron Weber]

Fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Make this season about joy, not identity theft. With Lifelock, save up to 40% your.

[Brian Bates]

First [e-mail] iheart terms apply. Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line.

[Aaron Weber]

But first.

[Brian Bates]

There the last one.

[Stephen Bargatz]

Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.